Table of contents for August 20, 2025 in Autocar

FORD WILL CREATE a range of affordable electric cars that are based on a new EV platform and created through a “revolutionary” process. Claimed to be as groundbreaking for the company as the arrival of the seminal Model T, the Universal EV Platform has been developed via a three-year skunkworks project. It will be used first for a mid-size, double-cab pick-up truck due in 2027 and priced at $30,000 (around £22,000). The new truck is expected to be called the Ranchero, according to US media. This would tally with Ford’s move to assign to its EVs notable names from its past, such as Capri and Explorer. Ford CEO Jim Farley said more new EVs will follow, with Ford hinting that these will include a hatchback, crossover, van and three-row SUV.…

BMW is readying a new flagship hardcore off-roader to rival the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Land Rover Defender. Set to be produced alongside the X5, X6 and X7 at BMW’s Spartanburg plant in the US from 2029, the new seven-seater will be the company’s first vehicle conceived for serious offroading since 1937. Unlike the xOffroad edition of the X5 currently on sale in the UK, the new model – codenamed G74 – has been conceived as part of a push to tap into the luxury off-road market that is dominated by the Defender and G-Class. A BMW senior manager told Autocar development work was well under way, saying: “We’re aware of the market potential [of such a vehicle]. It’s more than just discussions. We have been planning this for a while.”…

ELECTRIC VEHICLES HAVE progressed well past the ‘early adopter’ stage, and with that has come the opportunity to measure actual battery ageing against predictions made in the past based on laboratory testing. The German Automobile Club (ADAC) recently published the results of a four-year test using a Volkswagen ID 3 Pro S Tour. It took delivery of the 77kWh EV in May 2021 and various drivers contributed to 100,000 miles driven. The battery wasn’t treated especially gently. It was often charged to 100% after a trip in order to be ready for the next driver, as it had a highway range of around 250 miles, compared with an official WLTP range of 326 miles. And occasionally it was left fully charged for longer periods between journeys. Conventional wisdom suggests both…

IN THE MONTHS after the Dyson car project wound downin 2019, Autocar was invited in for a full debrief and to see the prototype that had already cost £2.5 billion to develop. Even though the car was ready to go, Dyson baulked at the further cost needed to take it into production and laid bare just how hard it is for a start-up, however well funded, to industrialise a new car and see money roll back in. No wonder Tesla gets so much credit. Apple kept its own car programme – Project Titan – in development for five years after the Dyson car was axed, but it too was killed off as bosses failed to see how it could ever see a return on its investment. Low-margin, high-cost, hugely regulated…

COMPUTER SAYS NO In an era when manufacturers frequently declare a commitment to ‘delivering the highest standard of service and innovation’ and ask customers to rate their experiences, I wonder if any other readers have encountered the kind of inflexible bureaucracy I recently experienced. I purchased a BMW 218i in 2024 and, on recommendation, added the BMW Service Inclusive plan to cover routine servicing for five years. Last month, the My BMW app began notifying me the first service was due by the end of August. To avoid last-minute issues during the holiday season, I responsibly booked the service for late July. On the scheduled date, I left the car with the dealer, only to be informed later that the service could not be carried out. Why? BMW’s internal Condition…

Character, comfort and class-leading value were Citroën’s objectives for the new C3 supermini, and the French firm has hit all three nails on the head. We’ve already driven the petrol and electric versions, and we liked them both, but this is our first taste of the hybrid C3 – and it could be the pick of the bunch. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the three derivatives at first glance. The only obvious visual change is on the boot, where the EV’s ‘ë’ tag has been removed to leave a simple ‘C3’ badge. The C3 Hybrid features the 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol Puretech engine seen across the Stellantis range, with a small battery and a 39bhp electric motor integrated into the dual-clutch gearbox. In addition to all-electric driving…

