Jens Sverdrup is chairman of Zenvo Automotive, having joined the Danish company in 2021 after garnering experience amongst the upper echelons of the supercar and hypercar world, including stints at Koenigsegg, Rimac and Czinger. Zenvo itself was founded back in 2007 by Jesper Jensen and Troels Vollertsen, launching its first car in 2009, the ST1, powered by a 5.8-litre V8.

Since 2009, the original ST1 has evolved, becoming the TS1, then TS1 GT, before ultimately ending in the TSR-GT, which produces a remarkable 1,360 bhp from the original V8. Production numbers have always been very limited, split between road and track-only cars, occupying a rarefied niche within a niche to cater for collectors who care more about driving and engineering and less about the badge on the bonnet.

Sverdrup hopes to change all that. In August 2023 the company kickstarted a new era with the launch of the all-new Aurora Agil and Tur models. We spoke to Sverdrup about his ambitions for the new models and where the company sees itself heading.

Wallpaper*: How would describe the new models?

Jens Sverdrup: I’ve come into the picture to help set up the Aurora programme and beyond. We’re doing what we call Zenvo 2.0.

W*: What challenges have you faced?

JS: I’ve known the guys here for a long time – it’s a small industry. They wanted to become the next breakthrough brand in the hypercar world, so they needed a new team. They approached me and it was like dangling a candy in front of a kid.

I also really hit it off with Christian Brandt, our head of design, who is perfect for a small boutique brand where you have to wear many hats. Christian suggested we make something around a monocoque structure and they presented me with some early renders – as a car fanatic, it was hard to resist.

W*: What was the next step?

JS: We’re in Denmark – a world-leader in design, be it architecture or furniture. There’s a very specific design language here, a sort of organic minimalism, not something that’s hard and angular like the Bauhaus. So the first step was to add more ‘Danishness’ to the design, then work on the aero. Christian played with the negative spaces, inspired by cars like the BAC Mono or Aston Martin Valkyrie.

There was all this beautiful engineering, but if you put a monolithic body on it, it hides it away. We wanted to send all the air through the car rather than over it. So it’s fully open on the sides, more like an F1 car.

W*: What else inspired the design?

JS: I’m a big, big fan of motorcycles – you can look at one and you can figure out how it works. So we took a similar approach – let’s only add bodywork where it needs to be. The black surfaces on the cars are the uncovered monocoque chassis. We have our engineering on display, like a Patek Philippe watch – a mechanical fascination.

W*: Is this what defines Zenvo?

JS: It’s what a hypercar means to me – everything is bespoke, from the bolts down to the fluid containers. You can see the engine, the gearbox… every part is beautifully crafted and like a work of art.

W*: So why go with a V12 engine and not an electric drivetrain?

JS: It’s the ego part. In every company I’ve been involved with, customers wanted a V12. If they said they prefer V8s, they’re lying. We canvassed around 100 customers, dealers and even journalists to find out what they preferred. Almost everyone said V12.

W*: Who have you sourced your engine from?

JS: With the Aurora Agil and Tur we have very tight packaging for the engine and gearbox. It would normally cost around £60-100m to develop a V12 from scratch, so we’re working with [UK-based] MAHLE Powertrain to co-develop a modular engine, something that can be supplied to other manufacturers in order to off-load the initial expense.

W*: Do you see a future for a V12 engine?

JS: For us, the Aurora is a brand breakthrough product. A new V12 is now or never, but my gut feeling is right, and we’re drowning in enquiries from other manufacturers. Nobody buys a hypercar for efficiency – they buy it for emotional reasons. Frankly, electric hypercars might be extremely fast but they leave me cold emotionally.

The Aurora is back to basics – it should be fun at low speed or top speed. Let’s not just chase crazy performance numbers. The V12 is paired with electric motors, which also serves as the starter motor and the reverse gear. The gearbox has been co-developed with Ricardo.

W*: How would define a modern hypercar?

JS: It’s like an old-fashioned graphic equaliser – every slider is turned up to the maximum. But we’ve never had numbers in mind. We’re trying to build a car that’s not hugely uncomfortable – nobody cares about being 1/10th of a second faster around the Nürburgring anymore. The cars are geared for the best possible driving experience – a sensory experience [that delivers] smiles per mile.

W*: What’s the difference between the Agil and Tur models?

JS: We have two models because one can’t do it all. The Tur is four-wheel-drive, with additional electric motors on the front axle. The longer gearing is aimed at a more GT-like experience. A huge benefit of the hybrid system is being quiet at 5am – you’re not getting a lot of friends if you start a V12 at that time. You can also take it through congestion zones.

The Agil is track-focused, with more aero and a lighter, different specification. It’s rear-wheel drive and is still road legal. We’ll build 50 examples of each, with production slated to start in Q3 2026. This summer, we’ll have the VP1 prototype up and running.

W*: How have you approached the interior design?

JS: We have a very rich heritage of design. Christian wanted to make something timeless – it’ll probably be around 150 years from now. [Inside], I wanted the feeling that you’re part of the machine, like a cog, but also like you’re the missing part of a sculpture. I have a dislike of screens and technology. The reason you’re driving a hypercar is to escape the world, like riding a motorbike or a horse. Screens are cheap, they cost nothing, but we wanted a very user-friendly experience with a button for everything, not menus.

I also wanted to have analogue instruments, inspired by watches of course. The car is really high-tech, but technology is best when it doesn’t interfere and just supports you. The instrument cluster can flip around and hide the CarPlay and menus. You have all the things you need without being bombarded with data. You just don’t need all these gadgets in a Sunday morning hypercar.

W*: How do you think the Zenvo brand will evolve?

JS: The media has a hard time pinning us down. The customer knows exactly what they want. I was originally tempted not to publish any performance numbers, as we know the car will perform against the very best. But that’s not the reason the car exists – it’s a side effect of doing everything the best way possible.

Our customers are part of our journey, helping us build the brand. It’s been fascinating to see it come alive. I’m allergic to the word ‘luxury’. This isn’t about luxury, it’s about experience, and I think our customers feel the same way – we’re in the extreme sports industry, along with high-end skis, bicycles or running shoes.

We’re doing it because we love going fast and creating an expression of technology. Our customers can get luxury any day of the week. They want to feel something. This is a really, really extreme project for true enthusiasts who care, like me, about quality and artistry.

Zenvo Aurora Agil and Aurora Tur, from around €2.6m, ZenvoAutomotive.com, @ZenvoAutomotive

All photographs by GF Williams

Just before men’s fashion month began this past June, Meta introduced a new tag for Instagram and Facebook allowing you to label images ‘made with AI’. It was a response, no doubt, to the bizarre ‘AI art’ which flooded the latter: anthropomorphic animals that move like humans; statues of Jesus made of stacks of shrimps or vegetables; ‘cyborg’ children engineered with empty plastic bottles and computer detritus. They have been deemed ‘slop’: a queasy and surreal stream of images made by a mysterious army of bots to mine likes and views (search: ‘weird AI art Facebook’ on Google Images to view some of these oddities).

Later that month at Prada, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons showed a menswear collection which the duo said explored ideas of ‘truth and pretence, the real and the unreal’. It made for a collection of illusions: belts that looked like belts but were actually stitched into the construction of a trouser, shirts that were warped with hidden wires, shield-like sunglasses overlaid with images of Roman statues, ravers and American highways. ‘Viewed from afar, pieces can pretend to be other,’ said the designers. ‘Details may seem simplistic, naïve, but up-close, physically, perceptions transform.’ It was fashion for our bewildering post-truth era, where nothing is quite what it seems.

Throughout 2024, designers have used their collections to grapple with designing for our increasingly disorientating world, resulting in idiosyncratic and intriguing collections which British designer Jonathan Anderson best described as ‘irrational clothing’ (he was talking about his own S/S 2025 menswear collection). The idea of the hybrid ran throughout, strange mash-ups that seemed to capture the dizzying spin of a social-media stream: at Loewe and Balenciaga garments appeared crafted from stacks of discarded clothing, at Sacai garments like the MA-1 flight jacket were melded together in Chitose Abe’s offbeat style, while at Issey Miyake sweaters appeared stitched on to the front of vests (typical of the Japanese brand’s innovative approach, they were actually knitted as a single piece).

Though it was accessories that made for some of the most curious hybrids. There was JW Anderson’s loafer bag, first appearing as part of Anderson’s S/S 2025 menswear collection in Milan, which ‘deconstructed and reconstructed in bag form’ the penny loafer (the classic shoe’s ‘whale-tail keeper’ detail runs across the bag’s boxy design, while the base recalls a loafer’s sole). Part of a collecton that was inspired by the stream of memories dug up by hypnotherapy – sweaters ran with slogans like ‘Real Sleep’ – it was both strange and familiar, like an object appearing from a dream. And, judging by a buzzy release last month, it looks set to follow in the JW Anderson ‘Bumper’ bag’s footsteps as a contemporary it-bag.

At Hodakova, the Stockholm-based winner of the 2024 LVMH Prize, eponymous designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson uses deadstock in imaginative ways. Like a series of bags constructed from discarded belts, or a surreal bag crafted from a knee-high boot, capturing an undone glamour that feels fitting for our times. At Duran Lantink’s thrilling S/S 2025 show, handbags became hats, while at Acne Studios trompe l’oeil prints saw ‘denim jeans’ printed across silk scarves and tote bags. Demna, meanwhile, melded a soft satin house slipper with towering stiletto heel at Balenciaga, while at Bottega Veneta, what appeared like a knitted wool sock was actually a woven leather shoe. Off the runway, New Balance’s loafer-cum-trainer was one of the year’s most divisive (and talked about) shoes.

These were pieces that spoke of not only the experience of living in what feels like an endless, infinite scroll of a social media stream – the dizzying juxtapositions from one post to the next – but also a newly experimental attitude in fashion as designers shift away from the quiet to the loud, no doubt buoyed by a new generation of consumers willing to make bolder statements with the clothes they wear. Indeed Anderson said his S/S 2025 collection had partly been inspired by seeing young people experiment with their outfits when he had attended Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona earlier that year. ‘The experimentation with clothing among younger generations is incredible,’ he said post show. ‘The eye has changed within menswear and within womenswear. People want something that is really challenging.’

Hybrid accessories: the Wallpaper* edit

Solsea is a new concept catamaran from Rossinavi. We’ve previously covered the Italian shipyard’s Seawolf X, the first of its new generation hybrid-electric catamarans to be launched. The Solsea concept has debuted at this year’s Design Miami, showcasing not just Rossinavi’s pioneering tech, but also a sleek design, inside and out, by none other than Yves Béhar.

Béhar is an accomplished sailor and surfer, and the project has brought these passions together with his studio’s focus on sustainable technology. The design also extends to the use of durable cork flooring (supplied by Amorin) and, appropriately enough, ocean-sourced recycled plastic wherever the material is required.

For their part, Rossinavi has benefited from Béhar’s unconventional approach to naval architecture. ‘It’s been an incredible journey to see how Yves Béhar reimagined the naval platform of our hybrid-electric catamaran,’ Federico Rossi, Chief Operating Officer of Rossinavi, ‘His fresh, external perspective brought a style that is both luxurious and refined.’

Inside and out, the Solsea concept shows a softer, warmer approach to design at sea. The Solsea’s advanced battery and solar panel system has been incorporated into the superstructure, with solar panels doubling up as shading structures on the expansive deck.

As with Seawolf X, the combination of panels and on-board battery allow the yacht to give an 80% reduction in fuel consumption while cruising. It can even make a transatlantic trip under 80% electric power. For more relaxed day trips, Solsea is designed to operate 100% electrically. Fast charging should take around five hours at a suitably equipped marina.

Three years in development, the new catamaran also uses Rossinavi’s advanced onboard artificial intelligence system, Rossinavi AI, which manages the distribution of energy between the catamaran’s systems, batteries and powertrain. When moored and unoccupied, Solsea has a special hibernation mode that can transfer power from the solar panels to the quayside.

Inside, Béhar and his team have taken full advantage of the 43m catamaran’s broad beam, with a full-width owner’s cabin that offers 180-degree views and a private external balcony. The main deck has a lounge pool, while the rear sundeck has a bar and generous seating area. ‘For me, Solsea is a return to simpler, more respectful ways to enjoy the oceans while integrating the future of efficient propulsion, and cutting-edge technologies,’ says Béhar.

Rossinavi.it, @Rossinavi

fuseproject.com, @fuseprojectsf

Not so long ago, the writing seemed to be on the wall for the Volkswagen Passat. Buffeted first by the relentless rise of the hatchback, then knocked back again by the dominance of the SUV, it seemed that there was no love left for a straightforward, traditional saloon and estate car. The original B1 Passat began life as a large fastback sedan, launched in 1973 with era-appropriate angular bodywork by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro. The B2 version arrived in 1981. In an era when market-specific names were considered essential, the B2 was known as the Carat in Argentina, the Corsar in Mexico, the Quantum in America and Brazil and the VW Santana in Japan and China.

It was the latter nameplate that kept the model aloft for decades, most notably in China. In fact, the Santana has a strong claim to be the origin story of that country’s vast motor industry. The creation of the Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd in 1984 set the scene for slow but steady growth throughout the 80s and 90s (at the time of the partnership there were barely half a million private cars in China), as well as the all-important percentage of state ownership of foreign ventures. The venerable B2 Santana was built in China for thirty years, from 1983 to 2013.

