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First Sight: Mercedes-Benz Concept Style Coupe

The third installment of Mercedes-Benz's ‘small' car family will receive its global preview with a close-to-production concept set to debut at the Beijing motor show next week, but Car Design News has gained an early peek of the official images and details. The Concept Style Coupe heralds the much-vaunted ‘mini-CLS' compact four-door coupe production car (rumored to be dubbed BLS or CLA) that's slated to go on sale in the second half of 2013. It's based on the same new platform – called MFA for ‘Mercedes Front-wheel drive Architecture' – that has already spawned the new A- and B-Class cars.

Lexus Design Awards open for entries under the theme 'Senses'

When we visited Milan Design Week earlier this year, the winners of the Lexus Design Award were a particular highlight – refreshingly free from automotive references, the work was in the true spirit of the city's celebrated annual festival. The theme of the 2015 competition is Senses, which opens up the opportunity for designers to explore sight, sound, smell, taste and/or touch. Entrants will be judged by a panel including architect Toyo Ito, curators Paolo Antonelli and Aric Chen, and Lexus president and former head of Toyota design Tokuo Fukuichi.

One lap of the Web: The 917 song, eating an engine block and Saab sputters back to life?

-- Your author can attest to the aural joy of a properly tuned Porsche flat-six (cooled by air, please), but FlatSixes has posted a video of a 12-cylinder 917K lapping Monza at full-tilt that'll make your mouth water. -- We're all aware of what happens to "end-of-life" vehicles: The crusher or, in many cases, the shredder takes what was once someone's pride and joy and returns it to raw materials. But have you ever seen it happen?