Lorenzo Ramaciotti visits RCA for 'Two of a Kind' project

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Fiat-Chrysler's head of global design, has visited the Royal College of Art as part of the Fiat ‘Two of a Kind' project explaining how Italian design has become world-famous in all fields in a talk themed ‘The Roots of Italian Car Design'. The ‘Two of a Kind' project asks four teams of four Vehicle Design students to design innovative exterior and interior proposals for how the Fiat 500 and the Panda might look in 2020, taking interactivity, digital interface, sustainability and global appeal into account. Maserati brought along a Quattroporte, a GranTurismo Sport as well as an Alfa Giulietta Sportiva to complement his talk in the hope it would encourage students to consider what the carmaker believes are the three concepts of the legacy of Italian car design: sportiness-dynamism; elegance-balance; and character-personality.

Lexus IS (2013) first official pictures

These are the first official pictures of the all-new 2013 Lexus IS. Challenging the likes of the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-class and Audi A4, the new IS has gone under the knife and the new iteration has a more athletic and vigorous-looking design, judging by these photos.   Sporting an updated, pleasingly chiselled front end, the new IS takes inspiration from the LF-CC concept shown at 2012’s Paris motor show. The new IS features the new 'spindle' front grille which adorns all new Lexus models, decorated with a new headlamp cluster design and the trademark L-shaped daytime running lights set independently below.

Rolls-Royce 102EX concept car (2011) first pictures

Rolls-Royce has confirmed it will show its first electric car at the 2011 Geneva motor show. The 102EX is the latest in a line of concept cars – EX stands for experimental – which history suggests should go on to influence production cars. The Rolls-Royce 102EX is known internally as the Phantom Experimental Electric and is being used to judge reaction to a battery-powered Roller among owners clubs and media.