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BYD-owned premium brand Denza has lifted the covers off a new concept previewing a Porsche 911 and Maserati Granturismo rival.

Named the Denza Z, it's an electric coupé with a cab-forward design typical of midship sports cars. However, it can also seat two small rear passengers, in similar fashion to the 911 and Mercedes-AMG GT.

Detailed specifications have yet to be revealed, but its low-set, wide-hipped design and large rear wing clearly signal a performance-focused intent.

For reference, the Denza Z9 GT, a Porsche Taycan rival, offers a tri-motor powertrain with a combined output of 952bhp, suggesting the Z could nudge the 1000bhp mark.

No doubt the Z will also replicate some of the Z9 GT’s more novel features, such as its ability to ‘crab walk’, effectively sliding sideways by sending power to individual wheels.

Notably, the Z does away with a traditional steering rack for a new steer-by-wire system, which has no physical link between the front end and the interior. The electronic set-up is claimed to provide a better balance between a smooth feel when cruising and responsiveness in more spirited driving. It also allows the racing-inspired flat-bottomed steering wheel to fold away when not in use.

The Z rides on new magnetorheological dampers that are said to be capable of adapting to changes in the road surface in less than 10ms.

The new car comes just after Denza kicked off its expansion into Europe, targeting Porsche and similar upmarket performance brands. 

BYD executive vice-president Stella Li told Autocar that entering this market would be “not too much of a challenge”, emphasising the cars’ performance, plus styling led by former Audi designer Wolfgang Egger.

The bosses of Citroën and Dacia have warned that increasingly stringent car safety standards are threatening the affordability of their models – but safety test bodies say the rules are an important indicator for buyers as roads get ever busier and cars become more complex.

Citroën’s Thierry Koskas and Dacia’s Denis Le Vot have said that while they accept governmental efforts to improve vehicle safety each year (within the European Union’s GSR2 legislative framework), the higher standards set by testing bodies such as Euro NCAP are out of step with consumers’ expectations.

Key to this are the safety test ratings. Vehicles can score up to fi ve stars, which, according to Euro NCAP, tell a buyer how safe a car is. From next year, in order to achieve the top rating, a car must show “overall excellent performance in crash protection and be well equipped with state-of-the-art crash avoidance technology”. This includes both passive safety systems (such as airbags, seatbelts and crumple zones) and active ones (advanced driver assistance systems).

Current five-star cars include the £54k MercedesBenz E-Class and the £35k Skoda Superb. 

The rating system is set to be made stricter in 2026.

Koskas and Le Vot argue that in order to hit affordable price points, they are not able to fit the expensive “state-of-the-art” safety tech demanded by the highest ratings. For example, Dacia’s new £18k Duster (the cheapest SUV on the market) was given three stars by Euro NCAP.

We have nothing against NCAP,” said Le Vot recently, “but when this active safety race for stars came, we were not into that. We were saying at the time: ‘We are not chasing the stars, we are not chasing the stars, we are not chasing the stars.’

“We care much about passive safety, of course. We follow regulations one by one by one. But this is NCAP [miming a staircase] and this is regulation [miming another below that]. So we are more on the regulation [staircase].

The level of safety our cars are giving is great. It’s maybe not the high post in terms of a Euro NCAP score, but it’s great.”

Koskas agreed: “Our position is very simple: it’s our mission just to comply with regulations that are already at a very high standard. The governments take care of their people; they put what is necessary to them in terms of regulation; and I do not see any need to go further.”

However, Euro NCAP board member and Thatcham Research chief technical offi cer Richard Billyeald argues that the higher standards demanded by regulators, and the star ratings that come attached to them, are important to buyers of new cars.

“Euro NCAP has always pushed way beyond legislation, and that’s what it’s designed to do,” he said. “Legislation has to be a very low bar: it has to be quite broad and pick up on the fundamentals. Euro NCAP pushes technology. It is about what is possible, what can the technology do to push the safety envelope, to improve things.”

Nevertheless, Billyeald agreed that it is more of a challenge for car makers such as Citroën and Dacia that are pushing for a lower price point. He argued that while they can’t fit systems that “have all the bells and whistles”, they could “target [safety] in different places”, such as in terms of usability.

With reference to star ratings, Billyeald added: “I think you do need that simplicity. For example, my mum is not going to buy a car based on [test] percentages; she’s going to look at the star rating and inherently know what that means. So I think the concept is absolutely right.”

