MG plug-in hybrids will switch to semi-solid-state batteries in 2027

Chinese manufacturer's SolidCore technology will be used not only for EVs but also PHEVs like the next ZSMG will equip its next-generation plug-in hybrids with semi-solid-state battery technology from 2027.
The new technology, announced earlier this year, will come first to the MG 4 EV Urban hatchback, and it has now been confirmed that it will then be used in PHEVs - first the next-generation MG ZS in 2027, then the MG HS and MG S9. 
In time, MG's semi-solid-state battery technology, calle

Subaru began selling the Leone in the United States as a 1973 model, and all Subarus sold here (including the BRAT) were Leone-based until the appearance of the XT in 1985. Today, we'll admire an example of the late Leone, a loaded wagon found in a Denver-area yard in 2024.The Leone name was never used in the United States, despite the car going through three generations here. We got Leone coupes, hatchbacks, sedans, pickups and wagons during the 1973-1994 period. Just to confuse everybody, Suba

Can you beat the majesty of a highly strung V10 or V12 engine? Festival of Speed showed much remains to be decidedGiven it’s the closest thing Britain now has to a motor show, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is a chance to gauge the state of the car industry, and the displays laid out on the Duke of Richmond’s lawn this year represented a microcosm of the changes it’s undergoing.
We saw established firms leaning ever further into their heritage beside the ever-growing confidence

Forgettable electric Toyota gets an outdoorsy sibling with a likable functional agendaThere’s something slightly curious going on with the new estate version of Toyota’s mid-sized EV: the Toyota bZ4X Touring.This higher-riding, rugged-looking wagon derivative can now be considered ‘even more crossover’ than the normal car, I suppose. It’s part hatchback, part SUV; part off-roader, part urban sprawler; part jacked-up hatchback, part estate car. Part Toyota, part Sub

ICE version of SUV bows out, two years after end of EU sales and two years before it's replacedPorsche will end production of the ICE Macan at the end of July, bringing the curtain down on one of the firm’s best-selling models two years before the launch of its petrol-powered successor.
This retirement follows Porsche's acknowledgement that it underestimated continuing demand for the 11-year-old SUV, having originally expected buyers to migrate to the all-new Macan Electric.

We take a look at the cars that topped the sales charts in the US over the decadesFrom the clanging of the assembly line to the roar on the highway, American automakers have been pioneering the automobile industry for well over a century.
These companies have not only sculpted the nation's economic landscape but have also significantly influenced global automotive trends. We've decided to take a look at some of their biggest success stories with a list of the best-selling American-made automobil

The 1980s bear similar parallels with today, so perhaps it's time for us to remember the cars everyone seems to have forgottenWars, high fuel prices and rampant inflation.Ring any bells? Well there was also plenty of this in the 1980s as well, which is why in this feature we’re celebrating the cars from that decade – or cars from slightly earlier that made their name in the decade – that you may have completely forgotten: Subaru BRAT (1977)
You might not have heard of it, but R

Audi's Q3 is more than an elevated A3, especially in Mk2 guise from £10kThere's no guaranteed recipe for success in today's fiercely competitive car world, but taking a best-selling model and raising its ride height is a fairly safe bet - as Audi showed in 2011 when it launched the A3-based Q3, now one of its most popular models.
With the compact SUV recently entering its third generation, this is a good time to consider the appeal of the Mk2 - which represents the opportunity to bag

Coupé is a word few car makers use these days, but its spirit is alive and well in Germany. Sort of...The coupé market was bustling 25 years ago.
Ford, Peugeot and Volvo were among the raft of mainstream names doing a roaring trade in handsome two-door cars at accessible prices. And in very lurid colours. Today, the picture looks decidedly different and not merely because the trio we have here are all painted various shades of grey.
A headcount outside of the sub-£100k sports

Take an MX-5, inject a little bit of Italian flair and you get the 124, though there are some downsides...After a few minutes of talking to Carlo Dore, owner of a 2018-reg Abarth 124 Spider automatic, I'm glad I sold my 2018 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport.
He says that it and the technically related 124 can suffer failure of the so-called spherical bushes in their rear hubs, one hub per corner. There are multiple bushes in each hub and it takes only the failure of one, usually detected at the MOT tes

