Autocarの August 07, 2024 の目次

JLR can draw on painful recent history to remind itself what happens when spending climbs too high. Its £3.5 billion spend this year exactly matches the annual investment in the 2014 and 2015 financial years. Pushing it up to a planned £4bn annually adds the inflationary amount that means it is spending the big bucks it was just before it last hit the financial buffers, with a run of losses starting in 2019. However, JLR is a different organisation from the one it was 10 years ago. Today, instead of making big capital expenditure on boosting production capacity, as it did in Slovakia, China and Brazil, it is actually removing capacity by shutting Jaguar’s production lines in Castle Bromwich and Magna Steyr, Austria. The average transaction price of a JLR…

THE LONG-AWAITED Stonehenge tunnel and Arundel bypass have both been scrapped by new chancellor Rachel Reeves – and £1 billion of “major” transport pledges due next year may also be put on the chopping block. Speaking in the House of Commons, Reeves said the previous government “refused to cancel” the two major schemes, which were expected to cost £1.7bn and £455 million respectively, “despite knowing full well they were unaffordable”. Transport secretary Louise Haigh will now undertake a “thorough review” of other planned transport commitments. Reeves said: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.” No mention was made of the 14-mile Lower Thames Crossing, which is projected to cost £9bn and was also expected to be scrapped. In addition, the Department for Transport could have its spending cut…

FIAT WILL INTEGRATE charging cables into the bodywork of its next-generation EVs, beginning with the new Grande Panda next year. Stored behind a panel on the EV’s front fascia, the sprung cable will feature alongside a regular charging port and is Fiat’s novel way of “reinventing” charging. This could play a key role in boosting the perceived user-friendliness of EVs, said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Fiat parent Stellantis, recently. “We are coming up with a solution not to put the charging cable in the mud,” he said. “You have these fantastic cars – full of technology, great materials, nice trims – and the first thing you do is you put the cable on the ground, and it’s dirty and you throw it back in your trunk. “That’s not very high-technology.…

A leading insurer has reported a sharp rise in ‘crash for cash’ scams involving moped riders ramming the cars of unsuspecting drivers to claim on their insurance policies. Allianz says the crime increased sixtyfold in 2023, with car drivers in London being most affected. The worst-hit area of the capital was south London, which experienced 42% of the city’s reported incidents. More recently, Wallington, located in the south London borough of Sutton, has been targeted to the extent that in May residents created a WhatsApp group to share reports. Among its members is Ros Karamath. In May last year, the 65-year-old was in her Hyundai i20 waiting at a junction, intending to turn right into a major road. “I was surprised to see that a moped rider on my right…

IF YOU’RE THE sort of person who gets excited at the thought of a spreadsheet, a career in a car maker’s quality control department beckons. In these offices, workers are hunched over their laptops looking at data showing parts orders, allowing them to spot trends and potential issues. This will then be fed back to the engineers so they can beef up weak parts at a model’s next facelift. One of these number experts once noticed an alarming trend. There was a huge spike in the sales of indicator stalks for a newly launched hatchback. An urgent deep dive investigation was ordered, and the sleuths soon spotted that the sales weren’t warranty claims, despite the car’s youthfulness, and they seemed to be concentrated at dealerships that were close to the…

SATURDAY Another brilliant Festival of the Unexceptional has come and gone at idyllic Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, and despite my aching feet, this was undoubtedly the best yet. As you probably know by now, FotU is a concours for 50 pre-chosen cars, every one of which was nothing special at least 25 years ago and remains ordinary today. It’s definitely not a classic car show, as attendees sternly reminded the solitary bloke who showed up in a Ferrari. This year, Autocar’s Richard Bremner brought his encyclopedic knowledge to the judging panel. What joy to be immersed in weighty discussions about dealer-fit decals, single sun visors, correct hubcaps and standard parcel shelves. One of the organisers’ posters brilliantly set the tone: ‘It’s not beige, it’s Harvest Gold.’ FotU grows ever more joyous…

