The Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign concept that wowed visitors to the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed is going into production, the Japanese company has confirmed.
Just 50 cars will be built, but they won’t be cheap. Each will cost over £880,000. Before taxes. And options.
That equals a price tag of over £1 million…
For those with funds for the ultimate Nissan GT-R, ordering is open now. Nissan’s even set up a car configurator on www.gt-r50.nissan.
Deliveries, adds Nissan, will begin in 2019 and continue into 2020 until all 50 cars have been built.
We are officially opening the order-books for a customer version of the GT-R50 by Italdesign, which made its grand debut this past summer. Only 50 units will be produced. ? Learn more about the GT-R50 at https://t.co/0Gqecd7GEq. #Nissan#OMGTR50pic.twitter.com/sHOJHCQG2h
Nismo has tuned the GT-R50 to 720 horsepower, but it’s Italdesign in Turin, Italy, that’s created it. This celebrated 50 years of Italdesign in 2018, and 50 years of GT-R in 2019.
The concept version was finished in grey with gold accents. This production blue-and-gold version shows how customers will be able to specify their own colour combinations.
Interior packages will also be customisable.
Otherwise, it’s virtually unchanged to the concept that was first seen at Goodwood. It’s since also been shown at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in the U.S. and the Nissan Crossing in Tokyo.
From the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England to Nissan Crossing in Tokyo, Japan, here are some highlights from the GT-R50 by Italdesigns international tour. #OMGTR50pic.twitter.com/F3AkYJv8Ii
To mark the confirmation of production, the concept will now be on display at the Nissan Gallery in Yokohama from today.
“The reaction from Nissan fans around the world – and potential customers of the GT-R50 – has greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Bob Laishley, global sports car program director at Nissan.
“These 50 cars, which celebrate 50 years of the GT-R as well as 50 years of Italdesign, will be rolling tributes to Nissan’s engineering leadership and rich sports car heritage for a long time to come.”
The new Skoda Scala is the Czech firm’s first direct rival to the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra – and its Volkswagen Group siblings, the Seat Leon and Volkswagen Golf.
The five-door family hatchback replaces the dreary Rapid and is a much more appealing value-priced contender from the fast-growing brand.
And although the Scala sits between the Fabia supermini and Octavia large family car, Skoda isn’t shy on the internal comparisons. The Scala is a very roomy car indeed.
It has, for example, identical 73 mm rear kneeroom as the Octavia. Elbow room of 1,425 mm isn’t far show of the Octavia’s 1,449 mm. Headroom of 982 mm actually betters the Octavia’s 980 mm.
And the boot may not be as large as the Octavia’s famously cavernous luggage bay but it’s still bigger than anything else in the segment. By far: 467 litres is way larger than a Volkswagen Golf’s 380 litres. It extends to 1,410 litres with the seats down.
The packaging skill becomes more impressive still when you clock the dimensions: it’s 4,362 mm long, which compares closely to the 4,255 mm of a Golf. It’s 1,793 mm wide (a Golf is 1,799 mm) and 1,471 mm tall, with a long 2,649 mm wheelbase.
The Skoda Scala goes on sale in spring 2019.
What does the name Scala mean?
Scala is derived from Latin: it means ‘stairs’ or ‘ladders’. Skoda’s picked it because, ahem, the brand “has climbed several rungs on the development ladder.
“It perfectly embodies a set of brand values which can be summarised very well under the term ‘smart understatement.
We wonder if the fact the Volkswagen Group already owns the rights to the name ‘Scala’ helps: it was first seen on a special edition VW Scirocco back in the late 1980s…
Bosses also proudly point out this is its first car to have the brand name written out in letters on the (black glass) tailgate. SKODA is coming to the rear end of all models in the future.
Skoda Scala: engines
The Skoda Scala will, in the UK, be offered with four different engines – three petrols and a diesel. All are turbocharged and all have engine stop/start.
The entry-level 1.0 TSI produces 95hp and is paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. There’s a more powerful 1.0 TSI 115, which has a six-speed gearbox as standard, or a seven-speed DSG as an option.
