Tag Archives: Europe

NEW CARS

Dodge Charger Lands in Europe, Bringing Muscle-Car Swagger to Munich

The next-generation Dodge Charger makes its first official European appearance at MYLE Festival, introducing a lineup that proves American muscle can embrace electricity without losing its attitude.

For decades, the Dodge Charger has been unapologetically American—a big, loud statement delivered with tire smoke and V8 thunder. But times change, and so do icons. This week, the next-generation Charger officially stepped onto the European stage at Munich’s MYLE Festival, marking the beginning of a new chapter for one of Detroit’s most recognizable nameplates.

And if Dodge wanted to make an entrance, it picked the right venue.

Rather than debuting at a traditional auto show filled with polished floors and predictable presentations, the Charger arrived at MYLE, a festival where mobility is treated as lifestyle, design, music, and entertainment. It was less about standing behind velvet ropes and more about connecting with a younger audience that sees cars as expressions of personality as much as transportation.

It’s an approach that mirrors the Charger itself.

Muscle Goes Multi-Energy

The biggest surprise isn’t that the Charger has arrived in Europe—it’s the form in which it arrives.

Instead of relying on a single powertrain, Dodge is offering European enthusiasts a choice between electric performance and twin-turbocharged gasoline power. The strategy reflects a changing automotive landscape while staying true to the brand’s long-standing obsession with horsepower.

The lineup begins with the Charger R/T, packing a 420-hp version of Dodge’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo SIXPACK engine. Step up to the Scat Pack and output jumps to 550 horsepower, making it the most powerful production application of Stellantis’ Hurricane inline-six engine.

If gasoline isn’t your thing, the Charger Daytona takes over. The electric R/T delivers 536 horsepower, while the flagship Daytona Scat Pack cranks out 670 horsepower, earning Dodge’s claim as the quickest and most powerful all-wheel-drive electric muscle car currently available.

Perhaps most surprisingly, every Charger comes standard with all-wheel drive, whether powered by electrons or gasoline, and buyers can choose between classic two-door coupe styling or a more practical four-door sedan.

Choice, it seems, is the new performance metric.

More Than a Static Display

Dodge didn’t simply park the Charger under bright lights and call it a day.

Visitors to MYLE Festival got an up-close look at a Charger Daytona R/T four-door, allowing them to appreciate the car’s broad shoulders, aggressive stance, and unmistakable proportions. But the real attraction happened away from the display stand.

Professional drivers took festival attendees on demonstration rides in both the Charger Daytona Scat Pack coupe and the Charger SIXPACK R/T sedan, showcasing two very different interpretations of the same performance philosophy. One delivers instant electric torque, the other relies on twin-turbocharged combustion, yet both aim to provide the kind of straight-line excitement that has defined the Charger for generations.

American Attitude Meets European Streets

Introducing an American muscle car to Europe has never been easy. Narrow roads, stricter emissions standards, and different customer expectations have historically limited the segment’s appeal.

Yet the new Charger arrives at a moment when performance itself is being redefined. Electrification has blurred traditional boundaries, while buyers increasingly value technology and versatility alongside outright speed.

The Charger’s bold styling ensures it won’t disappear into a crowd of anonymous crossovers, while its multi-energy strategy gives Dodge a broader audience than ever before. Whether customers prefer turbocharged six-cylinder power or battery-electric acceleration, the Charger offers an unmistakably American personality wrapped in a package designed for modern performance.

A Festival Debut That Makes Sense

MYLE Festival proved to be an unconventional but fitting stage for Dodge’s European debut.

Rather than introducing the Charger through corporate presentations and specification sheets, the brand immersed it in an environment where mobility intersects with music, design, and culture. The result was less a product launch and more a statement that the Charger remains what it has always been: a car built to attract attention.

As Fabio Catone, Head of Brand for Dodge in Europe, put it, the Charger has always stood for “performance and bold self-expression.” That philosophy remains intact even as the car embraces electrification and a new generation of buyers.

The powertrain may have evolved, but the mission hasn’t.

The next-generation Dodge Charger arrives in Europe carrying more technology, more versatility, and more choices than any Charger before it. Yet standing under the lights in Munich—or accelerating away with a silent electric surge or twin-turbo soundtrack—it still delivers the same message American muscle cars have delivered for decades:

Being different is the whole point.

Source: Stellantis

NEW CARS

2027 Dacia New Spring Trades Cheap-and-Cheerful Roots for a European Future

The Dacia Spring has always been an automotive outlier. It wasn’t particularly fast, sophisticated, or refined, but that was never the point. What made it remarkable was its price tag. For years, it stood as one of Europe’s cheapest electric vehicles, offering a no-frills route into EV ownership. Now, Dacia is preparing to rewrite the formula.

Meet the New Spring.

Yes, that’s officially the name. Dacia has confirmed that its upcoming electric city car will retain the Spring badge but add a “New” prefix to distinguish it from the existing model that will continue to be sold alongside it. The naming strategy may be confusing, but the car itself represents a much bigger shift than a simple facelift or model-year update.

Most importantly, the New Spring abandons its Chinese origins.

The original Spring arrived in 2021 as a heavily reworked version of the Renault Kwid EV, built in China and riding on the aging CMFA-EV platform. While Dacia refreshed the car substantially in 2024 and boosted performance with updated powertrains and batteries in 2025, the underlying architecture remained unchanged.

