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UPDATED: Honda hints at new European advanced design studio

On the eve of the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, Honda Design's Creative Director, Toshinobu Minami, announced that the company is looking to once again open a design facility in Europe. The announcement came during a presentation at the R&D Center in Waco, just outside the Japanese capital and, while not confirmed, Minami-san strongly hinted that the UK would be a likely candidate to play host to Honda's revitalized European design operations. He cited the country's existing manufacturing and administration facilities, as well as a wealth of new talent from the Royal College of Art in particular.

Toyota Aygo Crazy set for Goodwood debut

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 02 July 2008 10:41 Toyota will bring its 'shopping supercar' – the Aygo Crazy – to the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed, which kicks off next week. It's a one-off, attention-grabbing supermini with a mid-engined layout like the Renault Clio V6.  The racing Aygo uses a 200bhp turbocharged version of Toyota's 1.8 VVT-i engine from the Celica and MR2 – making it somewhat more powerful than the regular Aygo's 68bhp. A 200bhp Aygo?

Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.