Innholdsfortegnelse for October 4, 2023 i Autocar

DESIGN CONCEPT CLA Radical but relatively realistic preview of the electric CLA replacement gives strong clues to the design, proportions and positioning of the marque’s new entry-level cars. Features such as the star-patterned digital grille and three-spoke headlights will be common cues, as will various wind-cheating elements and wraparound LED light bars. The cabin’s full-width Superscreen will make it to showrooms, too. AERODYNAMICS VISION EQXX Diminutive prototype is an exercise in all-out aerodynamic optimisation and emphasises the importance of efficiency to next-gen Mercedes models. Super-slippery body, standing just 1350mm tall, cloaks a compact but roomy saloon with a 188bhp motor developed in partnership with AMG F1 engineers in Brixworth. Cell-to-pack battery is around 100kWh and has sent the EQXX past 700 miles on one charge. POWERTRAIN VISION ONE Silhouette inspired…

Could Alfa Romeo make an MPV? Its design boss, Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, has thrown the idea out there in a way that suggests the brand might do just that. The remark came in a discussion with Autocar that started off about the new 33 Stradale supercar but detoured via Alfa’s once popular commercial van, the Autotutto/Romeo. “It was beautiful,” he said, before adding: “By the way, you wouldn’t be surprised if this returned one day.” It might be just a tease, but it’s also not such a crazy idea. MPVs are becoming hot property again, due mainly to their popularity in China, where the space they offer is seen to be as much of a luxury feature as multiple screens or high-end stereos. Volvo is preparing its first MPV (the EM90),…

ENVISION AESC’S NEW EV360 factory next to the Nissan plant in Sunderland, which is due to be making low-cobalt lithium ion batteries by the middle of the decade, has the potential to eventually supply more than a third of the 100GWh battery capacity that the entire UK industry will need in 2030, according to insiders. The factory, which even in its first phase will occupy the same space as 23 football pitches and stand taller than the Angel of the North, is due to be opened by 2026 with an initial capacity of 9GWh – enough to cater for the electric crossover that Nissan will make in Sunderland from later this decade. Looking further ahead, Nissan is understood to have ample space to expand the EV360 facility much further, eventually…

MINISTERS ARE SET to water down the European Union’s impending Euro 7 emissions regulations after several member countries agreed on a suite of changes. New proposals have been deemed a fair alteration to the Euro 7 legislation, due to come into effect in July 2025 but under fire from car makers who argue that it imposes heavy development costs for negligible environmental benefit and that it distracts from the collective goal of transitioning to fully electric propulsion. The current Euro 6 test conditions and emissions limits for cars and vans (from 2015) are set to remain unchanged as part of the new agreement, although buses and heavy goods vehicles will still be subject to tighter limits. The Czech Republic, France and Italy were among the eight EU countries pushing for…

THE NEW PORSCHE 911 GT3 R Rennsport is a dramatic, no-holds-barred track toy liberated from the constraints of racing regulations. Based on the 911 GT3 R race car with which it shares a chassis, the retro-liveried single-seater draws 612bhp from a 4.2-litre naturally aspirated flat six that revs to a heady 9400rpm. With a target kerb weight of just 1240kg, the Rennsport should crack 0-62mph in well under three seconds and promises a higher top speed than its racing sibling. Porsche will build just 77 examples of the 911 GT3 R Rennsport, priced at around £820,000 before tax, and is inviting customers to register their interest now.…

THE NEW GV80 Coupé is a sleek Mercedes-Benz GLC rival from Korean brand Genesis that’s offered with a 409bhp supercharged V6 hybrid powertrain and launch control. Previewed as a concept last year, it has been revealed in production form as part of a facelift for the GV80 line-up, which brings a range of subtle styling tweaks, new touch controls, a 14.6in screen for rear passengers and a huge 27in screen for driving data and infotainment.…