Say hello to the Skywell BE11, a rather unusual new electric crossover from China that’s due on sale in the UK imminently. The Skywell brand emerged in 2017 as a joint venture between consumer electronics group Skyworth and electric bus maker Nanjing Golden Dragon, and its cars are being brought here by Gloucestershire-based importer Innovation Automotive – which has sold DFSK electric trucks and vans for a while now and will soon also introduce a smaller and cheaper electric crossover, the Seres 3. Skywell apparently sees itself as a rival to Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which is pretty ambitious, to say the least. The BE11 is its first-ever car, and you can have it with either a 72kWh battery offering 248 miles of range or a 86kWh battery that yields 304…

It’s been a while since Isuzu UK’s sole passenger vehicle offering, the D-Max pick-up truck, went under the scalpel. But it has now been given the unenviable task of breaking into the lifestyle market – that well-trodden, profitable niche that birthed cars such as the ‘L663’ Land Rover Defender. As part of its mid-life facelift, it has gained a new Mudmaster edition, complete with off-roading goodies such as lifted suspension, extra body cladding, a snorkel, a winch and chunky 20in tyres. We tested this and the lifestylefocused V-Cross, which gets a larger (9.0in) touchscreen, dualzone climate control and adjustable lumbar support for the driver. If you’re into camping, you can specify an optional kit featuring a two-man tent, a sink, a barbecue, an awning and foldaway chairs. All this extra…

‘From trash to cash!’, ‘Soo cheap!’, ‘£300 gamble no keys!’… Hyperbole is alive and kicking on the popular videos posted by salvage repairers on YouTube. There are lots of them, most fronted by excitable chaps with a gift for social media supported by a grizzled ‘character’ who actually does the work. They must be profitable. One boasts of having just bought his dream house on the spoils. Most present repairing crashed cars as a bit of a laugh. Except that it isn’t. Ten years ago, Sadie McGrady, aged six, was killed in a two-vehicle car crash. The inquest heard how the Vauxhall Corsa she was travelling in had been written off by insurers after an accident in 2008. It had then been sold to a salvage company, repaired and returned…

MODEL TESTED N • Price £64,945 • Power 641bhp • Torque 568lb ft • 0-60mph 3.5sec • 30-70mph 2.7sec • Economy 2.8mpkWh • Max DC charging speed 239kW (claimed) • 70-0mph 45.1m Electric cars have come a long way in a short time, but even with Porsche and BMW having now entered the fray, it’s still the case that none manages to convey a sense of simple, irrepressible yet grown-up fun. The EV world lacks a protagonist that has you reaching for the keys simply to go in search of a good B-road, but fear not: the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is here to address this gap in the market. That, at least, is what its maker claims. And it is some claim. Fifteen years ago, if Hyundai promised it…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if its award-winning reputation survives real-world use “The Born’s a hoot in the corners, yet it’s also comfortable” The EV market is still dominated by SUVs, but there’s at least growing competition in the family hatchback class, even if those underfloor batteries mean they do sit a little higher than combustion cars. And the Cupra Born is already standing out from the crowd, with its rear-wheel-drive layout and the promise of fun handling to match traditionally strong EV performance. Indeed, I was keen to get straight onto interesting roads in the Born, because there’s still a lot of hype surrounding it three years after launch. The Spaniard was named Best Electric Car at this year’s Autocar Awards, after beating all its rivals…

USED SPECIAL Modern classics to buy right now Can’t afford a classic but want something a bit different? Check out these bargains, which will only get more valuable FEATURE Designer secrets What do the people who shape Bentleys drive every day? We find out INSIGHT Monster trucks They may look daft, but they’re incredibly serious competition machines EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Morgan Plus Four Retro roadster goes back to basics with a pared-back redesign ROAD TEST Mercedes-AMG GT Now in its second era, is this sports coupé a match for the Porsche 911? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p62…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…

“We want to make a car that actually challenges some of those conventions” Jaguar is sticking with its plan to go all-electric from next year despite unsteady EV demand – and it is just months from scrapping its entire existing line-up and revealing a crucial concept car that will set the tone for its new era. Jaguar’s next-generation models will be unrelated – visually, technically and in their positioning – to the cars that have come before. So far, the brand has described them as only a “copy of nothing” when pressed for clues about how they might look. But all the questions will be answered in December with the reveal of a radical new concept that closely previews its first new-era EV: a £100k four-door GT with a range…

