Interior Motives Design Conference 2005 announced

Inside the car industry some of the world's most talented designers seek to create exciting, safe, comfortable and desirable products that exceed the expectations of their customers. But consumer expectations of form and function are advancing faster than many companies can innovate, and the result is that there is a shortfall in exciting and emotional products. Yet the demand for them is real.

China to boost electric cars with 30% Government EV fleet

The BYD E6 EV (pictured) will benefit from China’s push on EVs The UK government has just announced its commitment to use electric cars for its own vehicles in an effort to boost the take-up of EVs, but China is going even further. China has ordered government officials to start buying electric cars (that means BEVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars) in a big way, with instructions that 30 per cent of government cars must fall in to the ‘New Energy’ category by 2017, and an even higher percentage going forward. The aim is to cut pollution, and China expects to have 5 million New Energy cars on the road by 2020 and it is urging it government agencies and some city governments to start buying New Energy vehicles from Chinese makers like BYD and SDAIC, but also instructing them to build more charging stations and supporting infrastructure.

Honda CR-V (2012) first official pictures

Honda has shown a solitary picture of the new CR-V crossover. This is a concept car of the 4x4 that will be shown at the Orange County International Auto Show in Anaheim, California in September 2011. It's clearly not far removed from what will become the fourth-generation Honda CR-V, which is due to go on sale in the US by the end of 2011 and in Europe by autumn 2012.