Indice dei contenuti per February 16, 2022 in Autocar

Mercedes-AMG has stepped up its electrification push with the reveal of two hot new takes on the upcoming EQE saloon. Boosting performance over the rear-driven EQE 350, the EQE 43 4Matic adopts a second electric motor for the front axle to increase output by 181bhp and 243lb ft to a combined 469bhp and 643lb ft. Meanwhile, the EQE 53 4Matic+ ups the ante further, developing 617bhp and 701lb ft as standard and an even more potent 677bhp and 738lb ft with an optional AMG Dynamic Plus Package. That’s slightly more power and torque than the Porsche Taycan Turbo has. Drive is channelled through a single-speed gearbox on each motor, providing both cars with full torque-vectoring functionality. Both models feature four driving modes: Slippery, Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus, with the…

THE FUTURE OF Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers at Gaydon looks to be secure, despite widespread reports that he could be ousted from the role in the wake of several high-profile staff departures and unpromising financial results. Company chairman Lawrence Stroll told Autocar he had “no idea” where rumours that he was looking for a replacement CEO came from, adding: “Tobias is doing a great job. He’s staying here. He’s the perfect partner for me.” Stroll acknowledged that Moers “ruffled a lot of feathers when he came in”, but suggested Aston Martin stood to benefit from Moers’ “German and hard” character and played down the significance of the “murmurings of disgruntled employees”.…

Before the launch of the 5 saloon, Polestar will launch two SUVs: the 3 this year and the 4 in 2023. The 3 is the more powerful and dynamically led sister car to Volvo’s all-electric XC90 successor, due to enter production in the US later this year. The 4, meanwhile, remains a more mysterious proposition. A preview image suggests that it will sit beneath the 3, perhaps serving as a rakish-roofed sibling to Volvo’s new C40 Recharge.…

In the marque’s first full year in Europe, Genesis will launch its maiden bespoke electric car – the GV60, a striking and technologically advanced crossover to rival the Skoda Enyaq iV Coupé. After unveiling it last year, the Korean premium brand has now confirmed specifications for European versions ahead of its market launch this summer. This will take the number of models on sale using the E-GMP platform to three, after the introduction of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 last year. The GV60 is Genesis’s sixth European-market model and will be followed by EV versions of the G80 luxury saloon and GV70 SUV. Genesis has already said that it will launch only EVs from 2025 and will end ICE sales five years after that. Like the Ioniq 5…

I headed to Silverstone last week to test the cars shortlisted for this year’s Car of the Year (COTY) award on some challenging surrounding roads. Seven cars make the shortlist, of which I’m a juror and Autocar is a sponsor (nine European car magazines put up the staunchly independent award’s only funding). This year, six of the cars on the shortlist are BEVs and an electric variant of the seventh, the Peugeot 308, will come next year to join the existing petrol, diesel and PHEV versions. (Although if you want a snapshot of what manufacturers think it’s like to run an EV all day long, it’s worth noting that the 308 was the only car tested to arrive and depart under its own steam, rather than on a transporter.) The…

DS cars could soon sit alongside those from new Stellantis sibling brands Alfa Romeo and Jeep in a bid to expand its retail footprint. Tilstone said this “opens up opportunities for us to open new stores with new investors in areas where we need to be sure we’ve got the right experience”. He told Autocar Alfa’s focus on “sportivity” is the “polar opposite” to DS’s ethos, and so there will be minimal crossover between the two brands’ target customers. He suggested the new dealerships would share a building but have separate entrances and branding.…

SEBASTIEN LOEB’S AMAZING start to 2022 continued last week when he beat Sebastian Vettel to win his fourth Race of Champions (RoC) as the popular head-to-head event was relaunched as an ice racing extravaganza on the Baltic Sea in Sweden’s Pite Havsbad. Second on the Dakar Rally, shock winner of the Monte Carlo Rally and now the joint record-holder for most RoC wins with Didier Auriol… at 47, Loeb is on a roll. Vettel is a previous RoC champion in its previous guise as a stadium-based event but relished adapting to racing on ice. The Formula 1 ace took a heat off Loeb when the WRC legend made a rare mistake and spun, but he was powerless to stop Loeb taking a 3-1 win, sealed in a duel driving Polaris…

