Ford door protector takes the sting out of dings

Nothing ruins car joy like a door ding--whether it's the first blemish on your pride and joy or the latest door divot. Now, the engineers at Ford in Europe have developed a way to take the sting out of the parking lot--a retractable door-edge protector for the Ford Focus. It's no surprise that this comes from Europe, where roads are narrow and parking spaces are squeezed tight.

Kia Car Design Award winners announced in Beijing

The first Kia Car Design Award was successfully concluded on 20 May in Beijing, with Chinese student Li Bai being presented the prize for first place by Seon-Ho Youn, Vice President of Kia Design Center. Bai, from Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, became the first ever winner of the award for his Kia Rhyme Concept, described by Seon-Ho Youn as "a perfect combination of design and Chinese culture." Bai's luxury sports car concept was inspired by Chinese philosophy, which can be seen in the headlamp design that reflects the traditional Chinese Ba gua, or ‘Eight Diagrams'. These are eight diagrams used in Taoist cosmology that represent the fundamental principles of reality through three lines, each line either 'broken' or 'unbroken', representing either yin or yang.

Munich University of Applied Sciences degree show 2009

The University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Germany, held their annual degree show earlier this summer, hosting an array of projects from various design disciplines, including industrial, photo and communication design as well as transportation design projects. The nine graduating students from the Transportation Design department, headed by Professor Dr. Othmar Wickenheiser, presented projects of sponsored by Audi, BMW, Ford, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, while continuing students showed proposals for concepts sponsored by Mercedes-Benz trucks (entitled 'Dirty Business'), Lamborghini (themed 'Raw Material') and Semcon.