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VOLVO has long been known as a brand focused on road safety. But 60 years after the company invented the three-point safety belt – and then opened up the patent to help every car occupant – the Swedes are embarking on an even more ambitious push as they strive towards their goal of zero fatalities in Volvo cars by 2020. It is hard to imagine how any other brand could have made the sort of announcements that Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson (above) spelt out at the company’s press conference last week. You can read more detail on the proposals on Page 16, but could you envisage Mercedes, Audi or BMW slapping a 112mph speed limit on every car they produce, for example? Or using geofencing technology to cut that maximum…

● Third generation of hatchback ● Built on front-drive platform Sean_Carson@dennis.co.uk @sean_carson_ THE next 1 Series will be front-wheel drive and BMW says we should get over it. This isn’t the first car from the brand to adopt this layout; the 2 Series Active and Gran Tourer MPVs already use it. But they’re marginal cars when it comes to sales. The 1 Series is a big-selling mainstream model, so this all-new version marks a massive step in BMW’s history. Now Auto Express has joined engineers to get behind the wheel of some early prototypes. The new front-wheel-drive architecture – called FAAR – brings many benefits, not least when it comes to packaging, weight and therefore efficiency. Spec for spec the new front-drive car is up to 20kg lighter than its…

● Hatchback expected in 2022 with looks inspired by Symbioz concept ● City car due to join family model and ZOE in firm’s expanded EV range Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram RENAULT is gearing up to add two new electric vehicles to its range, sandwiching its ZOE EV between a smaller city car and a larger family-sized model to take on the Nissan Leaf. The EV expansion will help the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance sell two million cars per year by 2025. Renault has previously announced plans to launch eight new EVs by 2022; currently it has four in its line-up. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, the firm’s global electric vehicle programme director, Eric Feunteun, said: “We will continue in the B-segment; that is our strongest segment and it is the heart of the European…

NO manufacturer sells more electric vehicles in Europe than Renault. The French firm claims that almost 25 per cent of the EVs sold on the continent have a Renault badge on the nose. The size of this market share may be a surprise, given how little noise Renault makes about its EVs. Currently the market is dominated by the fanfare being made by the VW Group, despite none of its new generation of MEB EVs being on sale, while the constant hubbub around Tesla is one that is never likely to recede. In contrast, Renault’s current real-world EV line-up is rather left in the shade. Its Z.E. (zero-emissions) range comprises the ZOE and Twizy in its passenger car stable, plus the Kangoo Z.E. and Master Z.E. in the more profitable,…

RENAULT launched the ZOE electric supermini with a battery leasing programme. Instead of buying the cells outright, customers could pay monthly to reduce their costs. It looks like this will form part of the firm’s future, too, as a Renault spokesman told us: “It’s still a great way to guarantee the worthiness of the batteries in our cars. It takes away the concern of battery life. “We’ve been happy so far, and it benefits customers,” he added. Whether the current cell rental system will form part of the buying process for the forthcoming Symbioz-inspired production car remains to be seen, however. But if the battery leasing set-up has been such a success, as the brand has suggested, it seems logical that the programme will be rolled out across Renault’s entire…

● Porsche coupé-SUV due in May ● Extra kit over standard model Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn THIS is the Porsche Cayenne Coupé, a completely new model from the German brand that has been developed to muscle in on the market occupied by the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupé. It arrives in UK dealers this May, priced from £62,129. That’s £6,000 more than a standard Cayenne, but Porsche says the premium is justified by extra equipment. The Cayenne Coupé’s design adheres to the coupé-SUV rulebook. At the front, it’s almost identical to the standard car, but from the A-pillar back the roofline is completely new, while the rear window tapers more sharply towards the bumper. Other differences include a fixed roof-mounted wing, an adaptive spoiler on the tailgate and flared wheelarches. “When…