Mercedes-Benz hasn’t had the easiest time navigating electrification, working out how much of it is appropriate and most notably how to apply it to AMGs without sacrificing engagement. Amid a line-up that now consists mostly of very complicated plug-in hybrids, this mild-hybrid CLE 53 is looking like the most ‘classic’ AMG, with a big engine up front, only mild hybridisation and a wide body hiding a configurable fourwheel drive system. Being the 53, rather than a 63, it’s only an AMG-lite, but the wide arches and technical specification suggest otherwise. Until the even more extreme, V8-powered CLE 63 arrives, this tops the CLE range. It has already impressed us in a longterm test, but we have never run the numbers on it. The arrival of a car fitted with the…

Compared with any other start-up sports car maker you care to mention, Ariel’s first 25 years of existence have been remarkably wrinkle-free. The company made a profit on its very first production car, an Atom 1 sold early in 2000, and it has been impressively viable ever since. Ariel’s founder, designer Simon Saunders, remains in charge. He is still the driving force behind the creation of new products that are both progressive and in character with that first Ariel. He is joined these days by his son, Henry, as managing director, because the business has grown considerably in the past quarter century. Today’s Ariel buyers cheerfully wait for around nine months for the car they have configured to be delivered, because the company’s brand values are as unique and well…

It’s April. You’ve been toiling away at university for the past three years, lectures are finally drawing to a close and you’re putting the finishing touches to your homebrewed race car. To outsiders, that might seem like a distraction from learning. But to land that dream job in Formula 1, you’ve got to prove your worth first – and there’s no better place for doing so than Formula Student, the annual and increasingly high-profile motorsport competition open to the world’s top academic talents. But then you hear a pop. Your EV battery, itself a year’s work for the master’s student in your team, has just detonated. With it seemingly goes the hopes of your 70-person team making it to July’s big final at Silverstone: years of effort have quite literally…

The Cupra Formentor is both a brawny-looking crossover and a brilliant all-rounder with the taut handling of a well-sorted hatchback and the practicality of an estate. The segment-blending family hauler – updated recently but we’re focusing on the pre-facelift car here – had a stuttering start due to its arrival during the 2020 pandemic. But the Formentor has become Cupra’s best-selling model, with so many finding homes that the used market now provides rich pickings, with prices starting from £13,000. There’s an array of engines to consider: pick from a BIK-swerving plug-in hybrid or a pseudo-hot hatch with more than 300bhp. Or keep things simple by opting for the widely available 148bhp 1.5-litre or 187bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrols. The 1.5 TSI isn’t the most exciting powerplant, but it will easily…

Autocar and the Volvo Amazon estate share a little bit of history. Back in 1965, the model became Britain’s first foreign-sourced traffic police car when Hampshire Constabulary purchased five of them. It was a controversial deal that prompted questions in parliament – and outraged letters to Autocar. However, having judged the model superior to the Citroën DS and Humber Snipe, Hampshire’s finest were not to be discouraged and the deal went ahead. Other forces eventually followed suit, and in the years to come other Volvo models including the legendary 850 T5 estate would enter service. Registered in 1964, the Amazon estate now owned by David Laing was never a police car, but as the sporty 122 S version powered by a 1.8-litre engine with two carburettors, it would have certainly…

The next-generation Vauxhall Corsa has beenpreviewed by the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo, a 789bhp, 1170kg electric concept car built to show the future capability of the GSE performance brand. While billed as a technical exercise for the PlayStation’s Gran Turismo racing game, it features “real-world” elements that will inform the design of the Mk7 Corsa, due next year, Vauxhall design boss Mark Adams told Autocar. The concept, which nods to pastVauxhall/Opel motorsport models such as the Manta 400 rally car, also highlights its plans for hot GSE models. Adams called it Vauxhall’s “Type R moment”. He said the aim is to make “truly attainable poster cars” with “proper performance” that will “make people look at the brand differently” while also appealing to a younger audience. NEXT CORSA The concept…

The new Fenomeno is a £3 million, limited- and track-honed run special that is Lamborghini’s most powerful model yet – and poised to break all of the company’s major performance benchmarks. Based on the £450,000 Revuelto flagship, it is the radical next edition of Lamborghini’s ‘Few Off’ special vehicles programme, following the Sesto Elemento, Veneno, Centenario, SiánFKP 37 and Countach LPI 800-4. At its heart is the same plug-in hybrid powertrain as in the 1001bhp Revuelto. However, power from the 6.5-litre V12 and three electric motors (two atthe front, one in the gearbox) has been boosted to 1065bhp, making this the most potent Lambo to date. The 10bhp boost in engine power alone to 824bhp comes from a redesigned valvetrain and creates the highest specific output of any Lamborghini V12…

