London’s Direct Vision Standard (DVS) for HGVs will be rolling out this autumn, with the goal of improving road safety for everyone. How? Getting blind spot-riddled HGVs up to a base standard for operation on urban streets, or banning them altogether.

If successful, the scheme will be rolled out country-wide, and even across the world.

How dangerous are HGVs on urban streets?

What’s the big deal, though? Well, alarming statistics have inspired this move. Despite making up just four percent of miles driven in London, HGVs are responsive for 63 percent of fatal collisions with cyclists, and as many as 25 percent of pedestrian deaths.

Based on those numbers, poor visibility for truck drivers in the capital is little short of a crisis.

How does DVS work?

The vehicles will be judged with a rating of between zero and five, for how much the operator can see directly out of the vehicle without relying on mirrors and cameras. Permits will need to be awarded to vehicles with an insufficient rating in order for them to be allowed in London.

What can be done to fix them?

And you can only get one of those permits by improving your vehicles safety rating. By Transport for London’s reckoning, as many as 35,000 of the 188,000 HGVs operating in the London will be banned by October 2020. That’s when zero-rated trucks’ time is up.

By 2024, only three-star vehicles or above will be allowed to drive in the city, at which point it’s expected up to 94,000 vehicles will be banned.

Getting a safety permit

The above safety permit can be earned via a variety of measures to improve driver visibility and therefore, pedestrian safety. More comprehensive mirrors, a battery of cameras with screens and warning chimes for pedestrians are on a list of utilities that can be retrofitted in order to improve a HGV’s safety rating.

Tesla has finally announced the long-awaited arrival of the $35,000 ‘entry-level’ Model 3 electric car. This is the model that the firm hopes further accelerate sales of its in-demand Nissan Leaf rival.

However, while some are crunching the numbers and predicting a £26,400 price by the time the car reaches the UK, Elon Musk has warned things won’t be quite so straightforward. 

The more affordable Model 3 arrives in Europe in around six months’ time, he said – but local taxes and import duties mean the price is going to rise, by at least 25 percent.

Base Model 3 available in Europe in ~6 months, Asia 6 to 8 months. Latter contingent on Shanghai Gigafactory. Country-specific taxes & import duties mean price may be 25% or more above US number.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2019

This equals a predicted entry price of £33,000, rather than £26,400.

Tesla has ace up its sleeve, though: the remarkable performance of the Model 3. Even the entry-level car will do 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds – that’s faster than many sporty hot hatchbacks (which can also cost upwards of £30,000…). It’s also considerably quicker than all direct rivals.

The 220-mile range isn’t quite as good as the £32,995 Kia e-Niro: that car has a 282-mile range. But the Model 3 is currently tested to the tougher U.S. EPA standard; by the time it’s put through Europe’s WLTP test, the gap to the e-Niro may be narrowed. 

Tesla also offers a Model 3 Standard Range Plus variant: 6 percent more money (around £1,500) buys 9 percent more range, plus a power boost and better interior spec.

The sub-£30,000 Model 3?

There coudl be yet another card up Tesla’s sleeve, too: the Government Plug-in Car Grant. This is worth £3,500. Subtract it from Elon’s indicated price and, lo, you have a sub-£30,000 Tesla Model 3.

If the firm really can deliver that headline-grabbing price, Tesla and Elon Musk really will have done something remarkable. 

Suddenly, those early deposit-holders will be feeling very chuffed with themselves indeed… 

The Ferrari 488 GTB’s successor has been revealed. Meet the new 710hp F8 Tributo, due to debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show

Let’s get something clear straight away. No, it’s not a hybrid. Yes, it appears to be based on an architecture that goes back to the 458 of 2009. And no, it isn’t any more powerful than the 488 Pista.

Also, while the ‘Tributo’ name sounds like it should be attached to something limited-run or one-off, this is a series production car.

A ‘Tributo’ to the Ferrari V8

Now let’s look at the numbers. Packing a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8, the F8 matches the 488 Pista with its 710hp output – and is nearly 50hp up on the 488 GTB.

Ferrari makes a great deal of fuss about this award-winning engine, with the car’s name referencing the three-time ‘Best Engine’ award winner. It’ll crack 62mph in 2.9 seconds and match the Pista’s 211mph top end.

