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THE latest batch of Euro NCAP safety test results are in – and they make interesting reading for anyone who picked up on our recent five-star review of the Dacia Jogger. The novel seven-seater has been awarded just a single star, with testers basing their results on the related Sandero Stepway, but picking up on the Jogger’s lack of seatbelt sensors in the third row, and punishing the new model for its relative shortage of safety sensors. As you can read on page 20 of this issue, Euro NCAP is celebrating a quarter century of pushing for gains in safety. Standards have improved immeasurably over that time, and Euro NCAP – represented in the UK by Thatcham – deserves immense praise for its efforts. The Jogger verdict is significant, though,…

James_Brodie@autovia.co.uk @JPBrods ● Fresh look and latest tech for maker’s biggest-selling SUV ● Promises ICE and plug-in hybrid power; there’ll be no EV ONE of Audi’s SUV stalwarts is due to be replaced next year, for a final time before the brand’s European sales go fully electric in 2030. It’s the new Q5 – Audi’s rival to the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLE. The mid-size SUV will enter its third generation in 2023, and it’s already been spied deep into its development programme. While the larger Q7’s introduction in 2006 fired the starting pistol on what has become the expansive and arguably niche-filled Audi SUV line-up we have today, the Q5 remains the bedrock of the brand’s success in the SUV market. Globally, there isn’t a single Audi nameplate that…

sean_carson@autovia.co.uk ● Final concept in ‘Sphere’ trio ● Designed for maximum space WHILE Audi is readying its new Q5 SUV, it has also shown its vision of the future with this, the Urbansphere concept. The car completes the brand’s trio of ‘sphere’ concept models, after the Skysphere open-top sports car and Grandsphere luxury GT that previews the company’s next-generation A8. The Urbansphere shares elements of those models’ styling, too, with a fully blanked-off ‘singleframe’ grille flanked by a pair of slim headlights that suggest how Audis of the future could look. The MPV-like Urbansphere has been designed for use in megacities. It embraces the concept of interior space – and at 5.51 metres long and 2.01 metres wide, there’s plenty of it. Counterhinged doors and no B-pillars enhance this feeling…

James_Brodie@autovia.co.uk @JPBrods ● Brand’s large electric SUV will be priced from around £110,000 ● Initial line-up promises up to 536bhp and top range of 410 miles “Newcomer is a battery-powered alternative to GLS SUV, and a seven-seat stablemate for EQS saloon” MERCEDES has revealed the new EQS SUV. The German manufacturer’s newcomer is a battery-powered alternative to its existing, Range Rover-rivalling GLS, as well as a taller-riding, seven-seat stablemate for the EQS saloon. It will go on sale later this year, probably starting from around £110,000 for the rear-wheel-drive EQS 450+. A pair of four-wheel-drive versions have also been confirmed, as has a luxuriously appointed Maybach model, which will be revealed at a later date. No high-performance AMG versions of the EQS SUV have yet been announced. As with the…

Q Is the EQS SUV more important than the saloon? A It really depends on the market. Regarding the US and China, the SUV is really important to get right for them. But we always start development with the saloon and build from there. Q How does the EQS SUV influence the upcoming EQE SUV? A The EQE will sell in much higher numbers than the EQS. We don’t know yet about the sales split between the EQE saloon and SUV, but of course it will look as you expect. All four cars [EQS, EQS SUV, EQE and EQE SUV] come from the same platform and were developed together. Q What’s different about the EQS SUV and EQE SUV models? A The smaller wheelbase is the main difference; it’s 90mm…

WITH sales soaring, the latest battery-electric cars are increasingly proving the right answer for thousands of UK motorists. But there is one group of people for whom questions over the electric car have never gone away. They are the hundreds of thousands of people around the country fitted with a heart pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). All electrical devices – from kitchen induction hobs to electric cars – emit an electromagnetic field (EMF) which, if strong enough, can affect a pacemaker or ICD, with the potential of causing a life-threatening device malfunction. The NHS doesn’t publish specific advice about electric cars, but does say that anyone with a pacemaker or ICD should “keep at least 60cm (2ft) from an induction hob”. Does it follow that these people should steer…