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Jaecoo sibling Delivan due in UK next year with Ford Transit rival

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:17:14 +0100

Chery-owned brand will bring three commercial vehicles to UK in 2027 – and they could have ICE options

Chinese commercial vehicle brand Delivan will come to the UK with a Ford Transit Custom rival in early 2027, followed by a smaller “light” and larger “heavy” van before the end of next year.

Delivan is part of Chery Holding Group, which sells Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery cars in the UK. However, its operation in the UK and approach to the market will be entirely separate from its car business.

Full technical details of Delivan's UK offerings will be released closer to their respective launches, but the brand did confirm that all will be "electric-first", suggesting there's scope for ICE variants too.

Delivan CEO Jolly Yang said the brand's aim was to become the “leading partner for next-generation commercial vehicles” and that he expected to do this by offering “better uptime than our competitors”.

Uptime is vital to keeping van operating costs low, as it means the vehicles are being used as much as possible with minimal time for servicing or repairs.

To achieve this, Delivan vehicles will feature a high level of connectivity for monitoring their performance.

Delivan executives said they would use “predictive servicing” as part of their aim to maximise uptime.

Delivan will use a direct sales approach in selling its vehicles. This means it will own and run dealerships, rather than offering franchises to existing retail groups. And rather than calling them ‘dealerships’, Delivan will call them “uptime centres”.

Alongside the Transit Custom-rivalling concept shown at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham this week, Delivan displayed the Micro Cargo last-mile delivery concept and similarly sized autonomous Robot Cargo concept.

Yang said: “We are introducing a new generation of commercial vehicles designed specifically for European operations. By combining intelligent systems, modular thinking and a connected ecosystem, Delivan enables fleets to operate more efficiently, adapt more easily and deliver greater value across their life cycles.”

BMW 7 Series gets Neue Klasse redesign and 452-mile EV range

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0100

Refresh for four-year-old limousine is claimed to be the most extensive ever given to a BMW Group model

BMW’s flagship 7 Series has received the most extensive model update in BMW Group history and is claimed to set a “new benchmark” for the luxury segment.

The four-year-old, seventh-generation limousine has been given a full Neue Klasse redesign in order to keep pace with recently updated luxury rivals including Mercedes-Benz's S-Class and EQS.

The 7 Series continues to be sold in both plug-in hybrid and electric (badged i7) forms, with the EV to arrive first in September and the PHEV shortly after. Pricing is expected to rise on today's £105,000 entry point.

The main changes have been made to the EV, where a new 112.5kWh battery has been fitted (up from 105.7kWh) which uses the same 'Gen6' cylindrical cells as the new iX3 SUV and incoming i3 saloon.

This increases range significantly, from 387 miles before to 452 in its most efficient form. Its maximum charging rate is also increased, from 195kW to 250kW.

The EVs also get the iX3’s electrically excited synchronous motors, which are more efficient than before – another reason for the increased maximum range.

All variants use a dual-motor powertrain, with outputs ranging from 449bhp and 442lb ft in the 50 xDrive to 671bhp and 749lb ft in the M70 xDrive. The range-topper is able to hit 62mph from standing in just 3.8sec.

The PHEVs’ underpinnings have also been refreshed: the two variants receive BMW’s updated straight-six petrol engine with a new turbocharger which is paired to the same electric motor as before.

In the entry-level 750e xDrive, these combine for 482bhp and 516lb ft. In the more performance-orientated M760e xDrive, the engine’s power is increased to 420bhp and overall output to 604bhp and 590lb ft – 40bhp more than before. This nets a 0-62mph time of 4.2sec.

Unlike with the i7 EV, energy for the motor comes from the same 18.7kWh 'Gen5' battery as before, offering an unchanged electric-only range of 50 miles.

As standard, all 7 Series models, regardless of powertrain, feature adaptive dampers and active rear steering.

Changes on the outside are less pronounced, but the 7 Series’ design has been updated to match the new Neue Klasse look introduced by the iX3.

This is most notably at the front, where it gets thinner lights (embedded with crystals “that sparkle”), new air intakes and a new grille design with horizontal slats.

At the rear, the 7 Series looks nearly identical to the i3, with new lights that are designed to emphasise its width. Alloy wheels are 22in as standard.

“We’re merging Neue Klasse with luxury. This car is all about presence,” said Max Missoni, BMW’s lead designer for luxury models. “The grille stands proud and the eyes are focused.”

Inside, the new 7 Series is the first BMW to feature a touchscreen for the front passenger – a feature that has been offered in Audi and Mercedes luxury cars for years. The 14.6in unit is fitted as standard.

The cabin has also been given a Neue Klasse makeover, receiving the same 17.9in slanted central touchscreen and steering wheel as the iX3.

Gone, too, is the instrument cluster, with BMW's new 43.3in-long ‘Panoramic iDrive’ display being fitted in its place. As in the iX3, this runs across the length of the dashboard just under the driver’s eyeline and displays key details such as vehicle speed and state of charge.

In the rear, the 31.3in 8K cinema screen returns paired with a 35-speaker Bowers & Wilkins system. Alcantara-trimmed and fully reclinable Executive Lounge chairs can be optioned for rear passengers.

Missoni noted that the rear of the 7 Series' cabin has a “cleaner” design than before, adding that “any elements that could be distracting are reduced to a minimum”.

“This is a car for people who drive the world,” he said. “It is a private mobile retreat that invites you to relax.”

All models get automatically opening doors, similar to those offered by BMW sibling brand Rolls-Royce.

Personalisation options are once again extensive, with more than 700 interior material combinations (including leather, metal and crystal glass) and 500 exterior colour combinations available. And for the first time, the 7 Series can be specced in a two-tone finish.

Renault eyes data revenues from software-defined vans

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:37:40 +0100

Ability to minimise van downtime with new tech could prove a bountiful revenue stream for maker

Renault is preparing to monetise connected vehicle data as it rolls out its first software-defined vans, starting with the forthcoming Trafic – but not before it has proved the worth of the new technology, according to Zak Zeghari, the Renault Group's vice-president for global sales and marketing of commercial vehicles

The move aims to capitalise on a wider trend within the fleet market of measuring and lowering the total cost of operating a vehicle.

Speaking at the UK's Commercial Vehicle Show, senior Renault executives said the move to software-defined vehicles (SDVs) would transform both how vans are developed and how they are used in operation.

The technology will be introduced on the all-electric next-generation Trafic in 2027 before being rolled out across Renault's light commercial vehicle (LCV) range as new models are introduced.

“The software-defined vehicle for us is a great asset,” Zeghari said, because it enables three key benefits: improved platform efficiency, over-the-air software updates through the vehicle’s life cycle and the ability to harness data to support customer operations.

That data focus is central to Renault’s longer-term commercial strategy. While charging customers for connected services isn't immediate, it is clearly under consideration.

“I believe that every time that there is a customer benefit, you should have a business case behind it,” Zeghari said.

“When we can demonstrate all the benefits,” he said, Renault will look at making this a paid service. “At the end of the day, we are here to make money and to make our customer happy.”

Renault argues that SDVs will help fleets move beyond traditional total cost of ownership metrics toward a broader “total cost of usage” model, focused on uptime, operational efficiency and predictive maintenance.

The system will feed real-time data to both customers and retailers, helping reduce the amount of time vans are off the road being serviced or repaired, through early intervention.

This approach raises questions around data security, particularly with the latest artificial intelligence models being able to quickly and easily identify cybersecurity flaws in software systems.

To combat hacks, Renault has developed a “digital twin” system, where vehicle data is processed in the cloud, with a constantly updated firewall separating it from the physical vehicle.

“In order to avoid all these cyber security attacks, we created on the cloud a digital twin of our vehicles,” Zeghari said. “Nobody’s safe, [so] we have to be very careful and then to evolve.”

Two-legged powertrain strategy

Renault is doubling down on a clear two-pronged powertrain strategy for its LCVs: internal combustion and fully electric.

Executives ruled out plug-in hybrid and hydrogen powertrains as viable options for LCVs in the near term, citing limited demand and operational constraints.

“Our strategy is really a two-leg strategy based on ICE and EV. We don’t believe that there is some other alternative,” said Zeghari.

Renault expects electric LCV adoption to grow steadily rather than rapidly, with the European EV mix forecast to rise from 10% to around 12% in the near term.

However, fleet uptake remains conditional on two factors: cost parity with ICE and no negative impact on operations.

“If the answer to one of these two questions is 'no', they don’t go electric,” Zeghari said.

The new Trafic E-Tech, on display in Birmingham, is designed to address those barriers, with an 800V electrical architecture enabling rapid charging and improved usability for high-intensity fleet operations.

Crucially, Renault will continue to run ICE and EV versions of key LCVs in parallel, reflecting the long lifecycle of LCV products and the uneven pace of electrification across use cases.

UK ambitions

The UK remains central to Renault’s LCV growth plans, as the French manufacturer aims to become a top-three brand in the van market.

Having climbed to fourth place in the first quarter of 2026, with nearly 7000 registrations and 21% year-on-year growth, Renault UK managing director Adam Wood said the ambition is to become a “Champions League” player.

“Our desire is to really reach those podium places within the UK,” he said, pointing to a combination of new products, a strengthened Pro+ dealership network and a focus on uptime as key differentiators.

The strategy also leans heavily on Renault’s established names and service infrastructure to counter new entrants, particularly cheaper Chinese rivals.

“I don’t believe that it’s about price," said Wood. "It’s about efficiency and the cost of usage."

Chery Tiggo 4

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Chinese budget brand introduces hybrid compact crossover in vein of MG ZS The Chery Tiggo 4 is another compact Chinese crossover – but unlike so many of them, it can’t be plugged in.It’s a hybrid, sitting firmly in the B-segment at 4.3 m long, built to take on cars like the Dacia Duster and MG ZS.At less than £20,000, it's priced to give established car makers the heebie-jeebies too: the Ford Puma starts at £27,000.Chery is in the Omoda-Jaecoo bunch of brands, and there’s chat from the company about whether one should best imagine those two at Bicester Village or at Daylesford, or Mayfair or another swish part of London. But Chery, they say, is pure suburbia: imagine it as a no-nonsense, own-brand white-loaf kind of car, and perhaps none the worse for that.Chery’s thinking is that somebody trades in their five-grand supermini as a deposit and pays £235 monthly for one of these instead and, a couple of years down the line, rinse and repeat. The successes of other Chinese brands suggest it’s a convincing argument.

The original city slicker: The Smart car's journey from Swatch to #2

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 08:08:41 +0100

Newly revealed #2 can trace its roots back to Mercedes Eco Concepts of 1994

Smart is returning to its roots with a new two-seat city car in the vein of the old Fortwo – the unique proposition for which the brand was invented three decades ago – several years after foraying into electric SUVs.

The brand had some difficulty in building a business case for the #2 – but even so, its progress through the pipeline has been a lot smoother than that of the original City Coupé.

Autocar first reported on the project in February 1990, and the next summer its instigator, Nicolas Hayek, did a deal with Volkswagen.

The Lebanese-born 63-year-old, who we described as “a rumpled, cigar-chomping management consultant”, was well known as the driving force behind Swatch.

Having overseen the liquidation of two Swiss watchmakers engulfed by new competition such as Casio, from 1985 he drastically reduced the number of parts, almost fully automated the production process and took a bold, creative approach to marketing, and by 1990 Swiss watches were outselling Japanese ones by a factor of three.

Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com

Hayek described his Swatchmobile to us as a small electric car that could carry “two people and two cases of beer” for a price of £3570 (that’s £8280 today).

“I don’t know cars, just like I didn’t know watches,” he said. “I am just a fat old man who has kept his fantasy as it was when I was six years old.

“What makes me tick is starting something new, building something, changing something. “I have more than enough money; it would be a pleasure to contribute to something good, something that will fight against the decadence of this civilisation.”

He wasn’t alone in his thinking: General Motors, Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan and several start-ups were at the time also endeavouring to bring EVs out of sci-fi and onto our roads.

“It’s got to be a real car, not one of these toy electric things they have now,” continued Hayek. “That’s why we’re putting electrical engineers in charge of the project instead of automotive engineers.”

We first spied the Swatchmobile testing as 1993 dawned – by which point its launch had already been delayed by two years to 1997. Battery technology hadn’t advanced as much as expected, making a short range and a high price inevitable.

But “Hayek’s goal was to sell the chic Swatch car so cheaply that it becomes both classless and trendy”, forcing a change to a hybrid system featuring a 250cc four-stroke petrol engine and a lead-acid battery.

Hayek planned to “offer an extended range of bright body colours and bodystyles using plastic body panels; a revolutionary system of removable paint films will permit owners to change the colour of the Swatch to suit their mood”.

Although Volkswagen was backing the project, the car had largely been developed by Swatch in Biel, with help from the local engineering college. Still, this was a tough time for the car maker, as losses mounted and production plummeted.

And so when Ferdinand Piëch became big boss, he slashed investment and fully prioritised Wolfsburg’s own hybrid city car, the ill-fated Chico.

“Our own car seemed a much better proposition,” Piëch later recalled. “For me, [the Swatch] was an elephant’s roller skate – not even a practical bubble car.”

It seemed Hayek’s fantasy was in tatters – until a saviour emerged in the form of Mercedes-Benz, whose management had been shaken into changing its conservative culture.

Mercedes designers were already working on a similar idea, and in early 1994 this was presented in the form of twin electric concept cars, coinciding with the announcement of a Mercedes-Swatch joint venture named Micro Compact Car (MCC).

A year on, we saw an all-new car testing. Engineered in Renningen by a small team of 166 – average age 34 – it used two-cylinder petrol and diesel engines and was built to the ‘sandwich principle’ of the new A-Class to ensure crash safety. Diesel hybrid and hub-motored electric versions were planned for later.

Then in May 1995 came a new name: Smart. S for Swatch, M for Mercedes and ART for art’s sake. Furthermore, a ‘revolutionary’ factory with Smart’s 30 suppliers on site would be built in Hambach, France, for £305m (£533m today).

Hayek’s fantasy – or Mercedes’ equivalent of it – finally manifested in May 1997. “The future of mobility will be the Smart,” MCC chairman Jürgen Hubbert predicted. Maybe this time he will be proven right.

Fiat Grande Panda

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 08:06:19 +0100

Mild-hybrid petrol version of quasi-rugged retro throwback promises 109bhp and 56mpg The Fiat Grande Panda, the Italian sibling to the Citroën C3 and Vauxhall Frontera, was nearly voted Car of the Year for 2026. It came fifth, behind the Mercedes-Benz CLA and the Skoda Elroq. But it seems that much of Europe had already made up its mind, because it was reportedly so popular in left-hand-drive markets that the UK had to wait over a year before right-hookers reached our shores.They have now finally landed, though, so we've now had a chance to sample both the hybrid and electric versions on home soil.

Smart Fortwo returns as premium city car EV with 186-mile range

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0100

Smart returns to its city car roots with tiny new #2, due next year as UK's smallest electric car

Smart is going back to its roots as a city car brand with a fourth generation of the tiny Fortwo - due in UK dealerships next year as the smallest electric car on the market.

Revealed today in concept form ahead of a debut at the Beijing motor show, the new car – called #2 in line with Smart's current naming strategy – is designed to offer what the brand calls "uncompromised urban capability".

The two-seater is based on a bespoke 'Electric Compact Architecture' developed by Geely, which co-owns the Smart brand with its original founder Mercedes-Benz, which took the lead on the design.

Full technical details remain under wraps until the production car is revealed at the Paris motor show in October, but Smart has confirmed it will offer a range of nearly 186 miles and be capable of charging its battery from 10-80% capacity in less than 20 minutes.

The Concept #2 also features vehicle-to-load 'reverse-charging' capability, which is expected to be rolled out to the final car - unusual for such a small EV.

Although clearly influenced by Smart's newer SUVs, the #2 retains the "wheels-at-the-corners" and ultra-compact footprint that defined its forebears - helping to give a turning circle of just 6.95m.

At just 2792mm long, the concept is only around 100mm longer than the previous Fortwo, so it will reclaim its position as the shortest electric car on sale, undercutting the Fiat 500e by almost a metre. Anything smaller, like the Citroën Ami or Micro Microlino, officially fits into the quadricycle category.

Smart said the new #2 will move its entry-level model upmarket while "brilliantly maximising interior space" within its compact dimensions - a product of moving onto a bespoke EV architecture, as the old electric Fortwo was based on an ICE car platform.

The Concept #2 "elevates the city car beyond mere utility" according to Smart - and while it hasn't yet revealed the cabin, it promises to be much plusher and more luxuriously appointed than the sparsely furnished original.

It will still be minimalist, in keeping with an exterior design that's been "reduced to its essence", but liberal use of leather, translucent surfacing and two-tone gold paintwork will help to cultivate more of a premium aesthetic.

Kai Sieber, head of Smart design at Mercedes-Benz, said the new concept demonstrates the company's vision that "a city car should do more than solve challenges: it should spark joy".

He continued: "Carrying the heritage of the Fortwo's iconic design, the Concept #2 translates our bold personality into a new era where function becomes fashion. It is not only about clever practicality but serves as a true extension of personal identity."

Smart has given no indication of pricing ahead of next year's scheduled launch, but the more luxurious cockpit and vastly superior technical attributes mean the #2 could command a premium over its short-legged predecessor, which cost around £22,000 when it was discontinued in 2024.

There's no word yet on whether Smart plans to stretch the #2 and add a back seat to create a successor to the Forfour, but such a model would give the brand a footprint in the increasingly competitive electric supermini market, where it could take on the likes of the Renault 5, Citroën C3 and upcoming new DS 3.

The NEW Audi A2, the Morris Marina, innate optimism

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Prior and Cropley discuss the new Audi A2, Morris Marina and more

In this week's episode of the Autocar podcast, My Week In Cars, Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talk about the new Audi A2, innate optimism, driving for fun, and the Morris Marina with a six-cylinder engine.

There's more too, including your letters, and details of a special offer which gives you SIX issues of Autocar for just £6 if you click here.

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts or via your preferred podcast platform.

Chinese brand Aion will bring PHEV SUV to UK in 2027

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Plug-in hybrid will be a modified version of parent firm GAC's Trumpchi S7, tweaked to suit UK roads

Chinese newcomer Aion will add a plug-in hybrid SUV to its UK line-up next year.

The brand is weeks away from the UK launch of its first model, the V electric SUV, and will follow that with the UT electric hatchback in the coming months.

It will then branch out into combustion-engined cars by the end of next year with parent firm GAC’s Trumpchi S7 PHEV.

The S7 is currently in the UK for testing to inform any modifications required to suit our roads.

The V was fitted with firmer springs and dampers after testing on B-roads, and the update has since been rolled out across all of Europe.

Aion will also ditch the Trumpchi branding and S7 name to ensure the PHEV fits into its UK line-up.

In China, the S7 uses a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine and a choice of one or two electric motors, driving either the front wheels or all four.

Power outputs range from 386bhp to 493bhp and it can travel between 71 and 127 miles on electricity alone, according to China’s CLTC test and depending on trim.

The S7 will be followed by a further four Aion models by 2030.

Aion Auto UK product director Owen Lloyd told Autocar that the brand was being selective in what models it would bring to the UK, dictating to its Chinese parent company what is appropriate for this market, rather than the other way around.

"It's not like 'there's a smorgasbord of cars, go and [sell them]'," said Lloyd. "That's great, but I wouldn't accept that.

"We'll take this as a starting point and either we'll tweak it for the current-generation car if we think that's within its bandwidth or we will not launch it if we feel we can get the changes and hold back for the next generation."

Aion isn't aiming to conquer a significant share of the UK market right out of the gates. It will have only 25 dealers nationally by the end of this year, preferring to take on top performers rather than placing itself in as many towns as possible.

Managing director Jon Wakefield said it was important to build "trust and confidence" before going on the offensive against rival European and Asian brands.

"You can't just tell people to trust me: it will come down to people's experience of driving and owning the product, and we've got to live up to it," he explained.

Aion V

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:01:00 +0100

New GAC-owned Chinese brand arrives in the UK, going big on value with a £36k electric family SUV I know what you're thinking: oh goody, yet another Chinese brand arriving in the UK.Surprise, surprise, it's got a strange name – Aion – and its first fruit here is a family-sized electric crossover.But, so the folks behind the brand's UK arm claim, this isn't the kind of venture we've come to expect from China's entrants to the UK and European markets.Rather than simply being an importer, Aion UK is a partnership between car-making giant GAC, which builds cars in China for Toyota and Honda, and Jameel Motors, an international distributor.It doesn't want huge sales right out of the gate – there will only be 25 or so Aion dealers across the UK by the year's end – and it won't be flooding the market with a huge variety of models.For now, the V is the only car you will be able to get from an Aion dealer. It will soon be joined by the UT, an electric hatchback pitched as a rival to the Volkswagen ID 3, but that's your lot until next year.