Back in the West, the fashion for fastbacks waned in the 80s, and the Passat settled into a slightly doughy anonymity with the B3 and B4 variants. It wasn’t until 1996’s B5 Passat that the model re-found its mojo. Styled by the legendary VW head of design Hartmut Warkuss and a team include the young Peter Schreyer, the B5 Passat helped start VW back on track towards the simple, restrainted design language it still practices today.

What we have here is a prime example of the B9 generation Volkswagen Passat, launched in 2023 and available ( in the West at least) only as an estate car. It’s a thoroughly impressive all-rounder, made all the better for being a hybrid. If I was being extremely hypercritical, then the current Passat would lose marks for slightly generic, anonymous styling. It looks a little over-bodied, with a wheelbase that’s just short enough to unbalance the overall composition, rather than plant it.

Estate aficionados – and there a few of them – might see the Passat as a bit of a missed opportunity on the style front, not least because VW had some true corkers in its line-up in the not-to-distant past. Just two years ago there was the marvellous Arteon Shooting Brake, which offered a winning combination of style, practicality and performance. There’s also the contemporary VW ID.7 Tourer, an all-electric estate car that seems eerily well positioned to cannibalise from the Passat and vice versa.

In case you haven’t been following the business pages, the VW Group is not having an easy ride at the moment. Big conglomerates that centralise their product planning and then introduce competing products are especially susceptible to shifts in the consumer psyche (see also the current struggles of Stellantis). The co-existence of the Passat and ID.7 Tourer is a case in point – is the company hedging its bets or is one department simply pitted against another?

All this confusion is a shame, for the Passat packs a lot of likeability and even more practicality into an anonymous, unthreatening but admirable package. It’s a big car, but not a tall or oppressive feeling car. The huge luggage compartment extends all the way to the back of the front seat – a colossal, wardrobe-sized load bay. I drove the 1.5 TSI eHybrid, but there are petrol and diesel models in the line-up as well – for those in the market for an all-electric estate, VW offers only the ID.7 Tourer. None of them are especially distinguished in terms of performance but that only adds to the quiet allure of the car.

VW inexplicably pitches this low-key machine as ‘business-class reinvented’, when it’s really anything but. There’s nothing remotely executive level about the Passat, but the car is all the better for it. It’s as if VW’s design division refused to play along with automotive one-upmanship which then flummoxed the marketing team. If you need a big car and have no desire to step up to an SUV, then the Passat is a welcome retreat into simplicity.

Volkswagen Passat R-Line 1.5 TSI eHybrid, from £38,505, Volkswagen.co.uk

A few years ago, you would have been forgiven for thinking that the tiresome battle over power ratings in luxury cars was over. The arrival of electrification, with its fearsome power outputs and ultra-rapid acceleration times should have put paid to the squabbling over horsepower and cylinders and displacement and torque curves.

Not a bit of it. Bentley launches its revised and updated Flying Spur limousine with the tagline ‘the most powerful Bentley four-door ever’. The fourth generation version of this admirable machine doesn’t do much in the way of visual overhauls (compared to its closely related Continental GT sibling, which received a more radical make-over earlier this year). Instead, it’s primarily about the numbers.

The stats aren’t all pitched at old school bragging rights, although with 782PS and a 3.3 second sprint to 60mph, this sedan is firmly in supercar territory. Bentley is more interested in the 47 miles of pure electric range the hybrid powertrain delivers, going on to highlight its 515-mile touring range, as well as the fact it ‘outperforms previous W12 Speed on every metric: torque, power, acceleration and emissions.’

That’s significant for some, as the old W12 Speed had a bespoke 12-cylinder engine at its heart, a mighty piece of engineering that defined modern era Bentley refinement and skill. That engine is no longer, to the sadness of some, but as Bentley notes, it can’t hold a candle to the mix of electric power and a new V8.

Visually, the new Flying Spur offers a few aesthetic updates to the third-generation model, although they’re pretty subtle (a new grille, bumper and diffuser and wheel options). The more substantial changes are to the car’s electrical system and powertrain, with a new electrical architecture that handles elements like the Performance Active Chassis, Bentley Dynamic Ride, and All-Wheel Steering. All this wizardry helps cloak the Flying Spur Speed’s considerable size and bulk, making it start, ride and stop like a much smaller, defter car.

Another area of improvement is the interior, where options on leather alone run to 700 colour combinations, and that’s before unleashing the infinite possibilities made available by Bentley’s Mulliner coachbuilding division. Top-flight audio comes from either Bang & Olufsen or Naim, and there’s now the ability to specify Bentley’s ‘Wellness Seating Specification’ on the four main seats. This system uses sensors to measure body temperature and posture and subtly adjusts the pressure to minimise fatigue.

The Flying Spur has come a long way since it was just Bentley’s nod to the limousine trade and the old-fashion saloons that defined it in the 1960s through to the 1980s. Now firmly established as the brand’s technological showcase, the fourth generation car can lay a credible claim to being the best executive conveyance on the planet, private jets included.

Bentley Flying Spur Speed, price tbc, for more information visit BentleyMotors.com, @BentleyMotors

This is the Volkswagen New California, the latest in a long line of factory-built camper vans that can trace its origins back to the Type 2-derived models of the 1950s. With the excellent all-electric ID Buzz snapping at the heels of VW’s conventionally powered vans, it might also be the last VW camper of the combustion era (although electric camper vans are nothing new, of course).

The new Volkswagen California is VW’s first plug-in hybrid camper van

However, this new model, officially known as the New California1, is keeping pace with the world and innovative camper van rivals. As Volkswagen’s first camper van to be offered with a plug-in hybrid system, as well as four-wheel drive, it has extended range, performance and practicality as a result. 

Straight away this classic design impresses with sensible upgrades to bolster practicality and comfort. The introduction of sliding doors on both flanks makes it easier to use once parked up, and every one of the five versions comes with the pop-up roof as standard.

Each version – Beach, Beach Tour, Beach Camper, Coast and Ocean – has a slightly different equipment list, but all have a dedicated app as well as an onboard display in the living space to control the various functions. 

For example, the Beach Camper has a mini-kitchen at the rear, while the more upscale Coast and Ocean models have full kitchenettes inside the van itself.

Other layout upgrades include two individual removeable seats in the rear, instead of a bench, greatly increasing the camper’s carrying capacity. With twin sliding doors also comes the ability to add twin awnings to create a large covered outdoor space.

The app’s functionality also includes an ‘all lights off’ button (something many hotels could benefit from), as well as the ability to check water and waste levels. USB-C ports are scattered around the interior.

The eHybrid model is joined by a conventional turbo diesel and turbocharged petrol option, with the California Beach model offered as the entry level. Beach Tour is pitched at day trippers who want the option for an occasional overnight stop, while the Beach Camper and Coast are the classic, fully-kitted out camper vans. 

Finally, there’s the flagship California Ocean, which can seat and sleep four, and adds additional details like a roof stowage box, air conditioning and an external power socket. 

Interior packaging has always been a strong suit of the California range. The slightly larger Multivan platform that underpins the new camper creates more flexibility for travelling, eating and sleeping layouts, with added storage and enhanced black-out blind systems.

Over the years, VW has built over 280,000 examples of the California, with countless thousands more campers produced by third-party companies. Key elements – like the pop-up roof and two-tone paintwork – keep the New California at the forefront of the genre.

Volkswagen New California, sales start in June 2024, Volkswagen-Vans.co.uk

The focus here is on both hybrids and EVs, despite the latter getting something of a rough ride in an increasingly partisan media landscape. Although it’s true that hybrid drive still makes the most sense for high mileage users, it’s worrying that some carmakers have seized on political hesitancy over electric vehicles with undisguised glee. That said, there are still plenty of new and upgraded EVs to get excited about, and even a few companies dipping a toe in hybridisation and electrification for the first time. Here’s our selection of what to watch for in the months ahead.

Audi Q6 e-tron

Audi still favours EVs that are at the larger end of the scale, and the new Q6 e-tron and performance-focused SQ6 e-tron models are no exception. Notable because they sit on the company’s new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) – which it shares with Porsche – the new Q6 has a longer range and much more intensive ‘digital experience’ for drivers and passengers.

Maximum range is billed as 381 miles, with the SQ6 model offering a 4.3 second 0-62 mph time (although physics dictates that these two stats cannot co-exist). Inside, the cockpit reads as a ‘Digital Stage’, helped by the addition of a new passenger screen and a curved driver display screen. There’s also an optional Augmented Reality Head-Up Display and Bang & Olufsen sound system. 

Audi Q6 e-tron quattro, available to order from €74,700, Audi  SQ6 e-tron, from €93,800, Audi.com

Porsche Panamera e-hybrid

Porsche is having a very busy year. Alongside this revision and the updated Taycan, there’s also the new all-electric Macan and the promise of the first ever hybrid 911 model to come. The Panamera range has now been joined by new 4 E-Hybrid and 4S E-Hybrid variants.

These pair petrol engines with an updated plug-in hybrid system, with an all-electric range of nearly 60 miles and the ability to charge the battery using the engine (an option sorely missing from many other PHEVs). A spacious, comfortable interior make this one of the great contemporary GT cars. 

Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and Panamera 4S E-Hybrid, available to order, Porsche.com

Porsche Taycan Mk2

Porsche has given its first fully-fledged EV a mid-life makeover, adding more range and refinement to all models, including the Taycan Sport Turismo and the Taycan 4 Cross Turismo. Upgrades include new headlights and revised front and rear styling, more advanced efficiency measures, adaptive air suspension across every model and even more performance.

All this is overshadowed by an impressive range increase of up to 35%, giving the longest-legged model a range of 421 miles, and making an already excellent car even better. 

Porsche Taycan, available to order, Porsche.com

Lamborghini Urus SE 

The newly announced Lamborghini Urus SE is the first hybrid version of the brand’s SUV. Following on from the hybrid-powered Revuelto (dubbed an HPEV - High Performance Electrified Vehicle – by the company), the Urus SE lays claim to a massive 80% reduction in emissions.

That’s not too hard to believe, given how the ferocity and volume of the standard V8-powered model gave the impression of necking fuel even when it was at a standstill. Nevertheless, the addition of an electric motor hasn’t dimmed the Urus’s power or performance, but there’s now the welcome option of a silent EV driving mode that won’t wake the neighbours. 

Lamborghini Urus SE, available soon, Lamborghini.com

Citroën C4 X Hybrid

Alongside the Citroën ë-C4 X EV, you’ll now find the new C4 and C4 X Hybrid 136. This isn’t as retrograde a step as it first appears, for the ë-C4 X disappointed with its middling range. As conventional, non-plug-in hybrids, the new models combine a 1.2-litre PureTech petrol engine with a battery, reducing overall emissions and allowing for all-electric driving when the occasion demands. 

Citroën C4 X Hybrid 136, from €33,900, Citroën.fr

Cupra Born VZ

The new Cupra Born VZ is the sporting variant of the Spanish manufacturer’s excellent compact EV. Designed in line with Cupra’s intention of becoming the sporty, emotional flipside of its sister brand SEAT, the VZ is mildly tweaked for better acceleration and top speed, as well as a revised handling package. There are also sports seats, larger wheels and a new range of exterior colours.

Cupra Born VZ, more details at CupraOfficial.com

Mini Aceman

Mini’s product range is growing with the introduction of the new Mini Aceman, an all-electric crossover that is bigger than the evergreen Mini Cooper but somewhat smaller than the Countryman model.

The styling is chunkier than the former, especially the wheelarches, although elsewhere it follows the company’s new pared-back design language inside and out. The cheaper E model is joined by the longer-range SE (with a still rather meagre 54.2 kWh battery), which should be good for 252 miles. 

MINI Aceman, from £31,800, Mini.co.uk

Ineos Fusilier

The Ineos Fusilier is the all-electric variant of the eccentric but durable Ineos Grenadier, the car that scraped up the last remaining DNA of Land Rover’s original Defender and turned into a cult but costly 4x4. Starting from the same utility-inspired automotive design, the Fusilier actually sits on its own EV platform and is a bit shorter and lower than its petrol- or diesel-powered sibling. 

With a choice of a pure EV or a range extender model (with a small petrol engine that only functions as a generator for the batteries), the Fusilier will make a striking alternative to the status quo. However, it'll have to go head-to-head with Mercedes’ newly launched electric G-Wagon, the G580.  

Ineos Fusilier, register for more interest at IneosGrenadier.com

Škoda Epiq

Finally, a preview of a car coming early in 2025. Škoda describes its forthcoming Epiq as ’a battery-electric city SUV crossover,’ all part of parent company Volkswagen’s ongoing quest to create a compact, desirable and profitable c€25,000 EV. The Epiq is clad in Škoda’s Modern Solid design language, measures just over 4m long and should have a range of around 250 miles.

Note that in the electric era, a ’people’s car’ can no longer be a compact hatchback, but instead an ’urban’ SUV – such are the tricky economics of making small cars profitable. 

Škoda Epiq, more details at Skoda-Auto.com

We kick off 2024 with our experiences with the lightly refreshed Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, the flagship version of the company’s flagship model, the absolute summit of the brand. The Touareg was launched way back in 2002 to get VW into the all-important SUV sector. Now in its third generation, it’s actually designated as a ‘mid-size’ SUV in auto-industry terms, although by European standards it clearly sits at the upper end of the scale. 