However, the speed at which technology is evolving means cars – like smartphones – are becoming outdated quickly in the eyes of regulators, according to Koskas. This means that unless manufacturers make costly alterations, cars will have their safety ratings reduced.

“Look at the previous-generation C3,” he said. “It had a four-star rating, but now it would be a zero-star car. This does not mean that the car is not safe; it just means the barrier for safety has increased.”

Another criticism is how these active safety systems are presented at a user level. For example, Autocar’s testers have been critical of some ADAS, especially those that monitor the driver’s behaviour and identify posted speed limits.

While new cars are legally required to have these systems fi tted, some car manufacturers – including Citroën and Dacia – fit buttons that allow drivers to turn the systems off, if only for the duration of that particular journey.

“I would happily make a bet on what percentage of customers press that button,” said Koskas. “I have to confess that every time I drive my ë-C4, I turn it off, because it’s just annoying.”

This is something that is understood by the regulators, said Billyeald, and is an area they are working on.

“We want drivers to use those systems,” he said. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with the technologies and with the intention of the technologies; it is about how usable they are. So let’s maximise the safety benefi ts, the driver support, minimise the distraction and the wanting to turn things off.”

Euro NCAP sharpening tech focus

From January next year, the safety barrier set by Euro NCAP will rise again. The new regulations will expand the current evaluation beyond crash scenarios to include driver engagement, assistance systems and emergency response capabilities.

To do this, Euro NCAP is set to introduce assessments across four categories: Safe Driving (driver monitoring and vehicle assistance), Crash Avoidance (systems that actively prevent collisions), Crash Protection (occupant safety) and Post-Crash Safety (assessment of eCall emergency response systems).

Euro NCAP says these updates form part of its commitment to Vision Zero – a strategy to eliminate traffic-related fatalities – and aim to align safety assessments with the latest advances in vehicle technology.

What Euro NCAP ratings actually mean

Five stars: Overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with state-of-the-art crashavoidance technology.

Four stars: Overall good performance in crash protection and prevention but does not reach the highest standards in all key areas.

Three stars: A vehicle that provides an average level of safety performance, offering a medium standard of safety and protection.

Two stars: Nominal crash protection but below-average performance in one or more key areas.

One star: Marginal crash protection and minimal crash-avoidance technology beyond the legal requirements.

Zero stars: Meeting legally required type-approval standards so can legally be sold but lacking critical safety technology.

Leapmotor is growing rapidly both in its home market and abroad, becoming the world's 11th most popular electric car manufacturer last year and aiming to surge into the top five by the end of the decade.

Key to that ambitious plan is an expanded line-up that will disrupt a number of core segments. Following the T03 city car and Tesla Model Y-rivalling C10 family SUV, Leapmotor is gearing up to enter the bustling compact crossover market with the new B10 - to be followed by a smaller crossover and a pair of hatchbacks in the next two years.

Measuring 4515mm long and 1885mm tall, the B10 is a close match size-wise for the likes of the Ford Explorer and Peugeot e-3008, but an expected starting price of around £30,000 will have it substantially undercutting them, achieving rough parity with the MG S5 EV.

That price starts to look especially attractive in the context of a cabin that's remarkably well appointed – if predictably minimalist and touchscreen-centric like its compatriot contemporaries – and agreeably plush in its high-quality fixtures and fittings. Leapmotor even claims to source its chrome trim elements from suppliers of the same level as Mercedes-Benz’s. 

The 420-litre boot is slightly smaller than the Skoda Elroq’s but more than capacious enough for daily family hauling duties, and I found that a six-footer had plenty of leg room when sat behind a similarly sized front passenger. 

There’s not much by way of any trick design elements that mark the B10 out from other similarly conceived EVs, save for the six-slot accessory mount on the passenger’s side to which you can affix a number of Leapmotor-supplied add-ons, including a folding desk, a phone mount, decorations and even kids' toys.

The physical controls are satisfyingly tactile to use, although really they only include the window switches and a pair of Tesla-esque scrollers on the steering wheel that can be configured for various different functions. 

The 14.6in touchscreen and 8.8in instrument display are impressive in their clarity and processing speeds, and the menu structures and icons are all easy enough to understand, which goes some way to mitigating any frustration at the dearth of physical controls - and makes it quick to deactivate the overbearing driver aids before you set off.

But the touchscreen still has far too much to do – mirror moving, sunroof opening, fan speed adjusting - and so can be distracting to use on the move. 

