Scuola Politecnica di Design announces Chris Bangle workshop

Italy’s Scuola Politecnica di Design has announced a seven-day workshop with former BMW Group design boss Chris Bangle at its campus in Milan. Themed ‘Future Personal Emotional Mobility’ and scheduled to run from 18 to 24 September 2009, the workshop invites design degree graduates and experienced car designers to take part in a project to create a new breed of sustainable shared transportation for the year 2050. Based on the concept that the mass migration of people from the countryside to cities will in the future create even more social, economic and ecological differences between population zones, this event will see attendees work closely with Bangle towards designing systems that engage on an emotional as well as an economic level, satisfying the personal transportation needs – and desires – of a disparate global population while minimising impact on the environment.

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.

Sebastien Loeb's 2014 WTCC Citroen racer revealed

This is the Citroen that will be driven by Sebastien Loeb in the 2014 FIA World Touring Championship as the brand joins the series for the first time. Based on the Citroen C-Elysee saloon, the WTCC is the first model homologated for the new regulations that come into effect next season, with the series set to kick off in Europe in mid-April. What is the Citroen C-Elysee?