2012-2013 Ford Focus Center Lower Black Grille on 2040-parts.com

Spied: The 2012 Volkswagen New Beetle looks a bit squished

Volkswagen's upcoming onslaught of new products includes a redesign for the New Beetle. The new New Beetle is expected to arrive in 2011 as a 2012 model, with a convertible version set to arrive a year after the coupe. Recent spy photographs of a prototype being tested on public roads in Europe show that the 2012 New Beetle has a roofline that has less arch than the current model.

Volkswagen CC R-Line announced for the UK

The Volkswagen CC R-Line (pictured) now on sale in the UK Earlier this year, Volkswagen decided they’d drop the price of the VW CC just a bit, so with an eye to a tick-box many UK buyers will like they’ve added the VW CC R-Line to the UK options to get some higher price sales in. Effectively an add-on option for the CC GT – which comes with a pretty decent spec anyway – the CC R-Line will get the usual subtle R-Line adornments to add a bit more butch to the appealing four-door coupe. That includes an R-Line grill with fog lights, new R-Line bumper, bigger sills, LED running lights, R-Line logos, 18″ Mallory Alloys and R-Line steering wheel, all of which adds a perfectly reasonable £650 to the price of the GT CC.

Toyota Prius points the way to design future

For a glimpse of Toyota's future design trends, check out the Prius. The third generation, debuting Monday in Japan, stays true to the line's role as a vanguard of futuristic styling and sports many new elements that will be popping up soon in other models. Chief among these are the sharply creased corners, the forward placement of the Toyota badge, a lowered grille and styling that Toyota's global design chief Wahei Hirai calls "free-form geometrics." The goal was to create an avant-garde, high-tech look that also screams green.