Table of contents for July 09, 2025 in Autocar

The EXP 15 features a new version of Bentley’s ‘winged B’ emblem that will be fixed to all of its future production cars – beginning with its debut EV next year. The bottom set of feathers, which Page said are “quite soft” and likened to an owl’s, have been removed in pursuit of “purifying and simplifying” the badge, and the main wings have a “sharper, more edgy wing profile” inspired by the peregrine falcon. Page added that he took inspiration from luxury watches in refreshing the look of the central B element: “Instead of just a flat surface, it’s got a glass piece and a threedimensional ‘jewel’.” He said it was important that the B can be used on its own, without the feathers attached, so that it is as…

ALPINE HAS LIFTED the covers off a rally-ready version of its Renault 5-based A290 electric hot hatch. Priced from €59,990 (£62,400 including VAT), the A290 Rallye is a purecompetition variant of the electric hatch that has been extensively modified, with a stripped-out interior, a roll-cage and bucket seats among the changes. It is also fitted with a limited-slip differential for a better distribution of its 217bhp and 221lb ft between its front wheels. Alongside new brake discs (350mm in diameter at the front, 280mm at the rear), the A290 Rallye gets race-spec ALP Racing Suspension dampers and 18in Evo Corse wheels wearing Michelin Pilot Sport A tyres. Other modifications include an exterior speaker (to provide rally spectators with a synthesised sound) and a hydraulic handbrake for negotiating tight bends.…

Polestar will start building its upcoming compact SUV, the 7, in 2028, with production taking place at sibling firm Volvo’s new Slovakia factory. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding for Volvo’s third European plant – currently under construction in Kosice – to manufacture the electric Range Rover Evoque rival. It will be the brand’s first car built in Europe. Polestar has confirmed the SPA3-based 7 will use a “technology base” from Volvo, which will mean it benefits “from group component sharing, cell-to-body technology and the next generation of in-house-developed e-motors”.…

Autocar was invited to Clearmotion’s UK tech centre at the Horiba MIRA test track to experience its Nio ET9 demonstrator. In terms of hardware, it was exactly as you can buy it in China, although Clearmotion has tweaked the software to make it more to its own liking – and more suitable for UK roads. The difficulty with such a system is that it is, by design, underwhelming. The aim is that you can’t feel the bumps. It’s only when I experience the same road in another car, or with the system turned off, that I realise that this B-road isn’t glass-smooth. Turning the system on is quite spooky: every bit of pitch or head toss just vanishes. Adding on the Roadmotion somehow makes it even smoother. This is a…

Hyundai will reveal a new compact SUV, an electric alternative to the Bayon, in “the next few months” as it continues to expand its EV line-up. Understood by Autocar to be twinned with sibling brand Kia’s incoming EV2, the crossover will plug the gap between the Inster and Kona Electric. This size, similar to that of the ICE-powered Bayon, will position it as a rival to the likes of the Volvo EX30 and Renault 4. It will be revealed “in the next few months”, said new Hyundai Motor Europe CEO Xavier Martinet, which suggests an unveiling at the Munich motor show in September is likely. Hyundai confirmed it will launch the car in the third quarter of 2026, meaning deliveries could begin as soon as July next year. Autocar understands…

SUZUKI CAPPUCCINO, SIR? The sad tale of the Suzuki salesman who found selling premium products more challenging than mainstream ones (Your Views, 18 June) appeared to lay his woes squarely at the feet of JLR. This, I consider, is unfairly maligning the company, which currently seems to be experiencing unwarranted brickbats from all directions. I spent more than 30 years in the franchised motor trade, both in management and sales, and mainly for large dealer groups selling a wide range of products from topend to lower-price makes. I found a couple of factors tended to separate buyers in the two categories: the level of expectation and, in the premium sector, customers often had more noticeable drive to get what they wanted. I give a simple example concerning showroom coffee. A…

