It was hard to miss...
It was hard to miss Fiat"s star of the show - the 500. For a start, there was a hansel and grettle style trail of ladies, styled to within an inch of their lives and sporting white jumpsuits,, to show the way. I just followed these and was confronted with a giant version of the popular new supermini. To give you an idea of the scale...the model"s wheels disappeared to reveal real-life 500s inside, which visitors can ride through the supersized version and out towards the gobsmacked crowd.
With the car due to...
With the car due to be launched later this year, engineers are in the final phases of testing - and our spies caught the new hatchback virtually undisguised cornering at high speed.
The overall shape hasn"t changed significantly, but many subtle alterations have been made. The first difference is the headlights, which are higher up the front wings with a new lens layout. Pedestrian safety rules have forced designers to raise the height of the bonnet, which has an air scoop on this Cooper S prototype.
At the rear, the new bumper retains the existing model"s centrally mounted twin exhausts. The upright rear windscreen and pert aerial also remain, but under the disguise tape, the light clusters are different.
The redesigned front grille and bumper provide the necessary airflow to cool the MINI"s new engines. Developed with Peugeot, the 1.6-litre petrol units will be used in the One, Cooper and Cooper S, but there won"t be a supercharger in sight.
Instead, the hot hatch variant is turbocharged to produce more than 200bhp, fed to the front wheels using an enhanced traction control system.
Inside, the classic lines remain, with a large central pod for the speedo, while the latest sat-nav systems and better switchgear will be added. The new car is unveiled later this year, and goes on sale early in 2007.