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Aston Martin AM310 makes a quiet debut at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este

The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is more than a celebration of classic automotive design. It's also a great opportunity to view cutting-edge concept vehicles. This year's event saw the debut of the BMW Zagato coupe concept, and the Alfa Romeo 4C concept took home the concours' coveted “Design Award for Concept Cars & Prototypes.” You'd never know it based on the official coverage (or lack thereof), but Aston Martin also unveiled a concept at the concours.

Mercedes-Benz axes Maybach

High ranking Mercedes-Benz sources have confirmed to Autoweek that the underperforming Maybach brand will be officially killed off in 2013. The decision to disband Mercedes-Benz’s upper luxury marque comes after a decade of disappointing sales for the Maybach 57 and 62 and a recent decision from the German car maker’s chairman Dieter Zetsche not to push ahead with the development replacement models – the likes of which were tentatively due out in 2014 – owing to what one insider describes as a “positive move to focus greater attention on the Mercedes-Benz brand” . “We’ve come to the conclusion that it is better to cut our losses with Maybach than to continue into an uncertain future with a brand that has failed to live up to original sales expectations," the insider said.

Who's Where: Walter de'Silva appointed Head of VW Group Design

Volkswagen has just announced that Walter de'Silva, 55, has been appointed Head of Volkswagen Group Design. Since March 2002, de'Silva has been Head of Design at the now discontinued Audi brand group. There, in addition to supervising the Audi brand design, he was also in charge of Seat and Lamborghini.