Alpine A390

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Can France’s Formula 1-grade sports car brand successfully turn its hand to a sporty electric crossover? The Alpine A390 is the car to put the ‘big’ into its maker’s latest strategy for big-time commercial success. It’s the second new-model installment in Alpine's plan to have a ‘dream garage’ of four all-electric performance cars on sale by 2030. And it might well have more sales potential than any of them, because, of all of its sibling models extant and forthcoming, this is ‘the practical one’.More specifically, this is a five-seat, four-door, high-rise C-segment hatchback with a roomy boot and a four-wheel-drive powertrain as standard. It’s precisely the kind of car that other brands might call a crossover or SUV, although Alpine prefers not to - which is revealing enough itself about the positioning that the company is aiming for here.Like the A290 hot hatchback before it, the A390 uses a shared Renault Group platform - but it builds in plenty of special hardware all of its own. Enough, in fact, to make it the first tri-motor performance EV in its class, as well as the first four-wheel-drive car in Alpine’s history.So what might fully asymmetrical torque vectoring, new dimensions in electric performance and new levels of space and everyday usability be about to do for the Alpine brand?

Fiat Grande Panda Electric

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Supermini-sized ‘utility’ EV offers retro cheeriness at a very low price The Panda is back from the brink of extinction. Well, sort of. Fiat’s sensible city car le the UK market in 2024 but now it has now returned – only it’s bigger than before, with its sights set on the slightly better-paying supermini class. We came away from the international launch of the Grande Panda so impressed that we handed it the Best Small Car gong at the 2025 Autocar Awards, and now we’ve had the chance to test its mettle in right-hand-drive form.The test car in quesiton is electric, but there's also a petrol-engined hybrid version of the Grande Panda, which we've reviewed separately here.Fiat chose to launch a ’utility vehicle’ (think a Dacia Sandero Stepway to a standard Dacia Sandero) rather than a supermini in the space once filled by the Punto because it offers more global appeal. Perhaps surprisingly, the Italian brand is Stellantis’s biggest globally, and the Grande Panda will appeal to and can be built in the markets in which it has a large presence (Brazil, Turkey and Algeria, for example) and with different powertrains.But this isn't one of those 'global cars' that's built to appeal to everyone but ends up appealing to nobody, with all the joy sucked out of it. Instead, the Grande Panda has a habit of making you smile outside and in.

The best hypercars – rated and ranked

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:51:18 +0100

Only the fastest, most expensive and ludicrous-looking cars need apply. Find out which we rate the highest

Hypercars have long been the definitive breed of driving expression and excess, a genre of exotic cars in which engineers are let loose in order to create the ultimate driving machine.

Often limited in number and delivering physics-defying levels of agility and performance, hypercars are all about pushing the limits of what’s possible – and they typically have a list price that reflects the painstaking man hours that go into their development.

In 2026, the hypercar landscape is more varied than ever, ranging from high-revving V12 monsters like the GMA T50 to silent EVs that deliver whip-crack acceleration and mind-boggling 0-60mph times, such as the Lotus Evija.

There are even powerful plug-in hybrid derivatives combining both electric and petrol power in order to maximise performance, without the range constraints of an EV.

But which of the latest hypercars do we like the most? Here are our top 10 performance paragons, each pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for performance cars.

Our list is limited to cars that have been driven by our team of road testers.

Bovensiepen Zagato: Alpina founders' new luxo-coupe costs £322k

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:13:08 +0100

Ferrari Purosangue money for new boutique brand's 603bhp, BMW M4-based luxury cruiser

The Bovensiepen family have confirmed that their first car since selling their Alpina marque to BMW will cost well over £300,000 - testament to their new company's aspirations to rival Bentley and Aston Martin.

The Bovensiepen Zagato, revealed last year at Italy's prestigious Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza, is a heavily reworked BMW M4 that promises to stay true to the traditional Alpina formula in combining staggering performance with GT levels of refinement.

Named for the Italian design house that shaped it, the Zagato will be limited to just 99 units. Prices in Bovensiepen's German home market start from €369,495 - equivalent to nearly £322,000, or roughly as much as the Ferrari Purosangue.

That makes the straight-six luxo-coupé significantly more expensive than similarly conceived but bigger engined mile-munchers like the Bentley Continental GT, Aston Martin Vanquish and Ferrari Amalfi.

It also makes the Bovensiepen brand's debut model far more costly than anything it produced in its previous guise as Alpina - including even the ultra-rare, BMW Z8-based V8 Roadster.

The high price reflects both the exclusivity and the highly bespoke nature of the car, with its maker claiming that more than 250 hours goes into handcrafting its bespoke elements – predominantly made from carbonfibre – at its historic Buchloe headquarters near Munich.

With "thousands of test kilometres" under its belt, the Zagato is on track to be delivered to its first customer in autumn - and no two examples will be the same, with huge scope for personalisation offered through the newly launched configurator.

Bovensiepen said: "Every customer request is implemented down to the smallest detail in our workshop – from the optional Lavalina full leather interior, which is crafted with over 130 hours of dedicated handwork, to stylish exterior accents in clear-coated carbonfibre or brake callipers in your choice of colour with milled 'Bovensiepen' lettering."

As Bovensiepen puts the final touches to its debut model, BMW is gearing up to unveil the first new Alpina models of the modern era, having taken full ownership of the brand at the beginning of this year.

BMW will pitch Alpina between its M performance division and Rolls-Royce, applying the badge to high-powered and ultra-luxurious derivatives of BMW models - including the 7 Series limo and X7 SUV, which will provide the basis for the brand's first cars, to be revealed on 15 May.

As Alpina is reinvented under a new owner, its founding family is shifting its focus to become "a manufacturer of outstanding automobiles that embody the ambition of fine driving".

The first project from its eponymous new outfit is extensively differentiated from the BMW on which it's based by a totally bespoke treatment at the front and rear, a reshaped bonnet, a revised side profile and Zagato's trademark double-bubble roof.

The Zagato features a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre straight-six engine that produces 603bhp and 516lb ft for a 0-62mph time of just 3.3sec and a top speed in excess of 186mph, Bovensiepen claims.

It has bespoke Bilstein dampers that can be configured in three driving modes (Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus), which is said to offer "a range from pronounced comfort to athletic driving dynamics".

It also gains a lightweight, twin-exit titanium exhaust system from Akrapovič, which is said to be 40% lighter than the standard system.

British firm transforms 19-year-old V8 for Toyota's Supercars entry

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Swindon Powertrain has completely re-engineered a Lexus block to conquer Australia's fiercest racing series

A new mega-V8 is tearing up Australia's Repco Supercars Championship, with the engine developed in the UK by Swindon Powertrain.

Swindon was appointed by Toyota's homologation partner, Walkinshaw TWG Racing, fielding two Gen3 Toyota GR Supras on behalf of Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia.

The 4969cc base unit is a substantially re-engineered Toyota 2UR-GSE V8, which first appeared in 2007 and has been used mainly in Lexus models.

The series' rules allow displacements of 5.0 and 5.7 litres, so Swindon Powertrain opted to increase the stroke from 89.5mm to 94mm by making a new crankshaft so the stroke matched the bore, to achieve the classic 'square' configuration. This meant the team met the rules without modifying the robust 2UR-GSE block.

The induction system has been changed, too. Direct injection isn't allowed in this series, so a conversion to port injection was necessary. The injector bores in the cylinder head were 'deleted', and now a new Swindon-designed and Walkinshaw TWG-manufactured inlet system accepts port injectors and the 'control' throttle body shared by all competitors.

The switch from direct to port injection means combustion characteristics change, so the combustion chambers were reworked to reflect that. Other mods to the V8's heads were kept to a minimum, aided by the fact that the standard port geometry suited high-performance applications.

The new induction manifold ensures perfect distribution of intake air across all cylinders, and acoustic characteristics match the engine's torque curve. The 3D-printed inlet tract is a technology proven on Swindon's BTCC-winning engines - it's made entirely of plastic 3D-printed and machined components.

Swindon designed new camshaft profiles using in-house valvetrain simulation software: they are in effect race cams designed to work within the limitations of the Toyota production valve rockers.

The 2UR-GSE production engine has hydraulic variable valve timing (VVT) for the exhaust cams and an electric VVT system for the inlets. All competitors must use a sealed 'control' engine ECU with supplied software; these don't support electronic VVT, so Swindon designed a new hydraulic system echoing that of the exhaust valvetrain. The work included new cam caps, cam covers and oilways.

Despite the modifications and new parts, most of the production engine's key components are retained, reflecting not only the regulations but also cost considerations. Swindon designs the new components, but the V8s are built and maintained at Walkinshaw TWG Racing's base near Melbourne.

Fiat to bring tiny, three-wheeled Tris truck to UK next year

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:29:09 +0100

Fiat Tris micro-truck has handlebar steering, a range of 56 miles and a payload of more than half a tonne

Fiat will bring its funky new three-wheeled micro-truck to the UK next year as an ultra-compact last-mile delivery vehicle.

Revealed last year, the Tris is a tiny electric pick-up that channels the spirit of the iconic Piaggio Ape in its single front wheel, handlebar steering and tiny proportions.

Equipped with a single seat and handlebar steering, the Tris is designed for use in busy city environments. It also has open sides for quick entry and exit - but Bradley Miller, head of product for Stellantis UK, told Autocar that it will get doors when it comes here in the middle of next year to meet UK safety requirements.

It can be ordered in either chassis-cab, flatbed or truck-bed form, the last of those having a load area of up to 2.25m2 – equivalent to two standard pallets.

The Tris has a range of 56 miles from its 6.9kWh battery - slightly more than the similarly sized Fiat Topolino microcar (a derivative of the Citroën Ami).

A 12bhp motor can take the Tris to a top speed of 28mph - which would be sufficient in the confines of most UK cities, where the speed limit tends to be 20mph or 30mph.

Measuring more than half a metre shorter than the Fiat 500, at 3.17m, the Tris has a turning circle of 6.1m and a maximum payload of 540kg.

It's built in Morocco and was initially destined just for markets in the Middle East and Asia, but now Fiat has brought it to the UK Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham as part of a programme to identify potential customers.

Kris Cholmondley, who runs the Fiat Professional CV division in the UK, said: "Tris is a smart, forward‑thinking answer to the growing demand for efficient last‑mile delivery.

"It combines practicality, sustainability and versatility in a format designed entirely around urban environments.

"We’re thrilled to showcase it in the UK for the first time at the Commercial Vehicle Show.”

Used Hyundai i30 N (2017-2024)

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:31:48 +0100

Hyundai’s N performance brand opens for business and aims for hot hatch fame, starting with the i30 You’ve got to hand it to them: with the Hyundai i30 N's arrival, Hyundai is for the first time heading into a hot hatch segment that's currently simmering to a competitive frenzy the likes of which we’ve rarely before witnessed.Volkswagen’s Golf GTI is the most finessed and compelling it has ever been; Seat has the financial proposition nailed with its now enormously powerful iterations of the Seat Leon Cupra; we’ve just witnessed the introduction of the best Honda Civic Type R in decades; and with the upcoming Mégane, Renault Sport is aiming to follow on from arguably the most finely honed performance car in its illustrious history. And those are merely the front-driven cars.So why now, Hyundai? Hot hatches, after all, are not volume sellers integral to the bottom line of a car company, and there’s an element of reputational risk involved should the Hyundai i30 fall dramatically short of what rivals can offer.The first thing to note here is that the company is very wealthy and keen to build up its reputation. It has also lured top talent from European marques, most notably Peter Schreyer(formerly senior design boss at the VW Group) and Albert Biermann (erstwhile engineering head of BMW M), and if you can build a good-looking car that drives enjoyably, well, you’re most of the way there.

Used BMW 2 Series 2014-2021 review

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:30:29 +0100

The BMW 2 Series Coupé marks a successful return of the 1 Series Coupé. Overall it is a more compelling package than before but can it drive buyers away from the Audi TT and conventional hatchbacks? There’s a graph BMW uses. It has body styles along one axis and car size along the other, thus allowing you to see what kinds of cars it makes and how big or expensive they are.Twenty years ago it would have been a pretty straightforward noughts and crosses-size affair. But these days it looks like a giant Connect 4 board. Coupé SUV a bit bigger than a mid-size executive SUV? But of course.And now this 2 Series Coupé. Not to be confused with the new front-wheel-drive 2 Series Active Tourer and Gran Tourer, the 2 Series coupé is to the 1 Series what the 4 Series Coupé is to the 3 Series. Geddit? It’s a rear-drive, two-door, three-box variant of the 1 Series that, while effectively a replacement for the old 1 Series coupé, is said to offer more space and style than the old car did.And thus far, we’ve been mightily impressed, including by the two descendants of the 1 Series M Coupé - in the form of the BMW M240i and M2 that sits atop the range. You could argue that the 2 Series Coupé’s history is quite short, extending as the direct lineage does only as far back as its 1 Series coupé predecessor.But BMW has a long history of three-box coupés with the presence of a number 2 in the name, starting with the 1600-2 of 1966 and followed up by the splendid 2002 in 1968, whose turbocharged version BMW would doubtless cite as an inspiration for the new M240i.Trim levels for the 2 Series comprise of SE, Sport, M Sport and M Sport Plus, and engine options consist of a range of petrol and diesel units. BMW offers the 218i 1.5-litre three-cylinder, 220i and 228i 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrols, and the hot straight-six M240i petrol, while the diesel range is punctuated by the 2.0-litre four-cylinder 218d, 220d and 225d. Topping the range is the smallest official M car made by BMW in the shape of the 365bhp M2, which uses a more powerful tune of the unit under the M240i's bonnet.So is the new BMW 2 Series set to repeat the success of its predecessors? Our comprehensive road test will reveal all.

Farizon V7E is stripped-back, urban-focused van for under £30k

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:30:00 +0100

Geely-owned van maker says its second UK model is “a real opportunity” to expand presence in the market

Chinese van maker Farizon has expanded its UK line-up with the electric V7E, having arrived here in early 2025 with the larger SV.

The V7E will go up again the new Ford Transit City as a stripped-back, narrow, urban-friendly van priced from £29,000 (excluding VAT). Sales will begin this month.

The front-wheel-drive V7E is offered with either a 50kWh or 67kWh battery, delivering up to 204 miles of WLTP combined range. It can take a payload of up to 1338kg.

Positioned as a more value-focused proposition than the SV, the V7E looks set to play an important role for Farizon in the retail market as it tries to attract owner-drivers.

Calum James, general manager for Farizon at the brand's distributor, Jameel Motors UK, told Autocar: “We think this is going to be for people who are making that transition from petrol or diesel vehicles for the first time.

"There is definitely some crossover [between the SV and V7E] but there are some key differences. If they want two seats and they want the payload, it would definitely appeal to an SME [small to medium-size enterprise] or a man in a van.”

James called the new van “a real opportunity”, explaining: “It actually kind of bridges the gap between both worlds, with its range, battery choice and the capability you could get from an L1H1 SV van.

"The two-seat layout may narrow its appeal for some users, but it creates clearer separation from the three-seat SV."

James believes that over time following the introduction of the V7E, the main size for the SV will become L2H2 and L3H3, with fewer L1H1 variants being sold.

James also confirmed that the SV chassis will be the primary focus for conversions, although a chassis option for the V7E hasn't entirely been ruled out.

“It is available as a chassis in some markets, like Australia," he said. "It’s something we’ve got no immediate short-term plans to bring it to Europe.

"Of course, we are looking at it and it’s not off the cards, but we’re focused on the larger chassis for now which, provisionally, will arrive in Q1 next year.”

George Barrow is the editor of vanreviewer.co.uk and the UK jury member for the International Van of the Year award

Used Skoda Superb 2015-2024 review

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:28:56 +0100

Skoda plots to grab a bigger slice of the pie with its likeable and hugely practical Superb range Of all the Volkswagen Group oddballs nurtured under the Skoda badge, the Skoda Superb surely ranks as one of the most intriguing.Originally a product of VW’s mania for economies of scale (the manufacturer having already produced a lengthened version of the Volkswagen Passat for China), Skoda’s modern flagship saloon landed in 2001, offering vast rear leg room for not a lot of money. Despite being a resolutely old-fashioned four-door (the engines went in longways and plans for an estate were dropped), it struck a chord.The second-generation Skoda Superb, launched in 2008, went much further. Along with a capacious wagon, the regular model received what Skoda dubbed the ‘Twindoor’, a tailgate that could be opened as either a saloon-style boot or a full hatchback, making it as prodigious a handler of luggage as it was knees and feet. Accolades followed, bolstered by the decision to add an extensive list of optional extras to the Superb’s already generous kit list in higher trim levels.Skoda has cemented this approach with the most recent version, which was introduced in 2015. Where previously it was recognisable as a flagship for its incontrovertible size, the latest, sharper-suited Superb is intended now fills out the role on style, too, its angular and elegant looks given a subtle refresh in 2019 in an effort to draw a closer family connection to the brand’s big-selling Kodiaq and Karoq SUVsFor our test it’s the cavernous estate version that looms large in our crosshairs, offering a maximum boot volume of almost 2000 litres, which makes the wagon variants of everything from a BMW 5 Series to the soon-to-die Ford Mondeo look meagre. The hatchback starts at just over £25k, with the estate incurring a £1280 premium, a price that’s increasingly attractive in an ever dwindling pool of large family cars from mainstream brands.Our test car is a 148bhp 2.0 TDI in SE spec, the entry point of a four-strong range and fitted with the oilburner that is likely to prove the most popular choice in both hatch and estate forms despite the recent dip in diesel sales.

Why the riotous Hyundai i30 N is a £14,000 future classic

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

It's a great-value hot hatch whose thrills outweigh its flaws. Here's how to buy one

When the i30 N dropped in 2017 it made quite the splash.

Hyundai's new hot hatch received rave reviews, gave the Golf GTI and Focus ST stalwarts a run for their money and went on to make up as many as one in five i30 sales overall.

Now, one of the best hot hatches of the era costs from just £14,000, although the best still go for more than £30,000 near what they were when new, such is their desirability.

But first let's caveat the rave reviews, because not everything about the i30 N quite matched its long-established rivals. Our testers noted its crashy ride, which, when combined with a boosty engine and inconsistent weighting to the steering, made the handling less predictable than is ideal.

That meant we couldn't rank it above the pricier but mechanically glorious Honda Civic Type R or the less exciting but more rounded Volkswagen Golf GTI. In all other regards, we thought the Hyundai was at the top of its game and offered fantastic value for money.

The extensive styling differences from the standard i30 are testament to its performance potential: the front and rear bumpers are more aggressive and decorated with red pinstriping; there's a neat rear spoiler; and the active exhaust exits through a pair of fat tailpipes. It also sits 8mm lower on its racy alloys.

The 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine was pumped up to 271bhp (putting it midway between the Golf GTI and Golf R), and it drove via a six-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential in the most readily available Performance trim. There was a 248bhp entry version, which went without the diff and swapped the 19in wheels for 18s, but it was quickly dropped due to poor sales.

We recorded a very respectable 6.4sec 0-62mph time in a Performance model, but Hyundai reckons the 2021 facelift (which gained 5bhp) could go a second quicker when fitted with the optional new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

Once on the boil it feels faster than that, though, with a swell of turbocharged torque from around 2000rpm which provokes a degree of torque steer, especially in the wet or on uneven roads. It can be destabilising, but some will find this characteristic charming and reminiscent of the 1980s' hot hatch greats. Short-shifting the excellent manual 'box is to be savoured, too.

The occasionally unruly front axle and aggressive geometry exposed another chink in the i30 N's armour: its electrically assisted steering, which doesn't have the feedback of something like the Civic Type R would. Push to the limit of grip and you will find it remains composed, but it was clearly honed on a race track ('N' is for Nürburgring), because the ride is all but atrocious when in the sportiest mode. Leave the adaptive suspension in Comfort and it does an acceptable job of flattening out bad roads, but it's still a fussy thing.