As it stands, the Touareg has more in common with its close mechanical cousins, the Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus, than it does with any other VW, even its (smaller) SUVs. That is to say that it prioritises plushness, performance and comfort over any sense of ‘utilitarian mobility’. For instance, switch to ‘sport’ mode – which adds extra boost from the electric motor – and the interior lighting scheme transforms the cabin into a Chippenham nightclub, all lairy red and black. It’s not subtle.

In R eHybrid form, at the very top of the VW product tree, this means you’re looking at an £80,000 car, fully laden with an acronymic blizzard of options to assist with progress on and off the road, from highways to parking garages. Truth is, you need a fair bit of help to guide the big Touareg through cities with any degree of precision, such is the scale of this 4.9m-long machine (well over 2m wide including wing mirrors).

Powering all this is a petrol V6 linked to an electric motor and battery pack; the latter gives an electric-only range of around 30 miles. As with all plug-in hybrids, a projected and practical use case is to charge at home for regular short trips, keeping the ICE on hand for longer journeys. All well and good, but the fact remains that you’ll be hauling around 3,000kg of largely redundant technology on the off chance you’ll need to run to the shops as well as traverse a massive sand dune on the same afternoon.

Like many big SUVs, the Touareg offers occupants a sense of impervious detachment from the world, swathed in a layer of technology that cossets, entertains and occasional infuriates (touchscreen-only controls for the heating and aircon, for example). A power output of 455hp means that performance is never lacking, although the aforementioned sport mode ensures everyone on board is well aware of your profligacy.

The world of hybrid SUVs currently offers no half measures. In fact, it’s something of a shock to delve into VW’s current line-up and discover that the brand makes no fewer than eight different SUVs, the T-Roc, Taigo, T-Cross, Tiguan, Tiguan Allspace, the electric ID.4 and ID.5 and the flagship Touareg. Over the Atlantic, there’s also the even larger Atlas and Atlas Sport.

How much longer can this Swiss Army knife approach to car design and engineering survive? The Touareg and its ilk sit at the peak of the auto industry’s imminent tipping point; at some point in the not-too-distant future, battery tech will have sufficiently evolved to make small electric cars a truly viable economic proposition. The current glut of huge hybridised and electric SUVs demonstrates that we’re not there yet. Sure, cars like the Touareg demonstrate that you can have it all in one package, but the costs are high for everyone.

Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, from £80,710, Volkswagen.co.uk

About 24 hours into our time with the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the main info screen went dead and defied all attempts at resurrection. It was an unwelcome but useful way of getting to experience a car’s analogue heart, shorn of all the digital trappings provided by slick graphics, smart mapping and copious entertainment and connection options. All that was left to do was drive. 

For decades, this kind of focus was what an Alfa Romeo was all about. The manufacturer is one of the most storied brands in all motoring, with a history that spans from motorsport domination to small-car wizardry, taking in some of the most beautiful automotive designs along the way. Even issues of reliability or quality could be overlooked in the face of supreme elegance and superb driving experience.

Alfa’s undeniable emotional appeal looked increasingly parlous as the auto industry upped its game and banished blights like rust and fragile mechanicals. There was no place for wayward eccentrics. These days, Alfa is sheltered by the far-reaching Stellantis umbrella, scooped up with the lion’s share of the other major Italian manufacturers, Fiat, Abarth, Maserati and Lancia, as well as many others.  

Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4

The Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4 finds itself walking a tightrope between the shared technology and platform of a massive parent company and the need for a little visual boldness and dynamic zip to maintain the tradition of the brand. Our initial criticism of the Tonale was that it fell way short of classic Alfa status.

Unfortunately, introducing a plug-in hybrid system hasn’t added the necessary spark. One of the most enduring criticisms of hybrid cars is that they’re inherently compromised pieces of engineering; the additional weight of the battery and motors offsets the benefits of running at zero emissions or lower engine speeds. Modern PHEV systems have largely overcome this, with longer EV-only ranges (up to 49 miles in this case) and a boosted overall power output (280hp). On paper at least, the Tonale Q4 has a combination of range and power that should make it an accomplished all-rounder. 

Except that historically, Alfa Romeos have never really been all-rounders. They are cars with specific skills that just about muddle by when asked to be something else. At a push, we’ll concede the Tonale Q4 is still a leftfield choice in comparison with even sister marques like Fiat. There are welcome flashes of ‘Alfa-ness’ in both interior and exterior design, from the hooded instrument binnacles to the ribbon-like LED lights, front and rear. Even the wheel design is classic Alfa. 

However, the upright stance of a compact SUV can never replicate the proportional perfection of a classic Alfa, regardless of how good the details are. On top of that, even the combination of electrified assistance and the Q4 all-wheel-drive system adds more weight than entertainment, making this modern Alfa distinctly unmemorable to drive. 

In theory, the connectivity has also been upgraded, bringing Amazon Alexa into the fold so you can ask the assistant about the car’s state of charge from your sofa, for example. The Tonale Q4 also showcases new EV-centric functions that will soon become ubiquitous across an electrified range, including mapping that shows the range relative to battery charge, as well as the inclusion of charge stations in the navigation. 

We’re still expecting big things from Alfa Romeo, a brand that has a lot of residual affection left to shed. The next-generation Giulia promises to be an elegant and powerful all-electric saloon, and there are also long-standing rumours of a new supercar in the works. To offset these riskier economic decisions, the Tonale and its forthcoming electric siblings have to play it straight. 

 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Veloce, from £48,495, AlfaRomeo.co.uk

The main source of light behind Vauxhall’s enduring Astra is commercial success, not shining brilliance or beauty. The Vauxhall Astra is a familiar presence in the UK car market, a best-seller that has gone through eight generations, each encapsulating the trends and technologies of its respective era. 

From 1980 onwards, the Astra was the quintessential people’s car, with the compact hatchback at the heart of the range (estate cars, two-door coupés, saloons and even convertibles were also made). Different engine sizes and trim levels made the Astra range a mirror of social hierarchy, at a time when finely sliced divisions of status could be conveyed through boot badges and different wheel designs. 

Those nuances could be as infinitely varied as the subtle distinctions that underpin the British class system – imperceptible to an outsider, life of death to those within it. The Astra never attained the classless status of rivals like the Volkswagen Golf; it always felt a bit lackadaisical, without the steely core of engineering precision and function that shaped the Golf. 

Later generations proved even more popular, back when the hatchback was the multifunctional machine of choice in those pre-SUV, pre-EV days. Even so, Astra Mk2 (1984 onwards) and Mk3 (1991 onwards) were still spongy and lacklustre, a car that was a necessary commodity, not the epitome of consumer choice (the exceptions were the sprightly, sporting GTE model, which quickly found favour amongst car thieves and illicit business-estate burn-out parties). 

It wasn’t until the Astra Mk4 arrived in 1998 that the Astra became a bit more of a player, with a renewed focus on drivability. Over the next few generations, each new iteration became steadily more and more sophisticated – mirroring the general trend in the market as a whole – until we arrive at the eighth generation model shown here.

In praise of the everyday: Vauxhall Astra hybrid

How does today’s Astra stack up against the Astons, Polestars and BMWs that are more typically found in these pages? There’s an old adage that no one makes bad cars, just boring ones – the investment is simply too great to drop a genuine clanger. Over 43 years of production, not all Astras have been good, and many have been boring. While this current Astra hybrid might not have the badge or the breeding to snare the self-conscious driver’s attention, it is genuinely a very accomplished car. If you’re worried that driving an Astra makes you seem boring, there are probably other factors at play.

The new Astra isn’t quite as sharp-edged as other contemporary Vauxhalls, like the Mokka-E. It eschews passing trends in favour of a no-nonsense, four-square simplicity. Like the old Insignia Cross Tourer, the Astra is stealthy and subdued, although it looks best as a ‘Sports Tourer’ (essentially an estate), with a longer roofline that improves its overall proportions. Built on the same EMP2 platform that Stellantis (Vauxhall’s parent company) uses for the Peugeot 308 and the DS4, the Astra relies on bold frontal graphics to differentiate it from the similar overall outlines of its stablemates. 

Inside, gloss black and matt plastic makes everything a bit dark and gloomy but the levels of equipment and options can’t be faulted. At about 4.3m long, the Astra feels compact and unimposing, with a conventional driving position and no bulked up crossover/SUV pretentions. It handles smartly and predictably, with the hybrid system injecting a fair turn of speed under acceleration and a useful 40+miles of EV-only range. 

The new Astra is available as a plug-in hybrid for now, with a full electric model to follow eventually. At a time when small hatchbacks are deeply unfashionable, even the prospect of electrification might not be enough to save the Astra in its current form. Small SUVs continue to be in greater demand (inexplicably). 

On top of that, the Vauxhall brand currently has a prominent role as a political football, the focus of a post-Brexit kickabout as manufacturers wrangle over the ‘rules of origin’ that determine where a car’s value should be sourced from, intricately bound up with the location of future battery factories. Whatever the outcome, it would be a shame if there was no Astra-shaped space in the future of Vauxhall. Perhaps more than any other model, this modest machine was the backbone of mass-market motoring for decades and deserves to keep evolving for new generations. 

Vauxhall Astra Plug-In Hybrid, Ultimate edition, as tested £39,415, Vauxhall.co.uk

The new Peugeot 408 marks the French manufacturer’s first venture into crossovers. The 408 is a sister car to the Citroën C5 X, using the same platform, the same hardpoints and thus the same basic proportions. Yet while the C5 X boldly proclaimed itself to be a blended mix of SUV, estate car and grand tourer, the 408 has a slightly more dynamic and glamorous brief. Fitted with a more rakish rear end, as well as Peugeot’s current bold and faceted design language, inside and out, the 408 is described by the company as having the ‘look of a hatchback and the comfort of an SUV’.

The latter qualification comes courtesy of a slightly elevated ride height and massive wheels; there are no pretensions whatsoever to having any off-road ability. The 408 doesn’t have the commanding and hence rather arrogant driving position of a conventional SUV, but you’re also not right down at bumper level. 

The cabin is dark, sober and sophisticated, although Peugeot’s ongoing insistence on placing the main instrument binnacle beneath the low-set, compact steering wheel is baffling. The most important information remains in your direct line of sight, but reshaping or relocating the display would seem to be a better fix. 

This is what Peugeot calls its i-Cockpit, a system that’s found in the ten million Peugeots sold over the last decade. The combination of small, low wheel, high binnacle and touch screen is still idiosyncratic (in the best Gallic tradition); perhaps Peugeot will follow Lexus and Tesla down the path of yoke-shaped steering implements.

Unlike the C5 X, which majors on soft, smooth comfort, the 408 is a bit sparkier, with sharper handling and a sport mode that adds noticeable zip. The latter is bolstered by the hybrid system, which aids acceleration and adds an electric-only mode for short spells of zero-emission driving. The Peugeot is also more expensive than the Citroën. These days, both brands belong to Stellantis, although they have a shared history that dates back to the 1970s.

The 408 is a very easy car to live with, despite its relatively large scale. It’s handsomely proportioned, and controls and functions inside fall quickly and instinctively to hand. The swooping rear lines conceal a spacious boot, and the driving refinement is excellent, even if it’s not quite the screaming animal that Peugeot’s feline or leonine imagery (both visual and lyrical) make it out to be.

That cat-like attitude was conjured up with a few clever strokes of the pen by design studios like Pininfarina, which was responsible for the first of the cat-like Peugeot frontal treatments with the 204 back in 1965. It was a look that lasted for decades, ultimately succumbing to the modish blobbery of noughties car design, before roaring back in the past decade. 

There’s perhaps a little bit too much going on in the 408’s front end, with different forms and textures swooping and diving over and above one another. Despite this, it is undeniably cut from the same cloth that has shaped Peugeot for half a century, and for that we should be grateful.

Peugeot 408 Plug-in Hybrid 225 in GT trim level, from £34,650, Peugeot.co.uk

As seen in the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, we meet six rising stars – including Act No. 1, featured here – tearing up the catwalks of the Milan fashion scene with a fresh energy and creative spirit. 

The creative coupling of fashion designers Galib Gassanoff and Luca Lin might seem unexpected on surface level, given their respective Azerbaijani and Chinese heritages, but their shared values and natural affinities have birthed one of the most hotly watched Italian fashion labels of S/S 2023. Act No.1 nods to its founders’ formative years and childhoods, drawing from each designer’s multicultural background and personal history. Focused on highlighting inclusivity, social issues and human rights all over the world, the label has become known for its love of historical motifs as well as its dramatic hybrids, which often sees two different pieces patched into one, or tailored suiting festooned with extravagant swaths of tulle. 

‘The Act No. 1 aesthetic is about merging elements taken from art, craft, printed patterns, antiques, with a new attitude and a way of dressing,’ says Lin, who was born and raised in Italy’s Reggio Emilia to Chinese immigrants. ‘It mixes memories and new techniques for new creative codes. Returning themes are the big ruffles creating big volumes, traditional Chinese prints, flower patterns taken from ancient paintings and see-through tulle to create layering.’

Lin met Gassanoff while they both were fashion students in Milan. ‘I believe we had the same ideas about fashion and style and the same core values,’ he says of their decision to join forces in 2016. ‘The fashion industry is filled with too many things [and] missing authentic values. We believe being truthful to your roots and upbringing means you can produce soulful items in an industry full of beautiful, but oftentimes empty stuff.’

For their recent S/S23 collection, Lin and Gassanoff used the dramatic masks and motifs of traditional Chinese opera to contemplate a search for the inner self. Presented alongside corseted denim pieces, sheer tulle bomber jackets, and fluid silk separates painted with swirling opera motifs and delicate landscapes that transcend gender norms, the dynamic collection made a compelling case for bridging the ancient and new.