Weight down, aero up

The F8 Tributo has lost 40kg versus the 488 it replaces, while the new bodywork improves aero efficiency by 10 percent. Notice the louvred engine window at the rear: a reference to possibly the greatest ever V8 Ferrari – the F40.

The slats also help extract hot air from the engine bay without interrupting the efficiency of the ‘blown spoiler’. This aerodynamic aid has been ‘further evolved to increase downforce generated at the rear’.

The front features a new S-Duct (the vent in the bonnet), which increases front-end downforce by 15 percent.

A ‘Ferrari Styling Centre’ overhaul

There are plenty of giveaways that this is not an all-new car, but a close relation to the 488 GTB and 458. However, the F8 moves the styling and aero game on a long way.

Praise be, the four-rear-light Ferrari look is back on mid-engined Berlinettas, for the first time since the F430 of 2004. Everything is evolved from the Pista and, indeed, from the racetrack, albeit toned down here.

There’s no getting away from that classically sleek silhouette, though. We also note a few styling hints from the 458 MM Speciale one-off. And the horizontal LED lights mimic those seen on the Ferrari FXX-K hypercar, with vents above to carry over lines from the 488.

Inside the new mid-engined Ferrari

Inside is where the biggest update was needed over the 488. Happily, the F8 moves the game on just enough.

The new-style Ferrari wheel with a more compact airbag appears alongside a redesigned dashboard. The weird trapezoidal vents are gone, for a start, in favour of more traditional circular items.

All in all, the F8 Tributo is a nice styling step-on for the 488 GTB, with Pista power, updated aero and a much-needed lift for the interior.

It’s not the leap into the future that we were expecting, but it does give a fitting nod to Ferrari greats of the past. We’re in no doubt it’ll take the fight to the new Lamborghini Huracan Evo and McLaren 720S.

We can’t wait to see it in the metal at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show

A diesel Renault Clio emits 20 times more NOx pollution in real-world town and city driving than a diesel Land Rover Discovery, a new independent test called the AIR Index has revealed.

The new standardised rating system for air quality has been developed to clean up confusion around vehicle nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, and highlight the worst polluters.

The big surprise from the launch tests is that the large 3.0-litre TD6 Discovery is so much cleaner than the diesel Clio, a far smaller model with an engine half the size, weighing almost half as much.

Inspired by the independent Euro NCAP testing regime, the founders of the AIR Index hope the new ratings will have a similar effect on real-world car emissions.

They also hope it will help policy makers when formulating clean air policies for towns and cities.

Instead of testing in labs, the AIR Index is conducted by on-road driving. The testing is described as “scientifically robust” according to new internationally-agreed methodology. It is a development of an earlier ranking called the EQUA Index.

AIR Index: how it works

The AIR Index is a colour-coded scale from A to E, based on those used for consumer white goods, and already used to show new car CO2 emissions.

An ‘A’ rating in the AIR Index equals NOx emissions of between 0 and 80mg/km. The official legal limit for new car NOx emissions is 80mk/km for diesel, 60mg/km for petrol cars.

In other words, any car that doesn’t get an ‘A’ rating exceeds official lab-tested NOx limits in real-world driving.

The worst, an ‘E’ rating, represents NOx emissions of 600mg/km or more. This shows just how much NOx pollution the 2017 Renault Clio actually emitted in real-world driving – and how unexpectedly green the Discovery was.

“It proves that not all ‘Chelsea tractors’ are dirty polluting machines,” said a spokesman. “It finally offers clarity.”

The AIR Index operates independently and is intended to support the latest WLTP and RDE ‘real-world emissions’ scale, which is scheduled to go live in September 2019. This only gives a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ score: AIR is much more granular – and, added the spokesman, doesn’t simply look at brand new cars.

Ratings for a total of six cars have been revealed as part of the AIR Index launch. They represent a cross-section of cars, both small and large, diesel and petrol. All meet the latest Euro 6 emissions standard.

AIR Index rating: launch tests

• 2018 Land Rover Discovery 3.0 TD6 (diesel): A
• 2017 Nissan Qashqai 1.2 DiG-T (petrol): B
• 2015 Mini Cooper SD (diesel): C
• 2018 Dacia Duster 1.5 dCi (diesel): D
• 2017 Ford Focus 1.5 TDCi (diesel): D
• 2017 Renault Clio 1.5 dCi (diesel): E

‘Game changer’

“The AIR Index is a game changer,” said co-founder Massimo Fedeli. “It gives easy to understand, at-a-glance information on actual vehicle emissions in towns and cities.

