The Ford brand has always been uniquely and fascinatingly fractured. Most know that it has long had American, Australian, European and Brazilian divisions doing very different things with good deals of independence, and in the past there were, of course, British and German divisions (in fact, at one point, Brits could buy a Ford from… Continue reading From the archive: Ford’s French V8-powered coupé
Author: Autocar Magazine UK
Do small car drivers have an unfair reputation?
What do you think when you come across or drive up behind a newish small car? Something like a Kia Picanto, MG 3 or Suzuki Swift. Do you think that there must go a smart person, because compact cars are light and uncomplicated and easy on consumables? That this driver has to be pretty enlightened,… Continue reading Do small car drivers have an unfair reputation?
Why car enthusiasts love motorbikes, too
It was engineered to be only as big as it needed to be. Ariel’s Simon Saunders has designed lightweight bikes and cars. He knows the Atom doesn’t have much spare room, but said that finding “2mm in the battery box” of the Ace bike “was a cause for great celebration”. If you love engineering purity,… Continue reading Why car enthusiasts love motorbikes, too
BMW X5
Previous generations of the X5 may have tried to keep up the ‘sports SUV’ pretense by sitting the driver fairly low, but the new one has firmly gone for a commanding driving position. You don’t tower over other cars quite as much as in a Range Rover Sport, but the X5 immediately and resolutely feels like… Continue reading BMW X5
Fisker Alaska electric pick-up renamed Kayak for Europe
The new Fisker Alaska electric pick-up truck has been renamed as the Fisker Kayak for the European market. The EV is to be exported and sold in Europe from 2025, following the 2023 arrival of its Fisker Ocean SUV sibling. The American brand said it had given it a new name that would resonate more with European buyers. Confirming… Continue reading Fisker Alaska electric pick-up renamed Kayak for Europe
Q&A: Volkswagen going back to drawing board for next-gen EVs
Volkswagen design boss Andreas Mindt 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. Coming as part of its goal to be a ‘loved brand’ once more, production versions will go on sale… Continue reading Q&A: Volkswagen going back to drawing board for next-gen EVs
What is it like to live with an electric car?
After a fair bit of research, I decided the ideal spec was 12 bars, low miles (30,000-40,000), no indication of motorway thrashing, little or no rapid charging and as late a year as possible. A larger (30kWh) battery became available later in 2015 but, on looking around, these cars were scarce and had fewer bars… Continue reading What is it like to live with an electric car?
MG sister brand IM Motors lined up for UK launch
MG’s parent company, SAIC, is planning to launch its premium electric car brand IM Motors in the UK, Autocar understands. IM Motors – founded in late 2020 as a tie-up between SAIC, e-commerce giant the Alibaba Group and R&D specialist the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Group – delivered the first examples of its L7 executive saloon in… Continue reading MG sister brand IM Motors lined up for UK launch
Toyota GR Yaris gains two WRC-inspired special editions
Toyota has detailed two special editions of the recently upgraded GR Yaris hot hatchback, which will go on sale in limited numbers later this year. Named the GR Yaris RZ High Performance Sébastien Ogier Edition and the GR Yaris RZ High Performance Kalle Rovanperä Edition, they were first revealed at the Tokyo Auto Salon last year. As their names… Continue reading Toyota GR Yaris gains two WRC-inspired special editions
New Audi RS5 estate set to rival AMG C63 with hybrid V6
Saloon and Avant estate bodystyles will be offered for the standard A5, with each unlikely to grow in size compared with the current A4. For reference, it stretches to 4772mm in length, 1847mm in width and 1435mm in height. Only the estate has been spotted testing so far in full-bore RS guise, and it is… Continue reading New Audi RS5 estate set to rival AMG C63 with hybrid V6