2005 Toyota Highlander Floor Center Console Gray 906968 on 2040-parts.com

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.

Fiat 500L (2012) first official pictures

Fiat will show its new addition to the 500 range at the 2012 Geneva motor show: the new 500L mini MPV. It's designed to squeeze MPV practicality into the footprint of a B-segment city car – with a sprinkling of SUV style raised ride height. Turin says the 'L' badge stands for large.

Toyota to unveil 2013 Avalon in New York

Toyota is set to debut an all-new US-designed sedan at the 2012 New York International Auto Show next month The teaser sketch, which only shows the new car's rear, suggests a departure from the rather bland, conservative design of the current model. The outgoing Avalon very much a traditional three-box design, whereas the teaser image suggests the new model may feature a fastback roofline in the mold of the Audi A7 and Mercedes-Benz CLS. A 'four-door coupe' if oxymorons are your thing.