Legendary Formula 1 designer Gordon Murray has unveiled a new prototype electric sports car to join his fold of futuristic small vehicle designs.

The TEEWAVE AR1 was designed in collaboration with Toray Industries and is designed partially as proof of concept for a production mechanism that can see a car processed in less than ten minutes.

Constructed from carbon fiber, the AR1 is remarkably light, weighing in at just 850 kilograms. That makes it considerably lighter than the Tesla Roadster.

Thousands of rich Shanghai residents have turned China’s most cosmopolitan city into the luxury capital of a country that is expected to become the world’s largest market for the sector between 2012 and 2015.

Shanghai topped China’s luxury market in 2010-11 with 18% of overall sales, ahead of Beijing’s 16% and the eastern city of Hangzhou, with its 13% share.

Second and third-tier cities in the country are still far behind, despite boasting a growing number of wealthy people, according to the World Luxury Association.

Byron Yiu has made his fortune by turning traditional shopping habits around and re-selling rich women’s luxury handbags in Hong Kong.

Yiu’s Milan Station retail chain buys trendy bags — luxury tote or shoulder bags to evening clutch – from the ladies who lunch in Hong Kong’s upscale neighbourhoods.

Locally known as “tai tais”, the small and often thrifty demographic, rarely seen without Prada, Chanel or Gucci on their arm, provides the retailer with a steady flow of bags which are later authenticated by Yiu’s team.

Disney has taken its first leap into the hotel industry proper with the opening of a standalone resort and spa in Hawaii.

Aulani, which opened this week in Ko Olina close to the Marriott Ko Olina, is the entertainment behemoth’s first hotel outside of its famous theme parks and is designed as an alternative family vacation experience.

On the coast of Oahu island, the resort and spa stretches across 21 acres and will eventually contain some 840 rooms split across a hotel and villas.

The booming Chinese mainland is now the largest importer of Bordeaux by volume, driving a jump in exports of the French wine, an industry body said.

Exports from the French winegrowing region rose 34 percent in value and 23 percent in volume between July 2010 and June 2011.

The boom was driven in part by iconic great estates, but the bulk came from little chateaux selling wines for less than 4.50 euros.

Luxury retailer Chanel Inc. recently filed a “cyber-piracy” lawsuit against 399 websites, charging them with infringement on it’s trademark and selling counterfeit Chanel items, on the Internet.

The counterfeit items infringed upon include; handbags, shoes, wallets, jewelry, scarfs, sunglasses and clothing bearing the Chanel name.

The suit claims that the websites, specifically, use SEO strategies, using keywords that will more than likely show up in search engines like Google and Yahoo.