We conclude our series of quick test drives of the best-selling SUVs in the world in preparation for our upcoming review of the new generation Toyota RAV4. These are in no way exhaustive but just to get a feel of the competition. After the unconvincing Nissan X-Trail and the impressive Honda…
Mercedes A-Class sales are up 39.5% year-on-year in the UK. 15/12/2019 update: Now with the Top 180 models. Continuing Brexit uncertainty crippling business and consumer morale as well as the auto industry itself as a round of manufacturers have announced they would leave the UK in the case of a…
Tasra my Peugeot Pars in the Dasht-e Kavir desert. This is Part 5 and the final Part of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here, Part 2: Isfahan here, Part 3: Shiraz here and Part 4: Dasht-e Lut and Yazd here. It's now…
Tasra my Peugeot Pars in the Dasht-e Lut desert, aka Empty desert. This is Part 4 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here, Part 2: Isfahan here and Part 3: Shiraz here. We are now headed east towards the border with Afghanistan…
Road signs in Arabic script are to be read from right to left, but Persian numbers (at the centre) from left to right. This is Part 3 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here and Part 2: Isfahan here. After enjoying…
Bahman Cara pickup in front of the Mashed-e Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, Isfahan. This is the Part 2 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here. Now that you are familiar with the surprisingly relaxed vibe I felt interacting with VPN-clad, WhatsApp-chatting Tehran…
My rental Peugeot Pars near Mount Damavand, Tehran Province. Iran regularly makes headlines for all the wrong reasons - religious extremism, nuclear threats and thunderous ayatollahs - yet almost every visitor returns enchanted. The contrast is such that I felt I had to see it for myself to make up…
Toyota Tundra in front of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming, Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan, we finish our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show on a high note. After many years of anticipation and missed opportunities because of how convoluted the permit process is, I…
My rental Peugeot 301 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. We are back for a new series of China Test Drives as securing my temporary Chinese driver's licence for a second year in a row enabled me to rent two cars in two different provinces and test drive 9 more at dealerships.…
Chana CX70 in Lijiang After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming and Dali in Yunnan, we proceed on our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show. Next stop is Lijiang, still in Yunnan province, roughly 200km north of Dali, and then we push a further 100km north to the famous…
Wuling Hongguang V in Dali old town After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming in Yunnan, we continue on our exploration of Chinese regions following the Shanghai Auto Show. This time we travel 350km west from Kunming to reach the small town of Dali on the shores of the Erhai…
Bestune T77 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. This is the second stop in our 2019 exploration of China following the Shanghai Auto Show. You can consult the 1st stop Shanghai here. We are now in Manzhouli in eastern Inner Mongolia in the north of the country, at the border with Russia…
Shanghai street scene. Like every year, after reporting on the main Chinese Auto Show (this year in Shanghai), we now embark on an exploration of the car landscapes of various regions in the country. This year we returned to Shanghai for the first time since 2015. You can consult our…
Exeed TXL After analysing April sales in detail, we now focus on the all-new locally produced launches for the month, so you can stay up-to-date on the fastest-evolving automotive market in the world. Note this update is based on wholesales figures, and sometimes new nameplates appear first in the retail…
Citroen is the only Top 12 brand in positive over Q1 in Europe. New car sales in Europe ex-Russia and Turkey drop -3.2% over the First Quarter of 2019 to 4.13 million units. Germany (+0.2%) is the only Top 5 market to register a (very meagre) uptick, with France (-1.1%)…