NYC teens design $9,000 Nissan econocar

Dan Roth — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:33:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, SEMA Show, Contests, Nissan

Nissan's got the right idea when it comes to sussing out what young urban car buyers want: ask them. It's more than just a focus group, though. Nissan actually worked with 18 New York teenagers to educate them about the car design process and how to spot trends. The automaker has teamed up with Sweat Equity Enterprises to give teenagers from underprivileged backgrounds a taste of the huge cornucopia of opportunities there are in the world. Six different teams competed to design the winning concept, the prize being a model of the winner. The teens turned out such impressive and clever ideas for a $9000 car that all the concepts will be brought to digital life as animated digital mockups.

An elemental three-box in fetching metallic orange dubbed the Pure came out on top. Team member Stewie Jones explained that the idea was to make the Pure a spiritual successor to the Datsun 510, trading on the same type of goodwill that sells MINIs, and building on legend like Nissan's done with generations of Skyline. Nissan gets the inside scoop on what urban youth really wants, and that's a commendably simple and effective concept. We'll get our chance to ogle the scale model of the Pure at SEMA's expansive event next week, and we wish that someone had rewarded us for incessantly drawing cars in high school, instead of dooming all of our best work to the trashbin.

[Source: New York Times via Kicking Tires]

Gallery: Nissan student designs

NYC teens design $9,000 Nissan econocar originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now you see it, now you don't: Koenigsegg's transparent watch

Noah Joseph — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:32:00 EST

Filed under: Gadgets

You might have thought that building one of the very best-performing exotic supercars in the world would be enough to put a company like Koenigsegg on the map, but apparently no sportscar-maker has really made it until they've got their own laptop and wristwatch. Having already covered the former, the Swedish meisters of speed are taking the raps off their new range of timepieces.

Of course, Koenigsegg couldn't simply commission an ordinary wristwatch, slap on their logo and call it a day. Instead, Koenigsegg turned to Quinting, an exclusive Swiss watchmaker that produces completely unique transparent watches. We don't mean the case is transparent allowing you to see the movement; the movement itself is transparent, each component having been painstakingly crafted from fine-cut sapphire crystal.

For Koenigsegg, Quinting has created two unique timepieces, the Ghost chronograph and the Advance. Both are available only in limited quantities, and only to owners of Koenigsegg supercars, who can join the already-exclusive cadre of world presidents past and present who wear Quinting's innovative creations.

[Source: Sybarites and Cardisiac]

Gallery: Koenigsegg timepieces by Quinting

Now you see it, now you don't: Koenigsegg's transparent watch originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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