Like the sartorial hybrids it creates, Act No. 1 doesn’t seek to resolve its elemental differences seamlessly, but rather enables its various aspects to coexist in juxtaposition. Lin asserts, ‘we embrace differences and push them to the limit to enhance their limits. The world is a big family and inclusion is something we will never miss in the spirit of the brand.’

Models: Katie Johnson at Models 1, Wilfried and Adeline at Xdirectn, Alexander Carey-Morgan at Tomorrow Is Another Day. Casting: Svea Casting Hair: Tosh at Streeters. Make-up: Jimmy Owen Jones at Julian Watson Agency using Dior Forever Foundation and Capture Totale Super Potent Serum. Manicure: Cherrie Snow Set design: Lizzy Gilbert. Photography assistants: Max Glatzhofer, Benedict Moore. Fashion assistant: Stoyan Chuchuranov. Set assistant: Aliou Janha Hair assistant: Leanne Millar.

A version of this story appears in the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*(opens in new tab), available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

If you were shown the side profiles of every mid-size SUV on the market, stripped of identifying badges, a keen eye would be needed to discern which one was which. This is a huge category of car, with SUVs making up around 45 per cent of all car sales.  

For a volume manufacturer like Mazda (which built about 1.3 million cars in 2021) it’s clearly important to have a presence among the myriad SUVs. But how to make it different? For a while now, the Japanese company has set itself apart from the mainstream.  

Mazda has been around since 1920, starting with cork manufacture, then moving on to rickshaws and ultimately cars. After a long-running partnership with Ford, it recently hooked up with fellow Japanese manufacturer Toyota, with whom it has a tech-sharing agreement. In the modern era, the company has excelled at making inexpensive small cars like the Mazda2 and Mazda3, as well as some perennially unfashionable and underrated mid-size saloons and estates (the Mazda6). 

For now, Mazda is still best known for its long-running Mazda MX5, the world’s best-selling sports car, and for a streak of marketing that emphasises sprightly handling, performance, and a general feeling of joie de vivre across its range. It’s a tall order to distil this DNA into an SUV. Before the Mazda CX-60, there was the ill-fated MX-30, a neat-looking but range-hamstrung EV that represents a bit of an evolutionary dead end. 

Mazda CX-60: a go-anywhere country runaround that doesn’t skimp on tech

First impressions of the Mazda CX-60 are similarly underwhelming. The bigger CX-60 doesn’t stand out from that aforementioned line-up of competitors, nor does it make much visual impact on the road. 

The high flanks are broken up by an awkward crease that makes you double-take each and every time you approach the car, half-convinced that someone has just side-swiped it, while the wheel arches are given a pronounced, cartoonish crimp in an attempt to subdue the expanses of bare metal. At the front, the Mazda grille bleeds into the headlights on either side, a technique used by both BMW and Mercedes in recent years. 

Mazda makes a great deal of its adherence to traditional Japanese design concepts like ‘Ma’ (‘the calm and dignified beauty of empty space‘) and ‘Hacho’ (described as ‘intentional unevenness’), as well as ‘Kaichou’, ‘an element of disruption which mixes different materials and textures’. 

It’s a stretch to detect these in the CX-60, either inside or out, and they work best when deployed on Mazda’s concept vehicles, unconstrained by the limits of mass production and legislation.

Nevertheless, the CX-60 is a much more satisfactory story inside. You’d have thought there was no excuse for a badly designed car interior in 2022, but the truth is that the ultra-rapid evolution of personal technologies like smart phones and tablets has posed a massive headache for car designers, who don’t have the speed and resources to keep up. 

Full touchscreen interiors are inevitably over-complicated or underwhelming, and Mazda has thankfully gone for an approach that mixes screens with dials. In ‘Takumi’ trim, it’s a very well-equipped, comfortable car, even if on-board technologies like See-Through View – which gives you an underbody view when off-roading – are likely to be under-utilised by many drivers.  

The other aspect of Mazda’s ethos that the CX-60 struggles to convey is the driving experience. A firmly-sprung car gives a more dynamic and responsive driving experience. However, hybrids are not svelte, and as a result, the CX-60 is brutishly firm across rough roads and speed bumps. On the open road, it is substantially better, but doesn’t quite have the relationship to the MX-5 that a Porsche Macan has, say, to a Cayman. 

So the CX-60 is not a town car, then. But given that it’s a hefty SUV, this should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. In its favour, the CX-60 offers the same broad range of abilities as, say, a Range Rover, only at a fraction of the price. It might not align with Mazda’s self-image, but as a cut-price, go-anywhere country runaround that doesn’t skimp on tech, the CX-60 starts to make sense. 

Mazda CX-60 EXCLUSIVE LINE, from £45,420, Takumi Grade edition from £48,050

mazda.co.uk

Car design ebbs and flows. Companies that find themselves class leaders one year might lose the lustre of innovation the next, just a few models down the line. We’ve got a special soft spot for Peugeot’s current design direction. After a decade in the doldrums, the iconic French company had something of a revelation. 

Under the design direction of Gilles Vidal (who joined Peugeot in 2010 and left for Renault in 2020), it corrected course back towards the stylish, well-proportioned design it had been renowned for in the 1970s and 1980s. Cars like the 208 and 508 took fine proportions and (mostly) excellent detailing, giving the brand a reason to stand out amongst its rivals, many of whom were entering their fallow period at about the same time.

This is the Peugeot 308, a quotidian name that has its origins all the way back to the Peugeot 301 of 1932. As you’d expect, it replaces the rather doughy 307, which in turn replaced the elegant, Pininfarina-designed 306 (another example of that ebbing and flowing). This model is actually the third iteration of the 308 (with the 308 Mk1 representing the absolute nadir of Peugeot design). 

The model was given a thorough design refresh in 2021 and recently became the first model to bear the all-new Peugeot logo. A pure electric version is planned for 2023. The 308 is available as a regular hatchback and as an SW (estate). It’ll soon be joined by a handsome 408 sibling, designed in the increasingly popular fastback/crossover-style. 

It's hard to put a finger on exactly why the 308 is so likeable. Tested in ‘GT Premium Hybrid 225 e-EAT8’ trim, it comes with a turbo-charged 1.6 litre petrol engine bolstered by electric motors. Relatively small and light for a modern car, the hybrid set-up gives the GT zippy performance, a modest but still useful all-electric range of 37 miles, and excellent fuel economy. 

The proportions work well for both regular and SW models, although the signature deep grille has probably (hopefully) reached its maximum size. There are other little leonine design touches, like the claw-slash rear lights and the cat-like countenance of the front end – a quality shared by all the best Peugeots over the last few decades. 

The steering wheel is small by modern standards, but the asymmetric dash doesn’t come across as too fussy. The surfaces and touchpoints all have a quality and feel that belie this car’s middle-market status; it’ll take a bold manufacturer to finally end the status quo of leather, piano black and chrome in contemporary interiors. The Peugeot 308 drives as well as it looks, which is to say with zest and spirit when required, as well as offering a ride that’s quiet, refined and cossetting. 

All-in-all, the 308 is characterful, clean-living, and practical. It joins the Peugeot 508 and 5008 in a line-up of handsome cars that offer a sober, thoughtful counterpoint to sister brand Citroën’s more avant-garde leanings (see the Citroën My Ami Buggy, for example).

The imminent arrival of the e-308 should move the game on even further. With a promised range of over 240 miles, it’ll be a worthy opponent to the challenger brands. Peugeot, founded way back in 1810, still has a long life ahead of it. 

INFORMATION

Peugeot 308 1.6 Hybrid 225 GT, from £37,235

peugeot.co.uk

The Jeep brand is one of the auto industry’s survivors, a company with a true claim to a utilitarian origin. Yet although the first Jeep – the iconic Willys MB of 1941 – is considered one of the most influential pieces of military equipment ever made, the company is now better known for its consumer derivation, the Wrangler, a totemic fragment of conflict diffused into everyday pop culture. 

In fact, the company has a pretty good claim to the origin of the mass-market SUV, with the introduction of the Wagoneer model in 1962.

That was joined by the Cherokee in 1974, a nameplate that survives to the present day (not without controversy) in the form of the US-only Cherokee and the forthcoming Grand Cherokee. 

This is the Jeep Compass, the company’s ‘compact’ SUV and the car that says most about its current corporate status. Jeep is part of Stellantis, the behemoth auto multinational that is limbering up to be a major player in post-fossil fuelled combustion.

With 16 brands under its wings, including Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, and Vauxhall, there’s barely a market or model that hasn’t been influenced in some way by cross-platform-engineering and component sharing. 

The Compass is a case in point. Underneath this mildly rugged exterior are parts shared with the forthcoming Alfa Romeo Tonale, a strong indication that regardless of your corporate history, every company is pretty much competing for the same market these days.

If you go back four decades to the introduction of the Cherokee and look at the equivalent Alfa – the peerless GTV, for example – and it’s impossible to envisage these two vast different companies ever diverging. 

Just as modern Alfas have to ham up their Italian heritage, the Compass lays on some heavy American off-road schtick. Jeep’s seven-slot grille – a throwback to the original Willys – defines the front end, with a suitably raised ride height giving it a go-anywhere look.

That’s enhanced by Jeep’s ‘Selec-Terrain’ system, which gives you five driving modes, including rock, sand/mud and snow. There’s also a ‘Sport’ option, and although the acceleration is sprightly (thanks in the part to the boost from the batteries), don’t expect it to steer like a sports car. 

The plug-in hybrid system – which Jeep calls 4xe – is being rolled out across all its models.

It has the welcome addition of an ‘E-Save’ function, which uses the engine to maintain the battery charge for later use, as well as the standard hybrid and all-electric modes. 

By 2025, the company should have four all-electric cars on sale in North America, with the rest of the world following soon after, starting with the new Jeep Recon and Wagoneer S models. In the US, the Wrangler 4xe is the country’s best-selling plug-in hybrid, and Jeep is hoping to cement the association between four-wheel-drive and electrification, with the message ‘4xe is the New 4x4’. Big, burly SUVs and pick-ups – whether electrified or not – are all very well for the American mythos but play less well to European customers. That’s why smaller cars like the Compass and Renegade are so important to the brand.

Sustainability and efficiency are leading many carmakers to rediscover the values of utility design. Functionalism can be about fun, not just frugality. Stellantis has the heft to encourage innovation – look at the work currently done by Citroën, for example. The Jeep of tomorrow could go a whole lot further.

INFORMATION

Jeep Compass 4xe Plug-in Hybrid Trailhawk, from £41,495

Jeep.co.uk

The inner city might not be the obvious place for a capable off-roader but ever since the original Range Rover made its debut back in 1969, it's been a regular feature of city life, gracing the salubrious suburbs and central streets with its familiar profile. Meanwhile, the Range Rover line-up has grown considerably. 

Now, with its numerous offspring – including the Evoque, Velar, Sport and the flagship Range Rover – the extension of Land Rover's luxury arm is the secret to the marque's success over recent years. Models such as the Evoque and the Velar, in particular, are seen to offer a slice of the Range Rover lifestyle at a more affordable price.   

Taking its name from Land Rover's 1960s pre-production Range Rover prototype, the contemporary Velar – from the Latin, ‘to hide’ – was drafted in to sit between the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport in 2017, as a more compact, form-focused family car.

Three years later, Land Rover added a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) to the line-up in the form of the Velar P400e. 

It's worth checking in to see how the PHEV version of the Velar fares in an increasingly competitive market. The absence of a luxury EV SUV is still a hole in the market, so plug-ins are currently the closest you can get.

However, with 30 miles of pure electric range, the hybrid Velar is more suited to city life than to long-distance electric drives. The silent 139bhp battery-driven powertrain helps it creep around the busy streets, while a 2.0-litre petrol engine puts out 296bhp and takes up propulsion duties over longer spells or for more arduous tasks. 

Under aggressive acceleration, both units combine to propel the hybrid Velar from 0-60 in just over five seconds and on to a top speed of 130mph.

On paper, this gives the hybrid Velar almost the same performance as the sportiest, petrol-engined Velar SVAutobiography. In practice, the hybrid is a convincing mix of silent and smooth electric driving with the added practicality of a traditional combustion-engined car. 

Inside, the hybrid Velar is a practical and comfortable family cruiser, with more than a few of the luxury touches we've come to expect from anything bearing a Range Rover badge.

Armed with a sleek touch screen infotainment set-up and digital dashboard up front, Land Rover’s software is easy to navigate, fluid and intuitive to use. Also equipped with Apple CarPlay, the iOS system loads instantly, bringing your full selection of familiar phone apps into the heart of the car. 

The Velar's roster of high-quality materials – spanning soft-touch plastics, metal, leather and non-leather alternatives, and Kvadrat fabric – is impressive, whichever way you spec it. The exterior and interior design has always been one of the car’s greatest strengths and, even five years on from its launch, it still looks fresh both inside and out.

Even when it came to the model's facelift in 2020, very little was altered, signalling the strength of the original design.

As with all electrified cars, they're only as good as the charging infrastructure around them and the hybrid Velar is no exception to that rule. With over 100mpg as its official efficiency rating, most users can expect between the mid-30s and 60mpg in real-world driving, depending on the use, driving style and how regularly you charge it up.

Living in London, on-street charging is not always an option, so mpg figures can start to tumble towards the 30s if you’re driving on petrol power alone. 

