Table of contents for June 11, 2025 in Autocar

VOLKSWAGEN IS ALSO developing a hardcore Clubsport version of the upcoming ID 2 GTI, according to insiders. The front-wheel-drive ID 2 GTI, revealed in near-ready concept form, is due on sale towards the end of 2026 with around 223bhp from VW’s new-generation APP550 electric motor. But Autocar has learned that engineers at VW’s research and development centre in Braunschweig, Germany, are also working on a more potent and focused range-topper, targeting a peak output of 282bhp. Alongside the additional power, this flagship – in keeping with the hot Golf Clubsports that have gone before – is being conceived with a series of mechanical and electronic upgrades. Chief among them is a fully mechanical limited-slip differential, which offers torquevectoring capability between the front wheels. “We’re not working with brake intervention,” said…

I neos Automotive is in talks with Chery to build cars on a range-extender (REx) EV platform from the Chinese group’s iCaur off-road brand, Autocar has learned. The tie-up would allow Ineos to move quickly to develop its postponed Fusilier REx off-roader and expand its line-up beyond the slow-selling Grenadier combustion-engined off-roader. The launch of the Fusilier would give Ineos a crucial low-CO2 model that would allow it to comply with emissions regulations in both the UK and the European Union. Currently, the company manages the regulations by selling some Grenadier models as commercial vehicles, thus ensuring it stays within the light-ertouch rules for low-volume manufacturers. Ineos is expected to repurpose iCaur’s upcoming V27, an offroader that uses a 1.5-litre turbo engine as a generator when the charge from its…

Because they have lower levels of security, motorbikes are a popular target for thieves. Last year, 15,832 were stolen. Recently, tracking firm BikeTrac located its biggest-ever haul of stolen bikes when a customer’s tracker led it to a shipping container at Tilbury Docks containing their BMW R1200 GS and 24 others. “When we started 15 years ago, alarms were the only defence and bike recovery rates were just 40%, but today, with tracker technology, they’re over 90%,” said BikeTrac co-founder Bill Taylor. “Once they’ve stolen a bike, like car thieves, bike thieves will park it up to see if it has a tracker and has been located. However, rather than just park it somewhere discreet, we’ve seen bikes left outside bike dealers with a lock on to try to fool…

This is our first look at the radical new electric BMW X5, which has surfaced in range-topping M guise ahead of its launch next year to preview Munich’s answer to the Lotus Eletre and upcoming Porsche Cayenne EV. Electric power is being added for the next-generation X5, which is set to be the third entrant in BMW’s Neue Klasse line-up – kicking off this year with the new iX3 (driven, p24) before the closely related new 3 Series in early 2026. Unlike those two replat-formed cars, though, the fifth-gen X5 will use a redevelopment of the same CLAR (Cluster Architecture) that underpins the current X5, allowing the fitment of petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric powertrains. A hydrogen model is also planned for 2028, using a fuel cell codeveloped with…

A year since it began marketing EV-specific tyres for electric vans and taxis, British company Enso has launched its first tyres for passenger EVs – specifically, the Tesla Model 3 and Y and Jaguar I-Pace. There are currently more than 1.5 million electric cars on UK roads, and this year car makers expect to sell a further 450,000. Meanwhile, in 2022, 40 million car tyres were sold in the UK in a market worth around £2.3 billion. By 2030, the market is expected to be worth around £3.9bn. Compared with giants such as Michelin and Continental, Enso is a relative minnow, but it punches above its weight thanks to initiatives such as direct sales and an emphasis on technical innovation - including reducing particulate pollution through improved tyre wear rates.…

NO ONE WANTS THEM Autocar’s online news story about the demise of the Ford Focus ST read like a news release attempting to shift the 170 unsold examples currently littering Ford’s UK dealer network. And the reason why production is being discontinued is because buyers no longer want this type of car at the price that Ford is asking. How times have changed. But the problem is that buyers don’t seem to want the company’s EV products either. Not so long ago, Ford dominated the UK sales charts with its top-selling Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo models. Where did it all go wrong? LP Via autocar.co.uk I WON’T MISS YOU Ford is running out of road here, both in the UK and Europe. It won’t be long before it does what…

