Stromberg-carlson Vented Tailgate Bulk Vg-97-100 on 2040-parts.com

Webinars: 3D sketching technology with CATIA for Creative Designers

Adding to our successful series, Car Design News today hosted a new webinar in collaboration with Dassault Systèmes. Today's webinar presented the latest workflows available in CATIA V6 for Creative Designers - a unified industrial design workflow solution to imagine, create, share and experience virtual product design - and introduced the program's new 3D sketching technology, CATIA Natural Sketch. Presented by Xavier Melkonian, Director of CATIA Shape at Dassault Systèmes, and Pierre Maheut, Creative Designer and Product Expert, the complimentary webinar showcased the wealth of possibilities available to creative designers and outlined innovative workflows based on 3D sketching, virtual clay modeling and visualization with interactive raytracing. The software aims to appeal to those looking to boost their design innovation, creativity and expression of 3D sketching and sculpting.

Aston Martin DBS, Virage, V8 Vantage Dragon 88 at Beijing

Aston Martin whipped the covers off a trio of Dragon 88 special editions at the 2012 Beijing motor show - with local-market China-aimed versions of the DBS Volante, Virage coupe and V8 Vantage S coupe. And if you're wondering why Aston is focusing so much of its energies on China, remember this: it is opening 11 - eleven! - new dealerships here in 2012, as it taps into the new found wealth and sales opportunities in this growth market.

Meet the Jaguar/Land Rover smartphone

Jaguar Land Rover has announced a whole new host of apps that'll be available in vehicles by both brands later this year via the InControl smartphone integration system. With the help of Bosch and a number of third-party app developers, Jaguar and Land Rover will debut integrated in-vehicle app connectivity for phones with the Android operating system, as well as for Apple's iOS. Jaguar Land Rover is the latest company to bring apps to cars' infotainment systems, an innovation that will either greatly reduce distracted driving and make crucial information much more easily accessible or cause drivers to completely ignore the act of driving altogether.