Report: Interior Motives China Conference 2011 – Day 1

Over 300 industry delegates gathered for the opening day of the annual Interior Motives China conference, which this year takes place in Shanghai, just a few days prior to the opening of the international auto show on Tuesday. Interior Motives is CDN's print magazine and this is its 4th annual gathering in China. The title of this year's conference is 'The challenge of being different: establishing a local design direction for China's maturing market', a pertinent topic now China has become the biggest new car market in the world.

Toyota shelves A-BAT pickup concept

Toyota won't build the small, ultramodern A-BAT hybrid pickup concept that was a head-turner at the 2008 Detroit auto show and looked like a good bet for production. "We have a lot of top priorities, and A-BAT is not one of them right now," Bob Carter, Toyota Division's general manager, told the Web site PickupTrucks.com. "It's on the shelf." A Toyota official confirmed Carter's comments.

Ssangyong relaunches brand with Giugiaro-designed Korando

Korean brand Ssangyong is back from the dead. After looking odds-on favorite to become another automotive casualty of the global recession after Chinese owner SAIC put it into receivership in early 2009, the 4x4 specialist has found a new owner in 2010 – signing a memorandum of understanding with Indian company Mahindra & Mahindra in August – and has just re-launched its brand with a new car designed by Giugiaro. The fourth-generation Korando mid-sized crossover – prefaced by the C200 concept shown at the April 2009 Seoul motorshow – is due on sale in January 2011 pending the expected completion of the Mahindra deal in November this year.