Autocar RSS Feed

"Clearly a proper GTI": UK exclusive first drive in new VW ID Polo GTI

Fri, 15 May 2026 14:50:00 +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 wraps are now off: Volkswagen ID Polo GTI revealed as "real hot hatch" with 223bhp

The seventh-generation Polo supermini 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.

Volkswagen ID Polo GTI revealed as "real hot hatch" with 223bhp

Fri, 15 May 2026 12:00:00 +0100

New-age electric hot hatch has "everything that belongs to a real GTI", says VW's technical chief

The new Volkswagen ID Polo GTI will live up to its fabled badge by being “a sports car you can use every day”, according to the firm’s technical chief.

The hot hatch is based on the recently revealed ID Polo EV and marks the first time that Volkswagen has applied its most famous performance badge – introduced 50 years ago on the Scirocco and Golf – to an electric car.

The ID Polo GTI gets 223bhp from a single front-mounted electric motor (which revs to 15,000rpm), can hit 62mph in 6.8sec and has a top speed of 109mph.

We've already driven it - read our UK exclusive early review of the ID Polo GTI

While that’s relatively modest compared with many modern electric cars, Volkswagen claims that’s because its focus wasn’t all-out performance but designing “a hot hatch in the best sense”. Therefore most attention was paid to how the car drives, handles and feeds back.

The ID Polo GTI features a bespoke chassis set-up, sitting on new, stiffer dampers and springs (which are adaptable). It incorporates the locking differential and anti-roll bar from the Golf GTI into the standard ID Polo’s MacPherson-strut front end and gains a special twist beam at the rear.

Indeed, Volkswagen’s head of driving dynamics, Florian Umbach, has told Autocar that he and his team are especially proud of that rear axle, with its mountings and bushings cleverly designed to allow some longitudinal ‘ride’ compliance but keeping lateral axle location much more closely controlled.

“It’s the best twist beam I think we’ve ever made,” he told Autocar during a prototype test drive last month.

With driver engagement in mind, the ID Polo GTI also gains a dedicated driving mode. Activated via a large GTI button at the base of the steering wheel, this ramps up all the drive and chassis settings to their most extreme, while an artificial combustion engine noise is pumped into the cabin. Activating GTI mode also allows for launch control to be used.

The ID Polo GTI sits on the same MEB+ platform as the standard ID Polo and uses the largest available battery, of 52kWh capacity and nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry.

Its more performance-focused nature, however, cuts maximum range from 283 to 263 miles.

Like the standard car, it accepts a maximum DC charging speed of 105kW, enabling a 10-80% refill in 24 minutes.

The ID Polo joins a small but growing cohort of compact electric hatches, alongside the Alpine A290, Cupra Raval VZ, Peugeot e-208 GTi and Vauxhall Corsa GSE, although the Cupra is its mechanical twin so essentially the same car.

The ID Polo GTI was previewed in 2023 by the ID GTI concept, and technical chief Kai Grünitz said that “we brought almost every detail into serious production”.

The new car likewise has an aggressive form, with small diffusers front and rear, lightly bloated wheel arches, a miniature bootlid-mounted spoiler and angular side skirts.

The concept car’s honeycomb front grille and ‘golf ball’ 19in alloy wheels, which are meant to resemble Volkswagen’s old ‘pepperpot’ steelies, also remain.

Indeed, Grünitz said the ID Polo GTI features “everything that belongs to a real GTI”.

Compared with the standard ID Polo, the GTI has slightly longer front and rear overhangs while also sitting a bit lower – but interior head room and boot space (441 litres) are unaffected.

Volkswagen claims the “result is an extremely crisp GTI design with proportions reminiscent of a 1976 Golf GTI, albeit one that has been transported into the future”.

For reference, at 4104mm, the ID Polo GTI is 299mm longer than its ancestor.

The interior is nearly identical to the regular ID Polo’s, but with plusher materials and lots of GTI badging joining the 10.25in digital information display (which can be set to mimic the layout of a 1980s Golf), 13in landscape infotainment screen and smattering of physical buttons and knobs covering the dashboard and steering wheel.

The sports seats are new too, featuring a “fresh interpretation” of the classic GTI tartan check.

Grünitz said that since GTI’s introduction in 1976, “these three letters have stood for something very special, for driving fun and agility on the one hand and for everyday usability and understatement on the other” and, noting that this concept is “still relevant today”, he insisted that those values would remain unchanged despite the powertrain switch.

Grünitz continued: “Sportiness and everyday usability belong to every GTI. My team and I wanted to create a true Volkswagen again, cars that create excitement, cars that we can be proud of, cars that make our families, our friends, our customers and the media smile.”

The ID Polo GTI will cost from around £33,500, compared with a sub-£22,000 starting price for the standard ID Polo.

Full pricing will be announced closer to the start of sales in October and the first UK deliveries are expected early next year.

It will later be joined by other GTI-badged EVs. Autocar previously reported that a successor to the 322bhp ID 3 GTX Performance hot hatch is expected to be revealed later this year, and plans are also being discussed for a more powerful variant of the ID Polo GTI, potentially packing 282bhp and taking the Clubsport badge.

China's Dongfeng to build Peugeot and Jeep models for global sale

Fri, 15 May 2026 09:02:42 +0100

Peugeot previewed new Dongfeng-built models with pair of striking concepts

Stellantis inks new deal to build two new Peugeots and two new Jeeps at Dongfeng's Wuhan plant from 2027

Stellantis has signed a new partnership with Dongfeng to build Peugeot and Jeep models in China, for local sale and global export.

The two firms have signed a new agreement, building on their existing partnership in China, which will result in their joint venture – Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile (DPCA) – building two new Peugeots and two new Jeeps at its Wuhan factory from next year.

The Peugeots will be based on the dramatic Concept 6 and Concept 8 show cars that recently made their debut at the Beijing motor show, previewing a rakish estate in the mould of the 508 and a new flagship SUV (below) that's larger than any car the French firm has yet produced.

Stellantis has yet to give any details of the Jeeps but said they will be "off-road new-energy vehicles".

All four cars are intended for sale in global markets, Stellantis has confirmed, without clarifying which specific regions could take them.

DPCA has previously already built and sold a range of Peugeots in China, including the 4008, 5008 and 508 L. It also produced the previous-generation Citroën C5 Aircross and C5 X for the Chinese market.

Notably, Dongfeng also has a joint venture in China with Nissan and will soon begin exporting some of its Chinese-built Nissan models to markets including Latin America and the Middle East.

Nissan has likewise said it remains open to bringing some of these cars to Europe and could also produce the Dongfeng-based N7 saloon at its UK factory in Sunderland.

Dongfeng's new partnership with Stellantis – supported by "the favourable automotive industrial policies of the Hubei province and the Wuhan municipality" – is worth a combined €1 billion (£871m) of investment, the two firms said, of which Stellantis will contribute around €130m.

It comes just a week after Stellantis confirmed that it would expand its partnership with its other Chinese joint venture partner, Leapmotor, to develop and build a new Vauxhall SUV atop the Hangzhou-based firm's EV architecture.

Earlier this month, Peugeot CEO Alain Favey told Autocar that the brand's two new Dongfeng-based models would "test the water" of the corporate partnership and were likely to be sold worldwide.

He said Peugeot planned to use Dongfeng's architecture to cater to demands in the hugely competitive Chinese market – and said that some of the Chinese firm's technology was "more advanced than what we can deliver in Europe".

The new deal comes in line with Stellantis's renewed focus on establishing partnerships for growth in key global markets, which CEO Antonio Filosa said this week would "be embedded in our strategy going forward".

Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit on Tuesday, Filosa hailed the importance of partnerships that are not "mono-directional" and "benefit both sides" - and suggested that more deals would follow as part of a strategy to grow Stellantis worldwide.

"Stellantis has been growing this last year, creating a clear view of being attractive for long-term partnerships to many players," he said.

"We are attractive because we are strong in many regions, we are attractive because of our scale, and mostly because we have unbelievably strong brands, so our level of appeal is big.

"We understand that by working with a set of partners to build a roadmap of technological improvement, supply chain improvement and maybe capacity utilisation. These are really good topics to work together and create benefits."

Filosa will give more details about this strategy next Thursday in a long-awaited investor day presentation at Stellantis's US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Reuters has reported that Filosa will announce plans to direct most investment towards Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Peugeot as part of a plan to strengthen the company in its core regions and focus on its best-performing brands.

He is also expected to shed light on the future of Stellantis's lower-volume brands, including Maserati, which Chinese media has recently reported is in talks with tech giant Huawei and car maker JAC to jointly develop new models.

The best cars we've tested since 2015

Fri, 15 May 2026 07:38:13 +0100

Autocar has been giving cars comprehensive road tests since 1928.

Our first ever test was done for the Austin Seven, then the best-selling car in the UK. Since then we’ve tested thousands of cars, and we give each one an overall score out of five. We very rarely give cars full marks – usually just one or two a year at most.

In this story we’ve gathered together all the cars that we have given the full five stars to in the past 10 years – just 21 cars made it. Join us, then, for a look at the best cars of the past decade – we include the date of publication for the test too:

In alphabetical order

Alpine A110 –16/5/18

In our test of this car, we concluded that every significant component part of the A110’s driving experience – from the rasping turbocharged torque of its engine to the hilariously immersive poise and panache of its handling – was intoxicating. Moreover, it was ready to deliver its own fresh brand of fun pretty much whenever, wherever and however you might want. It brought to life journeys and roads that rivals wouldn’t; and yet its handling for which your affection can only grow as you explored it more closely.

You won’t find too many mechanical ingredients or areas you could call genuinely exceptional.

Alpine A110 –16/5/18

But put them all together and we couldn’t help but conclude that the A110 was and is a much, much greater car – and achievement - than the sum of its parts would suggest. Rarely does a car come along so devoted to driver involvement, and so singularly effective at it, even among sports cars.

The A110 is quick, agile, effusive and ultimately enormous, accessible fun. Their desirability and rareness seems to help them retain their value – you won’t get a used one today for less than £32,000.

Ariel Atom 4 – 9/10/19

Having played the renegade on the ultra-lightweight sports car scene for so long, the Ariel Atom became a key part of the establishment it once sought to disrupt. Such progression doesn’t happen by chance; and this car is so typical of how cleverly its maker has developed it over the years to retain what makes it so special.

In a visual sense, the Atom remains an appealing car to anyone who likes the idea of being able to see their car working. It’s also so deliciously simple that it makes modern ideas of perceived quality and more meaningful built-in quality one and the same consideration.

Ariel Atom 4 – 9/10/19

A turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine has boosted the car’s usability as well as its roll-on performance with little entailed compromise, while Ariel’s other chassis and suspension tweaks have proven well worth making. The Atom retains so absorbing a dynamic character that it can be enormous fun on both road and track, when so many of its close rivals simply can’t do both.

They are very rare, but occasionally come up for sale for around £60,000.

Ariel Nomad – 24/6/15

It might not have four-zone climate control, adaptive LED headlights or a suite of level three autonomy functions, but the Ariel Nomad was worthy of a five-star verdict nonetheless. You see, a five-star rating doesn’t necessarily indicate a perfect car. No vehicle that cheerfully slings mud in its occupants faces, as the Nomad does, could ever be described as perfect.

Instead, what a five-star score signifies is a car that is so roundly accomplished at the task it was designed for that we could find no good reason to mark it down. It’s called fitness for purpose. The Nomad is built to be a joy machine, pure and simple. Those chunky off-road tyres and the long travel suspension hint at muddy fields and rocky forest tracks - no mistake, the Nomad is in its element on the rough stuff - but Ariel’s second model is actually every bit as fun to drive on the road, or even a race track.

Ariel Nomad – 24/6/15

As we wrote in our road test, ‘plenty of our testers would pick a Nomad to play with on a circuit before they’d consider a dozen high-profile sports cars and supercars’. It’s still such a sought after car that you’ll have to search high and low to find a used example for sale today, but they do occasionally appear from around £50,000.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera - 21/11/18

This car is a big, powerful, elegant, front-engined, 12-cylinder, blood-and-thunder GT. It’s also such a stunning one to behold, and so stellar to drive in its singularly enriching and enticing, occasion-cherishing long-distance mould, that it sets a new standard for its maker.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera - 21/11/18

Power comes from a 5.2-litre V12, an engine derived from the V12 that first arrived in the Vanquish back in 2001. This is an outstanding super-GT representing the British car maker at its absolute best, and can today be bought from around £110,000.

Bentley Bentayga Diesel – 5/4/17

The concept of a diesel engine in a Bentley might seem strange, especially today. But we reckoned that placing an Audi 4.0-litre V8 diesel engine pinched from the Audi SQ7 was a masterstroke. Suddenly you had all the luxury of a Bentley, decent off-road capabilities, the practicality of an SUV, complete with the ability to drive a potential 700 miles on a single tank.

Our testers loved it, and found it wonderfully refined. It even had the same amount of torque – 664lb ft – as the W12 petrol version, generated much more economically.

Bentley Bentayga Diesel – 5/4/17

Shame then the car lasted barely two years on the market. It was conceived and engineered in the glory days of Volkswagen’s obsession with diesel. By the time it came out Dieselgate had arrived to help destroy diesel’s reputation and severely dent the VW brand too.

Which probably encouraged Bentley to yank it from production. A shame. Used examples are out there, from around £50,000.

BMW 320d –15/5/19

The BMW 320d has been as consistent a contender for the title of ‘best car in the real world’ as the industry has made in decades – and the G20 version unquestionably raised the game. It was better in ways that greatly pleased long-time 3 Series owners – outright performance and sporting flair, as well as handling precision and driver appeal – but also in others that made it a more complete executive car.

Both practicality and perceived cabin quality advanced, and the car now featured electronic driver aids and infotainment features that were the envy of almost any saloon. It has also advanced on real-world fuel economy and, in becoming a car easily capable of topping 60mpg at one moment and sprinting like a hot hatchback to 149mph the next, sets a dynamic standard matchable by absolutely none of its peers.

BMW 320d –15/5/19

In a class where new rivals have been given room to emerge and old ones the opportunity to eke out a significant sales lead, this car was clearly the product of a company intent on making the 3 Series the default affordable executive option – for keen drivers, but perhaps even for others too.

Plenty of used examples out there, of course, from £12,000.

Ferrari 488 GTB – 25/5/16

The 488 GTB features a 3.9-litre turbocharged V8, which delivers 661bhp. Driving a 488 for its road test at our test track made our testers marvel at what it could do. No other turbocharged engine in a 488 rival – not the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, not the McLaren 650S or McLaren 720S – responded so quickly to the throttle.

And none has a progressive power build, which Ferrari achieves by limiting torque at low revs. It’s not just great, for a turbo. It’s a great engine, full stop.

Ferrari 488 GTB – 25/5/16

Indeed, we concluded that the best chassis had met the best turbocharged engine. When the Ferrari 458 arrived in 2009, we were taken aback by how much better it was than the 430; in 2016, Ferrari did it again.

Used examples can be bought from around £140,000 today.

Ferrari 296 – 21/12/22

For years now Ferrari has been at the top of its game, time and again delivering mid-engined supercars of breadth, soul and unrivalled dynamic exploitability – class leaders all. Regulations obligated the arrival of electrification with this plug-in hybrid 296 GTB, with its downsized six-cylinder turbo engine.

This new car was remarkable when it arrived. It picks up where the V8 lineage ended, seamlessly blending in the advantages of electrification with precious few of the drawbacks we’d feared.

Ferrari 296 – 21/12/22

Benign and adaptable but also wildly quick and expressive, the 296 GTB was and is spectacular to drive and the V6 also sounds stunning. It is usable yet oh so special and its clear manner belies its complexity. Ferrari continues to set the standard.

Of course this is not a cheap club to join: prices for used examples start at £200,000.

Ford Focus RS – 4/5/16

The third-generation Ford Focus RS wasn’t without its fair share of shortcomings - the engine is no better than average, the low speed ride is tight and the driver’s seat is set far too high - but these were all things we were happy to overlook. Simply put, we reckoned the RS was ‘the most fun you can currently have in a hot hatchback’.

Ford Focus RS – 4/5/16

There were some reports of reliability issues, with many owners reporting head gasket failures. Ford has responded by offering a free repair for any car built between August 2015 and July 2017.

The cars are desirable and retain their value well – you’ll have to spend at least £19,000 to get a used one today.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – 7/8/24

The Ioniq 5 N was and remains a game-changer. Reading about this hot hatch-cum-super-saloon on paper, it is perhaps difficult to imagine that all its tricks and innovations wouldn’t feel a touch gimmicky. Certainly, you wonder whether the established German performance brands simply take themselves too seriously to explore, for example, synthesised gearshifts, or throttle-adjustability that at times can seem almost cartoonishly easy to generate.

And perhaps that is their loss. The first N-badged EV from the South Korean marque with the Nürburgring test base is blindingly good fun and capable of rising to any occasion in dynamic terms.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – 7/8/24

It’s a heavy car, and complicated in software terms, but a swift and natural-feeling companion, and has clearly been conceived with the aim of entertaining, rather than mindlessly impressing with vast grip and accelerative clout.

The electric driver’s car has landed, and it will slot into most of our lives with ease – and plenty of smiles. It’s the first electric car ever to get the full five stars from us. Used examples can be found from around £55,000.

McLaren 570S – 30/3/16

It might give up more than 300bhp, an electric motor and a stack of batteries to the P1, but the McLaren 570S really does deliver a good chunk of the hypercar’s driving experience. The basic carbon fibre tub is shared between the two cars, of course, and so is the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine architecture.

The 570S feels monstrously quick in its own right, too, and it steers with all the precision of the P1.

McLaren 570S – 30/3/16

That's extremely good news for those of us who’ll never be able to afford a P1. The 570S isn’t exactly swapping hands for pocket change, but from £75,000 for a 2016 model, they’re a whole lot cheaper to buy.

McLaren 720S – 24/5/17

By beating the mighty Ferrari 488 GTB in a twin test, the McLaren 720S shot straight to the top of the supercar class and became the third McLaren to clinch a five-star rating. The 720S went through our road test process with imperious disregard for its norms.

In accelerating from rest to 60mph in less than 3.0sec and to 190mph from rest within a measured mile, in stopping from 70mph in less than 40 metres and in coming within a fraction of a second of smashing our all-time dry handling circuit lap record, it showed itself to be a car of incredible, almost unprecedented speed and purpose.

McLaren 720S – 24/5/17

The 720S’s class-transcending performance comes combined with remarkable breadth of ability on the road (ride and handling that can be more supple, progressive, tactile and mild than any true rival), with excellent usability, too, and with more indulgent on-the-limit track handling than any McLaren we’ve known before.

Used examples can be obtained from £120,000.

Porsche Cayman GT4– 23/9/15

The Cayman GT4 is the car that, for a long time, Porsche said it would never build. When it did eventually arrive in 2015 the GT4 won accolades across the globe. There are a handful of factors that will ultimately stop it from being as revered as any 911 GT3 you care to mention, however.

Porsche Cayman GT4 – 23/9/15

For one thing, its 911 Carrera-sourced 3.8-litre flat-six engine was sweet, but no match for a GT3 motor. The hardcore Cayman was built in relatively large numbers, too, and - most significantly of all - it just isn’t a 911.

But we’re nit-picking – the GT4 is a wonderful point-to-point sports car. And the car’s sheer desirability means they hold their value very well; 2018 examples are to be had from £64,000.

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS – 14/9/22

When we first drove the 718 Cayman GT4 RS, we concluded that it was one of the most thrilling and special Porsche GTs yet. Its configuration makes it more raw and exciting, arguably, than any fast roadgoing 911, while its mid-engined chassis gives it a dynamic purity and instinctive handling poise that few sports cars have known, the best GT3s included.

What this car represents is every bit as wonderful as what it does: a new way to immerse yourself in the character of a truly wonderful combustion engine and savour and cherish its every detonation, vibration and impulse.

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS – 14/9/22

That feels like a particularly timely invitation, and whether Porsche intended it that way or not, you can’t help interpreting this car as a celebration of the combustion-engined sports car at the most vivid and affecting height that it may ever reach. Yet you don’t need sentimentality to build a case for a five-star score here.

Few sports cars have offered such a spectacular blend of dizzying dramatic performance, supreme handling accomplishment, sublime track-day purpose and all-round sensory involvement as this spine-tingling new RS. It deserved every plaudit we can give. Used examples are from £120,000 today.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991) – 19/8/15

It may have ripped up the patented GT3 RS blueprint with all the recklessness of a common vandal spray-painting over Banksy original, but, somehow, the 991-era 911 GT3 RS got away with it. Out went the manual gearbox in favour of a twin-clutch item and gone was the Mezger engine.

Even the steering junked hydraulic assistance in favour of EPAS. The ride and handling magic, however, was very much still intact.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991) – 19/8/15

‘The GT3 RS is truly outstanding and deserves our categorical praise,’ is what we wrote at the time. Today, you won’t pick one up for less than £125,000.

Porsche 911 S/T - 3/7/24

Taking the blueprint of the ever-so-serious GT3, tactically applying some GT3 RS know-how, then stripping out weight, fitting unashamedly road-optimised suspension and putting the driver at the heart of the matter has resulted in an utterly magic 911 with the 911 S/T.

Porsche 911 S/T - 3/7/24

Did this all make it the greatest 911 ever? Quite possibly. Extremely rare, they currently sell for a major premium on their original list prices.

Porsche Panamera 4S Diesel – 1/2/17

‘Still not exactly beautiful’ is how we described the new Porsche Panamera. In just about every other respect, though, it was beyond criticism. The car features a 4.0-litre diesel which delivers 416bhp, but with 627lb ft of torque produced from just 1000rpm without the aid of electric turbochargers made it intriguing.

Porsche Panamera 4S Diesel – 1/2/17

It’s not the most luxurious GT of its kind, but in the light of other talents, it is a brilliant compromise. Real-world fuel economy and range is as outstanding as the acceleration. This is a near-43mpg cruiser with a 90-litre tank, capable of more than 800 miles between fills.

Sadly the car didn’t stay on sale for long; there aren’t that many out there, and they’re priced from £30,000.

Range Rover Sport SVR – 15/4/15

By earning a perfect five-star rating the Range Rover Sport SVR - the very first model from Special Vehicle Operations - proved that Jaguar Land Rover’s newly-formed department had hit the ground running.

The car deployed 542bhp from its supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine and adopts a raft of mechanical and dynamic changes to accompany the extra horsepower.

Range Rover Sport SVR – 15/4/15

All that power, speed and decent on-road handling, combined with impressive off-road ability too. While there are high-mileage used examples out there from just £23,000, we suggest spending a bit more as these complicated heavy cars can be expensive to maintain. We liked the look of a 2016 example with 56,000 miles and a £27,000 price tag.

Rolls-Royce Phantom – 4/4/18

When we tested the then-new V12 Rolls-Royce Phantom, we concluded that it was ‘the best car in the world'. Sequels are rarely better than the books, films or shows they succeed. And yet the functional superiority of the new Phantom over its super-luxury peers may be even greater than the margin by which its predecessor led its field.

Despite the strides taken by the Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class and even by the Bentley Mulsanne, the Phantom surpassed by some distance what they offer in every way that’s critical for a genuinely luxurious car: on mechanical refinement, ride comfort, cabin isolation, convenience, outright space, lavish richness and easy drivability.

Rolls-Royce Phantom – 4/4/18

We reckoned that it had grandness, ostentation and sense of occasion far in advance of anything else on four wheels, and it still has that today. It also seems even better aimed at the tastes and preferences of its customer base than its predecessor was; it has an even deeper and more easily accessed reserve of silken performance to plunder; and it has added greater dynamic flexibility and range without having compromised the supreme highlights of its utterly singular and special driving experience.

The car is frankly in a league of it own, and the design has stood up well, being marginally tweaked in a facelift in 2022. Used Phantoms can be had from £218,000.

Skoda Superb – 17/7/24

The Superb is the perfect example of how the brand takes mass-market VW mechanicals and software, and then makes them just that bit more usable and accessible with careful design, and by adding a well-judged selection of physical controls, while also avoiding technolog y excesses and overstyling.

While other manufacturers boil down their model ranges to just a few big sellers, Skoda also continues to offer buyers a wide range of bodystyles and powertrains, including petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid, which are all impressive in their own right. With the fourth-generation Superb, Skoda hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel.

Skoda Superb – 17/7/24

In the modern car industry, that kind of restraint seems almost an achievement in itself. By sticking to the essentials – space, efficiency, ease of use and intuitive driving characteristics – and doing those well, Skoda produced a car that is outstandingly fit for purpose, makes the case for the estate car like few current rivals and does it at a price that significantly undercuts its competition.

Used examples can be had from £28,000 today.

Toyota GR Yaris Circuit Pack – 3/3/21

With this car, Toyota launched a new hot hatch champion of the kind you just didn’t think people made any more – removed from a standard production line, chopped and changed in what must be hugely expensive fashion and fitted with a high-revving, powerful engine, a passive suspension set-up and a good old manual gearbox.

Toyota GR Yaris Circuit Pack – 3/3/21

It is spookily fast if you’re absolutely on it and so a bit more interaction at lower speeds wouldn’t hurt, but this is a driver’s car hero that’s great fun and approachably priced. And worth savouring because, well, who will ever build something else like it?

They hold their value very well, and used examples start at £24,000 today.

If you enjoyed this story, please click the Follow button above to see more like it from Autocar

The most surprising cars ever to be made

Fri, 15 May 2026 07:37:52 +0100

The cars unlike anything their maker – sometimes any maker – had created before. Richard Bremner reviews the good, the bad and the ugly cars that were just plain different

A Ferrari soft-roader?

It's a very fast V12-powered soft-roader, and one that may even introduce the Maranello wail to Dubai’s Big Red, a huge, shifting sand dune that needs traction and torque in spades to be successfully crested. But a maker of cars designed to go as fast as possible to point B from point A, a maker that has forever harnessed the benefits of Tarmac-skimming centres of gravity and sylphic frontal areas does not sound like a maker of vehicles featuring neither of these desirables. Still, the Ferrari Purosangue SUV is about as far removed from a World War Two Jeep as an iPhone is from a payphone.

It’s also what the market wants and accurately judging that fickle arena of desire has produced a lengthy line-up of cars that, at one time, would have been unthinkable progeny for their creators. Some have been jarring additions to their makers’ ranges. Some have fallen from grace with equally jarring effect. And others, unexpectedly, have become lynchpins for their makers. Here’s a selection of the most notable:

Rolls-Royce Cullinan (2019)

What we said then: “Rolls has, like Porsche did with the first Cayenne, tried to put clear Rolls-Royce cues into the design. Maybe they just don’t translate to an SUV, or maybe we’re just not used to it yet.”

The market demanded an SUV of Rolls-Royce and the market got it. An off-roading Rolls-Royce is not such an alien idea. The robustness of the early cars meant they were frequently used off road in Arabia, courtesy of Lawrence, and as armoured cars during WW1. But as with the first Cayenne, the Cullinan’s look is troubling but may well improve with familiarity.

Aston Martin Cygnet (2010)

What we said then: “To the majority of buyers of today’s conventional city cars, the launch of the new Aston Martin Cygnet must rank as one of the daftest this century.”

Apart from hijacking the innards of a Morgan three-wheeler, Toyota’s cubist iQ has to be one of the unlikeliest building blocks for an Aston Martin. Apparently the result of a (surely fevered) conversation between the bosses of these companies, the Cygnet struggled to find takers but, perversely, has become sought after now since deletion, and hold their value very well.

Audi R8 (2006)

What we said then: “The most radical road-goer to wear four rings since records began.”

Audi channelled its inner Lamborghini with the superb R8, a model introduction all the more surprising because Ingolstadt actually owned the Italian supercar maker. Even more surprising were the R8’s entertaining dynamics and a ride better than any other Audi’s, A8s included.

Toyota Yaris Verso (1999)

What we said then: “Brilliant package with neatly designed seating arrangement, all for a good price.”

This underwheeled cargo carrier was among the first supermini-scale MPVs. Despite a body as ugly as it was voluminous, the Yaris Verso sold moderately well but it was still an image-compromising product.

Renault Twizy (2009)

What we said then: “It’s another electric vehicle that, we can’t help but conclude, would be better with its own power source on board. But the Twizy has a loveable character.”

It is loveable, too, and quite unlike any Renault, ever. But the appeal palls in rain and cold, both penetrating the tandem occupant zone copiously without the optional semi-enclosing doors. It doesn’t go all that far on a charge, either, although that may be a good thing. Great on the right day, in the right weather. Which is why it has no rivals.

Volkswagen Phaeton (2003)

What we said then: “If there’s one word that seems to define the VW Phaeton it’s ‘why?’.”

Ferdinand Piëch’s folly, the VW Phaeton made sense only to VW’s boss and, eventually, Chinese buyers, whose liking for big saloons prolonged the life of this supposed VW flagship for longer than it deserved. Piech’s ambition for VW was admirable – the same upmarket thrust yielded the successful Touareg – but it made as much sense as selling billionaire jewellery in a mainstream department store.

Chrysler Delta (2011)

What we said then: “A bit different from the norm, but too patchy to recommend it.”

The last Lancia to be sold officially in the UK was the Delta in the 1990s but the model did return, in third-generation form, after being engineered for righthand drive. Fiat crassly sold it in the UK not as a Lancia but as a Chrysler and it never really caught on.

Fiat Multipla (1998)

What we said then: “There should be more cars on the road like the Multipla. As a means of transporting families, it is a work of genius.”

This deviant Fiat was also an ingenious chunk of convenience, its barrel body housing six and packing bins, shelves and bottle holders. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it,” ran an ad quoting Confucius. Quite.

BMW X5 (2000)

What we said then: “An extreme take on the whole crossover concept.”

BMW bet first and bet bravely on this sports utility vehicle that really was sporty. It looked faintly ungainly but it carried, handled and played dirt-road explorer with aplomb. Car buyers loved it and still do, this SUV now a BMW mainstay.

Mercedes Vaneo (2002)

What we said then: “Its versatility should see it appealing to those with more than just kids to move around.”

This super-practical car was the unexpected work of Mercedes-Benz’s commercial vehicle division, which left its indelible signature on this deeply unsexy machine by calling it Vaneo. It sold almost as slowly as the Maybach 57 at the other end of the Mercedes range.

Peugeot 1007 (2005)

What we said then: “The 1007 delivers both a compact exterior and a truly upmarket interior ambience.”

Its four seats were reached via sliding doors, it was packaged short and tall for easy parking and it was sold in cheerful hues. It made rational sense – more than the new Mini and Fiat 500. But these two annihilated it, the 1007’s appeal not helped by its underwheeled stance, sluggish doors and pension book aura.

Porsche Cayenne (2002)

What we said then: “Massively talented Cayenne keeps faith with Porsche heritage. It’s fast, sure-footed and surprisingly nimble for an SUV.”

This was a car to get the mind grappling. Grappling to understand, grappling to find beauty. Eventually, we all did with the grappling, exposure buffing away this Porsche’s sculptural disconnects, its mighty abilities winning it respect. But at its launch, what a shocker.

Ssangyong Rodius (2004)

What we said then: “Is it possible to get past the Rodius’s look? Yes, but what’s underneath isn’t much better.”

This mutant cemented Ssangyong’s place at the weird end of the automotive spectrum. Agiant high-riding hatch with an estate car extension for which no planning permission can ever have been received, it remains the 21st century’s ugliest car.

Honda Insight (1999)

What we said then: “Bristles with fuel-saving technology yet should be as easy to own as a Civic.”

It didn’t look dissimilar to a fish. A technical adventure from Honda was no surprise, but the world’s first hybrid car was. The Insight’s complexity was even bolder than the NSX’s. But it was too much of a science experiment to succeed.

Renault Avantime (2001)

What we said then: “Renault’s GT has radically different design ideas.”

No one needed an MPV coupé apart from the Matra factory in Romorantin, which had lost production of the Espace and needed a replacement. Massive doors and two-tone paint added to the drama of this new concept, its lux cabin winning a few admirers.

Alfa Romeo SZ (1989)

What we said then: “Nice legs, shame about the face.”

The press were rendered mute when the covers were pulled from this. Why was this slab-sided, flat-backed, narrow-tracked Alfa so ugly? Was it actually finished, with its black hole of a grille and frameless headlights? It was. The SZ’s shape troubled less with time, and it was way, way better to drive than it looked.

Jeep Commander (2005)

What we said then: “Although the Commander is about as rectilinear as it’s possible for a car to be, the space increase over the Grand Cherokee is not that impressive.”

Kind words, compared with late Fiat Chrysler Automobiles boss Sergio Marchionne’s view of the Commander: “That vehicle was unfit for human consumption. We sold some. But I don’t know why people bought them.”

The only advantage the Commander could muster over the Grand Cherokee was a pair of seats for a pair of small, agile and uncomplaining kids. Big discounts were the only thing this Jeep commanded.

Jaguar I-Pace (2018)

What we said then: “Could this week’s road test subject be the most significant to leave the halls of a British manufacturer since the McLaren F1?”

Who would have thought it? A maker far too reliant on a glorious back catalogue, often with disappointing results, fires itself into the future with the first European premium all-electric car. It looks nothing like an E-Type, an XK or a Mk2. But i t does look, and go, like a Jaguar.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (1990)

What we said then: “What makes the Lotus Carlton a truly great super car is the sober thoroughness of its execution.”

The Carlton was a middle manager’s motor, well able to pound motorways and cart families. There was a hot one, too: the 3000 GSi, which pounded harder and carted faster. And then GM instructed Lotus to extract ferocious pounding and carting from the Carlton.

Once transformed, this 377bhp Vauxhall out sprinted Ferrari’s Testarossa and annihilated the BMW M5 to become the fastest saloon in the world. Nobody expected that.

Mini Coupé (2011)

What we said then: “Inspired by classic independently produced Mini-based coupés from companies such as Broadspeed, Marcos and Midas, the new Coupé is not exactly elegant – not in the traditional sense, anyway.”

There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a Mini Coupé, but the real thing, though, wasn’t what most might imagine as rakish Minimalism. The bubble-topped two-seater appeared to be wearing a kind of helmet forward of its frumpily vestigial boot, producing a rear end that reminded us all what a brilliantly sculpted car the original Audi TT coupé was.

Bentley Bentayga (2015)

What we said then: “Ettore Bugatti was not being entirely kind when he described a Bentley racing car as ‘le camion plus vite du monde’ – the world’s fastest truck.”

Bentley’s SUV-previewing EXP 9 F concept produced plenty of acidic froth at its 2012 Geneva debut, but that didn’t stop Crewe from building a tall, bulky vehicle of the kind that it once produced regularly, if without four-wheel drive. It sells, though.

Renault Vel Satis (2001)

What we said then: “This quirky exec is interesting and luxurious if not entirely convincing.”

Renault’s aim for something different from your regulation German executive saloon was achieved with total success: the Vel Satis was nothing like a BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class or Audi A6.

Scoring that conceptual bulls-eye was about the Vel Satis’s only success, though. This awkward, bustle-backed hatch managed neither to handle like a BMW nor to ride like a Renault.

Nissan Figaro (1991)

What we said then: “The Figaro’s perky turbocharged 1.0-litre engine, convertible roof, generous spec and looks could get the car a cult following.”

From the stagnant pool containing what was then one of the dullest car ranges on earth, Nissan launched the almost absurdly cute Figaro. It was the personification of everything Nissans of the day were not – characterful, colourful, shiny, desirable and fun.

Why are Jaecoos and Omodas selling so well? Dealer reveals all

Fri, 15 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

The twin Chinese brands have hit the ground running in the UK – the Jaecoo 7 was the nation's best-seller in March

Every decade has its defining cars, models including the 'E30' BMW 3 Series in the 1980s; the Subaru Impreza WRX in the 1990s; the BMW Mini in the 2000s; and the Tesla Model S in the 2010s.

The current decade? We'll leave history to decide that, but the Jaecoo 7 could certainly number among the models most associated with the period.

From a standing start in March 2025 to the end of the year, just over 26,000 Jaecoo 7s were sold. More than half were bought by private buyers, making the model the fourth-most-popular retail car, as distinct from fleet car, and helping to propel the brand to a market share of 1.4%. To put that into perspective, Seat's market share was 1.14% and Suzuki's 0.9%.

Selling the Chinese newcomer and Range Rover Evoque-cum-Velar lookalike must surely have been like shelling peas.

Every car salesperson dreams of such a product. In my day, when I was selling Mitsubishis in the 1980s, the Colt 1500 automatic with power steering and Shogun LWB 2.3 and 2.5TD were our 'pea shellers'.

To understand what it was like selling the Jaecoo 7 in those heady months of 2025, I've come to Auto West London, an Omoda-Jaecoo dealership off the busy Hogarth Roundabout in Chiswick.

Was it really just a case of asking customers to form an orderly queue and someone would take their order? "I love that phrase, 'like shelling peas', but it took and continues to take a lot more effort than that," says Sadek Hossain, retail marketing specialist at Omoda-Jaecoo.

"No one's ever going to come into a showroom and say: 'I'll have that one.' So a lot of credit is due our retail network. There's no complacency. This year we face higher targets and even greater effort."

Coincidentally, Auto West London mirrors Omoda-Jaecoo's rapid rise in the UK. Four years ago, the building it occupies was home to a Tesla showroom before the American company vacated it. There it sat beside one of London's busiest roundabouts, unused and unloved until Cetas Automotive, the Turkish dealer group that owns Auto West, acquired it last year. From then, it was all hands on deck as, over a period of 10 weeks, contractors and staff made the place ready for business.

"March 2025 was our first month of trading," says Steve Young, managing director of Auto West. "It took an incredible effort by everyone to get to that point. Prior to our arrival, the building had been repeatedly raided by thieves, who stripped it of everything. There was nothing. I remember having meetings here on garden chairs, with laptops on our knees."

Young, a veteran of the motor industry – he started as a student engineer before moving to purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and ultimately to retail – describes his first year with what he calls 'OJ' (Omoda-Jaecoo) as one of his best and most fun. "It was fun because if you have a commercial mind, it's fun to build a business, to work with a well-funded investor, a motivated team and enthusiastic customers."

He recalls, early on, asking one of his sales staff how many cars he thought they would sell in their first year. "I thought we'd have to sell some real volume to cover our costs so assumed 350. My colleague guessed 250. We actually did 500 from the end of March to December, split 60/40 Jaecoo/Omoda and with the Jaecoo 7 PHEV accounting for 30% of our sales," says Young.

While I don't doubt Hossain's claim that Omoda-Jaecoo's success was down to hard work, there must also have been some darned good deals on the table. People don't just walk into a showroom and buy without encouragement.

