0 Comments If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, the Mercedes-Benz S-class is rather grotesque. Some manufacturers leverage technological prowess as a selling point, while others have gone to significant lengths to prove that less is more. Keeping a car simple is often a way to make it affordable to the widest audience possible. In the decades following World War 2, especially in the 21st century, simplicity has often been celebrated as an enthusiast car’s best quality. From the cheap to the exciting, join us for a look at some of the simplest cars ever created:
Citroën 2CV (1948)
Citroën devoted a considerable amount of energy to make the 2CV as cheap and basic as possible. Pierre-Jules Boulanger (1885-1950), a Michelin executive who became the carmaker’s president in 1938, told engineers the car needed to be a bicycle with four seats. “It replaces the bicycle, the motorcycle and the horse-drawn c
0 Comments Bentley’s debut electric vehicle, due in 2025, will be one of the first cars to use a new cutting-edge Audi-developed luxury car platform. The first EV will take the form of a high-riding sedan and will be based on a bespoke VW Group architecture, which is being developed by Project Artemis, an Audi-led initiative to develop an advanced EV platform.
Carmaker to modify all-new EV platform under development by Audi
All new Bentleys from 2026 to be all-electric or plug-in hybrids The Crewe manufacturer, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has committed to offering
only battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) from 2030 onwards and it plans to meet that deadline by rolling out a family of new EVs in the second half of this decade.
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The CR-V SUV, Accord sedan and Jazz hatchback can all be had in hybrid form now – well, overseas at least. “[Electric cars are] a third to 50 per cent more expensive than a conventional or hybrid vehicle, he said. “[Hybrids] don’t take us the full way and that’s why we do see this as a transitioning or bridging type of technology to get us to the point at which the technology behind the batteries and the infrastructure are both in place to move forward to offering mass personal mobility with a new type of energy carrier.” Other hybrid options overseas include the CR-V, Accord, the new Jazz and the NSX supercar, if you can find one. Unfortunately, we only get the petrol-powered versions of the CR-V and the electrified Jazz is yet to be confirmed for the Kiwi market.