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Hartmut Warkuss to receive 2014 EyesOn Design Catalyst Award

Hartmut Warkuss, former head of Volkswagen Design, will be awarded the 2014 Catalyst Award by EyesOn Design at next week's North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Warkuss, who is credited with overseeing the design of the Bugatti Veyron, the VW Concept (new Beetle) and the Audi TT Concept, will be presented with the award by Peter Schreyer, Hyundai's president and chief design officer and the 2014 recipient of the EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award. Schreyer, who met Warkuss when he was an intern at Audi in 1978, says, "He was chief designer at that time...

Volvo debuts S60L for the Chinese market

If you've tried the Volvo S60, did you get the feeling that it might benefit from a little more legroom in the back? The first-generation S60 and the second-generation S60 are fine automobiles, but if there's one gripe we've heard from owners about their cars, it's that rear-seat legroom could be a tad more generous (on that one day of the year when they have more than two people in the car). For the 2014 model year, Volvo is introducing a long-wheelbase version of the sedan, dubbed the S60L, but it will be available only in the Chinese market where long-wheelbase sedans are "a thing." The S60L will have a wheelbase that is 3.1 inches longer than the standard model, for a total of 112.4 inches, all benefiting rear-seat passengers.

Maybach Zeppelin comes over the horizon

The Maybach Zeppelin - an even bigger waste of money than the standard Maybach Maybach has not exactly been an unmitigated success for Mercedes. Conceived as a competitor for Rolls Royce, it does seem to have carved itself a niche, but probably not the one that Mercedes wanted. Perceived by most as a tarted-up S Class, and bought by the wealthy of the Playstation generation, rather than the Captains of Industry that Mercedes envisioned, the Maybach must be a loss-maker for Mercedes.