The eighth-generation Vauxhall Astra is a handsome devil, isn’t it? And Lordy, didn’t it need to be. I mean, it’s a hatchback to start with. Fewer and fewer people seem to want one of those, and fewer still when the one in question isn’t great looking or premium-brand desirable. But also it represents huge technical change for one of Britain’s longest-lived and most successful compact cars. The first Astra of Vauxhall’s Stellantis-owned corporate era, this car effectively switches onto a widely updated version of what, not so long ago, we would have called a PSA Group model architecture. A Peugeot 308 chassis, basically. It adopts engines and suspension technology that we would have been happy enough to describe in exactly the same terms. It will also be the first Astra…

It seems almost quaint to be driving a luxury limousine like the Audi A8 in 2022. As with the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, it still is its manufacturer’s flagship, but really all eyes are now on the EVs and SUVs. That feeling is reinforced by the fact that this facelifted A8 introduces no new technologies. Nevertheless, driving this subtly improved version is a pleasant reminder that it’s one of the most relaxing ways to travel, whether as a driver or a passenger. While there are no headline-grabbing, never-seen-before features, there is one significant upgrade for the 60 TFSIe plug-in hybrid model: its battery has been uprated to 17.9kWh (of which 14.4kWh is usable) for 36.6 miles of electric-only running, and it feeds a more powerful electric motor, boosting…

MODEL TESTED COMPASS 4xe S Price £40,895 • Power 237bhp • Torque 258lb ft • 0-60mph 6.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth 6.8sec • Economy 38.2mpg • CO2 emissions 44-46g/km • 70-0mph 49.9m This week, we’re testing an Alfa Romeo. Well, sort of. As appealing as the Giulia and Stelvio are to the enthusiast, their bespoke Giorgio platform is just a bit too specialised and expensive for volume models; and Alfa Romeo is in desperate need of a true volume model, more specifically a posh compact crossover. That much was clear well before Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with PSA to form Stellantis in January last year. And so the obvious base from which to develop said posh crossover (the Tonale, revealed last week) was the Jeep Compass. It’s the right size, it…

Quattro: it’s a simple enough word. But those seven letters conjure up some of the most era-defining images in the automotive world: Walter Röhrl and Hannu Mikkola sideways on a world rally event, Gene Hunt in the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes or, more recently, Ken Block’s Hoonitron. And then there’s the Mr Jones moment, where most of suburbia is crowded with four-wheel-drive versions of an Audi saloon outside an identikit home. That last point is really the crucial one here, even if it is the most mundane. Despite Audi using the Quattro four-wheel drive system across the vast majority of its range, including in its humdrum 2.0-litre family saloon, the name still brings with it an air of mystique. Essence d’Röhrl is infused across every Quattro-equipped Audi on every…

Things can happen fast in the car industry, but rarely do they happen this fast. You’ve probably heard the story by now. In 2016, rueing the demise of the Land Rover Defender and JLR’s decision to replace it with something more haute-automotive, chemical engineering billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, while in the pub, sketches the outline of a ‘spiritual successor’ to the famous off-roader. The difference is that Ratcliffe isn’t dreaming. Four years later, the newly formed Ineos Automotive company had physical prototypes, an incipient manufacturing chain of command and, most importantly, somewhere to actually build the finished product. Just 18 months after that, in the here and now, it’s almost time to start full-scale production. And all this against the backdrop of you know what. The factory is what cements…

Propelling a test car mounted on a sled at up to 40mph into a crash barrier within a very short distance is the job of Thatcham Research’s Hyper G, a pneumatically powered ram. Operating at a pressure of 120 bar, the ram pole extends just 1.2 metres. A series of computer-controlled brakes at one end of it allows engineers to finely control the ram pole’s acceleration and deceleration in order to achieve consistent and repeatable results.…

When the Extreme E championship was announced in early 2019, the idea of an off-road championship for electric SUVs competing in remote locations to highlight the impact of climate change seemed outlandish. Three years later, with the second Extreme E season starting in Neom, Saudi Arabia, this weekend, it no longer seems fanciful. In fact, it feels almost mainstream. The reason why? Sustainability. This is the hottest topic in the industry today. It’s no longer enough simply to build an EV: car makers are racing to eliminate carbon emissions, recycle materials and protect the environment. In that context, Extreme E feels hugely relevant. Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise, given the form of series creator Alejandro Agag. When he launched Formula E back in 2014, sceptics doubted an electric single-seater…

