News

We dubbed it Honey Mountain. Ferrari’s events team, whose carefully prescribed route we plain ignored, would probably have dubbed it the arse end of nowhere.

But in this game, sometimes you have to take a punt on an unsolicited location-pin fired over by snapper Jack Harrison at midnight. It’s how you end up on a spellbinding Greek pass the next morning, gleefully climbing ever higher in what is, in all objective ways, the least serious car in Ferrari’s expansive modern day line-up.

The pass in question is an abandoned-feeling stretch of the EO66 that takes you over the Oligyrtos mountains in the Peloponnese region. Think dense reaches of fir and pine, limestone massifs and impossibly verdant valleys, threaded with a scribble of asphalt smooth enough for you to unleash laugh-outloud speed but rugged enough to keep things interesting.

And slatted boxes. Hundreds of them, pastel-hued and weather-worn, dotting the roadside. They’re crammed with bees busy making liquid gold for the towns below. It all feels faintly mythical, but perhaps that is to be expected. Among his labours, Heracles dealt with the man-eating Stymphalian birds only a few miles from the highest point of the pass.

We’re in Greece for the media launch of the new AmalfiSpider. It costs £227,000 and is the rag-top version of Ferrari’s entry-level Amalfi coupe. If you didn’t know better, you might have thought it damned with faint praise in last night’s uncharacteristically concise technical presentation at the hotel. It was described by engineers as being “as easy to drive as possible” and existing as the best option for new Ferraristi who – get this – might find the company’s cars an “intimidating step up from what they’re used to”.

Is the Amalfi Spider a car that Ferrari actually enjoyed creating or one it merely feels compelled to offer, to get people hooked on Maranello magic before their heads are turned by wares from Gaydon and Stuttgart?

The truth will soon become obvious, but this car is without doubt more approachable than the drop-top Ferraris it subordinates, the midengined 296 GTS and flagship, 1036hp 849 Testarossa Spider. I do wonder if positioning it as the dilettante’s choice sells it short, though. Let’s face facts: here we have a short wheelbase, steering response with which you could draw blood and a 3855cc twin-turbo V8 laying down 561lb from 3000rpm and 631bhp (spins faster than ever, too).

There’s also the small matter of a new Race mode, in which the fervour of the electronic stability systems has been diminished versus what you got in the old Roma Spider. ‘Easy to drive’ could be rebranded as ‘invites you to get unhinged, pronto’.

Before then, there are prosaic but nonetheless important elements. The freshly laid, glass-smooth motorway that takes us over from Attica, across the vertiginous slash in the landmass that is the manmade Corinth canal and into the vineyard-dotted Peloponnese bush is a chance to settle into the car’s unpretentious, cupped seats and take stock of what Ferrari says are myriad improvements to “quality of life on-board”.

The new electrohydraulically folding roof – five layers of fabric, three of rubber – is said to offer the same noise-insulation as a folding hard top, and in fairness this is difficult to dispute. The AmalfiSpider is a closer match for Bentley’s Continental GTC, as goes rolling refinement, than for any equivalent Porsche 911 convertible. I don’t think an Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, on its comically wide and roaring tyres, comes close either.

More impressive is what happens when you put the Amalfi’s roof down, which takes 13.5sec and can be done at 40mph. Keep the side windows up, deploy the rear seat-back panel as a turbulence-mitigation measure (it flips out to sit horizontal) and you need barely raise your voice to chat, even on rapid motorways runs. Uncanny.

The nose lift – not that you constantly need it, with the Amalfi’s unthreatening ride height – is also new and integrated into the Magneride dampers. Along with their springs, the dampers offer a broader spread of characteristics than Roma owners will know. Comfort mode is softer than before, Sport and Race firmer. And as ever, whichever mode you opt for via the anodised nub of the manettino, you can depress the dial itself to enter the ever-excellent Bumpy Road mode. This sets the suspension to its softest, no matter what the engine, gearbox and ESC are doing.

The Amalfi’s languid waft and confounding suppression of wild and tyre noise – that is, its phenomenal capability as a serious-distance GT car – can lull you into a false sense of security. In this case the brutal awakening comes when we leave the motorway via a wickedly tight corkscrew slip-road. After only deploying a couple of degrees of lock for the last 50 miles, in my mind the steering has become simpatico with the languid body movements you get in Comfort.

