President’s Trump’s pick for transportation secretary had to navigate a few road blocks on his way to office, but now he’s got his feet behind the desk Sean Duffy is intent on making his presence felt. One of Duffy’s first acts was to begin dismantling ambitious fuel economy mandates set by the previous administration.

Under rules put in place by former president in June of last year, Joe Biden, the average fuel consumption of American automakers’ light vehicle fleets must hit 50.4 mpg (4.7 l/100 km) by 2031. The regulations were intended to cut greenhouse gases to help limit global warming and to encourage drivers to switch to EVs.

Related: Donald Trump Signs Executive Orders Scrapping Biden’s “EV Mandate”

But Duffy sent a memo to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this week ordering the agency to re-evaluate mpg rules for both cars and trucks made from the 2022 model year.

“Artificially high fuel economy standards impose large costs that render many new vehicle models unaffordable for the average American family and small business owner,” the memo said, according to the New York Times.

Duffy claims he is concerned that the tough MPG rules don’t reflect the true size of America’s oil reserves or the potential vulnerability of the electric grid. He also expressed worries over the idea of US automakers relying on foreign materials for their EV batteries.

Trump has also pledged to scrap EV tax credits that were introduced in their current form as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Available credits of up to $7,500 have been a big driver of electric car sales, which climbed 7 percent in 2024, giving EVs an 8 percent share of the car market.

Many automakers, having poured billions into developing EVs, are worried about the prospect of demand for them tanking if the credits are axed. But some will also be relived to see Trump’s team row back those stringent mpg standards, which could have presented some difficult engineering challenges to meet if EV demand doesn’t mature.

Alfa Romeo this week became the latest automaker to push back its switch to an all-EV lineup. The Italian brand’s Tonale SUV was supposed to be its last new combustion vehicle, but plans for the next-generation Stelvio SUV and Giulia sedan have now been tweaked to include provision for hybrid and combustion powertrains as well as fully electric ones.

The decision to switch was made easier by the flexibility of the Stellantis STLA Large platform that both cars will use, and which they share with the Dodge Charger and its Charger Daytona EV brother.

Honda’s Prologue EV has been a massive success for the brand and it sounds like the Japanese automaker is keen to capitalize on that success. Honda is working on a brand new baby EV that could cost less than $30,000 and be on sale in America as early as 2026.

That’s according to Japan’s financial news website Nikkei, which claims the new electric model will be built in Ohio and is one of seven cars from a new O-series lineup due to launch by 2030.

Related: Honda’s 0 Saloon EV Looks Like A Lambo Gallardo Sedan From The Future

Building the new EV in the US will ensure it is exempt from steep tariffs President Trump wants to place on imports, and pushing the MSRP below $30k will mean the EV will be as affordable as some ICE models. That’ll be essential for success if Trump comes good on his promise to scrap tax credits for electric vehicles.

Achieving that low price point will reportedly come down to limiting the size of the battery, which is the most expensive part of an electric car and makes up around 30 percent of the production cost. But to ensure the EV range is still reasonable – the Honda e sold outside of the US (and pictured in our lead image at the top of this story) could only manage 140 miles (225 km) on a charge – engineers will focus on cutting overall weight.

Nikkei says the small EV will come after two more EVs, an SUV and a sedan it expects to cost between $50-60k. The first of those O-series models will enter production late this year. Honda showcased a pair of futuristic concepts at this January’s CES tech event and promised that their production versions would be in showrooms by 2026. You can check them out in the gallery below.

Given the success of the Prologue, which is built around GM Ultium hardware and twinned with the Chevy Equinox EV, it’s possible that Honda could base its baby EV on the next Chevrolet Bolt. The previous Bolt went out of production at the end of 2023 but Chevy will launch an all-new model this year that should cost less than $30,000.

Other automakers allegedly planning EVs at that price point include Tesla and Ford, who are both concerned about the threat posed by Chinese brands, the only companies so far able to sell electric cars for the same price as combustion models.

Source: Nikkei

It may be hard to believe nowadays, Mitsubishi was once at the forefront of the 21s century’s electric revolution. The Japanese brand’s i-MiEV electric city car debuted in 2009, long before the Nissan Leaf or Tesla Model S, but since then the automaker seems to have forgotten about trying to sell EVs in the US and has let rival brands rush into the space.

But next year Mitsubishi will launch a brand new electric vehicle and it should be a ton more practical, desirable and affordable than the i-MiEV, which on its 2012 American debut had an EPA electric range of 62 miles (100 km), an 80 mph (128 km/h) top speed, a 13-second zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) time, and cost almost as much as a Golf R.

Related: Mitsubishi’s Updated 2025 Outlander Arrives In America In February

Mitsubishi executives revealed to dealers last weekend that its first EV for the US since it pulled the i-Miev in 2017 will arrive on American soil in 2026, according to a report by Auto News. The officials didn’t divulge what form the EV would take but sources told AN they expected it to be a small crossover coupe, similar to Nissan’s 2021 Chill-Out concept seen in the pictures. Anyway, whatever the EV destined for America looks like, the new model will be made in Japan and launch in the second-half of 2026, the report says.

But while an EV will finally give North American Mitsubishi dealers a foothold in a US electric segment that grew 7.3 percent last year, it won’t fix the problem left by the departure of the Mirage subcompact.

The Mirage, which was killed off in December 2024, accounted for almost 30 percent of Mitsubishi’s sales last year, was the brand’s second-best-selling model, and experienced a resurgence as buyers rushed to grab one before the axe fell.

