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All-new MINI dashboard goes mainstream (spy photo)

The all-new MINI – the third generation of the new MINI – is due later in 2013 and will be getting a more mainstream dashboard. Whatever you may think of the ‘new’ MINI – the one BMW make – it’s been a huge success. And it’s been a huge success because it’s managed to evoke the spirit of the original Issigonis Mini without being a pastiche.

Interior Motives Design Awards 2008

The second press day of the Paris motor show once again coincided with the annual Interior Motives Design Awards, a competition open to student designers around the world and now in its sixth year. A jury made up of high-ranking design professionals, including the likes of VW's Flavio Manzoni and Faurecia's Andreas Wlasak, selected winners in the following 11 categories: Best Use of Ambient Lighting Best Innovation Best Production Interior Best Use of Technology Best Lifestyle Interior Best Safety Innovation Best Personalisation Best Eco Design Best Conceptual Interior Best Conceptual Exterior Best Xperience The title of 2008 Student Designer of the Year - and the grand prize of $5000 - went to the Royal College of Art's Pierre Sabas. His four-seater Free Form coupe concept took an inside-out approach to design, consisting of articulated, interlocking seat elements designed to eliminate the need for bulky, constrictive exterior crumple zones, and a sliding dashboard for adaptable ergonomics.

Lotus Europa becomes Proton Lekir

The Lotus Europa-based Proton Lekir Concept Lotus tried to make the 2006 Lotus Europa fulfil the same role in its lineup the original Lotus Europa did in the sixties – a bigger version of the main range. In the ’60s it worked – to a degree – but the 21st century iteration of the Europa was not a huge success. The trouble with the Europa was that buyers seemed to perceive it as what it was – a stop-gap before the Lotus Evora arrived.