Max Mosley continues as FIA president

By Ben Pulman

03 June 2008 12:52

Max Mosley will continue as FIA president after member clubs today voted overwhelmingly in his favour. At the meeting in Paris, Mosley received 103 votes supporting a ‘motion of confidence in the FIA President’.

A further 55 votes were cast in opposition to the motion, while there were also seven abstentions and four invalid votes in the secret ballot cast by FIA member clubs. The result of the vote means Max Mosley will keep his position as FIA president until October 2009, when his current term comes to an end. Mosley has hinted he will not seek re-election.

Mosley now faces a battle to regain his credibility, but it will also be interesting to see how his critics react. After allegations about Mosley's private life surfaced in a British Sunday newspaper, BMW and Mercedes issued a joint statement that said: 'The content of the publications is disgraceful. As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it.'

X-Wave concept from Visteon/3M: first pictures

By Adam Towler

02 June 2008 09:36

Want to see the future of the car cockpit? The X-Wave concept is a showcase for the latest thinking on vehicle interiors from automotive supplier Visteon and technology giant 3M. They’ve teamed up to fit out a BMW X5 – dubbed X-Wave – with new lighting and control interfaces that could revolutionise the look and operation of cars over the next few years.

Hang on – where have all the buttons gone? How do you get anything to work on this BMW X5?

All the buttons are there, you just can’t see them yet. The thin integrated centre panel, which at first appears to be a blank section of silver trim, contains all the usual controls, but only lights up when your hand approaches. You can arrange these controls as you wish, with the skin able to wrap over virtually any surface contour. And it even gives physical feedback when you select a function through a pre-programmed artificial vibration.

Those displays look a bit odd too. Are they in 3D?

Yes, the dial pack is completely computerised, with sections using a new 3M film that creates the illusion of 3D without the need to wear any dodgy goggles. Through this, information can be layered graphically – say for sat-nav instructions and the like. The whole sweep of dashboard uses a light transmissive film that only makes imagery visible when it’s required.

What could all this technology mean for the future of car interiors?

This tech is still a few years away from production, but it signals a fundamental shift in the basic architecture of car interiors. Switchgear could be collated and then hidden on surfaces where it wouldn’t normally be possible to group controls – killing clutter in the process.

Dashboards could contain all sorts of imagery, some of it user-configured and installed like your desktop picture on your laptop. In fact, the whole dashboard could suddenly glow red if you were about to hit the car in front. The possibilities are endless; expect to see many of them in the next decade.

BMW supercar stars in CAR’s new issue

By Phil McNamara

26 May 2008 11:16

BMW is preparing the M1 Hommage concept for production, the new issue of CAR reveals. ‘We have the know-how, we have the right engine, we even have the infrastructure to build such a car,’ vows BMW board member Herbert Diess. The supercar was shot exclusively for CAR, and following interviews with BMW executives, our July issue reveals key project details including:

• The timetable for production
• The three-strong powertrain line-up
• The lightweight body construction
• The plan for ‘heron-wing’ doors, and a driver-focused, multi-layered interior
• And why BMW’s new supercar won’t be called M1

Read the story in the July issue of CAR, on sale Wednesday 28 May. And let us know if you think BMW needs this rival to the Audi R8 by voting in our online poll, which you’ll find on the bottom right of CAR’s homepage.

The issue features six more exclusives, including the first shoot of Alfa’s new Mito hot hatch and a Tokyo group test of the Nissan GT-R, Lexus IS-F and Mitsubishi Evo X.

There’s also a free, 32-page Land Rover supplement in the middle of the magazine, including a stunning drive across the Oman desert in a Range Rover TDV8.