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Visit autoexpress.co.uk for all the latest new cars news WE’VE spoken before in these pages how Volvo has become a surprising tech leader, and it seems reluctant to give up that mantle. As our story reveals on page 12, Volvo has given more details about how it plans to go all-electric with a new range of cars from 2030. But it’s an additional piece of news that will have made Volvo’s dealers scratch their heads: Volvo has declared that you will only be able to buy its electric cars online. The aim is to make it simple and transparent with no-haggle pricing – and no need to visit a dealer. Of course, many Volvo dealers have invested heavily in the brand and have done an incredible job of keeping sales…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk Visit autoexpress.co.uk for your daily news updates • GTI Clubsport offers a more focused drive than standard GTI • New Golf R adds four-wheel drive and extra power to the mix IT’S taken a few months, but the high-performance versions of the Mk8 Volkswagen Golf seem to have arrived all at once. If you want something a bit more potent than the regular GTI (itself the most powerful standard version ever), then there are now two options that are as intriguing as they are appealing: the four-wheel-drive R and the front-wheel drive GTI Clubsport. Which should you choose? We’ve brought them together for an intra-brand, intra-model twin test to find out. As our two cars get together on a cold March morning, despite the obvious similarities in the proportions,…

THE GTI Clubsport is around £2,000 cheaper than the R on list price, but going beyond that and looking at finance figures shows how these numbers can ebb and flow depending on offers and deposit contributions. On VW’s PCP (36 months/10,000 miles per year), you’ll need a £5,771 deposit to get into a Clubsport, with monthly payments of £446 (a total of £21,382). The R requires around £700 extra up front, and a further £33 a month, so over the three years, the four-wheel-drive model will cost you an extra £1,621 – still less than the gap in list price. Switch to VW’s Personal Contract Hire and the Clubsport’s price advantage widens. Indeed, give up the PCP’s flexibility, and the option to buy at the end of your contract, and…

Golf GTI Mk1 Power: 108bhp 0-62mph: 9.1 secs THIS is the car that helped define the hot hatchback. The original GTI created the niche when it comes to a quick, enjoyable family machine with an upmarket image. It handled like a sports car yet remained practical. Golf GTI Mk5 Power: 197bhp 0-62mph: 7.2 secs AFTER a few years in the doldrums with the Mk3 and 4 GTIs, the Mk5 was a real return to form. It was a great driver’s hot hatch with a sweet chassis and plenty of performance, while the design really moved the GTI into the modern era. Golf R Mk7 Power: 296bhp 0-62mph: 5.1 secs THIS wasn’t the first four-wheel-drive Golf, but it was the car that really made the formula appealing, with blistering performance and…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy Visit autoexpress.co.uk for your daily news updates • Seven models comprise firm’s electrification plans • SUVs of all sizes, plus coupé-SUVs and estates planned “We have been known over the years for our responsibility, and our safety. Responsibility for the environment is a good match”HÅKAN SAMUELSSON Volvo CEO VOLVO will launch five more electric cars over the next four years as the company pushes towards its new goal of phasing combustion engines out of its line-up completely by the end of the decade. The Swedish brand announced the plan last week, ahead of the unveiling of its first ever electric-only model, the C40. Volvo had previously said that half of its sales volumes would be all-electric by 2025; now it has set a deadline, five years beyond that…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy VOLVO’S push to electrification will be accompanied by a move to digital sales, with plans to offer its EV-exclusive models through its digital platforms. The firm has announced that for the EVs, starting with the XC40 and C40, customers will have to order through the Volvo website, and that by 2025 it hopes half of all its sales will be online. However, Volvo’s global head of commercial operations Lex Kerssemakers has said that dealers will still play a key role in the customer experience. “Not everybody will sit on their sofa or behind a screen,” Kerssemakers said. “Many people will want to go to a dealer, to talk to a salesperson, or just to touch and feel the cars. And then that car will still be ordered online…