Family-friendly Q-cars are a dying breed, so much so that the new 261bhp, four-wheel-drive petrol version of the Skoda Superb stands all but alone. Old rivals like the Peugeot 508 PSE SW are no longer on sale, while equivalently sized, equivalently powerful estates from premium brands are considerably more expensive. The Superb 2.0 TSI 265PS 4x4’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine is taken from the latest Volkswagen Golf GTI and makes 261bhp and 295lb ft (the same power as it has in the GTI but 22lb ft more torque) for a 0-62mph time of 5.7sec. That’s just 0.7sec adrift of the E450d Estate, despite the Mercedes’ sizeable power and torque advantage. The enduring ‘EA888’ unit remains smooth and quick here in this big barge. It’s responsive and energetic and gives the Superb…

Despite BMW having gone on to produce bigger, better-selling and longerrange EVs, there is still plenty of love for its first massproduced one, the i3 – and no small amount of lament that Munich has largely moved away from the i3’s avant-garde construction. Arguably the i3’s closest descendant in the current BMW range is the iX, which has just received a major model-year update. Until the ‘Neue Klasse’ iX3 arrives, all other electric BMWs are twinned with a piston-powered version, sharing the same platform, body and packaging. The iX is the only stand-alone EV, which lets it go a little bit off-menu. Instead of just using steel and aluminium, it has a carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) passenger cell, and because the bonnet doesn’t have to house an engine, it can be…

MILEAGE 1848 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Can Citroën’s new small EV challenge the class-leading Renault 5? While car styling will always be subjective, few models on our longterm fleet have inspired a more diverse set of opinions than the Citroën ë-C3. Not all of them have been positive, with one member of the team describing our small electric car as “not exactly a looker” and another rating it as “a solid 6/10”. High praise indeed… All balderdash, in my view. I happen to rather like the way this little hatchback looks, and while it might not be as effortlessly beautiful as some of Citroën’s greatest hits (it’s unlikely to ever be mentioned in the same breath as the SM or the original DS), the substance that owes itself to the…

MILEAGE 1421 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out how easy it is to live with a small-battery EV in 2025 You never thought you would read the terms ‘Mini’, ‘SUV’, ‘electric’ and ‘good value’ in the same sentence, but here we are. The realisation that my Mini might actually be a bit of a bargain came after spending some time in our new Citroën ë-C3. It is, after all, a very close rival to the Aceman E. Okay, so BMW-era Mini has been all about sporty handling and puppyish fun while Stellantis-era Citroën has focused on comfort and simplicity, but both of these cars are small electric SUVs with sub-200-mile ranges aimed at young people: jacked-up versions of established superminis with strong heritage and legions of fans. Reassuringly, despite…

AN OWNER’S VIEW JASON SEMANIC “The XF immediately stood out, with its character, elegant design and genuinely rewarding drive. I bought a 25t and found it to be bulletproof over 40,000 miles. The reputation for poor reliability has been completely false in my experience: only routine servicing has been needed. After stints in an Audi S5 and a Tesla Model 3 Performance, I eventually returned to an XF S with the supercharged V6. It’s quick, composed and fantastic on the open road. This generation of Jaguar is seriously underrated. It offers real driving credibility in a way few cars do.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE Walk away if you hear a knocking noise from the V6 diesel. It’s an early sign of crankshaft failure, which starves the engine of oil and…

The UK’s car insurance industry recently began using a new assessment system that is intended to give insurers a far more detailed view of risk, scoring each car from 1 to 99 in the areas of performance, damageability, repairability, safety and security. This replaced a grouping system unchanged since 2009 but said to have first emerged half a century ago – although that part is true only in a formal sense. Take this letter to Autocar by ‘Disgusted of Bearsden’, written in 1938, eight years after car insurance became mandatory: “I have been insured since 1918 and never had a single penny from any insurance company, yet because I purchase a Speed 20 Alvis, my company tell me they can no longer cover the risk to my passengers. There is…

1999 HUNAUDIERES Sixteen-cylinder supercar introduced key styling elements and hinted at Bentley’s dynamic reinvention. 2012 EXP 9 F Broke the taboo that was a Bentley SUV, laying the foundations for the roaring success that the Bentayga became. 2015 EXP 10 SPEED 6 This vision of the Conti GT’s future promised hybrid power and a top speed of 200mph – and the production car delivered. 2019 EXP 100 GT Bentley looked ahead to 2035 with a 1340bhp, quad-motor EV touting the option of hydrogen fuel cells.…

