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ENG Automotive Design Summit 2005

 A sunny Stockholm was the venue for the 3rd Automotive Design Summit organised by European Networking Group (ENG) and this year the event, for the first time, was supported by Car Design News. The summit took place April 18-19 in the stylish Clarion Hotel in the heart of Stockholm, close to the 'Gamla Stan' or old town, and was enjoyed by around sixty delegates from the international automotive design community. The two-day summit opened with an interesting introduction by Sebastien Rosel, Product Manager from Dassault Systemes on the new Catia V5 software.

New Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive goes in to production

The first Mercedes B-Class ED (pictured) rolls off the production line in Rastatt With the BMW i3 grabbing headlines – and flying out of showrooms – as BMW’s first electric car, Mercedes need to play catch-up with a convincing EV of their own, and that’s the new B-Class Electric Drive – an EV version of the regular B-Class – which has now gone in to production in Germany. Built alongside regular ICE versions of the B-Class at Mercedes’ Rastatt Plant, the B-Class ED (Electric Drive) looks practically the same as its more conventionally powered siblings – although the front bumper does look a bit different – and has an electric motor good for 177 bhp and 250 lb/ft of torque, can manage a scoot to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and has a range of up to 124 miles. The range – at least the quoted range – is a chunk better than the BMW i3′s and on a par with the latest Nissan LEAF, thanks to EV technology provided by Tesla, and the wrapping of an EV drivetrain in a conventional series production car could appeal to more buyers than the ‘statement’ design of the BMW i3.

BMW Project i – Isetta revived?

Does the Isetta video from the BMW Museum give a clue to BMW's 'Sub Brand' for its Project i City Cars? It now seems that this is getting closer to reality, as BMW has let it be known that the range of small city cars they are working on as part of the ‘BMW Project i’ will be launched as a ‘Sub Brand’. But what does that mean?