Auto Express 1640

NOW in its ninth year, the Auto Express Brit List has showcased some of the very best Automotive talent in the world. But our first and our most recent winners have two things in common. Ford’s Steven Armstrong (this year’s winner) and Andy Palmer (2012) were both apprentices, starting their careers at the same place: Automotive Products in the Midlands. They share a continuing passion for apprenticeships, and they’re both working to ensure opportunities are given to the next generation of Brits. Their work will help to address one of the biggest problems the industry faces, highlighted in this year’s Brit List – a shocking lack of diversity. We’d urge more industry leaders to make following their lead a priority. We’re hugely disappointed this year that there are only six…

Steve Fowler Steve_Fowler@dennis.co.uk New boss has a bold plan to put Jaguar back on track Compact electric model will be key to the firm’s future ONE of the first jobs that new Jaguar Land Rover boss Thierry Bolloré will have to get to grips with when he starts next month will be what to do with Jaguar. Some contenders for the CEO role mooted ideas ranging from killing or selling the brand to focus solely on Land Rover, to closing the Castle Bromwich plant and moving production abroad. But Auto Express understands that Bolloré will have a bold new plan in front of him that centres around Jaguar becoming a fully electrified brand to compete with the likes of Tesla and Polestar. Central to that plan is a compact model…

James Brodie James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods 306bhp model on sale now Hatch and saloon available AUDI has revealed the new S3 – the first of two hot versions of the German firm’s latest compact hatchback and saloon. Now packing 306bhp, the S3 competes with the Volkswagen Golf R, Honda Civic Type R and Mercedes-AMG A 35. As ever, a five-cylinder RS 3 superhatch will crown the A3 line-up, but it won’t be revealed until 2021. Like the last S3, the newcomer will be offered in hatchback and saloon bodystyles, although in common with the rest of the A3 range, there’s just a five-door Sportback on offer, with no three-door variant. Under the bonnet, the new S3 sticks with a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, which now develops slightly more power than before, with…

Luke Wilkinson Luke_Wilkinson@dennis.co.uk @LT_Wilkinson FOR the first time in the model’s history, the BMW M3 will be sold as a Touring estate. The company has confirmed that the sixth-generation model will come in load-lugging guise when it reaches the UK market in 2022, and it will give the German manufacturer a direct rival for the Mercedes- [pg12]]AMG C 63 estate and Audi RS 4 Avant BMW has confirmed that under the skin the M3 Touring will be powered by the same twin-turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine as the M3 saloon and M4 coupé. It’s the 3.0-litre unit that’s currently found in the X3 M and X4 M performance SUVs, and means the M3 Touring should have a power output in excess of 500bhp and 600Nm of torque. The newcomer will also…

THE Mercedes-AMG One is getting closer to production, as the F1-derived hypercar’s testing moves from test bed to test track. The £2.4million, plug-in hybrid One will develop 986bhp, and act as a technological flagship for Mercedes’ road car line-up. The German hypercar will also be a rival to Aston Martin’s forthcoming Valkyrie. New images released by Mercedes- AMG show several pre-production models undergoing performance and durability testing at the brand’s Immendingen proving ground, close to the Swiss border. Mercedes-AMG says that the main focus of the current program is to ensure that the various active aerodynamics parts are all integrated in their operation, and that the complex Formula 1 title-winning petrolelectric power unit – with extra electrical assistance – offers the driveability buyers demand from a production car. To this…

CONFIRMATION of the new Touring brings to an end a 20-year wait since BMW last flirted with the idea of an M3 estate. In 2000, M Division engineers put together a running prototype M3 Touring, based on the E46-generation M3. Under the bonnet it had a naturally aspirated 3.2-litre straight-six developing 338bhp, which sent drive to the rear wheels. The prototype was equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox, too. According to BMW, the M3 Touring prototype was more of an internal exercise than a concept created to explore customer interest, hence it never made production. Bosses were interested in seeing how easy it would be to adapt such a model into the regular 3 Series Touring’s production line. The flared rear wheelarches required reworked back doors, but the rest of…