Dorman 955-983 Door Mirror on 2040-parts.com

The return of the Real MINI

The MINI Concept - heralding the revival of the Isetta and Topolino marques [ad#ad-1] Back in January, we speculated on the return of the Topolino and Isetta marques in a joint venture by BMW and Fiat to launch a range of super-eco city cars to rival those that manufacturers like VW and Mercedes are developing. And according to Auto Express those plans are getting close to being realised. This is a bold move by BMW and Fiat to gain ground over their rivals with models that offer extreme economy, but sport a legendary moniker to give the models added kudos.

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.

2012 Mini roadster revealed

Mini has revealed the definitive production version of its 2012 roadster. Sister car to the recently introduced coupe, alongside which it will be built at Mini's Oxford plant in England, the compact two-seater arrives a little more than two years after it was first shown in lightly veiled concept car guise at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show. Rival to the enduring Mazda Miata, the Mini roadster is planned to make its public debut at the Detroit auto show in January prior to going on sale in North America in mid-2012.