Max Verstappen is highly likely to be crowned a three-time Formula 1 world champion at the Qatar Grand Prix this weekend. In fact, he probably won’t even need to wait until Sunday. Such is the points gap to Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez that the Dutchman, just turned 26, will probably score the few that he needs in the Saturday sprint – with six races to spare. A BLIP IN SINGAPORE In the latest running of F1’s original night race, Verstappen’s recordbreaking consecutive streak of 10 wins finally ended, as did any chance of Red Bull remaining unbeaten across the season. Singapore’s Marina Bay street circuit has thrown up performance anomalies in the past, and so it was this time as Verstappen found himself qualifying only 11th. Even he was…

Nio has been coy about its plans for a UK launch, but it now seems inevitable that this will happen in 2025. The Chinese EV firm is already present in five European markets and Europe is the focus of its latest car, the ET5. All previous Nios were created in China and then tuned to European tastes, but this one has been created in Europe for Europe. Like any aspiring executive car, the ET5 is available in both saloon and estate bodystyles. The latter is still a novelty in the EV world, with only Porsche and MG offering one. Both versions of the ET5 are 4790mm long, with a generous 2888mm wheelbase. That makes the ET5 almost identical in size to the BMW i4 and around 100mm longer than the…

It’s approaching three years since the formation of the world’s newest automotive superpower, Stellantis. At the beginning of 2021, there was some speculation about which hapless, unsuspecting car maker would next be subsumed by this gigantic, marauding and apparently unstoppable industry amoeba (which might well have been an inspiration for the latest series of horror show Stranger Things). Might it be Jaguar Land Rover, concerned British voices asked? Might Carlos Tavares (aka The Mind Flayer) see synergy between the Tata Group’s Land Rover, Range Rover and Jaguar brands and his panoply of Stellantis equivalents, of which former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles marque Maserati was one? There we were, caught on his evil tenterhooks, dying to find out. Well, there were certainly rumours. Like so many, they came to nought. But had…

MODEL TESTED GT Price £62,645 Power 577bhp Torque 546lb ft 0-60mph 3.6sec 30-70mph 2.7sec Economy 2.7mpkWh Max DC charging speed 224kW 70-0mph 44.7m The notion of high performance has always been implicit in the promise of the modern EV. In fact, so used are we now to the idea of the electric performance car that some critics seem already to have written them off as sterile, one-dimensional and fundamentally unengaging. And so the likes of this week’s road test subject – the Kia EV6 GT – may face an uphill battle convincing some people that they can fulfil their primary purpose as enthusiast’s cars. Watching how each of them addresses that challenge will be interesting over the coming months and years. Having entered UK showrooms earlier this year, the EV6…

MILEAGE 6769 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if BMW’s entry EV is as impressive as its iX range-topper Predictably, the Welsh government’s recent decision to roll out a blanket 20mph speed limit on all urban roads was not met with a great deal of visible enthusiasm by the motoring masses. I’ll confess to initially harbouring a degree of resentment towards the ruling, which seems somewhat excessive in light of the increasing influence of advanced driver assistance systems and the general structural safety of a modern car – but after a few days of city trundling in the BMW iX1, I’ve come to appreciate life in the slow lane. As a long-time resident of snarled-up suburban London, I’ve developed a featherweight right foot and become all too familiar with achieving…

Is anyone aware of the threat to what remains of the UK car industry, and indeed European car making? The threat from China is so obvious that I find it hard to believe our so-called government isn’t taking any action to save British jobs, factories or supply chains. It’s very clear that China is going to decimate this industry, as electric car manufacturing there is subsidised for its makers to be able to sell at extremely low prices, with which British and European makers won’t be able to compete. In the past, I worked in the furniture industry in the UK. Over a period of about 10 years, I watched the production of pretty much all wooden furniture be destroyed in the UK and much of Europe due to unrealistically…

