Re*Move

Eric Britton's shared vision for future transportation

Eric Britton has a plan. The man behind worldstreets.org, thinks a lot about the future of transport, and its connection to the overheating nature of the planet. His 'Plan B' vision is a radical twelve point blueprint that he thinks needs to be gone through to stop us cooking the planet - and is an interesting read.

In the green transport field right now, alongside electric cars, high-speed rail, and all the usual stuff that gets tossed around, perhaps the most intriguing idea concerns not the development of new products, but the networking together, and sharing of existing ones. Our cars, bicylces, space - how do we 'use' them more effectively? Take cars. Right now, we're fast-forwarding to a world of hybrids and EVs - but what's the point when we've still got single vehicle occupancy, one-person-to-one-car ownership, and one hour in every 24 utilisation rates?

The problem is that at the very heart of the notion of today's car is a concept built around ownership, freedom and the ability to cut yourself off in a little glass and steel box. Your car is a space that, right now, you probably only choose to 'share' with your friends and family. Sharing a car with a complete stranger (even if you're not both in it at the same time) is a relatively big leap to make, but it's something worth thinking about.

That's what Eric wants to look into in more depth. So in the video chat (above) we had with him a few weeks back, he described the idea of a conference - for want of a better word - to draw people together to talk about sharing within the bounds of future transportation. On the first day, Eric suggests transportation-related talk should be banned. Instead, the attendees - linked together with experts and interested parties across the world via video and internet, would seek to understand the human psychology behind sharing things. Then on the next days, this would be developed into the field of transportation applications. The big news? Eric doesn't think it will work without a woman at the helm...

Can we make this happen? Can you help? Watch the video, let us know what you think, and check out Eric's pages for more.

Three New Shapes for Ford – Sue Cischke, meet @amydoesdesign and @potatowedge

Last Thursday we interviewed Ford's Sue Cischke about the company's sustainability strategy. Then on Saturday we met design students in the DAAP (Department of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning) at The University of Cincinnati (UC).  Two of those students - Amy Johannigman and Robb Hunter, now follow Dan Sturges and Drew Smith in giving their views on what Sue said, and what Ford should do next. Over to Amy and Robb...

Sue has a great base of conversation. We loved that she dropped the “T” bomb (TRAIN!) right at the beginning. Her knowledge of Ford’s current sustainable facts and figures proved her credibility. The mention of a “Hub Concept” got us hopeful that Ford has big plans in this space.

But while she seems to be developing some models for Ford’s future, we would like the shape of these models to reflect more progressive shifts. Peter Drucker reminds us that "wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision".

We’ve three key points, and have represented each one graphically. We call them “Shapes for Sue”. The ideas they contain are explained in the text below each diagram.

1. Be a Game Changer


At a recent Designer’s Accord meeting in NYC, Allan Chochinov of Core77 said "we know too much not to design in a sustainable manner”. He’s right. The facts are in, and climate change has created a situation that is in urgent need of addressing. Sue's talk of "transitional changes" will not suffice, when one considers the magnitude of our problem. We need bold actions and strict practices from industry leaders.

We need to impress behavioral change within users to set firm attitudes and outcomes. Ford has the opportunity to be a "Game Changer" as P&G’s A.G. Lafley would say, and implement large scale shifts. Traditional business models would see Sue's prescribed strategy of "near-term, midterm, and long-term" solutions as smart. But these are strategies for a previous era - comfortable change rather than radical rebirth. If Ford claims to be an industry leader, it needs to step up, and differentiate itself as such. The danger is that the world is now changing much faster than Ford.

2. Mash-ups not Mix-tapes


Mash-ups are a current, popular form of music created by taking parts of many existing songs and overlapping, restructuring, and recreating them into an entirely new compilation. A mash-up creates a song from familiar parts but creates an entire new way of hearing it. Artist Greg Gillis (aka GirlTalk), may mix Pras's "Ghetto Superstar" and Yo La Tengo's "Autumn Sweater" all in less than 30 seconds. We think Ford should see this as an inspiration and analogy for creating industry partnerships. Currently, Ford’s partnerships feel more like a mix-tape, a mix of single tracks from different albums on one tape. Most of Sue’s discussion paints Ford as merely a hardware maker. Ford needs to reach out and begin partnerships that embrace service design, infrastructure change, mobile urban living. The possibilities are endless when we are open to creative, collaborative, non-traditional forms of ourselves.

