Main road temporarily closes due to wildfire smoke
The eastbound carriageway of the A30 was closed between the A382 junction at Whiddon Down to Woodleigh Junction at Cheriton Bishop, traffic website Inrix reported.
Authorities reported thick smoke from the blaze was drifting across the road, creating hazardous driving conditions.
National Highways said on X both carriageways had since been reopened and thanked drivers for their patience.
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How BYD became the new Tesla
Are we presently living in one of those interim periods whereby the UK's best selling passenger vehicle isn't a 4.4-4.8 m long car? Think about it: the Cortina, Sierra, Cavalier and Mondeo were long, long ago yet a new generation of Brits has been mad for the Qashqai, HS, Sportage, Model 3, and Model Y. Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today! Great Rates and Award-Winning Service The Insurance Savings You Expect Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You Earlier this year private buyers and and fleet managers pulled back from what had been EV near-mania. Now that looks set to start all over again once the government's latest scheme to hand out tax-payers' money in subsidies kicks in. BYD could well be sitting pretty, with this company already the UK's fastest expanding brand of 2025. One of the biggest advantages that Build Your Dreams has is the sheer size of its vehicle portfolio. And it's not as if the name is unknown, Londoners having been travelling in the company electric buses for many years. As big as today's Toyota Motor Corporation one day? I briefly tried a Seal, as in the electric saloon, a few months back and came away impressed. Other OEMs should be scared of this company. I will admit that some years ago, it seemed that this might be the next Daewoo Motor but now my own thinking is that a future rival for the mighty TMC is in the making. Laugh at the model names? Well yes. Seal, Seal U, Dolphin Surf are what we have now in the UK but easily the best selling Kia is called Sportage. And that was a name which people once either thought silly or had never heard of. BYD isn't just on the rise rapidly here in Britain. It's becoming ever bigger all over Europe and in fact, with the exception of the USA, India and Japan, worldwide. Mexico is the first market in North America with 13 models offered there. Doubling sales from last year's 40,000 is the target for 2025. And in Australia, surely the most saturated market in the world aside from China, BYD rose to fifth position in June. Even the Japanese like Chinese cars Even the Japanese are keen on the cars, registrations rising by 58 per cent in H1 (albeit to just 1,709 units and a mere point one of a per cent market share). It will be fascinating to see how buyers - not to mention Daihatsu's parent TMC as well as Honda and Suzuki - react when an electric keijidōsha model being developed specifically for Japan launches there. Images of disguised prototypes hit the web two months ago. Exports of this micro-vehicle are due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026 though which of BYD's Chinese factories will manufacture it is yet to be stated. Uzbekistan, Thailand, Hungary, Turkey and now Brazil too, where build of the Dolphin production started on 1 July at what was previously Ford's plant in Camaçari - the list of locations for new factories is growing almost as rapidly as BYD sales the world over. Production of EVs at a soon to open site in the EU (Szeged) will be dialled back to modest levels it now transpires, the Chinese OEM instead fast-tracking build at the new site in Turkey. Why? Lower costs with the same tariff-free access as for the Hungarian plant. Expansion might be rapid - new factories are springing up in multiple other countries - but BYD seems not to be letting costs get out of control in the quest for growth. An almost 600% sales rise in the UK Back to the UK, and the brand seems to have a strong understanding of how to get EV doubters into its cars: a new deal with Octopus Energy bundling a leased car, a V2G charger and smart EV tariff is just one example of what the brand is offering. Aside from tempting incentives, what else explains how any car company can see its sales rocket by 567 per cent (YoY) in the first half of a calendar year? The vehicles themselves of course. The best selling model is the Seal U DM-i. Unlike the Seal, this is an SUV and it's also a plug-in hybrid (DM means Dual Mode) rather than an EV, something which every other BYD model imported to the UK is. Some 8,700 examples of this 4,775 mm long 4x2/4x4 were delivered in the most recent quarter alone and when you realise what's on offer for the money, all this recent success becomes understandable. Overall excellence with some minor