Volkswagen Touareg

Volkswagen revealed the all-new Touareg at a launch event in Munich. The second generation SUV is longer than its predecessor, but also lighter and lower for improved efficiency. Significant aerodynamic work was undertaken to refine the design to achieve a lower Cd value.

UPDATED: Aston Martin sold

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 12 March 2007 09:38 Aston Martin is today under new owners, following the sale of Britain’s premier sports car company to an investment consortium. After 20 years of ownership, Ford divested itself of the brand, its facilities and its products, in a deal valuing Aston at £479m.   The new owner is a consortium led by David Richards, boss of automotive consultancy Prodrive, who helped to unite two private investment companies from Kuwait. Adeem Investment, which already owns the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, has a portfolio worth $1.5 bn.

Design Services: Car Menu launched

Within almost every automotive design department throughout the world, their comes a time when a junior designer is dispatched to find a picture of some new model's tail lamp, the side view of a particular class leading competitor or examples of several new cars' colour and trim packages. Whilst looking at the competition is not necessarily a healthy way of finding ideas, it is often essential to demonstrate what is feasible, check in-house proposals are not too derivative, or show how advanced a design theme is relative to the same type of cars on the market. But even if the particular aspect of a car can be found, press packs and magazines typically show cars in the flattering light of an exotic location or being drifted around a corner on opposite lock; rarely are these images particularly useful.