3. Co-Creation

 
Sue spoke of Ford’s interest in current thought leaders and Industry conferences. It seems to be talking with many of the industry's tastemakers to make more informed decisions. The fact that Ford has created positions for sustainable strategy and social media are impressive in themselves. Yet while creating all these new positions and discussions, Ford seems to have forgotten the primary rule of ‘sales’: be a good listener. Ford’s product development models a collaborative inner-circle of new-age hybrid leadership. This model resembles a funnel and seems to focus more on "a perception’s game" as Scott Monty describes in a January 12, MDB interview than a receptive open-source model.

Traditional leadership models will not meet the pressing needs of our current economy, and climate change. We propose a co-creation model similar to the work of academic design researcher Liz Sanders, in her "Make-Tools" workshops. The idea of co-creation is not design by democracy, but rather design by listening. The advent of social media penetrates today's participatory culture in completely new ways - ones that are highly digestible by the public.

So come on Ford, let's cut the jargon, turn up our tweets and begin a real dialogue. One that's devoid of traditional marketing and watered down plans.

Amy Johannigman and Robb Hunter are both currently undergraduate students in the Department of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at The University of Cincinnati. Amy majors in Product Design and has worked at The Ford Motor Company among others, while Robb majors in Transportation Design and has worked at Hasbro toys, DEKA and Intrago.

Both bring a multi-disciplinary approach to what they do - favouring collaborative processes over demarcated disciplines.

Want a Fiesta? You've got just over three hours...

 
Ford's 'Fiesta Movement' is gathering pace as the deadline for video entries nears. If you haven't heard, Ford is offering 100 lucky Americans the chance to bag a new Fiesta for six months, complete with free gas and insurance, before the model's full introduction in the USA in 2010.

We're hoping to find out more about Fiesta Movement once the deadline for video entries has passed, and when we visit Dearborn next month. Here's hoping the last minute videos are weird, wild, funny or just plain beautiful and that they're not all of the "hey Ford, GIVE ME A CAR" or "look, aren't I wacky"- typology. In fact, perhaps along the lines of Davey G Johnson's "Baby bets on a brown Fiesta", which we (among others) are tipping as an outside bet to bag a Fiesta already. Agree? Check it out below, and other fiesta movement video entries here.

Anyway, more soon - but if you fancy a 'Festa, better get cracking quick!

Check out Fiesta Movement here

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 23rd March 2009

Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring The Movement Design Bureau's design and research work in 2009.

Watch: "The History of the Future: Cars"

It's easy to forget when you live in a world of road humps, speed cameras, parking fines and perhaps reduced speed limits, that there was - and occasionally still is - a time when cars, driving and 'motoring' was something to enjoy.

More than anything, people are driven by nostalgia, so BBC4's current "The Joy of Motoring" series has been a great watch. It's featured a programme on "Great British Drives", one about the history of Ford's Dagenham plant and, tonight, promises a real star piece. "The history of the Future: Cars", at 9.30pm, examines cars from the '50s and '60s and the culture around this time, when "they hadn't quite yet worked out how to make cars fly and instead just made them look like they could".

Interested in the wider series, or don't have satellite or digital TV? Then check out the other shows via BBC4's website here, and (if you have a UK IP address) watch shows screened in the last seven days on the BBC's excellent iPlayer here.

"The History of the Future: Cars" is at 9.30pm, on BBC 4, tonight - Thursday 12th March.

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 12th March 2009

Geneva 2009: Ford 'Maxes Out' Kinetic Design

Geneva 2009 saw Ford launch the third in a series of 'Kinetic design' Iosis concept cars. Following the Iosis, and Iosis X, here we have Iosis Max (Gavin Green says it sounds like an energy drink). As with the Iosis - which essentially became the Mondeo, and the Iosis X, which previewed the Kuga, most commentators expect the Iosis Max to preview the upcoming C-Max - Ford's European MPV, which competes with the likes of the Renault Scenic and Opel Zafira.

You can see my quick walkround, and overall take on the vehicle in the video below:

So this concept holds great significance, as it's the first vehicle to sit on Ford's new world Focus platform. In other words, the production version of the car you see above, looks likely to land in North America. This will no doubt cheer blue oval fans stateside, who've long been clamouring for Ford of Europe's sportier, more dynamic range of models.

