Jerico 4 & 5 Speed Input Shaft & Gear 10w186675f Dated 7 11 02 on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: Satoshi Wada to open independent design studio

Satoshi Wada, former Senior Designer at Audi AG and Nissan Design Japan, is set to open his own design studio. Called SWdesign TOKYO, his ambitious plan follows on from a growing line of design managers who have left successful OEMs to establish their own design practices. Wada, who resigned from Audi AG in Ingolstadt earlier this month, told CDN he is aiming "to create a new vision with my own independent design studio in Tokyo".

Volvo to unveil new SUV tomorrow [w/video]

Volvo will premiere a mystery new vehicle tomorrow after releasing a series of three teaser videos. The highly ambiguous videos, which give few details of the car, all feature members of the band Swedish House Mafia, which end with the words "Leave The World Behind" and the date of its official debut. You can catch sight of the vehicle in the distance during the second video (left), however, which looks to be the rumoured XC40 compact crossover, rather than the larger XC90 SUV.

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.