Volkswagen Group’s outstanding 1.5 TSI 150 is also available – again with a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG. And, although diesel is hardly flavour of the month, a 1.6 TDI 115 is also available. Again, it’s either six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG. The exhaust emissions are cleaned up by a diesel particulate filter, SCR catalyst and AdBlue injection.
In Europe, Skoda Scala buyers have an additional engine – a 1.0 G-TEC, which runs on compressed natural gas (CNG). Sadly, we won’t get it in the UK, as we don’t have a refuelling infrastructure for clean-burning CNG. Pity.
Skoda adds the Scala will come with an optional Sport Chassis Control. This is lowered 15mm and has adaptive dampers to offer a firmer Sport mode as well as a softer-riding Normal setting.
Skoda Scala: interior
Skoda has already revealed the interior of the Scala. It’s a big step on for the value brand, that head of interior design Norbert Weber says marks the introduction of its new interior concept. This “introduces an updated design language alongside new colours and materials.
“Its premiere in the Scala marks the beginning of a new brand identity for Skoda, which is as emotive as it is functional.”
Highlights include the freestanding infotainment screen in the centre, which can be as large as 9.2 inches. This makes it the biggest touchscreen in the family hatch sector.
It’s the first Skoda to be ‘always online’ courtesy of an embedded eSim. This enables owners to use Skoda Connect mobile online services: they’ll be able to check their fuel level whether their car’s locked, or simply where it is, via an app on their smartphone.
The instrument panel and door trims are made from soft-touch plastics which feature a new ‘crystalline’ grain structure that’s coming to all Skodas in the future. The firm’s also proud of how the air vents extend into the door panels, giving an impression of width within.
LED ambient lighting is available, as are up to nine airbags. The windscreen, steering wheel and both front and rear seats can all be heated.
Skoda Scala: simply clever
Skoda loves its Simply Clever features. Like most of its cars, the Scala gets an umbrella compartment in the driver’s door (yes, it includes a free umbrella). It also has a fluorescent yellow ice scraper built into the fuel filler flap.
A new feature is an electrically retractable tow bar, which whirrs in and out of the rear bumper via a button in the boot. There’s also an electric tailgate with ‘tip-to-close’ function.
A more ‘Simply Audi’ feature is standard LED headlights; LED tail lights are also included, with a very Audi-style ‘sweeping’ indicator function.
Speaking of Audi, Skoda’s offering the 10.25-inch Virtual Cockpit as an option. This is the ‘digital instrument panel’ first seen in the Audi TT.
Side Assist is also clever. It’s a step on from blind spot assist: that can only spy cars up to 20 metres away, whereas Side Assist can ‘see’ them up to 70 metres away. It can therefore warn the driver of fast-approaching cars from far further away, potentially avoiding nasty rear-end crashes.
Adaptive Cruise Control, Rear Traffic Alert, Lane Assist and Front Assist are also available, along with City Emergency Brake.
And for those who like big wheels, 15-inch and 16-inch rims are joined by 17-inch and 18-inch options.
The bike from the Highway Code book of the 1970s and 1980s is up for sale. And you could own a piece of British motoring history.
You could own Prince Philip’s Royal Range Rover
H&H Classics will be offering the 1973 Triumph TR6R Tiger 650 for sale at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on March 2 2019. That’s just over 40 years on from the bike’s first appearance in the Highway Code.
How much for this little-known slice of road regulatory history? Far from big bucks, the little Triumph is expected to fetch between £4,500 and £5,500 when it hits the block.
You could be forgiven for not recognising the bike. It was only ever pictured from the rear, to show signalling while riding. Then again, we expect the number plate rang a few bells over the years…
It was owned from new by the Ministry of Transport but wouldn’t feature in print until five years later. After its appearance in the 1978 Highway Code, it was sold to a traffic police officer. He then sold it to one Nick Searson in 1982, who has owned, used and maintained it ever since.
The bike is presented in excellent condition and comes complete with a copy of the Highway Code in which it starred, as well as an issue of Road Safety magazine featuring its former owner.
“This modest bike is part of our collective automotive history,” said Mark Bryan, Head of Motorcycle sales at H&H Classics.
