+++ ASTON MARTIN is set to raise about $162 million via funding from the company’s chair, Lawrence Stroll, and the sale of its stake in its Formula 1 team, which Stroll owns. The Formula 1 stake sale alone will raise at least $95.5 million, and Stroll’s investment vehicle, Yew Tree Consortium, will cough up an additional $67.8 million. However, the F1 stake sale won’t impact Aston Martin’s existing sponsorship deal for the team, ensuring its continued presence in the sport through at least 2030. Stroll’s son, Lance, has been driving for Aston Martin F1 since the team’s 2021 rebrand from Racing Point, which he joined in 2019. Lawrence Stroll said Aston Martin will continue to race in Formula 1 for “decades to come”, according to Forbes. Stock traded up 13.7% following an announcement of the company’s fundraising. Since Stroll took over Aston Martin in 2020, the company has been cornered into raising capital 6 times in addition to laying off 5% of its employees last month. Recent struggles are attributed to delivery delays, lower demand in China and import tariffs imposed by president Trump. Stroll, who has personally invested around $775 million into Aston Martin, said the automaker’s stock increase compared to Friday’s close should “greatly reassure shareholders”. Yew Tree’s stake is slated to increase from 27.7% to 33%, with a possibility of further growing to 35%. Typically, entities owning over 30% of a UK-listed company must offer to buy out remaining shareholders, but Yew Tree is pursuing a waiver of this rule. In other words, Yew Tree hasn’t fully committed to the idea of going private. However, Stroll expressed strong feelings toward Aston Martin’s £650 million ($840.1 million) valuation. “The company is severely undervalued and its stock market valuation of around £650 million is a joke”, Stroll said. As for any the possibility of going private, I wouldn’t consider it impossible. “Could it be something for the future? Potentially, yes. Never say never. Is it on my radar screen to do in the next fortnight? No, but never say never”, Stroll said. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, described how privatization of Aston Martin could benefit the automaker, saying that “Exemptions to the 30% buyout rule have been granted in the past, yet it feels like a takeover would be a better outcome as it would mean the car company would be free to pursue a turnaround strategy out of the public spotlight”. Stroll hopes the company’s financial restructuring will attract active investors with deep pockets and make the racing team more competitive. Aston Martin F1 team currently sits in 7th place out of 10 teams, and Stroll commissioned investment bank Raine Group to help find a buyer for the team’s entire stake. Saudi Aramco can exercise its contractual right to buy 10% of the Aston Martin F1 team if it chooses. +++
+++ HYUNDAI will launch the first of its next-generation interiors next year and bosses promise to keep physical buttons. The move, confirmed by vice president of design Simon Loasby at the Seoul motor show, could also result in a smaller infotainment display and simpler-to-use software for the touchscreen in an effort to improve safety. The decision echoes that of other makers, such as Volkswagen, which last month promised a return to a more analogue cabin. Loasby said: “Our vision for our next-generation interiors is that the safest way is to keep the driver’s eyes on the road as much as possible. With this philosophy in mind, we quite quickly realised that the central screen is actually just a distraction. So in terms of safety, you really don’t want people to look at the screen: you want them to look at eye level. So our philosophy is to keep the eyes on the road and keep your hands on the wheel, and then you could very quickly look at what are your frequent-use interactions. There aren’t many… but you want them to stay as physical buttons because those are things I want to adjust without looking away”. He added: “It is all about the philosophy of calmness. The technology is there, but it is not shouting at us, but the architecture is keeping the driving experience safe. So we will have a balance of physical buttons but the display will be there too because it gives you the extra layers you can go in to”. Hyundai design boss Luc Donckerwolke added that finding the correct screen size (and making it usable) will also be a key part of the next-generation cabins. Donckerwolke said: “It is always a part of the balance between having the right screen that provides you with the information in a size that allows you to concentrate on driving. At the same time, we have to make sure the screens are not forcing you to go into a sub-menus for operations that only required buttons before. So