Offenhauser Vintage 4x2 Small Block Chevy Intake Manifold on 2040-parts.com

First MINI Coupé rolls off the production line

MINI Coupe - first production car rolls out at Cowley We’ve only recently had the reveal of the new MINI Coupe – well, the production car reveal, that is. We had the first reveal of the MINI Coupe Concept nearly two years ago and, despite the production MINI Coupe looking almost exactly the same as the concept, MINI managed to do the production reveal in two stages – one with swirly disguise round the rump followed by a full reveal a week or three later. Still, all the pre-production marketing flim-flam out of the way, MINI are getting down to actually making the car that promises to be the most fun (modern) MINI so far, and the very first MINI Coupe has now rolled off the production line at Cowley – cue PR opportunity.

Global Automotive Forum hosts designer roundtable meeting in Chengdu, China

The second Global Automotive Forum took place last week in the Jiaozhi international conference center in Chengdu, one of the most important economic and transportation centers in Western China. The two-day event was based around the theme of 'Crossing from Producing to Innovation Country' and was attended by more than 80 people from the global automotive industry. While most of the sessions revolved around the greater automotive industry in China, Car Design News was asked to organize a session of the forum centered on design, which included a 'roundtable meeting' for designers.

Lotus City Car supermini: a future with Proton

Lotus hopes to launch its city car with partner firm Proton, according to a new interview published today. The Lotus City Car concept was the sixth member of the Lotus Everything launchpad at this month's Paris motor show, and had been assumed to be a technical showcase rather than a serious production car. However, in an interview with Automotive World, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar admits that the Lotus City Car was developed in tandem with its Malaysian owners Proton.