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Whos Where: Ford of Europe reshapes their design department

It was only to be expected that some of the brightest creative forces should follow Martin Smith who joined Ford of Europe from his position as GM Europe Design Director in August this year. Stefan Lamm was a studio chief designer at Opel - he was recently confirmed as Chief Designer Exteriors at Ford. At the same time two new appointments were announced alongside an interesting restructuring of Ford of Europe's design department.

Who's Where: Sielaff and Egger take on new roles in 2012

Both Wolfgang Egger and Stefan Sielaff will take on new roles in the latest move of car designer chess within the Volkswagen Group. Egger takes over the position of Head of Audi Brand Design from Sielaff, who will become Head of Interior Design for the Volkswagen Group as well as Head of the Volkswagen Design Center in Potsdam. Their respective roles will become operational on 1 February 2012.

New Vauxhall Astra VXR (2012) revealed

Vauxhall Astra VXR (2012) gets revealed We’ve been expecting news of the new 2012 Vauxhall Astra VXR for a while, especially as Vauxhall intend launching the hot Astra in 2012. And now we have a little more on the VXR – and some photos – although Vauxhall hasn’t put a price on the Astra VXR yet. The Astra VXR is based on the underpinnings of the Astra GTC – which Vauxhall managed to reveal at least three times before it finally went on sale – so it has two doors, a longer wheelbase and a wider track than its five-door rep-mobile sibling.