GTO Engineering has confirmed its all-new, sixties-inspired sports car is to called Squalo and has revealed the final exterior design.  

Squalo means ‘shark’ in Italian and the Twyford-based engineering company said the name reflects the car’s “shark-like look, instincts and speed”.

It is the firm’s first all-new model – up until now, it has serviced, repaired and restored classic Ferraris, including creating recreations of the legendary 250 GT SWB Berlinetta.

The Squalo is said to pair sixties style with 21^st century engineering principles, including the use of 3D printing to aid production.

The Squalo weighs less than 1,000kg and is powered by the company’s bespoke quad-cam 4.0-litre V12, which will be mated to a manual gearbox. Exact specifications – including power and weight – are to be revealed in due course.

Motoring Research understands it takes between 300 and 350 man-hours to hand-build the unit (it isn’t clear at this stage how long it will take to build the car in full) and although it has been designed specifically for the Squalo, the company is planning to offer it as an off-the-shelf product in the future to fit into other vehicles.

The Squalo is to be priced between £1.28 and £1.5 million, plus relevant taxes, with the final price depending on the final specification of the vehicle. GTO Engineering has not decided the exact number of examples that will be built, but we understand the production run will be “in the tens, not the hundreds”.

The first customer cars are expected to roll off the production line – tooling for which is currently underway – in 2023, though if an order is placed now, you are looking at a 2024 delivery date.

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Volkswagen has unveiled a facelifted version of its Polo small hatchback ahead of its arrival in the UK in the third quarter of 2021. 

The enhanced version of the model incorporates styling changes that bring it in line with the rest of the Volkswagen range, including new front and rear bumpers, LED headlights, a redesigned tailgate and new LED tail light clusters.

According to Volkswagen’s head of exterior design, Marvo Pavone, the design tweaks “create a relationship with the Golf design language”. He said the new frontal design “makes the car clearly wider and more easily recognisable”.

Inside, the revised Polo adds the latest version of VW’s infotainment system with a 6.5-inch touchscreen offered as standard, while a larger, 9.2-inch unit, is available as an optional extra, while the model has adopted an 8.0-inch digital cockpit display from the larger Golf model.

Like the Golf, the facelifted Polo will adopt a three trim-level system, with Life, Style and R-Line grades being offered, replacing the existing Match, SEL and R-Line specifications.

Volkswagen’s Travel Assist is to be offered as an option on the Polo for the first time. First debuted on the Passat, the level-two autonomous driving feature offers semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance at speeds of up to 130mph, while a regular lane-keeping assistance feature is fitted as standard.

As before, one engine – a three-cylinder, 1.0-litre petrol engine – will be offered in 80hp, 95hp and 110hp guises, with manual and automatic transmission options offered.

Responding to a question posed by Motoring Research at a virtual press briefing, Hendrik Muth, head of product marketing at Volkswagen, said there are no plans to add a pure EV powertrain to the Polo “as we have our own electric platform and the ID family is hitting the market. We are planning a model below the ID3 to be launched”.

However, he didn’t rule out the addition of hybrid or plug-in hybrid options down the line: “Depending on the market situation, we can look at offering hybrids market-by-market, but we will start with the TSI [petrol] engine.”

UK prices are yet to be revealed.

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Pininfarina’s Battista hypercar will arrive in London later this month, as part of a world tour to drum up interest among potential buyers.

The Italian design house is known for penning countless supercars over the years, but the pure electric Battista is its first own-brand effort.

In the UK, the car will be sold by Jardine Motors Group under the Automobili Pininfarina London banner. Neil Williamson, CEO for Jardine, said he “anticipates significant demand as clients seek to get up close and personal with a unique and sustainable motoring innovation from a prestigious luxury car maker.” Quite.

Pininfarina says its hyper-EV blasts to 60mph quicker than a current Formula 1 car. Its four electric motors – one for each wheel – develop a combined 1,900hp. The Battista can also travel more than 310 miles between recharges. 

