K&n 66-3060 X-stream Top Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Video: Aston Martin design chief on new Rapide

CAR recently caught up with Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman – on board one of the first Aston Rapides to be built. You can watch our video interview in the player below, as CAR contributor Guy Bird interviews Reichman. He talks about the new Rapide, and why it shouldn't be seen as a rival for a Merc S-class or even a Porsche Panamera, the crazy new Cygnet – a Toyota iQ by Aston Martin – and the new million-pound One-77 hypercar.

General Motors design landmark gets second life--as a school

"The profession was invented in this room,” says Richard Rogers, president of the College for Creative Studies (CCS), as he stands in the dusty construction site that used to be the General Motors Argonaut Building. “And this is where Harley Earl's office was.” Looking across the top floor of the building, it is easy to see a circle of concrete like the landing mark of a flying saucer. The circle is the remnant of an early platform for clay models, developed here for the first time as design tools for mass-production autos.

Google Car (self) drives into the future [w/video]

After years of speculation, Google finally announced its Google Car autonomous vehicle at the Recode Code Conference in Palos Verdes, CA yesterday. Google CEO Sergey Brin unveiled the company's new two-seat, driverless vehicle at the software conference, underlining the company's aim of drastically reducing road deaths and injuries caused by human error, particularly by distracted drivers. "We're now exploring what fully self-driving vehicles would look like by building some prototypes; they'll be designed to operate safely and autonomously without requiring human intervention," said Brin.