"In that first year, it was left to the good business sense of the dealers to operate well and get the cars out of the door," concedes Young. "There were strong incentives and margins were on the generous side. All the dealers took advantage of this to get the volumes up."

Then there was Jaecoo's 'more car for your money' argument. Most of Young's sales team come from premium brands where, before they joined him, they'd had to tell customers the monthly PCP payment on their next car was now a couple of hundred pounds more than they had been paying. Most customers weren't impressed.

"People have seen the inflation in car prices and many are saying: 'I'm not sure about this. I can afford it but do I have to pay this much for a quality car?" explains Young. "They came to us and found they could get the same quality and even more features for what they were currently paying. Maybe not the same thing from a handling perspective but how many people care about that in their ordinary, day-to-day driving?"

How true that last statement turns out to be will lie in the number of first owners who return for their second Jaecoo or Omoda. By that time, there should be a decent supply of used Omodas and Jaecoos too and, as anyone in the trade will tell you, if you don't have a flourishing market for your used cars, you soon won't have one for your new cars...

Meanwhile, as Omoda-Jaecoo embarks on its second year, Young expects its discounts and processes to be tightened: "Already, things have become a lot more sophisticated. Mystery shopping is a good example. We are now regularly mystery-shopped on various aspects of the business. We're targeted to sell 1200 cars this year too."

Honeymoon over, it will be interesting to see if, with the help of Young and his dealer colleagues, Omoda-Jaecoo will build on its success in 2026.

Farewell, Ford Kuga

During our visit to Auto West London, a steady stream of customers came through the doors, among them Abir and Raja, a couple seeking a new Jaecoo on Motability. There's no doubt Motability has generated a lot of sales for Omoda-Jaecoo (OJ).

Indeed, Auto West MD Steve Young was impressed by how quickly the brand's Chinese representatives got their heads around it.

"I met one of the senior Chinese people before OJ launched who gave me a masterclass on how Motability works," says Young. "How to balance the business you want with not over-committing because it's a relatively expensive discount... He knew all of that. He'd really done his homework."

Raja told me the couple currently drive a Ford Kuga but had seen lots of Jaecoo 7s about and liked the look of them. "The Kuga PHEV is amazing but the Jaecoo looks like the Evoque," he said. Before the Ford, they'd had a Mercedes A-Class.

Did they usually switch brands so easily, I asked. "With our phones, we always stick with the same brand, Galaxy, but for our cars we have become increasingly less loyal," said Abir.

Aion to Zenvo: Every new car coming to the UK in 2026

Fri, 15 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

This is your handy guide to every new car coming in 2026, from £12k EVs to £20m hypercars

New year, new cars: 2026 is shaping up to be a big one for the industry, with plenty of brands and models making their debuts.

From the baby EVs that didn't seem possible only a few years ago to ripsnorting V8 supercars and VIP-hauling vans, there's something here to catch the eye of everyone.

Here's our breakdown of every new car coming to the UK in 2026, from Aion to Zenvo.

Every new car coming in 2026

Aion UT

On sale April

GAC is one of the biggest Chinese car makers yet to come to the UK. That changes this year, as it arrives with its Aion brand and a two-car line-up that includes the Mini Cooper-rivalling UT. It packs 134bhp and a range of 265 miles.

Everything we know about the Aion UT

Aion V

On sale April

Tesla Model Y competitor has a 224bhp motor and 90kWh battery, giving a range of 329 miles between charges.

Everything we know about the Aion V

Alfa Romeo Giulia, Stelvio

On sale April

Modern greats given reprieve as electric successors delayed - and V6 Quadrifoglios are coming back.

Everything we know about the return of the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio

Alpine A110 R Ultime

On sale February

Petrol-powered A110 will bow out as a 345bhp limited-run special. Tick a few boxes and you're looking at paying nearly £300k for a four-pot.

Everything we know about the Alpine A110 Ultime

Alpine A390

On sale May

Tri-motor crossover promises to be an A110 for the whole family, but maybe wasted on the school run.

Read our Alpine A390 review

Analogue VHPK

On sale September

Very thorough restomod of the Lotus Elise from a firm that has already blown us away. It weighs just 600kg and has 400bhp per tonne, and has a central driving position. Yes, please.

Everything we know about the Analogue VHPK

Ariel Atom 4RR

On sale April

The UK's fastest piece of scaffolding has been boosted to an unbelievable 522bhp for its 25th birthday. That's about 770bhp per tonne.

Everything we know about the Ariel Atom 4RR

Ariel E-Nomad

On sale December

Somerset's wild off-road super-buggy quietens down but only in the most literal sense. Expect the EV version to offer 281bhp, 0-62mph in 3.5sec, a kerb weight of less than 900kg and, above all else, endless fun. Ariel is currently working on commercialising the model, but we can't wait to drive one.

Everything we know about the Ariel E-Nomad

Aston Martin DB12 S

On sale March

Outrageous range-topping version of Aston's big coupé will take on Bentley's hardcore new Continental Speed with a raucous 690bhp V12.

Everything we know about the Aston Martin DB12 S

Audi A2 E-Tron

On sale December

New EV riffs on cult-classic, MPV-esque supermini and is strongly tipped to take its name.

Everything we know about the Audi A2 E-tron

Audi A6 Allroad

On sale September

Allroads lead to this: a comeback for Audi’s 4x4- lite sub-brand. Jacked-up, bulked-out take on the latest ICE A6 estate is the first in a new line of rugged execs.

Read our Audi A6 review

Audi Q7

On sale August

Put the new Q5 into a photocopier and scale up to 125%. Hot SQ7 could reprise its buttery V8.

Everything we know about the new Audi Q7

Audi Q9

On sale December

Huge, boxy SUV is focused mainly on US and Middle East and set to kick-start Horch luxury sub-brand.

Everything we know about the Audi Q9

Audi RS3 Ultimate

On sale June

Track-focused special will be a snarling last hurrah for the five-cylinder hot A3. Expect it to bring a hefty bump in power, taking it beyond the current 401bhp.

Everything we know about the Audi RS3 Ultimate

Audi RS5

On sale July

Audi Performance's first plug-in hybrid is expected to keep its 2.9-litre V6 but with the assistance of electric motors boosting output way beyond its RS4 predecessor's 444bhp-meaning it could be one of Audi's most powerful combustion models yet. Probably best to leave your Labradors at home.

Everything we know about the Audi RS5

Bentley Urban SUV

On sale December

Every Bentley of the modern era has been a game-changing proposition that has sought to rewrite the rules of the luxury car market in some way – but none has promised to be as transformative as this. Crewe refers to its first EV as an ‘urban SUV’, reflecting the fact that it’s slightly smaller than the best-selling Bentayga.

It’s all relative, though: this will still be a hefty thing, at just under five metres long and weighing the thick end of three tonnes. And the big numbers don’t stop there: it will be capable of adding 100 miles of range in less than seven minutes at a charger, could pack north of 1000bhp in its most potent form and will top out beyond 200mph.

Everything we know about the Bentley electric SUV

BMW 7 Series

On sale December

New look appears to shrink the 7er's mahoosive front grille, and there'll be big changes inside too.

Read our BMW 7 Series review

BMW i3

On sale December

The BMW 3 Series will go electric globally for the first time, offering around 500 miles of range and reinterpreting design cues from the brand’s back catalogue.

It promises to be the keen driver’s choice, thanks to BMW’s new 'Heart of Joy' computer, which unites all of the car's key systems onto one chip. This, it claims, will bring tangible benefits to stability, agility and comfort, matching those of the petrol-engined 3 Series.

Everything we know about the BMW i3

BMW iX3

On sale March

First member of BMW's Neue Klasse becomes the UK longest-range EV, mustering 500 miles per charge.

Read our BMW iX3 review

BMW X5

On sale August

Will offer the broadest powertrain array of any BMW to date: petrol, diesel, PHEV, BEV, hydrogen FCEV.

Everything we know about the new BMW X5

Bovensiepen Zagato

On sale June

New brand from Alpina's founding family makes debut with shark-nosed twist on BMW M4 coupé.

Everything we know about the Bovensiepen Zagato

BYD Atto 2 DM-i

On sale March

New plug-in hybrid powertrain squeezed into a small electric crossover, with a sub-£30,000 starting price.

Read our BYD Atto 2 DM-i review

BYD Atto 3 DM-i

On sale September

First BYD model sold in UK – 4.5m-long electric crossover – will also get complex new PHEV powertrain.

Read our BYD Atto 3 review

BYD Atto 9

On sale November

BYD's largest electric SUV is a seven-seater that promises plenty of power and ultra-rapid charging.

BYD Seal 06 GT

On sale December

New VW ID 3-rivalling hatch will sit beneath Seal electric saloon in line-up. Could gain a 523bhp range-topper.

Everything we know about the BYD Seal 06 GT

BYD Sealion 5

On sale February

Crucial Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai challenger comes to the UK with plug-in hybrid power.

BYD Shark 6

On sale March

Big-battery Ford Ranger PHEV rival arrives to take a bite out of the pick-up market. See what we did there?

Cadillac Lyriq

On sale October

American luxury brand makes bold UK return with its answer to Porsche's new Cayenne Electric.

Read our Cadillac Lyriq review

Chery Tiggo 4

On sale March

Chinese firm will expand here with petrol-engined, spaceship-inspired VW T-Roc rival, costing about £20k.

Everything we know about the Chery Tiggo 4

Cupra Born

On sale May

Electric hatch is getting a new look to bring it into line with the new Raval supermini. Flagship VZ – one of our favourite fast EVs – could also get extra power and range.

Read our Cupra Born review

Cupra Formentor VZ5

On sale August

The ultimate sleeper? This subtle five-cylinder version of Martorell’s sporty crossover is finally coming to the UK – although only around 250 examples are due over here, so move quickly.

Read our Cupra Formentor VZ5 review

Cupra Leon VZ TCR

On sale November

Limited-run special will follow the Leon VZ and draws on Cupra’s touring car racing experience, with wider rubber and more aggressive aero. Its turbo four is also dialled up to 321bhp and 310lb ft.

Read our Cupra Leon VZ review

Cupra Raval

On sale September

Seat’s sporty sibling brand has led the MEB+ EV project and created an angry-looking hot hatch packing up to 223bhp and a more focused chassis set-up.

Read our Cupra Raval review

Dacia C-Neo

On sale June

Petrol-powered and rough road-ready, this Skoda Octavia-rivalling estate is tipped to cost under £25k.

Everything we know about the Dacia C-Neo

Dacia Duster Hybrid-G 4x4

On sale April

A fresh range-topper is inbound for the everyman SUV. The new four-wheel-drive variant will use the same 138bhp 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine as the mild hybrid in combination with a 31bhp electric motor on the rear axle.

Read our Dacia Duster review

Dacia Spring

On sale March

Budget baby hatchback is uprated with a choice of 69bhp and 99bhp motors and improved handling. Now the UK's cheapest new car – yours from just £12k.

Everything we know about the new Dacia Spring

Denza B5

On sale December

One of three new cars coming to the UK from BYD’s luxury brand next year, the B5 is a plug-in hybrid 4x4 capable of a Defender Octa-humbling 677bhp and 0-62mph in 4.8sec.

Everything we know about the Denza B5

Denza D9

On sale August

BYD’s upmarket brand aims to cover all bases in Europe with a hot shooting brake, a luxury 4x4, a top-drawer supercar and this, a posh people carrier in the vein of the Lexus LM. Full details are still to come, but it’s an EV or a PHEV and there’s a fridge-freezer in the centre console.

Denza Z9 GT

On sale July

BYD introduces its premium brand with a tri-motor Porsche Taycan rival packing 950bhp-plus. For real.

Read our Denza Z9 GT review

DS No7

On sale October

Couture rebrand is intended to drag the French firm back into the fray. DS will bring an edgier design for its core SUV model.

Everything we know about the DS No7

Encor Series 1

On sale September

Wedge-shaped Lotus Esprit is back with pop-up lights, a rebuilt V8 and Apple CarPlay Yours for £430k, plus a donor.

Everything we know about the Encor Series 1

Ferrari 296 Speciale

On sale May

A modern great made greater. Ultimate version of Ferrari’s V6 supercar bends the laws of physics to awe-striking effect.

Read our Ferrari 296 Speciale review

Ferrari 849 Testarossa

On sale June

SF90 hybrid hypercar’s replacement justifies its reprisal of a legendary name by being one of the fastest-accelerating ICE cars of all time.

Read our Ferrari 849 Testarossa review

Ferrari Amalfi

On sale April

The ‘entry-level’ Ferrari, the Roma coupé, has been given a new name to reflect how extensively it has been upgraded.

Read our Ferrari Amalfi review

Ferrari Elettrica

On sale December

Maranello’s first EV was never going to be phoned in. The ‘Elettrica’ (not its final name) will have around 1000bhp from four motors, a colossal 122kWh battery giving 329 miles of range and a top speed nudging 200mph. They promise it’s not all cold, hard numbers, though: it will also have its own authentic ‘engine note’ and handling “to thrill”.

Everything we know about Ferrari's EV

Fiat 500 Hybrid

On sale September

The petrol-powered 500 returns. Sort of. Powered by a beardy 64bhp 1.0-litre engine, crammed into the 500e's EV platform. Don't mention the 16.2sec 0-62mph time.

Read our Fiat 500 Hybrid review

Fiat 'Giga Panda'

On sale November

Aimed squarely at the Dacia Bigster, this family SUV will offer petrol, hybrid and electric power.

Fiat Grande Panda

On sale March

By the time we drive a right-hand-drive version, the Grande Panda will be about a year late to UK roads – which is especially frustrating when it’s shaping up to be a very convincing Renault 5 rival. “Bear with me,” it might say.

Read our Fiat Grande Panda review

Fiat Grande Panda 4x4

On sale November

Cult-classic go-anywhere supermini reborn as one of the smallest four-wheel-drive cars on the market. Expect hybrid and electric powertrains.

Everything we know about the Fiat Grande Panda 4x4

Fiat Topolino

On sale June

Italian reworking of Citroën Ami ditches doors, gains rag top. Perfect for our famously balmy summers.

Everything we know about the Fiat Topolino

Firefly Hatchback

On sale July

Premium EV maker Nio's entry-level brand Firefly will reach the UK with its answer to the Mini Cooper. It can use Nio's bespoke battery-swap stations in China but will have to use boring old chargers over here. For now, at least.

Read our Firefly review

Ford Puma Gen-E

On sale May

EV version of Britain's best-seller gets a bump in range to 250 miles and semi-autonomous cruising.

Read our Ford Puma Gen-E review

Genesis GV60 Magma

On sale May

Hot version of electric crossover gets Hyundai Ioniq 5 N tech, Korean luxury and magma-coloured paint.

Everything we know about the Genesis GV60 Magma

Genesis GV90

On sale November

Say hello to the Korean Bentley Bentayga. Based on the Kia EV9, the GV90 is an ultra-premium, sixseat SUV that looks to stay remarkably faithful to the dramatic Neolun concept – right down to the reverse-opening doors. Expect a fat portion of power and more than 300 miles of range.

Everything we know about the Genesis GV90

GMA Le Mans GTR, S1 LM

On sale Too late!

First cars from Gordon Murray's Special Vehicles division are a stunning tribute to the McLaren F1 GTR LM and a longtail-spec GMA T.50. Both are ultra-exclusive, track-focused specials based on the atmo-V12 T.50 hypercar but with key dynamic enhancements.

Everything we know about the GMA Le Mans GTR and S1 LM

GMA T.33

On sale March

Second supercar by Gordon Murray's firm sends 609bhp from a stonking Cosworth V12 through a six-speed manual. Just the £1.8m, if you please.

Everything we know about the GMA T.33

Honda Prelude

On sale March

The sports coupé is back. Well, sort of. And it's a petrol manual! Again, sort of. Still, we're excited.

Read our Honda Prelude review

Honda Super-N

On sale July

Spiritual successor to the Honda E aims for the enthusiast vote with an imitation gearbox and a fake exhaust note.

Read our Honda Super-N review

Hyundai i30

On sale September

Golf rival will get another refresh. Changes to include new lights and probably more hybrid powertrains.

Hyundai i30 N

On sale December

Hybridisation is set to bring the vaunted hot i30 back to showrooms, meaning the VW Golf GTI can’t rest on its laurels after the retirement of its Ford Focus ST and Honda CIvic Type R rivals.

Everything we know about the new Hyundai i30 N

Hyundai Ioniq 3

On sale September

New mid-sized hatchback will blend a striking, sporty design with proven Hyundai EV hardware.

Everything we know about the Hyundai Ioniq 3

Hyundai Staria EV

On sale September

Wacky rival to the Ford Tourneo has gone electric, earning it the green light to finally come to the UK. It will offer seating for seven, 249 miles of range and 216bhp, but prices remain to be confirmed.

Everything we know about the Hyundai Staria EV

Hyundai Tucson

On sale September

Popular SUV will receive chunkier Defender-esque styling and grow in size for its next generation.

Everything we know about the Hyundai Tucson

iCaur V27

On sale October

Known as iCar in China and rebranded to avoid the wrath of Apple's lawyers, this Chery-owned 4x4 brand will come to the UK with its Defender-rivalling V27 off-roader.

Everything we know about the iCaur V27

Jaecoo 8

On sale March

Biggest Jaecoo model yet is set to rival the Skoda Kodiaq. We're sure you'll see them everywhere soon.

Everything we know about the Jaecoo 8

Jaguar Type 00

On sale December

Oh, come on – you know all this by now. The biggest unveiling of 2024 will be followed by the biggest launch of 2026. JLR isn’t looking back as it kick-starts a complete, ground-up reinvention of the storied Jaguar marque – partly because this imposing super-GT doesn’t have a rear window.

Read about our first ride in the production Type 00

Jeep Cherokee

On sale October

New generation of Discovery rival gains new styling and an EV version with more than 200 miles of range.

Everything we know about the Jeep Cherokee

Jeep Recon

On sale November

Not merely an electrified Wrangler but Jeep's first purpose-built electric off-roader. A pivotal model for America's favourite 4x4 purveyor, the Recon features a sparky 670bhp, 620lb ft, dual-motor powertrain that, according to Jeep's CEO, proves that "electrification isn't just compatible" with off-roading but can actually "elevate it".

Naturally, though, the Recon has a lot to prove as an electric take on the beloved Wrangler. Removable doors are a good start.

Everything we know about the Jeep Recon

KGM Musso EV

On sale February

Reinvigorated Korean 4x4 specialist turns its utilitarian pick-up truck electric for its next generation.

Kia EV2

On sale July

Kia’s smallest and – at less than £25,000 – most affordable electric car yet is a chunky little crossover to fight the Renault 4. It will offer between 196 miles and 278 miles of range, depending on which version you buy.

Everything we know about the Kia EV2

Kia EV3 GT

On sale September

Stocky crossover sets its sights on the Cupra Born VZ. New GT version employs two motors for a significant bump in power from the standard car’s 201bhp to 288bhp.

Read our Kia EV3 review

Kia EV4 GT

On sale July

Hot version of the electric hatchback aims to offer a mix of performance and real-world usability, with engagement boosted by Kia’s simulated gearbox system. Sits lower and stiffer too.

Everything we know about the Kia EV4 GT

Kia K4 Sportswagon

On sale August

Ceed replacement will sprout a Skoda Octavia Estate rival and later in the year a fleet-friendly K4 Hybrid.

Read our Kia K4 review

Kia Niro

On sale October

The EV version's success with business fleets, plus the hybrid's popularity with private buyers, has won the Niro a reprieve. A new look brings it into line with Kia's newcomers and the interior has been modernised to boot.

Everything we know about the new Kia Niro

Kia Seltos

On sale September

Second-gen crossover is coming to the UK for the first time, positioned between the Niro and Sportage.

Everything we know about the Kia Seltos

Land Rover Defender Sport

On sale December

The Defender is JLR's best-seller- so launching a more affordable one is a no-brainer. Expected to replace the Discovery Sport, the new entry-level model will be a fierce rival to Mercedes "Little G".

Everything we know about the Defender Sport

Leapmotor A05

On sale October

Electric supermini should undercut European rivals at around £20k and could pip them on range to boot.

Leapmotor B03X

On sale August

Boxy crossover from Stellantis-backed Chinese brand is a circa-£25k Ford Puma Gen-E rival.

Everything we know about the Leapmotor B03X

Leapmotor B05

On sale June

Touted as a “dream car for young people who refuse to settle”. Not an indication of ride quality, we hope.

Everything we know about the Leapmotor B05

Lepas L8

Chery, the firm that brought you Omoda, Jaecoo and, erm, Chery, is launching yet another new brand here. Proudly of the bargain basement, Lepas will start with the Dacia Duster-rivalling L8.

Everything we know about Lepas

Lexus ES

On sale April

Striking eighth-generation BMW 5 Series rival is set to dispense with petrol power in the UK, going EV-only.

Everything we know about the Lexus ES

Lotus Eletre Super Hybrid

On sale April

With sales plummeting and debts increasing, it’s looking like massive luxury EVs weren’t the key to Lotus’s future. Perhaps massive luxury hybrids will be. We’ll find out once the Eletre gains a mega-range PHEV option this year.

Everything we know about the Lotus Eletre PHEV

Lotus Type 134

On sale October

Long-delayed Porsche Macan rival is tipped to offer a choice of electric and long-range PHEV powertrains.

Everything we know about the Lotus Type 134

Mazda 6e

On sale February

Elegant 6 saloon makes an electric comeback cloaking Chinese underpinnings with a characteristically striking design.

Read our Mazda 6e review

Mazda CX-5

On sale June

Handsome SUV has grown to match Toyota RAV4 in next generation and been tuned for greater refinement.

Everything we know about the Mazda CX-5

Mazda CX-6e

On sale September

Chinese electric SUV co-developed with Changan is coming to the UK, bringing with it a huge 26in infotainment touchscreen. Although it's not strictly a Mazda underneath, it points the way for the next iteration of the brand's design language.

Everything we know about the Mazda CX-6e

McLaren W1

On sale August

Woking's successor to the legendary P1 is a V8-engined hybrid hypercar that sends 1258bhp to its rear wheels. Heavily influenced by Formula 1, it's one of the most technologically advanced cars in the world today.

Everything we know about the McLaren W1

Mercedes-AMG CLA 45

On sale September

Hot version of new electric CLA saloon will be a 500bhp BMW M3 chaser with a drift mode and a hydraulically actuated rear wing.

Everything we know about the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45

Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé

On sale June

The future of Mercedes performance brand is this 1300bhp EV with the ability to go from 0-62mph faster than you can say its name. Previewed by the Concept GT XX, it will sit on an advanced new platform and could potentially be the slipperiest car on sale. Autocar understands a two-door electric GT is also in the works.

Read about our first ride in the AMG GT XX concept

Mercedes-Benz C-Class EQ

On sale August

Like the BMW i3, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class will go electric for the first time. It will major on interior tech, offering the biggest touchscreen yet fitted in one of the brand's cars. Elsewhere, expect powertrains ranging from a 335bhp rear-driven option to a 482bhp 4Matic, and charging speeds of up to 400kW.

Everything we know about the Mercedes-Benz C-Class EQ

Mercedes-Benz CLA Hybrid

On sale February

New petrol-engined hybrid system allows wind-cheating saloon to be more efficient overall than the outgoing diesel CLA.

Read our Mercedes-Benz CLA hybrid review

Mercedes-Benz GLA

On sale October

Crossover counterpart of new CLA goes after BMW X1 and iX1 with a choice of ultra-efficient combustion and electric powertrains.

Everything we know about the new Mercedes-Benz GLA

Mercedes-Benz GLB

On sale April

Second-generation seven-seat SUV can be specified with more screens than your local Odeon.

Everything we know about the new Mercedes-Benz GLB

Mercedes-Benz GLC EQ

On sale July

Crucial electric version of brand best-seller gets massive, star-spangled grille and almost-as-massive 39.1in touchscreen.

Everything we know about the new Mercedes-Benz GLC EQ

Mercedes-Benz GLE

On sale September

BMW X5 rival will get stars in its eyes as part of an update to bring it into line with new GLC EQ.

Read our Mercedes-Benz GLE review

Mercedes-Benz GLS

On sale July

Stuttgart's limo-SUV grows even bolder with an imposing new look and tech borrowed from its newer siblings. Expect screens. Lots of em.

Read our Mercedes-Benz GLS review

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

On sale July

Luxury saloon is gets the biggest mid-life update of any S-Class yet, with a fresh look, new tech and a 530bhp flat-plane-crank V8 – although the S580 that gets this engine isn't set to come to the UK. Boo.

Everything we know about the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Mercedes-Benz VLS

On sale August

What if the S-Class were a van? We’re about to find out. Mercedes used the, ahem, striking Vision V-Class concept to show us how an ultra-luxury MPV “could even offer more” than its longstanding flagship limo, and the production version will take that thinking into showrooms.

Everything we know about the Mercedes-Benz VLS

MG 4 EV

On sale September

Updated version of MG's seminal electric hatch drops the option of a standard-range battery to make room for the new Urban model (below), while also gaining interior tweaks aimed at improving perceived quality.

Read our MG 4 EV review

MG 4 EV Urban

Newcomer adopts the MG 4 EV name but is actually a completely different car underneath. Where the 'old' 4 is rear-wheel-drive, the Urban has a single motor mounted up front. It will be priced from £23,495 and offer 201 miles of range; upgrading to the Long Range version nets 278 miles of range from £25,495.

Everything we know about the MG 4 EV Urban

MG S9 PHEV

On sale March

MG’s first seven-seater is a plug-in hybrid SUV that’s expected to have an electric-only range of 75 miles.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

On sale July

Japanese stalwart returns to the UK with the plug-in-hybrid family SUV that was once its best-seller. UK specifications have yet to be confirmed, but US-market cars get a 2.4-litre petrol engine and two electric motors (one per axle giving four-wheel drive), combining for 248bhp; while its electric-only range is rated at 38 miles.

Everything we know about the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

Mitsubishi L200

On sale July

Bulky pick-up will look to steal market share from the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux with a twin-turbocharged 2.4-litre diesel engine and various bits of off-road trickery.

Everything we know about the Mitsubishi L200

Nissan Ariya

On sale May

Subtle update brings electric SUV in line with new Leaf and introduces vehicle-to-load functionality.

Read our Nissan Ariya review

Nissan Leaf

On sale February

The only mainstream electric car currently built in the UK, this new crossover is almost as important as the original hatchback, which heralded the EV age in 2010.

Read our Nissan Leaf review

Omoda 4

On sale September

Yet another Chinese SUV, but a pretty eye-catching one, inspired by outer space.

Omoda 5 Hybrid

Omoda's first full-hybrid model is priced from £25,740, puts out 201bhp and is claimed to net 53mpg. The crossover will provide stiff competition for the Nissan Qashqai.

Everything we know about the Omoda 5 Hybrid

Peugeot 408

On sale March

Remember this one? Strange but decent fastback-crossover-whatsit has been be lightly restyled on the outside, but not much else has changed.

Everything we know about the Peugeot 408 facelift

Peugeot E-208 GTi

On sale June

The first Peugeot GTi in yonks is unashamedly inspired by the legendary hot 205 and has the mettle to back it, with a 278bhp electric motor and a limited-slip differential.

Everything we know about the new Peugeot e-208 GTi

Polestar 5

On sale March

UK-developed Porsche Taycan challenger has Lotus Elise-like construction, supercar pace, and no rear window.

Read our Polestar 5 prototype review

Porsche 911 GT2

On sale August

Most extreme and technically advanced 911 yet, with a heavily re-engineered version of the GTS's T-Hybrid six rumoured to make at least 750bhp.

Everything we know about the Porsche 911 GT2

Porsche Cayenne Electric

On sale July

The new-generation Cayenne is nothing like the original, but it has already proved just as polarising. This cutting-edge EV has up to 1140bhp, can outpace a 918 Spyder and can charge wirelessly.

Read our Porsche Cayenne Electric prototype review

Range Rover Electric

On sale October

This could be the best off-road EV yet, and it’s certainly proving pretty good at being off the road. Its scheduled 2025 launch has been pushed back to some time this year, allegedly to ensure it’s as capable as possible.

Read our Range Rover Electric prototype review

Range Rover Velar

On sale August

Second generation of style-focused SUV gains EV power and morphs into more of a high-riding saloon.

Everything we know about the new Range Rover Velar

Renault 4 Savane

On sale May

Tiny SUV gets a 15mm lift, grippier tyres and a second motor for four-wheel drive. Call it Scrappy-Doo.

Read our first off-road test of the Renault 4 Savane

Renault Megane

On sale July

Oldest Renault EV on sale is due a major refresh to reignite interest. Could spawn a hot RS model.

Read our Renault Megane E-Tech review

Renault Trafic

On sale May

Humble panel van goes space age alongside high-roofed Estafette and chassis-cab Goelette.

Renault Twingo

On sale November

Cute city car is revived as an entry-level EV with 163-mile range and circa-£17k price.

Everything we know about the new Renault Twingo

Skoda Peaq

On sale September

New Skoda range-topper incoming as a ‘Kodiaq EV’ with seven seats and a bold new design.

Everything we know about the Skoda Peaq

Skoda Epiq

On sale December

A questionably named but reassuringly no-nonsense little Skoda crossover. As close as we will get to an electric Fabia for the foreseeable future.

Everything we know about the Skoda Epiq

Smart #2

On sale December

New two-seat city car will revive the spirit of the original Smart car. And yes, it's smaller than the #1 (don't think about it too much).

Everything we know about the Smart #2

Subaru E-Outback

On sale September

Oddball Solterra SUV has been remoulded into an even odder lifted estate with a 375bhp dual-motor powertrain and a familiar name.

Everything we know about the Subaru E-Outback

Subaru Solterra

On sale July

Subaru’s rebadged Toyota bZ4X is given a more bespoke look and a handsome power bump to 333bhp.

Read our Subaru Solterra review

Subaru Uncharted

On sale April

Another reworked electric Toyota, this one is twinned with the C-HR+ and has more of an off-road focus.

Read our Subaru Uncharted review

Tesla Model 3/Y Standard

On sale June

Tesla strips some features out of benchmark EV duo to bring down costs and boost competitiveness.

Read our Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y reviews

Tesla Roadster

On sale November

Musk’s perennially delayed hobby horse, now with cold-gas thrusters, is set for 1 April debut (no comment).

Toyota bZ4X Touring

On sale May

Ever-sensible Toyota breaks the mould with a high-riding, outdoorsy electric estate making up to 376bhp.

Everything we know about the Toyota bZ4X Touring

Toyota C-HR+

On sale February

Ever-sensible Toyota stays firmly in the mould with an electric SUV that’s pleasant but uninspiring.

Read our Toyota C-HR+ review

Toyota GR Corolla

On sale July

Great news: Toyota will start building its hot Corolla in the UK this year, making it the first Gazoo Racing model assembled outside of Japan. That might just mean we're finally offered it.

Toyota GR GT

On sale December

After years of rumours, teasers and concepts, Toyota's thoroughbred is finally here Packing a hybridised, twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, the GR GT puts out 641bhp and 627lb ft, although Toyota has said these numbers could increase as development continues.

It's targeting a top speed of 198mph and is the company's first car to have an all-aluminium body.

Notably, there isn't a single Toyota badge on it. We're keenly awaiting our first go, but we expect it to become a mainstay of the race track before hitting the road in significant numbers.

Everything we know about the Toyota GR GT

Toyota Hilux BEV

On sale June

The world’s best-selling pick-up has gone electric for its ninth (ninth!) generation, offering 150 miles of range. The BEV will be sold alongside a mild-hybrid 2.8-litre diesel model in Europe.

Read our Toyota Hilux BEV review

Toyota Land Cruiser Hybrid 48V

On sale March

Defender rival is now exclusively a mild hybrid. You lose the third row of seats but Toyota claims the 2.8-litre diesel four now offers smoother and more comfortable performance. Yours for... £80k.

Read our Toyota Land Cruiser review

Toyota RAV4

On sale May

Evolution rather than revolution for next generation of Qashqai rival, which will be PHEV-only in the UK.

Everything we know about the new Toyota RAV4

Volkswagen Golf GTI 50

On sale May

The most powerful Golf GTI yet, this half-century special is even quicker around the Nürburgring than the four-wheel-drive Golf R. We’re not sure why it looks so angry about that.

Read our Volkswagen Golf GTI review

Volkswagen Golf Hybrid

On sale October

With demand still surging for combustion cars and at least another decade until they must be taken off sale in Europe, car makers are racing to clean up their ICE offerings to shore up sales – and keep emissions down – in the build-up to full electrification.

That’s why Volkswagen is making the landmark decision to introduce a full-hybrid powertrain to the huge-selling Golf next year.

This new series-parallel system – coming first to the new T-Roc – will work a bit like the Honda Civic’s, in that the Golf Hybrid will be able to drive on electric or petrol power at any one time or both when called for, with up to 170bhp at its disposal.

Everything we know about the Volkswagen Golf Hybrid

Volkswagen ID Cross

On sale July

An SUV-styled version of the ID Polo, this Ford Puma Gen-E rival is the same size as today’s T-Cross. Expect it to start from around £25k and offer 261 miles of range.

Everything we know about the Volkswagen ID Cross

Volkswagen ID Polo

On sale November

At long last, VW takes on the super-popular Renault 5 with a £22k EV supermini that inherits a famous name from the ICE era.

Read our Volkswagen ID Polo prototype review

Volkswagen ID Polo GTI

On sale December

Wolfsburg’s first electric hot hatch has the weight of umpteen inestimable forebears on its shoulders, needing to offer driving thrills that go beyond raw straight-line pace.

Everything we know about the Volkswagen ID Polo GTI

Volkswagen ID 3

On sale August

VW’s influential bespoke EV has been a bit overlooked of late. A new design, higher-quality interior and powertrain upgrades should put the hatch back on the map.

Read our Volkswagen ID 3 review

Volkswagen ID Tiguan

On sale August

It’s not often that a mid-life facelift is so extensive as to warrant a new name, but the ID 4 will be so heavily updated that it will be more like a new-generation car – and Volkswagen wants it to be seen as a logical EV alternative to its best-selling Tiguan. Expect styling influenced by the ID Cross concept, a completely revamped interior (with more buttons) and big upgrades for the internals.

Everything we know about the Volkswagen ID Tiguan

VW T-Roc

On sale April

The Golf of SUVs returns for a second generation. No diesels this time and still no plugin hybrids, but full hybrids are coming – as is a 329bhp R version.

Read our Volkswagen T-Roc review

Volvo ES90

On sale February

Software struggles stalled the start of Volvo’s bold new electric era, but its sumptuous, tech-heavy BMW i5 rival is now on its way to UK dealers.

Read our Volvo ES90 review

Volvo EX60

On sale May

Electric counterpart to Volvo's best-selling XC60 is heralded as a "game-changer", bringing a flexible new platform the longest range of any EV currently on sale in the UK: 503 miles between charges.

Everything we know about the Volvo EX60

Xpeng G6

On sale May

Left-field Model Y rival from China still looks like a robotic egg but can now charge at a dizzying 451kW.

Read our Xpeng G6 review

Xpeng G9

On sale October

Xpeng’s second UK offering is a big, premium SUV that can gain nearly 250 miles of range in 12 minutes.

Read our Xpeng G9 review

Xpeng X9

On sale March

An MPV? No, the X9 is actually a ‘starship’, according to Xpeng. This seven-set VW ID Buzz rival packs up to 496bhp, while its adaptive air suspension promises “the most comfortable driving experience”.

Everything we know about the Xpeng X9

Zeekr 7X

On sale: December

Geely, which owns Polestar and Volvo, will launch its Tesla-fighting brand in the UK this year. The 7X is a Volkswagen Touareg-sized EV with novel active suspension.

Read our Zeekr 7X review

Zeekr 7GT

On sale: September

Curvaceous estate is due in the UK later this year, rivalling the Volkswagen ID 7 with ranges of up to 413 miles and power outputs of up to 637bhp.

Everything we know about the Zeekr 7GT

Zenos E10

On sale April

Zenos returns after eight years with new version of ultra-light roadster. Different engine, six times pricier.

Read our Zenos E10 review

Zenvo Aurora

On sale November

Danish answer to Bugatti promises 1850bhp hypercar with quad-turbo V12 named after Thor’s hammer.

Everything we know about the Zenvo Aurora

Interesting engines we forgot all about

Thu, 14 May 2026 22:45:26 +0100

If Bugatti’s quad-turbocharged W16 is unique but memorable, here are those engines that are forgotten and distinctive

In the more than 130 years since the motor industry came into being, so many engines have been created that it’s almost impossible to keep track of them all.

Some – like the Chevrolet smallblock, the Ford Kent and the Porsche flat six – will probably remain in the public memory for a long time, but others are known today only to people with a particular interest in cars.

Here are 30 examples of the ones gradually being lost to time, listed in alphabetical order. While we’re sure you will know about some of them, congratulations are due if you were already aware of the full set.

AMC straight four

It would be easy to mistake this for a Chrysler engine, because it was used long after Chrysler took over the American Motors Corporation in 1987, but it was definitely the work of AMC. The original brief was to produce a unit which would power off-road vehicles, so durability and strong performance were design priorities right from the start.

The 2.5-liter straight four made its debut in Jeeps and the AMC Eagle (pictured) in 1983, and was still being used in the Wrangler SUV and the Dodge Dakota pickup in the early 21st century.

Austin Seven

Hardly any British motorists of the 1920s and 1930s – and indeed very few pedestrians – would have been unaware of the Austin Seven, which at one point even had a song written about it. The little car was exceptionally popular, and its four-cylinder engine (usually though not always measuring 747cc) was both economical in its standard form and capable of being tuned to produce remarkable amounts of power, especially when supercharged.

More than 80 years after the Seven was discontinued, there’s very little reason why a non-enthusiast should know about it, but there are plenty of these cars and their derivatives still around if you know where to look.

BMW M10

If it had a more evocative name than M10, this engine might be much better known than it is. Available in capacities from 1.5 to 2.0 liters, it was first used in the New Class saloons in 1962, and was still around more than a quarter of a century later.

In its most extreme form, it powered the celebrated BMW 2002 Turbo (pictured), and was also the basis of the S14 used in the first-generation BMW M3 and the turbocharged 1.5-liter M12 Formula 1 engine which, with the boost turned up in qualifying sessions, was estimated to produce around 1400bhp.

BMW V8

While it’s probably best known for its fours and sixes, BMW has also ventured into V8 and V12 territory. Its earliest V8 is also the only one described as overhead-valve (meaning that the valves are above the pistons but the camshaft is alongside them), and the reason you probably aren’t aware of it is that it hasn’t been used since 1965.

