Mini hits three million milestone

THE MUCH-LOVED new Mini has reached two major milestones this week. Since BMW took over the brand in 2001, three million Minis have now been produced at the plant in Oxford and the company has also reached the two million mark in Minis for export. The three millionth Mini is a five-door Hatch Cooper S and has a special exterior design to celebrate its heritage and British roots.

Toyota NS4 Hybrid Concept tease for Detroit

Toyota NS4 Hybrid Concept teased Toyota are teasing a new hybrid concept car – the NS4 – ahead of the Detroit Auto Show in January. Today it’s Toyota’s turn to roll out the photographer they used last week to take photos of the Lexus concept for Detroit. This time it’s the Toyota NS4 being teased, and it looks like the photographer left his camera where it was after the Lexus shot and just rolled the NS4 in to view.

Toyota announces winners in design competition (w/ Video)

Toyota has announced the winners of a sponsored design competition hosted by London's Royal College of Art. Based on the theme of ‘Intelligent Urban Living', the winners include a simple but effective vertical storage system to keep bikes out of reach of thieves and a keyboard display that makes life easier for two-fingered typists. Inspired by the design of Toyota's innovative iQ city car, which addresses many of the challenges of modern city living with its compact dimensions, the contest generated inspiration that gave a new twist to some familiar household objects and produced innovations to make modern life easier and more environmentally responsible.