Concept Car of the Week: AMC Amitron (1967)

While the American auto industry spent most of the late ‘60s creating huge barges powered by monstrous engines with loud decals on disco paint jobs, AMC believed in the future of compact cars, fuel economy, and go-faster stripes. Designed under Richard Teague's supervision, the quirky Amitron was unveiled in 1967 in a hotel in Detroit. Measuring less than 2,200mm long, it is 350mm shorter than a Smart Fortwo and its wide track gave room for three passengers seating abreast.

MINI Yours: MINI customisation kicks off with MINI Avenue

MINI Avenue - an off-the-peg MINI Yours We already know that MINI seems to launch more limited editions every year than the whole of the rest of the car industry. But now they’re going a step further with a customisation programme called ‘MINI Yours’, and an off-the-peg version called the MINI Avenue. MINI Yours is all about offering the sort of customisation offered for the original Mini in the 1960s by companies like Radford - and about making good margins on the add-ons – with a huge range of customisation stuff above and beyond what appears in the MINI Limited Editions.

Peugeot 208

Peugeot today unveiled the all-new 208, which will replace the 207 in spring 2012. Entirely new from the ground up, the French firm's latest B segment model is said to ‘represent a true generation leap' over its predecessor and embody ‘the principles of agility and efficiency'. "The strength of the 208 lies in its style: it is a real ball of energy," says Peugeot's design director, Gilles Vidal.