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Giugiaro honored in Korean ceremony

Giorgetto Giugiaro has received honors from the South Korean Government for his contribution to the nation's fledgling automotive industry.  In a ceremony in Seoul, Giugiaro received the prestigious 'Order of Merit' from the President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-bak. The relationship between Italdesign Giugiaro and Korea stretches back to the 1970s, a period of significant growth for the Korean nation, stifled only by its lackluster automotive industry.  It fell to the Italian designer to invigorate an industry that survived on reassembling and rebranding foreign domestic models. Giugiaro's solution was the simple Hyundai Pony.

Chancellor to ‘freeze fuel duty’ until 2015?

The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, has announced that fuel duty will be frozen until 2015 – if the savings can be found to pay for it. The announcement came during a speech at the Conservative party conference, in which George Osborne said: “Provided we can find the savings to pay for it, I want to freeze fuel duty for the rest of this parliament.” The 2p-a-litre rise planned by the Labour government for September 2014 would be cancelled, continuing a freeze that has lasted two-and-a-half years already. But this is conditional on the treasury finding the funds to cover it.

Mercedes Biome (2010) first official pictures

Now, what on earth, or for that matter not from earth have we got here? It's the Mercedes Biome concept supercar. It's a product of Merc's Los Angeles design studio, and they prefer to describe it as an 'Ultralight vehicle at one with nature.' The Biome was produced as part of the Los Angeles Design Challenge, taking part alongside the 2010 LA auto show.