Innholdsfortegnelse for October 11, 2023 i Autocar

THE NEW SUZUKI Swift supermini will appear at the Tokyo motor show later this month ahead of an expected global launch in 2024. Badged as a concept car but clearly all but ready to go on sale, the redesigned Swift “has been developed by always keeping the concept of ‘drive and feel’”, said Suzuki, hinting at a focus on providing engaging dynamics and charismatic performance. The re-engineered hatchback is also said to have made the shift “from tangible consumption to experiential consumption”, which suggests an enhanced emphasis on sustainability throughout its construction. It has been confirmed to feature a “high-efficiency engine” that “strikes a balance between driving performance and fuel efficiency”. The new motor is likely to be an upgraded version of the current car’s 82bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder 12V mild-hybrid…

olkswagen has confirmed that it will launch a ‘highvolume’ compact SUV in 2026, likely to serve as a raised, rugged alternative to the Volkswagen ID 3. To be built in Wolfsburg, Germany, alongside the Golfsized electric hatchback, the new crossover is expected to be based on an updated version of the VW Group’s MEB platform, known internally as MEB Evo, while maintaining a similar footprint to the ID 3. MEB Evo – arriving to bridge the gap between today’s MEB platform and the VW Group’s highly anticipated SSP architecture in around 2028 – will be upgraded in a number of core areas. It is tipped to herald the introduction of the company’s new ‘unified cell’ battery structure, which is said to be pivotal in reducing the production costs of…

PORSCHE DESIGN BOSS Michael Mauer says heritage can be a key differentiator that gives European car makers the edge over new EV startups from China and elsewhere. The influx of Chinese cars into Europe has prompted much talk about the ongoing competitiveness of legacy local marques, but Mauer – also Volkswagen Group head of design – said companies like Porsche have a secret weapon in the form of design hallmarks established many years ago. “Europe’s car brands have built up a strong heritage, which is the foundation for the fact that people like these brands,” he told Autocar. “It’s a big advantage for us, but we have to be aware that the new competition is moving very fast. Design will make the difference in the future. If you have a…

ONE OF THE most exciting parts of being able to buy a new car is choosing the colour and trim. Most of us will select the shade using colour swatches in a showroom or trust the samples in a brochure. We might even ask a salesperson for advice. And the super-wealthy can call on a rather more personalised service. One titled and extremely well-heeled customer requested that a designer from a luxury car brand help her specify her new convertible, and the company was only too happy to oblige. A designer was indeed dispatched and spent an enjoyable afternoon choosing the pricey personalised trims. When it came to the external colour, the customer was keen to match the paint shade to her favourite nail varnish. The stylist asked if it…

MONDAY Do you find yourself grappling constantly with the decision about when to jump into the EV pool? I do, but the whole thing crystallised a week back at a really helpful Nissan tech session during which it was revealed, with a certainty that I hadn’t previously encountered from a major manufacturer, that the company would have a solid-state-battery-powered EV in production by 2028. If the logic for some buyers is to wait until most cars’ batteries are of the solid-state type, then (because of the UK government’s recent decision to embrace the 2035 cut-off date again), we have between five and 10 years to enjoy our combustion cars before embracing EVs. Except now I can’t face waiting that long. Our family has always had several cars, and I like…

Mazda has addressed the limited (124-mile) range of its MX-30 electric crossover in the eccentric kind of way that only it knows how. The new MX-30 R-EV is a rangeextended EV with a rotary petrol engine, acting as an electricity generator only, never driving the wheels directly. (The pure EV remains on sale alongside it.) With a 17.8kWh battery, which is half the size of that in the EV, the MX-30 R-EV has an electric-only range of 53 miles. Various driving modes can either deplete the battery to zero as an EV, run as a hybrid to a preset 45% of charge, or maintain (or charge to) any battery increment from 20% to 100%. Mazda is the only manufacturer to have made a long-term success (although it has generally been…

