Whos Where: David Wilkie joins Mindset

Design Director, David Wilkie, announced last week that he is leaving Bertone to take up a full time position at Mindset AG. Mindset is a new company run by Murat Günak, previously head of Design at Volkswagen, that is developing the electric ‘Commuter' car previewed by Car Design News in February this year. Car Design News spoke with Wilkie about the move, who explained that he'd been working for Mindset part time, leading the design of the Commuter interior for several months now, but "I decided that for the good of Bertone, and for Mindset, that I needed to commit full time to one position; and the appeal of having my hands-on as a designer was very strong; and it's a project I really want to see through properly!" Wilkie is still committed to carrying through several projects at Bertone over the next few weeks as he makes the transition to working with Günak with whom he studied at the Royal College of Art.

Porsche 918 Spyder laps Nurburgring in under 7 minutes

The Porsche 918 Spyder (pictured) laps the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes When the McLaren P1 was first revealed, Ron Dennis told us it would lap the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes. But it seems the best the McLaren P1 has managed so far is a 7:04, so it’s no surprise McLaren hasn’t officially declared its time as they probably knew it wasn’t enough, but also knew that Porsche has managed to take the new 918 Spyder round the ‘Ring in just 6:57s. That 6:57 by the Porsche 918 Spyder isn’t quite as quick as the Radical, but as the Radical has only single type approval, Porsche are justifiably claiming the 918 Spyder’s time as the quickest by a proper production car, beating the previous record of 7:11s set by the Gumpert Apollo.

Volvo XC60 R-design – more detail

Volvo has released more details of the XC60 R-Design Although the XC60 R-Design doesn’t get any sort of power boost, it does get some tweaks to the setup to provide a more sporty drive. Volvo has stiffened up the chassis and added more damping, and tweaked the steering ratios to give a quicker response.  But Volvo reckons this has virtually  no impact on ride quality (which begs the question ‘Why didn’t they do it to start with if there’s no trade-off’) and sensibly they have not gone down the lowered suspension route, so the XC60 still has good ground clearance. Volvo has added a rear seat entertainment package option to the XC60 On the cosmetic front, the R-Design gets body coloured lower section, matt silk metallic finish for the trim and chrome tailpipes.