Car Design China Award winner benefits from Umeå placement

One of this year's Car Design China Award winners won the prize of a visit to Sweden's Umeå Institute of Design to mix with and work alongside other young aspiring designers and learn new skills using some of the latest technology available. Tsinghua University's Yulian Wu, who won the award for Best Luxury Concept along with partner Liu Kefeng at this year's awards, was welcomed to the school when he arrived on 25 September with the traditional welcome party for all new students. Umeå's program director for Transportation Design Demian Horst's first impression of Wu was a positive one.

German enthusiasts name TechArt GrandGT the 'Sports Car of the Year'

For the fourth year in a row, readers of German car magazine Auto Bild have selected the TechArt GrandGT as "Sports Car of the Year" in the sedan-tuning category. The GrandGT, from TechArt Automobilidesign GmbH, is based on the Porsche Panamera Turbo and packs 630 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. The additional power comes from upgraded turbochargers, sport air filters and a tuned engine-management system.

Alpina to debut B6 GT3 race car at Geneva motor show

Alpina has been tinkering with BMW vehicles for close to 50 years and has a rich motorsports history that includes campaigns in European touring car, hill climbing, rally and endurance racing that it stepped away from 20 years ago. Now the racing bug has returned to Alpina with the announcement of its entry into the FIA GT3 European championship series. The BMW 6-series based B6 GT3 will have its first public showing at the Geneva motor show in March.