Auto Express 1407

This week Visit autoexpress.co.uk for all the latest new cars news I ALWAYS wanted to work in the car business. If I wasn’t lucky enough to be doing this, I’d be working somewhere doing something, somehow, related to four wheels. Most of the people I get to meet through work feel the same way – whether it’s my colleagues here, or the most senior execs in the industry. Only this week I met with Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, who looks as thrilled to be doing what he does today as I’m sure he did on his first day in his job as an apprentice at a UK automotive supplier. But, it seems, fewer people are feeling that way and the UK car industry – in the midst of…

■ Behind wheel of plug-in hybrid 330e, with 25-mile electric range ■ Same strong driver appeal as standard model; much lower costs Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram “BMW says the 330e’s 25-mile electric-only range is just right for its customers” BMW wants a 10 per cent share of the worldwide plug-in market by 2020. The success of models such as this 330e will be key, and with hybrid versions of the 2 Series (driven on Page 32), 7 Series and X5 all on the way, it doesn’t look an impractical goal. While the company is a long way from ditching its diesels, it’s looking to the future with its hybrids. The 330e pairs a 2.0-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, and BMW says the electric-only range of 25 miles is “the right…

Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram THE future of BMW’s high-performance M cars is hybrid, according to the brand’s vice-president for engineering, Dirk Hacker. Rather than use plug-in and hybrid tech to simply lower CO2 emissions and improve fuel economy, BMW will adapt these systems to make its cars faster, more responsive and even more involving. Speaking at last month’s Detroit Motor Show, Hacker told Auto Express: “We will look at electrification – I think it could be inevitable – but it depends on the possibility of increasing performance.” We asked him about customer desires, and whether M car buyers cared for zeroemission capability or a 25-mile EV range. “We’ve found that our customers are not interested in driving without the combustion engine,” he said. “They want to know if these changes will help…

ELECTRIFICATION will be rolled out across the entire BMW Group line-up over the coming years, Auto Express has learned. BMW member of the board and sales and marketing chief, Ian Robertson, told us: “There will be more and more hybridisation in order to meet legislation that is coming.” We asked him if that would be limited to mainstream models, or if we’d see hybrid Rolls-Royces joining the range. “You’ll see hybridisation roll out across the Group,” Robertson told us. He emphasised that – much like the M cars (above) – hybrid Rollers weren’t as important as a plug-in 5 Series, but as laws change, so will BMW’s most exclusive cars. “If cities drive heavy legislation, then that would push us,” he said. Rolls-Royce has previously experimented with electric cars, such…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy “It will have five seats as standard, but you’ll be able to order an extra pair in the boot” THIS is Skoda’s long-awaited SUV, previewed in a design sketch of a near-production concept that the Czech manufacturer will unveil at the Geneva Motor Show next month. Known as the Vision S, the show car gives a clear idea of how Skoda’s line-up of new SUVs could look as it’s rolled out over the next four years. The process will start with this model, the largest, which will take the fight to the Land Rover Discovery Sport when it hits showrooms early next year. The sketches reveal a prominent front grille and slim headlights, styled on the latest-generation Superb hatchback. They also show how Skoda design chief Jozef Kaban…

JUKE RIVAL SKODA is considering a rival for the Nissan Juke. It’s said to be the lowest priority of the company’s SUVs, though, so we’re unlikely to see it before 2019 at the earliest. ALL-NEW YETI THE existing Skoda Yeti will be overhauled in 2018, switching to the VW Group’s MQB platform. The styling will be toned down, with crisp edges and headlights similar to the Vision S. COUPE-SUV SKODA has put a ‘coupé-SUV’ through customer clinics, as it trials a cut-price rival for the Range Rover Evoque. This would share its underpinnings with the upcoming seven-seater.…