An owner’s view BRIAN STEWART “I only bought my Tourer in April, but so far, so good. It’s a 2016-reg 1.6 CDTi Design, the last of the prefacelift cars with the boomerang lights. It’s comfortable, spacious and very practical. I got it from a dealer who fixed a couple of things in the cabin, including replacing some driver’s seat trim – a common problem. Five-up with a full boot it returns 60mpg on a run; pootling around town, lightly loaded, around 45mpg. It has full Vauxhall history with all work carried out by the same dealer. Two chaps at work have Astras with the same engine and have had no issues, so I’m feeling confident.” Buyer beware… ENGINE Beware a failing oil pick-up seal on Euro 5, 2.0 diesels. Low…

The US government’s Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970 in part to enforce emissions regulations on car companies. The rules upended the industry and spawned engines that were truly anaemic despite mammoth displacements, giving rise to the ‘malaise era’ of US car making. Here are some big-engined cars with paltry power outputs. Cadillac Range 1981 Cadillac’s response to rising fuel costs and tighter emissions rules was to develop a 6.0-litre, 140bhp V8 with cylinder-deactivation tech, called V-8-6-4, that turned it into a 4.5-litre V6 or 3.0-litre V4 when full power wasn’t needed. Microprocessors decided which cylinders to shut off and sent a signal to a solenoid that closed the intake and exhaust valves. The system worked well on paper and became standard across the Cadillac range for 1981, with…

“Mercedes will push the models further upmarket by drawing on luxury design and rich heritage” Mercedes-Benz will launch a shooting brake version of the forthcoming new CLA, as well as electric-focused successors to the GLA and GLB SUVs, as part of a renewed attack on the compact vehicle class. The three new models will follow the production version of the sleek Concept CLA, due to arrive in late 2024 as a saloon with an electric range of up to 466 miles thanks to a prevailing development focus on efficiency. Mercedes boss Ola Källenius has said the new CLA will be one of four compact models to use the new Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) platform. The MMA replaces the firm’s MFA architecture, which was developed for combustionengined cars and then adapted…

Alfa Romeo will in 2027 launch an electric large SUV, pitched against the BMW iX, the Lotus Eletre, the next-generation Porsche Cayenne and a promised new model from Alpine. Occupying the E-segment, it will follow a replacement for the Stelvio SUV in the class below, Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato told Autocar. It will be “higher” than Alfa’s previous E-segment offering, the 166 saloon of 1998-2007, said Imparato. However, it will be lower than traditional SUVs in the segment, in a bid to boost aerodynamic efficiency and provide engaging dynamics. It will be based on the same EV-only STLA Large platform as the next Stelvio and the Giulia saloon’s replacement. This new platform has been designed to suit the kinds of cars offered by Stellantis’s premium brands (Alfa, DS, Lancia…

AFTER SLUMPING IN recent years, Alfa Romeo sales will reach 80,000 to 90,000 this year before the firm breaks its all-time record in 2025, expects CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato. That record is 223,643, set in 1990, when Alfa had a much wider model range, comprising the 33 hatchback, 75 saloon, 164 limousine, Spider roadster and SZ sports coupé. The Tonale and imminent baby electric SUV return Alfa to the smaller segments that have traditionally boosted its sales. Indeed, Alfa’s best-selling car of all time – and its only one to have sold a million units – is the Alfasud hatch/saloon/coupé. Despite predicting Alfa would break its sales record, Imparato said it isn’t focused on numbers. “I don’t care about volumes, because Stellantis doesn’t need volume,” said Imparato. Instead, the growth has…

CHINESE NEWCOMER Small Sports Car (SSC) has fully detailed its first model, an electric two-seat coupé that’s intended to serve as a “national sports car” for China. SSC was founded just over a year ago and has reportedly received significant backing from Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi. It will launch its small, sleek EV on the local market later this year, at a price of about ¥300,000 – the equivalent of around £39,000 in the UK. Called the SC-01, it is 4085mm long, 1820mm wide and 1162mm high and weighs just 1300kg, making it a close match for the petrol-engined Alpine A110 and Caterham’s forthcoming electric coupé. Its battery reportedly has a capacity of around 60kWh and is sited between the rear axle and the cabin. There is an electric…

