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General Motors Europe opens new Design Center

Being a car designer is often percieved as a glamourous occupation, but few people realise that this typically means working in some of the least inspiring places. Wolfsburg, Detroit and Birmingham are just a few of the locations that are home to some of the largest populations of car designers around the world. GM Europe's location in Russelsheim, Germany is also one of the less glamourous locations but the new design center building opened this week aims to redress the otherwise rather industrial feel of the place where tomorrow's Opels and Saabs are created.

Is the car industry heading toward the past?

Is the future of cars decidedly old school? An NPR blogger certainly thinks so. NPR Business Desk reporter Sonari Glinton recently likened the 2014 Detroit auto show to an era 40 years ago, reflecting the possibility that the renewed zeitgeist of an entire convention indicates a "retro" kind of thinking.

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray: 2013 Detroit Auto Show

Chevrolet has debuted the 2014 Corvette Stingray at the Detroit Motor Show, the most powerful – and fuel efficient – Corvette to date. Revealed at the Detroit Auto Show, the new Corvette – which gets the fabled ‘Stingray’ moniker – comes as standard with a 6.2 litre V8 delivering 450 horses and 450lb/ft of torque which translates in to a properly swift 0-60mph of under four seconds, and yet conspires to offer official economy of 26mpg – just not at the same time. But it looks like the new Corvette may be able to go round corners as well as it goes in a straight line, with a new seven-speed manual ‘box with rev matching driving the power to the rear wheels, and a five position Drive Mode Selector that’s said to tailor 12 vehicle attributes to suit intent and environment.