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Jag designers light up London’s Clerkenwell Design Week

Clerkenwell Design Week might not mean much to car designers more used to motor shows like Tokyo or Geneva. But the five-year-old event is fast becoming a fixture in the broader design calendar, and has been sponsored by Jaguar for the past four years for good reason. In simple terms, Jaguar wants to be seen (and respected) beyond the automotive realm: "We want to connect with other designers and have our designers learn from designers in other fields," advanced design director Julian Thomson told Car Design News.

Mercedes-Benz introduces nine-speed automatic gearbox

Mercedes-Benz has quietly slipped a new nine-speed automatic into its lineup as standard equipment on the European market E350 BlueTec. The new in-house produced unit, known internally under the name 9G-Tronic, has long been slated for selected Mercedes-Benz models. However, its existence was officially denied until the weekend, when Mercedes-Benz's German language website configurator went live with various updates for the E-class lineup -- including an entry signaling the 9G-Tronic is now available on the standard rear-wheel drive E350 BlueTec in place of the older seven-speed.

Fun with fiberglass: Petersen exhibit celebrates moldable material

To be an artisan in aluminum or the Stradivarius of steel, you need about 40 years as an apprentice working metal with pinchers and pullers and to spend a lot of time rolling sheets back and forth through an English wheel. To make something out of fiberglass, all you need is resin. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is celebrating all things fiberglass--especially the cars--with an exhibit that runs through Oct.