Charging up the car on a 32kW DC rapid charger will restore the battery to 80 per cent in 30 minutes, while the same charge will take an hour and 40 minutes from a 7kW AC home charger.

Charging on a three-pin domestic plug is typically an overnight job. 

The Velar sports a ‘save’ mode, a handy but relatively rare feature in PHEVs that holds electric power constant while it runs the petrol engine – useful for long journeys that culminate in urban traffic. However, ‘hybrid’ mode is what users will run most of the time. At low revs, the hybrid Velar makes use of electric power until the revs exceed 1,500 rpm, which is when the petrol power comes into play.

Toggling between electric and petrol at slow speeds is the only time you can notice a small jerk as the car’s transmission takes note, but for the vast majority of the time, the shift between EV and petrol modes is smooth and barely noticeable.

With the original Range Rover capable of running as well on road as off it, the hybrid Velar is just as capable as anything else in the range when the going gets tough. While many cars are destined never to dip a tyre tread in the mud, let alone venture entirely off-road, the Velar comes equipped with Land Rover's Terrain Response technology.

At the touch of a button on the lower info screen, there's the option to engage Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud Ruts, Sand, and Rock Crawl mode, depending on the surface you’re driving on. 

Even with road tyres fitted, the Velar can work its way through deep mud as well as tricky lumps and bumps, all while carrying three adults in absolute comfort.

Traversing a steep muddy bank while being gently massaged by the in-seat bolsters is an experience unique to a Range Rover. 

Prices for the hybrid Velar start around £65,000 and can get close to £73,000 for the top HSE model. While it's not the most competitively priced hybrid off-roader on the market today, few cars can get close to its build quality, comfort, ride and overall performance on and off the beaten track.

Despite the Velar’s design passing the half-decade mark, it still stands out from the crowd of SUVs available, not least because of its enduring and attractive aesthetics. 

Luxury brands have long maintained that electric power is well-suited to cars that pride themselves on their ability to serenely waft around in near silence.

With an update due soon, will the next version of the Velar deliver that fabled pure electric version? In the meantime, the marque's sleek, hybrid-powered off-roader maintains a place as a do-it-all family favourite.

INFORMATION

Range Rover Velar Plug-In Hybrid, from £65,000

landrover.co.uk

People often complain about the auto industry’s tendency to imitate, noting that certain styling elements are propagated across brands like Japanese knotweed. However, there’s no mistaking the new Lexus NX for any other brand. 

The shock of the new is a hard thing to sustain. Consider Lexus. Once upon a time, the company’s forward-thinking design direction was considered avant-garde by some (and awkward by others). Regardless of your outlook, it was certainly different. Take a look at the manufacturer’s line-up today, and there’s a slight sense of déjà vu. 

Broadly speaking, Lexus makes saloon cars (the ES and LS), sports cars (the RC and LC), and SUVs (the UX, NX, and RX). The latter trio are scaled small, medium, and large, but there’s not a huge amount of design diversity going on.

All have the gaping Lexus grille, flanked by jagged slashes of vents and headlights, and body surfaces that are constantly disrupted from nose to tail by creases, folds, and crimps that some have likened to automotive origami. 

Whereas origami implies a certain serenity and focus, the current Lexus aesthetic is one of busyness and distraction. It’s very far removed from the studied, sober luxury of the company’s earliest models, way back in the 1990s.

Today, Lexus builds automotive statements, cars that stand out in identikit environments like golf club car parks and proffer more character than the ‘conventional’ choices on offer from Germany’s premium brands. The problem is that everyone is making statements now. ‘Bold design’ is important currency in sectors where traditional signifiers of status – performance, speed, noise – mean less and less and less.

The new version of the NX continues the company’s long tradition of building hybrids. Surprisingly, given its experience, the NX450h+ model is Lexus’s very first plug-in hybrid; the company doesn’t even have an all-electric car just yet (although that will shortly change).

The new NX is a sophisticated machine with a couple of major upgrades from its predecessor. The first is that plug-in hybrid system, which is good for an electric-only range of 40 miles and the ability to self-charge using the combustion engine.

The second is a new infotainment system that does away with the awkward, quasi-mouse-like device that Lexus used to use for driving its screens. The NX has a mix of conventional touch screen and dials, and is all the better for it. 

One thing the company has always excelled at is the breadth of standard options – there’s practically nothing extra to specify, even if you wanted to. Compare this with the mercenary practices of competitors, whose option lists run long and dear. As a result, the cabin is an excellent place to be, with extra zip generated by the battery, and a range of sufficiently different driving modes easily accessible from a dedicated dial.

Attention to detail is superb, as is the build quality – the company has a well-deserved reputation for the long-term reliability of every mechanical switch and electronic system. 

The NX is a very easy car to live with, hushed and refined, with excellent seats, plenty of space, and relaxed dynamics that don’t hurry you along.

Your own preferences will dictate whether or not it’s an easy car to look at, but while it doesn’t really have a single great angle, the overall form is cohesive and coherently ‘Lexus’. 

What next? The upcoming Lexus RZ will be the brand’s first battery electric vehicle. Due in late autumn 2022, the RZ has a lot to live up to, given how well Lexus has managed to associate hybrid with hushed, efficient, and reliable luxury. The RZ shares a platform with Toyota’s forthcoming BZ4X , and a comparison of the two will be a useful insight into the art of creating ‘premium’ experiences from the same raw material.

Further down the line is the stunning Lexus Electrified Sport Concept, a preview of a potential next-generation sports EV, a modern equivalent of the famed LFA model built a decade ago. Electrification will give this experienced company another way to shine.

INFORMATION
Lexus NX, from £41,210, Lexus NX 450h+ from £60,950
Lexus.co.uk

The new normal is a world without the expensive fanfare of a regular calendar of international motor shows, making car launches a more frequent and inevitably online kind of affair. Spring was traditionally the turn of Geneva, and although the show will still go on in 2023, that hasn’t stopped a number of new cars and concept cars from breaking cover at this time of the year. Here’s our guide to the top ten debuts of the season.

Ten of the best new hybrid and electric cars and concepts

1. Audi Urbansphere concept

Completing the trio of concept vehicles that began with Audi Skysphere and continued with the Grandsphere, the Audi Urbansphere eschews outlandish aero and low-slung design language in favour of a massive passenger cabin. Described as the ‘largest interior of any Audi to date’, the Urbansphere is a true living room on wheels, without a steering wheel, pedals or instrument panels. With swivelling front seats and an (imagined) full suite of autonomous driving features, the Urbansphere offers up a vision of life – whether work or pleasure – on the automated highways of the future megacity. Expect the basic form language of the concept to form the basis of Audi’s first MPV.

2. Genesis X Speedium Coupé Concept

The Genesis X Speedium Coupé was unveiled at the brand’s Genesis House, a new cultural space in New York’s Meatpacking District. A development of 2021’s Genesis X Concept coupé, the Speedium has a sci-fi name and a slender, long-roof body shape that evokes the more idiosyncratic side of the grand touring era of the 1960s and 1970s.

3. Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV

The EQS SUV is the latest in Mercedes’s line-up of pure electric cars, joining its acclaimed EQS saloon sibling at the top of the product tree. The SUV shares the saloon’s underpinnings, only this is a more conventional body style, smoothed over to create the EQ range’s characteristic lozenge-like appearance. The resulting aerodynamic machine should be good for around 381 miles of range. Inside, there’s the optional dashboard-wide Hyperscreen and also the possibility of a third row of seats, making this one of the few all-electric seven-seaters on the market.

4. BMW X7 and 7-Series

Not only has BMW facelifted its flagship conventional SUV, the X7 (top), to bring it closer in spirit to the all-electric iX, it’s also revealed the next-generation 7-Series saloon. The latter is the company’s traditional flagship and tech showcase and comes in an all-electric i7 model with plug-in hybrids to follow next year. At nearly 5.4m long in standard form, it’s one of the biggest cars on the market. Most of that space is directed at the capacious rear compartment, enhanced by options like the 31.3in 8K BMW Theatre Screen with up to 36 Bowers & Wilkins speakers and reclining ‘Executive Lounge’ rear seats. Other options include Swarovski crystal headlights and a Sky Lounge panoramic glass sunroof with integral light show. The i7 has a projected range of up to 388 miles.

5. Lexus RZe

The new Lexus RZe was designed from the ground up to be pure electric from the outset. Interestingly, the exterior tones down the rather gauche design language that tends to sit a bit awkwardly on an ICE platform. Better proportions give the creases and crimps more space to breathe, and the fared-in grille is a marked improvement. Inside, there’s the first appearance of a steering yoke, not a wheel (available from 2023), part of a cabin set-up that gives the driver a greater sense of engagement with the road. Range is expected to be over 250 miles, with spirited acceleration and Lexus’ traditionally high levels of interior equipment.

6. Ferrari 296 GTS

Ferrari’s new 296 GTS drops the top on the 296 GTB, making this the car to beat in the open-air supercar category. It goes head-to-head with McLaren’s 720S Spider – still an impressive machine despite being well over three years old. The 296 GTS provides an update in the form of its hybrid powertrain, which together with its V6 puts out a combined power figure of 819hp. The folding hardtop roof flips open in 14 seconds, and the performance figures are typically out of this world.

7. Smart #1

The last time Smart made a four-door, it paired with the Renault-Nissan alliance. The result was the Smart Forfour, which shared its proportions and platform with the Renault Twingo. Now the German company is moving into the realm of the ultra-compact SUV with the introduction of the #1, a name that implies something of a reset for the brand. This time, the tech partner is Chinese giant Geely. Designed in Germany, with electric underpinnings fabricated in China, the #1 aims to be the all-conquering world car that the original two-seater never quite managed to be. Pared-back forms, inside and out, imply no-nonsense practicality.

8. Maserati Grecale

Maserati’s latest foray into the world of SUVs takes the form of the new Grecale. Slightly smaller than the Levante SUV, the Grecale is an important car for the Italian luxury manufacturer. Aimed at the still-expanding urban SUV market, the Grecale is being rolled out with a strong emphasis on bold contemporary palettes and cutting-edge infotainment technology. Four bespoke trim sets are available at launch, GT, Modena, Trofeo, and Folgore, inspired by Italian fashion, architecture, and performance, with the Folgore model set to be the first full-electric SUV offering from the company. Inside, the famous dash-mounted clock is now a digital screen, providing access to the Maserati ‘assistant’ as well as offering a number of different display options.

9. Honda e:Ny1 Prototype

A preview of next year’s Honda e:Ny1 has been revealed, a car that hopes to do for compact electric SUVs what the exceptional Honda e did for city cars. It doesn’t quite have the cheeky presence of its smaller sibling, but more space and a longer range should help it become much more than a cult vehicle, offering more practicality for the brand’s traditionally older customers.

10. Lincoln Star Concept

Ford’s Lincoln division celebrates its centenary in 2022. The last few years have been a bit rough on this bastion of American luxury, as its venerable Continental model lost the battle for market share to high-end saloons from Germany, leaving it an SUV-only business. This is the Lincoln Star Concept, a vision of a next-generation pure electric SUV that takes the company’s design language to another level, through interactive lighting, a multifunctional first-class cabin, and plenty of space for luggage. The Star isn’t slated for production, but it previews the three new EVs that are due from the brand by 2025.

Hermès’ ‘Bolide’ bag has long encapsulated a mood of adventure and escape, the zippered carryall first designed in 1923 for cross-country drivers to protect their belongings as they raced around the world at speed (Émile-Maurice Hermès, grandson of house founder Thierry Hermès, dreamt up the bag after travelling to the United States to see Henry Ford’s automobile factory in the early 1920s).

For her S/S 2022 collection, artistic director of the house’s men’s universe Véronique Nichanian looked to a more contemporary – but no less adventurous – mode of transport, reimagining the ‘Bolide’s freewheeling spirit a century on. Replacing the bag’s usual leather base with the gently curved deck of a skateboard, four metal studs in lieu of wheels, the ‘Bolide Skate’ is the type of hybrid that Nichanian has proved adept at dreaming up – its colourful underside revealed only when the bag is held aloft, a playful design trick as captivating as a skater mid-flight.  

‘It aims to encourage people to get out and roam, a desire that we all share,’ said Nichanian of the S/S 2022 collection itself, the ‘Bolide Skate’ bag symbolic of the season’s carefree and escapist mood. Rushes of colour and bold graphic motifs struck a similarly optimistic note, like the pattern found on the board’s underside, which melds three different archival prints taken from the house’s signature silk twill scarves – combined, they reimagine Hermès’ past anew.

It is one of many details in the collection that appear only on closer inspection, when held in the hand, felt against the skin, or worn over the shoulder. It makes for an illusion of simplicity that epitomises Nichanian’s own meticulous approach to menswear, and the discreet but irreverent luxury of Hermès.

INFORMATION
A version of this article appears in the May 2022 issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands now and available to subscribers 

hermes.com

On the face of it, the Toyota Yaris family is the very picture of conformity, a collection of polite compact cars with global appeal and no desire to rock the boat. The ‘Yaris’ name – apparently derived from the Charites, the Greek goddesses of beauty – has been around since 1999.

From the first generation onwards, the template has remained the same, a compact supermini-style car for markets around the world, with some subtle body variants depending on regional taste (sedans for Asia and South America, hatchbacks for Europe).

Most Yaris customers are either very young or very old, and the basic car exudes a classless pragmatism that is largely missing from today’s brand-driven marketplace.