it’s always not overkilling it. If you rely only on screens, you are tending to go away from… hands on the steering wheel and the eyes on the road, which is, for me, the most important factor of security safety”. He added that while “we all have a love for analogue interaction”, screens “are ideal because you save a lot of tooling by only having the screen”. More generally, Donckerwolke said the car industry as a whole “will see a return of the analogue and reduction of screens” in the next “one or two generations” of models. Loasby also mentioned that Hyundai is working on how the interiors of upcoming N-badged cars will be laid out. “When it comes to N”, he said, “we put more on the steering wheel, because if I’ve got gloves on, I can’t use the touchscreen”. +++
+++ The all-new JEEP COMPASS was gearing up for its big reveal late last year, before delays pushed it back to spring 2025. Now, just days before the covers were set to come off, it looks like we’ll need to wait a little longer, with the firm teasing its new mid-size 4×4 once again, this time on the factory floor. This single image gives nothing away, but suggests the car’s reveal should only be a matter of weeks away. The mid-size SUV is set to be offered with a choice of mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure-electric power, plus all-wheel drive, just like its hugely popular baby brother, the Jeep Avenger. The new Compass will be based on the same STLA Medium platform as the latest Peugeot 3008 and Opel Grandland, the new DS Numéro 8 and the next-generation Citroen C5 Aircross which is due this year. The Jeep will separate itself from those other Stellantis SUVs with a more conventionally tough design, including the maker’s recognisable 7-slot grille and trapezoidal wheel arches. Based on previous teaser images, the front end will share plenty with the smaller Jeep Avenger, with what appears to be a similar set of indented headlights, plus a segmented full-width light bar. A set of chunky wheels and tyres should add to its rugged style. Other notable features that can be deciphered from this picture include the roof rails, the darkened B, C and D-pillars, plus the relatively flat back end, which should boost practicality. In a class that includes family favourites like the Nissan Qashqai and Hyundai Tucson, that’s arguably more important than the car’s ability to tackle tough terrain. As we mentioned, the new Compass will be available with all-wheel drive, and matched to the short overhangs we can see in the teaser picture, it should also boast class-leading off-road ability. However, base versions of the Jeep will be front-wheel drive, as is the case with the 3008 and Grandland. Using the 3008 for reference, it’s possible the Jeep Compass EV could offer a range of 640 km or more. Hybrid versions will use the familiar 1.2-litre 3-cylinder PureTech petrol engine with mild electrical assistance, while the plug-in hybrid models will feature a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and a 21 kWh battery that should deliver around 80 km of pure-electric driving. Production of the new Jeep Compass will take place in Melfi, Italy, and is on track to get under way later this year, before expanding to North America in 2026, I’ve been told. +++
+++ MCLAREN AUTOMOTIVE is to merge with the start-up company Forseven in a bombshell move that will enable McLaren to expand beyond making mid-engined supercars for the first time. The move secures the future of McLaren, giving it the capital, technology and resources to go into areas of the market it has not been able to finance itself. Forseven is a British start-up that has been quietly assembling a team of more than 700 industry professionals, among them big-name designers, engineers and executives from rival British car companies and has been building towards the launch of a range of luxury models under a new brand. The common link between the 2 companies is the Abu Dhabi government-backed investment company CYVN Holdings, which has facilitated a merger operating under the McLaren Automotive name that will enable the models in development at Forseven to come to market under the McLaren badge. This gives Forseven a shortcut to market, and McLaren the expansion and security it craves and the ability to better compete with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley. The new combined company, McLaren Group Holdings, will be led by Forseven CEO Nick Collins who told that “we’re about to embark on the most exciting British automotive story in decades”. Collins was previously a senior engineer at Ford and latterly JLR, where he oversaw the likes of the Defender and Range Rover. The Forseven name had never been intended as a customer-facing brand, and will cease to exist. “It’s