Auto News reports that dealers have enough stock to last them through to the end of summer, but those last few months of 2025 when there are no new Mirages to sell and the next round of models on the way are still distant enough to look like, well, mirages, are going to be much quieter and seriously impact full-year figures.

One solution Mitsubishi is apparently considering is to make more of its existing lineup. The report says Mitsubishi is looking at reducing the price of its Outlander Sport and introducing a lower-price trim option. But, no matter how much de-contenting it might do, it’s nigh impossible to get the price of an Outlander Sport (currently starting at $23,695) down to anywhere near close to the $16,695 asked for the Mirage.

The car industry is waiting with bated breath to hear what President Donald Trump has planned, and how his policies might turn their own plans upside down. And with billions of dollars at stake Nissan has decided to kill two models and potentially delay others rather than risk pouring profits down the drain.

One of the industry’s big concerns is that Trump follows through on a promise to scrap the $7,500 tax credit that is undoubtedly a major driver behind American EV sales climbing 7.3 percent in 2024.

Related: Infiniti Could Kill The QX50 And QX55, Offer Rebadged Nissan Rogue

Nissan was planning to build four new EVs at its Canton, Mississippi, plant starting as early as 2027, but might now delay their introduction due to worries that axing EV tax credits could decimate demand.

“If they pull back on the $7,500 credit, we know the rate of adoption is going to slow,” Ponz Pandikuthira, Nissan’s chief planning officer, told Bloomberg. “We certainly don’t want to be in a position of building models there’s no demand for.”

The report says Nissan could push back the debut of the EVs, and limit their production at Canton while increasing production of hybrids scheduled to be built at its Smyrna, Tennessee, site. Nissan’s sales have been badly affected recently by its lack of hybrid offerings, while rival automakers have capitalized on the trend for vehicles with electrically assisted ICE powertrains.

“We’re staying closely tuned to what happens with regulations,” Pandikuthira told Bloomberg. “We can decide which ones to ramp up and which ones to slow down.”

Unconnected to the tax credit fears, but surely connected to worries about other President Trump policies, is Nissan’s decision to axe two Infiniti models built in Mexico before Trump has a chance to impose a 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported to the US from Mexico and Canada, a measure he has threatened to implement on February 1st.

Review: 2025 Infiniti QX55 Offers Lots Of Style But Little Substance

The QX50 and its QX55 fastback brother, built at a Mercedes-Nissan plant in Mexico, are both getting the chop this December. Nissan claims they’re being killed for slow sales, though figures showed QX50 sales actually grew by 7.9 percent in 2024. The QX55, however, definitely needs a bullet: its sales sank 31.1 percent last year. One rumor is that Nissan could offer an Infiniti-badged Rogue hybrid to replace the QX twins.

Nissan was already having a tough time before Trump’s arrival and plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs in the US, according to a Japanese media report cited by Bloomberg, plus another 7,000 around the world. The automaker announced in December that it is merging with Honda to help battle the threat from Chinese carmakers.

Alpine’s front-of-house staff is currently celebrating the A290’s win (along with its Renault 5 brother) in the Car Of The Year competition, but the backroom team is hard at work preparing the next Alpine product, the A390.

Our spy photographers have snapped the electric crossover testing, and although this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an A390 prototype being put through its paces, it is the first time we’ve seen one since Alpine unveiled the A390_β concept last fall.

Related: We Turn Alpine’s A390_β Concept Into A BMW i4-Fighting Sports Sedan

This gives us a perfect opportunity to compare fact and fiction, taking the design details from the concept and the proportions of the prototype and coming a step closer to understanding what the production EV will look like when it debuts later this year.

In terms of overall shape, this test car isn’t a million miles off the concept revealed at the Paris Motor Show. It has the same curved roofline – inspired by the one on the original A110 and its modern-day successor –  a similar side window shape and the rear panels are also close, giving both A390s a lean, chiseled look.

And though the charging port flap on the passenger wing and the way the disguise panel is arranged below the windshield appear to show that the production car won’t have the concept’s clamshell hood, there are indications that the full-width light bar and triangular light shapes will make the cut, although the triangles have morphed from DRLs into full headlights.

Naturally, the concept’s wafer-thin door mirrors have been swapped for huge plastic jobs capable of satisfying European safety regulators, but that’s not the only change we see along the flanks. Unlike the β model, the real car has a boring old B-pillar, and judging from the fact that the rear door handle appears to be in the C-pillar, the A390 won’t get rear suicide doors and might not even get frameless door glass.

Perhaps the most striking difference, though, is the depth of the rear bodywork. On the concept the rear wheel arches cut deep into the quarter panel, making the design look light and athletic. But the prototype has far more metal between the top of the arch and the base of the C-pillar and looks more stodgy as a result.

Alpine claims, however, that the A390 will be anything other than stodgy to drive. A tri-motor setup with two motors at the back will give torque vectoring capability and allegedly make the crossover feel like a much lighter car.

Based on the time gap between Alpine revealing the A290_β concept and the real A290 hot hatch, we’re expecting the A390 to turn up in the second half of 2025 and be on sale in Europe before the end of the year or early 2026. Alpine is coming to the US, but the A390 won’t be part of its lineup there.

