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Renault is exploring the viability of new performance models – and it will show “first proposals” within the next year, its CEO has said.

Its last true dedicated sporting model was the fourth-generation Mégane RS hot hatch, which went out of production in 2023 with the 296bhp Ultime run-out special.

Renault has been experimenting again with sportier models recently, bringing to market the highly limited £140,000 5 Turbo 3E – a 533bhp hyper hatch that was created as a statement of intent for what a Renault performance EV is capable of.

Asked if the brand would consider launching anything more volume-focused and affordable in the sporting segment, boss Fabrice Cambolive told Autocar at the Munich motor show: “Yes, we are exploring some others. We will come to you with some proposals in the next 12 months."

On the viability of such a car or series of cars, Cambolive said that “we have to find the right balance” between cost and demand before approval will be given.

To that end, Renault Clio product line manager Emmanuel de Jesus Pequeno recently told Autocar that a hot version of the new sixth-generation supermini is not currently on the cards. This is because of the "compromise" between the level of investment required to transform it into a hot hatch and the level of demand anticipated.

Renault would most likely be required to redevelop the previous Mk4 Clio RS's 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine or the Alpine A110's punchier 1.8 to meet future emissions regulations, which could prove prohibitvely costly.

Although the new "proposals" could resurrect the Renaultsport moniker, Cambolive hinted that the Renault Group could decide to continue using the Alpine brand exclusively for dedicated sports cars.

In February, then CEO Luca de Meo described Renaultsport to Autocar as being “in the fridge” and said that while “everything sporty would be building on Alpine”, that “doesn't mean that sometimes this thing wouldn’t be revived”.

Furthering his point, de Meo said: “I’ve been asked why the new 3E Turbo is not an Alpine, and I said ‘sorry, because the 5 Turbo was never an Alpine, it was a Renault, and if you want to do something authentic, you gotta respect the history of the thing'.”

The Hyundai Concept Three previews a new compact electric hatchback that will go into production next year.

A star of the Munich motor show, the Concept Three will spawn a model expected to be called Ioniq 3 in production, although the Ioniq 2 and Ioniq 4 names also remain possible, execs told Autocar.

The five-door hatchback will be manufactured in Europe and is likely to become the brand’s best-selling electric car here.

Hyundai Design Centre boss Simon Loasby said while the show car is conceptual in many of the details, its overall proportions, shape and surfacing are true to the production car – which had, in fact, been designed ahead of the Concept Three.

The concept is a similar length to the Volkswagen Golf, at 4288mm. Far from being a conventional hatchback, however, it is what Hyundai calls an ‘aero hatch’, with a more rakish body and a sculpted rear hatch and spoiler that optimises airflow for low drag and efficiency.

This is in keeping with the rest of the Hyundai Ioniq range, comprised of cars that eschew conventional shapes and sizes.

Loasby said such a strategy allowed Hyundai to design models with specific target customers in that segment in mind. He added that such an approach was vital in the mainstream hatchback segment in particular as a way to “stand out in an extremely competitive [segment] with a lot of good cars”.

The concept brings with it a new design language Hyundai calls ‘Art of Steel’, which is designed to showcase and celebrate steel as a material and create more sculpted shapes and surfaces with it.

This approach isreinforced simply by making cars more fun and friendly in order to resonate with buyers. The concept has a series of hidden Easter eggs with that in mind, including a repeating icon called ‘Mr Pix’.

Loasby said the production car wouldn’t quite be as wide or as low as the 1968mm-wide and 1465mm-tall Concept Three, but its “fundamentals” would all remain.

The headlights will remain slim (although not hidden as much as those on the concept) and the pixel graphics will remain as one of a limited number of visual links with the other Ioniq models.

The concept’s gullwing doors will also give way for production, with Loasby saying they were there to better showcase the interior.

The interior is even more radical than the exterior, but it still has links to the production car. Material use and design have been applied with a ‘Furnished Space’ mantra in an effort to sculpt and trim surfaces as if in a living room.

Both the Art of Steel and Furnished Space themes were part of Hyundai trying to treat materials “in a more natural way”, said Loasby.

There is also a new approach to the HMI multimedia interface, with an increased number of buttons near the driver to help keep their eyes on the road more of the time.

In a continuation of this theme, the driver display is also moved above the steering wheel and therefore closer to the driver’s eyeline.

“We have to keep safety at the top of the pyramid,” said Loasby. “We never went all in on touchscreens and kept buttons.”

