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How South America designed the Ford Ka

The Ka Concept was shown at the São Paulo auto show in Brazil in November 2013, and was revealed in production form last week. It marks the first time the Ka has reflected the broader brand homogeneity of the 'One Ford' design strategy, and continues the Ka's shift in direction from the distinctive original.The new car is the work of Ford's South American design studio in Camaçari, Brazil - its second 'One Ford' car, following the EcoSport. But while the crossover enters a new segment, the 17-year history of the Ka nameplate in Brazil gives an insight into how the demands of the local market have taken precedence over design iconicity.

New Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept leaks

The Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept (pictured) leaks ahead of its debut The next models in line at Land Rover for a complete makeover are the Freelander and the Discover, both of which are going to be badged Discovery and will be previewed by the Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept at the New York Auto Show in a few days. But we already have the first photo of the new Discovery Vision Concept after Jalopnik published it this afternoon. The new Discovery certainly has influences form the new Range Rover, but it also offers more than a passing resemblance to the Ford Explorer – but then the Ford Explorer was plagiarised from Land Rover in the first place, so that’s probably not a real problem.

Is the McLaren P1 order book about to close?

We’re hearing that McLaren is ready to close the order book for their P1 supercar before the specification – or the car – have been fully revealed. We’ve had the reveal of the P1 Concept – and seen it floating round the world as McLaren drum up potential customers with enormous bottomless pockets – and we’ve even seen the P1 on the move as McLaren shake down the development version of the P1. But so far we haven’t had the full specs of the P1 revealed and, as far as we can tell, McLaren hasn’t even divulged the full details of the P1′s power and performance to potential customers – no matter how wealthy they are.