STEER-BY-WIRE is becoming more important as safety systems get increasingly sophisticated, but it doesn’t mean the end of driver involvement. The latest steer-by-wire electric systems give engineers the opportunity to get exactly the characteristics they need for a particular car, from dawdling around town to a brisk drive on B-roads or a motorway cruise. Steer-by-wire also fits the bill for utilitarian applications, such as commercial and autonomous vehicles. Steer-by-wire systems retain the familiar steering rack, driven by an electric motor like a conventional electric power steering system (EPAS), but with no steering column or other mechanical connection to the driver. UK firm Titan, which started life in the 1960s developing racing cars, is now a specialist in advanced steering systems. It has recently developed a precision steer-by-wire system aimed at…

WHEN A CAR maker builds a new factory, it will ship in experts from established plants around the world to help set it up and make sure everything goes smoothly. At a new plant in Asia, a system was needed to load the massive drive-on ships with cars for export. At smaller facilities in other countries, the cars had their windscreen wiper raised so the drivers and controllers could see at a glance which ones were ready to be shipped. But at the new, bigger port, the experts realised this wouldn’t work because the wiper just wasn’t visible to the manager in the control tower on the other side of the dock. A more obvious indicator was needed. They decided opening the tailgate was the best plan. This worked perfectly…

wo miles from my home, HS2 has carved a scar across the landscape, T across which trains might eventually take passengers between London and Birmingham more slowly than they do today. What’s surprising is that, despite a local village effectively being cleaved in two, one sometimes could find, if not wholehearted support for HS2, at least shrugging acceptance that people needed to go places and that maybe it would all be for the greater good. Not any more. Given its stratospheric cost rises, which have spiralled from an estimated £30 billion in 2011 to more than £100bn since the project started, it’s currently unclear whether HS2’s Birmingham to Manchester leg will ever be built. Or whether the line will end in Old Oak Common, rather than central London. The leg…

For a striking sign of the times, picture the pre-drive presentation of BMW’s new i5, which Autocar is attending inside the cavernous underground garage of a slick high-rise in Lisbon. Given the i5 is the very first pure-electric 5 Series, this is a history-making moment. BMW development chief Frank Weber has been on stage, reminiscing about the three-speed E12-gen 5 Series owned by the parents of his best friend at high school – and how the two teenagers wouldn’t hesitate to commandeer it when the opportunity arose. He then explains how, seven generations and half a century later, BMW is now “taking electrification to the business class” with this latest rendition of the 5 Series. Mercedes and Tesla may have something to say about that but it’s a reasonable statement.…

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class was facelifted earlier this year, getting a subtle restyle and some hybrid powertrain enhancements – which has opened the floodgates for new Mercedes introductions, because the A-Class’s derivatives can’t be left behind. And there are quite a lot of them these days. The A-Class saloon, the B-Class MPV, the CLA in swoopy saloon and shooting brake guises, the GLA crossover and the GLB seven-seat SUV. We will spare you separate reviews of every single one, when the changes are similar across the board, but it’s worth having a look at the updated GLA. The exterior changes are the usual fare: redesigned bumpers and bonnet and some new wheel styles. Inside, all the A-Class-derived cars have lost the infotainment-controlling touchpad, but even in all-touchscreen form, Mercedes’ MBUX system…

Choose one of the quickest-accelerating production EV saloons on sale. Drive it to your favourite part of the UK on a temperate weekend in late summer. Immerse it in the welcoming aura of amateur motorsport, where you can accept an invitation to drive it as hard as you can make it go. Do this and I guarantee you a weekend you’ll never forget. How do I know? Because I’ve just done it. A couple of weeks ago, I borrowed a BMW i4 M50 and took it to magnificent Watergate Bay on the top coast of Cornwall, near Newquay, where in 2018 a partnership of four local car clubs first made use of then new legislation to close public roads (with civic approval) to hold a hillclimb. Since then, the Watergate…

