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Finalists announced in Car Design News-Opel/Vauxhall interactive competition exterior design phase

Car Design News is pleased to announce the finalists in the exterior design phase of the Car Design News – Opel/Vauxhall interactive design competition. Pierin Giacomo and Victor Uribe of IED school of design in Turin (who are finalists in the interior phase) are joined by Jadir E Minutti, from IAAD in Turin, Italy and Lina, from Creapole school in Paris, France. The approaches of the students to the exterior design phase differed greatly, and because of this the judges felt that four, rather than three, students merited being invited to Geneva where the winner of the exterior design phase will be announced, together with those for the interior phase which closed in December 2010.

Volvo S90, V90 and V90 Cross Country on the way

The Volvo V70 (pictured) will become the new Volvo V90 All the talk for Volvo lately has been the new 2015 Volvo XC90, an impressive offering that really does look like it will take the fight in the ‘Premium’ SUV market to the Germans (and even to Land Rover). But the new XC90 is just the start of Volvo’s new model line-up, and the next couple of years will see more new models arriving with Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and the new range of 4-cylinder, 2.0 litre engines. What we now also know, thanks to Volvo’s Dennis Nobelius, is that the replacements for the S80, V70 and XC70 won’t use the current nomenclature but will be given new names to better reflect their upmarket aspirations (and their place in Volvo’s new line-up).

2013 Toyota RAV4 leaks ahead of LA debut

The 2013 Toyota RAV4 is due to be unveiled at the 2012 Los Angeles Motor Show tomorrow, but thanks to a leak of photos we already know how it looks. The photos show a new RAV4 that is less boxy and sleeker, taking some styling cues from the new Auris, and looks fit to take the battle to cars like the new Ford Kuga and new Subaru Forester. It may not quite look a “…new generation rewriting the rules in style” as Toyota told us, but it does look more contemporary.