Austin-healey A Celebration Of The Fabulous 'big' Healey By Bill Piggott on 2040-parts.com

“Where is the sustainable vehicle design?”

The notion of a 'new paradigm in car design' was a theme running through talks by five panelists at London's Royal College of Art last week, who debated "Seriously now, where is the sustainable vehicle design?" Despite disparate backgrounds, there was broad agreement that a truly sustainable form of personal transportation is unlikely to come from an established automotive firm any time soon. Panelist Rob Holdway of Giraffe Innovation was most vocal in his approach to the subject, saying "Frankly, I think the car is unacceptable - we hear a lot about the sustainable car, but I don't think there is such a thing as a sustainable car". The audience - made up mainly of RCA students - also heard from Nico Sergent of Riversimple about how the company's seven-point business model, and its open source strategy, incentivized the company to build a truly sustainable car and mobility package that the current auto model simply doesn't allow.

Driven: Cadillac XTS

In the light of the new, global-focused ATS and hot-off-the-press CTS sedans, the full-sized, US-centric Cadillac XTS is somewhat of an anomaly in the new Caddy clan. It's been earmarked as a stopgap flagship before a proper rear-wheel drive challenger to the Mercedes S-class and Lexus LS comes on stream. Car Design News took to the streets of Detroit to find out if it captures that big Cadillac vibe on home turf.

Audi Sport Quattro Concept grips the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

Audi has revealed the Sport Quattro Concept here at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show – 30 years after it first showed the original Sport Quattro at the same Frankfurt show in 1983. A retro-inspired but thoroughly high-tech concept, it packs a 700hp V8 plug-in hybrid engine for explosive performance that has an unexpected green twist, too.