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MPs will consider reducing the default speed limit in England to 20mph in a bid to reduce road casualties.

The Transport Committee is meeting to discuss whether lower speed limits could be imposed as part of the government's road safety strategy - and whether England should adopt the same default 20mph limit as Wales.

MPs will quiz an expert panel in a session next Wednesday, including Transport for London's chief safety, health and environment officer and the former chair of the Welsh government's 20mph task force.

Wales reduced its default limit on restricted roads – making up around 35% of the country's road network – from 30mph to 20mph in 2023.

Despite earlier consultations suggesting almost half of motorists supported a reduced urban limit and government-backed research suggesting it could save 100 lives over a decade and avoid 14,000 casualties, the move prompted significant backlash.

Anti-20mph campaigners formed the largest petition in the Welsh parliament's history, with nearly half a million signatures, in the wake of the roll-out.

The Welsh Conservative Party has also been a vocal opponent of the Labour policy, which cost £32 million to implement, and – they say – cost the Welsh economy up to £9 billion.

The Tories had pledged to scrap the 20mph limit if they had won the 2024 general election. 

However, recent data suggests the change is beginning to have a positive impact on Wales: serious or fatal collisions fell by 19% in 2024, while casualties on 30/20mph roads dropped by more than a quarter.

A recent study found cutting the limit by 10mph added just two minutes to the average journey time in Wales.

Ministers will consider all of this as they evaluate the best means of achieving a targeted 65% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on UK roads by 2035.

This latest session on the subject will have "witnesses discuss whether the strategy’s commitments on speed are sufficient to support its casualty reduction targets".

These witnesses, the Transport Select Committee said, "could be pressed on whether England should follow Wales and move towards 20mph as the default national speed limit on roads".

20mph zones are already prevalent in cities and towns across England, particularly in London, where more than half of roads are subject to the reduced limit. 

Recent data from the European Transport Safety Council suggests that the proliferation of 20mph zones across London between 1989 and 2013 led to a "sharp fall" in road injuries and deaths.

Total collisions in the city fell by 35% over the period, the body said, casualties were down 36% and there was a 75% reduction in children being killed on the road.

Alpine boss Philippe Krief has vowed that the second-generation, fully electric A110 sports car will be better to drive than its fabled predecessor in every aspect.

The two-seater is due to be revealed in full next year, but the French firm has shown a first glimpse with the A110 Future running up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

That machine is a development car, featuring the new Alpine Performance Platform (APP) and electric powertrain underneath bodywork based on the petrol A110, which recently went out of production.

Alpine has developed the APP from scratch for the new A110, forgoing the underfloor battery typically used in an EV for two smaller packs at each end of this chassis. This allows the car to sit lower and balances the weight distribution.

Krief said that the new A110 is marginally longer and wider than its predecessor but shares an identical length-to-height ratio.

Asked by Autocar what the new A110 must achieve, Krief said: “First of all, it has to be a sports car. In terms of shape, the car is an A110. In terms of product, it has to perform as a sports car should, so it must be fun to drive.”

Krief said the firm’s development brief was to “beat the [current] A110 in all areas that made it a success, such as the feeling of lightness. The new platform allows us to develop a perfect integration between mechanics and electronics.”

He noted that around 95% of the components on the car are new and not shared within the wider Renault Group.

He also cited the development brief to ensure the EV could lap a circuit at “maximum speed and maximum lateral acceleration” for at least 20 minutes.

He added: “This will make the car at least as good as the currently one – and I do believe it will be even better in terms of this kind of performance.”

Alpine has yet reveal the design of the new car, but Krief says that it will “keep the family feeling of A110 but will be even more futuristic – so it will be better than the current A110.”

Krief said a particular focus had gone on developing the interior – one area where the A110 has been criticised in the past, due to common parts shared with other Renault Group cars – to give it an “extreme sports car feel”.