After 50 years of owning three Aston Martins, a Bentley Continental GTC V12 and Jaguars XFR and XJR, I now own an elegant and comfortable Volvo S60 T8 Polestar Engineered, which I bought two years ago for £32,000. This compact plug-in hybrid saloon can out-accelerate the Porsche Taycan to 60mph by a full second. Its top speed is limited to 155mph. It has averaged the equivalent of more than 120mpg, because I’ve filled up its petrol tank only once in 3000 miles. I have no worries about finding chargers, using home electricity for almost all my journeys. It only uses its supercharged 2.0-litre engine when accelerating hard or travelling at more than 100mph (which I don’t do!). It’s not the best car for long trips, but it is the best…

Hillclimbers conquer the seemingly impossible Did you know that Aston Martin started out making hillclimb specials? In fact, ‘Aston’ references a hill in Buckinghamshire. Well, in 1922, Lionel Martin was told of a super-tough ascent near Hay Tor while in Devon. He set a time in his Aston Martin three-seater with an Autocar staffer as witness. Several then accepted his implied challenge, and a mass attack was organised for 10 February 1923. “Simms Hill is approached through a very narrow, stony lane and over a small stream, after crossing which the driver is confronted by a steep gradient and a very sharp right-hand turn,” we reported. “Round the turn the road becomes exceedingly steep, at 1 in 2.87.” The surface was “perfect”, but it had since been “cut to pieces”…

MILEAGE 4600 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out whether Audi can retain its premium appeal in the EV age Without warning on one innocuous journey late last year, the Q4 E-tron’s infotainment froze and shut down, taking some active safety systems with it. It restarted a few moments later, and all was well. Until it did it again. And then again. Given the car was already due to be swapped for a different Q4 E-tron variant to see us through the last few months of this story (a Sportback version, no less), we brought the exchange forward so our original Q4 could be inspected by Audi. The day before the swap, I parked the car overnight at a hotel and had it on charge. The next morning, when I…

Ford Fusion 2002-2012 The Fusion was essentially a Mk5 Fiesta on stilts, making it more practical. Its core buying group therefore turned out to be the hip-replacement generation, rather than the hip generation. Both the 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrols are strong performers and good for 40mpg-plus, and the diesels will return more than 60mpg. It’s best to aim for 2 trim, as this gets you air conditioning, electric front windows and a CD player, whereas 1 includes little more than ABS brakes and 3 adds only alloy wheels and an alarm. Ideally buy from an OAP who has looked after it. A Fusion will often be in better nick than an equivalent-year Fiesta. Check when the timing belts have been changed on a diesel and the Durashift automatic gearbox can…

Coupé-inspired SUVs appear to be the flavour of the month for many of the world’s biggest car makers. Audi has the Q8, Porsche the Cayenne Coupé and Mercedes the GLC, but one that inspired the segment is the BMW X6. It first joined the BMW range in 2008 and at the time was considered vulgar by some, but it is now credited with kick-starting the desire for luxury, premium SUVs with sleek coupé-like styling. As of 2019, the X6 is now in its third generation, and it’s better than ever. It is a pleasure to be behind the wheel of today’s X6, and not only because of the impressive entry-level equipment. An intuitive gearbox and direct handling relative to the car’s size are key to its driving appeal. We are…

Ferrari is just months away from introducing one of the most important models it has yet produced, the Purosangue SUV, fresh off the back of an all-time record year for sales and with a new-look leadership team in place. The Italian supercar maker is in rude health as it prepares to unwrap its long-awaited Aston Martin DBX rival, having sold 11,155 cars worldwide last year – a 10.1% hike on pre-pandemic 2019 – for a 20.6% increase in pre-tax earnings compared with two years ago. Recently appointed CEO Benedetto Vigna said the double-digit growth exceeded the firm’s own guidance and gives it “strong momentum” to “seize the opportunities ahead” – details of which are expected to be given as part of a long-term strategy announcement on 16 June. One of…

Porsche is developing a round of updates for the 911 as its sports car flagship approaches the midpoint of its life cycle, at the same time as it prepares to drastically expand on the current line-up with a host of new variants. Recent images of a 911 Turbo prototype suggest that the ‘992.2’-generation 911 will be marked out from the current car chiefly by way of subtle styling evolutions, as has historically been the case for 911 updates. A new front bumper, reshaped rear lights and extra radar sensors are among the obvious differences, and the relative newness of the 911 means its switchgear and infotainment are largely in line with those of newer models. But there are also important new variants of the popular sports car on the way,…

