CDN Interior Motives Student Design Awards 2012 deadline this Friday

The CDN Interior Motives Student Design Awards 2012 competition deadline is fast approaching, with entrants having until 11 May to submit their entries. The theme of this year's competition – which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year – is ‘What Comes Next? Make your mark on the car of tomorrow' and is comprised of the following four briefs, devised in collaboration with Volkswagen and Peugeot: The Next Icon Considers the legacy of cars that have achieved iconic status in the car design automotive industry as a result of technological advances and improvements in construction and ergonomics among other things.

Exclusive: Honda to Close European Design Studios

In a surprise announcement, Honda has decided to close design operations in Europe, based in Germany. The decision to shut down both the car design and motorcycle design studios of Honda R&D Europe (HRE-G) in Offenbach, near Frankfurt was taken at the end of September and came as a shock announcement to employees. It represents the latest casualty in cuts for the car design community.

Infographic: How much clay do Ford’s design studios use each year?

Ford has offered an insight into its clay modeling processes with a series of videos and an infographic that charts the process involved in turning a designer's sketch into a full-size model. The infographic uses data taken from all of Ford's global design studios in 2012 to give an idea of how much clay is used in a year, plus how much paint and di-noc film is used to cover each model. Ford has also released a video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the firm's clay modeling studio in Merkenich, Germany, including interviews with members of the modeling team.