Aston Martin has revealed the Vantage S, the third-generation sports car’s most track-focused incarnation to date. It is the first time the S suffix has adorned a Vantage since 2018, and the new model follows the recently revealed DBX S as Aston brings back the badge for its highestperforming models. While the 671bhp Vantage S is the most powerful series-production version of Aston’s entrylevel sports car yet (disregarding the extremely limited V12 Vantage of 2022), attention has been focused specifically on making it as quick as possible on track. To that end, engineers have worked to increase cornering speed and stability. Key to this is the fitment of a new ducktail spoiler, which has been tuned to push the overall downforce balance towards the front of the car. This is…

Uncertainty surrounds the future of Lotus in the UK, with conflicting reports, statements and sources suggesting that the sports car maker is preparing to close its long-standing Hethel base and move production to the US. That heart-stopping news broke early in the morning of 27 June, when a source with impeccable connections to Lotus UK told Autocar that the order had come from China to prepare its historic manufacturing facility in Hethel for closure. A second source backed up that bombshell, claiming Lotus was investigating moving sports car production to the US. Separately, further reports from a different source confirmed that Hethel was indeed on the chopping block, threatening the 1300 jobs there. By the following day, however, Lotus issued a statement that “there are no plans to close the…

Nissan will cut around 250 jobs at its Sunderland factory as it looks to “support future competitiveness” following a difficult 2025 so far. The cuts will be part of a voluntary redundancy scheme and will not affect manufacturing staff. Some 6000 people are employed at the plant, which currently builds the Qashqai and Juke and will soon make the new Leaf. In May, Nissan said it would cut 20,000 jobs and close seven plants globally after recording a £3.8bn net loss last year.…

US-based start-up Clearmotion has developed a fully active suspension system that could be fitted to almost any car – and it is set to appear in future Porsches. Fully active suspension – where the car can control both the extension and compression strokes using an actuator or motor – has been the stuff of dreams for chassis engineers for a long time. Whereas passive or semi-active suspension (adaptive dampers and/or air suspension) can only ever react to inputs from the road, an active system can effectively pull the wheel up for a bump and push it back down when the road dips, as well as compensate for body pitch and roll in order to keep the car’s body perfectly level. In this way, it can theoretically isolate occupants from what…

GEELY, THE CHINESE firm that owns LEVC, Lotus, Polestar, Volvo and more, is bringing its eponymous car brand to the UK. The first model sold here will be the EX5, an electric crossover pitched against the Skoda Elroq, Kia EV3 and Renault Megane. UK specifications have yet to be confirmed, but Geely said the EX5 is being assessed by Hethelbased Lotus Engineering to evaluate whether it requires retuning for European roads. In other markets, the EX5 is offered with a choice of 49.5kWh and 60.2kWh batteries, with the latter getting a WLTP range of up to 264 miles. It has a single front-mounted motor that puts out 215bhp, for a 0-62mph time of 6.9sec. Inside, the EX5 seats five and features a 15.4in infotainment touchscreen. It starts from $40,990 in…

FIRST DRIVE FERRARI F80 Matt Prior assesses this new F1-inspired, 1184bhp, V6 hybrid hypercar INTERVIEW “I COULD HAVE JUST TUMBLED OFF TO THE BEACH” British industry veteran Adrian Hallmark tells us why he left a booming Bentley to take on the formidable task of turning Aston Martin around DRIVEN BUGATTI W16 MISTRAL The W16 era ends with this limited-run roadster. Is it a fitting finale? EVERY WEEK USED GUIDE SKODA FABIA Who needs multimillion-pound hypercars when you can have a brilliant supermini for just £1500? LIVING WITH A… DACIA DUSTER Can this new budget 4x4 live up to its name and cope with off-road excursions? We find out…

THE FLAGSHIP OF the RZ line-up and the first Lexus EV to receive an F Sport makeover, the new RZ 550e is also the inaugural model in the Japanese firm’s line-up to receive a sophisticated steer-by-wire system and a simulated manual drive shift. At 402bhp, power is up on the dual-motor 500e, but range from the same 77kWh battery is down to 280 miles – significantly less than the dual-motor Volvo EX40’s 323 miles. In addition, the 550e F Sport gets sportier bodywork, including 20in wheels, bumper air ducts, a rear diffuser and a rear spoiler. Owing to its larger wheels, plus retuned spring rates and shock absorbers, the F Sport rides more rigidly than standard RZs. Speed bumps, potholes and road cracks are more noticeable as a result, but…

