Vespa Seat Bench Frame on 2040-parts.com

Autodesk Automotive Days - Munich 2009

Autodesk's Automotive Days design conferences, launched in Munich in 2008, have highlighted the key growth area of digital prototyping. And at last month's conference the focus was once again broadened to include coverage of conceptual design and creative visualization (at the very beginning of the design process) and design for manufacture - at the culmination of the process. Speakers from Autodesk outlined the innovative features of their latest product suites, while keynote presentations from leading automotive designers such as Frank Stephenson of McLaren and Volvo's Rickard Franklin showed in fascinating detail how the benefits of these software systems were being maximized in busy corporate design studios.

Making of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo (video)

Porsche has released a video chronicling the development of the Panamera Sport Turismo as the first model extension of the Panamera. Earlier this month we had a video from Porsche of the Panamera Sport Turismo on the move with comments and insights on the design process, and now we get a more detailed look at the development and thinking behind the transition from ugly duckling Panamera to stunningly good looking Panamera Sport Turismo. Porsche don’t want to call the Sport Turismo a Station Wagon, but that is effectively what the Sport Turismo is (and it can’t be a true Shooting Brake with four doors).

New Audi S6 and S6 Avant (2012) Frankfurt Preview

New Audi S6 and S6 Avant (2012) at Frankfurt Frankfurt 2011 is going to be something of an Audi ‘S’ Fest, with four new 2012 ‘S’ models making a début, including these – the Audi S6 and the Audi S6 Avant. There’s little to choose between the S6 and S6 Avant in performance terms, just as you’d expect, with both cars featuring Audi’s new 4.0 litre TFSI V8 with 420bhp and 406lb/ft of torque (that’s the same V8 we will see in the Bentley Continental GT – and probably at Frankfurt too). That’s enough to take the S6 to 62mph in just 4.8 seconds, with the S6 Avant just the smallest bit behind at 4.9 seconds, and on to an electronically governed 155mph.