It had made its debut in 2.6-liter form 11 years earlier in the 502 saloon (pictured), and would later be expanded to 3.2 liters. Among other vehicles, it powered the fabulous, but also very unsuccessful, 507 sports car of the mid to late 1950s.

Chevrolet 90-degree V6

‘90-degree’ refers to the angle between the two banks of cylinders in this engine. It’s not ideal for a V6 (60 or 120 degrees would be more suitable) and therefore seems an odd choice for Chevrolet to make, until you discover that the engine was actually an abbreviated version of the smallblock V8.

The smallblock was already more than 20 years old when the V6 made its debut in 1978. It was fitted to a wide variety of GM vehicles, from pickup trucks to the Chevy Camaro. In turbocharged 4.3-liter form, it also powered the very fast, and now quite rare, high-performance GMC Typhoon SUV (pictured) and Syclone pickup.

Chrysler Poly V8

‘Poly’ here refers to the polyspheric shape of this V8’s combustion chambers, as opposed to the hemispheric ones in what would become known as the first-generation Chrysler Hemi. Introduced in 1955, this engine, available in capacities from 4.0 to 5.8 liters, was less efficient than the Hemi but much cheaper to build, which made it a reasonable choice for the low-cost Plymouth brand.

Chryslers would later receive the Poly too, but the engine was soon superseded by one known simply as the A, and was never fitted to anything after 1958.

(PICTURE: 1956 Plymouth Belvedere convertible)

Chrysler slant six

This straight six engine is said to have been canted over at an angle of 30 degrees so that it would fit under the bonnet of the 1960 Valiant (later branded as a Plymouth), and was never mounted upright in anything else due to the cost of conversion.

Measuring 2.8, 3.2 or 3.7 liters, it was used in many Chrysler, Dodges and Plymouths into the 1980s without ever causing much excitement, except when fitted with the option Hyper Pak which improved its performance greatly.

(PICTURE: 1966 Plymouth Valiant)

Citroën flat four

The Citroën 2CV and its various derivatives were famously powered by an air-cooled flat twin engine, but it’s less well remembered that the company also produced a similar but larger flat four. Available in capacities from 1.0 to 1.3 liters, it was used in the ingenious GS introduced in 1970 (pictured), and later renamed GSA, and in the Ami Super.

These cars do not figure highly in motoring life today, but they are probably better remembered in most countries than the Romanian Oitcit Club, which had the same engine.

Citroën Traction Avant

It’s a strange quirk of Citroën history that two of its most innovative models had engines which hardly anyone talks about. The Traction Avant of 1934 was usually fitted a with a four-cylinder motor, measuring up to 1.9 liters, but that fact tends to get swamped in discussion about its low-slung body and the then radical feature of front-wheel drive.

The same engine was later reworked for the brilliant DS (pictured) and its lower-budget equivalent, the ID, but people inevitably prefer to discuss its remarkable aerodynamics, fantastic appearance and hydropneumatic suspension rather than the bit that makes the noise.

Daimler 2.5-liter V8

The engine derived by Rover from a Buick design is easily the longest-lived and most common smallblock British V8, and has completely eclipsed the slightly earlier unit of the same layout produced by Daimler.

This was used from 1959 in the SP250 sports car, but far more frequently in the 2.5 V8 saloon, a version of the six-cylinder Mk2 produced by Daimler’s then owner, Jaguar. Like the same brand’s 4.5-liter V8 of the same period, it was canned when Jaguar, and therefore also Daimler, became part of the new British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968.Unfair, as it was a smooth and sweet unit that deserved a longer life.

Ferrari 2.0-liter V8

By reducing the cylinder bore of its 2.9-liter Dino V8 engine, Ferrari brought the capacity down to just under 2.0 liters in 1975. Performance naturally suffered, but with this engine installed the Dino GT4 became much cheaper to tax in Italy, and therefore more appealing to less wealthy Ferrari aspirants.

The same engine was used for the same reason in the 208 GTB and GTS from 1980. Two years later, it was turbocharged, leading to a substantial increase in power from the previous 153bhp to 217bhp.

Fiat 100 Series

If ever an engine was hidden in plain sight, it was the 100 Series. The little four-cylinder unit – so unassuming that you might never have been aware of it until now – made its debut in the Fiat 600 in 1955, and went on to be used, in capacities from 0.6 to 1.0 liters, in a quite staggering number of other small Fiats, as well as in Autobianchis, Lancias, Seats and Yugos.

Strictly speaking, it was replaced in 1985 by the Fully Integrated Robotised Engine (FIRE), but it continued to be churned out for many years after that.

Ford Sidevalve

The term Ford sidevalve applies to two engines of very similar design measuring 933cc and 1172cc respectively, and introduced, in that order, in the 1932 Model Y (pictured) and the 1934 Model C. It was still appearing in British Fords in the early 1960s, and was also used in cars produced by the then separate Ford of Germany.

The larger version was the basis of the 1172 Formula racing class, and powered a great many specialist sports and competition cars.

Ford Thriftpower six

Including the one fitted to the Model K in 1906, the Thriftpower was the fourth of Ford’s straight six engines. Like the Fiat 100 Series, it doesn’t have a particularly special place in motoring history, but it was certainly used widely.

Initially appearing in the 1960 Falcon (hence its alternative name, Falcon six), it was available in capacities ranging from 2.4 to 4.1 liters and survived into the early 1980s, having on several occasions even served as a much less exciting alternative to V8s of one kind or another in the Mustang.

Ford V4

You get two engines for the price of one here, because both Ford of Britain and Ford of Germany produced V4 engines (a layout now no longer used in any car) in the 1960s and 1970s. The German one (pictured inset), known either as Taunus or Cologne, was the smaller of the two, with capacities from 1.2 to 1.7 liters, and was fitted in many locally-built Fords, as well as in several Saabs, the Matra 530 sports car and, oddly enough, the Mustang I concept of 1962.

The Essex V4, measuring either 1.7 or 2.0 liters, first appeared in the Corsair (pictured) and the Transit van in 1965, and would later be used in the Capri and Granada.

Ford Y-Block

A relatively short production life of 10 years means that the Y-Block is one of the less famous of the classic Ford V8 engines. The replacement for the Flathead was introduced in 1954, and was used in many cars and trucks – including the first-generation Thunderbird (pictured) – with capacities ranging from 3.9 to 5.1 liters.

The second of those figures seemed increasingly inadequate for an American V8 as the years went on, and that partly explains why Ford developed the smallblock Windsor and the big block FE, both of which could be made significantly larger.

Lancia V4

Ford’s involvement with V4 engines was far shorter than that of Lancia, which persevered with the now largely abandoned layout for more than half a century. There were many Lancia V4s over the years, but they were all characterised by a remarkably narrow angle between the two banks of cylinders.

The last Lancia V4 was used in the Fulvia Coupe, one of the most successful rally cars in the world in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Mazda 20B

Wankel rotary engines have occasionally had just a single rotor, but more often two. Even experts in the subject may need reminding that Mazda (by far the manufacturer most loyal to this ingenious but problematic type of engine) once created a road car which had three rotors.

It was branded not as a Mazda but as the Eunos Cosmo. Produced from 1990 to 1996, this premium coupe was also well ahead of the game due to its built-in satellite navigation system, but that additional piece of trivia seems to have been largely forgotten too.

Mercedes M111

Not greatly celebrated even when it was in production (because, to be fair, it didn’t need to be), the M111 was the ‘bread and butter’ Mercedes four-cylinder petrol engine for most of the 1990s and into the early 21st century. Measuring anything from 1.8 to 2.3 liters, it was used in most Mercedes models from the C-Class upwards, and also in several South Korean SsangYongs.

The M111 was at its most interesting when supercharged, as it was in cars whose names included the letter K, standing for Kompressor.

Opel CIH

CIH stands for ‘cam in head’, a reference to the fact that although the camshaft was mounted above the cylinders rather alongside them, it was still operated by pushrods. The CIH family included both four- and six-cylinder engines, and first appeared in the Opel Rekord in 1965.

The most memorable CIH units were the 2.4-liter four used in the Ascona 400 and Manta 400 homologation specials, which were successful in rallying, and the twin-turbo 3.6-liter six which contributed so positively to the reputation of the car known in the UK as the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (pictured) and in other markets as the Opel Lotus Omega.

Panhard flat twin

Asked to name a French air-cooled flat twin engine, most motoring enthusiasts would probably think first of the one used in the Citroën 2CV. Hardly anyone’s mind would jump immediately to Panhard, but this much smaller, and now long gone, company specialised in exactly that type of motor from 1945 until its absorption into – strangely enough – Citroën in 1967.

The same basic engine was used first in the very quirky Panhard Dyna X and finally in the far more elegant Panhard 24 (pictured), and measured between 610cc and 851cc depending on which model it was fitted to.

Saab B

The 2.0-liter B engine was Saab’s 1972 redesign of the Triumph slant four, which had been fitted to the Saab 99 saloon since 1968. It was redesigned again to become the H in 1981, but throughout the 1970s it was Saab’s premier engine, powering the 99 and larger 900 while the 96 made do with the V4 unit imported from Ford.

The most famous B, and probably the one best remembered today, was the forced-induction version which, as fitted to the 99 Turbo, was largely responsible for bringing the terms ‘turbocharger’ and, less happily, ‘turbo lag’ into everyday conversation.

Saab two-stroke twin

Most people who know about Saab’s history are aware that the Swedish company bought in the German Ford V4 engine to replace its own three-cylinder two-stroke in 1967.

Less well remembered is that the latter was actually Saab’s second engine, the first being a two-cylinder unit used only in the 92, which went into production in 1949.

The twin had a capacity of 764cc and was therefore slightly larger than the first version of the triple, which measured just 748cc. The situation was reversed when the triple was expanded to 841cc during the lifetime of the 96.

Simca Poissy

Named after the French town where Simca had a factory (and Stellantis still does), the Poissy was a small four-cylinder engine which first appeared in 1961, mounted in the rear of the Simca 1000 (pictured). It went on to be used in many other vehicles, including the Simca 1100 and Simca 1307, the latter known in the UK as the Chrysler Alpine.

The 1307/Alpine was launched after Simca had become part of Chrysler Europe. This was taken over by Peugeot in 1978, which led to the Poissy being used in some Peugeot models up to around 1990.

Trojan

Between the two World Wars, the British Trojan company produced thousands of cars and trucks powered by one of the strangest engines ever invented. The horizontal four-cylinder two-stroke unit was mounted underneath the seats, and could work only if the conrods flexed during operation, something which would normally lead to immediate disappointment. Very little power was produced, but the engine was almost unburstable, as savage destruction tests are reputed to have shown.

The engine was also so economical that Trojan was able to claim in its ads that driving one of its cars for 200 miles would be cheaper than walking the same distance. Despite this splendid piece of marketing, the rest of the motor industry completed ignored the design, and has not come up with anything remotely like it.

Vauxhall A-Type

In 1908, the year he turned 25, Laurence Pomeroy (1883-1941) took advantage of the fact that his boss was on holiday in Egypt and single-handedly designed a brilliant 3.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Astonishingly powerful for its size and time, it was first used in the Vauxhall A-Type, and was reworked for later models including the famous 30-98.

It’s now largely forgotten simply because it was created so long ago, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Vauxhall and its young engineer once produced an absolute marvel.

Vauxhall slant four

The cylinders in this engine were inclined 45 degrees from the vertical, partly to reduce height and partly because of plans to double it up into a V8 version, which in fact never made production. Even in its original form, though, the slant four performed well in a large number of vehicles, starting with the 1967 Vauxhall Victor (pictured) and including the Bedford CF van.

The most famous version was the 2.3-liter twin-cam used in the Chevette HS and HSR, both of which performed well in international rallying in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Volkswagen W8

A small number of fourth-generation Volkswagen Passats were fitted with a very unusual W8 engine. This was created by mounting two narrow-angle V4 engines on a common crankcase, producing a unit which, though wide, was very short, and therefore easy to fit if mounted longitudinally.

The Passat W8 was produced from 2001 to 2004. The next-generation model had its engine mounted transversely, which made the W8 completely unsuitable. Volkswagen, having been the first manufacturer to attempt the layout, has not returned to it since then, and nobody else has tried it either.

Volvo B18

The 1.8-liter B18 launched in 1961 and its slightly later 2.0-liter B20 derivative were exceptionally strong, though otherwise unremarkable, engines which simply got on with the job they were supposed to do without fuss, in a very Volvo-like way.

As a result, they are not well remembered today, but one example of the B18 is, ironically, one of the most famous engines in the world. It was fitted to the Volvo 1800S which schoolteacher Irv Gordon (1941-2018, pictured) drove for 3.2 million miles, a world record for a privately owned car.

The most surprising cars ever to be made

Thu, 14 May 2026 22:42:23 +0100

The cars unlike anything their maker – sometimes any maker – had created before. Richard Bremner reviews the good, the bad and the ugly cars that were just plain different

A Ferrari soft-roader?

Rolls-Royce Cullinan (2019)

Aston Martin Cygnet (2010)

What we said then: “To the majority of buyers of today’s conventional city cars, the launch of the new Aston Martin Cygnet must rank as one of the daftest this century.”

Audi R8 (2006)

What we said then: “The most radical road-goer to wear four rings since records began.”

Toyota Yaris Verso (1999)

What we said then: “Brilliant package with neatly designed seating arrangement, all for a good price.”

Renault Twizy (2009)

What we said then: “It’s another electric vehicle that, we can’t help but conclude, would be better with its own power source on board. But the Twizy has a loveable character.”

Volkswagen Phaeton (2003)

What we said then: “If there’s one word that seems to define the VW Phaeton it’s ‘why?’.”

Chrysler Delta (2011)

What we said then: “A bit different from the norm, but too patchy to recommend it.”

Fiat Multipla (1998)

What we said then: “There should be more cars on the road like the Multipla. As a means of transporting families, it is a work of genius.”

BMW X5 (2000)

What we said then: “An extreme take on the whole crossover concept.”

Mercedes Vaneo (2002)

What we said then: “Its versatility should see it appealing to those with more than just kids to move around.”

Peugeot 1007 (2005)

What we said then: “The 1007 delivers both a compact exterior and a truly upmarket interior ambience.”

Porsche Cayenne (2002)

What we said then: “Massively talented Cayenne keeps faith with Porsche heritage. It’s fast, sure-footed and surprisingly nimble for an SUV.”

Ssangyong Rodius (2004)

What we said then: “Is it possible to get past the Rodius’s look? Yes, but what’s underneath isn’t much better.”

Honda Insight (1999)

What we said then: “Bristles with fuel-saving technology yet should be as easy to own as a Civic.”

Renault Avantime (2001)

What we said then: “Renault’s GT has radically different design ideas.”

Alfa Romeo SZ (1989)

What we said then: “Nice legs, shame about the face.”

Jeep Commander (2005)

What we said then: “Although the Commander is about as rectilinear as it’s possible for a car to be, the space increase over the Grand Cherokee is not that impressive.”

Jaguar I-Pace (2018)

What we said then: “Could this week’s road test subject be the most significant to leave the halls of a British manufacturer since the McLaren F1?”

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (1990)

What we said then: “What makes the Lotus Carlton a truly great super car is the sober thoroughness of its execution.”

Once transformed, this 377bhp Vauxhall out sprinted Ferrari’s Testarossa and annihilated the BMW M5 to become the fastest saloon in the world. Nobody expected that.

Mini Coupé (2011)

Bentley Bentayga (2015)

What we said then: “Ettore Bugatti was not being entirely kind when he described a Bentley racing car as ‘le camion plus vite du monde’ – the world’s fastest truck.”

Renault Vel Satis (2001)

What we said then: “This quirky exec is interesting and luxurious if not entirely convincing.”

Scoring that conceptual bulls-eye was about the Vel Satis’s only success, though. This awkward, bustle-backed hatch managed neither to handle like a BMW nor to ride like a Renault.

Nissan Figaro (1991)

What we said then: “The Figaro’s perky turbocharged 1.0-litre engine, convertible roof, generous spec and looks could get the car a cult following.”

6 things you need to know about the Skoda Elroq vRS

Thu, 14 May 2026 18:00:00 +0100

Can a peppering of performance upgrades make this already-superb electric SUV even better?

The vRS badge has a proud and somewhat improbable history. Born from Škoda's motorsport heritage – those hand-built 130 RS rally specials of the 1970s – and brought to road cars with the original Octavia vRS in 2001, those three letters have always stood for something specific: a meaningful injection of performance into an already-capable package, without sacrificing the everyday qualities that make Škoda cars so easy to live with. 'Victory Rally Sport', as the name officially has it, delivered in a way that never asks too much of you.

What's remarkable is how well that formula translates to the electric age. The Škoda Elroq vRS represents the first time the badge has appeared on a compact electric crossover, and rather than merely bolting on more power, Škoda has engineered the car from the ground up to be genuinely more capable in every dimension. Autocar’s testers awarded it 4 stars – here's why.

Learn more about the Škoda Elroq vRS

#1 It's the fastest-accelerating Skoda ever made

Let that sink in for a moment. Not the quickest Elroq, not the quickest electric Škoda – the quickest road car the brand has produced in its entire 130-year history. Two electric motors – one on each axle – produce a combined 340PS and a substantial 545Nm, driving all four wheels through a single-speed automatic transmission. The result: 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds.Crucially, that performance arrives in a way that's entirely in keeping with the vRS ethos. Autocar's road testers noted that the powertrain delivers its punch smoothly and progressively rather than as a shock-and-awe routine – the uptake of propulsive force is exploitable rather than alarming, with that body of torque easy to deploy precisely. Overtakes are effortless, and the all-wheel drive system means traction is, in road tester Illya Verpraet’s words, "nigh unbreakable."

#2 It's not just more power – it's a comprehensively retuned chassis

This is where the Elroq vRS earns its badge most convincingly. Škoda's engineers didn't simply drop the dual-motor powertrain into the standard car and call it a day. The entire chassis has been recalibrated for the job.

Compared to the regular Elroq, the vRS sits 15mm lower at the front and 10mm lower at the rear, thanks to shorter springs. Thicker anti-roll bars front and rear reduce body roll through corners without harshening the ride. Dynamic Chassis Control – with 15 individually adjustable levels of damper stiffness – comes as standard, and the results are striking. Illya Verpraet found that going one or two clicks softer than the factory Comfort setting "results in rather a lovely, steadfast fluidity that, in terms of ride quality, isn't far off what you get in a BMW 5 Series." The wider 255-section rear tyres – paired with 235-section fronts, just as you'd find on a serious performance car – sharpen the lateral responses further still, giving the vRS a subtly more aggressive stance and making it, in Autocar's assessment, a superbly capable cross-country tool.

#3 The vRS-specific styling details are worth knowing about

The Elroq vRS makes its intent clear from the outside, but with the restraint that's always been the hallmark of the performance sub-brand. Unique vRS bumpers front and rear sharpen the visual drama without resorting to overwrought aero addenda. The illuminated Tech-Deck Face hides the driver assistance sensors behind the front fascia, keeping the design clean. Gloss black detailing runs throughout, and 20in Draconis black alloy wheels are standard, with 21in Vision anthracite wheels available as an option. Autocar's deputy road test editor Richard Lane suggested he'd have his in Timiano Green on the smaller 20in wheels – "play into the car's understated character, which it underwrites with considerable ability and breadth."

Inside, the vRS Lounge interior wraps the cabin in black Suedia microfibre and premium leather-style trim, with lime green stitching running throughout. Carbon-effect decorative inserts reinforce the sporting intent, while the electrically adjustable driver's seat includes memory function, power lumbar support, and a massage function as standard – all framed by a heated three-spoke vRS sports steering wheel with regen paddles. Autocar's Verpraet was particularly taken with the seats: "Škoda does seats really well – soft and comfortable on long distances, but with enough lateral support in the corners." The CANTON premium sound system (13 speakers) and an augmented reality head-up display complete a standard specification list that reads like a premium options sheet.

#4 The range and charging figures are seriously impressive

For a car with 340PS and all-wheel drive, the Elroq vRS's energy credentials impress. The 84kWh battery (79kWh usable) delivers a WLTP-rated range of 340 miles – substantially more than most rivals in this performance bracket, and considerably more than the Cupra Born VZ or Volvo EX30 Twin Motor.

Maximum DC rapid-charging speed is 185kW – as Autocar noted, "a good deal more than most rivals" – and delivers a 10–80% charge in around 26 minutes at a compatible rapid charger. For daily charging, a 7.2kW home wallbox takes approximately 12 hours to a full charge, while Škoda's Smart Schedule feature allows drivers to programme charging around cheaper off-peak electricity tariffs.

#5 It's as practical as any Elroq – which is saying something

The performance credentials of the Elroq vRS take nothing away from the standard car's class-leading practicality. Despite being a compact crossover, boot space is 470 litres with seats up – not far short of a BMW M3 Touring, as Autocar noted – and 1580 litres with the rear seats folded. Rear passenger space is genuinely generous for the segment, and the wide cabin accommodates adults comfortably across all three rear positions.

Škoda's ‘Smart, Spacious and Stylish’ details remain present and correct throughout: the umbrella compartment in the driver's door, the height-adjustable parcel shelf, the rear cupholders, the charging cable storage net. Standard equipment includes a 13in touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, dual-zone climate control, and Škoda Connect remote services. Autocar's verdict on the interior was unequivocal – "just as spacious and practical as the standard Elroq," with a "grown-up, cosseting ambience during long drives." That's a combination few performance EVs of any size can match.

#6 The price makes more sense than you might think

At £46,970 OTR, the Elroq vRS sits in a competitive segment. Autocar acknowledged it isn't cheap, but the specification case is compelling. Unlike the Cupra Born VZ – its most obvious rival on performance – the Elroq vRS brings dual motors, all-wheel drive, a larger battery, and significantly more range to the table as standard. It's also eligible for the Government's £1500 Electric Car Grant (subject to eligibility and final purchase price).

For company car drivers, the calculation is particularly attractive. The Elroq vRS sits in the 4% Benefit-in-Kind band for the 2026/27 tax year, making it seriously tax-efficient against equivalently performing petrol or hybrid alternatives. Škoda backs it up with a three-year vehicle warranty, a three-year paint warranty, 12-year body protection, and an eight-year, 100,000-mile high-voltage battery warranty.

As Richard Lane concluded in Autocar’s review: "Seen as an extra-capable, extra-lavish Elroq, rather than a committed performance derivative, the Elroq vRS has plenty of appeal." For a compact performance electric crossover that can cover 270 real-world miles, charge at 185kW, carry a family in genuine comfort, and sprint to 62mph in 5.4 seconds – all as the fastest-accelerating road car Škoda has ever built – that appeal is very easy to understand.

Learn more about the Škoda Elroq vRS

JLR will not stop Chery bringing Freelander brand to UK, says CEO

Thu, 14 May 2026 14:29:27 +0100

PB Balaji says new brand "is Chery’s” and JLR would “let them make up their mind” about bringing it here

JLR won't stop Chery bringing the new Freelander brand to the UK, new CEO PB Balaji has said, and the Chinese-built SUVs won't cannibalise any current Land Rover products if they are sold here.

The Freelander 8 was revealed at the start of May as a large 4x4 and the first in a wave of new Freelander-badged cars destined for sale globally; Chery plans to introduce a new model every six months for the next five years.

These are being created as part of a long-standing joint venture between the two car makers. JLR has licenced the Freelander name to Chery and has penned the cars' designs, but they will be engineered and built by the Chinese company in China.

Sales will begin later this year initially in China before Freelanders are exported to other regions. Autocar previously reported that Chery was plotting which markets it would send those models to, with Europe and the UK not ruled out.

Freelander CEO Wen Fei previously said that any cars exported to Europe wouldn't be adapted Chinese-market models but instead bespoke derivatives tailored to each market’s demands.

Asked if JLR would give Chery its blessing to sell Freelanders here, given that the British company owns the brand name, Balaji said that “it’s Chery’s car” and JLR would “let them make up their mind”.

He added: “The car will be sold primarily in China to begin with, and then they will have to decide their plans for bringing it out to the rest of the world.

“And from our perspective, our role is ensuring that the design is in sync with what JLR stands for, and thereafter it is completely their baby.”

Balaji’s comments also strongly suggest that, if those Freelanders are sold in the UK and Europe, they won't be marketed by JLR or placed in its showrooms.

Speaking further about any potential cannibalisation of JLR’s cars, especially given the Freelanders are to be positioned within the same segments as Discovery and Defender models, Balaji said he wasn't worried.

“The price positioning of Freelander and our price positions are different," he explained. "The product offerings are different. So we don't see ourselves competing with each other.

"We see it as ‘together we should be expanding the market’. So let them make up their mind as to how they want to play the game."

Watch: Caterham Project V hits the test track

Thu, 14 May 2026 12:20:02 +0100

New video shows British company's 268bhp, 1430kg electric sports car on the move as development ramps up

Caterham has released a video showing its new electric sports car, the Project V, on the move.

The footage shows a prototype conducting various manoeuvres on a test track, including charging and braking from high speed.

The first rolling prototype of the coupé was displayed at January's Tokyo Auto Salon, marking a major milestone in its development.

Caterham had previously been tight-lipped about the car's development following the October 2024 annoucement that it would use an electric motor supplied by Yamaha.

The British company said in December 2025 that it was evaluating the EV's motor and battery performance, as well as the durability of its chassis.

“This next step enables us to complete a comprehensive vehicle testing programme,” said CEO Kazuho Takahashi.

Takahasi – who is also president and founder of Japanese firm VT Holdings, which acquired Caterham in 2021 – assumed control last month after Bob Laishley stepped down.

The Project V was first shown in concept form at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was originally earmarked for a market launch this year.

The new video shows the prototype is largely similar to the concept unveiled three years ago. Key changes include a swap from polygonal rear lights to four round items – reminiscent of those on the Ferrari F355 – and a swap from a bespoke steering wheel with an airbag to an off-the-shelf Momo part without one.

It remains to be seen whether the latter part will be retained for the production car.

The testing prototype also has four seats, rather than the three of the concept.

Caterham said the Project V will have 268bhp, weigh 1430kg and dispatch the 0-62mph dash in less than 5.0sec. It had originally targeted a mass of 1190kg and a 0-62mph time of less than 4.5sec.

It's also aiming to achieve an official range of 249 miles and a 20-80% charging time of 20 minutes.

The most surprising cars ever to be made

Thu, 14 May 2026 11:50:34 +0100

The cars unlike anything their maker – sometimes any maker – had created before. Richard Bremner reviews the good, the bad and the ugly cars that were just plain different

A Ferrari soft-roader?

Rolls-Royce Cullinan (2019)

Aston Martin Cygnet (2010)

What we said then: “To the majority of buyers of today’s conventional city cars, the launch of the new Aston Martin Cygnet must rank as one of the daftest this century.”

Audi R8 (2006)

What we said then: “The most radical road-goer to wear four rings since records began.”

Toyota Yaris Verso (1999)

What we said then: “Brilliant package with neatly designed seating arrangement, all for a good price.”

Renault Twizy (2009)

What we said then: “It’s another electric vehicle that, we can’t help but conclude, would be better with its own power source on board. But the Twizy has a loveable character.”

Volkswagen Phaeton (2003)

What we said then: “If there’s one word that seems to define the VW Phaeton it’s ‘why?’.”

Chrysler Delta (2011)

What we said then: “A bit different from the norm, but too patchy to recommend it.”

Fiat Multipla (1998)

What we said then: “There should be more cars on the road like the Multipla. As a means of transporting families, it is a work of genius.”

BMW X5 (2000)

What we said then: “An extreme take on the whole crossover concept.”

Mercedes Vaneo (2002)

What we said then: “Its versatility should see it appealing to those with more than just kids to move around.”

Peugeot 1007 (2005)

What we said then: “The 1007 delivers both a compact exterior and a truly upmarket interior ambience.”

Porsche Cayenne (2002)

What we said then: “Massively talented Cayenne keeps faith with Porsche heritage. It’s fast, sure-footed and surprisingly nimble for an SUV.”

Ssangyong Rodius (2004)

What we said then: “Is it possible to get past the Rodius’s look? Yes, but what’s underneath isn’t much better.”

Honda Insight (1999)

What we said then: “Bristles with fuel-saving technology yet should be as easy to own as a Civic.”

Renault Avantime (2001)

What we said then: “Renault’s GT has radically different design ideas.”

Alfa Romeo SZ (1989)

What we said then: “Nice legs, shame about the face.”

Jeep Commander (2005)

What we said then: “Although the Commander is about as rectilinear as it’s possible for a car to be, the space increase over the Grand Cherokee is not that impressive.”

Jaguar I-Pace (2018)

What we said then: “Could this week’s road test subject be the most significant to leave the halls of a British manufacturer since the McLaren F1?”

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (1990)

What we said then: “What makes the Lotus Carlton a truly great super car is the sober thoroughness of its execution.”

Once transformed, this 377bhp Vauxhall out sprinted Ferrari’s Testarossa and annihilated the BMW M5 to become the fastest saloon in the world. Nobody expected that.

Mini Coupé (2011)

Bentley Bentayga (2015)

What we said then: “Ettore Bugatti was not being entirely kind when he described a Bentley racing car as ‘le camion plus vite du monde’ – the world’s fastest truck.”

Renault Vel Satis (2001)

What we said then: “This quirky exec is interesting and luxurious if not entirely convincing.”

Scoring that conceptual bulls-eye was about the Vel Satis’s only success, though. This awkward, bustle-backed hatch managed neither to handle like a BMW nor to ride like a Renault.

Nissan Figaro (1991)

What we said then: “The Figaro’s perky turbocharged 1.0-litre engine, convertible roof, generous spec and looks could get the car a cult following.”

Striking new fastback previews Honda's renewed focus on hybrids

Thu, 14 May 2026 11:12:09 +0100

Honda doubles down on hybrids – and cuts back on EVs – as it looks to recover from its first ever annual loss

Honda has revealed a striking new concept car that previews a large hybrid fastback due to enter production within two years.

It's known only as the Honda Hybrid Sedan Prototype but shares key cues with the current Accord, including its raked roofline and angular rear-quarter panel.

The Accord is no longer sold in the UK but remains a crucial model for the Japanese brand in the US market.

Given this fact, and that it has been shown alongside a new SUV concept for the US-focused Acura brand, the new concept most likely hints at the next Accord.

Honda said the saloon will use its next-generation hybrid system, previously claimed to be the “world’s most efficient” powertrain of its kind.

It will be 10% more fuel efficient than Honda's current hybrid system yet also 30% cheaper to produce – which will give a vital boost to the firm’s profits.

Honda is refocusing its efforts on hybrids in a bid to reverse a slump that resulted in it recording its first ever annual loss, of ¥423.9 billion (£2.0bn), in 2025-26.

This loss is primarily down to writedowns incurred from Honda pulling out of several electric car development programmes.

It scrapped the radical 0 Series Saloon and 0 Series SUV just months before they were due to enter production in the US and cancelled the Afeela brand it had created with electronics giant Sony.

Speaking in the firm’s fourth-quarter financial results presentation in March, managing executive officer Eiji Fujimura said: “We have estimated the amount [lost in cancelling EV programmes] to be up to ¥2.5 trillion [£11.7bn], considering all risks that are identifiable at this stage.

"This reassessment reflects the fact that the business viability of three EV models has proven to be extremely challenging, which led us to make decisions at an early stage.”

CEO Toshiro Mibe added that Honda scaling back investment in EVs “should not be interpreted as abandoning EVs” and that it was a “very difficult decision”, because a significant sum had already been spent.

“Our focus will be on next-generation [hybrids],” said Mibe. “For mid-sized HEVs we expect meaningful cost reductions, and we believe these models will remain highly competitive.”

Mibe also pointed to the threat posed by Chinese manufacturers: “Continuing with the existing approach will make it difficult to compete effectively, and therefore structural reform of our business model is essential.”

Mibe said in a statement issued today that Honda aims to halve its car development costs, times and man-hours in a bid to battle the Chinese.

Honda now aims to launch 15 new models globally by 2029, prioritising new hybrids for the North American market – one of its three key growth regions, alongside Japan and India.

This, it hopes, will return it to its historical record for operating profit – ¥1.4 trillion (£6.6bn) – by the end of the 2028-29 financial year.

A used Lamborghini Urus is a surprisingly sound financial decision

Thu, 14 May 2026 09:00:00 +0100

The V8-powered Urus is a seriously quick, capable luxury SUV - that's also reliable

When the Lamborghini Urus was launched in 2018 there was incredulity: a pureblooded raging bull that shared its basic underpinnings with a Volkswagen SUV? Surely not!

It wasn't VW-priced, though, costing from around £160,000 when new. Not cheap, but a bargain route into Lambo ownership, and a lot less than the related Bentley Bentayga. Lamborghini's first SUV was all about selling in volumes its supercars never could, and it quickly became the brand's bestseller: so far, more than 35,000 have been sold more cars than the Sant'Agata firm made in the first 50 years of its existence.

Despite this, the market has yet to be saturated. The cheapest Urus on sale is still more than £125,000, even accounting for those that have previously been written off. That is remarkably low depreciation for an eight-year-old model, and when you consider that the value of a similar vintage Bentayga has tumbled to £50,000, the Urus looks like a comparatively smart buy.

Well, smart if you can live with the brash looks and if parking a 5.1m-long, 2m-wide behemoth with supercar power doesn't scare you, a used Urus makes an exotic alternative to fast family favourites like the Audi RS6 and BMW M5 Touring.

Most of those on sale are the 'standard' model, which uses Audi's 641bhp, 626lb ft 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, giving a 0-62mph time of 3.6sec and a 190mph top speed. This made it the fastest SUV in the world at the time and it's still right up there with the quickest of them today.

A 2285kg SUV doesn't sound like a recipe for a great Lamborghini, but we were pleasantly surprised by its mix of strengths. As much as 87% of the torque can be sent to the rear wheels (or up to 70% to the front), so it is flexible and adjustable on the throttle. It's genuinely capable and engaging, a step up even from the Porsche Cayenne in some regards.

That dynamism and explosive performance doesn't come at the expense of utility: there's plenty of storage space and a decent amount of breathing room in each row. Some cars came in a four-seat configuration, but most buyers went for five, and each of those seats can comfortably take an adult. Plus, there are 616 litres of boot capacity before you start folding the seats, so the dog can come too.

Build and material quality aren't quite a match for the Bentayga, but if you're happy with the sort of finish you get in a top-line Audi, then you won't be disappointed and the Urus can do all the light offroading and towing (up to 3500kg) that makes the Bentley so versatile.

In 2023, the final year for the pure-petrol Urus, the range was updated and split between the S model and the Performante. The S was more luxurious than before, and in Lamborghini speak nothing is more opulent than being able to overtake with ease, so power was boosted to a devilish 666 PS that's 657bhp. Suspension tweaks meant Comfort mode now gave levels of refinement almost on a par with a Mercedes S-Class if you avoided the optional 23in wheels.

The Performante took the same powertrain and added lots of carbonfibre (for the aesthetics, not the weight-saving). It was slightly lower, too, and it handled a little better as a result, but it sacrificed some of the well-roundedness that made the Urus such a crowdpleaser. We would stick with standard or an S for the best balance of performance and comfort.

What to look out for

Servicing: There might be a Volkswagen Touareg lurking somewhere deep underneath, but that raging bull badge means maintenance costs are inevitably much higher. We were quoted £1850 from an independent specialist for a basic first-year, 9000-mile service, which covered an oil change and filters. The recommended second-year service adds engine coolant, brake fluid and spark plugs to the to-do list, while the third-year seeing-to includes gearbox oil. The cycle then repeats. Don't buy one without a full service history from a main dealer or recognised specialist.

Brakes: The Urus is a big, heavy car, and that's reflected in its voracious appetite for brake components. The 440mm standard carbon-ceramic front discs are larger than a Bugatti Veyron's and cost £25,000 for a set of four. The pads should be changed every 25,000 miles and a set costs £2000. Make sure there is decent life left on the brakes before buying, or use that as a bargaining chip.

Tyres: With big rims come lots of rubber. Wheels range in size from 21in to 23in, and the surrounding rubber will cost about £2000 every 8000 miles. That is for the L-branded Pirellis; anything else is likely to trigger a warning light.

Paint: Lots of Uruses will have been crashed, so look out for poor paint jobs on hard-to-match colours.

Warranty: There have been few reliability issues reported, but nevertheless a warranty is always reassuring. The standard warranty is three years and without a mileage limit, but keep an eye out for cars with an extended Lamborghini warranty for up to 10 years and 62,000 miles.

Also worth knowing

There are no trim levels as such, but there are desirable options you might fancy. The 14-way 'comfort' seats are superior to the standard eight-way items; leather on the dash helps lift the ambience of the cabin; and the panoramic sunroof is desirable, as are Bang & Olufsen speakers and Pirelli P Zero tyres.

Performante cars are also differentiated by their steel springs (instead of air suspension) and optional P Zero Trofeo semi-slick tyres. That's a big sacrifice in usability for 47kg of weight-saving, and it feels a bit much in the real world.

How much to spend

£130,000-£149,999 A wide range of options, most over 50,000 miles. There's even one with a full Mansory body kit and 123,000 miles on the clock.

£150,000-£184,999 Lots of low-mileage, high-spec options from 2019 to 2021.

£185,000-£224,999 Late standard examples, plus plenty of S versions.

£225,000-£260,000 An array of S and Performante models. Only a little more to bag the heavily updated PHEV SE.

An owner's view

Felix Robertson: "There are lots of good reasons why this is a silly car: the performance, the looks and the massive wheels. But rock-solid residual values speak their own language, as does the practicality and reliability. After having three faulty Range Rovers, I'm now on my third Urus and I'm still loving it. Many people have been proved wrong: underneath the dramatic skin is a capable workhorse that still knows how to have fun."

How one Nürburgring lap ignited a feud between Nissan and Porsche

Thu, 14 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Before 2008, car makers had been quietly logging lap time – then Porsche suggested Nissan had cheated

For years, some of the more committed car makers had been quietly logging Nürburgring Nordschleife lap times for internal benchmarking and the odd press release. But then in 2008, Porsche suggested Nissan had cheated, which turbocharged matters, if you’ll excuse the pun.

The environment became political, with lap times under new scrutiny. Suddenly company reputations were on the line, and that has since been the way of things, the essential R&D work existing alongside the PR warfare.

Chinese car makers with as much motorsport heritage as Brad Pitt’s APX GP today head west in search of engineering glory and publicity. And why wouldn’t they, when they’ve built an electric saloon that will skin a Manthey-tickled 911 GT3 RS from bridge to gantry?

