Art Center BMW/Exa project

There's a new sponsored project that is just getting under way at Art Center College of Design, the likes of which hasn't been seen in a very long time - if at all. The school's Transportation Design department has helped bring together BMW with Exa Corporation, a Boston-based virtual aerodynamic simulation company, and has tasked the students to re-design the current BMW X5 Sports Activity Vehicle with the hope of dramatically increasing its aerodynamic efficiency while still retaining the BMW flagship SAV design language. This brief is quite timely in the context of the industry's ongoing focus with sustainability and strikes at the core of the BMW Group's long term energy strategy known as the concept of Efficient Dynamics.

Suzuki Swift Sport gets 5 doors & costs £14,249

The new Suzuki Swift Sport 5-door (pictured) offers a more practical option to the Sport The Suzuki Swift Sport arrived in the UK at the end of 2011, and although it wasn’t exactly the sort of hot hatch that would make a Fiesta ST quake in its boots it did up the fun factor from Suziki’s more than decent Swift. In fact, the 3-door Swift Sport did a bit more than up the fun factor, it got Australia’s advertising authorities up in arms about its ‘suggestive’ advertising and got itself banned from Ozzie TV for being too ‘hot’. Which probably didn’t do sales any harm at all.

Show Review: Salon Prive 2009

In the US, Germany and Japan, and in practically all of the world's largest economies, the streets are dominated by cars from domestic brands. Locals may not notice their patriotic automotive landscape, but visitors interested in car design tend to see the consistent aspects of each region's particular car composition - the different sizes, configurations, colors and general aesthetic. But not in the UK.