Driving back to the future
The last major European motor show of the year revealed there are a lot of great new cars on the way. NAT BARNES reveals his highlights
Dacia Duster On sale: July 2018 Price: Est from £10,000
RENAULT’S budget brand Dacia looks set to undergo a transformation over the next few years and this new Duster is the first step in that direction.
With more than a million Dusters having left showrooms since 2010, this is Dacia’s best-selling model worldwide – and that doesn’t look likely to change.
While the Duster is still immediately recognisable, the cheap and cheerful look has been replaced with a more upmarket and refined feel (although it is still behind mainstream rivals) and curvier styling.
Despite this, prices will remain as affordable as before rather than creeping up. The only downside is the new Duster won’t arrive at showrooms until July.
Mini Electric Concept On sale: 2019 Price: Tba
DON’T be distracted by the concept title of this Mini Electric or the distant on-sale date – this is BMW’s future for the small car. With British buyers increasingly moving towards electric motoring, this Mini shows how that could look for the next generation of small car buyers.
Officially, this is just a design study at present but there is no doubt the next version of the Mini will feature an all-electric model like this, sharing much of its technology and underpinnings with the next BMW i3.
With the arrival of the Countryman plug-in hybrid earlier this year, Mini is slowly moving towards electric power.
Honda CRV Hybrid Prototype On sale: August 2018 Price: Est from £25,000
WHILE Honda undoubtedly took the honours for the cutest car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the form of its Urban EV Concept supermini, due for production in 2019, it’s this CRV Hybrid that will be here sooner. And it points towards the Japanese firm’s future intentions.
With two-thirds of Honda’s European sales predicted to be electric or hybrid by 2025, this heavily revised CRV will come in two versions next year – a petrol-electric hybrid or a 1.5-litre turbo, with no diesel option.
There’s rumours of a future sevenseater version and the styling is a lot less bland than before too.