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Why HVO100 Might Be the Cleanest Trick in the Diesel Playbook

By the time the auto industry finishes arguing about whether electrons or hydrogen will save the planet, the planet will have politely asked us to hurry up. That’s the inconvenient truth behind transport’s CO₂ problem: there are already about 250 million vehicles rolling around Europe, most of them burning fossil fuel, and they’re not going anywhere soon. So while the long-term shift to new powertrains grinds on, the fastest lever we can pull is a simpler one—change what goes into the tank.

That idea isn’t new. Bio-blended fuels have been around for years, but in the UK they’re still just that: blends. Regular petrol and diesel remain overwhelmingly fossil-based, with a splash of renewables mixed in for good behaviour. What is new is the growing push toward fuels that are 100 percent fossil-free and don’t require you to buy a new car—or even lift the bonnet.

They’re called “drop-in” fuels, and the name says it all. These are chemically engineered to behave just like the petrol or diesel they replace, meaning they won’t upset injectors, seals, or engine management systems. Increasingly, major carmakers are giving them the nod—sometimes across entire engine families, sometimes for vehicles built after a certain date.

Right now, the poster child of this movement is HVO100.

What Is HVO100, and Why Should You Care?

HVO stands for hydrogenated vegetable oil, though that undersells what it really is: a synthetic hydrocarbon diesel made from renewable raw materials. You’ll also hear it called renewable diesel, and unlike conventional biodiesel (the FAME-based stuff blended into UK pumps at around seven percent), HVO is chemically much closer to fossil diesel.

That matters. FAME biodiesel can cause compatibility issues in some engines, which is why it’s only used in small percentages. HVO100, by contrast, behaves so much like traditional diesel that, once approved by the manufacturer, it can be used neat—100 percent renewable, no blending required.

In other words, you fill up, drive away, and your car has no idea anything changed. The planet, however, very much does.

Carmakers Are Quietly Getting on Board

The momentum behind HVO100 is no longer theoretical. Stellantis last year fully validated its diesel engine range for HVO use, noting that many of its Euro 5 and Euro 6 engines were already compatible. BMW has gone even further, using HVO100 as a live demonstration of how quickly fleet emissions can be cut without waiting for everyone to switch to EVs.

The logic BMW put in front of fleet operators was refreshingly blunt: yes, electrification matters—but so does the fuel burned by the hundreds of millions of existing vehicles. Increase the proportion of renewable fuel in those tanks, and Europe’s CO₂ footprint drops almost immediately.

Since January, BMW has been putting its money where its filler cap is. Every diesel BMW built in Germany now leaves the factory with five to eight litres of HVO100 already in the tank, depending on model. The fuel comes from Neste MY, a Finnish producer whose HVO delivers up to a 90 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions on a well-to-wheel basis compared with fossil diesel.

“Well-to-wheel” is the key phrase there. It doesn’t just count what comes out of the tailpipe, but also the emissions created while sourcing, processing, refining, and transporting the fuel. In other words, it’s the full life-cycle carbon bill—and HVO100 still wipes the floor with conventional diesel.

BMW has approved all of its diesel passenger cars built from March 2020 onward for HVO100 use, with other manufacturers taking a similar date-based approach.

Not a Silver Bullet—but a Very Sharp One

Let’s be clear: HVO100 isn’t a magic wand that makes diesel guilt-free forever. But it is a remarkably effective stopgap—and maybe more than that. Unlike waiting for a full EV rollout, this is a solution that can be deployed right now, into the cars people already own, with almost no behavioural change.

No new charging infrastructure. No new engines. Just a cleaner liquid in the same old tank.

In a world obsessed with what’s coming next, HVO100 is a reminder that sometimes the fastest way forward is to fix what we already have. And for an industry desperate to cut carbon without hitting the brakes, that’s not just convenient—it might be essential.

Source: Autocar

News

Chery Adds Lepas to Its Growing UK Lineup

If you thought the UK had reached peak Chinese-car saturation, Chery would like a word. The fast-expanding automaker has confirmed that Lepas, its fourth brand for Britain, will land later this year, joining Omoda, Jaecoo, and Chery itself in what’s quickly becoming one of the most aggressive foreign market pushes in recent memory.

Lepas isn’t just another badge-engineering exercise. Chery says the brand was conceived specifically for Europe, and its name—apparently a mash-up of leopard, leap, and passion—suggests it wants to feel more energetic, more aspirational, and more premium-adjacent than your average budget import. Whether it lives up to that promise remains to be seen, but the intent is clear: this is Chery aiming for mainstream dominance, not niche curiosity.

Two Crossovers, Three Powertrains, One Big Strategy

Lepas’s UK debut will be built around two compact crossovers, the L4 and L6. They’ll ride on Chery’s T1X modular platform, which also underpins the Omoda 5, Jaecoo 5, and Jaecoo 7. That might sound like corporate copy-paste, but it’s actually the point: massive shared volume equals lower production costs, which equals more competitive pricing.

Both models are expected to be offered with internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and full battery-electric drivetrains—what China calls “new energy vehicles.” In other words, Lepas isn’t picking sides in the powertrain wars. It’s selling whatever the customer wants, which is exactly how you grow market share fast.

