Indice dei contenuti per November 05, 2025 in Autocar

LEXUS IS GEARING up for a potential entry into the single-seater market with the Micro LS concept. Described as “a luxury mobility experience for one”, it is a vision of how the marque can offer a luxury saloon experience in as small a package as possible. The three-wheeler is only slightly wider than the single seat within it and looks to be about the same length as the Citroën Ami – around 2.5m. It is a “completely new kind of mobility”, said Ian Cartabiano, who is in charge of Toyota’s California design studio. “It is designed for point-to-point, intra-city travel where roads are tight or where traditional cars aren’t even allowed at all,” he said. Featuring a raft of innovative space-saving features – including a canopy-style entrance and slide-out cargo…

The new managing director of Vauxhall wants to return the British brand to its historic position as one of the UK’s best-selling car manufacturers, following a slump since the Covid pandemic. Steve Catlin, who took the helm in June, told Autocar: “My intention is to put Vauxhall back on the podium. That’s not an immediate aspiration that we’re going to deliver next year, but over the next few years I want to get Vauxhall back onto the podium.” Catlin faces a significant task: according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the three best-selling brands in the UK up to the end of September were Volkswagen, BMW and Kia. Third-placed Kia has sold 93,000 cars this year, compared with Vauxhall’s 66,000. It’s also being outsold by Stellantis…

WHY ADAS CRASH TEST TARGETS ARE A SOFT TOUCH IT HAS BEEN said for years that when autonomous cars arrive, the technology driving them won’t be all-new but more an evolution of the advanced driver assistance systems we have today. ADAS really got going as standard kit in the UK a decade ago, when manufacturers had to fit autonomous emergency braking to have a hope of gaining five stars from Euro NCAP. But beyond computer simulation, how can these increasingly complex systems be tested safely and without trashing thousands of vehicles on proving grounds? One way is by using soft targets like the Soft Car 360, developed by AB Dynamics and its sister company Dynamic Research Inc (DRI). A hatchback version of the Softcar is Euro NCAP’s official Global Target…

CHINESE CAR BRAND Geely plans to launch 10 electrified models in the UK by 2030 and will major on value as it eyes a share of the lucrative hatchback and crossover segments. Geely is the namesake brand of the Geely Automotive group, which is China’s largest privately owned car firm and includes Volvo, Lotus, Polestar and taxi maker LEVC – as well as the Zeekr, Galaxy and Lynk&Co brands that aren’t sold in the UK. It’s launching in the UK with the EX5, a 4.6m-long electric SUV positioned as a value alternative to the Skoda Enyaq, Ford Explorer and Tesla Model Y. By the end of next year, Geely plans to have four cars on sale in the UK – two plug-in hybrids and another EV in addition to the…

I must take exception to the opening of your article ‘Are warranties warranted?’ (8 October), specifically the claim that our cars are 2.5 years older on average due to perceived reliability and the cost of living squeeze. While that’s true, there’s another reason any driver will spot immediately: we’ve lost trust in modern cars. Running something from the 2000s to early 2010s is, frankly, peak internal combustion. Those cars hit the sweet spot: reliable, repairable and free of overbearing tech. Any garage can fix them and parts are plentiful. I say this as someone who has driven a Jaguar I-Pace company car for five years. Mine is great, but let’s not kid ourselves: reliability across the latest wave of tech-heavy EVs has been patchy at best. How many Porsche Taycans…

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The plug-in hybrid renaissance continues: in the UK, sales are up 38% year on year to account for 10.9% of the market total, while diesels now barely make up 5%. So while the third-generation Audi Q5 was launched in the UK earlier this year with a choice of mildly hybridised petrol and diesel engines, it’s the new PHEV version that could be key to the SUV’s long-term prospects. The Q5 E-hybrid is now reaching the UK, but our first taste came on the continent from a German-spec model in coupé-esque Sportback form. Audi’s E-hybrid powertrain features a 248bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine and a 74bhp electric motor mounted within the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox for a total system output of 295bhp – a welcome extra dose of whack compared with…

Seven in 10 buyers of the new Vauxhall Frontera have opted for the EV rather than the ICE car. Car makers would ordinarily expect the reverse split but, thanks in large part to the UK government’s new Electric Car Grant, it has been flipped on its head here. Indeed, with the £1500 discount applied, the new Frontera Electric is almost a grand cheaper than the hybrid version, starting at £22,495. That makes it one of the cheapest family-sized EVs on the market too. The model line-up is simple: there’s one motor, making 111bhp, and two battery options, measuring 44kWh and 54kWh in capacity. Officially, they deliver ranges of 189 miles and 253 miles. Our run in the small-battery model on a brisk autumn’s morning suggests it should be good for…