Images: SH Proshots

VW’s ID.Buzz retro minivan has gone down a storm, winning praise from reviewers, including us, and being named NACTOY utility of the year 2025. But not everyone wants to drive around in something that looks like a refugee from a Disney cartoon. Some people just want sensible, grown-up and anonymous, which is where this new Mercedes V-Class comes in.

The passenger-focused V-Class and its cargo-carrying Vito panel van brother are being reborn as EVs in 2026, but Mercedes dropped a teaser in December telling us a concept previewing the V-twins’ “luxurious, highly elegant, and spacious” vision of the future would debut in spring 2025.

Related: Mercedes Teases Future Electric Vans With VAN.EA Prototypes

We know both passenger (seen in these spy shots) and commercial versions of the vans will ride on the same new VAN.EA electric platform, and that Mercedes is working hard to offer more differentiation between V-Class and Vito this time, so it sounds like the V-Class will push the luxury angle harder than before.

The luxury van segment is booming in certain parts of the world, persuading even the likes of Lexus to join the party with its LM. Chinese brands like Zeekr, with its 009, have also jumped on the trend and Mercedes evidently wants in on the action.

We’ll have to wait a little longer before we get to see some of the interior luxury features, which are likely to include optional screens for rear passengers, but Mercedes has revealed some of the VAN.EA platform’s technical secrets. In common with the upcoming CLA electric sedan, the V-Class will feature 800-volt charging, a 22 kW on-board charger and be capable of travelling “well over” 311 miles (500 km) on a single charge.

Though the vans will launch with regular Level 2 driver assistance, by the end of the decade Mercedes plans to add Level 3 kit as seen on the S-Class, which means full eyes- and hands-off driving on motorways. But commercial vans will go a step further, delivering Level 4 autonomy so they can be deployed as robotaxis.

The square nose on this prototype might be just disguise – the real hood could be more streamlined. But the shallow window height and tapered roofline, which gives a surprisingly sporty look, and the flush door handles are the real deal.

Do you prefer the restrained style of a V-Class over the retro charm of an ID.Buzz? Leave a comment and let us know.

Images: SH Proshots

For years, alongside valid concerns about driving range, charging speeds, and infrastructure, buyers who choose not to go electric have often cited the high price of EVs as a major factor. But a new study shows that electric vehicles are more affordable than ever, with inflation-adjusted prices dropping by a solid 25 percent since 2018.

In fact, according to a report by industry analysts Jato Dynamics, the drop in EV prices has brought the gap between electric and combustion cars to its narrowest point yet. The difference stood at around 50 percent in the US until 2021, then the arrival of a glut of new EVs and aggressive price cuts by Tesla narrowed it to 33 percent in 2022. Last year it was just 15 percent.

Related: EV Prices Could Match Gas Cars By 2026, If Governments Don’t Ruin It

Those US figures are not necessarily representative of the car buying experience across the world. In some markets the closing of the gap isn’t only down to EVs costing less than they used to, but because combustion cars cost so much more in real terms than they previously did. In Europe the price gap between EVs and combustion vehicles was 27 percent in 2021 and actually climbed to 29 percent in 2023 before dropping back to 22 percent last year.

But any notions that American EV buyers are getting a great deal and their Euro cousins are getting stiffed disappears when you factor in the situation in China. Compared to Chinese drivers, European and American EV buyers are both being shafted.

Powertrain Price Changes 2018 to 2024 (Inflation Adjusted)

Take the Polestar 4 Dual Motor, which cost $62,900 in the US, or the equivalent of €59,452 at the time Jato complied its report. True, that looks good value next to the €79,424 British drivers are charged and the €69,300 being asked in the Eurozone. But the same EV costs just €52,190 (¥399,000) in China.

More: VW ID.7 Launches In China At Nearly Half The Price It Costs In Germany

Other comparisons between the four regions are made more difficult because the US doesn’t take many of the same cars. But a look at the table below shows UK drivers are paying in some cases more than twice as much as their Chinese counterparts for the exact same car built in the same factory.

Price Comparison For Identical EVs

Four automakers from Europe and China have joined forces to challenge EU tariffs on cars imported to the region from China. BMW, BYD, Geely, and SAIC all lodged complaints on Tuesday this week, just one day before the deadline.

The quartet is objecting to the tariffs set last year following an investigation by the European Commission into Chinese state aid in the Chinese car industry, Reuters reports. The panel concluded that available aid gave some automakers an unfair financial advantage when selling cars in Europe.

Related: China Hits EU With WTO Lawsuit Over EV Tariffs

Investigators said the help came in many forms, ranging from cheap loans to subsidized batteries, and because some automakers got more help than others, or were less transparent with the probe, the tariff amounts vary.

BYD cars were hit with a relatively low 17 percent rate, though that is on top of the standard 10 percent import duty for goods to the EU. Geely’s cars attract an 18.8 percent tariff and SAIC took both barrels, being blasted with a 35.3 percent tariff.

But what’s the deal with BMW? Although the tariffs on the Chinese automakers could help sales of its BMW-branded cars, they’re a big problem for Mini. The combustion Mini is still built at the Oxford plant in the UK but the new electric Cooper hatch and Aceman SUV are both produced in China. UK builds are coming, but not until 2026, which is why the US launch of each model has been postponed.

There have been no reports of other European carmakers who build cars in China and then export them to the UK, such as VW Group’s Cupra brand, also logging legal challenges to the tariffs. But even Mercedes, which doesn’t import Chinese-built EVs to Europe, has previously come out against the tariffs.

