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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 21 Apr '19
News from New York and Shanghai plus driving a resto-mod Datsun and the new Merc CLA
Audi's AI:ME Concept is a self-driving hatchback
"Audi doesn’t specify exactly when you’ll be able to summon this AI:ME self-driving city car to pick you up from Bingo, probably because our autonomous promised land is constantly slipping further into the future. However, it does paint a very clear picture of what its autonomous version of the Audi A3 will look like, once technology and legislation catches up."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe Mercedes GLB Concept wishes it was a G-Wagen
"Welcome to a lightly concept-ified version of a car you’ll be able to buy quite soon. Probably. Called the GLB, this little SUV will - rather predictably - sit between the GLA and GLC in Merc’s line-up of SUVs, which also includes the GLE, GLS and G-Class."
The MZR Roadsports Datsun 240Z is wonderful
"Situated on what can only be described as a practical-looking industrial estate on the north-west side of the city, MZR are busy taking pretty-but-unloved Datsun 240Zs and making them incredibly special."
Advertisement - Page continues belowVolkswagen has gone zed-crazy with its new concept
"When is a fully electric, self-driving, futuristic looking SUV with seven seats not a Tesla Model X? When it’s this! The VW ID Roomzz concept! Look how cool it is, with its not-a-typo zed-tastic name and interior designed to resemble – you guessed it – a lounge."
This is the new Peugeot 208 rally car
"This, girls and boys, is Peugeot’s new 208 rally car. It’s not a return to the World Rally Championship, alas – Citroen still gets dibs on that venture in the PSA group – rather the significantly more affordable 208 R2."
The Aston Martin Rapide E is a 600bhp all-electric supercar
"So it begins. This is Aston Martin’s very first all-electric, full production car, housed in the rather delightful form of the Rapide. So, meet the Aston Martin Rapide ‘E’."
Lotus is going GT4 racing with this Evora
"It’s powered by a supercharged 444bhp V6. It weighs 1,200kg (including a roll cage and fire-extinguisher system), and is good for 170mph. There’s carbon fibre bodywork, a race transmission, beefier brakes and slick tyres. The suspension is adjustable, and so’s the aero, but you still get power steering."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe insane Apollo Intensa Emozione is ready for production
"The first customers will be getting their Intensa Emoziones this summer. What exactly will they receive, in return for their £2m? Well, in the middle there’s a naturally aspirated 769bhp V12 engine, driving the rear wheels via a six-speed Hewland racing pneumatic gearbox. The exhaust weighs almost nothing, costs the same as a whole BMW M4, and when the motor hits 9,000rpm, spits out a noise not heard since mythical beasts of Ancient Egypt roamed the Earth."
The Renault City K-ZE is here to take over China
"The rather angry little thing above is the Renault City K-ZE. It’s an all-electric city car that sits on a raised, baby SUV-like platform – as every new car seems to be these days."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThis is NIO’s Tesla and Polestar rival
"Meet the NIO ET Preview. It’s an electric saloon car made be the same company that set a lap record at the Nürburgring with its EP9, and, um, that’s all we really know about it."
Karma has built an electric scissor-doored hypercar
"Yes, it’s another scissor-doored, roofless concept car at a motor show. No, it’s not your average slice of vapourware, because this one actually works. Sort of. It’s Karma’s next generation: a fully electric hypercar concept."
Check out Karma’s new Pininfarina-designed GT car
"So it’s electric, but gets an on-board generator powered by BMW’s three-cylinder 1.5-litre petrol engine. BMW also uses this same engine in the i8, so it’s got form powering a bit of class, only in this Karma application, it actually just charges up the batteries on the go."
The new Mercedes CLA is nicer than an A-Class
"The car to buy, if what annoys you most about the Mercedes A-Class is that you can in fact fit fully grown adults in the second row of seats."
Audi has given the S5 a diesel engine
"Remember when the Audi S5 coupe was launched with a stonking great 4.2-litre V8? We do. And that makes today a sad day, because arriving later this year will be an S5 TDI. Boo."
The Genesis Mint Concept has very interesting doors
"Welcome to the Genesis Mint. Not some new type of dessert or cocktail, but a little electric city-car concept from Hyundai’s standalone luxury arm."
The new Mercedes GLS is reassuringly massive and clever
"What if you want a Mercedes S-Class with the view from a fifth-storey apartment as you drive along? What if you want a car like the BMW X7 but you have functioning eyes and some semblance of taste? Might this be the next best contender?"
Yikes, it's a new, lighter Nissan GT-R Nismo
"Carbon body panels save 10.5kg, while the 20in Rays wheels contribute to an additional 20kg cut in mass. Said alloys are shot with new, slicker Dunlop tyres with an 11 per cent bigger contact patch. Of course more rubber on the road equals more grip, and more grip equals more speed."
New Lotus saloons, SUVs and GT cars are all possible
"'I wouldn’t exclude anything: saloons, GT cars, crossovers, SUVs… it has to have Lotus DNA,' the company's boss tells us. This, you will note, is a very exciting proposition."
Video: how to build the 300mph Koenigsegg Jesko
"Let Top Gear’s Jack Rix take you on a tour of the Koenigsegg factory where they’re building the world’s fastest car, the incredible 1,578bhp, $3million, 300mph Jesko."
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