The cabin isn't a particular strong suit, either, being heavy on the black plastic. It's well put together, though, plus there is plenty of standard equipment and the seats are very supportive. Ultimately, the i30 N is a 'heart over head' sort of car. A contemporary Golf GTI is more polished, more predictable and more comfortable but equally less fun. It's also a bit too obvious, isn't it? The more esoteric i30 N has some 'if you know, you know' cachet that gives it a dose of cult appeal and lines it up for future classic status.

What to look out for:

Exhaust: Post-2019 cars got a gasoline particulate filter, which toned the noise down. Some owners have removed it or replaced the whole exhaust system, but you might be happier with the quieter soundtrack. Owners have also reported rattling from the valves in the exhaust system. Some Hyundai dealers solved this by overriding the active exhaust and closing the valves. But better to replace the spring in the mechanism, which is the likely culprit.

Clutch: A little judder at low speed, especially in reverse, is normal in the dual-clutch auto while it warms up. Go easy on it to get the most life from the gearbox.

Fuel pump: Stuttering, misfiring or a lack of power could signal that the fuel pump needs to be replaced. Mostly affects 2018 cars; some users report that the problem was actually caused by their battery terminals being loose.

Oil pump: It's rare, but failing pumps have left traces of metal in the oil. With a prompt flush, long-term damage can be avoided. Change the oil again after a few hundred miles to be sure it's all out.

Fit and finish: Light rattling from the headlining around the centre light cluster annoys some owners, although it can be fixed by wrapping sound deadening around the wires. Similarly, a creaking windscreen can be solved with added deadening at certain points - the N Cars forum has a guide.

Also worth knowing

The rarer i30 N Fastback is a little softer and sleeker but a bit heavier. Ultimately you won't notice much of a difference, so go for it if you want a 50-litre bigger boot and like the look.

A facelift in 2021 brought the optional dual-clutch gearbox, a small power hike, more pliant suspension, some sharp new LED headlights and tail-lights and a bigger infotainment screen with more cabin tech. All in, it's worth stretching your budget if you can.

Insurance groups range from 27 to 29, with every i30 N costing £200 annually in VED.

How much to spend

£14,000-£17,999 Mostly early high-mileage cars, some of which have been written off or modified.

£18,000-£23,999 Pre-facelifts with good history, around 50,000 miles and a choice of hatchbacks and fastbacks.

£24,000-£34,000 Facelifts and the very last 24-plate cars. Dual-clutchers and manual cars are closely split and worth similar amounts.

An owner's view

Judey Denyer "My husband and I have really enjoyed our i30 N. It drives very well, has loads of equipment as standard - heated seats and steering wheel - and is comfortable on long journeys thanks to great seats. The only negative we have is that it's quite thirsty for a 2.0-litre, getting 35mpg. Other than that, though, it has been faultless. We were thinking of changing it next year for something new, out of habit more than anything, but we can't see anything to replace it with."

Surf's up: Six months in BYD’s £18k Citroen C3 rival

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

From impressive real-world range to built-in karaoke - here is everything we learned

Since the brand arrived in the UK in 2023 with the Atto 3, BYD has enjoyed exponential growth. It sold more cars here in the first quarter of 2025 than in the whole of last year.

In September it sold 11,271 cars in the UK, which was more than Renault and essentially matching Peugeot and Skoda - and made this the company's largest market outside China.

BYD has named many of its cars after marine life, including the Seal saloon and the Seal 6 estate, plus the Seal U and Sealion 7 SUVs. It is in fact an impressively varied line-up, and BYD is banking on the success of the latest addition to our fleet: the electric Dolphin Surf supermini.

Already one of the brand's biggest sellers in China, the Dolphin Surf is also among the country's most popular EVs, although elsewhere in the world it's known as the Seagull (the name was changed because us Brits aren't the biggest fans of those chip-stealing rats with wings).

Naming aside, that popularity is largely down to some attractive pricing. Even though the Dolphin Surf doesn't qualify for the UK government's Electric Car Grant, it's still one of the country's cheapest EVs.

Prices start at an enticing £18,650, which gets you a claimed 137 miles of range from a small, 30kWh battery and 87bhp from a front-mounted electric motor. Our car, in mid-range Boost trim, is priced from £21,950 and comes with a 43.2kWh battery that's good for a more useful 200-mile range, and it's mated to a 154bhp motor, so there's some more firepower too.

BYD says it will hit 62mph from rest in 9.1sec, which feels like a sweet spot for small electric cars. That certainly makes it nippy in town and capable enough for motorway use. Our car can charge at speeds of up to 85kW, which is some way behind many of its key rivals.

Inside, the Dolphin Surf has all the hallmarks of the BYD model range. One of those is the cabin's unbelievably strong smell of plastic, but once you've become accustomed to it, you begin to appreciate a bright, airy and roomy interior. There's a lot of head room in both rows despite the supermini billing and, significantly, it beats the boxier Citroën ë-C3 for leg room.

Electric seats are standard, so there's lots of scope for adjustment, and the Dolphin Surf generally makes good use of its narrow, tall silhouette - although boot space is limited, at a modest 308 litres.

Perceived quality is good for the Dolphin Surf's price point, too, with some soft materials and solid-feeling plastics, thankfully not of the glossy, fingerprint-stained kind you see in many cars. There's a handy small digital driver's display ahead of the steering wheel and some smart-looking buttons and switches to control the vital functions.

The cabin doesn't scream cheap by any means, and in fact it puts some rivals to shame in terms of how it looks and feels inside. Then there's the infotainment system, which is feature-packed if not a little gimmick-heavy.

Not only can the 10.1in display rotate between landscape and portrait orientations, but it also has integrated Spotify and YouTube, plus a karaoke mode, if you're so inclined. Out on the road, early impressions are good. While there's little to excite the driver in any particular area, the Dolphin Surf seems well rounded in most departments.

The car is comfortable in town and on country roads, and it actually can be quite fun on the right road in the right circumstances, although it's already clear that it's no match for the Renault 5 for overall enjoyment.

With my previous long-termer, the Citroën ë-C3, I complained about its poor economy and range; so far, the Dolphin Surf is far more impressive in those areas. There's a handy readout on the digital display that indicates your efficiency over the past 50 miles - and it is currently displaying 5.2mpkWh. That's really rather good, considering I've been dividing my time between city and motorway driving.

At this rate, I'd beat the claimed range by more than 10%. If you stick to town driving, BYD says it's possible to exceed 300 miles, which is more than 7.0mpkWh. All rosy then? Well, almost.

Putting somewhat of a dampener on proceedings are the ADAS features, which are overbearing to the point of frustration. Some, including the lane keeping assistance, work well, but the intelligent cruise control overcorrecting its lane adjustments on the motorway.

Thankfully, it's a feature you don't use all the time- unlike the driver monitoring system. Look away for a split second too long and it's on your case, telling you to keep your eyes on the road. Yawn at your peril-loud beeping duly follows, accompanied by a message alert telling you to take an immediate break.

It's really quite stressful at times, and you have to turn it off every time you start the car. Frustrating driver assistance systems aside, the BYD is so far proving to be well equipped and pretty good to drive. But then the same goes for the competition-the Hyundai Inster, Fiat Grande Panda and Dacia Spring among them.

Let's see over the coming months if the Dolphin Surf can make some waves in what is fast becoming a flippin' compelling segment (sorry).

Who's up for some Karaoke?

I’d been wanting to test the Dolphin Surf’s rapid-charging capabilities since it first arrived and a longer trip outside of London provided the ideal opportunity recently.

I opted for Cobham services as the designated stop for my return journey from deepest Kent. Its huge charging bay features 27 chargers - and 24 of them are 350kW rapid chargers from Ionity. They are usually reliable but can be a bit more of a faff to use than units from the likes of Gridserve and MFG.

According to BYD, the Dolphin Surf has a maximum charging speed of 85kW, which is sufficient to replenish our car’s 43.2kWh battery from 10% to 80% in 30 minutes. Surprisingly, this small EV reached 87kW early on.

But my initial excitement was soon tempered because the rate dropped dramatically to 46kW after about five minutes and sat in this range for the remainder of the charge. Result: I found myself with more time on my hands than I’d bargained for.

Thankfully, though, the Dolphin Surf’s feature-filled touchscreen meant I wasn’t bored. As well as exploring the car’s many adjustable settings (more on those in a minute), it allowed me to download some entertainment applications from the BYD Store.

There are the usual streaming apps, such as Amazon Music and YouTube, as well as more unwanted inclusions, like Zoom video calling. However, one feature stood out to me above all others: karaoke. A swift download using the car’s built-in 5G connection meant I’d soon be headlining my very own Cobham car park concert.

Luckily for the drivers parked nearby, I opted against singing out loud and for a silent disco instead, but had I bought BYD’s official set of USB microphones from its accessory store (yours for £213), they might not have been so fortunate. There’s also a selection of games, including one called Eat More (above) that shares marked design similarities with Pac-Man.

Some might lament the sheer volume of things controlled through the screen, but I think BYD’s software is reasonably well laid out and most features are logically placed. There’s an impressive number of toggle-able settings too. It certainly has far more customisation options than you’ll find in rivals from Stellantis and Renault. Among them are the ADAS settings, pre-conditioning, energy consumption data and audio equalisation.

The layout works well when combined with the small selection of dials and switches just below the touchscreen. In addition to being easy to access, they’re also quite tactile and they make switching the air conditioning on or off, adjusting the volume or swapping drive modes a simple job.

I used my new-found knowledge of the car’s touchscreen to adjust an option I’d been struggling with for some time: the headlights. Since day one, the BYD’s headlights had been angled far too high so that they dazzled oncoming traffic, resulting in several drivers getting annoyed and trying to blind me back.

I’d read on some online forums that other BYD drivers have experienced the same issue from the point of delivery and a dive into the settings showed the angle of my car’s lights was set to level five (the highest setting available). A quick change to level two seems to have solved the issue and I’m now no longer reprimanded by fellow road users after dark.

I’ve also opted to activate the automatic start-up feature, which effectively switches on the car hands-free when you take your seat. It made a nice change from the Citroën ë-C3 I lived with previously, which, despite its comparable price, was still operated by that archaic method of inserting and turning a key.

Despite a few early quirks, life with the Dolphin Surf has so far been simple and enjoyable. That said, with several longer journeys on the horizon, I’m curious to see if its modest charging speeds and limited range will test my patience.

Cold snap spoils the party

As winter wraps its chilly hands around the UK, the fall in temperatures is bad news for electric cars like the BYD Dolphin Surf, which use lithium ion batteries that are prone to a drop in efficiency during these colder months.

Tests by both Autocar and sibling publication What Car? have found that an EV's range can fall by as much as 20% in colder weather but, so far, the Dolphin Surf has remained impressively resilient. I'm doing my best to mitigate the loss of range, including stubbornly refusing to switch on the climate control, no matter how low the mercury drops, and shifting into Eco mode on shorter journeys.

An unwanted side effect of this is that the windscreen rapidly steams up... Even in the coldest weather, I can't recall ever seeing less than 4.0mpkWh, which translates to a real-world range of 172 miles from the 43.2kWh battery.

That's not too bad, especially compared with the Citroën ë-C3 I ran recently, which frequently produced less than 3.0mpkWh- and that was in the height of summer. As you might expect of a city car like the Dolphin Surf, it has continued to be superbly efficient in town.

A recent trip from Twickenham to Kentish Town in north London for a concert, a trip of around 18 miles, returned an impressive 5.1mpkWh. That's equal to 220 miles, which is 10% higher than BYD's claim. On this trip, the Dolphin Surf earned further brownie points for its compact size, which meant I was able to slot into the tightest parking space just a minute or two from the gig venue.

This was helpful, because it was absolutely bucketing down at the time. Interestingly, but perhaps in keeping with the Dolphin Surf's aquatic nameplate, our small EV has such weather covered too. The small selection of switches in the cabin includes a snow and rough weather mode, which is recommended for loose and slippery surfaces, including snow, gravel, ice or grass.

BYD says it "improves traction, driving performance and manoeuvrability". It's perhaps more suitable for quicker country roads than the 20mph streets of London, although BYD adds "it is recommended to avoid sudden acceleration or high speeds" when in use.

Given how grotty our winters can be, I'm sure this mode will be getting a fair bit of use in the weeks and months ahead.

More kit, more power...less range

After several months with a Dolphin Surf Boost, I've swapped into a range-topping Comfort model. The most obvious difference is impossible to miss: its vivid Lime Green paint. This is the supermini's standard colour and wouldn't look out of place courtside at Wimbledon. It's delightful, don't you think?

The Comfort model comes with plenty of equipment on top of the already healthy spec of the middle-rung Boost. It costs around £2000 extra, at £23,950-about the same as the 152bhp version of the Renault 5, which has comparable kit.

The halogen headlights of the Boost have been replaced with much brighter, automatically activated LEDs, which has emphatically addressed one of my major gripes with the car. The rear windows are now tinted, and more changes are found inside.

The addition of heated front seats is most welcome as we enter peak winter, and they get toasty warm. Frustratingly, though, they are activated solely through the touchscreen. A useful wireless smartphone charging pad has been added to the centre console, and there's a 360deg camera instead of the reversing camera in the Boost, which makes backing into a parking space easier than ever.

While the 43.2kWh LFP battery is carried over from the Boost, output from the single motor is up from 87bhp to 154bhp. I mentioned in my introductory report that our original car had the 154bhp powertrain. Turns out I was mistaken.

It just goes to show, I suppose, that the 87bhp motor I hadn't initially realised it was equipped with isn't as weedy as it might appear. Even so, you can really feel the Comfort's extra punch, with the 0-62mph time dropping from 12.1sec to 9.1sec.

The downside of the additional power is that the Comfort is slightly less efficient than the Boost, BYD claims a range of 193 miles for my giant tennis ball, down from 200 miles. The urban driving range also drops from 305 miles to 288 miles, which is a shame if no deal-breaker.

In the real world, I'm seeing quite a big difference between the two models. I was able to get around 4.3mpkWh (185 miles) from mixed driving in the Boost, and as much as 5.6mpkWh in town, but the Comfort hasn't been as frugal so far: I'm seeing an average of 3.8mpkWh and 4.5mpkWh respectively.

There are a couple of caveats here to consider: more prolonged use of the climate control, because the temperature has dropped lately, and my self-indulgence with the extra performance. Enjoyable as the easier overtakes and 70mph cruising are, I certainly need to keep a more focused eye on my remaining miles on longer journeys nowadays.

The added power undoubtedly brings a welcome dose of fun to the BYD too. While it can't replicate the engagement of a lightweight, manual, petrol hatchback, the car is agile and composed on winding country roads, and its nippy, darting character is still very much intact around town.

I will be spending a few more weeks with the Comfort to see whether it justifies the extra outlay. So far, I've been using most of the additional equipment on a daily basis, so early signs are the £2000 upgrade could well be worth it.

Can I fit my 6ft 5in mate in the back?

While small electric cars often leave me cold in terms of driving thrills and engagement, they have a knack of making up for it with a number of sometimes unexpected practical benefits.

One of the main perks is more space than is typical in a small combustion-engined car. For example, EVs don't require certain mechanicals, like a transmission tunnel or exhaust system, so benefit from a flat floor. This is something my passengers and I have really appreciated in the Dolphin Surf.

For a small car, the space inside really is impressive. It's vast in the front for both driver and passenger, with plenty of scope for adjustment, thanks to electric seats, which also make it easier to get comfortable. In the second row, there's enough room for two adults to sit in relative comfort. My parents had little complaint when I shoved them back there. No bashed heads, no squashed knees.

That said, they're both reasonably short, so I wanted to find out if someone over 6ft tall would soon start to feel claustrophobic. I therefore asked a reluctant Danny Davies, Autocar's editorial assistant, to be my guinea pig.

Towering over the rest of us at a frankly unfair 6ft 5in, he perhaps not surprisingly found it particularly uncomfortable in the leg, although the Dolphin Surf's tall stature meant there was more than enough head room. By way of thanks for using him as a piece of road testing apparatus, I promised to upgrade Danny to a shotgun ride in future.

While the Dolphin Surf's people-carrying abilities are mostly good, then, occupants might wish to travel light. Boot space is a modest 308 litres, which compares poorly with the rival Hyundai Inster (351 litres) and Renault 5 (326 litres). A single large suitcase (or, as I discovered one evening, one bag of footballs) fits, as does a large weekly shop crammed in next to my work bag.

Family airport runs are off the table; my girlfriend and I took the bus to Heathrow instead during the holidays, as we had too much luggage for the little EV. While a compartment beneath the boot gives you somewhere to put smaller items, in my case it's permanently occupied by the charging cable. I often don't even bother using the boot if I'm alone, given that the back seats actually represent a much larger space.

Other storage areas around the car have their limitations too. The bottle bins in the doors are a bit of a strange, narrow shape and ultimately far too small, so most plastic bottles bigger than 500ml have to be squeezed in and metal flasks are out of the question.

Meanwhile, the storage area beneath the centre console is large but exposed so not of much use once you have parked up. The glovebox at least is capacious, so valuables can be stored safely in there. While larger families might wish for more space than the Dolphin Surf can offer, it is well equipped for the school run, as both rear seats have Isofix anchors for a child seat.

It's these little things this small EV on the whole does well. It won't bulldoze its way to the school gates as the bell rings like a range-topping SUV or draw coveting stares from both kids and parents like a super-cool Renault 5, but decent levels of comfort (if you're under 6ft 5in), a nippy powertrain, commendable efficiency and some practical touches make it a reliable and capable car for the urban sprawl.

For day-to-day life, the Dolphin Surf can be very good indeed.

Verdict: No Renault 5 – but not far off

During my time running a BYD Dolphin Surf, I sampled two versions of the Chinese small electric hatchback, both of which had some significant pros but neither without cons.

I started Surfing in autumn last year, when Autocar took delivery of a mid-level Boost model, which was fitted with a 43.2kWh battery to offer an official range of 200 miles. It had a single motor making 87bhp for a 0-62mph time of 12.1sec. Priced at £21,950, it featured a reversing camera, automatic headlights, electric seats, Apple CarPlay, plenty of buttons and switches and a spacious interior.

This model was hardly rapid but proved more than powerful enough for daily duties, especially when zipping around town. Efficiency was where it particularly excelled: the car put to bed the consumption worries and range anxiety I had previously experienced on a regular basis in one of its incredibly inefficient rivals, the Citroën ë-C3.

In town, the Boost would regularly return as much as 5.5mpkWh, while mixed driving commonly yielded 4.4mpkWh - still impressive, and the consequent real-world range of 190 miles wasn't far off the official claim.

After a few months, I switched to the higher-powered, better-equipped Dolphin Surf Comfort, priced £2000 above the Boost. This model had the same battery but a considerably punchier, 154bhp motor that shaved 3.0sec off the 0-62mph time. Extra standard equipment included automatic LED headlights, wireless smartphone charging, a 360deg camera, heated front seats and privacy glass.

While the Comfort's additional poke was always welcome on the motorway, the consequence was a predictable drop in efficiency. I saw a still respectable 4.5mpkWh in urban settings, but mixed driving plunged that figure down to 3.9mpkWh - equal to only around 168 miles of range, against the 193 miles quoted by BYD.

Most journeys outside of the M25 were to visit family-140 miles there and back-which often came scarily close to range-anxiety territory. Thankfully I never had any problems with charging, despite the car's relatively slow 85kW charging speed. A 10-80% fill tended to take about 30 minutes.

So, first of all, which of the two Dolphin Surfs would I pick over the other? For my own needs, the Boost offered the best-value package, with ample in-car technology and excellent efficiency. Yes, the added equipment on the Comfort model was handy (especially the heated seats in winter), but the Boost had almost everything most motorists who prioritise short-distance city driving would need in a new car.

There is also an £18,675 Active version of the Dolphin Surf, which I didn't get to try, but it has a 30kWh battery returning 137 miles of range. Not enough for me, but possibly ample for those who do mainly short hops and can charge at home.

Efficiency and equipment aside, my two test cars largely shared the same strengths and weaknesses. Starting with the positives (and there are plenty), both were good to drive and relaxing over longer distances, thanks to decent agility, body control and ride comfort.

Driving in town was a doddle too, helped by the Dolphin Surf's narrow body (1720mm), quick steering and small turning circle (9.9m). Interior space was plentiful, with leg room in the front and the back surpassing that of the rival Renault 5. Quality fabrics and soft materials lifted the ambience, and the rotatable touchscreen (10.1in in both cars) kept me entertained during charging stops with a karaoke mode, a web browser and built-in video games.