Several Chinese companies have been looking at ways to sidestep the duties by building their EVs in or close to Europe. Chery is already building cars at an old Nissan plant in Spain, BYD has plans to build factories in Hungary and Turkey, and earlier this month we reported that Chinese officials were interested in taking factories VW no longer needs, in part due to a downturn in its China sales operation.

Tech advocates tell us driverless cars will be safer than human drivers and that even today’s more primitive driver assist tech prevents accidents. But the first few weeks of 2025 have delivered multiple news stories reminding us why almost all of the currently available systems still need a driver overseeing them by law.

The latest of those concerns Chevy’s Equinox EV, whose adaptive cruise control might not activate the brakes when the SUV is confronted with a hazard, the NHTSA says. The report indicates that the EV has no problem sensing the need to slow down, but an incorrect software calibration means the brakes might not get the message.

Related: US Escalates Ford BlueCruise Probe After Fatal Mach-E Crashes

Around 2,890 all-wheel drive models not fitted with GM’s fancy Super Cruise system will need to drop by their local dealership to have the software updated, though strangely unsold cars will be updated remotely.

Front-wheel drive versions of the electric SUV and all-wheel drive ones whose owners did pony up for Super Cruise aren’t included in the recall. All new examples of the Equinox built since early December were produced with the new software included.

But what about those other drive-assist stories I alluded to at the top of this post? First, we heard the NHTSA was looking into Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon remote parking feature after receiving reports of EVs not noticing posts and parked cars while driving unoccupied. And this week the agency escalated its probe into Ford’s BlueCruise system in the wake of two fatal accidents involving Mustang Mach-Es being driven at night.

The Equinox – which was recalled more than once during 2024 – isn’t the only Chevy EV making recall headlines this week. The automaker’s electric Silverado truck and its GMC Sierra twin have also come under the NHTSA spotlight. Five examples of the 2024 pickups might not have had a rear seatbelt securing bolt tightened and will need to be checked out at a service center.

Volvo is dusting off its Cross Country badge to add some overlanding appeal to its little EX30. These new spy shots show a gnarlier-looking version of the junior electric SUV testing in the snow ahead of a launch in the first half of this year.

The Cross Country badge first appeared in the mid-1990s, when a pre-SUV Volvo applied it to a V70 wagon with a suspension lift and some tougher-looking body trim. Although the name has been used on and off since then on cars like the V60 wagon, Volvo doesn’t currently sell any Cross Country SUV models.

Related: New Volvo EX30 Getting The Cross Country Treatment For 2025

As with previous cars wearing the badge, the EX30 Cross Country will offer a little more off-road ability, but its true mission is to simply look like it’s a heap more capable in off-highway situations.

These images show a small increase in ground clearance compared with the 171 mm (6.7 inches) offered by the existing EX30, black plastic trim on the nose, arches, and tail, a roof rack, and a new set of 18-inch alloys.

Look familiar? If it does that’s because Volvo previewed the Cross Country in June 2023, revealing images of an EX30 dressed exactly like this. It said at the time that 18-inch rims wrapped in off-road tires would be optional, while buyers not ticking that box would get 19s and road-biased rubber. Volvo also promised skid plates to protect the EV’s battery and motor.

Back in ’23, Volvo said the Cross Country would be available to buy in MY25 trim during the 2024 calendar year, but it was a definite no-show during the last 12 months, meaning a debut must be imminent. The introduction of all EXs to the US was pushed back a year to 2025 so that Volvo could relocate production from China to Belgium to avoid tariffs.

There’s no indication from the automaker regarding how much the EX XC will cost or which powertrains it will be mated with. But to be true to the off-road theme Volvo might restrict it to the 422 hp (428 PS) bi-motor, all-wheel drive setup from the EX30 Twin Motor Performance that starts at $44,900. A single-motor EX is also available in other markets and comes to the US later, sending its 268 hp (272 PS) to just one axle.

Images in the gallery below were released by Volvo in June 2023.

Images: SH Proshots

Citroen is resurrecting its most famous car as an EV. A new report claims Citroen is at the early stages of bringing back the iconic 2CV as a charming, low-cost electric vehicle to battle models like the Dacia Spring, and the result could launch in 2028 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the original.

More than 3.8 million units of the 2CV, nicknamed the tin snail for its shape and slothful performance, were built between 1948 and 1990. It’s universally recognized and much loved, but somehow the model missed out on being rebooted during the same late 1990s, early 2000s retro boom that gave us cars like the New Beetle Mini, Fiat 500 and Dodge Challenger. And in 2019 Citroen said it wasn’t interested in making a new 2CV.

Related: Citroen Partners With Caselani To Turn Berlingo Into A Modern 2CV Van

But Autocar claims a senior Citroen source confirmed the project is happening, although it’s at the early stages. The report also says Citroen has been moved to act after watching rival Renault score a bullseye with the new 5.

The EV-only 5’s retro charm and temptingly low price has made it a hit with buyers, who have snapped up far more of them in the car’s native France than they have of Citroen’s own new, small EV, the e-C3. And to rub salt in the wound, the 5 was recently crowned Europe’s Car Of The Year, relegating the C3/e-C3 to third place in the process.

Now imagine a reskinned e-C3, an EV using the same Stellantis Smart Car platform also found on models like the Fiat Grande Punto, but displaying some classic 2CV styling cues like bug-eye headlights, a curving roofline and maybe even covered rear wheels. It’s easy to see the appeal, both to Citroen and to buyers. And since the original 2CV was also available as a van, there’s potential to attract commercial customers, too, with some rear bodywork mods.

