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MINI E – be a UK tester

MINI are looking for field testers in the UK to trial the MINI E But don’t think it will be a freebie. It may be far more advantageous to MINI than the Test Driver, but MINI are charging around $850 a month in the US for the privilege of testing the MINI E so, although MINI hasn’t released details of cost in the UK, you can bet it will be a similar amount. Still, people like to feel special, and an electric MINI is something ground-breaking.

Audi rolls out A3 lineup at the Los Angeles auto show

There's something about German automakers and model proliferation—it seems that if there is a niche to be filled, no matter how vanishingly small, a vehicle will be devised to fill it. If no niche is extant, they'll simply invent one, which is how we wound up with the unprompted X6. Audi's new A3 lineup, which debuted at the Los Angeles auto show and will begin its 18 month-long North American rollout spring 2014, seems incredibly rational by comparison.

Detroit auto show 2012 - a video review of the NAIAS

It's CAR's traditional three wise-ish men in a car video review of the 2012 North American International Auto Show. Hear the analysis from our European editor Georg Kacher, contributing editor Ben Oliver and anchorman associate editor Tim Pollard, as they chew over the new cars, surprises, delights and disappointments from the Detroit auto show. NAIAS 2012 was a more sober affair than the previous era of showmanship; there were no herds of cattle being steered down Detroit's streets or wild parties hosted by Chrysler in the old Firehouse.