Car companies at a tech show? You better believe it. With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicking off in Las Vegas this week, more car firms than ever are showing off the latest in autonomous driving tech and eco powertrains.

One such manufacturer is Byton. You’ve probably never heard of Byton, but it’s a Chinese start-up with big ambitions to take on Tesla with its electric vehicles of the future.

Its first car, known only as ‘the Concept’ (Byton takes its name from Bytes on Wheels, if you were wondering), looks to us like a Chinese take on the Range Rover Velar (with a bit of DS thrown in). But it’s inside where the Byton really stands out from the crowd.

There’s a huge 48-inch wide display along the dash, while Amazon Alexa provides hands-free voice control. The display, which is intended to be used by passengers as well as the driver, automatically adjusts its brightness to reduce glare during night-time driving. The steering wheel houses a tablet computer, while passengers in the rear also get their own screens.

The entry-level rear-wheel-drive Byton is powered by a 71kWh battery producing 200kW (268hp) and a range of 250 miles. There’s also a more powerful 4×4 version using a 95kWh battery powering two motors providing 350kW (469hp) and a range of 325 miles.

At launch, the SUV will feature Level 3 autonomy with plans to upgrade to Level 4 using a software update in 2020.

The production model will go on sale in 2019, says Byton, while a saloon and MPV will follow using the same platform.

Prices are yet to be confirmed, but $45,000 has been mooted in the US. That’s around £33,000, but expect it to be pricier if it ever makes it to the UK.

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Britain’s favourite new cars of 2017 have been revealed. The sales chart contains an intriguing mix of familiar favourites and newer upstarts, as the changing face of popular motoring in Britain is exposed.

We Brits still love our superminis and family hatchbacks, it seems, but the new car sales charts also reveal our increasing love of crossover SUVs and premium-badged cars – at the surprising expense of some former family favourites…

First, the bad news: overall new car sales fell in 2017, for the first time in six years. Overall, around 2.5 million new cars were sold, a decline of 5.7 percent. A lack of confidence from car buyers is behind it, caused by factors such as Brexit and the general election surprise.

There was also a significant fall in sales of new diesel cars. Buyers are shunning them because of exhaust emissions concerns and worries over possible future anti-diesel car penalties. As a result, petrol cars and, increasingly, electric cars and hybrids are picking up sales as a result.

So without further ado, here’s the countdown to Britain’s top cars in 2017, as revealed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). And coming in at number 10…

10. Mercedes-Benz A-Class: 43,717

It’s a Merc double in 2017’s British new car favourites charts. The A-Class will be replaced in 2018, but this didn’t dent its popularity in 2017. Thank both the allure of the brand and some extremely competitive finance and leasing deals for that…

9. Mercedes-Benz C-Class: 45,912

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? For many, there’s no need for divine intervention, because they’re able to get their own – and Britain’s favourite Mercedes-Benz of all last year was the executive-friendly C-Class.

Merc’s BMW 3 Series challenger is a familiar sight on UK roads, particularly amongst company car drivers. There’s a new 3 Series coming in 2018 which will take the fight back to it, though: can the C-Class maintain its place as one of the UK’s 10 favourite new cars?

8. MINI: 47,669

MINI is another regular entrant in the UK’s top 10 best-selling cars chart. Although sales volumes declined slightly overall, it still managed to outperform the market, not least thanks to a strong range of petrol engines such as the potent, economical turbo motor in the MINI Cooper.

7. Volkswagen Polo: 47,855

There’s a new Volkswagen Polo coming in early 2018. Normally, this should have seen sales of the old model decline, as buyers hold on for the replacement. Not so here, thanks to judicious use of some strong special offers to maintain sales of the outgoing car.

It will be interesting to see what happens in 2018, as the reportedly very able all-new Polo comes on stream.

6.  Vauxhall Astra: 49,370

Another Vauxhall surprise is the decline of the Astra. This able family hatchback is even built in Britain, yet still isn’t able to trade blows with its arch-rivals, the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.

