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Alpine is going up against the Porsche Macan Electric and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N with its first SUV, the A390.

The French performance brand’s third model line – joining the A110 coupé and A290 hot hatch – is a sleek, striking crossover-coupé that remains largely true to the A390 Beta concept revealed at the Paris motor show last year.

Due to start from around £60,000 when UK orders open in November, the A390 will play a significant role in broadening the market reach of Alpine’s product portfolio. Its dimensions place it right at the heart of Europe’s most popular car class and it has a more overt focus on daily usability than the brand’s dedicated sports cars.

It measures 4.6m long by 1.5m tall and has a 532-litre boot, which makes it a close match for the likes of the Cupra Tavascan and Tesla Model Y. But with up to 464bhp and a drivetrain that has been engineered with a rigid focus on driver engagement, the A390 is pitched more directly at the dedicated performance SUV segment.

The A390 shares its basic Ampr Medium architecture with the Renault Scenic and Nissan Ariya. However, it uses a bespoke tri-motor powertrain – two at the rear and one at the front – to give rear-biased all-wheel drive and torque vectoring to boost agility and responsiveness.

Alpine CEO Philippe Krief recently told Autocar that this arrangement will play a key role in instilling the A390 with a “perceived lightness” that helps to mitigate the inherent weight penalty associated with an electric SUV.

“You can generate a quite immediate response time. It’s like the behaviour of a light car,” said Krief of the tri-motor powertrain, which is capable of overspeeding the outside wheels in a bend, rather than simply braking the inside wheels. Alpine says this gives a “much smoother, delicate feeling of control”, while also allowing for easily controllable powerslides.

Producing 395bhp in standard GT guise and 464bhp in the top-rung, circa-£70k GTS – and with a peak torque output of 596lb ft – this powertrain can send the A390 from 0-62mph in as little as 3.9sec. That matches the stripped-out A110 R, which weighs around a tonne less.

A cheaper variant with a more conventional dual-motor arrangement is understood to be on the cards, but it has not yet been officially given the green light.

The A390 is powered by an 89kWh battery that enables a maximum WLTP range of 342 miles and can be rapid-charged at speeds of up to 190kW.

Inside, the A390 is more closely related to its Renault Group siblings, with a portrait-oriented touchscreen angled towards the driver and a host of physical controls on the steering wheel and centre console.

It follows the A290 in gaining a race-inspired adjustment dial on the steering wheel for the brake regen and an overtake lever that liberates the full-power reserves for short periods.

Unlike the Ioniq 5 N, the A390 does not feature a simulated gearbox, but it does offer the option of a synthetic ‘Alpine drive sound’, which is said to be inspired by the A110’s four-cylinder petrol engine.

The A390 is the second of seven electric cars that Alpine plans to launch in the coming years. Due next is an electric successor to the A110, which will be offered as a coupé and a cabriolet. After that, the brand will reveal the A310, a four-door fastback to rival the Polestar 4.

Two larger E-segment models – including a Porsche Cayenne competitor – were set to arrive after the A310 as part of the brand’s push into the US market. However, president Donald Trump’s new car import tariffs have prompted Alpine to put its Stateside ambitions on ice and it remains to be seen whether those cars will see the light of day.

Today’s A110, launched in 2017 as the first Alpine model in more than three decades, will be withdrawn from sale next year.

Vauxhall has hinted at a more rugged version of the incoming Frontera with a new concept car that turns the conventional electric crossover into a trail-hunting 4x4.

Named the Vauxhall Frontera Gravel and based on the electric version of the family car, it gains several key elements aimed at helping it tackle the wilderness.

Up front, it receives a tow winch and extra LED light bars, while the car's rear haunches now feature extra storage panniers.

It also gains a chunky roof rack with a spare tyre and further storage, and the wheels are shod with aggressive BFGoodrich all-terrain tyres.

Inside, the interior configuration matches that of the regular Frontera, but it has been reupholstered with orange contrasting elements to match the car’s exterior livery.

Opel-Vauxhall CEO Florian Huettl said it “embodies [Vauxhall’s] commitment to making electric mobility versatile and accessible… with respect for the environment”.

Although Vauxhall has yet to state any production plans for the Frontera Gravel, the car's modifications are ultimately minimal and could in theory constitute a special-edition variant of the crossover. 

Sibling brand Fiat recently showed its vision of a 4x4 version of the Grande Panda, which shares its Smart Car underpinnings with the Frontera. It is possible that Vauxhall could use the electrified rear axle from that car to give its model four-wheel drive – although the Fiat uses a hybrid powertrain, whereas the Frontera Gravel has a battery-electric powertrain.

