Model News

Hyundai has opened European orders for the Staria Electric, its first fully electric van-based MPV, priced in Germany from EUR 57,450. The Trend and Prime trims seat nine; only the range-topping Calligraphy drops to seven.

Xiaomi's Skynomad N70 and N90 EREV SUVs began deliveries in China on September 13, 2026, both carrying the "Dragonscale" battery pack Xiaomi revealed alongside their September 7 launch. Xiaomi will replace a car outright if its Dragonscale pack self-ignites from a manufacturing defect, and will cover the gap between insurance and market value if it catches fire after a collision - for the first, non-commercial owner only, with an active connected-services subscription.

BMW has shown the new iX5 Hydrogen undisguised as it finishes its testing programme. Third-generation fuel cells developed with Toyota sit 25% more compactly than before, seven 700-bar tanks hold at least 7 kg of hydrogen, and BMW quotes up to 750 km of WLTP range on prototypes with a refuel of under five minutes. Series production starts in 2028.

AMG has built 30 examples of the CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung, a Mythos-series coupe assembled by hand in Affalterbach. A flat-plane-crank 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 replaces the CLE 53's straight six, driving the rear wheels through a nine-speed automatic, and carbon fibre plus deleted rear seats take about 170 kg out of the car. All 30 are sold.

Renault has revealed the production Niagara, a midsize pickup built on the RGMP platform for Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. It replaces the Oroch and is built at the Santa Isabel plant in Córdoba, Argentina, launching with a 1.3-litre turbo petrol rated 156 hp and sales starting November 2026.

Volvo has restyled the XC40, EX40 and EC40 together for the first time since the XC40 debuted in 2017, with new Matrix LED "Thor's hammer" headlights, a redesigned front end, an 11.2-inch infotainment system with Google's Gemini assistant, and new safety hardware. Powertrains carry over: the mild-hybrid XC40 stays at 163 or 197 hp, the electric EX40 and EC40 at up to 436 hp. German pricing starts at €43,990 for the XC40.

Geely launched the Galaxy TT on 10 September at prices from ¥129,900 ($19,170), the entry car 16,000 yuan under the ¥145,900 it had set at pre-sale in August. Range also improved: the 540 km entry tier is gone, replaced by 640 km as the new base across three of the five prices, with a 725 km version added on top.

Audi has published the full specification of its entry-level electric hatchback: four rear-wheel-drive versions from 125 to 240 kW, batteries of 52, 61 and 84 kWh, up to 646 km WLTP and German prices from €38,200 to €51,200 (about $41,600 to $55,800). Orders open on 10 September, deliveries start in December.

Cadillac has launched a plug-in hybrid version of the China-market XT5. A 1.5-litre turbo engine and two electric motors make a combined 517 hp and 740 Nm, enough for 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds, with a 35.5 kWh battery good for 215 km of electric range and 1,360 km in total on the CLTC cycle. It lists at ¥279,900 to ¥299,900, well under the petrol XT5's ¥379,900 guided price.

Dacia has revealed the second-generation Spring and opened orders in France. The cheapest electric car in its range is no longer assembled in China: it moves to Renault Group's Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia, onto the new RG-EV small platform, with a 60 kW motor, a 27.5 kWh LFP battery and up to 250 km WLTP. Prices start at €17,990 (about $19,600) before incentives.

Li Auto has revealed an updated MEGA, its seven-seat electric MPV. The range narrows to a single Home trim at ¥509,800 (about $75,840), ¥50,000 (about $7,400) below what the previous MEGA Home listed at, while the sensor count goes from one lidar to four and combined output rises from 400 kW to 413 kW. A 108 kWh CATL battery is rated at 710 km CLTC.

BYD has put the Sealion 08 on sale in China in eight versions between 229,900 and 279,900 yuan ($33,900 and $41,300). Every version uses the second-generation Blade Battery, which brings flash charging to the Ocean flagship: 10 to 70 percent in five minutes on the electric cars, which carry a 115.072 kWh pack and up to 900 km CLTC.

Polestar has added a second body to the Polestar 4 range, and it reverses the car's most argued-about feature: the SUV has a conventional rear window and mirror. It also has 530 litres of boot space, standard roof rails and up to 630 km WLTP, and it undercuts the coupe in Germany, the UK and Australia.

Chery Jaguar Land Rover launched the Freelander 8 on 3 September at list prices from 309,900 yuan, 20,000 yuan lower after incentives. The after-incentive entry price of 289,900 yuan ($42,750) lands under the 300,000 yuan target the venture had set for itself - a correction to our own pre-sale coverage, which read the pre-sale price as landing above it.

One owner's filing has put the 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrid in front of federal safety regulators. NHTSA has opened defect petition DP26007 over a reported intermittent loss of anti-lock and regenerative braking, which the petitioner says survived four repair attempts and led to a crash. No defect has been found, no recall has been issued, and the agency is still deciding whether to investigate at all.

Lexus revealed a mid-cycle facelift of the NX on 1 September 2026, with a stiffened body, variable-ratio steering and a chassis tuned at the Nürburgring for European roads. The plug-in NX 450h+ gets a 23 kWh battery, 307 hp, and DC fast charging for the first time, while the NX 350h hybrid carries on at 199 hp. European pre-sales open this autumn ahead of an early 2027 launch; the wider rollout across 90-plus countries begins in late 2026.

Mitsubishi revealed an all-new Pajero on 2 September 2026, a body-on-frame diesel SUV that ends a five-year gap since the outgoing generation left production. It launches in Thailand first, then Japan and Australia within this fiscal year, before reaching roughly 100 countries from fiscal 2027 - some of them under the Montero name. Mitsubishi has not confirmed a US launch.

Land Rover has opened orders for the first battery-electric Range Rover, built at Solihull on the same line as the petrol and plug-in hybrid cars. Two motors give 542 hp and 850 Nm, the usable 118.5 kWh pack is rated at 372 miles WLTP in the UK and 333 miles EPA in the US, and the off-road figures carry over: 900 mm wading, traction control that reacts in 50 milliseconds, and one-pedal descent on 45-degree slopes. Prices start at $138,000 in the US and £154,070 (about $208,200) in the UK.

Denza has detailed the N8, a five-seat electric SUV that shares its 3,075 mm wheelbase with the six-seat N8L. Chinese filings list two Blade Battery packs and CLTC range from 800 km to 1,003 km, with a tri-motor version making 890 kW (1,194 hp). The interior drops the instrument cluster for a 1.1-metre projection strip and a 30-inch screen. No prices yet.

A second-generation BMW X7 has been filmed testing at the Nurburgring with four exhaust tips, which points to a V8 surviving into the new car. The bigger change is the electric iX7 that joins it, reported to run next-generation Neue Klasse batteries and motors on the existing CLAR architecture rather than on a dedicated electric platform.