More details on VW's design renaissance

It seems Volkswagen has breathed a collective "Oops!", and is now working to turn its design ship around. VW was known for neat, differentiated designs with great interior details. While this stayed true in some parts of the world, in the U.S., Volkswagen design turned into chrome shield grilles fronting identical bodies in various sizes.

When Martin Winterkorn was lured back from academia, "he looked at Volkswagen's upcoming designs and binned the lot." Audi's design chief was brought in. VW started over on the Golf, which will be coming out later this year. The Polo redesign was taken up again from scratch. The Up! "was not fully thought through as a concept," and is getting a workover.

VW's new language is said to be about "simplicity," "a confident identity," "crisply-detailed functionality," and cars that aren't "over-designed." The chrome shield is gone (thank goodness) and headlights that wrap around to the front wheel arches have also been sent packing, "because that's not what a headlight is for."

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World's first electric sportscar - 23 July 08

The United Kingdom has launched an electric sports car, in an effort to give eco-cars an image boost.

The key to popularising electric cars is to make them more desirable, simply being environmentally friendly is not enough for most people to buy the product.

Electric cars, are often pictured small, impractical, and sometimes even ugly vehicles.

However, a company in the UK has unveiled "Lightning" an electric sports car - claiming to revolutionise the industry with its looks and technology.

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