In the past there’s also been a mini MPV, the Yaris Verso (although admittedly the Japan-market name was better – the Toyota FunCargo), and for those in the know, there’s also the exceptionally good GR Yaris, a cultish high-performance version that shares a family likeness but little else with the stock machine.

This is the Yaris Cross, built in France using the same platform as the regular flavour Yaris. As you can see, it is a tough little cookie, with pumped-up suspension and the black plastic wheel arches and body trim that have become visual shorthand for ‘utility’ and practicality.

Although it obviously rides a little higher than the standard car, the Yaris Cross is precisely the same length, at 4.1m. A hybrid power unit pairs a 3-cylinder engine with a rear-mounted electric motor, and the car benefits from Toyota’s multi-million unit experience of combining battery power with an internal combustion engine, making it extremely efficient and easy to use.

Everything about the Yaris Cross is modest and unassuming. Despite the jacked-up styling, it’s hardly aggressive, with a friendly face and compact dimensions. Much has been written about the validity of driving big SUVs in cities, but smaller crossovers like this make far more sense.

The elevated driving position puts you closer to eye level with cyclists and pedestrians, and the little Yaris is well proportioned without relying on excessively awkward styling elements.

The interior includes a ubiquitous touch screen display but goes the analogue route for heating and ventilation, and there are useful trays and pockets for bits and pieces scattered around the cabin. The steering is light and responsive, with the battery giving a welcome added zip to the acceleration.

At highway speeds, the Cross isn’t quite as smooth and silent as an EV equivalent, but it is comfortable, well-equipped, and perfectly capable of serving as an effective long-distance machine as well as a runaround.

Car use is changing fast. Compact hybrids are still a compelling proposition for a small(ish) car, even if the tech is relatively complex. And being a Toyota, one expects the Yaris Cross will last forever.

In fact, we suspect that when the curtains finally come down on the combustion engine’s access to major city centres, the Yaris Cross will still be going strong, even if it no longer has an urban environment to play in.

INFORMATION

Toyota Yaris Cross, from £28,950

Toyota.co.uk

In recent years, Pitti Uomo in Florence has been heralded as not just the epicentre of tailoring, but the event to flock to for outerwear enthusiasts. Technical clothing has become a byword for ‘cool' in the menswear scene, as performance wear aficionados obsess over innovative fabrications, garment longevity and dyeing techniques, suitable for hardy treks, rough terrain and terrible weather, but also for a sportswear-inflected look in the city. 

Italian outerwear label Ten c is at the forefront of design innovation, and this week, as part of Pitti Uomo 101, the label presented its latest collection at the Fortezza da Basso. For A/W 2022 it has taken the concept of ‘hybridisation’ as its central creative tenet, creating a menswear collection – spanning parkas, puffer jackets, trousers and mid-layers, in neutral and organic shades, bold mandarin red and bright Klein blue – which explores differing materials and techniques, and unites juxtaposing fabrics. 

Ten c A/W 2022: embrace hybrid design

As usual, the label's signature OJJ fabric, a denim-resembling high-density nylon and polyester fibre jersey that is windproof and water-repellent, made using a high-temperature, high-pressure dyeing process, takes focus. OJJ is used to craft down-filled jackets, and a 12oz variation features in Ten c’s Storm Parka, a remastered version of the Royal Air Force Jacket. Pushing technical innovation, for the first time, OJJ is piece-dyed, and garments are completely taped with pockets and hooded details, with garment elements preformed and heat-bonded. In outerwear, trousers and crewnecks and hoodies, OJJ is also teamed with garment-dyed fleece, sheepskin, transparent nylon, nylon tactel, and transparent resined nylon. 

For Ten c, militaristic and technical elements are blended. Materials are combined that may appear incompatible in terms of garment dyeing, like polyester and nylon.

A/W 2022 also proposes a total look, bringing together not just outerwear, but bouclé and merino twist yarn knitwear that resembles snuggly fleece, plus heavy cotton satin trousers.

Planning a trip that encompasses a tiring trek and a city break? Ten c's hybrid creations have all the diverse design elements you need. 

INFORMATION
tenc.com

Two years after the new Land Rover Defender finally launched, the brand has taken the wraps off the Land Rover Defender Hybrid, the first plug-in electric model in the vehicle’s history. The road to the renewed Defender was unexpectedly bumpy, as we explained in our review of the 2019 model. At the heart of the Defender’s journey to production was the debate as to what this car actually is and who it is for.

Although Land Rover bakes in more off-road ability than almost any other car maker, it is arguably building elegant, upmarket machines for customers who are usually several acres short of being landed gentry. The original Land Rover, launched in 1948, was certainly no aristocratic plaything or symbol of upward mobility. Instead, it was a noble attempt to parley wartime shortages and surpluses (in this case a surfeit of aluminium) into a utilitarian machine that could just as easily pull a plough across a field as it could scramble across urban bombsites.

Up until its demise, due to failing emissions and crash-test legislation for key markets like the US, the original Defender remained a stoic beast of burden, used commercially around the world for everything from firefighting to search and rescue. Towards the end of this long, long life, the model started to acquire some urban cachet, representing the authentic and fashionable connection between functionalism and design purity. And so it remained until the bitter end, leaving a legacy that Land Rover has been strangely reluctant to continue.

In 2011, the company showed the DC100 concept, a chunky, almost parodic take on the chamfered edges and blunt ends of the original. Ultimately, it was deemed too small and not appealing enough to sate the bitter mix of hardcore fans and potential new customers. The market has moved on and today’s utility vehicle owner is markedly more unlikely to use their cars for actual utility; the selling point is the ability.

So instead of a smaller, cheaper Land Rover, the machinations of global economics and evolving consumer demand meant the company had little choice but to take Defender upmarket and aim high.

This was what led to the new Defender, a much, much larger and more authoritative machine than the DC100 ever was, let alone the original. There are some clear aesthetic alliances between the new and the old, but although the new car makes concessions to function (an open oddments tray on the dashboard, the barn door-style tailgate bearing the spare tyre, and a host of racks, rails and storage options available as accessory packs), it is very, very far from being basic.

Some elements, like the roof-mounted glass panels at the rear, are in the spirit of the original but barely share their functionality, the panels in question being so deep they resemble gothic vaults, not rooflights. Stylistically, this car owes more to the LR3 and LR4 generations of the Land Rover Discovery, a cultishy blocky design that ran from 2004 to 2016, and was much missed by enthusiasts when it was swapped out for the third generation L462 Discovery in 2017.

As a plug-in hybrid, the Defender loses none of its capability, whether mud-wrangling or wading. Available in long wheelbase 110 format only, it seats five and can be operated in pure electric mode, with a fast-charging mode allowing you to dodge the fuel pump for as long as possible. It’s reasonably fast and agile, given its size, and far more refined than any car bearing the Defender name has ever been before.

Land Rover has made peace with the idea of losing its status as a maker of go-anywhere cars for anyone. The new Defender is not a humble utility vehicle, but a luxury car that’s been pared back to very comfortable ‘basics’. Throw in the availability of electric drive, and you have a car that ticks all the boxes of the modern buyer.

INFORMATION

Land Rover Defender 110 P400e, from £65,915

landrover.co.uk

Why is Wallpaper* writing about the Suzuki Swift Hybrid? Sometimes luxury isn’t about extravagance, opulence, performance, craft, or rarity. Luxury is also about time, convenience, and modesty, but these are difficult qualities to express in physical form, especially in the image-conscious world of the automobile. Suzuki’s Swift is a decent attempt at embodying these values.

The modest hatchback has been a mainstay of the company’s range since 2004. Before that, the ‘Swift’ nameplate was attached to various Suzuki models around the world, none of which had any real pretence of living up to the name. Sparky, yes. Out and out sports? Certainly not. There is a much-admired Swift Sport model, which won’t bother any supercars but is delightfully crisp to drive. This, however, is the very vanilla hybrid version, which has less power, less verve and isn’t quite as engaging. But frankly, does it really matter?

Suzuki’s origin story is similar to Toyota’s, in that both companies started out as industrial textile firms, specialising in big weaving machines. Suzuki dates back further, to 1909, but it was slightly later into car-making than its rival. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that Suzuki decided to re-focus on mobility, starting with hugely successful motorbikes, and eventually tackling the more modest end of the automotive spectrum. In particular, Suzuki became a market leader in the Japan-only kei car segment, the micro-car designation that requires strict legal limits on size and power of cars, trucks and vans. Small doesn’t necessarily mean beautiful, but it does mean ingenious, with smart packaging squeezed into compact forms. Suzuki models such as the Mighty Boy, Lapin, Palette, and Cappuccino were as distinctive as their names, and many of them garnered a cult following.

For example, the excellent Suzuki Jimny had a short-lived spell on sale in Europe, becoming a cult miniature off-roader, before it was unceremoniously cut due to emissions legislation (you can still get a commercial version). The Swift absorbs all this heritage without becoming too eccentric. It’s by no means as compact as a kei car, nor even the more bitesize offerings from Fiat and Smart, but it is well under 4m long and feels positively diminutive alongside the endless deluge of modern SUVs, both electric and ICE-powered. The Swift’s ‘hybrid’ badge is something of a misnomer, for it gets only the mildest of battery assistance, with no EV mode, let alone anything to actually plug in. What you can connect instead is your smartphone, with a direct link to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, while the dashboard visibility and controls are no nonsense and straightforward, feeling almost old-fashioned in their layout. 

The same goes for the exterior design. There’s just the faintest whiff of retro directness about the Swift’s front end, with its neat arrangement of headlights and oval grill. The C pillar is also distinctive, with a rising tab of bodywork intersecting with the blacked-out glasshouse, as well as a concealed rear door handle that keeps the car’s flanks looking elegantly curved. Taken as a whole, it’s almost (almost) reminiscent of the purist simplicity of 1960s sports cars, rather than the occasionally florid curves of some of its rivals from Japan.

The Suzuki Swift does a lot of things right, all for a price that could easily be swallowed up by ticking a few option boxes on a new Audi, Porsche, or Mercedes. Although the Japanese car might not be an obvious example of luxury, by virtue of being compact, competent, and extremely easy to live with, the little Swift will enhance your life while keeping things low-key.

INFORMATION

Suzuki Swift Hybrid, from £14,075

Suzuki.co.uk

Bentley believes it is first to build a ‘true-luxury SUV’ plug-in hybrid with its new Bentayga Hybrid. The only real rivals in this upper echelon of monolithic 4x4s are the Rolls-Royce Cullinan (currently entirely unelectrified), the Aston Martin DBX (a plug-in version is on the horizon), and maybe Maybach, which will be launching the EQS full-electric SUV in the next couple of years. Another obvious rival – and first to the hybrid stage – is Range Rover, which has just revealed its fifth generation model; the 2022 Range Rover offers engine options from diesel all the way through to plug-in hybrid, and promises a full EV in 2024.

In this company, Bentley’s persistence with hybrid tech is starting to seem a little old-fashioned. The first all-electric Bentley isn’t due until 2025 at the earliest, by which point we can expect the big W12 and V8 engines that have defined the brand for generations to be both terminally unfashionable and legislatively prohibited.

As part of the VW Group, Bentley has access to some of the world’s best automotive engineering, but in practice, it tends to lag just slightly behind sister companies like Audi and Porsche. In luxury terms, this doesn’t matter much, because so much of what goes into making a Bentley is richness of materials, details, and craftsmanship. The other ingredient is lashings of power.

On the market since 2015 (and given a major overhaul and successful facelift in 2019), the Bentayga is getting a little bit long in the tooth. The hybrid model can’t even be described as the most advanced model in Bentley’s range – that honour probably goes to the latest version of the Flying Spur, which is due in Europe soon.

Both cars weigh practically the same, both have a hybrid drive system and a V6, but the Bentayga gets only 31 miles of pure electric range. Figures haven’t been released yet for the Flying Spur, but it should be more in line with the Porsche Panamera Hybrid, which gets a (very slightly) more respectable 35 miles of electric only travel. Neither is especially impressive.

Ultimately, the chief benefactor of the Bentayga Hybrid is Bentley itself, thanks to the reduction in overall fleet CO2 emissions the car delivers to help the company pass stringent regulations. We also assume that no one buys a Bentayga Hybrid to reduce their monthly outgoings; the battery pack is essentially billed as a performance booster that’ll bump a V6 up to V8 status without any smoggy side effects.

The upside is a vast improvement in range. Driven with care, you can eke over 500 miles out of a Bentayga Hybrid, making it more of ‘grand tourer’ than most GTs. There’s even a special ‘Efficiency Accelerator Pedal’ that provides feedback to your right foot, encouraging a lighter touch to stop the V6 kicking in unnecessarily.

The Bentayga Hybrid sits at the bottom of Bentley’s performance league table, although that’s still quite far above everyone else’s. Unless you’re very familiar with the V8 or W12 models, you won’t really miss the difference. There’s a slight lack of sound and drama in comparison to traditional models, but that is all offset by the absence of any guilt associated with deploying the accelerator.

This is something the most ardent EV and hybrid drivers are probably familiar with; bursts of speed that be conjured up without shattering eardrums or eliciting side-eyed glances. The Bentayga is richly refined and a very pleasant machine to drive, as well as being surprisingly easy to live with once you’ve mastered its dimensions.