“You could say it is an urban legend, a bike used to teach us how to stay safe and keep bike riders safe.”
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November sees 5p per litre drop in petrol prices. It should be cheaper still
The Christmas shift is rarely a pleasant thing for anyone, let alone NHS staff who keep our health service ticking over year-round. In recognition of their service, and as a gesture of good will, Uber will offer £20-worth of rides to NHS workers on the clock between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. That’s split up into two rides costing up to £10.
How to get Christmas Uber credits
Register on Uber’s website with your NHS email to confirm that you’re eligible – you’ll get your codes by December 21st.
Once you’ve completed that, make sure you have the Uber app. In the menu on the top left, tap ‘add promo code’ and enter the code once you’ve received it.
Following this, you should be good for £10 off two rides between December 24 and December 26.
Uber has experienced some sub-optimal PR over the last few months and years. Driver treatment, pay, its legitimacy of operation, licensing, solvency questions and more have marred the company of late.
This little gesture is a nice reassurance that there is a warmer side to even the most controversial of companies. The ball is in Elon Musk’s court to do something quirky and interesting for Christmas with one of his many endeavours…
Read more:
November sees 5p per litre drop in petrol prices. It should be cheaper still
With the world’s population reaching 7.7 billion, delivering presents gets harder and harder each year for Santa Claus.
Dodge seems to have provided the solution for making Santa’s life a little bit easier. Naturally, it happens to involve the now ubiquitous supercharged 6.2-litre Hemi V8 engine.
What started out as a special motor for the Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcat models, has found its way into a number of other vehicles.
A modified version appears in the crazy Challenger SRT Demon, whilst the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk also receives a version of the thumping V8 engine.
There is even the option to buy a version of the 707hp Hemi in a crate, ready to fit into whatever your wildest dreams may envisage.
Load up the Redeye Express
The latest product to feature the powerful 6.2-litre Hemi engine is the Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye. Offered to fill the gap between the Demon and regular Challenger Hellcat, the Redeye features a power output of 797hp.
It’s this version of the Challenger Hellcat which has formed the basis for Santa’s new Redeye Express sleigh.
Visitors to the 2018 LA Auto Show have already had chance to see the go-fast sleigh in person. However, Dodge is now rolling out a substantial marketing series to explain the festive tale behind its creation.
The Jolly Fast Man is here
With a series of seven separate video clips, Dodge offers a (fictional) journey into the making of the Redeye Express.
Santa is played by former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, whilst Cristy Lee takes on the role of Mrs. Claus. Viewers of TV programmes such as Fast N’ Loud will notice the presentation style being parodied.
If you find yourself awoken by the sound of a flame-spitting V8 engine on Christmas Eve, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
It’s what’s underneath that counts, they say. That’s certainly the case with the first KNC Koenigsegg Regera… What’s KNC? That’s Koenigsegg Naked Carbon, and, other than the fully automated bodywork that you can open with the touch of a button, it’s Koenigsegg’s way of saying beauty is more than skin deep.
Bare carbon is nothing new in the world of hypercars. Pagani pioneered the art form near-on 20 years ago with a bare carbon fibre Zonda, featuring perfectly symmetrical weaves with a line going down the centre of the car. Even down to neighbouring body panels, the weaves matched.
This Regera is the latest to bare its construction for all to see and it’s a testament to how far carbon fibre work has come in the 30 years it’s been in use in road cars. The sophistication of the shapes it can take and the absolutely perfect symmetry is candy for the eyes.
To say that many cars before are bare carbon is a little bit of a porky, however. This Koenigsegg is genuinely as close as you’ll get. Most ‘bare carbon’ cars are in fact painted with a lacquer layer. It’s one of the ways Koenigsegg has done it before. It can be combined with a colour for a different tone to the carbon fibre finish.
In the case of the KNC Regera, however, the epoxy layer that would ordinarily cover the carbon, as it does on underside pieces and interior trim pieces on other cars, has been sanded back. For the first time, the whole body of this car has had that layer removed and the carbon fibre itself has been polished to deliver the finish.