What other classics would you you like to see automakers resurrect as EVs? How about a BMW 02, Fiat X1/9, Jeep Grand Wagoneer or Citroen Mehari? Leave a comment and let us know.

Note: the images at the top of this page and in the gallery below are by Dejan Hristov and are neither related to nor endorsed by Citroën. You can read more about his hypothetical 2CV reboot by clicking here.

Even before Polestar confirmed last week that it was working on a compact premium SUV to rival the Porsche Macan, a flurry of reports suggested this new Polestar 7 would indirectly replace the ageing 2 crossover. But the automaker’s CEO has clarified that in fact the 7 and 2 badges will live side by side.

The Swedish brand’s boss, Michael Lohnscheller, told Autocar today’s Polestar 2 would get its own direct replacement “towards the end” of the decade. The new crossover will arrive shortly after the 7, which appears not to be on the cards until at least 2028. When we suggested a 2027 date based on our earlier reports, Polestar asked us to avoid references to the date, without offering any concrete timeline.

Related: Polestar Pins Turnaround Hopes On Porsche Macan-Sized 7 SUV

Since Lohnscheller told Autocar the 7 gets priority, the 2 surely can’t arrive until 2028 or 2029. So today’s 2 crossover – which dates to 2020 – will have to soldier on for at least another three years. Lohnscheller, seemed unconcerned, told the UK mag the model had “years to go” following a MY25 update and explained that it’s his favorite of the brand’s cars.

Both the 7 and the second-generation 2 will ride on a new (probably Geely) platform, and Polestar has already confirmed the SUV will be built in Europe, rather than Asia or the US. Their arrival will boost the brand’s lineup to six cars, and make life complicated for buyers trying to work out where each fits in the hierarchy, the 7 being smaller than the 3 SUV. The other models are the 4 sedan (already here), 5 four-door coupe and 6 sports car (both coming this year).

Lohnscheller also told Autocar he had tasked new design chief Philipp Römers with putting more emphasis on Polestar models’ performance when he starts sketching the next wave of EVs.

“What we’ve achieved so far is really good,” he told the magazine’s Steve Cropley, “but I’m asking Philipp to highlight the performance of our cars a little more. I don’t believe they look quite as capable as they actually are. They should look a little more confident; they are maybe bit too modest.”

And maybe still too Volvo-like, we’d suggest. But where do you think Polestar should look for design inspiration? Leave a comment below and give us your thoughts.

EV sales dropped by 5.9 percent in the European Union in 2024, and even PHEVs were down 6.8 percent in a year when total sales edged up by 0.8 percent, new data shows. But let’s hear it for hybrids! Sales of non-pluggable, electrically assisted cars jumped 20.9 percent, giving them the second biggest market share by powertrain type, only just behind petrols.

Hybrids ended the year with a 30.9 percent slice of the sales pie, compared with 33.3 percent for petrol vehicles, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Petrol sales actually dropped 4.8 percent, so it’s easy to imagine hybrids accelerating into first place by this time next year.

Related: Hybrid Sales Boom In Europe While EVs And PHEVs Lose Market Share

But the story is a bit more complicated than that because ACEA’s hybrid figures don’t distinguish between mild-hybrid and full-hybrid cars, despite separating plug-ins into a different column on the spreadsheet. 

To remind you, mild hybrids usually consist of nothing more than an ordinary combustion engine fitted with a starter-generator that can add a tiny power boost (normally up to 20 hp / 20 PS), giving almost no opportunity to drive under electric power alone and not making a night and day difference to real-world economy figures, though you might achieve a small saving.

We’re not saying the tech lacks merit, but it’s far less sophisticated than a full hybrid system. And while buyers might actively search out a full hybrid model, so many cars now come with mild-hybrid engines that buyers aren’t necessarily choosing to buy one over a non-hybrid car. They might just like the vehicle and take it as it comes. They might not even know it’s a hybrid.

European Union Sales 2024

But here’s one thing we took away from ACEA’s figures: Europeans overwhelmingly prefer buying cars that feel much like conventional cars, or cars they’re familiar with. Hybrids and mild hybrids don’t need plugging in, and they still need to fill up with gas as all petrol cars do. They just use less of it.

Together, petrol and hybrid vehicles account for over 64 percent of the car market. And, yeah, we could even throw diesel into that mix – its sales dropped 15 percent but it still commands an 11.9 percent market share. That’s getting on for 76 percent of buyers still not wanting the hassle (or expense) of a plug.

Source: ACEA

Even a facelift couldn’t stop sales of Tesla’s Model 3 sliding in 2024, and life for the electric sedan is only going to get tougher. Within two years BMW, Audi and Mercedes will all be armed with brand new electric sedans, and these fresh spy shots show Benz’s contender testing.

It’s not the first time spy photographers have snapped prototypes of the 2027 electric C-Class – we’ve previously seen it in both regular and AMG guises. But this is the first time we’ve seen a prototype with this style of front-end design.

Related: 2026 Mercedes C-Class Keeps Gas Power Alive With A Facelift

Compared with older test cars, this one has a new hood line that’s cut back at its leading edge, suggesting Mercedes has had a rethink and decided to make the grille bigger in time for production. The company has form here: in 2024 we noticed the exact same thing had happened to prototypes of the GLC.