So what exactly happened in 2008? Le Mans winner Toshio Suzuki drove an R35 GT-R around the Nürburgring in 7min 29sec, which was quicker than the time of the contemporary 911 Turbo. Suspiciously so. Nissan dined out on its achievement, and some might remember the billboard slogan: ‘The Germans Came Off Wurst’. Classy.

It’s fair to say the whole thing irritated certain people in Stuttgart. Irritated and puzzled. The problem was that the 911 Turbo, even with Porsche’s arsenal of factory drivers, couldn’t even get near the GT-R’s time.

“It’s not clear how this time is possible,” said Mr 911, August Achleitner, presumably through the most pursed of lips.

Porsche went so far as to buy its own GT-R and take it to the ’Ring. The result was a 7min 54sec lap, with a 911 Turbo going 16sec quicker on the same day. The fact that Porsche went to such lengths seems extraordinary now, but remember that the company was dealing with a worrying upstart – one far cheaper than the 911 Turbo but with similar all-weather performance.

It needed to know the reality of the GT-R’s potential and expose any suspected bullshit from the outset. It’s possible that Nissan originally fitted a funky tyre and perhaps turned the wick up on the turbochargers – contrary to its claims of a standard Japanese-market specification.

Back then, the community was more discerning in regard to what constituted a legitimate time; a non-homologated tyre was a big no-no. These days, in the flurry of attempts, we seem happy to let this sort of trickery through unquestioned.

It isn’t just extra-special tyres; it’s also roll-cages, trick geometry and stripped-out interiors. Tesla even ran the Model S Plaid with heavily tinted glass so nobody could see inside.

Proper attempts still occur, though, and I love hearing about them. They’re not the optimised occasions you might expect, either. It will be at the end of an industry test day, when the weather is good and someone at Lamborghini thinks ‘hey, maybe we could do something special here’.

So 29-year-old Marco Mapelli climbs into a factory-spec Huracán Performante and, through a blend of bravery and skill beyond most of us, clocks a sub-7 min lap, saying: “Even when you jump and are in the air, the car is flat, which means we can stay on the power more.” Forza, Marco.

Kia will be forced to axe Picanto by 2030 if EV rules are not changed

Thu, 14 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Pure-petrol hatch unable to stay on sale past 2030 when only electrified new cars can remain

Kia will be forced to axe its long-standing Picanto supermini in the UK if the rules surrounding the ZEV mandate are not amended, according to the firm’s UK boss.

Under current ZEV guidelines, new combustion vehicles must feature some sort of hybrid element to remain on sale beyond 2030. From 2035 all new UK cars must be fully-electric.

Kia UK CEO Paul Philpott warned that this means the Picanto, which uses a 1.0-litre petrol engine, may have to be phased out in the run up to 2030.

A government review into the mandate will take place next year with the aim of relaxing the rules, but the changes aren’t expected to impact non-electrified cars. Autocar understands that Kia is not planning to add a hybrid element to the Picanto.

“We cannot sell the Picanto as a petrol car beyond the end of 2029,” said Philpott, who added that the brand would need to replace it with something else or “give up as many other brands have done in the small car market space”.

Philpott explained that another reason for axing the Picanto is because sales of the pure-ICE model are hurting mandate compliance. At present, 33% of new cars sales must be fully electric in 2026, however the rules do take into account various flexibilities allowed by the system, including CO2 emissions reduction from hybrid vehicle sales.

So far Kia is on track to achieve this target, but as this will climb to 38% in 2027 and then jump significantly to 80% by 2030, most pure-ICE cars will likely need to be phased out of the line-up. Indeed, Philpott said the brand would need to make some “hard decisions” with its model line-up between 2027 through to 2030 due to the rapid increase in these requirements.

"When you can only sell 20% non-EV, you can't be selling seven ICE cars, so at various points, you’re going to have to drop some of them and that will be a difficult task to get right,” said Philpott.

“Looking at it now, the number one priority would be to keep the Sportage because it's a big volume seller for us, but that could take up the remaining 20% of our new car sales, and it's already 40% today. Does that mean we can only sell the Sportage alongside our EVs, and what happens to all our other cars?”

The Picanto has been on sale for more than 20 years and surpassed 250,000 lifetime sales in 2023. Last year it remained a strong-seller for the brand in the UK, with more than 13,500 cars sold. If it is axed, it would be a huge blow to the car maker.

Rival Honda was forced to make a similar decision earlier this year with the big-selling Jazz, although the Japanese firm is in a worse position than Kia given it currently sells no EVs in the UK after axing the e:Ny1 SUV. A dramatic 65% drop in sales for the Jazz across the first three months suggests the company is having to limit sales of some ICE models to avoid fines inflicted by missing its EV target.

If the Picanto does go, its place in the line-up will likely be absorbed by Kia’s incoming small electric hatchback, which the Korean brand announced last month would land in Europe next year.

The new model will give Kia a competitor in the growing small electric vehicle class which would see it go up against an array of rivals including the Renault 5, Citroen e-C3 and Peugeot e-208. As it will sit below the Kia EV2 in the brand’s electric line-up, it is expected to take the EV1 name.

The meanings behind the badges of your favourite cars

Thu, 14 May 2026 06:40:54 +0100

These logos are etched deep into our collective consciousness, but do you know the reasoning behind them?

Car makers' emblems are synonymous with their companies and their cars.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW and more. Many car badges and emblems are so well known that even non-enthusiasts can recognise them in an instant. But what many people won't know is the often fascinating backstories behind these badges and the symbolism they represent.

Logos for brands including Mazda, Volkswagen, Citroen and Peugeot all have their own interesting backstories, too.

Many car firms have been subtly changing their logos recently, usually to better represent themselves in the digital world, but here we feature the badges that still adorn their physical cars.

ABARTH

The scorpion represents Scorpio, the astrological sign of company founder Carlo Abarth. At the top is the Italian flag, and the red comes from the national racing colours of Italy. The Abarth badge today is used on high-performance Fiats.

ACURA

Despite being a stylised letter A that seems self-explanatory, the Acura logo actually represents a caliper, a tool used to measure thickness. This alludes to the engineering excellence that the company strives to achieve in all its vehicles.

If you look closely, you can also see an H inside the logo, demonstrating the brand's link to parent company Honda.

ALFA ROMEO

Alfa is an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, while Romeo is the surname of the businessman who bought the company in 1915. Of the badge, the red cross on the left is the symbol of Milan, while on the right is a crowned viper swallowing a Moorish man – the insignia of the House of Visconti, which historically ruled the city.

ALPINA

The name Alpina derives from the company’s first shop (which produced typewriters) by the Alps. The imagery on the badge is of a Weber carburettor – a component that began the company’s close relationship with BMW – and a crankshaft.

AMG

Nowadays, whenever you see the AMG logo (almost always on a Mercedes-Benz), it's just three letters. Very self-explanatory and very boring. However, this former customisation giant had an official and more conventional logo.

Affalterbach is a principality in Germany where the AMG factory is based. The tree and stream to the left of the circle are a reference to the Affalterbach flag, while the valve and spring represent the factory itself. It can still be spotted on their newer cars too.

ASTON MARTIN

The second half of the name comes from one of the company’s co-founders, Lionel Martin, and the first from Aston Hill Climb, which he found success at. The ‘wings’ badge was chosen in 1927 to represent speed, and supposedly took inspiration from Bentley’s ‘Winged B’.

In 2022, the logo was updated with a simplified design to widen customer appeal as the company prepares to launch its first electric models.

AUDI

Founder August Horch left his eponymous company but was blocked from using the name again for his own efforts. His son suggested 'Audi': 'Horch' is German for ‘listen’ and ‘audi’ the same in Latin. The logo derives from that of Auto Union, a merger of four brands (Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer). The rings, representing each brand, overlap to signify union. They are silver, the national racing colour of Germany.

In 2022, the logo was altered with a flat two-dimensional design surrounded by a thin black border, to enhance customer appeal and brand recognition.

BENTLEY

Bentley started building aircraft engines in the First World War, so wings seemed natural. The silver of the logo represents sophistication. There are actually an uneven number of feathers on either side of the wing, and they have varied throughout history.

BMW

The name is an initialism for the German meaning Bavarian Motor Works. The black exterior circle comes from the logo of BMW’s predecessor, Rapp, while the blue and white chequered roundel represents the flag of Bavaria.

In 2020, the company unveiled a simplified logo with a revised font and white colour palette to signify a refreshed brand strategy of openness and accessibility, intended to attract younger, tech-savvy customers.

However, on the actual cars, the badged wasn’t changed so much. The blue surround signifies an electrified model.

BORGWARD

Founded at the end of the 19th century, Borgward ceased production in the 1960s, before being reactivated in the 21st century by Christian Borgward, grandson of Car Borgward, the company's founder. The logo is in the shape of a diamond made up of red and white triangles, a reference to the flag of Bremen, the German city where the company was founded.

Their Chinese crossovers only lasted a few years though, and Borgward is now dead again.

BUGATTI

The motif inside the oval symbol represents the initials of the brand's founder, Ettore Bugatti. The 60 dots around the edge of the red oval have two contradictory explanations that only Ettore himself could have answered: either they are pearls, to indicate the greatness of the brand, or they are the safety cables that Bugatti used to prevent the screws of his gasketless engines from coming loose.

BUICK

Buick's first logos simply consisted of the company name written with varying degrees of polish and elegance. However, when research revealed that the coat of arms of the Scottish family of the founder, David Buick, consisted of three shields, the logo was modified to honour it and thus we have the Buick logo we know today.

CADILLAC

The name comes from the founder of Detroit, French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, who invented for himself the title of sieur (sir) of Cadillac. The intricate badge comes from his fabricated coat of arms, which he based on the authentic shield of his old neighbour, the baron of Lamothe-Bardigues. Originally, the Cadillac badge featured six martlets, but these were replaced by golden quarters with a black horizontal stripe in 2000.

In 2021, the company revealed a new, monochromatic badge as the brand transitions to electrification, but the one on the cars is still the more familiar version.

CHEVROLET

The famous ‘bow tie’ logo was introduced two years after the company was formed. The badge was inspired by a design that Louis Chevrolet saw in an advertisement in a local newspaper, likely for the Coalettes coals company.

CHRYSLER

The silver wings with a kind of medal in the centre, the symbol of Chrysler, were born in the Chrysler Six of 1924. Oliver Clark, the brand's chief designer in its early days, conceived a radiator trim with wings and a design reminiscent of the wax seals used on old playing cards. It was a symbol of the model's quality.

In the 1940s, the design changed to a coat of arms with a five-pointed star in the centre, the famous "Pentastar", before returning to a design similar to the original. Although the wax seal is no longer present, the much longer silver wings have survived.

CITROËN

In 1901, company founder André Citroën travelled to Poland, where he purchased the patent for a double helically-cut milling gear (such was his original business). The two chevrons represent the two opposing gears of this inter-meshing.

In 2022, Citroën reimagined its 1919 logo for the electric era.

DODGE

Dodge was characterised for many years by a ram's head with long horns. This ram is called "Ram", the name of the Stellantis brand of commercial vehicles. With this, Dodge lost its head and horns to the RAM brand when it became independent. Dodge now has a much simpler and more elegant emblem; the two slanted red stripes symbolise passion and emotion. At least that's what Stellantis says.

FERRARI

At the top of the logo is the Italian flag. Below it is a yellow shield, the colour of Modena. There are also the initials ‘SF’, for Scuderia Ferrari (meaning Team Ferrari), and the leftward-facing prancing black horse. Enzo Ferrari chose this after meeting a count whose late son, Francesco Baracca, had been a fighter ace in the First World War. The horse had been painted on the fuselage of his aeroplane. Baracca’s mother told Ferrari to use the horse on his cars for good luck.

The ace was thought to have taken the horse from the plane of a German pilot, whom he had shot down, from Stuttgart. Therefore, the Ferrari horse is the same as the one on the Porsche crest.

FORD

The blue oval, which was first used in 1927, contains the signature of the company’s founder, Henry Ford, which has remained almost unchanged since its first use in 1909.

In 2023 Ford subtly altered its famous oval badge, removing the contrasting chrome to simplify and modernise the design.

GREAT WALL

The Chinese manufacturer Great Wall uses a relatively self-explanatory logo that represents a "Loulo". This is a watchtower at the top of the authentic Great Wall of China, used to store weapons and send smoke signals. However, according to the company, the emblem also symbolises the strength and robustness that runs through the Great Wall. In the Chinese market it is one of the largest local companies.

HYUNDAI

Although it looks simply like an italicised Honda emblem, the Hyundai logo has a hidden meaning. It is also meant as a stylised handshake of trust between two people, indicating company and consumer, with the company leaning in.

In 2017, the logo was altered, removing the 3D metallic effect for a flat appearance to project a new look for the company, inspired by its Korean roots.

INFINITI

This has two official interpretations, both concerning the upward-facing triangle. The first is that it is a highway, facing towards the future – appropriate, given that the brand was code-named ‘Horizon’ while under development. The second is that it depicts Mount Fuji, representing the Japanese brand’s nationality and the highest point of quality.

In 2023 the logo was altered slightly, most notably the upward triangle no longer meeting at a point to place a greater emphasis on the horizon, signalling a renewed focus on customer experience.

JAGUAR

Jaguar was originally called SS Cars, but was renamed in 1945 given the notoriety that the 'SS' initials had acquired during the Second World War. Jaguar was named after an old SS model and the leaping Jaguar ornament was chosen to illustrate grace and forward motion.

KOENIGSEGG

Founder Christian von Koenigsegg has a surname of Germanic origin. ‘Von’ usually indicates nobility and von Koenigsegg has traced his ancestry back to knights of the German-Romanic empire in the Middle Ages. His brand’s badge of gold and red rhombuses is a stylised version of his ancient family crest, which originates in the region of Swabia.

In 2020, the logo was updated by swapping the gold and red colouring from the design for a simplified white background.

LADA

Lada was originally the name of export cars only, with the brand known as 'Zhiguli' in the Soviet Union – named after a mountain range near its factory in Volga. The name Lada is that of a form of river-going Viking longship, which is reflected in the brand’s logo. Lada’s blue branding is said to represent the water it sails upon.

LAMBORGHINI

Another Zodiac-inspired man was Feruccio Lamborghini, who was a Taurus. His inspiration was taken from a visit in 1962 to a renowned ranch that reared fighting Miura bulls in Seville, Spain. The bull is also supposed to represent the power of his cars. The badge was updated for all models in 2024; the new logo, which will be applied to all new cars going forwards, is said to "better reflect the "brave", "unexpected" and "authentic" values" of Lamborghini's 'mission'.

In 2024, the logo was updated with its bright gold detailing altered to a subtler bronze and the Lamborghini name written in a "broader" typeface, "symbolising the clear identity of the brand".

LAND ROVER

There is no official explanation for the company's logo, which has had its current form since 1986, but it is speculated that the green colour expresses nature and the ability of a Land Rover to move around in nature, away from the city. In addition, the dashed line connecting the two words on the left and right is thought to be an abstract reference to the company's slogan "Above and Beyond".

LOTUS

Although the meaning behind the name ‘Lotus’ has never officially been revealed, it is commonly believed to relate to company founder Colin Chapman’s knowledge of the lotus flower and its representation of Nirvana (a state of paradise) in Buddhist philosophy.

The yellow of the badge supposedly represents bright days ahead, while the green central lozenge is in British Racing Green, showing Lotus’s racing origins. The intertwined letters at the top are the initials of Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. In 2019 the logo was simplified by using just two colours – the firm’s classic British Racing Green and yellow – and the straightening of the 'Lotus' wording.

MASERATI

The trident is taken from that held by the statue of the Roman god Neptune, situated in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore central square. Not only did this therefore represent Maserati’s hometown, but also Neptune’s qualities of strength, and his deity of earthquakes, storms and horses.

MAZDA

The name 'Mazda' is taken from Ahura Mazda, the creator and god in Zoroastrianism, a religion that was prominent in early Asian cultures. ‘Mazda’ translates as ‘wisdom’. Coincidentally, it is also an Anglicisation of the name of the company’s founder, Jujiro Matsuda. Mazda has gone through several badges in its time, with the current one being introduced in 1996.

Now a stylised 'M' within an oval - the oval represents the sun, and the 'M' represents the company. It also looks like outstretched wings, which is claimed to symbolise the Mazda’s freedom of expression.

McLAREN

The original logo of the McLaren racing team focused on a Kiwi bird, representing founder Bruce McLaren’s homeland of New Zealand. In the 1980s, a new design was bestowed upon the F1 team, consisting of chevrons from prime sponsor, Marlboro cigarettes. In 1997, this was changed to a singular, differently shaped chevron. This was later altered to the ‘swoosh’ of today, although McLaren says this has no Marlboro connection – instead “evoking the aggressive markings found on predatory animals and insects”.

In 2021, the logo was altered with its unique chevron colour changed to papaya and a slimmer font style to symbolise the brand's racing prowess.

MERCEDES-BENZ

The Mercedes part of the name comes from the daughter of Daimler partner, Emil Jellinek. Benz came from Karl Benz, maker of the first real car. When the two companies merged in 1926, Mercedes-Benz was born.

The logo originated from a postcard sent in the 1870s by Gottlieb Daimler to his wife, in which he marked where he was living with a three-pointed star and wrote by it: "One day this star will shine over our triumphant factories.” It was first used on a car in 1910 and it came to be that the star’s three spokes represented land, sea and air.

MG

'MG' stands for Morris Garages, having started out as a part of William R Morris’s automotive business in Oxford, in 1924. The octagonal badge was chosen to separate MGs from regular Morris models, with some cars even gaining octagonal instrument dials too.

In 2021, the brand’s logo was refreshed with a more minimal design to represent its vision under new ownership.

MITSUBISHI

Mitsubishi is unusual in that its name describes its logo, rather than the other way around. ‘Mitsu’ means three, while ‘Hishi’ means water caltrop, which is often used to refer to a rhombus or diamond. Japanese often bend the "h" sound to a "b" when it occurs in the middle of a word. The three-diamond mark was chosen by founder Yataro Iwasaki. It invokes both the three-leaf crest of the Tosa Clan, his first employer, and the three stacked rhombuses of the Iwasaki family crest.

MORGAN

The origin of the winged Morgan logo is uncertain, but one popular story is that it was inspired by World War 1 fighter pilot, Captain Albert Ball. The owner of the original Aero three-wheeler, he described the exhilaration of driving it as the closest thing he had found to flying.

NISSAN

The Nissan name is an abbreviation of Nihon Sangyo (Japan Industries), which was the parent company of Datsun. When Nissan replaced Datsun on the back of cars, its logo was the company’s name in a blue rectangle across a red circle. This was to invoke the Japanese flag, which features the Rising Sun. This was turned chrome in the 1990s to represent modernity.

In 2020, the brand’s logo was revised following the Carlos Ghosn scandal and renewed electrification strategy, with a nod to the company’s heritage by maintaining the recognisable sun and bar design element.

OPEL

Opel’s ‘Z’ logo is a homage to its Blitz (lightning) truck that helped it revive after World War II, bearing both the shape of lightning and the last letter of the word describing it in German.

In 2023, the logo was altered with a new Z ‘lightning bolt’ badge representing the brand’s focus on electrification.

PEUGEOT

Peugeot’s logo features a stylised lion standing on its hind legs. This logo appeared as early as 1847, long before Peugeot entered the automotive business, when it represented quality goods. From 1923, Peugeot cars gained a lion’s head bonnet ornament. In 1948, with the introduction of the 203, a more familiar lion appeared – that of the coat of arms of the French region of Franche-Comté, the successor to that in which Armand Peugeot was born. This slowly evolved to become ever more angular.

In 2021 the logo was restyled for a more retro design inspired by the company’s heritage, in an attempt to shift the brand upmarket.

PONTIAC

The original Pontiac emblem, launched by GM in 1926, was that of a Native American headdress, as the name coincides with that of a leader of the Odawa tribe who helped fight the British in the Detroit area. However, in an effort to appeal to a younger audience, GM introduced a new logo in 1957. The emblem became the tip of a red arrow, another symbol of Native American tradition.

Pontiac was discontinued by GM in 2010.

PORSCHE

Porsche’s insignia is intrinsically linked to the brand’s home town, which is written in the centre. Below it is a horse – ‘Stuttgart’ translates from Old High German as ‘Stud Garden’. The quartered crest surrounding the horse is taken from the coat of arms of the Free People’s State of Württemberg, which was founded after the dissolution of the German monarchy in 1918, and of which Stuttgart was the capital.

The trio of black antlers in the top left and bottom right date back to at least the 10th century, signifying the greater region of Swabia, while the red and black stripes are of the Duke of Württemberg. In 2023, the logo was revised to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary, with a revised design and subtle colour changes intended to “bridge the history and future of the brand”.

RAM

Ram is one of the most recent companies in this history, having only been formed as an autonomous brand in 2010, separate from Dodge. For a long time, the ram symbol was used by Dodge. As a company that only produced pickup trucks, associating them with the strength and power of a ram seemed eminently sensible. As already mentioned, Dodge had to create an entirely new brand when RAM stole the symbol…

RENAULT

Renault’s emblem was originally circular but was changed to the famous diamond in 1923, most likely because it better fitted the cars’ centrally divided grilles. The brand’s name was removed and the lines emboldened in 1972 to make the logo appear more prominent

In 2024, the logo was updated to a retro 2D design first seen on the 2021 Renault 5 concept to signify the brand’s push towards electrification.

ROLLS-ROYCE

Rolls-Royces originally just had the overlapping 'R's badge. Many owners wanted something more prominent, however, and one, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, commissioned his friend, the sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes, to design such an ornament. Montagu chose his secretary and mistress, Eleanor Thornton, as the model. The ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ features her with a finger to her lips and her robes fluttering behind.

In 2020 the logo (and Spirit of Ecstasy) was revised with a new typeface and design to attract a younger demographic and better project the brand’s image as a luxury marque.

ROVER

‘Rover’ also means ‘seafarer’, and the most famed such people of all were the Vikings. Thus, early Rovers featured a standing Viking, complete with dual-pointed helmet, which was eventually cut to just the head. In 1929, this was changed to a badge featuring a head-on image of a Viking longship.

SAAB

The gripen (griffin) logo first appeared in 1984, replacing one that depicted an aeroplane. It is taken from the crests of the Skåne and Götland regions, homes of Scania and Saab respectively. This mythical creature supposedly represents vigilance.

SKODA

Skoda’s logo has featured an arrow with three feathers since 1923. The arrow was to represent motion, the wings freedom and the ‘eye’ in the feathers precision. Although green is now associated with Skoda, it has only been so since 1990, and represents a fresh start.

In 2022, the logo was altered to feature two different shades of green, Emerald and Electric, which Skoda says represent ecology, sustainability and electromobility.

SMART

The silver ‘C’ stands for compact, while the yellow arrow represents progress. In 2021, the logo was altered with a flat design to convey the brand's values of modernity and flexibility.

SPYKER

Formed in 1999 as a continuation of the original Spijker company (1880-1926), which had built a small number of trainer biplanes for the Dutch Air Force during World War I, Spyker has a logo that features a rotary aircraft engine. Underneath reads 'Nulla tenaci invia est via', meaning ‘no road is impassable for the tenacious’ in Latin.

After buying Saab in 2010, Spyker was sold to Vladimir Antonov and went bankrupt (not for the first time) in 2021.

SSANGYONG

In Korean, Ssangyong means ‘double dragon’, and the brand’s logo is a stylised depiction of this.

SUBARU

Subaru started out as the automotive division of the multi-faceted Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) Corporation. Subaru is Japanese for ‘coming together’ and is the name given to the Pleiades star cluster, which the company’s logo originally mirrored. The stars have since been altered, with the larger one to the left representing FHI and the five smaller ones the companies that merged to form it. The logo’s background is blue, the same colour as Pleiades.

TESLA

This manufacturer of electric cars is named after the designer of the alternating current (AC) electricity system, Nikola Tesla; the brand’s first model, the Roadster, used a motor descended from his original design. The stylised ‘T’ of the logo represents the cross section of an electric motor, with the upright part symbolising a rotor pole, and the curved line over the top of it a section of the stator.

TOYOTA

The inner ovals symbolise the heart of the customer and the heart of the company, overlapping to represent a mutually beneficial relationship and trust, as well as forming a ‘T’ shape for Toyota. The outer oval is for the world embracing Toyota. Each oval is drawn with different stroke thicknesses, pointing to Japanese calligraphy art and culture. The space in the background within the logo is meant to exhibit the values that Toyota stands for: quality, value, driving joy, innovation, and integrity in safety, the environment and social responsibility.

In 2020, the logo was changed to a more simple, flat design to signify modernity and the brand’s commitment to innovation.

VAUXHALL

Vauxhall is named after the area of London in which it was formed. The name itself is a corruption of ‘Fulk’s Hall’, a house built by one Falkes de Breauté, a mercenary soldier in the 13th century who by marriage gained rights to the area. His family’s coat of arms features a griffin, which features on the car maker’s badge today, holding a flag reading ‘V’.

In 2020, the logo was changed for a more simplified 2D appearance.

VOLVO

The name Volvo is taken from the Latin for ‘I roll’. The logo of a circle with an arrow pointing diagonally up and to the right comes from a Roman symbol for Mars, the god of warfare. Because of this, the symbol came to also stand for iron, as weapons at the time were made from the metal. Volvo’s founders had been in the iron industry, and iron had qualities such as strength, safety and durability, which they wanted reflected in their cars.

In 2021, the logo was altered with a new typeface and removal of the previous badge’s contrasting bar.

Big facelifts incoming for Mini Cooper, Countryman and Aceman

Wed, 13 May 2026 18:27:22 +0100

Holger Hampf was appointed Mini's design chief in October 2024

Mid-life updates to three core models will usher in new era under design director Holger Hampf

Mini has “almost finished” work on a range of significant facelifts that will kick off a new era for the brand under design chief Holger Hampf.

Hampf joined Mini from Designworks, BMW’s California-based design consultancy, in October 2024. But given how new the Mini range is – the Cooper and Countryman having launched in 2023, followed by the Aceman a year later – he has yet to have an opportunity to make his mark.

In his first appearance with UK media, he told Autocar that “you will see my work in an upcoming LCI” – ‘Life Cycle Impulse’ being the BMW Group’s code for a major model update.

Hampf said this will be an “important milestone” for the brand, steered by “customer feedback from this generation”.

Given the line-up is still relatively fresh, it is likely that a restyled Cooper and Countryman will arrive late next year – four years after they first arrived – and a new Aceman in 2028.

Hampf added that brand collaborations such as the new Paul Smith edition of the Cooper and the previous Deus Ex Machina concept cars would become more important in keeping the line-up fresh, despite its limited breadth. “Short-term limited editions and collaborations will create some awareness and some appreciation for Mini,” he said. “It doesn’t always need to be an entirely new car; it’s a bit of storytelling and adapting the current products to lifestyles.”

To this end, Hampf hinted that Mini is working on an off-road-focused variant of one of its existing models. “We’ve witnessed the trend of the outdoor lifestyle and driving out of the city to spend some days in nature,” he said. “Can our car do this? Certainly, so expect something in that direction.”

This would most likely be based on the Countryman, given it is the only Mini currently available with four-wheel drive, and its raised ride height would lend itself naturally to such a “lifestyle” vehicle.

While Hampf's initial focus will be on facelifts, he did confirm that work has also begun on the next entirely new generation of Minis. These are expected to arrive in the early 2030s.

Hotter JCW models coming

John Cooper Works, Mini’s high-performance sub-brand, is expected to adopt more distinctive styling to further set its models apart from regular machines.

Hampf said there was “air to the top” of the JCW range and drew a parallel with the differentiation between BMW’s M and M Competition sports cars, suggesting that a more extreme take on the hot hatch is in the works.

This is, however, not expected to be a track-focused GP. “We’ve done something right in not only thinking of the GP, which we’ve done in the past,” he said.

Hampf pointed to the collaboration with Deus as “one experiment” with JCW’s evolution, with “bigger tyres and bigger spoilers”. It is possible that, given “such positive response” from the public, toned-down versions of the two concept cars – The Skeg and The Machina – are being primed for production.

JCW models enjoyed record success last year with 25,630 sales, an increase of 59.5% compared with 2024. Mini pointed to the UK, Japan and Australia as being instrumental in this success.

Mini brand boss Jean-Philippe Parain recently told Autocar that there are “still some possibilities” to expand the JCW offering, saying that it would push the hot hatches “very strongly”.

BYD to launch new wave of European-specific models

Wed, 13 May 2026 12:26:18 +0100

New B- and C-segment cars will arrive over the next three years, starting with Dolphin G PHEV supermini in June

BYD will launch a wave of models designed and developed in Europe for Europe over the next three years, starting with the plug-in hybrid Dolphin G next month.

The Dolphin G will be shown for the first time in the UK at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, with an unveiling understood to take place in June.

As previously reported by Autocar, it will effectively serve as a combustion-engined alternative to the Dolphin Surf EV, making it the smallest PHEV available in the UK.

Executive vice-president Stella Li has previously told Autocar that “our goal is for customers to think of BYD as a European brand”.

Speaking today at a Financial Times event in London, she said: “[The Dolphin G] is the first product we have designed for Europe, as there is no interest in China [for this type of car], and in the future there will be more and more products designed for European tastes and consumer needs and designed here."

She continued: “We see the bigger gap now. In China the competition is making cars bigger and bigger and the chassis wider and wider; it has become crazy. This makes it impossible in Europe: you cannot have a bigger car running in Paris, in Milan, in Rome, in London. People [there] still prefer the smaller-sized cars.

“So then I saw a very clear roadmap. Now in certain ranges such as C- or B-segment we are going to split, so now we are going to have a European standard for B and C.

"Sometimes I have to tell the engineer: 'Don’t make this car bigger, not for Europe. It needs to be smaller than 4.3m [long] not bigger.' I see a very clear split now [between China and Europe].

“In the next three years, car design [for these models] will be much more for Europe. No longer [will] China cars [be] shipped to here to share with Europe.”

Li didn't go into further details about the future models, but she did imply that all of these cars would be built in Europe.

Work is currently being completed on BYD's new plant in Hungary, which will open later this year.

The first models to be built there will be the Dolphin Surf and Atto 2 EVs, and it's possible that the Dolphin G could join them.

The cars that shocked and surprised the world

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:49:11 +0100

We take a close look at the cars that shocked us all when they arrived

It’s fair to say that plenty of BMW’s designs in recent years have raised a few eyebrows.

Displayed by cars such as the XM Label Red (pictured), the grilles have been getting ever larger, and the bodykits ever more aggressive, as the brand explores a new design direction – something that has led to considerable controversy.

However, in reality, car manufacturers have been experimenting with new design and conceptual ideas for decades, with varied results. Therefore, cars like the XM only join an increasing pantheon of vehicles that have shocked, surprised and sometimes just plain impressed us – let’s take a look:

Lamborghini LM002 (1986)

An esteemed company known for making two-seater supercars steps out of bounds and comes back with an SUV. Sound familiar? It’s par for the course today, but it was an unbelievable plot twist when Lamborghini released the LM002 in 1986.

The LM002 project started when Lamborghini tried securing a contract to manufacture an off-roader for the US Army. Heavy and rear-engined, its Cheetah prototype was unimpressive at best. Officials gave the contract to AM General’s Humvee instead. Lamborghini wasn’t in a position to waste time or money, so it used the knowledge gained during the Cheetah project to develop the LM002, its first SUV. Lamborghini unveil its second SUV, the 600bhp V8 Urus, in late 2017.

GMC Syclone (1991)

Forget the low-rider looks; the GMC Syclone is actually a factory-built hot rod with a surprising amount of power under the bonnet. Starting with a Sonoma pickup, GMC added a turbocharged 4.3-litre V6 developed specifically for the model and coupled it to a four-speed automatic transmission. The six-cylinder made 280hp.

Car & Driver magazine believed General Motors’ truck-building division had a Ferrari killer on its hands, so it headed to a drag strip to test its hypothesis. Helped by a rear-biased all-wheel drive system, the Syclone famously beat a 348TS in a quarter-mile race.

General Motors EV1 (1996)

You would expect a start-up, not General Motors, to launch a car like the EV1. Its forward-thinking, flying saucer-like design was only the beginning. The EV1 used a 137hp electric motor connected to a 16.5kWh battery. Aluminium and plastic reduced its weight to approximately 1400kg.

GM offered the EV1 through a lease program in select US states. It cancelled the project in 2003, citing the impossibility of producing such an advanced car profitably. Customers protested as they reluctantly returned the cars. Most of the 1147 examples built ended up recycled, which spurred dramatic conspiracy theories. GM CEO Rick Wagoner later said that the cancellation of the EV1 project was his biggest professional regret.

Buick GNX (1987)

Buick isn’t the brand that comes to mind when you think of performance, unless you’re thinking about performance during a golf tournament for their drivers. And yet, in the 1980s General Motors’ semi-premium brand made its homely Regal faster than a Chevrolet Camaro.

The Grand National made its debut in 1982 to celebrate Buick’s success in NASCAR racing. The original car’s 4.1-litre V6 could only muster up 125hp. Buick axed the nameplate in 1983 but brought it back in 1984 with 200hp from a turbocharged 3.8-litre V6. Power gradually increased leading up to the 1987 GNX, one of Buick’s most collectible models.

On paper, the limited-edition GNX boasted 276hp; in reality, the number was closer to 300. Buick under-valued performance numbers to protect the Chevrolet Corvette’s image, in yet another example of GM worrying more about its own brands rather than thinking about those of its competitors.

Kia Elan (1996)

As its confidence grew, Kia began wishing for a halo model positioned at the top of its line-up. It contacted Lotus to talk about jointly developing a sports car, but the negotiations took an unexpected turn when it ended up purchasing the rights to produce the M100-generation Elan. The two cars were nearly identical from the outside, but the Kia Elan used a 151hp 1.8-litre engine from the Sephia.

The Elan made a lot of sense as a Lotus. It was an odd car from a company then synonymous with bargain-basement econoboxes like the Pride. Kia produced less than 1000 examples. Most were sold in South Korea, but a tiny amount trickled into the UK.

Mercedes-Benz A-Class (W468, 1997)

Mercedes-Benz’s first entry into the city car segment raised more than a few eyebrows at the 1997 Frankfurt motor show. The original A-Class was neither sporty nor luxurious, and its unconventionally tall body sat on the brand’s first front-wheel drive platform. Early examples made headlines when they failed the ‘Elk Test’, which consists of performing an evasive manoeuvre at about 50mph.

After stopping A-Class sales for three months, Mercedes remedied the problem by installing electronic stability control and making changes to the suspension.

Lincoln Blackwood (2001)

The rationale behind the Blackwood was, “if Lincoln can sell an SUV it can sell a pickup truck, too.” The Ford F-150-based Blackwood got a Navigator-like front end, faux wood panelling on the sides and a carpet-lined cargo compartment hidden under a power-operated plastic cover.

The concept made sense on paper, but buyers met Lincoln’s first pickup with scepticism. It offered none of the versatility they looked for in a pickup and it only came with rear-wheel drive. Production ended a little over year after its introduction, making it the shortest-lived model ever to join the Lincoln line-up.

Porsche Cayenne (2002)

Porsche predicted it could successfully build an off-roader several decades before introducing the Cayenne, but it didn’t have the money to see the project through until the early 2000s. The Cayenne was the company’s first full-production four-door model, and that alone didn’t sit well with brand purists.

They scoffed at the idea and speculated it would destroy the Porsche brand faster than a 917K laps at Le Mans. Instead, the Cayenne set record sales. It proved the loyalists wrong with sports car-like performance, a trait Porsche has refined over 20 years and three generations. The current third-generation Cayenne remains the keen driver’s choice in the large SUV class.

Volkswagen Phaeton (2002)

A Volkswagen is a people’s car by definition. The German company tried rubbing elbows with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and its own Audi division when it introduced the Phaeton. Built on a Bentley platform in a glass-walled factory in Dresden, the saloon stood out from every Volkswagen before it with a raft of luxury amenities, powerful engines and a price tag to match.

When we first drove the Phaeton, we predicted it would have a difficult time finding buyers because the Volkswagen emblem doesn’t carry nearly as much cachet as the badges of BMW, Mercedes or stablemate Audi. We were right. The Phaeton flopped in America and it didn’t do much better in Europe. Volkswagen used middling Chinese sales as an excuse to let it wither on the vine until 2016.

Volvo T6 Roadster concept (2005)

Introduced at the 2005 SEMA show, the Volvo T6 Roadster channelled American hot rods of the 1930s with an outlandish design reminiscent of 1997's Plymouth Prowler. It utilised numerous parts from the S80 and C70 models, including a 2.9-litre straight-six engine. The T6 Roadster was never considered for production; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet (2010)

Jeep and Land Rover are among the few car companies capable of pulling off a convertible SUV. The body style is in their genes. Nissan built its reputation on solid, mass-market cars, but that didn’t stop it from chopping the top off of the second-generation Murano to create what it called “the world’s first all-wheel drive crossover convertible.”

As it didn’t sell, we assumed it would be the last, too, but Land Rover took the torch from Nissan with the Range Rover Evoque Convertible, which also bombed. Volkswagen is returning to the fray with its T-Roc Cabriolet, unveiled at the 2019 Frankfurt motor show.

Aston Martin Cygnet (2011)

Aston Martin may as well have launched a UFO when it introduced the Cygnet. It was unlike any model ever to wear the company’s winged emblem due to its size, and it was completely different than other cars in its class due to its price – including the Toyota iQ it was based on.

Aston sheepishly explained it made the Cygnet to comply with fleet average emissions regulations in Europe and avoid paying a hefty fine. Ulrich Bez, Aston’s then-CEO, tentatively believed the brand could sell roughly 4,000 examples. Even wealthy and open-minded buyers couldn’t justify spending BMW 3 Series money on an iQ, and production ended after Aston manufactured approximately 300 examples.

Though misconceived, we still get pleasure from occasionally seeing one knocking around the posher parts of London, and they retain their value very well.

Land Rover Electric Defender (2012)

The emblematic Land Rover Defender traded its turbodiesel four-cylinder engine for a compact electric motor and a lithium-ion battery pack in the name of research. It kept its four-wheel drive hardware, and it gained a regenerative braking system designed to work with Hill Descent Control technology.

The 409kg battery pack provided roughly 50 miles of range, though the Defender offered an eight-hour range in low-speed off-road driving. Land Rover built seven examples of the Electric Defender between 2012 and 2013. Never seriously considered for mass production, the zero-emissions SUVs participated in a pilot program to help Jaguar Land Rover gather data about electrified powertrains, which eventually bore fruit in its first all-electric car, the Jaguar I-Pace.

