Brazilian students develop soapbox racers for Volkswagen

Brazilian design students have competed for year-long internships at Volkswagen's Brazilian design studio by designing – and racing – soapbox cars. Established 15 years ago by Volkswagen South America design director Luiz Veiga, the Volkswagen Design Talent Contest refreshed its format for 2013 by challenging students to develop a prototype for a gravity-powered soapbox racer instead of asking for sketch and render-based proposals. According to Veiga, Volkswagen was looking for someone "capable of working away from the desk and able to create design solutions, assess and build them".

Toyota halts Lexus GX460 sales worldwide

The 2010 Lexus GX460. Sales have been halted due to safety concerns 2010 is turning in to Toyota’s ‘Annus Horribilis’. Its formerly untouchable reputation for producing bullet-proof cars has been severely damaged by the ‘ThottleGate’ problems, with more damage to Toyota’s reputation being caused by their failure to address a problem they seemed to be all too aware of, rather than the problem itself causing the damage.

College Exhibition: Royal College of Art Show 2006

Fifteen final year students at London's Royal College of Art postgraduate Vehicle Design course have displayed their work in the second part of the internationally renowned annual graduation show. The show featured the work of students in Vehicle Design, Design Products, Industrial Design Engineering, Architecture and Interiors, Computer Related Design, Textiles, Animation, Communication Art and Design, Conservation and History of Design. For the 19th year Pilkington Automotive sponsored the RCA's Vehicle Design Awards.