Calling a car ‘premium’ is tricky these days, isn’t it? After all, by objective measures, the new Omoda 9 is undeniably premium. At 4.75 metres long, it’s lavishly spacious in the front and the back, it has LED lighting and sleek surfacing and it’s brimming with standard technology including autonomous parking, a head-up display, heated and cooled seats in the front and back and more. It also has a whopping claimed electric range of 93 miles. By any quantifiable benchmark, then, the 9 is a premium D-segment SUV that’s equally as upmarket as the Volvo XC60, Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3 or Lexus RX. And yet… Omoda was established by Chinese firm Chery only three years ago as a dedicated luxury brand to sell outside of its home country.…

It’s not déjà vu – it’s the new Toyota Urban Cruiser. If this smaller sibling of the bZ4X looks familiar, it’s because we recently drove the Suzuki eVitara, which is essentially the same car. Toyota and Suzuki are all in on the not-so-noble art of badge engineering. It’s been a few years since Suzuki started selling the Corolla estate and RAV4 as the Swace and Across, so now it’s Suzuki’s turn to return the favour. Most of the development work for the Japanese firms’ answer to the Kia EV3, Skoda Elroq and Renault Megane was done by Suzuki, with a bit of collaboration between the two on the base platform. Mechanically, there are no differences at all, although the Urban Cruiser does get a slightly different face that has a…

Let’s wind back to 2012: Britain is gripped by Olympic fever as Vauxhall launches the Ampera and the UK’s first ‘plug-in’ hybrid decisively beats the Volkswagen Up to European Car of the Year glory in the process. Within 12 months the Ampera will have a carbonfibre-cored rival in the unlikely shape of the BMW i3, another car using its petrol engine purely as a range-extender in what appears to be a movement gathering momentum. Yet more than a decade later both cars feel like distant memories and range-extender (REx) technology – essentially where an engine charges a drive battery instead of powering the car itself – remains remarkably niche. Mazda will sell you its MX-30 crossover with a dinky rotary generator on board, while LEVC London cabs deploy REx tech…

MILEAGE 5912 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the 2024 Car of the Year really is the standout family SUV “It’s great, but…” seems to be a prevailing theme of my time in the Renault Scenic. It does so much so well, and then, just at the point of us reaching a blissful equilibrium together, something happens just to set it back a bit. In this warmer weather I’ve been winding down the window a lot, as you do. Yet when the driver’s window goes down and settles – or rather doesn’t – it then spends the next few seconds making a rattle in the bowels of the door. It goes away soon enough, but it’s irritating. More software bugs have materialised, too. The Apple CarPlay issues reported previously…

AN OWNER’S VIEW CHRISTIAN SZTAN “I ordered my car in June 2022 and received it in March 2023. It was my first new car ever. Why did I choose this particular model? I love the T-Roc’s higher ride height, especially in my country where the roads are almost non-existent. That’s how bad the situation is in Hungary. The 1.5 TSI was a good choice, and I ordered it with the DSG automatic. I’ve put more than 25,000 miles on the car and not had any major mechanical problems so far.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE Check for the 1.5 petrol being a little hesitant when you pull away when the engine is cold. ‘Kangarooing’ (fluctuating revs) is a common issue, but it can be resolved with a software update. The 2.0…

Volkswagen is exploring plans for a high-performance ID 2 R, which could be its first model to use in-wheel motors as part of a new four-wheel drive system. The hot hatchback is claimed to be part of a broader engineering initiative, led by the R performance brand, to explore the potency and torque-vectoring potential of hub motors. If given the green light, the ID 2 R would sit above the already announced ID 2 GTI – and potentially even be pitched against the mega-powered Renault 5 Turbo 3E. The drivetrain under consideration for the ID 2 R retains the frontmounted electric motor and power electronics of its GTI sibling but adds two independently controlled electric hub motors within the rear wheels. This would provide a significant boost in performance and…

Mercedes-Benz’s crucial new electric GLC has entered the final stages of its development ahead of a public debut at the Munich motor show in September. The Stuttgart manufacturer has released new official pictures of its rival to the upcoming BMW iX3 (driven, p24), which not only marks the company’s next step in electrification but also serves as the first passenger car model to introduce a bold new design language. At the heart of the design shift is a taller, more upright grille, inspired by historic models like the Ponton – the predecessor to today’s E-Class. Mercedes design boss Gorden Wagener said the move is about giving future models “a strong identity” at a time when many electric cars are beginning to look alike. “Our grilles will remain a key identifier,…