just a holding name, and we’ve been building at an incredible pace”, said Collins, who took up the role of Forseven CEO in January last year. The first official details of the new-era McLarens will be revealed later this year, with Collins promising “a bigger-bang event” that goes beyond this initial corporate announcement. The new BMW M2 is here and it’s got more power and even more performance. In the meantime, the company says work will “commence immediately” on a 6-month turnaround of the existing McLaren Automotive business. He declined to go into specifics in terms of any of the models planned but confirmed it was a range of cars in the luxury market at higher price points, which would make for a broader portfolio of McLaren models than exists today. “It’s not as challenging as you think to explore how the design language of the brand could evolve in the future and still maintain everything that they’ve already done and a lot more”, said Collins. Design work is being overseen by Alister Whelan, an ex-JLR colleague of Collins. Before Collins arrived at Forseven in January 2024, design models and feasibility studies for models had been created but “we have evolved a long way since then”. The design team is made up of around 50 people and Collins said their output was “staggering” over the past 12 months, with virtual reality being used alongside physical models to allow design work to take place 24/7 with a further team based in Australia alongside the UK operation. “They’re really looking into the fundamental building blocks of British design”, he said. “There are some amazingly consistent elements of British design, and particularly British luxury design, that permeate British brands. We’ve taken that, plus some McLaren influence, into where we’re going to go”. Prior to the McLaren deal, it had been Forseven’s intention to go to market as its own brand, albeit not called Forseven, and it had been working on different brands and names. Intriguingly, the models that have been in creation at Forseven are not solely electric and McLaren’s expansion into other segments will include high-performance internal combustion engines. Collins said: “The future of propulsion is multi-propulsion. The more luxurious the vehicle gets, the better electric is for it because it’s quieter, more refined. So it will play a role.“We genuinely think you can make a brilliant electric car in certain segments, but through the way the world is transiting at different paces in different parts of the world, we will have different propulsion technologies to allow us to grow in the right way”. Another one of CYVN’s investments is in Chinese electric car maker Nio. Collins said a technology licence existed between Forseven and Nio “that we have incorporated into the cars” but it was for specific “technology chunks” rather than for an architecture on which to base the cars as buying in architectures was “the graveyard of car projects”. “We’ll be deploying the technology in a very unique way that’s specific to what we’re trying to achieve; think of it as an accelerator to what we do”, said Collins. Based on that description, examples of the technology that Forseven could use from Nio for future McLarens are its autonomous driving features and its battery-swapping technology for electric cars. And when it comes to architectures, McLaren’s experience in composites is likely to come into play. CYVN has also acquired Gordon Murray Technologies, which includes the rights for the iStream manufacturing process. This process is more cost effective than traditional manufacturing and allows for lighter vehicle weight. Collins said “the spirit” of the process would be used for production in the future and “research projects are ongoing” to that end. Vehicle development is a huge part of what GMT does, and its engineers are sure to be playing a leading role in developing this new era of McLarens. Collins said Forseven was looking at the evolution of luxury brands in other markets (for example, Louis Vuitton moving into selling trainers) as a way of broadening and redefining what the types of cars companies like McLaren can make and sell. To that end, Forseven was “trying to think a bit more luxury than automotive in exploring what we do”. Collins said: “We have to overcome that British reserve: why can’t you do that? auto wisdom might say you can’t do this at this time, but luxury wisdom in adjacent segments would say you can. “The worst thing we could do is fail to try. We’re not going to be reckless or stupid. But expect us to be a little bit unconventional in how we do it”. Indeed, Collins hinted that Forseven could even look to revive vehicle types from the past. He cited the Defender 90 as an example of a car where outwardly it seemed “the 3-door car market was dead” but “if you get the car right, then it will recreate a market or generate a market”. “If you get the cars right, you will distort the market, because you will drag people from other luxury brands or drag people up who will do whatever they can to get the car, and you’ll create success through that”, added Collins. “I fundamentally believe success comes from great products and if you don’t have great products, it doesn’t matter what you write down as your ambition as it’s not going to happen”. Collins promised cutting-edge technology for the new McLarens and would “play a huge role” in everything the brand does, including in the hardware and software underpinning the car. “Whether it’s a direct or indirect relationship, technology plays a role”, he said. “It might be manufacturing technology in terms of how you build the car that gives it a certain weight level (iStream). It might be technology that gives it performance, quietness, connectivity, or active safety. People buy a package. “I also believe when you enter segments that you’ve not been in before, brand advantage is good. Design advantage is good. Everything else we underpin with technology”. More broadly on the new company and the emergence of CYVN in the automotive industry, Collins said “this is not a vanity project”. “This is a financial investment that we will build out and, in my mind, become one of the best, if not the best car company in the world”, he said. “That might take a very long time, but the people that back this have a long-term horizon for a sustainably profitable business that is admired around the world. “I’m sure there will be plenty of people out there throwing rocks at it and saying it can’t be done, and such and such can’t happen. But I really want this to be something that Britain can become very proud of”. +++
+++ NISSAN has seen better days. The Japanese automaker has been struggling with plummeting sales, a tumultuous leadership transition, and failed merger talks with Honda. But rather than retreating, Nissan is betting big on a future filled with fresh models. Over the next two years, the company plans to launch over 14 new and refreshed vehicles, spanning combustion, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric powertrains. This product overhaul attempts to revive the brand’s global appeal, with new models planned for North America, Europe, Latin America and beyond. Here’s a closer look at what’s coming and what it means for Nissan’s future. 1) A new Nissan Leaf: from hatchback to crossover. One of the biggest transformations in Nissan’s line-up is the reinvention of the Leaf. Once a compact hatchback that helped pioneer the EV movement, the new Leaf is taking on a completely different form: a crossover. Built on the same CMF-EV platform as the Ariya, this new Leaf promises a sleeker design, bigger wheels, and a panoramic moonroof. It’s also expected to have a significantly improved range compared to its predecessor. The new Leaf will be a truly global model. By shifting to the crossover segment, Nissan is looking to capitalize on the market’s growing preference for SUVs over traditional sedans and hatchbacks. 2) Nissan’s popular Rogue (X-Trail) is also getting an upgrade. The 2026 model will offer gasoline, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains, with the e-Power hybrid system making a return. This setup uses a small gas engine as a generator to power an electric motor, delivering improved efficiency. Notably, the Rogue plug-in hybrid will essentially be a rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, leveraging Nissan’s alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi. US Nissan range teaser. 3) Expanding the EV line-up in Europe. Nissan is launching 2 new EVs that cater to different segments. The long-awaited all-electric Micra will finally enter production after being teased for years. Based on the Renault 5 E-Tech, this small and stylish EV aims to attract urban drivers looking for an efficient, compact option. Another major debut will be the fully electric Nissan Juke, inspired by the Hyper Punk concept. The Juke has long been known for its quirky design and the electric version is expected to push that even further while offering zero-emission performance. The Qashqai will receive the latest version of Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system, which enhances fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. Can Nissan’s new strategy work? Nissan’s aggressive product rollout signals a clear strategy: lean into SUVs and EVs while leveraging alliances with Renault and Mitsubishi to streamline costs. But if this is enough to revive the struggling automaker remains to be seen. Despite a refreshed lineup, Nissan still faces significant challenges. The company’s financial health remains fragile, and its brand image has suffered in recent years. Also, it must navigate an increasingly competitive EV landscape, where brands like Renault, Hyundai / Kia and Volkswagen / Skoda continue to innovate rapidly. +++
