Geely, owners of Volvo, Lotus, London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) and Lynk & Co, has announced that it is opening a new UK design and innovation studio in Coventry in the West Midlands. The new facility will eventually employ around 100 people and will be led by highly respected British designer Wayne Burgess, who Geely has poached from Jaguar Land Rover. Burgess was Jaguar鈥檚 chief designer and design director, with cars such as the F-Type and F-Pace on his CV. He takes up the position of head of design and vice president for Geely Design UK and reports into fellow Brit Peter Horbury, Geely Group鈥檚 executive vice president of design. 鈥淕eely Design has moved quickly to establish itself over the past five years, growing to become one of the strongest teams in the automotive design field,鈥?said Burgess. The UK base will join Geely design studios in Shanghai, Gothenburg, Barcelona and California providing support to the Geely brands鈥?in-house design teams, but it will provide more direct support for Coventry-based LEVC. Chinese-based Geely bought Volvo from Ford in 2010, while it set up the London Taxi Company in 2013 from the remains of the old TX taxi business. It was transformed into the London Electric Vehicle Company in 2017, producing first London鈥檚 first all-electric black cab. In that same year Geely bought a majority stake in British sports car maker Lotus, while its own brand Lynk & Co is expected to be launched in Europe this year. Are you pleased to see Geely invest in the UK?
Seat have been constantly revising their range these past few weeks, and the latest model to have been updated is the Toledo. Skoda Rapid and, from now on, can only be had with petrol engines in the UK market, according to Autocar. This means that the 1.6-liter TDI units, with 90 PS and 105 PS, have been completely dropped from the family. In the United Kingdom, the Toledo is offered in a choice of two trim levels. Called SE and Xcellence, they are powered by the same turbocharged 1.0-liter three-cylinder unit rated at 110 PS and mated to either a manual or an automatic transmission. The base Toledo starts from 拢 17,330 in the UK, or some 拢 1,600 less than the 5-door Leon hatchback, or approximately 拢 400 more than the entry-level Arona subcompact SUV. In other markets such as Spain and Germany, the Toledo is also powered by a detuned version of the same engine. Available for lesser versions of the car, it pushes out 95 PS and it鈥檚 said to burn 4.7 l/100 km (60.1 mpg UK / 50 mpg US) on average.
Audi has officially revealed the facelifted R8 for 2013. They will display it in September at the Paris Autoshow. The updated front features new LED headlights, six-point grille, and refreshed bumper. The rear has new LED taillights, new 'R8' logo in "S" fashion, and diffuser in "GT" style with round tailpipes. The two engine options have not changed and still develop 424hp from the 4.2L V8 and 518hp from the 5.2L V10. A 6-speed manual gearbox is still available, but the new 7-speed transmission has improved acceleration times by 3/10 of a second. A new "V10 Plus" version is replacing the "GT" producing 542hp and is only 22 pounds over the V8 model thanks to excessive use of carbon fiber. 0-100 km/h (62mph) only takes 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 197 mph. It will go on sale at the end of this year, and early next year for North America. 208,894 US) 鈧?73,200 for the R8 V10 Plus.
The Porsche 911 is the benchmark against which all new sports cars are measured. Incremental improvements with each model iteration have transformed the latest version into one of the greatest all-rounders on sale. We first tried the 992-generation 911 Coupe back in January, though our impressions centred on a single track drive - complemented by only a few miles around the restrictive perimeter roads near the Hockenheim circuit in Germany. The car鈥檚 biggest test had to wait, then. You can鈥檛 truly judge a car鈥檚 dynamic quality until you鈥檝e driven it on UK roads - and what better place to do that than around the fantastic winding switchbacks, tight corners, and pothole-ridden tarmac of the Scottish Borders? The first thing you notice is how well damped this latest 911 is. The compliance on rough roads is little short of astounding; if roads like these can鈥檛 upset a car鈥檚 high-speed composure then little else is likely to cause issue. Irregular cambers, deep ridges, and sudden changes of elevation did little to affect the 992鈥檚 solid, squat and impressively collected stature. The same is true when cruising.
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