And when you think about what has happened to Mercedes EQ cars already on sale, it’s entirely believable that Mercedes might have opted for a pre-launch facelift. Sales of EQ electric cars like the EQS have been far lower than expected, and that can’t all be blamed on an EV market that hasn’t matured the way automakers hoped.

EQ models have been criticized for their boring bar-of-soap styling, and last year Mercedes facelifted the EQS to give it a more traditional Benz grille in an effort to boost its appeal. Is that’s what’s happened to this C-Class?

We’re still at least a year away from officially seeing the electric C-Class in finished form, so this car still wears plenty of disguise and placeholder lights – expect star-motif LEDs front and back. But there are still details we can take away from this image set, including that while the shape of the tail suggests a liftback configuration, the trunk shutlines look like those of a formal notchback sedan.

Mercedes is keeping the tech spec under its hat for now, but we do know that the electric C- and GLC-Class models will ride on the bigger MB.EA platform and not the MMA one that forms the base of this year’s CLA, the C-Class’s little brother. But Mercedes has promised 800-volt tech and an electric range of 466 miles (750 km) for the small car, and we’d expect the C-Class to match and get close to those numbers respectively.

A couple of year ago we might have expected this car to be called the EQC, but Mercedes has tweaked its EV naming strategy recently, and we now predict it’ll be badged C-Class with EQ Technology, following the lead of the electric G-Class. Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius confirmed last year the C-Class EV would debut in 2026, so a MY27 arrival looks likely.

Images: SH Proshots

Bentley pushed back its electrification plans last year, delaying its transformation into an EV-only brand from 2030 to 2035. But that doesn’t mean we’ll have to wait a decade to see our first zero-emissions Bentley. The British luxury brand has promised to debut its first EV in 2026, describing it as a ‘luxury urban SUV,’ and though it might not look like it, we think we’ve caught it testing.

Yes, this black SUV appears to be a prototype for the Porsche Cayenne Electric that’s due to launch next year, an EV we’ve seen several times over the past 12 months. But Porsche never registers its prototypes on British license plates and we know Porsche’s sister brand Bentley is the only VW Group company that does, so this must be a Bentley, right?

Related: Bentley’s Baby Electric SUV Is Coming In 2026, What If It Looks Like This?

Actually we can do better than guess and assume, because a quick check on the UK’s DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency) website pulls up a digital confirmation that a black car with the plates ‘DC24EKA’ was first registered in July 2024, and gives the manufacturer as Bentley. The fact sheet also lists the CO2 emissions output as 0g/km, though we could have guessed that from the rear shots which show a smooth lower bumper with no visible exhaust tailpipes.

Just as the Bentayga shares its platform with the Porsche Cayenne, the automaker’s first EV uses the same architecture as the upcoming Cayenne Electric. The platform is the PPE hardware already being used by the Macan Electric, Audi Q6 e-tron, and A6 e-tron, though it will be stretched for use on the Bentley and Cayenne.

But not stretched by as much as you might think. Bentley says it will be less than 5 m (197 inches) long, making it more maneuverable in cities than the brand’s other vehicles. The Bentayga, for example, measures 5.1 m (202 inches) in standard form and 5.3 m (210 inches) in stretched EWB guise.

Bentley says its EV won’t replace any of its three existing models (Bentayga, Continental, Flying Spur), but will complement them. Revealing its re-jigged Beyond100+ electrification strategy in November, CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser described the EV as the “first true Luxury Urban SUV,” claiming it will create an entirely new segment in the car market.

Powertrain details are vague at this point, but for reference, the most powerful Macan Electric – which measures 188.3 inches (4.78 m) – comes with a 100 kWh battery and a dual-motor setup generating 630 hp (639 PS / 470 kW). Bentley will unveil the EV in late 2026, but it won’t go on sale until 2027, so it could end up being a 2028MY SUV.

Images: SH Proshots

Cold, winter weather can decimate EV range numbers, seriously hampering practicality in northern regions of Europe and North America. But some electric cars are affected much less than others, as a new test from icy Norway reminds us. And some, like the Polestar 3, are barely affected at all.

Twice a year, in summer and winter, the NAF (Norwegian Automobile Association) and the country’s Motor website get together to put EVs though their paces in real world conditions to check the range of electric cars available to car buyers in Norway, where EVs accounted for a whopping 89 percent of the market in 2024.

Many Promised At Least 300 Miles, But Only 4 Actually Delivered

Running each car’s battery down not quite to zero, but to between 10-15 percent, which is as low as most people would realistically risk going in normal use, especially when it’s snowy outside, the teams recorded a true range figure for each car. Twenty of the 24 cars had a claimed WLTP range of at least 300 miles (483 km), some of them promising almost half as much again. But only four achieved more than 300 miles during the test.

Related: Six EVs Were Driven Till They Died, Guess Which One Came Last

Some of the cars came with bigger batteries than others, of course, so there was always going to be variance in the distance achieved on a single charge. But where the real interest lies is in how close each of the car’s came to its claimed range.

Hitting the WLTP figures is a big ask for an EV, because Europe’s official range numbers tend to be more optimistic than those from America’s EPA for the same car. Throw in the harsh weather, the bigger rolling resistance of winter tires and temperatures that ranged between -3 and 7 degrees C (23-45 F), so aren’t ideal for an EV’s battery, and you’d expect to see none of the cars get anywhere near what the brochure claims.

Tesla’s Model 3 Did Really Good – Or Did It?

