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Honda takes to the skies: HondaJet completes first flight

By Tim Pollard Motoring Issues 30 June 2014 16:57 Honda's quest to apply its engineering nous to different modes of transport took another step forward today when the HondaJet completed its first test flight. Honda Aircraft Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the US Honda division and is based in North Carolina. The executives in charge vow they're following the guiding principles of Soichiro Honda, who founded the car maker, with a laser-like focus on new solutions to age-old problems.

World Car of the Year 2014 – the contenders

The provisional list of entries for the 2014 World Car of the Year awards has been revealed – this is like the European Car of the Year awards, only judged on a global scale. Each candidate for the main awards must be available for sale on at least two continents. In addition to the main category, the World Car – or WCOTY – awards also includes separate prizes for the World Car Design of the Year, World Green Car and World Luxury Car, the last a change from the World Performance Car of previous years.

Who's Where: Martin Smith joins Ford Europe design team

Martin Smith has been appointed as Executive Director of Design at Ford Europe. Smith, a native of Sheffield, England, brings a wealth of design experience to Ford, having held positions at Porsche, Audi, and most recently as Director of Design for Opel/Vauxhall. In his new position, he will report to product development chief, Derrick Kuzak and to Ford's global group vice president for Design, J Mays.