Welcome to the next step in Porsche’s plan for an all-electric future: the second-generation Macan. Developed in tandem with the recently previewed Audi Q6 E-tron on the Volkswagen Group’s new 800V Premium Platform Electric, this SUV will be the second fully electric Porsche model after the Taycan saloon/estate – and before production begins in Leipzig at the end of the year, we were invited to try it in prototype guise in the US. This comes after a delay to the new BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV rival, as extra time was needed to develop the power electronics – the network of systems that controls its new drivetrain and various ancillaries, plus the new E3 software platform used for the infotainment, driver assistance and other functions. “The complexity and networking…

Hydrogen versus battery power for cars is a debate that polarises opinion. But the potential use of hydrogen in fuel cell systems goes way beyond passenger vehicles. Bramble Energy was founded in 2016 as a spin-off from work at University College London and Imperial College by Tom Mason, Dan Brett and Anthony Kucernak. The three scientists are co-inventors of a revolutionary method of making fuel cells called Printed Circuit Board Fuel Cell (PCBFC), which cuts the time of making a bespoke fuel cell system from 14-16 months to 10-30 days. The breakthrough came during Mason’s PhD project. “The core concept behind it was to look at what exactly was the barrier to scaling up fuel cells and why they are so expensive,” he explains. Conventional wisdom blamed the cost on…

Regardless of the actual date when the sale of new combustion cars is banned, drivers in the post-fossil fuel era are likely to split into three distinct groups, according to one expert at looking into the future. No, we haven’t been talking to an astrologer armed with a crystal ball – this is the view of an ‘applied futurist’, and one with more than a passing interest in electric vehicles at that (see box, right). Tom Cheesewright reckons that drivers will be utility users, subscribers or enthusiasts, each group having very different needs from and demands of their vehicles. Their needs will be driven by lifestyles in which many won’t need cars until they’re in their forties. “Extended adolescence will be a big influencer,” says Cheesewright. “Young people won’t see…

Sign of the times I’ve just returned from a road trip on predominantly non-motorway routes and was appalled by the awful condition of our road signs. So many are now covered in mould, hidden by vegetation or incomplete. Of course, most of us have sat-nav now so don’t really need directional signs any more, but the impression of neglect this shabby signage gives left me feeling disappointed and irritated. We might as well pull them all down if the authorities aren’t prepared to maintain them. Nick Dawson Marlow, Buckinghamshire Blind optimism It’s pathetic how the government makes foolish statements time after time. First the big announcement that they would ban ICE cars in 2030. Then they said they were going to reconsider. Now they announce they’re moving it back five…

The Honda Accord has a fine pedigree, a fact that surely attracted people to this eighth-generation model launched in 2008. For example, there was the sharply styled third-generation Accord Aerodeck of the mid-1980s, the swoopy sixth-generation Coupé and much-admired Type R of the late 1990s – and throughout, a succession of handsome estates. So when folk turned up at Honda showrooms for the new Accord’s launch night, they were expecting big things, especially since the outgoing model, launched five years before, had been so successful. In fact, the new model appeared to be just an evolution of the old, albeit slightly larger and fussier-looking. There was the same choice of saloon and estate bodystyles, while the engines – a selection of 2.0 and 2.4-litre petrols and a 2.2-litre diesel, all…

IN THE 1920s, the Western world became a chaotic confluence of economic strife, poverty, political upheaval and bitterness on one side; and economic prosperity, liberation from social traditions, artistic innovation and scientific discovery on the other. If not a fantastic time to be alive, it was certainly a fascinating one. And to many – including Autocar – the light at the end of the dark tunnel that was the Great War looked like an entrance into a vibrant future. Cars were part of a massive advance in all matters mechanical, becoming democratised and ever better. “How rapidly and regularly the breed improves!” we marvelled at the opening of the 1928 British motor show at London’s Olympia. “Stagnation point, when people will buy their cars with the same soulless lack of…

