05 Polaris Phoenix 200 Gas Fuel Tank on 2040-parts.com

Ford justifies its Vignale sub-brand (video)

The Ford Mondeo Vignale (pictured). Ford’s first Vignale-badged car Earlier this month, as the Frankfurt Motor Show approached, Ford revealed that it’s going back to a sales tactic they created in the 1970s – badge-engineering their cars with a coachbuilders name to create an upmarket sub-brand. Last time Ford played this game we had almost 30 years for the Ford Ghia, a range of Ford’s mainstream models that had all the toys as standard to try and create an appealing high-end option for buyers.

Car Design News – GM Interactive Design Competition Winners Announced at NAIAS

Car Design News and General Motors today announced the eight winners of their interactive design competition in an awards ceremony on the Cadillac stand at the North American International Auto Show 2012 (NAIAS). Over 300 design students from across the USA and Canada entered the Car Design News-GM Interactive Design Competition, launched in Spring 2011. Entrants were challenged to design both an interior and an exterior design for one of GM's four brands – Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC – each of which set a unique brief.

Renaultsport Megane teased

These car manufacturers do love to tease. One after another they come up with ways to ‘leak’ a little info, or present us with teaser images (like the Fiat 500C last week). And now Renault are playing the game ahead of the reveal of the Renaultsport Megane at Geneva in a few weeks.