Explore: The cars of Scotland, UK
Today we are exploring the car landscape of Scotland, including Glasgow and the Isle of Skye, following my trip there in July. As a reminder, the MG ZS topped the Scottish charts in July, ahead of the Kia Sportage, Peugeot 208 and Volvo XC40. Notice also the MG HS at #5 and #8 year-to-date. The Vauxhall Corsa remains #1 year-to-date but was outside the Top 10 in July.
The first impression and main takeaway when looking at the car distribution on Scottish roads is the prevalence of the MG brand. Numerous HS and ZS, as well as some MG 4 and MG 5 station wagons. The touristic nature of the areas I visited were admittedly weighted towards rental cars, which suggests MG vehicles are a big hit with rental companies. Anther surprising element is the frequent bright blue colour of the cars, potentially linked to the Scottish flag.
The domination of SUVs is clear for all to see in Scotland, with already many examples of the new generation Toyota C-HR, as well as plenty of Nissan Juke and Qashqai. In the case of the C-HR I suspect here too a large part were rentals. There were surprisingly few Vauxhall Corsa, as well as some Vauxhall Mokka.
Glasgow car landscape, including the Hyundai Kona, Bayon and BYD Atto 3.
Other interesting models seen often were the Lexus LBX and Citroen C4, the LBX potentially a premium rental car option. There were very few Teslas but a lot of BMWs, notably the 1 Series.
A Riley 1½-litre Lynx Tourer from 1937. Many thanks to Bence for supplying this info.
Our car for this trip was the Renault Captur (pre-facelift). A comfortable ride despite a reluctant manual gearshift, the Captur doesn’t feel like a crossover but like a regular car. This is a good thing as a lot of crossovers do feel like cars on stilts. The driving position is not too high, meaning in fact that the only crossover-like feature of the Captur is its looks.
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The vintage car in question is a Riley 1½-litre Lynx Tourer from 1937. The vehicle appeared in the 1963 short film “View from the Bass”.
Thank you very much Bence!
This week I drove the MG4 for the first time. I must say, nice car, solid materials, very good dynamics. The display showed a long-term consumption of 16.4 kW/100 km.
What would I improve? The unpleasant sharp edge of the center portal will soon push into the knee. The absence of a camera at the back is a pity. I would have expected better noise reduction from the wheels. Volvo is noticeably quieter, but it’s a different price category.
In the Czech Republic, after the introduction of tariifs, the MG4 became cheaper to 30,000 Euros (Emotion 51 kW battery). Incredibly good deal.
The local automakers will have to do something.
The local automakers will have to do something??? do you think they can compete with chinese labour costs? not only automakers, just any other activity in Europe is under threat: solar panels, even honey producers and mattres manufacturers… Unless we accept being paid 50% our salaries, and even that wouldn’t be a solution
If I had known that, I would have been a well-paid executive in the auto industry 🙂
But honey is a great case in point. Many people buy honey from local producers because it tastes great and the beekeepers take care of their surroundings a diversity.
Maybe we can’t compete in mass models, but individualization and an emphasis on sustainability will be important. I don’t think the way is to produce, waste, more cars, more scrap. I mean Volkswagen is good at it, now they’ve made a version of the Caddy PanAmericana and people are buying it. The same good business with Multivan and California. That’s the way.
I’m not a fan of tarrifs. We must know, it’s the oportunity to do everything better.