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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.

Lorenzo Ramaciotti visits RCA for 'Two of a Kind' project

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Fiat-Chrysler's head of global design, has visited the Royal College of Art as part of the Fiat ‘Two of a Kind' project explaining how Italian design has become world-famous in all fields in a talk themed ‘The Roots of Italian Car Design'. The ‘Two of a Kind' project asks four teams of four Vehicle Design students to design innovative exterior and interior proposals for how the Fiat 500 and the Panda might look in 2020, taking interactivity, digital interface, sustainability and global appeal into account. Maserati brought along a Quattroporte, a GranTurismo Sport as well as an Alfa Giulietta Sportiva to complement his talk in the hope it would encourage students to consider what the carmaker believes are the three concepts of the legacy of Italian car design: sportiness-dynamism; elegance-balance; and character-personality.

Renault Kwid Concept is a bonkers baby SUV

The Renault Kwid Concept (pictured) comes with its own flying drone There are concepts of new cars where you can clearly see they’re heading for production, and then there are concepts that look like the designers have been allowed to go berserk with little though to an eventual production car. The new Renault Kwid falls firmly in the latter. Said to be aimed at younger buyers in emerging markets – and designed with Renault’s designers in India – the Kwid Concept comes with a conventional 1.2 litre petrol engine and dual-clutch box – and can take the ZOE’s EV powertrain – but that’s seems to be where any connection with reality ends.