Cash is no longer king when it comes to buying a new car: within 10 years, predicts automotive marketplace Auto Trader, every new car sold in Britain will be bought using some form of finance.

Already, many brands say around three in four new cars sold to retail buyers are bought on PCP finance schemes. This trend is set to continue, says Auto Trader, as new types of finance roll out.

• The best 0 percent car finance deals right now
• A fifth of millenials spend as much on car finance as rent

Key to the end of traditional car ownership will be the growth of subscription models. These will further broaden the choice of finance and leasing options available and make the idea of paying many thousands of pounds upfront for a new car seem quaint and old-fashioned.

“The age of traditional ownership is coming to an end,” said Auto Trader CFO and COO, Nathan Coe.

“As consumers increasingly source their cars in the same way they do their music or movies, the route from business to motorist will need to evolve alongside it.”

There are many new schemes emerging that offer the flexibility of services such as Uber with the independence of regular use of a car. Examples include Drover, Audi On Demand and new VWDS Rent-a-Car. 

Finance ‘ownership’

Cash has already been happily substituted by finance for most people. Of the 13,500 people interviewed for the bi-annual Market Report, 98 percent who purchase on finance claim they own the car – even though, in reality, they do not.

“Motorists seek the comfort and certainty of exclusive access, or usership, and find it hard to distinguish this from true ownership.”

One thing’s for sure though – people don’t want to share their cars with others. Eighty percent overall (and 86 percent of ‘future car owners’ aged 16-21) demand exclusive access to a car. More than half are simply unwilling to share with others.

Which itself is good news for car dealers, added Coe. “Contrary to speculation, these new access models don’t signal the death knell for the industry.

“Instead they will fuel the market by making driving more accessible to a wider demographic, offering manufacturers a new way to get consumers behind the wheel, and will complement rather than cannibalise existing retail models.”

If you’ve read the reviews of the all-new Suzuki Jimny, you’ll no doubt be itching to find out how much it will cost. Well – exclusive alert – we can reveal that a brand new Jimny could cost… wait for it… 85p.

Best of the Best (or BOTB), the company famous for selling raffle tickets for some of the world’s most exclusive cars, is adding the Suzuki Jimny to its roster of exotica. Proof, if further proof were needed, that the Jimny is one of the hottest new cars money can buy.

#InTheHeadlights this week we feature four Unusual Suspects Cars!

✅ Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody
✅ Hymer Grand Canyon Crossover Maxi
✅ Ford MS-RT Transit Custom LWB DCiV DCT
✅ Suzuki Jimny GLX Auto

👉https://t.co/s79MkIBU5I pic.twitter.com/J1VXBPdZxJ

— BOTB (@BOTB_Dreamcars) September 24, 2018

Interestingly, BOTB is advertising the Suzuki Jimny with a retail price of £18,000, suggesting it knows something we don’t, or it has taken a stab at guessing the price of a top-spec model with automatic transmission.

Wait, it has the automatic gearbox? We haven’t driven it, but we wouldn’t expect a Jimny auto to offer the most rewarding driving experience. We also reckon you’d want the flexibility of the five-speed manual if you fancy venturing off-road.

The team at BOTB aren’t fans of the previous-generation Jimny, describing its styling as “pretty rubbish”, but the company says the new car wins kudos for its “passing resemblance to the G-Class”.

Basically, BOTB is trying to stay down with its target audience by dissing the unfashionable Jimny, innit. Or summat.

New Jimny or £14,000 cash?

However, when BOTB says the new Jimny “will embarrass probably 80 percent of the AWD off-roaders on sale”, it makes a valid point.

We’ve got no idea when you’ll get your hands on the 85p Suzuki Jimny – or even if you’ll be fortunate enough to win – but a £14,000 cash alternative is available if you decide to bail on your fun-size 4×4 aspirations.

Sadly, our hopes of buying all of the tickets have been dashed by the limit of 150 tickets per customer. Dammit.

Read more:

• New Suzuki Jimny rapped by Euro NCAP for ‘disappointing’ 3-star rating
• All-new 2019 Suzuki Jimny: what you need to know
• Miniature hero: a brief history of the Suzuki Jimny

Jaguar has confirmed the I-Pace electric SUV is the first model from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to offer factory-fit Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone functionality.

The long-awaited-inclusion of the technology, which allows users to safely use their smartphones while driving, comes after a long certification process.

