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Who's Where: Jason Castriota opens own design consultancy

Former Bertone and Pininfarina designer, Jason Castriota, has opened his own design consultancy based in New York and Turin. CDN recently caught up with Castriota - who is currently in New York - and discovered he's already working on a series of projects, despite having not yet officially launched the company. Castriota told us that it had always been his "dream to have my own consultancy in New York", yet what's clearly pleasing him most is the volume of work he's already accrued, without officially launching the firm.

BMW ready to shift small coupes, convertibles to even-number nameplates

Reports in Europe say that BMW is planning a shake-up in the naming strategy for its smaller coupes and convertibles, as well as planning to shift its 1-series cars onto a front-drive platform. The nameplate shake-up will have coupe and convertible variants of the 1-series become the 2-series, while coupe and convertible variants of the 3-series will become the 4-series. The changeover is expected to start in 2013, according to a report on the Web site of Car magazine.

Japanese Grand Prix 2012: Vettel on pole for Red Bull

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position in tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, ahead of team mate Mark Webber. It looks like Red Bull have found form again ahead of tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel taking pole position and Mark Webber in second place. Behind the Red Bulls is Jenson Button in the McLaren, although he’ll actually start five places back after a penalty for changing a gearbox after Singapore – probably wise after Hamilton retired in Singapore after his gearbox gave up the ghost.