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Car makers shun Detroit show NAIAS 2009

By Simon Stiel Motor Shows 27 November 2008 11:28 The number of car makers pulling out of Detroit's major auto show, the North American International Auto Show 2009, is growing. The very survival of Detroit is being questioned as Congress debates the $25 billion aid package to save GM, Ford and Chrysler – and now it looks as if the NAIAS is under threat too. In the past weeks, Ferrari, Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki have announced their withdrawal from the show, which is scheduled to begin on 11 January 2009.

Video: J Mays walks us around Ford EcoSport

Earlier this month, Ford unveiled its EcoSport compact SUV at the Delhi Auto Expo. The B-segment crossover is a key component in the brand's ‘One Ford' global strategy, underlined by the fact it was designed in Brazil under the direction of Joa Marcos De Oliveira Ramos. Here Ford's Group Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer, J Mays, talks us through the five design elements of the car.

Scuola Politecnica di Design announces Chris Bangle workshop

Italy’s Scuola Politecnica di Design has announced a seven-day workshop with former BMW Group design boss Chris Bangle at its campus in Milan. Themed ‘Future Personal Emotional Mobility’ and scheduled to run from 18 to 24 September 2009, the workshop invites design degree graduates and experienced car designers to take part in a project to create a new breed of sustainable shared transportation for the year 2050. Based on the concept that the mass migration of people from the countryside to cities will in the future create even more social, economic and ecological differences between population zones, this event will see attendees work closely with Bangle towards designing systems that engage on an emotional as well as an economic level, satisfying the personal transportation needs – and desires – of a disparate global population while minimising impact on the environment.