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Vauxhall Corsa GSE channels spirit of Nova GSi with 277bhp

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Corsa GSE is said to 'bring the genes of the Nova GSi' – GTE forebear pictured – into the future

Electric hot hatch brings stiffer suspension, limited-slip differential and a series of retro nods

Vauxhall is channelling the spirit of the cult-classic Nova GSi with the new Corsa GSE – the brand's first traditional hot hatch since the VXR was discontinued eight years ago.

Said by its maker to bring "the sporty GSi genes of the Vauxhall Nova into the future", it has nearly twice as much power as the regular Corsa Electric, plus overhauled suspension and significantly more aggressive styling.

The Corsa GSE turns up the wick to take on rivals in a burgeoning class of electric hot hatches. It faces stiff competition from the Alpine A290 and the Mini John Cooper Works Electric as well as the incoming Volkswagen ID Polo GTI – which Autocar has exclusively driven in the UK – plus a gamut of closely related cars from other brands in the Stellantis portfolio, including Abarth and Alfa Romeo.

As with the new GTi version of its Peugeot 208 twin, the Corsa GSE swaps the regular car's 154bhp motor for the 277bhp unit already deployed in the Abarth 600e, Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce and Vauxhall Mokka GSE.

Its top speed is 12mph lower than that of those cars, at 112mph, yet its 5.5sec 0-62mph time is 0.4sec quicker. And because it is a hatchback rather than a crossover, it is notably lighter, at around 1550kg compared with the Mokka GSE's 1596kg.

Power is delivered to the front wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential and Vauxhall said it has tuned the throttle and brake pedal responses to emphasise the GSE's sportiness. The car also gets reworked axles front and rear, as well as stiffer anti-roll bars and new dampers with hydraulic bump stops.

The suspension sits lower than the regular Corsa's and the new 18in alloy wheels are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres and significant negative camber. Both the weight and feedback of the steering have been increased and the rack is quicker. Stopping power is provided by four-pot Alcon brakes front and rear. Three-spoke alloys hark back to those on the original hot Nova, with a flat-faced design to improve aero performance.

As with the regular Corsa, the GSE features several drive modes that alter the car's character. In its normal setting, it is capped at 228bhp to preserve range. The Eco mode cuts this further - although Vauxhall has yet to confirm to what extent - and limits the top speed to 93mph. Sport mode, said to be designed for track use, uncorks the full 277bhp.

The exterior tweaks that distinguish the Corsa GSE from regular variants are more subtle than with the previous VXR. Indeed, its treatment with black contrasts around its vents and wheel arches echoes the relationship between the early 1990s Nova GSi and its stablemates.

Inside, it is clear that the GSE is a more focused proposition than the standard Corsa, with chunky tartan bucket seats, green seatbelts and an Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel. The pedals, meanwhile, are finished in aluminium.

A range figure has yet to be disclosed, but the Mokka GSE can go 201 miles per charge when fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres - harder than the 4S compound used on the Corsa GSE. However, the Corsa is lighter and more aerodynamically efficient than its high-riding counterpart, suggesting it will return a similar figure.

Pricing has also yet to be confirmed, but the Mokka GSE signals what can be expected: it is £35,495, inclusive of the UK government's £1500 Electric Car Grant. The Corsa is likely to be marginally cheaper.

Autocar understands the Corsa GSE will be followed by a high-performance variant of the larger Astra, which may reprise the same powertrain but in a more family-friendly package. This model will look to capitalise on the gap in the market left by the discontinued Ford Focus ST and Honda Civic Type R, while also trading blows with the Cupra Born VZ and the Kia EV3 GT.

The GSE sub-brand is instrumental in Vauxhall's plan to shed its dowdy Image and cultivate a new, more desirable one. This, it is understood, is because new Chinese competitors majoring on value threaten to steal what has long been one of Vauxhall's main selling points.

"Vauxhall scores highly for rational appeal but not so much the emotional," the brand's new commercial director, Michael Auliar, told Autocar.

Vauxhall-Opel CEO Florian Huetti previously said "sportiness" represents the "next step" for the British and German brands as they look to better differentiate themselves from in-house Stellantis siblings, such as Peugeot and Citroën.

	VAUXHALL CORSA GSE	ALPINE A290 GTS+	MINI JCW ELECTRIC
Price	£35,000 (est)	£34,245	£34,905
Power	277bhp	215bhp	255bhp
Weight	1550kg (est)	1479kg	1725kg
Power to weight	179bhp per tonne (est)	145bhp per tonne	148bhp per tonne
0-62mph	5.5sec	6.4sec	5.9sec

EXCLUSIVE: We're first to drive VW ID Polo GTI – it deserves the badge

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

VW finally finds the courage to put the hallowed letters on an EV – we've had a first taste in a prototype

Volkswagen’s GTI performance sub-brand, for so long a tower of strength for the company, has turned into something of a problem for it over the past decade.

With its GTE and GTX models, Wolfsburg has variously tried to complement, augment or otherwise update those three famous letters, or else just gently steer the idea that they represent in the direction of electrification. So far, gentle steering hasn’t done the trick.

But the tiptoeing and pussyfooting around is finally over. Bolder and more radical decisions have been taken. And, in a gravel car park in the Brecon Beacons, I’m standing next to the proof.

The seventh-generation Polo supermini, due this year, is going electric. Volkswagen is flagging the development loud and clear, by adding an ID prefix to the car’s name (it will do the same with many other familiar models over the next couple of years), but what it’s giving us is pretty plainly a Polo all the same.

It’s part of a more wholesale commitment to making EVs central within the company’s model portfolio, instead of being peripheral or parallel to it. There’s a seriousness about electric mobility here that Volkswagen hasn’t quite shown before.

And the cherry on top of the change in attitude is the first electric GTI model: the ID Polo GTI. Crucially, it’s not a GTX (how the ‘hot’ versions of the ID 3, 4, 5, 7 and Buzz have been badged so far), it’s a GTI – mostly as we have known the idea of one since the Mk1 Golf GTI of 1976.

Range-topping and real-world; desirable but usable; fast and fun but not highly strung or hard to drive. A regular, versatile, everyday car with superpowers, not compromises – and a fully fledged, top-order driver’s car to boot.

The very first ones won’t be with customers in Germany until the final weeks of 2026, with UK deliveries expected in the spring of 2027. So as we stand here, the April sun bathing our mountain idyll in warmth, the development team for the car – led by Volkswagen’s head of driving dynamics, Florian Umbach – is still in the final stages of software tuning.

That team has come to the UK with real intent, however – and not only to join up with Autocar, to make us the first testers in the world to drive the new GTI.

“We know how important the UK market will be to the success of this car,” explains Umbach, “and also how particular, unique and challenging your roads are. This is hot hatchback central. It has been such a defining market for these kinds of cars. So I always had it in mind to bring prototypes here, to be sure they would work well. That’s what today is about.”

Familiar Recipe

Before the driving, Umbach gives me a guided technical tour of the vinyl-covered EV in front of us. Even so thoroughly disguised, it looks much more like a familiar, conventional hatchback than the ID 3 ever has.

This generation of cars, he says, will be all about Volkswagen getting back to its former self, rediscovering its old priorities. “The ID Polo had to just look normal – like a Volkswagen,” says Umbach with a smile. “And so, technically, it has a familiar layout and lots of technologies that you recognise. But it’s still an advanced small car.”

Volkswagen’s internal codename for the new EV platform on which the ID Polo is based (in development since 2021, as you might guess) is MEB21, says Umbach, but it has been rebranded for public consumption as the more catchy-sounding MEB+ platform.

It confers a conventional hot hatchback layout on the GTI: a front-mounted motor driving the front wheels, with strut-type front suspension and a torsion beam at the rear.

“The MEB-generation EVs [the ID 3 etc] taught us that switching to a rear-motor layout means adding weight [in order to engineer in sufficient crash protection] and losing boot space when it comes to compact cars,” explains Umbach.

“By contrast, MEB+ makes the ID Polo lighter, simpler and more efficient. We can carry enough battery capacity here [52kWh usable] to deliver more than 260 miles of WLTP range from the GTI and up to 280 miles from other versions. But having the motor up front allows us to regenerate energy more efficiently and keeps the powertrain packaging tight.”

“I also think front-wheel drive is what hot hatchback drivers expect: it’s the classic template,” adds Umbach.

Although when it came to delivering driving dynamics, his team certainly plundered Volkswagen’s toy cupboard for advanced driveline, steering and suspension systems of the sort that only a big back catalogue of hot hatch wrangling can put at your disposal – and that most of this car’s rivals don’t have.

The ID Polo GTI’s electric power and torque reserves – 223bhp and 214lb ft – find their way to the road via an only slightly modified version of BorgWarner’s VAQ torque-vectoring active front differential, as seen on the Golf GTI Edition 50 (tuned for slightly less overall torque transfer but also to be faster-acting than in the Golf).

It gets 19in wheels as standard, with tyres of up to 235-section, but which sit inside wheel arches that permit an even greater combined wheel and tyre sidewall diameter than the current Golf GTI does (680mm versus 650mm), to the improvement of ride isolation.

Dynamic Chassis Control Plus adaptive dampers are fitted as standard, also to the benefit of ride isolation and comfort. And the GTI gets unique front hubs and steering knuckles compared with the regular ID Polo, which lower the front-axle roll centre, dial in more negative camber at the front wheels and cut the steering ratio from 15:1 down to 14:1.

Progressive (passive variable-rate) steering is standard, the ID Polo’s standard front anti-roll bars have been stiffened and its suspension springs have been shortened (by 15mm in terms of prevailing ride height) and stiffened likewise.

Umbach and his team are particularly proud of the special twist beam rear axle of the ID Polo GTI, with its mountings and bushings cleverly designed to allow some longitudinal ‘ride’ compliance but keep lateral axle location much more closely controlled. “It’s the best twist beam I think we’ve ever made,” he says.

Practical Matters

We duck inside what is a fairly snug cabin yet still fit for four adults, to be met by the familiar cloth disguise that gets pinned to the scuttle and then draped over the dashboard in prototypes like these. It’s there so you can still operate the car without really being able to scrutinise its fixtures and fittings.

The driver’s seat feels small compared with the hot hatchback class norm and doesn’t offer cushion extension in support of longer thighs, but it’s nonetheless quite grippy and comfy, securing your backside well and feeling like somewhere you would be happy to spend plenty of time.

In the back, there’s probably slightly more outright passenger space than a modern supermini typically provides – which is one in the eye for the Alpine A290, Renault 5 and electric Mini Cooper, which are all quite a bit tighter by comparison (and in one case three-door only). Volkswagen is clearly to be taken at its word about its wish to make this a really usable, versatile daily driver. Of course it is.

The disguise leaves a few things uncovered. The fairly small, two-spoke steering wheel, with its flattened-off top and bottom rim sections, is chief among them, which it’s reassuring to find has spokes stuffed with proper buttons rather than ‘brush-by-mistake’ capacitive ones.

At the bottom, what you first take to be simply a decorative GTI badge is actually a drive mode button, one press of which puts the car into its most sporty and demonstrative driving setting.

More widely, you can see enough Dinamica microfibre on the door panels and dash to give the interior a strikingly plush and expensive, performance-flavoured vibe.

Under the central air vents I can just about see a row of physical ventilation controls, so not everything here will depend on the touchscreen infotainment system (another of Volkswagen’s learnings, clearly).

But my favourite discovery is on the digital instrument screen, where a few flicks of the ‘view’ toggle button unearths some retro-styled mock analogue dials styled up to look just like those of the Mk1 Golf GTI, with a faux digital clock between them.

Apparently the retro theme extends to the infotainment touchscreen too, where it adds audio remote controls styled like a cassette tape and a charge meter mimicking a 1980s fuel gauge.

All a bit twee, perhaps, but all undoubtedly good, evocative fun – if you ask this millennial reviewer, at any rate.

Playing Polo

Umbach accompanies me in the front passenger seat as I head out on the road – and my first impressions confirm plenty of trademark GTI dynamic characteristics.

First across the gravel and then onto the Tarmac and up to speed, the ID Polo GTI rides tautly but quietly. It’s firmer-feeling than most compact EVs but not at all jittery or restive, and those adaptive dampers, with their graduated touchscreen adjustability, allow plenty of dynamic versatility.

At its comfiest, the suspension is supple enough to breathe a little with the road surface as it rises and falls, to round the edges off craggy inputs nicely and not to be wearing on the senses.

But at its firmest, it fosters lots of connectedness with what’s underneath you, creates lots of directness and agility and great body control, and provides a strong platform for the driven front wheels to push against.

Even at full tilt, they don’t feel like they’re pushing with an excessive amount of power – just enough to feel energetic and to keep you occupied and engaged in what you’re doing.

They’re certainly pushing hard enough to feed back plenty of tractive forces through the steering, mind you. Otherwise it’s quite pacey but weighted intuitively, with enough centre feel to avoid any kind of nervous, hyperactive sense.

Even the tractive feedback mentioned isn’t traditional torque steer, because nothing in the front axle is being deformed by those drive forces and the car is going precisely where it’s pointed.

Editor-in-chief Steve Cropley once described it to me as ‘wheel fight’, which is much closer to the mark. The ID Polo GTI doesn’t have loads of it under power, rather just enough to make it feel lively and interactive; to make you tighten your grip on the steering rim just a little as you fire it out of a corner or over an uneven surface; and to make you realise that this is a car you can make rotate with your right foot almost as easily as you can with your wrists, and which can come really fast out of hairpin bends without troubling its traction control at all.

Shift paddles behind the steering wheel spokes give you manual control of the energy regeneration, in the usual way.

There’s also some imitation engine noise played by the car’s stereo speakers once you select GTI mode. This comes across as slightly annoying and overcooked, principally because it adds in arbitrary fake gearshifts, which come without any interruption to the actual power delivery. Mercifully, you can use Individual mode instead, where there’s no such fakery.

What are the most impressive things about the drive? I’d say how well matched the car’s performance level seems to be with the capacity of its front axle to create traction.

To put it another way, that this car has no more power than it needs or could use without disengaging its driver and leaning on its electronics to at least some extent. There aren’t many serious performance EVs you can describe like that.

The ID Polo GTI still has more than enough poke to get across the ground quickly, though, and makes you intimately aware of how hard the front contact patches are working – it even feels at times like your fingertips and big toe could almost be wired directly to them, getting the most amount out of them that’s there to be got.

I’ve never driven another Volkswagen Group hot hatch that has received as much dynamic benefit from its VAQ active front differential as this one seems to.

The ID Polo GTI is really absorbing and entertaining at its most forthcoming – but clearly still versatile, rounded, usable and well mannered when the occasion calls.

Sound like a proper GTI? Clearly it is. And if the electric haters aren’t sold on that idea, a drive may very well be all it takes to change their minds.

Aston Martin DB12 S

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

New upper-level DB12 'super tourer' gets 20bhp extra, weighs up to 50kg less, and aims for a sportier feel. Aston Martin’s ‘boring but vital’ current business plan, as devised by boss Adrian Hallmark in 2024, is ostensibly to better sweat the company’s assets. To plan smarter. Do more with less, and launch more higher-value ‘special’ derivatives of its series production models, as well as more super-low-volume, ultra-special collectors’ models like the Valour and Victor.Given the state of the company’s share value, you might question how well that plan is working at present. But we have, at least, already seen a top-of-the-line DBX S, a similar-in-philosophy Vantage S, and now this Aston Martin DB12 S: higher-value special derivatives, all. Aston has a history of even-quicker models with ‘S’ badges stretching back to the DB3 S of 1953, but it has never before deployed them as widely or consistently as now. The S version of the first, noughties-era Vanquish was ostensibly a facelift; a reason for dealers to call up Vanquish owners and invite them to part with another five- or six-figure sum. However, the S suffix was used more like it will be from now on within the lineage of the smaller Vantage super sports car; as an addition to the range, and an extension of the territory that these cars can ultimately span, rather than as a mid-life update. So the regular DB12 has survived the introduction of this new addition (just as the equivalent Vantage did last year); and Aston insiders even talk of the opportunity to reappraise the positioning of that base model slightly as a foil to this new, slightly sportier sibling - though it remains to be seen if customers will still want “the lesser one” if they can spend more on an S model with that critical extra bit of reflected glory.

Peugeot e-408

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

The electric version of Peugeot’s striking crossbreed is updated for 2026 When the 408 landed in 2022, we were told an electric version of the 4.7m-long liftback-cum-crossover would be just around the corner, but it took its sweet time. It took almost three years of delay before the e-408 arrived, by which point the EMP2-based Citroën twin, the C5-X, had been discontinued.Like the internal combustion Peugeot 408, the electric fastback has been updated as part of Peugeot's ongoing range refresh, benefiting from the same design modifications as its internal combustion counterpart. In 2026, the e-408 has few direct rivals, but as an amalgamation of bodystyles, there are a plethora of indirect models to beat. The Mazda 6e and MG IM5 are more traditionally low-slung liftbacks, the Ford Capri, Smart #3 and Kia EV6 are more obviously crossovers and the Tesla Model 3 saloon is a benchmark for most in the D-segment. How then does it fare against its hatchback, liftback, saloon and crossover rivals? Let’s find out. The Peugeot e-408 range at a glance The e-408 is largely unchanged beneath the metal, retaining a 58kWh battery with a range of 283 miles.Charging speed is rated at 120kW, which is average for the price, but soundly beaten by the Tesla Model 3 and Mercedes CLA, both of which hover closer to 200kW.

Peugeot 408

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Striking French crossbreed aims to tempt people away from SUVs Welcome to the Peugeot 408. But before we delve into what this quite unusual car does well (and less well), a history lesson.Peugeot’s three-digit naming strategy hasn’t changed much in decades. It means certain conventions are well established. For example, models beginning with ‘3’ are always mid-size hatchbacks, whereas those starting with a ‘9’ are top-class endurance racers designed to win Le Mans, such as the wild Peugeot 9X8. However, the number ‘4’ is less predictable, and it has been applied to some of Peugeot’s best-loved and most interesting products.The 1935 402, with its rear-wheel spats, was one of the first family cars to attempt to address aerodynamic concerns, while the sweet little 403 that succeeded it performed a volte-face and dragged the brand’s design language into modernity. It was the first Peugeot to sell in seven-figure numbers. More recently, the 405 stole hearts in Mi16 guise (it was essentially a 205 GTi in saloon uniform) and the 406 that succeeded it included a Pininfarina-penned coupé that was one of the prettiest cars of the 1990s.We therefore shouldn’t be surprised that the 408 takes a somewhat unpredictable form. What exactly is it? “A mix between a saloon and an SUV,” then Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson told Autocar upon its reveal.It was a refreshingly straightforward assessment, but the idea needs no dressing. Notchback crossovers are gaining popularity. They offer the ride height buyers want from SUVs but package it in a less obtuse, more elegant body.Four years after its initial launch, Peugeot has freshened things up to align with its modern design language, following on from the 2008 and 5008 SUVs. So, what's new, and is this still a car you should consider buying in 2026?The range at a glanceModelsPowerHybrid 145143bhpPlug-in Hybrid 240236bhpAs part of the 408's 2026 update, the French fastback gains a simplified engine line-up. The range opens with the mildly electrified Hybrid 145, followed by the Plug-In Hybrid 240. The electric e-408 continues to be offered as well and is reviewed separately here.Trim levels range from Allure to GT, but even entry-level cars offer a high level of equipment.

1000bhp and a fake 'V8': AMG GT 4-door Coupé prototype driven

Tue, 5 May 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Super-saloon goes electric with new 800V platform, axial-flux motors and V8 simulation

For something with well over 1000bhp, there's no obvious drama to it at first.

With its stability control system in Sport, the new Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé prototype goes about its business with calm, measured composure. Exactly what you would expect of a large, fast, electric saloon at moderate pace. There's a deliberate margin of safety in the handling balance, the front end delivering strong grip while the electronics keep everything neat and controlled. It feels fluid and encouragingly agile, the steering cleanly weighted and precise, building confidence quickly.

Out on the tight, technical inner handling circuit at the ATP testing site in Papenburg, that composure proves to be only part of the story.

Back in 2022, AMG first signalled its intention to reinvent its bespoke four-door with an EV successor through a full-sized design study. Since then, the GT XX engineering mule has demonstrated not only the drivetrain's performance but its ability to sustain it too, covering 24,901 miles in just over seven days at an average of more than 186mph. Now I'm behind the wheel of a pre-production prototype for the first time, ahead of the car's unveiling in Los Angeles on 20 May.

The GT XX made up to 1341bhp, but the initial production version, we're told, will offer slightly less. Still more than 1000bhp, though.

Lean on it more assertively in Sport+ mode and its character starts to change. Not so much in a straight line, where it's unquestionably quick, gathering speed in one long, uninterrupted surge, but in the way it responds. It feels less dictated by mass than by how precisely its systems manage the clearly substantial performance.

Select Race, ease back the stability systems and work through AMG's Race Engineer function via three rotary dials on the centre tunnel and the transformation is immediate. Throttle response sharpens, the rear axle becomes more active and the initial layer of restraint falls away. There are nine settings for response, agility and traction. The effect is less about outright capability than delivery. As well as presenting a fixed set of handling characteristics across individual drive modes, the car lets you fine-tune its dynamic character through an additional 729 combinations.

A low centre of gravity and well-judged suspension give it impressive body control. Turn in expecting roll and it stays flat, settling quickly into a composed stance with a precision that belies its size.

The underlying character makes more sense once you understand what this car is. The Mk2 (C590) GT 4-Door Coupé marks a new start for AMG. It isn't the firm's first EV, but it is the first based on the AMG.EA, a platform developed from scratch specifically for performance.

Its drivetrain comprises three axial-flux motors, two at the rear and one up front, working through a single-speed transmission to all four wheels. Drive is managed by AMG's 4Matic+ system, with fully variable torque distribution between each axle, while rear-wheel steering aids agility at lower speeds and stability at higher ones. Developed with British firm Yasa, those compact, disc-shaped motors are smaller and lighter yet also more power-dense and faster-responding than conventional radial-flux units.

Each rear motor is controlled independently, allowing torque to be varied not just front to rear but also across the rear axle, creating a yaw response that you feel directly through the chassis.

Electrical energy comes from a large lithium ion battery mounted within the floor and centre tunnel, with direct liquid cooling at cell level. The system runs on an 800V architecture and so is capable of charging at over 500kW, but more significant is its ability to maintain stable output under sustained load.

It's not just the way it builds speed but how the new GT 4-Door Coupé communicates what it's doing that makes it so impressive. A synthesised sound and feedback system draws on the character of the original GT coupé, adapted for electric drive. As speed builds, the car feeds back through the seat as much as through the controls, a transducer delivering vibrations that rise and fall with throttle load, in the manner of a V8. So it's not simply an acoustic overlay: it recreates the rhythm of an engine in both sound and sensation, linking your inputs more closely to the car's responses.

A synthetic sequential shift function adds another layer of character. Operated via steering wheel-mounted paddles, it mimics shifting through a conventional gearbox. It's artificial but effective, adding a sense of cadence. The effect is reinforced by a centrally mounted rev counter, its needle sweeping in step with the rising and falling vibrations. You don't have to use it: the car can be driven in near-silence. But when engaged, it draws you further into the process.

Only once you begin to explore the chassis more fully does the broader depth of the GT 4-Door Coupé become clear. Through a tightening left-hander, come back onto the throttle and the rear axle sharpens your line, taking some of the load away from the front. Add a little more and its rear end moves progressively, without any sudden breakaway. It's easy to hold and just as easy to gather up again, the car settling quickly and cleanly as you unwind the steering.

On subsequent runs, that adjustability becomes a defining trait. The rear works with you, rather than simply following the front, allowing you to shape the car's attitude with small inputs. It never feels exaggerated; it's usable and engaging.