Aston’s revival of the storied Lagonda name for a family of ultra-luxurious EVs is officially on ice, two years after the reveal of the then production-previewing All-Terrain Concept SUV. “Lagonda, we are currently holding,” said chairman Lawrence Stroll. “I can’t afford any distraction in this company today, or to deliver a second message.” He did hint that the brand could return one day with “much more luxury and a little less performance”, but said he “can’t even contemplate it in the near future”.…

Polestar opened a site at MIRA in Warwickshire in 2019 as the home of its UK R&D operation, which will soon expand to include a second facility. By the end of 2023, more than 800 engineers – up from 300 today – will be employed by Polestar across the two sites, around 250 of them remaining at MIRA. Development of powertrains, batteries and software will remain in Gothenburg, Sweden. “If this place is the centre of the vehicle, Gothenburg is the centre of the propulsion technology for that vehicle,” said vehicle engineering director Steve Swift in describing the relationship between Polestar’s two R&D locations. The MIRA site worked on under-the-radar refinements to the Polestar 1 and 2, but its key work has been the development of the all-new bespoke chassis…

With a newly expanded line-up, dealer network and potential market reach, DS is targeting a year of significant growth in the UK in 2022, which could cement it as a front runner in the mainstream premium segment. UK managing director Jules Tilstone hinted at the potential for its new four-model portfolio to achieve record sales and attract buyers from previously untapped segments: “With two cars last year, we accessed 22% of the premium car market. With these extra two – DS 4 and DS 9 – we can double that to 44%.” Having occupied the compact crossover and mid-sized SUV segments with the 3 Crossback and 7 Crossback since its launch as a stand-alone brand, DS will now challenge a field of well-established and popular rivals in the executive saloon…

TOYOTA LUXURY BRAND Lexus had one of its best years in the UK in 2021, selling 13,878 cars, almost 9000 of which were its latest UX and NX crossovers. But the year also heralded the arrival of what could be the biggest threat to DS: Hyundai’s newcomer, Genesis. Its saloons and SUVs have already impressed and its first EV, the GV60 (see p11), arrives this year. Currently, its bestseller is the GV70 SUV. The way people interact as consumers has changed during the pandemic and this could benefit Genesis’s direct-to-customer approach. It uses a combination of showrooms, called Genesis Studios, and online tools, but will it survive where Infiniti could not? Andrew Pilkington, director and regional operations manager at Genesis Motor UK, is confident its business model is very different.…

THE UK IS one of the most expensive countries in which to buy a car, a study by price comparison site Confused has concluded. The study involved the price analysis of entry-level hatchback, SUV, electric car and sports car segments, and the UK placed 10th in three of the four categories. With an average cost of £24,430, the UK was ranked the 10th most expensive place to buy a Volkswagen Golf out of 29 countries. Based on prices of a Toyota RAV4, the UK was also listed as the 10th most expensive country out of 43 in which to buy an SUV, with an average price of £31,945. The average cost of an electric car in the UK was £42,990, using the Tesla Model 3 as the benchmark, again placing…

MONDAY Remember Backfire? It’s the proposal for a simple, low-volume EV roadster along Caterham lines that we dreamed up (using practical wisdom from Equipmake and WEVC) in our Christmas double issue (8/15 December 2021). Since then, I’ve carefully collected reactions from readers who spotted it – and liked it enough to write and say so – and the tally has just reached 30. Thank you, Bill and Lizzie Stanley of Herts; your note is the latest. Thirty people isn’t exactly a football crowd, but I believe it’s a modest validation of the idea, given that there must also be others who approve but didn’t write. I must say I grow ever more impatient for some enterprising niche vehicle maker to tackle a project like this: EV-dom needs proof that driving…

Stellantis’s EMP2 platform has had a third major redesign for the Astra and its Peugeot 308 and DS 4 cousins. Apparently, more than half of the components on it are new – and, crucially, it’s ready to sire all-electric derivatives, which is something only the smaller CMP platform could do previously. Development engineer Thomas Stüber told us that his team chose stiffer front anti-roll bars and a stiffer rear torsion-beam profile for the Astra than for the 308, as well as stiffer suspension springs and revised front bump stops that allow the front suspension struts a little more freedom to move. “After that, it was all about systems tuning and wheel geometry for the right steering feel and handling characteristics,” he said. “We wanted taut low-speed body control and really…

