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New Mini Hardtop 4-door: First look

Meet the Mini Cooper Hardtop 4-door. The company has followed the surprise unveiling of its one-off Superleggera Vision roadster concept at the recent Villa d'Este Concourse d'Eleganza in Italy with this, a five-door production hatchback that is planned to join its North American lineup later this year. The new Mini model shares its front-wheel-drive mechanical package with the latest three-door Mini Cooper hatchback launched earlier this year but aims to provide more everyday practicality than its popular sibling through a combination of extended external dimensions and a pair of stubby rear doors.

BMW Adds Two New Exhibits to Museum

BMW added two new exhibits to its Museum in Munich, Germany this past weekend, designed to showcase the automakers forward thinking ambitions towards lightweight, efficient vehicles. Called the Simple and Clever concepts, the three wheeled urban contraptions were designed as a research exercise to make maneuvering in urban areas easier and more energy efficient. The Simple concept - an acronym of the project name 'sustainable and innovative mobility product for low energy consumption' - combines features and advantages from both automobiles and motorcycles and is powered by a 36kW combustion engine and an electric motor.

America trialling solar-powered roads

Solar Roadways After glow-in-the-dark road markings proved to be a bit of a flop when the paint washed away in the rain, experts are now experimenting with solar-powered motorways. A small, family-owned American company based in Idaho called Solar Roadways has created a short section of road that uses the sun’s energy to power nearby buildings, as well as electric cars. If the solar-powered roads are adopted worldwide, it could put an end to the range-anxiety commonly associated with electric vehicles.