That sense of control extends to the suspension. The standard Active Ride Control air springs with hydraulically linked dampers provide semi-active roll stabilisation by varying roll stiffness. The result is that strong body control evidence earlier without excessive stiffness.

Even beneath camouflage, the car's proportions reflect the shift to electric power. Lower, wider and longer than the current V8 model, it adopts a drawn silhouette with a long nose section, heavily curved roofline and long tail ending in a subtle, Kamm-style cut-off with active aerodynamic elements.

Inside, the impression is equally strong. The driving position is largely unchanged, retaining the same low, stretched stance, but the environment has evolved. The centre console rises higher between driver and passenger, creating a more defined cockpit, with three rotary controls sitting prominently atop it. There's a tangible analogue feel to many of the controls, the rotary dials providing precise mechanical feedback.

Ahead, a single panel integrates the 10.2in instrument display and 14.0in touchscreen, angled towards the driver, with clear separation of functions - and the passenger's touchscreen doesn't intrude. Rear space is more usable than the roofline suggests, with individual seats and recessed footwells allowing a natural seating position, while a glass roof floods the interior with light.

What emerges here isn't an electric reinterpretation of the original GT 4-Door Coupé but a fundamentally different car - one that places greater emphasis on control, interaction and consistency, while still delivering the sense of occasion expected of an AMG.

Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door Coupé prototype: verdict

A decisive reset for AMG, combining extreme pace with adjustability, involvement and a new level of feedback for a performance EV.


Price	£200,000
Engine	Three axial-flux electric motors
Power	1100bhp (est)
Torque	900lb ft (est)
Gearbox	1-spd reduction gear, 4WD
Kerb weight	2200kg (est)
0-62mph	2.2sec (est)
Top speed	190mph (est)
Battery	100kWh (est)
Range, economy	na
Rivals	Lotus Emeya 900, Polestar 5 Performance, Porsche Taycan Turbo GT

Leapmotor B03X: First taste of China's cut-price Renault 4 rival

Tue, 5 May 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Small electric crossover brings 121bhp and around 250 miles of range – can it trouble Europe's best?

It seems that you can’t be a mainstream car firm with volume aspirations in 2026 without a small electric SUV in your line-up – and Leapmotor will get in on the act with the B03X later this year.

At 4270mm long, it will rival the Renault 4, Kia EV2 and forthcoming Volkswagen ID Cross, although expect Leapmotor to undercut those established firms on price.

The B03X will essentialy be twinned with the forthcoming Leapmotor B03 hatch, which is set to arrive in the UK in early 2027. The model is named the A10 in China, but has had to be renamed for export markets because Audi has ownership of alphanumeric car titles beginning with A. But given B03X was the development code for the project, it arguably makes more sense anyway.

Regardless of its name, the B03X looks much like you would expect a small Chinese SUV to, albeit with enough neat details to give it a pleasing dash of character – particularly the rear light clusters, which resemble a smiley face. There are also flush door handles, while it rides on 18in alloys. You might notice the fitment of a Lidar sensor on our test car (it's the London taxi-style bump on the roof line), which is because the Chinese-spec A10 offers semi-autonomous driving features. Cost and legislation means that won't reach the UK.

Leapmotor claims the sloping roof line, aero stylings and flush handles all help the aerodynamics – it has a drag coefficienct of 0.26 – in a bid to boost range. Overall, the crossover measures just over 4200mm long, 1800mm wide and 1635mm high, with a wheelbase of just over 2600mm – all firmly in the ballpark for cars in this category.

The interior is similarly functional with some interesting elements. As with most Leapmotor models, the dashboard features a 14.6in touchscreen and a distinct lack of buttons, but the materials are pleasant and there’s plenty of space, which is well used.

It’s quite tall and because of the underfloor battery you sit fairly high up, but that fits this type of car. For a small crossover, the boot is massive, having a big second compartment under the floor similar to the Ford Puma Gen-E’s Gigabox. Also useful is a big storage cubby hidden underneath the rear seats, while the front passenger seat can be folded forward flat to create extra load space.

The B03X and the closely related B03 sit on Leapmotor’s front-driven A platform. It will be offered in the UK with a modest 121bhp motor and a 53kWh battery, giving a range of around 250 miles on the Chinese test cycle. Charging speeds have yet to be disclosed, although Leapmotor claims a 30-80% fill will take 16 minutes.

Underneath, the B03X has a pretty standard suspension set-up for this sort of car, with MacPherson struts up front and a torsion beam at the rear.

We only had a brief time in the B03X on a short test track in Huzhou, China, without long enough to draw any firm conclusions. But it did give a taste of what to expect.

As the claimed 0-62mph time of 10.5sec would suggest, the B03X isn’t a sporty performer, but it’s not that sort of car. The motor is decently responsive, though, and you won't be left struggling when trying to pull away from junctions or merge into traffic.

The steering lacks feel or real engagement, and feels particularly light. That's reflected in the tight 5.1m turning radius, which should make it good for city use. It is easy to place on the road and responsive to inputs. But even flicking through the various drive modes didn't much liven things up.

The ride holds up well over bumps, but there is some body roll when cornering. My short drive didn’t hint that the B03X will match the likes of the Renault 4 or EV2 for refinement behind the wheel, but there’s some charm and innovation that intrigues. Much will depend on cost: UK pricing hasn't been finalised yet, but expect it to undercut rivals, with a starting figure likely somewhere around the £24,000 mark.

Overall, the B03X shows potential with likeable character and some neat design solutions – but it faces a challenge to match the class leaders in the increasingly crowded ranks of small electric crossovers. Still, prived right, this could find favour with buyers.

Nissan to shut production line at Sunderland in cost-saving move

Tue, 5 May 2026 16:20:38 +0100

Japanese manufacturer will also cut 900 jobs across Europe - but confirms roles at Sunderland are safe

Nissan will close one of its two production lines at its Sunderland plant as part of a cost-cutting exercise in which the Japanese firm will eliminate 900 positions in Europe.

Sunderland builds the new electric Leaf, the Juke and the Qashqai, and all will now run down the same line. Nissan confirmed that no jobs at the plant would be lost as a result of the move – but some roles in the UK could go as part of the 900 across Europe.

The closure of the line marks the decline of production numbers at Nissan’s sole European plant. The factory built 273,174 cars last year, down from a high of more than half a million.

Nissan said in a statement that it was taking measures “to create a leaner, more resilient business that adapts quickly to market changes”. Measures under review include the partial closer of its Barcelona parts warehouse and a move to an importer model in Nordic countries.

Nissan is hoping to attract a second car maker to take over line one at Sunderland in the future, with Chinese makers Chery and Dongfeng both linked to production at the site.

The successful sale of line one would preserve jobs and increase production at the company, Nissan said.

The closure of the line is expected to happen in the second half of the year, with line two moving to three shifts to compensate for the loss of capacity.

Former Nissan executive Andy Palmer, who started his career at Sunderland, expressed sadness at the announcement. “Any reduction in capacity is bad news for Nissan and bad news for Sunderland,” he told Autocar.

Like all Japanese manufacturers, Nissan has been hit hard by increased competition in Europe, especially from the Chinese. Its market share in the UK fell to 3.7% in the first four months of 2026, down from 5.6% in 2016.

Chery, meanwhile, had a share of almost 5% through April, thanks to the success of its Jaecoo, Omoda and Chery brands, according to data from the SMMT. MG also beat Nissan at 4%, while BYD was close behind at 3.45%.

Nissan has been slashing costs globally, including shuttering seven plants, as part of a campaign under CEO Ivan Espinosa to restore its fortunes following a £3.8 billion loss in the financial year ending March 2025.

Globally the company has been hit by increased competition in all markets, including China, as well a hike in import tariffs on its exports to the US.

Before the announcement of the closure of line one at Sunderland, the plant had been relatively unaffected by the cuts.

Support from the UK government helped secure it production of the new electric Juke, due to start at the end of the year.

Nissan's new solar tech adds 11 miles of free range every day

Tue, 5 May 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Could solar power end plug-in charging for EVs? Nissan's Sakura solar-charging concept will make production

It was 1955 when General Motors engineer William G Cobb demonstrated the Sunmobile, a 15in-long model car powered by selenium photovoltaic cells - and fascination with fuelling cars using sunlight has endured ever since.

Nissan celebrated Clean Energy Day earlier this year by unveiling a Nissan Ariya equipped with solar panels, which in real-world testing on a sunny day added 14 miles to the EV's range.

The team reckon that in sunny Barcelona the solar Ariya could acquire a daily average of 11 miles. Average year-round boosts are estimated at 6.3 miles for London, 11.7 miles for New Delhi and 13.2 miles for Dubai and it's expected that, in certain situations, drivers could reduce their charging frequency by between 35% and 65%.

Following initial long-distance testing, which included a 963-mile journey between the Netherlands and Spain, Nissan's engineers drew the conclusion that solar integration could reduce a commuter's number of annual visits to charging stations from 23 to eight.

The Ariya project is a collaboration between Nissan and Dutch solar mobility innovator Lightyear, which supplied the nextgen tech used to cover 3.8 square metres of the Ariya's exterior in custom-made polymer and glass panels.

The Ariya isn't the only solar power project that Nissan has underway. At the 2025 Tokyo motor show, it revealed the AoSolar Extender, a cunning photovoltaic system mounted on the roof of an electric Sakura kei car. Rectangular in shape and covering the entire roof, it automatically slides out over the front of the car when it is parked.

Once extended, the panel also doubles as a sunshade over the windscreen, helping to keep the cabin temperature down on hot days. It retracts again when the car is about to be driven off or, in order to prevent damage, when high winds are detected.

The fixed housing for the extendable section is also covered in solar panels, so the system is always generating energy during daylight hours.

Total generation is around 500W, depending on weather conditions, and the unit is designed to minimise drag and integrate with the Sakura's styling when stowed.

The engineering team estimates that the system has the potential to generate enough solar electricity to power the average Sakura for 1860 miles per year.

Analysis of driving data from Sakura owners shows that many travel only relatively short distances on errands or school runs. On that basis, it's estimated that for a significant number of owners, solar-generated power could do away with the need for charging from the grid altogether.

Just another wacky concept? Not at all. Nissan has confirmed the Ao-Solar Extender is planned for production at some point in the future.

New restomod pays tribute to 1995 Audi TTS concept

Tue, 5 May 2026 12:19:29 +0100

Dutch firm Autoforma reinstates cues from radical concept car, including primer-grey paintwork

Dutch firm Autoforma has revealed a tribute to the 1995 Audi TTS – the concept car that previewed the original drop-top TT several years before its launch.

Although the TT made it to production with minimal changes, Autoforma’s new restomod effectively undoes all those tweaks, resetting the small roadster to its original intent.

Key changes include squarer, narrower grilles around the lower section of the front bumper; the reinstatement of vents on the front wings; and the removal of the fabric roof in favour of a hard panel that sits flush with the rear deck. The spoiler that was added to the TT shortly after its 1998 launch has also been removed.

Meanwhile, the suspension has been lowered and its track has been widened, giving a more sporting appearance.

Completing the package is primer-grey paint similar to that on the TTS concept, as well as the baseball-leather interior that was offered as an option on the production car.

The Autoforma TTS was commissioned by Dutch eyewear and interior designer Jos Baijens, who was among the country’s first TT owners in 1998. The firm said Baijens played a key role in "co-designing" the car, creating his ultimate TT.

The creation of Autoforma’s restomod reflects a change in perception of the TT. Although it was an industry disruptor and big seller upon its launch in 1998, it slowly lost its edge through its second and third generations, while buyer demand for small coupés also dropped. That led to its cancellation in 2023. Meanwhile, values of Mk1 TTs remained pitiful for a number of years, owing to high production numbers and a poor image. Yet that has now rebounded, with particularly well-preserved examples now attracting five-figure prices.

Audi last year revealed the Concept C, a first look at the sports car that will spearhead the brand’s reinvention – inspired by the Mk1 TT in both spirit and styling.

Much like its ancestor, it represents an almost complete break from Audi’s recent designs and is set to make it to production largely unchanged.

UK fleets seek partners to navigate electrification challenges

Tue, 5 May 2026 11:32:20 +0100

Incentives for plug-in hybrid and electric cars have pushed fleets to electrify faster than the rest of the market

The UK’s biggest fleets are seeking closer supplier partnerships to navigate a complicated triple whammy of electrification, rising costs and a data influx, according to one of the largest leasing firms.

Dan Carter, head of corporate and international sales at Ayvens UK, told Autocar that it’s “no longer enough to turn up with a product catalogue”, as customers come under pressure to control costs while achieving ever-tougher CO2 reduction goals; now they're seeking partners who understand their business and can help them navigate what’s ahead.

Sustainability strategies and generous tax incentives for plug-in hybrid and electric cars have pushed company car fleets to electrify faster than the rest of the market. Almost half (48%) of all cars leased to fleets are electric, according to the latest figures from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA).

However, Carter said that further electrification faces tougher emerging challenges from infrastructure, planning and changing driver behaviour.

That’s unfolding against the backdrop of shifting tax systems and environmental regulations, manufacturer strategies and supply chain disruption, plus a slow market for used EVs, which is suppressing residual values and risks blunting fleet demand for new ones.

Corporate fleets are also facing internal scrutiny of total ownership costs (TCO), which is making artificial intelligence-based optimisation an “essential” tool rather than something nice to have, while dealing with “relentless” compliance pressures and the need to make faster decisions, according to Carter.

“Electrification at scale, cost control and making sense of their data are the big three [challenges]," he said. Procurement is becoming more strategic, more cautious, more evidence-driven as a result. Customers aren't just buying a lease product; they're looking for recommendations they can trust and solutions that actually move the needle operationally and financially.”

Carter explained that Ayvens UK has three priorities focused on supporting corporate fleets, who want to connect their data and technology with the operational reality of their duty cycles.

Building closer relationships will help it understand what fleets are dealing with, as well as what they ask for, he said, stressing a need to build a consultative and data-literate sales and accounts team to guide customers through the ongoing uncertainty while ensuring that Ayvens’ technology investments offer “real value, not just features on a slide”.

Those investments are significant. Ayvens is progressively digitalising and streamlining the entire customer journey while combining expertise from ALD and LeasePlan, which merged to form it in 2023.

Carter added that closer collaboration with fleets and between departments and a focus on actions as well as insights are desirable for customers.

“The merger gave us real scale, and we're building on that,” he said. “We're accelerating digital transformation so customers get insight they can actually act on, not just dashboards. We're focused on practical transition support for fleets, not theoretical sustainability targets. And we're investing in our teams at every level, because none of the technology matters if the people aren't there to help customers use it."

Why I swapped my MX-5 for a Toyota MR2 – and won't look back

Tue, 5 May 2026 11:00:00 +0100

After running a Fiat Coupe and MX-5, it was time to give a mid-engined sportster a try

The two previous cars I’ve bought – a Fiat Coupé 20v and a Mk2 Mazda MX-5 – were, to put it politely, howling ruins.

Both were at rock bottom of the value curve on account of being rotters, which meant I ended up paying far more on the upkeep of them than I’d have liked. I soon got frustrated with this extra expense and subsequently got rid.

So when I caught my annual bout of car-buying fever, I decided I’d try to get something a bit nicer this time. Another MX-5 was considered, but I wanted something different.

I thought about a BMW Z3, an MGF or even an MG Midget. What I really wanted was a mid-engined four-cylinder machine with a sub-tonne kerb weight, a small footprint and a removable hard top. But I couldn’t afford a Lotus Elise, so I bought this 2004 Toyota MR2 instead.

After weeks of trawling the classifieds, this one stood out the most: it was in my favourite factory colour, had fewer than 90,000 miles and looked tidy in pictures. And it was even better in real life.

What’s more, seeing how immaculate the seller’s ‘E34’ BMW 5 Series was gave me a sense that it had been looked after.

I knew on the test drive that it was just what I was looking for and I’ve never been happier to part with £3500. It comes with the all-important hard top – ironically, something I’ve yet to take off – and some TTE rallying goodies in the shape of a roll bar and fruity exhaust. I think I’m in love from the off.

Learning and loving mid-engined handling

A drive along the soaking-wet country roads of rural Dorset has really cemented my love of my pint-sized Toyota.

Truth be told, for the first few weeks I was a bit nervous about finding my limits in the MR2: I didn’t have a huge amount of experience of driving mid-engined cars and I’d heard quite a few stories about this little sports car humbling many drivers by spinning them backwards through a hedge.

But many dry drives in my first month of ownership taught me how to respect this joyous roadster. I’d come home from work and have the urge to just slink behind the wheel and head for the hills as fast as its 1.8-litre four-pot would allow me, quickly learning how to adapt my driving to explore the handling characteristics of something with the engine in the wrong place.

That said, I was still a little anxious when it came to wet weather – at least until I joined a group of old friends for a blast around some roads I know like the back of my hand. Keeping up with the pack, I realised that I was more in tune with the dynamics than I had expected.

The engine weighs down the driving wheels nicely, giving great grip in the faster corners, while the limited-slip differential turned low-speed hairpins into minor hero moments.

It has been a long time since I’ve fallen for a car as much as I’ve done with the MR2.

Fresh Avons revitalise tyred Toyota

A little drive up to the Welsh valleys with some colleagues revealed the existence of a slow and irritating puncture on my Toyota MR2, with the tyre becoming almost completely flat by the time I reached our incredibly rural rendezvous point.

The tyre pump from a BMW M3 CS Touring saved the day, letting me limp home and figure out what to do next.

Inspecting all four tyres, I noticed that the tread was, while still legal, worn down fairly significantly. They hadn't had too much depth on them when I bought the car. So naturally I decided it was time to treat my pride and joy to some new shoes.

After much deliberating, I settled on a pair of Avon ZV7s for the rear. I’d driven a few cars shod with them before (it’s the OEM tyre on the Morgan Plus Four, for example) and liked not just their grip but also the progressiveness with which traction fell away at their limit.

The tyre shop from which I bought them kept messing me around with the fitting date, so I had them changed by the brilliant people at AJU Motorsport in Poole.

So far, I'm impressed: traction is great and the manner of breakaway is just as I'd hoped.

New £25k Skoda Epiq to be revealed on 19 May

Tue, 5 May 2026 09:13:29 +0100

Skoda's Fabia-sized electric SUV will pack a big boot and up to 267 miles of range

Skoda's new baby electric SUV, the Epiq, will be revealed in full on Tuesday 19 May.

A near-production design was previously displayed at the Munich motor show, described as a "concrete glimpse" of Skoda's answer to the Renault 4, and it is expected to arrive in showrooms mostly unchanged.

At 4.1m long, the Epiq will be the smallest of Skoda's electric SUVs – sitting underneath the 4.4m Elroq – and effectively the electric equivalent to the Fabia. Yet it will still seat five "comfortably", have a 475-litre boot and offer a range of up to 267 miles.

Based on the same MEB Entry architecture as the other Volkswagen Group small EVs, including the new Volkswagen ID Polo, the Epiq will have a 133bhp motor on the front axle as standard.

A hot vRS version, twinned with the ID Polo GTI, is possible and could ramp that up to 223bhp.

It is described as the first car designed completely according to Skoda's minimalist new Modern Solid design principles - first deployed on the updated Elroq and Enyaq – both inside and out.

To that end, it wears Skoda's new 'Tech Deck' face, T-shaped light signatures, chunky bumpers and a distinctive new shade of 'Cashmere' paint, which contrasts with the grey lower bodywork. The cabin is visually separated from the rest of the car by an accentuated shoulder that Skoda refers to as a 'tornado line'.

The interior, in keeping with Skoda tradition, majors on practicality and everyday usability, with 'Simply Clever' features like bag hooks, fasteners and hidden cubbies dotted throughout.

The touchscreen will be the main control interface, but physical buttons and haptic scrollers feature as part of an emphasis on intuitive utility.

Skoda said the Epiq will be priced to match its petrol-powered counterpart, the Kamiq, which starts at around £25,000.

The Czech firm said "this further underlines Skoda's commitment to meeting the growing demand for sustainable and accessible mobility solutions".

CEO Klaus Zellmer said: “It embodies the essence of Skoda: Modern Solid design, a spacious interior within a compact footprint, user-friendly, intuitive digital interfaces, and Simply Clever details that ensure a seamless experience – and, above all, at an attractive price point.

"With the Epiq, we’re taking another step towards making electric cars a practical and compelling choice for everyday drivers."

Mini priming new John Cooper Works hot hatches after record year

Tue, 5 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

British brand's five-strong model line-up is now complete, but more derivatives are on their way

Mini isn’t planning to further expand its line-up, new boss Jean-Philippe Parain has said, but offering increased options and customisation can help it to continue growing.

The Frenchman, who has previously held senior management roles within the BMW Group, took over at the British brand late last year.

In recent years Mini has renewed its line-up, with fresh versions of the electric Cooper hatchback and Countryman SUV, updates for the three- and five-door petrol Cooper hatchbacks and the new electric Aceman crossover.

Speaking to Autocar at the Beijing motor show, Parain said: "We have the biggest product range we’ve ever had, with five models. For a relatively small brand like Mini, it’s a very large range, and we’re very happy with where we are.”

Parain explained that Mini would instead focusing on broadening its appeal through expanding its range of options and personalisation, along with further derivates – particularly in its John Cooper Works performance line, where there “are still some possibilities”.

He added: “We are pushing John Cooper Works very strongly. We believe in our combustion-engine cars and we achieved an all-time high with John Cooper Works sales last year.”

Mini recently added more options for its models, shifting away from the simplification of such items in its recent model rollout.

“We had some ideas in terms of simplification, but that proved not exactly what the customer wants,” said Parain. “If you look at our configurator, we’ve really reopened the possibility to have single options and to customise and individualise our cars. We’ll play with that to the full, because it’s something really only Mini can do.”

Mini also recently revealed a range of special editions with outside collaborators – and Parain said “there are possibilities to explore there" still.

He noted that Mini’s size limits its offerings in this area but said “we’re really working to improve the diversification of our product offer".

"With customisation there is a profitability aspect, of course, and it’s very Mini to make every Mini unique,” he added.

Parain also said that Mini will try to “really sharpen our Mini-ness”, explaining: “We want to exploit even more our heritage, our Britishness, but in a way that is modern and not cheesy. But it’s a very strong differentiation factor for us.”

Honda Prelude

Tue, 5 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Affordable sporty coupé returns with an interesting hybrid powertrain and tech from Civic Thanks to the likes of the new Ford Capri, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Honda’s revival of the Prelude after more than 20 years was going to result in a crossover. Fortunately that has not happened, and the fifth interpretation of a nameplate that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2028 is, as every one of its predecessors has been, a front-driven coupé.We have spent a fair bit of time with the new Prelude – enough, certainly, to warm to its charms as a relatively affordable, frugal and usable junior GT. As we will shortly discover, calling this 181bhp, hybrid-powered machine an out-and-out sports car is perhaps a stretch, and there are areas where it can’t live with the similarly priced BMW 2-Series 220i M Sport, but framed correctly there’s plenty to like here, so let’s get into it.

Exclusive: 1200bhp Red Bull RB17 ready to hit the track

Tue, 5 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Adrian Newey-designed V10 hypercar has entered its final build phase; 50 to be built by 2028

Red Bull Advanced Technologies has begun final assembly of the first of the 50 Adrian Newey-designed, £5 million RB17 hypercars that it plans to launch next spring and deliver to clients over the following two years.

Circuit testing and development sessions are due to begin "within a few weeks".

In an exclusive meeting with programme chief Rob Gray, the highly experienced Red Bull Formula 1 designer turned RB17 technical director, Autocar viewed the first car's near-complete passenger cell and tail section, plus the Cosworth-designed V10 engine and Xtrac hybrid gearbox that will power it to a 220mph top speed via F1 levels of acceleration.