Mercedes-Benz is taking direct aim at the Volkswagen Golf and ID 3 with its new third-generation GLA crossover. The smallest member of the brand’s MMA-based compact car family will be sold in both electric and hybrid forms, replacing the EQA electric crossover in the second half of 2026 and the combustion-engined GLA in early 2027. Pictures of the new GLA testing reveal that it will have a sportier, more coupé-like silhouette than today’s model, with a distinctive front end featuring Mercedes’ new-look corporate grille. Autocar understands the model will grow in size to just over 4500mm in length, which will enable a more spacious interior. For comparison, the current GLA and EQA are 4410mm and 4463mm long. Although photos of the new GLA’s cabin have yet to be seen, it…

KIA HAS AXED the Ceed and Ceed SW estate after almost 20 years on sale. Both were built at Kia’s Zilinaplant in Slovakia and, like the Proceed shooting brake that was pulled last year, they won’t be directly replaced, a Kia spokesperson said. Autocar understands the new K4 will fill the void of all three Ceeds when it arrives in Europe later this year, although this has yet to be officially confirmed. Kia’s new combustionengined Volkswagen Golf rival, built in Mexico for sale in North America in both hatch and estate forms, was seen testing in Europe earlier this year. Kia’s spokesperson confirmed to Autocar that culling the three models makes room on the Zilina production line for the new EV4 hatch, the firm’s answer to the VW ID 3.…

Ariel will build a factory close to itscurrent Somerset base as it moves to expand its operations. The new factory will be located to the east of Crewkerne – just off the A303 – on a 43-acre site thatwas recently acquired by the Atom maker after five years of negotiation. The building is expected to open within the next three years at a cost of “a few million”, according to Ariel boss Simon Saunders. He added that build costs have risen rapidly since the idea of a new factory was first floated so the company may need to seek outside funding. Various preliminary designs have already been completed, such as the picture below, and all follow the same brief: to create a building that isn’t ordinary, said Saunders. “We don’t…

Nine of the 10 bestselling used cars in the UK are still traditional hatchbacks and superminis, in stark contrast to the popularity of SUVs among buyers of new cars. The greater sales potential and profitability of crossovers and SUVs – together with the arrival of margin-slashing safety and emissions regulations – have threatened the commercial viability of superminis and small family hatchbacks in recent years. As a result, many such models have been withdrawn from sale as their manufacturers focus instead on larger, higher-riding models. This trend is reflected in the evolution of the top 10 new cars sales chart. In 2015, just two crossovers featured – the Vauxhall Mokka and Nissan Qashqai – and the chart was comfortably topped by the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus. Ten…

TWIN TEST NEW MORGAN vs IONIQ 5 N When two worlds collide: trad roadster for a modern world and an SUV EV with some throwback-inspired tech. Each has 290bhp per tonne… ROAD TEST TESLA MODEL Y It needed to raise its game against new rivals. Has the facelift worked? INTERVIEW WHAT NEXT FOR THE HYUNDAI GROUP? R&D boss Manfred Harrer, ex-BMW and Porsche, tells us his grand plan EVERY WEEK OUR CARS AUDI A2 How Matt Prior has upgraded his £500 bargain hatchback LIVING WITH A… BMW 1 SERIES Our final report on the premium hatchback tells it like it really is…

When a car offers both a four-cylinder and a sixcylinder engine, the four is the entry-level version and the six is the step up. That’s the conventional thinking, at least – and this presented Lotus with a bit of an issue for the Emira. As well as the tried-and-tested 400bhp supercharged Toyota V6, Hethel engineered its sports car to take the turbocharged 2.0-litre four from AMG’s A45 S. Trouble is, in the Mercedes hot hatch that engine makes 416bhp, which would make the lesser Emira overshadow the flagship. Because of that, as well as reasons of cooling and emissions, the Emira I4 was pegged back to 360bhp, and all was well in the Kingdom of Lotus. Of course, we know that all is not well in the Kingdom of Lotus,…