The production version of the Volkswagen ID GTI concept will prioritise “go-kart” handling and fun over outright power, according to the firm’s technical chief. The sporty variant of the forthcoming ID 2all is due to go into production in 2026 and will be the first electric Volkswagen to use the GTI badge. Performance variants of the current electric ID line-up have used the GTX branding but Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer confirmed last year that the GTI badge would join the Golf in going electric in the future. Speaking at the recent GTI Fan Fest event in Wolfsburg, which celebrated 50 years of the Golf and 48 years of GTI cars, Volkswagen technical boss Kai Grünitz hinted that the model wouldn’t focus purely on acceleration and outright power, which are easy…

Porsche believes synthetic e-fuels could account for “a significant share” of petrol usage by the end of the decade, boosted by increasing support for the technology from potential customers and governments. The German firm has invested heavily in developing e-fuels, working with HIF Global and other partners to start a trial production facility in Chile. That plant is run using renewable energy and currently produces e-fuel that is used in the Porsche Supercup race series and a number of other applications. Porsche originally viewed e-fuels as a potential way to ensure its old cars could remain on the road in the future, rather than as a direct alternative to electric vehicles. But Michael Steiner, Porsche’s research and development boss, said the success of the project – and increasing interest in…

Audi is shaping the electrified future of its top-drawer RS performance models and could deploy learnings from its nascent Formula 1 programme in a range-topping, road-going supercar. The firm has just quietly revealed a never-made hypercar concept from 2013, which is no longer a live project but gives a strong indication of how the brand’s motorsport efforts could influence future sports cars. Making its belated debut in a new aerodynamics exhibition at Audi’s museum in Ingolstadt, Germany, the Scorpion was conceived as a flagship supercar to sit above the R8, with heavy design and technical influence from the company’s successful endurance sports car racers. Obvious cues – most notably from the R18 E-tron Le Mans racer – include the large stabilising fin along the rear deck, gaping aero tunnels and…

OF ALL THE individual components that make up a car, tyres are among the most complex when it comes to the blend of constituents needed to make them. Traditionally, their sustainability credentials have been questionable to say the least, not just in terms of what goes into them but also the impact they have on the environment in the sourcing of raw materials such as natural rubber. Pirelli has announced that all natural (as opposed to synthetic) rubber and rayon in its tyres will be FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified by 2026. The upcoming Range Rover Electric will get them and JLR says it will be the first manufacturer to adopt the tyres “at scale”. Rayon is made from natural sources, such as wood and natural fibres, that are regenerated…

Subaru will bring two new electric cars to the UK by 2026 as it seeks to build on the early success of the Solterra in pursuit of a bigger slice of the UK market. The expansion of the Japanese firm’s line-up is part of an £8 billion electrification investment package, which will result in seven new EVs being introduced worldwide – three of which will be SUVs developed with technical partner and 20% stakeholder Toyota, as was the bZ4X-based Solterra. Subaru UK managing director Lorraine Bishton, appointed in January after stints at Ford, JLR and McLaren, provided no further details but said the EVs will stay true to the brand’s core values: “Safe, tough and fun.” In keeping with the current Subaru line-up (the Crosstrek, Forester and Solterra SUVs and…

Formula 1, predictable? Not any longer. When Max Verstappen won four of this season’s first five races, naturally we feared a third consecutive dose of mundane Red Bull domination. But as the grand prix stars head for the beach amid the August summer break, fans can rejoice. Finally, McLaren and Mercedes-AMG have got their respective acts together and F1 is fun again. Zandvoort and the resumption on 25 August of a campaign that still has 10 rounds to play can’t come soon enough. MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Verstappen conquered all but one of the 22 races last year. Boy, it was hard going. This year so far, he’s grabbed seven more to add to his rapidly expanding career tally – but six other drivers have also shared out the wins, the most…

