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Gordon Murray Design T27 crash tested

The original Smart car probably did more than its fair share to persuade us that small cars needn't necessarily be unsafe. But now Gordon Murray is on the same mission: to persuade us that his titchy T27 city car is as safe as houses too. Gordon Murray Design has just issued its first crash test results, showing a T27 electric car after a crash test at the UK's MIRA industry research lab.  The crash test in question was the European-standard 40% offset deformable barrier front high-speed impact.

Lambrecht Chevrolet auction update: More detail on the cars

In about seven weeks, roughly 500 cars from Lambrecht Chevrolet in Pierce, Neb., will go across the auction block. And pre-bidding has already started on this massive time-capsule collection, accumulated over the course of many decades by Ray and Mildred Lambrecht, a husband and wife team who ran the dealership for more than 50 years. Autoweek will be in Pierce, Neb., to cover the sale in late September and to preserve a sample of the dust on the dealership floor for scientific study.

First Sight: Skoda Octavia

The new Skoda Octavia was unveiled earlier this week in the Czech brand's museum at its home in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Car Design News was in attendance to check out the third generation of what the company calls ‘the heart of Skoda'. The new Octavia is the fourth model in the Volkswagen Group to be built on the new MQB (Modularer Querbaukasten) platform.