McLAREN HAS MARKED the 30th anniversary of its victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a special-edition 750S that channels the F1 GTR. Revealed two years ahead of McLaren’s return to the top class at Le Mans, the new 750S Le Mans is modelled on the car (right) that claimed the British firm’s first and only overall win at La Sarthe in 1995. Just 50 will be built, priced well clear of the £250k standard 750S and marked out by a raft of bespoke design and interior elements.…

THE NIO FIREFLY, a Chinese rival for the Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID 2, has been confirmed for mainland Europe – and UK sales will follow by the year’s end. The electric supermini was launched in China in April with an official range of 260 miles and a single rear-mounted 141bhp motor for the equivalent of around £12,500. ‘Firefly’ was initially conceived as a standalone brand for premium, urban-focused EVs, in the same vein as Mini or Smart, but was repositioned as a subbrand of Nio – as was the more mainstreamoriented Onvo marque – shortly after launch. Although the car has been shown with only left-hand drive so far, Nio president Qin Lihong said at the Shanghai motor show the brand will launch a right-hand-drive variant by October. Previously,…

New Mercedes CLA EQ isn’t compatible with many older chargers BUYERS CAN NOW choose between 800V and 400V electric cars, and a greater variety of charging stations has evolved for charging higher-voltage EVs. EVs with 800V electrical systems can normally use 400V or 800V chargers, the only downside of the former being that it will take longer. But it recently emerged that as far as DC rapid charging is concerned, the new Mercedes-Benz CLA EQ won’t be able to use 400V chargers, only 800V ones. It will still be able to charge at home using a domestic AC charger, but is this the start of a trend that could make EV ownership more complicated? In 800V EVs, a DC-to-DC converter allows charging at lower-voltage stations, and it’s this that Mercedes…

Autocar compared prices of premium EV-ready tyres for three electric cars with tyres for their ICE equivalents. Compared with a Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI, the tyres for a VW ID 3 were on average 55% more expensive – probably because its 18in wheels are 2in larger. Those for a BMW iX3 M Sport are different sizes front and rear than for a BMW X3, whose tyres are all the same size. The iX3’s tyres were 10% more expensive at the front and 13% more expensive at the rear. The tyres for a Mini Cooper and Cooper Electric cost the same. “As the number of EV-ready tyres grows, prices should fall, but there are few signs of it at the moment,” says Micheldever’s Chris Staincliffe. “However, they are still much cheaper…

COMPARISON V12 SUPER-GT SHOWDOWN Aston Martin’s new Vanquish takes on the mighty Ferrari 12Cilindri INSIGHT INSIDE GENERAL MOTORS’ UK DESIGN STUDIO Why does the American giant have a studio here? Ex-Jaguar design chief Julian Thomson invites us in to explain all ROAD TEST CUPRA TERRAMAR Is this new crossover more than just an angry Volkswagen Tiguan? EVERY WEEK MY CAR & I AUSTIN-HEALEY SPRITE The man who’s owned it for 57 years recounts some adventures in it that will raise your eyebrows USED GUIDE VOLVO XC60 This Swedish SUV is a brilliant, versatile family car – and now a bargain to boot…

“It’s significantly better to drive in hybrid mode than under petrol power alone” The plug-in hybrid renaissance continues. What was once merely a transition technology apparently now represents, in the words of Audi boss Gernot Döllner, “the best of both worlds”. Which makes the new Audi A5 E-hybrid rather an important car. After all, this is Ingolstadt’s answer to the BMW 330e, a compact executive cruiser that can munch miles yet also offers significant electric running. And in order to take on that class leader, Audi has pushed hard to develop its PHEV technology. So much so, in fact, that the marketing team has introduced a catchy new moniker for it. Döllner says the E-hybrid label has been coined to make the new PHEVs “recognisable at first glance”. I’m not…

