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Who's Where: Martin Smith joins Ford Europe design team

Martin Smith has been appointed as Executive Director of Design at Ford Europe. Smith, a native of Sheffield, England, brings a wealth of design experience to Ford, having held positions at Porsche, Audi, and most recently as Director of Design for Opel/Vauxhall. In his new position, he will report to product development chief, Derrick Kuzak and to Ford's global group vice president for Design, J Mays.

Next-gen Passat to offer hybrid and twin-turbo power

VOLKSWAGEN is going even more upmarket with the all-new version of the Passat, which is due to hit showrooms later this year. Soon buyers will be able to include a plug-in hybrid and an all-new 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel among their forecourt options, as VW goes chasing after its sister company Audi. Weight-saving measures have chopped up to 85kg from the new kid on a like-for-like basis, which helps achieve VW's stated efficiency boosts of 20% versus equivalent outgoing Passats.

GM Europe weeks from running out of cash

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 03 March 2009 19:03 GM Europe will run out of cash ‘early in the second quarter’ of 2009, unless the divison secures $3.3bn in funding from European governments. Speaking today (Tuesday 3 March), GM chief operating officer Fritz Henderson revealed that insolvency loomed, due to the plunge in European car sales and GM’s liquidity crisis in North America. He ruled out a swift cash injection from private investors, saying that no talks had taken place and that lengthy negotiations and due diligence would take too long.