Such a model would more clearly carry the torch from the new Frontera’s 1990s ancestor, which was a 4x4 based on Japanese brand Isuzu’s Mysterious Utility Wizard.

Transport for London (TfL) has proposed raising the congestion charge for driving into the capital during peak hours to £18 per day.

TfL has called for public views on the hike – up from the current £15 per day – which has been mooted to come into effect from 2 January 2026.

It would mark the first increase in the congestion charge since 2020 and, TfL said, falls below inflation rates for the past five years. Indeed, according to the Bank of England, £15 in 2020 is equivalent to £19 today.

The congestion charging zone covers a slice of central London encircled by the Vauxhall Bridge, Euston Road, Commercial Street, Tower Bridge Road and New Kent Road.

Among various other measures intended to increase charges on motorists, the transport authority has also proposed limiting the discount for residents of central London to include electric vehicles exclusively, from March 2027.

It also proposed “routine annual increases” to the cost of the congestion charge, in line with rises in the cost of public transport.

Meanwhile, it suggested that electric vehicles – which will no longer be exempt from the congestion charge from 25 December 2025 – be charged a discount dependent on their vehicle class.

It said that electric vans, HGVs and quadricycles should be given a 50% discount from 2 January 2026 (paying £9 per day), while electric cars should only be granted 25% off (paying £13.50 daily).

It also proposed halving those discounts from 4 March 2030, so electric cars would only be given 12.5% off.

The public consultation on the changes to the congestion charge runs from 27 May to 4 August, and can be accessed here: https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/congestion-charge-proposals?cid=congestion-charge-proposals

The proposed changes mark the latest move to discourage the use of combustion-engined vehicles in central London – and, ultimately, to discourage the use of private vehicles altogether, to improve the capital’s air quality.

“Achieving this long-term vision will require cutting congestion further and a greater shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles towards walking, cycling and public transport,” said TfL in a statement.

The capital’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) was expanded two years ago to encompass the entire city. It charges drivers of older vehicles with higher toxic emissions (such as NOx) £12.50 per day to drive inside the zone.

The suggested changes also mark a broader appetite in Westminster to discourage uptake of combustion-engined vehicles, and stimulate the shift to EVs. Autocar last week reported the government was set to raise the Expensive Car Supplement – better known as the ‘luxury car tax’ – threshold for electric cars costing more than £40,000, to boost their uptake.

Toyota is looking at building the GR Corolla hot hatch in the UK in a bid to cater to massive demand in the US.

According to a new report from Reuters, the Japanese company is considering spending £41 million to establish a new line at its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

The factory already produces the regular Corolla hatchback and estate for the UK and mainland European markets. The new line would give it the capacity to build around 10,000 examples of the GR Corolla annually, for export to the US, Reuters said.

The publication added that Toyota’s Motomachi plant in Japan – the so-called GR Factory, responsible for output of the GR Corolla, GR Yaris and GR86 – is currently at full capacity. It assembled 25,000 cars last year, of which around a third were Corollas.

Burnaston already has a ready supply of Corolla bodies and ancillaries and that makes it a “natural choice” to accommodate additional production of GRs, Reuters said, citing a Toyota insider.

Although the plan to boost GR Corolla production through the UK has not been informed by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, the decision surely benefits Toyota on that front.

The US currently charges a tariff of 25% on all cars imported to the country from abroad, including Japan. However, the UK recently agreed to negotiate a deal that will cut the fee for its exports to 10%, within a national quota of 100,000 cars. Final details have yet to be confirmed but at present Toyota would have to pay a smaller fee on UK-built GR Corollas than those from Japan.

The prospect of adding production in the UK also lends weight to the possibility that the GR Corolla – currently offered in only a handful of markets, including the US and Japan – could be set for a launch in Europe.

Prototypes were last year spotted testing at Germany's Nürburgring, hinting at a launch. A spokesperson suggested it was standard procedure to test global products at the circuit but did not deny the prospect.

Toyota currently sells the GR Yaris and the GR Supra in Europe, the GR86 having been killed off in that market (including the UK) by the European Union’s GSR2 safety regulations. The Supra is soon to follow.

Regardless, the reported plan to produce GR Corollas in the UK will come as welcome news to staff at the Burnaston plant, which last year built its five millionth car since opening in 1992.

