Vauxhall & Opel – no plant closures before 2014

Will the new Mokka help GM in Europe Despite reports that GM Europe are planning closures at Vauxhall and Opel, GM boss says there will be no closures before 2014. GM in Europe are not having an easy time of things, with both Vauxhall and Opel struggling for sales as the car market in Europe polarises and the mainstream car makers struggle. GM have made some moves to consolidate their European operation with a co-operation agreement with Peugeot Citroen, but that deal has more of a sticking plaster feel to it than a real way to fix the issues of over-production in a difficult European market.

Automotive Press Association Design Panel says autonomous cars will tear up design rulebook [w/Video]

Fully autonomous cars will challenge everything we know about car design to date, according to industry experts at the Michelin Challenge Design-hosted Automotive Press Association (APA) Design Panel. The APA members-only event, held at the Detroit Athletic Club, carried the theme of 'Driven/Undriven: The Duality of Tomorrow's Automobile' – the subject of this year's Michelin Challenge Design – and explored the design challenges and opportunities that will arise with the advent of autonomous vehicles. The APA Design Panel consisted of Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics, Chris Borroni-Bird, vice president of Strategic Development at Qualcomm and author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility of the 21st Century as well as Stewart Reed, chair of the Transportation Design course at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

New Citroen C1 revealed ahead of Geneva debut

The new Citroen C1 (pictured) revealed ahead of Geneva debut We’ve had the proper reveal of the new Peugeot 108 and a bit of a teaser photo for the new Toyota Aygo, and this morning we get the trio completed with the reveal of the new Citroen C1 ahead of its Geneva debut. We’d call the new C1 a 2014 model, but for some reason Citroen gave the current C1 an overhaul only a few months ago and made that a 2014 model, so we probably have to refer to this new one as the 2015 Citroen C1. Whatever model year to attach to it though, the new C1 is just a new Aygo or new Peugeot 108 in Citroen clothes and therefore offers much the same as those two cars.