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AutoDesign Prague 2013: Design from the Heart of Europe

Charismatic designers, inspirational speeches and beautiful cars in an informal and friendly atmosphere was the order of the day at the third edition of the international automotive design conference AutoDesign Prague, which once again highlighted the importance of car culture and tradition's strong roots within the Czech Republic. In recent years, speakers have included prominent figures from the world of automotive design such as the Geely Group's Peter Horbury, Dassault Systèmes' Anne Asensio, Pininfarina's Fabio Filippini and design consultant Peter Stevens. This year's conference was themed ‘Design from the Heart of Europe' and so featured many Czech and Slovakian speakers.

Hyundai i20 facelift and Veloster Turbo at 2012 Geneva motor show

Hyundai has significant new model news and a piece of range expansion to announce at the 2012 Geneva motor show with the unveiling of a facelifted i20 supermini and a spanking fresh turbo diesel for its Veloster coupe-cum-hatchback.  One at a time now – will the Veloster line up neatly behind the i20 please. What’s happening to that then? Perhaps slightly stung by critics in some quarters dismissing the Mk1 i20 as being rather Euro-bland, the Korean’s all-new i20 is a rather pretty-looking thing. Nose-wise it has a wide-mouthed, grinning hexagonal grille and little creases filtering up from it and the headlamp cluster, which look uncannily like laughter lines.

Nissan Qashqai: UK 2011 changes

The Nissan Qashqai n-tec 2011 with its posh new alloys We reported last week on the changes revealed for the 2011 Nissan Qashqai in Japan (the Nissan Dualis), and speculated that some of these, and perhaps others, would spill over to the Nissan Qashqai in the UK and Europe. So it was no huge surprise to get an email from Nissan this morning detailing changes to the Qashqai for 2011 in the UK. Stop/Start turns up as an option for the first time on the 1.6 litre petrol Qashqais (for £200) which, if you can get in to the habit of sticking the car in neutral and foot off the clutch every time you grind to a halt in traffic, can yield decent fuel savings.