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Listen: Upcoming Ford Focus ST to employ sound symposer

While BMW employs a digitally sanitized/perfected sound file to give M5 owners the proper sense of aggro urgency when motoring at pace, Porsche went a little more organic with its employment of a sound symposer to feed the 911's flat-six growl into the cabin of the extra-refined 991. Essentially, the sound symposer is an electrically controlled diaphragm in a tuned sound tube that brings the proper engine noises into the passenger compartment. It can be opened and closed by the car's onboard electronics to offer snarl when you want it and serenity when you don't.

Bentley uses 3D printing to prototype new designs [w/Video]

3D printing is changing the way the world makes things by helping people of all disciplines to enhance and refine their ideas cheaply, quickly and effectively.  Bentley is the latest carmaker to utilize the technology to fabricate and prototype different parts to see how they'll look and work on the finished design. Using 3D printers, designers can produce parts from the exterior and interior such as the grille, tires, headlamps and door handles as well as combine different types of contrasting materials, ranging from hard plastics to rubbers of different tensile strengths.  The technology allows the user to create a solid 3D object straight from a digital model by printing layers of material on top of each other. This process rapidly decreases the delivery time, as parts can be printed overnight, and allows designers to be more creative in their ideas because of the reduced cost. Bentley isn't the first carmaker to use 3D printing technology. Audi announced last year it was beginning to prototype vehicle parts using 3D printers.

Mercedes S-Class Maybach spied (video)

The Mercedes S-Class Maybach hits the Nurburgring The new Mercedes S-Class is already starting to proliferate, with a wide range of engines, two wheelbases and the CL Coupe’s replacement – the new S-Class Coupe – already hitting the market. But Mercedes are far from finished extending the S-Class franchise, and we’ve got two more versions of the S-Class Saloon – the Maybach and Pullman – still to come, and the arrival of the S-Class Convertible still to come. And now it looks like the S-Class Maybach – effectively a replacement for the ill-fated Maybach brand – is getting closer to debut with this S-Class Maybach spotted testing at the Nurburgring.