And in some cases, you’d be right. The Tesla Model 3’s 330-mile (531 km) effort looks pretty good – until you realize Tesla claims 436 miles (702 km). Peugeot’s E-3008 delivered 101 miles (163 km) below the claimed figure of 317 miles (510 km) and various other EVs underperformed by at least 81 miles (130 km).

Contrast those figures with those of the Polestar 3, whose true 330-mile (530 km) range figure exactly matched the Tesla’s, but the Polestar came within 18 miles (29 km) of its WLTP claim. Considering the weather, that’s an incredible achievement. Which is more than you can say for the feeble 214 miles (344 km) the Voyah Dream achieved with its huge 108.5 kWh battery.

As for the other two that managed to get over 300 miles of true range in those conditions, they were the Porsche Taycan (310 miles), which fell sort 58 miles of WLTP’s numbers, and the Kia EV3, which also achieved 310 miles, down 57 on official numbers. The EV3’s range was praised during our review a couple of weeks ago and shows that a) Kia is mastering the art of EVs, and b) in the electric world, bigger isn’t always better.

WINTER EV RANGE TEST

Polestar has a logical solution to its current run of poor sales. It’s jumping into the premium compact SUV market with an EV rival to the likes of the Porsche Macan Electric that will be on sale before the end of the decade.

Less logical is the name of this new Macan fighter. It’s going to be called the Polestar 7, which could be kind of confusing given that it will be smaller than the Polestar 3 seen in the picture at the top of this page. Previous intel suggested the 7 will replace today’s 2 crossover, but Polestar tells us that is not the case.

Related: Radical Polestar 7 SUV Will Arrive Before 2030

Not confusing at all is Polestar’s decision to follow up the sedan-shaped 2 crossover with something more overtly SUV-shaped, given that’s what buyers currently crave.

“Polestar is known for its progressive design, with each car standing out and creating its own buzz – so too will Polestar 7,” said Philipp Römers, Head of Design at Polestar.

“It is incredibly exciting to bring Polestar’s design ethos to a new segment. Polestar 7 will be everything our customers expect from us, both in terms of design and performance.”

Will it have a back window?

The company’s 4 crossover attracted plenty of attention and criticism when it debuted with a body-colored panel where the rear window is normally sited. Polestar reasons that there’s no need for glass when you have cameras. It’s not clear whether the 7 will follow suit, but we can be sure it’ll be no wallflower.

Polestar will build the 7 in Europe to avoid import tariffs placed on cars coming to the continent from China, where European-market 2s are built. Romers didn’t specify what platform the 7 would use, but the Geely SEA architecture found under the Smart #3 and Polestar 4 seems like a safe bet.

Polestar needs the 7 now

The Swedish automaker revealed plans for the 7 in 2022 but re-confirmed them this week to help put a positive spin on the company’s state of the union address, in which it had to face up to some worrying results during 2024. Full-year figures haven’t been revealed yet but demand for the new 3 SUV and 4 crossover was lower than expected and sales and revenue fell 8 and 10 percent respectively in Q3. Sales did pick up in the fourth quarter, Polestar claimed, however, and the company is forecasting growth of over 30 percent in the next three years, Bloomberg reports.

Other positive news out of Polestar’s strategy update includes a planned increase in the number of retail outlets from 106 to 187, the potential to make triple-digit-million dollar amounts from selling CO2 credits to dirtier automakers, and the impending arrival of the Polestar 5 sports car later this year.

If you’ve driven an EV on a long trip on unfamiliar roads you’ll know that range anxiety is all too real. That 350-mile (563 km) official range the salesman promised you often turns out to be 270 miles (435) in real conditions, and much less in winter. But in a recent test VW’s ID.7 didn’t just match the 350-mile range of a petrol car, it came close to the bladder-busting range of a diesel.

In a controlled event at Porsche’s Nardo test facility in southern Italy, an ID.7 Pro S managed 585 miles (941 km) on a single charge. That’s a third more than the WLTP claimed range of 441 miles (709 km), which is already impressive by EV standards, though WLTP figures are notoriously optimistic.

Related: VW ID.7 Pro S Beats Range Anxiety, Does 493 Miles On Single Charge

You can, of course, extract crazy numbers from any EV if you fit it with a monster battery, strip out the interior to save weight and add special tires and make aerodynamic enhancements. But the ID.7 on test was a entirely standard, right down to its 86 kWh battery, and anyway, the slippery sedan already has a drag coefficient of just 0.23 Cd.

The Pro S version of the ID.7 is equipped with a single 282 hp (286 PS / 210 kW) electric motor that drives the rear wheels. It can accelerate from zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) in 6.6 seconds and has a top speed of 112 mph (180 kmh), though VW’s drivers won’t have exploited either of those capabilities during the test in which the EV achieved efficiency figures of 9.2 kWh/100km (6.9 miles per kWh or 149 Wh/mile). Ambient temperatures ranged from 41-59 F (5-15 C).

Is the ID.7 a continent-crushing EV to make diesel lovers go electric? Maybe not. VW used Nardo’s Low-Speed Ring, which runs just inside the famous 7.8-mile (12.5 km) high-speed bowl and allows automakers to simulate real-world traffic conditions. The ID.7 averaged only 18 mph (29 kmh) which VW says reflects typical rush-hour speeds in European cities.

So the test is better seen as showing that you could commute to work for a couple of weeks in an ID.7 without needing to go near a charger, rather than proving you could drive from San Francisco to Tijuana at motorway speeds without plugging in along the way. But it’s impressive all the same.