Sorry if any of you were subjected to Warrick belting out Katy Perry. As for the negatives, the ADAS features, standard across the range, are among the most aggressive I've experienced. This is especially true of the driver monitoring system, which was eager to tell me off whenever I wasn't looking straight ahead.

Turning them off became a serious chore: I calculated that I'd trawled through the multiple touchscreen menus more than 100 times to switch off these systems in my short time with the two cars.

While the overall driving experience revealed a competent little car, neither version of the Dolphin Surf was especially fun. The Renault 5 is the more rounded driver's car and of the two is happier being hustled at higher speeds. The boot, meanwhile, was a bit limiting even for my modest needs - at 308 litres, it's 18 litres down on the Renault 5's - and needless to say would be insufficient for larger families.

But this is a city car, after all, so luggage space and driver engagement won't be priority areas for those considering one. My time with the Dolphin Surf was a positive one overall, then, and credit to BYD, still relatively new to the UK market, that I struggled to uncover any serious flaws. I experienced no faults that could be blamed on the car, and in my opinion no other model in BYD's burgeoning line-up fulfils its brief better than this one does.

While I'd probably still choose a Renault 5 or a Citroën ë-C3 (despite that poor efficiency) with my own money, it's clear that Chinese EVS like the Dolphin Surf are maturing quickly and are already in position to compete very strongly with their European counterparts, especially when the financial savings are taken into consideration.

BYD Dolphin Surf Comfort

Prices: List price new £23,950 List price now £23,975 Price as tested £23,950

Options: None

Economy and range: Claimed range 193 miles Battery 46.0/43.2kWh (total/usable) Test average 3.9mpkWh Test best 5.9mpkWh Test worst 3.3mpkWh Real-world range 168 miles Max charge rate 85kW

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 9.1sec Top speed 93mph Engine Permanent magnet synchronous motor Max power 154bhp Max torque 220lb ft Gearbox 1-spd reduction gear, FWD Boot 308 litres Wheels 6.0Jx16in, alloy Tyres 185/55 R16, Hankook iOn ST AS Kerb weight 1465kg

Service and running costs Contract hire rate £140 pcm CO₂ Og/km Service costs None Other costs None Fuel costs £256.32 Running costs including fuel £256.32 Cost per mile 9 pence Faults None

Hyundai Ioniq 3 is radical £25k 'aero-hatch' to fight Renault 5

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Small EV offers up to 309 miles of range and features 441 litres of boot space

Hyundai has lifted the covers off the Ioniq 3, its new electric hatchback that will arrive in the UK this year priced from around £25,000.

It has been positioned to rival an array of electric hatches, from the small Renault 5 to the larger Volkswagen ID 3 – and at 4.15m long and 1.51m tall, it sits bang inbetween them.

Its unusual shape is described by Hyundai as an ‘aerohatch’, a sleek new form conceived with the goal of maximising aerodynamic efficiency.

This approach has resulted in a raked roofline, similar to that employed by the old Hyundai Veloster, ending with a prominent duck-tail rear spoiler. The rear lip is moulded into the leading edge of the boot, but range-topping N Line cars get an extension for a sportier look. The front end, meanwhile, was sculpted to have the smallest frontal area possible.

Its efforts have yielded a drag coefficient of 0.26, which is better than the smaller but chunkier Renault 5 (0.29). As a result, the Ioniq 3 is said to be capable of driving 208 miles between charges when fitted with the standard 42.2kWh battery or 309 miles with the larger, 61kWh pack.

Lead exterior designer Manuel Schöttle said Hyundai began with the most efficient shape in aerodynamic terms for the Ioniq 3, but added it was “important to make sure it didn’t look like a soap bar”.

He said it was Hyundai’s first electric car designed in Europe, and noted that it uses Hyundai’s new Art of Steel design language.

Yet the radical silhouette also brought several compromises inside the Ioniq 3. For example, the roofline’s rake ate into the boot space, and the small front end combined with the model’s front-wheel-drive configuration meant there was no space for a frunk. The workaround was to create a large cargo space below the floor, similar to the ‘Gigabox’ in the Ford Puma Gen-E increasing load space from 322 to 441 litres. Indeed, that raked design also ate into rear cabin space, so Hyundai carved into the car’s headlining to free up a few millimetres more head room.

The Ioniq 3’s cabin was designed to free the driver of as much distraction as possible. Lead interior designer Victor Andrean said the “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road” philosophy brought a rethink of the dashboard’s layout.

That resulted in a thin new digital instrument panel that is set notably higher than in existing Hyundais; it is paired with a smaller steering wheel, resulting in a similar set-up to Peugeot’s i-Cockpit.

“We place it above the steering wheel, not inside the steering wheel, as in a conventional car,” said Andrean. “That is a huge statement on lifting your eyes and your head up; you are looking a couple degrees higher [when looking at the panel]. This is way closer to the road.”

The Ioniq 3’s 12.9in infotainment screen is also the first to use Hyundai’s new, Android Auto-based Pleos operating system. This will allow new functionality, such as installing apps natively in the car rather than using smartphone mirroring – although that is still included. Positioned below the screen is an array of physical climate control and media switches.

“The tactile feel of buttons is very important, and I think [the European] market really needs that,” said Andrean.

The Ioniq 3 will arrive in the UK this summer. Standard Range cars will use a 145bhp motor, for a 0-62mph time of 9.0sec, while Long Range cars will get a more efficient 132bhp variant. Hyundai has yet to disclose a peak charging rate but has confirmed the 10-80% refill time will be 29 minutes for the Standard Range car and 30 minutes for the Long Range car.

It is not known whether a hot N version will join the line-up as a rival for the Alpine A290 and Volkswagen ID Polo GTI, although Schöttle said he “always sees potential for something more sporty”.

How Hyundai has reinvented the cupholder

Wary of customers carrying ever-larger flasks, Hyundai has come up with a novel cupholder design that allows for particularly tall receptacles to be stowed in the centre console.

The modular cupholders continue through the lower shelf of the centre console, allowing their size to be changed depending on how large a drink the driver or passenger wishes to carry.

“We had this question from the very start,” said lead interior designer Victor Andrean. “Where do you put your huge Thermos? These days, everyone is walking around with 1.5-litreplus bottles – I’m one of them.”

New Mercedes C-Class EV could be saloon-only for first time

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0100

Rakish new EV C-Class could break with a 50-year tradition and go without an estate option

Mercedes currently has no plans to introduce an estate version of the new C-Class, despite BMW confirming that it will offer a big-booted Touring version of the new i3.

Every C-Class so far (and its W201-generation 190E predecessor of the 1980s) has been offered in estate form, but this new EV could be the first to buck the trend, simply because, said designer Robert Lesnik, “nobody is buying them”.

Asked about the prospect of turning the new coupé-roofed C-Class into a wagon, Lesnik told Autocar: “It’s interesting: if I sit down with guys like you or other designers, they say ‘well, I like station wagons!”, but in the end, nobody is buying them.

“We have three regions. Nobody is buying them in America; we tried the shooting brake [version] of the CLS and nobody bought it. The Chinese don’t understand them and don’t buy them. Then Europe is left, and if you look at a Mercedes E-Class, it’s pretty expensive – so who can actually buy a car like that in Europe?”

Lesnik is a self-professed estate fan: his first car was an Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon and he thinks Mercedes’ best current car is the “almost perfect” E-Class Estate. But he said the decision on any future additions to the range would be founded on commercial viability.

“Don’t ask me,” he said. “I say we should have station wagons, but the reality is a little bit different.”

Ultimately, he said, it’s a case of “never say no”, but for now it seems Mercedes expects the technically identical electric GLC SUV to provide a more spacious option for families in this segment.

Revealed: Mercedes C-Class EV brings traditional look and 472-mile range

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:03:22 +0100

Electric version of benchmark executive saloon apes petrol car's look and is claimed to be sportiest C-Class yet

Mercedes-Benz has hit back at arch-rival BMW with the first electric C-Class – which it claims will be the “sportiest-ever” version of the long-running saloon to take on the recently revealed i3.

As the saloon sibling to the new electric GLC, the C-Class EV is the second car to both use the new MB.EA platform and be designed according to Mercedes’ new strategy of making its electric models look more like its ICE cars.

Due on sale in the UK later this year, the new C-Class will be offered initially in dual-motor 400 4Matic guise, with a range of 472 miles and a sub-£60k list price, before further powertrain options – including long-range single-motor variants and performance versions – are added down the line.

Completely unrelated to the combustion-engined C-Class, which will remain on sale and have its styling tweaked to more closely match that of the new EV, the new arrival slots in above the CLA in Mercedes’ expanding range of bespoke EVs and provides the framework for a larger electric E-Class saloon next year to replace the EQE.

NEW C-CLASS DESIGN

Unlike the EQE and EQS saloons, which have a distinctive cab-forward profile and one-bow silhouette that differentiates them clearly from their ICE counterparts, the electric C-Class has been designed to much more closely resemble its combustion-engined namesake.

Robert Lesnik, Mercedes’ head of exterior design, said the new saloon – and its GLC sibling – represents a turning point in Mercedes styling, and from this point onwards the brand’s cars will not be overtly shaped according to their powertrains.

Referencing Mercedes’ comments at the unveiling of the EQS in 2020, Lesnik said: “We said we will have two different worlds: electric cars will look different. But we turn around and one generation is gone, and we’re talking about the next one after six years, and they come together again.

“There is no differentiation between the combustion-engined car and electric car. And this is it: this car has the same-height front end as a combustion car. It’s not lower, like the [electric cars] that we had – it has more status and presence.”

In keeping with that push for ‘presence’ is the huge illuminated grille, which matches that of the electric GLC and, said Lesnik, is designed to help Mercedes models stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

That includes the ICE cars, which will also use a version of the new face. Lesnik added: “Icons make the difference in the end, and definitely the Mercedes grille is an icon.

“We have some other grilles, they are all iconic: we have the V-shaped grilles with upright struts on the AMG performance cars, we have the horizontal lamellar for the G-Wagen and we even have Maybach. It doesn’t matter which one, if I sketched it with a few lines you would probably recognise it as a Mercedes grille.

“This is one of the strongest differentiators to other brands. The world is turning so fast, with so many new brands these days, and most of them don’t have these iconic elements, because they don’t have the heritage.”

Disguising the inherently taller profile of an EV compared with a combustion-engined saloon was a key challenge for the designers, said Lesnik, adding: “If you get a big battery that you have to put somewhere, obviously this will have an effect on the height of the car, so the car is roughly 60mm higher – and the first goal was: how do we disguise that additional height?”

The answer, he explained, was to employ a series of “simple tricks”. These include a contrasting trim panel that breaks up the visual mass of the car’s side profile, along with bigger wheels and an extended glasshouse that includes a ‘three-window’ daylight opening – a C-Class first – that flows back into a sleek, rakish coupé-style rear end.

Lesnik said this “GT rear end”, which marks a dramatic departure from the traditional three-box silhouette of all previous C-Class models, provides a functional role as well as an aesthetic one: “The car will have a very good drag coefficient – I’m not telling you any numbers, I’m just the designer. But it will be very good.”

That’s positive for both refinements – Mercedes says the slippery shell will help to create “an exceptionally quiet interior” – and higher-speed cruising efficiency.

NEW C-CLASS INTERIOR

The electric C-Class’s cabin is dominated by a 993mm-wide Hyperscreen display, which spans the entire width of the car and is made up of 1000 individual LEDs and offers the ability to individually dim certain areas using a slider.

Available as an option, this expansive interface allows front passengers to use streaming services, play games and control various in-car systems when the car is in motion, while presenting navigation, audio and climate menus to the driver.

As standard, the C-Class will have a less dramatic Superscreen arrangement, which is based on the same layout but has three separate screens, with the passenger’s display being invisible to the driver to minimise distraction. Both systems run the latest version of Mercedes’ MBUX infotainment platform, which uses AI technology from ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft in a “unique multiagent approach” that, said Mercedes, “revolutionises the relationship between the vehicle and the driver”.

Using voice control, it can be spoken to “like a friend”, said the firm, being capable of complex, multi-part conversations and retaining a short-term memory.

Despite the heightened emphasis on digital functionality, the electric C-Class retains a suite of physical controls in line with a push to maximise analogue appeal.

There is a new control panel on the centre console, for example, with buttons and a roller for volume control, while the steering wheel hosts rocker switches for the speed limiter and cruise control functions.

While the EV is a similar size to the combustion-engined C-Class, at around 4.8 metres long, it has a substantial 97mm of extra wheelbase for improved leg room, which, said Mercedes, is testament to the greater flexibility afforded by a bespoke EV architecture.

A higher roofline, meanwhile, means there is also more head room in both rows – 22mm extra in the front and 11mm in the rear – despite the underfloor battery.

Boot space is pegged at 470 litres, which is slightly up on the fuel-burning car, and there’s a 101-litre cubby beneath the bonnet, for charging cables and muddy boots.

WHAT'S UNDERNEATH THE NEW C-CLASS

As with the electric GLC, the electric C-Class will be launched first with the dual-motor 400 4Matic powertrain, which makes 483bhp and 590lb ft for a 0-62mph time of 4.1sec – as quick as an old V8-powered AMG C63, for reference.

Power is stored in a 94.5kWh underfloor battery pack, which is good for a claimed range of 472 miles. The C-Class is equipped with 800V hardware for charging at up to 330kW, meaning it can gain 199 miles of range in just 10 minutes, said Mercedes.

This means the C-Class can theoretically “cover well over 1000km [620 miles] with just one brief charging stop” – roughly equivalent to the distance between Dundee and St Ives.

The C-Class will be offered with a 400V inverter so it can use lower-powered public chargers, such as those that are more common in the UK.

Future additions to the range include a lower-powered rear-wheel-drive version, which will offer a range of around 500 miles, while other battery and power output options will be rolled out later on.

As reported by Autocar, the C-Class’s GLC sibling is in line to be released in hardcore tri-motor AMG performance guise, and it is likely that the four-door will follow suit, in effect giving an electric successor to the C63 – and a rival to BMW’s upcoming quadmotor ‘iM3’ super-saloon.

The electric C-Class is technically identical to the GLC underneath. It is based on the new MB.EA platform that Mercedes-Benz has developed for midsized EVs and which is unrelated to both the MRA platform underneath the combustion-engined C-Class and the smaller MMA architecture that underpins the smaller CLA and GLB EVs.

Mercedes is calling the new model “the sportiest C-Class ever”. It touts the refinement and dynamic credentials of the new underpinnings, which are said to offer cruising comfort on a par with an S-Class, while being capable of “attacking every curve with unrivalled agility and precision”.

Central to the C-Class’s dynamic character are the optional Airmatic adaptive suspension system, which uses real-time cloud data to prime the chassis for upcoming potholes and speed bumps, and the rear steering, which turns the back wheels at up to 4.5deg in either direction to boost both high-speed stability and low-speed agility.

Other features new for the MB.EA platform include a two-speed gearbox for the rear motor to ensure optimum acceleration from all speeds while maximising efficiency at a cruise. In 4Matic models, this rear set-up is supported by a front axle-mounted additional motor that kicks in only when needed – depending on throttle load and drive mode – to give full power.

It remains otherwise disconnected from the drivetrain, which is said to reduce energy losses on the front axle by up to 90%.

Smart #2: Concept previews design for Fortwo successor

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0100

New Mercedes-designed EV will arrive later this year as one of Europe's smallest cars

Smart has released the first images of the Concept #2, which will be unveiled on Wednesday, previewing a successor to the Fortwo city car.

The production #2 was announced in September and will arrive later this year as a Europe-focused two-seater developed jointly by parent companies Geely and Mercedes-Benz.

Sketches of the concept reveal a look that stays true to the 1998 original Smart car and even appears to build on the facelifted third generation model – which went out of production in 2024 – suggesting that Smart sees this as effectively a continuation of the model line.

New elements are a more bulbous overall shape and larger wheel arches – cues that define the Smart brand’s new-era #1, #3 and #5 EVs.

Smart said the #2 is a “reinvention” of the Fortwo that will sport a “fresh identity”, penned by Mercedes, albeit with the same “wheels-at-the-corners” stance.

It noted that the concept shows a “reinvention of the brand's iconic two-seater city car”, adding that it carries the “core genes” and is “unconventional – again”.

Further details will be revealed on Wednesday when the concept will be unveiled at the Beijing motor show alongside the #6 – Smart’s first saloon which, following initial sales in China, is expected to come to the UK.

Smart #2: What we know

The electric two-seater will be Smart’s new entry model and will use the new Electric Compact Architecture (ECA).

In a first for Smart, the platform is being developed jointly by Geely and Mercedes, given that the car is built mainly with a focus on the European market. This differs from the rest of the line-up, which were all engineered by Geely and designed by Mercedes.

During first testing in December (pictured below), the platform was paired with a third-generation Fortwo body. Smart said this confirms that the #2 will offer similar proportions to the car it replaces.

Smart has also confirmed the #2 will be offered with the same two-door, two-seat, rear-wheel-drive configuration as its predecessor, resulting in the same “core driving dynamics”.

Former Smart CEO Dirk Adelmann told Autocar last year that creating such a platform isn't cheap and suggested that another vehicle would need to use it in order to justify the huge cost of creating it.

“We need the economies of scale,” he said. “The tricky part was to get it small enough for the #2; it’s much easier to expand slightly.” He suggested that Smart could even consider a Forfour successor.

While further technical details are yet to be confirmed, Adelmann said the #2's platform could also accomodate a dual-motor powertrain.

“The wishlist features we gave to engineering was a very small turning cycle – the same as the last Fortwo – to make [the #2] really practical in city centres,” he added.

New 2026 Polestar 3 driven: Huge tech upgrade - but one big loss

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Under-the-skin upgrades for sweet-driving SUV boost charging speeds but dent dynamics

Some cars' characters are defined by a single component, for better or for worse.

Think of the Renault Clio 182 Trophy's remote-reservoir dampers; the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N's simulated gears; and the original Smart Fortwo's automated manual gearbox. The Polestar 3 was just such a car, with its torque-vectoring rear clutch pack that could chuck all of the drive from the rear motor to either wheel. It gave this big and heavy EV remarkable agility and a sense of playfulness.

You'll note I'm using the past tense here, because the 3 has just had a big but rather confusing update, as part of which that clever differential has found itself out of a job. The update isn't really a facelift, because other than some new wheel designs and paint options, the 3 looks the same; the changes all take place under the skin. The headline facts here are a switch from 400V to 800V, which has boosted the maximum charging speed from 250kW to 350kW.

At the same time, the batteries have got smaller. Why? We didn't really get an answer, but on the Dual Motor and Performance models the difference isn't very significant: it goes from 107kWh to 103kWh (usable).

The Rear Motor, however, goes from the same 107kWh to just 90kWh – presumably to reposition it more clearly as the entry-level 3. The dual-motor versions actually gain a couple of miles of range (395 for the Dual Motor, 368 for the Performance), in each case because this is also an efficiency upgrade.

This is where the torque splitter comes in – and out. It was originally called into being because the 3 used permanent magnet synchronous motors on both axles. You only need one at a steady cruise, and a PMSM can sap power when it's idle, so the engineers specified a disconnect clutch. And if you're going to have a clutch pack, you might as well upgrade it to let it do something exciting, like vector torque, right? It's a nice way of giving one component a dual purpose.

For the 2026 update, the rear motor becomes more efficient and the front one is changed to an asynchronous unit, which is happy to idle at a cruise. That meant the rear torque splitter was no longer needed as a disconnect clutch, and to have it there just for the dynamics was seen as something of an extravagance, so it had to go. By way of compensation, the front suspension has been made softer to give the car more alacrity on turn-in, and the electric power steering has been recalibrated. Despite the loss of that key bit of technology, Polestar's engineers claim the updated 3 drives even better than before.

I have driven the new car in all three specs: Rear Motor, Dual Motor and Performance. No matter which one you go for, there's no doubt about it, the Polestar 3 remains one of the sharpest, most dynamic big electric cars you can buy. The grip, steering precision and turn-in response are all phenomenal, particularly for something that weighs 2.5 tonnes. The Performance is a notch above the others, although I'm not sure you could tell definitively without driving them back to back.

A highlight is still how natural it all feels. Neither the accelerator, nor the steering, nor the brakes are artificially heavy or overly eager just for the sake of feeling superficially sporty: you can mete out all 670bhp with total accuracy.

