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WE write a lot about electric cars these days. It’s our job to report on what’s happening in the car business and, whether we like it or not (and many don’t), it’s a subject that’s dominating new car stories and the wider news agenda. Not a day seems to pass without a story cropping up about climate change and electric vehicles. One of the phrases that the car industry often bandies about when talking about EVs is that they have to be ‘normalised’. That means cheaper, more accessible and more akin to what we’ve been driving for decades. For me, one car has always stood out as one that could help normalise electric car ownership: the Vauxhall Corsa. The Corsa is one of those cars that everyone has a story…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ● Mk6 Corsa is first electric Vauxhall developed since PSA takeover ● Corsa-e on sale next April, following petrol and diesel versions “When PSA bought Vauxhall, engineers had to develop the Corsa from scratch in three years – half the usual time” WHEN a new Vauxhall Corsa comes around, it’s big news and no iteration of the supermini over its 25-year lifespan has been more important or crucial to the Luton-based firm than this one. The all-new sixth-generation Corsa has been re-engineered from top to bottom and is the first Vauxhall ever to be made available as a pure-electric model. It’s badged as the Corsa-e and will arrive in showrooms in April next year, several months after the conventional petrol and diesel versions of the supermini. Taking into…

Honda e THE Japanese firm’s EV is smaller and set to be a more premium model. It will have a price to match, at upwards of £30,000. Peugeot 208-e MECHANICALLY-identical 208 matches the Corsa-e punch for punch with a 211-mile electric range and 50kWh battery pack. MINI Cooper SE HOT-hatch performance from an EV – that’s what MINI promises with the Cooper SE. It packs 181bhp and launches this summer. Renault ZOE THIS remains the first truly affordable EV and promises a decent range of 184 miles, but it’ll soon have a lot of competition. Volkswagen ID.3 THE first of a fleet of VW EVs promises a range of 342 miles. In a matter of weeks 15,000 customers have placed orders.…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ● More practical new 1 Series officially revealed ● On sale now, with first deliveries in September THIS is the all-new BMW 1 Series, a thoroughly re-engineered version of the German manufacturer’s entry-level model. It’s on sale now priced from £24,430, with first customer deliveries due in September. For its third generation, the 1 Series has undergone its most dramatic transformation since the car was launched in 2004. Based on customer feedback, BMW has focused on increasing practicality, so the hatch is now larger than before, while the brand’s compact car line-up will see the three-door 2 Series Coupé morph into a five-door Gran Coupé. To achieve those gains in practicality, the 1 Series has switched to BMW’s front-wheel-drive architecture, which also underpins the MINI range. But to…

WHEN we drove a new 1 Series prototype in Issue 1,568, we found it definitely had a different character to the old car’s. But dynamically it’s almost exactly as you’d expect BMW’s interpretation of a front-wheel-drive hatch to be. Put that down to wider tracks and a more rigid body shell with extra stiffening – including a ‘boomerang’ strut on the car’s underside at the rear – that improves steering response, suspension control and therefore ride quality. There’s also a new stability system that increases the fun factor. BMW’s Performance Control set-up separates the car’s longitudinal and lateral motion so that understeer is controlled when cornering. But it also allows enough slip to coax the tail round gently and tuck the nose into a corner.…

ELSEWHERE at BMW, the firm has also revealed a facelifted version of its X1 SUV. The design changes are minimal; a larger kidney grille, new bumper and redesigned LED lights complete the exterior tweaks. Inside there’s some new trim, as well as BMW’s latest ConnectedDrive technology. The big news is the addition of an X1 xDrive25e plug-in hybrid model, which will join the range in 2020. BMW claims it will cover 31 miles on electric power, with CO2 emissions of 43g/km. All of the other engines, ranging from the basic 18i petrol to the powerful 20d diesel, have been updated to meet EU6d-temp emissions standards. The new X1 is on sale now, starting from £28,795. BMW says that the plug-in hybrid version is likely to cost around £35,000 when it arrives…