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The Kia EV4 Fastback, the brand’s first electric saloon, will arrive in September priced from £40,895.

Sold alongside the Europe-made EV4 hatchback, the Fastback is expected to be more of a niche seller in the UK given it has been designed as more of a global model for the Korean firm – similar to the positioning of the Audi’s A6 Saloon compared to A6 Saloon.

In the UK, the Fastback, to be built in Korea, draws power exclusively from a 81.4kWh battery (compared to the entry £34,695 hatch’s 58.3kWh pack).

It is the most aerodynamic model Kia has ever made with a drag coefficient of 0.23Cd (thanks in part to active front air flaps), which helps the car achieve up to 380 miles of range from a single charge.

What’s more, its 400V system allows for a 10-80% charge in 31 minutes.

Power comes from a 201bhp front motor that can push the car to 62mph from standing in 7.9secs.

With those figures and starting price, this positions the Fastback squarely at Tesla’s Model 3.

It is sold in two trims, GT-Line and the £45,395 GT-Line S.

Inside, it is the same layout as the hatch: a 12.3in segments for infotainment and instrumentation, divided by a 5.3in climate panel. Boot space is rated at 490-litres

Order books are now open, with deliveries to begin from September.

Volvo will develop a third-generation XC90 SUV, the company's CEO has said, as the phase-out of combustion-engined models takes longer than the brand originally predicted.

Volvo has recently facelifted the 10-year-old XC90 after giving it a reprieve from the axe amid delays to the EX90 large electric SUV, which was originally intended as its replacement.

However, CEO Håkan Samuelsson said a third-generation model is on the cards. “We will need a new XC90,” he told investors on the company’s second-quarter earnings call, pointing out that the current model was first launched in 2015, but he stopped short of giving a potential launch date for its replacement.

A new XC90 is likely to be a long-range plug-in hybrid after Samuelsson indicated that the technology will make it over to Europe from China, where Volvo will start production of the new XC70 plug-in hybrid (below) with a claimed 112-mile electric range in the next three months.

“This is something I think European consumers will want to have,” he said. “Plug-in hybrids with a longer range are a solution that probably we will need for some more years than we thought.”

Volvo had committed in 2021 to going all-electric by 2030 but has since backtracked due to the varying pace of EV take-up globally.

The XC70 is built on a new Geely platform called SMA (Scalable Modular Architecture) and it could also underpin a new XC90.

The facelifted XC90 plug-in hybrid continues with a comparatively small battery of just under 15kWh compared with either 21kWh or 40kWh for the XC70. 

The XC90's shorter-range battery will penalise the facelifted SUV under new emissions-testing rules coming in at the end of the year that recalculate the CO2 figure for plug-in hybrids, making those with smaller batteries more expensive to tax as a company car.

Volvo has been hit hard by a combination of unforeseen global factors that have exposed its lack of flexibility compared with bigger premium companies. 

The Swedish firm booked a charge equivalent to almost £900 million in the second quarter this year after it halted plans to sell its new China-built ES90 electric saloon in US due to tariff hikes, along with delays to the EX90 SUV.

Software problems slowed the ramp-up of the EX90 at the company’s US plant in Charleston, South Carolina, by two years, CFO Fredrik Hansson said on the call. “That means lost volumes and it means increased engineering cost,” he said.

Volvo confirmed it will add the XC60 to the Charleston factory from the start of 2027 as it looks to fill capacity there and avoid the additional 25% tariffs US president Donald Trump has imposed on imported cars.

The company now believes it has manoeuvred itself into a position where it can ride out some of the worst of the global tariffs hikes and differences in the speed of electrification take-up.

Production of the Volvo EX30 small electric SUV for Europe will move to Ghent, Belgium, in the second half of this year from China. Meanwhile, the EX60 mid-size electric SUV will start production in Sweden in 2026, finally giving Volvo a competitor in a growing segment.

Mercedes-Benz-owned Yasa Motors has created what it claims to be the highest-density motor ever built – a 13.1kg unit that produces 738bhp.

That equates to 56bhp per kg, which is more than double the industry benchmark of 20bhp per kg. UK-based Yasa calls it an unofficial world record for motor power density – across any application or sector, not just automotive.

The electric motor with the highest power-to-weight ratio currently in production is the Equipmake HPM-400, which puts out 54bhp per kg. Weighing 40kg, the Australian-produced unit is used in aerospace and marine vehicles. 

Yasa’s figures were reached during prototype testing last week. What makes the feat most remarkable, says Yasa, is that the unit uses no exotic materials such as cobalt-iron laminations and litz wire. Moreover, it was not created using 3D printing.

Tim Woolmer, Yasa CTO and founder, told Autocar: “This result is a glimpse of what’s possible when deep tech, R&D and practical engineering comes together. We’ve shown that you don’t need exotic materials or experimental manufacturing processes to achieve record-breaking performance.

"What we’ve achieved here is not just a number – it’s a demonstration of scalable, production-ready innovation that raises the bar for electric motor design. And the most exciting part? We’re just getting started.”

Once the unit is signed off, production can reach up to 50,000 units a year at its Oxfordshire plant, according to Yasa.

In a statement, the firm said: “While unofficial, this record represents a major milestone - not just for Yasa, but for what’s possible at the cutting edge of practical, high-performance electric motor design.”

There are no official details about when a production version of the motor could be launched, nor what cars it will power. Yasa currently supplies motors to Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari, among others.