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Nissan's senior manager color and design strategy Francois Farion on the importance of objects in keeping focus [w/Video]

Nissan's Francois Farion, senior manager, color and design strategy, features in a new video giving an insight into how important objects are to designers when communicating, defining and maintaining their design intentions. A lot of time and energy goes into designing a car and so, Farion says, it's vital that designers keep their focus throughout the process. He believes objects are the key to creating coherent designs.

New Range Rover Sport takes on Pikes Peak – and wins

The new Range Rover Sport takes on the Pikes Peak Hillclimb Pikes Peak is an unforgiving Hill Climb, spanning 12.42 miles and 156 corners, rising to 4,300 meters above sea level with oxygen levels at the top down to just 58 per cent of those at sea level, making it incredibly hard for both man and machinery to function. But despite the challenge, Land Rover has taken the new Range Rover Sport up Pikes Peak in a new record time for a production SUV, covering the 12.42 mile course of twists and turns in just 12m 35.61s at an average speed of 59.17mph. You won’t be surprised to learn that Land Rover choose to use the new RRS with the 5.0 litre Supercharged engine for the record run, but apart from fitting a roll cage and harness seatbelts, the Sport had no modifications at all.

Alfa Romeo US relaunch delayed

Alfa Romeo Giulietta - American launch delayed until 2013 It’s getting on for two years since we reported that Alfa Romeo were going to relaunch themselves in the US after an absence of twenty years, to give Americans an Italian alternative to the likes of Audi, BMW and  Mercedes. A quality European alternative with Italian flair was the logic. But within a month of the announcement that the US was to be beguiled by Alfas once more came the news that the MiTo wouldn’t be going on the American sojourn.