This is, of course, quite untrue. When I carry good speed and carve the Amalfi into this corkscrew using meaningful lock, the nose darts inwards so keenly that, just for a moment, a meeting with the Armco doesn’t feel out of the question. Clearly the Amalfi Spider’s EPS tuning is unchanged from that of the Roma Spider: this is the Max Verstappen school of sensitivity.

Your ability to live with and enjoy the vivid effects that your steering inputs have on the swinging, power-domed nose will define your suitability for Amalfi ownership. The helm of the 911 GTS Cabriolet is slower, more natural and gives the gift of letting you revel in the kinematics of camber and castor as the car straightens post-apex. Anybody can enjoy it without having to adjust. Like in all modern Ferraris, the steering here is more confected and provocative, being keen to take advantage of having an engine nestled so far back you could almost stub your toe on it. There are serious rewards on offer, but you have to be game.

We should also discuss the new body. Both cars were overseen by Flavio Manzoni, but the Roma’s tapered snout and pseudo-grille are firmly out, replaced by a more monolithic aesthetic. The Amalfi is a smart grand tourer and the hint of boat-tail is rather a lovely one, but it lacks its predecessor’s eccentric, darting elegance. It’s just a bit more ordinary.

Underneath the body the two cars are essentially unchanged. This becomes obvious when you notice the identical claimed dry weight of 1556kg for Roma and Amalfi Spiders. However, there are tweaks. The turbos now spin faster in order to help pump peak power up from 29bhp in the Roma to the Amalfi’s headline 631bhp. There are also lighter camshafts that raise the flat-plane crankshaft’s head room by 100rpm to 7600rpm. And finally there are the carbon-ceramic brakes, which are now gripped courtesy of a by-wire mechanism. It means that, behind the scenes, you benefit from the ABS Evo system originall masterminded for the 296 GTB supercar.

To reach the foot of the Oligyrtos range, you need to join the EO66 at the comatose township of Nemea. As the buildings peter out, there’s a snaking run that slowly rises through olive groves and corridors of dense reeds, inhabited only by the occasional Mk2 Mitsubishi L200 that all the farmers here seem to drive.

With the manettino in Sport and Bumpy Road mode engaged, the Amalfi Spider is stunningly supple and cohesive – unrecognisably so compared with the California that started this lineage back in 2008. It has verve and togetherness. Where the nose goes, the tail obediently falls in with a purposeful squat, dropping the four tips of the reworked exhaust plumbing an inch or so closer to the road under power. It’s effortlessly quick.

Speeds inevitably rise and very soon, all thoughts of the soft-close doors, the new physical steering-wheel controls (a vast improvement on the derided haptics) and rolling refinement have faded. But the engineers were right: this is an incredibly low-cortisol Ferrari when you’re just mooching. Which only heightens the surprise and the delight when you’re not.

And now we reach the pass. The only real way to go is to select that freer Race mode, at least until you have a good understanding of the car’s transition from grip to slip. This can happen rapidly but in the dry it never happens unexpectedly.

The V8 is also precise enough for anybody to enjoy gently over-rotating the notably narrow (285-section) rear Goodyears on exit, for a tiny opening of lock. Given half a chance, the car will slither everywhere in such fashion. Or you can smash the torque in and ride out a filthy great broad slide, although you need to select ESC Off mode for this. Does any other Ferrari invite you to steer using the long, indulgently sprung throttle pedal as enthusiastically as the Amalfi?

At the same time, this new chassis is more forgiving than before. In Sport or even Comfort modes, if a corner ended up being sharper than expected, it wasn’t uncommon for the Roma’s tail to go wandering on a trailing brake. Some of us loved this impetuous, in-built agility, but the Amalfi , with its new 6D chassis controller, is less impishly mobile in normal driving. That’s handy in a car just 6mm narrower than the 12Cilindri.

We hit the top of the pass with the morning shadows receding and Harrison steps out to get a shot of the Amalfi’s nose next to one of the beehives. Unfortunately for him, I neglect to kill the booming V8 via the now-physical stop-start button. For the poor bees this is the equivalent of a T-Rex inserting its head through your bedroom window, so Harrison beats an undignified retreat and now it’s time for some conclusions.

We both feel the lack of sonic fireworks is disappointing. In fairness, Ferrari is now at the stage of having to use thinner engine oil simply to get this unit emissions-compliant. Along with the turbos and catalytic converters, creating real acoustic emotion is tough.

