Vw Tire&wheels on 2040-parts.com

Exclusive: Frank Stephenson to become Design Director at McLaren

Thanks to our contacts in the automotive design community, we've become aware that Frank Stephenson, who until recently was Director of Design at Alfa Romeo, will be taking on a new role as Design Director at McLaren. "McLaren is pleased to confirm that Frank Stephenson will shortly join as Design Director," a company spokesperson told CDN, but would not reveal additional details. Stephenson was not prepared to comment.

Audi A6, A6 Avant & A7 Black Edition launched

Audi has released Black Edition version of the A6 Saloon, A6 Avant and A7 with extra equipment and cosmetic tweaks. Audi has taken the S Line A6, A6 Avant and A7 and given them a ‘Black’ makeover for a special edition range that starts at £35k and carries on to almost £57k. Cosmetic and equipment additions over and above the regular S Line Spec include rotor-design alloys with a dark titanium finish (20″ on A6, 21″ on A7), black finish for the grill and window surrounds, privacy glass and black roof rails on the A6 Avant. Inside there’s Piano Black trim, black leather seats and black headlining.

2009 EyesOn Design Awards

The winners at the fourth annual EyesOn Design Awards held at the 2009 NAIAS in Detroit last week read like a serving of alphabet soup, with the top awards going to Audi, BMW and Cadillac. Presided over by 20 top design executives from automotive manufacturers and by academics from transportation design programs, the EyesOn Design awards are presented by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) - an internationally recognized non-profit organization known for helping the blind and visually impaired. Founding Chairman Tom Gale (former Vice President of Design at Chrysler) selected the following people to head up this year's jury: Chris Bangle, Director of Group Design for BMW; William 'Willie' G.