News

Adrian Newey's Red Bull RB17 track-only hypercar has made its first-ever dynamic run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, having only been shown as a static model in 2024. It pairs a Cosworth-built 4.5-litre naturally aspirated V10 revving to 15,000 rpm with a 200 hp electric motor for more than 1,200 hp, all in a car weighing under 900 kg. Newey himself drives it at Goodwood, along with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda and Alisha Palmowski. Just 50 will be built at around 5 million pounds each.

Lamborghini has launched an official app for the Apple Vision Pro that places full-scale, high-fidelity digital cars in your space using spatial computing. It features the Temerario, Revuelto, Urus SE and the new Urus SE Performante, letting you view them at 1:1 scale or inside curated digital environments, complete with spatial audio engine notes and the ability to peer beneath the bodywork at aerodynamics and structure. Controlled by eye and hand, it is available now on the App Store and launched on 7 July 2026.

Danish hypercar maker Zenvo has revealed the production Aurora at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is built around a 6.6-litre quad-turbo V12, developed with MAHLE Powertrain, that targets 1,250 hp and revs to 9,800 rpm, which Zenvo calls the most powerful V12 ever fitted to a production car. Combined with three electric motors, total output reaches up to 1,850 hp depending on the variant. It comes as the grand-touring Tur and track-focused Agil, is built in Praesto, Denmark, and deliveries start in summer 2027.

Polestar is teasing a new variant of the Polestar 4 that adds an actual rear window, addressing the original's much-discussed decision to drop the rear glass in favour of a camera-fed digital mirror. The new version gets a straighter rear hatch with a window, making it easier to park, and spotters say it looks more like a wagon than an SUV. It keeps the 400-volt platform with single rear-motor or all-wheel-drive options. A full reveal is still to come.

BYD is bringing its first pick-up, the Shark, to Europe, and it takes a very different approach to the traditional diesel truck. It uses a plug-in hybrid setup with dual electric motors (231 hp front, 204 hp rear) and a 150 hp 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine for a combined 436 hp and 650 Nm, good for 0-100 km/h in 5.7 seconds. It offers up to 90 km of electric range, 675 km total, a 2,500 kg towing capacity and a 790 kg payload. It debuts at Goodwood, with UK sales first and a wider European rollout in the second half of 2026.

Coachbuilder Niels van Roij Design has revealed a one-off Ferrari Daytona Shooting Brake, a hand-built aluminium estate based on the classic front-engined V12 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. It is an homage to the legendary 1970s Chinetti Daytona shooting brake, complete with electrically operated butterfly rear side windows. Every panel bar the doors is redesigned, with a carbon floor and diffuser and cognac leather over hand-formed aluminium. It took more than 15,000 hours and made its debut on 8 July 2026.

Land Rover has updated the Defender Octa for model year 2027, and its 4.4-litre twin-turbo mild-hybrid V8 now makes 540 hp, roughly 95 hp less than before. Torque is unchanged at 750 Nm, and 0-100 km/h takes 4.4 seconds. To sweeten the deal, a reworked exhaust manifold gives a deeper, more characterful V8 sound, and the Octa gains a new Woolstone Green colour plus a standard gloss black tail spoiler. The engine change applies to the UK, Europe and select markets.

Land Rover has revealed the Defender Vertex, a new tough luxury specification sitting alongside the plush X. Available across the 90, 110 and 130 body styles, it adds extended bumpers in Shadow Atlas Matte, a larger profiled grille, a gloss black spoiler, body-coloured lower cladding for a lower stance and standout yellow brake calipers and recovery eyes. Inside are Windsor leather or textile options and up to four-zone climate. Land Rover has not confirmed powertrains or pricing.

Changan has revealed the Nevo Q05, its third electric car for Europe and pitched as its most affordable yet. A compact, family-oriented SUV measuring 4,430 mm long on a 2,730 mm wheelbase, it offers a choice of 40 kWh or 52 kWh CATL lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, with hybrid versions to follow. Changan leans on its European design and R&D centres in Turin and Birmingham, part of a fast-growing push into the region. Power, range and pricing are not yet confirmed.

McLaren Special Operations has restored the M6GT, the road car founder Bruce McLaren developed and used as his own personal transport in 1969, before his death in 1970 cut the project short. The one-off restoration took some 3,000 hours, built on a period M6A racing chassis with a period-correct small-block V8 and its distinctive camel-hump cylinder heads. It makes its public debut at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed and marks the start of a new MSO heritage restoration programme.

The new BMW iX3 has earned a full five-star Euro NCAP rating under the stricter 2026 protocol, among the first cars judged by the revamped test. The Neue Klasse electric SUV scored 86 percent for crash protection, 83 percent for crash avoidance, 95 percent for post-crash safety and 73 percent for safe driving. Highlights include perfect side-impact scores and a centre airbag, clever emergency door releases and an advanced eCall, though pedestrian and cyclist protection was more mixed.

Italian coachbuilder Automobili Mignatta is at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed showing its Rina barchetta in a new light-toned livery honouring the Piedmontese battilastra panel-beaters, and previewing sketches of a forthcoming Rina coupe due in 2027. Built around a proprietary carbon monocoque, the Rina uses a naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 making around 500 hp, a 6-speed transaxle manual, weighs about one tonne with 50:50 balance and has no screens at all: pure analog driving.