In MG’s century-long history, several model launches have changed the face of the brand. Cast your mind back to 1963’s B, deemed by many to be the first ‘modern’ MG, and 1995’s F, which revitalised its sporting image. The HS hasn’t institutionalised itself in the same way, but MG thinks that could change with this new second-generation model. It has described it as the most important MG yet launched, which is a pretty bold call. Arriving six years after the original, the Mk2 HS brings a complete exterior design overhaul, a heavily updated interior and a suite of technology updates. The brand sees the HS as a rival to the Ford Kuga, Hyundai Tucson and Nissan Qashqai, but it usefully undercuts all of those cars. The HS’s stature has also…

Many moons ago, Steve Sutcliffe, erstwhile editor of this magazine, had a go in Nick Mason’s McLaren F1 GTR, aka chassis #10R. It was 2009, and the subsequent YouTube video (1.2 million views and counting) remains one of the best there is for conveying the violence that separates proper racing cars made roadlegal from the comparatively tame track-day toys that big OEMs spin from polite mainline models. There’s a moment three minutes in when the acid response of the Mac’s 6.1-litre V12 to Steve’s gratuitous downshifting via the car’s sequential ’box would be frightening were it not so glorious. I mention this only because a blue coupé with a sardonic grin, and whose yoke I’m now tucked behind, is giving off a similar vibe to the F1 in Sutters’ ear-popping…

The town of Reifnitz features typically Austrian buildings nestling alongside the glistening water of Lake Wörthersee, all set against the imposing backdrop of the Alps. Wolfsburg, meanwhile, has the industrial buildings of a massive car plant functionally arranged next to the slightly murky water of the artificially straightened Aller river, all set against the imposing backdrop of the huge chimneys of the Volkswagen factory’s on-site power station. In terms of visual splendour, the revived GTI festival – held in Wörthersee from 1982 until Austrian authorities canned it last year – in VW’s Lower Saxony hometown was always going to suffer by comparison. It was unlikely to match up in terms of scale, either: the Wörthersee meet was axed in part because more than 200,000 spectators would often overwhelm the local…

No tech, no problem I’ve just returned from a 1500-mile road trip to Switzerland and back via France and Belgium in our 1994 Mazda MX-5. It has no power steering, anti-lock brakes, adaptive cruise control, air conditioning, automatic emergency braking, daytime-running lights, electronic brake force distribution, electronic stability control, lane keeping assistance or driver monitoring. The EU regulators would be amazed that we got back home in one piece. But it was a fantastic experience. The MX-5 is brilliant to drive, being comfortable for hours at the wheel. John Pendlebury Via email Munich’s magnum opus I read with great interest the comments on the BMW 5 Series GT in your Slideshow of 24 July. I had a facelifted 530d GT Sport for three years from 2014 alongside a newly released…

The Volkswagen Up GTI created a desirable problem for its maker when it arrived in 2018. At that time, the cheapest way of bagging yourself a warmed-up city car was the Renault Twingo GT or Suzuki Swift Sport. But both were significantly more expensive than the snub-nosed Wolfsburg warrior. And both were less economical, less fun to drive and not quite as well resolved. The result, apparently to VW’s surprise, was an order backlog that began almost immediately and didn’t really stop until the car went out of production at the start of 2023. What’s the deal, then? Why did a lukewarm hatchback with 118bhp, a 0-62mph time of 8.8sec and a top speed of 122mph become such a sales hit? Well, enthusiasts love cars that prove the quality of…

e’re accustomed to new cars performing W well in safety tests, but they don’t always go the way car makers envisage. Some cars come away with worryingly poor results, yet those can offer valuable information and insight to manufacturers, crash test bodies and consumers. Here are some of the scariest test results – and what the industry learned from them. Rover 100 1997 The first Euro NCAP supermini-class crash tests in 1997 sparked quite a storm: they showed that many of the UK’s bestselling cars were frankly dangerous in a crash. Only the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo did reasonably well, scoring three stars. However, the car previously known as Metro – 17 years on the market by then – did especially badly, earning just one star. The video of…