+++ SEAT is facing an uncertain future, with the inability to make costs add up on a new small electric car leaving the brand devoid of all-new models in the coming years. The brand’s head of research and development, Werner Tietz, confirmed that Seat won’t launch another new internal-combustion model, although the Ibiza and Arona will receive heavy revisions to take them to the end of the decade. That ties Seat’s future to making the sums work on a small electric car, something it has so far failed to achieve. Speaking just ahead of his abrupt departure as Seat and Cupra chief executive in late March, Wayne Griffiths told that the brand needs to reinvent itself and return to the core strengths of being the entry gate for the Volkswagen Group, attracting younger customers with “affordable electo-mobility”. “But not only affordable for the customer, but affordable for us, and that’s the catch 22 at the moment: making small electric cars profitable”, he continued. “That’s why we haven’t been able to prioritise the decision on making a small electric entry Seat, which is where it should be”. Speaking about not being part of the Volkswagen ID.1 development where, unusually, VW’s €20.000 small EV won’t have siblings from Seat or Skoda, Griffiths said the cost to the Seat was better spent elsewhere. “If you want to be in a project you have to pay for your part of the development; there’s no point just doing a badge, it needs to be a Seat and that costs money” he said. “Right now, the Cupra business is more profitable, so that money is better spent doing Cupra cars”. Although he has since left the business, Griffiths did predict that a small electric Seat would come, and that the VW Group as a whole would need it to happen. “The time will come when I think it not only makes sense for us, it certainly makes sense for the whole Volkswagen Group. I think it needs an entry brand, and a brand that can attract a younger generation and offer affordable electro mobility, and that would be the ideal position for Seat. Just at the moment it’s not the priority”. +++
+++ SKODA will not build a supermini alternative to the all-electric Volkswagen ID.1 or ID.2, but instead choosing to focus on getting the Epiq SUV production-ready for 2026. It was previously suspected that Skoda would look to launch an electric hatchback alongside the Epiq, but those plans have apparently been shelved. It means that Volkswagen, along with sporty sister brand Cupra, will lead the electric supermini project, with Skoda instead choosing to focus on an alternative to the jacked-up ID.2X; itself due to be revealed in concept form later this year. Highly likely to be called Epiq, Skoda’s forthcoming smallest SUV will use the VW Group’s MEB Entry platform and battery tech. This revised plan of attack was hinted at by a Skoda insider this week, who suggested that the company’s ducks were in line to launch the Epiq ahead of VW’s ID.2 X in early 2026. Given the slightly larger Elroq’s starting price of just over €35k in the Netherlands, Skoda’s entry-level EV could feasibly come in at under €28k. With buyers’ appetite for EVs stagnating, Skoda, Volkswagen and SEAT will update their petrol superminis (Fabia, Polo and Ibiza, respectively) to stay on sale until the end of the decade. Instead of 2 EV entries in the small-car market, Skoda will therefore hedge its bets on just one. Yet perhaps this was the plan all along. Indeed, Skoda released a teaser sketch of its entry-level EV back in 2022, which in hindsight does appear to show subtle SUV styling cues, such as short overhangs and squared-off wheelarches. At the time, we believed the overall proportions positioned it more as a Fabia for the electric age, and something that would “provide competition to the upcoming Volkswagen ID.1”. The slightly larger Epiq, with its longer body and raised ride height, should allow Skoda’s smallest EV to pack batteries of at least 52 kWh; the same as the basic Elroq offers. That car can do up to 385 km on the WLTP cycle, so expect 250 miles or more for the lighter, more compact Epiq. More will be revealed later this year. +++