Most volume and premium car brands have long offered Android Auto and Apple CarPlay within their cars’ infotainment systems. Jaguar Land Rover has lagged its rivals, but is now shipping the I-Pace with the technology, which is built into the Touch Pro Duo infotainment.

Other Jaguars and Land Rovers will be equipped with Apple and Android connectivity in due course, said a spokesperson.

The lengthy certification process meant Jaguar wasn’t able to demonstrate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto during the car’s original media launch. This has caused some confusion amongst customers, who struggled to clarify whether it would be featured or not.

Jaguar’s confirmation clears the matter up – and Jaguar is expected to showcase the new functionality in coming weeks.

The existing JLR InControl Apps smartphone system will continue to be offered alongside the new system, adds the firm. This includes inbuilt Spotify integration, plus a colourful alternative way to stream audio and podcasts from devices.

• Apple CarPlay now works with Waze and Google Maps in iOS 12 update
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Part of the Jaguar I-Pace Smartphone Pack, it also includes interactivity with Tile RFID tags, helping owners find misplaced keys or bags.

From being a smartphone connectivity laggard, JLR will soon offer one of the most comprehensive array of options on the market…

Is your Bugatti or McLaren key not showy enough? Need a super key to match your supercar? A company called Senturion has the answer, with what it calls the “world’s first ultra-luxury wristwear piece”.

The Senturion S177 is both car key and jewellery, with bronze-coloured accenting (brushed titanium, don’t you know?). It’s fully customisable to suit your car, and production is limited to 177 pieces. Prices start from £15,580.

How does it work as a key?

Senturion integrates the car’s existing encrypted security system into the S177. This enables the bracelet to take the place of a conventional key, unlocking your car as you approach. You might want to carry the key with you for good measure, however, just in case the battery is dead and you need to unlock your car manually.

There are cogs hidden behind a sapphire window that you can watch turning as you unlock your Lamborghini from afar. How relevant they are to the act of actually unlocking the car remains to be seen.

Senturion is allegedly a world leader in compact micro-circuitry, claiming ‘several world records’ in the area. The S177 has more than 1,000 components, with circuit boards ‘completed to the precision standards of astronaut equipment’.

Clever tech or tasteless tat? We’re erring towards the latter…

Read more:

• Porsche confirms it has ditched diesel for good
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• Petrol and diesel ban is needed by 2030 to meet global warming targets

Porsche dropped diesel engines from its model range in February 2018. Now, it has confirmed it won’t be bringing diesel back in the future. 

The Porsche diesel is dead. 

“Porsche is not demonising diesel,” insisted Porsche AG CEO Oliver Blume. “It is, and will remain, an important propulsion technology.

“We as a sports car manufacturer, however, for whom diesel has always played a secondary role, have come to the conclusion that we would like our future to be diesel-free.”

But don’t panic, those who currently drive a diesel-engined Porsche, he added. “Naturally, we will continue to look after our existing diesel customers with the professionalism they expect.” You won’t be ostracized by the firm any time soon.

The diesel crisis caused us a lot of trouble… Porsche’s image has suffered

Porsche’s relationship with diesel has been short and, recently, tumultuous. It first offered diesel-engined Cayenne SUVs a decade ago, following them up with the Panamera diesel and Macan diesel. 

But it has been affected by the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal, and Blume later admitted “the diesel crisis caused us a lot of trouble… Porsche’s image has suffered”. 

That’s despite Porsche not actually developing the engines: it bought them in from Audi – inheriting the subsequent emissions software-cheating issues as they came to light. 

• 2018 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid review: demolishing the case for diesel
• Mercedes-Benz awarded Porsche prize for its diesel engine
• Porsche Cayenne S Diesel road test review

Sales have also plunged. In 2017, diesel sales took just 12 percent of Porsche worldwide sales. In contrast, 63 percent of Panamera sold in Europe are petrol-electric hybrid models. The firm has ditched diesel in favour of hybrid Panamera and Cayenne, and is now doubling down on electric drive.

The firm predicts 1 in 2 new Porsches will be either hybrid or pure electric, and its first all-electric car, the Taycan, goes on sale in 2019.

Porsche will now focus on “what we can do particularly well”. And that does not include diesel.

