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Love ’em or hate ’em (and that may be shaped largely by your view of Elon Musk), Tesla electric cars are a common sight on the roads these days.

And with a facelifted Tesla Model Y currently being rolled out and some catching up to do in the sales charts, Tesla recently invited potential customers to visit its showrooms to try some of its models.

I must once have recorded my details with my local Tesla dealer because I too received an invitation. It sounded like a good opportunity to go undercover to see how the company sells cars and meet both those pondering their first EV and seasoned drivers thinking of switching brands.

EVs made up 19.6% of car sales last year, according to the SMMT. That figure was up a fifth on 2023 but still short of the 22% demanded by the zero-emissions vehicle mandate.

Through 2024, Tesla’s year-to-date market share dipped too, but by the end of the year, its overall market share was just about up (by 1.54%) – and the Model Y was the UK’s fifth-most-popular car.

Anyway, invitation in hand, a few months back I duly turned up at Tesla Guildford ready to play the clueless punter. A sales advisor quickly earned my attention with a Morrisons cake and a Nespresso coffee before matching me to a new, long-range Model 3.

On personal contract hire with maintenance and an annual mileage cap of 10,000 miles, it would, he said, cost me £374 per month over three years with a 12-month (£4488) down payment.

Too much? There was the standard-range car for £324 per month instead, but few were available. “It’s almost sold out, with fresh supplies not arriving for a few months,” he told me. “The deal may have changed by then, too. Take a long-range Model 3 for a test drive and think it over.”

After a turn around the block and back at the showroom, my first conversation was with a chap considering a Model 3. His company car, a Volkswagen Passat GTE estate, is about to be returned, and he thought he’d go electric to save tax.

“I’ve driven a BYD Seal but it felt too Chinese and had more conventional instruments than the Tesla,” he said. “If you’re going to have an EV, it has to be a Tesla for its quality, performance and charging network.”

Next back at the showroom is the test driver of a Model Y.

“I run an Audi Q4 E-tron as a company car,” he said. “It’s great, but it causes me range and charger anxiety. Service station charge points are often so busy that I’m forced to wait ages. Also, sometimes when I’ve gone to use a Tesla Supercharger, it’s an older generation that won’t charge my car.

“Fortunately, my Audi is fitted with the optional heat pump, so I can warm the interior without affecting the car’s range. Colleagues who don’t have one get far fewer miles, and to avoid running out of range completely they drive in a hat and coat. Now that our company is offering a car allowance, they’re switching to Teslas not only for range and charging reasons but also because Teslas have a heat pump as standard. I’ll be following them.”

Another chap was preparing to leave in his Volvo XC60. “The Volvo costs me £150 per month in company car tax, whereas a Model Y will cost me £50,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer. I drive 200 miles a day for work, so the Tesla’s range and ease of charging is another bonus.”

I just squeezed in a last chat with a couple and their children fresh from a drive of a Model Y, as they transferred all of their family paraphernalia back to their Audi Q5.

“My wife can get an electric car on salary sacrifice,” said her husband. “With Audi dealers offering to buy our car for £20,000 [it’s a 2018-reg with 50,000 miles], we’re thinking that now’s the time to change.”

By this point, a steady flow of visitors was arriving at the showroom. “It’s going to be a busy weekend,” an advisor told me. “Fortunately, the cars sell themselves.”

To business users, yes, certainly they do… Could Tesla regard its nationwide showroom event a success? Despite dire warnings of the possible threat to sales posed by Elon Musk’s recent political posturings, in February Tesla’s sales rose by more than a fifth when compared with the same month last year.

Admittedly, the whole EV market was up almost 42% year on year, driven by buyers rushing to sign up before April when, for the first time, EVs will be liable for road tax.

However, the company can take heart from the fact that against stiff competition, the Model 3 and Model Y secured second and third places in the month’s top 10 new car sales chart. I can’t claim to have contributed to that success, but I reckon I know one or two people who did.

Ineos Automotive will launch the delayed Fusilier 4x4 “in 2028 or 2029”, confirming its commitment to becoming a multi-model, mass-market car maker.

The follow-up to the Grenadier 4x4 was shown in concept form last year and planned to go on sale in 2027 as both a pure-electric car and a range-extender (REx).

According to CEO Lynn Calder, the delay “is all driven by [doubts about] powertrain” and “from regulators in key markets, notably in the EU and UK”.

Although the Fusilier REx’s engine would act as a generator for the battery, rather than directly driving the wheels, it “would be banned” under upcoming laws outlawing hybrids from 2035.

We’re too small to spend huge amounts on product development to then find that we can’t produce it, we can’t sell it, in key markets,” said Calder.

When many other car makers are winding back their commitments to phase out combustion engines, “we’re quite small to be taking gambles on things like that”, said Calder, “at a time when consumers don’t know what to buy, aren’t super-clear on what’s being regulated.

“In our minds, we know the product line-up we want, but how they’re powered is to come.”