The New Spring changes all of that.

Instead of being sourced from China, the newcomer will be built in Europe and will ride on Renault Group’s modern AmpR Small platform. That’s the same architecture underpinning the upcoming Renault Twingo E-Tech, giving Dacia access to a far more advanced foundation than the outgoing model ever had.

A recently released teaser image reveals only the rear of the vehicle, but it already suggests a more mature design direction. The tailgate appears upright and practical, while square-shaped LED taillights and clean body surfacing emphasize functionality over fashion. It remains unmistakably a city car, but one that looks considerably more substantial than its predecessor.

Dacia hasn’t revealed the cabin yet, although the company promises “four real seats and a real trunk”—a subtle acknowledgment that space and practicality remain central to the Spring’s mission. Expect a minimalist interior focused on durability and usability rather than luxury. The brand’s increasingly popular YouClip accessory system will likely make an appearance, allowing owners to customize storage solutions and interior accessories.

The real story, however, lies beneath the sheetmetal.

Technical specifications remain under wraps, but industry expectations point toward a setup borrowed largely from the Renault Twingo E-Tech. That would mean an electric motor producing around 80 horsepower paired with a 27.5-kWh battery pack. Those figures may not sound impressive, but they represent a meaningful improvement over the entry-level Spring’s modest output and should provide more than enough performance for urban environments.

Dacia’s gamble appears well-founded. Since its launch, the Spring has found nearly 210,000 buyers across Europe, proving that affordability can outweigh concerns about range, performance, or prestige. For many consumers, it wasn’t the best EV—it was simply the one they could actually afford.

That affordability equation is changing, however.

Dacia says the New Spring will start below €18,000. While that would still make it one of Europe’s least expensive electric cars, it represents a significant increase over the outgoing Spring, which was available in Germany earlier this year for roughly €11,900.

The higher price should bring meaningful gains in technology, safety, performance, and overall refinement. In other words, Dacia appears ready to move the Spring from bargain-basement transportation to something approaching a genuinely modern EV.

What won’t change is the basic formula. The New Spring will retain compact dimensions, five doors, and city-friendly proportions, as confirmed by previous design sketches. It’s still designed for crowded urban streets, tight parking spaces, and buyers who prioritize practicality over prestige.

Only now, it seems, Dacia wants those buyers to have a little more car for their money.

And for the first time, the Spring may be more than just the cheapest EV in Europe—it might actually be one of the most compelling.

Source: Dacia

News

Geely Builds a European Brain: New Tech Hub Aims to Shrink the China-to-Showroom Gap

Global expansion in the auto industry usually means more factories, more dealers, and more marketing muscle. But Geely is betting that brains—not bricks—are what it needs most right now. The Chinese automaker has merged its engineering operations in Sweden and Germany into a single entity called Geely Technology Europe, and the goal is simple: build cars for the world from day one, not retrofit them later.

This new hub consolidates research and development talent across the continent, effectively turning Europe into a central node in Geely’s global engineering network. The move builds on a foundation laid back in 2013, when the company partnered with Volvo to establish an R&D foothold in Gothenburg. What started as a collaborative engineering outpost has now evolved into a full-blown European brain trust—one designed to accelerate model launches and harmonize development across markets.

Geely Technology Europe won’t operate in isolation. Instead, it will function as a bridge between European expertise and the company’s main development center in China. The idea is to create vehicle platforms that meet global standards right out of the gate, rather than undergoing lengthy—and costly—regional adaptations later. That’s a subtle shift in strategy, but it has major implications for how quickly new models can travel from Chinese unveilings to international showrooms.

According to CEO Giovanni Lanfranchi, Europe isn’t just another market—it’s the benchmark. By creating what he calls a “borderless” R&D structure, Geely aims not only to meet regulatory and technical standards, but to help define them. That’s particularly important for the group’s expanding portfolio of brands, including premium EV players and globally minded sub-brands that need credibility in demanding Western markets.

One of the clearest performance targets underscores the urgency. Historically, Geely vehicles introduced in China could take years to reach overseas customers, slowed by certification requirements and technical tweaks. The new engineering setup is designed to slash that delay to less than six months. If achieved, it would dramatically compress development timelines and allow Geely to compete more directly with established global automakers.

The work ahead focuses on three core pillars: shared global architectures, market-specific product optimization, and AI-driven digital systems. That last category includes smart cockpit technologies and advanced driver-assistance features—areas where software development speed increasingly defines competitiveness. The recent certification of the company’s G-ASD driver assistance system for European use signals that Geely is already pushing forward on this front.

Meanwhile, the company’s broader ambitions extend beyond Europe. A massive new safety testing center in Hangzhou Bay—scheduled to open in late 2025—will feed data and development into the global pipeline. Built with lessons learned from Volvo’s safety heritage, the facility highlights Geely’s intent to compete not just on volume, but on engineering credibility.

Put it all together, and Geely Technology Europe looks less like a regional office and more like a strategic nerve center. If it succeeds, future Geely products may arrive in international markets faster, smarter, and more tailored from the outset. And in an industry where timing is everything, shaving years down to months could be the difference between chasing trends and setting them.

Source: Geely