The new all-carbonfibre hypercar is being built in a gigantic former warehouse on the Red Bull estate in Milton Keynes, which now houses both the purpose-built RB17 facility at one end and Red Bull Racing's new F1 wind tunnel at the other.

A track-only two-seater weighing just 900kg, the RB17 packs 1200bhp in total: 1000bhp from the V10 and 200bhp from an electric drive motor.

It is engineered to be faster around a track than a current F1 car, and recent virtual estimates have proved the matter "on a variety of circuits". Its notional lap time at Spa, for instance, is a second or so quicker than a current F1 car, at around 1min 38sec.

As our new pictures show, the RB17 has changed considerably from the model first shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2024, but its dimensions, proportions and major design elements are unaltered.

Speaking exclusively to Autocar at Red Bull headquarters ahead of a Siemens industry event, Gray wryly described the car as "something Adrian drew when he was bored one year over Christmas".

Very similar in overall dimensions to a current F1 car, the RB17's exterior was mostly decided by the end of 2023, then frozen before Newey left Red Bull to join Aston Martin early in 2025. Among the changes made since its unveiling are slim headlights that add extra definition to its overall shape and refinements to its air scoops and aero surfaces (which include active elements, like on the latest F1 cars), shaped by the all-important findings of aerodynamic testing.

Notably, said Gray, there is now a long spine running down the engine cover, from which the V10's exhaust outlet now sprouts, directing gas to "blow" the underside of the rear wing and increase downforce.

Gray called the feature "Adrian Newey's parting gift, because it was a relatively late addition, which he asked for shortly before leaving, and required much development to cope with the thermal challenges that it presented.

The same seriousness that encompasses the exterior can be seen on the inside too: the race-derived, snug cabin is controlled by "knobs and thumbwheels, not screens", said Gray.

The two-seat layout places the passenger beside but slightly behind the driver in order to provide decent shoulder room while keeping the car's frontal area to a minimum.

Two front-hinged doors swing forward to allow occupants to stand on the seat and "drop into the car, rather than bending around a less convenient gullwing arrangement, which is more usual for cars like this.

The car uses an active suspension system that controls its ride height and provides what Gray called "a nice stable platform", but the body can still develop up to 1700kg of downforce. This has to be curtailed beyond 93mph (using the active aero surfaces), however, to reduce straight line drag and to protect the tyres from overloading.

Although Newey always proposed the RB17 purely as a track-day car, there are now suggestions that Lanzante, the renowned hypercar modifier, will produce a kit of modifications that can convert it for UK road use, via the Individual Vehicle Approval process. The cost of the proposed conversion isn't firm, but estimates vary between £250,000 and £500,000.

Newey continues to follow the progress of the RB17, said Gray, and his relationship with the Red Bull team remains extremely cordial. He has seen the car only in photos since his departure, but Gray hinted that a visit is likely at some point.

In the meantime, "all we have to do is deliver the car Adrian wanted", said Gray, which highlights the continuing closeness of the relationship.

The impressively permanent-looking nature of the RB17 facility, along with the size and capability of the project's creative team, prompts an obvious question: will this group progress to a new project when the currently planned 50 cars have been built around the end of 2028?

"That's a question we don't want to answer just yet," said Gray. "My own view is that I wouldn't be keen to build something faster than this. We have lots of ideas but no commitment."

Europe's van giants forced to adapt under threat from new EV rivals

Tue, 5 May 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Cheap, electric-focused newcomers from Asia are forcing established brands to rethink – and get in on the act

Established van brands are having to adapt as they face threat of a slew new electric-focused rivals from Asia, amid a continued struggle to hit stringent EV sales targets set by the UK government.

Vans are subject to their own version of the zero-emission vehicle mandate, which requires companies to post ever-rising percentage of sales of electric sales versus diesel sales, up to 24% this year.

Demand for electric vans hasn't kept pace, however: just 6673 were sold in the first quarter of this year, equating to just 8.1% of the van market, up from 7.6% for last year.

“At the moment, it's a really tough target,” Ford UK boss Lisa Brankin told Autocar at the Birmingham Commercial Vehicle show on 21 April. “Genuine customer demand for electric commercial vehicles isn't in line with the trajectory.”

Van brands are looking with trepidation at future EV targets as fleets and smaller businesses continue to be much more cautious about electrification than car buyers, despite increased choice.

“We need to face the reality,” Renault UK MD Adam Wood told journalists at the same show. “At the moment, the target of 70% by 2030 doesn't look realistic.”

The UK’s Society of Motor Manfuacturers and Traders (SMMT) is pushing government to urgently review the mandate, especially after a disappointing March in which electric van sales actually decreased from the same period last year.

“We're saying 'bring it forward', because the circumstances when it was conceived were totally different. Industrial energy costs have gone up threefold, for example,” SMMT CEO Mike Hawes told Autocar.

Some of the established van makers are finding the transition easier than others.

Volkswagen leads electric van sales after the first three months of the year, with 1931, to capture a 29% share of the market, largely due to the success of the retro ID Buzz.

Ford is second, with 1792 sales, although the company’s long-held status as the UK’s leading van brand means it's still well behind on its mandate target, at less than 8%.

Stellantis meanwhile has struggled this year to parlay its local production of its compact electric vans at Ellesmere Port into anything approaching success, with its biggest EV van brand, Vauxhall, clocking up just 253 sales so far this year.

Stronger competition is coming from Asian brands in the electric space. Kia is the biggest challenger so far this year, thanks to its new PV5, with 1235 sales in Q1 catapulting it into third place in the electric van chart.

The Korean brand has poured $3 billion of investment into its new global electric van business is rolling out several models: the mid-sized PV7 is due to arrive next year and the large PB9 in 2029.

Kia UK CEO Paul Philpott touted the company's ground-up approach to electric van development, telling Autocar: “I think it's quite difficult to convert a diesel van into an electric van, so I think our products have an advantage."

So far Chinese brands haven't made the same dent in the European van market as they have in the car market, but that looks set to change.

At the Birmingham show, new electric vans from Jaecoo owner Chery, commercial vehicle giant Foton, MG sister brand Maxus and Geely-owned Farizon demonstrated the seriousness of the planned attack on established brands.

The incumbents are in no doubt about the seriousness of the threat. “I think now going forward, we should view new Chinese brands as major competitors for the future,” Philpott said.

The struggles of Maxus demonstrate that being able to tap into low-cost electric supply chains back home doesn’t automatically guarantee success in the UK market. But the Chinese are also quick to learn. For example, Farizon absorbed reaction to its highly specced but expensive SV electric van launched last year to create a smaller version dubbed V7E that starts from £29,000 (excluding VAT and a government EV grant).

“The market is getting quite competitive,” Kate McLaren, Farizon's head of marketing and sales operations in the UK, told Autocar. “So we needed a product that was equally capable versus SV but at a more compelling price point.”

Competition includes the Foton Cavan, which is due later this year with a similar size interior space of 7.1m3 and a 50kWh battery with pricing expected around the same £30k mark. Chery says its van range is coming in 2027 in three different sizes. And Maxus is planning a new e5 model that could prove more relevant than its current vans, which are either too small or expensive in EV form.

What the upstart competitors weren’t expecting was Ford launching its very own Chinese-sourced, low-cost van in the same one-tonne sector. The Transit City, pictured below, made its debut at the Birmingham show, broadening Ford’s Transit range to five models.

“It’s fair to say Transit City was a bit of a surprise,” McLaren said. “It just underlines the need for more capable but more accessible vans in the market.”

The Transit City is a heavily reworked version of a van from Ford’s joint-venture partner in China, JAC, with the requisite crash protection and additional cargo space liberated by making it front-wheel-drive.

Its launch was prompted by customer feedback and the need to stay ahead of the Chinese.

“We can sit back and let them come take our lunch or we can join them and try and combat it,” chief programme engineer Simon Robinson told Autocar.

Like the Farizon and Kia PV5 with which it will do battle, it starts at under £30,000 but still offers a payload of 1600kg and 8.5m3 of load space.

The downside is a relatively short range of 158 miles from a 56kWh battery – but, as the name suggests, it's aimed at urban-based companies.

The price will be compelling compared with the £45,510 asked for the electric version of Ford’s best-selling Transit Custom, which is bigger in footprint but not in load space, thanks to the Transit City’s EV platform.

Ford’s pitch to customers is that the Transit City is a low-cost van from a brand you trust with all the support you need to keep you moving if anything goes wrong – a key moat for established brands that they believe will keep them protected from the push by untried Chinese brands for a while yet.

With cheaper entrants, the government’s maximum £5000 purchase grant and the current cost of fuel, electric vans are overcoming the cost differential to diesel vans.

“I don't think that the adoption is about price [any more], it’s about customer acceptance,” Ford’s Brankin said.

Charging remains a sticking point. For those able to charge from home or a depot and stay within the single-charge range (often well beyond 200 miles in bigger models), electric vans are a no-brainer. But data taken from Ford's electric vans suggests that accounts for only 20% of users, with the rest being forced to use public chargers.

That’s where the economics get screwed up: Ford research (conducted before the Iran war-related price spikes) suggests that driving an EV using public chargers is more expensive than sticking with a diesel.

“The cost of public charging is something that the government needs to look closely at,” said Renault’s Wood. “You can pay up to 90p per kWh for the fastest charging, and that has a real impact, particularly for fleets, in terms of the ownership cost equation.”

On top of that, the downtime associated with charging can also be prohibitive. “The speed of charging is absolutely key,” said Wood.

Renault will address that through the launch of the new Trafic E-Tech in the first quarter of 2027, with an 800V electrical architecture dropping its 10-80% charging time to 20 minutes.

For many van users, switching to an EV remains impossible. But for a growing smaller percentage, the potential savings are looking more and more tempting, especially with diesel prices bumping £2 per litre.

Top electric van brands in the UK in the first three months of 2026. Source: SMMT

Manufacturer	Volume	Share of EV sales
Total	6673
Volkswagen	1931	29%
Ford	1792	27%
Kia	1235	18%
Toyota	444	6.7%
Renault	254	3.8%
Vauxhall	253	3.8%
Maxus	217	3.2%
Mercedes-Benz	163	2.4%
Citroën	104	1.6%
Peugeot	102	1.5%

Small car, big fun: tackling Jersey in a Kia Picanto

Mon, 4 May 2026 15:00:00 +0100

We head across the Channel to explore Jersey's blind bends, historic hillclimbs and coastal causeways

Not many people know this, said someone in the office, but the Kia Picanto is the best-selling car in Jersey.

This is hardly the kind of factoid that stops traffic, even traffic of a verbal kind, but it stuck around in our conversation because it soon became clear that various members of the Autocar community had been to Jersey, driving cars, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

But how – the rest of us wondered – could you possibly enjoy driving in a place where the blanket speed limit is 40mph?

From that, one of those animated but pointless debates ensued. Jersey is only nine miles long and five miles wide, said the supporters. Its permanent population is 100,000, but 500,000 tourists go there every year because it’s endlessly scenic.

The roads are mostly twisty and narrow, and 40mph is often too much. The sceptics (including me) naturally demurred, and though our group discussion soon moved on, the controversy generated a plan: to get the hell over there, find a convenient Kia Picanto, and discover who was right…

We landed at Jersey airport in mid-March, following cheerful warnings from the BA copilot that the runway is shorter than most so the braking during the landing roll would be “a bit more energetic than usual”.

But even from the window of an Airbus A319, you could see that spring had begun, as it hadn’t in the mainland, with advanced greenery on the trees and tentative flowers beginning to sprout from the verges. This was encouraging.

It turned out that my companion for the trip, cameraman Max Edleston, knew Jersey very well, having had a series of fondly remembered childhood holidays there.

He even produced a happy-snap of himself as a teenager at a Jersey viewing point, Noirmont Point, using a camera for the very first time and realising, soon after, that it might present him with a career path. Going there would be one priority.

Straight off the plane, at around midday, we headed for the sunny, sandy south coast and Bel Royal, where Jersey’s solitary Kia dealer – the place from which every one of those top-selling Picantos is delivered – was volunteering to lend us a demonstrator for 48 hours or so.

On the way, we called in at the Jersey War Tunnels, about a kilometre of them bored straight into towering surrounding hillsides by slave labour to house a hospital complex that was never completed. When we arrived, the place was still closed for the season (but about to open); it contains exhibits that “show what wartime life in Jersey was really like”. Terrible, according to many accounts.

Bel Royal Motors, a friendly place owned by the same Le Marquand family for 100 years, is run by an enthusiastic general manager, Simon Mills, who put the kettle on and explained, while we sipped tea, why the Picanto does so well there.

The narrow roads help, he said, and so does the fact that Ford killed the 47-year-old Fiesta back in 2023. But it was also clear to a visitor’s eye that Bel Royal Motors’ innate commercial energy and the Picanto’s excellent price-to-equipment formula – plus the seven-year warranty – meant the little Kia appealed more to Jersey people than even the recently rejuvenated but notably fatter Renault Clio.

That was a surprise, because French influence is everywhere in Jersey, and part of the secret of its better weather is that it nestles close to the French coast in the Gulf of Saint-Malo.

Our car was a top-spec, 600-mile Picanto GT-Line S, in Azure Blue (a £575 option), priced in Jersey at £17,512 and about the same in the rest of the UK. It comes complete with 77bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine, which feels plenty strong enough for the job, even though the stopwatch does it no favours: 0-60mph in 13.1sec.

Still, if you row it along with the endearingly slick five-speed gearbox – a very pleasant form of performance control that is becoming a rarity – you can go as fast as you need, while effortlessly returning 60mpg at Jersey speeds.

As we eased our Picanto off the dealership’s wide apron, there were Picantos used and new surrounding it, with various Sportages nearby (which are Kia’s other big Jersey sellers).

Locals like Mills always know the latest about the tides, and photographers love coastal views: our discussion over tea had established that our first scenic destination needed to be Noirmont Point, Edleston’s old stamping ground: a craggy and exposed southerly headland where the wartime Germans built, again with slave labour, an elaborate array of tunnels, turrets, admin blocks and gun emplacements because this is Jersey’s southernmost point and Hitler was obsessed with turning it into an impregnable fortress.

These days, all this reinforced concrete, made to last 1000 years, looks what it was, like an exercise in craziness. The sun shone warmly and the breeze played about us, but the pervading feeling was about the futility of it all.

Next was a westerly coastal trip of just three or four miles (everything’s down the road in Jersey) to one of the island’s longest coastal roads that runs the length of St Ouen’s Bay on the western side, where we could taste the full 40mph and where the lowering sun lit the flanks of the blue Picanto a treat for photography.

By now, I was clocking other cars: superminis and smaller were very commonplace. Pandas, Ignises, Aygos, 107s and their ilk were prevalent because of the relatively narrow and twisting roads (and especially the blind bends), though there was the usual contingent of drive-to-school SUVs, always to be feared on bends. I was soon finding that I didn’t care at all about being limited to 40mph.

In fact, there were plenty of places where it was allowed but seemed a bit too much. Max being Max, he’d already called the maritime authorities, including the coastguard, to get permission to drive the Picanto onto a long, restricted causeway leading to the stately 1874 La Corbière lighthouse on the island’s south-western extremity.

It stands 119ft above the highest spring tide, is the first-ever British lighthouse built in concrete, has already saved many hundreds of vessels from disaster and is still in action.

However, it also leads land-side tourists into temptation, because the tide moves fast and it’s easy to get cut off when it rises. On our particular late afternoon, the photographically desirable sunset coincided with the threatening high tide: we were pleasantly warned about it by the remarkably helpful authorities, who gave us more credit for a modicum of intelligence than authorities usually do.

Sun set, tide avoided, we repaired to a beachside restaurant (featuring its own Citroën Ami) for a hearty dinner, before rolling into St Helier on the south coast (yep, just a few miles away) to our accommodation.

The next day was a flurry of visits orchestrated by Max, who was determined we’d touch every extremity. First to a St Helier coffee shop that was one of his old haunts (the traffic was busy but not frantic) and then off to the modest northerly place, Ronez Point, where there’s a rather bizarre kart track that’s part of the public road when not in use.

On the mainland, you’d expect such a place to be busy at any time, but it was deserted so we did a couple of stately laps, having a care for Bel Royal’s pristine demo.

By now, I was settling into the Picanto, whose latest restyle I really like, and which was proving to be a sweet and ideal companion.

It’s a good-riding and relatively quiet car with lots of equipment (for me, steering wheel heating is the acid test of equipment depth) and a pervading impression of great materials and impeccable quality. This is one of those cars you just know would be able to serve you for many years.

We’d been tasked by the office to find and photograph two extremely cheesy Jersey icons – some Jersey Royals spuds and some Jersey dairy cows – and on that mission we found one of several hotbeds of Jersey’s busy motorsport scene, the mighty Bouley Bay hillclimb course (public roads again) at Trinity that rises from the coast through the trees to a steep summit. It looks great: if not committed, there are few things I’d rather do than to go back there for the Easter meeting on 21 April.

Miraculously, we found the spuds and cows together in one location just south of Bouley Bay: a roadside stall selling Jersey Royals in large bags (too big for the hand luggage) overlooked by a platoon of the friendliest and prettiest cows going.

Max snapped busily until it dawned on us that a bit more north-easterly coastal touring was necessary – through successions of enticing stopping places before we could say we’d completed the circumnavigation. Then it was time to get back to Bel Royal Motors and to the airport for our late-afternoon flight.

Back at the dealership, Mills had dug out period pictures of some very high-tone 1950s sports cars racing past the corner location of his premises, with spectators using the roof for a grandstand.

One impression that stands out is that on Jersey they love cars and motorsport (the occurrence of Porsches is said to be denser there than anywhere else) whatever that 40mph limit may imply to outsiders.

Max and I came to the conclusion that three-quarters of the time, and especially in a touristic summer, a Porsche would have been a bind for what we were doing.

Carrying bulky camera bags (or any other kind), squeezing into beauty-point car parks and nipping safely along narrow roads around hundreds of blind bends was more a job for our Kia Picanto. It was very close to perfect.

Let’s hope the coming crop of low-priced EVs arrives quickly enough for the Jersey drivers who will need them. Over there, especially, big is not beautiful.

Oddball US car maker AMC is a forgotten hero

Mon, 4 May 2026 11:00:00 +0100

AMC wasn't afraid of unconventional ideas: It held a candle to the Big Three on a shoestring budget

In the early 1970s, the American automotive industry sank into its 'malaise era'.

Cars from this time were widely regarded as, to put it bluntly, crap. Japanese cars rocketed in popularity and it seemed that the floundering 'Big Three' (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) were incapable of meeting the market's needs. But there was a lesser-known fourth company in Detroit, whose genius and dynamism have been unfairly confined to the annals of history.

American Motors Corporation emerged in 1954 from a merger of Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson. Against the odds for an 'independent' in the US it survived the 1950s, selling small cars to Americans before it was fashionable. In the 1960s it fitted master cylinders, disc brakes and reclining seats as standard before most 'domestics' even offered them as an option.

The Big Three had most of the market sewn up, but AMC played its cards well in other areas. It earned strong sales in hot climates by fitting aircon as standard in some cars (an industry first) and was the industry's largest exporter to France and Germany (the next biggest LHD markets).

In 1970 AMC bought Jeep. The 4x4 specialist was losing money hand over fist, but it was the biggest player in the growing SUV market, and AMC turned it into what it is today by launching the Cherokee in 1983, then the Wrangler in 1986.

Also in 1970 came the Gremlin, the first 'subcompact' made in the US, followed in 1975 by the Pacer, famous for being a bit ugly and having a 5.0-litre V8 in a relatively compact hatchback body. It was marketed as the first wide small car, but of more interest was its spacious and aeroefficient cab-forward design, a novelty in the US.

AMC's thriftiness attracted the attention of Renault, which in 1980 took a controlling stake in the company, by then teetering on the brink of bankruptcy despite its strong line-up. AMC benefited by making and selling the Renault 5 as the imaginatively named Le Car in the US, while Renault was in turn able to sell Jeeps in Europe. Still, profits were minimal, due to the rise of the Japanese, and AMC had to sell its profitable defence division for national security reasons.

Despite all this, clever ideas shone through. The AMC Eagle was arguably the world's first crossover, the Renault 9/11 was successfully re-engineered and marketed as the Alliance, and Jeep sales went from strength to strength. AMC wasn't perfect, but on a shoestring budget it held a candle to the Big Three.

In 1987, as Renault was also suffering, Chrysler agreed to buy AMC - and while Chrysler didn't save AMC, AMC saved Chrysler. Most of the cars that followed were based on the forward-thinking 1988 Eagle Premier. Even the Chrysler 300, which was discontinued only in 2023, could trace its platform ideas back that far. And AMC's hardy straight-six engine was used by Jeep until 2006.

If that's not a successful legacy, I don't know what is.

Better than a BMW? How to score a Mercedes C-Class for £10k

Mon, 4 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

The used Mercedes compact exec saloon or estate makes a fine (and reliable) all-rounder

The Mercedes C-Class has always been up against stiff competition, not least the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4.

But this generation, the 'W205 C-Class', produced from 2014 to 2021 is more than capable of holding its head high against its contemporaries, and you can now buy one from around £4000.

The W in that codename refers to the saloon but there is also the S205 estate, C205 coupé and A205 convertible. The two-door variants are quite different, so we'll leave them for another time.

This C-Class was the first Merc to adopt the MRA platform, whose extensive use of aluminium helped make it 100kg lighter than the previous model, despite being almost 100mm longer. Mercedes claimed it was the most rigid in its class and we were certainly impressed by its dynamic ability.

We called the steering "breathtaking" and praised the car's plush rolling refinement. If that attribute is important to you, seek out smaller-wheeled, more softly sprung SE or Sport cars to enjoy the ride comfort at its best.

The W205 arrived during a golden era for mile-munching diesels so there are some amazingly abstemious oil-burners. Mercedes claimed 70mpg for the most frugal models, which is optimistic but not completely out of reach at a gentle motorway cruise. The cleanest versions officially emit just 99g/km of CO₂ and are all ULEZ-compliant.

It's not all sunshine and roses, though. The C200d uses a Renault-sourced 134bhp 1.6-litre that is unrefined and a bit slow. The 2.1-litre (168bhp C220d and 201bhp C250d) is livelier yet also very efficient, but it's still rattly and lacking in grunt compared with an equivalent 3 Series. Before the C-Class received its facelift in 2018, the C300h diesel-hybrid was the most efficient and fastest of the bunch. Its batteries rob it of some boot space but it's a great all-rounder if you can live with that trade-off.

On the petrol front, the 158bhp 1.6-litre C180 is a little lethargic, the 181bhp 2.0-litre C200 pleasingly punchy and reasonably efficient, and the C350e plug-in hybrid short on electric range. Leaving aside the monstrous V8-engined C63, there is the semi-sporting, 362bhp V6-powered C43. It's very capable but offers little extra fun over a standard model so a BMW 340i makes a better driver's car.

The interior is stylish and spacious. SE trim feels a bit basic but Sport and AMG Line are well-equipped. The Premium pack ups the ante (panoramic roof, memory front seats) and the Premium Plus pack adds Burmester surround sound and a 360deg camera.

In 2018 the engine line-up was overhauled and a much larger and more modern infotainment system became standard. Power from the 1.6-litre diesel rose to 158bhp and the 2.1-litre was replaced by an all-new 2.0-litre in 191bhp (C220d) and 242bhp (C300d) forms. These 2.0-litre diesels are the pick of the range: they're refined, powerful and economical.

The 1.5-litre petrol with 154bhp (C180) or 184bhp (C200) feels strained. The 254bhp C300 is better, but a little thirsty. The C43 was lifted to 385bhp and the C300e replaced the C350e and took EV range from 19 miles to 34 miles, which the C300de (replacing the C300h) matched.

Choose your powertrain carefully and you're on to a winner here.