“When we get some clarity from governments about what will be allowed to be sold, then we can do what I think automotive manufacturers should do, which is focus on what customers want to buy and then develop and sell that,” continued Calder, noting a disconnect between legislative requirements and how quickly consumers are adopting new tech.

Calder was speaking to Autocar at the opening of a biomass energy plant at Ineos’s factory in Hambach, France (formerly Mercedes-Benz’s ‘Smartville’), which will reduce the factory’s CO2 emissions by around 20% – to “beyond net zero” – as well as its heating costs. Heating is around 70% of all energy use at the plant.

Production of the Grenadier was suspended for four months late last year after seat supplier Recaro Automotive went into liquidation – having given Ineos only a few weeks’ notice, noted Calder.

The German firm has since been rescued by Italian supplier Proma Group and full Grenadier production speed will be achieved again in May.

Despite the hiatus, Ineos grew Grenadier sales by 40% last year as it entered its 50th worldwide market. One of them is China, by far the world’s largest.

Total capacity at Hambach could be up to 50,000 or so cars per year with all-shift working, but Ineos is currently considered a small-volume manufacturer, which “means we get certain derogations in terms of mandates for emissions reduction over time, which shelters us for the moment,” said Calder.

Manufacturers selling fewer than 2500 cars or vans a year are exempted from the UK’s ZEV mandate requirements, but Calder added that “we don’t want to be a small-volume manufacturer. That’s not the ambition and we’re not staying under a limit in order to achieve that.

“We will bust the limit of sales the very first second we can. And then we will have to have a different line-up of vehicles – or, frankly, focus on different markets.”

Calder said any heavy trade tariffs between the EU and US was a concern for Ineos – given the US is the firm’s biggest market “by a long way” – and since our interview, US president Donald Trump announced a 25% levy on cars and car parts imported into the country. Ineos said it was “outraged” by the development and, in response, Calder demanded “urgent and direct political intervention”.

Speaking before the announcement, Calder said: “There is a disparity between automotive imports and exports [American-made cars incur a 10% levy in the EU] and I’m hoping there’s a deal to be done that doesn’t hurt really small brands like us, who are really trying to find our feet and get up and running.”

Ineos won’t share production or financial figures for its automotive division, but Calder said: “When I look around at comparable brands - I don’t mean in terms of vehicle types, but in terms of start-ups trying to build a name for themselves – and I look at the financials that come out of those companies, I think we’re doing really well.

“One of the things that we’re really good at – and there are lots of things we’re not – is cost control. We run businesses like a very tight ship, and not everybody likes that, and it’s not easy, it’s not fun, but we take care to run a business really well; we don’t throw lots of money at everything. There’s no doubt we’ve got a long way to go.”

Dependable, robust and versatile, the pick-up truck has grown into a far more desirable offering in recent years, to a point where regular folk are selecting a double-cab workhorse over an SUV.

Before the boom in popularity, pick-ups were purely utilitarian vehicles, but they have become increasingly more upmarket, with SUV-level comfort, refinement and technology to attract private buyers.

It has certainly worked, as evidenced by the number of double-cab pick-ups on UK roads these days.

Previously, the tax-busting benefits of double-cab pick-ups also heightened their appeal, but as of April 2025, they're classed as cars rather than light commercial vehicles, meaning no more beneficial rates for benefit-in-kind tax.

So where does that leave us? Despite the tax changes, a pick-up still makes a lot of sense if you need a durable vehicle that can carry and tow just about anything. 

Having tested all of the latest pick-ups on sale, our favourite is the Ford Ranger. It’s reasonably priced, has an upmarket interior full of intuitive technology and rides and handles like a large SUV. 

But which other pick-ups should you consider? Keep reading as we share our list of the best models in 2025. 

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a special version of the G-Class that harks back to the 1979 original with a series of historic styling cues.

Called the G-Class ‘Stronger than the 1980s’, it swaps the modern car’s clear bonnet indicators for amber-tinted units like those of the original car and gains a set of classic-looking five-spoke alloy wheels

It is available in a choice of two two-tone liveries, with Agave Green or Colorado Beige paint contrasted against Night Black around the front fascia, skirting and grille, referencing the same scheme used on the original car.

The ‘Schöckl Proved’ emblem mounted on the car’s B-pillar is updated to feature the original G-Class, and at the rear end, the Mercedes-Benz wordmark uses the same font as in the 1980s.

The roof rack, mudflaps, rear ladder and headlight meshes are borrowed from the Professional catalogue of optional extras available on the standard G-Class.

Inside, the seats are upholstered with Dove Grey chequered cloth and the ‘Stronger than the 1980s’ script is inscribed on the passenger grab handle. 

The puddle lights in the exterior mirrors project the message “stronger than time” onto the ground when either of the front doors is opened.

The special edition is otherwise based on the regular G450d, packing a 3.0-litre diesel-powered straight six that puts out 382bhp. This yields a 0-62mph time of 5.8sec and fuel economy of 31.4mpg.

Mercedes will build a total of 460 examples, of the 1980s-inspired G-Class and each gets a plaque on the centre console to denote its place in the series. Prices start at £152,815.