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Michelin Challenge Design announces 2009 jury

Michelin Challenge Design, one of the world's top design competitions, has announced its panel of judges for 2009. The distinguished group of automotive design leaders will meet in July at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, to select the vehicle designs and concepts for special exhibition at the 2009 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit next January. This year marks the eighth year for the international competition.

Driven: Citroën C4 Cactus

It wasn't our intention to hunt down random old Citroëns in the new C4 Cactus – on our first acquaintance with this new car in Amsterdam, they found us. The first was a beige 1971 DS Safari. It cruised by as we stopped for a photocall on the outskirts of the Dutch capital.

Ford's automotive assembly line celebrates 100th anniversary

A mere century ago, on Oct. 7, 1913, Henry Ford rigged up a rope tow to get Model T chassis across the floor of his Highland Park assembly plant -- essentially winching cars across the factory floor and adding a set schedule of parts at certain intervals. The implementation may have been a bit primitive, but Ford was on the cusp something big: applying the concepts of the moving assembly line to the complicated, costly process of automobile production.