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'Father of the iPod' Tony Fadell joins Autoweek Design Forum

Join Autoweek as we present top designers from inside and outside the auto industry during the 2012 Autoweek Design Forum. This year's event, themed "Designing for Today's Consumer," features presentations by: -- Max Wolff, Design Director, Lincoln -- Clay Dean, Director, North America Advanced Design, and Cadillac Brand Champion, Cadillac -- Peter Schreyer, Chief Design Officer, Kia -- Peter Horbury, Senior Vice President, Design, Geely Group -- Tony Fadell, Founder and CEO, Nest, and "Father of the iPod" The Design Forum will be held at the College for Creative Studies A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education in Detroit.

Lotus not liquidating

When a storied car brand moves only 137 units in a year in the UK and 242 in the US, predictions of said marque's demise carry a certain amount of weight -- 137 is not exactly a number that makes an automaker too big to fail. When the manufacturer in question shows up on a government list of companies to be shut down, brand-enthusiast hearts get heavy; the early stages of mourning kick in. But when the company in question is Lotus, the enthusiast thinks to himself, “Eh, they've been in dire straits before.

Lutz's Cadillac puts on a better show than Lutz

"Hi, I'm Bob Lutz, and this is the Cadillac CTS-V Drive Challenge." General Motors Co.'s marketing chief dons his monogrammed helmet and puts Cadillac's 550-horsepower sedan through some warm-up laps at Monticello Motor Club, a members-only track. In what might have passed as a dismissible moment of Lutz braggadocio, "Maximum" Bob has challenged anyone with a four-door sedan to beat his 2010 CTS-V. Though not a showman by trade, Lutz is bankable for amusing, bald-faced assessments of his employer, his critics and the auto industry at large.