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Driving 'too pricey' for the young

A THIRD of young people say driving is not too expensive and they will not bother to learn to drive or buy a car. A study of 17- to 25-year olds found a third (35%) had decided against driving or owning a car because of the expense involved. Many cited the cost of driving lessons as a disincentive and they also believe it is cheaper to use public transport than own a car themselves.

Exclusive: Frank Stephenson to become Design Director at McLaren

Thanks to our contacts in the automotive design community, we've become aware that Frank Stephenson, who until recently was Director of Design at Alfa Romeo, will be taking on a new role as Design Director at McLaren. "McLaren is pleased to confirm that Frank Stephenson will shortly join as Design Director," a company spokesperson told CDN, but would not reveal additional details. Stephenson was not prepared to comment.

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.