Let this sink in: when the F-Type arrived in 2013, Porsche had only just retired the 997-generation 911. Jag facelifted its aluminium sports car six years later, but the reality is that the F-Type is now knocking on the door of its 10th birthday while its main rival has been through three rounds of significant refreshment during the same period, with another due next year. Yet the F-Type clings to life in near-original form, with no successor planned. This drive of the P450 Convertible is more housekeeping than breaking news. Having sampled the facelifted coupé in four-pot and V8 form in 2020, we never had the chance to try the rag-top. It’s also a good opportunity to see how the only UK offering in the sub-£100,000 senior sports car class…

VERDICT The confident, square-jawed face, the quirky references to old Jeeps (as well as the Loch Ness monster) and the dogged off-roadability: it all gives the Compass 4xe character, which is something that’s missing from most crossovers. Because of that, it’s easy to like. It doesn’t, however, make it a competitive product. It does have some good qualities: the Trailhawk version is one of very few choices in this segment with actual off-road credentials; it’s quite quick flat out; its infotainment is excellent; its standard equipment is quite generous; and anyone will be able to make sense of the interior’s logical buttons and switches. Sadly, though, it doesn’t offer great value; the plug-in hybrid system is behind the competition on range, efficiency and drivability; the chassis is a mixed bag;…

AUDI 80 (B4) The 80 spanned four generations before it was replaced by the A4, but it’s the B4 we’re interested in. It wasn’t the first 80 to get four-wheel drive, but it was the first model to really introduce the brand to the chattering classes. AUDI RS2 AVANT The godfather and the first RS. Costing a punchy £45k new, it was based on the 80 but heavily fettled by Porsche with a 2.2-litre five-pot engine and a KKK turbo that was 30% larger than the S2’s. Fast estates haven’t been the same since. AUDI S8 (D2) The D2 was used for the car chase in Ronin, and therefore no further discussion is really needed. It had 335bhp to begin with (later 355bhp). Based on the A8, which was made…

Passive safety is what engineers at Thatcham test, but Euro NCAP also requires active safety systems to be assessed. For this work, the engineers go to the former RAF base at Upper Heyford. It was here that Thatcham developed a test protocol for car-to-car automatic emergency braking. It followed it up with protocols for pedestrian and cyclist AEB, and lane support function. “We always push for the implementation of a new safety system if we know a manufacturer has cracked it,” says Thatcham’s Matthew Avery. For AEB tests, engineers remotely drive the subject car towards a remote-controlled sled carrying the GST (Global Soft crash Target), an object assembled from sections of absorbent material that resembles a white Ford Fiesta. For cyclist and pedestrian AEB testing, lifelike forms mounted on small…

The 2022 Extreme E grid was still taking shape at the time of writing, but the big news on the team side is the arrival of Formula 1 squad McLaren, which will field the strong pairing of Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour for its first season. Reigning champions Rosberg X Racing are back, but while Johan Kristoffersson returns to the Nico Rosberg-led team, Molly Taylor has been replaced by former JBXE racer Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky. Elsewhere, Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez both return for Sir Lewis Hamilton’s X44 squad, while Abt Cupra has tabbed four-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah to join Jutta Kleinschmidt.…

DRIVEN Volkswagen ID Buzz first drive The era-defining Volkswagen Microbus is reborn as a slick do-it-all EV. We get an early taste ahead of its unveiling next month FEATURE Nissan GT-R at 15 Godzilla may be getting on a bit, but it can still crush newer rivals FEATURE EVs on track We take over Brands Hatch to show how exciting electric mobility can be EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Skoda Kodiaqv RS Hot hatch power meets eminent practicality. A winning formula? BUYING GUIDE Mercedes-Benz CL Suave coupé brings mega luxury and blistering pace for less than £8000 SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p24…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 8117 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if a Bentley can be affordable to run while remaining very much a Bentley to own and to drive One doesn’t wish to sound spoiled, but were there a single Bentley from the entire model range I’d have chosen not to run as a long-termer, a Bentayga Hybrid it would have undoubtedly been. Too little power, too few cylinders, too much weight: it didn’t sound like a recipe for a great Bentley. That was the theory. The reality was that the Hybrid was absolutely the only Bentley in the line-up whose running costs I had a hope in hell of being able to afford. So into its arms I fell – and with some gratitude. It wasn’t around for…

