Auto Car (UK)

UK SHOULD FOLLOW EU’S LEAD AND DELAY ICE BAN

Good news is worth highlighting and the UK reaching two million annual new car sales for the first time since 2019 (before the industry and wider world were hit by well-documented challenges) is definitely positive. Especially when you consider the JLR...

2026

STARRING JAG, BMW, RANGE ROVER, RENAULT, VW, BENTLEY & MORE

THIS COULD BE A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR JAGUAR

What a couple of weeks it’s been for JLR. First, there was the explosive news that board member and design chief Gerry Mcgovern had departed the business abruptly after 21 years at the firm. Then came an opportunity for us to ride in probably the most...

2025 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

BEST OF 2025

WORLD’S LARGEST TRACTOR WE FLY A SPITFIRE USED FESTIVE BARGAINS M3 TOURING vs SCOTLAND SANTA (FE) ROAD TRIP WE GO SCALEXTRIC RACING XMAS QUIZ & MUCH MORE

What range anxiety? This has 484 miles

BRITAIN’S BEST DRIVER’S CAR

10 EPIC CARS, 5 JUDGES & SMOKING TYRES GALORE

REVEALED PEUGEOT’S SHOCK 208

ALPINE’S MADE A MACAN

Audi’s boss: why we had to change

V8s ARE BACK AS LAMBO AND ROLLS COOL ON EVS

Having spent time with the CEOS of Rolls-royce and Lamborghini recently, it’s been striking to hear both talk about powertrain strategy and the move to EVS. Rolls-royce has an EV, the Spectre, which was its most popular model in Europe last year, and...

FERRARI AND VW POISED TO TAKE EVS TO NEXT LEVEL

Ferrari and Volkswagen are two brands that seldom crop up in the same sentence. In fact, they’re practically polar opposites in their ethos, brand appeal and customer base. Two cars that feature in this week’s magazine, a VW and a Ferrari, appear to...

FINALLY, THE TRAILBLAZING LEAF IS NOW MAINSTREAM

Back in 2009, I drove an innovative new vehicle at Nissan’s forward-thinking development centre in Cranfield, Bedfordshire. It was a first-generation battery-powered Leaf prototype, and it promised to mark the beginning of the electric vehicle...

CYBER-HACKING THREAT GOES FAR BEYOND JLR

Even just a few years ago, not many of us would have predicted the extent to which cyber attacks could disrupt our world, but the ongoing fallout after the one at JLR shows how very worried we should be. The entire industry must be quaking in its...

WHY THE VILLAINS ARE NOW A FORCE FOR GOOD

Whether real or bravado, European car firms seemed to have their swagger back at this month’s Munich show – and they’re out to take on the law makers. In the wake of the Dieselgate scandal, which broke 10 years ago this week, the industry found itself...

MERC AND BMW EVS: THE FIGHTBACK STARTS HERE

Among the many exciting cars at this month’s Munich motor show (see News, from p4), two models – rivals no less – seem particularly noteworthy. The BMW ix3 and Mercedes GLC sound familiar at first mention, but don’t underestimate the profound changes...

NEW SUV CAN HELP FORD REGAIN ITS EUROPE FOCUS

It was a shock when Ford ditched the Fiesta, because its supermini had ruled the roost for so long. But in hindsight, it’s not that surprising, given the issue of small cars and profitably had been an industry headache for a while. The Puma has...

IT’S ALL CHANGE – AND THE FASTER THE BETTER

The automotive industry’s ability to innovate has always been one of its most impressive traits and makes it stand apart from many other industries. The most radical example of that in recent years is the advent of electric vehicles. Whether it was...

OUR FUTURE LIES IN THE HANDS OF RISING STARS

It’s heartening to read about this year’s Formula Student competition (p52), in which you can almost feel the hard work and determination of the teams involved. It’s not simply a case of the newest engineering brains coming together to build...

TATA HAS PUT A FIRM HAND ON JLR’S TILLER

I’m sure there’s not a car enthusiast in Britain who doesn’t have significant interest in JLR and its success or failure. Despite being bought by Indian firm Tata back in 2008 (an acquisition that was desperately needed for its future), JLR has managed...

EVIJA EMPHATICALLY SILENCES THE CRITICS

We’ve put under road test scrutiny some truly groundbreaking cars. The Mclaren F1 and Bugatti Veyron come to mind. Now it’s the turn of a modern-day hypercar: the electric Lotus Evija. It’s fair to say that plenty wrote off this Lotus, deeming the...

