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Interior Motives launches 2011 Design Awards

Registration for the ninth Interior Motives Student Design Awards has now opened. This is your chance to take part in one of the most important events on the design calendar, and to display your talent and fresh thinking to the world's top vehicle designers and automotive press. The theme of this year's competition is 'Back to Basics - Making Cars for People, Not Markets' and has been devised in collaboration with Volkswagen and Peugeot.

Off the line: Fun cars and social responsibility Autoweek op-ed stands the test of time

It's been almost 21 years to the day that Autoweek printed Matt DeLorenzo's column “Off the Line: There's room for fast, fun cars in diet of social responsibility.” And in those two decades plus, not much has changed except the vehicles themselves. For example, sports cars like the Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Huayra have astronomically high performance and safety levels; similarly, sport-utility vehicles that haul entire families (and most of their earthly possessions) achieve fuel economy similar to that of 1970s midsize sedans. To read all of DeLorenzo's thoughts and his case for automobiles, click the links to download the article.

SEAT Leon Cupra and Cupra 280 revealed

SEAT Leon Cupra and Cupra 280 revealed SEAT has come out fighting in the hot hatch stakes, and has revealed two versions of the Leon Cupra with up to 276bhp. Based on similar underpinnings to VW’s Golf GTI, the Leon goes much further than the GTI by offering a choice of two Cupra versions, 261bhp in the manual three-door SC or a mighty 276bhp in the Cupra 280. The 261bhp Cupra manages to get to 62mph in 5.9 seconds with the Cupra 280 cutting that to 5.7 seconds when fitted with DSG ‘box, with economy for the manual Cupras at 44.1mpg, and 42.2 mpg if you opt for the DSG ‘box.