Before its debut, if you had told people Audi would produce a mid-engined supercar to rival the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo and Lamborghini Gallardo, and that it would be a resounding success, they would have keeled over laughing. Who knew that once the R8 arrived in 2007, it would take the car world by storm? From a thrilling driving experience to remarkable everyday usability, it will go down as one of Audi’s greatest creations. How did they pull it off? Despite its four-ringed German badge, the R8 borrowed from a certain Italian marque also under the Volkswagen Group umbrella: Lamborghini. It got the same aluminium spaceframe construction as the Gallardo and proudly displayed its beating mid-engined heart through a glass cover. One aspect the pair didn’t share, though,…

Ferrari’s first pure-electric car will arrive in 2025 and company chairman John Elkann has promised it will be “everything you dream the engineers and designers at Maranello can imagine for such a landmark in our history”. Whether or not the Purosangue will provide the basis for the debut EV remains to be confirmed, but our most detailed clues so far come from patent filings (pictured) that reveal Ferrari is developing a four-wheel-drive layout with a motor on each wheel and batteries distributed throughout the chassis, which could be the key to maintaining equal weight distribution and promoting keen dynamics.…

The upcoming Polestar 5 electric sports saloon will get “supercar levels” of body stiffness from an all-new platform being developed at a new engineering base in Warwickshire. The 5 is the first Polestar car to be developed in the UK, as well as the first “developed by Polestar for Polestar”, rather than derived from a Volvo base, according to vehicle engineering director Steve Swift. The 5’s body is constructed chiefly from bonded aluminium, with other sections made from hot-formed, cold-formed, die-cast and extruded aluminium. It’s this bonded aluminium construction that affords the car “supercar levels of torsional stiffness, which is fundamental to class-leading ride and handling dynamics”, said Polestar UK chief engineer Dave Kane. UK R&D boss Pete Allen added that a goal for the 5 is to “deliver best-in-class…

THE PROSPECT OF charging a car, or any electric vehicle, while it’s driven along the road is an appealing one and something that has been the subject of continual research and development throughout the world for well over a decade. One of the latest projects is the Arena del Futuro, a 1050m-long oval test circuit built by Stellantis and partners near the A35 between Brescia to Milan in Italy, to develop ‘dynamic wireless power transfer’ (DWPT) or, to put it another way, EV charging on the move. Being able to wirelessly charge a vehicle on motorways while driving it would have a major impact on EV design and prospects for haulage trucks, which currently would need unfeasibly large batteries to achieve the distances they need to cover. However, cars and…

TRICKLE CHARGE Volvo busted its revenue and profitability records in 2021, despite the supply chain crisis restricting its output in the fourth quarter; but of the nearly 700,000 new cars that it shipped last year, only 3.7% were EVs – a relatively small proportion for a brand that plans to ditch internal combustion entirely in just eight years. Departing CEO Håkan Samuelsson explained that “the percentage is related to production capacity”, pledging to boost that proportion to 10% in 2022 as capacity for EV production is increased to 150,000 units per year. “The strategy has always been, for the first step into electrification, to offer a plug-in hybrid, because we still see problems within the charging networks,” he said, pointing to PHEVs’ 27% share of Volvo sales as a sign…

DS identifies three core buyer demographics: those moving out of a premium German car; those who don’t want a German car to start with; and those coming from another Stellantis brand. Some 53% of DS customers are existing premium car owners, of which 13% already own a DS, and 80% of customers in January came from outside the ex-PSA brands (Peugeot, Citroën and Vauxhall). “We’ve got the right audience coming in and discovering DS, with the right budgets, looking at the right level of cars, for us to succeed in the growth that we anticipate,” said Tilstone.…

The global semiconductor shortage that has curtailed car production for the past 12 months is expected to ease by the end of this year, but there remains plenty of pain for new car buyers to work through in the next few months. The numbers from 2021 Another 9.6 million vehicles would have been made last year if not for the shortage, estimated LMC Automotive. The analysis company prides itself on accurate production forecasts but was forced to make cut after cut on its prediction of a better 2021 after a woeful 2020 as the shortage bit ever harder. LMC estimates that the worst-hit manufacturer was Ford, which it reckoned lost 1.26 million cars globally, followed by the Volkswagen Group at 1.15 million and General Motors at 1.09 million. In Europe,…

