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Mercedes-Benz EQS450+ First Test

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   We  already tested the EQS580 , but this is our first go in the 450+. The test results were predictable. Down 187 hp and a driven axle to the EQS580, the 450+ takes 1.7 seconds longer to reach 60 mph. That's quite a disparity, given how the 450+ is nearly 300 pounds lighter, but remember: The less powerful EQS still weighs more than 5,500 pounds. Around town, there is plenty of pep for shoehorning the large EQS into gaps in traffic, but acceleration tapers off noticeably above freeway speeds. As for range, the EPA says a 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS450+ can do 350 miles on a single full charge (just 10 more than an EQS580). We put more than 200 miles on our test car during a week of parking it outside overnight in cold weather without charging, after starting with an almost-full battery pack (with about 300-some miles of range showing) and never once worried we'd run out of juice. Each night the battery would lose some range (again, we didn't plug it in). At the end of the w...
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2025 Alpine GT X-Over

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  Alpine has confirmed that its upcoming electric performance SUV will be called the GT X-Over and enter production at the firm’s Dieppe factory in 2025. The new model, which will use the same CMF-EV architecture as parent company  Renault’s new Mégane E-Tech Electric , is one of the first three EVs Alpine will launch as it becomes an all-electric brand. The others are a hot version of the new Renault 5 supermini and an all-electric replacement for its  Alpine A110  flagship sports car, due in 2026. The newly named GT X-Over was previewed last year as Alpine confirmed plans to launch  the hot 5 as its first EV in 2024 . A silhouette sketch hinted at its positioning as a high-riding grand tourer, which could provide the French brand with a rival to quick premium EVs including the Porsche Macan EV and Lotus Type 132. It will use the Mégane E-Tech’s 215bhp single electric motor at the front, but Renault engineering boss Gilles le Borgne has hinted at...
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All current Rolls-Royce models

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  Rolls-Royce will follow up its first EV,   the Spectre coupé , with all-electric successors to the current Cullinan SUV, Ghost saloon and Phantom limousine. Speaking to Autocar in the wake of the announcement that  Rolls-Royce  sold more cars in 2021 than in any previous year in its 117-year history, CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said it’s important that each model is replaced by an EV alternative as the firm progresses towards a pure-electric line-up by 2030. The British firm will refresh its current range in the coming years but won’t launch any more combustion models, making the Mk2 Ghost the final petrol-powered Rolls-Royce to be introduced. Müller-Ötvös highlighted the UK government’s planned 2030 ban on new ICE car sales as a particular incentive but said: “We aren’t only driven by legal: we’re also driven by our fairly young clientele worldwide, and we’re seeing more and more people asking actively for an electrified Rolls-Royce.” The age of t...
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Lexus NX 350h

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  It seems dismissive, these days, to describe   Lexus   as an alternative premium brand. Hard to resist, perhaps, for European car consumers of a certain age. But this is a firm that’s long past the imitation phase, which so often characterises the premium wannabe. It has found its own direction and is doing its own thing. We can like it or lump it. The second-generation  Lexus NX  mid-sized SUV might be all the proof we need of that. Having come along in 2014, the first-gen version appeared at a time when the  Audi Q5  and  Range Rover Evoque  were breaking sales records, and yet it wasn’t a copy of anything. It was styled and proportioned differently. And it sold – more than a million units globally, becoming Lexus’s most popular car in both Europe and the UK. So it feels like a bit of a landmark moment now – an affirmation of sorts – for Lexus to simply give us more of the same. The second-generation car has a ‘finessed’ exterior des...
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Koenigsegg CC8S

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  At the CC8S’s centre was a 62kg carbonfibre tub, which was built in-house. The bodywork was also carbonfibre. Power came from a Ford-sourced V8 with new forged pistons and conrods, titanium headers, a carbonfibre induction system and a Vortec supercharger. Double wishbones and horizontal springs and dampers sat at each corner. Maximum torque kicked in very late, contributing to a 50-70mph time in top gear of only 10.2sec. But the six-speed manual ’box was satisfying and precise, and the brakes strong and feelsome. The CC8S was unwieldy at low speed but relished pace, which unlocked poise, grip and feel. The ride was uncompromising but not uncomfortable. Past the electric, forward-hinged doors, a gorgeous cabin of carbonfibre, aluminium and leather awaited. The front boot was large when not encumbered with the roof panel and the car’s decent cruising manners gave it true long-distance credentials. For:  Looks, build, chassis, brakes, gearbox Against:  Inflexible powertra...
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Ssangyong Korando e-Motion

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  Genuine value has been hard to find in the market for electric cars, but it’s coming. Manufacturers have insisted that battery technology is expensive, production volumes are prohibitive and so profit margins are wafer-thin – but, gradually, all that’s changing.   MG Motor   has already been showing growing numbers of British buyers how affordable electric cars can be. Soon enough,   Ssangyong   will be doing exactly the same thing. The Korean SUV-specialist brand (its name translates as ‘double dragon’, which might only make it cooler to one-time owners of a Sega Master System, but it worked on me) has recently been  bought out of bankruptcy  by a consortium of private-equity investors. With plans to have a four-strong range of electric models, from crossovers and proper off-roaders to pick-up trucks, on the UK market within three years, it is all set to introduce its first European-market EV this spring: the  Ssangyong Korando  e-Mot...
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Maserati MC20 2022 UK

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  Yes, in one of those occasional reboots, here’s a new car that heralds a new age for the storied Italian sports car manufacturer. Mind you, it’s quite something, this new dawn. Much more exciting than a   BMW 5 Series -size saloon or an SUV. It’s a supercar. Coo. It’s called the  MC20  – M for  Maserati , C for Corse (meaning ‘racing’, for those who don’t know any Italian) and 20 for, um, 2020. It’s a mid-engined two-seater with a carbonfibre tub, from which are hung aluminium subframes front and rear, holding double-wishbone suspension all around and with adaptive dampers and anti-roll bars. In a cradle behind that passenger cell is a new twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine making the good side of 600bhp and driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, like the one the  Chevrolet Corvette C8  uses. It makes 621bhp at 7500rpm and 538lb ft at 3000-5500rpm. It’s said to do 202mph, and 0-62mph in le...
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