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TALKING to car designers is one of the biggest perks of my job. They’re the Hollywood A-listers of the car business; guys and girls who are some of the coolest – and most talented – people on the planet. Any time spent with them, even in my smartest attire, makes my own sense of style seem deeply inadequate. Lockdown has provided an added opportunity to chat to designers – and not to feel quite so inferior, although even their more relaxed clobber outshines mine. And lockdown, it seems, has given them valuable thinking time – time for them to be at their most creative. Never mind a supposed baby boom in nine months’ time, I’m hoping we’ll see a raft of radical concept cars heading our way later this year.…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy • Hybrid and 4WD versions of new model in the pipeline • Lines up alongside Yaris supermini and GR hot hatch in range TOYOTA brought one of the first urban-focused SUVs to market with the original RAV4 more than 25 years ago. But the Japanese brand has been slow to pick up on the emerging market for supermini-based SUVs, led by the likes of the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and SEAT Arona. That’ll change in early 2021 with the arrival of this new model: the Yaris Cross. As its name suggests, the Yaris Cross is a close relation of Toyota’s recently launched fourth-generation supermini. It has the same wheelbase as that car, but gets longer front and rear overhangs (by 60mm and 180mm respectively) in a bid to…

RENAULTCAPTUR Price from: £17,995 THE second generation of Renault’s small SUV has borrowed heavily from the latest Clio, and that’s a good thing. The Captur’s cabin is now right up there with the best in class, and the boot is practical enough to rival many family hatchbacks, let alone smaller SUV rivals. The Renault’s star turn could well be plug-in electrification. The E-Tech version is a proper PHEV, with a big enough battery to manage journeys of up to 30 miles on electricity alone. FORD PUMA Price from: £20,710 HYBRID badging on Ford’s excellent small SUV shows how muddied the waters are now becoming in this area. Unlike the Yaris and Captur, Ford’s offering is a mild hybrid – in effect, with a belt-driven starter-generator that harnesses braking energy and…

• Concept shows brand’s future • Car controlled by joysticks ASK Hyundai’s head designer Luc Donckerwolke to show you a vision of the company’s future, and he’ll point to this: the Prophecy. Auto Express can tell you that this car could make it into production but its importance doesn’t end there. The concept introduces a new modular platform that will underpin a whole host of electric vehicles from both Hyundai and its sister brand Kia within the next few years. The platform is as significant to the Koreans as the MEB electric-vehicle architecture is to the Volkswagen Group. The Prophecy’s grand unveiling was due to take place at March’s Geneva Motor Show, which for obvious reasons did not go ahead. But in order to take a closer look and learn…

THE Prophecy concept and the earlier show car, the 45, demonstrate just how Hyundai will try to differentiate its line-up of production models in the coming years, the boss of the company’s design centre has told Auto Express. Neither concept has been confirmed for production, but insiders expect the models to kickstart a range of new cars from Hyundai – with each vehicle having its own distinctive look. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, SangYup Lee, Hyundai Senior Vice President and Head of Hyundai Global Design Center, said to us: “The 45 is more inspired by the 1970s, but [it’s] a more modern SUV style that’s more mainstream. The Prophecy is inspired by the 1930s streamlined era. These two cars show how much of the design spectrum we are capable of.”…

• Grille dominates coupé’s face • 430i and M440i driven THE next BMW 4 Series’ styling is likely to surprise and shock when the coupé is launched this summer. Ahead of the car’s official June unveiling, Auto Express joined the firm’s development team to get behind the wheel. These official images of the disguised prototypes hide the 4 Series’ biggest secret: the grille. Although well camouflaged in these pictures, it’s one of the boldest kidney grilles BMW has ever experimented with, stretching from the bonnet crease right down to the front bumper. It promises to be as controversial as BMW’s X7, which also features a huge grille. We’ve tried two examples of the new 4 Series: the 430i, which uses a 256bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, and the punchy, four-wheel-drive…