Vintage Speedometer Instrument Panel Car Automobile on 2040-parts.com

LA Design Challenge 2010 announced

This year will see the seventh running of the annual LA Auto Show Design Challenge when the industry circus hits the US west coast in November. All participating studios have been tasked to envision a 1000lb (454kg) 2+2 vehicle that is both comfortable and secure while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the emotional connection and beautiful styling today's consumers demand. For the first time, design studios from outside the US – from both Germany and Japan – will compete for the prize.

Driven: Ford Mondeo wagon

But the design of this Mondeo is interesting because of this, not despite this. The core challenge for the Ford design team was how to balance delivering a distinctively engaging design with being acceptable to as much as possible of the broad target profile of potential buyer. This is perhaps the biggest unspoken challenge for today's vehicle designer.

Mini and Miles Ahead team up for teen driving school at Indy

Mini has teamed up with new teen driving school Miles Ahead to bring licensed youth to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and train them to drive properly. Indy 500 veteran Stephan Gregoire founded the effort to combat the high number of crashes, injuries and deaths involving teenage drivers. The chance of a teen crashing in the first three years of driving is 82.9 percent, according to Mini, and a 16-year-old is 20 times more likely to be killed in a crash than an adult.