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Nissan scales back on auto shows

Nissan said on Friday that it will not participate in some of the major auto shows in its new business year starting April 1, Reuters is reporting. The reason: to save money. This means no Nissan display at the show in Frankfurt in September and probably another absence in Detroit in January 2010.

Mazda Ryuga concept

Mazda North America has released a sketch of its Mazda Ryuga concept to be shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The Mazda Ryuga builds on Mazda's design language 'flow,' most recently seen in the Nagare concept shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Ryuga is Japanese for "gracious flow," and makes use of 'rich fabrics, engineered fits and hidden details,' according to Mazda.

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.