What to look out for

Engines: Some 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol models have experienced premature thermostat failure, so keep an eye on the temperature gauge. Replacing it is a difficult job, so expect a large bill. Turbo failure on the 2.0-litre petrol can be a problem as well.

The 2.1-litre diesel is prone to simplex chain tensioner issues, while the plastic inlet manifold can crack and the plastic fuel filter housing can leak. The same issues appear to be cropping up for the 2.0-litre diesel that replaced it, so opt for one with an impeccable service history.

The DPF can get blocked after consecutive short or low-speed drives; a diesel with a very low mileage might not be healthy.

Body: Lots of owners have reported rattling sunroofs and squeaking door seals. General cabin noises are also common unlike in a used BMW 3 Series or Audi A4.

Electrics: The blindspot detection system is known to stop working so test it before you rely on it. The infotainment system can freeze, but not permanently.

Interior: As well as listening out for rattles, inspect the interior trim closely because it has been known to show cracks. Also examine the Artico upholstery on the seats because they sometimes show signs of wear a little too easily.

Also worth knowing

Facelifted cars still command a significant premium and with good reason. The tech, diesel engines and automatic gearbox (a nine-speeder replaced the seven-speeder) are all a step up.

A six-speed manual remained standard on lower-powered cars.

Four-wheel drive is rare but may be worth seeking out in combination with the estate. The wagon has 490 litres of boot space, 35 litres up on the saloon, and came as standard with 40/20/40-split folding seats. The estate sacrifices little in terms of dynamics and isn't much more expensive to buy.

Air suspension was available, but the standard ride is comfortable enough.

How much to spend

£4000-£8999 The C-Class is a familiar choice among minicabbers and cross-country reps, although high mileage shouldn't put you off if the history is good. Note that it's mostly lower-spec models here.

£9000-£11,999 This is where reasonable mileage C220d cars come into play. Keep your eyes peeled and you might spot a C300h.

£12,000-£16,999 We're into decent facelift territory. You'll find some C43s here, too.

£17,000-£34,000 Low-mileage plug-in hybrids are available, and the 300de is an especially good option if you want a powertrain with flexibility. It's probably not worth spending double that on a late C43.

An owner's view

Ian Blackburn: "I recently purchased an approved-used 2020 C220d AMG Line and I'm really enjoying it. It's nice to drive, really efficient - more than 60mpg - and still looks modern. I'm happy I chose a facelifted car as the bigger, 10.3in infotainment screen looks far more up to date. I avoided the newer generation due to its screen-heavy interior and inferior quality and so far I've had no regrets. My only issue is that the seats feel a bit overstuffed: not as comfy as a Merc should be."

1000bhp BMW M3 EV to be priced 'in same ballpark' as petrol twin

Mon, 4 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Autocar rendering shows how BMW may make the electric M3 distinct from the i3 on which it is based

Hallowed super-saloon will return as both quad-motor EV and next-generation ICE car, offering buyers "the choice"

The forthcoming electric BMW M3 due in 2027 and the next-generation petrol M3 will be “twins” that will be “in the same ballpark” in terms of price.

The first electric M3 (the exact name of which has yet to be finalised) will be based on the recently revealed i3 and will sit on the new electric Neue Klasse architecture.

Set to feature four electric motors driving each wheel and offer close to 1000bhp, it has already been spied testing extensively.

Despite the arrival of an M3 EV, the ICE M3 will be renewed for a new generation. It will continue to use the CLAR platform of the current 3 Series but will receive a styling makeover in line with BMW’s Neue Klasse design language.

Sylvia Neubauer, BMW M’s sales boss, told Autocar she's convinced that the division’s first production EV will “stay true to BMW M DNA”, adding: “It’s not only about acceleration and power, it’s about drivability, manoeuvrability and that level of trust and connection between the driver, car and road. With a high-performance BEV, you need to be able to trust it every millisecond, and the car is so convincing.”

Asked how she will win over existing BMW M owners who might be sceptical about electric performance cars to make the switch, Neubauer said: “We need to get you into the cars.”

The firm is planning a series of drive tours to allow M owners to sample the EV, and Neubauer added: “Obviously we will not convince 100% out of the petrolhead target group to buy an all electric BMW M3. But out of 100 people that try it, we will be able to convince some. And for everybody else, we will still provide combustion engines.”

Neubauer added that she had no concerns about introducing an electric M3 despite the faltering growth in EV sales, noting that BMW retained significant capability to adjust production to fit demand. “The good news is that from a pricing perspective, that are in the same ballpark,” she added.

Offering the two M3s alongside each other will give customers “the choice”, she said. "There will be functional differences that lead to a different design in some areas of the car, but when you look at them, you will see that they are twins.”

Neubauer said M wouldn’t specifically target different buyers for the petrol and electric M3s, explaining: “Mainly it's a high-performance target group. But within that high-performance target groups, you have those with more progressive all-electric mindsets and the ones that are diehard petrolheads who will stay in an ICE vehicle forever.

“But it's always a BMW M. When we talk about the BMW M3, it’s the M3 no matter the drivetrain. The driving experience must be true, and you decide it you want EV or ICE.”

Into the danger zone: Chasing fighter jets in the Caterham CSR

Sun, 3 May 2026 17:00:00 +0100

We head to the Welsh Mach Loop to see if this final edition is the ultimate four-wheeled fighter jet

I don’t have accurate statistics because none will exist, but bear with. I think anecdotally it’s acknowledged that more than a few pilots subsequently become Caterham drivers, and/or that flying is something many Caterham owners turn to.

There’s something that unites the activities: mechanical interaction, guiding something analogue, feeling the elements, managing mild perils. The Seven club magazine is even called Lowflying.

Where better, then, to take a Caterham than to what has sort of become the glamorous home of low flying in the UK: a set of valleys in Wales colloquially known as the Mach Loop, named after the nearby town of Machynlleth, where British military flyers and their friends practise screeching between the hills.

If this sounds to you like an excuse for machine-mad photographer Jack Harrison and me to stand on a windswept mountainside in the hope of seeing an F-22 scream just a few hundred feet past us then, well… rumbled, I suppose.

But what better Caterham to get there in than this one? It’s a CSR, which was a new dawn for the Kent firm when it first appeared 20 years ago. Wider than a standard Seven, it was a bigger, smoother-riding, more capable and plusher Seven, with a marginally more comfortable interior.

Faster and yet at the same time more relaxed. Better for zooming through the valleys than the harsher-riding Caterhams of old.

I can’t remember the last time I saw one. And if you’re a Caterham fetishist like me, you’ll know one if you see it. A standard Caterham Seven, by which I mean one from the regular range (not the kei car-compliant 170), is 3180mm long by 1470mm wide.

You can optionally ‘large-chassis’ a regular Seven for more room, which takes it out to the size of this CSR, 3360mm long by 1700mm wide, but the CSR has details that make it look different again.

It’s Caterham-esque but somehow not quite so. It has more aerodynamic (these things are relative) front wings and there are more holes in it to let air in and out. And where are the front springs?

They’re inboard, driven by pushrods, and next to those wings (carbonfibre on this test car) are aerodynamically profiled front wishbones.Trying to enhance the aero of a Seven is like fitting secondary glazing to one part of Blenheim Palace and hoping it will reduce the heating bills, but I suppose it all helps a little.

There’s more. At the back, although you can’t see it, it has fully independent double-wishbone suspension rather than the trad Seven’s de Dion rear end. The advantage this suspension gives ride quality is marked, and it helps improve grip and traction too. Not that even this will be able to do much about Wales in winter, given the CSR is on Toyo Proxes R888R tyres – hardly renowned for their performance in such conditions.

Ultimately, though – and this is why you so rarely spot a CSR – British Caterham buyers preferred their Sevens in the more traditional and basic ‘Series 3’ form, without the posher insides and funky outsides.

The CSR continued to be available in mainland Europe because it passes regulations other Sevens never could, but has long since been dropped from the range here.

Until last year, just as its time was up. The CSR went off sale completely and, to mark the demise, Caterham built a 20-off CSR Twenty edition, for sale in the UK only.

When the CSR first arrived, power came from a 260bhp 2.3-litre Ford engine breathed on by Cosworth. Owing to more limited engine availability today, it houses a 210bhp and 150lb ft 2.0-litre Ford Duratec unit, which drives through a five-speed Mazda MX-5 gearbox.

A limited-slip differential is optional but not fitted to our test car because it tends to whine a bit, and because Caterham sees this as a (slightly) more rounded proposition, it went with the quieter option. The CSR comes factory-built only, by the way – with no self-build alternative.

The CSR was always one of the more expensive Sevens but these final-edition CSRs cost – wait for it – from £79,995, more than twice the CSR’s price when it was first launched.

I do wonder if this is Caterham testing the water of what it can do with the range. Over the past few years, it hasn’t been a given that the company makes profits and, with a 170 available from £29,490 (self-build), perhaps Caterham has been thinking some models are too affordable.

Plus this is a bit of history. Caterham makes noises about the plushness of the CSR Twenty’s interior – it has some new materials, more artfully applied, but like the aerodynamics these things are relative. It is still a Seven interior, which means snug and basic.

The seats are pleasingly softly finished, there are carpets and the centre console has a cushiony soft leather finish, with Alcantara highlights around and a numbered plaque. There’s a satin-finish carbon dashboard too.

I find it easy to get comfortable in any Seven but this big-bodied version exists to accommodate the larger driver. If you’re tall or wide, it’s the variant for you. In fact, there’s so much room in the pedal box that with my size-eight feet and small trainers, the pedals are too far apart for easy heel-and-toeing.

The steering wheel is a non-adjustable leather Momo thing, the gearshift throw is perhaps the shortest in production, and the simple dials and toggle switches are pifflingly easy to acquaint yourself with. There’s a heater and a 12V socket, and even though the suspension design takes up more room than older systems, there’s still a boot, mohair-lined. Plus a roof.

I don’t imagine anybody will think that the hood itself is plush. Magazines were complaining about the popper fastenings when I was a kid and the Seven still uses them now.

Today, a Seven’s hood pulls tighter than ones of old and keeps you mercifully dry too, but it’s a bind to put up and down. Note also that the mirrors are attached to the doors and you can’t adjust them when you’re inside the car. Four-point harnesses are standard, with all the safety but faffing they entail.

Still, there’s a heated windscreen to keep misting at bay and you can reach all of the other windows with a cloth to demist those, so it’s not an unpleasant drive from Caterham’s lovely new factory at Dartford towards my overnight halt in mid-west England, even on a rainy winter’s evening.

But because you sit so low, you’ll swear that anything taller than a Nissan Qashqai has its main beams on, given how dazzling headlights are in the mirrors. By the time I reach my overnight base, I’ve decided I’d fit tinted film over them if the car were mine.

The morning is bright and, because days like this are my favourite reason to get out of bed, so is my mood. There’s no guarantee of seeing aircraft in the Mach Loop. You just turn up at a lay-by on the A487, walk up a hill, and hope.

I don’t mind either way. The drive over is pretty much all good back roads. This CSR’s 2.0-litre engine tune is the same as the 420 model’s and is a combo that hasn’t been offered in the CSR chassis before. Continental CSRs were previously running with the 485 model’s higher-revving 225bhp engine.

But if you think that having only 210bhp (at 7600rpm) or 150lb ft (at 6300rpm) is a downgrade, remember this is a car that still weighs only 620kg and it has one of the slickest, sharpest manual gearshifts in production.

Those power and torque figures arrive at high revs, so you need to work the gears, whereupon it’s amazingly urgent. At low revs it’s still responsive and linear, but at one point I leave it in fourth to overtake a truck and a few seconds later realise I should have picked third.

But even with a clear sky (and the roof down), the road isn’t going to dry today and, in these conditions, it doesn’t pay to be too liberal with the throttle because the Seven can and will break traction.

We were extremely complimentary about the ride of the CSR when it first arrived in the mid-2000s and age hasn’t wearied it. It rolls with an absorbance denied other Sevens, though I think the gap is closer than it used to be.

The compliance doesn’t bring with it a paucity of body control. The CSR is bigger than a regular Seven but the sprung masses are still light, so easily controlled.

While it’s bigger and arguably less pure than the smaller Sevens, the Caterham character is still very much intact. If you’d never driven a Seven, you’d be blown away by the lightness and immediacy of a CSR.

How much does an F-15 weigh? The internet says 14,300kg, quite a lot more than a Seven, though it seems to impact its manoeuvrability and speed very little. Jack and I haven’t even finished climbing the muddy, slippery slope when one enters from left of stage.

So close, barely higher than us, vortices trailing from the wingtips. In a moment it has passed, heading down towards Llyn Mwyngil (Tal-y-llyn Lake), before spearing left and out of view.

A road almost follows the route out of the valley, so after watching for a while (a prop-driven Texan T1 trainer and a Phenom T1 jet pass: we are having a good day), we decide to take it too.

Small trainers on, teacup stowed in walking boots, I’m no more than half a mile down the road when an A400M cargo plane appears directly overhead, seen before heard, and arcs its way gently into the distance.

I’m not pretending a Seven is anything like real low flying. But as a cosplay alternative, for kidding yourself there’s an affinity, these are the roads, and this is the car, to do it.

I spent big money on my Mini Cooper S... then a van wrote it off

Sun, 3 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

A modern classic in the making, the Cooper S is fun, affordable and definitely a keeper

I’ve had my 2005 Mini Cooper S – an ‘R53’ for the chassis code fans – for almost six years now. I didn’t think it would be a keeper when I bought it, but despite quite a few life changes in that time, it still fits very well.

It’s gone from being my only car – a sort of combined daily driver and fun car – to being on standby for when I don’t have a test car, or simply for when I get tired of the assorted tech nonsense in modern cars.

In that time, it’s had the odd bit done to it, mainly on an ad-hoc basis of keeping a cheap car going. Compared with all the brand-new cars I’m exposed to, the 105,000-mile, 19-year-old Mini was starting to feel a bit baggy, so I booked it in to my trusted BMW/Mini specialist, TWG Automotive in Camberley, to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.

The result was an A4 sheet of recommendations, going from the obvious (milky headlights, tired suspension) to the unseen but unsurprising (various oil leaks, a torn intake pipe, rusty front subframe).

R53s are modern classics by now, but there are still too many around for them to be valuable. Any money invested in getting it up to scratch is, well, not an investment. But then I really like the car and would find its combination of smallness, driving fun and long-distance ability hard to replace. Also, I’m a sentimental sucker.

In it for the long haul

I’m rather fond of the Mini and don’t want to be that person who buys a car, runs it into the ground and then dumps it, so I decided to start addressing some of the issues. The garage suggested doing the chassis bits first, because the rusty springs and brake pipes would be needed for the MOT, rather than be just nice-to-haves.

It turns out these R53s are stuck in a kind of purgatory between new cars and classics when it comes to parts supply. BMW is pretty good at supporting them, but for these Minis – similarly to E46 BMWs and the like – a number of parts are no longer available. Add in plenty of rusty bolts and my car ended up spending a good few weeks at the garage.

Serviced, MOT’d and with plenty of new suspension bits, it certainly felt better than before. I love the supercharger whine, quick chassis responses, communicative steering and manual gearbox. But at the same time I have some doubts.

The garage recommended going with OEM Sachs dampers, so that’s what I had them fit. While the car is more composed and less ragged, the ride is still pretty crashy. A modern Mini is firmer but doesn’t clatter over expansion joints like mine.

Should I have gone with an aftermarket upgrade like a Bilstein, or is something else not right? I’m not sure, but I’m not keen on redoing a bunch of stuff, and there is still a list of powertrain-related ills to attend to, like the supercharger service and the engine mounts.

What’s big, orange and headache inducing?

Whose car alarm is that going off? Is that my Mini's? I had better check. And just as I was coming down the stairs, I was greeted by an apologetic Sainsbury's delivery driver who had reversed his van into the side of my car as he was threading it down the narrow lane on which I lived at the time.

After getting the suspension sorted out, the next stage was to get the rusty exhaust replaced and the supercharger serviced, but all of that was put on hold as I dealt with the aftermath of what seemed like a minor incident.

After all, the extent of the damage was an ugly dent and a few mullered but easily replaceable plastic panels. To the driver's credit, he didn't do a runner, but he didn't have his approved accident form with him and was reluctant to give details.

Still, you would imagine that such incidents happen regularly and supermarkets would have a well-oiled protocol for dealing with them. Instead, it took weeks to get hold of Sainsbury's relevant insurance person, who then informed me that they had up to 90 days to 'investigate'.

I didn't have video footage, but I did take a picture of the van with a busted rear light next to my maimed Mini – a pretty open-and-shut case, I should think. I probably could have got my insurance to deal with it but, given that I obviously wasn't at fault and am in the lucky position of having other cars to drive, I let it run its course which ran, and ran, and ran.

Perseverance pays off

After two months and much chasing, Sainsbury's insurance (finally) concluded that, yes, the van driver who hit my parked car was at fault. At that point, they handed it over to my insurance company to deal with the rest.

After a phone call, it was quickly assumed the car would be a write-off, because insurance companies usually can't be bothered to find an economical way to repair older cars. Even more worryingly, they wanted it to be collected by Copart – which runs salvage car auctions – to be inspected.

I pointed out that this would be a massive waste of everyone's time and money compared with a person coming round to look at the car, or me sending over some pictures, but they wouldn't budge.

My experience with Copart wasn't too bad. The guys collecting it with a big car transporter were nice enough. The following week I was called to be told they wanted to declare it a Category S (for structural damage). I argued that a bit of panel damage is not structural, so they listened and changed it to Cat N (non-structural), bumping up the payout slightly.

Just over £2000 promptly appeared in my bank account (I wonder if I can claim Nectar points on that), with the Mini due to be delivered back to me.

As a car reviewer, I get delivered cars quite often, but I've never been as excited as I was for the Mini to return. It came on a multi-car transporter, and in the same condition it left. They even washed it – not very well, but it's the thought that counts.

The wild British supercar that beat the BMW M5 – then vanished

Sun, 3 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

The mid-engined, four-wheel-drive Panther Solo of 1989 was one of the best supercars never to succeed

During the 1980s and 1990s, the British car industry was littered with ambitious sports car start-ups ready to take on the establishment.

Light on cash but brimming with confidence, these one-person-in-a-shed operations often disappeared as quickly as they had sprung into life. Panther, however, was different.

Originally based in Devon, the firm was started by Robert Jankel in 1972 and became well-known for models such as the quirky Lima and Kallista, which evoked the classic sports cars of the 1930s.

Using humble Vauxhall and Ford mechanicals, these four-wheeled pastiches attracted a loyal following and even the odd famous owner, among them Elton John and Oliver Reed.

However, by 1983, Panther had been bought by ambitious young South Korean businessman Young-chull Kim, and there were plans to build something a little more contemporary.

Featuring a mid-mounted 1.6-litre Ford CVH engine and sleek, targa-topped bodywork, the original Solo was devised as a rival to machines such as the Fiat X1/9. But before it got past the prototype stage, Kim saw the then new Toyota MR2 would do the same job for less, so decided to push the Solo upmarket.

What resulted was one of the best supercars never to succeed. Styled by the Royal College of Art’s Ken Greenley with assistance from March Engineering’s wind tunnel, it was packed with engineering innovation.

For starters, the Ford engine had been upgraded to the 204bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre from the Sierra RS Cosworth, while there was now a bespoke Ferguson four-wheel-drive transmission, making the Solo the only mid-engined all-paw production car in the world at the time.

Then there was the body itself, which featured a pioneering construction of steel spaceframe chassis bonded to an aluminium-honeycomb and impregnated-composite passenger cell that resulted in an incredibly rigid structure.

Then there were novel features, such as revolving headlamps and a 2+2 seating layout. Factor in chassis tuning input from Ford Special Vehicle Engineering supremo Rod Mansfield and the Solo had all the raw ingredients to succeed.

It certainly had the chassis chops to impress. With its stiff structure, grippy four-wheel drive, quick steering and all-independent suspension, the Solo was a delight to drive. Despite relatively modest rubber (195-section at the front, 205 at the rear), the Panther combined sky-high grip with a rare balance and adjustability.

In Autocar's Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest of 1990 it finished fourth out of 10, ahead of fine-handling high-watermarks such the E34 BMW M5, M100 Lotus Elan and Peugeot 309 GTi.

And our praise didn’t end there. In our road test later that year, we declared: “Forget the narrow tyres, the Solo will outgrip any [Porsche 911] Carrera 4 or [Lotus] Esprit Turbo without raising a sweat. The steering, with an ideal 2.9 turns across the locks, is in such telepathic communication with the road it could make the 911 engineers wonder where they went wrong. You can make it wriggle its hips, or you can powerslide out of right-handers on full left lock and full power. The point is, it's the driver who decides which, not the Solo.”

Of course, you’re expecting a big ‘but’ here, and you're right. While the Cosworth engine did the numbers (0-60mph in 6.8sec and 144mph all out), it was limp and laggy low down, and it sounded agricultural at idle and set fit to explode when extended.

For a car that aimed to stir the soul and lift emotions, the Pinto-derived four-pot’s cement-mixer backbeat was suboptimal. More so when you consider the Solo was priced as a serious supercar.

Ah yes, the money. At a whisker under £40,000 in 1990, the Solo was £3000 more than Esprit SE and £10,000 more than a Renault GTA V6 Turbo. The blue-chip Carrera 4 was £52,000.

Moreover, even those punters who had been willing to fork out the readies weren’t willing to wait. From debut to finished product, the Solo had taken an agonising six years.

Worse still, cashflow problems meant the Solo still wasn’t really ready when production started. Teething problems meant early customer cars were essentially mobile test beds, so in the end fewer than 25 cars were completed before Korean parent company Ssangyong (which had purchased Panther from Kim in 1987) pulled the plug. That not only put an end to the Solo but killed off Panther too.

That wasn’t quite the end of the Solo, however. Shortly before the car was axed, Panther engineers had experimented with both a twin-turbocharged version of the 2.0-litre engine and a blown Rover 3.9-litre V8 - the latter presumably offering a far more suitable soundtrack.

There was one more twitch of the corpse in 1995, when Ssangyong displayed a 3.3-litre V6-powered Solo 3 at that year’s Seoul motor show.

But that was ultimately it for the Solo, a brilliantly single-minded machine from a group of talented engineers determined to take on the establishment.

With a bit more time, money and development, it could have been a contender.

Renault Caravelle 1100: The beautiful 'poor man's Ferrari' with 55bhp

Sat, 2 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

No power steering and a fuel gauge that requires engine-out repairs? This is a definite French classic

"It's what I call a 'yes, but' car," says Danny Maclean of his Renault Caravelle Convertible 1100.

"Yes, it has brakes, but they have no servo. Yes, it has steering, but it's not power-assisted. People used to call the Caravelle a poor man's Ferrari. I think you'd need to have a drink or two to see it like that, but still, it is rather beautiful."

He's right about that. His Caravelle features some lovely touches, too, such as the very French-looking '1100' script on the engine cover and the mesh grilles either side of the rear numberplate (they're purely decorative).

This model, launched in 1958 in 2+2 coupé, cabriolet and convertible bodystyles, was the work of Carrozzeria Ghia - so that Italian look is no accident. It was supposed to go head-to-head with cars such as the Triumph Spitfire but, at least in Britain, it was almost twice the price. Danny's example was registered in 1963, five years before Caravelle production ceased.

It's the second Caravelle that he has owned. "I bought my first in the late 1970s," he recalls. "It looked so different compared with the Fords and Vauxhalls most people owned. It wasn't in such good condition as my current Caravelle and cost me £675, but someone offered me £700 and I took it.

"I regretted selling it for years, and then 18 months ago I saw this one at a classic car auction. It cost me just over £9000, but I've spent a fair bit on it since."

Not on the car's body or interior, though. The car had been imported from South Africa so hadn't been troubled by salted roads during its life. It had been partially restored, too, although some of this work needed rectifying.

