Auto Express November 18, 2015

FOR the past year, Hyundai’s Rockar store in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent (above) – and its accompanying website – has been transforming the way people buy cars. I’m a fan – as I’ve said before, it’s about selling cars where people are, not where they’re not! Has it worked? Seems so – we can exclusively reveal that Hyundai is opening a second Rockar store next month, this time in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London. I know that plenty of other manufacturers have been watching closely to see how buyers react to the store and its no-pressure approach from ‘angels’ rather than sales people. Or whether they still prefer to go to the more traditional dealer. So here are some of the stats that might help…

MINI is looking to hit Volkswagen and Ford where it hurts, with a new 300bhp four-wheel-drive hot JCW hatchback – and our exclusive image shows how it could look. Auto Express has received exclusive information from a MINI insider about the brand’s desire to up the ante in its hot hatch range. Our source told us: “There’s room for expansion in the hot hatch market.” They added: “I think there is potential. Britain is the home of MINI, and Britain is a strong market for the hot hatch.” When pushed for more information, we were told that there are no plans for a five-door John Cooper Works, but that the Clubman is “different turf”. Our insider’s comments back up spy shots (below). And with MINI pitching the new Clubman at…

AUDI RS3 At £40,795, the RS3 offers supercar pace in a practical package. Five-cylinder engine gives 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds MERCEDES-AMG A 45 AMG-tuned A 45 is currently the most powerful hot hatch on sale. Its 376bhp turbo delivers 0-62mph in just 4.2 seconds FORD FOCUS RS Ford rewrote the hot hatch rulebook when it announced that the 345bhp Focus RS would be priced at less than £30,000 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R Just as the JCW MINI will be, the Golf R is offered with manual or auto boxes – the latter cuts 0-62mph time by four-tenths…

Essentials SEAT Leon Cross Sport Price: N/A Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, turbocharged Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch auto, four-wheel drive Power/torque: 296bhp/380Nm 0-62mph: 4.9 seconds Top speed: 155mph (limited) Economy: 40mpg (est) CO2: 160g/km (est) ON SALE TBC THE SEAT Leon Cross Sport concept was first unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and it went down a storm – as it is very much a car of the moment. Sporting a high-quality and seemingly showroom-ready new interior plus 296bhp under the bonnet and four-wheel drive to support its junior Porsche Macan styling, it hit the headlines and ran with them. SEAT referred to the Cross Sport at the time as “a performance athlete in hi-tech trekking shoes”. Hype, yes, but we liked what we saw. That was then and this is…

INFINITI has only just entered the premium hatchback market with the Q30, but the luxury brand already has its sights set on the crossover class – and has unveiled the new QX30 crossover at the LA Motor Show this week. We first clapped eyes on the Mercedes GLA rival as a concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and since then the QX30 has made the transition from show stand to production reality relatively unscathed. Unsurprisingly, it shares almost all of its running gear with the Q30 (driven in Issue 1,395), but is set apart by suspension that’s been raised by 30mm, chunky wheelarch mouldings and front and rear skid plates. Under the skin is the same MFA platform that underpins the Mercedes A-Class, but given its more off-road…

LAMBORGHINI has quietly rolled out a new rear-wheel drive, entry-level version of its Huracán supercar and said it will go on sale early next year. It’s powered by the same 602bhp 5.2-litre V10 engine as the current four-wheel-drive version, but has shed a few kilos due to the change in drivetrain. We can also expect the rear-drive Huracán to add a little time to the 4WD version’s 0-62mph benchmark, with the current model’s 3.2 seconds likely to increase by several tenths. The 202mph top speed should remain unaffected, though.…