Just 150 examples will be made, all hand-built, with a price tag of around £2 million.

The Battista shares its powertrain with the Rimac C_Two hypercar, although Pininfarina has previously said that acceleration and drive mode characteristics differ from what the Croatian start-up offers.

Keeping the family name alive 

The Battista is named after Pininfarina’s founder, who set up his company more than 90 years ago. In 2019, Paolo Pininfarina, his grandson, said the car’s launch was “a dream come true… my grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a standalone range of Pininfarina-branded cars”.

Indeed, this is the first of many Automobili Pininfarina cars, vows the firm – all of them ‘purely electric, zero-emissions, luxury cars solely branded Pininfarina’.

At the car’s launch in 2019, the-then Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke claimed the firm “this is the most authentic and exciting automotive story imaginable” for those who like brands with heritage. “We aim for Battista to be a future classic and automotive icon, writing its own page in automotive history books,” he said.

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A 1981 Ford Capri built for Henry Ford II is to be auctioned later this week.

For sale with Car & Classic, the Capri 2.8 injection was kept for Ford’s use when he travelled to the UK, and is one of three vehicles that were modified especially for him.

It started life being hand-picked off the Cologne production line, before undergoing a transformation that included additional layers of paint, stricter quality control and comfort features such as a C3 automatic transmission and wider, leather trimmed seats and door cards.

Henry Ford II was the grandson of company founder, Henry Ford. He was also president of the company from 1945 to 1960, chief executive officer from 1945 to 1979, and chairman of the board of directors from 1960 to 1980. Plus he was responsible for projects including the GT40 and Mustang.

The bespoke car was used by the Ford family until 1983 before being sold to Ron Mellor, then head of Ford product development, who kept it for three years before selling it to Alan Jarman, a designer at Ford. Jarman used the car to commute from Torquay to Dunton, Essex.

The Capri’s odometer now shows 68,958 miles, only 6,800 of which were covered in the last 28 years. The vehicle is ‘fresh from a comprehensive refresh in February 2021, restoring it to its full glory,’ says Car & Classic.

Its value is estimated to be between £25,000 and £35,000 and it goes onto the virtual auction block with a vast array of history, including old invoices and MOTs.

A renowned part of the Ford story 

“Fast Fords are always highly sought after, but this Capri is much more than that,” said Chris Pollitt, head of editorial at Car & Classic.

“Specifically prepared by the legendary SVE department for one of the most influential people in the history of Ford, then subsequently enjoyed by other key members of the company, it is a widely appreciated, documented and renowned part of the Ford story.” 

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More than three-fifths of young people plan to use money stockpiled during the Covid-19 lockdowns to buy a new car.

That’s according to Auto Trader, which says 17–24-year-olds have saved an average £2,000 as a result of restrictions over the past year.

The new and used car marketplace said one of ‘Generation Z’s’ priorities is ensuring their chosen car brand plays its part in protecting against the climate crisis. Twenty-seven percent of the 500 people surveyed cited this as a top consideration.

A fifth revealed they would consider buying an electric vehicle or an alternatively powered car, while 23 percent said their car must have a good navigation system. Also, 22 percent said it must have an adequate sound system.

Reflecting their personality

A quarter of ‘Gen Zers’ said they wanted a car that will ‘reflect their personality’ and 11 percent said the potential for their car to be ‘Instagramable’ is important. 

Auto Trader also found that a third of 17-20-year-olds had missed out on their driving test due to the pandemic. And half of 17-24-year-olds admitted that the pandemic had impacted their car buying plans. This comes as learner drivers face an eight-month wait to take their test.

“Despite the challenges felt around lockdowns, it is great to see that Gen Z are overcoming financial concerns to reap the benefits they will get from owning a car,” said Erin Baker, editorial director at Auto Trader.

“It’s a marked change from their usual trend of waiting until older years to buy.” 

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