Auto Express 1493

WE all know the car world is racing towards an era of change the likes of which we have never seen before. Connectivity, autonomy and electrification mean we’ll see an onslaught of vehicles over the next couple of decades that are radically different from what we’re accustomed to. We truly are living in exciting times. But could this brave new world also spell the end – or at least accelerate the decline – of one of the industry’s less appealing and more perplexing elements: badge snobbery? That was one of the thoughts that occurred to me last week when Dyson, best known for making vacuum cleaners, announced it would be entering the car market. (For the full story, see our report on Page 10.) Dyson is merely the latest ‘non-car’…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ▪ Exclusive images show longer, wider five-door due next year ▪ More bodystyle and powertrain options available than before MERCEDES is applying the finishing touches to its all-new A-Class hatchback, and it has plans to expand the line-up to include up to eight models or variants. The fourth-generation hatchback is likely to make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, exactly 21 years after the original A-Class was launched at the same show. Auto Express understands that the first of the eight A-Class variants will be the standard hatchback. This will usher in a sleeker exterior design, improved packaging to address the practicality shortcomings of the current model and an overhauled cabin. “Sleeker LED lights, a larger glasshouse and a chiselled body will be the main…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy JAGUAR is enjoying record sales with its F-Pace SUV – and now the company is turning its attention to the likes of the BMW X1 and Audi Q3 with the smaller E-Pace. To find out what buyers can expect, Auto Express joined chief dynamics tester Mike Cross for a passenger run over the roads where the new car has been developed. The E-Pace is significant for Jaguar on more than just its potential sales figures, because it’s the first model from the company since the X-Type to be based on a front-wheel-drive chassis. The underpinnings are similar to those used on the Range Rover Evoque, in fact – although Jaguar’s engineering team has worked hard to give the car a distinct character. “The E-Pace feels like it has…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy DYSON, a company famous for its range of vacuum cleaners, has confirmed its intentions to launch a line-up of ‘radical’ pure electric cars in 2020. This will be based on cutting-edge battery tech and developed at a new campus on a disused World War Two airfield in Wiltshire, and the company has invested £2.5billion into the EV project. Vacuum cleaner pioneer Sir James Dyson told Auto Express that he’s had a vision for an electric car for almost 20 years – and his company will “go it alone” in developing the vehicle, because he sees nothing that car makers could bring to the process. “I was interested in an all-electric car back in 1998, but the industry wasn’t,” Dyson told Auto Express. “It wasn’t a fashionable thought in…

New Carbon Edition Audis at the double AUDI has launched new Carbon Editions of the RS4 Avant and RS5 Coupé (above), at £71,625 and £75,400 respectively. Both feature a new exterior styling package that includes carbon detailing, RS matrix LED headlamps and an RS sports exhaust; RS5 Carbon Editions also feature a carbon fibre roof. Under the bonnet of both cars is a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6, which is boosted to 447bhp and 600Nm of torque. Toyota and Mazda in deal to build EVs TOYOTA and Mazda have entered into a new joint venture with automotive technology company Denso to develop new electric vehicles. The deal has resulted in the creation of a new company called EV Common Architecture Spirit, which is made up of full-time engineers from each of the…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn McLAREN has started development work on its upcoming three-seat hybrid hypercar, codenamed BP23. The brand has developed a test mule based on the 720S to allow engineers to evaluate the car’s centrally mounted driving position, shown in these official images. The BP23 is an indirect successor to the legendary McLaren F1, which also featured a central driving position, and only 106 examples of the car will be made – exactly the same number of F1s produced. All have been sold, McLaren has confirmed, at a cost believed to be £2million each. McLaren is calling the car a Hyper GT and has claimed that the model, which will sit in the range-topping Ultimate Series, will be the ‘fastest ever’ car it has produced. That target is not based on…