Styling: Familiar, But Not Accidental

Design-wise, Lepas walks a careful line. The cars take heavy influence from Chery’s Tiggo SUVs while also nodding toward European brands like Audi, with smooth surfaces, rounded edges, and a quietly upscale vibe. That’s not a coincidence. Chery wants Lepas to feel like a European-market brand, not a Chinese transplant.

The tricky part is internal competition. When you already sell multiple crossovers at similar sizes and prices, things can get messy. Chery’s management knows it—so much so that one internal presentation was literally titled “Too many brands?”

Their solution? Reposition everything.

  • Tiggo will go chunkier and more family-focused.
  • Omoda will lean into sharper, more aggressive, polygon-heavy styling.
  • Jaecoo will keep its outdoorsy, rugged image.
  • Lepas will sit in the sleek, modern, urban space—more style-led and tech-forward.

It’s not unlike what Volkswagen Group has done for decades, only Chery is doing it at hyperspeed.

Volume Is the Weapon

Chery isn’t pretending this is about art or brand purity. It’s about numbers.

“By offering different brands on the same platform, the volume is very big and that gives us a good price,” said Chery International president Zhang Guibing—and that one sentence explains the whole strategy.

And it’s working.

Last year, Chery’s three UK brands captured 2.65 percent of the British new-car market, beating Mini, Tesla, and BYD. That’s not a foothold—that’s a beachhead. With Lepas joining the party and more models coming across the board, Chery could soon be rubbing shoulders with brands like Renault, Skoda, and Kia.

Lepas isn’t just another crossover brand. It’s a signal that China’s carmakers are done playing on the fringes of Europe. They’re not here to sell a few bargain EVs—they’re here to compete head-on with the industry’s biggest names, in the heart of one of the world’s most brand-loyal markets.

If Chery gets the pricing right—and history suggests it will—Lepas could become the one that finally makes buyers stop asking, “Why would I buy a Chinese car?” and start asking, “Why wouldn’t I?”

For a company already outpacing Tesla in the UK, that’s a terrifyingly plausible future.

Source: Autocar

News

FAT Ice Race 2026 Delivers the Ultimate Porsche Mash-Up

By the time the first Cayenne Electric slid sideways across a frozen airfield in Zell am See, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a typical Porsche press debut. Snow dust hung in the air, the Austrian Alps framed the scene, and a 1,156-horsepower electric SUV was drifting in front of a crowd more used to air-cooled 911s and rally legends. Welcome to the FAT Ice Race, where history and the future collide—sometimes literally.

The Ice Race has always been a glorious contradiction. It mixes priceless historic racers, rally cars, and weird one-off Porsche creations with a modern car-culture festival vibe. So the debut of the all-new Cayenne Electric here wasn’t just marketing—it was a statement. Porsche wasn’t politely introducing its next electric SUV. It was throwing it sideways on ice in front of some of the most demanding enthusiasts on the planet.

And the numbers suggest it had every right to be bold. The Cayenne Turbo Electric packs up to 850 kW (1,156 horsepower) and 1,500 Nm of torque, which means it delivers more twist than a GT3 Cup car multiplied several times over. On ice, that could easily become chaos. Instead, Porsche made it look controlled, playful, and oddly graceful.

Behind the wheel, Porsche test drivers and lucky passengers discovered what electric torque does when it’s filtered through serious chassis tuning. With instant response from the motors and a carefully calibrated off-road mode, the Cayenne Electric could meter out its power with surgical precision. Instead of spinning helplessly, it pivoted around its rear axle, carving clean arcs through snow and ice like a 2.5-ton drift missile.

Michael Schätzle, Porsche’s Vice President for the Cayenne line, was clearly enjoying the shock factor. After taxi laps, he described a car that feels balanced, sporty, and far more engaging than anyone expects from an electric luxury SUV. Watching it slide past a line of classic 356s and historic race cars, it was hard to argue.

Adding to the spectacle were Porsche legends Timo Bernhard and Jörg Bergmeister, hustling a resurrected 964-based buggy around the same course. One car ran on old-school internal combustion and mechanical grip. The other ran on electrons and software-controlled torque. Together, they told Porsche’s story better than any press release ever could.

The FAT Ice Race isn’t really about winning. Organizer Ferdi Porsche calls it “fun over speed,” and that philosophy shows. With about 8,500 fans, DJs, art installations, and food stands, the event feels more like a winter festival than a race meeting. But that’s exactly why it works. It keeps motorsport relevant to a generation raised on social media instead of pit lanes.

Porsche leaned into that idea with the debut of Porsche Youngsters, a new global community initiative designed to pull younger fans into the brand’s club culture. For them, watching a silent, sideways Cayenne Electric drift past a 1960s race car probably made more of an impression than any museum visit ever could.

And that’s the real point of the Cayenne Electric’s icy debut. It wasn’t about lap times or efficiency ratings. It was about proving that electrification doesn’t have to be sterile or boring. If a 1,156-horsepower SUV can drift on a frozen racetrack while surrounded by Porsche legends, then the future of performance might not just be electric—it might actually be fun.

Source: Porsche

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