MILEAGE 8487 WHY WE’RE RUNNING Is this version good enough to be the performance X3? If I were to gaze into a crystal ball and predict what kinds of articles classic car magazines will be pumping out in 25 years’ time, staring back at me from within the quartz would be one letter and two numbers: B58. This well runs deep. A few pages on the history, the birth, the need for a new adaptable straight six that could handle a few configurations would be a gimme; a double-page spread on its tunability and value for money on the used market another. But the big cover lead would be a group test of every car this engine featured in, from BMW 3 Series to Z4 with Toyota, Morgan and Ineos…

Mazda has revealed a 503bhp sports saloon with a rotary-electric powertrain that promises up to 500 miles of combined range and is set to feature in a production car in the next three years. The Vision X-Coupé – star of the brand’s stage at the Tokyo motor show – is a sleek, rakish four-door with styling based on the Iconic SP concept revealed at the same show two years ago. It is also, visually and conceptually, evolved from the 2015 RX-Vision concept, which set the tone for the Kodo design language the firm still deploys today and previewed plans for a new generation of powertrain based around a rotary petrol engine. The concept uses a turbocharged two-rotor engine as part of a plug-in hybrid system, which is said to be…

Lexus has unveiled the new LS Coupé concept as one of a number of models – including a single-seater and a six-wheeled MPV (see stories, right) – that could form part of an expanded family of LS vehicles inspired by the seminal luxury saloon of the same name. The Toyota-owned brand is responding to the global drop in demand for large saloons that once formed the bedrock of the luxury car market. That includes its own LS, which was retired earlier this year, having been originally launched as Lexus’s first model in 1989. While the Micro LS and MPV concept show some of the ways that spirit could be channelled, the LS Coupé concept – unveiled at the Tokyo motor show – looks to be the most production ready. The…

Subaru has given a glimpse into the future of its STI performance brand with a wild new sports car concept. The Performance-E STI concept “represents the future of the performance scene, spearheading Subaru’s new generation”, the company said. Subaru has released very few details, but it said the concept’s design has been influenced by the brand’s heritage and offers a “driver-friendly layout and a comfortable, spacious interior”. It is also understood to feature two driven axles, in line with the STI brand’s association with rally-honed four-wheel-drive performance. The concept’s unveiling comes shortly after Subaru Europe boss David Dello Stritto told Autocar: “There are plans to bring back the sportiness in Subaru.” He said the brand had a reputation for selling cars that were “safe, fun and tough – ‘SFT’”. But…

AUTOCAR IS PROUD to announce the British Motor Museum in Gaydon as the new home of the physical Autocar Archive. Our archive has been available digitally since 2023, and following the completion of that project, a new home was sought for our printed copies. The Archive at the British Motor Museum was the obvious choice. Researchers visiting the museum in person will soon be able to search Autocar’s digital archive through a dedicated terminal. Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the British Motor Museum for this very special project. “The Autocar Archive tells the history of the motor car in real time back to 1895, and the digitisation of the archive was a huge moment for the brand in making this accessible to all. “There…

The new electric Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV will spawn an AMG-badged flagship next year that will be one of the most powerful models to have come out of Affalterbach. While related to the electric SUV unveiled at September’s Munich motor show, the new AMG GLC will represent a significant technical departure from that car. It will draw heavily on the AMG.EA drivetrain first revealed by the record-breaking 1341bhp GT XX research prototype. “It will be the most powerful AMG SUV to date” The SUV will use three axial-flux motors – one on the front axle and a further two at the rear – to achieve an output that will push beyond 900bhp and almost double that of the standard car’s 489bhp. This positions it as a direct rival to the incoming…

A GEELY OFFICIAL once told me that the reason Chinese car groups launch so many brands is because of the lack of brand loyalty among local consumers. We’re still in an expansionist era but it will calm down eventually – and therefore “there’s a race to be in the group that makes it to the finishing line”, they said. Geely itself is the latest Chinese brand to launch in the UK, starting with its EX5 (see left). It’s quite a similar story to that of several other Chinese car makers that have launched here in recent months: lots of technology for a smaller outlay targeted at British buyers who aren’t as brand loyal as you think so sales are there for the taking. The problem now with so many Chinese…

