Auto Express 1697

I MAY have seen Jim Farley looking smarter, but I don’t think I’ve seen him looking happier. Former Ford of Europe boss Farley now has the biggest job in Detroit as overall CEO of Ford, but I caught up with him just as he stepped out of his racing GT40 at the recent Goodwood Revival. “I feel much better now than when I got into the car,” he told me. Farley’s career took him from Toyota to Ford, where he was both outsider and challenger. But the passion for Ford – and the family connection (his grandfather worked on the production line at Ford’s Rouge plant in Michigan) – was obviously there, and it shows in his own car collection. As well as the GT40, he has a couple of…

Yousuf_Ashraf@autovia.co.uk @ashrafoncars • All-new flagship for BMW’s forthcoming range of electric cars • Brand-new tech and very high quality packed into X5-sized SUV THIS could be the most important new BMW in a generation. It’s the iX, and while it’s a large, premium electric SUV (and there are plenty of those at the minute), this car is a distinct turning point for BMW. It’s a technological flagship, and fires the starting gun on the brand’s next-generation EVs. The styling is certainly distinctive, with brutal surfacing, a low shoulder line and enlarged kidney grilles setting the iX apart from just about anything on the road. The footprint is similar to an X5’s, but with a far lower roofline; in the metal the design isn’t quite as jarring as it might look…

Luke_Wilkinson@autovia.co.uk @LT_Wilkinson • Limo due for 2022 unveiling • Will include electric i7 variant ALONGSIDE its electric SUV flagship, the iX (left), BMW’s other halo car – the 7 Series limo – is set to return, with an unveiling in late 2022. However, BMW is planning to build its next luxury saloon on a platform that will allow both combustion and pure-electric power, with the i7 name being lined up for the new EV model. Our exclusive images show how the new 7 Series is expected to look. BMW will introduce a new headlight design, in which the current car’s combined daytime running lights and main headlamps will be ditched in favour of split units, with the latter located lower down in the bumper. As is customary on recent BMWs,…

Steve_Fowler@autovia.co.uk @stevefowler “We haven’t had the chance to transform the company since Henry Ford scaled the Model T. We could remake the entire company, and five years from now it won’t look like the one you and I grew up with”JIM FARLEY Ford CEO THERE are few people in the automotive world that live and breathe cars as much as Jim Farley. He’s been CEO of Ford for almost exactly a year, but as well as running one of the biggest car companies in the world, he’s also a racer – and a proper racer at that, describing being behind the wheel as “my yoga”. Auto Express caught up with him at the recent Goodwood Revival for an exclusive chat about his love of cars and the future of Ford.…

FORD’S new Bronco SUV (above) could be coming to Europe, according to Farley. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, he said, “I’m just waiting for these guys [Ford of Europe] to make up their mind.” Asked how well the Bronco would fare in Europe, Farley said, “Absolutely, it works. I see all these Land Rover Defenders around – absolutely. I think it would work fine.” Although the Bronco – recently spied testing in high-performance Raptor trim (below) – is a strong possibility for Europe, Auto Express understands that it’s unlikely to be right-hand drive. That’s not to say UK dealers wouldn’t be prepared to import lefth-and-drive models from Europe. There’s no word on European prices, but in the US the 4x4 starts at around $30,000 (£22,000).…

Alistair_Crooks@autovia.co.uk • Controlled using smartphone • Interior looks like gaming PC CARS have influenced plenty of videogames, and now the roles have been reversed with this MG concept car. It’s called the MAZE, and it’s an all-electric car previewing what MG’s EVs could look like in a far-flung future. It has been designed in London by the team at SAIC Design, a European design studio owned by MG parent company SAIC. Indeed, this is the same design studio that created the Cyberster concept revealed at this year’s Shanghai Motor Show. The MAZE is just a digital concept for now, but the thinking behind it is rooted in an important question: how do car makers make their vehicles appealing to the next generation of car users? MG and SAIC Design seem…