Neither do I much like the now-mandatory passenger-side display. And while Ferrari has reduced the stack height of the roof to 22cm when stowed, it does chomp into the boot space that is already limited by the hulking, Magna-engineered eight-speed transaxle lurking below. The Spider’s 172 litres with the roof down is reason to go for the coupé if you enjoy touring.

But this is otherwise a pretty stunning little Ferrari with some roguish charm. Consider the bowstring compliance that will be the envy of certain mid-engined machines; the balance and sled-like aptitude for oversteer; the uncanny refinement; the miniscule handling concessions from having more weight and a higher centre of gravity than the coupé; the V8 complemented by an exquisite, versatile dual-clutch gearbox.

The open-air Amalfi is pricier than rivals and, gulp, costs £49,000 more that its forebear did in 2023. But Ferrari has taken this car to a place that will be tough to match, let alone beat. Never tiring but never dull, it’s an underrated honey.

Last month was the strongest July for new car sales in the UK since the Covid pandemic, as a significant rise in sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars drove growth.

A total of 156,571 new cars were registered during July, an increase of 11.7% compared with July 2025 and close to the 157,580 recorded during the same month in 2019.

EV registrations rose by 44.5% compared with July 2025, to 43,106. That means that for the year so far, EVs have accounted for just over one in four of all new cars sold – a significant improvement on a year ago but still short of the 33% target set by the government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) attributed the rise in EV sales to the continued roll-out of the government’s Electric Car Grant and discounting.

It also suggested the rise in petrol and diesel fuel prices triggered by the Iran war may have swayed buyers towards EVs and hybrids. 

PHEV sales rose 33.6% year on year, to 23,359, while sales of conventional (or ‘self-charging’) hybrids rose 11.6%, to 20,711.

Registrations of pure-petrol cars, meanwhile, declined significantly. They fell from 66,271 to 62,799, a reduction of 5.2%.

Although they remain the predominant choice of UK buyers, petrol cars’ market share fell from 47.3% in July 2025 to 40.1% in July 2026.

This means that electrified cars – ie those capable of driving solely on electric power – now account for more than half of all new car sales in the UK. 

SMMT chief Mike Hawes warned, however, that this growth “cannot be sustained”. He claimed that car makers are “haemorrhaging billions” by discounting their EVs in order to stimulate demand sufficient to meet their ZEV mandate targets.

Hawes has previously called on the government to accelerate its review of the ZEV mandate and smooth the annual inclines in EV sales targets, as the UK approaches its 2035 deadline for sales of new ICE cars.

EV-focused transport research organisation New Automotive said that, taking into account the credit-banking and credit-trading flexibilities built into the ZEV mandate scheme, sales are tracking ahead of targets.

Although the official target for EV sales for 2026 is 33%, New Automotive estimates a real target of 24.6%, and the EV market share for the full year currently stands at 25.3%. 

The best-selling car in July was the Ford Puma, a regular chart-topper, with 3531 registrations. It was followed by the Nissan Qashqai (3224) and Kia Sportage (3205). The best-selling EV, meanwhile, was the Renault 5 (1805).

Notably, Chinese newcomer Jaecoo had two models in July’s top 10 best-sellers. Its 5 and 7 SUVs scored 2481 and 2709 registrations respectively.

The Vauxhall Corsa GSE will be quicker yet cheaper than the Volkswagen Golf GTI when it lands in the UK later this year. 

Despite being pitched in the traditional ‘junior’ hot hatch class, once occupied by cars such as the Ford Fiesta ST, the new EV has the performance to outmatch many full-sized performance cars.

With 277bhp, it takes 5.5sec to hit 62mph from rest, beating the 5.9sec of the benchmark Golf GTI - and the 5.7sec taken by its electric equivalent, the Volkswagen ID 3 GTX.

That also makes the Corsa GSE quicker than the rival Alpine A290 (6.4sec).

The Corsa GSE will be priced from £34,495, or £32,995 if – as expected – it gets the £1500 Electric Car Grant from which the standard Corsa benefits. That's roughly on a par with the A290, and £9000 less than the GTI.

The Corsa GSE is Vauxhall’s first hot hatch since it discontinued the Corsa VXR eight years ago and is claimed to bring "the sporty GSi genes of the Vauxhall Nova into the future".