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Given that Ford of Europe doesn’t have enough head room under its legislative CO2 emissions targets to make a new Focus RS, there’s no way it could officially offer a Jeep Wrangler-like SUV. But you can get a new Ford Bronco (unofficially imported) here if you ask the right dealer: London’s Clive Sutton, which is also big into the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Corvette. Unveiled in 2020, reviving a grand old name, the Bronco is a separate-chassis 4x4 that comes in two-door or four-door forms. There’s also the Bronco Sport, a very different, smaller, more road-focused unibody SUV. This ‘real’ Bronco’s chassis is derived from the Ranger pick-up truck, with a beam rear axle and independent front suspension. See it and a Wrangler pictured together (it has been out…

Citroën has altered the C3 range no fewer than three times in the past 18 months. First as it facelifted the small hatchback, Touch, Feel and Flair trims becoming the equally saccharine Live, Sense and Shine; then as it added the bare-bones C-Series; and again as Shine became Saint James – so named for a fashion house, not because it’s to be martyred. Or is it? It seems even superminis are now under existential threat from crossovers. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Citroën actually cut the C3’s price at facelift time. You can buy a C3 for just £14k; but at the other end of the spectrum is the more potent, top-spec Shine Plus at £21k (£1260 of which is due to the automatic gearbox) and tested here.…

1 TOYOTA RAV4 2.5 PHEV DYNAMIC CVT Still the class act among mid-size plug-in hybrid SUVs. Offers 4WD, plenty of pace and space and distinguishing electric range. 2 HYUNDAI TUCSON 1.6 T-GDi PHEV AWD ULTIMATE Refined, roomy and alternative-looking, with an appealing cabin to match; and 38 miles of electric range is a selling point. 3 PEUGEOT 3008 HYBRID4 300 GT Peugeot’s upper-level 3008 PHEV is pricey in its richer trims and not as roomy as some. It has plenty of performance, though. 4 FORD KUGA 2.5 PHEV ST-LINE X EDITION The only car here without 4WD. It’s a bit austere to drive, but its value, space and real-world economy help to redeem it. 5 BMW X1 xDRIVE25e xLINE Narrowly misses out on the 12% BIK tax band but offers 4WD and a…

Oddly, given its current ubiquity, four-wheel drive was banned in rallying until 1980. The Volkswagen Group sneaked the rule change past the other manufacturers, thanks to the sleight of hand that was the Volkswagen Iltis (a bizarre Dakar special that other makers believed was the reason for the request), and the Quattro LWB – for long wheelbase – was born. Its first appearance was as a course car at the 1980 Algarve Rally, where Hannu Mikkola covered the timed stages 30 minutes faster than the eventual event winner. In 1981, it won second time out in Sweden (and had been 2.5sec per kilometre faster at the Monte Carlo round, before a crash), then won in Sanremo and the UK. There were seven wins and a manufacturers’ title in 1982, Mikkola…

To be reminded why their job is so necessary, the engineers who crash test cars at Thatcham Research need only glance at the Rover 100 stored at the organisation’s Berkshire-based site. Its front end has concertinaed in the 40mph frontal offset crash test (other examples were subject to side and pedestrian impacts), but more shocking is how the impact energy has travelled to the cabin, buckling the car’s windscreen pillars. Inside, the occupant survival space has been severely reduced, while the steering wheel has been forced up towards the dummy driver’s head. The Rover was among the first vehicles to be crash tested by the then new vehicle safety organisation Euro NCAP (the letters stand for New Car Assessment Programme) in 1997, or 25 years ago this month. In 2012,…

Thousands of motorists owe their lives to crash test dummies such as Thatcham’s. Unfortunately, like those at other Euro NCAP test facilities, most are Hybrid 3 models based on morphologies dating back to the 1950s. Another problem is that their sensor capabilities haven’t kept pace with crash testing. One, the EuroSID 2, can measure side chest compression, but there isn’t an ideal solution. “We have yet to have a dummy we can use in all crash scenarios,” says Matthew Avery. The new Thor-50M takes a step closer to that goal. During our visit, Thatcham displayed one produced by Cellbond, a maker of passive safety products. Claimed to be the most lifelike dummy yet, Thor has been adopted for the Mobile Progressive Deformable Barrier test. Multiple sensors enable it to measure…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com Tremendous television Steve Cropley wishes for great Dakar Rally coverage (My Week In Cars, 26 January). It already benefits from some of the best motorsport coverage. Eurosport and Carlton Kirby do an excellent job with daily coverage and some of the best imagery I’ve seen. Simon MarshVia email Danger, high voltage Having started driving in the early 1960s, when the 3.4-litre Jaguar Mk2 was rated as high performance, I’m concerned over the capability of EV drivers. Imagine a traffic light grand prix on a wet road with a workman’s Ford e-Transit (0-62mph in 7.0sec) on your offside and Aunt Agatha in her new Boggomobile EV (0-62mph in 6.0sec) on your nearside. Can either of them handle the available power? Rob NewburyVia email Smart cookie I think you will…

