1982 Plymouth Reliant Owner's Manual / Guide Book / Original on 2040-parts.com

Smart Forspeed concept signals new design direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand. Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014. "The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts.

BMW Gran Lusso (2013) the Pininfarina coupe revealed

BMW’s team-up with Italian styling house Pininfarina, the Gran Lusso coupe has been revealed in full at the 2013 Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza in Italy. The imposing V12-powered coupe is a one-off styling concept for now, but shows the direction BMW could take for a new 8-series coupe, designed to battle the new Mercedes S-class coupe and Bentley Continental GT. BMW Gran Lusso: the details Riding on 21in alloys, the 7-series-sized Gran Lusso has all the trademark BMW styling boxes ticked: forward-raked ‘sharknose’ grille, the rear pillar's ‘Hofmeister kink’ in the windowline, and a cab-back stance accentuating that long bonnet.

Detroit auto show: Autoweek editors' picks

The press conferences are over (our feet are killing us), our staff has stopped wrestling, and the ballots are counted. The 2014 Detroit auto show had dozens of never-before-seen cars and trucks gleaming under the Cobo Center lights. Here are the four we, the Autoweek staff, think stood out the most.