RATED MERC’S NEW 500-MILE EV

BUGATTI’S INSANE 282MPH DROP-TOP

HOT MINI JCW vs YORKSHIRE

AS BIG FIRMS SPREAD BETS, SMALL FIRMS CAN BENEFIT

Electrification is proving a more uneven path for the car industry than many expected and firms once committed to going full EV have recognised a need to maintain flexibility. Take Volvo: once the most ambitious legacy car giant in the speed with which...

BRITAIN’S BEST CARS

FEATURING Defender, Superb, 911, Ioniq 5 N, Grande Panda & more

NISSAN’S FIGHTBACK HAS MADE A PROMISING START

Only a couple of months ago, we interviewed new Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa about how the company, once so successful, will come back from the brink. Since then, job cuts and cost savings have been even more savage than predicted. Yet on this week’s...

FIRST DRIVE: BMW’S RADICAL NEW ERA

DIESEL CARS STILL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN 2025

The decline of diesel continues apace. Just 5.7% of new cars sold so far this year are fuelled from the black pump and, in response, manufacturers continue to trim them from their line-ups. Not so long ago, we were spoiled for choice for premium-badged...

AT LAST WE CAN BUST A BIG MYTH ABOUT EV BATTERIES

Along with range anxiety, concerns over battery life and degradation are often cited as a key reason for people being put off buying an electric vehicle. If you’ve struggled with an ageing smartphone, it’s understandable you’d be concerned about...

RATED: WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL PORSCHE

THE NEW FREELANDER WILL NEED TO WALK A FINE LINE

Our exclusive scoop on the Freelander’s return (p4) highlights an example of a recent trend: car makers betting that the reinvention of an iconic nameplate will appeal to today’s buyers. The revival of the Freelander seems a safe bet in so many ways....

IT’S TIME TO LIFT THE LID ON HOMOGENISATION

As James Disdale notes in his Mercedes-amg CLE 53 Cabriolet review (p28), convertibles are sadly an increasingly rare sight in UK showrooms, as greater competition, rising costs and squeezed margins prompt car makers to rationalise their...

THE FORD-VW TIE-UP HAS BEEN A WIN-WIN

A Ford can’t be a true Ford if it has Volkswagen underpinnings. Or so thought Steve Cropley, for reasons he explains in his story about a recent road trip he took in an Explorer – a car with a Blue Oval badge but built on a VW platform (p46). No doubt...

TOYOTA HAS PLACED ITS EV AND HYBRID BETS WISELY

When the original Toyota Prius was launched in 1997, it became a cultural phenomenon as a new wave of (largely famous) environmentalists embraced the world’s first mainstream hybrid car. Eventually, the Prius’s impact waned, and while Toyota persevered...

ROAD TEST BENTLEY CONTI GT

WILL MCLAREN SUCCEED WHERE ASTON STRUGGLES?

The bombshell news that Mclaren Automotive and tech-savvy British luxury start-up Forseven are joining forces to create a greatly expanded car-making operation is fantastic for a pressurised specialist industry and a country that wants to thrive on...

HOW A UK FIRM OF 20 PEOPLE BEAT THE WORLD

Two long-standing conundrums in the EV age: how to charge on the go when a grid connection isn’t possible; and how best to repurpose old EV batteries. We’ve heard lots of chat about combining the two – using second-life batteries to provide affordable...

WHAT LINKS THE VALKYRIE, T50 AND TOURBILLON?

Cosworth is embedded in motorsport history. Where to start? There’s the 176 race wins, 10 constructors’ and 13 drivers’ championships the firm’s engines have powered Formula 1 cars to. Not to mention 10 Indianapolis 500 winners and numerous...

SKODA’S RISE AND RISE HAS BEEN SIMPLY CLEVER

Skoda has been quietly changing perceptions for more than a decade, transforming itself from a mildly mocked budget brand to front and centre of the Volkswagen Group’s strategy. This week’s financial results (p6) highlight its success: sales up 6.9%...

VW’S SECRET WEAPON IN THE ELECTRIC CAR WAR

Back in the late 2010s, there was much talk from top executives at car firms about partnering start-ups to tap into their tech know-how as they tried hastily to adapt to a software-led world. Then, perhaps because the world imploded, that trend seemed...

JAGUAR’S REBRAND: THE INSIDE STORY, BY ITS BOSS

It’s a big week at Autocar HQ when we’ve had the chance to talk exclusively in person with Jaguar’s global boss, Rawdon Glover. Editor Mark Tisshaw sat down with him over an afternoon and you can read the results of that conversation over the next six...