faults First impressions being oh so important, the Seal U looks immediately fresh (despite having debuted in China two years ago this month). It may have some quirks, but these did in fact endear me to the car and anyway, they're only minor things. Such as a typo on the infotainment screen (which nagged me all week for a software-updating reboot - not risking it thanks, as at the car would be rendered static for as long as that would take). Among the many language options there isn't one for British English, US spellings being the default. Still, my Aussie accent was understood and that's not always the case with some Navi systems, even in 2025. Also, and I am not mocking, just observing: among the 4WD settings the display lists 'Sandy Land' as well as 'Muddy Land' and 'Snowfield'. You may also choose from either Eco, Normal or Sport. BYD will get the small stuff nailed; of that I have no doubt. And the quirkiness is endearing anyway, just like, say, the digital gauges immediately ahead of the driver in every Lexus and Toyota being called (a) 'Meter' [sic]. Two battery sizes, two engines, one or two motors Not all variants have four-wheel drive, the least expensive ones being equipped with just the one motor, its torque delivered solely to the front axle. Whichever specification the buyer chooses, the transmission has a single speed. Power is either 160 kW (218 PS) or a combined 238 kW (324 PS) from 150 kW front and 120 kW rear motors. BYD specifies two versions of a 1.5 engine for the Seal U, depending on how many motors feature. For FWD 'Boost' and 'Comfort' trims, it's a non-turbo while forced induction is reserved for the two-motor and AWD 'Design'. There are two battery specifications, these being 18.3 or 26.6 kWh with the second one only available in the FWD comfort specification. The powerful all-wheel drive model lent to me was softly sprung and particularly quiet, the engine kicking in seemingly rarely. Which explains why the range of the base Boost can be as many as 700 miles. Low-drag shape a bit generic? To look at I have to say the Seal U isn't anything special but since when did that stop vast numbers of people buying a rival SUV from, say MG? Others, such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Skoda Kodiaq offer a more distinct appearance though the BYD is far from offensive. The strong waist line is fairly high and contributes to what is a small glasshouse, the back window especially being quite shallow. On the inside, the impression of high quality which tends to mark out many Chinese brand models (but not always made-in-China one from American or European OEMs) is present here. Double stitching on the seats is mirrored by the same thing on the dashboard and in the test car it was millimetre-perfect in alignment with the glovebox opening. Impressive. A (big) screen that swivels The screen can be switched from landscape to portrait via a press on one corner of it but if you are using CarPlay it automatically revolves back to landscape-only. Most functions are easily located and there are lots of real buttons on the steering wheel. Also, the A/C worked beautifully during warm and humid weather, even if leather-look upholstery is obviously not ideal. And BYD needs to specify a proper blind for the glass roof: what it gives you is too thin. Aside from the Seal U DM-i, every BYD model for the UK market is electric and there is a lot of choice. The line-up starts with the Dolphin Surf, which may not have the looks of the Renault 5 but it is significantly cheaper. Above this sits the Dolphin, another five-door hatchback. Then come the Atto 2 and Atto 3, with the Seal, a svelte D segment car (think Model 3) positioned just below the Sealion 7 (Model Y). Britain the number one market in Europe Just from seeing how many models are already available in the UK, a major EV market, even though our overall volume isn't that big in world terms, demonstrates how serious BYD is about Europe. And while today Germany is a minor market (only 6,323 cars sold in H1), registrations there were up by 426 per cent in the half year to 30 June. As we know, Ford of Britain lost its long-time leadership in passenger vehicles to VW. Kia and BMW remain major challengers, as are Toyota, Nissan, Skoda, Peugeot, Mercedes, Vauxhall and MG, with China's now number one brand rising rapidly. Six-figure sales in the UK by decade-end? Nobody should underestimate how determined BYD is about the European region and Britain specifically. Pricing here for cars has always been high in world terms and that makes us a major target for profit-hungry OEMs. I would expect BYD to be selling far in excess of the 19,390 vehicles it retailed in H1 in subsequent half years."How BYD became the new Tesla" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
