Auto Express September 23, 2015

WHAT’S the difference between a Hyundai and a Kia? That’s the question I posed to the brands’ new chassis guru, ex-BMW M man Albert Biermann. His answer was that Kia is younger and more sporty, Hyundai more luxurious and refined. Yet Hyundai gets the hardcore, track-focused ‘N’ brand. Yup, I thought that would sit better with Kia, but that’s the Korean brands’ politics at play, I’m told. If you think juggling those two brands is tricky, how about Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT and Skoda? It used to be relatively simple: Audi was premium, VW mainstream, SEAT sporty and Skoda value. Now new VWs like the Tiguan (above) are as posh as Audis, Skodas like the new Superb are better all-rounders than the VW Passat and the SEAT Leon is a better…

VAUXHALL says that over a quarter of all UK drivers have either owned or driven an Astra – and with former owners among the Auto Express team, we can well believe it. But the model has never really deserved its place as one of the nation’s favourites – it’s been a triumph of sales and marketing over ability. The last version, for example, looked great but its drive didn’t deliver. Things are about to change, though, and this latest Mk7 Astra is a car that, at last, is genuinely deserving of the attention it’ll receive. Is it a class leader? We’ll wait until we put it head-to-head with our current champ, the Leon, in a couple of weeks to find out, but what we will say now is that it’ll…

VOLKSWAGEN piled the pressure on the Nissan Qashqai and Kia Sportage at the Frankfurt Motor Show by unveiling its all-new Tiguan, which is due on sale by the end of this year. The second-generation SUV is longer, lower and wider than before thanks to a switch to the MQB platform, while VW claims it has made efficiency improvements of up to 25 per cent. Visually, it’s an evolutionary redesign for the Tiguan, with a more muscular stance replacing the softer lines of the outgoing model. Design cues from the new Passat have been adopted in the elongated front grille, extending to the new LED headlamps. VW also showcased a plug-in hybrid GTE version of the Tiguan in Frankfurt – this remains a concept for the time being, but is expected…

THE barrage of new SUVs continues, but few are as important as the new Volkswagen Tiguan. Its arrival at Frankfurt was one of the surprises of the show – even more so the debut of a GTE plug-in hybrid version. The car’s redesign also had people talking, with the softer silhouette of the previous Tiguan ditched for a more squat, bolder body. Based on the strength of VW’s current range, it’s sure to be a runaway success. “The softer silhouette of previous model has been ditched”…

NEXT year’s new Scenic is set to rekindle romance in households across Europe, according to Renault design boss Laurens van den Acker. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, van den Acker said: “The MPV’s soul needs to be reinvented. Many mini vans are driven by parents who look like they don’t love each other. I want them to fall in love again; we hope the new Scenic will help them do that.” Although the styling boss wouldn’t reveal specific design details about the new Scenic and Grand Scenic, he did hint that they’d have more crossover attitude than at present. He said they’d follow the brand’s current design theme, with a bold grille featuring an oversized Renault diamond, plus a few more curves than on the current car. Renault is “more…

AFTER weeks of rumours and several design sketches, Audi finally revealed its e-tron quattro concept – said to preview the Q6 SUV – at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Despite the concept bodywork, Audi makes some bold claims about the engineering underneath, stating that the four-wheel-drive model will use active aerodynamics, three electric motors and a lithium-ion battery pack for a 310-mile range. The sleek styling shows the e-tron’s positioning as a rival for the Tesla Model X, as well as conventionally fuelled rivals such as the BMW X6. Audi says that the sporty appearance and sealed underbody offer a class-leading drag coefficient of 0.25Cd. The car will also debut new Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) lighting technology. The lights, which are continuously variable and require no reflectors or guides,…