Who's Where: John Puskar and Liz Wetzel appointed to new roles at GM Design

As part of an ongoing strategy at General Motors, this past month has seen a series of moves taking place within the company's design organization in Europe and the US. Two of the key changes have been the appointment of John Puskar to the role of Director of Cross-Brand Strategy, C&T and Components in North America, and that of Liz Wetzel, who has been named Director of GME Design Interior – effectively filling Puskar's role. Puskar, who until recently headed the Opel/Vauxhall Interior Design at the European Design Center in Russelsheim, Germany, majored in Industrial Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art and worked at Ford in both the USA and Germany before joining General Motors as a creative designer at the GMC Brand Center in 1999.

Vintage cars cross the auction block at Meadow Brook

An impressive array of gleaming classics crossed the block on Saturday at RM Auctions' Vintage Cars of Meadow Brook sale in a white linen event that showcased the grandeur and glamor of automaking in the Motor City in the early part of the Twentieth Century. The 16 annual auction, held on the eve of the Concours of America at Meadow Brook, is located about a half an hour north of Detroit on the grounds of a mansion where the widow of auto pioneer John Dodge one lived. Unlike the other RM auction, held in an convention hall on the other side of town in the spring, the Meadow Brook event carries an austere demeanor, and the automobiles roll with a similar vibe.

Honda Jazz / Honda Fit recall – faulty electric window switch

Honda is recalling the Jazz/Fit to replace faulty electric window switches It’s not exactly on the scale of the Toyota recall for a sticking throttle, but nevertheless the announcement by Honda that they are recalling almost 650,000 (MY 2002-2008) Honda Fits (that’s the Honda Jazz in the UK) around the world is another blow to a Japanese car maker just as the worst of the auto industry woes of the last year or two seem to be easing. The European Honda Jazz recall seems only to affect RHD cars, so it looks like it’s just the UK that needs a fix to the master window switch on the driver’s door on 171,00 models here. If the window gets left open for long periods – or if there are long periods of heavy rain – water can get in to the switch and cause it to malfunction and, at worst, catch fire.