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AutoWeek Design Forum: Johnson Controls designer styles the future

What is inspiration? Johnson Controls design vice president Michael Warsaw pondered that and other style themes on Thursday morning at the AutoWeek Design Forum in Detroit. "It's about having a vision--it's about having that vision be your guidepost," he said.

First sight: Volkswagen Passat (2015)

In recent years, European buyers have been switching their mid-size sedans and wagons for smaller cars, crossovers and SUVs. The Volkswagen Passat, Europe's most successful company car, has defined this market segment pretty much since it arrived back in 1973, and this latest, eighth-generation model has been designed to attempt to reverse that buying trend. When we catch up with design director Dr Klaus Bischoff at the car's unveiling, he's certainly confident that the new car represents a significant step forward.

Top Gear 'regrets' Clarkson remark

TOP GEAR'S producer has apologised after broadcasting a "light-hearted" joke by Jeremy Clarkson that sparked a complaint of racism. The episode, which was filmed in Burma and Thailand and shown in March, featured a scene where the motoring show's stars built a bridge over the River Kwai and as an Asian man walked over it Clarkson said: "That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it." Somi Guha, an actress who complained to the BBC, said the use of the phrase was an example of "casual racism" and "gross misconduct". The BBC2 show's executive producer, Andy Wilman, said: "When we used the word slope in the recent Top Gear Burma Special it was a light-hearted word play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it.