The EV market in America might not be growing as fast as some automakers predicted, but it’s definitely still growing. New figures published this week show sales of electric vehicles in the US hit 1.3 million last year, up 7.3 percent versus 2023 when 1.21 million were registered.

Tesla Leads, But Its Grip Is Slipping

Tesla once again dominated the market, though its sales fell 5.6 percent to 633,800, dropping its market share from 48.7 to 44.4 percent. Ford came home in second place, and was up 8 percent (to 97,900), while Rivian (up 3.8 percent to 51,600) was the third biggest EV player. At the other end of the table Mercedes, VW and Volvo all struggled, each brand’s sales dropping by at least 40 percent.

Related: Porsche Buyers Snap Up Gas-Powered 718s Like It’s 1999 As Taycan Sales Tank

New arrivals that helped bump up the overall sales figures include the Chevrolet Equinox and its Honda Prologue brother, which notched up 61,900 sales between them, the Chevy Blazer (23,100), Tesla Cybertruck (39,000) and Kia EV9 (22,000), according to Cox Automotive.

Amusingly, the Prologue turned out to be GM’s best-selling EV, with 33,017 deliveries—easily outpacing the Cadillac Lyriq (28,402) and Chevy Blazer (23,115).

But some old timers enjoyed a resurgence, including the Subaru Solterra (+ 40 percent), Nissan Leaf (+57 percent) and Ariya (+47 percent), facelifted Hyundai Ioniq 5 (+31 percent), Ford Mustang Mach-E (+27 percent) and F-150 Lightning (+39 percent).

EV SALES USA 2024: BRANDS

Big Swings for Specific Brands

Toyota bZ4X’s also enjoyed a massive 99 percent upswing (no doubt thanks to heavy incentives), helping it overtake VW’s ID.4, which had a terrible year, registrations tanking by 55 percent to 17,000. The arrival of the much funkier, if pricier, ID.Buzz – 2025 NACTOY utility of the year – and a forced stop to production due to faulty door handles can’t have helped, and Ford ended the year having shifted three times as many Mach-Es as VW did ID.4s.

Sales of GM’s humongous Hummer mushroomed 331 percent from 3,200 to 14,000 and after a slow start Cadillac’s Lyriq also seems to have hit its stride. Lyriq sales climbed 210 percent to 28,400 ensuring it outsold its BMW iX rival by a factor of almost two to one.

Model Y Stays on Top, Despite a Dip

To no one’s surprise the Telsa’s Model Y remained top dog, even though its sales declined over the last 12 months. The egg-shaped SUV was purchased 372,600 times in 2024 but that figure was down 6.6 percent from 2023 when sales came within a hair of touching 400k.

Perhaps the just-announced facelift for the Model Y can help reverse the downward trend, though last year’s overhaul didn’t do the Model 3 much good. Its sales fell 17 percent from 230,000 to 189,900 despite a mid-year refresh.

EV SALES USA 2024: MODELS

Tesla’s decade of sales growth came to an end in 2024, but the American automaker still managed to claim at least one big scalp. Despite the downturn in its fortunes, Tesla sold more cars than premium rival Audi.

VW’s posh brand registered 1.67 million cars in 2024, that number representing a 12 percent slide compared with the previous year. Tesla’s sales also fell, but only by 1.1 percent to 1.79 million units, putting it ahead of the German automaker, as reported by Bloomberg.

Tesla’s Four Models Beat Audi’s Vast Arsenal

Tesla’s achievement is remarkable for several reasons. One is that it only sells electric vehicles, but managed to move more of them than Audi did electric, hybrid and combustion models combined. Another is that Tesla has only four model lines (five if you include the Cybertruck, but that’s currently available solely in the US and Canada), and none of its global offerings are new, although the Model 3 did at least get a facelift in time to impact the 2024 sales numbers. Audi, in contrast, has dozens of different combinations of model lines and body styles.

Related: 2025 Tesla Model Y Debuts With Cybercab Looks And Turn Signal Stalks

Audi bosses will be particularly disappointed at the news given the success it enjoyed a year prior. In 2023 Audi sold 1.9 vehicles, its best result since 2017, and one that helped it reverse three consecutive years of falling sales. Tesla, on the other hand, has been steadily growing all the way through the late 2010s and early 2020s, culminating in an incredible 2023 when its Model Y SUV was the best-selling car on the planet.

Audi vs Tesla Sales

Bloomberg notes that Audi’s sales dropped in large markets like Germany, China and North America. In general, German luxury brands have been hit by a double whammy of sharpy declining demand in China due to increasingly strong local competition and the withdrawal of EV subsidies in key European countries. But since Audi’s EV sales only fell 8 percent and its overall registrations dropped by 12 percent, it’s not fair to place all of the blame on its electric lineup.

Will Fresh Cars (And China’s AUDI) Help In 2025?

Perhaps the arrival of some new metal will make 2025 a more successful year. The elderly combustion A4 has now been replaced (by the A5), and an electric counterpart (which gets the A4 name) is on the way. Audi has also launched the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron electric sedans, wagons and SUVs.

The introduction of the new AUDI brand in China (all in capitals and without the four-ring logo) is also designed to help it in the world’s largest car market. A joint venture with SAIC, starting in mid-2025 it intends to launch three EVs in the mid- and full-size segments that were previewed by the E concept last November.