When we road tested the Polestar 3 (Autocar, 12 February), we found it delivered on the unlikely promise of a big electric SUV for the keen driver, and at a price that undercut most rivals. Efficiency (and thus range) was disappointing, however. That’s where this new entry-level version comes in. As the name suggests, the Long Range Single Motor (LRSM) uses the same 107kWh battery pack as the Long Range Dual Motor (LRDM) but does with just the rear motor, albeit in a more powerful state of tune. So this 3 is cheaper (£70k versus £76k) and more efficient (3.1 versus 2.9mpkWh WLTP) and thus has a longer range (438 versus 395 miles). What’s not to like? After all, with the vast majority of EVs, the ‘lesser’ version is the…

The emergence of the dual-purpose, loose-surface-specialist, off-road performance car is one of the better reasons for enthusiastic drivers like us to be cheerful. From the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato right the way through to the Ford Ranger Raptor and Bowler Bulldog, we’ve had quite a constant and varied supply of these lovably rogue and madcap mud-pluggers over the past 10 years of car industry history. And now, if you want to go fast and have fun on gravel and mud as well as on the road in 2025, you can do so in all kinds of different ways. Take, for example, the three fast off-roaders we have gathered at the Sweet Lamb Motorsport Complex in Wales for what should be a fantastic day of testing. They are,…

Vauxhall Ampera (2012-2015) £2500-£9000 Pioneers come little cheaper than this. Government grants nipped it under £30k new, but its compromised four-seat cabin dented appeal, and even COTY honours couldn’t help it breach the mainstream. The entry point is now £2.5k for high-milers; double that for a car under 80k miles and with a dealer warranty. The best top £8k, and there’s a decent handful to choose from – unlike its vanishingly rare Chevy Volt twin. BMW i3 REx (2013-2018) £5000-£15,000 All-electric i3s outnumber range-extenders on the used market, but production of the latter ended some years earlier, so it’s the better used bargain. Prices start from £5k for an example with 100k-plus miles; £7k is the entry point for average miles; £12k gets you one of a tiny handful of…

MILEAGE 3681 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is Ford’s first European-built EV, with its VW underpinnings, really a true Ford? The Ford’s touchscreen is a talking point, and one that’s been commented on by all my friends and family who have had the privilege of being offered a ride. And that’s no surprise: the 14.6in vertical screen dominates the dash. It’s got a neat party trick, too: you can slide it up, both to set it at an angle of your choosing and to access a sort-of-secret storage cubby. I tend to have it down: it makes the screen easier to reach and means I can better see the B&O soundbar. My ears aren’t attuned enough to know if having the soundbar blocked by a bit of the touchscreen affects the…

It was all excitement in Pandaland: a new timing belt, a service and a thorough inspection from Fettle & Finesse, the UK’s leading 100HP specialist. But all went south rather quickly. I mentioned that I was worried about the condition of the sills – a common issue on 100HPs, hidden away under the chunky bodykit. Then Lawrence, F&F’s chief Panda whisperer, managed to pull away an entire chunk just by hand. Still, I didn’t think it would be quite so bad: the final report totalled three pages of A4. The sills, the rear axle, the front subframe, the exhaust backbox, the springs, the dampers and the passenger-side wheel arch were all rotten. And the rear bump stops had fallen off. And there was a coolant leak. And so on… The…

HYUNDAI i20 N 2022, 36,000 miles, £21,491 It may not have 4WD like the GR Yaris, but the 201bhp i20 N is also a fine example of the breed. It’s as fun and engaging as a Ford Fiesta ST, plus this example has a solid service history and long MOT. It should hold its value well too, now you can’t buy one new. SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT 2012, 57,000 miles, £5695 This nippy 1.6-litre Swift Sport seems great value for money, with such a low mileage. The pictures suggest it’s in great condition, and it won’t need an MOT until next March. If you want a sporty and fun little runaround that’s truly affordable, look no further. ABARTH 500E TURISMO 2023, 3000 miles, £19,990 This 500e would have cost more than…

PORSCHE HAS CREATED a road-legal version of its successful 963 endurance racer, rekindling the spirit of a road-going Le Mans legend from 50 years ago. The 963 RSP is inspired by, and specified to match, the road-legal version of the 917 racer that Porsche built for Italian aristocrat and heir to the Martini drinks empire Gregorio Rossi di Montelera in 1975. Like that car, which still appears regularly at events like the Festival of Speed and Villa d’Este, the road-legal 963 is all but technically identical to its racing counterpart, which will compete at Le Mans this weekend. Porsche’s LMDh prototype uses a 671bhp hybrid drivetrain centred on a 4.6-litre twintur-bocharged V8 – itself derived from the 918 Spyder hypercar’s engine. Performance figures have not been revealed but, given the…