It’s a delicate process, so says Koenigsegg, given one rub the wrong way can result in carbon fibre threads frayed and curling out from the panel.
What are the advantages of this polished exposed carbon? Apparently, it’s a much hardier surface when it comes to dealing with the rigours of road-faring life. Stone blasts and other impacts that would otherwise damage a layer of lacquer are much less damaging to the harder exposed carbon. The other advantage is that the car is 20kg lighter, given there’s no heavy lacquer or paint coating it.
It ought to have its advantages, given how difficult it is to execute. Never mind the process of stripping the carbon back, in order to be suitable for the treatment, every panel has to be nothing short of perfect in terms of its carbon quality. As it should be regardless, you’d have thought.
“KNC takes the idea of visible carbon fibre to a whole new level, revealing a beautiful lustre and a very silky finish,” said Christian von Koenigsegg, CEO of Koenigsegg.
“The Koenigsegg philosophy has always been about exploring extremes. It’s great to extend that idea to a whole new way of finishing and presenting a car.”
Toyota has revealed prices and specs for the new RAV4, and opened ordering at UK dealers for those keen to get one of the first new cars when deliveries begin in April 2019.
The firm hopes to have cars in retailers from February for early test-drives.
The all-new model is priced from £29,635 in entry-level Icon front-wheel drive spec, with the cheapest all-wheel drive model being the £33,430 Design AWD.
Toyota RAV4 Hybrid outsells diesel by 2 to 1
All new RAV4 use the same 2.5-litre Hybrid engine, which produces 215hp in front-wheel drive guise, and a slightly higher 219hp in all-wheel drive form.
Emissions of both are seriously impressive: from 102g/km CO2 with the base car, with the AWD running from 103g/km. Fuel economy figures will be revealed later once the new RAV4 has been officially homologated.
Called Hybrid AWD-I, the all-wheel drive hybrid system is fully automatic, and actually sends drive torque to the rear wheels when pulling away, to improve traction. A Trail function helps maintain grip on loose terrain.
Toyota says the new RAV4 is lower overall than the outgoing car, with a lower bonnet height, but a longer wheelbase gives more passenger and boot space. It also has a lower centre of gravity, benefitting handling.
2019 Toyota RAV4 specs
The new RAV4 is offered in four specs: Icon, Design, Dynamic and Excel.
Even the base Excel has 8-inch Toyota Touch 2 infotainment, 17-inch alloys, a rear-view camera, privacy glass, LED headlights and Toyota Safety Sense 2 protection pack.
This includes adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking that can detect cyclists by day, as well as other cars, and sense pedestrians both day and night.
Design ups the alloy wheels to 18-inches and adds front parking sensors and an electronic tailgate.
Excel has projector LED headlights, full leather interior, heated steering wheel, headlight washers and a blind spot monitor. Dynamic, meanwhile, adds black five-spoke 18-inch alloys, heated front sports seats, bi-tone metallic paint and a black interior headliner.
Buyers can choose from nine colours and the Dynamic’s bi-tone paint combines a black roof and pillars with White Pearl, Silver Blade, Decuma Grey or Obsidian Blue.
Goodwood will be hosting a Le Mans Prototype demonstration at its 77th Members’ Meeting event in March.
It’s the most modern high-speed demo line-up at either of the Goodwood Motor Circuit events. The cars will also be running into the dusk, with headlights on, in a nod to their 24-hour racing history.
Next year marks 20 years of LMP racing, as well as the curtain-call for this class of car. It seems appropriate, therefore, for Goodwood to host the cars, just as their class transitions from contemporary to historic. It’s also a fitting tribute, given LMP is the longest-running and most successful top-level endurance category.
As such, everything from the late 90s cars to the modern Porsches, Audis and Toyotas are expected to be take part. For a class derided for its function-over-form aesthetics, LMP has enjoyed a great deal of variation over these past two decades, both in terms of powertrains and body styles.
LMPs have been both open and closed cockpit, and been powered by hybrids, diesels, turbos and naturally-aspirated engines.
“Le Mans Prototypes are some of the fastest racing cars in the world, and some of the most fascinating,” said Matt Hearn, Motorsport Content Manager at Goodwood.
