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Fitness-focused autonomous vehicle pedals to victory in Interior Motives Design Awards

Earlier tonight, on the eve of the first Paris Motor Show press day, the world's top designers and automotive journalists assembled at L'Espace Clacquesin in Paris to witness sponsors Ford and Volkswagen announce the 2014 Interior Motives Student Design of the Year: ‘Life Cycle' by Jason Chen and Dirk Wan of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, USA. Launched in January of this year and themed ‘Beyond Styling: a Design for Life', the competition asked students to create projects around three diverse but specific briefs: ‘Beyond Autonomous', which posed the question of what would happen if we were to combine the latest developments in computing and robotics with automobile design; ‘An Interior for Life', in which students were asked to focus on one feature or element of a car's interior and adapt it for dual use in a user's ordinary life; and ‘Pickup Truck of 2030', which challenged the young designers to extrapolate what the future might hold for this popular and versatile mode of transport. This year's contest attracted more than 200 entries from students based at 57 schools in 24 different countries.

Gert Hildebrand on his new challenge at Chinese startup, Qoros

Qoros Auto, a new start-up luxury automaker which launched in China late last year, is poised to take on the established German firms in the increasingly competitive luxury segment. The company was formerly known as Chery Quantum Auto Co. Ltd (“CQAC”) and is a 50/50 joint venture between Chery Automobile and Israel Corporation.

BAC Mono

Another name to emerge amidst the numerous English niche manufacturers, are Briggs Automotive. Taking the fight to cars like the Aerial Atom and Caparo T1, the BAC Mono is a lightweight carbon fiber tubbed single seater, proving that once again less is more in terms of performance. Boasting a kerb weight of just 540kg, the single seat ‘ultra high performance, road legal sports vehicle' was produced using race-bred technology in order to deliver a purist driving experience.