Author: Autocar Magazine UK

Top motoring innovation: Why Catesby tunnel is all but boring

The winner of Autocar’s Innovation Award for 2024 is Catesby Tunnel, the 1.7-mile hole through the Northamptonshire countryside that once formed part of the Great Central Railway and has recently been repurposed as a globally unique aerodynamic testing facility. “Fourteen years ago, I was thinking about how we test our designs,” says Rob Lewis, the… Continue reading Top motoring innovation: Why Catesby tunnel is all but boring

Andreas Mindt’s bold battle plan for reimagining Volkswagen

In June 1993, Autocar asked a group of students at Coventry University’s School of Transport Design to imagine a modern reinterpretation of the Caterham Seven.  Exactly 31 years later, one of the students featured – a German, then on exchange from the Pforzheim University School of Design – is back on Autocar for his efforts… Continue reading Andreas Mindt’s bold battle plan for reimagining Volkswagen

How Nissan R&D guru David Moss became the Qashqai king

A decade into the job and by then a creative young engineer and leader, Moss was given charge of an intricate and all-important part of the first Qashqai: the cockpit module, including the instrument panel, which needed to be moulded using an exacting new process.  Always creative, and using his body-building knowledge, he also helped… Continue reading How Nissan R&D guru David Moss became the Qashqai king

Going off-grid with Martin Brundle, the face of Formula 1

On the surface, there’s little difference between how Max Verstappen is dominating the sport and how the likes of Schumacher did before him, but Brundle says one key contrast is that “Lewis [Hamilton] in a Mercedes or Michael in a Ferrari were, for any number of reasons, more popular than Max in a Red Bull”.… Continue reading Going off-grid with Martin Brundle, the face of Formula 1

How Marek Reichman will reinvent Aston Martin design (again)

Together, Bez and Reichman and their teams devised an action-packed model plan – and a building plan for Gaydon. Early on they set about devising a high-performance DBS (from what Reichman describes as a “rough-arsed” DB9 concept called Black Betty) just as the late Cubby Broccoli, legendary producer of the Bond films, decided to put… Continue reading How Marek Reichman will reinvent Aston Martin design (again)

Renault CEO: “What’s the point in refusing progress?”

Not often do you find yourself, twice in a few months, talking at length and one-to-one with a man as serially busy as Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo. This is a man with no spare time at all, someone who powwows with the French prime minister and leaders of Europe. His diary fills at… Continue reading Renault CEO: “What’s the point in refusing progress?”

New-look Bentley Continental GT swaps W12 for PHEV power

The new Continental GT Speed is the first car to use Bentley’s Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain and ushers in a bold new design language for the electrified era. Evolved from the outgoing car, the new Continental GT has a substantial carry-over of bodywork and interior technology but it has been refreshed significantly enough to be… Continue reading New-look Bentley Continental GT swaps W12 for PHEV power

Land Rover Defender 130 pick-up on sale for £157,000

Dutch coachbuilding outfit Heritage Customs has revealed a luxurious pick-up version of the Land Rover Defender 130. The firm, founded by well-known designer Niels van Roij, is looking to build on the “success” of its recently revealed Defender 90 convertible with its latest exclusive creation. It is priced from the equivalent of £131,000 before taxes (so… Continue reading Land Rover Defender 130 pick-up on sale for £157,000

McLaren plans to be first with EV supercar but needs support

“There will be no BEV supercar before McLaren does it” but much more research and development is needed before such a model is technically and commercially viable, the firm’s CEO, Michael Leiters, has said.   Speaking to Autocar on the sidelines of this year’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Summit, Leiters called for substantial investment… Continue reading McLaren plans to be first with EV supercar but needs support