MILEAGE 8759 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this hybrid can strike the sweet spot between a car and a van As I approach the 9000-mile mark in the Corolla Commercial, I’m still no closer to understanding why you would actually buy one. But that isn’t intended to be a slight against this car-van hybrid at all, despite how it may sound, because there are a lot of things to love about this vehicle. First, there’s the sublime ride. It’s very softly sprung, presumably to make sure that any fragile cargo in the back remains unscathed as you navigate the cavernous potholes and mountain-high speed bumps that litter our roads. It soaks these up with ease, and while the largest imperfections in the road surface can upset it, they…

FIRST DRIVE Lamborghini Revuelto Aventador’s 1000bhp V12 hybrid successor is the most powerful Lamborghini ever – but is it also one of the best? We put it to the test INSIGHT A crash course in Volvo innovation How safety-first firm aims to stop crashes before they happen FEATURE The future of Discovery JLR wants to reinvent the model. We’ve done it for them EVERY WEEK DRIVEN Peugeot e-308 New electric variant of likeable French family hatchback rated USED GUIDE Honda Accord Japanese saloon wasn’t loved in its time but is now an attractive buy SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p32…

ALFA ROMEO COULD return to the hatchback market, CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato has suggested. The Italian brand left it in 2020, axing the Giulietta after 10 years on sale. The Tonale crossover was said to serve as its indirect replacement, but Imparato has refused to rule out building a more closely related new model, despite Alfa’s requirements within the Stellantis group to return premium-level profit margins. “I’m not sure that we don’t make money, even on a hatchback,” Imparato told Autocar. The Giulietta was a success for Alfa, selling 78,911 units across Europe in its best year, before newer rivals eclipsed it in handling, technology and packaging terms. Alfa would most likely build a new hatchback on the new STLA Medium platform, taking advantage of the economies of scale offered by…

Nissan will launch only electric cars in Europe from now on and cease sales of all combustion cars in the region from 2030. The Japanese company’s surprise announcement – made by CEO Makoto Uchida at the London unveiling of the radical 20-30 EV concept last week – came just days after the UK government pushed back its planned ban on new ICE car sales from 2030 to 2035. Nissan had been one of the manufacturers with the most to gain from the delay, given its substantial market share in the UK with the Sunderlandbuilt, combustion-engined Qashqai and Juke crossovers. However, it used the debut of its new Micra-previewing EV to announce that it was bringing forward its own electrification strategy in the UK and Europe. “We’re at the tipping point…

Just weeks after the Welsh government implemented 20mph speed limits on most residential roads, a leading scientist has told Autocar the move is unlikely to improve air quality – one of the scheme’s primary objectives. Frank Kelly, a professor at Imperial College London and director of the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London, said: “With many urban roads already experiencing congestion during rush hours, speed is often already at 20mph or less, so I expect to see little further benefit to air quality in our towns and cities as a consequence of this new rule.” The Labour-led Senedd implemented the 20mph limit on 17 September, applying it to most roads that had 30mph limits. The move runs contrary to the view reportly being taken by the UK government, which…

Lexus will introduce a radical electric flagship in 2026 that pioneers a bold new approach to design, construction and powertrain technology. To be previewed by a concept at this month’s Tokyo motor show – and imagined here by Autocar – the ‘nextgeneration’ model promises to represent an all-out revolution in the way the Japanese marque engineers its cars. It will be the first of a new family of electric cars conceived to do battle with new-age EVs from BMW, Mercedes and Audi. The unnamed concept car being revealed at the end of October will encompass a raft of revolutionary new ideas that will lie at the heart of this new line of EVs. These models are set to bear almost no relation to the firm’s current EVs: the UX crossover…

Honda will reveal a collection of radical electric concepts at the Tokyo motor show later this month, headed by a potential electric successor to the legendary NSX supercar. Named the Specialty Sports Concept, this mysterious performance EV will “enable the driver to experience the pure joy of driving”, said Honda, “and transcend the constraints of time, even in the era of electrification for carbon-neutrality and the popularisation of automated driving technology”. Those bold claims suggest it has been conceived to demonstrate Honda’s commitment to continue offering engaging performance cars as it phases out internal combustion engines. This ambition was recently emphasised by Honda Motor Europe vice-president Tom Gardner, who told Autocar: “We love a sports car. We love performance, and we’re very grateful for the strong reaction we’ve had to…