JLR HAS INCREASED its five-year investment plan from £15 billion to £18bn after the slower than predicted EV take-up forced it to boost spending on flexible platforms that accommodate combustion engines as well as electric powertrains. The company announced the original £15bn plan in April last year and detailed spending on new electric platforms including the mid-sized EMA, which will underpin cars built at the firm’s plant in Halewood, Merseyside, starting in 2025. However, sluggish demand for EVs has forced it to raise the spending budget in order to extend the life of combustion-engined vehicles. The hike to £18bn is “partly because we are having to invest more in keeping the parallel running of flex [multi-powertrain] vehicles, BEV vehicles and ICE vehicles going for longer than we anticipated as the…

THE DISPARITY IN the number of EV chargers between the south of England and the rest of the country continues to grow, with the majority of the 20,612 new devices installed over the past year being in London. During that time, the number of chargers (of all speeds) in the capital grew from 152 devices per 100,000 people to 234 per 100,000, figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show. That number is 154% higher than in the West Midlands, which was the second highest in the UK (92 per 100,000) and, apart from London, the fastest-growing region (from 59 per 100,000). The north-east, which was the second-best-served area outside of London (63 per 100,000), now sits in fifth (72 per 100,000). Yorkshire (56 per 100,000), the north-west (60 per…

VAUXHALL OWNER Stellantis has begun a strategic review of its two van-making plants in the UK with a view to possibly shutting them for good, said CEO Carlos Tavares. Stellantis is threatening to close the Ellesmere Port and Luton facilities as part of a battle with the UK government over its opposition to the ZEV mandate designed to boost electric vehicle sales. “The ZEV mandate is hurting significantly our business model and this is triggering a strategic review,” Tavares told analysts on the company’s earnings call last month. He said the company was in the middle of “an intensive and productive dialogue” with the new government over the mandate. “So far, we don’t have the answers we need,” he said. The latest comments from Tavares escalate Stellantis’s attack on the…

A PRISTINE 1982 Toyota Hilux has been named the winner of the 2024 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional, which celebrates ordinary family cars from the 1970s to the 1990s. Owned by Mitch Lewis, the Hilux was bought from an elderly woman who used it on a strawberry farm – hence the small dents in the bodywork made by punnets Lewis told Autocar. The judges, including Autocar editor-in-chief Steve Cropley, summarised the Hilux as “surely the best one in the world”. Lewis said: “I was expecting one of the lower prizes at the very best. I didn’t expect first! It’s a lovely car – my pride and joy – and I love it.” OTHER CARS THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE NEW TRANSPORTER OFFERS EV, PHEV AND DIESEL Volkswagen has taken the wraps…

Britain is leading the push towards faster-charging and longer-range electric cars with the opening of a pilot plant for the production of next-generation cathode materials. Start-up Integrals Power has begun producing a new nanoparticle cathode material for lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate (LMFP) batteries, which are about to challenge lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and current market leader nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), for fitment in future EVs. It has been estimated that LMFP and LFP batteries will power 50% of global EVs as soon as 2027, with LMFP growing from a 5% share in 2027 to 20% by 2035. This game-changing potential means Integrals Power – whose team of 10 is based in Milton Keynes – could put Britain’s automotive manufacturing industry back on the global map. “We’re the only company in the UK making…

I used to think that ‘it’s better than the old one’ was one of the lazier tropes in this business. New reviewers would get steered away from writing things like ‘they’ve improved it’, because if a company had spent a billion quid developing a new car using the latest technology, it would be fairly catastrophic if it wasn’t better than a vehicle they had designed a decade earlier. So catastrophic that, with very few notable exceptions aside (such as Nissan’s 2010 Micra), it tended not to happen. Last week, though, our cover featured one of those ‘man bites dog’ lines about the latest Mercedes-AMG C63: “It’s not as good as the old one”. Gulp. This is worrying for companies that need to replace driver’s cars with ones that do the…

“It’s a car that feels better the faster you go” The revised GR Yaris has arrived in the UK. It’s a car that Toyota thought would be too niche to have to revisit, but owing to its surprise popularity, here one is. To recap my prototype drive from the 17 January issue, the changes are largely focused on making this little hot hatchback more durable when driven hard. So there’s better cooling, with a stronger mesh in front of the radiator, lights have been moved away from the hot exhausts and the engine and manual transmission internals have been revised. Toyota has taken the opportunity to raise power and torque, too, to 276bhp (from 256bhp) and 288lb ft (from 266lb ft), and add an eight-speed automatic ’box as an option.…

