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UK new car registrations beat 2012 total – a month early

New car registrations rose by 7% last month, the best performance in almost a decade – and a rise that has seen the total registrations for 2012 already beaten with a month still to go. 159,581 new cars were registered last month, taking the year to date total up to 2,111,819. This easily tops the 2,044,609 new cars registered in 2012.

Q&A: David Townsend, GM global design director, user experience

GM's new design director of user experience, David Townsend, has only been in the job just over a month. But with a remit extending to the interface design of every vehicle in GM's global portfolio, his influence will soon be widespread. After graduating from Art Center with a degree in transportation design, Townsend interned for Toyota but soon moved to Motorola, where he developed wearable Bluetooth technology and designed the familiar headsets worn by coaches in the NFL.

Hyundai ix-Metro Concept revealed

The Hyundai ix-Metro Concept will be previewd at Frankfurt (click image for bigger photo) We already know that Hyundai will be taking the new ix35 / Tucson ix to Frankfurt, and now comes news that Hyundai have produced a mini crossover concept – the Hyundai ixMetro Concept - which will be presented at Frankfurt and go in to production in 2011. The ix-Metro features a 1.0 litre, 3-pot, turbo, direct injection petrol hybrid which delivers a very impressive 125 bhp. But it also manages to emit just 80g/km CO2.