BMW i3 (2013)

The BMW i3 caught everyone off-guard. No one expected the self-proclaimed purveyor of ultimate driving machines to launch an upmarket city car. Isn’t that what the Mini is for?

The i3 is as much of a rolling display of technology as it is a premium compact hatchback. But while it sticks out in the BMW line-up with its electric powertrain, size and styling, it’s the culmination of an idea BMW has toyed around with since the early 1990s. Notably, the battery-powered Z11 concept car presented at the 1991 Frankfurt Auto Show looks just like the i3’s predecessor.

Jaguar F-Pace (2016)

Jaguar and Land Rover were sister firms from 1967 to 1984, and once again since 2000 - long honouring an unwritten arrangement under which the former built saloons and wagons while the latter built SUVs. However, the rising popularity of SUVs opened up new opportunities for companies like Jaguar who had never considered competing in the class before.

Enter the F-Pace, the first Jaguar bold enough to prowl on Land Rover’s turf. Surprisingly, the formula worked, and we rated the F-Pace more highly than its Range Rover Velar sister vehicle.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2017)

Jeep builds cars to perform on the trail, not on the track, but it couldn’t resist the temptation of stuffing a 6.2-litre supercharged Hellcat engine between the Grand Cherokee’s front wings. The result was a 697bhp SUV capable of beating a Porsche 911 down a drag strip with a full Ikea kitchen in the boot.

It can also tow up to 3300kg when the occasion calls for it. The Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is a muscle car you can use to tow your muscle car to the track. After driving it, we concluded it was a surprisingly serious – and quite refined – car.

Alfa Romeo Dauphine (1959)

The Alfa Romeo Dauphine was born for economic reasons. Renault needed a cost-effective way to distribute its cars in Italy. Alfa Romeo – owned by the Italian government at the time – sought a volume model to keep workers occupied. Alfa agreed to build the Dauphine in its Milan factory, and Renault pledged to distribute Alfa models through its dealer network in France.

The Italian-built Dauphine looked just like its French counterpart except for minor details such as brand-specific emblems on the front wings and above the rear number plate. The mechanical changes included a 12-volt electrical system instead of the Renault’s six-volt system.

Alfa Romeo also produced the Ondine (a more upmarket Dauphine) and the 4. Renault ended the partnership in 1964, and there’s no evidence it held up its side of the deal.

Tesla Cybertruck

While the industry expected Tesla’s long awaited pickup truck to be a smart, tech-heavy machine – something along the lines of the Rivian R1-T - we instead got the Cybertruck, which seemed to have arrived on an alien spacecraft.

And while we’ve grown used to surprises from Tesla, they tend to be unsurprising surprises: ever more ludicrous acceleration times, ever more vehicle autonomy. However, the Cybertruck was a genuine shock, and looks like nothing else on the road – we’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s a good thing or not.

BMW XM Label (2023)

The regular BMW XM arrived in the autumn of 2022 and received plenty of attention for both its size – 5110mm – and its significance as only the second car developed from the ground up by BMW’s M division, after the legendary M1 supercar.

The Label Red edition promptly followed, and while the size was the same, the power output was hiked 19% to 748bhp, bringing the 0-62mph acceleration time down to 3.8sec, and allowing for a possible top speed of 180mph.

As well as the additional performance, a whole heap of extra, red-accented design tweaks were added to the XM’s already distinctive and aggressive bodywork, that make even more of a statement than the regular car. Most cars in front of it would probably feel the urge to get out of the way as quickly as possible; which may have been the point.

The biggest oddballs ever made in the car world

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:47:55 +0100

Join us to celebrate all the cars that dared to be different - and didn't always succeed

Every so often, the cry goes up: "Cars all look the same nowadays."

This has been going on for decades, and it has never been true. Fashions come and go, of course, but even the largest manufacturers can’t resist throwing out an occasional oddball to keep the rest of us amused.

We could have listed hundreds of these, but to save your time we've restricted ourselves to 48, shown here in alphabetical order:

Alfa Romeo SZ

Alfa Romeo has a long tradition of building beautiful cars. One major exception was the SZ sports car, produced briefly between 1989 and 1991. Based on the rather angular 75 saloon, it had a uniquely brutish appearance, and was accordingly nicknamed il mostro, Italian for "the monster".

After Alfa stopped building it, it quickly returned to the theme with the almost equally arresting RZ convertible the following year.

AMC Pacer

It was almost unthinkable that one of Big Three US manufacturers could have come up with a car like AMC's Pacer in the 1970s. The Pacer was unusually short (though characteristically wide) for its time, and had so much glass area that it was very easy to see out of.

Unfortunately, it was also very heavy and uneconomical, and its appearance was, to say the least, not to everyone’s taste. Lack of popularity restricted its production to the 1975-1980 model years.

Aston Martin Cygnet

There has never been another Aston Martin like it, before or since. The Cygnet was simply a Toyota/Scion iQ with a fancy grille and many styling and equipment upgrades. Vastly more expensive than the regular iQ, it was meant to be a city car for people who could already afford a full-sized Aston.

The car did not come close to achieving its sales targets, and was dropped after just two years. It does have a small cult following today, and the low number produced has led to higher prices for used examples than when new.

Audi A2

The aluminium-bodied A2 hatchback was cheap to run (due to its low weight and correspondingly impressive fuel economy) but very expensive to buy. A customer who chose enough options in 2001 could spend over £20,000, or around £30,000 in today's money.

Audi also made the A2 difficult to maintain. You could check the oil and refill the washer bottle, but that was about it. Changing the spark plugs was a dealer job. Other issues included high noise levels and poor visibility through the complicated two-part rear window. Sales were poor, and production lasted only from 2000 to 2005. Nevertheless, the A2 is increasingly thought of as a modern classic.

Austin-Healey Sprite

Known as the Frogeye in the UK and the Bugeye in the US, the first-generation Sprite acquired its nicknames due to the non-retractable headlights sprouting above the bonnet.

Sprites looked like this for only three years. From 1961 to 1971 (or 1979 in the case of the almost identical MG Midget), a completely different and far more elegant design was used. Yet it is the oddball Frogeye which remains closest to many enthusiasts' hearts.

Bentley Bentayga

The Bentayga was the first modern SUV brought to market in the 2010s by a luxury manufacturer new to the sector. This was enough to make it an oddball on its launch in 2015, though it has since been joined by the Aston Martin DBX, Lamborghini Urus, Maserati Levante and Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

Even in that company, the Bentayga is unusual due its controversial appearance, though this is muted compared to that of the EXP 9 F concept version, which was greeted with alarm when it was unveiled at the 2012 Geneva motor show.

BMW i3

The i3 supermini is one of the strangest-looking cars ever put on sale by BMW. Launched back in 2013, it still appears very distinctive even today. This is by no means its only qualification for being considered an oddball car. Its construction is also complex, involving extensive use of both aluminium and carbonfibre.

The i3 is also available either as a pure electric vehicle or with a small petrol engine acting as a range extender. Most EVs are available in one of these forms or the other, but not both.

BMW Z1

Although it was by no means short of familiar BMW design cues, the Z1 of 1989-1991 was unusual enough to be a head-turner. Its most famous features were its downward-retractable doors, but there were other intriguing elements such as advanced aerodynamics and a multilink rear suspension which was later used on more conventional BMWs.

On top of all that, the plastic body panels were removable. In theory, you could therefore persuade your neighbours that you had bought a new Z1 by fitting a new set of a different colour.

Bugatti Royale

Bugatti took niche marketing to extremes by creating a super-luxury car which would be unaffordable to anyone short of European royalty. Unfortunately, most of the Royale's production took place during the Great Depression, when even European royalty was having to keep a close eye on the finances.

The Royale was therefore an oddball in its day because of its vast expense, and remains one today because of its rarity. However, the 12.7-litre engine (one of the largest ever fitted to a production car) was much less rare. It was still being used to power French trains in the 1950s.

Chevrolet SSR

The fashion for retro styled vehicles around the turn of the century gave rise to cars such as the Fiat 500, the MINI and the Volkswagen Beetle. One of the stranger examples was the Chevrolet SSR, a pickup with a retractable hardtop and a 5.3-litre (later 6.0-litre) V8 engine.

Its unusual styling combined modernity with a tribute to the Chevrolet Advance Design and GMC New Design trucks of the late 1940s to mid 1950s. Chevrolet produced the SSR from 2003 to 2006. It therefore overlapped with the 2005-2011 HHR, a retro crossover also available as a panel van.

Chrysler Crossfire

The nine-year union of Daimler and Chrysler produced the unusual Chrysler Crossfire, a two-seat sports car available as both a coupe and a convertible. The Crossfire can't have been particularly expensive to develop, since it was based on the platform of the outgoing first-generation Mercedes SLK and used a 3.2-litre Mercedes V6 engine, either supercharged or not.

Introduced in 2003, it did not survive the great Chrysler upheaval of 2007, in which Daimler sold off most of the brand to private equity firm Cerberus.

Chrysler PT Cruiser

Retro-styled cars were nothing new when the PT Cruiser made its debut at the turn of the century. What was new was that the Chrysler (based on the Neon saloon also marketed as a Dodge and a Plymouth) did not refer to any specific vehicle of the past, but simply to American cars of the 1930s in general.

It also had the air of a hot rod about it, but its Neon underpinnings condemned it to having a four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels rather than - except in the unique case of Paul Marston's wonderful PT Bruiser dragster - a thunderous V8 driving the rears.

Citroën C3 Pluriel

There are those who will defend the Pluriel to their dying breath, but even they have to admit that it was a particularly odd device. Based on the first-generation Citroën C3, it could be configured in various body styles. Notably, an owner could turn it from a hatchback into a convertible by removing the roof rails.

The problem was that there was then nowhere to put the rails, so you had to leave them at home and pray it wouldn't rain. In warmer southern European countries, this was acceptable. Further north, not so much.

Citroën C6

The French, so it is said, can not build good large cars. Except sometimes they can. The Citroën C6 was rather wonderful. It was very comfortable, the interior was astonishingly spacious, and the ride quality was phenomenal, as long as you picked a version with a petrol engine rather than the much heavier diesel.

For all its appeal, though, the C6 lacked one important thing: a German badge, upon which most buyers of this type of car insisted.

Citroën DS

The DS had a futuristic body shape, self-levelling suspension, high-level rear indicators, nearly as many hydraulically operated components as a modern Formula 1 car and, later, directional headlamps. Yet its 20-year production run ended way back in 1975.

It would be both correct and unfair to describe the DS as an oddball. A better description would be that it was in several respects a car the rest of the motor industry did not catch up with until years after it had gone.

Ferrari FF

Ferrari has never marketed anything that could accurately be described as an estate car, but it came very close with the FF of 2011-2016. Often referred to as a shooting brake, the FF combined surprising practicality (800 litres of luggage space when the rear seats were folded down) with the howl of a front-mounted 6.3-litre V12 engine, four-wheel drive and a top speed in excess of 200mph.

That was all well and good, but if elegance was what you were after, you'd have been well advised to look elsewhere.

Fiat 500 TwinAir

Since so many other retro-styled vehicles had been introduced in the last decade or so, the 500 was not particularly considered an oddball when it made its debut in 2007. That changed when the TwinAir came along three years later. Its 875cc engine (the first designed from scratch to use Fiat's brilliant MultiAir valve lift and timing technology) was the first two-cylinder unit fitted to a mainstream European car since the demise of the Citroën LNA in the 1980s.

Perhaps just as importantly, when running at idle it made the 500 sound as if it was purring, which was simply too cute for words.

Fiat Multipla

The original Multipla, a six-seater version of Fiat's tiny 600, looked thoroughly bizarre. The modern equivalent introduced in 1998 did too, though it had the advantages of a more sociable seating arrangement (two rows of three seats) and a front-end crumple zone which the 1950s car entirely lacked.

The design was controversial, to say the least. Fiat stuck to its guns for a few years, but backed off in 2004, restyling the car to make it appear far more conventional, and frankly less memorable.

Ford Consul Classic

Not previously known as a manufacturer of daringly designed cars, Ford caused consternation when it introduced the Consul Classic to the UK market in 1961. Strongly influenced by US styling trends, the Consul Classic had quad headlights and a reverse-sloped rear window. The latter had been used for the Anglia since 1959, but it seemed far more outlandish on the larger model.

A coupe version called the Consul Capri had a more conventional rear window but still looked very strange. Like the Consul Classic, it was a sales failure - by Christmas 1964, both cars had been discontinued.

Ford Model T

The fact that the Model T held the record for world's best-selling car until 45 years after Ford stopped building it should not blind us to the fact that it was a most peculiar device. In particular, it required a very specific driving technique. All the major controls appeared conventional, but the only one that does what you think it should is the steering wheel. What appears to be the clutch pedal in fact allows you to select one of the two forward gears, the "brake" pedal selects reverse, and so on.

Still, sales of over 15 million between 1908 and 1927 demonstrate that people were able to get the hang of it eventually.

Ford Thunderbird

The classic Thunderbirds are arguably those produced before 1970. Ford kept the name going for ten generations until 1997, then brought it back for an eleventh in 2002. This was the only Thunderbird with retro styling, and the first since the 1957 model year with a two-seat convertible body.

The format which had worked before the formation of the Beach Boys was less successful after the hiatus of the Spice Girls. Although it was popular in its first year, 2002, sales of the new Thunderbird fell dramatically thereafter, and Ford canned it at the end of the 2005 model year.

Honda Insight

Hybrid cars are so common nowadays that it is becoming difficult to remember that they were once considered almost freakish. Even by 1990s hybrid standards, the first-generation Honda Insight was very peculiar. This was partly because Honda reckoned it needed all the aerodynamic help it could get. The body shape was particularly distinctive, while the rear wheel fairings helped the air pass by with minimal disturbance.

The slightly earlier Toyota Prius hybrid also looked unusual, but it was nothing like as much of an oddball as the Honda.

Hyundai Veloster

The Hyundai Coupe/Tiburon was an attractive but generally conventional sports car, except when Hyundai gave it a bizarre facelift during the first generation. It was indirectly replaced, after a three-year gap, by the Veloster, which wasn't conventional at all. The first-generation Veloster's most famous feature was the fact that it had three doors, two on one side and one on the other.

Unlike MINI with the 2007-2014 Clubman, Hyundai developed two bodyshells, so that the double doors were always on the pavement side of the vehicle in both left- and right-hand drive markets.

Isuzu VehiCROSS

Isuzu is not known for its oddball cars, but the VehiCROSS is a glorious exception. This compact SUV, closely related to the far more conventional Isuzu Trooper, appeared as a concept at the Tokyo Show in 1993, then went on sale four years later with hardly any changes.

It was produced from 1997 to 2001 and sold in small numbers, mostly in the US.

Lamborghini LM002

Today's Lamborghini Urus is one of several luxury high-performance SUVs to have gone on sale in the last decade. It is therefore far more part of a trend than the LM002, one of several very powerful off-road trucks built by Lamborghini in the past, and the only one to go into production.

Its notably angular body concealed a big V12 engine which drove all four wheels. To put it mildly, this was not exactly the kind of thing Land Rover was building at the time. If an off-road truck seems an odd thing for a sports car maker to have built, remember that Lamborghini originally built farm tractors.

Lincoln Blackwood

It seemed like a good idea at the time for Ford's luxury brand to build a pickup truck. The Lincoln Blackwood was related to the contemporary Ford F-Series, and was packed with luxury features. The American public barely gave it a second thought. The Blackwood was sold only during the 2002 model year in the US, and until 2003 in Mexico.

Somehow, GM succeeded where Ford had failed. The Cadillac Escalade EXT, similar in concept to the Blackwood, was built in two generations from 2002 to 2013 - really too successful, in fact, for it to ever be considered an oddball.

Lotus Europa

Lotus built its first mid-engined racing car in 1960, but did not get round to using the layout in a production vehicle until six years later. Even that was quite early for a sports car of this type, which would have made the Europa an oddball for its time even without the curious "breadvan" body shape.

At first, Lotus used the Renault Cléon-Alu engine (also used in the Renault 16 and the World Rally Championship winning Alpine A110), but the Ford Kent-based Lotus Twin Cam was added to the range in 1971.

Matra Djet

Originally known as the René Bonnet Djet, the Matra was more than just an oddball - it was epoch-making. Though built in fairly small numbers, it was nevertheless the first mid-engined road car ever put into production.

It first appeared in 1962 powered by the Renault Cléon-Fonte engine which Renault itself had only just made available in the 8 saloon, the Floride/Caravelle sports car and the Estafette van.

Matra Rancho

The Rancho was a crossover manufactured from 1977 to 1984, long before anyone had heard of the term. It was based on (and, from the front, closely resembled) the Simca 1100, but the main bodywork behind the two doors was made of fibreglass.

The rear section of the cabin had far more headroom than the front, and had extra windows to allow the light in. Luggage space was phenomenal, especially if you were prepared to stack upwards. The main criticism of the Rancho was that, with a 1.4-litre petrol engine driving only the front wheels, it was far less of an off-roader than it appeared to be.

Mercedes A-Class

The Mercedes A-Class manufactured built since 2013 bear no resemblance to previous versions. The older models were tall superminis with front-wheel drive, which already set them well apart from more conventional Mercedes products.

Even more impressively, there was a sandwich floor system. This meant that, in the event of a hefty front-end shunt, the engine and gearbox would be pushed underneath the driver and front passenger instead of into their legs. Despite that, the A-Class developed an unfortunate early reputation for poor safety after falling over in a Swedish test in 1997. Mercedes made the appropriate adjustments after a short period of saying it wasn't the car's fault.

Mercedes G 63 AMG 6x6

Any six-wheeled vehicle sold to the general public is surely an oddball by definition. One of the most spectacular examples was the 6x6 version of the Mercedes G-Class SUV. Its half-dozen wheels were driven by a 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 AMG engine producing nearly 540bhp. Of all G-Class models to date, only the V12 AMG G 65 has been more powerful.

The 6x6 was produced briefly by Magna Steyr in Austria from 2013 to 2015, was very expensive (£380,000), and is accordingly very rare.

Mercedes Vaneo

Before we go any further, it's worth pointing out that the word “van” has a wider meaning in German than in English. English speakers could therefore assume that the Vaneo was a van converted into a car, as the name seemed to imply. In fact, it was a longer version of the A-Class, and was so roomy that Mercedes could claim around 70 percent of the total volume was devoted to passengers and luggage.

But it still looked a van, which may partly explain why production was brought to a halt after just three years.

MINI Clubvan

MINI has occasionally ventured into new market sectors, found fewer customers than it was expecting and quickly withdrawn - hence the short lifespans of the Coupe, Roadster and Paceman. Another example is the Clubvan, the brand's only commercial vehicle to date. Essentially a first-generation Clubman with no rear side windows and just two seats, it wasn't very roomy for a van and had an inconveniently high load sill.

All the same, BMW expected it to appeal to caterers, event planners, photographers and others who needed to carry a lot of small objects. Unfortunately, but not enough of them bought the Clubvan to make the project worthwhile.

Nash Metropolitan

Nothing could contradict the stereotype of 1950s American cars more effectively than the Nash Metropolitan. Designed by Nash-Kelvinator but built in England by Austin, the Metropolitan was tiny. It was less than 13 feet long, and was never offered with an engine larger than 1.5 litres.

The car did not exactly make a big impact either in the US or in any other market in which it was sold, but it was popular enough to survive for eight years.

Nissan Cube

The Cube was not even slightly an oddball car in its home country of Japan, where buyers like that sort of thing. The third-generation version did achieve that status, though, when it went on sale in Europe and North America.

Its appeal did not transfer over to western markets in the way that Nissan had hoped, and was optimistically priced. It was discontinued there very quickly, while continuing to sell well in Japan for years afterwards.

Peugeot 1007

At first sight, Peugeot's tiny MPV with the sliding side doors appeared to be very clever, if a bit odd-looking. Unfortunately, it was heavy and fearfully expensive (you could spend more than £15,000 on one back in 2006), and the front seatbelts were mounted so far back that even tall drivers could have difficulty reaching them.

The fact that Velcro-attached pieces of trim could easily be replaced by similar items of different colours was not enough to compensate for these and other problems. Sales were low (Peugeot customers generally went for the company's more conventional small hatchbacks instead), and the 1007 was abandoned after five years in 2009.

Pontiac Aztek

The Aztek was a crossover SUV, and in many ways rather a good one. People who bought it generally liked it. The problem was that hardly anyone bought it. The reason for not buying it was that it looked very strange. It is frequently referred to as one of the ugliest cars ever sold by a major manufacturer, and is still regarded as one of the oddest of all oddballs even though it was discontinued in 2005.

Notably, the Buick Rendezvous, which was more or less the same vehicle but with more conventional styling, outsold the Aztek by virtually three-to-one: 316,000 were sold against the Aztek’s 120,000.

Renault Avantime

Developed and manufactured by Matra, the Avantime was one of the strangest vehicles marketed by Renault during its excitable period in the early 21st century (when it also marketed the Vel Satis and the weirdest-looking of all its various Meganes).

Marketed, almost incomprehensibly, as a coupe, the Avantime was in fact based on the Espace MPV, a fact you couldn't help being aware of while driving it. Non-Espace features included arrow-like styling and heavy, double-hinged side doors. No one could doubt that it was an adventurous vehicle, and perhaps the greatest oddball Renault ever produced. But this did not translate into popularity - sales were so bad that Renault pulled the plug after just two years.

Renault Twingo

Nearly every small Renault introduced in the two decades after the Second World War had its engine mounted in the rear. The front-wheel drive Renault 4 was the oddball. Today, that title is held by the third-generation Twingo. Developed alongside the current smart fortwo and forfour, it's the only Renault built in the 21st century with the engine behind the passengers.

It's also the first such car the company has put on sale since the Spider of the mid to late 1990s, and the first volume production model since the discontinuation of the 8 and 10 saloons in the early 1970s.

Renault Twizy

Of the cars on this list, the Twizy shares a feature with the BMW i3 and Bentley Bentayga: you can still buy one today, nearly a decade after Renault first put it on sale. It's not really a car, but an electric quadricycle, and one of the strangest-looking ever put into production.

Despite being absolutely tiny, it has enough room for two adults measuring well over six feet each sitting one behind the other, though there is an uncomfortable impression that the one behind is giving birth to the one in front.

Renault Vel Satis

Once it was safely out of production, Renault admitted that the Safrane executive saloon had flopped badly outside France and Germany. According to then-company boss Louis Schweitzer, "We learned our lesson and in future we will emphasise our originality, putting forward distinctive designs that stand out from conventional saloons."

This was the philosophy behind the Vel Satis, which was aimed at customers interested in the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class. It didn't work. The Vel Satis was no more of a rival to the Germans than the Safrane had been. Midway through the 2001-2009 production run, Renault gave up building right-hand drive versions because Brits simply weren't interested.

smart fortwo

The smart car (not known as the fortwo in its earliest years) is the most outlandish vehicle in the Daimler-owned brand's history, yet also by far its most successful. smart attempted to break into non-city car segments with the roadster and roadster-coupe, the Mitsubishi Colt-based forfour and the stillborn formore SUV, but these projects led to financial disaster.

Now in its third generation, the fortwo (and its long-wheelbase forfour derivative, which has nothing to do with the earlier car) retains the basic concept of the original model. Almost uniquely among car manufacturers, smart got it absolutely right first time.

SsangYong Rodius

No matter how much sense it may have made in its home market of South Korea, the design of the first-generation SsangYong Rodius MPV caused consternation when it arrived in Europe.

Everyone agreed that it was most peculiar - not quite Pontiac Aztek peculiar, but not far off.

In fact, the Rodius was quite a sensible buy, since it had a startling amount of interior space and cost very little. But it is remembered principally because it looked weird.

Suzuki Jimny

The third-generation Jimny already seemed archaic well before its 20-year production run came to an end in 2018. It had an old-fashioned body-on-frame construction, it was terribly cramped inside and you wouldn't want to drive one any further on a motorway than you absolutely had to.

At the same time, though, it was very cheap, easy to get in and out of and perfectly suited to town driving. As a bonus, it was remarkably effective off-road. It may have been an oddball, but it suited its buyers perfectly.

Toyota Previa

The first-generation Previa looked exactly like what it essentially was: an enormous amount of empty space mounted on four wheels. This made it a very practical MPV. It was also mechanically adventurous, with a heavily canted engine mounted underneath the front seats and driving either only the rear wheels or all of them, according to customer choice.

It was sold throughout the final decade of the 20th century. Later Previas have arguably looked more attractive, but in comparison with their predecessor they are almost disappointingly conventional.

Toyota Yaris Verso

In creating a mini-MPV based on the floorpan of the first-generation Yaris supermini, Toyota was limited to extending it in only one direction: up. It was therefore impossible for the Yaris Verso to have any elegance in its design (though, in fairness, no other manufacturer could have done this either) which may partly explain why it remained in production for only six years.

However, despite a certain awkwardness about the design, the car provided a lot of interior space within a small footprint, and enough people wanted that for the project to be worthwhile.

Volkswagen Phaeton

Volkswagen is the German word for "people's car", a term which seemed ironic when VW produced the Phaeton. Although its design was very restrained, the Phaeton was a notably effective luxury car. Its problem was that people who can afford luxury cars don't necessarily want them to have a Volkswagen badge, and in any case the company owned Audi to better address that market.

The Phaeton had a long production life, from 2002 to 2016, but sales were always disappointing. Ironically, the Bentley Continental GT, which was based on the same platform, had the option (as the Phaeton did) of a 6.0-litre W12 engine and cost far more, was considerably more successful.

Volkswagen Polo Harlequin

There was nothing remotely oddball about the mid 1990s Polo Harlequin until it came off the production line. At that point, Volkswagen took selected examples painted in red, yellow, green and blue and swapped their panels around, thereby creating an oddball car with relatively little effort.

If you're interested, the original colour of a Polo Harlequin is the one which appears on the roof, C pillars and door sills, as those were the only body parts which could not easily be changed.

The secret Volkswagens that were never sold

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:47:47 +0100

Fan favourites and secret one-offs live under the same roof - these are the interesting VWs the company never sold

Volkswagen runs two museums in its home town of Wolfsburg.

Called ZeitHaus, the first collection is like a book of the 100 most emblematic cars brought to life. It’s where you’ll find a Lamborghini Miura, an Austin Mini, a Cadillac Eldorado and, of course, a diverse selection of classic Volkswagen models.

Dubbed Stiftung, the second museum is like walking through the minds of the brightest, most daring engineers Volkswagen has ever employed. Obscure one-offs, significant production cars, prototypes never shown to the public and once-popular concept cars all retire under the same roof. Join us as we explore the shady, forgotten side of the company’s history.

1955 EA 48

Though it never reached production, Volkswagen’s 1955 EA 48 prototype was shockingly similar to the Mini that Austin released in 1959. It stemmed from Volkswagen’s effort to develop a car positioned below the Beetle in terms of size, performance and price. While sharing components between the two model lines would have kept costs in check, the EA 48’s designers started with a blank slate.

The EA 48 stood out as Volkswagen’s first small car and the first model it designed on its own with no input from Porsche. It featured unibody construction, a front-mounted engine which spun the front wheels and a McPherson-type front suspension. This combination was unheard of at the time. The prototype had no rear windows but Volkswagen planned to add them before the car went on sale.

1955 EA 48

The EA 48’s engine was essentially a Beetle-sourced flat-four cut in half. The air-cooled, 0.7-litre flat-twin made 18bhp, which was enough to send the EA 48 to 50mph. It shifted through a four-speed manual in an era when many similarly-sized cars still offered a three-speed.

Volkswagen tested the EA 48 on public roads, ironed out its kinks and planned to start production until officials raised serious questions about the effect it would have on Beetle sales. The firm’s bread-and-butter model was barely starting to attract buyers and some justifiably worried releasing a smaller, cheaper car would have a disastrous effect on its career.

Interestingly, Carl F. Borgward also urged the West German government to ask Volkswagen to cancel the project. Ludwig Erhard, the minister of economy, warned Volkswagen boss Heinz Nordhoff that thousands of jobs would be lost at rival brands if the EA 48 saw the light at the end of a production line. The project was sent to the pantheon of automotive history in 1956.

1961 Type 3 Cabriolet

The Type 3 released in 1961 gave motorists a more upmarket alternative to the Beetle, so introducing a topless variant for buyers who wanted a nicer convertible made a lot of sense. Volkswagen built an elegant prototype that likely would have sold well in the United States but it shelved the project out of fear the model would create internal competition with the Karmann Ghia convertible.

1963 EA 128

Easily one of the most captivating cars in the Volkswagen collection, the EA 128 came to life in 1963 as the company explored ways to deep its ties with Porsche while moving upmarket. It was a four-door, rear-engined family car developed with Porsche’s input and powered by a detuned version of the 911’s 2.0-litre, air-cooled flat-six engine. It made 89bhp, enough to send the EA 128 to 100mph. It could have become the first Volkswagen that allowed its driver to cruise in the left lane of the autobahn.

1963 EA 128

The rear suspension was similar in design to the 911’s. If built, the EA 128 would have competed directly against the Chevrolet Corvair in the United States. It remained a prototype, partly because officials worried about how motorists would react to a luxury car from the people’s car brand. Decision-makers didn’t solve this dilemma until they approved the Phaeton project in the late 1990s.

1969 EA 276

The 1969 EA 276 is one of the prototypes that led to the original Golf. It was much boxier than many of the design studies Volkswagen built as it searched for a way to replace the Beetle, and it featured a front-mounted engine that spun the front wheels, but the grille between its headlights was misleading.

While Volkswagen had already started experimenting with water-cooling, the EA 276 carried on with the Beetle’s time-tested air-cooled flat-four engine. It bridges the visual and technical gap between the Beetle and the original Golf.

1971 ESVW I

In the early 1970s, Volkswagen joined the list of automakers working with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop a death-proof car. Automakers were challenged to come up with solutions – no matter how expensive and/or unsightly – to keep passengers alive in a high-speed crash. The assumption was that some features would later trickle into production models.

Called ESVW I, the prototype Volkswagen presented in 1971 wore a front end made with impact-absorbing plastic and it came with a padded instrument cluster, among other innovations. Volkswagen fitted it with a rear-mounted, 1.8-litre flat-four engine tuned to make 98bhp.

1972 T2 GT70

The GT acronym normally denotes a quick, high-performance car. When it’s on a Volkswagen Bus, however, it announces the presence of an experimental gas turbine where the air-cooled flat-four normally resides. Volkswagen built this prototype with the help of an American company named Williams Research Corporation to explore the feasibility of bringing it to mass production.

The 74bhp gas turbine was markedly more efficient than a piston engine and it took up less space. It was also much heavier and more expensive to build so the project was quickly canceled.

1973 Basis-Transporter

Volkswagen imagined the Basis-Transporter as a budget-priced truck for emerging nations. It had to be cheap to build and simple to mend with only basic tools. It was consequently built on a ladder frame that could be easily stretched, shrunk or fitted with different bodies and it used the company’s familiar air-cooled flat-four. The engine was mounted in the front, directly under the cab, to make the back part of the truck as practical as possible.

The Basis-Transporter in the Volkswagen museum is a prototype but it spawned a production model called EA 489 internally in 1976. More commonly known as the Hormiga (Spanish for ant), the pickup was manufactured in Hanover, Germany, and sold as complete knock-down (CKD) kits and in Puebla, Mexico for the local market. About 6200 units were made.

1973 Plattenwagen

Workers in Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg factory cleverly built the first Plattenwagen in 1946 because they didn’t have forklifts. They started with a Beetle chassis, topped it with a metal platform and added a cab (sometimes closed, sometimes open) over the rear axle. These rudimentary pickups performed a variety of tasks including carrying components around the plant and distributing tea to workers.

Dozens of Plattenwagens were made between 1946 and 1973 and Volkswagen’s archives department credits this ingenious vehicle for spawning the Bus. The one displayed in the Volkswagen museum was built in 1973. It’s equipped with a 49bhp, 1.6-litre air-cooled flat-four engine.

1973 T2b Open Air

Structural rigidity be damned, Volkswagen chopped the top off a Bus in 1973 to create a convertible model called Open Air. It was never sold to the general public, for better or worse. Instead, the Open Air was built for a German television show called Ein Platz an der Sonne (a place in the sun).

1975 Chicco

The Chicco illustrated Volkswagen’s vision of a compact yet spacious city car. It stretched 129in from bumper to bumper yet its interior offered space for four passengers in relative comfort. Seemingly impossible, this feat was accomplished using the technology Volkswagen developed for the 1970s.

Power for the Chicco came from a 0.9-litre three-cylinder engine rated at 40bhp. It was essentially a water-cooled straight-four with a cylinder lopped off. It was mounted transversally and it spun the front wheels so engineers were able to keep the size of the engine compartment in check. The Chicco remained a prototype but it influenced Volkswagen’s subsequent city cars.

1976 Rovomobil

This streamlined, fibreglass-bodied coupe started life in West Germany as a 1949 Beetle. It likely led an uneventful life until it moved to East Germany and ended up in the hands of enthusiasts Eberhardt Scharnowski and Burg Giebichenstein. In 1976, they removed the Beetle’s body and used the platform to create a one-of-a-kind sports car using the components and materials they were able to get their hands on. The Rovomobil’s windscreen, wipers and seats come from a Wartburg 353 while the lights are from a Trabant 601. The 34bhp, 1.2-litre flat-four is the original Beetle engine.

1977 Passat GTI

It didn’t take long for Volkswagen to look into expanding its range of GTI-badged cars. In 1977, two years after the Golf GTI made its debut, the company built an experimental Passat powered by the familiar 1.6-litre, 108bhp four-cylinder. It had more weight to carry in the Passat than in the Golf but it nonetheless delivered impressive performance. Suspension modifications improved handling while the now-familiar assortment of red accents added a finishing touch to the look.

Engineers extensively tested the Passat GTI on public roads and loved it but Volkswagen officials shot down the project. The Passat was a family car, they argued, not a hot rod. The 108bhp engine nonetheless ended up in the range-topping GLI model developed with an eye on comfort.

1984 Polo-powered Beetle

Volkswagen knew emissions regulations would kill the Beetle’s air-cooled flat-four engine sooner or later, though no one expected it would live until 2003. Efforts to develop a water-cooled Beetle started during the 1970s and led to this Polo-powered model built and tested in 1984.

Starting with a Mexican-built Beetle, engineers stuffed a 44bhp, 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine longitudinally in the space normally occupied by the flat-four. Getting it to fit required resorting to unusual packaging solutions; the radiator was installed under the car and protected by a thick skid plate, for example. The Polo’s engine later equipped the Bus but the Beetle kept its flat-four until the end of its production run.

1984 IRVW III

Made in 1984, this second-generation Jetta-based prototype was a rolling test bed of new technologies. It looked nearly stock with the exception of a lower ride height but it was fitted with a turbocharged, 1.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine tuned to develop 178bhp. To add context, the most powerful turbodiesel offered in the regular-production Jetta generated 78bhp. Releasing 100 additional horses into the Jetta’s driveline allowed it to cruise on the Autobahn at up to 124mph.

1987 T3 Magma

Volkswagen introduced the Magma prototype in 1987 to gauge how customers would react if it made interior and exterior changes to the venerable T3. It stood out with a specific grille that featured integrated driving lights, more rounded wheel arch flares and a two-tone paint job, among other changes. Off-road-ready equipment like a winch and a front bull bar was added to get the public’s attention and power came from a 110bhp, 2.1-litre four-cylinder engine.

None of the major changes previewed by the Magma made it onto the production line. Either they were not very well received by its target audience or Volkswagen decided not to spend money updating a model nearing the end of its life cycle in Europe and in North America.

1990 Biagini Passo

Volkswagen-based cars are eligible for a spot in the company’s collection. This Italian-built Biagini Passo is one of the latest additions to the museum. It’s a first-generation Golf Cabriolet fitted with a new-look body kit, headlights from a Fiat Panda, and the Golf Country’s Syncro four-wheel drive system. The result looks like the precursor to Land Rover’s convertible Evoque.

65 examples of the Biagini Passo were made between 1990 and 1993. Most were sold on the Italian market but a handful were distributed in Germany. Rust claimed a majority of the production run in both countries.

1990 Vario I

The Vario I concept presented in 1990 stands out as one of the missing links between the Beetle-based Meyers Manx and the ID Buggy concept car presented in 2019. It shared its platform and its 1.9-litre four-cylinder engine with the second-generation Golf but it wore a buggy-like body made of plastic. There were no doors so the passengers had to hop over the body to get in. The Manx and the ID Buggy don’t have doors, either.

Designers integrated a removable Sony boom box into the dashboard instead of installing a conventional radio in the dashboard. The Vario I was fully functional, and it turned heads everywhere it went, but there’s little indication that Volkswagen seriously considered producing it.

1995 Balloon Beetle

The Beetle has conquered every continent – even Antarctica. Several examples became boats, including a few powered by an outboard motor, and this 1995 model took to the skies above Switzerland by adopting hardware normally developed for hot-air balloons.

Turning an unsuspecting Beetle into a hot-air balloon required cutting a sizeable hole through the roof. It drove like a normal Beetle when its four wheels were on the ground and it carried on with a 1.2-litre, 34bhp flat-four. The stock fuel tank (normally mounted in front of the firewall) was replaced by a smaller unit crammed into the engine compartment for weight distribution reasons.

Volkswagen Golf EV won't arrive until end of decade, CEO confirms

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:19:52 +0100

Autocar rendering shows what the new ID Golf could look like

CEO Thomas Schafer confirms "we do not need an electric Golf in 2028" as "we are well set" with current line-up

Volkswagen will not launch the electric Golf until the end of the decade, CEO Thomas Schäfer has confirmed.

Sources previously told Autocar that the EV, which is expected to be called ID Golf, would be launched in 2028.

However, Schäfer told the FT’s Future of the Car event in London this morning: “We have a fantastic line-up now that we do not need an electric Golf in 2028. We are well set with what we have in our portfolio with our vehicles."

Volkswagen's existing EV line-up will be joined this year by a new range of electric models that include the new ID Polo, updated ID 3 Neo and incoming ID Cross. Schäfer's comments suggest the Golf EV’s later-than-expected launch is partly tactical to give these new arrivals some market exposure before the first electric version of its most popular and well-known model is launched.

However, another reason, he hinted, was a further delay to the SSP platform that will underpin the Golf EV. The new architecture will form the basis of the next-generation of Volkswagen Group vehicles and Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume previously claimed it would bring price parity between ICE and EV models.

The platform will also feature 800V electricals, more advanced battery technology and a new software architecture developed in collaboration with Rivian. It was originally pencilled in to arrive this year, but it has been delayed by development issues and now the first vehicles to use it won't be launched until 2028.