ALL FOUR ATOMS, back to back, then. It’s rare one gets the chance to do this; I think it’s rare that engineers and marketers even in big car companies get to do this – to take a raft of previous models and see if the latest ones are still holding true to the ethos set by their forebears. An Atom surely is, though – no? Even placing an Atom 1 and 4 together, they could only be one thing: evolving takes on Ariel’s original sportster. And despite the differences in engineering, they honestly don’t look so dissimilar. Someone uninitiated might not tell them apart. Don’t be deceived. I’ve driven an Atom 4 quite a bit in the past couple of years, but not a 1 since, well, I can’t remember.…

WHY WE RAN IT To find out how easy it is to live with a small-battery EV in 2025 “The low-speed ride is just too jittery. Too firm. Too busy” It’s quite hard to define exactly who this Aceman is aimed at. The advertising features young urbanistas with coffee cups and Labubu dolls charging up in bright colourful cityscapes. Certainly its range (190-mile WLTP, 150-ish real-world) and size (only a bit wider than a Renault Clio) peg it as a city car, but many young twenty-somethings who live in cities would be put off by the circa-£300 per month cost, given that rent for a one-bed in London is £1000 per month while a Lime bike is sub-£4 for a 30-minute ride. So it’s not really aimed at people in…

General Motors recently reaffirmed its plans for a UK relaunch through Cadillac, as part of a wider European expansion spearheaded by its luxury brand. Or perhaps we should say a re-re-rerelaunch, as Cadillac actually has a long, chequered history over here. Life in the UK actually started positively for Cadillac. London sales of its first-ever model, the Model A (which came in either Runabout or Tonneau form), began in September 1903, less than a year after production started in Detroit. (Fun fact: it was almost identical to Ford’s Model A and built in an ex-Ford factory, as Cadillac had been born out of an argument between Henry Ford and his investors.) The London importer was the Anglo-American Car Co, which already represented Oldsmobile, Winton and EV specialist Baker. Demand was…

Bentley will imminently unveil a new Continental Supersports as a high-end, rear-driven model with a pure-combustion V8 packing more than 640bhp, Autocar can exclusively reveal – and it will serve as a showcase for a line of new “extreme” performance cars. Spy photographers recently captured the new model testing, with the prototype’s large rear spoiler and bold quad exhausts hinting at its performance edge. The test car otherwise sported standard bodywork, but Autocar sources have confirmed that the production version, set to be revealed late this year, will receive a far more dramatic makeover from the recentlyupdated standard Continental GT. The sporting remit of the new model is shown by the intention to revive the rarely used Supersports name, which last appeared in 2017 on a range-topping version of the…

“A roof scoop adds to the 12,100rpm orchestral experience” Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) has revealed a longtail reworking of the T50 and a reimagining of the Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR LM as the first two cars from its new Special Vehicles division at Monterey Car Week in California. GMSV is the Surrey firm’s answer to Bentley’s Mulliner and Lamborghini’s Ad Personam divisions. Its brief is to create one- and few-off special editions with their own styling and mechanicalmake-up and enable greater scope for customisation. GMSV will have three product lines: SV Design will create limited-run special editions; Bespoke will handle unique, customer-commissioned one-offs; and Heritage is for continuation-style reworkingsof cars originally designed by company chairman Gordon Murray. LE MANS GTR The GMSV Le Mans GTR is based on the…

TOP-END ELECTRIC Hyundai models will soonbe fitted with the trick manual gearbox from the Ioniq 5 N – but owners will have to pay to unlock it. The move is part of the Korean brand’s new function-on-demand Bluelink service and will be available on all N-Line Ioniq models, Hyundai engineers have told Autocar. A schedule for the rollout has yet to be confirmed. Once activated via the car’s infotainment system for an unspecified “small” fee, the regen paddles will, like in the Ioniq 5 N, simulate gearshifters and the power will be regulated to seem as though it’s being fed through a gearbox. The feature is part of a new initiative by the Korean brand to use the increasing connectivity of cars to allow owners to add and remove functions…

