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Who's Where: Luc Donckerwolke appointed Head of Advanced Design at VW Group

Luc Donckerwolke has been appointed Head of Advanced Design at the Volkswagen Group effective August 1, 2011. In this new function, he will report directly to Walter de'Silva, Volkswagen Group's Head of Design. Donckerwolke's successor as Director of Design at the Seat brand is Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.

2013 Audi A3 sketches revealed

2013 Audi A3 Hatch - there's also a saloon in the gallery below We’ve already had something of a glimpse of part of the next generation Audi A3 with the reveal at Geneva last month of the Audi A3 Concept. That Audi A3 Concept – which came complete with 400bhp and a boot – was really a look at the next generation RS3 in saloon guise – an Audi A3 that will go down a storm in an America quickly realising the joys of something smaller and swift. But now, for whatever reason, Audi has decided to release sketches of the 2013 Audi A3 in both saloon and hatchback form, together with a single sketch of the interior.