Porsche Panamera
- Price: From £69,860
- On sale: Now
While the changes made as part of the Panamera’s mid-life facelift won’t be immediately noticeable, Porsche has made incremental improvements to the car’s performance, dynamics and technology.
The 4 and 4S models remain unchanged, but the GTS and Turbo S both receive a slug more power, while a third plug-in hybrid variant, badged 4S E-Hybrid, slots into the range and packs a larger 17.9kWh battery. Porsche has tweaked the suspension and anti-roll system, while the infotainment has improved voice control, a faster processor and a full-HD screen.
Range Rover Evoque P300e
- Price: £43,850
- On sale: Now
The current Evoque was designed from the outset to accept electrified powertrains, but it’s taken a while – 18 months in fact – for a PHEV version to reach the market.
The Evoque P300e combines a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine with a 107bhp electric motor and a 15kWh battery. Land Rover claims impressive headline figures of 201.8mpg and 32g/km of CO2 emissions.
Clever packaging means there’s no impact on practicality, and the 57-litre fuel tank is large for a PHEV, while the battery can charge from a wallbox in less than 90 minutes.
Rolls-Royce Ghost
- Price: £247,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
The Ghost is Rolls-Royce’s smallest model, but the Goodwood brand doesn’t really have an ‘entry-level’ product. The latest version is based on its own aluminium spaceframe, allowing it to offer four-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steer systems, as well as ‘Planar’ suspension, which uses cameras to help anticipate bumps.
Refinement is top priority, to the extent that the insides of the air-con vents have been smoothed to quieten the airflow. The Ghost will be offered in standard or long-wheelbase configurations, and it’s powered by a twin-turbo 6.75-litre V12 engine.
Toyota GR Yaris
- Price: £29,995
- On sale: Now
The Toyota GR Yaris marks the return of the ‘homologation special’, with a two-door shell that’s completely different from the regular Yaris’s. As a result, its muscular stance is a world away from what you’d expect, as is the 5.5-second 0-62mph time promised from its motorsport-derived 268bhp 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine.
Power is sent through a six-speed gearbox to all four wheels, although the system can, in theory, send 100 per cent of power to either axle.
Volkswagen Arteon
- Price: £32,500 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
The Arteon is the flagship of VW’s non-SUV line-up – and the company has used the mid-life facelift to expand the big hatchback’s range. Due on sale this autumn, the revised Arteon gets new powertrains, including a plug-in hybrid edition that can go 34 miles on electricity alone, and a 316bhp R model.
The changes to the exterior styling are relatively subtle, with LED headlights, new alloy wheel designs and a different front grille. But the cabin of the Arteon gets a new upper dashboard panel and VW’s latest MIB3 infotainment system.
Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake
- Price: £36,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
A facelift normally means fresh bumpers and headlights, but VW is using the mid-life updates to its Arteon hatchback to introduce a whole new body style. The Arteon Shooting Brake is a style-focused estate, offering greater practicality in a package that still manages to look sporty and aggressive. It offers a boot capacity of 590 litres, or 1,632 litres if you fold down the rear seats.
The range of powertrains on the Shooting Brake will include regular petrol and diesel options, plus a plug-in hybrid edition and even an R variant that packs 316bhp and 420Nm from a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine.
Volkswagen Golf GTD
- Price: From £26,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
VW clearly believes diesel still has its place, so a GTD sits alongside the GTI and GTE in the ‘accessible performance’ trio of the Mk8 Golf range. All get similar styling tweaks, but with different colour accents; the GTD’s are grey, while the GTI’s and GTE’s are red and blue respectively.
The new GTD uses a retuned version of the old model’s diesel, now producing 197bhp, and gets a seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox; a manual transmission isn’t even an option. We have yet to see any performance figures for the car, but VW does claim that it can go more than 500 miles between fill-ups.
Volkswagen Golf GTE
- Price: £33,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
The plug-in hybrid version of the Mk7 Golf was one of the punchier versions; now that’s being ramped up with the Mk8, which is being sold as a low-emissions performance model.
This latest GTE uses a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing 148bhp, and adds 114bhp of electric-motor assistance. The maximum combined output is 242bhp, the same as the latest pure-petrol Golf GTI.
Outside, the Mk8 GTE gets aggressive looks, but it’s not all about performance, because a bigger battery means this hybrid can travel up to 37 miles running on electricity alone.
Volkswagen Golf GTI
- Price: £34,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
It can’t be easy to reinvent an icon every few years, yet German car giant Volkswagen has managed it once again with the Mk8 Golf GTI.
The ‘original hot hatch’ gets more power than before – 242bhp in standard trim. It also boasts an overhauled chassis that’s designed to offer greater everyday comfort and the sort of harder edge that appeals to buyers of the Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus ST.
Volkswagen Golf R
- Price: £37,000 (est)
- On sale: Winter
Volkswagen’s engineers have been unusually relaxed about testing the hottest version of the Mk8 Golf on the Nürburgring – so we’ve already had a good look at the forthcoming R. It gets a more aggressive front bumper, a hefty roof-mounted tail spoiler and a unique design of alloy wheels to set it apart from the ‘regular’ GTI.
The Golf R will have quite a bit more under the skin, too, with a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing 328bhp – a gain of more than 30bhp over the previous edition. Expect four-wheel drive, a dual-clutch automatic transmission (but no manual option) and a price tag of around £37,000.
Volkswagen ID.3
- Price: From £30,000 (est)
- On sale: Now
The ID.3 is a crucial new car for VW. The bespoke EV is a standalone model that is the brand’s first to be based on the VW Group’s MEB electric vehicle platform. While the fully loaded First Edition versions cost around £38k, we’d expect the entry-level ID.3, which has a range of around 200 miles, to set you back around £30,000 before the plug-in car grant is applied.
The model itself has a relatively conventional silhouette, but boasts short overhangs and a longer wheelbase than normal. As a result, while the boot capacity is about the same as a Golf’s, the rear legroom is considerably more generous.
Volkswagen Tiguan
- Price: From £26,000 (est)
- On sale: Autumn
The stakes are high at Volkswagen for its refreshed Tiguan, because the compact SUV was actually the firm’s biggest-selling car worldwide in 2019.
VW will roll out its revised Tiguan range during the autumn, and it’s designed to broaden the family SUV’s appeal, with a plug-in hybrid model and a high-performance R version joining the line-up. The PHEV gets the same 242bhp powertrain as the Golf GTE, while the Tiguan R packs 316bhp from its turbo four-cylinder.
More regular Tiguans, such as the 1.5-litre petrol and 2.0-litre diesel editions, get styling tweaks to bring them closer to the latest Golf’s family look.
Volvo XC40 Recharge
- Price: £53,155
- On sale: Now
The XC40 is already a smash hit for Volvo – and the Swedish brand is expanding the range further with a more modest plug-in hybrid and this pure-electric model, called Recharge T8. First deliveries of the electric crossover should arrive in early 2021.
The Recharge T8 has a pair of 201bhp electric motors, one on each axle, to deliver a 0-62mph time of just 4.9 seconds and a top speed of 112mph. The 78kWh battery provides a range of around 250 miles between charges. The pricing is equally punchy; the new model costs well over £50k.
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