Seadoo Gti Intake Grate 271000763 on 2040-parts.com

SAIC's Mobiliant wins 2013 LA Design Challenge

SAIC has been revealed as the winner of this year's LA Design Challenge. The Chinese carmaker's entry, a single-seat urban public transit vehicle, was declared the victor after intense judging sessions took place throughout the LA auto show's second press day. The panel – which included Tom Matano, executive director, School of Industrial Design at San Francisco's Academy of Art University, and Stewart Reed, chair of Transportation Design at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design – combed through the entries, discussing their merits and how closely they fit the brief, before hearing the teams' presentations in the afternoon.

Fiat 500 Electric 2012 launch

The Fiat 500 Electric Concept was at the Detroit Motor Show this year At the 2010 Detroit Motor Show Fiat brought along an electric concept version of the Fiat 500, together with a Chrysler-badged Lancia as a clear indication that times are changing at Chrysler. And it would appear they’re changing even more quickly than we expected with the announcement that the Fiat 500 EV is going in to production, and will go on sale in the US in 2012. Obviously spurred on by the unexpected success in recent years of that other motoring retro icon the MINI, Fiat are pushing ahead with plans to introduce the regular Fiat 500 in to North America in 2010, although that will be preceded by the 500 Abarth and 500C Abarth, which will be the first versions of the 500 to reach American shores.

Lexus RX 450h Advance added to RX range

The Lexus RX 450h Advance (pictured) added to the RX range Lexus has added a new version of the hybrid RX 450h to their range of offerings in the UK – the Lexus RX 450h Advance – but they’re not exactly pushing the boat out to promote it. The details we got from Lexus tell us that the Advance is based on the RX Luxury, but with the addition of extra kit and just one photo (above). Those extras amount to a new front bumper that’s half regular R and half RX F-Sport for a slightly more butch look, LED headlights and Lexus’s I-AFS auto-adaptive system that makes the lights move according to steering input.