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Interior Motives China Conference 2009

As global automakers such as Porsche put the finishing touches to their show cars in the run-up to the Shanghai Motor Show on April 20th, sister publication Interior Motives is doing the same with its exciting line-up of speakers as it prepares to host the second Interior Motives China design conference in the city the following day. Scheduled to take place on 21st and 22nd April (immediately following the first motor show press day) at the InterContinental Shanghai Pudong hotel, this event will see the biggest names in Chinese, Asian and Western car design come together for a two-day program of interactive debate. Entitled 'China: Changing the landscape of car design', this year's conference will focus on the issues and opportunities facing both foreign and domestic carmakers as they search for commercial success in China.

Crunch watch October 09: the auto industry in crisis

Tuesday 20 October 2009• Honda's CEO said he would consider launching electric vehicles for sale in Europe, Japan and the USA in a possible change of strategy for the Japanese car manufacturer (Automotive News, subscription required)• Ford 59-plate car sales up by 22% in September ‘09 compared to the same month last year. Ford claims a 14.8% share of total new car sales for the same period (Ford)• Porsche, VW and Daimler all sent top executives to the Shanghai motor show in April, but chose to snub the Tokyo motor show this week. The news comes as China’s automotive market is set to become the world’s largest (Bloomberg)• Toyota enters the Korean car market, challenging the 72% market share owned by Hyundai Motor Co (Bloomberg)  Monday 19 October 2009 • The organisers of the Geneva motor show claim that 'all of the major manufacturers have already confirmed their participation' for the March 2010 event (Geneva Palexpo)• Jaguar is auctioning off the first XJ off the line to raise £1m for the NSPCC children's charity.

Volkswagen Makes Virtual Roadster Real

GERMAN car maker Volkswagen has turned the virtual world into reality, as it unveiled its GTI Roadster concept at the famous Woerthersee GTI meeting in Austria recently. The GTI Roadster was originally created as a purely electronic car, to feature in the Sony PlayStation 3 classic, Gran Turismo 6. The result of cooperation between Volkswagen and Sony, the GTI Roadster is the work of three young Volkswagen designers, winners of an in-house competition to design a vehicle to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo game.