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Wells Motor Cars has revised its debut sports car, the Vertige, bringing a larger engine as standard and promising greater comfort for tall drivers.

The Series 2 Vertige moves from the previous 2.0-litre version of the ubiquitous Ford Duratec four-cylinder to a 2.5-litre derivative. This provides a substantial increase in torque, with Wells claiming significantly improved in-gear performance. 

Autocar’s March road test of the 2.0-litre Vertige R noted that there was an “occasional hiccup below 2000rpm on a wide-open throttle”.

Speaking to Autocar, Wells founder Robin Wells promised more immediate responses, referencing the delivery of now-ubiquitous turbocharged and electrified engines. It's now possible to “pootle about in third” in a Vertige, he said.

The additional displacement also increases the standard Vertige’s power output from 205bhp to 225bhp. 

The range-topping R model will no longer be offered. Wells said it was always intended as a limited-run upgrade package with a greater focus on track, having initially been offered to owners who also drove supercars or took to the circuit. But he suffered the “moral quandary” of not including all owners so did – and the full run of Rs sold out. Wells said he had hoped for it to be a special option, and was surprised to find most owners took up his offer.

He added that he believed the Vertige’s chassis was “always good enough and capable” of handling greater output than offered by the standard car previously. The move to the 2.5-litre Duratec also ensures there will be a more consistent supply in the long term.

Wells highlighted that he doesn't want to “let customers be the test” for new developments for the Vertige. He has used the new powerplant in the company's development car, which he drives himself on a daily basis, since early 2025 and is confident in its performance and character compared with the previous 2.0-litre unit (pictured below).

The Vertige has also gained the option of a Quaife ATB limited-slip differential. Wells said that, although track use is not the raison d’être of the Vertige, it will provide additional traction in such circumstances and in harder road driving. "It will open up a new way of enjoying a Vertige," said Wells.

The Vertige’s structure has also been modified to liberate an additional 70mm of space to improve comfort for taller drivers. Wells explained that the car’s external dimensions haven't changed: the front bulkhead has been pushed back to free roughly 20-30mm more leg room in the footwells, while the rear bulkhead has been “scalloped” for the same gain in head room. 

There's also a new infotainment touchscreen, replacing the Sony unit in previous Vertiges. This is larger than previously and now fits flush with the dashboard.

Wells said the company is “working on the general quality of materials” and highlighted an expanded range of options, including the availability of Connolly leather.

Despite the tweaks, the Vertige still weighs 860kg (dry), making it notably lighter than any of its mainstream competitors: an Alpine A110 is 1103kg, a Porsche 718 Cayman is 1335kg and the Lotus Emira V6 is 1446kg.

Production of the original Vertige is soon to wrap up, with assembly of Series 2 cars due to begin next year. Prices now start from £84,995. 

Wells said the company has a capacity to build up to 25 cars per year, with each built to order according to an owner's desire. Five customers have already placed deposits for Series 2 Vertiges – meaning there are 20 slots left for 2027.

Discussing the company’s position as a nascent manufacturer of sports cars in Britain, he said: “I’m very conscious that what I’m trying to do has been done, attempted and failed on countless occasions, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll succeed, but there’s no guarantee that we’re doomed to fail either. We’ve delivered on every single benchmark that we wanted to deliver on, and customer cars are on the road.”

He added that the company “knows exactly where we want to be”.

Key to Wells’ ambition is to foster a sense of community among Vertige owners. He hosted the owners club’s third Christmas dinner last December and it recently completed its inaugural tour, with eight owners driving their Vertiges around the Peak District. “Everybody had a great time, and we’re planning between 12 and 15 cars next year,” he said.

Three-quarters of a million vehicles are 'disappearing' from Britain's roads every year, being stolen for scrap and illegal export or transferred onto false numberplates.

Andy Latham, chair of the Vehicle Recyclers Association, told Autocar that large numbers of cars effectively vanish once they move through certain areas of the motor trade.

"We recently completed a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA which found that between 650,000 and 841,000 vehicles are potentially unaccounted for each year," he said.

Latham claimed that while some vehicles are being legally registered as off the road, a large number are thought to be stolen and then illegally scrapped or exported without documentation.

"A lack of visibility and enforcement in this area makes it easier for criminals to illegally dismantle vehicles and ship components and tyres abroad in containers," he said. "Equally, we see parts from unlicensed vehicle dismantlers being sold on online marketplaces."

Latham believes the trade has been exacerbated by unlicensed dismantlers, which he estimates to number more than 1000. He said: "They make UK roads less safe and push insurance premiums up for everyone."

As Latham highlighted, a vehicle must not be exported without the DVLA being notified and end-of-life vehicles must be issued with a Certificate of Destruction or Notification of Destruction by an authorised treatment facility.