+++ Environmental campaigners have been singling out SUV as the root of all evil for years. But the vilification of SUVs on the grounds of their supposedly unnecessary bulk, climate-changing emissions and general profligacy appears to be doing nothing to stop motorists from buying them. According to the latest figures from analysts at GlobalData, 54 percent of cars sold across the world in 2024 were SUVs. That’s a three per cent increase on 2023, and 5 percent up on 2022. This strong growth comes at a time by which many of those who make a living watching the global car market had predicted we’d be seeing a swing towards smaller, lighter and cheaper electric cars. But the SUV has other ideas and so do consumers. What’s going on? Well, as we know only too well, people really like SUVs, which persuades carmakers to stick to the old (and profitable) adage that the customer is always right. The tough looks, the higher seating position that makes it easier to get in and see out, and the outdoorsy image, suggesting an SUV driver could be off wake-boarding or rock-climbing, even though they almost certainly aren’t, all help SUVs get chosen above more conventional cars. But there’s more to understand about this continuing success story. SUVs now come in a wide range of sizes, and the tall shape even lends itself particularly well to electric tech because there’s more space between the floor and the road for a battery. The SUV idea has come to dominate the design of modern cars to the point that it can be quite difficult to draw a line determining what is an SUV and what isn’t. This ‘SUV-ification’ of the car market makes the rise in ‘SUV’ sales around the world seem far more predictable. It might also indicate that the growth in sales in itself isn’t quite the environmental disaster some might think. At least not in Europe, where small and mid-size SUVs dominate and an increasing proportion of these are electric cars and hybrids. We would all like to see smaller, lighter cars that consume fewer resources in their construction and use, but ‘SUV’ is a lazy way of defining vehicles that don’t conform to this vision. Buyers want cars that are easy and affordable to live with. Legislators (in Europe at least) demand cars that are packed with safety tech and use electrified powertrains to lower emissions. Car makers want to turn a profit. The SUV is just what the compromise between these conflicting demands looks like in 2025. +++
+++ TOYOTA was one of the best-selling automakers in all of 2024, and the company hopes to continue that success in 2025 with a strong opening to the new year. Last month, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) sales were up 7.7 percent across the board compared to the previous March, with the company moving 231,335 vehicles. Throughout the entire first quarter of 2025, TMNA sales are up 0.9 percent to 570.269 vehicles. The RAV4 sits atop the Toyota brand sales chart with the company selling 41,.509 units of the SUV in March, and already 115.402 examples through the first 3 months of this year. The Camry is close behind with 29.661 cars sold last month and 70.308 sold this year. And the Tacoma is firmly in third place with 23.949 units rolling off dealer lots last month and 59.825 making their way to customers this year. Toyota also found success with its electrified vehicles in March, moving 99,119 units last month. That represents an increase of 49.1 percent compared to the previous year. Toyota’s electrified sales through the first quarter of this year are up an impressive 44.0 percent overall, with 255.915 battery-powered vehicles sold. But it’s not all great news for Toyota. Even though it remains one of the brand’s best sellers, the aging Corolla was down 3.7 percent by volume compared to last year. The Supra was down 11.4 percent. The GR86 was down 16.0 percent. And surprisingly, the Highlander was down a whopping 52.1 percent. Lexus sales were also up by 14.1 percent last month compared to the previous March; the brand’s best first quarter sales result to date. The company sold 35.095 vehicles. The brand’s bestseller remains the RX, which sold 10,452 units in March. The NX was second with 7,077 units, and the 3-row TX was third with 4.584 units. Like Toyota, Lexus has had success with its electrified vehicles early in the year. Sales in March were up 15.6 percent to 13.489 units. So far in 2025, Lexus has sold 32,881 electrified vehicles. Unfortunately for the Lexus RZ and UX, sales were down 14.7 and 12.9 percent by volume, respectively. “We continue to see steady sales from our Toyota and Lexus brands due in part to improved inventory levels and new models like the Toyota 4Runner and Lexus LX hybrid. We’re also seeing our sales mix of electrified vehicles increasing as our diverse portfolio of 32 electrified vehicles continue to grow and satisfy the needs of our customers while reducing emissions as much as possible, as quickly as possible”, said Mark Templin, TMNA Executive vice-president and Chief Operating Officer. While it’s still too early to tell, Toyota and Lexus appear to be on the right track for 2025. +++