And yet the 3 has lost the bit of magic that the torque splitter used to impart, where it would gently yaw on the power like a Toyota GR86. That delectable adjustability out of corners has turned into plainer neutral behaviour, which is fine but just less fun; the Rear Motor never had the fancy differential. It feels a bit pointier and lighter on its feet than before but suffers from rather conservative stability control.

All of which draws the 3's ride quality issues into sharper focus. On the Dual Motor's air suspension it's quite choppy over bigger bumps and a touch wooden over the sharper stuff, and that only gets worse on the passive suspension of the rear-wheel-drive model. That can partly be excused by the handling, but the 3 is no longer head and shoulders above the rest. BMW's iX and iX3 are excellent to drive, and so is Porsche's Macan Electric in the right spec.

What also continues to mar the Polestar 3 experience are the assorted usability frustrations. Polestar has made a few smaller quality-of-life updates: The infotainment has a faster processor; the adaptive cruise control now lets you adjust the following distance (albeit in a touchscreen menu), and next year, the steering wheel will get clearer buttons. Those are all positive evolutions, but the 3 can still drive you up the wall: the touchscreen user interface hides settings in unusual places and behind several layers of menus; the column stalks feel cheap and don't work very well; there's still no proper key. The list goes on.

The interior is largely unchanged otherwise, which means most of it feels very high-quality and luxurious, if overly minimalist. There's loads of space in the back, but the boot is slightly smaller than that of the iX3.

The 800V upgrade is obviously very welcome. A DC charging peak of 350kW is very good, if not a class-leading figure, but WLTP efficiency is 3.0-3.3mpkWh, depending on the version, and that is not amazing.

The Polestar 3 is hard to position, being about the same size as an iX or Porsche Cayenne Electric but functionally no more practical than an iX3 or Macan Electric. Prices sit between the segments: £71,540 for the Rear Motor model, £79,540 for the Dual Motor and £87,040 for the Performance. Polestar often has good finance deals, but these are about as changeable as the weather.

The 3 remains appealing as a very driver-focused piece of design, but the loss of its defining feature doesn't do it any favours. With cars like the iX3 moving things on, it feels like Polestar is muddling around in the margins and still trying to compete with the previous generation of rivals.

Polestar 3 Dual Motor

Price £79,540 Motor Front asynchronous motor, rear PMSM Power 536bhp Torque 546lb ft Transmission single-speed reduction gearing; 4WD Drive battery Li-ion, NMC, prismatic, 106/103kWh (total/usable) Kerb weight 2490kg 0-62mph 4.5sec Top speed 140mph Energy efficiency 3.3mpkWh Electric range 395 miles Max charging rate 350kW Rivals BMW iX3, Porsche Macan 4S

Nascars, Soviet tractors and... Tigger? Facebook is a car shopping wonderland

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0100

The ultimate automotive guilty pleasure? Navigating the wild west of Facebook to find the best £500 bangers

Being a photographer on a weekly motoring magazine means going on more than your fair share of car launches.

Often in Europe, sometimes beyond, but there's no doubt that the air miles are well and truly racked up. There's one thing I always do as soon as I touch down in a new, far-off land (normally in the snaking queue that leads to passport control), and it begins with loading up Facebook. Not for the social aspects of that app, though: I'm simply addicted to poking around the wretched hive of scum and villainy that's more commonly known as Facebook Marketplace.

I'm not too sure when I started doing this, but I don't think I will ever be able to stop. Naturally, I first began browsing in the UK, seeing what absolute rubbish I could find local to me. Mixed in between the frankly terrifying home-made action figures and care-worn furniture, I discovered an abundance of used cars, and it was all downhill from there. One of the reasons I love it is that it seems to have replaced eBay as the main refuge for banger enthusiasts.

Selling points like "has seven months MOT" - a major turn-off in the context of buying a newer motor - are utterly invaluable in the context of a £500 Renault Clio. If all you need is a car that mostly works, there's no other place where you will get as much bang for your buck. Although you do have to keep your eyes and ears open, as that bang might be the sound of the big end going.

Trying to work out whether you've found the bargain of the century or a true rotter is somewhere between an art and science. You have to scan sellers' profiles to see if they're real people and keep another tab open with the DVSA's MOT history checker to see what might be horribly wrong with each listing.

I've bought a Mazda MX-5 and a Toyota MR2 on Facebook Marketplace, and the process of procuring them was roughly equivalent to a forensic investigation. If that's the bad, then I suppose the variety is the good. I've seen everything from Renault Dauphines to Formula Ford racers on my feed, both as immaculate examples and howling ruins.

As I write, an Irmscher Opel Nova has crossed my path, and yesterday I clocked the rolling shell of a genuine mid-2000s Nascar Chevy. Roger Clark's ex-works Ford Fiesta Mk1 rally car, driven by the legend himself throughout the 1979 season, cropped up on there lately with an £80,000 asking price. If you can name it, you can find it.

And the ugly? Well, that's just the rubbish. Memorable highlights include a seemingly normal Peugeot 406 Coupé that turned out to have a painstakingly airbrushed image of the superhero Thor all down the side and over the bonnet, which the seller made clear to mention cost far more than the amount they were asking for the car.

An original Vauxhall Tigra (when did you last see one of those?) wrapped to resemble Winnie the Pooh's friend Tigger was listed next to a full Max Power-spec Suzuki Swift, complete with scissor doors. My current infatuation is a Soviet-built Kirovets T150K tractor, nestled in my saved favourites alongside a rally-spec Rover 213 and a Citroën Ami 8 that's seemingly composed mostly of rust.

It's a glorious platform that gives you a cross-section look into the car culture of wherever you are. Sardinian Facebook Marketplace seems to consist mostly of short-wheelbase 4x4s, while loading up the same app in the Czech Republic will show you some pristine rear-engined Skodas. Keep your search parameters broad and your thumb swiping and you're in for a whale of a time.

Honda CR-Z meets Prelude: Was hybrid coupe misunderstood?

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Strange CR-Z meets the equally weird Prelude and proves unexpectedly Formula 1 in feel

The Prelude has returned to fill a small, front-driven hybrid coupé-shaped gap in Honda's line-up - some 16 years after the launch of its spiritual forebear, the CR-Z.

The older car, while similar in conception, arrived in an entirely different era for the petrol-electric performance car.

At the time, the motoring world had yet to meet any of the much-celebrated 'holy trinity' of hybrid hypercars (Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, Porsche 918). Henrik Fisker was on the brink of launching his rare-groove Karma (remember that?). And the only really widely seen performance hybrid you could buy was the Lexus GS 450h sports saloon.

It was early days for Honda to be suggesting that petrol-electric fun could be offered fairly cheaply, when it had yet to be offered much at all - at any price. Of course, in the finest traditions of the company, that didn't discourage anyone.

The CR-Z was, quite plainly, a kind of 'son of Insight': little, affordable, modestly powerful and surprisingly simple. It was about as technically similar to a Prelude as a Prelude is similar to a carbonfibre-tubbed BMW i8 (unveiled three years after the CR-Z, since you asked).

Honda UK lent us its CR-Z GT heritage car so we could appreciate this first hand. After the Prelude, it felt relatively pedestrian - though not slow in an outright sense.

The Prelude's powertrain is a series-hybrid-style, range-extender system, with an electric motor that does most of the grunt work, backed up by a 2.0-litre Atkinson-cycle petrol engine that mostly runs as a generator but can connect to the wheels via planetary gearing when switching to higher-constant-load, parallel-hybrid running.

Honda doesn't actually claim a total system, engine-clutched-on, parallel-series torque figure, but I would estimate that it must be well beyond 250lb ft, because the Prelude certainly feels brisk. Not quite top-level hot hatchback fast, but quick enough to make a climbing, twisting, uneven mountain road in the Rhondda nicely interesting to set about.

The CR-Z is a little in want of some properly purposeful suspension tuning, perhaps, but not without a fun factor all of its own. It has three pedals and a six-speed manual gearbox for a start. Its electric motor produces only 14bhp and 58lb ft of torque - more, slightly, in later versions, yet never anything like the Prelude's electric reserves.

But you can certainly feel the hybrid torque hitting the driven axle at lower engine speeds, when the car pulls higher gears much more assertively than you expect of something with an atmospheric 1.5-litre petrol engine, and yet it still goes on to rev fairly freely.

The manual gearbox really makes you engage with the CR-Z's powertrain at a fundamental level that the Prelude's never gives you access to. Filling and judiciously plundering the 0.5kWh drive battery feels like an unexpectedly analogue and involving process achieved by considered regen braking and well-timed 'deployment'.

It's all quite immediate and likeably short-cycle - unexpectedly 2026 Formula 1, funnily enough. And yet one of these formula car tribute artistes can be picked up for less than £4000 without too much scouring of the classifieds sites - and the biggest DNF threat you would need to worry about with one is probably a bit of wheel-arch rust.

Speed is good for you: the anti-car lobby has it all wrong

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0100

Leaving our cars at home is good for the step count - but maybe not social progress

Is breakfast the most important meal of the day? Pfft.

Only if you want it to be: there's not much evidence beyond some observational studies. But we've been conditioned into believing it by a breakfast food maker who asked a physician to agree it was true, who in turn asked a group of other doctors to countersign his statement.

That was sent to the newspapers and so later it's what our mums told us when they wanted us to eat our porridge. Ultimately, though, it was a marketing campaign, a message that Big Bacon concocted when it wanted to boost sales. Eat a heavy breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day!

Look, have a croissant or don't: it probably won't make any difference.

I wonder if Big Underwear, meanwhile, is behind the latest recommendation I've read, which is that one should change one's underpants every six months (as in throw out and replace, not just get dressed). An alternative suggestion I see is after 50 washes.

Either the entities pushing these theories haven't coordinated their strategies or I own a lot of underpants, because – TMI? – I don't have so few that I'm washing the same pair twice weekly. (Maybe I should cut down on stock levels. Reduce storage bills and energy costs. A just-in-time strategy for domestic laundry. I already only wear black socks to save time pairing them. It's the next logical step.)

Anyway, call me cynical, but I wonder what motivates these various theory merchants. Could it be that in the way cereal makers would prefer us not to wait for a lunchtime meal deal, underwear makers and retailers want to give pant-wearers - most of us - a nudge to replace ahead of time?

The pants thing hasn't entered public consciousness like the breakfast messaging. At least not yet. The difference being that bacon producers said it loud, with authority, and found a slogan: their version of 'Guinness is good for you' but less easily disproven.

Big Underwear - forgive me; Big Pants? - needs to pull its socks up if it wants to compete.

So perhaps we, as car drivers, need to start marketing our preferences better too. Because the active travel lobby is definitely selling itself well.

They say that it's good for you and the planet if you get out of your car and onto your bike or your feet, and that by doing so you will live a healthier, longer life.

It's a message that has cut through, certainly to politicians, who think this sounds easier and cheaper than filling potholes and can be used as an excuse to tax drivers ever more highly.

But it's not really right, is it? When we all walked or took horses everywhere, technological progress was glacial. We lived short, painful and difficult lives, mostly very close to home.

If you wanted a doctor before the car existed, he would take a day to come, and he would have only ever read one book, and it recommended leeching. The car changed all that. It revolutionised education, culture, health and love.

Heathcliff and Cathy would have been fine if only they had got out more, stopped moping around on the moors and popped to Harrogate for a night out.

Is it really good to walk three miles to a parochial workplace? Or might it not be better for brilliant people to drive around the country, or indeed fly around the world, to meet similarly brilliant people in laboratories where together they cure diseases?

Our ability to go places at speed changed the world. High-speed travel lets us meet more people, build more connections and solve more problems.

I wonder if it's a coincidence that quality of life improvements the expectation that children will have better lives than their parents seems to have stalled at the same time as our ability to go places quickly. Congestion stifles our crumbling roads.

The average speed fell by 6% on the UK strategic road network in the decade to last April. The latest railway stats show "the lowest July-to-September quarterly percentage [of punctual trains] since 2018". Concorde hasn't flown for 23 years. And coming down with average travel speeds is the country's productivity.

We're trapped in a sluggish fog, metaphorically and literally going nowhere fast. This slogan might need work, but: speed is good for you.

How Goodwood chooses its centrepiece - according to the Duke

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Duke of Richmond tells Autocar podcast the secrets behind his annual towering automotive artwork

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a cornerstone of the global automotive calendar, but how does the estate decide who secures the famous central spot on the lawn?

Charles Gordon Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, has revealed the process behind the feature to Autocar's editor-at-large, Steve Cropley. You can listen below.

This year the honour falls to Singer, Rob Dickinson’s famed Porsche restomodding firm. The sculpture will celebrate Singer’s influence and be flanked by a collection of its cars.

When it comes to who is honoured by the annual artwork, there isn’t any sort of shortlist. It all depends on which manufacturers want to do it or if there’s an anniversary worth celebrating.

But mostly it comes down to what feels right, according to the Duke. He told the Autocar podcast: “We felt Singer was the right moment to do it – and the cars are so popular, to see lots of them together, it'd be pretty spectacular.”

The Duke and his family are huge fans of Singer, he added: “I love them. My son Charlie's driven them more than me. Annoyingly, I’m usually too caught up, but he's driven quite a lot at the events.”

The structures are created by designer Gerry Judah, who has collaborated with Goodwood for years. “He's not a car guy, really, he’s an artist, and he has a great feel for brands, what they stand for,” said the Duke.

Judah will work on a design, then he and the Duke will present it to the client, who will then be able to ask for additional changes or requests.

Finally, there is the question of engineering. While some brands have ambitiously requested carbonfibre or glass, practicality usually dictates the final product. “We know what works, and we know that steel is the best material,” the Duke said.

Crucially, the steel construction means the towering sculptures are entirely recyclable, destined to be melted down and repurposed once the festival weekend concludes. Some clients request to keep the sculptures, but that's a rarity.

Up and Atom: Why Ariel is the unsung hero of UK car industry

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Atom has been thrilling car enthusiasts for 27 years over four generations, but there's more to Ariel...

People think the main thing about starting a car company is coming up with a special machine that people will want to buy - but that's only part of it.

A key part, for sure, but almost certainly not the biggest part. And the reason I love Ariel so much is because its founder and owner, the creator of its cars and the bloke who still makes all the big decisions, Simon Saunders, understood all these things from the beginning.

The Atom, the basis of Ariel's success over four generations, had its beginnings 25 years ago in a design competition run by Saunders (with Autocar participation) during his time as a senior lecturer at Coventry University's transport design school.

Already a proven designer of mainstream cars, motorcycles and supercars, Saunders was continuing to run a solus design consultancy while attempting (out of the goodness of his heart) to help students learn the invaluable lessons from industry you don't find in books.

The simple, skeletal Atom, designed in the mid-1990s by student Niki Smart, stood out from the rest as having the potential for production.

Saunders set about forming the business that would be needed to make it - refining the design to make it practical for real, live buyers, acquiring rights to the age-old name of a once-famous British firm that made cars and bikes, visualising how and where the new cars could be made, negotiating with potential parts suppliers, raising finance, designing an efficient build process, deciding how the cars would be sold (direct from the factory), understanding the implications of providing a service and repair facility, and seeing the beauty of controlling the second-hand market.

Born in Coventry as the LSC (Lightweight Sports Car) in 1996, the car went on sale in 1999 as the Ariel Atom - the name suggested back in the day by your humble author. The original base was a couple of converted barns at Saunders' own home in Crewkerne, Somerset, but as the business grew, it moved to roomier premises a few miles out of town.

Over time, the Atom was joined by a radically designed motorbike (powered by a 1200cc Honda V4) called Ace, then by a much-praised off-road buggy called Nomad (also Honda-powered). Annual production of all three combined has never totalled much more than 200 (Saunders has always seen the beauty of simplicity and a small size for his company), and the waiting list for cars and bikes has frequently exceeded a year, even through the Covid lockdowns.

However, the growing service and secondhand business, and Saunders' urge to have more space for a "proper" museum and for bigger workshops to build the cars that he's always developing in secret (such as the 1180bhp Hipercar EV), means Ariel will move over the next year or two into new, purpose-built headquarters near Yeovil, which will make it possible for more vehicles to be produced and for the waiting list to be shorter.

But in usual car company terms, Ariel will never be bigger than tiny, and it will always shun mainstream vehicles in favour of the most radical designs. This and the wise, self-made nature of Ariel's formation is why I love it.

"Councils can do more..." The truth about the pothole pandemic

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0100

The UK's roads continue to deteriorate, but just a small number of councils are investing in permanent fixes

Ineffective repair practices, poor financial controls and a lack of long-term maintenance planning by councils are among the reasons Britain's motorists are experiencing record numbers of potholes, claims an industry expert.

For the 2025/26 financial year, the UK government handed councils an extra £1.6 billion for highway maintenance and has pledged a further £7.3bn over the next four years. However, the latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance claims that the 17% budget increase has yielded only marginal improvements in the conditions of UK roads.

Indeed, only 16 of the 154 local authorities in England are using that extra budget effectively, according to the Department for Transport. For example, many are still using expensive, short-term repairs instead of more cost-effective, long-term preventative measures, it says.

More potholes mean more damage to cars. The AA reports that its teams were called out to 137,000 pothole-related incidents in January and February, an increase of 25,000 on the same period last year.

The RAC said call-outs it received for damaged wheels and suspension systems averaged 225 per day in February (up from 66 per day the year before) due to heavy rain concealing potholes – 26 areas across the UK experienced their wettest month on record. "Water is the enemy of the roads and preventing it from sitting on them is key to their long-term health, so it's vital more work to improve drainage is carried out," the RAC told Autocar.

What's more, Admiral Insurance has so far this year received 75% more pothole-related claims than it did in the same period last year. Claims for February were up 144% year on year.

Ben Rawding, general manager of JCB (pictured below), is a member of the Pothole Partnership, a lobby group that is calling for non-emergency pothole repairs to be covered by a five-year warranty. He said inefficiencies and inconsistencies in how councils maintain roads are making a bad situation even worse.

"Councils have huge scope to do more with their existing budgets," said Rawding.

"However, where they use contractors and sub-contractors to maintain and repair their roads, we see inefficiencies compared with those councils, typically in the north of the country, that are directly responsible for the work.

"Widely varying contract terms, poor economies of scale and an absence of key performance indicators characterise the worst."

Rawding said efficient councils recognise that planned rather than reactive maintenance is key to reducing the incidence of potholes.

"With planned maintenance, the council focuses on a stretch of potholes, removes the road surface and puts in some 'hot mix' compacted with a roller to bind the repair. 'Throw and go', where a contractor just shovels in cold mix, can only be temporary. Around 40% of Wales's roads are repaired in this way, which is crazy. The goal should always be a one-time fix, said Rawding.

Among the 16 councils awarded a green rating by the Department for Transport for repairing potholes effectively and for investing in long-term preventative maintenance Is Wiltshire County Council. This financial year, it will spend 88% of its £38 million highways budget on preventative rather than reactive maintenance.

"It's the only way to avoid going around in circles," said councillor Martin Smith, cabinet member for highways. However, while he was pleased the council received a green rating. he admitted that drivers remain sceptical about the condition of the roads.

"Our green rating is not drivers' lived experience, where the recent wet weather has created many potholes," said Smith. "However, our contractors, who we manage carefully, have repaired almost 5200 potholes so far this year. Many are temporary fixes for safety reasons but we'll be back later to close the roads and repair them properly."

Inside Jason Plato's grand plan to dominate the BTCC - again

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Never say never again: 97-time winner rips up the rulebook as he returns to the sport as a team owner

"We want to create the finest racing team ever for a national championship. We want to take the British Touring Car Championship by storm and be incredibly successful. We want to dominate and blow everyone's doors off – and that's what we will do."

Yes, in case you haven't noticed, Jason Plato is back in the BTCC. And he's being, well, very 'Jason Plato' about it. The two-time champion, who won a record 97 races as the overblown character fans both loved and hated (often at the same time), retired from driving at the end of 2022 and consistently made it very clear, in his preferred brand of colourful language, that he had zero interest in making the transition to team ownership.

Yet now, as another BTCC season kicks off at Donington Park this Sunday, there he will be on the pitwall, chief of bright and shiny Plato Racing. It's the big story of 2026. "I genuinely didn't want to do this," he insists, dragging deeply on a cigarette when Autocar finally pins him down in the smoking hut outside his new team's HQ in Wellingborough at the end of a chaotic, celebrity-strewn team launch (close friends Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Brawn among the guests). "But I'm doing it my way, which is different from the way most people do it."