“What other race has no restriction on engine type and has seen victories for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars in just a quarter of a century?”
It should surely make for a fascinating demonstration and the ultimate opportunity compare cars from across 20 years, up close.
Perhaps their enduring legacy, as it should be, is that they’re some of the fastest endurance racers ever conceived. Top-level lap records have been claimed by the outgoing batch of cars at endurance calendar circuits across the globe. Those times aren’t expected to tumble when the successor to LMP comes along.
LMP’s days are now numbered. Production-related GTP cars are due to take over the top spot a couple of years from now. Lower budgets and a more tangible link to road cars should, it’s hoped, attract a great deal more manufacturer involvement.
Almost all the major LMP contenders are gone, with the two defining marques, Audi and Porsche, bowing out over the past couple of years.
The Fiat Panda has been awarded a zero-star safety rating in the latest set of crash tests carried out by Euro NCAP. It becomes only the second car to receive zero stars, following the Fiat Punto’s lowly performance in 2017.
In a rather damning set of results, the Panda failed to achieve more than 50 percent in any of the categories, including an eye-opening score of 16 percent for child occupant safety – the lowest ever score for this category.
Euro NCAP Panda-monium
Euro NCAP has been crash testing cars since 1997, a time when car manufacturers struggled to achieve decent results.
However, the Panda wasn’t the only poor performer from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Just one star for 2019 Jeep Wrangler
The new 2019 Jeep Wrangler also fared badly, earning just one star. Its only driver-assistance technologies are a seatbelt reminder and rudimentary speed limiter.
Today, standards are much improved and these cars are the exception rather than the rule. To demonstrate this, we compare crash tests past and present below.
What is Euro NCAP?
It was the UK Department for Transport that proposed a British ‘New Car Assessment Programme’ back in 1994. This would produce consumer crash safety information that buyers could use to compare models.
The test was developed over the next few years, with several standard procedures devised, assessing adult occupant protection and pedestrian safety. All tested models would be put through all tests, and the results – with images and video – made publically available. The DfT published the first set of results, for seven superminis, in February 1997.
How were cars crash-tested before Euro NCAP?
Before Euro NCAP came along, there were no consumer crash safety tests. All car manufacturers had to do was show that the steering wheel didn’t intrude more than 12 inches into the car – that was it. And all impacts were into full-width barriers, rather than the offset crash tests pioneered by Euro NCAP.
The argument was that many crashes were not full-frontal impacts, but avoidance impacts – when, say, swerving out the way of an oncoming car. Of course, it’s much harder to engineer a car solid enough to hold up well in offset impacts, something Euro NCAP was to dramatically expose…
The depressing state of car safety in the 1990s
The illusion that cars in the 1990s were safe was to be quickly shattered by Euro NCAP. Images speak a thousand words and these shots were to prove incendiary.
Here, we’re exposing the original 1997 Euro NCAP test results, looking at star ratings for adult occupant protection. We’ve sourced original images for the period crash tests, too – and compared them to their contemporary equivalents to show just how things have improved since…
1997: Rover 100 (1 star)
This was the image that killed the Rover 100. And virtually killed the dummies inside it. It exposed the pathetic, decades-outdated safety of Rover’s little city car. It caused national outrage and sales understandably plummeted. But it wasn’t until Euro NCAP tested it at 40mph in 1997 – 17 years after the Metro’s original launch – that its contemporary one-star safety was fully revealed.
Today: Honda Jazz (5 stars)
To see how Euro NCAP has transformed city car safety, take a look at the modern Honda Jazz, a five-star car. It only weighs around 100kg more than the Rover, yet performs immeasurably better in a 40mph offset impact. You would survive this. You wouldn’t if you were in the Rover.
1997: BMW 3 Series (1 star and 1 strikethrough star)
But it wasn’t just the Rover 100’s scandalous crash safety that Euro NCAP exposed in 1997. The organisation tested umpteen other cars and revealed that the rest of the car market wasn’t much better. Take this E36 BMW 3 Series, for example – an enviable premium car in 1997, but not something you’d want to have a crash in. It scored two Euro NCAP stars, but with one of them struck through for serious safety issues.
