New Jaguar XJ – First Pictures!

The first leaked image of Jaguar's new XJ - launches tonight These leaked images dropped in to our inbox overnight. Not from Jaguar, nor from anyone at Jaguar, but we know they are real. They are also out on the Interweb, so anyone looking can find them.

L'argus European Design Competition 2004 winners announced

With its 3rd design competition, French automotive magazine L'argus de l'automobile challenged design students in the European Union to express their creativity on the theme 'Imagine the convertible commercial vehicle'. With a total of 350 designs submitted, the competition was a resounding success, confirming the interest design schools and their students are taking in this forward-looking competition. Starting out from a light commercial vehicle, the candidates had to propose changes adapted to the specific needs of their user: their basic vehicle could for example be transformed into a helicopter for delivery services, into a work platform for engineers, into a workshop for joiners.

Victor Muller on Saab escapade: 'Painful'

Reports say that the Swedish government wants to question former Saab chairman Victor Muller as part of an inquiry into suspected tax offenses at Saab. Muller defended payments he received from the automaker in a recent interview with me and talked about how he has moved on from painful memories of Saab. The Dutch entrepreneur rejected criticisms that his 600,000 euro ($773,000) annual pay package at Saab was too large.