“It provides car buyer with the answer they need to make the right purchasing choices, it makes the industry accountable to produce cleaner cars and gives cities and policy makers the accurate data to create fair policies.”

Dan Carder led the West Virginia University team that uncovered the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, and has endorsed the new rating. “If the AIR Index had been implemented 15 years ago, dieselgate would likely not have happened.”

Jaguar is aiming to turn around the fortunes of its BMW 3 Series-rivalling XE saloon with interior tech borrowed from the I-Pace electric SUV and a diesel engine that’s cleaner than every single rival.

Revealed in London at The Bike Shed in Shoreditch, the 20MY Jaguar XE (that’s 2020 model year, although it’s on sale right now) at first glance doesn’t look all that different.

Jaguar admits styling changes are restricted to new bumpers front and rear, dark-tint tail lamps with a new LED lighting pattern, plus full LED headlights with their own fresh LED running light design. The cutouts in the front bumper are wider and lower, making the XE look wider, and the graphics are more distinctive from a distance (or in a rear-view mirror).

The chassis is largely unchanged too, with just a few tweaks to make the XE a little bit sharper and smoother-riding. “We really focused on the things that mattered to our customers,” said Jaguar Land Rover MD Rawdon Glover. Updates to the exterior and chassis are thus “subtle”.

Inside is where the big news is, with a set of changes “completely transforming it from the outgoing model”. And not before time: the sub-par interior was always a key weakness of the original XE.

Described as all-new by Jaguar, the centrepiece of the interior is the new Touch Pro Duo ‘twin-screen’ setup in the centre console. Nabbed from the I-Pace, this is leagues ahead of the plasticky climate control setup on the old XE. The HD infotainment screen also now comes with Apple CarPlay, at long last.

There’s a steering wheel from the I-Pace, with touch-sensitive controls, plus a 12.3-inch driver display also nabbed from the electric SUV. The gearshifter, meanwhile, is taken from the Jaguar F-Type sports car: all 20MY Jaguar XE are automatics.

Jaguar promises “extensive use of soft-touch materials, premium veneers and all-new door trims that improve usability and practicality”. It still won’t be the roomiest of cars in the rear seats, but at least it’s a nice place for those in the front to sit in.

Video:

Clean diesel

Big news for company car drivers is the new XE D180 RWD version: it’s the first 2.0-litre turbodiesel to be RDE2 NOx compliant. What does this mean? Exhaust emissions as clean as a petrol car – and a 4 percent saving on company car tax.

Private buyers also enjoy a first-year saving on VED road tax. No rival is yet available with an RDE2 diesel engine, giving Jaguar a handy advantage in a hotly-fought market.

Jaguar adds that diesel haters now have little to dislike. The clean diesel is as green as a petrol, gives 25 percent better fuel economy and emits 15 per less CO2. Drive over 12,000 miles a year? Diesel is the most cost-effective solution for you.

Also available in the new XE are 2.0-litre petrol engines in either 250hp or 200hp guise; they’re labelled P250 and P300. With optional four-wheel drive fitted, the P300 does 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds.

Jaguar XE 20MY: prices and specs

Jaguar XE prices start from £33,915 and it’s offered in a simpler line-up of S, SE and HSE trim levels. For each grade, a sporty-look R-Dynamic pack can be added on (the red car above is R-Dynamic): this has performance exterior design tweaks, sports seats with contrast stitching, and satin chrome gearshift paddles.

Every new Jaguar XE comes as standard with 18-inch alloys, leather seats with electric operation, LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors, a rear camera and lane-keep assist.

Jaguar has crunched the numbers and says the new car is better value than before. The D180 R-Dynamic S, at £36,145, costs £670 less than the old XE R-Sport… even better, it has £1,100 of extra kit, making a total saving of £1,770.

The New Jaguar XE is available to order now, with deliveries expected from the summer. Just don’t expect to see it at the Geneva Motor Show next week, if you’re heading over: neither Jaguar nor Land Rover are attending – and they’re not the only ones…