The combination of ICE and EV gives the big Bentayga less of a clinical feel than other large electric SUVs, like the Audi e-tron and the Mercedes EQC. Part of the wonder of silent-running luxury cars is the engineering integrity required to dampen down the ardour of a complex lump of machinery that transforms fuel into motion through a meticulously choreographed process.

Bentley is unbelievably good at this, as it should be, but out of the acknowledged experts in disguising the existence of a traditional engine, so far only Mercedes has taken the plunge and introduced an EV at the upper echelon of its range, the EQS.

Otherwise, it’s very much Bentley business as usual behind the wheel. Fixtures, fittings, and trimmings are top class. If you want to go above and beyond the already exceptional base-level trim, Bentley’s specialist Mulliner division will provide you with limitless options. The dark Viridian green car shown here was built as a one-off for The Macallan Estate in Speyside, Scotland, part of the ongoing partnership between the two brands.

So is the Bentayga Hybrid the first true green Bentley? That term is still a trifle oxymoronic, given its palatial scale, colossal power, and the unfettered opulence this car still represents. It is certainly a step in the right direction.

INFORMATION

Bentley Bentayga Hybrid, from £155,500

bentleymotors.com

It’s taken Lexus a long time to completely cut ties with the internal combustion engine. Toyota’s luxury division was the pioneering high-end hybrid brand, taking the tech that its parent company effectively invented and honed to perfection through models like the Prius, which debuted way back in 1997. The company has sold well over 15 million hybrid models to date, with Lexus chipping in with mixed-power models from 2005 onwards. These days, you can’t buy a non-electrically assisted Lexus in the UK, and the LF-Z concept shown in March heralds the shape of its battery electric future.

For a company that has always made much of its design chops, going electric will be especially beneficial. The UX 300e might be a first, but it’s also a compromise, a car with a visually identical hybrid sibling. We’ve often noted that car design is in a bit of a limbo, with the best and boldest designs coming from manufacturers who have started from scratch and don’t have to accommodate the legacy of the internal combustion engine. This isn’t an engineering quandary – these issues were all carefully planned for years in advance – but a visual one; a glimpse at the Lexus LF-Z shows the company's best-looking model to date, even if it is still only a concept. 

The little UX 300e starts with a struggle, therefore. Added adversity comes with its scale, for at the moment, small cars still equal a relatively small range, due to the lack of space for battery packaging. This isn’t necessarily a problem, provided you’re good at planning ahead and don’t treat a car solely like a spontaneous lifestyle accessory. Fast-charging via the CHAdeMO plug, with 0 per cent to 80 per cent coming up in just under an hour. CHAdeMO is different the CCS plugs used in many German cars, although both systems are usually found together on the same charger. The main problem is finding a free charge point in the first place, a whinge that will hopefully soon feel akin to complaining about dial-up internet speeds.

The projected range of 196 miles feels rather optimistic, and if you avail yourself of accessories like air conditioning or use a bit too much of the swift acceleration, you’ll be lucky to get 75 per cent of that. However, unlike many current EVs, the UX 300e has a very welcome feeling of lightness, a characteristic that so many EVs fail to convey. With a sense off lightness – however artificially contrived – comes a tendency to take things easy, eke out the range and revel in the comfort and accoutrements that Lexus have become famed for. Compact luxury EVs are still thin on the ground, so for now the Lexus has the field to itself. It’s a strong start from a company with the skills to make superior electric cars.

INFORMATION
Lexus UX 300e EV with Premium Plus Pack, £47,400

lexus.co.uk

Hyundai’s burgeoning image as a manufacturer of desirable, practical and stylish cars has taken another step forward with two new variants of their IONIQ and Kona models. Both further the Korean giant’s ambition to have 75 per cent of its fleet electrified in some way by next year. The two cars also cement the carefully crafted image that has been built up slowly and steadily since the carmaker entered the European and American markets in the 1980s.

Now the epitome of a modern car company, Hyundai began life as a construction firm back in 1947. These days, the various Hyundai businesses, including shipbuilding, shopping malls, robotics and heavy engineering, add up to the largest corporate entity in Korea, a technological and industrial behemoth in one of the world’s most sophisticated economies.

Hyundai was relatively late in its adoption of branding and marketing. Once known for efficient but unexciting cars, it has worked hard to turn things around. These days, epic cinematic ad campaigns make a credible stab at presenting Hyundai as a caring, sharing multinational. More importantly, its automotive offerings are consistently excellent. All that’s missing is the heart-tugging emotions deployed so effectively by the heritage brands. But as the industry transitions to zero-emissions, the touchstones of traditional heritage are becoming less and less desirable.

Together, the IONIQ Electric and Kona Hybrid aren’t offering anything particularly new in terms of aesthetics and both already exist with other powertrains. The IONIQ is the larger of the two, a quietly well put together large hatchback in the Prius mold; this could be your next Uber ride. The Kona is pitched at private buyers, a modestly sized crossover with a modishly rugged exterior. Both cars are well equipped, functioning seamlessly and effectively without troubling the eye or impeding the mind. The IONIQ’s drivetrain is silent and silky smooth, as an EV should be, while the Kona’s hybrid system also does a great job of concealing the electronic back and forth between the battery, motors and the 1.6 litre petrol engine. Hyundai are pushing their new Bluelink technology, which effectively tethers the car to your smartphone, updates you on charge, unlocking, cabin temperature, etc. It’s not a new idea, but it’s rare to find this level of connectivity at this price.

Hyundai’s electrification strategy was recently given a boost when the company joined IONITY, a fast-charging network across Europe that was set up by BMW, Daimler AG, Ford, VW and Porsche as a riposte to Tesla’s Supercharger system. Although the newly unveiled i10 city car offers even more of the refined, planted and safely civil design the company has become known for, there’s a strong hint that aesthetic change is on the way. The new 45 EV concept car shown at this year’s Frankfurt Show indicates a radical swing away from flowing Far Eastern curves towards a more hard-edges, retro-futuristic angular look. Sources say it doesn’t preview a specific model but is instead indicative of shapes to come.

INFORMATION

hyundai.co.uk

In 2018, we explored how the home-tech market is shaking things up in a bid to de-tangle and de-clutter the household. Our findings highlighted a shift in interest towards ‘flexi-tech’, multi-functional products making our digital domesticity easier, tidier and, above all else, healthier.

Romanian product designer Vlad Iorgulescu sees the link between technology and wellness fundamental to modern home product design. This relationship lies at the crux of his latest venture, Oupio: the merging of a high fidelity speaker with a smart lamp, optimised to brighten our indoor lives with ‘human-centric’ lighting and quality sound.

‘Since we spend most of our time indoors, we end up relying on artificial lighting to light up our spaces,’ he explains. ‘The ways in which we’ve adapted our lighting ends up confusing our body’s response to light and our circadian rhythms, leading to mood changes, insomnia and tiredness. Oupio is here to fix that.’

Guided by Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design and the motto ‘own less, do more’, Iorgulescu housed the two pieces of sensory tech together within a spherical shell of white opal glass, anodized aluminium and wood. Both the visual and sonic experiences on offer can be shaped via a minimal touch interface located around the central speaker ring (change parameters with one finger for sound, two or more for light), which makes moulding the perfect indoor ambience a simple affair.

Both technologies are similarly designed with utility and calm in mind. Twenty high-powered LEDs offer everything between cold, crisp hues to calming mellow yellows on the lighting front, and have been designed to last a minimum of 10,000 hours. On the sonic side of the coin, audio can only be streamed via Bluetooth. Streamlined Balanced Mode Radiator technology and a pair of co-axial drivers offer a frequency range of 65Hz to 20KHz with a fairly loud top volume of around 90dB.

Oupio can be fitted anywhere around the house, either acting as a tabletop companion or providing overhead sound and light when hung from the ceiling. ‘We need hybrid products with mixed functionality,’ states Iorgulescu. ‘By doing this, we declutter our living spaces, have a smaller carbon footprint and pay less while still maintaining the functionality we desire.’

‘We need to find ways of making life indoors better for our health, mood and wellbeing. This is Oupio’s mission and we’re only just beginning.’ 

INFORMATION

oupio.com

Germany is making design news. In our April 2019 issue (W*241), we shined a light on its bold new Bauhaus Museum, and its pioneering fashion collectives redefining everyday dressing. Here, from the supplement, we explore the country's power surge of electrifying autos.

BMW 530e iPerformance (pictured top)

BMW’s electric strategy seems to be taking two routes. On the one hand, you have the acclaimed i3 and i8 – still two of the most futuristic cars on the road some eight years after the designs were first seen. And on the other, you have the slow, inexorable hybridisation of every other model in the fleet. The new 530e iPerformance is a case in point. As a plug-in hybrid, it leaves it down to the driver whether to make the most of EV power, offering up a more than serviceable petrol alternative if the batteries are flat. Make the most of both options, however, and you have a hyper-efficient business saloon, full of cutting-edge but discreet technology. It drives with the spirited verve that defines every BMW saloon, while encouraging you to make the most energy-efficient progress you possibly can. From £49,950, bmw.com

Mercedes-Benz EQC

Mercedes-Benz has launched a dedicated electric sub-brand, EQ, to focus its EV strategy (there are already a host of hybrid variants of the marque’s regular models). The EQC is the first production model to appear, a relatively conservative, big SUV that doesn’t break any moulds but instead offers a familiar form to those wavering between old-school engines and the zero-emission future. In fact rather sleeker than its combustion-engined siblings, the EQC benefits from a more minimalist touch. Access to the Ionity fast-charge network and a projected range of 280 miles make it competitive, while the slick evolution of the Mercedes-Benz interior will also win fans. Expect more EQ models in the coming months, both big and small, topped by a rumoured all-electric alternative to the flagship S-Class saloon. Approximately £60,000-£70,000, mercedes-benz.com/EQ

Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo

A concept that’s not far from reality, Porsche’s Mission E Cross Turismo is related to the upcoming Taycan – the marque’s first all-electric production car – but has a slightly higher ride and an extended luggage compartment. Porsche is already a master of hybrid tech, as seen in the 918 supercar, the Panamera, the Cayenne and the forthcoming 911; its pure EVs will take things further. To retain its status as the world’s biggest sports car-maker, Porsche needs to make its Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo EVs ultra-desirable. As a result, its designers have spent half a decade honing the Taycan, starting with the original Mission E concept in 2015. The model will have a fast-charge system that will give 80 per cent range in just 15 minutes, using the Ionity network. Variants are sure to follow, all with Porsche levels of performance as standard. The concept seen here could be a part of a major shift in performance motoring. Concept only, porsche.com

Volkswagen e-Golf

Despite Volkswagen’s garage-full of new electric cars due to roll out at the start of the next decade, there are still plenty of takers for the simplest option: an electric Golf. The e-Golf has been a long-term project, with the first prototypes arriving in 2011. Since then, it has continued to evolve and improve its range, to the point that it is a truly credible alternative to the combustion-engine classic. At one point, the e-Golf was the best-selling car in EV-mad Norway, for example. However, despite its appeal, this may be your last chance, at least for a while, to grab one. While a Golf Mk8 will be released this year, the e-Golf is likely to give way to the company’s new ID range of pure electric cars. From £32,550, vw.com

As originally featured in the April 2019 issue of Wallaper* (W*241)

A decade or so ago, the traditional car industry was still being rather shy in its approach to sustainability. Some of the more progressive designers have long been active behind the scenes, yet it took the fear of strict legislation, and the spark from Tesla’s success in particular, to truly challenge frontiers.

Against this background, Lexus has been leading a quiet ecological revolution. This is a company that tends not to shout too loud. In 1989, when Toyota first introduced its luxury arm, a single consumer complaint led to a special service campaign, marking Lexus as a customer-focused brand. In 2004, the marque became one of the first to invest in hybrid-electric powertrains, debuting the efficient technology in the world’s original luxury hybrid the RX 400h, and then three years later in the first V8 hybrid LS 600hL.

The UX is the latest product to join the Lexus hybrid family to be its smallest SUV. Lexus has been delivering premium sports utilities for some 24 years, and although our roads are congested with crossovers of all shapes and sizes, the genre’s popularity is ever-growing, especially with more compact products like this. Adding a hybrid engine to an SUV, of course, makes perfect marketing sense.

The name is a take on ‘urban crossover’, alluding to the car’s appeal for urbanites and younger buyers. This UX 250h hybrid model pairs a 2.0-litre engine with the fourth-generation Lexus battery hybrid power. The marque refers to the UX as self-charging – referencing the additional conventional engine which eliminates the need for finding a charge mid-travel. It is a clever play on words, since Lexus will continue to concentrate on its hybrid technology with the view of entering the fully electric car market in the near future.

To drive the UX is difficult to fault. You sit a little high, although the ergonomics are sound. The car feels happiest in the city, riding at moderate speeds and quietly. The engine switches smoothly from petrol to electric which you can monitor on the digital display. The car will accelerate to 62mph in 8.5-seconds, while its top speed is electronically controlled at 110mph. There is an electronic CVT transmission, and a choice of front-wheel drive and the optional E-Four system, which diverts some of the drive to the rear wheels when extra traction is needed. Crucially, the car claims an average of 42.8mpg and emissions of 131g/km of CO2, numbers which rise to 35.6mpg and 157g/km with the 18-inch alloyed F-Sport model.

Like the Mercedes GLA, the UX continues the trend in adapting the tall hatchback vernacular. In the past, Lexus struggled to find a distinct visual voice, and there is still a certain earnestness to its current ‘L-finesse’ design theme. In the UX, it manifests in a more subtle take on the distinctive spindle grille with its block-shape mesh pattern, introduced in the LF-Gh concept eight years ago and subsequently the face of all Lexus cars.