"I handed it over to Wimbledon Classic Cars to correct what they called 'the bush fixes'," explains Danny. "For example, it didn't have the right brakes and some parts were welded when they shouldn't have been. It's now back to its original, factory-fresh state."

However, some jobs remain: "The odometer is showing 50,758 miles, but it has done since the speedometer stopped working 18 weeks ago. To replace it, you have to remove the engine. The fuel gauge doesn't work either, and to fix it you need to get to the fuel tank, which is behind the engine, so the engine has to come out for that too. I'm waiting for a third thing to go wrong that requires the removal of the engine and then I'll have them fixed, because it won't be cheap."

Danny's Caravelle has the more powerful 1108cc engine, introduced in 1964. It replaced the 956cc engine, which itself had replaced the 845cc launch engine.

"The earlier engines were grossly underpowered," he says, "but with just 55hp, this later engine is also grossly underpowered!

"Coming here today, I looked at Wimbledon Hill and thought 'this will be interesting'. Still, on the flat and especially on twisty roads, being rear-engined and rear-wheel drive, the car makes the most of what little power it has.

"In any case, for me it's all about the looks, which are even better with the metal hard top fitted. It's in cream and sets the Caravelle off a treat."

Road rage incidents spiral as stress mounts for UK drivers

Sat, 2 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Picture: Getty Images

Crime is up significantly as technology company finds UK drivers are increasingly stressed by personal lives

Road rage incidents have increased by more than a third in the UK since the turn of the decade – and new research claims problems in drivers' personal lives and not just problems on the roads are behind the rise.

The number of police reports of crimes caused by road rage or aggressive driving increased by 34% between 2021 and 2025 (the newest data available), and Department for Transport (DfT) data reveals 10% of the 1454 deaths on Britain's roads in 2023 were linked to aggressive behaviour.

Now, a new study has investigated the causes of driver rage. Road safety technology company Ooono found that 33% of UK drivers are stressed by a lack of sleep, 29% by work pressure, 27% by financial pressure, 24% by family or relationship pressure and 21% by health concerns.

"While road rage is often dismissed as bad driving, this research shows it's much more personal than that," said Ooono's UK chief operating officer, Sean Morris. "By the time people get into the car, they're often already carrying stress from work, family or financial worries. The road is where that pressure comes out and, unfortunately, it's coming out as anger."

While growing stress is clearly a contributory factor, the UK's changing road environment can't be discounted as a cause. According to the latest estimates by the DfT, 336.9 billion vehicle miles were driven on Britain's roads during the year ending June 2025, a 0.9% year-on-year increase and not far short of the number recorded in 2019 (prior to the Covid pandemic and before many businesses offered working from home days).

The number of roadworks and streetworks has also increased. There were 2.2 million works carried out in England between 2023 and 2024 and over the past 10 years there has been a 30% increase in utility streetworks alone.

A recent study by Autocar of a typical streetworks project calculated that, between 6am and 6pm over the course of five days, it was responsible for delaying drivers for a total of 270 hours.

Surveys have found that drivers aged 17-34 are most likely to commit acts of road rage.

Lisa Murphy, a registered therapist, told Autocar that "basic relaxing breathing techniques" are a good way to stop feelings of road rage. This is important, she said, because even brief moments of frustration behind the wheel can cause drivers to lose control.

Most Common Rage Triggers	Percentage
Tailgating	33%
Incorrect or lack of indication	30%
Traffic	27%
Sudden lane changes	24%
Middle-lane hogging	24%

Source: Survey of UK drivers by First Response Finance, November 2025

626bhp, £145k, 18mpg: Real life with the mad Defender Octa

Sat, 2 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

What is a 626bhp Defender like to live with? The highs and lows after two months with the world's wildest SUV

Self-consciousness hits whenever I take a new Land Rover test car to the dump.

Boiler-suited staff see me stopped at the gate and one of them then has to shuffle across the yard to swing aside the crossbar of the height restrictor. Looking through a Defender or Discovery windscreen, that crossbar is at about forehead height. Impatient tippers in Golfs and Qashqais concertina behind, wondering how I got here when I was aiming for the Darién Gap. What I'd give to swap this circus for a ratty XC90.

There's no road-legal Land Rover more Darién Gap than the newish Defender Octa, which I'm lucky enough to be running for a while. And no time has been wasted in putting the brute to work. On day two we've come to the tip. It's the usual fiasco, though at least the Octa's BMW M5-sourced 4.4 is a mild hybrid with stop-start, so I'm not gargling superciliously while holding all and sundry up. What I can't hide is this car's phenomenal visual impact.

Seventy millimetres doesn't sound like a lot of additional track width over the regular Defender, but it's like handing shoulder pads to Dolph Lundgren. Back at home there's a skip outside and the Octa dwarfs it, as it dwarfs everything else. And because an Octa sits 28mm higher, the crossbar's at eyebrow height.

Once into the tip, I lay up then slide down from the cockpit, free-falling the final six inches and hitting the floor with a slight flex of the knees, like Lord Flashheart's tank commander cousin. I'm instantly gunned down by the man parked adjacent, who asks if I "needed that to get here".

And so it begins: Octa 'ownership'. My inner monologue prepares a response along the lines of well, actually, the boot aperture is really nicely squared off, and you can drop the body on its air springs, which makes everything easier to unload. And the thing's just huge, so in truth, mate, it's a pretty good option.

But I glance at the implausible amount of clobber his Ford Focus Estate has swallowed, then back to the Octa's tailgate-mounted BF Goodrich spare and the boomerang-sized wishbones glinting from under distended arches. I accept the ribbing without protest. Overkill, Defender P635 Octa is thy name.

Winning hearts, losing minds

So, life with a £163k Defender. One that is, in essence, a homologation special for the Dakar-winning D7X-R. I'll confess to pondering, that afternoon at the tip, whether it was all simply going to wear me out from a public relations perspective. My patch of north London isn't far from Arsenal and AMG-ified G-Wagens adorn every corner. I was therefore bewildered by how much attention the Octa was generating when out and about. Some good, some bad. Some judgemental. Some admiring but... threatening.

But there was always a curiosity, even with the restrained Faroe Green paint all Edition One cars wear. Edition Ones also have plenty of chopped carbonfibre trim inside and out (I'd happily do without it) but the mechanicals are as per the regular car, which starts at £148k. That means 400mm Brembo brakes up front, air suspension and a beefed-up driveline with two locking diffs.

With forged 20in wheels that are part military ops, part Group A WRC car, plus the honeycomb grilles, there's something aftermarket about the Octa. This undoubtedly gives it serious cachet for some onlookers (mostly young men). At the same time, it's too neat and homogeneous - too stylistically well done - to be anything other than factory, which appeals to the rest of us. In some ways it's the trail-bashing equivalent of a Ferrari 296 Speciale. It radiates a calibre that gives it more presence than any Cullinan or Urus.

Calibre, then. This is more than a body-kitted Defender P525 with a fruitier V8, as we know.

The throaty 5.0-litre unit in the P525 and the 4.4 in the Octa are unrelated, the former being supercharged and by JLR, and the latter hailing from Munich and being twin-turbocharged. Counterintuitively, it's the Octa's 626bhp engine that's a shade more subtle on a woofly cold start. It's a small but gratefully received edge when you live on a narrow street.

The difference in throttle response isn't huge, interestingly. The Octa's V8 may be blown but mild hybridisation gives a stab of torque-fill. Engine torque - a monumental 553lb ft - is then spread from 1800-5855rpm, which is to say it is omnipresent. For reasons we'll get to, in an Octa you can easily forget you're sitting four feet above the road in a near-three-tonne off-roader. Given this context, its A-to-B speed is head-scrambling.

No compromises or roll bars

Despite not being much of a super-SUV fan, I've loved blatting about in this thing. The suspension uses a cross-linked hydraulic set-up of the kind pioneered by McLaren. It negates the need for anti-roll bars, which tend to hurt ride quality on the straight-ahead. I can tell you after several thousand miles that it is almost worth buying an Octa for this alone.

Never mind the BMW M5 motor, an Octa - especially one wearing the 20in wheels and 60-section all-terrain tyres - rides nearly as well as the German super-saloon and better than any other Defender. Elsewhere, the suspension is redesigned from the geometry to the knuckles to the longer wishbones, but it is the natural-feeling roll, pitch and squat compensation of the cross-linked damping that makes the car an everyday marvel with gorgeous fluidity. In Octa mode, the car also knows when you're airborne and preloads the dampers for landing.

This is akin to the DRS wing on the latest Porsche 911 GT3 RS - the car people seem to love labelling as the Octa's supercar counterpoint. Utterly pointless 99.9% of the time but quietly quite cool. For me, the GT3 RS comparison isn't actually a good one. On the road the RS is often more disjointed and demanding than a humdrum Carrera, despite being stupendous in its preferred race track environment. Meanwhile, the Octa is a car you pull away in and know instantly that it is more polished and 'together' than the normal Defender in every respect, quite apart from its crushing ability on dirt trails.

It's counterintuitive but an Octa is surely the easiest Defender to drive day to day. The accuracy of the steering - the speed of which is increased from 17:1 to 13.7:1 and beautifully weighted - also makes it so simple to place.

Only parking holds you back. I'm a confident docker of vast barges but the track width and huge spare on the boot make sliding an Octa into a tight parallel-parking space something of an art. At least you needn't worry about the £5500 wheels, which you'd need a cliff face to kerb.

Going for broke

In January, when France and the UK got very snowy indeed, I took the Octa to remotest Castile and León. I knew the fuel economy was going to hurt like hell. Pounding fast along slushy European motorways then through the dramatic topography that takes you west from the Basque Country to the wild Picos de Europa mountains around Riaño all but guaranteed it.

On the way out, we took our time and managed around 22mpg, which I thought fair. On the way back? It was all a bit more rushed and culminated in a non-stop run from St-Jean-de-Luz to Calais. Result: 16.2mpg and 90 litres of unleaded guzzled in 320 miles or so. Oof. Even to a road tester that felt profligate, and I know even something as silly as a BMW X5 M would have returned closer to 25mpg. A form of air-to-air refuelling would have been genuinely handy.

Road roar was another thing to consider with the all-terrain Goodyears. Back in Blighty, I met up with a Defender-owning friend for lunch so he could have a go and then tell me about the Octa from the perspective of someone who daily drives a D300. Apart from being blown away by the performance - "brushing the throttle in fourth is like being flat out in second in my snotter" - and the handling, he noted the tyre noise straight away. In truth, it hadn't bothered me until that point, but once you do notice it you can't stop. (He also said the Defender's synthetic Ultrafabrics trim was proving "porous"; concerning for a man with two small children.)

Those caveats aside, I cannot think of many better tools for the job of bisecting Europe in the midwinter. For one thing, the Octa-specific 'Performance' seats are superb. I notice they're trading on eBay for £12k a pop. They're set high and the vantage point from an Octa is safariesque, but you never feel unduly perched and are able to enjoy rather a sporting driving position. It also lets you confidently put the Octa down a decent country road at speed, in a way that's almost a match for the Bentley Bentayga.

The Octa's ease at speed was a surprise. And to that speed, comfort and refreshing visibility, you can add security underwheel, practicality and a gold-plated sense of well-being in sub-zero temps, 1000 miles from home. Charming as the old-style Defender was, it could never do all that.

The bottom line

In the end we totalled 2600 miles. Efficiency? A wallet-hammering 18.4mpg. Maladies? None. Frustrations? Only that the absurdly heavy boot swings shut if you're on a slight angle. Even the ADAS are simple enough to prod into submission.

The fact is that, for activities approximating 'proper' use, an Octa happens to be one of the best cars in the world. Rarely, if ever, have Isofix points, supercar damping, toughness, genuinely good handling and fine long-distance manners mingled in harmony as they do here. Is it worth putting up with the odd bout of self-consciousness? It's not even a serious question.

The world's most capable car?

Things I think when driving the Defender Octa: how is it that a car this good off-road can be so pleasurable on it? Will I fit through that gap? Do I look like a bit of a berk? Gosh, how did they make it this good? I go back and forth a bit on what I think is the most broadly capable car in the world. Sometimes I think it could be a Bentley Bentayga because it has to do some off-road things, plus tow 3500kg, be a true luxury car and do anything up to 190mph.

Then I think that maybe it's a Range Rover Sport SVR, because it retains most of the luxury stuff, is even more dynamically adept on circuit, adds even more off-road ability and oversteers quite a lot. A Porsche Cayenne can pull some dynamic moves too (at the expense, I think it's fair to say, of overall plushness). And then the Octa arrives, which pushes the soft-riding but with exceptional body control levels further than anything I can think of, with a toughness and resistance to rocks and an ability to jump that makes it feel like some kind of rally raid car. It has all that a Ford Ranger Raptor can do in those circumstances, but with superior isolation.

Is it as luxurious as an SVR or Bentayga? No, but pushing the boundary in the opposite direction extends its range of ability so that one could argue it's broader than anything else. I love it for that in the same way I love a supercar that can pull 1.3g and do 220mph. If you don't want to feel like a berk in one, test its limits. We did, and they're extraordinary.

Electric car interest surges following spike in fuel prices

Fri, 1 May 2026 17:01:36 +0100

Renault said EV enquiries on its website have risen 42% compared with January-February

Buyers are considering EVs to insulate themselves from instability – but it's not all good news for car firms

Car makers are reporting a boost in orders and overall interest in EVs as buyers look for ways to offset the spike in petrol and diesel prices since the Iran war began.

One beneficiary is Renault, which has reported that the retro-flavoured 5 supermini was the UK’s biggest-selling electric car in April.

“Interest in electric vehicles has undergone a seismic shift upwards following the spike in oil prices at the end of February,” Renault UK MD Adam Wood told Autocar.

Renault said EV enquires on its website had gone up 42% compared with January and early February, while EV sales accounted for just under half of all its UK registrations in April.

The UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has yet to release registration figures for April.

Fuel prices have shot up by 24.3 pence per litre for petrol and 46.5ppl for diesel since the start of the Iran war in February, according to data from the RAC. That has increased the cost to fill an average 50 litre tank by £12 for petrol cars and £23 for diesel cars.

Renault’s pitch to car buyers is that switching to electric can now save them around £650 a year.

Oil prices are continuing to rise as both Iran and the US prevent oil-carrying ships from moving through the of the Strait of Hormuz - a key delivery route for Middle Eastern oil.

That’s pushing buyers to look for alternatives to ICE cars, but open questions include how long the strait will be blocked and whether the hike in EV demand will survive a fall in fuel prices once the conflict has ended.

“In terms of EV demand, for Europe definitely there’s a favourable momentum picking up with the Middle East crisis,” Mercedes Benz finance chief Harald Wilhelm told investors on the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “I cannot tell you how sustainable that is”.

Volvo is another manufacturer reporting a boost throughout the region: its EV sales grew 12% in the first quarter to give it a 24% electric sales mix, rising to 32% in Europe.

“The growth in Europe is happening through electrification. That's very clear. We see [that] clearly in the last three or four weeks, since the energy crisis started,” commercial chief Erik Severinson said on its earnings call.

In March, EV sales across Europe almost doubled compared with the same month the year before, reaching a quarter of the total (with the UK at 24%), according to data from Europe's motor trade organisation, the ACEA.

Some countries are far higher, with Norway leading at 98%, followed by Denmark at 78% and Finland at 50%.

Stellantis has also reported strong growth in EV demand, particularly for lower-cost models based on the Smart Car platform, such as the Citroën ë-C3 and Vauxhall Frontera.

“Obviously we cannot predict how long this oil price surge will stay, but [we] will manage it as an opportunity for many reasons, being one compliance, obviously,” CEO Antonio Filosa said on its Q1 earnings call.

A boost in demand for EVs is a double-edged sword for most manufacturers. As with Stellantis, it helps companies hit their zero-emission vehicle mandate targets in the UK and CO2 emissions goals in the EU, which reduces the chances of them having to paying costly fines. However, EVs remain costlier to build for most, with little way to claw back the difference without a complete redesign of the platform to reduce those costs.

For the Volkswagen Group, profit-margin parity with ICE cars won’t come until it launches the first EVs on the delayed Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), now due at the end of the decade.

“Until this platform arrives, we have to make trade-offs between BEV volumes and CO2 fines,” CFO Arno Antlitz told journalists and investors on its Q1 earnings call.

The Volkswagen Group isn't yet compliant on CO2 and won’t be until after 2027, Antiliz said, resulting in annual fines of €400-500 million.

Legislation is running ahead of demand, the company argues, forcing manufacturers to lower pricing.

“We have to help these cars with prices that puts us into a situation that the margin is much lower than for combustion-engine cars,” Antlitz said.

Higher levels of natural demand gives car makers hope that they can ease off the discounting throttle and charge closer to the natural figure for EVs.

They can also lean on the UK government's Electric Car Grant, which reduces prices by as much as £3750.

However, pricing pressure exerted by incoming Chinese brands as they try to gain market share is pushing the other way.

Car makers are uneasy about the most recent source of EV enthusiasm.

“I'm not sure I would necessarily pray to have ongoing high fuel prices, because it's got bigger implications on the economy and everything else,” Ford UK boss Lisa Brankin said.

That’s already the case in the US, according to Volvo, which is seeing an overall hit in demand.

“There’s record low consumer sentiment in US right now. We saw a rapid deterioration in the last month since the Middle East crisis,” Severinson said.

The EV lobby is using the moment to encourage the UK government to lean further into electrification in order to decouple ourselves from foreign oil supplies.

"Drivers are going through the second fuel-price crisis in five years. In an unstable world, electric vehicles represent a way for households to protect themselves from the impact of foreign wars and events out of their control,” Ben Nelmes, CEO of electric-focused transport research organisation New AutoMotive, told Autocar. “It's not surprising that we are seeing rapid and sustained growth in consumer demand for these cars."

Separating a desire for cheaper running costs from other drivers of demand is difficult.

“It’s a combination of factors,” Renault’s Wood said. “We're now expanding consumer choice and the accessibility of electric vehicles is improving, with ever more affordable vehicles.”

Others are seeing the impact of the high fuel prices landing elsewhere.

“It’s not much visible in new EVs. It will be having some impact, but on used cars I think it’s more marked. Likely high-value diesels are under pressure,” Robert Forrester, CEO of dealer group Vertu, told Autocar.

Ford’s Brankin acknowledges the surge in EV interest but doesn’t forsee it prompting structural change, particularly in the key van market.

“If you were a fleet manager looking after 100 vehicles, you wouldn't make your sourcing decision based on potentially a short-term increase in fuel prices,” she said. “If this was the price of fuel forever, you might make different decisions.”

How used cooking oil is making the tyre industry greener

Fri, 1 May 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Waste oil used to be used for fuel - now Continental is using it to make tyres

A few years ago, there was a fad for putting filtered used cooking oil in diesel cars in place of pump diesel, which caused a degree of alarm among manufacturers of modern diesels.

Today, after years of research and development, B7 pump diesel (containing up to 7% biodiesel) is available on forecourts, can include used cooking oil as a raw material and is safe to use in diesels. Now tyre companies are also turning their attention to used cooking oil in the manufacture of new tyres.

Continental, for instance, is using cooking oil to make synthetic rubber. The firm says it is ramping up its commitment to a circular economy, which in practical terms means using as many recycled and recyclable materials as possible.

Many raw materials including steel, textiles, carbon black and silica go into the making of tyres. Rubber, of course, forms a large proportion of that and in Continental's case it is as much as 40% by weight. A hundred or so raw materials are used to make up to 20 different types of rubber (and other things) and the type of rubber used in any specific tyre depends on the kind of use it is going to get.

Increasing quantities of recycled additives are used in the formulation of the customised rubber compounds and recyclable resins are used to make the rubber more pliable and improve the performance of the tyre.

Continental mainly uses two categories of rubber in specific areas of the tyre. Natural rubber is used in the tyre tread, where it needs to be very hard-wearing due to the abrasion from the road surface. Its properties include impact resistance and durability, which is imparted by something called 'strain-induced crystallisation'.

This phenomenon occurs when rubber is stretched, which causes chains of molecules, usually tangled and unordered (amorphous), to align into crystal-like structures. It is this that gives natural rubber its durability, but inconveniently it is also a property that can't be reproduced artificially.

Synthetic rubber is used in sidewalls but also incorporated into the tread of car tyres along with the natural rubber, to improve braking performance and reduce rolling resistance. This is where the waste cooking oil plays a part as a raw material, along with pyrolysis oil, which is derived by breaking down materials from end-of-life tyres at high temperatures.

Some additives used in tyre production to protect rubber from heat during the vulcanising process (which turns it into the tough stuff suitable for use in tyres) are made using biocircular acetone. This form of acetone (also used in things like nail polish removers and paint thinners) is made from 'waste of biological origin', which also includes used cooking oil.

Citroen e-C3

Fri, 1 May 2026 11:45:00 +0100

Electric supermini leads Europe's fightback against low-cost Chinese challengers Concerned voices continue to debate the influence that Chinese-made electric cars will have on the European market in the longer term. In 2024, concerned EU legislators even ruled to impose tariffs on them.But until now, very few European car makers have actually grasped the nettle and sought to match what we might consider China-typical value in a European-made, affordable electric car.That is ostensibly what Stellantis’s new Smart Car platform has been designed to do – and the fourth-generation Citroën C3 and the brand-new Citroen ë-C3, the subject of this test, are its first-borne fruit.

We ignored the brilliant 370Z – now it’s a £10k used bargain

Fri, 1 May 2026 11:00:00 +0100

This muscular and reliable Nissan didn't sell well, but it makes a brilliant used alternative to a Porsche Cayman

We have been very naughty car enthusiasts here in Britain.

We did not buy enough Z-cars, so Nissan did not bring its latest Nissan Z to the UK. Which is a shame, because the last car to grace our isles, the 370Z, is a distinctly appealing device.

You get a front-mid-mounted V6, a six-speed gearbox bolted behind it driving a rear axle located unfashionably and excitingly close to your coccyx, all in a package feeling ever smaller as other cars get bigger.

What’s not to like, you may by now be wondering. Well, the hum, rumble and roar of fat treads over Tarmac is one thing, the 370Z, and the 350 before it, generating road noise equivalent to the drone of a phalanx of machine-tools on a factory floor.

This Nissan might have the mechanicals for long-distance drives, but not the manners. It’s also a bit of a drinker, Autocar’s keen road test department discovering that while it could manage a not-that-great 26mpg when driven with circumspection, any temptation to exploit its not inconsiderable appetite for speed would flame a gallon in under 20 miles.

Nissan priced the 370Z usefully below the Cayman and Boxster when you, though not, it seems, usefully enough.

All of which means that the 370Z is quite a rare car and one that despite its noisy thirst will provide an awful lot of muscular, rear-drive entertainment.

The cheapest are well under £10,000 now and being Nissans, appear quite capable of big mileages without the expensive problems that occasionally afflict the Z’s Porsche nemesis.

Honda UK appoints new head of automotive

Fri, 1 May 2026 10:23:00 +0100

Movers and shakers: Michael Doyle returns to UK arm after three years in southern Africa

Welcome to Movers and Shakers, an Autocar Business feature covering the latest job moves from across the automotive industry.

This page is updated regularly with all the biggest transfers, promotions and departures in the sector, covering everything you need to know.

Name: Michael Doyle

Company: Honda UK

Role: Head of automotive

Honda has promoted Michael Doyle to head of its UK automotive business. He returns to the car maker’s UK arm after three years in Africa.

He succeeds Rebecca Adamson, who now moves up to become general manager of customer engagement for Honda’s European division.

Doyle was most recently vice president of Honda Motor Southern Africa. Previously, he had spent 31 years at Honda UK.

On his new role, Doyle said: “It’s a privilege to return to the UK business and take on this role at a time of significant transformation for the automotive industry.

