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Ford completes $14 million overhaul at its German design studio

Ford has opened a $14.5 million expansion of its design studios at Merkenich-Cologne in Germany. Global design work for Ford's subcompact and compact vehicles, including the Fiesta and the Focus, is done at the center, which is close to the automaker's Cologne factory where the Fiesta is built. The expansion is the largest since the studios were constructed in 1968 and increases the size by about 32,300 square feet to about 172,000 square feet.

College Exhibition: IED Degree Show 2006

Students of the Transportation Design course at Turin's Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) have been busy designing a new road-going McLaren sports car for the British brand. Third-year students developed 14 super cars for project sponsors McLaren as part of their final-year project for the 2005-2006 academic year. The brief was to come up with a sports car capable of speeds of over 320 km/h (200 mph), that would provide its owner with road-going F1 technology and unparalleled dynamic and aerodynamic performance.

BMW's quirky new i3

The side view of the new BMW i3 electric vehicle takes some getting used to, with no two windows the same size or shape. The i3 is high-waisted through the front door and then there's a notch for a taller rear-passenger window and the rear-hinged rear door and a narrow, tapering window at the rear quarter. Yet when you look at the underlying structure -- made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic -- an innovative choice for a mass-produced car -- there's a giant side opening from front to rear.