Innholdsfortegnelse for January 10, 2024 i Autocar

CHINESE CAR MAKER Chery is in early discussions with UK authorities over plans to build a new car factory here. The company, which will launch its Omoda and Jaecoo brands in the UK in the coming months, is optimistic about its performance potential in the market, to the extent that bosses say local production could become viable by 2030. Chery’s UK manager, Victor Zhang, told Autocar “we have started some discussions” with the government “but it’s still at a very initial stage”. The decision rests on a number of key considerations, but government co-operation is most crucial. Zhang said this could take the form of “incentives for the land costs or electricity” but no firm requirements have been outlined so far. JLR owner Tata’s new battery plant in Somerset –…

GETTING A GRIP in snow and ice is something drivers have been grappling with since the car was invented. Ways to avoid getting stuck range from winter tyres to snow socks, but few are quite as wacky as a new development from the Hyundai Motor Group, which the firm is patenting and hopes to bring to mass production one day. The new technology is still in search of a snappy title; for now it goes by the name of Shape Memory Alloy Integrated Snow Chain Technology. Imagine a series of J-shaped metal rods running up the side of the wheel, then forming the crook of the J over the top of the tyre and down as far as the wheel rim on the inside of the wheel. What you have…

THE BIGGEST threat to any hope of doing a dry January for people involved in the motor industry is the annual awards ceremony held by What Car?, one of Autocar’s sibling titles. The glitzy ceremony is a big deal. Being able to plaster the logo over adverts and cars in the showroom results in a noticeable uptick in sales and enquiries. This means car makers will pull out all the stops to score a win, especially if it’s the overall title – and this can involve slightly dubious measures. One manufacturer went back through years of What Car? road tests and awards articles to see what gained the most points and then designed a particular trim level that would beat rivals on those criteria. The price was then made to…

SUNDAY Best to start a new year as you mean to go on, I suppose. This week, without actually trying, I’ve found myself at Brooklands Museum and Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, at Caffeine & Machine in Warwickshire and at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire. Then again, why not? I already know I’ll spend plenty of 2024 at these places. Hope you’ll be there too. Today was Brooklands, for the legendary New Year’s Day Classic Gathering. The reason for this event’s fame is its huge attendance and the overarching mood of elation, multiplied in cold weather, that goes with getting your special car out of the garage and driving it successfully to an enticing destination. Later, on the invitation of Ed Redfern, who runs driving events at nearby Mercedes-Benz World, I took…

“Diesel rather suits the CLE’s demeanour, particularly in this 48V electrified form” The new Mercedes-Benz CLE Coupé, effectively the replacement for both the C-Class Coupé and E-Class Coupé – because traditional, low-slung two-doors are now niche offerings – has arrived in the UK. Our test car is of one of the rarer versions of it, too, and it gives me an almost mid-2000s feeling, because it’s a 2.0-litre diesel: the 220d. It has rear-wheel drive, a nine-speed automatic gearbox and 48V mildhybrid assistance. It’s priced from £49,060 in base AMG Line form, while a Premium variant offers plusher interior materials from £52,810 and this Premium Plus more interior technology from £56,810. It’s a relatively feel-good and look-good interior, and whether you feel satisfied by the fact that it’s derived more…

There’s some debate about exactly who invented the grand touring coupé but very little about where, in national terms, it happened. The popular response to the question of what the first and defining example was is the 1951 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT (extra credit if you reel off the whole lot in a mockney twang, like Paul Whitehouse in his grocer’s apron). It could have been the 1948 Ferrari 166 Inter, though, or the 1947 Maserati A6 – or something pre-war, even. Wherever the credit eventually comes to rest, however, the gran turismo was definitely given life and then popularised in Italy. And rather regrettably, it might have just been slaughtered in Warwickshire. That’s because, as far as Aston Martin is concerned, the grand tourer concept, although fine for the…

I really enjoyed your Slideshow on controversial Fords in the 6/13 December issue. It brought back many memories. Firstly, the explosive reputation of the Pinto. In 1985, at 14 years old, while riding in the back seat of one that a friend had borrowed from his uncle, we were involved in an unfortunate accident that resulted in the car overturning. As I tried to gather myself in the immediate aftermath, my mind instantly saw flames (of which there were actually none) and I scrambled to exit as quickly as possible. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, but that reputation was far-reaching! Secondly, the “silly name” of the Sierra. In the US, it was sold (with some added aero packs) under the luxury umbrella of Mercury as the Merkur XR4Ti. As…

