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Maserati refreshes Quattroporte

By Ben Whitworth First Official Pictures 24 June 2008 08:51 Maserati has given its Quattroporte a mid-life refresh and a power boost. The new flagship Quattroporte S borrows the 424bhp 4.7-litre V8 from the GranTurismo S, while the standard Quattroporte retains the existing 393bhp 4.2-litre engine from before, with both hooked up to the ZF six-speed automatic transmission introduced two years ago. No, fortunately Maserati has decided not to tamper with the Quattroporte’s styling – five years and 15,000 sales from launch and the Pininfarina-penned saloon still looks superb.

Gilles Vidal on Peugeot's Design Direction

Peugeot's new 508 sedan and sport wagon unveiled in detail last week represent not only a new pair of family cars to compete against the likes of the Ford Mondeo and Opel/Vauxhall Insignia but the start of a new design direction for the brand. When asked whether he was going to kill off the brand's current low-down big and gapey grille graphic for something more subtle across its whole production range new director of style at Peugeot, Gilles Vidal exclusively told Car Design News: "Yes... definitely.

Driven: Ford Mondeo wagon

But the design of this Mondeo is interesting because of this, not despite this. The core challenge for the Ford design team was how to balance delivering a distinctively engaging design with being acceptable to as much as possible of the broad target profile of potential buyer. This is perhaps the biggest unspoken challenge for today's vehicle designer.