Autocar

Two long-standing conundrums in the EV age: how to charge on the go when a grid connection isn’t possible; and how best to repurpose old EV batteries. We’ve heard lots of chat about combining the two – using second-life batteries to provide affordable juice for EVs in a portable pack – but nobody’s actually done it. Until now. As we’ve seen many times in the past - just think of why the Spitfire was built – it’s a British company and it’s technology firmly founded in pragmatism that has made this happen. Thanks to Fellten and its founder, Chris Hazell, you can take its Charge Qube charging solution, a 10ft corrugated steel container, wherever you want to charge your fleet of Ford E-Transits, for example. A private company with 20…

“The Little G will feature a unibody construction and new battery for a range of more than 434 miles” Mercedes-Benz is ramping up the development of its entry-level G-Class, a smaller 4x4 that will be pitched against the Land Rover Defender 90 when it arrives in 2027. The highly anticipated model, currently referred to as ‘Little G’, will be a sibling to the larger, legendary offroader and sold exclusively as an EV. It is intended to give Mercedes a foothold in the popular rugged crossover market. The smaller G-Class was initially confirmed by Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius at the 2023 Munich motor show. It has been conceived to sit below the existing model in an expansion of the company’s G (for Geländewagen, German for off-road vehicle) sub-brand established in 2020…

Introducing a new entry-level G-Class is just good business sense from Mercedes. The nameplate is iconic and, most importantly, sought-after. It already sells incredibly well – the sub-brand recorded its best quarter to date at the end of 2024 – so launching a model at nearly half the price of the current cheapest G-Class would open the range to a much wider spectrum of buyers and therefore mean more sales. Albeit at a much lower price point, we have already seen what the Range Rover Evoque – seen as the Range Rover for the masses – did for JLR when it arrived in 2011. Merc’s finance people will surely be chomping at the bit, given the 28% fall in net profit last year and how this model could not only…

Mercedes-AMG is gearing up for the next generation of its electric era, with work well under way on the two bookends of its “hyper-performance” line-up: the CLA 45 and a luxury SUV currently known as the GT SUV. While the luxury SUV will arrive in 2027 and be one of the initial cars to sit on AMG’s first bespoke SUV platform, the CLA 45 will break cover next year as the first Mercedes-AMG to be fitted with next-generation electric motors. These motors from Oxfordshire-based firm Yasa are a third of the weight of the Mercedes-designed motors in the new CLA 250+ and CLA 350 and require a third of the packaging space. As such, Mercedes-AMG says they are key to creating its new range of “hyper-performance” models. In the CLA…

Nissan will ramp up its EV presence in Europe this year with the arrival of the third-generation Leaf – reinvented as a crossover with more than 370 miles of range – and the revived Micra hatchback. The two models, which have now been shown in production form for the first time, will be joined next year by the radically styled Juke EV. The Leaf and closely related Juke will be built at Nissan’s Sunderland factory. When launched in 2010, the Leaf was one of the first mass-market EVs and took the form of a hatchback for its first two generations. But now it has undergone a major shift to cash in on the trend for crossovers. The third-generation version will sit on Nissan’s CMF-EV platform, which is also used by…

Nissan remains committed to the long-term future of its Sunderland factory and regards it as a key element in its future European electrification plans, according to the firm’s planning boss for Europe, François Bailly. The Japanese firm has pumped around £2 billion into the plant to build the next-gen Leaf, Juke and Qashqai EVs, but there had been uncertainty around its future because Nissan plans to close three factories by the end of 2026 amid major cost-cutting. Asked by Autocar if the Sunderland plant’s future is safe, Bailly – who will shortly become Nissan’s global product boss – said: “Yes, very safe. It’s the jewel of Europe. It’s where so many executives from Japanese manufacturing come. It’s the best practice plant for us.” Bailly said the UK’s zeroe-mission vehicle mandate…