From handing out high-fives to revving an 870bhp Ferrari: part motoring spectacle, part sensory overloadIt's the Friday afternoon of race week in Le Mans. The town centre municipal car park is filling up with vehicles you won't see here every day.
Pre-war Citroëns, post-war American land yachts, one-off concept cars, chrome-covered road-hog motorcycles, supercars, movie tribute cars and more. It's a joyously assorted mix.
Then there are the pick-up trucks – lots of pick-up trucks, act

There are 21 different flavours of Porsche 911, and buying the 'wrong' one is easier than you might think...A colleague asks me if I can explain exactly where the GT3 sits in the 911 range, because I've said it's the best driver's version, but doesn't Porsche do a GT2 as its hardcore variant?
I explain that it did, and it was kinda like a GT3 but with a Turbo engine, but you can't buy one at the moment; and that there is, or was, actually also a GT3 RS, but you can't get that right now eith

How do you beat the best-known sports car with an EV? A Chiron-baiting power output is a good start...Disorder would seem to be the main risk for BYD’s new premium brand Denza. Lack of cohesion, if you prefer. With a bluff, ladder-frame off-roader, a large seven-seat MPV, and a sleek executive shooting brake in it already, the firm’s product portfolio could, before long, look more like an odd sock drawer than a unified family of desirable electrified cars. 
A focal point to gath

A company whose illustrious history is just as important as some of its cars - here are a few examplesThe Ford Motor Company was founded in Detroit over 120 years ago, on 16 June 1903.
Within five years, it had hit the jackpot, creating the most important, and for a long time the best-selling, car in history. Today, it remains one of the largest manufacturers in the world, and one that has ingrained itself into the culture of countries other than America like few other foreign firms.
This would

It may belong to an oil sheikh, but there's no room for supercars in this particular collection. We pay it a visitYou're looking at the world's largest SUV.In the lower half it's an Oshkosh M1075, an all-terrain 10-wheeler truck more usually deployed by the US Army. On top however it's a Jeep Wrangler, while overall power comes from a 15.2-litre Caterpillar diesel, good for 600 hp. It's a cool 10.8 metres long (35 feet) and 3.2 metres (10 feet) high. Oh, and it has headlights from a Ford F-

Tried and trusted engines can survive in production for decades – often far longer than the cars in which they’re fitted. These are the longest survivorsThe engine world as we know it is changing.The advent of electrification means that the days of us being able to worship legendary engines in the future may well just not happen. The industry is yet to make legends of any of the raft of new electric motors now being installed in the wave of electric vehicles, and we can’t

Germany is famous as the home of some of the world's great car makers. We look at some of the cars they've built that we think are the bestGermany is one of the most prolific car-building nations in the world.This in turn gives it a brilliant back catalogue of all types of car. Here, we choose the best Germany has to offer from the present and past, arranged in alphabetical order:Alpina B3
There has been an Alpina B3 for every generation of BMW 3 Series, with the tuning firm adding more than a s

Maiden EV is a small car with big hopes of cracking Europe. Does it have what it takes?Its designers have done a fair job in convincing the casual observer otherwise, but the Jeep Avenger Electric is not your typical Jeep.For one thing, while the odd zero-emission concept car from the maker has surfaced in recent years, this is the first purely electric production model to bear perhaps the most famous name in off-roading. For another, to date it is the only Jeep entirely styled, engin

Today we reach the concluding entries in theWagoneer series. We’ve run through the entire history of the Wagoneer name: From its introduction in 1963 as a new type of midsize utility wagon from Kaiser-Jeep, to its current usage on a behemoth of a full-size luxury SUV and a temporarily cancelled compact EV CUV. For our final two installments, we’ll cover the available sales data and pricing information for all the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer variants: SJ, XJ, ZJ, WS, and the STLA Larg