Meanwhile, cloned and ghost (made-up) numberplates are being deployed by criminals to shield the identity of stolen vehicles and to cheat the UK's network of automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Of the 100 million numberplates that ANPR cameras read daily, "1% to 2% produce unreadable or incomplete reads", said Matt Willmot, head of Operation Topaz, a joint initiative between the National Police Chiefs' Council, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Home Office, and "a proportion of those are a deliberate attempt to conceal the identity of the vehicle".

The Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) said cloned and ghost plates are linked to offences including "rogue trading, drug dealing and organised crime" while also allowing drivers to avoid paying congestion charges, fines and insurance checks.

Martin Saunders, the MIB's head of uninsured driving prevention, said: "Numberplates are, simply put, the window to vehicle identification. The increasing damage done by drivers of vehicles hiding in plain sight on our road system should not be tolerated."

One driver affected by the problem is Louise Fletcher, a heart failure nurse from Worthing, West Sussex (pictured below).

She bought a Nissan Juke from a dealership in East Grinstead in September but shortly afterwards began receiving parking fines and penalty notices for offences committed in London, despite living nearly 100 miles away.

One notice alleged that her car had been driven the wrong way down a one-way street at around 10pm, while another claim was linked to an alleged hit and run.

It's suspected that its numberplates may have been copied from photographs used in the dealership's online advert.

"It has caused a huge amount of stress," said Fletcher.

Authorities criticised

Cases like Fletcher's have raised more concerns about how the DVLA regulates numberplate suppliers.

Labour MP Sarah Coombes has argued that weak DVLA oversight has allowed the UK's numberplate market to become a "Wild West".

She said: "The system set up by the DVLA is completely out of control. Right now there are more than 34,000 numberplate suppliers, despite the system originally being designed for a few thousand. That's far too many for the DVLA to properly regulate and enforce."

The issue has also highlighted gaps in the DVLA's records.

A Freedom of Information request by the British Parking Association (BPA) found that 18,260 vehicles were registered to the DVLA's own office in Swansea rather than a named keeper.

The DVLA said that 7% of vehicles have no keeper, the majority of those being in the motor trade but Coombes believes the figure is likely to be far higher.

She said: "Last summer, I was out with the roads policing team in my constituency in West Bromwich and the ANPR monitor in the police car kept dinging every 30 seconds. I asked the officer 'what is setting off the ANPR?' and the officer said 'those are cars with no registered keeper.'"

Latham believes there should be a way of changing the registered keeper when a vehicle enters the motor trade without adding to the number of previous keepers recorded on the vehicle's logbook.

Another suggestion, from BPA president Mike Marrs, is that companies producing numberplates should be monitored far more closely.

"[Authorities] should be auditing the organisations producing numberplates every year," he said.

The DfT rejected suggestions that the government is failing to act, saying it's already working with the DVLA, police and industry "to review the international standard for numberplates".

A DfT spokesperson said: "Our Road Safety Strategy takes direct action to crack down on illegal plates that help criminals evade detection."

The DfT added that it's considering tougher penalties for use of illegal numberplates, updated numberplate standards and the use of artificial intelligence to help identify non-compliant vehicles.

Fiat is considering launching a hot Abarth version of the Topolino quadricycle in order to boost interest among younger buyers.

The tiny two-seater is part of a wider push by the Italian firm into micromobility designed to increase uptake among younger drivers.

The Topolino is classified as an L6 quadricycle, which means in countries such as France and Italy it can be driven legally on the road by 14-year-olds (although in the UK a full driving licence is required). 

Despite that, the average age of a Topolino buyer is in their mid-40s, and a priority is reducing that.

To that end, Fiat has recently launched a new Topolino Sport in Italy (pictured below). This features new exterior colours with racing stripes, a black interior and a removable Bluetooth speaker called the Monsterlino.

Fiat is aiming to add more Topolino variants in the future, and CEO Olivier François described a potential Abarth version as “a dream", adding: “We’re working on it and it may come. It would be a total hit.”

Because the L6 quadricycle regulations limit power and top speed, an Abarth Topolino is unlikely to offer extra performance, but it could gain bespoke styling elements. 

Asked by Autocar about the prospects for an Abarth Topolino, Fiat’s European chief, Gaetano Thorel, said: “We want to make an Abarth feeling for the Topolino, because we are still trying to boost selling it to young people.

“It’s amazing: Topolino is the most successful quadricycle in Italy, and if we’re being honest we still don’t catch the heart of 16- and 17-year-olds. I want to gain their hearts, which is why we now have Topolino Sport. An Abarth Topolino could be another solution.”

Asked why young people hadn't taken to the Topolino, Thorel said: “Rome is the city of microcars, but parents buy 14-year-olds the little Ligier, because four wheels are better than two, so they feel safe. It’s like a status thing: the Ligier feels more sporty with the [50cc petrol] engine and the sound and so on, while the Topolino is more gentle.”