Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Mini Vision concept: what does it say about the brand's future?

The sight of Mini design head Anders Warming presenting a holographic, 3D projection of the Mini Vision concept as if appearing in his own cartoon was certainly a new one on us, but it captured the quirky, slightly left-field image the subsidiary of BMW Group has cultivated since its relaunch 13 years ago. As the 'Vision' tag suggests, this is billed as a marker of intent for the brand's future design direction rather than a pre-production teaser of the new Mini hatchback (Cooper in most markets) we'll see later this year. However if the third-generation 'new' Mini doesn't look remarkably similar we'd be amazed, such is the level of productionized detailing on this purely digital model.

Michelin Challenge Design 2009 preview

Michelin has released details of three more contenders which will be displayed at the Michelin Challenge Design exhibit at the 2009 NAIAS next week. The stand will feature 11 scale models and 24 two-dimensional drawings that were selected by a jury of top automotive designers. Among these are Raquel Aparicio’s Soft Vehicle, Fernando Gomez’s Packard concept and Niels Grubak Iversen and David Goncalves’ Phoenix concept.

Maserati Levante SUV confirmed for 2015 – Alfieri could arrive in 2016

The Maserati Levante SUV (pictured) will arrive in 2015 Fiat’s plans top revive the Maserati brand are off to a good start after sales grew strongly last year to more than 22,500 cars in the first nine months with the new Quattroporte and new Ghibli contributing strongly to those figures. But with a target of 50,000 sales a year, Maserati need new models too and the next in line for production is the Maserati Levante SUV, which Sergio Marchionne has now confirmed will arrive in production guise in 2015. It was expected the Levante would be a re-working of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, but with the Grand Cherokee selling in droves – and with a desire to make the Levante as ‘Italian’ as possible – it now looks like the Levante will get a version of the platform underpinning the Ghibli and use Maserati’s own 4WD system.