This Focus platform is a pretty special one, too, for it is designed to accept a whole host of different engine technologies. This concept was launched with the new four cylinder, 1.6l EcoBoost gasoline engine - like Detroit's Lincoln C Concept. But according to Ford's director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Platforms Nancy Gioia, this platform will be capable of accepting not only petrol, diesel and hybrid motors, but full battery electric technology too (see the video for more on this).

Show goers could see what the underside of the electric versions of the future car might look like around the corner from the Iosis Max. Magna Steyr, Ford's EV partner, showcased the electric vehicle chassis and layout it is developing (watch the video below for more). It was largely ignored in a sea of shiny metal but it, and the battery electric Transit Connect sitting just to the other side, quietly demonstrate Ford's intent to go electric in a big way, something CEO Alan Mullaly affirmed yesterday.

All of this leads me to ask two questions. Firstly, can Ford make its global platform strategy work? American's say they want the dynamic European vehicles - Fiesta, Focus, S-Max. But Ford has brought euro-designed cars to the USA before - the first Focus, and the Mondeo (Contour) amongst others (Merkur XR4Ti anyone?) - and they didn't meet sales ambitions. The current economic and environmental climate suggests they should fair rather better this time, but if the production version of the car you see above is named Focus, I wonder if it will be hampered by association to the current - somewhat apologetic looking - North American Focus? (I've discussed this over on a blog with MPGOmatic, which you can check out here.)

The second question is a nagging doubt about how much further Kinetic design can be pushed. I was one of the few people in Geneva who wasn't hugely blown away by the Iosis Max. Plenty of commentators and designers have sung its praise over the past few days, but the hints of visual similarity to the Mercedes B-class - which come from its wheelbase and proportions, together with questionable colour/trim and the hinge-fest that are the doors and trunk lid, sullied a fundamentally sound idea in my eyes (watch the video above for my thoughts and the full tour). The question is, as this is the third in the series of 'Kinetic design' concepts, where do Ford - particularly Ford of Europe - go next, in design terms?

Kinetic design is intended to express - in the exterior form language of the vehicle - how 'fun to drive' and dynamic Ford's vehicles are. I'd say they've achieved that to some extent. Yet this vehicle was supposed to herald a new phase of design for Ford of Europe. Instead it feels like the topping out of the current form-language theme. So, rather like Mazda with their 'Flow' series of cars which appear at every auto show and feel rather long in the tooth, might Ford need a proper change of design gear before too long?

Ford Iosis Max photoset below - click on the link to go to the full Flickr set. All photos are creative commons licensed, please credit Joseph Simpson and link to this page.

Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring The Movement Design Bureau's design research work throughout 2009

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 6th March 2009

Geneva auto salon 2009 - what do you want to know?

Despite the fairly parlous state of the auto industry right now, one event you can guarantee no manufacturer will pull out of is the Geneva auto show. This is Europe's big automotive deal, and it's a guaranteed draw for the car world's great and good each March.

Because of this, hotel rooms tend to book up about half a year in advance, and because I never like to plan things too far ahead (*ahem*), I won't be staying overnight at Geneva this year because I didn't organise a hotel soon enough... I will, instead, be getting up at a frankly silly hour next Tuesday morning, to drive to Gatwick and hop on an Easyjet flight which will hopefully have me in the exhibition hall before 10am.

Despite there being a lot of stuff to cover in just one day, I'd like to experiment with making my coverage interactive, rather than just trundling round photographing cars, and lunching at the expense of Nissan, Audi, Peugeot or whoever. So what would you like me to try and find out, who would you like me to try and field a question to, and which cars are you particularly interested in? Drop me an email or leave a comment here and I'll do my best to cover it or get you an answer.

What's more, I'll be tweeting throughout the event on Tuesday, so you can follow my thoughts and photos or direct a question to me there, then come back throughout Wednesday and Thursday for reports, updates, photos and video both here on Re*Move, on my flickr account and on our BlipTV and Youtube channels.

Are you keen to know more about the BMW Concept 5 Series GT's general bizarre-nesss (above), or if I've got it wrong about the Citroen DS Inside? Or just who'll spring a surprise? I wonder what the show star will be this year? Stay tuned...

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 25th February. Geneva Auto Salon's press days are 3rd and 4th March. It opens to the public from 5th-15th March.