Again, says Vauxhall, it’s all part of a plan to boost profitability. We hope they’re right, as losing its position as Britain’s second-favourite new car brand to Volkswagen is certainly not what we were expecting from this popular volume car brand this time last year…

5. Vauxhall Corsa: 52,772

The decline of the ageing Vauxhall Corsa contrasts starkly with the fortunes of Ford’s fresh-faced Fiesta. Vauxhall insists it’s all part of a plan to chase profitable sales, not new car sales at any cost, but it will still be alarming for some to see the Corsa fall so far down the new car sales charts.

The core age of the car isn’t helping: the Fiesta is brand new, yet the Corsa dates back to the previous decade. A replacement is still some way off, too, so both Vauxhall and its dealer will have their work cut out to maintain even this level of interest in the Corsa through 2018.

4. Nissan Qashqai: 64,216

The Nissan Qashqai is built in Britain, is the model that started off the craze for crossover SUVs and, in 2017, was rewarded with a fourth place slot in the UK best-sellers charts.

The competition is growing ever-stronger, and Nissan facelifted the Qashqai last year to help it compete. Successfully so, too: it now seems the Sunderland-built Nissan is now a firm UK favourite.

3. Ford Focus: 69,903

The Ford Focus family hatchback faded a little in 2017, but that’s perhaps to be expected, given its age – an all-new Focus arrives this year. Even so, despite losing a space to the VW Golf, it remained a top-three best-seller in the UK (and Britain’s best-selling car of all back in July 2017).

Even the decline of diesel sales doesn’t seem to have harmed the Focus, thanks to Ford’s excellent Ecoboost 1.0-litre engine range that, on paper, is easily as competitive as the diesel alternatives. Many new Focus sold in Britain are to fleets: Ford’s strong range of engines means switching from diesel to petrol seems to hold little fear.

2. Volkswagen Golf: 74,605

The rise of the Volkswagen Golf in 2017 is one of the big stories of the year. In June 2017, it even became the top-selling new car in Britain overall, unseating the previously unshakeable Ford Fiesta. This was partly due to delivery bottlenecks for the all-new Ford, but it still shouldn’t detract from just how well the Golf performed in 2017.

Ending the year as Britain’s second-favourite new car is an exceptional result for the firm, and is momentum that it will be aiming to take forward into 2018. Volkswagen is now Britain’s second-favourite new car brand; the emissions scandal, it seems, is now long forgotten.

1. Ford Fiesta: 94,533

The Ford Fiesta has been Britain’s most popular new car for years, and this didn’t change in 2017 – but there was a wobble along the way. Delays in the UK roll-out of the extremely talented new model meant Ford dealers were left in limbo, and the Fiesta surprisingly fell down the sales chart while dealers waited.

Order was restored during the summer though, and the Fiesta’s back to regularly being Britain’s best-selling new car. The all-round strengths of the new car mean we don’t see this changing through 2018, either.

Aside from the overall sales decline, the big news of 2017 was the decline of diesel. New cars buyers are moving away from it in droves – a short-sighted move, says the SMMT, because diesel cars emit less CO2 than petrol models: it’s going to be harder to meet future climate change targets as a result.

UK new car sales 2017: in detail

Here we take a look at some of the other trends in the British new car market during 2017. And we naturally start with the ‘d’ word…

Diesel sales: DOWN

At the moment, new car buyers don’t care. The Volkswagen emissions scandal, threat of charges targeting diesel cars and even the government’s 2017 Budget tax hike aimed at diesel cars have all contributed to the lack of new car buyer confidence. Diesel isn’t dead yet, but it’s certainly declining…

Petrol sales: UP

Instead of diesel, buyers are switching back to petrol cars instead. The market may have fallen overall but sales of petrol cars were UP almost 3 percent. The roll-out of modern downsized turbo petrol engines is helping here, as claimed economy and CO2 emissions are much lower than before – sometimes not far shy of diesel cars themselves.