“Honda UK has a clear vision for its future, and I’m excited to build on the strong foundations already in place as we continue to evolve our product offering and strengthen our relationships with customers and our retail network”.

Name: Fermín Soneira

Company: Lamborghini

Role: Head of research and development

Lamborghini has appointed Fermín Soneira as its new head of research and development, effective from 1 July.

As the CEO of AUDI, a joint venture between Audi and SAIC, Soneira oversaw the creation of the new Chinese-market brand last year.

Previously he was engineering boss for Seat and head of global product marketing for Audi.

He succeeds Rouven Mohr, who also moves within the Volkswagen Group to become Audi’s chief technical officer.

Soneira is tasked with overseeing Lamborghini’s technical strategy and future innovation. He will also be responsible for the Italian brand's motorsport operations.

Welcoming Soneira, Lambo CEO Stephan Winkelmann said: “With his extensive international experience, technical competence and strategic vision, he will further strengthen the brand’s success and drive our future innovation.”

Soneira added: “It is a great honor to join an iconic brand such as Lamborghini, which has contributed to writing the history of the automotive industry, performance and design.

"I look forward to working with the team to further elevate the brand’s technological excellence and driving experience.”

Name: Balaje Rajan

Company: JLR

Role: Group chief strategy officer

JLR has appointed Balaje Rajan as its new group chief strategy officer under recently appointed CEO PB Balaji.

Rajan was previously the chief strategy officer and head of international business for JLR's siblings Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility.

The move, first reported by Autocar Professional, tightens the ties between JLR and its Indian parent company Tata.

The companies' forthcoming electric cars – particularly new Land Rovers and models from Tata's new premium brand, Avinya – will share key technologies, and Rajan's appointment is expected to foster this collaboration.

Name: Erhan Eren

Company: Kia

Role: European PBV director

Kia has appointed Erhan Eren to lead its vans and commercial vehicle strategy in Europe.

Eren takes the role of PBV (Platform Beyond Vehicle) director, replacing Pierre-Martin Bos, who leaves Kia to take up the position of CEO of Zero Motorcycles.

Eren joins Kia from Wrightbus, where he served as managing director for Europe. He arrives with 18 years of experience across trucks, buses and vans. Other leadership roles included time at MAN and Iveco.

Based in Frankfurt, his core task will be to continue Kia’s commercial vehicle expansion: following last year’s PV5 will be the PV7 in 2027 and the PV9 in 2029. The Korean brand aims to achieve 250,000 global PBV sales by 2030.

Eren said: “My priority is to ensure customers benefit from a seamless, reliable ecosystem, from strong product fundamentals to service, uptime support, converter integration and parts availability.

"This role brings together everything I value: practical innovation, purposeful transformation and creating real impact for customers.”

Toyota C-HR+ review

Fri, 1 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

EV-agnostic Japanese giant launches its mainstream electric offering Chairman Akio Toyoda’s edict that Toyota would no longer be a producer of “boring cars” was very bold. It’s the sort of PR gold that can easily turn to PR nightmare if the engineers revert to making worthy but slightly dull vehicles. After all, it’s one thing to produce a couple of halo models like the GR86 and GR Yaris; it’s another to make family crossovers that aren’t boring.But Toyota has managed remarkably well. Although the outgoing RAV4 was a bit of a snoozer, cars such as the Corolla hatchback and C-HR hybrid crossover look sharp and are surprisingly good to drive. And just look at the wedge-shaped Prius. It’s equally important that the cars are still competitive when it comes to the sensible stuff, though, and that has been a challenge for Toyota’s EVs.In comes the new electric Toyota C-HR+. It builds on the initially underwhelming bZ4X but, on paper, appears to be a big step forward because it gets the sort of big battery we have come to expect in this class and looks to have creditable efficiency and an attractive price.Toyota claims the suspension is tuned for fun-to-drive character, and despite our test car’s very dull paint colour, some styling flourishes are in evidence. Could this finally be Toyota’s electric breakthrough, with all-round dependability and quiet satisfaction? Its name certainly suggests that this is the intention: it should be like the existing hybrid C-HR, but electric.

Cupra bans bright colours: "We will leave that to Ferrari"

Fri, 1 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Cupra previously offered bold shades but "you will never find a red Cupra" in future

Current and future Cupras will stick with greyscale colour palette else "risk losing the brand"

Cupra will "never" stray from its greyscale colour palette, according to creative director Francesca Sangalli.

Broadening the range with more colourful hues "risks losing the brand because you go with what everyone else does", Sangalli told Autocar.

The new Raval, for example, can be had in white, black, copper, matt grey, matt black, a greyish pearl and a matt green.

Sangalli explained further: "We took a strategic decision to make design the pillar of Cupra. We said Cupra is raw.

"Cupra is about neutral colour with a twist, and this is why we give much more importance to matt finishes and the very oily treatment of colour.

"You choose a Cupra if you like the brand, and you choose the range of colours that fits with the brand and not vice versa. You will never find a red Cupra.

"There is not even a yellow Cupra. We will leave that to Ferrari or other brands with strong colours.

"This is linked to their brand identity, but for us, this doesn't fit."

I saved £22k on a used Porsche Taycan – what was it like?

Fri, 1 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

A brilliant EV can be an even better used buy, with few pitfalls. Here's what we learned running a Taycan

How you view the second-hand market for electric cars might depend on whether you're a glass half-empty or glass half-full sort of person. Or, perhaps, whether you're looking to sell an electric car you bought new or pick up a used bargain.

Take this 'used' Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo from its maker's approved used scheme. It's an early 23-plate car that arrived with us with just under 9000 miles on the clock and a known ownership history (full disclosure: it's been well used on Porsche's press fleet).

Had you bought this car new in 2023 it would have cost £90,438. Now? Its value at the time of handover was about £68,000.

Given Porsche's reputation for robust used values (a hybrid Panamera of similar age and mileage and which cost less initially is priced in the mid-£70k region), that's probably a shock to many, especially those who bought a Taycan outright or on PCP.

But for savvy used buyers it represents a comparative bargain route into ownership of not only a Porsche but also one of our favourite electric cars.

Granted, for a similar outlay you could have a brand-new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, but really, how many thousand drive modes and settings do you want when you can have an EV dripping in Porsche's signature sheen?

There are many reasons why the used values for most electric cars (sharp devaluation isn't limited to the Taycan by any means) have struggled.

For one, the ZEV mandate requiring manufacturers to sell more EVs has put pressure on prices when new (albeit often hidden using offers and incentives), while any used EVs manufacturers sell through their official schemes don't count towards those targets.

There are also no tax breaks on offer for business or fleet buyers for used EVs- and, meanwhile, just over three years after the Taycan's launch and with a facelift having just arrived, there's a relative glut of ex-fleet and PCP examples arriving on the market.

Just as significantly, there's still some scepticism about taking on a used electric car. Given the recent rate of EV progress, will it be as outdated as a BBC Master in a few years time? Will the battery life suddenly and dramatically degrade to the point that the car is unusable? Such concerns are common with new technology.

So with an increasing number of used EVs on the market, it felt like a good time to put the previously owned approach to the test - and, frankly, to get more time in a seriously good car. All of which is why I found myself at Porsche Reading to take collection of our new Sport Turismo.

Buy a car through Porsche's official used scheme and you can enjoy the exact same handover process as a new model, complete with a cover being whisked off your shiny new (to you) car in the dealership and an expert on hand to talk you through all the key features with a particular brief to explain some of the nuances of EV ownership for those new to them.

That includes obvious things, such as how to plug it in, along with easily missed features such as where the 'frunk' is or how to use the customisable buttons on the dash and steering wheel.

Anyway, if you'll permit me to return to my tortured analogy about half-full glasses, as far as my new car itself is concerned, my cup runneth over. You might find plenty of used Taycans on offer, but you'd have to search hard to find another in this spec. It's a bit of a peach: a largely base-spec, single-motor, big-battery Sport Turismo.

Its output of 322bhp (402bhp with launch control) may pale in comparison to a Turbo's (and it is positively demure compared with the updated model), but it's still enough for 0-62mph in 5.4sec. And the 83.7kWh (usable) battery means it has an official range of 304 miles.

I'll take that over an excess of power I'll most likely never use. It's also a rare Taycan sitting on steel spring suspension, which it combines with adaptive damping

The Sport Turismo shape adds to the appeal, offering a big-booted estate body without the slight compromise of the Cross Turismo's raised ride height.

The extended roof provides a bit more space for rear passengers, too, especially with the 4+1 seats. It's still not the world's most practical EV by any means, but this bodystyle certainly extends the car's operating window.

The interior is somewhat restrained: black is the predominant colour, and it's generally at the more sober end of the Porsche line-up. That suits me nicely, and the sports seats are proving comfortable so far.

There are other perks: our car came to us with a contract to use the Porsche Charging Network- it's not offered as standard with a used Taycan, but you can buy access.

Using an RFID card, your key fob or the My Porsche app, you get one-touch access to any charger part of that network. You will need to use the app to find them, but it includes the fast chargers found at many Porsche dealers and Ionity and BP forecourts.

On some you will also get a discount significantly reducing the cost of charging. The network info is integrated into Porsche's nav system, so plot a long trip and it will work out where to stop and how long to charge for while monitoring real-time charger availability.

Initial impressions are good, which you would expect: there's a reason the Taycan is one of our favourite electric cars, and the improvements to the recently facelifted model don't really detract from older examples such as this.

We'll judge that more over time, of course, but just as important here will be to gauge the ownership experience for used buyers drawn in by those headline discounted prices.

They might be painful reading for those set to lose out due to slipping residual values, but a cut-price route into Porsche and electric car ownership is a mighty enticing prospect for those looking to buy.

Transport for London

What sort of car should you use as suitable transport for a Bridgerton afternoon tea at a posh London hotel? That’s not something I’d ever pondered before, but my teenage niece was visiting from the US and wanted to treat my mum to dainty sandwiches and cakes inspired by the Netflix show, and it didn’t feel right to stick them on the Tube.

Besides, due to the complexity of a family visit after the final cup of Earl Grey was supped, I needed to transport my mum, niece and nephew straight to Somerset, so driving into central London – which I’d normally avoid like, well, watching an episode of Bridgerton – made sense. Thankfully, my niece agreed that a Porsche was, indeed, suitable for afternoon tea transport. And, thankfully for me, if you are going to drive a Porsche into the middle of London, the Taycan Sport Turismo is ideal.

Since it’s electric it’s exempt from all road charges, for one thing, and while it’s hugely potent, the nature of an electric powertrain makes it easy to drive at low speeds. What you’re always aware of is just how big the Taycan is, and that is made more challenging by the relatively small rear window the Sport Turismo version offers. Yet thanks to the bulging wheel arches it’s easy to spot where the front corners of the car are, and the sensors are generally effective and accurate.

My niece and nephew were both fans of the Taycan’s audio system, especially once they realised they could seize control from the back seats with wireless Apple CarPlay. And despite their tunes playing, I’ve always found the silent electric powertrain really useful when driving in cities: it allows you to hear more clearly when motorcycles or even pedestrians are about to appear from a blind spot.

Arriving at The Lanesborough hotel at Hyde Park Corner was also a reminder of just how classy the Taycan is. The doorman didn’t hesitate to leap forward and help, and the Porsche held its own even with a Bentley and a Rolls-Royce in the vicinity.

With my niece and mum dropped off for their dainty delicacies, I let my nephew pick lunch, and he opted for Five Guys (well, he is American...). There’s one on Oxford Street, so I nipped round and stashed the Taycan in the underground car park nestled beneath Hyde Park. Given the tight confines and length of the Taycan I was a little nervous heading in, but I’ve spent long enough with it to learn some tricks.

Given the Taycan’s long wheelbase and short overhangs, the trick is to turn later than you normally would when in a car park, almost like how a bus or lorry overshoots a corner apex before turning: doing so avoids risking clipping the rear alloys on kerbs on the inside of a corner.

With food at both ends of the cultural spectrum eventually consumed, it was time to pick up the ladies and then face the interminable crawl out of London before a schlep down the M5. It provided an interesting comparison of driving efficiency: while crawling through the capital I was averaging just over 3mpkWh; while at speed on the motorway the figure was closer to 2.5mpkWh.

The Taycan isn't the most efficient of EVs (the post-facelift model is much improved), but what I do like is that it is far more consistent than many other cars, and the economy doesn't change all that much regardless of where or how you drive it. Over a longer journey my niece did report the back seats weren't the most comfortable she's encountered, which we determined was due to their more upright style than many.

The 'foot garage' design - dips in the car's leg room, but only if you sit quite straight. Given my niece quite likes a doze on a long car journey, that didn't work so well Still, that was a relatively minor complaint after a genuine test of the Tacan's versatility.

How good is the charging?

Not long into a 120-mile journey, I realised that I had forgotten to plug my EV in to charge and didn't have enough range to reach my destination. A few years back that would have been a recipe for disaster, but in the Taycan Sport Turismo it was a showcase of the new world of EV charging that we had been promised for so long.

If you buy a new Porsche EV you get free access to the Porsche Charging Service for three years, and beyond that there's a monthly charge. The service essentially gives you easy access to a 'virtual' charging network: instead of building up its own network like Tesla, Porsche has fast chargers at a number of its dealerships and partnerships with many charging networks across the UK and Europe.

Using the Tacan's infotainment system or My Porsche phone app, I can search for chargers and filter those that are part of the service. But really, why search when I can let the Taycan do the work? Once on the road, I entered my destination into the car's sat-nav, which worked out that I didn't have enough charge and then calculated the best place to stop and charge to minimise the journey.

You can stipulate which chargers you want in this search and a minimum state of charge with which you want to arrive. For this jaunt down the M4, the Taycan picked out the Ionity chargers at Chippenham Pit Stop, a quick detour at junction 17. It automatically set the route, worked out how long I needed to stop for, calculated a total journey time and guided me right to them. Brilliant.

It also offered real-time information on how many of the six chargers there were in use. It was a bit 'squeaky bum' as I was in the closing stages and just one was free. But as I was on the final country road stretch to the chargers, that popped back up to two.

The Porsche Charging Service can be accessed by an RFID card, via the My Porsche app or through a plug-and-charge service (meaning payment is taken automatically from an account linked to the car).

Sure enough, I plugged in the Taycan and, after a brief pause for the digital handshake', charging started without further ado. By the time I sat down, energy was being delivered at more than 250kW. This is proper game-changing speed: no wonder my stop was scheduled to last just six minutes.

I didn't even have time to check out Chippenham Pit Stop's toilets, shop or truckers' cafe. Even better: Porsche Charging Service users get a half-price rate of 39p per kWh on Ionity chargers. That's still pricier than home charging but cheaper than some slow lamp-post chargers. It's a great example of how Porsche is trying to enrich the ownership experience and provide peace of mind in the EV age.

This brings me to another point: in a recent new versus used feature, we suggested a replacement battery for a Taycan could cost around £20,000. Not so: Porsche has noted the cost isn't even half as much, which we're happy to clarify. Besides, it's a bit of a moot point: the battery is covered by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.

Verdict

There’s still plenty of trepidation about buying used electric cars, most likely reflecting the fact that it’s developing tech.

People don’t tend to like the unknown, and there are many scare stories about failing batteries and other issues. This seems odd to me: most batteries are covered by extended warranties, EVs have fewer moving parts that can break and people often still buy old Alfa Romeos despite literal warning lights.

It has led to some sharply falling prices for used EVs, even those from premium brands known for rock-solid residuals, creating a feedback loop that makes buyers even more nervous. But I reckon that in years to come, buyers might rue missing some bargains – such as the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo to which I’ve just waved a very sad goodbye.

It arrived on our fleet as a nearly year-old model with just under 10,000 miles on it, expertly checked and fettled on Porsche’s approved used scheme.

When new, it would have cost around £90,000 fully specced (the 93.4kWh Performance Battery Plus was a £4,454 option; single-motor models got a 79kWh unit as standard), but it reached us valued at about £65,000. That’s a ridiculous bargain for one of the best EVs on the market sporting one of the more desirable badges.

It was a pre-facelift Taycan in enviable spec: single motor, biggest battery, estate-esque Sport Turismo body, steel suspension, smart-but-not-showy Dolomite Silver paint. Rare is the EV of which my favourite version hasn’t been that with the least power and the longest range, and 322bhp is plenty when it’s as easy to access as in the Taycan.

The Taycan was among the first EVs that overcame the inherent extra weight and offered genuinely dynamic handling. As decades of 911s attest, Porsche’s chassis and vehicle dynamics engineers really know their stuff, and that expertise was well applied here.

It gave the Taycan an incredible breadth: it’s easy to drive around town, a refined long-distance cruiser and genuinely fun on a flowing road. It’s big, but having the wheels pushed out to the corners and short overhangs helps. As does the view out the front, framed by those oh-so-Porsche wheel bulges.

It’s a proper Porsche inside, too, with a nicely understated sporting opulence. Finished mostly in black, our car’s was restrained and classy, and while there was the obligatory touchscreen, it retained plenty of neat analogue touches, such as the dashboard clock and the steering wheel’s driving mode selector dial.

A family visit meant I made good use of the Sport Turismo’s estatey body. Clearly we’re not talking Skoda Superb levels of suitcase swallowing, but it was a useful uplift from the saloon (446 over 407 litres), even if the sculpted body meant using all of it took some effort.

When I needed to cart my mum, niece and nephew to Heathrow airport and saw the pile of bags, I wished I’d borrowed the BMW 15 Touring that Matt Prior was running, but with some effort everything fitted in. The revelation was the Taycan’s 84-litre frunk, which gobbled up more stuff than its dimensions would suggest.

One area where our Taycan did show its age a bit was its range and efficiency. The official range of 304 miles was essentially 250 miles in the real world. And despite my best efforts, I seldom reached 3mpkWh economy. Generally, I class 300 miles as the minimum needed to make an EV truly everyday-usable (depending on your mileage and charging set-up, of course), which sounds disqualifying, but it rarely proved much of an issue in practice.

That was in part because the Taycan was so nice to drive that having to plug it in a bit more often was a sacrifice that I was willing to make. But it was also because the efficiency was generally consistent, so the predicted range was accurate, which gave me the confidence to forego contingency charging and use more of the given range.

It helped that the Taycan could charge at up to 270kW on the right charger, greatly reducing waiting times. And with my membership of the Porsche Charging Network, some of those fast chargers were more affordable than you think.

But after all that appreciation, what about the depreciation? Well, there’s actually not a huge amount to report. The Taycan left with an extra 5000 miles and several months older (granted, a relatively short time), but that wasn’t enough to notably wipe off much value. That makes sense: as with an ICE car, the big whack often comes in the first year or so, so buy a nearly new car and someone else has taken the hit.

One reason for pause when considering a used EV is that the tech is evolving so fast that your purchase might soon seem dated. Indeed, our Taycan arrived just as the model was given a far more significant upgrade than its light exterior modifications suggested. The new car offers substantially more range and better efficiency – enough to remove those few range compromises I mentioned earlier.

I would still take ‘my’ Taycan over many newer EVs that you could buy at this price point. It’s everything that’s good about Porsche combined with everything that’s good about EVs, at a better bargain price than anything knocking around in the January sales.

Used Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo specification

Price New £80,200 Price as tested £90,438 Options Performance Battery Plus £4454, 20in Turbo Aero Wheels £1676, Sport Chrono Package £875, Dynamic Silver Metallic paint £852, park assist £575, 4+1 seats £371, ambient lighting £329, Driver Memory Package £282, gloss black side window trims £269, electric folding mirrors £231

Test Data: Engine 2x permanent magnet synchronous motors Power 322bhp Torque 627lb ft Kerb weight 2295kg Top speed 155mph 0-62mph 5.4sec Fuel economy 3.2mpkWh (claimed) CO2 0g/km Faults None Expenses None

Porsche to end production of ICE Macan this summer

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:41:55 +0100

SUV meets its end this summer but UK will have stock into 2027 – and a replacement is coming

Porsche will end production of the combustion-engined Macan this summer, it has confirmed, although the model will remain available in the UK into next year.

Speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call, finance chief Jochen Breckner said: “We will produce the ICE Macan until mid-2026 and we will stock as much as we can based on the supplier parts that we have.”

According to Breckner, stock should last “over the months to come". He added: "We will even see some sales in some regions in 2027.” Thereafter, only the electric version will remain available – although Porsche is also priming a spiritual successor to the combustion-powered Macan for launch in 2028.

Most of the remainder of the stock is expected to be diverted to regions with greater demand for combustion-engined vehicles. Porsche GB would not comment on how many cars the UK will receive, but confirmed to Autocar that the ICE Macan will be available here into 2027.

One of the key markets Porsche is targeting is the US, said Breckner. He explained: “In the United States, the ICE Macan really has a great demand so we are supplying that region with the cars that we produce. And that’s even more important based on the fact that tax incentives on electric vehicles have been stopped by the US government – those were $7500 per car – which is a substantial issue. Therefore there’s some pressure on the electric Macan in the United States and therefore we provide as many ICE Macans in the United States as we can.”

The combustion-engined Macan remains one of Porsche’s most popular models. The company sold 10,130 ICE Macans during the first quarter of 2026, which is up on the 9370 it recorded during the same period a year ago.

For reference, Porsche’s best-seller during the first quarter of 2026 was the Cayenne, recording 19,183 units, followed by the 911, at 13,889 units.

The Macan Electric sold 8079 units, notably fewer than the 14,185 recorded over the same period last year. This shortfall was “largely expected”, said Breckner, citing the “strong ramp-up” of Macan EVs during the first quarter of 2025 – as the firm pushed to get cars on the road soon after launch – as well as the subsequent removal of tax incentives in the US.

Breckner added that the ongoing conflict in Iran has affected supply of all models – with restrictions on key shipping lanes – and caused some customers “to be a bit more reluctant in going to a Porsche dealership and ordering a car”.

The replacement for the combustion-engined Macan, codenamed M1, is due in two years. It will be twinned with the third-generation Audi Q5 and underpinned by the Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) architecture.

This mirrors the relationship between the outgoing ICE Macan and the first-generation Q5, which shared the Volkswagen Group’s MLB architecture.

Speaking on the deployment of platforms from elsewhere in the Volkswagen Group, Breckner said: “When we take a platform from Audi, we never use it one-to-one without any changes. We leave as much unchanged as possible to have synergies, but if there are items that we need to change to make a Porsche a Porsche, we do that and invest into the platforms.

“This is the most important strategic position that we follow: a car with a crest of a Porsche is a Porsche, and it’s differentiated from the cars we have from [our] sister brands.”

The best electric family cars – driven, rated and ranked

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:59:04 +0100

For the best EV to fit effortlessly into everyday life and carry your family in comfort, look no further

Once filled with inefficient hatchbacks and short-range SUVs, the electric car class has evolved into a much more appealing proposition – and its family cars are proving most popular.

Gone are the days of range anxiety, because now you can have an EV that can travel more than 450 miles on a charge without sacrificing on space, practicality and comfort.

Naturally, larger premium offerings command a higher price tag, but there are cars on our list that are genuinely affordable and practical, the blocky Kia PV5 being a prime example.

And while prices are dropping as EV technology progresses, car makers are also honing the dynamics of their cars to inject some genuine driver appeal, while also endowing them with whip-crack acceleration.

We think the BMW iX is the most complete electric family car today on sale today. Its impressive combination of comfort, technology, range and refined driving dynamics make it a highly appealing premium option.

Read on to find out what else makes our top 10.

"Does anyone even know what a software-defined vehicle is?"

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Is software the 'primary driver of value creation'? The BMW iX3 is a software-defined vehicle but doesn't feel it

The question "is this new car a software-defined vehicle?" gets a response for which the clichéd term 'Gallic shrug' could have been invented.