Scott Monty on Ford's approach to Social Media

Do you use Twitter? That's been the UK media's number one obsession over the past few weeks. And the answer is yes, we do - as you'll have (hopefully) noticed by the widgets down the right hand side of this blog, showing our recent 'tweets'. We know that half the people reading will have turned off by now - because they're sick to death of hearing about it - but stay with me, because the auto companies - those supposedly slow-on-the-uptake, most old fashioned beasts, are quietly using twitter - and wider forms of social media - to dramatic effect.

A few weeks ago, Mashable published an article called "40 of the best brands on twitter and the people behind them" and heading the list were Chevrolet, Ford, General Motors and Honda. If you search closely, you'll also find brands and organisations like Renault, Citroen of Brazil, Daimler and Toyota's iQ on there. In fact Twitter has become a valuable tool - particularly for GM and Ford (no sign of Chrysler yet) - for communicating, updating (and correcting) people on the news that's been pinging around surrounding the recent auto bailout.

At January's Detroit Auto show, we got the opportunity to interview Ford's Head of Social Media - Scott Monty - to find out more. Watch the video below to see him explain how Ford are using various media channels to not only tell their story - but begin to change perceptions about Ford.

Interestingly, Monty has found himself at the centre of what you might describe as a Twitter 'row' these last couple of weeks. His detractor came in the unlikely form of Ray Wert, the guy behind online car site Jalopnik. He accused Monty of being a 'bit of a twit' on the Jalopnik site, suggesting Monty was merely enhancing his own personal brand, and not Ford's, by using his own personal account on Twitter, rather than a Ford one.

Monty is quite clearly capable of sticking up for himself, while Jalopnik is a site we massively admire for managing to do a rare thing in the online automotive world - offering informed, up to the minute news and analysis, laced with a huge dollop of humour. But here's not really the place to analyse this particular game of online fisty-cuffs (check back through this tweet search list of comments relating to it if you want to know more).

All we can really say is that twitter (and most forms of online media for that matter), to us, are about having a conversation (as opposed to simply broadcasting, in a one-way fashion). This is something Monty seems to be doing pretty well at for Ford. By using his own account, he might not be as 'findable' as simply being behind one account named 'Ford', but having heard endless criticism of 'faceless' or 'evil' corporations recently (we're talking about mainstream media vilification of banks and auto companies here), the notion of having a recongnisable, real, individual who reaches out to people from within an organisation to have one-on-one conversations, seems rather smart and refreshing, to us.

Whatever your take, one things for sure. The car industry - particularly that much maligned corner of it that resides in North America, has been on to Twitter longer than most. From an industry that is so often slated for refusing to change and embrace new ideas and technologies, it be just be an indication that the auto industry as a whole is now listening, and ready to change. Let us know what you think.

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 20th February 2009

Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring The Movement Design Bureau's design research work in 2009. We have an independent eye though, so tell us if it seems we don't.

Questioning Ford?

Right now we're covering NAIAS 09 in Detroit. Ford has launched several important vehicles, including the new Taurus sedan for North America, the Shelby Mustang 500, and - over at its Lincoln brand - the MKT crossover, and C concept car. Key among announcements was the futuristic Sync system that features in the C concept car. Perhaps most importantly though, Ford announced that it plans to electrify in a big way, with four hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure battery vehicles due to land by 2012. We've sent Robb Hunter to the show to grab key photos and up to the minute news, but here from the UK, we're getting the chance to interview some key Ford people over the next day.

So what do you want to know?

We'll be talking to Nancy Gioia - Ford's Director, Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs and Jim Buczkowski - Ford's director of Electrical and Electronics Systems Engineering (and man behind the Sync concepts), along with Scott Monty - Head of Social Media at Ford.

Put your questions to us, by emailing me here, sending me a tweet, (DM if you like), or leaving a comment below. We're kicking things off in a few hours, so don't hang about!

Mark has kicked things off with his observations on the changing importance of the Taurus segment and asks whether Ford really believes Americans will return to driving midsize 'sedan' cars. He has his doubts and wonders what sort of cars Americans actually want to drive over the coming few years, especially given falling fuel prices.

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 12th January 2009

Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring our Design Research Work throughout 2009.

NAIAS '09 - no your eyes aren't deceiving you, that is a Volvo

One car that we couldn't cover in any depth at the time we ran our NAIAS day one coverage last night, was the Volvo S60 concept. Well now the pictures of it are up on Robb's flickr site, and we've decided it merits its own blog - just look at it! We knew that Steve Mattin was up to some cool stuff with the brand, but this is fairly staggering! CEO Steve Odell said in his press conference, that this car was designed to cement Volvo's position as a premium brand. Well, lets just say that this concept can quite easily stand toe-to-toe with any recent offering from BMW or Merc...