As with the C10, there’s no smartphone mirroring yet, but Leapmotor is working to introduce it over-the-air in the coming months, and so it could be fitted as standard by the time B10s are being unloaded at UK ports this autumn. 

Under the floor is a 67.1kWh battery giving an estimated 260-mile range (WLTP test pending), and a single motor on the rear axle gives 215bhp and 177lb ft of torque for a 0-62mph time of 6.8sec.

Maximum charging speed is pegged at a faintly lethargic 80kW, which means a 30-80% fill takes around 20 minutes. But the closely related C10 is set to be upgraded to an 800V electrical architecture soon and the B10 will no doubt follow, boosting charging speeds and improving overall ef ciency.

Naturally, our brief drive around a test facility in an early China-spec production car wasn't especially revealing from a performance or agility standpoint, but it felt pokey on a run up to motorway speeds and decently composed once there.

It was surefooted and predictable around a greasy, fast hairpin too and didn’t feel especially prone to roll – lending credence to Leapmotor’s claims that its cell-to-chassis construction method is a boon to rigidity as well as efficiency.

The steering didn’t feel laden with feel and propensity to engage but was quick to react and predictable in its responses. 

The suspension set-up for global cars is still being tuned, so my car wasn’t representative of what will reach showrooms, but it wasn’t unnervingly brittle over rumble strips or speed bumps. 

And while the B10 might look a little under-wheeled, I welcomed the quieter and better-cushioned ride afforded by the thicker tyre sidewalls. 

Much remains to be determined when we drive a production-spec car on European roads later this year, and we’ve taken marks off the C10 for its slow charging, over-dependence on the touchscreen and characterless drive, so the B10 will need to shine in other areas to compensate for those shortcomings. But the early signs suggest that it’s commendably endowed and impressively finished for the projected price point, as well as competitive in the important practical areas where it really counts.

The BMW 1 Series will return for a radically reinvented fourth generation within the next three years, as the German brand goes against its rivals in committing to its entry-level model. 

As Mercedes-Benz prepares to retire the A-Class for good at the end of its current generation and Audi winds down production of the A1 and Q2, BMW says its smallest car remains an important part of its model range and a next-generation model will be the entry point into the new-gen Neue Klasse family.

BMW will launch this new EV line-up in September with the unveiling of the second-generation iX3 at the Munich motor show, before following that up soon after with the closely related next-generation 3 Series.

Prototypes for the Neue Klasse X5 have been spotted recently too, and the current 5 Series will receive a substantial design overhaul to bring it into line with its new siblings.

BMW hasn't officially confirmed plans for a new 1 Series, but Autocar previously reported it had been green-lit internally and now BMW product boss Bernd Körber has said the hatchback still has a crucial role to play in Munich.

"We are a global player and we cover the full portfolio; the entry models have a very important role to play for various reasons,” he told Autocar at the Shanghai motor show.

"First of all, take markets like Italy and France, where the 1 Series has shares of 20, 30, 40% in some regions: if you want to be a global player, you have to also take care of markets where the share of 1 Series is extremely high, otherwise you run the danger of losing them.”

Körber also said that offering a BMW model at a lower price point than the big-selling saloon and SUV models is important in the context of broadening the brand’s reach and diversifying its target market.

"The 1 Series is especially important for younger customers. If you want to keep the brand young, if you want to develop customers within your portfolio, the 1 Series is very important."

Finally, he said, remaining in the notoriously challenging and low-margin small car market will help BMW to be as competitive and efficient as possible across all its segments.

"You have to stay in the challenge, and it's a similar story with Mini. A lot of the capabilities in terms of 'how flexible are you?' and 'how cost-efficient are you?' you gain in competing in the small car segment. To retreat out of the small car segment means you get out of the challenge of being the most cost-efficient player. 

"So for us it has the role of gross volume being relevant in all markets. But it also has a relevance for the brand in terms of younger customers and for the pressure we put on ourselves to find solutions that work in lower-cost segments."

Körber didn't give any details of the next 1 Series, but it’s expected to arrive in around 2028, with the current car having recently been updated and BMW planning to complete its Neue Klasse roll-out within the next three and a half years.

Like its rangemates, the next 1 Series is expected to be offered with a choice of petrol and electric powertrains - meaning it will continue to serve as a rival to traditional ICE competitors like the Volkswagen Golf and Audi A3 while also being put up against new contenders like the Cupra Born and Renault Megane E-Tech.