The longer-term worry is that real-world fuel economy and CO2 emissions won’t deliver the same eco-friendly figures as diesel cars, but at the moment, car buyers aren’t worried about this…

Alternative fuel sales: UP to almost 5 percent of overall sales

In 2017, the government announced that all new cars in 2040 will be either electric or electrified. Growing numbers of new car buyers are delivering on that target today, with sales of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) continuing to rise.

Plug-in hybrids are proving particularly popular, but full EV sales are also growing fast. Expect another big increase in 2018 with the launch of key models such as the new Nissan Leaf (pictured above). For some people, the future is already here…

Private sales: DOWN

Buying a new car is a big commitment. As the UK economy stumbles, so private car buyers are having second thoughts about signing up for a new car. Retail sales to individuals, as opposed to fleets, reflected this with a 15.9 percent decline.

Company car sales: DOWN

The fleet car market is also down in 2017, but not by as much as the private car sector. There’s a big ‘however’ here, though: changes in the autumn Budget severely penalised ALL diesel company cars, to the surprise and befuddlement of the industry. Company car sales have subsequently stumbled – and it remains to be seen what further repercussions there may be in 2018…

2017’s fastest-growing car brand: Aston Martin UP 62.3 percent

The new car brand with the biggest percentage sales increase in 2017 was James Bond’s favourite car maker, Aston Martin. The firm has been transformed in recent years, with gorgeous new models such as the DB11 super-GT making it a bona-fide British luxury alternative to Ferrari.

With more new models due in coming years, expect the sales momentum for the popular British sports car firm to continue.

2017’s fastest-fading car brand: Jeep DOWN 54.7 percent

In contrast, it’ll be glum faces at the UK importer for America’s most famous SUV maker, Jeep. And this is despite Brits’ insatiable appetite for all things SUV, too – how Jeep has stumbled so badly in 2017 is quite baffling.

The firm will be hoping new models such as the transformed Compass (pictured above), plus a new focus on its compact Renegade, can help turn things around in 2018. Because for this historic SUV brand to fail so badly in a new car market so favourable to SUVs really isn’t ideal…

Britain’s favourite car brand in 2017: Ford

For as long as anyone can remember, Brits have bought more new Ford cars than any other brand. Another former favourite, Vauxhall, may have declined in 2017, but there’s no budging Ford from the top spot.

More than 1 in every 10 new cars sold in 2017 was a Ford; add in vans, and Ford’s leadership expands further. We don’t predict any change for 2018, either: the launch of an all-new Fiesta last year and, in 2018, the introduction of an all-new Focus is likely to see its reign as Britain’s favourite new car brand continue.

Car insurance premiums have been rising almost non-stop for the past five years, with one price comparison website putting the increase at 35 percent – that’s almost a £200 rise in the cost of the average annual car insurance premium since 2012.

The average price paid back in winter 2012 was £559, reveals Comparethemarket.com. During the last three months of 2017, this had rocketed to £758 – and there may yet be more increases in store, warns the firm’s director, Stuart McCulloch.

A big factor behind increasing premiums is multiple rises in Insurance Premium Tax, or IPT. In March 2015, it stood at six percent; today, it’s doubled to 12 percent. The so-called ‘Ogden rate’, or Personal Injury Discount Rate, was also altered, resulting in higher costs for personal injury claims.

Immediately following the change in the Ogden rate back in March 2017, premiums rose by £20 in just one month – and by November 2017, the average car insurance premium was £50 dearer than it had been back in the spring.

The one silver lining is an expected further revision (or, following pressure from the car insurance industry, a ‘correction’) in the Ogden rate, which may ease car insurance premium inflation.

Regardless, said McCulloch, British motorists “still face ever increasing premiums”. December 2017’s average price still has to be calculated, but analysts at the firm warn it is likely to be even more expensive, possibly exceeding the £800 mark (others suggest we could see average premiums reach £1,000 in 2018).