The extreior previews Volvo's new design language, complete with "racetrack" shoulders, trapezoidal grille, and Scandinavian inspired forms, language and colours. Comedy award goes to the headlights, which designer Mattin seemed very proud of. What he said about them, was picked up by @commutr on twitter again, who had his second comedy genius moment of the day, saying "I think I just heard the Volvo designer say 'if you look into the headlights, you'll see the image of two Viking longboats".

"Two tiny Viking Longboats in the headlights"

However, it was inside where you really needed to look. Sadly, Volvo would only open the door if you were carrying a film camera the size of a pillar box, with CNN emblazoned on the side of it - so photos are through the window. Words can't really describe how interesting and special an interior this is - but yes, the obvious answer to the question you're asking in your head, is that it is a real 'crystal' centre console - made by famous Swedish glass company Orrefors Kosta Boda.

S60 concept interior... complete with 'crystal' centre console:

We'll leave you with Robb's great pictures, and with the vain hope that Volvo don't water it down too much in the production version... (don't worry guys, we know it's not going to have a crystal console, but please can we have everything else? *please*)

Full photo set here - teaser below:

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 12th January 2008

Photos by Robb Hunter - potatowedge on Flickr.

All material, including photographs, is licensed as Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0. Please feel free to copy, distribute and adapt the material within the terms of this license.

An eye on Detroit: NAIAS '09 - Day 1

Keeping an eye on the competition in Cobo today... guess which manufacturer's car this is from?

Judging by the response of some auto makers, you'd have thought this year's Detroit autoshow wouldn't be worth the effort. However, judging by twitter chatter, mainstream news coverage and the response of people on the ground, hell hasn't actually frozen over (its only Detroit's pavements) and those that ventured to the Cobo Hall today for the start of the North American International Auto Show 2009, were rewarded with some treats and surprises.

This show was always going to be about certain North American manufacturers proving to a skeptical American public they deserved bailout money, and for every other manufacturer, a chance to prove the auto industry wasn't actually on its knees, and could still deliver the vision, and kick-ass products that would make people open their wallets.

It started slowly, but over the day, momentum built... General Motors kicked things off unveiling a bland new Buick, and a Cadillac SRX Crossover that didn't set anyone's pants on fire. But the real big news was never going to be about these cars - and sure enough, the General used NAIAS as an opportunity to build on its good press with the Chevrolet Volt, and make the most of its E-flex, plug-in hybrid vehicle architecture. Renamed "Voltage" today, it sat under a new, rather crisp looking Cadillac Coupe callled the "Converj" (which tied for 'crap name of the day' with Kia's "Soulster").

Cadillac Converj, and a 'not the actual production car yet', Chevy Beat

But GM wasn't quite done at that, and made a slightly bizarre "reveal", which actually wasn't. It announced that the Chevy Beat, one of three baby cars shown a year or so ago, had received the public's blessing to be its new north American small car. It is to be put into production in 2011, known as the "Spark". However, we say it was bizarre, as GM showed the original Beat concept on their stand, and had just one photo of the new Spark on a big display screen. Although too early to judge fairly, in the photo, it looked less funky than the Beat, and a little clunky compared to its big competitor, the Fiesta, which Ford brings Stateside in 2010...

Speaking of Ford, they appeared to be having a rather good show. Not only was the new Taurus well received by mainstream auto press, but it made a big (some would say shock) announcement about electrification of its range - with four new cars - regular and plug-in hybrids, plus a pure battery electric vehicle, all due in the next three years. Interestingly, some of these will be based on the next Focus platform, which means they could be seen in both the US and Europe. Most interesting to us was how Ford played up its partnership with those outside of the automotive world, such as power and research companies, and how it says it is working with specific cities on the development of these vehicles. We hope to have more on this in the next couple of days and to interview some of those behind the announcement, so if you've any questions about Ford's announcements, please add them in the comments below.

Alan Mulally on stage, announcing Ford's big electric news

Alan Mulally, Ford's CEO, drove onto the stage in a -suitably coloured- green Fiesta to make this announcement, and we're intrigued by "The Fiesta Movement" Ford has launched in relation to the model, which apparently sees 100 Fiestas put into the hands of people with 'strong' web presence, before they're launched in the US. Throwing the green bathwater out with the eco baby on the Ford stand though, was the new Shelby 500 Mustang. It gets the prize for "Most brooding-looking vehicle of the day":

You'd get out of its way if you saw it in your mirrors, wouldn't you?

