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Jaguar Land Rover leads UK universities to develop virtual simulation tech

Jaguar Land Rover is to lead four UK universities in a £10m ($15.5m) government scheme to develop virtual simulation technologies and processes to help improve and accelerate the car design process. The carmaker will be leading project teams from the universities of Cambridge, Loughborough, Leeds and Warwick in the Program for Simulation Innovation (PSI), developed to improve the potential of the UK virtual simulation industry. It is hoped that through its results design quality and capability can be improved through the simulation of sights, sounds and smells.

Alan Mulally spells out the future

Ford CEO Alan Mulally is famously on-message, handing out business-card-size versions of his business plan to all and sundry, including his “One Ford” mantra. “One Ford” covers a lot of ground, but it's shorthand for Ford becoming a single entity where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. It's close kin to the concept of building global product platforms that spread costs for product development and parts over the greatest possible volume.

Acura shifts focus to sensible Gen Y shoppers

Honda is ready to begin the makeover of its Acura premium brand this spring, and the timing could hardly be better. In addition to the new ILX small sedan and redesigned RDX compact crossover coming in spring, a tease of the redesigned RL flagship due this fall will be shown at the New York auto show in April. Then, the volume leading TL sedan and MDX mid-sized crossover are slated for 2013 redesigns.