GENESIS IS RAMPING up to launch an electric luxury SUV to rival the Volvo EX90. The GV90 is effectively Genesis’s take on the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9, sharing its fundamental platform and innards with those family-focused seven-seaters but applying a premium sheen. As prototypes hit the Nürburgring in preparation for a 2026 launch, it is clear just how loyal the GV90 remains to the design of the imposing Neolun concept that Genesis revealed last year. Show car flourishes such as the reverse-opening rear doors are unlikely to make production but the Neolun’s imposing, monolithic silhouette is heading to showrooms unaltered, along with the twin wraparound LED light bars at each end. Like its Kia and Hyundai siblings, the GV90 is expected to offer three rows of seats. But…

A new law intended to counter the UK’s rise in keyless car thefts won’t solve the problem, a leading figure in vehicle security has said. Last year, more than 61,343 vehicles were reported stolen, the third-highest figure in the past decade and double the 2015 total. And around 40% of those were stolen without their keys, by methods including relay attack, which tricks a car into believing the owner’s key is present. In 2023, Autocar reported that one website was selling devices – costing from £2500 to £30,000 – capable of taking control of cars including Range Rovers, Ferraris and Lamborghinis via their on-board ‘can bus’ system (which enables the micro-controllers and processors to communicate with each other). Previously, prosecution for handling these and other devices used to steal vehicles…

THE UPDATED KIA Sportage will arrive in UK showrooms this summer with a bold new look and the choice of petrol or hybrid power. One of the UK’s bestselling cars, the crossover has been reworked to bring its styling into line with its newer stablemates – hence the vertical headlights and a blockier grille up front, plus new lights and a more prominent bumper at the rear. Two powertrains are available. The range opens with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine that sends 148bhp to the front wheels through a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The range-topping hybrid uses the same petrol engine but sandwiches an electric motor between the powerplant and six-speed automatic gearbox, sending 236bhp through either the front or all four wheels. The 261bhp plug-in…

THE STARTING POINT for the success of Kia in the UK can be traced back to a hotel room in West Horsley, Surrey, in late 2006. With the beds in the room removed and trestle tables installed in their place, Toyota’s Paul Philpott was interviewed by seven Kia executives about becoming managing director of Kia in the UK. Two weeks later, he got the job. Philpott recounted his recruitment process to me shortly after Kia had smashed through the 100,000 sales barrier in the UK for the first time, in 2022. Still under Philpott, Kia will soon be on track for 120,000 UK sales and is the number-three brand in the UK in 2025, behind only VW and BMW. That hotel room came up again in a recent chat with…

It’s so sad to see such a large part of motoring history struggling to survive its death throes (‘Ford Focus ST goes off sale’, autocar.co.uk). My father had a Ford 10cwt van for work in 1947, then in the 1950s and 1960s a string of Popular, Anglia and later 105Es. I remember the launch of the Cortina and I later went on to buy a Capri (the real one!), Cortinas, a Fiesta, a Granada and a Sierra. Then I found BMW. It is hard to understand why such a successful manufacturer can have drifted off target and lost its way. The Focus has always been a very good car and the Fiesta had brought driving to thousands just after passing their test. The new Puma is good and we have…

BMW’s Neue Klasse isn’t just a new platform – it draws a line in the sand for how the brand designs, builds and powers its electric cars. I’ve come to BMW’s Miramas proving ground in the south of France to drive prototypes of the first Neue Klasse model: the allnew iX3 SUV. So today marks our first chance to discover whether this rival for the Audi Q6 E-tron and upcoming electric Mercedes-Benz GLC (see p6) delivers on the promise that BMW has been building over the past two years. Said promise has unfolded through a series of concept cars. First came the i Vision Dee, a compact saloon exploring new ideas about digital interaction. Then the Vision Neue Klasse saloon heralded a dramatic new design direction. Next the Vision Neue…

