Raybestos 2093b Wheel Stud, Rear on 2040-parts.com

Brief 5 – Sculpting: CDN–GM Interactive Design Competition

The Car Design News and General Motors Interactive Design Competition is now open. It offers you the choice of five briefs, each set by GM's design teams, and entries are invited at http://www.cardesigncontest.com/ Sculpting, the fifth and final brief, is new for this year's running of the design competition. The challenge is to explore automotive sculpting; the fundamental principles of line, form, proportion and scale.

Fiat wants a crossover to compete against the Volkswagen Golf

Fiat has decided it won't launch a new conventional hatchback to rival the Volkswagen Golf, Europe's best-selling car. Instead, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wants the Italian automaker to replace its slow-selling Bravo compact hatchback with an all-new high-roof crossover inspired by the hot-selling Nissan Qashqai. Marchionne first hinted at Fiat's plan to make the bold product move at the Detroit auto show in January.

Video: Yasushi Nakamuta on Mazda 3's 'unique' design process

It may be leaden with PR-talk but this short presentation by Yasushi Nakamuta, Mazda's director of advanced design studio at the press unveiling of the new Mazda 3 in Melbourne is still worth a couple of minutes of your time. But while the 3 is undeniably attractive we can't help but feel that the 'unique' design process Nakamuta describes (which appears wholly conventional to us) has resulted in little more than a thoroughly normal product. Take a look for yourself at the video to your left.