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Denza, BYD's premium sub-brand, has revealed the Bao 5, its first SUV for Europe and a rugged, ladder-frame plug-in hybrid off-roader aimed squarely at the Land Rover Defender. Its Dual Mode Off-road system combines two electric motors and a 1.5-litre petrol engine for 544 hp and 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds. A 31.8 kWh battery gives around 90 km of electric range, with a combined 864 km total. Prices start at 69,500 pounds, with European orders opening this summer and deliveries in Q4.

Belgium is planning to introduce a mandatory road vignette from 1 May 2027 for cars and vans using its main roads, both motorways and regional roads. The annual vignette would cost between 90 and 125 euro, with shorter-term options of roughly 10 to 20 euro required by EU rules. Because those same rules ban a foreigners-only charge, Belgian drivers will have to pay it too, on top of the existing annual road tax. The aim is to make foreign road users contribute.

DS Automobiles has revealed the N°7, a new premium compact SUV built on the STLA Medium platform and focused on comfort and refinement. E-TENSE electric versions offer 230, 245 or 350 hp, with two French-made batteries of 73.7 or 97.2 kWh giving up to 740 km of WLTP range and 20-80 percent charging in around 27 minutes, plus a 145 hp hybrid. Inside there is Nappa leather, Alcantara, wood, 14-speaker audio and massaging seats. Prices in France run from around 44,000 to 77,500 euro, with deliveries from late 2026.

AIdoptation, a technology company from Sint-Truiden in Belgian Limburg, says it is the first in Europe allowed to test a Level 4 self-driving car on public motorways. Its system is fitted to an electric Maserati GranTurismo Folgore, running a 100 km route on the E313 and E314 highways with a professional safety driver aboard to intervene if needed. Unlike most self-driving projects, which focus on low-speed city driving, AIdoptation is tackling motorway speeds of 120 km/h. Engineer Louis Joris calls it a massive milestone.

British specialist Lanzante has created the world's first road-legal Bugatti Bolide, converting Bugatti's most extreme, previously track-only hypercar for use on public roads. It keeps the monstrous 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 producing 1,825 hp, with 0-100 km/h in 2.2 seconds, but adds integrated headlights and softened suspension to cope with real roads and speed bumps. The first car debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in exposed carbon with a reflective Klaussen livery.

The track-only Apollo EVO is finally production-ready, with its first customer car, named Caribbean Dragon, debuting at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. A development of the Apollo Intensa Emozione, it uses a Ferrari-built 6.3-litre naturally aspirated V12 producing 800 hp to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential gearbox, in a car weighing just 1,300 kg. Only 10 will be built at more than 3 million pounds each, each an obsessive coachbuilding exercise.

Independent German engineering house RUF has revealed the B8, a bespoke twin-turbocharged 4.8-litre flat-eight, or boxer-eight, engine producing more than 1,000 hp and 1,000 Nm, mated to RUF's own six-speed manual. It is the first boxer-eight ever built in this form, a layout even Porsche only ever used in racing. It debuts at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in a lengthened, rear-mid-engined CTR3 prototype driven by Tanner Foust, and is set to shape a future RUF model.

The new Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+ has gone fully electric, using three axial-flux motors, two rear, one front, for 680 hp of peak power and a 2.7-second 0-100 km/h sprint. On an 800-volt platform it charges at up to 330 kW (10-80 percent in 22 minutes) and offers up to 670 km of WLTP range in the saloon, or 640 km in the new Shooting Brake. It has fully variable all-wheel drive, active aero and an AMGFORCE S+ mode that simulates the sound and gearshifts of a combustion AMG.

Maserati has previewed Project GT4 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a GranTurismo-based race car developed by Maserati Corse for the international GT4 category. It uses the 3.0-litre twin-turbo Nettuno V6 with F1-derived pre-chamber combustion, front-mounted and rear-driven, making over 700 hp in racing form, and it is around 400 kg lighter than the road car. Engineered in Modena, it wears a centennial livery marking 100 years of the Trident and targets a competitive debut in the 2028 season.