It would only have been bettered if the engineer had a Gauloises hanging nonchalantly from her mouth as she did it, but even in France I suppose that's frowned upon indoors these days.

Glances are exchanged between engineers and executives and designers while they consider the answer. They're aware that other companies - most notably BMW with its Neue Klasse EVs - have used the term 'software-defined' recently. And I think they feel as I do about it. What does it even mean? No idea, mate. It is, as they put it, "an industry buzzword", so they put it back to the interviewer: what would make it software-defined? He's not entirely sure either.

Nor am I. And our friends at the Car Design Research agency share some of this scepticism. "Understanding what this tangibly is and how it actually adds value is at best murky," they say.

My best understanding of 'software-defined' is that it is a vague concept. There are two aspects to a vehicle, I suppose, and both are in some ways influenced by software.

First, there are the vehicle dynamics, or the driving experience, and in all new cars software plays some kind of part here. Even in the Ariel Atom, which has entirely mechanical brakes and steering and gearshift and clutch, the throttle response is still to a degree defined by software: the engine responds as fast as it can while remaining within emissions compliance.

By the time you have a car with by-wire throttle, brakes and perhaps even steering, and if it has adaptive suspension, most of the driving experience is controlled, if not exactly defined, by software. As a driver, you're only ever interacting with software, while it's interpreting what you want and telling the hardware. Does that make your car software-defined? It could.

Second, there are a vehicle's other systems - anything not involved in controlling its driving. Such as the fan blower on my 23-year-old Audi A2, which steadfastly refuses to do what I tell it, because there's a circuit board or some lines of code telling it to do something else. It's 100% software-controlled at that point, but I don't think you would hear engineers or marketers saying it's software-defined, even though its behaviour is certainly (and infuriatingly) not defined by me.

And the more of this interaction with software rather than hardware you have, the closer a car is to becoming fully software-defined, presumably.

One industry executive recently wrote to me to, er, define 'software-defined': "[It] refers to a paradigm shift where the vehicle's core functions and features are no longer hardwired into physical components but are instead controlled, enhanced and updated through software.

"This approach decouples hardware from functionality, enabling continuous innovation, over-the-air updates and rapid deployment of new services throughout the vehicle's life cycle.

"In an SDV, software becomes the primary driver of differentiation and value creation." Does it still sound a little buzzwordy to you? Evidently to my shrugging companions, any definition does.

The curious thing for me is that the best thing about the BMW iX3, the first car based on BMW's new software-defined platform, is the way it drives - on passive coil springs, with passive dampers and conventional anti-roll bars. The steering is electrically assisted, sure, but the steering wheel is hard-connected to the wheels. What defines how competitive and compelling I found this SDV was not its software at all but very much its hardware-defined driving experience.

I can't tell you what the new French car in question is yet, other than it's electric. Does it contain software? For sure, lots of it, much more than its predecessor. Does that make it software-defined? Its makers would think not, or perhaps shrug and suggest that it is, if you really like to put it that way.

Cars will inevitably get more and more software and increasingly we will be interacting with it more than we are hardware as time goes on. The best cars, I think, will be those in which you don't realise, being convinced you're just driving and the car is doing what you tell it.

Volkswagen eyes Chinese-market cars for Europe to boost competitiveness

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:14:08 +0100

German giant outlines plans to cut complexity and boost competitiveness globally after profits slide

Volkswagen could build and sell some of its advanced new China-only models, such as the sleek new ID Unyx 09 saloon, in Europe as part of efforts to accelerate its transformation plan and boost its competitiveness.

Speaking after the release of the Volkswagen Group’s first-quarter financial results, in which the firm’s operating profit fell by 14% to €2.5 billion (£2.2bn), CEO Oliver Blume said the firm had made “tangible progress” in its transformation plan despite numerous global headwinds – but added that “we need to step up our transformation plan”.

To achieve that, Blume outlined a series of measures including “significantly cutting the number of models from about 150 currently and reducing the number of variants”. He didn’t go into specifics over which models might be cut, but the reduction is expected to hit “double-digit” percentages. He added: “We will focus on these projects that make a tangible difference for our customers.”

Other measures detailed as part of the transformation plan including a more focused approach to technology, reducing governance complexity at group level, increasing efficiencies and “right-sizing” production capacity to around nine million cars per year.

Adapting the group’s production strategy is considered vital to allowing it to compete against Chinese rivals operating highly streamlined production networks, especially as those firms start to build European factories.

Blume described closing plants as “the worst, most costly” option and said the Volkswagen Group was looking at how to utilise capacity on other projects. The initial focus is on taking on work from the defence industry, but Blume said he was open to the company building Chinese models – whether Volkswagen-derived ones or those from joint-venture partners – in its European plants.

The firm has just introduced a new China-only Compact Main Platform (CMP) that has been co-developed with Chinese firm Xpeng, which features an advanced electrical architecture and is designed to underpin a range of EVs developed specifically for China and built locally.

The first models using that platform were launched at the Beijing motor show recently, including the Volkswagen ID Aura T6 SUV and the striking ID Unyx 09 saloon. Blume hinted that those models could eventually be exported to markets such as South America, Asia, the Middle East and India.

He added: “It's too early to decide if we want to localise a Chinese platform in Germany, but if we would do it, our priority would be to take one of our own platforms first.

"This year we are ramping up the CMP platform, which is planned for 2027 in China. This work has to be done first, and then we could think about options in Europe and check which products could be the right ones.

“We are getting right now the feedback and response from the market for our first new product in China. Then we will decide, depending on the success we have in China, which models would fit in Europe, especially in segments where we are not present with our current portfolio in Europe.”

Blume said a “second step” could be to offer European production capacity for some of its Chinese joint-venture partners, which include MG owner SAIC and FAW, calling it a potential “clever solution to reduce [spare] capacities".

The Volkswagen Group’s push to introduce China-only platforms is part of a major push to regain standing in the region. Once the dominant player in the market, it has faced a stiff challenge from Chinese brands lately, with its sales in the country in the opening quarter of 2026 falling 20% year on year.

Blume said that “having a strong footprint” in China meant the Volkswagen Group's Western operations could benefit from “innovation, speed and practices”. He called the Chinese ecosystem “a blueprint in terms of architecture, including for our Rivian [software] joint venture in the Western world.”

Overall, deliveries in the first quarter of 2026 were down 4.0% year on year to 2.0 million vehicles, mostly due to declining sales in the US and China. The group sold 200,000 electric cars, down 7.7% year on year.

A recent Range Rover for Fiat Panda money? It's time to buy an L405

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0100

An 'L405' Range Rover can do it all, but there are some vital ground rules...

How good is the 'L405' generation of the Range Rover?

Put it this way: last year, we were confident enough to declare a used £55,000 L405 a better buy than a new Kia Sorento for the same price. Which is especially attention-grabbing when you consider a 2013-2021 L405 Range Rover can now be picked up for just £10,000 (even though we would advise spending a little more, if you can).

And just look at it. It's upright, stately, monolithic, inherently classy unmistakably and unapologetically a Range Rover, in other words. While it's not quite as regally brutalistic as its 'L322' predecessor, it's a mighty fine piece of design and brought the lineage into the modern world with a 0.30 drag coefficient (down from 0.38), a kerb weight starting at 2160kg (down from 2438kg) and up to 40mpg as a result.

It impressed our road testers when it was new as well. They found this generation of Range Rover a joy to be with. It looks the part as you walk up to it, yet it's not as overtly flashy as an equivalent BMW or Mercedes. Inside, that theme continues: it's beautifully rich in feel and smell, with real leather and wood (metal/carbonfibre was also available) giving a warming and comfortable vibe.

Yes, the infotainment of early cars leaves a lot to be desired (the 2018 facelift improved usability and connectivity a lot) but the driving position is spot on commanding like nothing else and with knobs and buttons within easy reach.

On the road, it delivers comfort and isolation that can only be beaten (in this lofty price bracket) by a Mercedes S-Class. What the Benz can't do, though, is tow 3500kg and wade 900mm. It's easy to forget how competent a Range Rover is over really challenging terrain when it's also so adept at trundling around town or shrinking the miles during a motorway slog.

The Range Rover works well in more everyday scenarios as a family chariot too. Its 900-litre boot (2000 litres with the seats folded) is cavernous, while the large glass area (with optional giant sunroof) helps to brighten the mood on a long haul. And it makes this five-by-two-metre beast relatively easy to place on the road and park.

There's tri-zone climate control (quad-zone was optional) to keep your VIP passengers comfortable, and even heating, cooling and massaging seats for four occupants on some models. Leg room is adequate and amazing with the 200mm-longer LWB model.

As for the engines, they're all good, if temperamental. The base 3.0-litre V6 diesel delivers plenty of poke and reasonable economy (mid-30s to the gallon is realistic) while the 516lb ft, 4.4-litre V8 diesel is indulgent but not too punishing (30mpg is achievable). Most cars have one of these two options. However, there's also a thirsty 5.0-litre petrol V8 with 503bhp, 517bhp, 542bhp or 557bhp.

The plug-in hybrid that arrived with the 2018 facelift has a 2.0-litre petrol and thus feels a little inadequate, while the 40mpg-capable hybrid V6 diesel is rare but worth seeking out. Whichever version you choose, the elephant in the room is the cost of running it.

But it needn't be as bad as you might think. Buy the wrong one and it could be a money pit, sure. But buy with care and it could be the best all-rounder you'll ever own. The risk-reward factor is strong with this one.

What to look for

Engines: On the TDV6 and TDV8 diesels, the crankshaft is known to fail. Some last 20k miles, but some 200k, and owners recommend regular servicing and letting the car warm up before driving to help boost longevity.

Electrics: There are a lot, they're all complicated and they're known to intermittently glitch out. From boot switch to brake light, nothing is immune from failure although it's not a foregone conclusion. Gremlins can vary between a £20 switch and a far more expensive rewiring. Post-2016 cars are best.

Gearbox: All versions use the eight-speed ZF unit. Owners recommend servicing every 50,000 miles to keep it in good health.

Body: The Range Rover lettering on the bonnet is known to tarnish and Land Rover will charge £250 to fit new badges. Or you can do it yourself for £10. Check absolutely everywhere for evidence of off-road knocks and parking dings both likely.

Chassis: This is a heavy machine and that can take its toll on the suspension. Track control arms are a common fail point; budget £700, including labour, to replace.

Also worth knowing

Trims run in ascending order from Vogue to Vogue SE, Autobiography and SV Autobiography. Westminster and Fifty were special editions that arrived towards the end. All are well-equipped and lots of Vogues had thousands of pounds of extra kit added to them to bring them close to Autobiography cars. It's rare to find 19in wheels but they're the most comfortable; 20s and 21s are a good compromise but 22s are a little fidgety on the road for our liking.

There were three main updates for this generation: 2016 brought better infotainment tech, ULEZ compliance and improvements in reliability; 2018 was the big facelift and included the arrival of LED lights and three screens; 2021 introduced new 3.0-litre mild-hybrid straight sixes that are smoother and more economical than their predecessors (296bhp or 345bhp for the diesel and 395bhp for the petrol).

How much to spend

£10,000-£17,999 Buy very carefully in this price bracket. Some cars have megamiles (more than 200,000 not necessarily a bad thing) while some will be lemons with temptingly low mileage.

£18,000-£29,999 Lots of high-spec, pre-facelift cars with reasonable miles and a good service history.

£30,000-£39,999 The sweet spot: low-mileage, pre-facelift cars with long warranties available here.

£40,000 and above Last-of-the-line, high-spec models. Specification has a bigger impact on value than the engine, which seems to make little difference.

An owner's view

Alie Smith: "I've got an Autobiography on a 63-plate, now with 96,000 miles on the clock. I bought it five years ago when it had done 70,000 miles. I service it on the button at an LR specialist and seem to spend an additional £600 per year on the odd replacement part, on top of servicing costs. The car is utterly majestic. In my experience, there's nothing quite like it. The Meridian 1700W stereo is exquisite almost certainly the best car stereo you'll ever hear. My car's build quality is excellent. There's not a squeak or a rattle anywhere. Go and buy one."

New-look 2026 Jeep Avenger revealed with light-up grille

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:34:54 +0100

Two years after its launch, the baby crossover is getting chunkier, Compass-flavoured styling

The new-look Jeep Avenger has quietly made its first public appearance in Brazil, ahead of a European debut in the coming months.

Hitting the streets of Rio as part of a local festival, the American brand's smallest SUV has been lightly restyled after two full years on sale, with the main change being a new front end that brings it into line with the newer Compass crossover.

The headline change is the introduction of a new version of the trademark seven-slot Jeep grille, which now lights up so it's easier to pick out at night and has a chunkier, more rugged look, with the chrome surrounds of each slot removed.

The reworked grille sits above a new lower valance and bumper, which have been made to look more muscular, with a touch of off-road flavour, while subtly reshaped wings and wheel designs round off the makeover.

There's no word yet on any changes under the skin, and we haven't seen inside the cabin yet, but Jeep is expected to give a better look at a dedicated European launch in the coming months.

The Avenger is currently offered with a wide range of powertrains: there's a 99bhp petrol with a six-speed manual gearbox; a 108bhp front-wheel-drive or 143bhp four-wheel-drive hybrid; and a 154bhp front-driven EV with a range of 249 miles.

The new look marks the first major update since the Avenger was launched in 2023, with the distinction of being one of only a handful of Jeep models not offered in the US.

The Polish-made crossover won the European Car of the Year Award in 2023 and has since proven a success for Jeep, playing a key role in its return to growth in Europe.

Life with the Grenadier: I used no-nonsense 4x4 for everything, everyday

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0100

It's at its best off-road - but can this Defender-aping, do-it-all SUV make mincemeat of the daily grind?

Ineos makes a thing of how rugged and dependable it would like the Ineos Grenadier to be, so this one arrived with 10,000 miles already on it. We’ll add as many as we can for the full ownership experience.

I’m to be its custodian, for a couple of reasons. First is because I live in the sticks and keep some animals, so the other people here think I’m a yokel (do excuse me while I put the Nespresso pods out for recycling).

Second is they think I’m a sucker for a big and brash car that is more 4x4 than SUV. And on that count they would be right.

The Grenadier is a 4x4 rather than an SUV, if you want to make that distinction, and I think here it’s right to do so. Ours is in Fieldmaster trim, and like all Grenadiers it has a separate body and chassis, live front and rear axles and a low-ratio transfer case, plus here we have three manually lockable diffs.

The engine is a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbo petrol with 282bhp at just 4750rpm and 332lb ft from 1750rpm through to 4000rpm. It drives via an eight-speed automatic.

The powertrain is just one example of how Ineos looked beyond itself when it came to the Grenadier. Well-known automotive giant Magna Steyr was appointed as development partner, while the beam axles come from Carraro, experts in ‘off-highway’ drivelines. Basically it’s all super-rugged stuff.

It is, then, more than capable of the things I’ll be asking of it in my daily life, which means I’ll be going literally and figuratively out of my way to challenge it in order to find out just what it’s made of and take it outside its comfort zone.

I’ll be taking it outside its natural comfort zone, too, because it’s got to cut both ways: this is a £76,140 car before options, and if you’re going to spend that much it’s fair to hope it will have a broad spread of abilities.

The hardware inevitably brings some compromises on the highway, of course. The same is true of most 4x4s that major on ruggedness, but it applies even more if, as here, it has been optioned for off-road use.

The Rough Pack brings front and rear diff locks (to add to the standard centre one) and BF Goodrich KO2 tyres, which are among the best you can get. Ours also has a towbar, ‘utility belt’ (more on that another time), side runners, rubber mats and more.

Standard is recirculating ball steering that’s slower and less keen to self-centre than a rack and pinion set-up, but it’s needed because the latter gives too much kickback on a live axle.

The previous Land Rover Defender plus the Suzuki Jimny and the Jeep Wrangler all have it too. How compromised does this stuff make the Grenadier on the road? Some people say the Ineos is an acquired taste; I wouldn’t necessarily argue, but it’s one that I have quickly come to like.

In a way, I feel the same about the Grenadier as I do about an Alpine A110 or Toyota GT86: they’re so focused on doing one thing that they’re compromised elsewhere.

Some people wanted the GT86 to have more power. It could be done, but more power means more cooling, better brakes, beefier steering, perhaps bigger tyres and so on, which all adds size and weight.

So no; to enjoy its purity, you had to accept it was a bit wheezy. If you want to appreciate all a Grenadier can do, then, you have to look beyond some of its shortcomings.

The slow, advisory capacity steering is the big one: I’m frequently making little direction changes, but they come so subconsciously I relax into them, a bit like driving a canal boat. You can feel there’s a lot of unsprung mass, too, but the Grenadier isn’t uncomfortable. Far from it.

It’s really well isolated, and while it can be bumped around by big undulations, it’s actually refined and quiet inside when driving on pockmarked asphalt. And what an interior. Every passenger so far has said how they think Ineos has tried to make it look like a flight deck.

I haven’t used all of the buttons yet – some are for external lights or accessories I don’t have – but I really like the choices you can make in here. The air vents are controlled by a knob on the actual vents; I can turn the lights on and off; I can lower the headlight beam; and I can change the cabin temperature without looking away from the road.

Making a point of saying these things would have been unimaginable 20 years ago, but I couldn’t do any of the above in the BMW i5 I’ve just stepped out of. I have a lot of goodwill for a car that, compromised or not, treats me like an adult. I have a feeling I’m going to warm to the Grenadier.

Matt Prior 1 - 0 NCP

The Ineos Grenadier has slotted into my daily life as easily as its flat sides and large mirrors help it slot into tighter parking spaces, as seen below in one of Gatwick airport’s short-term car parks.

The Grenadier’s turning circle is large and it is quite a big car, so I was very pleased that with minimal shuffling I eased it gracefully into an end-of-row bay – my favourite kind – before going on my merry travels.

I returned and took this picture because I was so happy about how little space I’d left between the car and the barrier, and drove home.

Imagine my surprise when, a few days later, the good people at Ineos informed me that they’d been sent a parking penalty charge notice by NCP, this car park’s operator, and asked if I could please sort it out.

Perplexed, I looked at NCP’s evidence. It turned out that if I’d walked around the left side of the car, crouched down and squinted, there were some more of the little yellow blobs seen in front of the car, which once, perhaps decades ago, were cross hatchings.

Which means this wasn’t a valid parking space. That was news to me, because it looked a lot like one when I left it. And it would have been news to the private parking sector’s Single Code of Practice, too, which says that “signs and surface markings must be designed, applied and maintained in such a way as to be visible, legible and unambiguous to drivers”, which these were not.

I appealed the penalty charge on those grounds, and NCP cancelled it as a quite annoying – by which I mean infuriating – “gesture of goodwill”, attaching a reminder that I should “take into account the displayed terms and conditions, to ensure you do not receive any further parking charge notices”.

I’ll tell you what, NCP: rather than passively aggressively telling me to be careful, why don’t you play by your ownrules? It took a social media post before NCP acknowledged that, on review, I shouldn’t have received the charge in the first place. It also promised it would sort the space out; I will check on it next time I go to Gatwick.

Towing tested

I’ve been trying to not just use the Grenadier for the daily grind: I’ve so used it to tow an Audi A2 home from Shropshire, a task at which it was particularly adept.

A non-folding towbar is fitted (£630), which works well, although it’s mounted quite high, gives the car a rough and ready look that I like very much, and gives me something to stand on when reaching deep into the boot.

And here’s a great thing about that split tailgate: you can have a trailer hooked up, with the jockey wheel handle pointing forwards, yet still open the boot doors fully for easy access.

And one side door being smaller than the other leaves room to walk around it: you’re never squished between door and trailer. This is the kind of sensible, thoughtful design touch I can fully get behind – the sort that makes me overlook a Grenadier’s foibles. There are some, and I will come to them, but it eases them away.

The French connection

To north-east France and the Grenadier factory to see the opening of a biomass plant (saves money, greener than gas, smells like Christmas trees) and more importantly interview Lynn Calder, Ineos Automotive’s CEO (hear us wherever you get your podcasts).

I could have taken several trains or flown, but it is a way away from big cities. Colleagues reported taking more than two and a half hours to transfer across from Frankfurt airport.

And where’s the fun in any of that? It’s only five hours from Calais, lending it ripe for a road trip, and I love road trips. Via the Eurotunnel, Hambach is about 10 hours door to door from my gaff.

Weekdays in mid-March are seemingly quiet for LeShuttle, so when I arrived early for my outbound train, they put me on an earlier one, and when I was late on the way back, they put me on the next one.

If it’s busy, this might not be so straightforward, but mostly it’s a doddle. Coming home, I went from check-in to carriage in less than 20 minutes. Long motorway journeys are not, you may understand, the Grenadier’s forte, but I enjoy them.

I find these broad seats really comfy, and while there was some consternation in early Grenadier commentary about footwell intrusion caused by the routing of the exhaust, the angled footrest has never bothered me Limiting my motorway speeds to the low 60s, I scored 21.3mpg to Hambach and back.

I think you would have to wipe off another few MPH or slipstream some trucks to do much better. That’s the nature of a 3.0-litre petrol six in a car like this.

Across bad cambers and big undulations, one is aware there’s a lot of unsprung mass trying to unsettle the Grenadier’s body, but it’s generally absorbent. Given its large size and bluff shape, I’m impressed with how little wind noise there is and how refined it feels.

After a morning and a bit of factory tours and meetings and a schlep back, I arrived at home around midnight. Next morning, I wasn’t unhappy to be back in the car for a commute.

17.8mpg...

Our photographer Jack Harrison has taken my Grenadier to Wales to do some green-laning. “Useful to have some rough road library pictures of it,” he said. Which sounded like an excuse to have a go, really, but I could just about bear to oblige.

A few minutes in, he felt he was regretting it, what with the heavy ride and slow steering, but he came around. You have to feel your way into a Grenadier, its charms being so mechanical and old-school.

Sure enough, he came to like it (almost) as much as I do. And now we have some of the best pictures we’ve yet taken of a Grenadier, which I dare say we will still be using decades down the line.

We keep thorough fuel records of our long-termers, of course. I don’t know if Jack was in more of a hurry than me or whether it was all that clambering up green lanes, but I’ve just logged his fuel consumption at 17.8mpg, whereas I tend to get nearly the same amount the other side of 20mpg.

This is what comes, I think, of driving this BMW straight-six petrol-powered Grenadier at around the motorway speed limit. Knock back the cruising speed by 10mph and it makes a big difference.

So much so that even when I was towing a trailer to Shropshire, and back with an Audi A2 tied to it, I still returned 20.0mpg. Maybe that demonstrates how light and slippery the A2 is…

Jack was perhaps a victim of the over-cautious fuel gauge, which advises you to refuel when there’s still about a third of a tank left. He blinked and could fit only 66 litres in its 90-litre tank.

Take it to the last gauge marker and it will accept 85 litres. I haven’t driven the diesel Grenadier (which also uses a BMW straight six), but this ‘B58’ unit is a lovely thing, and versatile: it’s also in the Morgan Supersport (where incidentally it will exceed 40mpg).

But if anything it sounds nicer here, being so well insulated that you don’t hear mechanical injector tapping but get a brappy rasp on the fuller throttle openings of the kind, for reasons listed above, that I try not to make too often.

Verdict

The Grenadier has returned to its maker, and I’m quite sad about it. It arrived in January with around 10,000 miles and has gone back three months later with almost 18,500 miles to its name, so it has been used thoroughly and extensively in that time.

It was a 3.0-litre petrol (there’s a 3.0 diesel too, both BMW engines) in Fieldmaster specification, kind of the more country lifestyle-oriented variant of three Station Wagon flavours – the other two being a base model and the ruggedly optioned Trialmaster, which is the same price as this, at £76,140 at the time of arrival and £78,885 now.

This model was given some of the technical options of the Trialmaster in order to hone its off-road performance, such as a Rough Pack, which means locking front and rear differentials (a centre one is standard) and BF Goodrich tyres.

