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Tony Williams-Kenny announced as Design Director, SAIC Motor

Tony Williams-Kenny has been announced as the new global Design Director of Chinese automaker, SAIC Motor.  During his previous role as Design Director for SAIC Motor, UK, Williams-Kenny worked on various Roewe products, as well as being responsible for designing a new generation of MG models including the MG3, MG6 and MG Zero – the first concept car from the brand since 1985. When interviewed by CDN last year, we asked him how important design is in the company: "For me it's obvious SAIC gets the need for design and the need for a strong brand design relationship," he answered. "We have a really good review group at senior management level too, who actually want to be involved in design reviews and the decision making process." After gaining an MA in Automotive Design and a BA (Hons) in Transport Design from Coventry University in the UK in 1998, Kenny joined Mitsubishi Europe Design in Trebur, Germany as a designer.

BMW Vision ConnectedDrive (2011) first pictures

This gorgeous two-seat roadster is the BMW Vision ConnectedDrive, set to be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Unlike some of BMW’s other Vision-tagged concept cars, this unfortunately isn’t a thinly disguised production car, but a study designed to highlight the company’s driver assistance systems.  However, although BMW has released no details on the engine or layout under the sexy skin, thankfully the Vision ConnectedDrive’s stunning styling (including the shark nose, wrap-around rear lights and layered body) will find its way onto future production BMWs.  For a start sensors in the headlamps and rear lights monitor the traffic situation and the environment around the car, while instead of wing mirrors there are antennas that receive navigation data and transmit other information. Inside the driver has a 3D head-up display, and the system can project information about the chosen sat-nav route so it appears at the exact point of a possible turn-off. The 3D system also displays information in the foreground or background of the display depending on its relevance.

Turin Dream Exhibition

The 'Dream' exhibition currently taking place at the Giovanni Agnelli Pavilion Esposizioni in Turin is a stroll through almost 60 years of creativity, which convinced the world of carmakers - and consumers - to accept new stylistic features; demand greater performance and safety; and to create new ways to adapt car interiors to the many demands of business and leisure. One of the main events commemorating Torino 2008 World Design Capital, there are 54 one-off examples and three-dimensional objects on view in the 12 galleries, piazza and atrium, including projects from local design schools Instutito Europeo di Design (IED) and the Istituto d'Arte Applicata e Design di Torino (IAAD). IED is showing two projects created by students on its post-graduate course in Transportation Design: the Fiat Panda from 2007 and the 2008 BMW ZX6 - a thesis project created selected as the main photo of the exhibition.