DANGEROUS DESIGN Like a lot of your journalists and readers, I’ve been watching trends in car design with dismay in recent years. The obsession with ‘clean’ interiors with almost all buttons removed is abhorrent; it’s a victory for styling over common sense. I was always led to believe that design was more than just making things pretty. Good design should include consideration of how an object is actually used. Design of control interfaces in a car is vitally important, to make things safe and effective. But I see no sign of any such thought in most modern cars. Touchscreens with tiny buttons that need fine control over input might work well in a design studio, on a static test vehicle with nothing else needing focus, but not so much in…

It’s impossible to have a bad time driving a car on a frozen lake. By extension, it’s impossible to have a bad time driving a car on a wet handling circuit, which emulates the former. All the car’s natural behaviours are amplified to comical proportions but in a friendly, easily controllable way. No wonder I had a good time when I drove a prototype of the Alpine A390 at a Michelin proving ground in April. And the A390 needs to be good to drive, since it will step into the flagship role at the Renault Group’s performance brand once the A110 sports coupé goes away next year. Now I’m driving the real thing on real roads to see if it still entertains away from a low-friction surface. In fact, I’m…

When it arrived eight years ago, the Seat Arona shot right to the top of the burgeoning crossover class. But the game has moved on: the Ford Puma has proved that such cars can be fun to drive, while the Dacia Duster and Fiat Grande Panda have demonstrated that going cheap doesn’t have to mean going undesirable – leaving the staid Arona in murky waters. The headline change is a restyle that’s intended to emphasise the Arona’s SUV-ness, bringing a more angular front end. The round foglight housings that were a signature of the Arona’s higher trim levels are gone, with the fogs moved into the lower area of the grille. Whether it’s successful is a matter of personal preference, but I feel it has lost a defining design feature…

BYD is the latest Chinese car brand to have decided that the most effective route to making money in Europe is via a mid-sized, £50,000, all-electric crossover. And so, here to try to force its way in alongside the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Polestar 2 and more comes the Sealion 7. This is BYD’s first car in Europe to adopt new powertrain and platform technology, taking on-road performance and rapid-charging capabilities to new heights. It’s supposed to be the first member of a family of Sealion SUV models, although BYD hasn’t said whether there will be larger ones than this, or if the 7 is as big as they will get. As we will come to explain, the Sealion 7 certainly isn’t small by its own particular class’s…

Small cars are amazing. With much less space to work with, they must accomplish many of the things that in far larger cars we take for granted. As if that weren’t enough, they must be cheaper than bigger cars too. For a while, it looked as if the future of the small car was doomed, but in recent months we’ve seen a new generation of small, Chinese electric cars arrive. Then, and perhaps in response, the EU proposed that European makers get behind a new small car category called E-car, inspired by Japan’s titchy kei cars. So things may be looking up for new, small cars. Meanwhile, on the used market, small cars are still plentiful and available in as many varieties as Heinz once boasted. Well, almost as many.…

“It looks pretty good and the interior is endlessly charming” WHY WE RAN IT To see if Mazda has improved on the CX-60 and to find its ranking among big SUVs Let’s start this final report with some unfinished business. A few weeks ago, while describing the troubles I was having running our plug-in hybrid CX-80 without a home charger (no DC rapidcharging capability, glacial public AC chargers), I promised to go into detail about the pleasure of running it in emissions-free near-silence. Certainly doing so makes me feel less guilty about clogging up urban streets and air with an enormous gas-guzzler, and it also makes for a smoother, more relaxing driving experience – if also one that’s notably compromised when compared with a legit EV. A total of 173bhp…

It feels like a new electric SUV is launched every half hour, so you would be forgiven for forgetting about the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which arrived in 2021. It seems as though Ford has too. When it landed on UK shores, it received good reviews but buyers didn’t, ahem, stampede to showrooms and today there continue to be more V8 Mustangs in the classifieds than electric ones. It’s still on sale, despite occupying a very similar part of the market to Ford’s newer Capri crossover, but the Mustang EV is a more rational buy as a used car than a new one. First of all, it has a high list price new – £51,000 for the Extended Range (ER), which is the one you’ll want – so you can save…