Autocar previously reported that the Golf EV was to be one of these cars. However, Schäfer confirmed that the first VW Group vehicles to use the platform will be from its Audi and Porsche premium brands.

He said: “SSP, we will roll it out across the [VW Group] brands. We will start with the premium brands first... It will start with Audi, then Porsche, then us [VW] and on and on.”

Speaking about why the platform has taken so long to arrive, he said: “It sounds like we take so long, but for us we are looking at scale and you have to have scale in this game or you'll never make margin parity.”

Schäfer added that “increased competition”, especially from new Chinese brands, has forced a rethink of EV pricing, meaning the group had to “redo the maths” regarding platform costs in terms of materials and investment.

The news comes just a few months after the first official image of the ninth-generation Volkswagen Golf was released, as well as the confirmation that the EV will be built at the car maker’s Wolfsburg factory in Germany. Production of the combustion-powered car, which will be heavily updated at the same time as the EV arrives, will move to Mexico.

Lotus Emira to drop Toyota, AMG engines in switch to new hybrid V6

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:10:06 +0100

Revised sports car is due later this decade with new powertrain from Renault-Geely-owned Horse

The updated Lotus Emira sports car will be the first to use a new 3.0-litre V6 turbocharged hybrid engine developed by Geely-Renault-owned powertrain company Horse.

The revised Emira, due to arrive later this decade, is part of a wider overhaul at Lotus that brings combustion-engine sports cars back to the fore, with a new V8 hybrid supercar codenamed Esprit leading the charge.

The Horse V6 will become the only available powertrain so will replace both the current Toyota-sourced V6 and AMG-supplied four-cylinder unit that currently powers the Emira, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng confirmed to Autocar.

It develops up to 536bhp and 516lb ft but weighs just 160kg – making it around 10kg lighter than any other V6 on the market and only marginally heavier than many 2.0-litre four pots, said Horse CEO Matias Giannini.

The unit will be mated to an automatic transmission (of as-yet-unconfirmed size) with an integrated electric motor, giving the Emira an additional power boost while also reducing emissions

Lotus extended the life of the Emira after deciding there was no market for the planned electric replacement, originally to be developed alongside Alpine for a launch previously planned for this year.

Lotus made the decision to focus on the six-cylinder partly due to reaction from the US market, which has driven demand for the Toyota-supplied V6. “They told us that they love the V6 engine, and actually the V6 version is our best-seller in the US market,” said Feng.

The continuation of the combustion-engined Emira is great news for Lotus’s historic production plant in Hethel, near Norwich, which will also build the V8 ‘Esprit’ supercar from 2028. Production sunk as low as 2000 cars last year after the US imposed an inflated 25% tariff on imported cars in March 2025.

Negotiations by the UK reduced the final figure to 10%, reviving production and making Hethel an attractive place to supply the US again. “The 10% tariff for UK-manufactured cars exported to the US seems acceptable to us,” said Feng. “It is actually more cost-efficient [using Hethel] than investing in a [new] factory.”

Lotus last year had to deny a well-sourced Autocar report that it planned to shut Hethel amid a wider push to cut costs at the money-losing company.

Lotus now aims to push Hethel close to its capacity of 10,000 with the combined production of both the new Emira and the V8 supercar, which is likely to take its Esprit codename into production.

The current Emira was launched in 2021 on a much modified version of the outgoing Evora platform and has gone on to become Lotus’s best-selling sports car based on annual figures.

However, the V6 from Toyota was due to be replaced because it would have failed to meet upcoming changes to EU regulations, prompting Horse to create its own engine.

New Horse V6 is “powerful and lightweight”

The engine will set new standards in the category, Horse CEO Matias Giannini told Autocar. “Being based on a smaller engine design is also a key reason why the V6 is so compact and light,” he said. "That's why it's so competitive, and it is the lightest and smallest hybrid V6 in the world right now. There's no hybrid V6 engine that fits in the package that ours fits."

The 3.0-litre unit, revealed at the Beijing motor show last month, is described as a "powerful and lightweight V6 engine" for use in mild- and full-hybrid vehicles.

It is the latest in a wave of new systems revealed by the fast-growing company, which was set up as a joint venture between Renault and Geely in 2024 to develop and supply electrified ICE powertrains for car manufacturers globally. Horse engines are already used in a variety of vehicles from Renault, Dacia, Nissan, Mercedes and others.

Giannini explained that the new motor was not initially in the product strategy when the company was founded two years ago, but has been developed efficiently using existing assets.

He said: "I love the big engines. When I came here, I didn't think that was ever going to be part of our journey, because there's so much to be done with that more commoditised powertrain: the three- and four-cylinder, up to 2.0-litre engines.

"But obviously, in a company like Horse Powertrain, there's a lot of car enthusiasts – so people would come to me and say: 'When are we going to have a V6?'

"And I would say: 'It's not the focus right now.' But that's the thing about an innovative company with car lovers: they made a way to convince me, and the way to convince is that the basis of the V6 comes from our simple four-cylinder technology."

Giannini's comments highlight the modularity of Horse's construction methods, which mean that all its engines can essentially be scaled up and down as needed. Such modularity has also allowed for the creation of a new V8, based on the V6, which will power Lotus’s new supercar.

Interesting engines we forgot all about

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:00:34 +0100

If Bugatti’s quad-turbocharged W16 is unique but memorable, here are those engines that are forgotten and distinctive

In the more than 130 years since the motor industry came into being, so many engines have been created that it’s almost impossible to keep track of them all.

AMC straight four

The 2.5-liter straight four made its debut in Jeeps and the AMC Eagle (pictured) in 1983, and was still being used in the Wrangler SUV and the Dodge Dakota pickup in the early 21st century.

Austin Seven

BMW M10

BMW V8

Chevrolet 90-degree V6

Chrysler Poly V8

Chryslers would later receive the Poly too, but the engine was soon superseded by one known simply as the A, and was never fitted to anything after 1958.

(PICTURE: 1956 Plymouth Belvedere convertible)

Chrysler slant six

(PICTURE: 1966 Plymouth Valiant)

Citroën flat four

These cars do not figure highly in motoring life today, but they are probably better remembered in most countries than the Romanian Oitcit Club, which had the same engine.

Citroën Traction Avant

Daimler 2.5-liter V8

Ferrari 2.0-liter V8

Fiat 100 Series

Strictly speaking, it was replaced in 1985 by the Fully Integrated Robotised Engine (FIRE), but it continued to be churned out for many years after that.

Ford Sidevalve

The larger version was the basis of the 1172 Formula racing class, and powered a great many specialist sports and competition cars.

Ford Thriftpower six

Ford V4

The Essex V4, measuring either 1.7 or 2.0 liters, first appeared in the Corsair (pictured) and the Transit van in 1965, and would later be used in the Capri and Granada.

Ford Y-Block

Lancia V4

The last Lancia V4 was used in the Fulvia Coupe, one of the most successful rally cars in the world in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Mazda 20B

Mercedes M111

The M111 was at its most interesting when supercharged, as it was in cars whose names included the letter K, standing for Kompressor.

Opel CIH

Panhard flat twin

Saab B

Saab two-stroke twin

Most people who know about Saab’s history are aware that the Swedish company bought in the German Ford V4 engine to replace its own three-cylinder two-stroke in 1967.

Less well remembered is that the latter was actually Saab’s second engine, the first being a two-cylinder unit used only in the 92, which went into production in 1949.

Simca Poissy

The 1307/Alpine was launched after Simca had become part of Chrysler Europe. This was taken over by Peugeot in 1978, which led to the Poissy being used in some Peugeot models up to around 1990.

Trojan

Vauxhall A-Type

It’s now largely forgotten simply because it was created so long ago, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Vauxhall and its young engineer once produced an absolute marvel.

Vauxhall slant four

The most famous version was the 2.3-liter twin-cam used in the Chevette HS and HSR, both of which performed well in international rallying in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Volkswagen W8

Volvo B18

Best selling cars of all time, from each car maker

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:00:22 +0100

Some of the information was easy to find, others difficult, and some of the results were surprising

We all have a pretty good idea of what the best selling cars of today are.

But what about individual brands’ biggest-selling cars of all time? So we reached for our calculator and started digging – some of the information was easy to find, others less so. And some of the results were surprising – many marques' best-sellers were last sold a long time ago, so join us on an intriguing and varied journey. For this list we have focused on nameplates, rather than distinct models.

We didn’t have data for every brand, and some of the numbers listed will still be growing, fast, but for the one’s we do have we’ve ranked them from the smallest selling through to the largest:

Bugatti – Type 40, 1926-30: 807

One of the smallest total sales volumes you’ll find for a single model, but that would have been a successful number for a niche manufacturer like Bugatti.

In second place, with 685 sales, is the Type 57. No two 57 is alike – they are superbly diverse thanks to the variety of coachwork built on its chassis. From swoopy tourers and roadsters to the lithe, aircraft-inspired Atlantic, every 57 made imparted far more glamour than its modern Veyron and Chiron descendants could ever hope for.

In case you’re wondering, production of the Veyron totalled 450 cars, and 500 for the Chiron.

TVR – Chimaera, 1993-2003: 6500

TVR is a specialist British sports car maker, and in its own terms, the Chimaera was a runaway success and it helped fund the development of later models such as the Cerbera and Tuscan ranges. All Chimaeras were powered by the Buick-derived Rover V8 engine, used in a variety of capacities and power outputs.

As a measure of its popularity, the Chimaera sold more in its 12-year run than TVR had managed with all its models in the previous 25 years.

De Tomaso – Pantera, 1971-1991: 7260

For a car with such an exotic name, looks and performance, the Pantera notched up decent sales figures. Partly this was down to sales lasting 20 years and also because it cleverly used a rugged, easily tuned Ford V8 motor. That made it a popular alternative to other European supercars in the USA, where it remains a popular classic choice.

Elvis Presley was one of many notable owners – once, he was so enraged when his Pantera failed to start, he shot it.

Morgan – 4/4, 1936-2018: 10,000

The total number of Morgan 4/4s sold to date may be relatively small, but this British sports car can lay claim to the longest continuous-running name in automotive history. That accounts for its sales outweighing any other product from the firm, but it was also always the most popular choice for buyers thanks to its blend of looks, performance and rugged usability. In 2020 it was replaced by a new Plus Four.

Alpine – A110, 2018-present: 17,000+

Across 14 years of production only 7500 original A110s were sold, a figure that the new A110 had beaten in just its first three years on sale. On that front alone, Alpine and its parent company Renault, should mark the new one a success. Interestingly, until the reincarnation of the A110, the lesser-known A310 was the firm's best-selling model, having shifted 11,616 of them over 13 years.

Ferrari – 458, 2009-2015: 24,000

Ferrari is very candid about figures for production, for example, we can only give an estimate that around 24,000 458s were made (15,000 Italias, 3000 Speciales and 6000 Spiders). That’s quite a bit more than the previous record holder, the 430, of which 17,499 were built.

The 458’s successor, the 488, almost matched the 458's total, despite not having been built for as long. But if any Ferrari is going to beat the sales of the 458, it is likely to be the new Purosangue SUV, even if Ferrari promises to limit it to a 20% share of total sales.

Lamborghini – Urus, 2018-present: 25,000+

If you’ve been into central London recently, this probably doesn’t come as a surprise, even if it is a bit of a disappointment. That’s not to say Lamborghini’s sports cars have been slacking, before the Urus the Gallardo was the best seller, with 14,022 sold. The Huracan that came after it has also beaten that number and was almost at 20,000 sales before it was discontinued in 2023.

Aston Martin – Vantage, 2005-present: 25,000+

Often referred to as the car that saved Aston Martin, the DB7 was for many years Aston’s best-selling model. But it wasn’t long before it was overtaken by its replacement (along with the DB9). As of 2021, just under 24,700 V8 Vantages (confusingly including the V12) had been sold over two generations, and you can be sure that figure is now above 25,000. However, will it be long before it is overtaken by the new Aston on the block, the DBX?

Rolls-Royce – Silver Shadow, 1965-1980: 29,030

For a car aimed at anyone but the common herd, there were rather a lot of Silver Shadows built during its 15-year tenure as Rolls-Royce’s mainstay model. Arriving during the 1960s when a cultural revolution was taking place could have been a disaster for this most venerable of establishment brands, but the Shadow instantly found favour with style leaders of the period.

It remains Rolls’ best-selling model, but that is likely to change with the continuously increasing popularity of the ‘entry-level’ Ghost saloon and Cullinan SUV.

Lotus – Elise, 1996-2021: 35,124

In a roll call of significant models from Lotus, the Elise more than any other deserves its place at the top of the list. Not only did it keep the firm from buckling financially, it introduced a whole new generation to the delights of lightweight, deft-footed sports car ownership.

However, considering Lotus expects to be selling 150,000 cars every year by 2028, it's safe to say it won't be long until the Electre SUV eclipses that figure.

Bentley – Continental GT, 2003-present: 90,000+

Bentley only made around 800 cars in the year before the Continental GT was launched, so even it was caught off guard by the runaway success of the sleek coupe. A convertible joined the range in 2006 to further expand sales and Bentley has never looked back since. Even the addition of the Bentayga SUV to the Bentley lineup in 2015 has yet to threaten the total sales supremacy of the Continental.

Maserati – Levante, 2016-present: 100,000+

Before the Ghibli saloon and slightly more successful Levante SUV came along, Maserati’s best-seller had been the Biturbo, at 36,373 sales. The Biturbo is often scoffed as the bargain basement Maserati, but this model proliferated throughout the 1980s and kept the Trident badge from going under during that decade.

The Levante and Ghibli duo have only just managed that in the second decade of the 21st century, and now it’s the turn of the smaller Grecale SUV to try and outsell the Levante and keep the famous trident alive.

Rover – 800, 1986-1999: 317,126

Rover was in desperate need of a sales hitter when it launched the 800. The previous SD1 was a clever design but marred by quality issues, so basing the 800 on the Honda Legend was sound thinking. It may have lacked the avant-garde appeal of its predecessor, but the middle managers of Britain loved it enough for more than 300,000 to roll out of showrooms.

The model was branded Sterling in the USA but was much less of a success in that market, and the Coupe (pictured) – designed for America, though it never got there - was and remains a rare and quite enticing oddity.

Triumph – Herald, 1959-1970: 464,238

Launched in the same year as the innovative Mini, the Triumph Herald was a far more conventional machine with a separate chassis and engine derived from an existing Standard unit. However, its sharp styling chimed with buyers and there were coupe, estate and convertible options, as well as a van. Most numerous of the range was the 1200 saloon which accounted for 201,142 units.

Jaguar – XJ, 1968-2019: 1 million

The XJ has been a constant in Jaguar’s line-up since it was first launched to huge acclaim in 1968. Back then, it was regarded as the best saloon in the world, which was backed up further when the 5.3-litre V12 motor was installed. Through ups and downs of ownership, the XJ has kept putting in the sales with even the short-lived X300 model managing 86,909 sales in three years.

Alfa Romeo – Alfasud, 1972-1989: 1.02 million

A gem of a front-wheel drive hatch that was a capable rival for the Volkswagen Golf, although suspect build quality and poor rust-prevention hampered consumer confidence. More power arrived with the 95bhp Veloce and the delectable Sprint Coupe could be had with a 117bhp 1.7-litre version of the flat-four motor. Deservedly Alfa’s biggest seller.

MG – ZS, 2017-present: 1 million +

No, not the short-lived rebadged Rover 45 hatchback, the ZS we’re talking about is the one that has snuck into the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK repeatedly over the last couple of years. Its low price has found it enough willing buyers in the UK, and especially in China, for it to have eclipsed the total sales of the MG B over its near 30-year lifetime (513,272 units). The B can still hold its head up high as one of the best-selling sports cars ever.

Porsche – 911, 1963-present: 1.2 million +

There’s an Irish Green 991-generation Porsche 911 that marks a very important point in 911 history: it’s the one millionth produced of this famous sports car. Longevity helped the 911 reach this mark in early 2017, with another 30,000 or so being added to that number each year, but its enduring appeal is as a machine with supercar pace that you can drive all day, every day.

Saab – 900, 1978-1998: 1.2 million

Saab is well known for its unique design choices that made its owners fiercely loyal to the end of its life. That was evident nowhere more obviously than with the 900 range that was launched in 1978 and racked up more than 900,00 sales for the first model and 273,568 for the 1993 New Generation version.

While safety, space and comfort were big draws, performance was another Saab speciality and almost a quarter of 900 sales went to the Turbo models.

Chrysler – Newport, 1961-81: 1.9 million

The Newport may not be the first model to pop into your head when thinking about Chrysler’s back catalogue, but it’s the best seller for the US firm. Marketed as an affordable saloon or estate, it found favour with suburban customers for 20 years. Styling-wise, it’s at its best in crisp-lined mid-1960s guise, while the 1980s versions were bland and that was reflected in rapidly dwindling sales.

In case you’re wondering, 1.2 million of the 2004-2023 300s were built, and if you're looking for a Chrysler minivan in the top position, since 1988 over 15 million (and counting) have been built - but they have been sold under many different names, so the individual figures don’t add up.

Tesla – Model 3, 2017-present: 2 million +

By the time Model 3 production started 500,000 people had already put reservations down for one. That impressive number foreshadowed the success of the Model 3, which has no sign of slowing down as electric car sales only increase, and Tesla’s improve in build quality and efficiency. Before the Model 3 came along the Model S was the best seller - it continues to clock up sales, and is now past 250,000 units sold since its launch in 2012.

Smart – Fortwo, 1998-2024: 2.1 million

Like so many revolutionary cars, the Smart Fortwo had a difficult route to production reality. First Volkswagen pulled out of a deal and then there were senior management disputes about the use of electric and hybrid power.

In the end, it arrived with a 599c three-cylinder petrol engine and the ability to park nose-in to normal spaces thanks to its 2.5m overall length. Being small hasn’t stopped the Fortwo notching up more than 2 million sales so far for the Mercedes-owned marque, but waning popularity means production won’t go beyond 2024.

Land Rover – Defender (including Series’), 1948-present: 2.2 million +

Is an original Land Rover the same 4x4 as a Defender? The definitive Land Rover changed a great deal during its 67-year run, but the essence remained the same throughout, so yes, we think so. That ethos was for a simple, rugged and multi-configurable off-roader capable of tackling conditions few others could.

Along the way, Land Rover offered a wide variety of engines and options, but all comes back to the core premise of being able to go anywhere. It was a popular package that sold 2 million cars until it was discontinued in 2016 – the new Defender, introduced in 2020, is adding to that tally quickly, with current sales of around 100,000 per year.

Saturn – S-Series, 1991-2002: 2.25 million

Part of the General Motors family, the Saturn S-Series was notable for its extended proboscis front end that hinted at sporting prowess. That was unlikely with the 1.9-litre engine used in the first generation, but it did stand out for using plastic body panels hung from a spaceframe-style chassis.

Saturn also turned out 450 right-hand drive versions in 1999 specifically for the United States Postal Service so the driver could exit on the kerbside for deliveries.

Lincoln – Town Car, 1981-2011: 2.45 million

Parent company Ford’s intentions for this Lincoln were clear when it decided on the Town Car name. The Lincoln lived up to the name thanks to its generous proportions and fully laden interior specification. Some early models even included a digital dash and keypad entry system, though later models grew more conservative in design.

It also spawned a host of genuine limo versions so beloved of tourists and night parties.

Dodge – Charger, 1966-2023: 2.6 million

The Charger is a model that has taken three distinct forms over three distinct periods. The 1966-1978 run was a proper American muscle coupe. The 1982-1987 generation was a front-wheel drive economy hatchback. Between 2006 and 2023 it had been a muscle four-door saloon. Now it will return as an electric coupe. The Charger only recently overtook the Coronet nameplate’s figures, which was built between 1949 and 1976 and clocked up 2.5 million sales.

Volvo – 200, 1974-1993: 2.86 million

If ever a car maker was defined by a single car, it has to be Volvo and its 200 range of saloons and, especially, estates. Styled with a set square, it didn’t stop them from selling more than 2.8 million over 19 years. If you wanted something a bit more flash, there was the 262C coupe with vinyl roof and V6 engine, which managed to chalk up 5622 sales.

Mercury – Grand Marquis. 1975-2011: 2.96 million

Aimed at the mid-size US market, the Grand Marquis was Ford’s way of tackling the likes of the Buick Le Sabre using the Mercury brand. Offered in saloon and coupe shapes, the Grand Marquis stuck with V8 engines throughout its lifespan.

Sadly, the styling wilted from the original car’s sharply creased lines to an amorphous rounded saloon shape by the time of its demise in 2011; the Mercury marque died with it. Alternatively, the Cougar has sold such a similar number of cars to the Grand Marquis, that it is impossible to accurately call which was more popular, as Ford has not confirmed.

Lancia – Ypsilon, 1996-present: 3.1 million +

Lancia is a name that’s slipped from most markets around the world, yet the Ypsilon carries on flying the flag for this once revered company, albeit now only in Italy. Sadly, ingenious design and top-spec engineering have given way to an awkwardly styled small hatch that has also been badged as a Chrysler. But that hasn’t stopped Lancia from outselling Alfa Romeo between 2019 and 2023, despite just having one model for sale in one market.

Holden – Commodore, 1978-2020: 3.2 million

Holden was Australia’s homegrown car maker and, until very recently, made its cars on home turf. The Commodore has always been based on General Motor’s large car platforms, but Holden has gone its own way with styling and engines. This has resulted in some very potent V8-powered models and the Commodore has been a mainstay of Aussie V8 saloon car racing alongside its great rival, the Ford Falcon.

Plymouth – Fury, 1956-1978: 3.68 million

The Fury started life as a derivative of the Belvedere, but it soon gained its own identity in the fins and chrome extravagance of the late 1950s. Sales soared thanks to the choice of saloon, wagon, coupe and convertible models, and this success rolled into the 1960s.

During its final seventh generation, Plymouth shrunk the Fury to a mid-size car and that signalled the end of the road for this strong-selling range. The Chrysler-owned marque itself died in 2001.

Lexus – RX, 1998-present: 3.7 million +

The RX has been around far longer than many of its large SUV rivals, which has helped production numbers. It’s further aided by the option of a hybrid model that accounts for around a third of all Lexus petrol-electric models sold each year, with this model especially popular in the US.

Citroen – 2CV, 1948-1990: 3.9 million

An enduring fondness for the 2CV means that many of Citroen’s near-4 million utilitarian hacks are still going strong. Conceived before the Second World War, the project was kept hidden from France’s German occupiers and then launched in 1948. It was built everywhere from Slough in the UK to Montevideo, Uruguay, and of course in France.

Cadillac – de Ville, 1959-2005: 3.9 million

Starting out a decade beforehand as a trim option, the de Ville became a model in its own right in 1959 with huge fins and the best of everything. Although its size might hint otherwise, it was always intended as a town car, though Cadillac’s view of this was to offer premium luxury rather than nimble handling or anything approaching decent fuel economy. None of that put off 3.9 million buyers, almost all of them in the USA.

Hindustan – Ambassador, 1958-2014: 4 million

Take one already-dated British design and export it to India where there’s a need for cheap, rugged transport and, hey presto, you have the Hindustan Ambassador. Developed from the Morris Oxford Series 3, the Ambassador is still a common sight on India’s roads as a taxi.

Its simple mechanicals mean it can cope with vast amounts of abuse and miles. Some were even re-imported to the UK in the 1990s until emissions and safety legislation put paid to that.

Pontiac – Grand Am, 1973-2006: 4 million

The Grand Am was perhaps not as alluring as the Pontiac Trans Am, which had ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ cool on its side, but the Grand lived up to its name by being the bigger seller. In its 33-year stint in showrooms, it shifted 4 million. That started in the heyday of big motors and you could have a Grand Am with a 455cu in (7.5-litres) V8, though production ended in 2006 with a whimpering 2.2-litre four-pot.

The Pontiac marque itself was axed in the wake of the Great Recession, in 2010.

Subaru – Legacy, 1988-present: 5 million +

For all the chutzpah of the rally-inspired Impreza models, it’s the more mature Legacy that has been the sales foundation for Subaru over the last 30 years. Of course, this saloon and estate range had its moment on the forest stages, famously with Colin McRae at the wheel.

However, it’s more at home as a family wagon and capable tow car and it now routinely sells around 200,000 units every year, a big chunk of those in the American market.

Jeep – Wrangler, 1987-present: 5.1 million +

Running its Cherokee stablemate close on the sales front, the Wrangler just takes the honours here as it continues to rack up the numbers. Replacing the CJ in 1987, the Wrangler has enjoyed steady sales throughout its life thanks to a faithful fanbase who love it for its go-anywhere skills and open-top body.

Buick – Le Sabre, 1959-2005: 6 million

When Buick launched the first Le Sabre at the height of the fins and chrome era in the late 1950s USA, it was every inch of its considerable length a rival for Cadillac. It remained a sharp-suited choice through the 1960s, but the ’70s onwards were not kind to it and by the time its demise came about, the Le Sabre was bloated and ungainly. The upside is it had added 6 million sales to GM’s bottom line.

SEAT – Ibiza, 1984-present: 6.5 million +

The SEAT Ibiza was launched with considerable pedigree thanks to input to the design from Porsche, Karmann and ItalDesign. That helped sales reach 1.3 million before Volkswagen took the reins of the Spanish firm and the 1993 second generation model became based on the Polo platform - it was another sales success. 152,300 Ibizas rolled off the Martorell line near Barcelona in 2017.

Kia – Sportage, 1993-present: 7 million +

Life didn’t look that promising for the Sportage when it first went on sale in 1993. Sales were slower than expected and its poor ride and handling didn’t help matters. Then Hyundai bought Kia and re-launched the Sportage in 2004. While not the last word in style, it caught the crest of the SUV sales wave and that led to the sleek 2010 model which completed Kia’s arrival as a major force.

Mitsubishi – Lancer, 1973-2023: 7.3 million

Who says sex sells? Not Mitsubishi, that’s for sure, as the Lancer has only ever raised the pulse in its most extreme rally-bred versions. While those Evo models garner the headlines, it’s the mainstream Lancer models that make up the huge majority of its 7.3 million and counting sales.

Usually sold in sedan form, there have been hatches and estates, and production in China only stopped recently.

Suzuki – Wagon R, 1993-present: 7.5 million +

The Suzuki Wagon R has been a regular winner of Japan’s best-selling car during its lifetime and it notched up 3 million sales by 2008. Much of this success is because it meets its home country’s strict ‘kei’ car rules for size.

By maximising the cabin space within this restricted footprint, the Wagon R offers room for the family without clogging up city streets. The latest models now come with hybrid power to make them even more urban friendly.

Skoda – Octavia, 1998-present: 7.5 million +

Skoda was once the butt of jokes, but who’s laughing now? That’ll be the VW-owned Czech firm as it goes to the bank with the profits generated by more than the 6 million Octavias it’s made since the car was launched in 1998. The Octavia remains the most popular car in several European countries and features in many top 10 best-selling lists.

That’s easy to comprehend when you know the Octavia accounts for a third of Skoda sales, making up 418,800 cars from Skoda’s total of 1.2 million cars built in 2017.

Audi – A4, 1998-present, 8 million +

It’s hard to imagine the roadscape without the Audi A4 now, yet it was launched relatively recently compared to its arch-rival, the BMW 3 Series. Even so, A4 sales have increased year on year, helped by its reputation for solidity and all-wheel drive on most models.

Fiat – Uno, 1983- 1994: 8.8 million

Given Fiat has produced the original 500 and the modern retro version, it’s perhaps a surprise to learn its biggest ever seller is the boxy Uno. Yet we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of this supermini in its heyday when it sold like cold gelato on a summer’s day. However, the Uno should watch its heels, the Panda and 500 nameplates are close behind and catching fast, the Panda on over 8 million and the 500 on 7 million.

Mazda – Familia, 1963-2003: 10 million

Mazda may be famous for making the world’s most popular sports car in the MX-5, but it’s the more humdrum Familia that is still its overall best-seller – known in Europe as the 323 most recently. The Mazda 3 has picked up the baton now, and is doing well so far, with 4 million sales in just over 20 years – already four times as many as the popular MX-5.

Peugeot – 206, 1998-2023: 10 million

The 206 brought back some of the pep that had made Peugeot’s 205 such a success. Attractive styling and a range of frugal engines were allied to three- and five-door hatch bodies. In time, there followed the CC with its folding metal roof and an estate version. All proved popular and, when European sales ended with the arrival of the 207 in 2006, the 206 carried on in other less developed markets, eventually concluding in 2023 with the end of Iranian production.

MINI – Hatch, 1959-present: 10 million +

Issigonis’ original Mini in its simplest two-door form sold more than 5.3 million, including the rapid Cooper models. BMW took a risk reviving the MINI brand in 2001 with its modern interpretation of the much-loved classic small car (pictured). It was a gamble that has paid off handsomely thanks to more than 5 million sales to date of the new hatch models (including convertible, electric and five-door versions).

Agile handling, sharp steering and great looks all contribute, and just like the original, the feisty Cooper versions rack up plenty of sales.

Oldsmobile – Cutlass, 1961-1999: 11.9 million

The Cutlass brings back fond memories for many of its 11.9 million new buyers thanks to the good looks of earlier generations. Later models went on to offer decent performance and good handling, even if the looks became blander.

The original 1961 car is also notable for using a certain all-aluminium 3.5-litre V8 that went on to greater fame in a number of Rover and Land Rover vehicles. The Oldsmobile badge died on new cars in April 2004.

Hyundai – Elantra, 1990-present: 14.5 million +

If asked to name one of the biggest-selling cars in history, the Elantra would most likely be overlooked by all but the keenest Hyundai fan. Part of this car’s success has been to appear inoffensive while delivering low-cost, reliable transport. That’s found favour in countries across the globe, sometimes badged as an i30 or Lantra.

Mercedes-Benz – E-Class, 1953-present: 15 million +

Affectionately called the Ponton, the W120 mid-size Mercedes was arguably the first E-Class, although the E-Class would not be badged as such until 1993. If you don’t believe this counts, look to the C-Class as Mercedes’ best-seller, which has shifted over 11 million units since its introduction in 1993 – it looks like it won't be long until it overtakes its bigger brother anyway.

Renault – Clio, 1991-present: 16.1 million +

More than 16 million Clios have found homes. It’s been a huge hit for Renault and the Clio is a global success story thanks to various different versions being sold in different markets. That worldwide appeal is what pushes this supermini into the upper reaches of car sales. A fifth generation arrived in 2019. Renault declares it the best-selling French car of all time.

BMW – 3 Series, 1975-present: 16.5 million +

The 3 Series has come to define every era it's sold through, from funky 1970s saloons through to chisel-jawed 1980s estates and convertibles, and into the clean-cut noughties. This evolution has been entirely planned, sometimes with bold steps forward and occasionally with gentle revisions.

It’s kept the 3 Series at the forefront of its class for sales and driver appeal.

Chevrolet – Impala, 1957-2020: 16.8 million

Always aimed at buyers of full-size cars, the Impala has been a staple of the US market for six decades which has helped sales top 16 million. Early on, Chevrolet offered it with performance upgrades to take on the muscle cars of the 1960s, while in later life it has erred more towards economy than speed.

Consumer habits have moved away from large saloons to SUVs, so don’t expect a revival to add to the nameplates’ sales tally. The smaller Malibu saloon is still just about for sale, but it's unlikely to catch up, even if it is closing in on 11 million sales. The big Silverado pickup, despite only being introduced in 1998, is snapping on its heels with over 13 million sales.

Lada – Riva, 1980-2015: 18 million

The Lada Riva – also known as the VAZ 2105 and Nova – has had a lengthy life, and it started before that as the Fiat 124, first seen in 1966. Cold War needs on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain demanded a cheap, rugged machine that could deal with poor roads and fuel, and the Riva managed.

Don’t expect much in the way of comfort or driving dynamics if you take the plunge into ownership as 18 million drivers can be wrong.

Nissan – Sunny, 1966-present: 20 million +

The Sunny might be a familiar name to those who remember its success in Europe in the 1990s. but, while it is still called the Sunny in Japan, in Europe it has also been known as the Almera and Pulsar, and in North America the Sentra.

The Qashqai (known as Rogue Sport in the US) is doing its best to catch up, clocking over 4 million sales in far fewer years - it’s been a big hit and more than half a million second-generation models rolled off the northeast of England production line in just 21 months after it was launched. That equates to a new car leaving the factory every 62 seconds.

Opel/Vauxhall – Corsa, 1982-present: 20 million +

The Corsa name first arrived in 1982 for continental European buyers. In Britain, the car was known as the Nova and sold more than half a million between 1982 and 1993 when the Brits adopted the Corsa name for the second generation of this supermini. From there, sales soared further and it continues to feature in the top three best sellers in many countries across Europe. The Opel/Vauxhall share of sales stands at about 75/25.

Honda – Civic, 1972-present: 28 million +

The swoopy, scoopy looks of the present Honda Civic are some way off from the basic hatch that started this multi-million selling dynasty. Yet the Civic has always majored on delivering great value for money, generous specification and engines aimed at good fuel consumption. The Type R models don’t worry so much about that latter point, but they’ve played their part in building the legend of the Civic.

Volkswagen – Golf, 1974-present: 36 million +

Think of Volkswagen’s best seller and many will mention the Beetle, but the Golf has long since surpassed its famous ancestor’s total of 21.5 million. In 2013, VW built its 30 millionth Golf, which was a 1.6 TDI BlueMotion model.

Now past the 36 million marker, this prototypical small hatch is built at a rate of 2000 per day every day of the year.

Ford – F-Series, 1948-present: 43 million +

The post-war USA has been built on the back of the Ford F-Series that comes in all manner of shapes, sizes and guises. It remains the most popular vehicle in the US, routinely outselling more frugal, comfortable passenger cars. What’s the appeal? Simple, rugged build allied to a low price and huge loyalty from customers who want, need or just plain like what this pick-up offers. Perhaps more impressive was the 15 million Model Ts sold when many couldn’t afford a car, even the cheapest one on the market.

Toyota – Corolla, 1966-present: 51 million +

By a very large margin, the Toyota Corolla is the world’s biggest selling car, a position it achieved after just eight years in production to unseat the Volkswagen Beetle. So, the Corolla is king and remains the most popular choice in many countries. A long production life also helps its grip on the title and that’s resulted in Toyota popping one into the world every 15 seconds.

20 very angry-looking cars

Wed, 13 May 2026 10:00:17 +0100

We suggest you get well out of the way of these cars

They say that road cars are angrier than ever.

That may be true, but apart from the odd exception they’ve never had particularly friendly faces. Life’s hard for cars, they have to look as though they can cope with all kinds of weather for years on end and with being driven for thousands of miles without so much as an oil change. And they also need to look like they can keep their occupants safe from other angry cars and their even more irate drivers. Cars that pull a grimace reassure us that they’re up to the job.

Because humans are programmed to see faces in inanimate objects, it doesn’t take much for us to recognise when a car looks cross—it could be in the shape of a light or grille, or even in the angle of a bonnet part-line. Here are 20 cars whose design features make them look hot under the collar. A few are on sale right now, but many soreheaded specimens are from years gone by. And they’re not by any means all huge musclebound gas guzzlers. Sometimes, like people, the shirtiest are diminutive. Just ask any 3-year-old.

Aysar Ghassan leads the MA in Automotive & Transport Design at Coventry University

Toyota GR Yaris

To enter a car for the World Rally Championship (WRC), automakers have to build a version for ordinary folk to nip to the shops in. This explains the existence of the bonkers 3-door GR Yaris. The engine of this pocket rocket was designed by the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team and its handling was developed with the help of 4-time WRC champion Tommi Mäkinen.

It’s both wider and lower than the regular Yaris, and its pumped-up wheel arches, sharp-edged lights and full-width grille make it look far more ferocious than its 5-door sibling—and that car isn’t exactly timid.

Mitsubishi Delica Mini

‘Kei’ cars are a Japanese phenomenon. They’re tiny, coming in at under 3.5m long and 1.5m wide, and are cheaper to tax and insure than larger cars. They’re incredibly popular too, making up around a third of car sales in Japan. And if you’re lucky enough to visit, you’ll see that they have yellow number plates at the front as well as at the rear.

Small they may be, but they’re never short on character. Edgy diagonals and chunky features on the Mitsubishi Delica Mini give it a wonderfully gnarly expression. And the daytime running lights know what you’re up to…

Suzuki Alto Turbo RS

Suzuki have been making the Alto since 1979, though before this the Alto name was found on Suzuki vans. The scored wheel arches and angled rear pillar of the 8th generation model (first sold in 2014) tell us that this Kei car means business. But its front lights really steal the show.

They’re bolt upright and occupy their fair share of the real estate of the face, endowing the Alto Turbo RS with a particularly stern look. This little Suzuki has been in anger management sessions and many of its features (including the lights) have softened on the latest model. Phew.

Renault 8

In the 1960s, Renault started giving its cars numbers instead of names. Produced from 1962 to 1973, the 8 was a 4-metre-long saloon which was built in Bulgaria for much of its life. Being rear-engined, the front end didn’t need a grille for cooling purposes, so instead the face is defined by circular lights and a sharp crease in the middle of the bonnet.

The latter is something you don't see every day and makes the 8 look particularly miffed. Drivers described this Renault as having a lively character, and you can picture it stirring up bother outside a boulangerie.

Simca 1000

Post-WW2, Simca was one of the biggest car-makers in France, but by 1978 it had disappeared entirely. First sold in 1961, the 1000 was one of Simca’s most successful models. It might look boxy to us now, but this small saloon was a revelation at the time as cars of the 1950s were often quite squidgy.

Though tiny, the 1000 is by no means a pushover. Its facial expression tells us it has somewhere to be, and it’ll barge you out of the way to get there. It’s all in the shape of the ‘eyebrows’ that sit above the lights.

Daihatsu Copen

This diminutive Japanese car has had one heck of a change in attitude. The first-generation Daihatsu Copen was a happy camper with a bright, smiley disposition, and in the UK, it came with a 1.3L engine, giving it more pep than models sold in Japan. The current Copen has acquired a diving shoulder line and a large trapezoid grille—both sure-fire ways to give a car a seriously fiery appearance.

Lights with slanted edges and prominent bonnet bulges complete the look, and the Copen is clearly annoyed with having to wear that lovely, sunny orange overcoat.

MG 3

On the subject of a change in attitude…the previous MG3 looked quite placid, but the new incarnation mixes hatchback practicality with styling cues frequently found on a roadster. There’s the sweeping shoulder line and scything rear haunch, and its designers have plumped for razor-sharp lights. They’ve also dropped the grille quite a bit and widened it too, and have added extra grilles either side for good measure.