Today: BMW 3 Series (5 stars)
The 1997 BMW 3 Series was a mess of twisted metal after a crash. Not so the latest model, whose Euro NCAP safety result is like night and day.
1997: Citroen Xantia (1 star and 1 strikethrough star)
This is an ugly image. If you thought the BMW bent up in a crash, just look at how this Citroen Xantia disintegrates. Yet another car with a strikethrough star and, it’s not hard to see why.
Today: Citroen DS5 (5 stars)
The effective replacement for the Xantia is the Citroen DS5, since renamed simply DS 5. Quite a difference, no?
1997: Rover 600 (1 star and 1 strikethrough star)
It wasn’t just the Rover 100 that was under attack from Euro NCAP in 1997. The Honda-engineered Rover 600 also scored badly, with the car once again virtually collapsing under impact.
Today: MG6 (4 stars)
What a difference two decades makes. The MG6 scored four Euro NCAP stars back in 2011, and is clearly a much stronger, safer performer than its Rover ancestor.
1997: Saab 900 (1 star and 1 strikethrough star)
Saab had a reputation for crash safety. Looking at this image from 1997, you have to wonder why – just look how the windscreen frame of the 900 disintegrated!
Today: Saab 9-5 (5 stars)
By the time of its death, Saab had learnt a few lessons. The virtually stillborn 9-5 replacement was an enormous improvement over the 900 tested just 12 years before.
Particularly shocking was its Child Occupant Protection performance, where the Panda scored just 16 percent for kids sat in the rear.
The average rating for new cars is 79 percent.
The Panda failed to score more than 50 percent in any of Euro NCAP’s four car crash tests. It thus takes the dubious honour of being only the second zero-star car ever tested.
The other one was, ironically, also a Fiat: the 2017 Punto.
Matthew Avery, director of research at Thatcham Research (which carries out Euro NCAP crash testing in the UK), said: “Most troubling is that the Fiat Panda is seen as a good choice for young drivers and fledgling families.
“Where budgets are tight, consider a safer small car second-hand instead.”
Watch: comparing zero star and five star cars
Why did the Fiat Panda score so badly?
The Panda is the victim of tougher standards introduced by Euro NCAP in 2018. It’s an old design, first introduced in 2012, and seems not to have kept pace with safety.
Avery said it was particularly weak in crash avoidance technology. “As the bare minimum, a standard-fit Autonomous Emergency Braking system should be available with the Fiat Panda.
“This is especially important since the car offers so little protection in the event of a collision.”
The only safety technology fitted to the Panda is seatbelt reminders. “The rear system failed to meet requirements, so wasn’t even rated,” said Avery.
Jeep Wrangler gets one Euro NCAP star
The Fiat Panda wasn’t the only poor performer from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The all-new Jeep Wrangler also scored badly, earning a paltry one star.
It has a seatbelt reminder and a rudimentary speed limiter but otherwise, lacks a single piece of driver-assistance technology. “The Wrangler clears the one-star threshold but lags far behind its competitors,” said Euro NCAP secretary general Michiel van Ratingen.
Luckily, every other car tested in this latest round of assessments did much better. The Audi Q3, BMW X5, Hyundai Santa Fe, Jaguar I-Pace, Peugeot 508 and Volvo S60 and V60 line all scored five stars – proving it is still possible to do well in Euro NCAP.
“The Audi Q3, Jaguar I-Pace, Peugeot 508 and Volvo V60/S60 have set the standard against which other are judged this time, and other manufacturers could do well to follow their example,” said van Ratingen.
“The I-Pace, especially, demonstrates that future vehicles will be good for the environment but also provide high levels of safety.”
The Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign concept that wowed visitors to the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed is going into production, the Japanese company has confirmed.
The new 
Toyota has revealed prices and specs for the new RAV4, and opened ordering at UK dealers for those keen to get one of the first new cars when deliveries begin in April 2019.
The 2018 Fiat Panda has failed to score a single star in the latest round of Euro NCAP crash testing, making it one of the 