That's a rare understatement from Plato. From a seed of an idea last summer – "we didn't even have a bank account last August" – the 58-year-old has assembled a crack team of experienced BTCC old hands to help him. It includes team manager Malcolm Swetnam and design engineer Paul Ridgway, who will run a pair of Mercedes-AMG A35 saloons built by respected British motorsport powerhouse RML – the first of many points of contention about the Plato return, given that RML is also a key supplier of parts to all the teams on the BTCC grid.

It's fair to say there's no false modesty about Plato Racing. A podium first time out at Donington this Sunday is the stated aim, and the team has detonated on impact as it lands in the paddock. So why is Plato doing it if, as he makes clear, he never really wanted to? In short, you could say because he had to. Plato has been strikingly open about his mental health struggles since retiring from the sport that defined his whole existence.

In short order, along with his old racing life, he also lost his TV work (presenter of Channel 5's Fifth Gear), a sum of money in investments that went wrong and his marriage. Rock bottom included two attempts to take his own life, he says, and he credits the support of friends such as Brawn for pulling him out of the darkness. Now, returning to the sport he loves as a team owner has given him a new lease of life – in an uncomfortably stark and literal sense.

"But we're late," he says of the start-from-scratch project that only really began to take some form in October last year. "There's no one solely to blame. And guess what? I've never run a team before. Yes, I've got some experienced people, but it's probably fair to say they have never been involved with a team like this. The stuff we are ordering and doing, it's off the scale. We've assembled a great team and have kicked the others hard in the nuts because we've nicked all of their best staff... I'm sure there are going to be some fireworks."

Now he's committed to it, this season will be fascinating if only to see how Plato handles the transition from racing driver to team principal. "I have to respect the business, it's not about me anymore," he states. "Regardless of what any driver tells you, they don't give a f*** about anyone else but themselves. It's a selfish, blunt, narcissistic game. That's ingrained in me, because that's what I've been all my life. But now I can't be like that. If I do something wrong I could hurt people here. So I have to think about things differently."

RML has leased one of its units to Plato Racing – the same one out of which it ran Plato to the second of his titles in 2010, in a Chevrolet Cruze. Company CEO Paul Dickinson is all too aware of the fine line RML is walking. Under the BTCC's tightly regulated New Generation Touring Car (NGTC) rulebook, it supplies all the suspension parts for the entire grid: wishbones, pushrods, rockers, uprights, steering systems and the front and rear subframes that house them.

Now RML is also building a complete car, just as it used to with the Chevys and back in the 1990s with Vauxhall and Nissan. "Let's be clear, the other teams are worried, as I would be if I was them," admits Dickinson, who needed to work hard to convince BTCC boss Alan Gow that Plato wouldn't be gaining an unfair advantage by commissioning RML to create its pair of A-Class Mercs. "But this is why we're not running the cars," he adds, emphasising this is a supplier relationship: yes, RML built the cars, but it has now handed them over to Plato's team to race them. "At events we will be there in our RML shirts in the RML truck selling parts. We won't be in the Plato truck optimising his car."

As we're speaking, the team is shaking down one of the cars for the first time. "You'll notice we are not there," says Dickinson. Still, paranoia is ingrained in racing paddocks, and it won't help that Plato Racing lives directly next door to RML. "We know this car will be scrutinised to the nth degree more than any other on the grid," says Dickinson. "That's just part of the Jason story."

The NGTC regulations have been around a long time, since 2011, yet this is the first time RML has built a car to the rulebook. "The key is to take RML back to the forefront of motorsport, not just sat in the shadows supplying the parts," says Dickinson. "This is the first of hopefully many racing cars we will be building in the future. It will get us back on the map. You never know where Plato Racing will go in the future or where we might go with OEMs. There are a few Le Mans trophies in our building."

As for the cars themselves, the Mercedes-AMG A35 saloon was chosen primarily for its shape: the base model is said to have the best drag coefficient on the grid. Meanwhile, RML says it has benefited from zero help from Mercedes directly. Plato sourced three road car shells – two of which had water damage from a river and a lake. RML dipped, took apart and scanned the shells to create its own CAD drawings, then rebuilt the cars on roll-cages via CFD modelling to create a slippery thoroughbred racing car with a likeness of the original Mercedes road car. Under the skin, there's a lot of carbonfibre. It looks more like an old DTM car than what we are used to seeing on the BTCC grid.

Dickinson says he spotted plenty of well-thumbed copies of TOCA's BTCC rulebook among his team during the design and build process, complete with highlighter pen marks. But is there really scope for any car builder, even one with the tech know-how of RML, to find a new edge from such a mature ruleset? Adam Airey, head of vehicle engineering, pauses before he answers. "It's very close in the BTCC," he says, eventually. "We might not find much of an edge, but I like to think we have the tools to ensure the cars are always optimised, whatever the circuit."

On the driver front, Dan Rowbottom has transferred across from BTCC superteam Alliance Racing, bringing his backing from Cataclean. The 37-year-old is much more than a simple driver signing – he is also a founding partner in the new team. Quitting the reigning Napa-backed Ford Focus champion squad for an all-new car and outfit sounds like a risk, especially after winning three times during a strong 2025 campaign. But he says stepping out from the shadow of old team-mates Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish was essential if he ever wants to make a serious challenge for a BTCC title.

"It was clear there wasn't a requirement for me to do more than I was doing, because they had a driver [Sutton] who could challenge for the championship," says 'Rowbo' of his former employer. "Which was fine, I accepted that. But I had conversations with the management saying where I needed to be. I'm getting older and I want to challenge for a championship before I retire. The response was 'we are quite happy where you are'. They did a fantastic job, for me and commercially for Cataclean. But it was time to move on."

Rowbottom has recruited childhood friend and old karting rival Adam Morgan as his team-mate. Morgan, 37, is an 11-time race winner and has been a BTCC mainstay since 2012. He's also a much more placid character than Rowbottom, who is a chip off the old Plato block in terms of personality. "I'll leave Jason and Dan to ruffle the feathers – I'll just take the race wins," grins Morgan, who says he could have stayed put in the Excelr8 Hyundai as team-mate to reigning champion Tom Ingram. "I've been around long enough to know that unless you are in the right place at the right time, you're just making up the numbers – and I'm not here to do that. I believe I can win the championship with Plato Racing."

Rowbottom feels the same way, and while he clearly wants to beat Morgan, their friendship means they should work well together. "To be able to be a part of Jason's revival is a massive opportunity for everyone involved," says Rowbottom. "It's great for the paddock and the press. He will definitely cause some controversy, but that's why we love him. The team is set up to disrupt the BTCC. I've grown up with this championship and fell in love with it when I was 14. We have fantastic drivers and teams, but it's missing a bit of magic. It needs a kick up the arse. I firmly believe Jason will do that."

Both smile when Autocar asks them how they expect to find Plato as a team boss. The man himself has a glint in his eye when asked the same question. He was given his big break by Frank Williams and Patrick Head in 1997 when he was recruited to the Williams-run Renault team. He knows what the highest standards look like.

"You know me," he says. "I don't sugarcoat anything, and that has got me into lots of hot water before. But I'm ultimately a really fair bloke and I demand excellence, and if that's not given through lack of effort I go f****** apeshit. But that's not going to happen, because everyone has bought into this. We're at the start of something really amazing."

What else is new in the BTCC?

Saloons are back in vogue in the BTCC. Alliance Racing switches from the Ford Focus hatchback to the Titanium saloon in search of aero gains, as Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish work to depose Tom Ingram as champion. Alongside Sam Osborne is Lewis Selby, who steps up from Minis to replace Dan Rowbottom.

2024 champion Jake Hill has quit the BTCC, so Laser Tools Racing and Mark Blundell switch their support to Speedworks' Toyota Corollas for Gordon Shedden and Árón Taylor-Smith.

Audis will return to the BTCC grid this year. Power Maxed Racing, which lost its Vauxhalls to a devastating fire at its HQ last year, has built an all-new Audi A3. The highly rated Mikey Doble will lead its charge.

The biggest change in format is the introduction of a qualifying race on Saturday afternoons to decide the first grid. Three races remain on Sundays. This is the second season the BTCC is using 100% renewable fuel and turbo power boost, but this time weight has been reduced by a sizeable 55kg.

2026 BTCC Calendar

Month	Date	Venue
April	18/19	Donington Park
May	9/10	Brands Hatch Indy
May	23/24	Snetterton
June	6/7	Oulton Park
July	25/26	Thruxton
August	8/9	Knockhill
August	22/23	Donington Park GP
September	5/6	Croft
September	26/27	Silverstone
October	11/12	Brands Hatch GP

My Mini mission to Sweden: A freezing tribute to affordable cabrios

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Mini makes one of the few affordable cabrios still on sale. Where else to celebrate than on a frozen Swedish lake?

It has become a little tricky to drive topless in Britain.

You needn't flick too far back in the Autocar archive to find price lists awash with cheap convertible cars, many of them spun from humble hatchback origins and sporting an SLK-lite folding hard-top. While we rarely lavished them with unmitigated praise - cohesive styling and chassis rigidity weren't always strong suits of this particular sub-genre - hindsight suggests we should have appreciated these cars a little more.

The affordable cabrio market came and went as the 'Juke effect' lifted most of their owners several inches further from the ground and into crossovers that allowed the sun to beam in from above via a panoramic glass roof.

Two manufacturers stuck firmly to their beliefs, though, and you can still buy a pair of delightfully familiar drop-tops for less than £30,000 (or £300 per month). The Mazda MX-5 has remained steadfastly on sale through four generations since the late 1980s, and it can take a lot of credit for the sudden influx of cheap cabrios and roadsters that followed its launch.

Just £28,585 nabs you an entry-level 130bhp 1.5-litre Prime-Line - a price that sits significantly below its original baseline once inflation has been applied. A bargain, then.

The new-age BMW Mini has been sold in folding soft-top form since 2004, and it too has reached its fourth generation. Just £28,955 slots you neatly into a 161bhp Cooper C, its larger-lunged 2.0-litre turbo engine, cosy back seats and bigger boot lending it more flexibility than the little Mazda, although its front-drive layout and auto-only transmission ensure it's not a patch on the MX-5 as a driver's car.

Nevertheless, Minis have always punched well above their modest weight when it comes to entertainment. Another three grand gets you a 201bhp Cooper S like the one you see here. Still no manual gearstick, nor even paddles to influence its dual-clutch 'box (at least not without an options pack upgrade), but today I should be kept busy enough without. Its standard tyres have been swapped for studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas and the stage is set for a day of driving like few I've experienced before.

The difficulty of buying a brand-new drop-top poses all the incentive I need to fold back the fabric hood of this Mini Convertible the moment I'm handed its key and not whirr it back until the day is out. Further motivation is beamed from the 'Always Open Timer' on its vibrant circular touchscreen, which claims the roof has been down for almost 22 hours since the car first rolled out of the factory.

We had better click that over to a full day, then, regardless of the temperature in deepest Scandinavia loitering around -16deg C. The skies are cloudy, but luckily it's dry and there's only an occasional, light dusting of snow to speckle the Mini's interior. Thermals on, coat zipped up and woolly hat pulled low, it's time for an unlikely adventure to celebrate the fact Mini still makes these things.

The Mini is also a fully British affair again. Production of this fourth-generation Convertible returned to Plant Oxford after a decade's hiatus, while the four-cylinder 'B48' engine up front is pieced together at Hams Hall in Birmingham and BMW Group Plant Swindon supplies its body panels and sub-assemblies.

We're an awfully long way from those factory lines now, mind you. We've landed in Trondheim, Norway, to drive two hours east to Áre, a Swedish town famous for skiing, mountain biking and ice driving. Plenty of companies run joyful days of skidding around on the area's frozen lakes, whether in well-used Toyota GT86s or the classic Tuthill 911s of Below Zero, and our day will close with a little taster of the fun.

With a few fistfuls of luck we'll be greeted by the aurora borealis - the Mini Convertible presents a perfectly open viewing canopy for seizing any opportunity of a sighting.

The drive looks fairly innocuous on a map -you turn right out of the airport, subtly cross a border then sit on the E14 until the glowing bars of Are heave into view. The road gently wends its way through scenery that appears frozen solid, the Cooper S taking it all in its stride on those foolproof-feeling studs - until WOAH!, an urgent, cold-blooded stamp of the brake pedal and a swing left of the Mini's steering wheel to avoid an errant moose that's chosen now, of all moments, to wander blindly into the road.

The 'elk test' was given its 15 minutes of infamy by the first-gen Mercedes-Benz A-Class, but I'd never imagined experiencing it in real life. Thankfully, the tenacity of those tyres - plus the innate balance of the Mini - makes mincemeat of such tests, whether staged or otherwise.

Even with studded rubber and the loss of a fixed metal roof, the core agility we have always adored in Minis hasn't been lost: its steering is quick-witted and the rear axle always gleefully follows behind. The more potent Cooper S and JCW drop-tops enjoy a bit of extra chassis bracing, and the end result feels delightfully close to the S hatch that road tester Illya Verpraet enjoyed so much. He praised the low-slung, BMW-like driving position, one that only feels boosted by the loss of B-pillars and more expansive visibility.

My only qualm with the way this car drives is (inevitably) the lack of manual control over its seven-speed transmission. But the car's own mapping is pretty good, and you can nicely edit its Go-Kart driving mode to mix and match the throttle, steering and DSC mapping to mould a car with a more eager shift pattern, a cleaner steering response and a less studious eye on your mischief. It's a perfectly natural car in which to start unwinding the stability control, although I'll reserve 'DSC Off' for the frozen lake...

The rest of the car has a surprising assuredness to it. These are grown-up things beneath the jovial interior design, with a good smattering of mature BMW tech woven among the extravagant circles. Mostly, I'm thankful for its three levels of heat for the front seats and steering wheel.

Driving roof-down in the biting cold gathers a lot of stares and the occasional hooted horn once we roll into downtown Åre, but I won't let the attention stop me. And while its turbo four isn't the most rousing of engines in most circumstances, its role too perfunctory for a car with sporting intentions, it doesn't half blare nicely in the sub-zero air.

The Mk4, F67 Mini Convertible is actually a heavily updated Mk3 - hands up if you remember the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet doing similar in the late '90s. The fact is evidenced by old-gen tail-lights that don't tally with the latest Mini hatch; its F57 predecessor was actually launched a year after the ND-gen MX-5 that remains on sale.

It poses the question: wouldn't we rather have two gently evolved soft-tops to choose from rather than none at all? We meander through an innocuous barrier onto Äresjön lake with a joyful little circuit laid out ready on the ice. It's a chance to explore all the handling hilarity that was hinted at on the road amid a safer expanse of space.

Turning off the DSC makes it an easier thing to get moving from a standstill: its scrabble for grip is reminiscent of a Cooper S on the mildly damp roads of home, and the car feels no liability in the turns with the aids extinguished. It's a doddle to initiate the lift-off oversteer BMW Minis have typically revelled in, and the ensuing slide can be gathered up quickly with an opposing flick of your wrists or kept going with surprising ease on the throttle. Just mind the snow spray if you've dropped all four windows down...

This is outright frivolity rather than anything resembling consumer advice, I'm only too aware, but it's nice to know the Monte spirit still lives and breathes beneath a 1.4-tonne Convertible. This is a proper Mini, roofless or not, and proof that one of the last affordable drop-tops left on British price lists is recommendable for its talents and not just the mere scarcity of its offering.

Less promising is the sky, where thick cloud and a riotous blizzard have rolled in when we had hoped to see flashes of green and pink swirl above us. Time to roll the roof back up and relinquish the keys, then the bright teal -backlighting of the fabric dash teasing us with a glimpse of the dazzling show we could have had. Mischievous as ever, this Mini Convertible. Let's hope it stays that way for a long time yet.

Mini Cooper S convertible
Price	£31,990 (£33,790 as tested)
Engine	4 cyls in line, 1998cc, turbocharged, petrol
Power	201bhp at 5000-6500rpm
Torque	221lb ft at 1450-5000rpm
Gearbox	7-spd dual-clutch automatic, FWD
Kerb weight	1455kg
0-62mph	6.9sec
Top speed	147mph
Economy	42.8mpg
CO2, tax band	149g/km, 35%

Dodge Caliber retrospective: The crossover that arrived too early?

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0100

It was a quiet trailblazer for the modern crossover market, offering American styling and practicality on a budget

It looked slightly interesting then, and it looks slightly interesting now.

It was a quiet trailblazer too, the Caliber, though into a bit of a cul-de-sac of the kind occupied by the Talbot Matra Rancho and all those faux off-road superminis like the VW Polo Cross, the Rover Streetwise, the Hyundai Getz Cross (regrettably not sold here) and today’s admittedly more successful Dacia Sandero Stepway.

We’re talking crossovers, machines milder than the Caliber’s Jeep Compass cousin or even the Nissan Qashqai, which rides higher.

As a follow-up to the Dodge Neon (Chrysler to us) the Caliber certainly moved with the times, DaimlerChrysler’s budget US offering shifting from front-drive, low-roofed four-door sedan to the higher-riding crossover Caliber.

The Neon was spectacular at launch for its exceptionally low price, and when you started probing into how that was achieved, an interior whose quality was little better than that of the packaging you release a new smartphone from.

Regrettably this trashy characteristic was carried over to the Caliber with almost undiminished enthusiasm. Its constituent cabin components may have been more firmly tethered to its body than the Neon’s, but the plastics were of grades barely any better than those that had twittered aboard the Chrysler.

The Caliber was created in the era when the Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge areas of the DaimlerChrysler empire had no separate interior design department, the cars’ cabin design a mere must-do part of the creative process rather than an area in which design might excel.

As you might expect given these priorities, the Caliber’s exterior was a rather more polished effort of creativity.

Being a Dodge alone – there was no Chrysler version – the aim was to vest the Caliber with some of the visual robustness of the RAM pick-ups that the marque was better known for domestically.

A big grille sporting the Dodge crosshairs décor and a ram badge – the trucks had yet to be split away to create the distinct RAM brand – chunky blistered wheelarches, a bonnet that sat proud of the wings, a chunky back bumper and huge taillights all referenced the rugged world of pick-up trucks.

But the most distinctive feature were the twin arcs of matt black paint spanning the length of the roof, a pleasingly effective visual device that did much to emphasise the coupé-like glasshouse.

The Caliber was quite a clever piece of design and ought to have appealed strongly in the US and even here, where the link to the trucks would not have registered.

And though cheaply finished the interior was at least spacious, and on some versions came with unexpected extras that included a rechargeable torch for chasing down rattles and a coolbox for consolatory drinks.

An unusually fulsome Boston stereo was also available, this going a long way to drown out the cabin’s plastic-on-plastic creaks and the owner’s sorrow at their existence.

There was more than the chatter of trim to overcome aboard some versions of the Caliber. Many UK buyers chose the special-to-Europe version fitted with a 2.0 litre VW turbodiesel of ageing tech, this a power unit whose narrowly effective torque band brought thrust, economy and its own brand of growlingly vibratory din to the Caliber mix.

Couple this to suspension whose most successfully executed task was holding the Caliber’s body a few inches from the ground – this Dodge neither rode nor handled well – and you had a car whose presence in UK showrooms was hard to fathom.

Indeed, the presence of Dodge at all was difficult to understand when sister brand Chrysler was sporadically struggling to survive, and when the more promising Jeep still needed loads of help.

The scheme to launch Dodge in Europe was part-dreamed up by some Detroit based Mercedes executives whose grasp of the sheer crapness of the Chrysler corporation’s cabins had clearly failed to make much impact.

The idea was to present Dodge as a cheap route to performance, but the only Caliber offering anything like the necessary punch was that yelling diesel.

Still, it was undeniably cheap, different and practical, these qualities sufficient to shift just over 6000 in the UK.

Physical buttons poised to become key brand differentiator

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Car makers will return to buttons – and could even shrink screens – in a bid to stand out, says brand expert

Physical car controls will become an increasingly crucial way for car brands to stand out in the future, according to a leading design firm.

"You can see how screens have made their way into vehicles and they're upgradable, but unless they're dealt with well, it can be quite a lazy intervention," Luke Miles, founder of NewTerritory, told Autocar. "There is a moment [coming] when there's going to be a new level of value in some of the analogue bits, some of the real high-value bits that you interface with."

NewTerritory has historically focused on aviation, designing interiors for US giant Delta and Virgin Atlantic, but it has now moved into the car industry, with clients including Ford and Mercedes. Miles himself previously led design at LG Europe and Virgin Atlantic.

