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A global approach to selling cars is one that brings with it a whole host of problems for the design department. Just ask General Motors design chief Ed Welburn.

GM has long been a worldwide brand, but only now in his ninth year in the job is Welburn succeeding in the seemingly straightforward task of getting all Chevrolet models to wear the same badge.

Last week I got to see the new Skoda Citigo in the flesh. Skoda's chief designer Josef Caban, boasted that the Citigo not only had different nose and tail styling, but also had a completely different bodyside pressing to its VW Up sister car.

I looked hard at the Skoda and, aside from the obvious difference in the shape of the rear window, thought that the two cars looked remarkably similar. Indeed, the distinctive chamfer running along the top of the door - which gives the car a distinct flavour in the metal - is the same on both cars. Why did Skoda use the same strong styling feature as VW?

Before the Ford Evos concept was unveiled at Frankfurt, I attended the press event in Berlin. It was particularly useful because, unlike in the Frankfurt scrum, it was possible to pin down Ford’s design bosses on a one-to-one basis.

If you can ignore the impressive gullwing arrangement and the coupe layout, much of what’s left is Ford’s new Mondeo. The real thing will be unveiled at the Detroit show next January, where this car replaces the Mazda 6-based Ford Fusion on the US market.

The last three weeks have gone by in something of a blur. The run-in to the Frankfurt motor show inevitably means trips to the Continent for an early view and private briefing on some of the star exhibits. I spent a whole week in Germany, with a flight every day, in order to get up close and personal with the new 911, new Ford Evos concept and the Fisker Surf.

There are some considerable fringe benefits, however, one of which was dinner at the new(ish) Porsche museum in Stuttgart. As impressive as the new 991-series 911 is, it was very hard not be distracted by the exhibits and very frustrating not to have more time to look around.

Bumped into Audi’s chief designer Stefan Sielaff the other day. As you do.

Anyway Herr Sielaff is an incredibly interesting chap, especially when it comes to assessing how our cars are going to change in the future.

Just got sent a press release that reads: “G-POWER is proud to present one of the world’s most powerful BMW X6 M models - the X6 M TYPHOON S”

I was wondering whether it wasn’t some kind of wind up, sent to me by a colleague in Australia who, for some reason, thinks it’s quite amusing to photoshop 36in wheels on to Mercs and BMWs and point out how lacking in taste us Europeans are compared with your average Queenslander.