Tesla pays off its government loans

Tesla paid off the last of its $465 million government loans May 22, nine years ahead of schedule, thus outperforming most U.S. college graduates and the vast majority of American homeowners. Tesla used funds from a stock offering to finish the loan with a whopping bank transfer of $451.8 million Wednesday, pointing out that it was “…the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.” Apparently no one at Tesla was even born when Lee Iacocca paid off Chrysler's $1.2-billion government bailout ahead of schedule back in 1983.

Interior Motives Design Awards 2004 announces judging panel

Interior Motives magazine has announced its judging panel for the 2004 Interior Motives Design Awards. This year's judges include some of the world's most respected senior automotive designers and design managers from carmakers and interior suppliers. The judges are: - Olivier Boulay, Senior Executive Officer & Corporate General Manager, Product Design Office, Mitsubishi Motors Corp - Guy Burgoyne, Studio Chief Designer, Product Design, Volvo Cars - Simon Cox, Design Director, GM Advanced Design - UK - Bill Fluharty, Vice-President Industrial Design - North America, Johnson Controls Inc - Steve Lewis, Design Manager, Seat Cars - Justyn Norek, Design Manager, I.D.E.A Institute - Sarah Maynard, Interior Designer, Aston Martin - Roberto Piatti, Managing Director, Stile Bertone - Marek Reichman, Director Interior Strategy Product and Design Process, Ford Motor Company - Rus Shafer, Director, Industrial Design, Intier Automotive - Andreas Wlasak, Director of Industrial Design - Interior Systems, Faurecia This year's awards - which will take place during the Paris Motor Show on 24 September 2004 - have attracted almost 200 registrations from students of transportation and industrial design from 20 countries.

Visteon unveils C-Beyond concept

Car Design News was recently invited to a preview of Visteon's C-Beyond concept, which makes its full debut at the Paris motor show in September. Based on a Citroën C4 Picasso, the C-Beyond is a showcase for new technologies – primarily focused on the car's interior, which permit a degree of flexibility and design expression. The C-Beyond simply looks like a C4 Picasso that incorporates new LED lighting technology.