The bZ4X, Toyota’s all-important mid-size electric SUV (or Tesla fighter, if you want to be confrontational) didn’t have the easiest start to life: delays, an early recall and then controversy over how big its battery actually was and how averse it was to cold weather. Now it’s facelift time, and as that original car didn’t get the most rapturous reception, it’s a pretty comprehensive one. The front fascia has been revised with slimmer headlights and the wheelarch trims, which were unpainted black, are now gloss black. More significantly, it has had a range boost, thanks to both a bigger battery and improved efficiency. By reconfiguring the shape of the pack and the gubbins surrounding it, the engineers have shoehorned in eight extra cells, taking its capacity from 71.4kWh to 73.1kWh…

The Dacia Bigster is a Dacia Duster, but bigger; sometimes naming cars doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s a slightly silly name, but we’ll get used to it. Being named after a household cleaning tool hasn’t been a barrier to success for Dacia’s other SUV, after all, and it’s good to know where a particular model sits in the hierarchy. Despite the overt similarities with the Duster, the Bigster does differ in a few respects. Injecting more practicality into the Duster wasn’t the work of an afternoon, and the new car also introduces an improved hybrid system. Perhaps even more significant is that the Bigster is Dacia’s entry into the C-SUV segment – a wildly popular class that includes the Kia Sportage, Ford Kuga and Volkswagen Tiguan, to name just…

A look at the respective power-to-weight ratios suggests to me that the Nomad will be the quickest car around here, because while it’s the least powerful, it’s also the lightest by such a distance that it should easily out-accelerate the other two. It doesn’t quite work out like I thought. The Nomad is the most fun, by a mile, but a few things are in play. Traction is at a real premium, especially uphill, and there are a lot of hills, for the Nomad is rear-drive. If, like me, you’re a bit of a wimp and feel overly exposed, confidence plays a part. The Nomad scores a 1min 45.00sec time from start to finish point. The Mustang has fewer traction issues. For a tallish car, it also feels quite stable,…

WHY WE RAN IT To see whether this new big estate really is a flawless family hauler “It does almost everything so effortlessly” The Superb had been away from me for a while, getting passed around the team for all to experience its brilliance. It did a long stint with photographer Jack Harrison, munching some serious miles driving all around the country at an average of 54.7mpg (that’s a brim-to-brim calculation, although the digital readout is dead accurate). He managed to get 868 miles out of a tank on one occasion, which is brave on his part and impressive on the car’s. He reports that there’s very little about it that he doesn’t like, it swallows his gear with ease and it’s great for doing car-to-car photography, because the boot…

When someone says they want a reliable, practical, good-looking and affordable set of wheels, the default recommendation is so often a Volkswagen Golf. But for those buyers who want a raised ride height and improved visibility (as so many do), then just nudge them towards the Golf of SUVs: the T-Roc. VW’s mid-sized crossover – soon to enter its second generation – is a no-nonsense crowd-pleaser, not least for its distinctive design and flexible, punchy engines, allied to a smartly tuned chassis that is both comfortable and agile. The T-Roc was launched in 2017 with a price topping £30,000, but today you can find one for £7000 – which seems a steal for a wellequipped and well-rounded family car that will still feel up to date, irrespective of its age.…

Pity Callam Burchell. When the 30-year-old steps out of his house each morning, he has to decide which car to drive: his 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera PDK or his 2020 Toyota GR Yaris (there is a third, a Toyota C-HR, but we will ignore that). “It’s a tough decision but a nice one,” he counters. He has decided to take the Yaris to his local car meet this evening but inevitably, on the way here, has been comparing the two: “Being rear-wheel drive, obviously the 911 puts its power down very differently from the four-wheel-drive Yaris. It’s quick and incredibly agile but is so planted that, no matter how hard I try, I can never unstick it. But the Yaris feels very secure too. The grip and the handling are…

As the 1950s dawned, the recently installed communist government of Romania dictated that its population of peasant farmers be sent to work in factories. The industrialisation of the country was rapid – and a decade later, the ruling party decided to add vehicle manufacturing to their growing collection of heavy industries. Recognising that Romanians lacked the required knowledge or experience to design and build a car of their own, the party sent a group of specialists abroad to learn how to make automotive electricals and set about buying a production licence for a modern family saloon from a Western manufacturer. Between 1965 and 1967, six sent representatives to Bucharest for discussions. Britain’s BMC offered its hugely successful Mini, Italy’s Fiat and Alfa Romeo the retiring 1100 and new Giulia, and…