Our first taste of this particular car was off road, in January’s 4x4 mega-test, where it held its own against a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Land Rover Defender.

But it was noted that it was not the world’s most re ned road car: getting it to stay with us for a while to see what it was like as a long-term road-going prospect was one reason we wanted it on our fleet.

It’s a slightly divisive car. A couple of testers tried it and didn’t really gel with it; others drove it and rather fell for it. As did I.

As a reminder, the idea for the Grenadier came from Ineos founder Jim Ratcliffe’s disappointment that Land Rover wasn’t going to replace the old Defender with a car in the same vein: something utilitarian first and foremost.

It’s a market that Land Rover felt had left it behind: if you want a separate-chassis utility 4x4, Toyota sells around half a million Hiluxes a year and they start at £42k.

So Land Rover went for premium instead. For all the ruggedness of the Grenadier, Ineos has also begun to add some of that market to its ambitions.

On the utility front, on a recent trip to the factory they had on display some examples bought by fire departments and France’s rapid-response anti-terror police; there is also the Quartermaster pick-up, along with the commercial variants.

A portal axle option, raising the ride height further, has just become available. Ineos’s Arcane Works division, which does more bespoke finishes, and a ‘1924’ special edition have been added to the portfolio, too.

This is starting to become a lifestyle vehicle – as much as a working one – because people value authenticity. They perhaps value it more than traditional luxury; I imagine a Grenadier can only feel so luxurious.

But I found it refined enough, with the caveats made before about the enormous turning circle and heavy, unkeen-to-self-centre steering. Get used to those and it’s easy to rub along with.

We should – must – talk drawbacks. It’s hard to get a full grasp of ownership when a car arrives for three months and departs having needed no servicing and no contact with the network, and when nothing needs rectifying.

So I’m grateful to some owners who’ve written, and who’ve pointed me at owners’ forums. There were a few niggles with our car that seem common.

The door handle buttons could be sticky in winter (regular use, or warmer weather, sorts them out). Some owners find issues with the ventilation: this car preferred to blow very warm or very cold, but wasn’t brilliantly responsive in between (fortunately, with a low fan speed those are my two preferred states for HVAC anyway).

Some owners don’t like the footwell intrusion on right-hand-drive cars. There are “annoyances, not catastrophes”, as some put it, like it’s v1.0 of a car that could do with being at least v1.1.

But what also seems to be true is that big things don’t go wrong. Of more concern to many owners – and this isn’t a UK-specific issue – is a shortage of dealers and repairers, which is a difficult situation for a new, still low-volume car maker: too many outlets and they won’t each look after enough cars to make money.

Too few and customers will decide it’s too far. To some, aftersales feels stretched. Ineos recently entered its 50th global market, but that expansion is slowing so it can consolidate its existing positions.

Part of that clearly needs to be a broadening of the network. Then again, let’s not pretend that other, bigger car makers always get that right. Being a petrol model, it drank fuel at an immoderate rate of 21.7mpg, but apart from that, and a £25 tyre repair for which it can’t be blamed, it didn’t incur any costs or need looking at.

Depreciation seems to be par for the big 4x4 course. Should you buy one? I’ve had emails from owners advising it both ways. But the messages tend to say: “I love the car…” So did I. And whether you’re trying to sell to business users or enthusiasts, that seems like the right place to start.

Ineos Grenadier 3.0T Fieldmaster specification

Prices: List price new £76,140 List price now £78,885 Price as tested £88,917

Options: Winch £3515, Rough Pack (diff locks, BF Goodrich tyres) £2370, 18in alloy wheels £1690, high load auxiliary switch panel £1170, metallic paint £1060, side runners £958, tow ball £630, privacy glass £455, exterior utility belt £420, lockable storage box £290, interior utility rails £160, tie-down rings £59

Fuel consumption and range: Claimed economy 18.9-19.6mpg Fuel tank 90 litres Test average 21.7mpg Test best 22.1mpg Test worst 17.8mpg Real-world range 430 miles

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 8.6sec Top speed 99mph Engine 6cyls in line, 2998cc, turbocharged, petrol Max power 285bhp at 4750rpm Max torque 332lb ft at 1750-4000rpm Transmission 8-spd automatic, 4WD Boot capacity 1152-2035 litres Wheels 8.5Jx18in, alloy Tyres 255/70 R18, BF Goodrich All-Terrain K02 Kerb weight 2741kg

Service and running costs: Contract hire rate £676pcm (commercial variant £599 pcm) CO2 336g/km Service costs None Other costs None Fuel costs £2143 Running costs inc fuel £2168 Cost per mile 28 pence Faults Sticky door button, hot and cold HVAC

Citroën's remaking the 2CV – here's why the original was a smash hit

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Affordable and sustainable new urban EV aims to ape the success of this 1940s legend

At the Paris motor show 78 years ago, Citroën unwrapped the 2CV, a simple car intended to put France on wheels.

The Deux Chevaux Vapeur ('two steam horsepower') was actually nine years late. Work on the Toute Petite Voiture ('very small car') had begun way back in 1936 as a way to motorise rural France, but its 1939 debut was cancelled as Germany invaded. Prototypes were successfully hidden from the Nazis and revived after the war.

"Simplified to the point of crudity, it seems almost needlessly ugly, but it is full of original ideas planned to cut weight and cost and increase production," we reported. The steel box-frame chassis bore on each side two suspension arms linked by tension rods to a central cylinder containing a spring.

It had a very thin steel body welded to it (with a canvas roof), home at the front to an air-cooled 375cc flat twin with a three-speed gearbox. The four 'seats' inside were cushions held to frames by rubber bands. Top speed was just 37mph, but economy was a superb 50-60mpg.

It cost a mere £213 (£5970 today) - £71 less than even Renault's 4CV. Quelle surprise that the French went mad for it, making it the first car to sell a million and a cultural icon. It lasted right up until 1990, with some nine million produced.

The 2CV may have drawn the largest crowds at the 1948 Paris show, but there were other cheap cars for the impoverished French public to study, many of them designed post-war.

Amid the severe austerity of the 2CV and its rivals from various other French firms, Ford France's new V8 Vedette was "comparatively a breath of sanity, an example of how modern quantity production can reach to the best standards".

In addition to its fast little 600cc saloon, Panhard presented "a startling streamlined four-seater body of aircraft inspiration on the same chassis". Peugeot's 203, meanwhile, was "deservedly one of the big attractions of the salon", not least as it moved past chassis construction in favour of a monocoque. This was something also adopted by Rovin for its latest two-door economy car.

Mathis, having been refused permission to produce its miniature, even after converting it into a four-wheeler, presented a fascinating new prototype; Wimille progressed in its efforts to bring a sporty option to the class; and new firm Brandt brought a bizarre little thing with its doors front and rear.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was lots of stunningly elegant coachwork to be admired, sitting on Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Delahaye, Ferrari, Lancia and Talbot chassis. Saoutchik's gold-plated coupé interior might have strayed into insulting territory, mind you...

Citroën to give "buying power" back to Europe with sub-£15k EV

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

French firm to modernise famous 2CV brief in bid to revive Europe's endangered cheap car market

Citroën's upcoming sub-£15,000 electric car will have "exactly the same purpose as the 2CV did in the late 1940s" in reigniting buyer demand in a stagnant European car market.

The French brand's new city EV – expected to be previewed by a concept at the Paris motor show in October – will channel the spirit of the iconic rural runaround in being cheap to build and cheap to buy, as part of a drive to give "buying power" to a large portion of the population that has been priced out of the new car market.

CEO Xavier Chardon last week confirmed Citroën was "working on" proposals for a new A-segment EV priced under €15,000 – as previously reported by Autocar – and said such a model would be "absolutely key" to driving the brand's market share in a market where growth is being stifled by the increasing average price of new cars.

Indeed, car sales in Europe are still lagging well behind pre-pandemic rates, and the average age of the European car parc is increasing rapidly as a result of people holding on to their existing cars rather than trading up to more costly replacements.

"The European market is the only one that has not recovered after Covid," Chardon said. "The United States is back, China is back, even South America is back - and we are still missing three million people buying new cars each year in Europe. And I would say 60% of that is driven by the simple fact that you don't have any cars any more below €15,000 or £15,000.

"It's quite a sad story that the average age of cars has increased by more than two years in the last five years. We are above 12 years now in average in Europe. So that's why you need to motivate people to buy new cars, and to be affordable."

Chardon compared the European market landscape to that of the late 1940s, when super-affordable and utilitarian 'people's cars' like the 2CV, Fiat 500, Volkswagen Beetle and Austin Mini helped to reinvigorate an automotive industry – and wider economy – that had been decimated by World War II.

Citroën's modern-era solution to similarly downbeat trading conditions is an electric microcar being developed in line with Europe's impending E-car legislation, designed to make production of such cars more profitable for manufacturers.

Effectively an indirect replacement for the old petrol-powered Citroën C1, this new model could be one of the cheapest full-sized EVs on the market when it lands in the next couple of years, costing several thousand pounds less than even the ë-C3 supermini, which is already among the more affordable.

That focus on affordability, Chardon said, will help to give "buying power to customers that today are not willing to buy new cars", with the target result being an increase in both Citroën's European market share, and – crucially – its EV sales mix.

However, even if it adheres to the ethos and plays a similar role to the 2CV in this context, the new car won't necessarily be designed in tribute to its forebear, nor overtly pitched as a spiritual successor.

"What is more important than the 2CV is to understand the purpose of the car at that time," Chardon said.

"It was to bring mobility to the masses after World War II, even if it started before. It was to carry four farmers under one roof and be able to carry 50kg of potatoes. I'm not sure that this brief can translate 100% to today - especially because we have less and less farmers in Europe."

Chardon said the brief for the new car could "replace the farmer with a nurse", alluding to the increased importance today of making cheap cars appeal to young professionals in urban areas.

The legacy of the 2CV remains hugely influential to Citroën as it plots a new entry-level car, Chardon said, but it won't necessarily be designed to look like the original, as retro is not always the answer.

"When you look at people that are visiting Paris, they don't want to be transported in a Rolls-Royce. Or when they are getting married, they want to get married in a 2CV. When you're at the shopping mall in the duty-free, you will see 2CVs, because it's part of France. So this is something that we are analysing.

"But 'nostalgia for nostalgia' is not a silver bullet. [There are some] very good examples – like the Mini or Fiat 500, and most likely the Renault 5 will also join the club – but at the same time, we all have in mind a lot of revivals that didn't follow this path."

Porsche-Rimac split is a blow for European automotive innovation

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Porsche's investment in Rimac started in 2018 but it has now completely severed ties in the loss-making firm

Porsche’s 2018 investment in Rimac was a wonderfully positive moment for the European automotive industry.

As a shift to electric power looked inevitable, the German firm was impressed enough by the Croatian EV start-up to take a 10% stake, rising to more than 20% in subsequent investments.

When the two joined forces to take over Bugatti in 2021, it heightened the optimism that as the world changed and electrification advanced, the epicentre of automotive innovation could remain in Europe.

Porsche's split from Rimac, announced last week, is one more signal that that's not happening.

After initially grabbing the lead in luxury EVs, Porsche is continuing to dial back its electric ambitions as the US retreats to ICE cars while Chinese buyers turn to faster-moving local brands.

Under new CEO Michael Leiters, cost-cutting is top of Porsche's agenda as profits slump-and he couldn't ignore that its investment in Rimac was losing it money.

In 2024, it booked a €140 million loss in Rimac Group and a €152m loss in Bugatti Rimac.

Matters improved to €70m loss in Rimac Group and a healthy €77m profit in Bugatti last year. But Porsche is now plotting flagship models of its own, and the undisclosed amount paid for its Rimac and Bugatti stake by New York-based investment firm HOF Capital will help that.

Rimac impressed Porsche by fulfilling an impossible challenge to improve its first EV, the Taycan. Rather than launch as car maker in its own right, it had parlayed its EV supercar knowledge to become an EV drivetrain supplier focusing on high-performance batteries, battery management tech and motors.

Realising they needed all the help they could get, Porsche, Aston Martin and BMW signed up.

But EV parts are under constant price pressure from cheaper alternatives, even at the top end.

Global prices in the automotive industry are increasingly based on just one standard, and that's China's," said Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung in April.

Having previously described battery cells as the new combustion chamber, Porsche this year wrote off investment in its own performance battery company, Cellforce, and now it's exiting Rimac. G

German automotive excellence has always been driven by investment at the top and trickling down. Electrification might have broken that link, leaving the path clear for the Chinese.

Volkswagen ID Polo prototype review

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:15:44 +0100

Cupra may have led development of this electric supermini, but Volkswagen insists that it’s a proper Polo The new Volkswagen ID Polo drives like a Volkswagen.If you haven’t been paying attention to all things Wolfsburg in recent years, that might seem a curious statement to make. It looks like a Volkswagen and it carries a well-known Volkswagen name, so was there any doubt that it would drive like one?Well, yes. The first wave of Volkswagen’s bespoke electric ID models, while they had many merits, didn’t necessarily look or feel much like you would expect a Volkswagen to. So this car, the brand’s vital entry into the circa-£22,000 affordable EV market, is essentially the start of a hard reset of the look and identity of the brand’s ID EV line-up. Except the development of the ID Polo’s underpinnings have – whisper it – been led by sister brand Cupra.

Ferrari Purosangue gets sportier with new £407k Handling Speciale

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:30:00 +0100

New suspension calibration is said to reduce SUV's body roll by 10%, while gearchanges are exaggerated

Ferrari has turned up the heat on the Purosangue with the addition of a new Handling Speciale pack.

The new option brings a revised calibration for the SUV's adaptive suspension that is said to make it notably tauter, reducing body roll by 10%.

It also adjusts the mapping of the automatic gearbox to exaggerate shifts, with greater emphasis in the Race and ESC-Off modes. When changing gears manually, shifts are exaggerated from 5500rpm onwards.

Additionally, more V12 engine sound is pumped through to the cabin on start-up and while accelerating compared with standard.

A Purosangue with the Handling Speciale pack is marked out by new diamond-cut wheels, carbonfibre side skirts and a black prancing horse badge on its rear end.

Inside, ‘Handling Speciale’ plaques are mounted behind the rear seats and a matching graphic can be found along the doorsills.

A Purosangue in Handling Speciale specification costs €430,000 (£407,000) in Italy.

Autocar already regarded the Purosangue as the best driver’s SUV when it arrived in 2023, beating the Aston Martin DBX 707 in a shootout on its merit as a driver’s car. But several sporting rivals have since arrived, including a new DBX S (which outpunches the Purosangue by 2bhp, at 717bhp), the Range Rover Sport SV and the Bentley Bentayga Speed.

In further stiffening the Purosangue, it appears that Ferrari is hoping to defend its position as the class leader.

Leapmotor B03 primed as cut-price VW ID Polo rival for 2027

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0100

New B03 is caught testing ahead of its Chinese launch later this year as a hatchback sibling to the B03X

Leapmotor will launch a new electric supermini to rival the Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID Polo later this year – and Autocar has spied it testing for the first time.

The new B03 is set to be revealed in China (where it will be known at the A05) in full in May, having first surfaced in government filings last month.

It's likely to reach the UK market in early 2027 as a sibling to the forthcoming B03X crossover, which is due here late this year, and the two will share the Chinese firm’s new entry-level A platform.

Leapmotor’s cars are sold internationally through a joint venture with Western car-making giant Stellantis.

A prototype version of the B03 spotted in China was clothed in camouflage wrap, but the rounded styling and headlights hinted at a clear family resemblance with the B03X. Befitting its supermini brief, it appears slightly shorter and lower than its crossover sibling.

The car we spotted featured lidar sensors so that it could test ‘level two plus plus’ semi-autonomous functionality, which is legal in China but won’t be offered in the UK.

Technically, the B03 is set to be similar to the B03X. It will have a front-mounted motor and two-wheel-drive, with a choice of 94bhp and 121bhp outputs. If it matches the B03X, there will be a choice of 39.8kWh and 53kWh batteries, both using lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry.

The higher-powered B03X can do 250 miles between charges with the larger battery, and the sleeker B03 is likely to exceed that, which could give it one of the longest ranges of any car in its class.

Its interior will also closely match other Leapmotor models', with most of the controls run through a large central touchscreen.

Pricing for the B03 isn't yet finalised but, given Leapmotor’s pricing strategy for other models, it could significantly undercut its Renault and Volkswagen rivals, potentially starting below £20,000.

Revealed: New Volkswagen ID Polo to take on Renault 5 from £22k

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Electric supermini marks a return to traditional VW brand values while packing advanced tech

The new Volkswagen ID Polo, the long-awaited sub-£22,000 electric hatchback, is "just the beginning" of a massive reinvention for the brand's EV line-up, according to its technology boss.

The new model is considered vital to help Volkswagen claim a share of the fast-growing electric B-segment and will take on rivals including the Renault 5 and Fiat Grande Panda. It should also help Volkswagen to further boost its EV uptake.

The ID Polo is Volkswagen's first model to encompass a new design language under the leadership of Andreas Mindt, which brings the brand's EVs much closer to their long-running petrol counterparts. It closely mirrors the ID 2all concept from 2023, which was created by Mindt and his team in just six weeks.

Following the Cupra Raval, the ID Polo is the second of four entry-level EVs to share a new platform and be unveiled in quick succession by the Volkswagen Group. It will be joined shortly by the Volkswagen ID Cross and Skoda Epiq crossovers. All four will be produced in Spain the ID Polo at Seat's Martorell plant alongside the Raval.

The ID Polo will go on sale this summer. UK pricing has yet to be confirmed, but in Europe it starts at €24,995 (£21,700), which positions it above the Grande Panda (from £20,995) and virtually on a par with the Renault 5 (from £21,495).

Polo DNA

The ID Polo is the first Volkswagen EV to be given an established nameplate, eschewing the numbering system used since the ID 3 was introduced in 2019.

The existing and unrelated petrol Polo will continue, with the two cars essentially treated as siblings. The ID Cross will follow later this year, while the ID 4 is set to be rebranded as the ID Tiguan when it receives a major update shortly. Volkswagen says the reason for the shift is to enable buyers to identify linked cars more easily. CEO Thomas Schäfer previously told Autocar: "Names like Polo or Golf are deeply ingrained. They stand for quality, accessible technology and heritage. We want to carry those qualities into the electric era."

At 4.05m long, 1.8m wide and 1.5m tall, the ID Polo is nearly identical in size to the petrol Polo - but its MEB Plus platform makes it "as spacious inside as a Golf", said tech chief Kai Grunitz. Notably, Grunitz pointed to the deep "basement" under the boot, which offers enough room for a stroller and boosts overall boot space to 441 litres. The additional storage capacity "is no coincidence", added Grunitz, who explained that the ID Polo is the first of Volkswagen's EVs to be created with such a prominent focus on how it will be used.

"When developing the ID Polo, we thought a lot about how our customers really use the car in their everyday life," he said. "When I became a father, we also had a Polo and this was basically enough for us because we lived in a city, but fitting a stroller inside was almost impossible. So with the ID Polo, we asked ourselves: can we do this better?"

Indeed, Schäfer said the ID Polo has benefited from a change in development approach at Volkswagen following usability criticism of the previous ID EVs, especially the first ID 3. Instead of engineers creating "long lists of features and requirements" that they think buyers will want, the brand will now "start with people: who's actually driving this car?".

Schäfer said this means the focus of the car "became very clear and that changed everything in the way we did development faster, more focused and much closer to reality".

'Friendly' design

The ID Polo was previewed in 2023 by the ID 2all concept. The first new VW penned by Mindt, it signalled a new design language for the firm – one focused on practicality and likeability. Much of the concept's look is retained by the ID Polo, including its "friendly" face and "likeable smile", said Grunitz, who added: "A real Volkswagen always needs a face."

All except the entry model will feature a light-up bar on the nose that "gives the car a strong and recognisable look at night". At the rear, the badge lights up. It follows a similar design to the petrol Polo in having a long wheelbase and short overhangs - boosting interior space - while featuring the classic angled Volkswagen C-pillar, which began with the Golf Mk1 ("the first thing you notice", according to Grunitz).

Combined with large, sculpted wheel arches, the car has a "strong and stable look" and a design that is "calm and timeless", said Grunitz. "A Volkswagen should look modern today, but still look good 10 years from now," he added.

Inside, it features Volkswagen's new-age cabin, which made its debut on the facelifted ID 3 Neo last month. Grunitz called it a "big jump forward" that "addresses many of the criticisms our customers had" about past ID models.

The dashboard houses a 10.25in digital information display and a 13in landscape infotainment screen. The latter no longer has the controversial 'slider' controls for the volume and heating. Instead, below the screen is a row of physical controls for the heating, air conditioning and hazard warning lights. There is also a rotary dial that can control the infotainment volume and change tracks or radio stations. A new-shape steering wheel hosts two clusters of physical buttons.

Schäfer said Mindt's new design language "was really an inspiration to the entire team" and has transformed the firm. He added that the "clarity" it has brought has "changed everything" about how decisions are made, "even small ones".

For example, he explained why the ID Polo has physical door handles, rather than flush, touch-sensitive ones like on the ID 4: "You stand in front of the car, you have your shopping bags in your hand, and you do not know how to open the door. And we said: 'Hold on. This is not it at Volkswagen.' It must feel right immediately; it must be intuitive; it must be likeable."

Schäfer added that "this is why we also bring back real buttons, intuitive usability, but also real names" so Volkswagens are cars "you can understand immediately".

Broad line-up

From launch, the front-wheel-drive ID Polo will be offered with a choice of three powertrains and two batteries in a bid to give it broad appeal. The entry-level Life cars use a 37kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery for a claimed range of 204 miles. They can be charged at up to 90kW for a 10-80% refill in 27 minutes. Two power levels are offered: 114bhp and 133bhp.

Top-spec Style has a 52kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt pack that increases the range to 283 miles. A maximum charging rate of 130kW cuts the 10-80% refill time to 24 minutes.

Joining the range soon will be the more potent ID Polo GTI - the first time the GTI badge has appeared on an EV. Previewed by the 2023 ID GTI concept, it is expected to be launched later this year with a similar 222bhp output to that of the Raval VZ. Cupra's rival to the Alpine A290 has a host of additions that are also expected to appear on the GTI, such as an electronic limited-slip differential. A similar 0-62mph time to the VZ's 7.0sec is likely.

The ID Polo "comes with technology you would normally expect in much higher classes", said Grunitz. For example, as standard it gets semi-autonomous travel assist, a rear-view camera and smartphone mirroring. The car also features tech that allows it to be parked via an owner's smartphone. Style adds LED matrix headlights, sport comfort seats and two-zone air-con, while kit such as a panoramic sunroof, electronically adjustable front seats and a 10-speaker Harman Kardon sound system are optional.

As previously reported by Autocar, Volkswagen is exploring plans for two other high-performance ID Polo variants: the GTI Clubsport and the R. The latter could be its first model to use in-wheel motors as part of a 400bhp-plus four-wheel drive system.

Jaecoo 8

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Purveyor of Britain’s new favourite car heads upmarket with larger plug-in hybrid SUV It’s a measure of the astonishing success of Jaecoo, one of the leaders in the current Chinese car sales offensive, that it has so far managed to lead the 2026 UK market without even offering an acknowledged flagship. Its business has so far been done by the lesser 5 and 7 models.Now the Jaecoo 8 has arrived to make life hard for larger SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento, the Skoda Kodiaq and – if you want to stretch a point – the BMW X5 and Range Rover Sport.Those vehicles are all named as targets for the new flagship by Jaecoo, whose UK success has taken even the importer by surprise. Thanks mostly to stellar sales of the mid-sized 7, the marque was the UK’s top-selling car brand in March 2026, selling a car every 83 seconds during business hours through its network of 124 dealers.