RUDOLF DIESEL PATENTED an engine that would ignite its fuel-air mix by compression, rather than a spark, in 1892, but it took a quarter of a century for the concept to be developed enough for use in cars. It was Peugeot that took the leap, and in 1923 it invited Autocar to make a comparative test in Paris. It provided two Type 156 six-seat tourers, identical except that one had the usual 3.0-litre four-cylinder four-stroke carburetted petrol engine; the other the new 2.2-litre two-cylinder two-stroke direct injection ‘heavy oil’ engine. We ran them for a whole day, doing 209 miles in various tests. We concluded: “While there was very little difference in speed over a normal road, the petrol car was quicker in getting into its stride. On a long,…

MILEAGE 1751 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Lexus’s first EV can compete with the established premium electric SUVs So far, life with an EV has been relatively simple. Charging at home is worry-free, so I’m setting myself the challenge to use public chargers as much as possible from now on – something I had little choice but to do when on a trip up to Buckinghamshire. I followed Zap Map to the nearest Chademo-compatible connector, a BP Pulse unit that turned out to need a subscription card. Drat. It was a case of second time lucky as I made my way to a Lidl supermarket that had a Pod Point rapid charger – one I could use, as I already had the app downloaded. A few taps on…

The Monaro was not a tepid Calibra resurrection but a full-on and incredibly exciting Australian import, built by Holden, with a 5.7-litre V8 from Chevrolet. This is a proper working-class supercar, because there’s little to it: basic suspension, few electronics beyond traction control and an explicit engine. There weren’t many changes to the Monaro, although after a year on sale in 2005 it got a beefed-up look with a bonnet scoop and twin tailpipes. The most significant upgrade was the terrifying VXR, which was even hairier with the V8 at 6.0 litres. Just two years after going on sale (it wasn’t a huge hit), the Monaro went out with a giant bang. The VXR was supercharged, and Vauxhall created a limited-edition VXR500. Models were still being registered in 2007 and…

An expert’s view ALEX GREEN, FONTAIN MOTORS “We have bought, sold and maintained R8s right back from the model launch in 2007 and really learned to love them in that time. In a changing world, and with a few years under their belts, they have cemented their position as a modern classic, becoming even more likeable and enjoyable with it. “Some parts and repair jobs can be expensive, and careful, regular maintenance is essential, but the reward for investing in upkeep is a near-unique experience. An appreciating classic as usable as it is lovely to drive, the best examples are a rock-solid ownership proposition. It is unquestionably one of the finest cars Audi has yet built.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE While generally bulletproof, a few V8s have suffered bottom-end bearing…

JAPAN HAS EXPORTED several sporty models over the years, but there’s one that you might have forgotten about amid the flurry of Subaru Imprezas, Mitsubishi Lancers and Toyota Supras. Enter Mazda and the 6 MPS saloon: the first car in the firm’s line-up to bear its performance badge. Technically a sports saloon, the car was based on the first-generation 6 but had a go-faster edge. As part of its athletic makeover, the 6 MPS gained low-key styling upgrades including 18in wheels, new tail-lights, twin exhausts, a deeper front air dam and a bonnet hump to hide a duct channelling air to the car’s intercooler. Don’t be fooled by its subtle styling, though: the model received a host of mechanical changes and much of it was completely re-engineered to suit its…

We all have to start somewhere, someone once said. It’s a mantra that applies as much to cars – and those who went on to make their names in the car world – as it does to anything else. So from motor company executives to music stars and actors who felt the need for speed, here are the first cars of some of the automotive world’s biggest figures – at least according to our research. Steve McQueen Porsche 356 Speedster Steve McQueen once said: “I’m not sure whether I’m an actor who races or a racer who acts.” When the Hollywood star wasn’t filming, he could usually be found at a track racing cars or motorcycles. He even won his class at the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring and finished…