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Video: Jaguar's Julian Thomson on the importance of design values

Jaguar's Head of Advanced Design, Julian Thomson, appeared at this month's PSFK Conference in London giving a talk on design values. Thomson's talk, ‘Concepting Dreams, Making Reality Happen', dealt with questions of creating a design story as well as how Jaguar uses the value of its heritage while keeping things original and new. Thomson – the man behind the 2010 C-X75 and the recently revealed F-Type – said, "You can't get a good design story if you don't look at your heritage, where you came from, where your values came from." He went on to discuss the ‘sad years of Jaguar', from around 1968 to 2004 where Jaguar was too timid to develop and "essentially made the same-looking car." He put this down to a reluctance on Jaguar's part to move too far away from its successful models and, quite interestingly, because "not only did we start doing market research, we started asking Americans what they wanted." Watch the full video on the left.

Ownership costs of traditional versus alternative fuel vehicles

As gas prices remain high, and an increasing number of automakers roll out plug-in hybrid cars and full-electric vehicles, it's becoming easier to be tantalized with the idea of driving right past the gas station and simply "plugging in." The debate ensues when it comes to cost: These alternative fuel vehicles mean a larger outlay of cash at the onset, but the long-term fuel savings could make the purchase worthwhile. To help straighten out this numbers game, we use the Department of Energy's Vehicle Cost Calculator to compare alternative fuel vehicles with their gasoline-only counterparts. For each scenario, we assumed that our hypothetical owner was able to get the full $7,500 federal tax credit and a $2,500 state tax credit, such as is available in California.

Bertone to mark its 100th birthday with Turin exhibition

Bertone is celebrating its 100th birthday with an historic exhibition at Turin's National Car Museum from 29 June to 14 October called ‘One hundred years of car design'. With the support of the Italian Prime Minister, the Region of Piedmont, the Province and City of Turin and the UIGA (Italian Union of Automotive Journalists), this exhibition displays an overview of Bertone's most significant models, such as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint (1954), the Lamborghini Miura (1966), the Lancia Stratos HF (1972) and the Fiat X1/9, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year. Founded in 1912, Bertone is one of the most prestigious and renowned Carrozzeria.