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CONTROVERSIAL doesn’t really sum it up, but the reaction to Rolls-Royce building an SUV, and then to the car itself, has been somewhat mixed. A few weeks ago, I was invited down to Rolls’ sprawling headquarters in Goodwood to see the new Cullinan. I’ll admit to being apprehensive; the camouflaged spy shots hinted at a brute of a car that would be less private club and more club hammer. Could Rolls-Royce, the most luxurious car maker on the planet, really produce an SUV with the grace that’s become synonymous with the brand? The answer is yes and no. Rolls-Royce’s design boss Giles Taylor told me that he was encouraged to “go big” with “a functional aesthetic that offers no apology”. He’s done that alright. So can such a ‘high-sided’ car…

• Saloon to get plug-in hybrid power before EV joins the range • New platform and motors; evolutionary look inside and out Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn BMW is gearing up to launch its most important car of the decade: the all-new, seventh-generation 3 Series. The saloon will be the brand’s star at September’s Paris Motor Show and will usher in a new platform and more electrification when it arrives in UK showrooms early next year. Under the skin the new 3 Series makes the switch to BMW’s new CLAR platform, which also underpins the larger 5 Series and X3 SUV. This allows a new generation of powertrains to be fitted. The most significant of these is a fully electric version, badged i4, that arrives in 2020. It will be based on the…

Steve_Fowler@dennis.co.uk @stevefowler THE inexorable rise of the SUV has finally reached the pinnacle of luxury motoring – Rolls-Royce – with the launch of the new Cullinan marking a number of firsts for the British brand. Not only is it its first SUV, it’s also the first Rolls-Royce with a tailgate and the first model that the company is happy to say is family orientated. The Cullinan claims to set new standards at the top of the luxury SUV market. It’s a proper go-anywhere 4x4, too, but with the mantra that it has to be ‘effortless, everywhere’. And the price? Expect to pay around £230,000. In the metal, the Cullinan is surprisingly shapely and smaller than you’d expect; at 5,341mm, it’s only 2mm longer than a Ghost, although it’s 216mm wider,…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy THE Hyundai Kona is firmly in the middle of the pack of small SUVs on the market – but now there’s a new version that could give the Korean car a unique selling point: the Hyundai Kona Electric. And we’ve tried a very late pre-production model ahead of UK sales starting in the summer. The Kona Electric comes with a choice of two powertrain options. There’s a 39kWh pack as the entry point, featuring a 134bhp version of the electric motor. And then there’s the 64kWh version we’re driving here, which packs a 201bhp motor and beefs up the range to 300 miles. The car is charged via a flap that’s integrated neatly into the Electric’s flush front grille, and DC replenishment at up to 100kW will be…

“Civic saloon features more conventional styling, with a restrained, simpler rear bumper design“ A SALOON version of the Honda Civic is to go on sale in the UK, joining the five-door hatchback in the range. It arrives in showrooms in August and is likely to carry a small price premium over the five-door version. The four-door saloon first launched in North America in 2016 and will come to the UK despite the challenging saloon market. It also fills the void left by the Civic Tourer in the range by offering an alternate bodystyle for buyers. Unlike the hatch, which is produced at Honda’s UK factory in Swindon, Wilts, the saloon will be built in Turkey and shipped here. The Civic saloon is based on the same platform as the five-door…

AUTO Express reader Ian Bryant will spend the next 12 months behind the wheel of a brand-new Nissan Leaf after winning our Issue 1,487 competition. Ian, from Wraysbury in Berkshire, took delivery of the Leaf from Auto Express editor-in-chief Steve Fowler at West Way Nissan in Hanwell, Middlesex. The Leaf will be replacing a BMW 120d that Ian currently uses for his daily commute to his role as deputy IT director for the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Ian had already taken a test drive of the Leaf before collecting his car and couldn’t hide his excitement at taking his fully-specced Tekna model away. “I was really surprised when I took the test drive,” Ian told us. “I was expecting it to be a very different driving experience, but in many…