Camoplast - 9033c - Freeride Cross-country Tracks, 14in. X 121in. on 2040-parts.com

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.

Jaguar F-Type: Comparable to the Aston Martin Vantage?

Should we be thinking of the new Jaguar F-Type as a bargain alternative to an Aston Martin V8 & V12 Vantage rather than a pricey Porsche Cayman? With a starting point of £58.5k for the F-Type with the 340PS V6 Supercharged engine, rising to £80k for the F-Type V8 S, we thought prices were strong. But actually, after a week of cogitation and argument at Cars UK Towers, we wonder if they’re actually something of a bargain?

Autodesk European Automotive Days 2008

The 2008 Autodesk European Automotive Days conference was held last week in Munich, bringing together 200 automotive design and visualization experts. Autodesk presented their strategy and vision for industrial design, with an emphasis on 'digital prototyping', where even at the concept stage the digital model is treated not just as a set of surfaces, but is integrated within the engineering process as as a functional digital prototype, with the aim to eventually replace physical models entirely. There was also a recognition that traditional techniques continue to have an important place alongside digital workflows, as the workflows and technologies continue to evolve.