“What a glorious thing it is to take this pin-sharp, perfectly linear motor to its limit” Spot a new 911 GT3 on the road and the chances are it won’t be ‘just’ a GT3. The track-day-going purist – or the owner with a shrewd eye on residuals – will probably have optioned the £19,500 Weissach package, with selected suspension and aero components in CFRP, plus Race-Tex upholstery, six-point harnesses and a CFRP-clad roll-cage similar to that of the GT3 RS. For the more reserved individual there is the Touring package, which costs nothing to have and is being offered from the start of sales for the first time. Here the car loses its famous rear wing and has a plusher cabin. It is also the Touring strain that gives us…

More Trumpton Fire Brigade than F1 safety car driver, but Evans is having a blast DBX medical car carries fire extinguishers, medical kit and even a defibrillator Only a few months in and already the 2025 Formula 1 season is proving to be a nail-biter, with the established driver order and team hierarchy under threat. So it’s fortunate that two cars present at every race are standing ready to intervene when things get messy. They are the official FIA safety and medical cars, since 1996 provided by Mercedes, but also now by Aston Martin. Coincidentally, and in the wake of the Spanish GP and Max Verstappen’s three penalty points for a late collision, the British manufacturer showed off both its safety and medical cars at its test and development centre…

RENAULT 5 Mileage 2525 Last seen 2.7.25 As you may have read last week, our new Renault 5 arrived in a big hurry, straight off the boat. There wasn’t even time to fit its most important option, the baguette holder, but we’ve now righted that wrong. Here it is, securely in place, housing a topquality stick of British sourdough. Plans are already afoot, via the Channel, to be sure a genuine French loaf fits just as well. SC MG CYBERSTER Mileage 3990 Last seen 2.7.25 The Cyberster’s rear-view mirror makes cars appear wider and lower (ie more exotic) than they are. You think an Audi E-tron GT is behind but it’s actually an A4. A Bentley Continental GT closing in at speed turns out to be a BYD Seal. It’s…

JENSEN INTERCEPTOR MKIII 1973, 78,000 miles, £44,950 This Jensen Interceptor is a meticulously maintained 1970s classic. The bodywork has been fully restored, it has recent discs and pads and the 7.2-litre V8 “sounds fantastic”. The interior has some signs of wear and tear but is totally original. LAND ROVER SERIES 3 1976, 49,000 miles, £24,995 This 1976 Series 3 has covered only 2000 miles since 2013 but has been kept roadworthy. This tough Landie is tax- and MOTexempt and wants for nothing: it has a galvanised chassis and totally original bodywork. It even has a Bluetooth retro radio to connect to your smartphone. VOLKSWAGEN T2 BAY WINDOW CAMPER VAN 1972, 100,000 miles, £29,995 This T2 restomod could be ideal for summer. It looks like a classic Bay Window camper but…

Bentley has revealed a dramatic, high-riding limousine concept that previews the design of its upcoming cars – and it could evolve into a successor to the Mulsanne flagship. Called the EXP 15, this 5.4m-long show car will inspire the shape and styling of the next generation of Bentley cars, beginning with its first EV, an ‘urban SUV’, which will be launched next year to sit underneath the Bentayga. Straddling the boundaries between saloon, SUV and grand tourer, the EXP 15 takes design inspiration from some of Bentley’s best-known historic models but ushers in a futuristic new treatment that departs radically from the current Continental GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga. It’s a statement of intent from recently appointed director of design Robin Page, who rejoined Bentley from Volvo in 2023, having…

Have Chinese customers driven your focus on rear-seat comfort? “We’re very successful with sedans in China – they love Flying Spur – so that’s definitely one area to connect with. The other thing is that our customers are changing. Even in the US, what’s important to them is how they arrive at the destination. This art of arrival is something that’s key at the premium level. They go to very exclusive events in order to arrive and be seen.” So is there less of a focus on driver engagement? “The 3 Litre is a car Woolf Barnato drove himself, but there was a need for him to have a drink in the back and a sideways seat. And that’s typical of our customers: they will drive the cars themselves. That’s…