WATCH: Soft-top supercars tested: Aston Martin Vantage vs Ferrari Roma vs McLaren Artura
Effortlessly combining game-on driving dynamics, drop-top glamour and power outputs north of 600bhp, this open-air trio could just be right here and now, on these roads and in this weather the best cars in the world. However, this is an Autocar group test, so there has to be a winner. But which one? Well, we'll get to that, but first let's take a look at the contenders, starting with the car that inspired this gathering of upper-class alfresco entertainers: the new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, the latest offering from the resurgent and newly confident British brand. Acting as an elegant counterpoint to the brutish Aston is the Ferrari Roma Spider. Its classically proportioned GT lines mean the curvaceous Italian is less attention-grabbing than its British rivals, but it's far from unattractive. For jaw-dropping kerb appeal, both the Ferrari and Aston have to give best to the bright orange McLaren Artura Spider, which has a magnetic attraction to smartphone-wielding supercar spotters. Acting as the outlier in this contest, the carbonfibretubbed Woking wonder goes about its business of delivering fast fresh-air thrills in a very different way. Find out our verdict by clicking the video above. ]]>
Yahoo
11 hours ago
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Rain in F1 Belgian GP could wreck Pirelli's strategy experiment
A strategic experiment Pirelli has been preparing for since early May could be imperiled by the weather at this week's Belgian Grand Prix. The recent heatwave across north-west Europe has given way to a cyclonic low-pressure system pulling in rain from the Atlantic. Heavy, thundery showers are expected to deposit up to 50mm of rain in the UK, northern France and Belgium over the next four days. When the opening rounds of the Formula 1 season unfolded along relatively processional lines, and the majority of teams defaulted to one-stop strategies, F1's tyre supplier opted to 'think outside the box' for a way to introduce an element of jeopardy into the decision-making process. Since the 'family' of tyre compounds is homologated at the beginning of the season and cannot be changed, it is a question of using the available compounds differently. So Pirelli elected to specify the C1 rather than the C2 as the hard-compound tyre for Belgium. The medium and soft remain the C3 and C4, as they were last year. 'They [teams] always find a way to apply a strategy on one stop,' Pirelli motorsport manager Mario Isola said at the time. Sauber tyre 'It's not that we're trying to push them to have a two-stop strategy because it's better, it's more action, more unpredictability and better races – but with the three compounds that are so close they always try to use the hard and the medium to move to a one-stop.' The theory is that by increasing difference between the hard and the medium compounds, a one-stop strategy is likely to come with a lap-time penalty attached. Teams typically aim to stop just once because it preserves track position and minimises the likelihood of 'finger trouble' in pitstops. In an ideal world, adjacent compounds would always offer clear-cut characteristics in terms of durability and grip, but track layouts and surfaces differ greatly and variable weather can also affect performance. Also, last year Pirelli was given a 'target letter' identifying key requirements for this year's tyres. Among the stipulations was that they should be less sensitive to thermal degradation so that drivers could push them harder, for longer. Pirelli has delivered on this, but that success has come freighted with unintended consequences – chiefly a shift to de facto one-stop races. Convergence in car performance has made overtaking harder to achieve, and processional races have ensued. By introducing this compound 'step' on a sprint weekend, Pirelli hoped to add further complications around tyre choice. But while Spa's challenging, high-speed layout suited a plan to evaluate a step in the harder compounds, the Ardennes weather has always been fickle. If rain disrupts proceedings, as it did during the Miami weekend, an interesting race may eventuate anyway – but Pirelli will have to try again elsewhere. This is a more challenging process than casual observers may believe since it isn't a case of randomly substituting one compound for another. If there is too big a difference between compounds then the outcome is the same as if the gap is too small – teams will coalesce around similar strategies. Belgium was viewed as the ideal location for the experiment, but if it can't happen here, the options are running out. Read Also: 1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war To read more articles visit our website.
