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Fuel economy important to car buyers, survey finds

A survey by Consumer Reports magazine finds that fuel economy is most important to car buyers. Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed ranked gas mileage as the No. 1 buying factor.

UPDATED: Honda hints at new European advanced design studio

On the eve of the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, Honda Design's Creative Director, Toshinobu Minami, announced that the company is looking to once again open a design facility in Europe. The announcement came during a presentation at the R&D Center in Waco, just outside the Japanese capital and, while not confirmed, Minami-san strongly hinted that the UK would be a likely candidate to play host to Honda's revitalized European design operations. He cited the country's existing manufacturing and administration facilities, as well as a wealth of new talent from the Royal College of Art in particular.

CDN launches Studio Photos

Car Design News is today launching 'Studio Photos', an extensive new library of high quality car photos taken in a photography studio. Developed in conjunction with automotive design research consultancy Car Men, it is a unique CDN member service created specifically as a visual benchmarking tool for design studios and consultancies who require directly comparable photos of production cars. Most designers or researchers will be familiar with the task of quickly finding good images of specific cars, details of some new model's tail lamp, or the side view of a particular class-leading competitor.