Mazda previews the next 2 with the Hazumi concept

Mazda's Hazumi concept looks like a ferocious little rodent, an aggressive lil' gumball of a mini car that's set to replace the Mazda2. Imagine the drooping snout of the Mazda3 (not a "Droopsnoot," mind you) on a car far shorter than that. Imagine the same character lines, the same upward kink over the rear wheel, the same haunches as the 3 and the 6.

Design Contest: ANFIA announces Italian Styling - Young Designers Competition 2004

The deadline for entries in the fourth edition of the 'Stile Italiano Giovani' design competition (Italian Styling - Young Designers) is coming up. The competition is a biennial event run by the designers of the ANFIA Coachbuilders Group, who have set out to help discover new talent in the field of car design. The target of the initiative is to find and select new talents from all over the world, capable of interpreting and fostering the tradition of Italian automotive design.

1961 Ford Gyron concept scale model sells for $40,000

A scale model of the 1961 Ford Gyron concept has sold at auction for $40,000, around four times its estimate. The space-age concept car – designed by Alex Tremulis, McKinley Thompson, Syd Mead, Bill Dayton, John Najjar, and Elwood Engel – debuted in 1961 at the New York International Auto Show and featured two wheels mounted along the car's centerline, usung a gyroscope for stability. The full-size model – which relied on stabilizing wheels instead of a gyroscope – also predicted the development of satellite navigation systems, car phones and infrared sensing.