Less kind observers call them ‘fried egg lights’, those melted-looking clusters on the nose of the 996-generation Porsche 911 of 1997 to 2006, before in the next breath bemoaning the model’s move from air to water cooling for the engine. Not Rohan Cummings: he loves these features of his 996 and what they represent. “I like this generation because it’s about Porsche moving forward,” he says. “It knew it had to do something to improve the 911’s emissions. Regarding the lights, they signalled the change and are like those on the 1997 911 GT1 Evo race car. If people don’t like them, there are headlight covers that will make the car look like the 997 – but why not just buy a 997? The 996 is underrated and undervalued, and…

Toyota will reinvent its best-selling Corolla hatchback for a 13th generation with a dramatic new look, next-era interior technology and the option of combustion, electric and likely hydrogen powertrains. The world’s best-selling car, with more than 50 million examples sold since it was launched in 1966, will drastically change shape and major on flexibility as it gears up to take on the next Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia, both due in the coming years. Redesigned in line with Toyota’s sharp new aesthetic language and completely different from today’s car, the new Corolla has been previewed by a concept at the Tokyo show. “We’re going to reinvent the best-selling car of all time,” said Toyota designer Lance Scott, outlining the Japanese brand’s plan to maintain that mass appeal by catering to…

A NEWLY UNVEILED Mazda hatchback concept could preview the successor to the 2 supermini – and the firm’s chief technical officer has told Autocar: “We want to produce it.” Unveiled at the Tokyo motor show, the Vision X-Compact measures 3.8m long, 1.8m wide and 1.5m tall, making it slightly smaller than the 2, which bowed out this year. Mazda released no technical specifications and called it a design study that represents a “vision for the future of smart mobility”. That future is for “vehicles and people [to] form an emotional connection, much like a friend”, said Mazda. To that end, the Vision X-Compact is able to engage in “natural conversation” with the driver using AI. “We want to express the new relationship between car and driver,” CTO Ryuichi Umeshita told…

THIS FUTURISTIC, SIX-wheeled Lexus MPV has been conceived to redefine the concept of a luxury car while drawing on the spirit of the long-standing LS nameplate. Called the LS Concept, it has been designed as a “private sanctuary” that “invites you to discover your own space”, said the company. It also previews a dramatic revamp of the brand’s design hallmarks and positioning. Simon Humphries, head of design for Toyota and Lexus, said Lexus will be afforded greater creative freedom now that Toyota has spun its Century brand (see p5) into a dedicated luxury marque that sits at the top of its portfolio. Humphries said Lexus aimed “to challenge your perception of what a luxury brand can be” as traditional saloons fall out of favour with luxury car buyers. Lexus has…

DAIHATSU K-OPEN Tokyo hosts some of the strangest, and indeed coolest, reveals in the launch season calendar. Sadly, lots of the new models don’t make it to the UK, no matter how much we’d like them to. The Daihatsu K-Open – a tiny roadster with retro styling, rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox – is among our most burning desires. Just look at it! BYD RACCO A real statement of intent. Chinese brands tend not to be that well received in Japan, so for BYD to devote millions to developing a car for the nation’s signature kei car segment – and a treasured part of its cultural identity – reveals just how strong its will for global growth really is. DAIHATSU MIDGET X This clever little van previews Japan’s alternative…

Vauxhall boss Steve Catlin wants the UK government to look into whether Chinese car manufacturers are unfairly using state subsidies to undermine established brands, after they captured a record 12.8% of the UK new car market in September. “What we see is they are offering extraordinary value for money,” Catlin said. “I don’t know how they’re able to achieve that versus European manufacturers. We want to see a fair playing field in the UK market.” In September, Chinese car makers (led by MG, BYD, Omoda/Jaecoo) surpassed Korean brands (Hyundai and Kia at 10.6%) in market share and neared Japanese brands (14.9%). MG’s record 14,577 sales placed it in eighth place, ahead of Vauxhall in 11th. The UK has so far chosen not to follow the approach of the EU, which…

ITALIAN RACE CAR manufacturer JAS Motorsport is turning its attention to road-going machinery, starting with a new Honda NSX restomod styled by Pininfarina. Initial images show the car will remain faithful to the 1990 original, retaining its pop-up headlights and small rear spoiler while gaining a more aggressive-looking stance. At the rear, it appears to wear a purposeful diffuser evoking that fitted to the later NSX-R. The NSX’s original bodywork – which made it the world’s first road-going car made entirely from aluminium – will be replaced by a carbonfibre shell and it will be available in both left- and right-hand-drive forms. As with the original, power will come from a naturally aspirated V6 engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. JAS said that the powerplant will be “NSX-inspired” so…