It’s all in the details. The little digital model of the car on the driver’s display has indicators and brake lights that illuminate when their real counterparts do, the sound insulation under the bonnet is quilted and you press the B in the rear badge to open the boot. Neat. With Bentley’s goliath W12 engine retired, the Bentayga now offers only a 449bhp V6-engined plug-in hybrid powertrain or the 542bhp, 568lb ft petrol V8 that we’re reacquainting ourselves with here. Then there’s an expansive array of special editions, trim packages and personalisation options to choose from across that line-up. Funny how those reserves don’t seem quite as towering in 2024 as they did a few years ago, isn’t it? Not small per se but somewhat diminished in light of the…

If you were to judge Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson strictly on the basis of his car company’s daily activities, you could expect him to come across as the last of the dinosaur petrolheads, flatly opposed to the modern march of electrification in cars. His buzzing factory at Garforth, near Leeds, designs, develops and builds around 100 high-performance petrol cars a year. Most of them are for racing, from a highly specialised run of six LMP3 sports cars for 2025 to a new batch of entry-level Ginetta Juniors, with a selection of ferociously competitive GT4 racers in between. Furthermore, Tomlinson believes that as electrification for road cars gathers pace, he will be able to double his factory’s output of cars like the ones he makes now. Despite this, any view of…

Porsche 911 restomods have become a bit of a cliché. New makers of them pop up almost weekly, promising analogue thrills and retro-modern looks. But Lanzante, the British firm known for maintaining many of the world’s McLaren F1s and for making race and track-only cars road-legal, has produced one with a genuine difference. Rather than upgrade the contemporary flat-six engine, as is par for the course, it opted to retrofit a 1980s 911 with an actual Formula 1 V6 from McLaren’s back catalogue. Developed by Porsche and named the TAG after the F1 team’s contemporary title sponsor (see box), the turbocharged 1.5-litre unit is rumoured to have put out more than 1000bhp in qualifying trim. Retrofitting such a potent powerplant into a classic is a tantalising proposition – yet, as…

Recent articles about how manufacturers are concerned at missing the percentage of sales targets for their EVs shows an unwillingness to change by the automotive industry. I remember the 1970s oil crisis: huge queues at petrol stations, ration books issued and, in the US, the big three seeing their giant land yachts beached on new car lots for months while foreign competitors made hay with more economical vehicles. There could have been sympathy for the industry then, as it was a sudden, largely unexpected shock – unlike today, when for decades it has been clear the world is warming (Exxon’s own scientists reported so in the 1960s!) and the evidence that it’s urgent and vital we do something is clear. The IPCC has confirmed that we’re already above the 1.5deg…

An owner’s view ROSEMARY LEES “The Up GTI, acquired two years ago, has evoked nostalgic memories of driving in my twenties and provided an enjoyable driving experience. I’ve taken the rear seats out of mine and wrapped the roof with a custom tartan to match the Jacara seats. Otherwise, the car is pretty much stock for the moment. Mine has been almost trouble-free, with the exception of the common problem of the rear brakes sticking on. The only complaint I have about the car is the darn traction control: you cannot turn it off. But all in, it is a lovely, happy, fun car.” Buyer beware… GEARBOX Some owners have reported an unusual noise coming from the gearbox when the car is idling or when you’re accelerating upwards through the…

AT LAST MONTH’S Goodwood Festival of Speed, a stunningly crafted, cutting-edge, V16-engined hypercar made its public debut. But it isn’t the Bugatti Tourbillon we’re talking about here, rather the Auto Union Type 52 – just ninety years later than intended. Our story begins in early 1933, when motorsport governing body the AIACR penned new technical regulations for grand prix racing for the next season. Chief among the changes was an upper weight limit of only 750kg, to encourage development of smaller engines. Seeking to assert Germany’s technical prowess, chancellor Adolf Hitler created a huge state fund for motorsport, promptly won by Mercedes-Benz. However, shortly before, four ailing brands (among them Audi) had merged to form a new group, named Auto Union, whose new boss wanted a showcase project to set…