Police cars have a habit of being dull but dependable. British ones have at least got a bit sharper in the past 20 years or so after forces – as buyers of new models – realised belatedly that BMWs and Volvos depreciated rather less than V6 Vauxhalls. Still, those 530ds and V90s haven’t got anything compared with this lot that we’ve spotted around the world. Alpine A110 France In late 2021, Alpine produced a bespoke version of its A110 sports car specifically for rapid-response teams of the French gendarmerie. This arm of French law enforcement – although in fact part of the armed forces – used the original A110 model back in 1966 as a rapid-response vehicle at a time when speed limits were widely ignored and French roads were…

The Audi A4 will make the switch to an allelectric powertrain, three decades after its introduction, as the Ingolstadt brand gears up to contend with BMW, Mercedes, Tesla and a raft of new disruptors in the crucial electric executive segment. Due on sale towards the end of 2025, the electric A4 will be sold alongside a new-generation combustion equivalent – evolved from today’s car but wearing the A5 nameplate (see separate story, right) in line with Audi’s new naming strategy, which allocates even numbers to EVs. The electric car will be marketed clearly as a stand-alone product, despite its similar footprint and positioning, with a design that closely matches that of the A6 and Q6 E-tron EVs with which it shares Audi’s and Porsche’s new co-developed PPE architecture. Audi technical…

The BMW X2 has for its second generation turned into a larger, more rakish SUV-coupé and gained the option of electric power. Positioned as a rival to the petrol Audi Q3 and electric Audi Q4 E-tron, the new X2 has grown in every direction, measuring 200mm longer, 21mm wider and 64mm taller than the original model. Naturally, this expansion has enhanced the X2’s practicality, adding 115 litres of luggage capacity and additional leg room for rear passengers. The signature kidney grille has expanded, too, and is newly highlighted by an optional ring of LED running lights dubbed Iconic Glow. The larger grille also now hosts active cooling flaps that automatically close when not required, improving the X2’s aerodynamics. On the electric iX2, the grille is completely sealed off to further…

ASTON MARTIN WILL enter the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2025 with “at least one” Valkyrie racer taking on Toyota, Peugeot and Ferrari in the Hypercar class. The firm initially announced plans to compete in the top class with its V12 hypercar at La Sarthe in 2019, but that was soon put on ice. It was only in 2022 that chairman Lawrence Stroll suggested it had become a possibility again. He told Autocar: “I’m a racer myself. I have been all my life. Racing is in my blood, which is why I’m here. We should be racing in whichever category aligns with the message we are trying to deliver for Aston Martin.” The programme has now been officially revived, and in a ceremony at the firm’s Silverstone racing headquarters, Stroll…

A PHRASE THAT pops up a lot these days is ‘the software-defined car’, or ‘software-defined vehicle’. On the face of it, that sounds like manufacturers embracing the idea of enabling functions like heated seats in return for extra cash from the buyer, something that’s been the subject of debate recently. But it’s not all about that. The idea is that by basing what a car does and the way it works more on software and less on hardware, functions like ADAS, infotainment, anti-collision systems and interfaces can be changed or improved without taking the car apart or making new parts. In theory, that should be better for us, the car buyers. It’s already happening and, for example, the design of a touchscreen and the functions it enables can be upgraded…

UK-based company Bedeo has launched an electric powertrain for existing diesel vans that enhances their last-mile delivery capability, preserves their diesel range and extends their operating life. Comprising a battery pack, a control module and a pair of in-wheel electric motors, it is intended for use in large, 3.5-tonne vans such as the Fiat Ducato and Vauxhall Movano. Bedeo plans to retrofit the EV system, which costs from around £25,000, at its production line in France, where the government gives retrofitters an £8000 subsidy per fossil-fuelled vehicle. The motors are made by Protean, a division of Bedeo, and fit inside the rear wheels. To preserve the van’s ground clearance, load volume and floor height, the 37kWh battery pack, which yields an electric range of around 72 miles and is partially…

Too little, too late. Ott Tänak’s victory on Rally Chile was just the tonic for M-Sport Ford, yet a few days later came the thunderbolt. The 2019 World Rally Champion will return to Hyundai for 2024, a year after he quit the South Korean manufacturer in disgust. This has been a season of wasted potential for Tänak and M-Sport following their own reunion. When he signed, hope soared that the combination could serve up a proper threat to Toyota Gazoo and its phenomenal young champion, Kalle Rovanperä. Such optimism was raised by an early win in Sweden – only for a mix of poor reliability and bad luck to undermine Tänak’s campaign, just when rallying’s premier league desperately needed some spice. While there are only two and a half manufacturer…