Just as an Amazon Fire Stick makes your TV smart, so the new Amazon Echo Auto makes your car smart. Never mind Android Auto, Apple Carplay, connected car systems and enormous infotainment screens – all Echo Auto needs to make your car intelligent is a USB socket (or 12V power) and an auxiliary cable.

How does Echo Auto work?

Effectively, Echo Auto offers 50,000 Alexa ‘skills’ you can activate using your voice from behind the wheel. That means apps like Spotify and Audible are controllable via Amazon’s well-resolved voice recognition system.

The little box rests on your dashboard and connects to your phone, using the Alexa app and your phone data plan to work. You power up with a USB or a 12-volt socket, and plug into the car’s speakers with either an auxiliary cord or Bluetooth.

Th box contains eight microphones designed for in-car acoustics. That means you can ask Alexa for traffic updates or call someone over the sound of air conditioning, road noise, your music, and so on. It can connect to your home Amazon systems, too. You can program it to turn your outside lights on when you pull into your driveway at night, for example.

Given how poor some manufacturers own voice recognition systems are, we expect big things – especially given how much Amazon has put into the technology

Anything that lets us control facilities in-car, without taking attention off the road, gets our vote. It sounds better than scrolling through endless menus on a dashboard touchscreen, that’s for sure.

Read more:

• Opinion: I challenge anyone to drive an EV and not enjoy it
• British car dependency hits ‘alarming’ all-time high
• Renault offers £5k to scrap your dirty old car for a clean new electric Zoe

Ford hopes the new Focus will reassert its status as Britain’s best-selling family hatchback – but, in a sign of the times, bosses are predicting fewer than 30 percent of registrations will be of diesel versions.

Almost two in three sales will, instead, be of the award-winning 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, Ford’s downsized motor that’s overcome Brits’ traditional love of larger engines.

Ford still offers a diesel engine that’s twice as large – but the 2.0-litre EcoBlue is predicted to take just 1 percent of new Ford Focus sales.

The shift away from diesel has accelerated in recent years. With the previous Focus, diesel had declined, but was still taking over 40 percent of overall sales. The new car very much places the emphasis on petrol.

“There has been a shift,” said Ford of Britain sales director Kevin Griffin. “But diesel is still an important engine – it’s ideal for high-mileage drivers, and our research shows that many plan to stick with it.

“For fleets in particular, where overall cost of ownership is crucial, diesel is still the right product. It remains an important engine.”

Motoring Research recently gave the new Ford Focus 1.5 EcoBlue 120 diesel an extended test. In daily driving, we regularly saw fuel economy upwards of 55mpg recorded on the trip computer.

On one gentle 100-mile motorway run, we saw a high of 82.8mpg displayed – proof that even modern diesels can still record ultra-high economy figures if driven in the right way.

British motorists are now more dependent on the car than ever – despite growing concerns about air pollution, rising costs and congestion. Three in four people now say they would find it hard to adjust to a car-free lifestyle.

The findings are revealed in the 2018 RAC Report on Motoring, which shows the decline in car dependency in recent years has dramatically reversed this year. There has been a significant 12 percent shift from less to more car use: that represents 4.8 million drivers.

“It is alarming to see that dependency on the car is actually the highest we have ever seen,” said RAC chief engineer David Bizley.

• Opinion: the anti-diesel agenda is making air quality worse

People are driving more not through choice either, but through necessity. 34 percent blame a greater need to transport family members for their increased car usage, and almost as many say it’s because of a longer commute to work.

‘No viable alternative’

Almost 1 in 4 say they’re driving more because public transport has deteriorated: 44 percent of them say reliability has declined, 39 percent blame higher fares and 33 percent are driving more because of cuts in local services.

Other sources back this up, adds the RAC – official government data reveals Brits are taking fewer bus journeys than a decade ago, and the Campaign for Better Transport reveals a 45 percent cut in bus services over the past eight years.

59 percent of motorists add that they’d use their car less if public transport was better. Only 11 percent said they would not.

“Our research clearly shows many people don’t think public transport offers a viable alternative to the car,” said Bizley. Those in rural areas are particularly dependent on the car – 84 percent would struggle with a car-free lifestyle.

“People end up driving by default as they feel public transport is either too expensive, non-existent or just doesn’t go where or when they need it to.

“Judging by the findings of this year’s RAC Report on Motoring, the car, however it is powered, is here to stay.”