LONGBOW, THE BRITISH start-up that revealed a £65,000 sub-tonne electric sports car earlier this year, has brought in former bosses of McLaren, Alpine and Lotus as it pushes to bring its car to market. Mike Flewitt, Michael van der Sande and Dan Balmer have all joined the firm’s new advisory board, which co-founder Daniel Davey – a former Tesla and Lucid engineer – dubbed the “holy trinity”. Founded in 2023, Longbow announced its first project, an open-roof Speedster and Roadster coupé, in March. Davey doubled down on daring plans to build the cars in the UK using UKmade parts – a key reason why the advisory board was created. He said: “You have plans and you have ideas, but what you need to be able to do is sense-check each…

Theon Design’s Porsche 911 restomod (First Drives, 6 August) certainly looks good and drives more than well enough, but where are the numberplates? I presume those photos were taken on a public road, so have I missed a recent change in the law? It would appear so up here in County Durham, too, where everyone (exaggerating here, but only by a bit!) seems to drive around with their own interpretation of what a numberplate ought to display. Very odd fonts. Darkened backgrounds. Plates made to look foreign. Strangely spaced letters and numbers. Incredible shapes and sizes. Or none at all – although many of these fabulously law-abiding citizens conscientiously ensure that their plates are ‘visible’ by having them lying on the dashboard and/or parcel shelf. Looks soooo cool, man! A…

“The extra control isn’t overwrought and is deftly parsed out” Parcmotor Castellolí is a motorcycle circuit carved into a Spanish mountain. Not a place where you would expect a new three-tonne Rolls-Royce to be thrust upon the press, but that scenario is exactly what awaited Matt Prior when he headed off to drive the new Black Badge Spectre in February. Rolls-Royce meets race track: it’s perverse, but sometimes you have to prove your bear can dance. With its recent line of ‘subversive’ Black Badge variants, the maker of the world’s most lavish cars is shimmying into a more athletic space. It isn’t looking to park its tanks on Bentley’s lawn here, but petrol Black Badge models swap cogs more dexterously than the standard versions while having a bit more power,…

Until this April, dieselpowered double-cab pick-ups, despite their bulk, made practical and economical transport for many people. As long as they had 1000kg of carrying capacity, they were treated as light commercial vehicles for taxation purposes, which meant their benefit-in-kind rates were low for business users and their hefty CO 2 outputs didn’t matter much. Now they’re classed as cars (although registered businesses can still claim the VAT back), which means the CO 2 matters much more. And it was high for diesels. The plug-in hybrid version of the Ford Ranger is rated at just 70-72g/km, which goes close to halving your BIK bill. This means the new variant – tested here in Wildtrak trim but also available as an XLT or a Stormtrak – becomes viable again for many…

Despite a pre-dawn flight to the UK, Laurens van den Acker, the hugely accomplished Renault Group design director, bounds out of the Rafale with enthusiasm. “This is like Christmas for me,” he beams. Today’s festivities go back several months, when van den Acker mentioned that, despite being good friends with Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer, he had never driven one of Gaydon’s finest. Such opportunities don’t usually arise when you work for a different car firm – but Autocar can make things happen. So while van den Acker and Reichman reunite outside Aston’s HQ, parked close by are a mighty V12 Vanquish and a vivid yellow Renault 5. After swapping keys, the two design directors head out into the Warwickshire countryside, eventually to meet us at Caffeine &…

The congestion charge, LEZ and ULEZ charges… All schemes introduced by mayors of London in recent years, but another has been running in our capital city for much longer. Cart marking, the practice of branding carts for a fee, thereby allowing suppliers and traders to enter the City of London without paying a fine, began almost 750 years ago, in 1277. Although the requirement to mark goods vehicles in this way passed into history long ago, a cart-marking ceremony celebrating it is still performed once a year in Guildhall Yard. Meanwhile, it remains the case that to drive a vehicle through Guildhall Arch, a fee of five shillings (25p) must be paid to the City of London. The organisation responsible for cart marking was and remains the Worshipful Company of…