Category Archives: NEW CARS

NEW CARS

Nissan X-Trail Nismo Premiere

Nismo, Nissan’s performance arm, has been busy lately. After giving the hulking Armada a suit-and-tie makeover with a splash of track-day attitude, it’s now turning its sharpie toward something a little more… family-friendly. Enter the X-Trail Nismo—Japan’s take on what happens when you send a sensible SUV on a Red Bull and chin-up bar diet.

The official debut is set for August 21 in Japan, but Nissan’s already teased it with a moody YouTube video full of shadowy angles and menacing DRLs. As expected, it’s got the full Nismo wardrobe: chunky front splitter, red pinstripes in all the right places, and enough badges to make sure your neighbors know you bought the spicy one. Expect new bumpers, side skirts, wheel arch cladding, and some rather tasty 20-inch Enkei alloys wrapped in Michelin performance rubber. It’s the automotive equivalent of dad sneakers—only these ones are cut for sprints.

Paint options? Six of them. Three safe single-tone shades—white, black, gray—for those who want their aggression muted. Or, if you’re the type who orders extra chili, three two-tone combos that pair bright body colors with a contrasting black roof. Think Prism White with black, or Cardinal Red with black. It’s a bit like dressing up for a business meeting and then slipping on scarlet socks—subtle, but not really.

Inside, Nissan hasn’t gone full boy racer. Expect black trim, red stitching, and some carbon-effect garnish. If you tick the right boxes, you’ll also get Recaro buckets in leather and Alcantara, plus a Bose nine-speaker setup for blasting Eurobeat on your way to the school run.

Now, before you ask: no, it’s not getting a snarling twin-turbo V6 or a detuned GT-R motor. In fact, the powertrain doesn’t change at all. You still get the familiar e-Power setup—a 1.5-liter petrol engine working as a generator to feed electricity to dual motors. Combined, that’s 211 horsepower and 525 Nm of torque. Respectable numbers, but not the sort to have AMG drivers sweating at the lights.

Instead, Nismo’s magic is happening under the skin. The steering, suspension, and shock absorbers have all been fettled for sharper responses. Even the e-4ORCE all-wheel-drive software gets new code to keep things tidier in corners. Think of it less as a power upgrade and more as a handling masterclass—like swapping out your loafers for racing flats.

So, will we see it outside Japan? That’s the billion-yen question. The X-Trail’s American twin, the Rogue, is due for a full redesign around 2026, and the whispers say a Nismo trim might be in the cards then. Which means if you’re in the States, you’ll have to wait a little longer for your school-run special ops SUV.

For now, though, the X-Trail Nismo is shaping up as a fascinating experiment: take an everyday crossover, dress it like a street brawler, tune the bits that make it dance, and leave the horsepower wars to someone else. It might not be the fastest SUV on the road—but it’ll probably be one of the cheekiest.

Source: Nissan

NEW CARS

Leapmotor B05: China’s Electric Challenger to the VW Golf Debuts in Munich

Leapmotor is wasting no time making a name for itself in Europe. The Stellantis-backed Chinese EV brand has confirmed it will pull the covers off its latest model—the Leapmotor B05, a compact electric hatchback—at the Munich motor show next month.

Targeting one of the toughest battlegrounds in the EV world, the B05 is designed to take on heavyweights like the Volkswagen ID.3, Cupra Born, and MG4 EV. Compact, affordable, and tech-focused, the B05 could be Leapmotor’s most important European launch yet.

Part of a Bigger Expansion

The B05 is one of three new models Leapmotor plans to release over the next two years, joining another hatchback and a small SUV. The car is a close relative of the B01 sedan revealed earlier this year and sits on the company’s modular Leap 3.5 platform, which underpins the larger C10 SUV. That means we can expect a claimed 650 km (404-mile) range—a figure that would place it near the top of the compact EV class.