Hyundai has yet to confirm any technical specifications for the concept other than saying it is electric, but it is understood to be based on the same 400V E-GMP EV architecture as the Kia EV3. For production it will be offered with similar drivetrains and batteries to those of its sibling model, which is also manufactured in Europe.

Vauxhall will look to become a sportier brand within the Stellantis stable in its next generation of models, starting with the new Corsa.

Stellantis Europe boss Jean-Philippe Imparato said Munich’s Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo showed the initial thinking behind moving Stellantis’s brands into more “white space” and breaking out further away from one another, Vauxhall’s white space being sportiness.

Vauxhall CEO Florian Huettl told Autocar the concept was “a great illustration of what we are working on for the next step”: building “sportiness” while ensuring the brand still makes cars that are “approachable and affordable”.

A further expression of the brand’s push into sportiness was seen with the introduction of the new Mokka GSE at the Munich show, said Huettl. 

Huettl confirmed development work had begun on the next-generation Corsa. A launch in 2027 is considered likely for the supermini, at a price that Huettl confirmed would be around €25,000.

The next Corsa will be based on Stellantis’s STLA Small platform rather than the cheaper Smart Car platform, as it's a more mature product in need of larger batteries. To that end, it will be offered as an electric car only.

Huettl said it was no longer Vauxhall’s intention to only offer electric cars from 2028 as previously planned, however.

While the next Corsa will be offered only as an EV, the current ICE Corsa is likely to stay in production alongside it so that Vauxhall is able to cater for that market.

Building on the decision to remove the 2028 EV-only pledge, Huettl said it wasn't a case of Vauxhall pausing or rowing back on EV development but instead a flexible and pragmatic response to the market’s slower than expected shift to EVs.

“We cannot rush faster than the demand,” he said.

More broadly on the next Corsa, Huettl said there will be a new approach to the interior design to try to get a greater feeling of space and light in the cabin.

While there will be a focus on driving dynamics and roadholding with the new Corsa as part of the sporty push, that doesn't extend to the by-wire steering that sibling brand Peugeot is preparing for its related next-generation 208.

Huettl was non-committal about whether the sportier push would spur a rebirth of the Manta, which had been heavily tipped for a return in 2022 but has seemingly fallen off the plan since. “We see the request to bring back this, bring back that,” he said.

Commenting specifically on Vauxhall in the UK, Huettl said the brand “needs to do more than today” and he is looking for a “more significant market share”, more akin to that of the past, when Vauxhall rivalled Ford for top spot.

“We have a historic manufacturing footprint. We intend to be a national car manufacturer and we intend to take space also in the market share," Huettl said. "Vauxhall deserves a bigger space in the UK market, and we go after it.”

The Polestar 6 has been put on the back burner as the brand prioritises higher-volume models like the Polestar 7 crossover and Polestar 2 replacement.

Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller told Autocar at the Munich motor show that the next priority was to get into the compact SUV segment in Europe with the 7 (rendered below), which will give Polestar the biggest volume potential yet and make the brand more accessible in its pricing.

Polestar has also “put a lot of energy into the topic” of the next-generation 2, as the liftback has been the Swedish brand’s most successful model to date.

These two models are crucial in building volume for Polestar and supporting retailer growth, said Lohscheller, as part of the brand's switch to a more conventional retail model.

Lohscheller confirmed that Polestar still intends to make the 6 in the future, however, as a model that will use a new bespoke architecture shared with the 5 saloon revealed at Munich.

But for now the focus is very much on building volume in Europe – a market that is by far Polestar's most successful globally. More than 75% of Polestar cars are sold in Europe, and the UK is its biggest single market.

On his plans for the 7, Lohscheller said he hopes to attract younger customers to the brand with the smaller SUV and also more female customers as he accepts the brand "is quite a performance brand" at the moment and has "many, many more male" than female customers

He said the design would be "very different" to Polestar's current models and more of a familiar SUV shape "but at the same time, it will be distinguished and really stand out" in the way the 5 stands out against rival saloons.

"It will have all the Polestar DNA with the right driving characteristics, chassis tuning, and we will bring all these ideas together in a sustainable way," he said. 

He wouldn't comment on recent suggestions that Geely sibling brand Lotus could look to use the architecture of the 5 and 6 or indeed manufacture Polestar models at Hethel.

Lohscheller also ruled out the possibility of Polestar models ever using hybrid drivetrains, as it would go against the brand's positioning to date and the customer base would "absolutely go bananas".

"We're an EV brand, and so that clarity is really important," he said.