He continued: “The current A110 is an extraordinary sports car, but the cockpit is not that extraordinary. We’ve done huge, huge work in order to have a timeless cockpit – not one where you will find a lot of screens but something very intuitive, where the driver is at the centre.”

Another key aspect for the next A110 will be increasing the number of personalisation options, which will be key for the firm in achieving higher margins as it pushes to win over more premium buyers and expand its sales.

Krief added that the APP is forecast to last for at least two generations of A110 and noted that “in the middle of those two generations will be a special extreme version”.

The A110 EV will be launched as a classic two-seat coupé but will also be offered as a 2+2, and there will be cabriolet versions of both models.

Alpine has recently launched the A390 crossover alongside the A290 hot hatch as part of its bold expansion, and Krief said that the plan was to continue growing.

Asked how big he wanted the firm to become, Krief said “we are more on the Ferrari side in terms of volume than on the Porsche side”, suggesting a goal to sell around 15,000 cars year.

But he added: “We are not Ferrari, of course, and we are not aiming to be Porsche: we aim more to be more niche than Porsche, because we want to preserve the exclusivity and the profitability for our models.”

BYD's premium brand, Denza, has pulled the wraps of the coupé version of its new Z electric hypercar.

Underpinned by a new development of the e3 platform that's also employed by the Z9 GT, it has three electric motors that combine for a huge 1582bhp and 915lb ft of torque. 

This allows the Z Coupé to hit 62mph from rest in a claimed 2.25sec; the Z Spider that was revealed at the Beijing motor show takes 2.3sec. The Racing variant (pictured below), fitted with a large rear wing and semi-slick tyres, cuts that to 1.96sec. 

The Coupé and Spider top out at 186mph, while the Racing can hit 217mph.

A 'Special Edition' is also in the works, bringing more than 1973bhp and cutting the 0-62mph time to less than 1.7sec. This derivative is also claimed to bring more advanced battery cooling for track use.

All versions of the Z are fitted with magnetorehological suspension: the fluid inside the dampers contains metal filaments that mean it can change its viscosity in milliseconds, repsonding to magnetics controlled by the car's chassis computer. This means it can make rapid adjustments to damping based on the condition of the Tarmac underfoot.

The Coupé and Spider ride on air springs, while the track-focused Racing uses traditional metal coils. All versions are stopped by carbon-ceramic brake discs with six-piston calipers up front and four-pots at the rear. 

They also share a 76kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery for ranges of 254 miles in the Coupé, 248 miles in the Spider and 236 in the Racing. Rather than being a traditional pack comprising several modules, the cells in the Z are mounted directly to the chassis, boosting torsional rigitdity.

This packs BYD's 'Flash' charging technology, allowing a 10-97% refill in just nine minutes on a suitably fast (1500kW) connection. BYD plans to install 300 such chargers in the UK by the end of the year.

The Z weighs 2230kg in Coupé form, rising to 2250kg for the Racing and 2300kg for the Spider.

The Z gets BYD's first steer-by-wire systme, in which there isn't a traditional steering rack but instead an electronic connection. 

Inside, it features an 8.9in digital instrument panel and a 12.8in infotainment touchscreen. 

There's also a simulated engine sound, Denza said, but we don't yet know whether it has opted for a virtual gearbox system as pioneered by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and since replicated by the Porsche Taycan E-Shift and Honda Super-N.

Denza has yet to confirm pricing but, given the Z's positioning as its flagship, it's expected to start well into six figures. It previously said the Z9 GT shooting brake would start around £100,000.

The Z serves as a statement of intent for BYD's premium brand, taking the fight to the likes of Porsche, Polestar and Mercedes-Benz on all fronts.

Pricing starts at £142,900 for the Coupé, £159,900 for the Spider and £172,900 for the Racing.

It remains to be seen whether it will spark demand for electric supercars, but it could provide a 'halo' effect in bringing attention to a challenger brand in an incredibly competitive segment.