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Renault Twingo and Clio Grand Tour

By Ben Whitworth Motor Shows 08 March 2007 10:12 French but sans le funky look A busy show stand for Renault – as well as unveiling its new Twingo city car, the French manufacturer pulled the wraps off a thinly disguised version of its upcoming Clio estate to take on its Fabia and Peugeot 207 wagon rivals. After the funked up coolness of the Twingo concept car shown at the Paris Motor Show last year, we are more than a little underwhelmed by the production Twingo. Renault is keen to move away from the utilitarian look and feel of the original model – it will leave cheap and cheerful sales to the Clio Campus – and pitch the new model at sharper-suited rivals like the Mini.

Driven: Ford Mondeo wagon

But the design of this Mondeo is interesting because of this, not despite this. The core challenge for the Ford design team was how to balance delivering a distinctively engaging design with being acceptable to as much as possible of the broad target profile of potential buyer. This is perhaps the biggest unspoken challenge for today's vehicle designer.

2014 Porsche Boxster and Cayman GTS revealed

Not content with its stunning Boxster S and Cayman S models, Porsche has released official details of its new range-topping mid-engined duo for 2014: the Porsche Boxster GTS and Cayman GTS. Both cars get more power from their flat-six engines and even more equipment to set them apart from the rest of the range, as well as that famous ‘GTS’ boot badge. Contenders for MSN Cars’ Car of the Year already?