Lancia will launch a new Delta HF Integrale next year, more than 30 years since production of the legendary hot hatch (pictured) ended. Lancia said the Integrale name will also adorn its top performance models, starting from 2026. The Delta HF Integrale is likely to adopt Stellantis’s 278bhp electric powertrain and e-CMP EV platform, as used by the group’s other warmed-up models, such as the Lancia Ypsilon HF. It includes a mechanical limited-slip differential, hydraulic bump stops and a rear anti-roll bar.…

A riel has marked the 25th anniversary of the Atom with the new 4RR – the most powerful version yet of the British car maker’s uncompromising spaceframe sports car. With its uprated Honda four-pot sending a huge 525bhp and 406lb ft to the rear wheels, the new special edition is far more powerful than even the outrageous, 475bhp Atom V8 from 2011. Ariel has not quoted any performance figures, but the standard Atom 4R, on which the 4RR is based, has 400bhp and claims a 0-62mph time of just 2.7sec. The 4RR is expected to roughly match that car’s 680kg kerb weight, which would give a stunning power-to-weight ratio of 770bhp per tonne, meaning it could trim that sprint time to below the 2.5sec mark. That would make it one…

AFTER USING A sustainable, natural-fibre composite in motorsport for a number of years, BMW has announced it will be using the flaxbased material, developed by Swiss firm Bcomp, on future production models. In testing, the material has proved suitable for a range of uses, including visible A-surface finishes on the interior and exterior. Several years of R&D have found that composites made from renewable materials are not only able to create attractive surface finishes, but they can also be used for structural components. An example is the roof panel in next-gen cars, where renewable fibre composites can reduce CO 2 equivalent by 40% during production, and it gives end-of-life benefits. BMW’s venture capital arm, I Ventures, holds a stake in Bcomp, which was founded in 2011 to make high-performance skis…

SKODA’S KLAUS ZELLMER was one of three global CEOs at the recent Autocar Awards, alongside Kia’s Ho Sung Song and McLaren Group’s Nick Collins. Peter Rawlinson, who until recently led Lucid as CEO, was also in attendance, as were several other global, Europe and UK executives and leaders. We were delighted to welcome them, honouring several personally as well as their cars, including the Five-Star Car award for the Superb collected by Zellmer. The likes of Zellmer could not achieve what they do without their dealers, so it was no surprise to learn that, aside from the Autocar Awards and this interview, Zellmer’s brief time in the UK included a dealer visit, as did Song’s. Skoda needs “the human touch” from its dealers more than ever, says Zellmer, in the…

I was intrigued by the feature on diesel cars in your 4 June issue and would like to report my own experience. Searching for a fun family car, I looked at a Volkswagen Golf R and a Ford Focus ST but felt that both lacked something. My son then suggested a BMW M340d. Wary of the whole diesel issue, we went for a test drive in a 2021 car. I will admit to being blown away, and the car has since been bought. For my driving, a mix of urban slog and motorway pounding, the car excels. It seems equally happy to trundle along (luxuriously and quietly) at low urban speeds in traffic and to storm down the motorway (safely and comfortable) or tackle a B-road blast. The engine is…

“Agility and body control are where you expect them on a bigger than average Volvo” Somewhere in a parallel universe without CO2 emissions and electric cars, an all-new Volvo XC60 was launched to the press last week. In that world, just as in ours, it has lately become the most important car the company makes – the most popular model it has ever sold, no less. It would be crazy not to invest large in a car like that. And yet here we are. In our world, what we’re getting amounts to little more than a lightly facelifted version of the second-generation XC60, itself launched in 2017, in a similar vein to what we have seen with the big-brother XC90. An allelectric EX60 will be along in 2026, and at…

