Star cars 2012, part one

Skoda Citigo

Skoda’s version of the VW Group city car, the Skoda Citigo, will be launched in the summer, moving the company into a new market segment. Priced from £7k. it is distinguished by a different grille and mild tweaks to the headlamps and rear window shape. In 74bhp guise, the Citigo is fun to drive and well engineered and it fits the bill as an agile city car. Read Autocar's first drive of the Skoda Citigo here. Official economy is 60mpg. The less powerful 59bhp version is little harsher to drive but fuel economy is better, at 62mpg. Inside, the Citigo features a novel, removable mini-tablet device with a five-inch screen that doubles as phone, sat-nav, trip computer and audio controller.

Smart ForTwo

Smart will facelift the ForTwo in the summer and preview the mildly tweaked design at Detroit next week. There will also be a mainstream EV version, with lithium ion batteries, based around the experimental design tested in London last year. Smart is still working on an all-new design for 2013-2014, already teased as a curvy concept at the 2011 Frankfurt show and developed in a new direction by a pick-up concept that’s also due at Detroit.

Vauxhall Junior

The distinctive Vauxhall Junior will be revealed late next year, probably at the Paris show in September, although cars won’t be in dealers until February 2013. The premium-priced Junior will be aimed at the Mini and Fiat 500 and will feature an innovative interior with up-to-minute connectivity.

Volkswagen Up

The Volkswagen Group has placed the city car at the cornerstone of a plan to crack its next ginormous global sales target. Fortunately, the all-new model behind the fanfare is really rather good. The manufacturer may have stripped out some of the original concept’s more imaginative features for cost reasons, but it has replaced them with a scaled-down version of its conventional-but-brilliant blueprint. Consequently, the Up is almost everything you could hope for from a modern city car: economical, well finished, refined, comfortable and even affordable. Read our full road test of the Volkswagen Up here. It is short on rascally charm but, as a complete package, it’s all but undeniable. The order book is open now, with first deliveries in March. The five-door will follow in July, as will the robotised manual ‘automatic’.

Superminis

Audi A1 5dr

An extra pair of doors will boost the A1’s appeal in April. Identical in size and style to the three-door, the Audi A1 five-door is a modest 25kg heavier. Engines mirror the three-door’s, although in the summer a 141bhp 2.0-litre diesel joins the range, boasting 69mpg. Expect a £560 premium over an equivalent three-door.

Alfa Romeo Mito TwinAir

It will be a quiet year for Alfa, with just a single new model: the Alfa Romeo Mito TwinAir, powered by an 85bhp, two-cylinder TwinAir. Alfa’s DNA button dispenses with the Sport setting for the economy-minded TwinAir, which covers the 0-62mph sprint in 12.5sec. Expect to see the car in April.

Dacia Sandero

The bargain-basement £7k Dacia Sandero five-door will arrive in dealers at the end of 2012. Built in India, where right-hand-drive Dacias are assembled for the home market, it promises to win through with value for money in a tough economic year.

Ford Fiesta facelift

In October there will be a mild tweak for Ford’s excellent supermini. The current iteration of the Ford Fiesta will be four years old this autumn.

Kia Rio 3dr

Expect a conventional three-door version of the Rio rather than a rakishly different design compared with the five-door. Prices will start at £9995 for the entry point into Kia’s supermini range. The car is due to land this month.

MG 3

The British-designed and engineered MG 3 will mark another step towards the rehabilitation of MG, now under Chinese control. Power comes from a 107bhp 1.5-litre engine and it is expected to go on sale in December. Read our first drive of the MG 3.

New Mini

It looks as though the much-anticipated third generation of the BMW Mini won’t be on sale until 2013, although there’s a strong possibility of a Paris show debut in the autumn, possibly with a thinly disguised concept.

Mini Special Editions

With Olympic fever in full swing this coming summer, official sponsor BMW will launch the 2012 Edition with Olympic graphics. Also set to arrive this year is the £42k ‘Inspired by Goodwood’ Mini, featuring Rolls-Royce-standard trim. Production of the plush Mini will be limited to 1000 examples.

Mitsubishi Colt

Based on the Global Small Concept and expected in the summer, the new Colt is Thai built and features a 3.74m-long footprint, placing it between a city car and supermini in size. Low CO2 is the focus of the 1.0 and 1.2-litre engines as Mitsubishi targets a 50 per cent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2020.

Peugeot 208

Peugeot describes the new 208 as the “most ambitious specification overhaul” ever made to one of its road cars. Read more about the new Peugeot 208 here. Shorter and lower than the 207, Peugeot’s new supermini is also lighter. New engines are frugal 1.0 and 1.2 VTi petrol units, plus five diesels. The most efficient 1.0 is claimed to deliver 65mpg and 99g/km. Due in August.

Renault Clio

A vital launch for Renault UK, which will prune its range drastically in February. Regardless, an all-new Clio will grab headlines at the Paris show in the autumn. About the same size as today’s car, the Clio will be available as a five-door only. Under the skin is a new platform, which Renault says is unrelated to the lacklustre Nissan Micra’s underpinnings. The key new engine is a 110bhp turbocharged 1.2 four. The Renaultsport Clio follows in 2013-2014, with a five-door bodyshell, Renault says. A replacement for the ST estate hasn’t been confirmed for production yet. Read more about the new Renault Clio here.

Renault Zoe EV

Due to be revealed at the Geneva show, the £14k Zoe is Renault’s third EV launch of 2012. Read our first drive review of the Renault Zoe EV here. Slated for a 100-mile range and top speed of 84mph, it is likely to be the most popular model, combining a conventional four-seat hatch cabin with attractive looks.

Seat Ibiza facelift

A mild cosmetic tweak for the three-door and five-door hatch versions of the Seat Ibiza is planned for spring, with the ST estate getting the changes a few months later in the summer.

Seat Toledo

Using the same platform as Skoda’s Lauretta, the new Toledo will offer a roomy boot and keen pricing, just like the first Toledo did in the mid-1990s. Styling will be influenced by the IBL concept and the car is expected in October.

Skoda Lauretta

The Fabia-based Skoda Lauretta will slot under the Octavia to offer a five-seat saloon priced at supermini money. The Mission L concept from Frankfurt is 80 per cent the finished car, Autocar has been told, and the final version is anticipated in September.