In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, we scrimp with Volkswagen's budget EV, chat sports cars with Mercedes, hear from Mazda on motorshows and more.
VW's V Affordable EV
Volkswagen's budget electric vehicle is on track for a 2023 launch and will cost under £18,000, VW CEO Herbert Diess has confirmed. “We have to do it and we have a combined team between China, Spain and Germany [working on it],” he said. “They’re working hard but there’s still some way to go. It’s really tough to get a decent range for a car under £18,000.”
T-wit t-wow
Jaguar Land Rover produced a specially designed sports car, likely based on the Jaguar F-Type, that never made production, a Twitter conversation between two employees suggests. Commenting on Ferrari’s new Roma, SVO special projects manager Adi Smith asked designer Cesar Pieri: “Did you sell our special little project? Looks REALLY familiar.” Pieri replied: “Seems like someone found our files! At least it got somehow produced.”
Merc talks sports
Sports cars will feature in Mercedes line-ups for years to come, believes the firm’s design director, Gorden Wagener, because more and more race tracks are being built. “I read that one race track a week is being opened in China,” he said. “Many of them are private facilities, but this underlines that there is still a strong appetite for sporty cars for the future.”