The new MG3 has a very heated expression, it’s quite possibly the angriest looking supermini in the supermarket carpark—more so even than the latest Kia Picanto.

Citroën C4

Starting life as a medium-sized hatchback in 2004, the Citroën C4 has (perhaps inevitably) morphed into an SUV. Citroëns should be blessed with distinctive character, and the C4 doesn’t disappoint. A bold vertical edge runs up the front doors and coloured accents add a bit of pizzazz to the sill and bumper.

The C4 channels aggression in a unique way too—slim lights run into the uppermost chevron, and the grille has a real snarl to it. The rear lighting set-up kind of mirrors the shape of the front lights, making the rump look wonderfully vexed too.

MG ZT

In 2001, MG Rover abducted a load of Rover 75s from a golf club and injected them with a dose of zing. The resulting MG ZT saloon (and ZT-T estate) features larger wheels, upgraded suspension and brakes, and of course more poke. The front grille of the Rover 75 donor car has a chrome outline which was replaced with body-coloured trim on the ZT. This alteration shifts our focus from the grille to the slanted edge of the bonnet, making the sliced-off lights look more menacing. Small changes can make a huge difference in car design!

MK1 Ford Escort

When it replaced the Ford Anglia in 1967, the Escort made its predecessor look veritably prehistoric and became an instant sensation. The Escort has a super-slick body side and the dramatic kick in both the swage line and rear haunch are a nod to the exhilarating American muscle cars that were taking the world by storm at the time.

The squared off front and rear ends add to the punchy look – especially in the Mexico model pictured here - and its wide set dumbbell-shaped grille gives the MK1 Ford Escort a fantastic grimace.

1963 Chevrolet Rondine Concept

Chevrolet asked the fabled Italian design firm Pininfarina to create the one-off Rondine on the chassis of the second-generation Corvette (the classic Sting Ray with the incredible split rear windscreen). The Sting Ray has rippling muscles for fenders, but the Rondine is a lot sleeker and for the most part less aggressive—except at the front end. The edge of the bonnet is more angled than the Sting Ray’s and the forward leaning grille looks like it could tear prey apart. The mix of a sleek body and a face that doesn’t take prisoners makes for a dramatically unsettling aesthetic.

VLF Force 1

The 2016 VLF Force 1 was designed by Henrik Fisker, a former design director at Aston Martin. Based on the generously-bonneted Dodge Viper, the Force 1 was duty-bound to look ferocious. The huge rear wheel arch and violent flick in the window line give it a blistering sense of power, and the angles on the front and extremely small lights combine to form one of the best scowls on any car ever!

50 Force 1s were planned, but only 5 were ever built, and Fisker went on to launch Fisker Inc., an EV brand whose first car is the Ocean, though the company is facing tough times at present.

BMW 1500

In the 1950s, BMW had fallen out of fashion with a new generation of affluent customers and desperately needed a progressive design direction to save it from looming disaster. This came in the form of the ‘Neue Klasse’ (or New Class) of cars, the first of which was the 1500. Its long, fast body lines would become a trademark of future BMWs as would it striking front end. The bonnet thrusts forward and takes the front end along for the ride. The quintessential shark-like BMW look was born, and the Bavarian automaker was set to conquer the world.

BMW XM Label

For people who find the regular BMW XM to be a bit on the tame side, there’s the XM Label—738bhp, 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and fire shooting out of its nostrils. Lots of people think that BMW has taken things a bit far and the automaker may have paid attention.

BMW has dialled down the aggression on two recent concepts that preview its future design direction (the Vision Neue Klasse saloon and Vision Neue Klasse X SUV), so it’s possible that this performance crossover may be BMW’s last liaison with apoplectic styling for a while. Stranger things have happened.

Rover P6

Built between 1963 and 1977, the Rover P6 was one of the first cars aimed at a new breed of thrusting business-person and the first ever European Car of The Year. It has a really solid looking body, and its most distinctive features are the pointed side lights which protrude above the bonnet. They’re placed that way to help the driver judge the width of the car in the dark. And though practical and very clever, they kind of look like horns, giving the P6 a snarl which was put to good use on a generation of police cars.

Lamborghini Huracan STO

Ever since Lamborghini shifted the engine from under the bonnet to just behind the driver, it has specialised in making unapologetically aggressive looking sports cars. There’s just something primal about that wedge shape, it makes Lambos look welded to the tarmac. Pound for pound, the track-focused Huracan STO has to be the angriest looking supercar to wear the bull and shield logo, though the competition is pretty fierce.

The outline of the grille is so sharp and the daytime running lights etch themselves into your retinas. The front end is a masterclass in how to pull off undiluted rage.

Ferrari LaFerrari

Ferraris have nearly always had barnstorming performance, but for most of their history they haven't looked especially livid. All this changed with the 2009 Ferrari 458 Italia. Narrow lights that stretch far up into the fender give the front end of this V8 an ominous stare. The 458 Italia spawned a series of Ferraris that didn't pull their punches, like the FF and GTC4 Lusso.

The most spectacular car of this generation was the mid-engined 2013 LaFerrari. With the butterfly doors open and the 6.3L V12 howling, this legend looks and sounds like an enraged dragon.

Gordon-Keeble GT

Gordon-Keeble was a short-lived British car maker from the 1960s formed by John Gordon and Jim Keeble. The world-famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro got to style the body of the only model, the GT. Giugiaro gave it a classy body and a growl befitting a car with a thumping 5.4-litre Chevrolet V8 engine.

Gordon-Keeble tried to undercut both Aston Martin and Ferrari which led to the company haemorrhaging money and folding in 1967 after only 100 GTs were built. As well as giving us a glimpse of what could have been, Gordon-Keeble remains the only marque whose logo features a tortoise.

1961 Plymouth Fury

The now defunct brand Plymouth was formed in 1928 by the American giant Chrysler as an entry-level competitor to Ford and Chevrolet. Plymouth made some brilliantly named models over the years like the Barracuda, Champ and Fury. The latter was in production from the mid-1950s to the late 80s, though the 1961 version surely lives up best to its name.

There's something rather frightening about the way the wings bend around the front end before briskly turning back in on itself to spear the lights. Combined with the ocean of chrome, this detail creates a truly unforgettable expression.

Karlmann King

Imagine catching a glimpse of one of these in your rear-view mirror while hogging the middle lane. The Karlmann King starts at around £1.5 million, but you can pay more if you want to get yours armoured. The King has a 6.8L V10 engine, but because it weighs a mind-boggling 5.9 tons (more than double what a Land Rover does), it won't do over 90mph. But this stegosaurus of an SUV isn't in a hurry, it owns whole postcodes. When even the wing mirrors are furious, you know you have a definite contender for the world's angriest looking car.

Jeep Avenger update brings light-up grille and interior tweaks

Wed, 13 May 2026 08:08:24 +0100

First major update for three-year-old baby crossover brings its look into line with the bigger Compass

Jeep has given the Avenger its first major update after three years on sale, with a new look that brings it into line with the new Compass.

Chief among the changes to the baby crossover is a new iteration of the American brand’s trademark seven-slot grille that now features LED lighting, making it more recognisable in the dark. The chrome outline on each slot has also been removed, bringing a simpler look.

This new grille design – a signature of all new Jeeps to come – will be offered on range-topping trims.

The Avenger also gets more prominent plastic cladding and skidplates to help protect against damage on rough terrain.

Meanwhile, the four-wheel-drive 4xe variant gains red accents to mark it out against the front-wheel-drive petrol, hybrid and electric Avengers.

Inside, Jeep claims to have improved material quality, fitting softer material to the doorcards and padding on the lower section of the dashboard. The drive mode selector is now finished in rubber to make it easier to find by touch.

The entry-level 99bhp 1.2-litre turbo petrol triple has been revised with new high-pressure injectors and reworked internals, claimed to improve fuel efficiency. It also has a timing chain, rather than the wet belt used by previous iterations of the Stellantis engine.

It's mated to a six-speed manual gearbox and delivers a 0-62mph sprint time of 10.6sec.

As before, the Avenger can also be had with a 127bhp FWD or 143bhp 4WD hybrid powertrain or as a 154bhp EV with 249 miles of range.

The updated car is due to arrive in the UK in September. Prices are expected to remain roughly the same; they currently start at £26,610.

The Polish-built Avenger has been a success for Jeep: it won the European Car of the Year award in 2023 and has since racked up some 270,000 sales globally, playing a key role in the brand’s growth.

Why Electric Car Grant remains vital despite jump in EV sales

Wed, 13 May 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Fiat Grande Panda shows the price gap between ICE and EV is narrowing, if not profitability

EV sales surged by 59% last month, with many car makers linking the rise to the Iran war

At what point will EVs be attractive enough to consumers that the government can stop bankrolling them?

The electric alternative for cars and vans has long needed an incentive nudge because they cost more.

The Electric Car Grant (ECG) reduces the price by £3750 or £1500, depending on a convoluted formula, and it will run until March 2030. But now we have an alternative shove that’s proving very effective: higher fossil fuel prices caused by the Iran war.

EV sales jumped 59% last month to capture a 26% market share. Many car makers, including Renault, seller of the month’s most popular EV, the 5, linked the jump to the war as buyers looked to cut their fuel bills.

Car makers have long complained that organic EV demand lags behind the levels demanded by the government – 33% this year. The real figure is said by EV lobby group New AutoMotive to be 25%, which includes flexibilities such as selling more PHEVs.

So is organic demand now in line with the government-mandated figure? The car makers say no, but then they would: to admit the opposite would risk the government turning off the ECG taps, job done.

But the affordability problem reduces with every launch. The established brands are being forced by both legislation and the Chinese to speed-learn how to cut the cost of making EVs, and the fruits are seen in new models such as the Fiat Grande Panda Electric, priced from £20,995.

That doesn’t tell the full story, though. EVs’ list prices may be tallying with ICE equivalents’ in many cases, but Europe’s car makers are still subsidising their sales.

Volkswagen, for example, says profits on EVs still trail those of its ICE models. Cars such as the ID Polo are closer than first-wave EVs like the ID 3, but it says the gap won’t be closed until the end of the decade.

Without the ECG, car makers selling in the UK would be at the mercy of Chinese brands, which leverage state subsidies, a streamlined supply chain and an indomitable competitive streak in their bid to gain market share. The ECG money, not available to the Chinese, is helping to close that gap.

Meanwhile, the fuel-price bump could flatten when (if) a resolution to the Iran conflict emerges.

Incentives should remain until the EV market has proven resilient in all scenarios.

Jaguar Type 01: Name of electric super-GT finally revealed

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

New GT's name is short but significant, for several reasons

The 1000bhp EV has been named in tribute to brand's legendary sports cars and its era-defining status

Jaguar's new era-defining electric GT will be called Type 01, the company has confirmed ahead of its unveiling later this year.

The 1000bhp-plus sports saloon, which heralds Jaguar's new era as a maker of pure-electric luxury cars, has hitherto been known as Type 00 after the preceding concept or X900, its internal codename.

But now, a year and a half on from the concept's unveiling and with the production car due to be unwrapped in a matter of months, Jaguar has announced the name its new super-limo will take into showrooms.

This is a name with three significant elements, said the companyr.

The 'Type' prefix emphasises the new car's place in a succession of "legendary predecessors" stretching back to the C-Type racer that won at Le Mans in 1951 and continuing through the D-Type, E-Type and F-Type.

Each of these cars, said Jaguar, was celebrated for blending "an engaging drive with deep reserves of power, plus refinement and composure" - attributes it aims for the new EV to share.

Meanwhile, the '0' represents its zero-emissions powertrain and the '1' "denotes its status as the first Jaguar of a new era".

Camouflaged prototypes of the Type 01 (which Autocar drove recently in Sweden) will take to the circuit for a public demonstration ahead of this weekend's Formula E race in Monaco, before the wraps are finally removed. Jaguar has yet to confirm a date or venue for the big reveal.

The Type 01 will come to market in the first half of 2027, breaking a circa 18-month hiatus on new Jaguar production that began with the retirement of the F-Pace SUV in December.

The marque is being completely rebranded and repositioned as a more upmarket purveyor of exclusive, luxury-oriented EVs priced well above the relatively mainstream models that made up its most recent range.

Prices for the Type 01 are set to range from around £120,000 to more than £150,000 for high-spec, heavily personalised examples - a window that Jaguar believes pitches itself between more mainstream premium marques like BMW and Mercedes-Benz and top-drawer luxury contenders like Bentley and Aston Martin.

Details on further models to follow have yet to be officially confirmed, but Autocar has previously reported that a large limousine and an SUV are likely to be the next cars to use Jaguar's bespoke new JEA architecture - and now it looks like they could take the Type 02 and Type 03 names into production.

Toyota bZ4X Touring driven: oddball estate with true off-road ability

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:01:00 +0100

More practical, rangier and distinctive than the bZ4X yet only £200 more expensive like for like: It's a no-brainer

New cars are getting ever harder to categorise, as exemplified by Toyota’s bZ4X Touring.

I’d pretty confidently call the existing bZ4X an SUV, looking at its proportions and decent ground clearance, but its heavily raked rear window gives it somewhat of a coupé-crossover vibe. Its Touring sibling, however, successfully gives the impression of a jacked-up estate car. It has the same wheelbase but is 140mm longer, giving it a proper wagon-esque overhang and a bluff rear end. Chunky roof rails and faux skidplates complete the outfit.

I think Toyota has successfully injected some personality into its five-year-old family EV. Well, I say Toyota, but actually this makeover was the work of Subaru. However, whereas Subaru sells its E-Outback exclusively with dual-motor four-wheel drive, Toyota also offers a cheaper and rangier single-motor car, which I’m testing here.

This is to the advantage of the bZ4X Touring on paper, because most people won’t need the torque vectoring 4WD system of the dual-motor car (the 210mm of ground clearance remains) and will want the additional range and efficiency: 366 miles as opposed to 298 and 4.4mpkWh versus 3.9. The dual-motor car does produce a punchy 376bhp, but the 221bhp of the single-motor car feels more than enough, even at motorway speeds.

This is a refreshingly unsporty kind of car, so it doesn’t suit the extra power either. Unashamedly soft, it rolls when pushed through corners (a touch more so than the marginally lighter bZ4X) but never allows itself to lose composure. Its cushiony springs absorbed the lumps and bumps of Slovenia’s roughest roads admirably, yet its well-judged damping stopped the body wallowing over undulations. Toyota has achieved a level of comfort that Citroën tried and failed to reach with the ë-C5 Aircross.

Aside from the enormous 633-litre boot (with a useful 36 litres of underfloor storage) and a little extra head room to go with the already generous leg room, the interior is identical to the bZ4X’s. The rear bench still splits into only two sections and the rather dark and dull vibe remains. On the upside, there’s plenty of buttons (for the demisters, temperature, audio volume and more), it’s easy to find a comfortable driving position and the 14in infotainment touchscreen is quick and intuitive enough.

Design trim comes with almost everything you could want and exclusively with attractive woven cloth seats, 18in alloy wheels and the single-motor powertrain. On a test route including motorway, town and rural roads, I saw an impressive 5.0mpkWh, which would equate to 355 miles on a full (71kWh) charge. That will be impressive if replicable in the UK.

Excel trim is a big step up in price, from £45,995 to £51,695, meaning it gets hit with VED’s Expensive Car Supplement. It adds kit including ventilated seats, a panoramic roof and 20in alloys and is exclusively matched to the 4WD powertrain.Ride quality is negatively affected, but it’s still pretty good, just a bit fidgety on some surfaces. It did just over 4.0mpkWh on a similar route.

The bZ4X Touring isn’t going to break records, but the single-motor car especially will suit buyers who want comfy, practical and fuss-free electric motoring and don’t mind paying a bit more than rivals want.

Specification
Price	£45,995
Motor	Permanent magnet synchronous motor
Power	221bhp
Torque	198lb ft
Gearbox	1-spd reduction gear, FWD
Kerb weight	1900kg
0-62mph	7.3sec
Top speed	99mph
Battery	74.7/71.0kWh (total/usable)
Range, economy	366 miles, 4.4mpkWh
CO₂, tax band	0g/km, 4%
Rivals	Renault Scenic, VW ID 7 Tourer, Tesla Model Y

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Tue, 12 May 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Tech upgrades and driveline refinements headline the most extensive facelift in the limousine’s 54-year history Six years after its UK launch, the seventh-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class remains competitive enough for this facelift to focus on detailed improvement rather than wholesale reinvention.The changes, while hardly dramatic on the outside, are numerous and run deep. Mercedes describes it as the most comprehensive facelift ever applied to an S-Class, claiming the 2026 model adopts more than 2700 revised or completely new components and functions.

JCB targets new speed record with 32 foot-long, 1579bhp Hydromax

Tue, 12 May 2026 18:46:00 +0100

Hydrogen-powered attempt will take place in August, 20 years on from 350mph record run with Dieselmax

JCB will attempt to claim another land speed record in August with a new hydrogen-fuelled vehicle, two decades on from its famous record run with the Dieselmax.

The new record chaser is a 32ft-long, hydrogen-combustion vehicle named Hydromax. It was created as part of a five-year, £100 million project, on which JCB worked with partners including Prodrive, the Oxfordshire-based engineering firm renowned for creating top-end motorsport machinery.

It’s powered by an in-house-developed powertrain that combines two engines for 1579bhp, featuring special radiators, intercoolers and racing-spec turbochargers.

The engines are mechanically not far from those that will soon be used in production JCB diggers, with “very similar” internals, chief engineer Lee Harper told Autocar. One major difference, however, is that they produce just 80bhp each in a standard form.

Explaining how his team was able to create the record chaser’s extraordinary output from those engines, Harper said: “The secret of high power is getting the fuel and air to mix properly. Hydrogen is an ideal fuel in that it is keen to explode – but only if it mixes correctly with air. We’ve done a lot of work on that - and it will benefit our production engines in future.”

The Hydromax will take to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August, the same location where Dieselmax claimed its diesel land speed record of 350.092mph in August 2006 – one that still stands.

UK testing will begin next month before the team heads to take part in the annual Bonneville Speedweek from 1-7 August, where competitors from around the globe gather to chase records.

Shortly afterwards, official hydrogen land speed record runs will take place under the gaze of motorsport’s governing body, the FIA.

The aim, according to JCB chairman Lord Bamford, is to “beat” the Dieselmax’s 350mph limit.

He explained: “Dieselmax was always a bit of an unusual idea, but it proved a point. It’s the same thinking with hydrogen today. If you’re serious about emissions, you have to be serious about hydrogen – and a land speed project is the perfect way to prove it.”

Lord Bamford told Autocar that although the Dieselmax (pictured below) provided “a lot of invaluable knowledge” for the layout and design of the new Hydromax, “the only carry-over component is our driver”.

He is retired RAF wing commander Andy Green, who holds the extraordinary honour of being the fastest person on earth, having piloted the jet-powered Thrust SSC to 763.035mph in 1997. This also made him the only person to have broken the sound barrier on land.

Green will be 64 in August when Hydromax runs but told Autocar that JCB has already done “due diligence” on his fitness.

Green said: “Hydromax is lighter, more powerful and faster than its predecessor of 20 years ago. Once again, we’re going to show the world just how good British engineering and technology really is.”

He also revealed that the available track at Bonneville is now nine miles long, two shorter than in 2006, for which “the Hydromax’s better power to weight ratio will come in handy”.

The current land speed record for a hydrogen vehicle is 302.877mph, set by the Buckeye Bullet 2 fuel cell vehicle in 2009. The land speed record for a hydrogen combustion car is 185.5mph, set by the BMW H2R prototype in 2004.

Away from land speed record attempts, JCB has a history of pushing the limits of speed with its vehicles. In 2019, the JCB Fastrac was crowned the world’s fastest tractor, hitting 135.191mph.

New 2028 Lotus 'Esprit' supercar to use 986bhp-plus hybrid V8

Tue, 12 May 2026 16:30:00 +0100

Lotus has released an official image of the supercar's rear – and Autocar has imagined what the rest of the car will look like

New ICE supercar will be built alongside Emira at Hethel and will rival the Ferrari 849 Testarossa

Lotus will return to the ICE supercar business in 2028 with a new hybrid V8 model expected to be called Esprit that is aimed to rival cars including the Ferrari 849 Testarossa.

The supercar’s hybrid powertrain will be centred around a new V8 engine supplied by Renault-Geely powertrain division Horse. Total power output will exceed 986bhp, confirmed Lotus.

The new supercar will be built alongside the Lotus Emira sports car at Hethel, in a boost for Lotus’s historical base in Norfolk.

This is part of a wider plan to put ICE sports cars back at the heart of Lotus’s future after the company abandoned a plan to go all-electric by 2028.

The new car, which is codenamed Esprit, takes inspiration from 2024's Theory 1 electric supercar concept. A teaser shot of the rear of the production car released by Lotus (below) shows the striking similarity with the concept, with the addition of two massive exhaust pipes.

Lotus has been collaborating with Horse in the development of the turbocharged V8, which is expected to set a new benchmark in power-to-weight ratios.

“Since we will be starting from scratch with this engine, we will make a lot of effort to improve the volume and also the weight of the engine,” Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng said in a statement.

The engine will also be used by another, as-yet-unknown Geely brand for a V8-powered off-roader, improving the economies of scale, Feng said.

The new supercar will be a hybrid rather than a plug-in hybrid in order to save weight, bucking the recent trend to shift to PHEV drivetrains for supercars in cars such as the Aston Martin Valhalla, Lamborghini Temerario and Ferrari 296 GTB. Removing the need to plug in to charge allows Lotus to reduce the size of the battery and not fit charging-related componentry.

Lotus head of design Ben Payne told Autocar that the new supercar will be influenced by the Theory 1, saying: “You make concepts as an exercise to gauge reaction and give a future direction of travel, and [the Theory 1] was very positively received.”

The Esprit name hasn’t been confirmed but is a strong option, Payne confirmed.

“When the Esprit went out of production [in 2004], it had a V8 engine, and it’s something people have asked to come back ever since," he said. "It’s still in the hearts of minds of many of our customers."

The production model could feature the same McLaren F1-style three-seat arrangement as the Theory 1.

“That could be an option," Feng said, "because in the past you needed to develop left-hand drive and right-hand drive, but if you put the driver in the middle, then there is no need.”

The 4490mm-long Theory 1 was designed to be an approachable supercar, rather than a hypercar, like the wild 2011bhp electric Lotus Evija. For example, weight was reduced by using a carbonfibre tub.

At the time, Lotus said 85% of the technology displayed in the model was ready for production.

The news of the V8 supercar is part of a wider shift within Lotus towards a mixed powertrain strategy after the company abandoned its plan to go all-electric by 2028.

Feng said that, based on current trends in the global market, there should not be "a single solution when it comes to power; the power solution should be diversified".

How Autocar imagines the new Lotus supercar could look

Parent company Geely’s original plan for Lotus was to pivot to EVs only by 2028, but the plan was abandoned in 2024 after it proved harder than expected to convince customers to make the switch.

"In the luxury segment, customers simply enjoy the thrill of driving a car with powerful big engines,” Feng said. “They somehow just don't like the smoothness of the EVs.”

The new supercar has the internal model name Type 135, which was previously reserved from the since cancelled electric sports car due to replace the Emira.

The ICE Emira will now continue, first with a chunky update next year that is promised to produce “the most powerful and lightest Emira built”, and then, Lotus confirmed, it will be overhauled further and adopt a brand new V6 engine also developed by Horse; this model is likely to arrive before the end of the decade.

Under Lotus's new plan, sports cars will account for a third of its targeted 30,000 sales per year, up from 6520 sales last year.

With the Evija still being made at Hethel at a rate of around eight to 10 units a year, the 'Esprit' will take over as the ICE halo model.

No price has been revealed, but Feng singled out the 849 Testarossa as its main rival, suggesting a figure close to the Ferrari’s entry price of £407,617.

The secret Volkswagens that were never sold

Tue, 12 May 2026 12:42:06 +0100

Fan favourites and secret one-offs live under the same roof - these are the interesting VWs the company never sold

Volkswagen runs two museums in its home town of Wolfsburg.

1955 EA 48

1961 Type 3 Cabriolet

1963 EA 128

1969 EA 276

1971 ESVW I

1972 T2 GT70

The 74bhp gas turbine was markedly more efficient than a piston engine and it took up less space. It was also much heavier and more expensive to build so the project was quickly canceled.

1973 Basis-Transporter

1973 Plattenwagen

1973 T2b Open Air

1975 Chicco

1976 Rovomobil

1977 Passat GTI

1984 Polo-powered Beetle

1984 IRVW III

1987 T3 Magma

1990 Biagini Passo

1990 Vario I

1995 Balloon Beetle

Lotus tips Hethel as 'best location' to build new hybrid sports cars

Tue, 12 May 2026 10:16:18 +0100

US import tariffs mean Emira PHEV and new V8 supercar are most likely to be built at firm's British factory

Lotus considers its Hethel factory in Norfolk to be the best location for production of its upcoming Emira hybrid and Type 135 sports cars.

Dismissing recent reports that Lotus could shut down its historic British base as a "rumour", CEO Feng Qinfeng has indicated that the site is tipped to play an increasingly important role in the company's revamped global strategy.

Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car summit in London, Feng acknowledged that Hethel has "seen a lot of challenges" in recent years, pointing particularly to the impact of the new import tariffs in the US market, which takes 60-65% of all Emiras produced there.

Lotus cited those tariffs as a leading factor in its decision last summer to cut 550 British jobs – roughly 40% of its workforce in the country – as part of a move to stem increasing losses.

That was the latest in a succession of workforce reductions at Lotus over the last two years and came as speculation mounted over the ongoing viability of Hethel - with sources suggesting company bosses had even gone so far as to sign off on the factory's decommissioning.

But today Feng said Lotus plans to "definitely keep the UK factory running" and that it could even dramatically boost vehicle output there as it adds two new combustion-engined sports cars to its line-up.

As part of a significantly reworked global strategy, Lotus is shifting its mid-term focus away from slow-selling luxury electric cars to performance hybrids, with the long-mooted Type 135 sports car now to be powered by a hybridised V8 – rather than a pure-electric powertrain as earlier planned – and a new PHEV version of the Emira inbound.

Lotus released the first official image of the incoming V8 Typer 135 on Tuesday

Lotus had earlier said it was "likely" to build the two sports cars in Europe, and Feng has suggested that Hethel is the most likely venue, because of the lower US tariffs imposed on UK-built cars, the skills and expertise already established at the plant and the available capacity it still has.

Feng said the imposition of the US tariffs last year had a huge impact on Hethel, which sends most of its output Stateside, but said "it would be irrational to simply raise the price to tackle the problem" and "we had no solution but to temporarily shut down the factory".

But he pointed to the fact that Lotus parent company Geely has invested more than £1 billion into Hethel's transformation as testament to its commitment to the plant, adding: "We definitely want to keep the factory going and we definitely want to be better - to grow."

"We have made a lot of effort to improve the operational efficiency," Feng said. "The factory has great strength in terms of skilful engineers and skilled workers. We really want to keep the factory and keep the business sustainable."

He said that while Lotus could seek to expand its global production network by leveraging available capacity at its Geely siblings' plants, Hethel has a number of competitive advantages that make it "the best option for us when it comes to the production of Type 135 and the hybrid Emira".

The most important of these is that cars built in the UK attract a 10% import levy in the crucial US market while the fee on EU-built cars currently stands at 15%, with President Trump recently threatening to hike that as high as 25%.

But there are a number of other factors at play that could result in Hethel playing a fundamental role in Lotus's new plan to grow to 30,000 annual global sales by 2030.

Hethel currently builds around 2000 cars per year but has an outright capacity of 10,000 in its existing state, Feng said, leaving significant head room to add more products - and significant efforts to "enhance the operating efficiency of the factory" have been made to optimise the cost of building there and mitigating the impact of global headwinds.

"We are investigating the possibility of producing these two models at the Hethel factory," Feng said, but "it would require a lot of preparations to be done, especially on the supply chain."

He highlighted the importance of establishing a sustainable, cost-effective supply of batteries for the new hybrid models, and said that "even though these are sports cars, we also want to incorporate smart and intelligent technologies into the vehicle".

Feng said Lotus "would like to see support from the UK government" to prepare Hethel for the future and confirmed that Lotus has applied for exemption from the US tariffs as a low-volume manufacturer.

Final Saabs up for auction in curtain call for Swedish legend

Tue, 12 May 2026 09:33:58 +0100

Collapse of start-up NEVS means several of the last 9-3s ever built – plus prototypes – are now being sold off

The last Saabs left at the defunct company’s factory in Trollhättan, Sweden, are being sold at auction. The sale marks the end of the line for NEVS, the start-up born out of Saab’s 2012 collapse.

It was staffed primarily by former Saab engineers and was backed by Chinese property giant the Evergrande Group, working primarily on autonomous and electric cars.

Those included the striking Emily GT, a saloon that evoked Saab’s styling and was fitted with in-wheel motors.

But Evergrande collapsed in 2021, leading to NEVS laying off 320 of its 340 staff based at Trollhättan in February 2023.

In April 2023, Emily GT programme director Peter Dahl told Swedish publication Carup that “everything is in place” to take the striking EV into production. It was around a year and a half away from readiness.

The Emily GT appeared to have been saved by Canadian start-up EV Electra in December 2023, but the deal collapsed the following May.

Polestar moved into part of the Trollhättan plant in 2023, using it as a research and development centre but not for production.

In September 2025, NEVS auctioned off the assets from the plant, including thousands of rare parts, scale models and old motor show banners.

The new auction therefore heralds the end of an era for the storied centre, opened in 1947.

Eight cars will be available: seven examples of the Saab 9-3, plus one Hengchi 5, a mid-size electric SUV produced by Evergrande.

Of the 9-3s, three are pre-production cars built in 2014, a further three are electric prototypes built by NEVS before the 9-3 EV's launch in China, and one is a test car fitted with a range-extender hybrid powertrain.

They will be offered on Swedish auction site Klaravik from 21 May with no reserve.

Saab enthusiasts and bidders will be offered a tour of the Trollhättan plant on 30 May, the same day the auctions close.

Renault 4 gets beach buggy treatment for new JP4x4 concept

Tue, 12 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

New concept car is inspired by French beachcomber from the 1980s, with open sides and a pick-up bed

Renault has revived the JP4 – an open-sided version of the original 4 similar to the Mini Moke – as a futuristic take on the beach buggy.

Based on the Renault 4 EV, the new JP4x4 concept reprises the dual-motor, four-wheel-drive powertrain from the 4 Savane show car but wraps it in a more flamboyant shell.

Its doors, for example, have been replaced with blade-like items that stop short of the B-pillar, intended to allow easier entry and exit.

Meanwhile, the roof and rear deck have been hollowed out, effectively turning the crossover into an open-air pick-up.

Completing the package is a revised interior with a freestanding centre console, bucket seats and grabhandles along the doors.

The JP4x4 is based on the same underpinnings as the 4 Savane, meaning it has 15mm more ground clearance and a 10mm-wider track than the regular 4.

Advanced design director Jean-Philippe Salar said the JP4x4 was “designed first and foremost as a leisure vehicle” inspired by the 1960s and 1970s, when cars such as the Moke, Citroën Méhari and Meyers Manx came to prominence.

It also serves as a fresh hint at Renault’s intent to put a four-wheel-drive 4 into production. A spokesperson told Autocar that the company is yet to confirm such a variant and that it's currently monitoring customer feedback.

Autocar has already driven a 4 Savane, finding it to be a “stable, confidence-inspiring car” over the sand of Tversted Strand in northern Denmark.

It felt front-biased, with the small rear motor aiding the more powerful front motor only when the front wheels began to struggle for traction. The extra ground clearance was also noticeable when approaching ruts in the surface.

First images of Audi Q9 show plush interior ahead of July unveiling

Mon, 11 May 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Replacement for A8 limousine is huge luxury SUV with plush cabin focused on rear passengers' comfort

Audi has unveiled the interior of its incoming Q9 flagship, which it claims "sets a new standard for space and exclusivity”.

The luxury SUV will be fully unveiled on 29 July and serve as an indirect successor to the A8 limousine, which recently went out of production.

The Q9 will be the German firm’s largest and most luxurious model to date when it goes on sale later this year. While prices have yet to be announced, expect them to start close to or slightly above £100,000.

The Q9 is intended to take on the A8’s role as an upmarket executive car, which is why its primary focus will be on rear passengers' comfort.

The first official pictures released by Audi of the roomy cabin and plush executive seats clearly demonstrate this intent.

According to Audi, the standout features of the Q9 include automatic opening and closing doors, a 1.5m3 panoramic roof with switchable transparency, luxury materials such as alpaca fibre and nappa leather and, when the six-seat layout is optioned, a set of electronically adjustable, heated and ventilated seats.

Those up front aren’t forgotten about, though, getting three digital screens (an 11.9in instrument panel, a 14.5in central touchscreen and a 10.9in passenger touchscreen) and an all-new centre console that incorporates two wireless charging pads and cupholders big enough for a one-litre bottle.

“Cars have long been much more than just a means of transportation; they are mobile living spaces for our customers,” said Audi CEO Gernot Döllner. “Premium materials, variable seating with individual electric seats in the second row and automatic doors underscore the commitment to quality in our new, large full-size SUV.”

While it will be offered in the UK, the Q9 is primarily intended to grow Audi’s sales in the American, Chinese and Middle Eastern markets.

Audi has given few technical details of the Q9 yet, but recent spy shots show that it will have a large bonnet and a new version of Audi’s 'single-frame' grille.

The upcoming Q9 is expected to use an extended version of parent Volkswagen Group's Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), with engines including a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8 for the sporty SQ9.

The Q9 will also underpin sibling Porsche's new flagship SUV, internally named K1. Both the Q9 and the Porsche K1 (slated for a 2028 UK launch) are expected to be produced on the same line at Bratislava, Slovakia.

Defender 110 update to bring styling tweaks and four-seat interior

Mon, 11 May 2026 15:30:58 +0100

JLR's best-seller is getting a nip and tuck to help it fend off new rivals including next-gen X5 and revised GLE

Land Rover is priming a second major update for the Defender, with a new prototype hinting at a series of design tweaks plus a fresh four-seat interior configuration.

A prototype has been caught testing with alterations including new front and rear bumpers and daytime running lights, plus the addition of a small lip spoiler on its roof.

Inside, it looks to swap the three-seat rear bench for the two individual 'captain's chairs' that were previously exclusive to the stretched Defender 130.

The Defender’s previous refresh, revealed in May last year, brought a revised headlight design with a smaller projector section, plus an array of new safety systems mandated by the EU's GSR2 legislation.

The new revisions are likely hoped to improve the Defender’s competitiveness against an onslaught of fresh rivals, such as the forthcoming BMW X5 and updated Mercedes-Benz GLE, plus Chinese newcomers including the Denza B5.

JLR has enjoyed significant success with the Defender, which is its best-selling model. During the first three quarters of the firm’s 2025-26 financial year, it sold 107,132 Defenders at retail (ie to actual buyers rather than dealers), compared with 110,296 by the same point in the year prior.

It's notable that the year-on-year dip in sales measured only 2.9%, despite the cyber attack that hampered JLR's ability to build and register new cars between September and October 2025.

For reference, JLR sold 66,993 examples of the Range Rover during the same period in 2025-26 and 74,059 Range Rover Sports.

Skoda Enyaq vRS: why it’s the perfect all-round performance SUV

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:00:00 +0100

Cars that can truly do it all are far and few between, with “compromise” a word firmly rooted in car-buying lexicon. Does the Enyaq vRS buck that trend?

The name itself tells a story. vRS stands for ‘victory Rally Sport’ – a nod to Škoda’s rich motorsport heritage that stretches back to the hand-built 130 RS homologation specials of the mid-1970s. In the UK, the ‘v’ was added at Ford’s request (the American brand claiming prior ownership of the RS initials here), but that small prefix has since become a badge of honour in its own right. One in ten new Škodas sold in Britain today wears it.

Over the past quarter-century, vRS has been applied to hot hatches, diesel estate cars, plug-in hybrid family saloons, and even a seven-seat SUV that lapped the Nürburgring faster than any production vehicle of its kind before. Each iteration has stayed true to the founding principle: formidable all-round ability, without a pulse-raising price tag. The new Škoda Enyaq vRS is no different – it just happens to be the most audacious expression of that philosophy yet.

Better still, the new Enyaq vRS is not only a more capable car than the model it replaces – it’s a less expensive one too. With 340PS, a 344-mile range (WLTP), and rapid charging at up to 185kW, it undercuts its predecessor’s price by around £1500. That’s a statement of intent that no rival in this class has managed to match.

Learn more about the Škoda Enyaq vRS

Seriously, properly quick

The numbers alone make a compelling case. Two electric motors – one on each axle – combine to deliver 340PS and a substantial 545Nm of torque. All-wheel drive is standard. The result is a 0-62mph time of 5.4 seconds: genuinely brisk by any measure, and the kind of performance that would have been considered exotic in a family SUV even five years ago.

But the Enyaq vRS’s performance credentials go deeper than a sprint time. Standard fitment of Škoda’s Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) – with 15 adjustable levels of damper stiffness – means the car can be tuned precisely to the driver’s preference and the road conditions at hand. The suspension has been lowered and stiffened versus the standard Enyaq, with thicker anti-roll bars front and rear delivering more resolute body control through corners. The progressive dynamic steering quickens and weights up satisfyingly as pace increases.

The overall character is one of deep, assured composure. Overtakes arrive almost instantaneously, the twin motors’ torque hitting with a smooth but insistent surge that dispatches slower traffic without drama. On any road, in any weather, the Enyaq vRS covers ground with an unhurried authority that’s genuinely impressive. The all-wheel drive system’s rear torque bias keeps things balanced and planted, and the regen paddles behind the steering wheel allow the driver to dial in their preferred level of energy recovery on the move.

Range and charging that mean business

One of the most significant improvements in the new Enyaq vRS concerns real-world usability. The 84kWh battery – with 79kWh of usable capacity – delivers a WLTP-rated range of 344 miles, a substantial jump from the 296 miles offered by the outgoing model. For context, that comfortably exceeds the Kia EV6 AWD’s 339-mile range.

Charging has also taken a meaningful step forward. Maximum DC rapid-charging speed climbs to 185kW – up from 135kW previously – meaning a 10–80% charge takes around 26 minutes at a compatible rapid charger. Škoda’s Smart Schedule feature allows drivers to set charging around cheaper off-peak electricity tariffs, while the Remote Charging app provides live charge-status monitoring from your smartphone.

