34
‘I have no interestindriving an EV.Iwon’t be making one,that’sfor sure’
THIS WEEK
Issue6457 | Volume308 | No 2
NEWS
Aston’snew era V8 Valhalla, electricDBX,Lagonda 4 Mercedes-BenzEQS Ourfirsttaste of newluxuryEV 8 GenesisX UK-bound marque’s two-door GT concept 11 Whatnextfor Peugeot? CEO’sexclusive interview 12 Dealers unlock Buttheydon’t expectasalesboom 14
TESTED
Audi Q5 Sportback45TFSI Mid-sizedSUV coupé 18 VolvoS90 Recharge T8 PHEV hasclose to 400bhp 23 Hyundai Kona Electric Does its update do enough? 24 SkodaOctavia Estate 1.0TSI E-Tec Newmildhybrid 25 Mercedes-BenzEQV No-compromiseEVfor seven 25 Suzuki Across 2.5PHEVE-FourCVT ROAD TEST 26
FEATURES TheNoble art Giant-killing M12 revisited 20 years on 34 GerryMcGovern JLRdesign boss on Jag’srebirth 40 Rise and shine VW TiguanRvsMerc-AMG GLB35 44 Be ready Howtoboss it when dealers fully reopen 48 TomKristensen No holdsbarredwithLeMans hero 57
OURCARS HondaE DidEV’sposterchildcut it in real-lifeuse? 62 BMWM440i Coupé Diesel4Seriesout,hot petrol in 64 Suzuki Across Plus Citroën C5 Aircross.PHEVtastic 65
EVERYWEEK JesseCrosseAColin Chapmankind of EV battery 13 Jim Holder TheNextBig ThingfromChinaislittle 15 Steve CropleyAcurious case of mistaken identity 17 Subscribe Save moneyand getexclusive benefits 52 Damien Smith What Bahrain told us of F1’s champs 54 Motorsport round-up F1, FormulaE,WRX,F2, WRC 55 Your Views The future of motoring;dieselvsEV 60 Matt Prior Snap judgements:weall do it,you know 82
DEALS
James Ruppert Cars with star appeal in theirnames 66 As good as new DaciaSandero:value-added hacks 69 Spied in theclassifieds Mmm,fivedrop-topMcars 70 Used buying guide Rolls-RoyceGhost,from£60k 72 NewcarsA-Z Keycar stats, from Abarth to Zenos 74 Road test index Trackdownthatroadtesthere 81
Autocar,ISSNnumber 1355-8293(USPS25185),ispublished weekly by Haymarket MediaGroup, Bridge
House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW13SP,United Kingdom.The US annual subscription price is $199.78. Airfreightand mailinginthe USAbyagentnamedWNShipping USA, 156-15,146th Avenue, 2nd
Floor,Jamaica,NY11434, USA. Periodicalspostage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster:Send addresschanges to Autocar,WNShipping USA, 156-15,146th Avenue, 2ndFloor,Jamaica,NY11434, USA. Subscription recordsare maintainedatHaymarket MediaGroup, BridgeHouse,69London Road,
Twickenham TW13SP,United Kingdom. Air Business Ltdisactingasour mailingagent. Autocar is published by Haymarket Automotive,BridgeHouse,69London Road,Twickenham, Middlesex,
TW13SP,UK, haymarketgroup.com Tel +44(0)20 82675000 Autocar magazine is also published in China, Greece, India, Indonesia,Japan,Korea,
Malaysia, Philippinesand Thailand.
Autocar isamemberofthe IndependentPress Standards
Organisation (IPSO). We abide by theEditors’Codeof
Practiceand are committed
to upholdingthe highest standards of journalism.Ifyou
thinkwehaven’t metthose standards andwanttomake
acomplaint, contact autocar@haymarket.com. Formoreinformation,contact
IPSO on 0300 1232220or
visit www.ipso.co.uk
Haymarket is certifiedbyBSI to environmental standard
ISO14001and energy management standard
ISO50001
TROUBLEFINDING
AUTOCAR? If youstruggle to find a copy of Autocar in your local
retailerorarea, please
send an emailto connor.chappell@flgroup.co.uk
who will investigate the
problem foryou.
PEFC Certified
This product is from sustainably managed forests and
controlled sources
www.pefc.co.uk
Autocar isamember of the
organising committee of Car Of TheYear caroftheyear.org
LIVING WITHAHONDAE:OUR FINAL VERDICT 62
JAGUAR’S FUTURE,BYJLR’S DESIGNCHIEF 40
ROAD TEST:SUZUKIACROSS PHEV, RAV4 TWIN 26
COVER STORY
❝THEONLYTHING THATHAS TO LOOK TRADITIONAL ABOUTAJAGUAR IS THEBADGE❞
JLR’SNEW CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER SHARES THEVISION FORJAG’S 2025 REINVENTION 54
IMAGE
HOW ASTONMARTIN’SLINE-UP WILL CHANGE 4
COMMENT
ASTON’S GRANDPLAN HASRIGHT INGREDIENTS
IT’S BEEN OVER ayearsince Lawrence Stroll ledaconsortiumtotakea significant stakeinAston Martin in an attempttosteadythe ship afteradisastrousstock market flotation.Strollhas sincebecome chairman andTobiasMoers,the man behind AMG’sbreakoutasa carmaker in itsown right, appointed CEO.
Butdetails of theAston Martin grandplanfromthese twoserious operators–and turnaround specialists –havebeensparse. Headlineshave beendominated byaFormula1return andadeepeningtie-upwithDaimler, andresourceshavebeenfocusedon gettingthe DBXintoproduction and settingupanew factory to buildit. Now, Autocarcan reveal what the productrange ofaStroll-and-MoersledAston Martin will look like (p4). Costly developments,suchasthe creation ofabespoke V6 engine,have beenput onice andinstead come more derivativesand theelectrification of theexistingmodelsalongside greater useofAMG drivetrain technology.
Astonwas perhapsguiltyofdreaming toobig before andspreading limited resources toothin. Butwithits talented design andengineering team,some greatcars, crucialaccesstoAMG tech andan imagetodie for, Aston hasall theingredients needed to succeed.Now Stroll andMoers will hope they canbethe ones that finallyunlock that success.
Mark Tisshaw Editor mark.tisshaw@haymarket.com
@mtisshaw
NEVE R
NEVER MISS AN
ISSUE Subscribe
p52
7APRIL 2021 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 3