The cabin is bright, light and, essential for a hybrid, quiet with the upper deck of the instrument panel appearing to be extending out and beyond the windshield, a take from the architectural concept of ‘engawa’ – blurring the boundary between inside and out. The UX offers a high spec of advanced technology, including the company’s latest navigation and a clear graphic head-up-display as well as Amazon Alexa. On higher trim levels, it is also a gallery of sorts for presenting the intricate Takumi artisan skills of the handful of craftspeople who bring with them over twenty-five years of experience. Whereas the flagship LS saloon we drove last year is treated to all the Takumi delicacies, the UX gets teaser elements – material treatments on the dashboard, washi paper inspired trims, and crafted seats. Finally, the UX can be ordered with a Mark Levinson audio system and a sunroof.

For Lexus, the UX is a crucial product in Europe. In the UK alone, the firm says some 80 per cent of buyers are expected to be new to the marque. With its practical credentials, ecological flavour and quiet presence, this is certainly a possibility. There is also enough unusual styling for the UX to maintain its individuality on the road.

INFORMATION
Lexus UX, from £29,900, available from March. For more information, visit the Lexus website

What price innovation? If we were tasked with drawing up a dream specification for a contemporary car, chances are that the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo would come very close to ticking every box on a very long wishlist. Few motor cars can claim to be quite a complex as this mighty new machine from the legendary Stuttgart manufacturer, a company founded around the celebration and deployment of rigorous engineering. The Sport Turismo is the big booted version of Porsche’s four-door saloon, a model that’s always teetered on the brink of irrelevance, stranded as it is between the company’s famous line-up of two-door sports cars, the 911, Cayman and Boxster, and the profitable and big-selling Macan and Cayenne SUVs. The Panamera is the best of both worlds, offering space and pace, albeit without the grace of the former or the genuine utility of the latter.

Instead, the company has chosen the model to be its technological tour-de-force, the platform on which it debuts the newest drivetrain and in-car technology. The Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is the summit of the company’s current achievement, mating a hugely sophisticated plug-in hybrid drivetrain with its most ferocious twin turbo-charged V8. The combination required hugely complex engineering but the end result is seamlessly satisfying. With space for five adults and their luggage – thanks to the extended Sport Turismo bodyshape, almost like a cut-down estate car – the 5m-long Panamera will hit 62mph in just 3.4 seconds and best 190mph on the autobahn. It will also waft along in blissful silence for 22 miles, using pure electric power alone, with batteries that can be topped up at a charge point or simply by using power siphoned off its regenerative braking system.

If the internal combustion engine is going to survive as an object of intrinsic desire, then a car like this is surely the purest indication of the future. The Panamera’s EV mode lets it slip unaccosted into urban centres and loiter guilt-free in traffic. The space on offer suggests a multiplicity of uses, while the interior cabin quality, switchgear and infotainment system are amongst the very best you can buy. This is a car to love for its all-round ability, not its devastating good looks (which are very much a matter of taste), nor its lithe dynamics (it handles beautifully for such a big car, but is unsurprisingly no match for a 911 or Cayman).

The Panamera E-Hybrid is pitched at pioneering Silicon Valley types, people for whom a Tesla is too much of a cliché but who still want to eschew the old world symbolism of a conventional car without having to give up the fabled Porsche badge. But the cutting edge moves fast. The forthcoming Mission E – freshly christened the Porsche Taycan in advance of sales starting in 2019 – will surely wrest the lion's share of sporting saloon sales away from its more conventional sibling. The Taycan is at the vanguard of the change sweeping through the industry, a pure electric machine backed up with a new network of fast-charging stations. When it arrives, there's every chance that the Panamera will be allowed to slip quietly into oblivion, mission accomplished. For now, it offers a window into the future without completely cutting links with the past. 

INFORMATION

Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, price as tested £157,370. For more information, visit the Porsche website

Porsche’s Panamera 4 E-Hybrid represents the summit of today’s auto technology. Its list of achievements is impressive, fusing a twin-turbocharged V6 engine with a hefty battery pack, the E-Hybrid is a true sports saloon that tops out above 170mph, hits 62mph in just over four and a half seconds, carries four grown adults and their luggage and can also slink around the city centre on pure electric power for up to 30 miles. Oh, and it has four wheel drive as well. This combination makes the newest variant of the Panamera some sort of automotive miracle worker, a way of having your high-performance cake and eating it. A literal wagon-load of technology lets you allocate spare kinetic energy to charge the battery. Or of course you could always plug it in.

The current Panamera is a handsome piece of car design, albeit a generously sized one. There are only a few downsides. At over 5m long it’s not ideally sized for regular urban forays and like any slice of cutting edge technology, it doesn’t come cheap. Being a Porsche makes it dearer still – the company has an extensive options list for you to boost the price. There’s also the faint worry that a car this complex is in danger of driving itself into rapid obsolescence, with potentially worrisome upkeep further down the line.

Box fresh and fully fuelled, these thoughts are far from your mind. The big Panamera rides supremely well on its air suspension, and the invisible switching between fuel, hybrid and electric modes is deftly handled. Porsche’s current cabin architecture is second to none, with a panoramic widescreen interface for navigation and information. Press on, and the car effortlessly conceals its massive mass. You can even swap out the V6 for a V8 if you want to ramp up the performance quota (although by this point we’re no longer convinced that a true sports car can have four doors and four seats, and Porsche makes a brace of much better contenders).

Alternatively, you could wait for the forthcoming Sport Turismo, a handsome shooting brake variant of the Panamera designed to take even more luggage. Or most importantly of all, you could hang on for the imminent arrival of Porsche’s all-electric Tesla challenger, previewed by the 2015 Mission E concept. This promises to be a game-changer for the sector, bringing the brand lustre Porsche has built up over decades into the nascent sports electric market. Already, Porsche's hybrid models make up more than half of all Panamera sales (and around 90% of sales in Scandinavia). The E-Hybrid is not only a superb machine in its own right, but a sign of exciting things to come.

INFORMATION
Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, from £79,715 (as tested £106,867)

Sustainable luxury is an increasingly common aspiration, from niche furniture design to giant automotive firms. Today's consumer not only want to admire their shiny belongings, they want to sleep soundly knowing their purchases have helped ease the pressure on natural resources, or have, at the very least, impacted to a lesser degree than the closest alternative.

The past few years have seen a huge number of hybrid and electric vehicles enter the market, a barrage of eco correctness that is increasingly hard to navigate. Now there's another entrant into the race, the Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid.

Volvo has spent several years patiently beavering away at their Gothenburg headquarters developing the most recent twist on the green revolution. At first glance the V60 Plug-In appears almost identical to any recent Volvo. The only noticeable change in appearance are the slightly space-age style of its low-drag 17 inch wheels; when cutting weight and upping aerodynamic drags, everything has to be taken into account, even the flow of air through an alloy wheel.

One has to delve a bit deeper into the mechanical workings of the V60 to find the real differences. The new car blends a 2.4-litre diesel engine with an electric motor to create a combined power output of 276bhp. That's impressive enough, but it also comes with startling claims of efficiency: 148mpg with emissions at just 49g/km of CO2.

The V60 gives you three driving modes, Pure, which enables the driver to run using only power from the lithium iron battery pack housed discretely beneath the ample boot compartment. Volvo places battery range at a little over 30 miles with this selection, which should be plenty for most daily city commutes). Hybrid mode initiates help from the diesel engine, increasing performance if and when required, and Power mode combines engine and battery together to produce enough drive to record a 0-62mph time of 6.9 seconds.

Volvo has openly geared itself towards the luxury family market, a market that demands safety as priority. To protect ones loved ones is paramount, but to protect pedestrians is the next area of innovation. Richard Monturo, Volvo Vice President of Global Marketing told us that the V60's sibling, the V40, is 'already all there' in terms of advanced people-watching technology. When the car senses an imminent pedestrian impact, it deploys an airbag around the windscreen area, cushioning impact from the bonnet and windscreen wiper recess - areas where most pedestrian head injuries occur.

As always with fledgling technologies, research/development costs quickly mount up and the V60 is a pricey way into the hybrid market. Currently, the V60 Plug In is being pitched at £42,000 in the UK, after the governmental £5,000 plug in car grant initiative is accounted for. So far Volvo have approved a 1,000 unit European wide production run with a view to a potential further 4-5,000 being made.

But whatever happens in terms of sales, Monturo is adamant the hybrid model will ultimately become the Volvo way. 'By 2015-2017 we plan to add a hybrid option to our entire range,' he says. 'We like to give our customers options, the hybrid being one that would benefit more than simply just the owner.' As a demonstration of eco sensitivity with style, the V60 is one of the better hybrids on the market, with the promise of more innovation to come.

Porsche puritans were distraught back in 2007 when the German marque announced its intentions to build a four-seat saloon. They had come - albeit grudgingly - to accept the Cayenne sports utility vehicle, but a sober family saloon that took design cues from their beloved 911 seemed a step too far. Stuttgart ignored their pleas however, and in 2009 we were introduced to the Panamera. It was an instant success, selling over 30,000 worldwide in just two years.

Having originally offered the car with a limited choice of powerful V6 and V8 petrol engines, for the 2011 Panamera, Porsche has added much-needed diesel and hybrid electric options.

The diesel is expected to fetch over half the sales, mainly from European customers who favour this option, while the hybrid will take around 20 per cent of worldwide sales mainly in the US and China, where hybrid cars in this premium sector are popular purchases. And it will, of course, help boost the marque's eco-credibility and reduce its overall emission figures.

Wallpaper* flew to the Scottish highlands to drive the Panamera S Hybrid - and it turned out to be an ideal location to test this car. Not the friendliest of designs at first glance, the Panamera's imposing bulk is a mere dot in this vast, wild and dramatic landscape. It feels strangely agile and sporty, yet solid here.

Inside, it offers exactly the right ambience to protect and shield from the harsh weather outside. The Panamera interior is comfortable - the beautifully upholstered seats snug, the instrument panel direct, uncluttered, simple - a façade for the complex and high-tech engineering behind the scene. This car is about subtle, confident, adult wealth and you can't help but be seduced.

The hybrid technology is the fruit of a joint effort with partner company Volkswagen - a practice that is very common in the automotive world given the complexity of these systems.

Here it comprises a 328bhp supercharged V6 engine married with a 46bhp electric motor that delivers power to the rear wheels. The electric motor, charged through the combustion engine and braking, is capable of driving the car on its own at speeds of up to 53mph for 1.25 miles after which the engine kicks in. It is a perfect combination if your daily journey mainly involves low speed city driving with a little highway commute thrown in.

The Panamera S Hybrid isn't a slow car either. It can sprint from 0-62mph in just 6 seconds yet with added eco functions such as stop/start and coasting, where the car runs itself at very low speeds in heavy congestion, it claims to offer the lowest CO2 emissions of any Porsche car at just 159g/km and reasonable fuel economy of 41.5mpg.

Yet driving this car you would hardly register that under this great hulk of metal there lies a part-electric engine. It feels smooth and quick, and sails effortlessly across the rough tarmac of northern Scotland.

The Panamera isn't a showy car. Even its imposing figure is primarily a demonstration of physical strength and engineering excellence - in this sense it is an utterly German design. The Hybrid is all this with an added declaration that a powerful V6 Porsche need not mean a self-centred egoistic driver, but one that will pay well above the asking price for a vehicle that is kinder to the environment.

Barely ten years ago, buyers in search of a hybrid motor car had only two real options; the original Toyota Prius and Honda's rather oddball two-seater Insight. Prius Mark 1 was an undistinguished design, cloaking its innovation beneath a skin of stunning blandness. In stark contrast, the first Insight was quirky and futuristic, with faired in rear wheels, a compact footprint and genuinely exceptional fuel economy. Toyota quickly caught on, and the second generation Prius marked a bolder design direction, establishing the teardrop form that has since come to signify hybrid power to the world.

By pushing the Prius name as a byword for hybrid, Toyota managed to corner vast swathes of this nascent market, leaving Honda scrabbling about for scraps. It didn't help that subsequent Honda hybrids - the Civic, for example - don't exactly shout about their abilities. So we're happy to report that the new generation Insight marks a quiet return to form, albeit by apeing the slippery yet practical form of the Prius.

If nothing else, the new Honda Insight demonstrates that hybrids have truly come of age. The practical four-door body, sensible price and functional, well-built interior is pitched squarely at the sober-minded consumer in the market for economical, trouble-free motoring with just a slight whiff of techno-futurism. On the road, the Insight is competent but hardly thrilling, smooth and responsive but also somewhat sluggish, a trait for which it can hardly be deplored in the current climate.

Honda has thoughtfully instilled the Insight with a soupcon of artificial intelligence, thanks to the dashboard Eco Assist meter that sprouts more and more green leaves in response to a gentle, fuel-sipping driving style. Switch off the ECON button and start mashing the pedals and your hard-won greenery is ruthlessly pruned.

For all its efficiency, inside and outside, we can't help feeling that the Insight is still something of a stop-gap. Within the next 12 to 18 months, hybrid systems will have been rolled out by almost all the major car makers, meaning that hybrids will no longer be differentiated from their fossil-fuelled siblings. We're still awaiting the appearance of a truly avant-garde car, one that demonstrates that low-cost motoring is truly at the forefront of cutting edge innovation.