The increasing sophistication of voice and gesture controls gives manufacturers a means of moving away from the screen's dominance in car interiors, according to Miles. "When things are voice-activated or gestural, then you're in a space where those moments - whether they are analogue or more physical - become really valuable," he said. "You boil down the brand into these really beautiful, well-engineered, well-crafted human moments."

He added: "You can imagine this very lovely space where you're blending the foreground and the background - background technology being voice, illumination, gestures maybe. The foreground is beautifully crafted moments of interaction, whether it's a metallic piece or maybe it's [a control] which is built out a little bit more with a digital capability embedded in it."

Physical controls, according to Miles, create those "human moments" that foster the connection between car and driver. "The sense of feedback of a knurled object, or a click, gets you to a place where you realise it's been beautifully assembled," he said.

Meanwhile, voice controls "could mean the screen shrinks again", he said. "You don't necessarily need it [at all]."

Major players have already started a move back towards physical buttons. Volkswagen brand chief Thomas Schäfer, for instance, has said the company's previous shift away from buttons did "a lot of damage".

VW's revised approach to interior design - described as a "premium haptic" concept, majoring on switchgear and rotary dials - is exemplified by the forthcoming ID Polo, ID Cross and the updated ID 3.

Overall, suggested Miles, manufacturers will "want to invest in moments of positive friction", providing touchpoints that differentiate them from the competition in terms of how they look and feel.

Proper keys: A touchy subject

Keys are another crucial point of interaction between the car and driver, suggested Miles.

He said: "It's a part of the brand that you carry around with you continually when you're not in the vehicle, but sometimes the value of that thing is actually quite limited."

Miles described the interaction of placing a key to start a car - something that has largely disappeared with the proliferation of push-button starters - as a "handshake" and "a threshold moment of getting in and going from one mode [of movement] to another, which the key is instrumental to".

The upcoming Ferrari Luce is one example of how a manufacturer has used the key as part of this 'handshake'.

To start the car, its fob has to be clicked into place on the centre console.

The key contains 'e-ink' that, after it is secured, 'bleeds' into the console and unlocks the gear selector.

However, other firms have sought to ditch traditional keys. Tesla, for example, does not include a physical keycard as standard on the entry-level versions of the Model 3 and Model Y.

Volvo and Polestar, meanwhile, have replaced traditional keys with credit card-style fobs and digital facsimiles accessed through a phone app.

Audi could hybridise RS3's five-pot to keep it on sale in Europe

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:29:21 +0100

Current 2.5-litre 'EA855' engine falls foul of Euro 7 emissions regulations coming into force in November

Audi could hybridise its 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine as a way of keeping it on sale in Europe in the face of stricter emissions regulations, Audi Sport boss Rolf Michl has told Autocar.

In its current configuration, the 394bhp 'EA855' falls foul of the new Euro 7 emissions regulations coming into force in November.

Bringing it into compliance would demand a substantial engineering investment – a difficult business case to justify when the engine is deployed in just two models globally: the Audi RS3 and Cupra Formentor VZ5.

The recent launch of the RS3 Competition Limited was seen as a potential swansong for the unit, after Audi CEO Gernot Döllner told Autocar that the EA855’s future was "still under discussion" at board level, adding that “I don’t know if we’re able to refinance the investment in EU7 regulations”.

In order to keep it on sale, sources have told Autocar that the engine would need substantial hardware changes, such as a new particulate filter, more sensitive NOx sensors, recalibrated injection mapping and higher cell-density catalysts.

However, when pressed on whether hybridisation could instead be the answer, Michl told Autocar: “We are open to every possibility. The thoughts [on how to do that] will continue at our end. I can tell you we are still thinking in different technological possibilities.”

He added: “At the end of the day, the most important thing is the maximum amount of emotional driving experience for the compact segment.

“We are absolutely aware of the DNA of a five-cylinder engine and we are open to every possibility.”

If the 2.5-litre unit isn't updated, it won't be killed off completely, as Audi intends to keep selling it in markets with less stringent environmental mandates, such as the US.

If it is re-engineered, Autocar previously reported that Volkswagen was looking to take it for a special Golf to mark 25 years of Volkswagen R next year.

Incoming electric Rolls-Royce SUV to feature split-bonnet design

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0100

New images of electric SUV reveal its design will be influenced by the recently revealed £7m Project Nightingale

New images of Rolls-Royce’s upcoming electric SUV show how its styling will be influenced by the Project Nightingale, the firm’s new £7 million electric convertible.

The limited-run EV, revealed earlier this week, is the first in a new range of ultra-exclusive models under Goodwood’s new Coachbuild Collection.

Sporting a radical 'boat tail' design and features experimental elements such as a huge rear diffusor, it's said to showcase a refreshed look for the brand under the direction of former BMW design boss Domagoj Dukec, who moved within the BMW Group to join Rolls in 2024.

“It will shape everything that follows,” he said – and new images from Autocar spy photographers show that the first model to feel Project Nightingale’s influence will be the incoming Cullinan-sized electric SUV.

The EV has been seen with a two-piece bonnet design that features a pair of side-hinged openings, clearly inspired by the drop-top’s lavish ‘piano boot’. Indeed, patent filings have been submitted by BMW Group for such a design.

They seem likely access points to a frunk, which would also be a first for Rolls-Royce: neither the Spectre nor Project Nightingale featurie one. They would also revive a classic bonnet design synonymous with the firm’s earliest models.

The images suggest another key design the EV could take from Project Nightingale is its vertical daytime-running lights. The design will be more traditional, however, as the Project Nightingale lenses are hand-built and each take days to produce.

This is the second time the Cullinan-sized electric SUV has been spotted testing by Autocar.

The SUV will sit on the Architecture of Luxury platform used by all existing Rolls-Royce models including the Spectre coupé, the firm's first EV.

As such, expect it to use the same battery and motors as the Spectre. That model draws electricity from a 102kWh battery, offers 329 miles of range and delivers up to 650bhp from a dual-motor powertrain in top-rung Black Badge guise.

Another option for Rolls, however, could be to fit the SUV with BMW's new arsenal of Gen6 technology - including batteries and motors-that will feature in its sibling brand's forthcoming range of Neue Klasse EVs, starting with the new iX3 SUV.

The compatibility of that tech with the Architecture of Luxury platform could be a stumbling block, however.

Given the test mule appears to be close to production spec, it is expected to be unveiled later this year, around the same time as rival Bentley's forthcoming maiden EV, before going on sale around a year later.

This would follow the same timeline as the Spectre, which was spotted testing for the first time at the end of 2021 and revealed in October 2022, with deliveries starting a year after that.

How Autocar thinks the SUV will look

Rolls-Royce has yet to disclose any official details about its new SUV.

When approached, a spokesperson told Autocar that the company was "unable to comment on future product plans".

Exclusive: Behind the scenes of McLaren's radical reinvention

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0100

It's been a quiet year since McLaren's merger with start-up Forseven – CEO Nick Collins explains what's next

"I said a year ago this is the most exciting story in automotive," says Nick Collins, sitting in his office in the McLaren Technology Centre.

"I still believe that's true." When Collins first said that to Autocar, his quote accompanied the bombshell revelation that Forseven, the nascent start-up he led as CEO, was merging with McLaren Automotive in a deal brokered by their shared owner, CYVN Holdings - an Abu Dhabi government investment fund.

The bold ambition was to revive McLaren so that it could truly compete with luxury rivals such as Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. We broke the news in our 9 April 2025 issue, with Collins - an industry veteran who previously worked for Ford and JLR - outlining plans to expand McLaren beyond its core of two-seat mid-engined supercars and promising more details in a "bigger bang" event before the end of 2025. Twelve months later, those plans remain under wraps.

McLaren may be an exciting story but, like George RR Martin fans, we're left to question when the next chapter will actually arrive. Inside the company, of course, it has been different, as Collins explains: "We've had a hell of a busy year setting the groundwork for the future. We made some super-quick decisions and have done some really big, transformational things.

"We've committed more than $2 billion of investment and we're a debt-free company that now has the right foundations, with an unapologetically bold plan to grow and the means to do it." Exactly one year on, it's time for Autocar to sit down with Collins again, for an in-depth update and, yes, to press him on when we will finally see something tangible from the revamped firm.

Rebuilding McLaren

The early focus was to address "foundational things" to stabilise McLaren, starting with clearing its debt. "McLaren is a luxury brand, so we've really focused on quality," says Collins. "We've improved our warranty by 80% and our production quality by more than 60%." Annual production volume was also cut by around 1000, to 2000 cars last year. "We had too much stock in our dealers," says Collins. "Securing residual values helps our relationship with customers and gives us the platform from which to grow."

The integration of McLaren and Forseven - which had around 700 employees - sparked a reorganisation, and Collins acknowledges "some of our colleagues departed as part of that". Those included McLaren's then CEO Michael Leiters and chief designer Tobias Sühlmann, both of whom are now at Porsche. Collins says he was impressed by the "amazing people in McLaren", adding that "the depth of technical knowledge is phenomenal. It's a young workforce compared to some other firms, with very high technical talent."

Collins attributes McLaren's struggles in recent years to process, not personnel, explaining: "We didn't take decisions fast enough. We didn't make complicated things simple to make things faster. Like a lot of car companies, we have a lot of acronyms, and I believe passionately in plain language."

Collins admits that "different people embrace change in different ways", adding: "The reality of the business and where it was at was not as well known as it should have been, and there was maybe a false comfort around the condition of the company. We needed to do things urgently to get to where we need to be, and we still need to act with urgency, because we have to grow this company.

"We're in a privileged position of having the financial means to go and pursue that opportunity. It's more exciting to have a bold ambition than it is a half-filled ambition."

Targeted investment

The £1.5bn invested by CYVN is going towards "new product and capabilities to execute that new product", says Collins. There has been a major overhaul of McLaren's IT systems, for instance: "We're determined to grow in a super-efficient way and not become stuck with legacy data systems slowing us down. When you see what Chinese companies have built, we tend to think about the product, but the underlying systems and technology they're using unlocks their speed to market."

Beefing up the design team has been another focus. A state-of-the-art design studio and full clay modelling shop in Bicester now provides far more space than the small facility at Woking, enabling the team to work on more projects faster. While a large part of the former Forseven team remains in Bicester, McLaren is committed to stay in Woking alongside the Formula 1 team. CYVN has worked to secure the MTC as the long-time home of the McLaren brand after the lease to the site was sold in 2021.

The future plan

Collins says he has been "humbled" by his interactions with McLaren customers at various events, noting that "the passion for the brand way outpunches the reality of the company at the moment". Building on that passion is key: "We're determined to be a luxury company but not have any arrogance. It goes back to Bruce McLaren's era: he had a certain maverick nature [and] his team had a spirit, a joy in what they were doing. We want that in our team."

The restructuring and merger process was completed by around October last year, and since then "we started doubling down on exactly what we were going to execute for the future [and] how we were going to do that, with which technologies and in which sectors". Late last year, McLaren bosses met retailers and showed them full-size design models "of everything we're going to do through the end of the decade".

So why no public unveiling yet? "We changed our path in terms of when we wanted to do that, not what we were doing," answers Collins. "We showed some of our retailers and employees but we chose not to extend that into the media arena." When pressed, he insists that this wasn't due to any delays, rather a focus on "how we wanted to do something". He insists that "from this summer we will start to unpack visibly. After that there will be a very rapid and consistent narrative."

Deliveries of the W1 hypercar- the 1275bhp V8-engined hybrid successor to the P1 - will start this summer, and the hint is that any announcement could come around then. While he won't go into specifics, Collins is clear that "the overall portfolio will grow over time", and he says McLaren will have "more differentiation" so it's easy to understand "what each car is doing in the portfolio".

Line-up flexibility

Having spent a year working at McLaren, Collins says the plan hasn't changed but "evolved". He elaborates: "We took early decisions, even pre-closing [the deal], because we knew where we wanted to go with the business and the reality of the market at the moment. We made very quick decisions around propulsion technologies. We've evolved the plans because we could see a clearer way of locking in a sustainable competitive advantage long term. And, of course, the more time you spend driving these cars, you understand elements of the recipe are applicable in multiple different segments or can be applied in a unique, brand-defining way to a different segment of vehicle that McLaren has never participated in."

Collins "still believes vehemently the long-term trajectory will be towards EVs, but it was never going to be a linear line". He adds: "We will do an electric vehicle when our customers want one. We're not going to force it into a market that doesn't yet want it, and right now the market doesn't want it. We have the tools to deploy EV at the point that we need to do it. That clarity of purpose is important to accelerate our plan. We are very clear on the technological building blocks to execute our portfolio."

This raises a question: since the model plan for 2030 exists in clay form, does McLaren have the flexibility to offer some of those models with electric technology if demand changes? "I have to be careful how I answer that," laughs Collins. "We have flexibility but not in the traditional sense. The way we've gone about that flexibility is unique. But factually, we will only push EVs into that flexibility at the point somebody is asking us to do it - and, very clearly when we talk to our customers, that time is not now."

In terms of that portfolio, Collins is sticking to his line that "we will do everything we've always done but even better and some more things as well. Certain things are bankers, very logical things for us to do. But there's that maverick spirit here that goes back to Bruce's day: people come up with left-field ideas and we have the spirit to explore those."

Greater customisation

One area of the business that will grow significantly is McLaren Special Operations (MSO), the customisation division. Collins sees special models as vital for helping push McLaren firmly into the high-end sphere. "We've got incredible craftspeople in MSO and we want to broaden that offer," he says. "We want more people to tailor their cars and increase personalisation as a percentage of our total order bank. People go there with their dreams and that team makes them come to life. Some of our customers have decades-long connections to the brand and their own views and ideas."

Collins insists that he's receptive to feedback and ideas from existing buyers, saying "we're not so proud or corporately stuffy to think we're the custodians of every good idea".

The next year

Collins insists that McLaren is in a much better position than last year - and poised to capitalise on the challenges being faced by luxury rivals. "We dealt with that last year," he says. "My determination is to grab that opportunity before everybody else has settled their restructures. To take a racing analogy, we're going to put the pedal down and overtake before they can press the accelerator."

So, if we return again to speak to Collins this time next year, where will McLaren be? "We will have definitely launched a few things into the world," he says. "People will understand our trajectory and they will feel the underlying spirit and persona of the company. I believe there will be huge excitement around what's next."

Learning lessons from the track

McLaren Automotive is now a separate business from the McLaren Group, which encompasses the Formula 1 team, but the two still share a base and brand identity. "The two businesses operated quite separately in the past, not to the benefit of the underlying brand," says Nick Collins, but promises that will change in the future. "[McLaren Racing CEO] Zak [Brown] is a brilliant entrepreneur," he continues, "and we're super-aligned on what we can do. We communicate daily.

"Look at the F1 team's results, look at how they communicate, their fans, sponsors and ethics, how they hold each other to account in the right way. There's a lot to learn about the way they operate. The technological solutions might be different, but the way they do it is teachable."

After years of struggles, McLaren won both F1 titles last year, and Collins acknowledges the parallels with McLaren Automotive's current restructuring: "Zak has been very open to me about that journey, and we recently shared a bit about where we're going with them. What spins from that is ideas and what else we can do together."

Alfa Romeo Giulia

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:06:51 +0100

Italian saloon looks as enticing as ever, but can it still objectively compete with BMW and Audi after a decade on sale? Can you believe that the Alfa Romeo Giulia is celebrating its 10th birthday this year?By modern automotive logic it should be a thing of the past, yet it has survived through interior updates and a major facelift in 2023 – and is now set to live on until at least 2027.The high-ups in Turin recently granted the car a stay of execution by shelving plans for an electric-only successor (an all-new Giulia will instead arrive in 2028 with both combustion and EV power) and reopening order books for the 513bhp V6 Giulia Quadrifoglio.That's good news for enthusiasts. While rivals have introduced plug-in hybrid systems, touch-sensitive tech and irritating ADAS, Alfa has kept things simple while offering excellent handling and driver engagement.But in 2026, does this old-school driver's car still hold its own, or have rivals like the BMW 3 Series, Audi A5 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class left it behind?

Mercedes C-Class EV interior revealed with 39.1in Hyperscreen

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:16:15 +0100

New electric saloon to be fully unveiled April 20; CEO says it is "most spacious and most intelligent C-Class ever"

The first official pictures of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class EV – shown just days before its unveiling – reveal that it will adopt the same digital-heavy interior as the larger GLC EV.

The C-Class with EQ Technology, as it's expected to be officially known, will be unwrapped at an event in South Korea on Monday and go on sale this summer as a rival to the new BMW i3 saloon.

The first electric variant of the hugely popular C-Class – which we took a ride in last month – will share most of its technical makeup with the electric GLC.

This includes its 800V MB.EA platform, which will allow it to offer a range of more than 450 miles, and its dashboard-spanning, 39.1in MBUX Hyperscreen.

On the centre console below the Hyperscreen sits two wireless phone chargers and a smattering of physical controls for functions including the parking camera, drive modes and audio volume.

Mercedes claims the new C-Class “sets new benchmarks” in the segment for interior quality. It will be offered with a wide range of materials, including Nappa leather and, for only the second time in a Mercedes, vegan leather. Shiny metals, which adorn key touchpoints and vents, are said to “enrich” the cabin.

New seats also feature which are said to be more comfortable over longer distances than those in today’s car. This, according to the firm, is down to their ‘electro-pneumatic’ lumbar support which “adapts the backrest to the natural curvature of the spine”. The seats also feature heating, venting and massage capabilities.

As with the GLC, top-end models will feature a Burmester 4D Surround Sound System that adds transducers (which Mercedes calls “exciters”) into the seats that transmit bass so passengers “feel” the music.

Mercedes also claims that the C-Class EV (a test mule pictured below) will be “exceptionally quiet” on the move having been “engineered to the highest standards of acoustic comfort”.

It points to elements such as the laminated side windows, “specially refined” electric motors, and a new air-conditioning unit as key to this claim.

Mercedes additionally claims that the car’s highly rigid bodyshell and aerodynamically optimised design reduce noise and vibration “with remarkable effectiveness”.

Boss Ola Källenius said: “With the all-new electric C‑Class, we’ve raised everything customers love about this model to the next level. The result is a new benchmark for quality, craftsmanship and comfort. It is the most spacious and most intelligent C-Class ever.”

Autocar Great Women 2026: Ford's Lisa Brankin takes top award

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Lisa Brankin has led Ford in the UK for more than five years

The initiative celebrates the achievements of the most influential women across the motoring sector

Ford of Britain and Ireland boss Lisa Brankin has been named the most influential woman in the British automotive industry at the Autocar Great Women Awards 2026.

Autocar Great Women is an initiative held in association with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) to celebrate the achievements of the most influential women from across the motoring sector.

At this year's ceremony, held at the Stellantis UK headquarters in Coventry on 16 April, we recognised the influence of 108 inspiring female leaders in 11 categories, including executive, vehicle development, sales, PR and communications and talent.

Each category's shortlist was topped by an overall winner, as determined by a panel of Autocar and SMMT judges, with Brankin topping the Executive category and being named the overall winner of Autocar Great Women 2026. You can read about the achievements of all the shortlisted candidates and category winners on our dedicated website.

Brankin was promoted to the position of UK chair at Ford’s national sales company in August 2023 in addition to the responsibility of being managing director of Ford of Britain and Ireland, a role she took on in November 2020. Brankin’s posting to the very top position within this key Ford market – its largest in Europe – was the pinnacle of more than 20 successful years rising through the ranks of the brand.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Brankin graduated from the University of Ulster in 1990 and joined Ford as graduate trainee in the same year. She quickly moved into senior positions, including director of dealer operations; marketing manager for dealers and consumers; and communications, events and sponsorship manager.

In more recent years, Brankin was promoted to marketing director, before becoming sales director, then in 2019 she was promoted to director of passenger cars, overseeing all of Ford’s sales and marketing in Britain and Ireland.

During her time at the company, she has overseen Ford’s shift away from its traditional position of passenger car leader to a company with greater focus on the more profitable sales of light commercial vehicles, where Ford remains number one.

Accepting her award, Brankin said: "I’m incredibly honoured to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame at this year’s Great Women Awards and want to thank Autocar for this very special recognition.

"What makes this even more meaningful is seeing so many brilliant Ford colleagues recognised alongside me. Their passion, talent and leadership help shape the future of our business and our industry every day.

"Congratulations to everyone recognised and thank you again to Autocar for a fantastic event and for championing women in the automotive industry."

