1958 Chevrolet Nomad Wagon Right Front Door Glass Revel Molding on 2040-parts.com

LA Auto Show Design Challenge entries unveiled

The 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge entries have been revealed a few days before the show is set to open. As in previous years, several of the major players in the automotive design world are participating and automakers and design studios such as BMW DesignworksUSA, Subaru, Mazda, and China's SAIC and Changfeng will be exhibiting concept art. The theme of this year's design challenge is called "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges.” With nature coming to be seen as one of the best R&D labs for design, and with biological knowledge doubling every five years, design studios were challenged to design vehicles that use biomimicry to increase the efficiency of mobility itself.

Citroen Revolte surfaces

The Citroen Revolte Concept - the new 2CV? It’s looking increasingly likely that this new Citroen will revive the 2CV moniker. But that referred to ‘Two Steam Horses’, so unless this is one very eco car powered by a rubber band and a clockwork mechanism I guess the name will be there for nostalgic reasons rather than denoting anything specific.

Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division launches

Cars like the Jaguar F-Type Project 7 (pictured) will come from JLR’s Special Operations If the creation of the Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division to create bespoke, heritage, ultra luxury and high performance Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover cars doesn’t shout how positive JLR are about the future, nothing will. Jaguar call it “meeting the increasing expectations of today’s most discerning and enthusiastic car customers“, but what they really mean is that JLR have now got so much back on their game with cars like the new Jaguar F-Type, new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport that they now have buyers with deep enough pockets to pay for just about anything, so that’s what JLR are going to do with the Special Operations division; give them anything they want – at a price That will mean car like the Jaguar Project 7 F-Type we saw at Goodwood last year being possible, ultra-luxury versions of the Range Rover and even the creation of heritage cars like the new Lightweight E-Types could become a regular occurrence. With a team of engineers and and designers led by Paul Newsome, recently recruited from Williams Advance Engineering, the plan is to create halo vehicles for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, and a team of 150 at a new Technical Centre near Gaydon will have a customer commissioning suite for bespoke and premium personalisation.