An expert’s view PAUL MICHAELS, HEXAGON CLASSICS “Having operated a BMW dealership for over 45 years, we’ve known the Z8 since its launch in 1999. They were hand-built, a first for BMW, prior to them building the Rolls-Royce. Their quality is truly amazing. However, they were originally designed to run on radial tyres but were launched with run-flats. Our terrific example has been upgraded to radial tyres and has been fitted with a front strut brace and short-shifter to transform its driving experience. Z8s were mostly produced in silver, but our vehicle is finished in jet black so even rarer. It has only 23,400 miles, is UKsupplied and offered for £199,995.” Buyer beware… ENGINE Check the condition of hoses and other rubber and plastic parts. The Vanos variable valve timing…

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…

Toyota is preparing to expand and electrify the Land Cruiser line-up over the coming years, introducing an affordable, urban-focused derivative and a range-topping luxury model, to establish the name as a brand in its own right. The new electric derivatives will follow the new ‘core’ Land Cruiser. That model arrives later this year with pure-diesel and mild-hybrid engine options and it is likely to be the final combustion-powered version of Toyota’s venerable offroader, launched in 1951. Positioned either side of this new ‘J250’ model in marketing terms, the two new electric Land Cruisers will broaden the model line’s appeal by taking it into both more affordable and more luxurious territory, respectively. Hinting at the rationale behind this new expanded line-up, Toyota’s chief branding officer, Simon Humphries, said the company is…

Volkswagen design boss Andreas Mindt has been in position for less than a year but has quickly outlined his vision for the marque with the ID 2all and the ID GTI concepts, which show a return to a more friendly and familiar design look for VW as part of its goal to be a ‘loved brand’ once more. Production versions go on sale in 2025. Mindt, who has spent much of his career in Wolfsburg and was one of the key designers of the seventh-generation Golf, rejoined Volkswagen after moving to other brands within the group. He led exterior design at Audi and was design chief at Bentley in his two most recent roles. Here, he tells Autocar his plans for this new design philosophy that sees the firm return…

Volkswagen is “just a few weeks away” from unwrapping the long-awaited ‘Mk8.5’ Golf hatchback, which promises high-profile usability improvements, upgraded powertrains and a host of new technology. Previewed with a camouflaged prototype – in hot GTI guise – at CES in Las Vegas, the updated Golf will be available for pre-order in the spring, around four years after the current car arrived in dealerships. Importantly, 2024 also marks 50 years since the Golf replaced the Beetle as Volkswagen’s core model. Since then, more than 37 million examples have been sold globally, making it comfortably the 86-year-old company’s – and Europe’s – best-selling car of all time. This latest iteration, while not radically different in its overall design, is charged with renewing and sustaining the appeal of the eighth-generation Golf until…

Owners of Cupra Born EVs who responded to a battery service campaign have been left without their cars after the manufacturer ran out of the material that’s required to seal their battery cases. Cupra issued the bulletin in July last year in response to concerns about the condition of batteries fitted to Borns. Having opened the cases and checked the components, workshop staff have been unable to reseal them, owing to a shortage of the specified thermal paste, which is made in war-torn Ukraine. This has resulted in dozens of cars being stranded at Cupra dealerships awaiting completion of the remedial work, and other Volkswagen Group cars could potentially be affected. Jerry Hawkins, who lives in Cornwall, is one of the owners affected by the delays. “I bought my Born…

Gil de Ferran’s sudden death on 29 December cast a lengthy shadow over the motorsport world during the festive period. Fifty-six is no age. The Brazilian, best known for his significant achievements in the US, was hugely popular, and his out-of-the-blue loss devastated many. I can’t claim to be among those fortunate to have known him well but, like most racing folk, I have happy memories of his time lighting up the tracks. In the best traditions, de Ferran came to the UK to make his racing name and became a Formula 3 champion in 1992. His warm humour and easy-going nature endeared him to those on the British scene, where he also gained a wife, Angela, and made many lifelong friends. The only surprise was how quickly his Formula…

The Audi Q8 E-tron Edition Dakar has eight – eight! – wheels. Have Ingolstadt’s finest developed a new Otto eight-wheel drive system? Of course not: the special edition of the firm’s biggest electric SUV comes with sets of both on-and off-road tyres, reflecting its intended use cases. Inspired by the RS Q E-tron raider that competes in the Dakar Rally, this new EV takes the Q8 E-tron 55 Quattro, with its 402bhp dual-motor powertrain and 106kWh battery, and adds extra off-road ability. It also adds considerable cost: prices will start at around €120,000 (£103,000), compared with £80,300 for the regular 55 Quattro (although that only comes with four wheels…). Special design elements ensure the Edition Dakar looks the part, including a body-coloured singleframe front grille, chunkier wheel arches and a…

