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BMW and Pininfarina to show Gran Lusso Coupé concept at Villa d'Este

BMW and Pininfarina have collaborated on a concept car – the Gran Lusso Coupé – for the 2013 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Previewed in these teaser images, the gloriously glamorous-sounding Gran Lusso (lusso being Italian for ‘luxury') appears to fuse BMW iconography – the front fender vent, Hofmeister kink DLO and horizontal rear lamp treatment – with a little more Latin flair with a rocker that flicks up the rear lamp and joins the shoulder line. The full-width rear lamps also promise to be suitably exotic.

GM expands advanced-vehicle-technology center in California

General Motors unveiled a new technical center dedicated to the development, maintenance and testing of alternative-energy vehicles last week in Torrance, Calif. The company has had local digs for years but recently leased the building next to its existing Advanced Technology Center for an alternative-energy research facility. It now employs a dozen scientists, technicians and engineers to advance the electrification of GM vehicles.

RCA team helps develop all-electric London taxi proposal

The Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design program and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design have collaboratedwith Turkish car manufacturer Karsan to develop a proposal for the first all-electric London taxi. An RCA team – co-led by Professor Dale Harrow and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design's deputy director Rama Gheerawo – has been working with Karsan and its consultancy Hexagon Studio for over a year and to develop a public transport vehicle to suit Londoners of all ages and abilities. The team analyzed a current London taxi in a ‘co-creation workshop' and conducted interviews with taxi drivers, which showed many are over 65 and frequently spend the entire working day inside their cabs.