The Stellantis trio of Peugeot, Vauxhall and DS have been a little bit slow to get fully electric powertrains into some of their big-selling C-segment cars, beaten to the punch by the likes of Renault, Volkswagen and Cupra, as well as EV stalwarts Hyundai, Kia and Nissan. And because of that, we can now state with some confidence what is the going rate for a roughly Golf-sized, zero-emissions hatchback in 2023. Rather inconveniently for Peugeot, it seems to be a fair bit less than is being asked for the new e-308. Perhaps that’s due to the influence of all those emerging, bargain-basement Chinese EVs and, given that many of us decide whether we can afford cars like this on the basis of a monthly finance payment in any case, perhaps…

“The presentation described Discovery as ‘delivering luxurious versatility… delighting new family audiences’” LR says it needs to completely reinvent the Discovery for its fourth decade and is starting J from a clean sheet. However, with it vying for space alongside the Defender, Range Rover and to a lesser extent Jaguar, this looks like a significant task. It was hard not to raise an eyebrow when JLR’s new CEO, Adrian Mardell, told Autocar in August that one of the company’s four “brand pillars” was about to undergo a complete rethink. “The [brand] equity in Discovery is less today, and lots of people have lots of views on why that might be,” he said. “They’re interesting, but they’re only interesting if they’re informative about what [we] do next. We need a dedicated…

Thirty miles per hour doesn’t sound a lot, does it? After all, many people’s first experiences of driving on public roads will have been trundling along 30mph ‘nursery’ routes. However, having just witnessed the utter devastation of a Volvo EX90 at ‘just’ 30mph, I’d be inclined to argue otherwise. Go back a few minutes and I’m among members of the international media in a viewing gallery at the Volvo Safety Centre in Sweden, here to witness the first public crash test of the new electric SUV, purported to be the brand’s safest car to date. Anticipation in the room builds as the lights on the laboratory floor become blindingly bright – needed to give the slow-motion cameras a clear view of the obliteration about to unfold. As an expert in…

MODEL TESTED HYBRID 180 E-EAT8 GT Price £43,450 Power 178bhp Torque 266lb ft 0-60mph 8.2sec 30-70mph 7.3sec Fuel economy 37.9mpg CO2 emissions 26g/km 70-0mph 57.5m Peugeot’s three-digit naming strategy hasn’t changed much in decades – it’s well known that the original Porsche 911 of the early 1960s was initially intended to be called ‘901’ but then had to be renamed after the French brand complained. It means certain conventions are well established. For example, models beginning with ‘3’ are always mid-size hatchbacks, whereas those starting with a ‘9’ are of course top-class endurance racers designed to win Le Mans. However, the number ‘4’ is less predictable and it has been applied to some of Peugeot’s best-loved and most interesting products. The 1935 402, with its rear-wheel spats, was one of the…

MILEAGE 15,950 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out how much a good threepedal gearbox can improve a modern sports car with a classic flavour The Toyota GR Supra is something of a rare breed: rear-wheel drive and with a manual gearbox. Cars with either of the above are in short supply these days; those with both truly are an endangered species. And I haven’t even mentioned the sports car body yet. So many cars that come through on test at Autocar tick none of those boxes, so when one does, you need to allow some time to reacquaint yourself. What you don’t want when turning up to steal the Supra away from its keeper James Attwood is heavy rain and a trip straight into town in the middle of…

I have to say I’m not surprised that the combustion car ban has gone back to 2035. It was brought forward to 2030 in 2020 at a time when our then prime minister was keen to make himself look good at COP26. This new commitment was followed by no detail as to how it would be achieved. Following three years of minimal action or government investment and with only six years to go, it had become painfully obvious how ill-prepared the country is to meet such a major commitment. What a pity that instead of wasting more than £100 billion on the white elephant that is HS2, some of that money wasn’t used to invest in a comprehensive rapid and on-street charging network, which would have been far more beneficial…

