1947 Ford Car Original Oil Bath Air Cleaner on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar and Land Rover’s Big Chinese Takeaway

[ad#ad-1] As we are only too well aware, car makers are having the most torrid of times. Massive drops in car sales in the UK (at least in new cars – UK used car sales are actually rising) means car makers’ cashflows are horrific. But it looks like there’s a white knight on the horizon for Tata’s Jaguar / Land Rover.

Aston Martin's Launch Edition Cygnets (2011)

Production of the Aston Martin Cygnet begins in just a few months' time, and the sports car company has announced two special editions to celebrate the launch of its new city car. According to Aston Martin, the Cygnet Launch Edition White and Cygnet Launch Edition Black are being built to ‘exemplify the highly bespoke nature of this unique car.’ Are we alone in spotting the irony of building a run of identical vehicles to highlight the customisable nature of the Cygnet? The Cygnet Launch Edition White is supposed to be about serenity, with Snow White paint, white diamond-turned alloy wheels, and white Aston badges on the outside, and white leather on the inside.

Driven: Ford Mondeo wagon

But the design of this Mondeo is interesting because of this, not despite this. The core challenge for the Ford design team was how to balance delivering a distinctively engaging design with being acceptable to as much as possible of the broad target profile of potential buyer. This is perhaps the biggest unspoken challenge for today's vehicle designer.