Photos

Last spring, when Aston first revealed the Cygnet - its tiny city car based very, very closely on the Toyota iQ - we at TG HQ thought we'd have a bit of fun.

Hilarious, satirical coves that we are, we spent literally several minutes dreaming up some entirely imaginary Cygnet rivals from the world's finest luxury manufacturers: a Tata Nano-based Jaguar, a VW Fox-based Bentley, you get the idea.

Then, with the help of the most excellent illustrator Dougie Wood, we mocked them up, printed them in the magazine and congratulated ourselves on creating a witty little work of fiction.

But now they're COMING TRUE. Rolls-Royce this week announced it will bring a super-lux Mini to the Shanghai Auto Show. WE TOLD OF THIS! In your face, Nostradamus!

Click through the gallery - published a year ago in the mag, remember - for undeniable proof we can indeed see into the future. And then pray we're not too accurate...

Words by Sam Philip