With this her second overall Great Women victory, Brankin joins the initiative's Hall of Fame, alongside other Great Women who have won multiple times, including Stellantis's Alison Jones, McLaren's Helen Foord and BMW's Michelle Roberts.

Haymarket Automotive managing director Rachael Prasher said: "I offer my warmest celebrations to our 2026 honourees and the remarkable leaders recognised this year. The extraordinary calibre and multifaceted skillsets found across every corner of the automotive landscape are truly inspiring.

"As we accelerate through this era of total industry evolution, such pioneering spirit and plurality of vision have become the indispensable cornerstones of our collective success - and it's laying the foundations for a whole new generation of amazing female leaders."

Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw added: "The Autocar Great Women initiative is vital, because it shines a necessary spotlight on the brilliant female talent redefining our industry’s future.

"These winners are far more than high achievers; they are truly inspirational trailblazers whose dedication breaks barriers. By celebrating their success, we ensure the next generation sees that a rewarding, limit-free career in automotive is firmly within reach."

Autocar Great Women 2026 is proudly sponsored by Bentley, IM Group, JLR, Keyloop, Nissan, NTT Data, Stellantis and Volvo Cars.

Read about the initiative and all the 2026 winners here.

How VW's new 'Unified Cell' will slash the price of its EVs

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0100

The VW Group is unlocking cheaper EVs by standardising battery design across 80% of its brands

Setting consistent standards has been a persistent bugbear in the engineering of cars since the year dot.

Trouble is, everybody has a different idea of how to do things, so the world ends up with umpteen different versions of the same thing with little or no compatibility.

Take the various EV charging connectivity options, such as Type 1, Type 2, Chademo and CCS. Which type dominates can depend on where you live in the world.

Volkswagen has nipped this phenomenon in the bud where EV battery and battery cell design are concerned. Its Unified Cell, which we have previously reported on, has been developed in conjunction with its subsidiary PowerCo to standardise battery cell design, and last year it revealed its first production-ready examples.

The Unified Cell will make its debut in the company's Electric Urban Car Family, appearing with Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra badges, and Autocar test drove a prototype of the VW ID Polo in December last year.

The cell, which will eventually be used across 80% of the Volkswagen Group's brands, is claimed to be a big leap forward in cell design, with an energy density of up to 660Wh (0.66kWh) per litre of volume the cells occupy.

That's said to be an improvement of 10% over previous cells' best, helped by installation on a cell-to-pack basis that does away with the intermediate stage of packing cells in modules before installing into a battery pack. The aim is for the Urban Family cars to have a range of 280 miles and a charging time of under 25 minutes, depending on the cell chemistry used.

The Unified Cell can accommodate different chemistries including LFP (lithium iron phosphate, the 'F' being for 'ferrous', as the cathode material) and NMC (nickel manganese cobalt), which typically has a greater energy density than LFP to give more range for the same weight and volume.

The cells can also accommodate sodium ion (Na ion), which first went into mass production last month with Chinese battery maker CATL.

There's more to Unified Cells than just a format to suit the manufacturer. VW says standardisation will lead to huge economies of scale in both cells and whole battery systems.

The cost of the battery accounts for around 40% of an EV's price, so it should mean cheaper cars, which is essential if urban EVs are to succeed commercially.

Sodium ion's drawback has always been a lower energy density than lithium ion, but that is improving with development. Raw materials are cheaper and the environmental credentials are better, so sodium-ion batteries have the potential for a cleaner carbon footprint during their lifetime.

Unsexy yet vital: Why tyres are worth obsessing over

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0100

A tyre change isn't just maintenance - it’s an opportunity to play development engineer

Do you know which company made the oil filter in your car? What about the seats or the windscreen? Unless you recently changed any of these parts yourself, it's likely that you don't. And why would you?

They make little material difference. You might know that the eight-speed automatic gearbox comes from ZF, but there's not much you can do to change that even if you really wanted to.

But you might know whether you have Goodyears or Pirellis. Now, I'm sure the average motorist couldn't care less whether the pieces of overpriced rubber on which their car sits say Sailun or Lanvigator on the side, but the car enthusiast may well have made the conscious decision not to opt for a Comforser and instead spent a bit more on a Michelin or four, and not just the normal Pilot Sport 4, but the 4S.

Tyres have a reputation for being unsexy, but I believe they are among the most interesting parts of a car. They are the only thing that connects your car to the road, and therefore they influence almost every aspect of its behaviour. Grip, of course, but also ride comfort, noise, fuel economy, and how fast it can accelerate and stop.

When my oil filter needs replacing, the garage will fit whatever brand they tend to use. It works or it doesn't, and unless it's so bad that the engine seizes up soon after, I won't know the difference. But when my tyres are up for replacement, it's an opportunity for me to play at being a development engineer. Never mind settling for some Kustone or Saferich ditchfinders; I have the chance here to make a meaningful difference to the way my car drives. Off to read every tyre test on the internet I go.

Tyre testing requires a lot of resources and specialist expertise to do well, so it's best left to the specialists — and I find reading and watching their evaluations strangely magnetic. How can the same BMW 3 Series be safe but a bit numb and understeery on the Michelin, fun and slightly oversteery on the Pirelli, and a hopeless, unpredictable mess on the Hifly?

Thing is, most automotive engineers don't fully understand either. Even Tesla and BYD, the champions of doing it all themselves, fit tyres from known brands. On performance cars in particular, the tyres will be specific to that OEM or even a particular model, and the P Zero on a BMW M3 will have little in common with the ostensibly identical P Zero on an Alpina B3.

Engineers from the tyre company will often be involved with the development process of the car from the start, in order to tune the tyre to what the OEM wants, whether that's ultimate fuel consumption, perfect handling or, most likely, a trade-off between the two, skewed slightly in one direction or the other depending on the new model's positioning.

It works this way because tyre development is a very specialised discipline. The ways the natural and synthetic rubber work together with various additives such as silica and carbon, as well as the more rigid carcass, are less like normal mechanical automotive engineering and more closely aligned with alchemy. That air of mysticism, combined with how tyres are a relatively easy way to make a big difference to your own car, makes them fascinating things. It almost makes me feel guilty when I'm turning them into smoke by way of an 819bhp V12. Almost...

Leasing firms slam overstimulated fleet EV market

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:56:31 +0100

Artificially high demand for EVs is causing oversupplied used market and heavy de-fleeting losses, they say

The rush for electric company cars is out of step with natural demand for EVs, causing an oversupplied used market and heavy losses when cars are de-fleeted.

That’s according to a new report from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), whose members run a combined fleet of 1.6 million cars and account for a large share of new EV registrations each year.

Data from the fourth quarter of 2025 shows that demand for electric company cars continued to surge, supported by cheaper newcomers reaching showrooms and aggressive discounting from manufacturers trying to meet the government’s ZEV mandate targets.

Both of those factors are important for salary-sacrifice schemes, whereby drivers lease a car through their employer using their pre-tax wages. The main restriction is the monthly rentals can’t nudge their remaining income under the national minimum wage threshold.

With an influx of cheaper plug-in hybrid and electric cars, BVRLA members claim almost half of salary-sacrifice deliveries are now going to 20% taxpayers, many of whom wouldn’t previously have been eligible for such schemes.

However, the organisation highlighted ultra-low benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rates for EVs as the main catalyst for both company car and salary-sacrifice volumes.

An EV driver would be taxed on 4% of the vehicle’s list price in 2026/27, compared with 25% for the most efficient petrol models, resulting in a monthly tax bill roughly six times lower.

BVRLA members’ business contract hire (BCH) fleet grew 10% to 983,388 cars during 2025, of which almost half (48%) were electric. Meanwhile, salary-sacrifice volumes more than doubled (up 125%) to 226,663 cars over the same period, with a 77% EV share of new deliveries during Q4 of 2025.

Leasing firm executives have now warned that those conditions have pushed EV registrations beyond the “organic” demand for EVs.

With few incentives for retail customers, members’ private contract hire (PCH) fleets shrank by 4% to 236,804 cars. CO2 emissions for new deliveries averaged 90g/km – more than twice that of the EV-heavy new BCH fleet (44g/km).

That imbalance is compounded by mixed messages from the government, including a new pay-per-mile tax (eVED) for EVs from April 2028, which has already affected order rates, while the Iran war is expected to raise borrowing costs and cause inflation, impacting business and consumer confidence with a risk of stalling the new car market, the BVRLA added.

Leasing firms are already facing “body blow” losses, often thousands of pounds per vehicle, when they remarket ex-fleet EVs at a lower price than the residual value that was forecast at the start of the contract.

That has caused monthly rental fees for EVs to rise faster than list prices, as a protective measure from further losses.

Customer behaviour is changing too, with average contract lengths increasing by 10% during 2025 and rising demand for used cars on salary-sacrifice and BCH fleets.

The BVRLA believes salary-sacrifice could absorb more ex-fleet volume if drivers were taxed based on the vehicle’s used value. BIK is fixed for a vehicle's entire life, based on its list price when new.

BVRLA chief executive Toby Poston said: “Persistent pressure on electric vehicle residual values, combined with wider economic uncertainty and global unrest, means margins are being squeezed like never before.

"Sustained progress will depend on greater market stability and clear, consistent policy signals from government.”

I'm a serial Lotus buyer – the Evora is better than an Elise

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0100

This Lotus enthusiast explains why his 345bhp Evora is the one car from Hethel he can't sell

Chris Smith bought his first Lotus, an Elise S, in 1996, when he was 23.

"It was my only car and people said I was crazy," he recalls. "But every journey was great fun. I had it for seven years." He'd owned a BMW 3 Series before and it was another German car that subsequently replaced the Lotus.

"I bought a Porsche Cayman," he says. "It was a great car but it was big and too comfortable and lacked the Lotus magic."

So back to Lotus he went, this time buying a 2010 Elise S3: "It had the 1.6-litre Toyota engine. You really had to wring its neck and keep it above 4000rpm. It was great fun."

Eventually, Chris sold it and some years later bought an Esprit Turbo. Then, five years ago, he bought his current Lotus, a 2014 Evora S Sports Racer. "I got it from Paul Matty Sports Cars," he says.

"I spent ages looking at his cars. He was a great chap to talk to. He's retired now so I feel very fortunate to have been able to buy a car from such a Lotus legend."

Chris's Evora had done 13,000 miles when he bought it and he's added only 4500 miles since. "I share it with my other cars, which include a Ginetta G15," he says. "In fact, me and Dad built a Ginetta when I was still at school and that triggered an interest in cars which has stayed with me to this day."

When new, his Evora would have cost around £65,000, but six years later Chris paid £35,000 for it. He now reckons it's worth around £40,000. "Evora prices are creeping up," he says.

The S in its name stands for supercharged. The car's 3.5-litre V6 Toyota engine makes 345bhp compared with the 'base' unit's 276bhp. Sports Racer was a limited-edition trim available from 2013. Lotus pretty much threw the options catalogue at it, including the Sports Pack and Tech Pack. It was good value and at the time regarded as the pick of the range.

However, although Chris knew his Lotuses, when he bought the Evora he hadn't driven other examples beforehand. "It immediately felt familiar," he says. "All the usual Lotus qualities were present: accurate steering, a wonderful ride and that sense of being connected to the road. It drives like a bigger and faster Elise, although it is more comfortable and, of course, practical.

"It's got a decent-size boot and, being a 2+2, there's just enough room for a couple of passengers in the back. I've had an adult passenger in there, although they did have to sit side on! And then when you've come back from holiday, you can take it on a track day and have a blast. Not that I do..."

Aside from needing a new upper rear suspension arm (it's a known problem and Chris did the job himself in less than one hour - he does have a fully equipped workshop), the Evora has behaved itself. But after five years, is Chris not ready for a change?

"There's not much on the market for £40,000 that will do what the Evora can do," he says. "Whenever I think of selling it, I take it for a drive and decide to keep it. There's something about Lotuses; they get under your skin."

First look at Dacia's new £16k electric city car

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:11:58 +0100

New Twingo-based EV will be revealed later this year ahead of a public debut at the Paris motor show

Dacia is priming a sub-£16,000 city car as one of four new EVs it will launch between now and 2030 – and the urban runabout has now been spotted testing for the first time.

The new model is twinned with the Renault Twingo, and the close ties between the two models are evident. Like its retro sibling, the Dacia has a raked C-pillar, curved roofline and rounded rear windows, plus similar surfacing around its wheel arches.

Yet significant differences are also evident: it loses the Twingo’s signature rounded front light design for a thin gloss-black panel, like that on the Spring. At the rear, it does not have the Twingo’s lozenge-style window shroud, and the brake lights are notably higher-set than those on the Twingo.

The new Dacia city car will be revealed later this year, ahead of a public debut at the Paris motor show in October. It has been developed in just 16 months.

Although it is positioned similarly to the Spring, it will not immediately replace that model. Speaking to Autocar, Dacia product boss Patrice Lévy-Bencheton said “they are still quite different” – it will be slightly larger and wider, and its design takes greater influence from Dacia’s SUVs.

While Dacia has yet to give firm technical details of the car, it is likely to closely match the Twingo, with a 27.5kWh battery giving a range of just over 160 miles. Notably, Dacia has confirmed the model will be priced from less than €18,000 (£15,600), undercutting the sub-£20,000 Twingo and making it one of the cheapest EVs on sale.

Three more Dacia EVs in next four years

Dacia has committed to the launch of three further electric vehicles over the next four years, although it has not yet given full details of them. One, however, will be the electric version of the next-generation Sandero, which, the company has confirmed, will adopt a “multi-energy powertrain range”.

As previously reported by Autocar, it will use Renault’s CMF-B platform, which allows for pure-combustion, hybrid and electric powertrains.

The Sandero will “remain the value-for-money benchmark in its segment”, said Dacia. It was for years the cheapest car on sale in the UK.

As well as increasing its EV line-up, Dacia will continue to expand its hybrid offerings. While around a quarter of Dacias currently sold feature a hybrid powertrain, the goal is for that to reach two-thirds in the future.

The Striker and Bigster will be key to growing sales in the larger and more profitable C-segment. That market currently accounts for around one fifth of the brand’s sales, but the aim is for the combination of the two vehicles to increase that share to one third in the coming years.

More broadly, Dacia will continue to lean on what it calls a “unique business model”, drawing on a “disciplined” design-to-cost strategy that, helped by the use of shared group platforms and a lean distribution system, gives it a cost advantage of 15% compared with rivals, it says.

Dacia is also aiming to further strengthen its customer loyalty. It claims that more than 70% of owners stick with the brand when buying a new vehicle, with a further 10% switching to Renault.

Toyota Yaris Cross gets new look and drops entry-level hybrid

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:33:15 +0100

Small crossover drops 116bhp hybrid set-up in favour of more powerful 130bhp variant

Toyota has updated the Yaris Cross with a fresh look that brings it into line with the brand’s newer models, such as the Aygo X and Prius.

Key changes include new LED headlights with C-shaped daytime running elements, plus a new honeycomb-style grille.

Inside, the sports seats that were previously exclusive to the second-from-top Excel trim level are now standard on Design, a grade below. Design also gains ambient lighting and a wireless phone charger as standard.

Excel, meanwhile, gains a power-opening boot, while electric folding door mirrors have been made standard across the range.

The entry-level 116bhp 1.5-litre petrol-hybrid powertrain has been discontinued, meaning the only option is the more powerful 128bhp variant that was introduced in 2024. It is available with either front- or four-wheel drive, with the latter adding an electric motor on the rear wheels that kicks in when traction is limited at the front end. The power output remains the same regardless of which drivetrain you choose, however.

Order books will open this autumn, Toyota UK has said. Prices have yet to be confirmed but are expected to rise slightly for the entry-level Icon and Design trims (£27,295 and £29,775), given the discontinuation of the 116bhp hybrid set-up. The rest of the range – which goes up to £33,180 for the Excel grade – is expected to remain broadly the same.

New Volkswagen T-Roc driven: Has it made the Golf redundant?

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0100

New-generation of VW's medium-sized crossover has plenty of strengths, but can it really cope with our tatty roads?

You may already have read Illya Verpraet’s comprehensive report on the new Volkswagen T-Roc, dispatched from Lisbon in November.

And in just a couple of months' time you’ll be able to read an even more comprehensive review, bolstered by economy and performance figures obtained at Horiba MIRA proving ground, when the T-Roc undergoes its full road test.

But in case this is somehow not enough T-Roc for you, here’s a brief report from the car’s fresh-off-the-boat arrival into the UK – a market in which the first-generation model was spectacularly successful between 2017 and 2025, even as its specific niche became increasingly crowded. In 2026 its chief rivals are the Toyota C-HR, Renault Symbioz and Skoda Karoq, and the latest Nissan Qashqai is another serious alternative.

These drives on UK Tarmac matter more for some cars than others, and the Golf-on-stilts T-Roc is one of those for which our crumbling roads might be its undoing. For one thing, VW will sell plenty of these in top-billing R-Line trim, shod with 19in flying-saucer wheels and slithers of rubber for sidewalls.

Found beneath other models in the VW stable, the T-Roc’s MQB Evo platform has also been hit-and-miss in terms of ride quality, but it's a complex picture, because the dampers you opt for have a significant bearing on the car’s ability to weather cruddy surfaces. Even with the T-Roc, a comparatively junior member of an SUV family that culminates in the Touareg, you can choose between ordinary passive dampers and adjustable dampers with selectable rates (for £765). Ride quality is likely to be rather dependent on specification, then. More on that in a moment.

As for the engine line-up, for now there is only VW’s excellent 1.5-litre eTSI mild-hybrid petrol four, albeit available in two tunes: 114bhp or 148bhp. If you can wait until later in the year, the T-Roc will gain a full-hybrid powertrain with 134bhp or 168bhp, which ought to push economy well beyond the declared figure of 50mpg for the 1.5 eTSI.

Of course, a hybrid T-Roc will also be a more expensive T-Roc. Currently the range starts at £31,635 for base Life trim with the 114bhp engine and extends to more than £40,000 if you opt for R-Line trim with the 148bhp engine and some optional extras, such as the £2260 Leather Comfort Pack and £465 matrix headlights (all very grown-up).

I won’t dwell on the cabin here, but in a nutshell the comfort of the seats (particularly in R-Line cars) and the general feeling of quality are improved versus the original T-Roc, and they certainly sit at the sharp end of the class. The fact that the new car has had 30mm injected into the wheelbase has done no harm to rear leg room either, and a longer rear overhang takes boot capacity to 475 litres, up from 445 litres. The T-Roc still can’t match the Karoq (521 litres), but it comfortably outhauls the Golf.

Drivability is generally good, the 1.5 eTSI pulling you along with decent smoothness and enthusiasm from 2000rpm and pairing neatly with the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Having tried the 148bhp variant, I possibly wouldn’t entertain the thought of having the 114bhp version unless the cost difference (reasonable at just over £2000) were going to be a deal-breaker.

Economy is good too: my car returned 46.4mpg on a representative mixed-driving route. That’s 500 miles on a tank.

The T-Roc also steers and stops with the intuitive maturity you’d generally expect of a Volkswagen.

It’s all appealing enough, but ride quality is indeed the possible weak spot. My test car rode on passive dampers and the smallest 17in wheels, with a general set-up that clearly tends towards the sportier end of what’s acceptable for a basic T-Roc (stand by for a possible R derivative). Body control is fine and the car corners cohesively.

It isn’t difficult to imagine being impressed with the package on smoother European roads, and the T-Roc is assured on the motorway. But that decision to tie the body a little more closely to the chassis has repercussions here in the UK, and one of them is that, on country roads and smaller A-roads, the T-Roc will crash over pockmarked surfaces and the like. Unfortunately there is currently enough of that sort of thing in the country to make this a notable drawback.

Interestingly, a car with the same dampers but the larger, 18in wheels fared no worse.

Your best bet is probably to spec an R-Line car with the adaptive dampers and the 18in wheels. Very few people will do this: it’s expensive and people generally don’t buy an R-Line VW to have smaller wheels. But if it rounded off the ride, the result would be an even better little crossover.

Volkswagen T-Roc Life 1.5 eTSI 150PS

Price £32,335 Engine 4 cyls in line, 1498cc, turbocharged, petrol, plus 48V ISG Power 148bhp at 5000-6000rpm Torque 184lb ft at 1500-3000rpm Gearbox 7-spd dual-clutch auto, FWD Kerb weight (DIN) 1399kg 0-62mph 8.9sec Top speed 132mph Economy 50.3mpg CO2, BIK tax 128g/km, 31%