THE BEST FUN EVS JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER

Eighteen months later, and look how far we’ve come. Our first group test of affordable, fun EVS in 2023 was won by the Cupra Born, which, although an admirable car, wasn’t a true hot hatch. But it showed the rate of progress being made in this class –...

THE UK NEEDS PROPERLY AFFORDABLE NEW CARS

It’s official: just 10 pure-combustion superminis remain on sale in the UK (p10). What a fall from grace for a segment that used to dominate the top 10 sales charts month after month, year after year. We have long heard why car makers have been forced...

POLESTAR IS TAKING ITS GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL

This is a pivotal time for Polestar. Having been a one-car brand for five years, its product onslaught has begun with the 3, the subject of this week’s road test (p30), and the 4. The shift is far more seismic than just new metal, though. This is a...

SCOOP TOYOTA’S SPORTS CAR FUTURE

THE BRIT KIT CAR TAKING ON CATERHAM

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD BE ORDERING EXTRA CHIPS

Ten years ago, perhaps even five years ago, we would never have dreamed of devoting four pages to an interview with an executive from a worldleading maker of computer chips. That we have now done so (p48) demonstrates how very important digital...

NEW BMW M5 vs PORSCHE

NEW CARS 2025

STARRING ASTON MARTIN, BMW, FERRARI, FIAT, RANGE ROVER AND MORE

DACIA KNOWS ITS PLACE – AND IT’S THE DAKAR RALLY

Few car brands have been as impressive as Dacia in recent years. Here is a car maker that’s acutely clear of its strategy and who it is targeting – not trying to be all things to all people as so many do – and it shows. Last year, global sales were up...

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT…

Every year, we try to pull off the most outlandish idea we can for the Christmas road test. Matt Prior has done it again, this time driving a highly impressive, and frankly terrifying, feat of engineering: the JCB Digatron. That’s just one example of...

BRITAIN’S BEST DRIVER’S CAR 2024

+NEW AUDI A6 DRIVEN +LAMBO REVUELTO ROAD TEST + NEW FORD PUMA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOLF. BUT I HAVE A CONFESSION

In her intro to our celebration of the VW Golf’s 50th birthday (p40), Vicky Parrott reckons that everyone has owned a Golf at some point, so ubiquitous has it become. Well, confession time: I’ve never owned one. Believe me, that disappoints me as much...

NOW AN EVEN BIGGER EV CHALLENGE FOR PORSCHE

When the Taycan first arrived, it quickly proved that Porsche could execute electric cars with similar aplomb to its long-established combustion-engined cars. It was a driver’s car, despite being powered by a battery. Porsche did have one thing on its...

THE HOT HATCH HAS A FUTURE – AND IT’S BRIGHT

Only a few weeks ago on this page, I wrote about the revived Renault 5 and what it means for small cars in this new era. Now, we’ve been behind the wheel of its exciting performance sibling, the Alpine A290, and pondering what it might mean for the...

LOVE OR LOATHE IT, TESLA IS A GAME-CHANGER

It’s (loosely) Tesla’s 10-year anniversary, if you consider the Model S as its most significant launching point in 2014. In this week’s issue, contributor Vicky Parrott takes Tesla’s own 260,000-mile Model S on a road trip (p44) to ponder how it fares...

NEW PETROL CARS ARE STILL STIRRING THE SOUL

It’s a big week for new EVS with our first drive of the new Ford Capri (p24) and Mini Aceman (p32), both of which are likely to be fruitful for their makers. But despite these important models, it’s great to see firms still committed to exciting...

OFFICIAL PICS ALL-NEW 911 GT3

OUR 10 GREATEST BRITS OF ALL TIME

REPORTS OF SMALL CAR’S DEATH EXAGGERATED

As a lover of small cars, it’s been a demoralising few years. The demise of the Ford Fiesta is the high-profile reference but we’ve also said goodbye to the Volkswagen Up and its Skoda and Seat siblings, the Renault Twingo, the Citroën C1 and...

WHY A HYUNDAI TAKES THE FIGHT TO A PORSCHE

Our big ‘New vs used’ special in this week’s issue, which features showdowns between, er, new and used cars of broadly equal value and brief, isn’t a fresh concept to these pages. We last did such a comparison in 2021 and it was an annual feature for...

WORLD’S BIGGEST-SELLING BMW RATED

VW’S FIRST ELECTRIC HOT HATCH RATED