Parental guidance advisable with new Mini

Design inspiration for BMW’s new Mini has come from unlikely quarters – male and female erogenous zones.

According to BMW designer Frank Stephenson, the curvaceous door mirrors were modelled on a pair of pert breasts – without nipples -and the front wings resemble shapely thighs.

If that is all a bit macho, there is something for the girls, too. The Mini’s rear is more masculine – using fit young men as templates, one hopes – and the window pillars lurk behind tinted glass to look like wrap-round sunglasses.

The front grille has been given a new lower section with ‘the look of a bulldog with a jutting jaw’ and, best of all, the bonnet gets an ‘aggressive bulge’.

Pity the poor designers carrying out early research. It must have been tough.