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Nissan opens new design studio in Beijing

Delayed by the deadly earthquake that hit Japan earlier this year, Nissan Motor Co.'s new design center in Beijing finally received a proper opening this week, when global design chief Shiro Nakamura showed off the studio as a new source of ideas for Nissan and Infiniti. Nissan Design China, as the Beijing-based center is known, "is not a studio to just generate ideas for China," Nakamura said in an interview with Car Design News. It's equipped to handle designs of show cars and production cars for both Nissan and Infiniti brands, aimed at customers in China, as well as around the world.

The Ford Mustang of the future could have been a Mazda

It seems like enthusiasts are always trying to figure out what Mazda's cooking up. Today, we're curious about how the Japanese automaker will bring its sport-roadster experience to a partnership with Alfa Romeo. In the June 30, 1986 edition of Autoweek, it was whether Mazda and Ford were going to create some sort of pony car love child.

Your official BMW i3 photo gallery

We've seen it so lightly camouflaged that it may as well be a production version, and we've seen official studio shots, but here's your official production BMW i3 city car in the sheetmetal on the road, inside and out, and plugged into a charger. Try to contain yourselves. To help refresh your memory, the new i3 is the first road-going BMW model to be based around an all-carbon-fiber body.