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Pace cadets: At AMG academy, students take their finals with their right feet

Mercedes-Benz USA launched the AMG Challenge in 2002, a program touted as "a chance to experience the thrill of driving the newest Mercedes AMGs on some of America's best racetracks." This year, MBUSA abandoned the Challenge in favor of the AMG Driving Academy, a multistage driver-development program pioneered by AMG in Europe. The difference? According to Greg Clark, AMG manager, "the Challenge was more about the cars, while the Academy is more about the driver." Having participated in both the Challenge and now the Academy, we'd say that difference is subtle, at least as it applies to the one-day program.

ICEM Style creative design software launched

ICEM Ltd, known for its ICEM Surf Class A surface development software, has launched ICEM Style, a new software product developed specifically for use by creative designers in the transportation design and industrial design industry. The launch presentation highlighted the integrated workflow from concept development in ICEM Style, through to refinement in ICEM Surf, enabling designers and engineers to share the same model data throughout the design process. According to ICEM, it is now possible, for the first time in a concept design tool, to design in a photo-realistic modelling environment, without using third-party visualisation products, or to wait for a static rendering to be generated.

Ford Focus facelift (2014) first official pictures

By Damion Smy First Official Pictures 23 February 2014 23:00 Watch out VW Golf: this is the new Ford Focus that’s been unveiled by Ford ahead of the 2014 Geneva motor show. Gone is the bluff, snouty front end of the current car and in its place are sleeker, narrower front and rear lights, a new bonnet, bumpers and a new grille. Yet it lacks the awkward, guppy-like stance of the Fiesta, which was given its new Aston Martin-esque grille in late 2012, and is a much more sophisticated looking car.