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Contest: Volkswagen Slipstream wins 2007 LA Design Challenge

Volkswagen's Slipstream concept has won the fourth annual Design Challenge competition, part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designer's conference. The award was presented during the second press day of the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show.  The theme of this year's competition, RoboCar of 2057, asked eight automotive design studios in California to form their vision of the future by depicting a vehicle that incorporates artificial intelligence engineered to make life easier and more attractive to consumers 50 years from now. Designers entered two-dimensional renderings and concept descriptions predicting how the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence will integrate into the automobile to make life safer, more practical and attractive, and the entries were judged by multi-discipline design professionals who selected the winner based on its originality of creative concept, integration of robotics and level of adaptation to a variety of environmental conditions and consumer needs.

Chrysler eight-speed gearbox to boost big sedans' fuel economy

Chrysler Group says its new eight-speed automatic transmission will be the first offered on domestically produced automobiles and will boost fuel economy and cut emissions of the company's two full-sized, rear-drive sedans. The transmission initially will be available on 2012 Chrysler 300s and Dodge Chargers powered by Chrysler's 292-hp Pentastar V6 engine, the automaker said Thursday in a statement. The cars are being assembled and will start arriving in dealerships by Oct.

McLaren MP4-12C arrives in USA (video)

The MP4-12C hits the US The McLaren MP4-12C has finally hit the USA, and to celebrate McLaren has put together a video showing its arrival in America. Being a supercar lover in the USA can have its drawbacks, particularly if you have a penchant for supercars from smaller car makers, because the US can be rather tetchy about letting a handful of supercars on American roads, just in case they destroy the fabric of American society. McLaren had that problem with their last car – the iconic McLaren F1 – and it took years for the legislative mess to be sorted to let ultra rich Americans indulge in a bit of McLaren love (mind you, it also lined McLaren’s pockets as they charged and arm and a leg for software to make US F1s legal).