McCulloch added the gap between the average and cheapest premiums is now at record levels, averaging £129. It shows the savings that could be made by switching car insurance providers. Admittedly, given his position, he perhaps would say that, but if you’re looking to make some new-year savings, this could still be worth investigating…

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Some predicted the dieselgate emissions crisis would be the undoing of Volkswagen. Instead, it’s proving to be the making of it: in 2017 alone, it produced a staggering six million vehicles, setting an all-time new record for the Wolfsburg-based firm.

The world’s favourite Volkswagen-badged cars in 2017 include the Jetta, Golf, Santana, Passat and Polo; these and other cars are built in 50 factories across the globe, in 14 different countries. Last year’s six million vehicles mean total Volkswagen production now exceeds 150 million vehicles since the first Beetle was built 72 years ago.

And on top of this are additional sales from the myriad Volkswagen Group brands such as Audi, Skoda and Seat.

But despite this success, it’s not going to get complacent again, promise Volkswagen bosses. As part of the Transform 2025+ strategy, there are plans to up electric car sales to one million vehicles by 2025 – the first electric Volkswagens will arrive in 2020, and include the I.D., I.D. Cross and I.D. Buzz.

The focus isn’t fully on dieselgate-offsetting EVs, either. Today’s car buyers are clamouring for SUVs and Volkswagen will offer no fewer than 19 of them by 2020, upping the SUV share of its overall product line to 40 percent.

Volkswagen sales are proving particularly strong in the UK, where some months saw the Golf become the UK’s best-selling car, despite high-profile incidents such as Greenpeace boarding a container ship carrying brand-new VWs. (The campaign wasn’t a complete success, it turned out…)

As the 2017 production figures prove, for Volkswagen customers, it seems it’s a case of ‘what emissions scandal?’…

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The 2017 launch of the Renault Koleos large five-seat SUV effectively marked the return of the range-topping Renault. Now, for 2018, the firm’s completing the luxury-line emphasis with the roll-out of a decadent range pinnacle called Initiale Paris. Ordering is open now from £36,700.

The main focus of Kia’s UK SUV range is the top-selling Sportage mid-size and, increasingly, the Stonic small crossover. But the firm does sell a third SUV, the range-topping Sorento large SUV seven-seater. And, to give it a boost for 2018, it’s bringing in a sporty-look new GT-Line Series.

Offered in GT-Line and GT-Line S guise, the fancy new Sorentos have 19-inch alloys and red brake calipers, Kia’s distinctive ‘ice cube’ foglights, twin exhausts and either GT-Line projection headlights or, on the S, full LED lamps.

Both cars also have black leather seats with contrast grey stitching, perforated leather steering wheel and a GT-Line leather gearshifter for the eight-speed auto. Yes – an eight-speed auto, which keen Sorento watchers will know is two more gears than before.

This new eight-speed gearbox improves average fuel economy of the 2.2-litre CRDi turbodiesel to 43.5mpg combined, with a subsequent (small) cut in CO2 from 174g/km to 170g/km. Unlike many who offer eight-speed automatics, this isn’t ZF-sourced technology, but is an in-house Kia-Hyundai design.

You even get standard paddleshifters on the new GT-Line models.

If you don’t mind a bit of physical input, the six-speed manual alternative averages up to 49.6mpg and emits as low as 149g/km CO2; all Sorentos use the same 197bhp CRDi motor.

Changes elsewhere are more limited, with KX-1, KX-2 and KX-3 models continuing with the same equipment lines, including standard all-wheel drive. Kia has, however, added standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to all models, to the undoubted delight of smartphone users.   

2018 Kia Sorento prices

2.2 CRDi KX-1: £28,995

2.2 CRDi KX-2: £32,695

2.2 CRDi KX-2 auto: £34,695

2.2 CRDi KX-3: £36,695

2.2 CRDi KX-3 auto: £38,695

2.2 CRDi GT-Line auto: £36,495

2.2 CRDi GT-Line S auto: £41,995

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