Porsche 911 Targa by Theon Design review: Bright fantastic November 19, 2024 Back in the 1960s, Automobile Engineer magazine expressed its fear that dark paint colours made cars more dangerous. Shades such as grey and black, it reasoned, could transform a vehicle into a ‘camouflaged weapon’. The respected German car magazine Auto, Motor und Sport held a similar view. It suggested that sports cars should be [...]
New purist Porsche 911 Carrera T goes back to basics November 18, 2024 Want the purest Porsche 911 experience? The new 2025 Carrera T does without all-wheel drive or a towering rear spoiler. Instead, Porsche has gone back to basics, with an ‘emphasis on driving fun’. Most significantly, the PDK dual-clutch automatic gearbox is not available on the Carrera T – even as an option. Every car will [...]
Aston Martin Vanquish 2024 review: Veni, vidi, Vanquish November 15, 2024 Remember when Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond? Britain’s least secret agent was as sharp and urbane as ever, but a newly powerful physique lurked beneath his Savile Row suit. If Brosnan is the Aston Martin DB12, Craig is the new Vanquish. Positioned above the DB12 and replacing the DBS [...]
Audi RS E-Tron GT Performance review: With great power… November 14, 2024 My knuckles wrap white around the roll cage as the car slews violently sideways then slingshots onto the main straight. A mechanical war cry bursts forth as the driver rams the graunchy manual lever into third gear, then fourth, then back to third, each shift punctuated by the giddy chirrup of a dump valve. I’m [...]
Land Rover Defender by Onyx Vans review: Passport to adventure November 12, 2024 While driving behind a caravan being towed along a narrow country road, it struck me what makes this Defender, converted by Onyx Vans, a unique vehicle. Unlike the grey SUVs also headed to our campsite, each one dragging what looked like an oversized fridge through the hedgerows, I was aboard an icon without any white [...]
Porsche Panamera GTS 2024 review: A sports car for all the family November 11, 2024 Stonking V8 engines without electrical assistance have suddenly become an endangered species. Not long ago, all of Germany’s super saloons followed this recipe; now the BMW M5 has become a plug-in hybrid, while the Mercedes-AMG E63 has thundered off into the sunset, replaced by the E53 and its hybridised straight-six. Aside from the (largely forgotten) [...]
Jaguar Land Rover: Profit accelerates but sales stall November 8, 2024 Jaguar Land Rover has revealed its pre-tax profit accelerated by 25 per cent during the first half of its financial year despite its revenue flatlining. The automotive giant has reported a profit of £1.1bn for the first six months of its year to the end of September 2024. However, its revenue remained at £13.7bn. For [...]
Bentley pushes back full all-electric switch to 2035 November 7, 2024 Bentley Motors has pushed back its switch to only making electric cars to 2035, it has been confirmed. The Crewe-headquartered luxury car maker, which is owned by Volkswagen, had originally announced in November 2020 that it intended to go all-electric by 2030. The aim was again reiterated in January 2022 when Bentley revealed plans to launch [...]
Jaguar Land Rover: Drivers using plug-in hybrids as ‘stepping stone’ towards electric cars October 30, 2024 Jaguar Land Rover has revealed a sharp rise in the sales of its plug-in hybrid models (PHEV) as its customers use them as a ‘stepping stone’ towards battery electric vehicles (BEV). The automotive giant has reported a 59 per cent rise in PHEV sales during the first half of its financial year compared to the [...]
Lookers in the red after £504m take-private deal October 28, 2024 Car dealership giant Lookers slumped into the red in the year it was taken private in a deal worth more than £500m. The Cheshire-headquartered business has reported a pre-tax loss of £5m for 2023, having posted a pre-tax profit of £73.9m in 2022. The loss comes as newly-filed accounts with Companies House show Lookers’ revenue [...]