Auto Express 1596

IT’S us Brits and our love affair with the hot hatch that has kept the genre going over the years. Quite simply, we buy, drive and cherish more of them than anyone else on the planet. But even our die-hard enthusiasm isn’t enough to overcome the ever-tightening emissions legislation that’s set to sound another death knell for the hot hatch. As Johnny Burn reports on page 12, Renault – one of the greatest exponents of the hot hatch art – is struggling to make the numbers work for the next generation of internal combustion-engined hot hatches. As is the case with petrol-powered city cars (issue 1,595) the cost of reducing CO2 emissions in hot hatches will make them too expensive to buy. So will we be waving goodbye to another…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ● Plummeting TT sales have forced rethink of car’s future ● Range of up to 340 miles, plus four-wheel drive “At the top of the range will be a model comparable with today’s TT RS, with power in excess of 400bhp” AUDI bosses have finally settled on a proposal for the next-generation TT, which will morph into a fully electric crossover, Auto Express can reveal. There has been a fierce boardroom battle within the German company over how the next TT should evolve. It’s been a debate that has raged since 2014 when the firm’s then-boss, Rupert Stadler (who was later charged and removed from his position for his involvement in the VW Group’s Dieselgate scandal), proposed the idea that the model could develop into a petrol-powered five-door…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy ● Inverted grille for future EVs ● New chassis being developed ELSEWHERE at Audi, the firm has given us the first hint of how its next generation of electric cars could look, by revealing the front end of a concept designed on the VW Group’s new PPE platform that the company is creating in conjunction with Porsche. The unnamed vehicle is at the rear of an official image designed to showcase Audi’s approach to electrification; the e-tron, forthcoming e-tron GT, and Q4 e-tron sit in the foreground of the image. The concept has been partly revealed, showing a potential new grille treatment that Audi is considering for its electric cars. It looks like an inverted version of the current set-up, with a very obvious panel replacing the conventional…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ● Renault: EV is future of fun ● CO2 rules kill off hot Clio A RENAULT Sport version of the Zoe electric hatch is being eyed up as an indirect replacement for the Clio RS, Auto Express can reveal. Bosses at the firm told us a successor to the hot Clio is no longer a viable business proposition, and that a hot Zoe is currently the favoured option within the company to plug the gap. Renault previously flirted with the idea of a performance-based EV back in 2017 when it showed the Zoe e-sport concept. The running prototype featured technology learned from the French firm’s efforts in Formula E; a twin-motor set-up delivered 454bhp and a 0-62mph time of 3.2 seconds, but the concept was never intended to…

ELSEWHERE in the hot hatch market, Peugeot looks unlikely to revive its iconic GTi badge for the forthcoming 208 hot hatchback. As previously revealed by Auto Express, the performance version of the new 208 supermini looks set to abandon petrol power and go pure-EV when it arrives next year. However, the French firm could ditch the GTi badge in favour of a Peugeot Sport Engineered moniker, despite the heritage associated with the performance sub-brand. Peugeot bosses in France have gone cold on calling the hot 208 a GTi because of its all-electric powertrain. Executives have told Auto Express that Peugeot Sport Engineered is the favoured name for the rebranded performance arm of the firm; the name was first hinted at with the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered concept car at this year’s…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn ● Developed in half usual time ● Big improvement in quality THE latest Corsa, and in particular the all-electric Corsa-e, is one of the most important cars in Vauxhall’s history. And before this crucial new supermini arrives in showrooms at the beginning of next year, Auto Express has been invited into the passenger seat to take a closer look. Our driver for the day is Thomas Wanke, Corsa global lead development engineer. “This is the most challenging car I have ever worked on at Vauxhall, it was very difficult,” Wanke tells us. Work only started on the Corsa in 2017 as Vauxhall/Opel was bought out by PSA, the owners of Citroen, DS and Peugeot. As such, engineers had only half the usual time they are usually granted to…