For a bloke who has spent 23 years wandering the world making internationally popular TV car shows beside two other reprobates with globally familiar faces – plus a supporting crew of 80 people – Richard Hammond seems remarkably well adapted to the wilds of Worcestershire. For more than a decade, he has lived near the market town of Ross-on-Wye but is rapidly becoming better known in the area for a classic car restoration business called The Smallest Cog, established in 2021 on an industrial estate outside Hereford, half an hour from his home. And for the TV programme Richard Hammond’s Workshop that it has spawned. The Smallest Cog was born when a local car restoration team – Neil Greenhouse, son Anthony and brother Andrew, who had done an excellent job…

MODEL TESTED DAKAR • Price £173,000 • Power 473bhp • Torque 420lb ft • 0-60mph 3.3sec • 30-70mph in fourth 5.4sec • Fuel economy 24.4mpg • CO2 emissions 256g/km • 70-0mph 45.1m The Porsche 911 Dakar needs little introduction. It is the most significant reinterpretation of the factorybuilt, road-legal 911 rulebook since the engineers at Weissach took a 996-generation Supercup race car and made it fit for public consumption. That little experiment took place nearly 25 years ago and the resulting model is one of which you may have heard. The now iconic 911 GT3 was named in reference to its motorsport-derived DNA. The subject of this road test spells out its source of inspiration even more unambiguously. It was in 1984 that Porsche won the 7500-mile Paris-Dakar Rally using a…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To make a case for Volvo estates’ revival and try the firm’s used buying scheme “The perceived value of Volvo’s Selekt plan is £1500, and the car is £1000-£2000 cheaper to buy privately” Not to sound dramatic, but when I heard that Volvo was discontinuing its estates in the UK, I felt bereft. Volvo and estates: they’re practically synonymous, aren’t they?! Reader, as with most things in today’s automotive world, it is the fault of SUVs. Such is their demand that it wasn’t worth the Swedish brand selling estates here any longer. It still sells them in other countries but production is winding down across the board. If you want a Volvo estate now, apart from a few left in stock, you will need…

FEATURE Getting to know a 911 GT3 RS We head for Silverstone to find out how to get the best out of Porsche’s latest track-day special INSIGHT Manx alive Legendary beach buggy maker Meyers is back – and it’s gone electric. We pay a visit ROAD TEST BYD Seal Bold new Chinese saloon, a rival to the Tesla Model 3, meets our testers EVERY WEEK USED GUIDE Audi A3 Sportback Why Ingolstadt’s premium family hatchback is now a fantastic buy OUR CARS McLaren Artura Andrew Frankel’s new runabout is a plug-in hybrid supercar SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p18…

These days, the term ‘concept car’ is often used to describe a thinly veiled production model that’s soon to arrive in showrooms. It hasn’t always been like that: the term was once reserved for the most cutting-edge, imaginative designs. Here we look back across more than eight decades of the most forward-thinking, influential concept cars yet created. BMW E1 1991 The smallest cars are often the most innovative, and so it was here. While the first E1s had electric power only, a redesign two years later led to three powertrains being engineered: petrol, electric and petrol-electric hybrid. Both old and new had a lightweight aluminium shell to cut weight – another ingredient common to cars of 2024. This concept was also important for showing the world what a small BMW…

The Volvo S90 saloon is expected to be replaced by a new electric flagship launching in 2025 and likely to be called the ES90. Known internally by the codename V551, the car is set to be produced at a factory owned and operated by Volvo parent company Geely in China, as revealed in a leaked photograph and specifications. A photograph published on Volvo’s employee intranet showed members of the Swedish firm’s production team in Zhejiang huddled around signs that read “Volvo Cars V551 First VP Car Celebration” and “Top Secret”. VP stands for ‘verification prototype’. The rival to the electric Audi A6, BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE is completely obscured from view in the photo ahead of an anticipated unveiling in the coming months. The luxury four-door is expected to…

Once the bête noire of City Hall, Uber is now leading London’s drive to zero-emissions motoring with more than 10,000 electric cars gliding around the UK capital, accounting for 20% of all its miles covered there and making it the American ridehailing firm’s top city for EVs. The news may come as a surprise to those who, after the sudden demise in 2022 of Uber’s planned electric ride-hailing car as partner firm Arrival struck financial trouble, assumed its decarbonisation plans had taken a back seat. Add in the UK government’s decision to delay the ban on sales of new ICE cars by five years, from 2030 to 2035, and they might have believed the pressure was well and truly off. In fact, a hostage to its well-publicised commitment to be…

THE TUMULTUOUS REVIVAL of TVR has suffered another setback after the firm lost the rights to a new factory in South Wales where the long-delayed Griffith was planned to enter production. Six years after revealing the V8-engined sports car, TVR is still without a production line, following the Welsh government’s decision to put the Ebbw Vale site back on the open market. Blaenau Gwent borough councillors have been told by the government that TVR’s exclusive rights to the facility have lapsed and it will now be offered to other parties. The company, which is registered in Surrey, has now said it “continues to discuss various locations for car production with the Welsh government, as we have done for several years”, suggesting that it still plans to build cars in Wales.…