Confronted by a collapsing market share in China, regulatory tariff walls, and high domestic manufacturing costs, Volkswagen executives tried to push through a brutal restructuring plan.For decades, China was Volkswagen’s primary profit engine. Volkswagen's sales in China plunged by 36.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026 alone.
While the company managed minor single-digit gains in North America (+7.7%) and Western Europe (+1.8%), they were nowhere near enough to offset the double-digi

Tyler Reddick won the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway with his No. 45 Toyota Camry NASCAR Cup Car. We dig into the details of whether the fender that flew off the car gave him an aero advantage. TTAC Creator Bozidar “Bozi” Tatarević is a Bosnian-American racing mechanic, writer, and technical consultant born in Sarajevo in 1986. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1995, he learned English in elementary school and eventually turned his passion for cars—fostered by hi

The White House announced a new retail operation called the "Freedom Fuel Network." The network's first branded location had opened in Philadelphia, selling regular-grade gasoline for a flat $3.47 per gallon.
“The FIRST Freedom Fuel Network gas station has LANDED in Philadelphia, lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th President,” the White House announced on X. “President Trump is leading the charge to lower gas prices this summer - putting more money in your poc

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is mulling a decision that would no longer require autonomous vehicles, primarily robotaxis, to have steering wheels. “If you’re developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn’t make any sense to require manual controls,” said Jonathan Morrison, NHTSA administrator, in a CNBC interview on July 9.The idea shouldn’t come as a complete shock as the agency eliminated

Boston Dynamics has unveiled a production-ready version of its all-electric Atlas humanoid robot, designed for real industrial work inside factories and warehouses. Standing 6’2” tall, weighing 198 pounds, and featuring 56 degrees of freedom, Atlas is built for strength, flexibility, and precision. It can lift up to 110 pounds, making it ideal for repetitive, physically demanding tasks like parts handling and material movement. 
Atlas uses human-scale hands with tactile se

Next week, the Senate Commerce Committee will be voting on legislation that would prohibit Chinese automakers from selling their vehicles inside the United States. This is despite the fact that those cars are already banned from being sold here, even though select models have still managed to slip through the cracks.
Dubbed as the “ Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026,” the bill focuses primarily on safeguarding the U.S. economy from a claimed influx of Chinese vehicles. Politicia

Join us for a tour of all the (very) hot new metal making its debut at GoodwoodThe 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed is under way (9-12 July), and it's an absolute bumper year for one of the highlights in the motoring calendar.
Some of the world’s most anticipated new cars have descended on West Sussex, offering a first chance to see them up close – and in action.
Among the highlights are the Toyota GR GT, the Alpine A110 Future – a test mule giving an initial glimpse a

Politicians will discuss whether England could follow Wales in changing 30mph roads to 20mphMPs will consider reducing the default speed limit in England to 20mph in a bid to reduce road casualties.
The Transport Committee is meeting to discuss whether lower speed limits could be imposed as part of the government's road safety strategy - and whether England should adopt the same default 20mph limit as Wales.
MPs will quiz an expert panel in a session next Wednesday, including Transport for

Lexus is aiming for the new LFA to feel like its predecessor behind the wheel – without howling V10 soundLexus plans for its electric LFA hypercar to feel authentically like its legendary predecessor to drive - but that doesn't mean simply faking its howling V10 engine note.
Making its dynamic debut in prototype form at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the new LFA is effectively the EV twin of Toyota's V8-engined GR GT supercar.
Precise technical details remain under wra

Lincoln stated that they expected to be able to sell 18,000 Blackwoods per year based off the reception of the concept vehicle. Had Lincoln stated the Blackwood would cost north of 50K the reception would have much, much colder. This is a story of product development without proper research. The Lincoln Blackwood delivered a truck without a useful bed or 4 wheel drive and ultimately was a vehicle no one wanted.
The TTAC Creators Series tells stories and amplifies creators from al

Discovery of an early owner’s manual shows that the incoming Rivian R2 midsize electric SUV will omit built-in AM and FM radio hardware entirely, forcing owners to stream broadcast channels via an integrated iHeartRadio internet application.
The play follows an industry trend toward eliminating analog signal receivers. Tesla removed AM and FM tuners from several of its vehicle architectures, while brands including BMW, Volkswagen, and Mazda began systematically purging AM bands from their