Latest news with #hatchbacks
Auto Car
18 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
You can get Ford's best ever car for £1000 – here's why you need a Focus
Landmark hatchbacks – there have been a few - the most obvious, of course, being the Volkswagen Golf. It not only saved its maker from post-Beetle oblivion but emphatically confirmed the template for the breed after the 1964, Fiat-designed Autobianchi Primula and the 1967 Simca 1100 did the pioneering. But after the Mk1 Golf, what came next were emulators offering much the same recipe, if sometimes with added spice. The SX version of the Talbot Horizon came with a trip computer, an advance winning it the Car of the Year trophy and its buyers regular packets of wildly inaccurate data. The Renault 14 bodyshell's slightly banana-like curve inexplicably won it a place in New York's Museum of Modern Art, while the magnificent, robot-flaunting TV ad for the Fiat Strada was the best thing about this lazy 128 re-skin. There were many more, but what all had in common was that none was as convincing as the Golf. The most serious challengers were the 1978 Opel Kadett, a crisp design of revvy engines and nail-breaking switchgear later available as the Vauxhall Astra, and Ford's 1980 Escort, this the first front-drive version. A brilliantly product-planned, pretty car that was immensely more advanced than its history-lesson predecessor, this Escort was a massive hit and should have propelled Ford towards ever-greater heights despite a couple of ear- and bum-battering dynamic flaws. But subsequent iterations succumbed to the Blue Oval's cost-cutting ways, each more mediocre than the last, the barrel bottom crashingly struck with the Mk 4 Escort. This car was so short of interest that one of its launch presenters resorted to caressing the admittedly appealing hillocks of steel covering its tailgate hinges to highlight a rare item of sexy design. It was far too inconsequential to prevent this publication from delivering this car the slating it deserved. Suitably stung, Ford performed a major rework. The result was half-decent, this last Escort identifiable by a surfeit of oval motifs that the design department had become obsessed with. Ford was back to its just-good-enough ways, few thinking that it was about to perform a spectacular reset on the small family hatch, not just for Ford but the entire car industry. The first clues came with the extraordinary scoop images sneaked out of customer clinics. High-mounted, cornet-shaped tail-lights completely capped the rear pillars. Wide-spaced wheels occupied flamboyantly blistered wheel arches. Lozenge headlights flanked the slender mouth of an oval-jewelled grille. All these arresting features housed within a shapely six side-window body. Only Fiat's Bravo and Brava hatchbacks came close for outlandish originality, and the Ford Focus had both beaten. Ford called it New Edge design. Most called it startling.
Auto Car
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Small hatchbacks are STILL the most popular used cars
Nine of the 10 best-selling used cars in the UK are still traditional hatchbacks and superminis, in stark contrast to the popularity of SUVs among buyers of new cars. The greater sales potential and profitability of crossovers and SUVs – together with the arrival of margin-slashing safety and emissions regulations – have threatened the commercial viability of superminis and small family hatchbacks in recent years. As a result, many such models have been withdrawn from sale as their manufacturers focus instead on larger, higher-riding models. This trend is reflected in the evolution of the top 10 new cars sales chart. In 2015, just two crossovers featured – the Vauxhall Mokka and Nissan Qashqai – and the chart was comfortably topped by the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus. Ten years later, the Qashqai is one of eight SUVs in the UK's top 10 list of best-selling new cars, with the Ford Puma and Kia Sportage the two most popular models of 2025 so far. The fourth-placed Vauxhall Corsa and the Volkswagen Golf, at number six, are the only non-SUVs to feature in the top 10. However, almost the opposite is true of today's second-hand market, where hatchbacks dominate and the Qashqai is the only SUV to feature in the top 10 best-sellers for the first half of the year. Superminis remain the best-selling used car by body type and the Ford Fiesta was the country's best-selling used car in the first six months of 2025. Despite Ford withdrawing the Fiesta from sale in 2023, almost 1.4 million Fiestas were still registered in the UK at the end of last year, which means it remains the most common car on the nation's roads. These latest figures suggest there is still strong demand for the sort of small combustion cars that are being forced out of production for legislative and economic reasons – a view that is reinforced by their relatively strong residual values.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Kia commits to hatchbacks with wave of Golf rivals
Kia is committed to launching more hatchbacks and saloons, rather than going all in on SUVs, as it prepares the European launch of ICE-powered and electric hatchbacks to rival the Volkswagen Golf and ID 3. Speaking exclusively to Autocar, Kia executive vice-president Ted Lee said there was still 'big volume' for hatchback models in Europe in particular, and he confirmed the firm would continue to offer them and indeed launch all-new family hatchback models. The first of these new hatchbacks, the EV4, will be the first electric Kia to be built in Europe when it's launched in the UK in October. The hatchback will be built at Kia's plant in Slovakia, but it will also be offered as a saloon imported into Europe from South Korea. The EV4 will be joined by the new K4, which was unveiled in hatchback form at the recent New York motor show and will eventually replace the outgoing Ceed in Europe. The EV4 takes the place of the Ceed in the Slovakian factory, so the K4 will be imported to Europe from Kia's plant in Mexico in both hatch and saloon forms. An estate version of the K4 has also been spotted undergoing testing, making what would be a three-strong model range for the K4 ahead of an expected launch later this year. More broadly, Lee believes that Kia currently has a 'strong position in Europe'. He added: 'Especially in the UK, where we have a very strong stance'. Lee was the first Korean to work at Kia UK , joining in 2002, when the UK operation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kia's main global business. He now co-ordinates the firm's global business outside of Korea. While Kia sales in Europe did slip back slightly year-on-year in 2024, they have still grown more than 30% since 2020. In the UK, Kia has sold more than 100,000 cars for three years running, and it is currently the third best-selling brand in 2025, less than 300 units behind second-placed BMW. Increased competition in Europe from Chinese brands makes for a 'difficult market ', Lee admitted, but Kia will look to further strengthen its aftersales, parts supply and customer journeys in particular. 'We have to strengthen the advantages of Kia in the market,' he said. Kia will not get embroiled in a price war in Europe in the face of new lower-cost competition and will not 'push' cars onto the market; it will instead maintain a laser focus on residual values, which it credits as partly responsible for the 'sustainable growth' the brand has enjoyed. Lee said Kia has done this by maintaining a 'pull demand strategy', by which cars are not pushed to dealers and onto customers at discounted rates but built and sold according to customer demand. Describing this as a 'healthy cycle', Lee said: ' It might sound very easy, but in reality it requires a very strong determination and sense of principle.' ]]>
