Concept Car of the Week: Bertone BMW Pickster (1998)

The creation of new niche products is an ongoing process for car manufacturers and sometimes combining different segments into one can provide a popular solution. Nowadays, all these mongrels are usually categorised under the same label ‘Crossover', which doesn't mean much anymore a part perhaps for an artificial off-road appearance. But back in America's sixties, the combination of a pick-up's functionality with the style and driving performance of a sports car became so successful that it created a whole new segment.

Audi S3 (2006): first official pictures

By Phil McNamara First Official Pictures 01 August 2006 06:23 The lowdown Here's the new benchmark for hot hatch acceleration: the 261bhp Audi S3 quattro. Up there with the most powerful hot hatches – the 261bhp BMW 130i and Volkswagen's 250bhp Golf R32 – the S3 is due in the UK in January 2007. Audi claims it despatches the 0-62mph sprint in an impressive 5.7sec.

Minicars perform poorly in crash tests, study says

Minicars made by Toyota, Honda and Daimler AG did poorly on frontal crash tests with mid-sized automobiles, prompting an influential safety organization to suggest consumers consider buying larger cars that have comparable fuel economy. The Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Smart ForTwo all collapsed upon impact into the space around the driver dummy, according to the study released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Drivers in all three vehicles faced high risk of head and leg injuries after test collisions at 40 miles an hour, even after airbags inflated, said the non-profit group funded by auto insurers.