I’m intrigued by James Attwood’s drive of the Audi Q8 E-tron Edition Dakar (see p28). It’s a car that at once could be easily dismissed as an expensive folly: only a few will be a few made, it costs some £20,000 more than a regular Q8 E-tron and Audi will charge you another £8600 for a wrap that looks like its Dakar Rally raider, just to ensure that you won’t want to be seen in it. Yet at the same time, it feels to me like a relevant, early and still-rare foray into electric off-roading, which is a thing that one day will have to become not extraordinary. And in the way that, say, the multifaceted Hyundai Ioniq 5 N can change what we expect from performance cars, so an…

We can expect a lot more cars like the Ghibli 334 Ultima across the next decade: special editions that wave goodbye to powertrains being mercilessly guillotined by the robust electrification strategies most European car makers had to lay down. Which is the unabridged way to say you’re looking at one of the last V8-engined Maseratis. The last Ghibli too, at least for the foreseeable. It’s a whole decade since the badge appeared for a third time to launch Maserati’s first genuine crack at the mainstream. Prices started below £50,000 and there was even a diesel, but the car didn’t truly fulfil either of its briefs, being a less exciting flavour of Maserati that still trailed its rivals at the sensible stuff. Still, I will never complain about esoteric alternatives being…

The new age of Maserati is tremendously exciting. In the Granturismo, we have a bona fide GT with the kind of quality its maker has promised for decades. It incorporates all-wheel drive and offers fully electric power without sacrificing some proper Italian gusto. And then there’s the MC20, a mesmerising and uncommonly raw take on the modern supercar, still underpinned by tangible engineering nous. So where does that leave the Levante? The bridge between two worlds, a money-spinning SUV that has helped bankroll the rawer stuff? Well, it’s getting on for eight years old and now navigates a much more crowded sector than it first joined. Not least when its price throws it squarely into the ring with the Aston Martin DBX and new Range Rover Sport SV. This is…

Friendship with May and Clarkson “We’re friends, of course. If we spent any more time together, we’d have to start living in the same house. Of course, we argue sometimes, but everyone argues. We argue in the programme. That’s part of it. But we’re in touch. I was talking to James this morning, just before you arrived. My ambition is to be barred from his pub in Wiltshire.” Goals for the next five years “I want The Smallest Cog to be bigger. I want our restored cars to be requested at the best car shows for their quality. I want these shelves in my office to be covered with ‘best in show’ awards. Most of all, I want to be doing what I’m doing now, being part of it all.”…

Leave me alone Well done, Roy Bush: your “rant” (20/27 December) is fully justified. My wife has just taken delivery of a 2024-model-year Mazda CX-30, which is an exceptionally good and competent car – except for its now mandated and incessant nannying of all things that Mazda, the EU and Euro NCAP deem as safety-related. True, one can turn these off, but the next time the car is shut down and restarted, they revert to being active and driving one bonkers, necessitating that, once again, they’re individually switched off via the not overly intuitive Mazda Connect infotainment system. The list includes lane departure warning and lane keeping assist (with outright dangerous tugging on the steering wheel), Mazda’s awful implementation of adaptive cruise control and smart brake support. These are really…

In a ‘shootout’ with a Porsche 911 Cabriolet and an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante back in 2000, the BMW Z8’s looks, quality and performance impressed Autocar’s tester, but it was the 911, cheaper by some £10k (or even £13k as a manual), that he preferred. “I suspect that if you are reading this magazine, the drive is what really matters. And for that, you will be wanting the Porsche,” wrote Gavin Conway. I’m not saying that Conway had the last word, but his judgement, arrived at in the twists and turns of the hills overlooking Los Angeles and in the company of two of the world’s greatest convertibles, was probably worth more than most. It’s perhaps no coincidence, then, that the Z8 is today regarded as something of a…

UNTIL THE COVID pandemic hit, Autocar’s January news pages were traditionally filled by America’s biggest motor show, hosted by Detroit, Michigan – Motown. The 2001 edition in hindsight was especially notable. Yes, it was here where we were all enlightened by the facelifted Daewoo Leganza. Lol, okay, sorry: it was here where BMW’s Chris Bangle first showed his controversial Flame Surfacing, Nissan previewed the 350Z, Volvo signalled its SUV intentions and Volkswagen took the first step in its 20-year journey to a revival of the iconic Type 2 ‘hippie bus’. BMW had acquired new panelmaking technology that enabled compound curves to be produced with one pressing, and its veteran chief designer sought to capitalise on it, creating a new vibe that took influence from deconstructivist architecture (think Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim…