Autocar 30/05/2018

VAUXHALL WILL BE disappointed to read the verdict of its new Insignia GSI range-topper in this week’s road test (p34). It is a car seemingly at odds with the wholesome ‘just right’ value brand proposition it has under PSA ownership. It also marks something of a low point on which to end the era of cars developed – or at least conceived – under General Motors ownership. In its last 15 years under GM, the company lost $10 billion (£7.5bn), cut more than 30,000 jobs and shed market share in Europe. There remains a huge, loyal Vauxhall following, and it makes some very good cars already with certain versions of the Astra and Insignia, yet they’ve been launched by a company on the back foot and without the confidence and pride in…

A revolutionary new Volkswagen Beetle is under consideration and, if given the green light by VW chiefs, it will adopt a battery-powered electric powertrain. It will also move away from its trademark two-door bodystyle to a four-door arrangement and could even use the rear-wheel-drive characteristics of the original ‘Type 1’ Beetle of 1945. The model would be based on VW’s flexible electric vehicle architecture, MEB, which will underpin the car maker’s range of electric models under its new ID badge. The first of these to arrive will be the ID hatchback next year. VW has already confirmed that the current Beetle, which has been on sale since 2011 and is the second generation since the iconic car was revived as a front-wheel-drive car in 1997, will not be directly replaced once production…

The eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf arriving next year will introduce a look that will set the template for all of VW’s internal combustion-engined cars in future. While the new Golf, which is due in UK showrooms at the end of 2019, will be an evolutionary take on the outgoing car, it will feature new design elements that design chief Klaus Bischoff described being “more fluid, more sporty with a very unique face”. It’s part of a new VW strategy to differentiate its standard model range from the new ID family of electric cars, said Bischoff: “[ID is] a new world of proportions and totally new bodystyles which are more emotional. As we go through the ceiling design-wise on ID cars, we need to echo that with ICE cars, so these will have more…

An electric Beetle looks promising and plausible on several grounds. First, given the global successes the new-gen Mini and latter-day Fiat 500 have become, you can understand why VW should want to do the same with its best-remembered model. The fact that the first and second attempts at a ‘new’ Beetle failed must give VW pause, but I reckon Klaus Bischoff is quite right that using rear-wheel drive for this third proposal would give it a better chance. And the residual greenness of electric underbits make a better link with the past than the most recent ‘new’ Beetle, which tried too hard to be a cheap Porsche. To me, it’ll be about styling success. If Bischoff and his team of designers can be as effective at recalling the original Beetle as they have…

“It will have a dramatic new interior and be capable of semi-autonomous driving” The new Renault Clio will distinguish itself from rivals by being one of the most technologically advanced models in its class when it arrives next year. The move is part of a bid by the French car maker to keep its supermini at the forefront of the sector, especially in the face of increasing competition from compact SUVs, to which traditional small cars are starting to lose out. Now in the final stages of prototype testing, the fifth-generation Clio is set to marry a honed exterior look with a dramatic new interior dominated by a Tesla-style infotainment screen. It will also be capable of semiautonomous driving. The exterior styling will be evolutionary, keeping elements such as rear door handles hidden in…

The battle between the previous-generation Ford Fiesta, replaced last year, and the outgoing Renault Clio was always closely fought. Not least because of the Clio’s ability to transition from comfy cruiser to enjoyably adept back-road steer. Ford has recently updated the Fiesta and improved the recipe in several areas. How should Renault respond? When launched, the current Clio was unusually refined for its class and Renault would do well to prioritise the development of that particular characteristic. But surpassing the Fiesta as an all-round package would almost certainly involve firming up the suspension. Do they jeopardise the new Clio’s comfort to realise Fiesta-like dynamics, or are they brave enough to continue to plough their own very comfortable and refined furrow? That’s the conundrum facing Renault’s engineers.…