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Mini Cooper first pictures (2013) BMW’s new Mini goes back to the future

By Phil McNamara First Official Pictures 18 November 2013 09:00 Here comes BMW’s third new Mini since it relaunched the brand in 2001. But its appearance seems resolutely stuck in time, like John and Jackie Kennedy in Zapruder’s film of the Dallas motorcade, or like the fans who berated Bob Dylan for going electric.   There are no design surprises: the bodysides are curvy and more crisply pressed, the rear lamps supersized, otherwise the floating roof, wraparound chrome piping and wheel-at-each corner stance are all present and correct. ‘We need to be careful,’ BMW Group design director Adrian van Hooydonk told CAR.

Where is Nissan and Infiniti design headed? Just look at the lamps

For a glimpse at future styling trends from Nissan Motor Co., look to the headlamps on the Nissan Leaf electric car and the sculpted rear of the Infiniti M. Front and rear lamps raised from the body surface and pronounced spoilers are two tricks Nissan will use more often to improve the aerodynamics and handling of vehicles--in addition to giving them a futuristic flair, global design chief Shiro Nakamura says. The goal: Win young drivers and bring sales of models such as the Nissan Altima in line with Japanese rivals "The important thing is the front end and the rear end," Nakamura said during an April 12 interview at the company's main design studio south of Tokyo.

Celebrate 40 years of Nissan's Z car with our special Web-zine

It's the 40th anniversary of Nissan's iconic Z car. You can join the celebration with a special-edition Web-zine created by the editors of AutoWeek. A great historical compilation from the AW archives, this special issue will take you from the Fairlady to the latest 370Z, with the race cars in between.