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Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.

Skoda Superb (2008) teaser

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 16 January 2008 16:57 Skoda has released this teaser picture of the Superb ahead of its Geneva Motor Show debut. Although Geneva isn’t until March 2008, Skoda is already drip-feeding information about next year’s new Superb. First on the list is this teaser picture of the big barge, which will use parts from the current Passat.

Ford site weighs F-150 against rivals

Ford has launched a comparison Web site for the F-150 pickup that illustrates how its truck stacks up against the competition--packed with video footage, testimonials and data. On the site, you can choose to dive into "torture test" footage of the F-150, or you can opt to complete the head-to-head pickup comparison test to find the F-150 engine that best suits your needs, and how it compares with rival trucks. First, visitors are prompted to select whether the engine will be used for work or play, how much weight it will be required to haul (up to 2,860 pounds) and how many pounds it will need to tow (up to 11,300).