Alongside the B05, Leapmotor is also preparing the B10 crossover, positioned as a rival to the Ford Explorer EV and Peugeot e-3008, while an entry-level crossover called the A10 and its hatchback sibling, the A05, will join the lineup as budget EV alternatives. Leapmotor has ambitious plans: six models on sale in the UK by 2027.

Accessible Technology, Premium Feel

If Leapmotor follows its established playbook, the B05 will offer a blend of sharp styling, high-tech features, and affordability. Expect wraparound LED light bars, sport-inspired wheels, and an aero-optimized profile. Inside, the B05 is tipped to share the same 14.6-inch infotainment touchscreen and premium material choices found in the C10.

Pricing remains under wraps, but given Leapmotor’s “Excellence within reach” philosophy, industry insiders expect a starting point below £30,000. That would give it a strong price advantage over many European rivals, while still packing long range and advanced tech.

A Rapidly Rising Brand

Founded just a decade ago, Leapmotor is already a major player in its home market and abroad. The brand now boasts nearly 1,500 retail sites worldwide and was the 11th most popular EV maker globally in 2024. With backing from Stellantis and an aggressive product rollout, Leapmotor is targeting a spot among the world’s top five EV brands by 2027.

Whether the B05 will include the company’s new range-extender hybrid system—debuted on the C10—remains to be seen. Executives say they’ll wait for European market feedback before deciding.

Why It Matters

The B05 could be one of the first Chinese EVs to make real inroads into Europe’s fiercely competitive compact hatchback market. If it delivers on range, tech, and pricing, Leapmotor might just have the formula to disrupt the dominance of Volkswagen and its European peers.

Munich will provide the first real glimpse of whether Leapmotor’s big ambitions—and the B05 itself—can live up to the hype.

Source: Leapmotor

NEW CARS

New Volkswagen T-Roc: Half-Electric, Half-Petrol, All Very Confusing

Ah, the Volkswagen T-Roc. Once the slightly left-field choice in VW’s SUV line-up — less Golf-on-stilts, more Golf-with-an-identity-crisis. Now, the Germans are giving it a second chance at life. The Mk2 T-Roc will break cover in the next few weeks before strutting its stuff at September’s Munich motor show, where VW also plans to roll out the ID 2X — a dinky electric SUV for people who think a Polo is just too rebellious.

But here’s the twist. This isn’t just another facelift with shinier lights and a grille large enough to inhale small wildlife. No, this is VW’s first-ever full hybrid system. That’s right — a Toyota-style setup where the car can run on petrol, electric, or both, depending on what mood it’s in. A proper HEV, not just a plug-in with delusions of grandeur.

That makes the T-Roc a bit of a guinea pig for Wolfsburg. Volkswagen has never sold a full hybrid before, and now it’s entering the game precisely as most of Europe is being told to bin hybrids altogether in favour of pure electric. Timing, eh? CEO Thomas Schäfer admits it’s a bit of an experiment. The thinking goes like this: South America wants hybrids, the US has suddenly rediscovered hybrids after falling out of love with EVs, and China… well, China will take whatever sells. And since the T-Roc is built in both South America and China, VW figured, why not give it a go?

The logic makes sense. Sort of. Europe is sprinting towards an all-electric future, but elsewhere the hybrid torch is still burning — and VW would rather not leave Toyota alone to hoover up sales with the Corolla Cross and RAV4. So the new T-Roc gets the job of testing the water. If it works, the system will spread to the Golf and Tiguan over the next two years. But don’t expect it in every MQB-based VW — they’re not going to “double everything up,” says Schäfer. Which is corporate speak for: don’t hold your breath for a hybrid Arteon.

So, what are we looking at here? In theory, a T-Roc that sips fuel like a nun at communion but still gives you that instant electric shove around town. In practice, well… we’ll have to wait until the covers come off. But here’s the real story: in 2025, Volkswagen has finally admitted it can’t ignore hybrids. Even as it preaches an all-electric future, it’s hedging its bets with old-school petrol-and-battery mash-ups.

Toyota will be smirking into its sake.

Source: Autocar