A cabin that rewards the detail-obsessed

Step inside the Enyaq vRS and the sporting intent is immediately apparent, but never overwrought. The standard vRS Suite interior wraps the cabin in black perforated leather with grey piping, while ventilated sports seats hug front occupants securely on faster roads. The three-spoke leather sports steering wheel is specific to vRS, with regen paddles and vRS badging on the lower spoke. Carbon-effect trim completes the look.

Both front seats are electrically adjustable with memory function and massage – a class-leading combination at this price point. The driving position itself is excellent: lower and more snug than many tall SUVs, with generous steering column adjustment that allows drivers of all shapes to find their ideal setup quickly. The result is a car that feels purposeful and driver-focused from the moment you settle in.

Technology is comprehensive and logically deployed. The 13in touchscreen infotainment system is crisp and responsive, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, and Škoda Connect’s suite of remote services. An augmented reality head-up display projects speed, navigation arrows, and adaptive cruise control data directly onto the road ahead. The CANTON premium sound system – 13 speakers tuned specifically for the Enyaq’s cabin acoustics – is as good as anything offered by rivals at significantly higher price points.

‘Smart and Spacious’ thinking

Here is where the Enyaq vRS lands its most decisive blow against the performance SUV establishment. The sporting specification takes absolutely nothing away from the regular Enyaq’s class-leading practicality. The boot holds 585 litres with all seats in place – or a cavernous 1710 litres with the rear seats folded flat. Remote-folding rear seats can be dropped via a button in the boot, removing the need to walk around the car. Optional cargo nets, a variable-height boot floor, and Škoda’s cargo elements system keep luggage secure and organised.

Rear-seat space remains genuinely generous. Adults of six feet and above will find ample headroom and leg room, with the wide cabin comfortably accommodating three adults across. Tri-zone climate control, rear sunblinds, and USB-C ports front and rear (45W, data and charging) ensure long-distance comfort for every occupant.

Škoda’s ‘Smart, Spacious and Stylish’ details remain a highlight throughout. The driver’s door houses a dedicated umbrella compartment with a self-draining channel. Felt-lined door bins suppress rattles at speed. The central armrest conceals a generously sized storage compartment. An illuminated Tech-Deck Face discreetly integrates the driver assistance sensors into car’s nose, keeping the exterior clean and uncluttered.

A performance flagship that actually makes financial sense

At £52,470 OTR, the Enyaq vRS demands serious consideration against its nearest rivals. The Kia EV6 GT-Line S AWD sits in the same territory. A Tesla Model Y Long Range is closely matched on price. A Volkswagen ID.4 GTX is cheaper but noticeably less well equipped. What the Enyaq vRS offers that few rivals can match is the combination: this level of standard specification, this level of performance, this level of range, and this level of practicality, in a single package.

For company car drivers, the picture is particularly compelling. All Enyaq models sit in the 4% Benefit-in-Kind band for the 2026/27 tax year – a figure that makes even the vRS extraordinarily cost-effective as a company vehicle. A 40% taxpayer running the Enyaq vRS as a company car faces a monthly BiK bill that would make the driver of an equivalent PHEV wince with envy.

The all-rounder, perfected

The vRS badge has always written a specific kind of promise, and the Enyaq vRS honours it with real conviction. It is quicker, better equipped, longer-ranging, and faster-charging than its predecessor – and it costs less. In a market where more often means more expensive, that’s a real triumph.

More than two decades after that first Octavia vRS showed the world how thrilling a high performance – yet still affordable and practical – Škoda could be, the Enyaq vRS makes the same argument with electrifying conviction. It covers ground with authority, accommodates families with ease, connects with technology that genuinely enhances every journey, and does all of it for a price that undercuts the establishment.

Learn more about the Škoda Enyaq vRS

From clay to crystal ball: the story of the first concept car

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

The desire to get away from the conservative designs of pre-war America spawned an entirely new trade

Nowadays, concept cars are a given.

They have long been a nice way for manufacturers to stoke a bit of excitement among their fans; to show off shiny new technologies or simply to test the reception to what they've got in the pipeline.

But for the first half a century of motoring, such machines simply didn't exist. Sure, prototypes were built to test engineering developments, but something purely aesthetic? How bourgeois.

The genesis came about in the 1930s when, having recovered from the devastation of the Great Depression, Detroit began plotting a new wave of more optimistic cars. Products devised to fulfil a spiritual need, rather than a rational one: to capture a nation's appetite for individualism after so many years as a starved collective.

Out went the engine-and-boxcarriage design that had slowly evolved from the seminal 1885 Benz and in came unibodies with more organic cues.

The Chrysler Airflow of 1934 was the first car developed using a wind tunnel and, although a commercial failure, sparked a new trend in streamlining. Swooping curves and bold noses became the look of the moment, perhaps best exemplified by Graham-Paige's Model 97, better known as the Sharknose.

Image credit: Mr Choppers

Meanwhile, Detroit bosses got into hot-rodding. Edsel Ford commissioned designer Bob Gregorie to build his own custom Model 40 speedster.

Harley Earl, head of General Motors' Art and Colour division, wanted in on the action, and so set to work on his own showboat.

It was to be badged a Buick, and it was to be named Y-Job, because it was a step forward compared with previous experiments. X-periments – geddit?

It was never meant to be sold to the public, simply to imagine cars that could exist in the future. This must have seemed plain odd at the time, and certainly Autocar didn't foresee the importance of what we called a "laboratory": in thinking not about the next car in the Buick lineage but those beyond it and the brand's defining cues as a whole, Earl became a pioneer of car design as we know it today.

Yet it also made the task of actually creating the thing more difficult. Paper sketches can't realistically capture the way a car looks and producing full-size metal models would have been prohibitively costly.

So Earl gathered a haul of clay and began rendering his ideas in three dimensions. In doing so, he established a practice that still forms a critical part of any car designer's repertoire.

The Y-Job was finished in 1938, but it didn't see the light of day until 5 April 1940.

"The modern trend toward speedy appearance is carried to an extreme by means of body lines closely resembling those of racing cars," we reported that July.

"Most ingenious of all and interesting, however, is the automatic hood: an electrically operated mechanism controlled by a push button on the instrument panel lifts the deck lid on hinges, raises the folding top and lowers the deck lid into normal position again."

Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com

We continued: "Also noteworthy is an unusual arrangement of the instrument panel, with a radio unit inset at the middle and its controls mounted on top. Speedometer and gauges are placed in front of the steering wheel with the large speedometer dial high on the panel for best visibility."

This all seems elementary now, yet we only perceive it as so because Earl looked into his crystal ball and laid the foundations for the future of motoring.

He had also succeeded in his ambition to build the ultimate company car: he drove the Y-Job daily until 1951. Earl retired seven years later, ending an illustrious career in which he had introduced Cadillac's iconic tail fins, penned the first Chevrolet Corvette and almost single-handedly turned car design into a business in its own right.

And in the decades that followed, every manufacturer came to view concepts as regular necessities.

New pictures showcase production-ready Freelander 8

Mon, 11 May 2026 10:41:11 +0100

First model from new JLR-Chery brand is a large 2980kg SUV – which could come to the UK

New images of the Freelander 8 have surfaced as part of a Chinese government filing, providing a better look at the final design of the new 4x4.

The large SUV is the first car to come from the new Freelander brand, created in partnership between Chinese giant Chery and JLR.

A "production-intent" design was unveiled at the recent Beijing motor show, but the new images showcase the car that will hit Chinese showrooms later this year.

It draws on the Concept 97 that was unveiled last month, referencing its Land Rover namesake with a diagonal C-pillar. This signature can also be seen in the front and rear lighting graphics, although a simpler, blockier design will also be available.

The 8 is based on an 800V electrical architecture and will offer a choice of electric, range-extender and plug-in hybrid powertrains, with charging rates maxing out at 350kW.

It packs twin-chamber air suspension, an electronic limited-slip differential and an all-terrain function that, supported by the roof-mounted lidar sensor, reads changes in the road surface and automatically engages the appropriate drive mode.

According to the government filing, the plug-in hybrid 8 has a kerb weight of 2980kg and a gross vehicle weight of 3495kg.

Further technical details are expected to be confirmed in the coming months, when the production car goes on sale in China.

Inside, a large display spans across the width of the dashboard, supported by a traditional centrally mounted infotainment touchscreen and a row of physical buttons.

Although the 8 will initially be launched in China, Chery has already confirmed plans for expansion into other global markets, including in Europe – and a right-hand-drive variant is in the works.

It remains to be seen when it will be put on sale in the UK and by whom. In China, it will be offered by Chery through a network of Freelander-specific showrooms.

The 8 is the first in a wave of new Freelanders destined for sale globally, with the brand to introduce a new model every six months for the next five years.

Freelander CEO Wen Fei previously said that any cars exported to Europe wouldn't be adapted Chinese-market models but instead bespoke derivatives tailored to each market’s demands.

“International variants are currently in intensive development and shall, after launch in China, make their distinguished entry into the world's foremost markets," said Fei. “We are not exporting a Chinese car to the world but we are building a world car, for the world, from the very beginning."

BMW to preview Alpina's future with radical GT concept this week

Mon, 11 May 2026 09:36:22 +0100

Vision BMW Alpina will be revealed on 15 May, giving a first glimpse at the German tuner's new era

BMW will preview the future of Alpina on Friday with the unveiling of a new concept car.

The Vision BMW Alpina will be revealed at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza on 15 May, the company has confirmed, marking its first big presentation since the Alpina brand entered BMW ownership in January.

A teaser image released by BMW Alpina reveals it to be a long coupé – similar in profile to the previous BMW 8 Series and the limited-run Speedtop – and appears to show new lighting signatures that could be reserved specifically for future Alpina models.

This suggests that new models under the sub-brand could be more greatly differentiated from the BMWs on which they are based than in the past, cars such as the 3 Series-based B3 having been comparatively subtle.

It also suggests that Alpina could be preparing its own bespoke cars in what would be a first for the marque: its historic cars were all based on mass-produced BMWs.

As recently reported by Autocar, the first new-age Alpinas to hit showrooms will be based on the 7 Series limousine and X7 SUV.

BMW Group R&D chief Joachim Post said the brand “will talk not about sport but speed, comfort and luxury”, in keeping with its past.

It will be “completely different from a level which other people like from [BMW’s M cars], which is the performance”.

BMW previously said Alpina would also major on personalisation, offering a broad range of options and focusing on high-quality materials.

Seven seats and more space than a bedsit: The Ford S-Max is a £1500 bargain

Mon, 11 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Twenty years on from its Geneva reveal, we explain why now is the time to invest in this practical MPV

Dredge your memory and it's possible to come up with a handful of interesting MPVs.

The Renault Espace had sharply sleek lines, composite skin panels, cabin design worthy of an imaginative architectural practice and was so good that it would inspire a whole segment’s worth of imitators.

Like the sheep that they are, almost every car-maker scrambled to make MPVs, initially on the same big-car scale as the Espace but soon to the footprint of Renault's smaller and almost as influential Scenic.

There was less imagination but more realism from these designs, unless you went shopping in a Fiat dealer, where you would be shocked by the profound ugliness of the bug-eyed and big-windowed Multipla.

The rarely bought Fiat was one of the cleverer designs out there, but perhaps the best executed, most complete and most satisfying MPV, and one much the same size as the Espace, came - a little unexpectedly - from Ford. Unexpectedly because Ford was not a brand known for making exceptionally practical cars, nor cars that strayed somewhat from the market segment at which they were aimed.

The 2006 S-Max was a derivative of the big Galaxy, a people carrier entirely conventional in its conception and none the worse for that, although the word derivative massively undersells the cleverness of the S-Max.

Which was a more rakish and somewhat sportier version of its boxier big brother, despite which it still packed seating for seven and a phenomenally generous loadspace.

This was a car that could swallow six by four-foot slices of mdf and allow you to shut the tailgate on your load. It could heft sizeable items of furniture and a mighty heap of smaller things besides.

And because each of the two rear rows of seats folded individually, you could carry plenty of stuff and more than two people. Even with seven aboard the S-Max had a pretty decent boot.

At least as impressive was the fact that all these seats folded absolutely flat, any gaps between them covered by folding carpeted panels. It was a marvel of spatial engineering, and as an additional flourish – two, actually – Ford allowed each of the trio of middle row seats to slide, and provided a pair of covered cubbies beneath the feet of their occupants.

Its sleek lines, neat detailing and the high quality of the interior indicated another tour de force from Ford, which by the early 2000s had earned a fine reputation for making real driver’s cars of its mainstream models.

Indeed, Ford reckoned that the S-Max was enough of a dynamic performer to award it a different acronym, SAV an abbreviation of Sports Activity Vehicle. It was a term coined by BMW for models not quite as sporty as a two-door 3 Series, and not inaccurate for the S-Max if driving was one of your favoured sports. Because this big van did bends in the manner of machines far slinkier.

As it happens your reporter owns a S-Max 2.0 TDCi, a 2007 specimen of 122,000 miles and many battle scars from a previous life.

It was bought cheap as a non-runner – that’s another story – and having been resurrected it never fails to impress with its civility, comfort, deft handling and superb steering feel. It’s quick, too, the diesel’s torque delivering plenty of thrust. No less amazing is the aforementioned ability to carry stuff – with no kids, we use it as a very well upholstered van – and the ease with which it will pull a classic car-laden trailer.

Loads of buyers discovered the same mix of usefulness, refinement, performance and driving enjoyment, making the S-Max a big hit for several years.

How new 10,200rpm De Tomaso V12 makes 888bhp

Mon, 11 May 2026 07:00:00 +0100

The P900's engine is developed exclusively for track use and does without turbocharging or hybrid assistance

Good things come to those who wait, the saying goes, and De Tomaso seems to have proved the point with its new 888bhp (900 metric horsepower) V12 engine.

Announced in 2022 and originally expected in 2024, the final specification for the bespoke 7.0-litre V12 engine designed to power the forthcoming P900 was recently revealed by the Italian supercar firm.

The V12 is a collaboration between De Tomaso and Italian powertrain specialist Italtecnica, a company that focuses on designing and producing extreme specification engines for use in road cars and motorsport.

The engine is developed exclusively for track use and does without turbocharging or hybrid electric assistance.

The final specification is spectacular, with a no-expense-spared approach to the nuts and bolts. First of all, the performance. In 2022, talk was of an engine that would rev to 12,300rpm but the final design has a redline of 10,200rpm and develops maximum power at 9500rpm. The difference matters little in that the engine still achieves the maximum horsepower planned at the outset.

The cylinder banks are set at 65deg, rather than the traditional 60deg, matching that of later Ferrari V12s and the Murray T50, for example. It has an eight-stage drysump lubrication system to ensure a perfect supply of oil throughout the engine when undergoing extreme acceleration, braking and cornering forces.

There are quad cams, with double overhead camshafts operating the valves in each cylinder head. Rather than belts or chains, the engine designers have opted for a "full gear-driven cascade" - a gear train taking the drive from the camshaft to each of the four cams, ensuring extremely precise valve timing at the highest engine speeds.

Construction is described as billet aluminium with extensive use of titanium and carbonfibre for components. In practice, that equates to a crankcase machined from a solid billet (chunk) of aluminium alloy for lightness and rigidity, as are supporting components for the carbonfibre intake system.

The intake system is designed as much to produce an epic sound as give the most efficient airflow. A fairly traditional approach is taken to major internal components, with forged connecting rods and lightweight pistons helping reduce reciprocating masses, and there are titanium valves to reduce inertia as they open and close at massive speed.

The compression ratio is described as "high" to maximise power and efficiency but the figure is undisclosed at this stage.

De Tomaso says more P900 details will be revealed this year as the car gets closer to the first customer builds, but it's perhaps the sound of the V12 that will be most eagerly awaited.

Kia will build wild Stinger successor - but is waiting for costs to drop

Mon, 11 May 2026 06:00:00 +0100

"Sports saloon for the gamer generation" is planned for production, and it could spawn an estate

Kia will put the Vision Meta Turismo concept into production as a new flagship model in the vein of the V6-powered Stinger GT S - but only once the price is viable, the brand's design chief has told Autocar.

The striking GT concept was revealed in Korea last year to mark Kia's 80th birthday. It sits on a new platform and showcases a bold new era of design for Kia called Opposites United: Evolution.

The current design language, Opposites United, started with the EV6 in 2021 and defined every model up until the EV2, unveiled last month.

Asked what was stopping Kia from putting the electric four-door super-GT into production today, design chief Karim Habib told Autocar: "At this point, it is more strategic. It's a pure EV and the price of doing a high-performance EV is what is slowing us down. Hopefully, the upward movement of EVs keeps going. I think there will be more openness to this [type of] car. At least that's what we're betting on."

He added: "We have a small history of doing cars like the Stinger and that's something we don't want to give up on. The Meta Turismo is our idea of a sports sedan for the gamer generation. A few years ago, we started thinking about what could we do beyond SUVs? We do produce and sell a lot of SUVs, which is good, but we also believe that there's more than that."

Autocar was recently invited to see the concept, alongside a proposed fastback variant that is a close match in profile to the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and has yet to be shown publicly. Habib said the team had already created a "90% production-ready" model, suggesting it could also be in Kia's plans.

Europe design boss Oliver Samson said: "We wanted to answer that question to ourselves: is that something we could do or how would that look like? In order for us to answer the question, we needed to prove that it would work. And, yeah, [we found that] it would be physically possible."

Evolution, not revolution, key

Compared with today's cars, the next generation of Kias won't look drastically different, which is why the new Opposites United: Evolution design language has been named to sound like a sequel.

Instead, the key changes will be in how the new cars feel to use.

Habib explained: "We design purposely futuristic looking cars because we want them again to promise a better future and we want people to follow us on that. The idea of finding new ways is not just to find new ways, because something new for the sake of new really doesn't bring anything. The point is that it needs to bring progress. It needs to bring something positive to the experience.

"And obviously with EVs and all the technology that has come with it - the difference in the architecture, the difference in the usability, the user experience - we believe it is progress for the automotive world. That is what we would like people to feel when they step into our cars."

The first model expected to be influenced by the new design language is a recently confirmed electric city car. Potentially positioned as an EV alternative to the Picanto, it could take the EV1 badge when it is unveiled later this year. It is expected to go on sale by the end of 2027.

New design language to foster emotional connection

The Opposites United: Evolution design language is intended to make electric cars more emotionally engaging, head of interior design Jochen Paesen told Autocar.

The Vision Meta Turismo is key to this, he said, and a vital requirement for meeting the brief is to ensure that when people "see the car, they think: 'Cool, I want to give that a go.'"

However, it isn't as easy as just making it sporty, giving it a virtual gearbox and pumping out fake engine noise because new-generation buyers aren't engaged by that, according to Paesen.

He said: "We're car people. We grew up on the side of a race track hearing V8s, but those are not the things that the younger generation care as much about. It actually doesn't trigger them. It triggered us, but we're living in a different age, so understanding what triggers the younger generation and gets them emotionally tied in and emotionally interested, that's important."

The emotional connection to electric cars will be crucial going forward, said Paesen, as "that's where, ultimately, differentiation will come in. That's where brands can stand out from each other, and that's where you can make a difference."

The interior will be a pivotal factor in this. While the Vision Meta Turismo's cabin features nothing that is immediately bound for production, its radically minimalist, functional and tech-led approach is being considered for the next-generation cars.

Modern Kias have always placed an importance on being functional. They have featured numerous physical buttons to control essential functions rather than putting everything behind a screen - and Paesen said the next stage is to make functionality its own aesthetic.

He explained: "We are not a premium brand. We design with our cost targets and we have to be very smart in how we do that. So we always try to look at how we can make the experience, how we make the usability, how we make the emotion, the smiles, come out in everything we do."

"We just want to be authentic"

Kia won't look to differentiate its models based on their powertrain, but neither will it make all of its cars look the same, said Habib.

"We just want to be authentic," he explained. "So if there's a [need for a] grille, we're gonna have a grille... but it is not fixed in stone. You can speak [on this point] about exterior as well as interior. If you take a Seltos interior and an EV3 interior, there's a lot of things that overlap."

This approach has already started, according to Habib. He said: "One example: the Stonic facelift we just did actually looks more like an EV, because it had a fake grille before. [The air intakes are at the bottom.] So we found out that we can do something that looks like [electric] Kias but just looks the way it does, not because we want it to look EV."

This was a point also made by Pasen. He said: “EVs have given us the opportunity to do things in a new way. They have influenced the ICE cars and they've sort of driven ideas and thinking forward in the ICE world. But we're not trying to make an ICE [car] look like something else: it is still authentically an ICE [car], but they [ICE cars and EVs] influence each other.”

The next challenge is taking that forward to the generation beyond the next, said Pasen: “From an interior perspective, our interiors are quite minimal, quite simple, quite reduced. There is a trend towards reduction, simplification. What's interesting is: where does that go next? How do you keep that fresh? How do you keep that going? And how do you make sure that you're relevant?

"I think that's the key in making sure that people actually value what you do and how you've designed it. And it feels very personal. That's the key.”

Our favourite junkyard discoveries at Rohners Auto Parts, Willmar, Minnesota

Mon, 11 May 2026 01:42:08 +0100

Delve into a yard full of interesting wrecks

Welcome to our second and final visit to Rohner’s Auto Parts, one of Minnesota’s best-kept secrets.

This 80-acre yard features miles of dirt tracks lined with thousands of cars.

INTRODUCTION

While many vehicles date back to the 1990s and 2000s, as you can see from this collection of images, there is an impressive array of older domestic, European, and Japanese autos as well.

LINCOLN TOWNCAR LIMOUSINE

We were hoping to cruise around Rohner’s Auto Parts in this 1990s stretched Lincoln Towncar, until we noticed the 'Not for Hire' sticker and a 'No Drinking' sign. Talk about ruining our fun…

Its last ride is likely to be a suitably sombre one – straight to the crusher…

AMC PACER

One of the AMC Pacer’s many nicknames was the ‘Flying Goldfish Bowl’, on account of all that glass. Unfortunately, the fish seem to have all escaped through this one’s smashed front windshield.

Produced from 1975 to 1980, in total 280,000 of these three-door compacts were sold.

VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO

Launched in the mid-1970s, the Volkswagen Scirocco replaced the Karmann Ghia Coupé. This model is a Scirocco II, identified by its elongated wedge-shaped body, softer lines, and a rear spoiler above the rear windshield. While US sales ceased in 1988, the Scirocco continued in Europe into the early 1990s, with a total of 795,734 units sold worldwide.

Though the Scirocco made a long-awaited return in 2008 with a third generation, these models never made their way across the Atlantic.

PONTIAC GRANDVILLE - 1972

The Pontiac Grand Ville, a trim package for the Bonneville, was only available from 1971 to 1975. Over the five years, 290,327 of these luxury liners were built, but fewer than 20,000 were 1972 coupes like this one.

Although this particular car still boasts plenty of useful trim, its bruised and battered body panels are beyond salvageable.

OLDSMOBILE JETSTAR 88 - 1964

In 1964, only 19,325 Oldsmobile Jetstar four-door Holiday Hardtops were built, and just a tiny fraction has survived. This one has long since lost its Jetfire Rocket V8, which, when pushed hard, could take the Jetstar to 60mph in about 9 seconds and on to a claimed top speed of 115mph.

RENAULT FUEGO

If scarcity equated to value, Rohners would be sitting on a fortune with its collection of four rare Renault Fuego hatchbacks. Between 1982 and 1986, 94,000 were sold through AMC dealers.

However, that isn't the case; instead, it has four French cars that nobody wants. These models were also assembled in South America, where production continued into the 1990s.

CHEVROLET VEGA KAMMBACKS

And while we’re on the subject of undesirability, Rohners has more Chevrolet Vega Kammback wagons than you can shake a stick at. What they lack in appeal, they more than make up for in color. Though nothing in this lineup looks restorable, it offers a treasure trove of rare spare parts.

PONTIAC SUNBIRD SAFARI

At first glance, this might seem like another Vega wagon, but it's actually a much scarcer Pontiac Sunbird Safari. Depending on whether it was built in 1978 or 1979, it is one of either 8,424 or 2,902 examples produced. Either way it’s a rare car indeed. Making this one even more unusual is its wood veneer panelling.

BUICK SKYHAWK - 1975

The first-generation Buick Skyhawk is another car that was based on the Chevrolet Vega. These subcompact hatchbacks were introduced to the world in 1974 and remained in production until 1980.

The orange car closest to the camera appears to be a 1975 model, making it one of 29,448 built that year. The one behind it is likely a few years its junior.

BUICK INVICTA - 1963

Just 3495 Buick Invicta station wagons found buyers in 1963, and the chances of finding other parts doner are slim to none.

The Invicta name, meaning "invincible" in Latin, first appeared in Buick’s lineup in 1959. Essentially a LeSabre with the biggest engine, the Invicta was initially offered in various body styles. However, by 1963, most had been replaced by the Wildcat, leaving just the Invicta station wagon.

OLDSMOBILE TORONADO – 1980s

This early 1980s Oldsmobile Toronado has been off the road since 2002, and it shows. It's a third-generation model (1979 to 1985), which was considerably smaller than its predecessors. In addition to gasoline-powered versions, Oldsmobile also regrettably offered a 5.7-liter V8 diesel. This engine was notoriously unreliable, severely tarnishing Oldsmobile’s reputation.

PONTIAC SUNBIRD - GT

Convertibles tend to have a higher survival rate than their hardtop counterparts, but that didn’t prevent this Pontiac Sunbird from ending up at Rohners. This GT model was only produced in 1988 and 1989.

While the bodywork remains solid and it still retains its hidden headlamps, the ragtop is in tatters, and the interior has suffered as a result.

MITSUBISHI MONTERO

The SUV phase was still in its infancy in 1983 when the Mitsubishi Montero first appeared in US showrooms. For the first six years, it was only offered in a two-door version, with the four-door variant arriving in 1989. Known as the Pajero in most parts of the world, the name didn't fare well in some Spanish-speaking markets, where "Pajero" is a derogatory term.

OPEL OLYMPIA REKORD

Manufactured between 1953 and 1957, the two-door Opel Olympia Rekord was Germany’s second-best-selling car, though it was still outsold by the Volkswagen Beetle at a rate of two to one. With its Detroit-inspired styling, it also proved popular among frugal US buyers. Despite sitting in this yard for decades, it doesn’t appear to have yielded many parts.

SUNBEAM ALPINE

A total of 69,251 Sunbeam Alpine two-seater British sportscars were produced, spanning five series. The 1725cc badge on this one identifies it as a Series V (1965 to 1968), one of just 19,122 made.

Between 1964 and 1967, a Carroll Shelby-inspired, V8-powered version was also built. Known as the Sunbeam Tiger, only 7083 of these highly desirable cars found buyers.

TOYOTA CRESSIDA ELEGANTE

Check out this unusual landau roof. It belongs to an early 1980s Toyota Cressida Elegante, likely the rarest car at Rohner’s Auto Parts. To our knowledge, only a few hundred of these were sold, all converted in the US at Toyota dealerships.

These luxury broughams were offered with a choice of leather or velour seats, and this one has the latter.

BUICK REGAL - 1977

Here's another landau roof, which looks far more elegant and stylish on a 1977 Buick Regal coupe. This model is the last of the first-generation (1973 to 1977) cars and was the best-selling of the bunch, with 174,560 units sold. The following year, the Regal was significantly downsized, boosting annual sales by more than 60,000.

AMC CONCORD

Despite sitting in this spot for a couple of decades, this AMC Concord has barely been stripped of any parts. This indicates how little appeal it has among classic car collectors. Between 1978 and 1983, more than 400,000 of these Hornet replacements were built, but their survival rate has been appallingly low.

MITSUBISHI CORDIA

Chrysler had a stake in Mitsubishi and a history of rebadging its cars for the US market as captive imports. However, the Cordia was among the first to be imported directly by the Japanese manufacturer. Produced between 1982 and 1990, this compact hatchback was one of the first mass-produced cars to feature an electronic instrument cluster.

BUICK SPECIAL - 1962

While cosmetically it has a few issues, this 1962 Buick Special is in great structural shape. The 1962 Special was the first mass-produced American car to offer a V6 engine, which took it to 60mph in 12.8sec, a good 3sec slower than the V8 version. We wonder what’s hidden under this one’s hood.

LINCOLN CONTINENTAL MKV

At 230in in length, the Lincoln Continental MkV holds the title of the longest two-door coupe ever sold by Ford. Its immense dimensions are strikingly apparent in this picture, as it dwarfs the mid-1980s Town Car it's sitting on.

This personal luxury coupe was in production between 1977 and 1979.

CADILLAC CATERA

Built by General Motors in Germany, the Cadillac Catera was a rebadged Opel Omega, featuring a UK-sourced 3-liter V6 engine. Offered between 1996 and 2001, it sold poorly, with only 95,000 units leaving showrooms. Priced at $29,995, this entry-level Cadillac was designed to compete with luxury imports from manufacturers such as Acura, BMW, Infiniti, and Mercedes-Benz.

MERCEDES 240D

From this angle, it looks like this Mercedes-Benz W123 sedan attempted—and failed—to jump over a line of school buses. If you were to try such a stunt, a 240D would not be the vehicle of choice. These diesel-powered cars had a top speed of just 89mph and took 22sec to reach 60mph.

VOLVO 240

You would be slightly better off attempting the school bus jump in this late 1980s Volvo 240. Not only would its 4-cylinder gasoline engine have got you to 60mph in around 13sec, but if the landing were to go awry, you’d stand a pretty good chance of walking away from the wreckage.

Note the Swedish flag and Danish registration code stickers on the back.

CHRYSLER LEBARON

Between 1955 and 1975, the LeBaron name was used by Imperial. When the marque was discontinued, the name was transferred to Chrysler. This particular vehicle is a first-generation model, though from this angle, it's difficult to determine if it was built in 1980 or 1981. Given that significantly more were sold in 1980, it's likely from that year.

In 1982 the LeBaron would adopt Chrysler’s K platform.

DODGE CHALLENGER

Think of a Dodge Challenger, and what comes to mind? Perhaps the 2023 1025hp SRT Demon 170 or the iconic 1970 R/T from the classic movie Vanishing Point. One thing's for sure, it won't be one of these.

This is actually a Mitsubishi Galant Lambda coupe, which was rebadged as a Challenger from 1978 to 1983. This front-wheel-drive subcompact came with a choice of 4-cylinder engines, producing either 77hp or 105hp. It would have been enough to make Kowalski turn in his grave.

PLYMOUTH CHAMP - 1981

This Plymouth Champ LS is another example of a Japanese captive import. It's essentially a Mitsubishi Mirage, part of the 84,144 budget-friendly three-door compacts sold in 1981. They were not only affordable but also prized by economical drivers for their fuel efficiency.

As if this car didn’t already have an identity crisis, someone has fitted it with Ford wheel trims.

AUDI 5000

The third generation Audi 100, also known as the 5000 in the US, went into production in 1982. These stylish, aerodynamic sedans sold well in Europe but faced challenges in the US due to safety recalls stemming from reports of sudden unintended acceleration.

Despite all the car’s doors and windows being closed, grass seems to be growing inside. Perhaps there’s a hole in the floor.

AMC GREMLIN

If you're planning to launch a compact competitor to the Chevrolet Vega, Ford Pinto, and Volkswagen Beetle, fuel economy must be a top priority. However, it seems the designers of the AMC Gremlin missed that memo. Upon its release, the Gremlin came standard with a 3.3-liter 6-cylinder engine.

Although the car was relatively quick and quiet (at least compared with its rivals), it achieved an average fuel economy of just 17.6 MPG.

NASH RAMBLER CROSSCOUNTRY

Try to imagine this mid-1950s Nash Rambler Cross Country when it was brand new. The polished two-tone paintwork, gleaming chrome and the interior with that new car smell. Its proud owners would have had a fit if a bird had even thought about doing its business on the roof. What would they say if they could see the state it’s in today?

DODGE CONQUEST - 1985

There is some debate over whether the Mitsubishi Starion's name was a mistake. According to Mitsubishi, it's short for "Star of Arion," Arion being a mythical horse. However, others suspect it was a Japanese mispronunciation of the word "stallion." Regardless of the origin, the name is irrelevant here, as this is actually a rebadged 1985 Dodge Conquest.

FORD F100

According to the license plate tags, this mid-1960s Ford F100 was still trundling around rural Minnesota a decade ago, likely looking much the same as it does now. Judging by the high-mounted front lamps, this workhorse probably served as a snowplough during the winter months.

AMC HORNET

Sold between 1970 and 1977, the all-new AMC Hornet replaced the Rambler American and was offered in four different body styles, including this station wagon. Undoubtedly, the most famous version of the Hornet is the X Hatchback, which performed the corkscrew jump in the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.

RAMBLER CLASSIC - 1962

In 1962, Rambler was the fourth best-selling marque, with the Classic four-door sedan contributing significantly to this success. That year, Rambler achieved 442,346 sales, marking the second-best performance in its history.

Although this particular car is a bit rough, it still has plenty of spare parts. And if you can't find what you need, there seems to be another one beneath it.

OLDSMOBILE 98 - 1973

In 1972, to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Oldsmobile produced a four-door hardtop Ninety-Eight which it called the Regency. It was a success, so the model made a return in 1973, as seen here. The car was packed with luxuries, including a windshield radio antenna, power steering, cigarette lighter and his and hers ashtrays.

FORD LTD II SQUIRE - 1977

This picture offers a glimpse of the terrain at Rohner’s Auto Parts and how overgrown it becomes in the summer months. We spent about four hours exploring this fascinating yard but believe we missed well over half of the vehicles. However, we did manage to capture this rather nice Ford LTD II Squire with our camera. This car was built in 1977, the only year a station wagon was offered.

PONTIAC TEMPEST - 1963

In 1963, Pontiac provided Tempest buyers the choice of a potent 260hp, 5.6-liter V8 engine. Capable of completing a quarter mile in 16.3sec and reaching a top speed of 126mph, it offered impressive performance.

However, it's more probable that this particular model was equipped with the 3.2-liter 4-cylinder engine, which delivered just 115 hp, resulting in significantly more lethargic performance.

HONDA ACCORD

The first-generation Honda Accord achieved strong sales in the US, thanks to its excellent gas mileage and extensive list of standard features. This specific hatchback is an LX model, which included air conditioning, a digital clock, and power steering as part of its specifications.

Production of the Honda Accord began at the Marysville Auto Plant in Marysville, Ohio, in November 1982, marking it as the first Japanese car to be assembled in the US.

BUICK RENDEZVOUS

The Buick Rendezvous proved to be a notable success for Buick during its production span from 2001 to 2007. As Buick's inaugural crossover SUV, it successfully targeted a younger audience. With over 300,000 units sold, it significantly outperformed its Pontiac Aztek counterpart, nearly tripling its sales figures.

DATSUN 280ZX

Looking for Datsun 280ZX parts? Rohner’s Auto Parts certainly has a good selection of them. If you see anything here or in any of the other pictures that you’re interested in, give them a call on +1 320-235-4602 or better still, head out to Willmar, Minnesota.

Why the quirky Caterham 21 couldn't survive the Lotus Elise

Sun, 10 May 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Caterham is famous for the single-minded Seven, but 30 years ago it tried to build an everyday roadster

Nobody wants to be known as a one-trick pony or to be told to ‘stay in your lane’, but equally it’s also good to know what you excel at.

This is something Caterham is acutely aware of, because for the past 50-odd years it has owed its existence to one extremely exciting offering: the Seven.

Ever since company founder Graham Nearn bought the rights to the lightweight roadburner from Lotus in 1973, it has continued to hone and refine the Seven into a car that, for many, is one of the most thrilling driving experiences on earth.

Yet while the business is strong today, Caterham has experienced its ups and downs in the past. And when you’ve only really got a single product to sell, you leave yourself vulnerable if your customers get fickle and look elsewhere for their kicks.

So with the recession of the early 1990s still strong in the memory, Nearn and his team decided it was time to diversify.

In many respects, the idea was a simple one. The Seven was a sensational but rather single-minded machine – one that required almost motorcyclist-levels of masochism to use on a daily basis. If Caterham could create a flagship model that added a welcome dose of continent-crossing civility to the Seven’s scintillating dynamics, then it could be onto a winner.

The result was the 21. Launched at the 1994 British motor show to coincide with the brand’s 21st birthday (hence the name; the multiplication of seven is merely a happy accident), the new car’s conception was relatively straightforward.

To keep things simple and development costs down, the 21 featured a strengthened version of the Seven’s spaceframe chassis, including its unequal-length front suspension and de Dion rear axle. There was even a similar line-up of Rover K-series engines.

The biggest differences were visual, with the addition of a voluptuous aluminium body designed by Caterham’s Iain Roberston, who penned it shortly before joining Autocar as our deputy news editor.

Inside, there was a properly designed dashboard, decent space for two and soft leather trim as far as the eye could see.

There was even a proper 250-litre boot, and while the folding fabric roof was a bit of a fiddle, it was easier to erect than the Seven’s byzantine covering. Better still, all the creature comforts added only 100kg to the kerb weight.

When we sampled the original show car, complete with stunning polished-alloy bodywork, we were impressed, then road test editor Andrew Frankel declaring: “It is, if you like, a Seven without the strings. It has a big boot and blots out the elements well enough to make a two-week European tour not simply possible but natural and appealing. It lacks the everyday practicality of, say, a TVR Chimaera and is better described as a compact Chrysler Viper with none of the bulk but all of the performance.”

Quite the fulsome verdict. So, how come you’ve probably never heard of the 21? Well, for all its ambition and promise, it was scuppered by time and timings.

Caterham planned on building around 200 per year (a third of Seven production), but it dragged its heels at a time when affordable roadsters were becoming quite the thing.

Its engineers kept going back to the drawing board to refine the design, including ditching the aluminium bodywork for composite moulded panels.

The result was that fully representative customer cars took a while to come on stream, meaning we weren’t able to subject it to a full road test until 1997. By then the game had moved on.

The 21 handled and performed with the panache you would expect, but it was hobbled by wearisome noise, vibration and harshness and irritations such as side windows that could be ‘opened’ only by unscrewing them.

As we noted at the time: “Unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast who needs a certain amount of pain merely to enjoy the pleasure, the likelihood is that you would either buy a practical roadster such as a BMW Z3 or have a second car. In which case the Seven does everything that the 21 does, only better.” Ouch.

However, what really scuppered the 21 was the Lotus Elise. Arriving in 1996, it showed the Caterham (and every other contender) just how good a back-to-basics sports car could be. And the killer blow was that this sophisticated upstart also undercut the £25,000 Caterham by £5000.

Incredibly, the 21 soldiered on until 1999 – but by the time the plug was quietly pulled, fewer than 50 examples had been made.