“I’m going to find some track days to do this one justice” MONDAY Am I too old to retrain? I hope not. I’ve just seen the job that suits me perfectly, or would if I had any talent. It’s being a clay modeller in a car design studio, something Nissan made briefly possible for a few of us at its European design HQ in London. It was all part of the unveiling of a racy little design study, the Concept 20-23, created to mark a number of anniversaries. A few years ago, it looked as if computer design software was killing clay modelling. People started milling full-sized shapes out of foam, quicker and cheaper. But then there was a dramatic shift backwards. Today’s craft leaders, like Nissan’s head of European…

ncongruous it may seem, but the formula behind the new Lexus LM is clearly an enticing one: the Japanese brand has taken some 170 orders in the UK so far and forecasts another 300 through 2024. Executives grin and raise an eyebrow when pressed to name any rival cars but do acknowledge that the LM will be considered in the same vein as the priciest versions of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class. Crucially, though, while even the most sumptuous versions of the V-Class still ride on a van platform, the LM uses the same Toyota Global Architecture as Lexus’s NX and RX SUVs – which, they say, makes for a much more overtly car-like driving experience while facilitating the levels of noise and bump isolation necessary to justify a £113k top-end price…

Here’s an MG 4 EV, a car we like for making electric motoring just that bit more affordable and enjoyable, but with more power and more range. This can’t go wrong, can it? At £36,495, this new Extended Range variant sits above the Long Range and Standard Range, costing the same as the dual-motor XPower. At 74.4kWh, its battery is bigger than the others’, and to counteract the extra 60kg or so of weight, it also gets a 40bhp power boost to 241bhp. It’s only available in the more generously equipped Trophy trim and benefits from the same modelyear updates as the 429bhp XPower. That bigger battery is good for 323 miles on the WLTP test cycle, which is impressive at first glance. However, think about it a bit harder…

Less than a mile from the M5 near Bridgwater in Somerset, another piece of the UK’s electric vehicle industry is being prepared. Groundworks close to the village of Puriton have begun, people in hard hats are measuring up and notices are being pinned to signposts warning of changes to rights of way. One month after it was first announced, Tata Group’s £4 billion gigafactory, projected to be one of the largest in Europe when EV batteries begin rolling off the production lines in 2026, looks like it might actually happen. It’s on a 620-acre site called Gravity: a smart technology campus itself on the site of a former Royal Ordnance factory, which, during the Second World War, made an explosive called RDX for use in bombs such as the 12,000lb…

The word Zafira is derived from the Arabic meaning ‘to succeed’. It was a good name for Vauxhall’s three-generation range of seven-seat people carriers, because that’s exactly what they did. I owned two – a Mk1 and a Mk2 – and appreciated their amenable driving manners and Flex7 easy-fold seat system. The Mk2 Zafira was launched in 2005 and clung on until 2014, two years after its posher sibling and the focus of this guide, the Zafira Tourer, arrived. That the old-stager lasted so long was largely down to its lowish price, but by 2014 it was easily outclassed. Still, if it’s a cheap and roomy MPV you’re wanting, a one-owner, 2014-reg Zafira 1.8 Design with 52,000 miles and a full history for £5750 looks like value. To its successor,…

LAST MONTH, WE reported that Seat was to stop making cars; 38 years ago, we covered the Spanish brand’s arrival on the UK market. It was founded in 1950 by the fascist dictatorship in alliance with Fiat and virtually built a car industry in Spain from scratch. The next three decades it spent making rebadged Fiats – until it surprisingly got dumped in 1982. It swiftly set about developing the Ritmo into the Ronda, which elicited a lawsuit from Fiat – but enough changes had been made that Seat emerged vindicated. It then started developing an entirely new car, the Ibiza (with Porsche’s help), to launch in 1984. Meanwhile, Spain’s government sought a new partner from Japan or Europe, but as it happened Volkswagen bought control, as it wanted to…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…