Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up this week's gossip from across the automotive industry
This week's snippets of automotive news includes the latest on BMW's iNext, Nissan's latest Star Wars models and a production date for the Chris Bangle Redspace.
Four years to BMW iNext
BMW took said it is "on time" to launch its iNext in 2021, according to BMW i boss Robert Irlinger. He confirmed to Autocar that the car would be built on a development of the same rear-wheel-drive architecture that underpins the rest of BMW's rear-drive range, and in the same Dingolfing plant that makes the 5 Series and 7 Series.
The Force is with Nissan
Although Nissan furthered its links with the Star Wars franchise by revealing seven one-off car designs based on characters or vehicles from the new movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, last month, the cars won't be sold as production models. Having said that, a Qashqai equipped with jet thrusters and laser cannons (see pic) would make the rush-hour commute more entertaining.
Redspace ready for production
Contraversial car designed Chris Bangle reckons his new electric city car, Redspace, built for Chinese firm CHTC, will make production by 2020 with little changed from the model shown at LA. He said there is flexibility to tweak it inside and out, depending on feedback, but that "technically, nothing needs changing".
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