An owner’s view GARY BLAINE “I’ve owned my Accord for two years. It’s a rare, 2008-reg, 2.4 i-VTEC EX saloon. It’s done 78,000 miles but I bought it with around 55,000. I only buy Hondas or Toyotas. They’re usually very reliable and this Accord is no exception. Until 2020, it had a full Honda service history. I did notice a spot of rust on the trailing edge of the nearside sill, which I got to straight away. The interior is unmarked. I get around 28mpg out of the car, which I’m happy with. You don’t get Mercedes luxury but it is very comfortable, reliable and reasonably inexpensive to run and maintain.” Buyer beware… ENGINE Manual diesels can suffer premature clutch slip, so boot it from second and see how it…

The new, secondgeneration Skoda Kodiaq is bigger, bolder and more advanced than its hugely successful predecessor – while introducing plug-in hybrid power for the first time. Closely related to the new Volkswagen Tiguan, it is the first production car to be styled with elements from Skoda’s new ‘Modern Solid’ philosophy, which gives the new Kodiaq a more overtly rugged and utilitarian billing than its predecessor. Highlights of the refresh include squared-off wheel arches, a prominent hexagonal grille, a heavily sculpted bonnet and model badging in a new corporate font. The makeover is capped off by Skoda’s clean new logo, which makes its first appearance on a production car. Also new for the 2024 Kodiaq is the option of an LED light strip running across the front end, which brings it…

THE CONSERVATIVES HAVE pledged to make lives easier across the UK with a “plan for drivers”. Revealed at the ruling party’s annual conference in Manchester – where prime minister Rishi Sunak also announced the cancellation of the Birmingham-Manchester leg of HS2 and outlined a plan to ban smoking – the clampdown on “anti-driver” policies comes as it bids to shore up support ahead of a likely general election in 2024. The new agenda aims to increase active travel and improve road safety. It highlights the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and the blanket enforcement of reduced speed limits – such as Wales’s new 20mph speed limit in residential zones – as two examples of policies that hinder rather than help the average motorist. Here are some highlights from the Tories’…

The new Nissan Hyper Urban concept is a sustainability-focused city runaround that previews the design and technological capability of the Japanese firm’s upcoming EVs. It also kicks off a new series of Hyper concepts. Nissan said each is represented by its own “symbolic” character and has “custom-tailored features that add value to unique lifestyles and diverse aspirations”. The striking Hyper Urban has been designed with a number of outlandish features that make “a bold statement while also effectively blending in with its environment”, said Nissan. Its bodywork is painted in a chromatic shade of yellow, for example, which changes colour according to the angle of the light hitting it, and scissor doors feature at the front and rear. Meanwhile, the sleek silhouette has been conceived for optimal aerodynamic efficiency and…

Salary sacrifice schemes could be key to driving the uptake of electric vehicles from private buyers, according to experts. With the UK’s zeroemission vehicle mandate due to be implemented from 1 January 2024, after which time manufacturers will be required to sell an increasing proportion of EVs, schemes that promise drivers access to cheaper EVs look to be a potent weapon in their efforts to register sufficient numbers. Called salary sacrifice (salsac), it allows employees to finance a new car, leased by their employer, out of their gross (meaning pre-tax) pay. For employees, the benefit is a new car at significantly less cost than one they could source and finance privately; for employers, it’s being able to offer an additional retention and recruitment incentive (although if the scheme reduces an…

was pleased to hear Porsche GT line boss Andreas Preuninger say he didn’t That doesn’t mean nobody knows; a Porsche engineer confided in a colleague that they did time the S/T during testing, but they still wouldn’t say what it was. Good. Preuninger’s point remains. Times aren’t relevant to the S/T’s ethos. It’s a road car meant for drivers. It has a manual gearbox and is bound to be slower than, say, the 911 GT3 RS, with which it shares its engine but not its aerodynamics. The influence of the ’Ring potentially harms a sports car’s development. There are hot hatches designed primarily to set a time there, then sold to people who will probably never go to a track and wouldn’t time themselves even if they did. Anyway, rather…

