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Fioravanti expands into China in partnership with Eastone

Renowned Italian design house Fioravanti has formed a partnership with Shanghai-based design and engineering consultancy Eastone. The aim of this powerful duo is to deliver a wide range of design and build services directly to Chinese OEMs, with the first fruit of their labors being a concept car for Chinese manufacturer BAIC, to be unveiled at the Beijing auto show. For the first time in their own country, Chinese OEMs can now benefit from the time-served capabilities, knowledge and car culture typical of a leading Italian design house, while simultaneously gaining from the local knowledge, strong relationships and powerful commercial strength of a domestic design company.

Toyota Matrix

Toyota unveiled the second-generation Matrix at the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show last week. Based on the Corolla sedan, the sporty five-door 'crossover' has been totally redesigned for the 2009 model year. Development of the new Matrix focused on svelte exterior styling with enhanced interior utility and improved performance.

Whos Where: David Wilkie joins Mindset

Design Director, David Wilkie, announced last week that he is leaving Bertone to take up a full time position at Mindset AG. Mindset is a new company run by Murat Günak, previously head of Design at Volkswagen, that is developing the electric ‘Commuter' car previewed by Car Design News in February this year. Car Design News spoke with Wilkie about the move, who explained that he'd been working for Mindset part time, leading the design of the Commuter interior for several months now, but "I decided that for the good of Bertone, and for Mindset, that I needed to commit full time to one position; and the appeal of having my hands-on as a designer was very strong; and it's a project I really want to see through properly!" Wilkie is still committed to carrying through several projects at Bertone over the next few weeks as he makes the transition to working with Günak with whom he studied at the Royal College of Art.