Latest automotive analysis
Comprehensive coverage of the automotive industry's latest, breaking news brought to you by just-auto's leading network of international journalists.
Under the skin of the new Mini Electric
15 Jul 2019 | Mike Vousden
We take an in-depth look at the new Mini Electric, due in March 2020.
JLR engines boss on new Ingenium straight six
15 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Land Rover's progress remains uneven. Worldwide, sales fell by 10.1 per cent last month yet in Britain the brand enjoyed a record June even with the local market falling by 4.9 per cent. New models such as the L551 Evoque are beginning to make an impact, while a state of the art straight-six petrol engine is now giving the L494 Range Rover Sport a fresh boost.
Frankfurt IAA world debuts - Cupra concept
15 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
SEAT's Cupra division has confirmed a world premiere for the Frankfurt motor show in September.
Will future models propel Volvo to a million cars a year?
12 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Volvo is selling ever more cars and SUVs, even in China. Global deliveries for the first half of 2019 saw the brand delivering a record 340,826 vehicle, a year-on-year gain of 7.3 per cent. With many new models due in the early 2020s, a once ambitious sounding goal of one million vehicles a year is beginning to look attainable.
Interior design and technology – Kia ProCeed
11 Jul 2019 | Matthew Beecham
Remember the days when Kia was the butt of jokes? How things have changed. From the funky Soul to the hybrid Niro to the flagship Stinger, all have helped lift the Korean carmaker’s position in the global market place. Meet the third and latest member of the Kia Ceed family: ProCeed, an estate car that’s impersonating a coupe. Carrying the name over from the second-generation pro_cee'd three-door coupé, the ProCeed is a product of Kia's European design, product development and R&D teams. Continuing QUBE/just-auto's review of interior design and technology trends, we slipped inside to see what distinguishes it aside from the punctuation.
Peugeot 508 surprises with strong EU sales
9 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Only one of Europe's top five brands saw rising sales for the year to the end of May. As the new models keep coming, Peugeot has pulled away from Ford and closed the gap to Renault to fewer than 17,000 passenger vehicles. Now the new 508 SW is helping Peugeot to regain share in the D segment too.
2019 Goodwood FoS - world debuts list
8 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
This year's Goodwood Festival of Speed was the twenty-sixth edition of the annual event.
Proton and Lotus future models
8 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
After first taking a look at the Geely and Geometry brands and then Lynk & Co, this third feature in a five part series examining the divisions of ZGH turns the focus to Proton and Lotus.
Fiat Professional to plug (in) the Ducato in 2020
4 Jul 2019 | Graeme Roberts
There are only so many ways to conduct the presentation of a new vehicle (one of our number likes to refer to one as 'death by Powerpoint') but Fiat Professional, the light commercial arm of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, chose a quick presenter-hosted question and answer session with key executives and few slides or videos. But it was clear their thoughts were really on the main event and, after audience and teleprompters rotated 180 degrees, the real star of the show made its debut.
How Lynk & Co is defying Chinese market plunge
4 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
After first taking a look at the Geely and Geometry brands, this second feature in a series examining the divisions of ZGH turns the focus to Lynk & Co.
ANALYSIS - Megane Renault Sport 280
3 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
The depth of engineering excellence in Renault's Mégane R.S. derivatives prove that the basic car is deserving of a lot more success than it enjoys.
ANALYSIS - Hyundai and Kia face overcapacity in China
2 Jul 2019 | Dave Leggett
China has been a tough market for Hyundai and Kia in the last few years. The most recent data released by the Hyundai Motor Group, comprising the Hyundai and Kia brands, shows sales in the country fell by 22% to 343,383 in the first five months of 2019 from 438,364 units in the same period of last year.
Geely and Jihe Geometry future model plans
2 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Until recently, Geely had been having a long run of major success at home. Now, its sales are falling, May wholesales declining by 30% and the brand dropping to fifth place behind Nissan. Still, Geely is in no danger of losing fourth position, its 511,191 sales being well ahead of Nissan's 438,581 for the year to the end of May.
ANALYSIS - CD539 Ford Edge EcoBlue diesel
1 Jul 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Ford has sold some 70,000 Edges in the US so far this year. Not bad for a model that's been in production since 2015 and which competes in a packed segment. This 4.8m long SUV has had a trickier time finding favour with European buyers though, which seems unfair given what is a first rate diesel powertrain.
Interior design and technology – Volvo XC60
1 Jul 2019 | Matthew Beecham
Geely’s Volvo Cars posted strong sales for the first half of 2019, with sales up 7.3 per cent year on year. The growth was due to continued demand for its SUVs, led by the XC60. Continuing QUBE/just-auto's review of interior design and technology trends, we take a closer look inside this best-selling SUV.
Nissan lengthens Leaf legs, tweaks SUV and Micra powertrains
26 Jun 2019 | Graeme Roberts
Nissan Motor (GB) has launched its new range-topping battery electric Leaf e+ with longer range and more power.
