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WE’VE always recommended that buying towards the end of a month – or even better, the end of a quarter – could prove fruitful. Dealers are more likely to hand over a larger proportion of their profit margins to buyers who help them hit their end-of-period sales targets, which bring lucrative bonuses with them. But in the weird and wonderful times we currently live in, there’s an added incentive for car makers and their dealers to shift stock before the end of 2019. And a hitherto unseen desperation to do so, with massive financial backing that’s playing into the hands of buyers. Next year a new European Commission regulation comes into force that means all car makers have a fleet-wide average emission target for new cars of 95g/km of CO2.…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods ● All-new Octavia revealed in hatchback and estate body styles ● Engine line-up features hybrid and plug-in options for first time SKODA has followed up the new Scala hatchback and Kamiq SUV with a fresh incarnation of the Octavia – the car that has arguably come to define the brand since the Volkswagen Group acquisition in 1991. The Octavia story started well before then, though. The nameplate celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2019, so this new version is technically the fifth-generation model overall and the fourth to emerge under VW Group direction. Over 6.5 million Octavias have hit the road since 1959, but this is the first to be offered with plug-in and mild-hybrid powertrains. A hot vRS model using an electrified drivetrain will also join the line-up…

Sean_Carson@dennis.co.uk @sean_carson_ SKODA has a lot riding on this new Octavia, but as we discovered last month (Issue 1,599) a drive in a prototype proves the firm is on to a winner again. We tried a 148bhp 1.5 TSI petrol with a six-speed manual gearbox, as well as a 148bhp 2.0 TDI diesel with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. The petrol was smooth and refined, revving fairly sweetly and without much fuss. The manual transmission’s shift action was quite light, but felt mechanical and was precise enough to enjoy. The 2.0 TDI feels grunty and eager, and is more refined than ever thanks to updated engine internals. This new-found refinement is one of the new Octavia’s big plus points. That’s because, while the Skoda’s body-in-white has hardly changed, there’s much more…

THE next-generation Octavia vRS is likely to be offered with a choice of three powertrains, Auto Express has learned. As well as new versions of the current petrol and diesel models, a plug-in hybrid variant will be available. This electrified version is likely to match the output of the petrol model, so we’d expect a figure of around 250bhp – but with the extra tech on board, the vRS PHEV is likely to be slightly slower than its more conventional stablemate. It should still be capable of 0-62mph in around seven seconds, however. Expect the vRS PHEV to use an uprated version of the 1.4 TSI set-up that will appear in the standard Octavia plug-in. That means more power for the engine, but it’s likely to get the same 13kWh…

● Early taste of four-wheel-drive 911 flagship ● All-new twin-turbo engine makes more than 600bhp WHEN the word Turbo was pasted on to the back of a car, you knew it was something out of the ordinary. It stood for speed, exclusivity and performance. But today? Diesels are proudly called turbos, small cars carry it alongside their name and it’s even applied to Porsche’s all-electric Taycan. Even with all of that, the word Turbo is still synonymous with another Porsche – the 911. And with the new 911 Turbo S, which we’re sampling from the passenger seat for the first time, it’s clear the firm’s engineers have taken it to a new level. We joined Porsche’s development team in the south of France as they applied the finishing touches to…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram IT’S not just the 911 Turbo that Porsche engineers are hard at work to deliver. As our exclusive images show, there’s a new 911 GT3 on the way, plus we’ve spied the most extreme Cayman ever, expected to be called the GT4 RS. The 911 GT3 follows a similar formula to its predecessors: a track-focused model that gains power, loses weight and uses extreme aerodynamics to sharpen its responses. As our images show, that aero will take the form of a deep front splitter, added bonnet vents and a two-tier rear wing. Technical details remain scarce, but expect the next GT3 to keep a naturally aspirated flat-six engine in place of the turbocharged units used by other modern 911s. A manual gearbox is likely to feature alongside the…