As with the new GTi version of its Peugeot 208 twin, the Corsa GSE swaps the regular Corsa Electric’s 154bhp motor for the 277bhp unit that's also deployed in the Abarth 600e, Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce and Vauxhall Mokka GSE.

Power is delivered to the front wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential and Vauxhall said it has tuned the throttle and brake pedal responses to emphasise the GSE's sportiness. The car also gets reworked axles front and rear, as well as stiffer anti-roll bars and new dampers with hydraulic bump stops.

The suspension sits lower than the regular Corsa's and the cambered 18in alloy wheels are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres. Both the weight and feedback of the steering have been increased and the rack is quicker. Stopping power is provided by four-pot Alcon brakes front and rear. Three-spoke alloys hark back to those on the original hot Nova, with a flat-faced design to improve aero performance.

As with the regular Corsa, the GSE features several drive modes that alter the car's character. In its normal setting, it is capped at 228bhp to preserve range. The Eco mode cuts this further – although Vauxhall has yet to confirm to what extent – and limits the top speed to 93mph. Sport mode, said to be designed for track use, uncorks the full 277bhp.

The exterior tweaks that distinguish the Corsa GSE from regular variants are more subtle than with the previous VXR. Indeed, its treatment with black contrasts around its vents and wheel arches echoes the relationship between the early 1990s Nova GSi and its stablemates.

Inside, it is clear that the GSE is a more focused proposition than the standard Corsa, with chunky tartan bucket seats, green seatbelts and an Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel. The pedals, meanwhile, are finished in aluminium.

Alongside the pricing, Vauxhall confirmed the Corsa GSE has an official range of 232 miles – 31 miles greater than the closely related Mokka GSE. 

As previously reported by Autocar, the hot Corsa will be followed by a high-performance variant of the larger Astra to rival the Golf GTI.

This will look to capitalise on the gap in the market left by the discontinued Ford Focus ST and Honda Civic Type R while also trading blows with the Cupra Born VZ and Kia EV3 GT.

The GSE sub-brand is instrumental in Vauxhall's plan to shed its dowdy image and cultivate a new, more desirable one. This, it is understood, is because new Chinese competitors majoring on value threaten to steal what has long been one of Vauxhall's main selling points.

"Vauxhall scores highly for rational appeal but not so much the emotional," the brand's commercial director, Michael Auliar, told Autocar.

Vauxhall-Opel CEO Florian Huetti previously said "sportiness" represents the "next step" for the British and German brands as they look to better differentiate themselves from in-house Stellantis siblings, such as Peugeot and Citroën.

Tesla's long-promised transition from car-making giant to AI-driven tech titan has suffered a setback, as returns on the firm’s core vehicle line-up continue to erode.

The company reported a sharp drop in profits for the second quarter this year, after the average selling price of its cars slumped. The operating margin dropped to just 1.4% for the quarter ending June, compared with 4.1% in the same period last year despite delivering more cars, at 451,758 – up 10%.

The average selling price, based on automotive revenue divided by deliveries, sank 27% to $42,730, down from $58,564 this time last year, as Tesla rolled out cheaper models and offered more attractive finance to fend off increasingly strong competition.

Tesla in the UK has been offering the Model 3 saloon for lease at £295 a month with £295 down, meaning customers were paying £7572 over two years for a car that costs £37,990.

Tesla’s push to offset falling US sales amid the end of EV incentives there has switched its focused to global markets, including Europe and China. The Model Y SUV looked to top European sales in the first six months of this year as the firm sought to reclaim its EV crown from BYD.

The Model Y and Model 3 were the two best-selling electric models in the UK in the first six months, according to figures from the SMMT. The Model 3, which is produced in Tesla’s plant in Shanghai, was the UK’s third best-selling Chinese-built car over the period, after the Jaecoo 7 and MG HS.

Tesla continues to rely heavily on the Model 3 and Model Y for the bulk of its revenue, building 442,936 in the three-month period. Its other models, including the Cybertruck, account for just 8822 vehicles produced.

The company is pivoting to robotaxis and robotics as it looks for new, more profitable revenue streams, but so far the Model Y robotaxis and purpose-built Cybercab haven’t progressed as expected.

CFO Vaibhav Taneja blamed “kinks” for the slow rollout, which began in Austin in June last year but has only expanded to a handful of cities, despite CEO Elon Musk promising that “millions of Teslas would operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year”.

Tesla’s stock price has fallen by 29% from the start of this year.