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ON Sunday, Lewis Hamilton will be bidding for his third straight Formula One drivers’ championship and fourth in total (see Page 86). It’s the kind of consistent success that our country has only ever fleetingly enjoyed in elite-level motorsport. Some will be excited by this prospect; there will be others, though, who are ambivalent and even some fervently hoping that Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg holds his nerve to claim his first title. Strange isn’t it? It’s certainly a far cry from the eighties, when it seemed like the entire nation was behind Nigel Mansell as ‘Our Nige’ scaled the heights of F1. Part of the problem has been caused by the sport itself. With only some races now broadcast live on terrestrial TV, it has willingly reduced its exposure to…

THE long wait for Alfa Romeo’s first ever SUV is over, with the Stelvio being revealed at last week’s Los Angeles Motor Show. It’ll go on sale in the UK next year, priced from around £35,000. It’s the second model in the brand’s ambitious new product offensive, and it’ll be joined by six other cars for a total of eight new Alfas by the end of the decade. Following on from the Giulia, it closely borrows some of the design cues set out by that car. But Alfa expects it to significantly outsell the saloon. The new Stelvio was unveiled in rangetopping Quadrifoglio form at LA. The Giulia-inspired design see key features such as the narrow LED lights, trademark shield grille and gaping air intakes carried over. Body-coloured side skirts…

“The increased competition means Bentley has had to dramatically up its game with the all-new model” AND IT’S OUT ON TEST THE Bentley Continental GT has been around for 13 years and despite a wealth of updates since it arrived, its basic look, technology and architecture have remained untouched. That is all about to change, with a more powerful, fuel-efficient and luxurious next-generation model that Bentley is finalising for a debut in 2018. The McLaren 570GT, Aston Martin DB11 and Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupé were merely drawings in a designer’s sketchpad while the current Continental was flying out of showrooms. But the increased competition means Bentley has had to dramatically up its game with the all-new model, shown here in our spy shots and exclusive images. Key to the overhaul…

“System leaves you to guide trailer into a space on screen, following purple guide lines; the car controls the steering” Plug-in hybrid Range Rovers are on way to showrooms THE I-Pace Concept may have been the star of Jaguar Land Rover’s LA show stand, but other electrified models will beat it into showrooms as the two brands embrace battery power. Speaking to Auto Express, JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth said: “Around 40 to 50 per cent of our range will be electrified by 2020.” Plug-in hybrid versions of the current Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are first on the list. That means the tech works with existing platforms, pointing the way to a full roll-out of plug-in hybrids across JLR’s mainstream range before the end of the decade. Further…

Engine details on new Jeep Compass JEEP has revealed fresh details about its Compass SUV (above), which will sit above the Renegade in the range as a rival to the Volkswagen Tiguan. Three petrol engines and two diesels are confirmed, as are three gearboxes. Jeep hasn’t said which the UK will get, but the 1.4 turbo is likely, as are 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesels. The 2.0 should offer 4x4 and a nine-speed auto. There will be Sport, Limited, Latitude and Trailhawk trims, with prices from around £25,000. Boss says Alfa has no self-driving plans WIDESPREAD autonomous driving tech is an inevitability, claims Alfa Romeo CEO Reid Bigland, but the firm won’t make the leap to fully self-driving cars. Speaking at the LA Motor Show, Bigland said autonomy is the “polar…

THE next rotary-engined Mazda sports car should arrive with a pure combustion engine and no electrification, according to a senior company source. Mazda gave a glimpse of how the model could look with its RX-Vision concept at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, and this car was seen again last week at the brand’s LA show preview event. But a production version is still said to be hanging in the balance as Mazda gears up for its centenary in 2020. However, while head of R&D Kiyoshi Fujiwara admitted that several challenges remain before an RX-8 successor can be given the green light, he acknowledged that a rotary engine development team remains active: “It is a small group of engineers still working, but they are still working,” Fujiwara told Auto…