Completing the trio of domestic manufacturers was Chrysler, who once again showed that EV, which looks rather like a Lotus Europa covered by a "wafer-thin mint" sized Dodge badge and some EV stickers, which it promises will be on sale by 2012. If I were a betting man, I'd probably put money on Lotus themselves turning out pure EVs before Chrysler do... but most people seemed to think that Chrysler might have been better off concentrating on making their production cars look a little more like its surprising, and rather attractive-looking 200C EV concept.

Chrysler contrasts - third outing for Dodge EV concept (nee. Lotus Europa); rather good looking 200C

The Germans had still turned up in Detroit in their droves, with all of the major manufacturers except Porsche in attendance and unveiling concepts today. BMW had obviously heard there was something on the show agenda about the greening of automobiles, but appeared not to have realised no one's into SUV crossovers anymore, so showed an X6 Active Hybrid. If you haven't seen an X6 on the road yet, you'll know about it when you do, as the photo below from Mark shows. You don't truly appreciate how big it is until you see it next to something else (as Mark says, "don't believe the scale is a matter of perspective in this pic")...

 

Still, BMW took the opportunity to be serious and launch its new Z4 - a replacement for the car which got the world all a-fluster about Chris Bangle and 'Flame surfacing'. While that surface language is now officially dead, the new one still isn't without its creases and kinks. It appears to be, like many modern cars, somewhat 'colour sensitive' - showing off much better in the dark blue, than champagne.

Put me down for a blue one please...

It's always amusing to watch how announcements are reported. While the world seemed to be getting excited over the idea of Toyota 'beating the Volt to market' - with the Japanese company's announcement they'd lease 500 plug-in hybrids in 2009, everyone seemed to have forgotten that, using the same matrix, BMW has beaten them both to it with its Mini E - on show again here. Surely, anyone who's watched the film "Who killed the electric car" would hesitate to classify a car that's simply part of a manufacturer test fleet (the Toyota plug-in), and a car anyone can buy (the Volt) in the same arena?

A reminder from BMW Mini, of what the future car seems likely to be powered by...

Indeed, green poster-child Toyota is in danger of being eclipsed by a bunch of manufacturers before long. A new Prius is launched tomorrow, but this time it won't have the market to itself, with the likes of Honda's Insight on the way. We were disappointed too, that Toyota's EV concept, the FT-EV, had turned the clever, funky-looking iQ into a bit of a micro-van lookalike. I'm interested in really starting to ask serious questions about what electric cars, and advanced hybrids should look like. And it's disappointing to think they might all be Prius-a-like...

Toyota FT-EV concept, is an iQ in disguise

A car that was about as aesthetically far removed from the Prius as it's possible to get, but which still played up its green credentials, was the VW Bluesport roadster. Robb felt this looked a little predictable, even stale - something Darryl Siry attributed to TT-similarities. But then it appeared that VW's stand girls might have helped Robb change his mind... ! Slightly odd orange hood apart, this was VW proving that it could do good, clean fun - and that it was still top of the tree when it came to interiors and detailing.

VW Bluesport, some models, and detailing

Still, we could just be hallucinating about this VW due to the strength of the lighting rig the Germans had employed on their show stand. This brought about 'tweet of the day' from @commutr, who summed up the situation by saying "Maserati, Aston Martin and Tesla have saved money on lighting by being next to VW. The sun is less bright. :)"

VW Stand: "The sun is less bright"...

My car of the day though, was the final unveil, the Volvo S60 concept. We haven't had time to upload the photos yet, and it's really the interior you need to see... but if Volvo's are going to look this sexy in the future, then I want one... Check out pictures like this and this to see what I mean.

"If Volvo's are going to look this sexy, then I want one"

Stay tuned for continued coverage - and some interviews and video tomorrow.

Full photoset from today here.

Posted by Robb Hunter on the show floor in Detroit, and Joseph Simpson watching on the web in London. You can follow our ongoing coverage of the show and thoughts on twitter - @potatowedge, @JoeSimpson, @CharmerMark.

All Photos by Robb Hunter - Potatowedge on Flickr

Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring the Movement Design Bureau's design research work in 2009.

All material, including photographs, is licensed as Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0. Please feel free to copy, distribute and adapt the material within the terms of this license.