Lamborghini, the company so widely credited with establishing the mechanical template of the mid-engined supercar in the 1960s, has actually been experimenting with that template ever since. The revered Miura of 1966 needed more power and better cooling. So the original transverse-mounted V12 engine eventually became a bigger, higher-output, longitudinally mounted one in the 1971 Countach – but also one with a gearbox fixed on the forward side of the engine, to the improvement of the car’s weight distribution. When the Countach became the Diablo VT in 1993, that gearbox sprouted a centre diff, forward driveshafts and four-wheel drive – mechanically speaking, a pretty easy add-on. But when the baby Gallardo came along in 2003, it adopted a gearbox fitted at the opposite end of the north-south engine, and a…

The Zeekr X isn’t just another Chinese EV. That’s what the very European executives were trying to make clear to me over dinner, anyway. It’s built in China, yes, but it was designed by a German, engineered in Sweden and developed on European roads. Does the nationality of a car maker mean anything any more, anyway? After all, most of the Jeeps sold in Europe are about as American as a spaghetti western. The thing is, in every car I’ve driven from an obviously Chinese manufacturer, I’ve noticed a certain unfinishedness, even the ones that we like. So does that lack of polish afflict this second car from Zeekr? The X is a compact crossover, because of course it is. Think Kia Niro EV and Cupra Born, although Zeekr claims…

1989 DISCOVERY 1 Land Rover’s new ‘leisure’ vehicle was developed to plug the gap between the spartan Defender and the luxurious Range Rover and see off new rivals from Toyota, Mitsubishi and others. It sat on the Range Rover platform but was lighter, featured smaller engines and, crucially, was cheaper. That simplicity and go-anywhere versatility was key, mixing with the commanding driving position and easy access to become a popular family choice. 1998 DISCOVERY 2 One of the first machines produced under BMW’s ownership of Rover Group, the heavily updated Series 2 was considerably more rigid and only offered as a five-door model. Its longer rear overhang increased luggage space but impacted its off-road ability, although the electronically managed five-cylinder TD5 engine was smoother and more powerful. 2004 DISCOVERY 3…

LIDAR Light detection and ranging, or lidar, works somewhat like sonar, sending pulses of light (rather than sound) and then capturing the reflected wavelengths to generate a map. Such is its effectiveness that Volvo had to tape over the system before the EX90’s crash test in order to ensure that it did indeed strike the wall. However, it will remain exclusive to the EX90, at least for now, while Volvo learns to work with the system and better understand the data it gathers. Technical lead Mikael Ljung Aust quips: “If we went to the storage cupboard, assuming there was lidar in there, and got a unit and you slapped it on the car, would you be any safer? Probably not.” NO MAN LEFT BEHIND A new radar system monitors the…

MILEAGE 9999 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the new electric Niro is the Volkswagen Golf of the EV world The Kia Niro is not only available as an electric car but also a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid. The PHEV is the least popular of the trio in sales terms, which shows where the market is for such cars today (static, as EVs race ahead). Yet between the hybrid and the EV, the remaining sales are split pretty evenly, the latter just shading it. I like the strategy of offering multiple powertrains in the same model. Not everyone is ready to go electric, and this gives consumers the chance to pick the car they like first, rather than the powertrain, and work backwards from there. And with clued-up…

INSIGHT The industry’s most powerful figures Our annual Power List ranks the automotive big hitters. Read our in-depth interview with the biggest FIRST DRIVE Ariel Atom 4R Lightweight beast gains new 400bhp turbo four-pot from Honda FEATURE Qatar motor show Can this controversial new event become a fixture of the car industry calendar? EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Maserati Grecale Trofeo Italian SUV has beaten the Velar, so how about the fiery 523bhp version? USED GUIDE Jaguar XK Not convinced by Jag’s EV future? Relive its past glories with this GT SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p18…

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…