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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.

Geneva Motor Show 2011 - Recap

Last week, the Car Design News team headed out to Geneva to cover the motor show, just as we've always done. But there was something different about it this year. This 81st recurrence of the Swiss motor show not only saw Jaguar celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic E-Type and the first Italdesign vehicles created under the stewardship of Volkswagen, it also heralded a significant step forward for Car Design News' coverage of motor shows.

Aston Martin DBS UB 2010 – the ‘Bez’ Special

The Aston Martin DBS UB-2010 - perfect if you want a Bez-Mobile Special edition cars are used by car makers as a way to shift some extra metal by seemingly offering either something not normally available, or at a discount from list price if you’d specified the extras you get on the Special Edition on a standard car. Aston Martin has played this game lately with the Limited Edition DBS Carbon Black and V12 Vantage Carbon Black, offering something extra and a bit different for more money. And now they’re offering a new Limited Edition DBS which uses the other reason for a Limited Edition Car – the anniversary.