News

The Leapmotor B03X, a compact electric crossover, is now on sale in Europe from just 23,995 euro, a price that already includes the EU's import tariffs on Chinese-built cars. Built by Leapmotor, part of the Stellantis group, it offers 176 or 197 hp, LFP batteries of 39.8 or 53.0 kWh, up to 382 km of WLTP range and 30-80 percent fast charging in around 16 minutes. Top trims run to 26,995 and 28,495 euro.

Bentley has announced that its important new fourth model line will be called Torcal, named after El Torcal de Antequera, a dramatic limestone landscape in Andalusia, Spain, with the name rooted in the Latin torquere, to twist, a nod to torque. It joins the Continental GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga, and is widely expected to be Bentley's first electric car. The full reveal takes place on 23 September 2026 in London, with the Crewe-built model teased but its specifications not yet confirmed.

Hennessey has revealed the Venom F5-M, a hypercar that sends 2,031 hp from its twin-turbo 6.6-litre V8 through a genuine gated six-speed manual, making it the world's most powerful manual car. Fitting the stick required remapping the engine for smoother, more graduated power delivery to keep the rear tyres in check. Just 12 examples of the F5-M Roadster will be built at 2.65 million dollars each, all already sold, and it makes its production debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

A BMW M2 fitted with the new M Performance Track Kit has lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7:25.068, half a second faster than the more hardcore M2 CS. The TUV Rheinland-verified time was set on 22 May 2026 by BMW M test engineer Jorg Weidinger in demanding conditions, with high temperatures and oil on track. The Track Kit adds an adjustable splitter, aero flicks, a swan-neck rear wing and BMW's first road-approved motorsport coilover suspension.

The Ariel Atom 4RR has beaten the Porsche 911 GT2 RS's lap record at Anglesey Circuit in Wales, setting a 1:27.77 to the Manthey-kitted Porsche's 1:29.35, nearly two seconds quicker. Remarkably, it did it in full road trim on road-legal Yokohama tyres. The Atom uses a 2.0-litre turbo Honda Civic Type R engine tuned to 525 hp and weighs just 668 kg, and at 208,000 pounds it undercut the fettled Porsche significantly. Ariel test driver Phil Keen set the time.

Marc van der Straten, the Belgian entrepreneur who founded the Marc VDS racing team, has died aged 78, passing away peacefully at his home in Switzerland on 5 July 2026. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, his team won the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship and the 2015 24 Hours of Spa in cars, then took three Moto2 world titles with Tito Rabat, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Marquez after moving into bike racing. He leaves an immense motorsport legacy.

Rolls-Royce has revealed the Phantom Regatta, a one-of-one bespoke Phantom Extended debuting at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Inspired by the racing yachts of England's south coast, it wears a hand-laid Regatta Blue over English White two-tone that mimics a yacht's waterline, with a Navy Blue and Grace White cabin, yacht-deck wood veneers, picnic tables needing 120 hours each, a hand-painted Gallery artwork and a Starlight Headliner of 1,307 stars arranged in Isle of Wight tidal patterns.

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles cut global oil demand by 2.3 million barrels a day in 2025, according to BloombergNEF. Passenger cars, however, only accounted for 741,000 of those barrels. The larger share, 1.1 million barrels, came from electric scooters, mopeds and three-wheelers, mostly across Asia, which means the story most European EV buyers tell themselves about their own impact is not quite the one the numbers support.

The manual gearbox is worth keeping, and not out of nostalgia. It remains the one mechanical link between a driver's intent and the car's behaviour that neither automation nor electrification has replaced, and that is reason enough to defend it. Automatics have already won on speed, efficiency and safety, but none of that was ever the whole argument for driving in the first place.

Some sports cars get a grand send-off. This one is slipping away almost unnoticed. Our AutoNext Car of the Week is a 2022 BMW Z4 sDrive20i M Sport, finished in black over anthracite and available at VDJ-Automotive in Grobbendonk with just 42,081 km from one owner. BMW has ended the Z4 with no successor announced, which makes this rear-wheel-drive roadster one of the last of its kind.

Nissan has reportedly held talks with China's Chery about building cars at its Sunderland plant in the UK, according to the Financial Times. The two are said to have signed a non-binding memorandum to study producing Omoda and Jaecoo brand vehicles there. With the plant running at around 50 percent capacity and employing about 6,000 workers, sharing it could spread fixed costs without necessarily cutting jobs. Sources caution a deal may not happen, and Nissan has talked to others too.

Stellantis has reshuffled its European leadership from 1 July 2026. Santo Ficili now serves as CEO of Maserati on top of his existing Alfa Romeo role, putting both Italian premium brands under one leader. Luca Napolitano takes charge of Stellantis &You Sales and Services, and both report to Emanuele Cappellano, COO for Enlarged Europe. The changes follow the departure of Jean-Philippe Imparato, who leaves Stellantis after 36 years.