Dorman 520-146 Control Arm/ball Joint Assy on 2040-parts.com

Video: Yasushi Nakamuta on Mazda 3's 'unique' design process

It may be leaden with PR-talk but this short presentation by Yasushi Nakamuta, Mazda's director of advanced design studio at the press unveiling of the new Mazda 3 in Melbourne is still worth a couple of minutes of your time. But while the 3 is undeniably attractive we can't help but feel that the 'unique' design process Nakamuta describes (which appears wholly conventional to us) has resulted in little more than a thoroughly normal product. Take a look for yourself at the video to your left.

Ford speeds up effort to cut vehicle platforms

Ford Motor Co. is accelerating its One Ford global product development plan by reducing its target for vehicle platforms worldwide to nine from 11 previously, and by moving the target date up to 2013 from 2014, global marketing chief Jim Farley said Wednesday. "It won't be 11 platforms" as earlier planned, Farley said at the Automotive News World Congress.

Infiniti JX

Shanghai and New York aren't even over yet, but that hasn't stopped Infiniti releasing this teaser sketch of the car it plans to show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this coming August. The JX luxury crossover carries styling cues 'such as dynamic and elegant line treatments' over from other Infiniti production models, whilst also drawing from the Essence concept car, sporting the 'crescent cut' greenhouse treatment. Billed as the antidote to 'ho-hum' luxury crossovers, the seven seat JX is said to offer 'exceptional seating flexibility, easy access to the roomy third row, plus the latest in-vehicle technology - challenging the status quo in its class'.