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Pforzheim University - Honda F1 'off track' project

Students of the Masters in Transportation Design course at Pforzheim University in Germany have been working on a rather special project: to create designs for ‘off-track' cars for Honda's F1 drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, incorporating Honda's environmentally conscious fuel-cell technology. Sponsored by Honda R&D Europe, the project has been running for the last three years. This year the vehicles had to be designed with a theme based on a GP host country of each student's choice.

Toyota Prius points the way to design future

For a glimpse of Toyota's future design trends, check out the Prius. The third generation, debuting Monday in Japan, stays true to the line's role as a vanguard of futuristic styling and sports many new elements that will be popping up soon in other models. Chief among these are the sharply creased corners, the forward placement of the Toyota badge, a lowered grille and styling that Toyota's global design chief Wahei Hirai calls "free-form geometrics." The goal was to create an avant-garde, high-tech look that also screams green.

2014 Ford Transit Connect Wagon announced

Ford has introduced the 2014 Transit Connect Wagon, a vehicle the automaker is calling “so unique it is a revolution in seven-passenger transportation.” We won't know whether or not it is truly revolutionary until we can get behind the wheel, but at first glance, the new vehicle appears to be a very tall wagon or a small minivan, or a Transit Connect with larger windows. The Transit Connect Wagon is tied to Ford's current car lineup aesthetically via the characteristic Blue Oval hexagonal grille, but it's the van/wagon's utility that will likely become its biggest selling point. Ford claims the Transit Connect Wagon will be able to swallow a 1,200 lb.