CDN and Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition Update

Seats, relationships, city life, the virtual world and new materials exploration: one month into the Car Design News-Opel/Vauxhall interactive design competition, launched on 11 October, these are a few of the themes student designers are exploring, in answer to the question 'What do you think is our lounge style?'. The competition, a collaboration between Opel-Vauxhall and Car Design News, is an interactive design competition for students who are studying design – of any discipline – at a college in Europe. The winner of the competition will work as a paid intern at Opel/Vauxhall design center in Rüsselsheim.

Learners' bizarre superstitions revealed

NERVES can have a crippling effect on learner drivers once they get to test day. Here, instructors with the AA Driving School recall particularly superstitious students whose desire to get their full licence resulted in carrying out unusual rituals: :: One pupil wore the T-shirt she had on when she gave birth to her daughter (now seven years old) and the trousers she was wearing before she conceived. :: A learner had failed three times due to nerves.

Ford burns through $5.5 billion in 4th quarter as losses mount

Ford Motor Co., the only U.S. automaker operating without federal loans, burned through $5.5 billion in cash during the final three months of 2008 as losses mounted. Ford finished the year with cash reserves of $13.4 billion.