A spokesperson for Toyota told Autocar that the company could not comment on the report at this time.

The new Volvo XC70 plug-in hybrid has been outed ahead of its official debut, courtesy of new images published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Earlier preview images gave a good idea of the reborn XC70's design, confirming that it would morph from high-riding estate into full-blown SUV, but these new images show just how closely it will be related to the larger XC90.

It measures 4815mm long and 1890mm wide, making it roughly the same size as the Volkswagen Tayron, Hyundai Santa Fe and Peugeot 5008, but unlike those cars – and its larger sibling – it is being offered from launch with five seats.

The MIIT filing also reveals some of the XC70's technical specifications for the first time, confirming that it will be offered exclusively as a plug-in hybrid, with either a 21.2kWh battery giving 62 miles of range, or a 39.6kWh pack which bumps that up to 112 miles - both according to China's generous CLTC cycle. 

That larger pack, for reference, is about the same size as that fitted to the pure-electric Abarth 500e, and larger than the battery in the Mazda MX-30 EV.

The XC70 will be available with front- or four-wheel drive, in both instances with a 160bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine working in collaboration with an EV motor of undisclosed capacity. 

Further details will be given closer to the XC70's China-market launch in September, where Volvo could announce plans to sell the new PHEV globally in response to sustained strong demand in certain markets for hybrid cars.

Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson believes extended-range plug-in hybrids could play an important role in Europe's electrification transition, particularly, strengthening the possibility of the new XC70 being sold here.

Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference earlier this month, he said: "In certain regions in Europe, the charging network will be developed later. If you look into the south and east of Europe, it will be slower. 

"The ones leading are Norway all the way in the west. There, there will be faster transition to electrification. But in other regions, it's really a good solution to have a long-range hybrid, because if you look into the environmental aspect, if you have a long-range hybrid, the absolute majority of the transport work will be done with electricity. And so in that way, it will be an 'electric car'.

"If you have a very short range, a large part of the transport work will be done with the petrol. And then, of course, it's not fossil-free anymore. So a long-range plug-in hybrid, I would argue, is an electric car with a back-up engine when the battery is flat, which will happen not so often.

"So I think it's a good solution, it's a good bridge and there is a lot of technology in that car which is in common with an all-electric car.

"It's a pragmatic bridge solution to wait for our customers to really feel comfortable with an all-electric car."

Samuelsson stopped short of confirming in which European markets Volvo could launch the XC70 or other long-range hybrids, nor did he give a timeframe.

The XC70 has been designed specifically "to meet the demand for longer-range plug-in hybrids in China", but Volvo also said it will explore "potential additional markets at a later stage".

It is based on a new architecture adapted for long-range PHEVs: the Scalable Modular Architecture (SMA) is said to be "a premium extended-range plug-in hybrid architecture", but no details of its relationship to Volvo's other platforms – or indeed those from the wider Geely group, of which Volvo is a part – have been given.

Fellow Geely brand Lotus is also investing in extended-range hybrids over the coming years in response to lower than anticipated demand for all-electric luxury cars, while LEVC (also owned by Geely) has been using an REx powertrain in its Volvo-engined TX taxi since 2017.

However, while those two firms are using combustion engines as a generator to top up a traction battery, Volvo's new XC70 is a more conventional PHEV. 

Nonetheless, the XC70 will help the firm cater to huge demand for extended-range hybrids in China, and its announcement follows the recent unveiling of the new China-oriented Volkswagen ID Era REx concept at the Shanghai motor show.

That car – similar in size to the XC70 – has been engineered in partnership with MG owner SAIC to target the burgeoning market for REx cars in China, with companies like Li Auto, Leapmotor and Avatr among the biggest players.

However, like Volvo, Volkswagen's sales and marketing boss told Autocar that a global launch was not off the table: "Range-extenders today are already a very big thing in China. They will be of relevance in North America and we are convinced they will also have relevance in Europe."

The XC70 has an especially important role to play for Volvo as the company embarks on a wide-reaching global cost-cutting drive in response to industry "turbulence" and a "challenging external environment". 

Even amid that turbulence, Volvo said it "remains firm on its ambition of becoming a fully electric car company", but just a fifth of its sales in the first quarter of 2025 were electric, and it said "premium plug-in hybrids provide a pragmatic bridge for customers not yet ready to switch".

The XC70 name had been dormant since 2016, when the off-road version of the third-generation V70 estate was taken off sale. It was originally called the V70 XC, with 'XC' standing for 'Cross Country'.