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Brazilian students develop soapbox racers for Volkswagen

Brazilian design students have competed for year-long internships at Volkswagen's Brazilian design studio by designing – and racing – soapbox cars. Established 15 years ago by Volkswagen South America design director Luiz Veiga, the Volkswagen Design Talent Contest refreshed its format for 2013 by challenging students to develop a prototype for a gravity-powered soapbox racer instead of asking for sketch and render-based proposals. According to Veiga, Volkswagen was looking for someone "capable of working away from the desk and able to create design solutions, assess and build them".

Lincoln aims at luxury crossovers with MKT

In an effort to grow the brand to customers who normally buy imports, Lincoln will offer up a full-size crossover, the MKT, that is due in dealerships in late summer. We saw the Lincoln MKT at the Detroit Auto Show. As sales of full-size sport/utility vehicles decline--Lincoln says industry-wide sales are down 5.2 percent for 2008--sales of crossovers are growing.

Skoda Rapid launches in India. Is this the Skoda MissionL for Europe?

Is the Skoda Rapide for India the MissionL Concept from Frankfurt? Skoda revealed the MissionL Concept at Frankfurt last month, a Skoda aiming to plug the gap between the Fabia and Octavia. At the time we commented that the MissionL could turn up in India before it did in Europe, and it looks like it has – as the new Skoda Rapid.