Delays in connecting chargers to the National Grid are a “substantial bottleneck” for the growth of EV charging infrastructure, claims the UK’s biggest charging body. ChargeUK, whose members include BP Pulse, Gridserve and Ionity, says variations in working practices between the country’s 14 distribution network operators (DNOs) – which own, maintain and operate the energy network – are often to blame. “Varying standards and slow processes are a significant problem,” said Jarrod Birch, ChargeUK’s head of policy. “We need renewed collaboration and focus to speed things up.” There are currently more than 86,000 public charge points in the UK that vary from speeds of 3kW (slow) to 480kW (ultra-rapid). Osprey, the UK’s third-largest operator, with almost 1500 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers, expanded its network by 150% last year but believes…

FIRST DRIVE HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 N South Korea’s electric BMW M3 rival arrives with 641bhp. We drive it – and see if the saloon is as mind-blowing as its Ioniq 5 N SUV sibling INTERVIEW MARKUS HAUPT The new boss in Martorell on growing Cupra – and his plans for Seat INSIGHT INSIDE TANNISTEST Join us at the secret ‘motor show’ where Cars of the Year are made EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST BMW XM The most controversial M car so far finally faces our toughest test USED GUIDE PORSCHE 718 Latest Boxster and Cayman now offer thrills at bargain prices…

Here we are again, then. Zeekr is the latest Chinese marque planning to elbow its way into the UK car market. Owned by Geely (and therefore sharing an overlord with Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and Smart), Zeekr was established in 2021 in its domestic market, chiefly as a Tesla rival. Zeekr is already well entrenched in EV-dominated European markets including Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands and is making inroads into France and Denmark, and its global expansion will continue with the introduction of the 7X to the UK next year. The 7X is a large electric SUV that sits on a version of the SEA platform that underpins the Polestar 4 and Smart #5. At just under 4.8 metres long, it’s comparable to cars like the Skoda Enyaq and Tesla Model…

For eight generations and 57 years, the Hilux has stayed true to its roots: dependable, durable, and available with both petrol and diesel power. That legacy continues, but now, for the first time, Toyota has created an electrified version of its venerable pick-up truck. The Hilux 48V Hybrid is the first Toyota to feature a new mild-hybrid powertrain. This combines a 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine with a 0.21kWh lithium ion battery and an integrated starter-generator, which send their power through a six-speed automatic transmission. It comes exclusively with top-level Invincible X specification. Toyota says the 48V system offers several benefits, including smoother and quieter performance, regenerative braking capabilities and reduced engine idling speeds. The ISG can supply an additional 16bhp and 47lb ft of torque from a standing start. The…

The demise of the small, affordable supermini hasn’t been as severe as we had feared – at least, it hasn’t yet – and the burgeoning clique of quirky, pint-sized EVs is also encouraging. But even so, when it comes to trusty petrol hatchbacks at a knockdown price, today the field is thinner than it once was, as well as being more expensive. This is problematic not just for young drivers who have recently attained their licence and crave nothing more than freedom, but also for any of us who wants cheap, hassle-free motoring, with a decent warranty, in an up-to-date model. Peugeot’s launch of a new 208 Style earlier this year slipped under the radar, but the 1.2-litre petrol version tested here is a welcome arrival, being well equipped and,…

In this transition era for the automotive industry, barely a week passes without a manufacturer wheeling out a bold new electric machine with a flashy presentation that claims it brings tomorrow’s technology to today’s roads and will transform the fortunes of the firm that made it. But those presentations don’t normally include extended sections on load-bed access, Euro-pallet capacity and bumper repairability. Except they do when your transformative vision of future motoring is a van – although that perhaps undersells the significance of the new Kia PV5. The firm labels it a Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV), and it’s the first in a range of highly customisable bespoke electric models intended to disrupt the commercial vehicle market and help continue Kia’s remarkable growth. Think of the impact of the brand’s bespoke…

MILEAGE 4851 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the latest hot PHEV Golf is truly a wallet-friendly alternative to the GTI The popularity of hatchbacks has dipped in recent years, which is sad. Key to this, of course, is SUVs: they account for almost 60% of the new cars sold in the UK so far this year, up from 13% just a decade ago. Don’t get me wrong: I like an SUV. They offer lots of space, a high seating position and a large fuel tank and/or drive battery. Earlier this year, I ran a Dacia Duster Hybrid 140 and heartily proclaimed that it was “all the car you’ll ever need”. Yet having spent what feels like more time with my Volkswagen Golf GTE than with my wife over…