Rack-font,blk 5436865-070 on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: Martin Smith to retire, succeeded by Joel Piaskowski as Ford Europe head of design

Martin Smith, head of Ford of Europe design for the last 10 years, will retire at the end of this year, before which he will work on a project to study the future direction of the company's global design direction. He will be replaced by current head of strategic concepts group, Joel Piaskowski on 1 July. Smith (64) first joined Ford back in 2004, leaving General Motors as director of design for Opel/Vauxhall.

Think City EV Cup Edition (2010) first official pictures

Manufacturers have been trying to make their racers more economical for some time now; Audi and Peugeot have produced diesel Le Mans winners and CAR reviewed the Porsche GT3 R Hybrid in the June 2010 issue, but this the most recent fully electric offering from Norwegian company Think.   Think has followed the traditional road-racer conversion for this one-off prototype, by stripping out most of the interior and space for the passenger, using Perspex instead of glass in the windows, installing a solitary lightweight bucket seat and lowering the centre of gravity. The company claims the diet reduces the Think's weight by nearly 70kg; that's the same saving as a Lamborghini Gallardo Superlegerra, remember.

BMW 1-series hatchback (2011) first official pictures

BMW has peeled the last pieces of camouflage sheeting from their F20 1-series and announced details of the upcoming entry-level car. BMW 1-series: the evolutionary new look As revealed in CAR's spy images last month, the 1-series is a clear evolution of its predecessor, featuring smoother lines but a more aggressively-angled front-end. The new headlight design dominates the nose, providing the 1-series with a pronounced squint compared with its predecessor.  F20 has grown in most dimensions over the first 1-series: it is 85mm longer overall, and sits on a 30mm longer.