Torque boost makes Mazda MX-5 even more desirable
26 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
The MX-5 is now four years old but Mazda hasn't yet felt the need to refresh the looks. The engine line-up though, has been altered with both 1.5- and 2.0-litre engines gaining power and torque as well as compliancy with the Euro 6d Temp emissions standard.
Groupe PSA future model plans - Opel and Vauxhall
25 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
A lot has changed since just-auto.com looked at Opel and Vauxhall future models a year ago. Legacy vehicles from the GM ownership era are disappearing, replaced by fresh ones with PSA platforms, along with BEV and PHEV models. There is much more to come.
Interior design and technology – Peugeot 3008
24 Jun 2019 | Matthew Beecham
Launched at the 2016 Paris motor show, the second generation Peugeot 3008 competes in a crowded C segment SUV market. Continuing QUBE/just-auto's review of interior design and technology trends, we slipped inside this popular compact family crossover to see what distinguishes it from its predecessor. Quite a lot it seems.
Groupe PSA future model plans - DS
19 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
DS Automobiles remains a troubled division of Groupe PSA. Sales have slid to minimal levels in China and in May were only 4,192 for all of Europe. Things might be about to improve though, with the 7 Crossback starting to find relative favour in EU countries and deliveries of the 3 Crossback commencing. But what to do about China?
Groupe PSA future model plans - Citroën
18 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
For a long time, Citroën was in trouble in many European markets. No longer. Its French market sales in particular are surging, which will come as a relief to parent firm Groupe PSA. In common with DS and Peugeot though, things are not so good in China.
13 Jun 2019 | Graeme Roberts
Memo to self - when a car company kindly loans you a press review vehicle, write it up before the model gets updated. In this case, twice. Oh, the blushes. Fortunately for slacker here, Lexus UK has an online press archive dating back to the stone age, conveniently shooting down my theory we're actually overdue an RX full redesign - the present model dates back only to a New York show debut in April 2015 - and a tweak or two since launch makes perfect sense.
Kia ready for the return of diesel demand with Stonic
13 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
May saw Kia setting yet another sales record in its largest European market. Surprisingly, that's not Germany, but Britain, where the brand is ahead of not only its parent, but Nissan too. The Sportage is much of the reason for the ongoing rise but another, smaller crossover is playing an ever greater role in the growth.
Groupe PSA future model plans - Peugeot
12 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Thanks to the 208, 3008 and 2008 (in that order) Peugeot is holding on to a strong third position in its largest regional market behind Renault and Volkswagen. A new version of its best seller, revealed three months ago but not yet available, has strong looks and has generated a large bank of orders. In contrast to that good fortune in Europe, the picture in China is much darker, however.
Anhui Jianghuai and JAC-Volkswagen future models
10 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
A partnership with Volkswagen AG and a certain degree of expertise in EVs have become vital assets for JAC as it tries to recover from losses of Yuan 786.1m during fiscal 2018 and a plunge in home market vehicle sales.
ANALYSIS - future Mitsubishi models
6 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
So far, the turnaround of Mitsubishi Motors under Nissan Motor is encouraging. In fiscal 2018-2019, sales were up by 14.7 per cent to 1,244,000 vehicles, profit improved, reaching JPY111.8bn, and the company achieved an operating margin of 4.4 per cent. As MMC's ties to the Alliance deepen, what future models will the company's plants in Japan, China, Thailand, The Philippines, Indonesia and Russia be producing to help reach an inevitable mid-term target of 1.5m vehicles per year in the 2020s?
Interior design and technology – Fiat Tipo
6 Jun 2019 | Matthew Beecham
Designed in Italy and assembled in Turkey, the Fiat Tipo has been a fairly common sight on European roads since 2015 but not for much longer. FCA has already let it be known that this model will not be replaced once production ends in 2023. Continuing QUBE/just-auto's review of interior design and technology trends, we take a closer look inside this family car.
ANALYSIS - Lexus UX 250h hybrid
5 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
While rivals pursue low CO2 numbers via plug-in petrol-electric powertrains, Toyota keeps refining what it terms 'self-charging hybrid' systems. That effort is paying off, especially for Lexus, which is making sales gains in many markets. In hybrid form, the brand's latest additional model offers a convincing alternative to other C-premium crossovers.
Nissan future models - platforms and timings
4 Jun 2019 | Glenn Brooks
Twenty years on from its rescue by Renault, Nissan Motor is unrecogniseable from the heavily indebted firm which Louis Schweitzer, Carlos Ghosn and Yoshikazu Hanawa began rebuilding in 1999 with the creation of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. In the post-Ghosn era and with a proposed FCA-Renault merger under discussion, what might the 2020s hold for Nissan?
Infiniti future models and the exit from Hong Kong
30 May 2019 | Glenn Brooks
The official name may be Infiniti Motor Company Limited yet this division is deeply intertwined with the parent firm and will become even more so. Nissan Motor and its partner Groupe Renault's vehicle architectures, as well as Design, R&D and Manufacturing operations are very much part of what will define the next generation of Infiniti models.
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