It’s only a short drive; a quick evaluation run in a prototype. But it’s long enough to confirm something important. The new Golf GTI Edition 50 isn’t merely a decal-and-badge special – it’s the most powerful and, arguably, the most dynamically accomplished front-wheel-drive Volkswagen yet. This drive followed a deep dive into the hot hatch’s engineering and Volkswagen’s evolving development process, which now includes digital simulator tuning in partnership with German firm EDAG, backed by test track validation using a robot capable of analysing finegrain steering response. These are relatively new tools layered on top of traditional development methods – and it shows. This isn’t quite the final production model, but it’s close. And based on what I’ve sampled, Volkswagen has every reason to be confident. The numbers are strong…

This car was not supposed to exist. The 8Y-generation Audi RS3 was signed off based on a business case that assumed it would never make it past the base A3’s mid-life facelift, because the 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine that defines this car’s character couldn’t be made compliant with the upcoming Euro 7 emission standards – not economically anyway. But then Euro 7 got postponed, and it turned out that making it pass the latest Euro 6 variation was achievable with a bit of tweaking. The game was on to keep the last remaining car with a five-cylinder engine alive for a few more years. After all, despite now-astronomical pricing, the demand was still there, and it’s a great halo product for Audi. As well as the regular A3’s facelift tweaks, the…

A brisk Mini and a Great British adventure: a pairing to rival jam and cream or salt and vinegar. Yes, I might be hungry, which is why we’re starting in the implausibly picturesque Robin Hood’s Bay, a postcard illustrator’s dream ensconced in the North Yorkshire coastline. The concept of destination road trips has been ascending for a while, none more famous than the North Coast 500, right at the tip of Scotland. Perhaps we’re all tempted to get stuck in but simply can’t find the time, and for many Autocar readers the rollercoaster roads of the North York Moors might prove a tad easier to reach. Easier to plan, too, maybe. We’ve thrown out the A-Z and kept Google Maps intervention to the bare necessities, as photographer Max and I…

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the clever design of Volvo’s small electric crossover can win us over in extended use he EX30 is the smallest model in Volvo’s current “Here’s a new small car at a time when the world needs more of them” Tline-up, but apparently you can fit an elephant in it. Okay, it’s a metaphorical elephant in the form of a 12.3in touchscreen mounted in the middle of the EX30’s minimalist dashboard, but it’s absolutely one we need to address. That screen, or rather Volvo’s decision to minimise the amount of switchgear by using it to control almost every function (heating, foglights, glovebox, you name it), has been the subject of plenty of criticism, including from us. When Matt Prior first sampled the EX30 in…

MILEAGE 4572 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a sub-£27k price tag really does give you all the car you’ll ever need If anything is going to test a meadowskipping, hand-holding honeymoon period, it’s your first big trip away. How will you get on for an extended period in each other’s company? Will previously unseen cracks appear? Could what at first seemed to be your perfect match suddenly no longer be ‘the one’? We’ve all been there. And so the time finally came for my first relationship-testing road trips with the Duster – fittingly in the run-up to my actual wedding. The value SUV had up until that point proven to be a worthy driveway buddy. It had been easy to use in town and pretty comfy on my…

“A more mature all-round prospect, with classleading dynamics.” That’s how we described the brilliant second-gen Jaguar XF when we first drove it 10 years ago. Jaguar axed its mid-size saloon and estate last year and embarked on an exuberant rebrand that only those living in Antarctica will have missed. In the meantime, prices for the XF have tumbled, and now you can bag this swish, left-field 5 Series alternative for as little as £4000. Of course, the cheapest XFs are leggy examples showing clear signs of hard use, but with a healthier budget of about £9000 you will easily find a well-maintained XF with a more palatable mileage. And that’s still a bargain for a smart-looking executive car that’s pleasant to ride around in and excellent to drive. Ditching its…

Julian Carlson has just told me that those who know see his 1972 Porsche 911 S 2.4 and say: “It’s the one with the oil filler flap!” Just then, a chap walks by and says exactly that. “The oil filler/inspection flap, which is on the rear wing behind the right-hand door, was unique to E-series 911s like mine that were built in 1971-72,” says Julian. “After complaints that owners and petrol station attendants had mistaken it for the fuel filler and put petrol into the oil tank, which ruined the engine, Porsche relocated the tank to its earlier position and got rid of the flap.” It’s a wonderful story that only adds to his car’s charm and, I venture, to its value as something of a rarity. Julian is not…