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Coventry MA Automotive Design/Vehicle Interiors exhibition 2010

As the winter takes grip on the northern hemisphere, CDN travel to Coventry, the birthplace of the British car industry – and many a car designer – to catch up with this year's MA Automotive Design and Vehicle Interiors students for their biannual exhibition, held in the city's impressive Transport Museum. This year 15 students, led by tutors Aaamer Mahmud and CDN contributor, Nick Hull, are completing the 16-month postgraduate course. Carrosse Stephane Krumenacker Krumenacker's personal interest in (built) environmental philosophy dictated his approach to this project, which started with a scenario rather than a product.

One Lap of the Web: We invented the Miata!

-- Sochi or bust! Is there anything more Russian than driving a Lada Niva to the Winter Olympics? (Flagrant corruption, perhaps.) Documentary producer Vlad Ketkovich calls the venerable Niva "the closest thing to an automotive version of the Russian soul," and we'd wager that the Niva belongs in quintessential Russian-ness next to the Bolshoi Ballet and the movie "Russian Ark." (Or "Ninth Company," if your attention span has been blown to bits.) -- A gorgeous Alfa Romeo ventures into the woods by itself.

UK new car registrations: 20 months of growth

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has once again increased its new car forecast for 2013. The news comes off the back of the 20th consecutive month of growth, with new car registrations up 4% in October. Last month’s total of 157,314 registrations brings the total to 1,952,238 in 2013 so far, leading the SMMT to up its forecast from 2.22 million to 2.25 million.