Currently reading: Autocar confidential: Peugeot's city car goal, BMW's individuality focus and more
Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up a week in gossip from across the automotive industry

In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, Peugeot works to save the A-segment, we hear why individuality is important to BMW and more.

Peugeot's city car safeguard

Peugeot will work on making electric cars cheaper to preserve the city car segment and ultimately create a Peugeot 108 replacement. Current city cars can’t meet stricter CO2 laws without costly electrification. “The A-segment will exist, but we will try our best to make EVs more affordable,” said boss Jean-Philippe Imparato.

BMW's indy aim

BMW aims to give each of its models a more individual look. “Customers don’t want to feel like they’re driving a scaled-down BMW X5 when they drive an BMW X3, and the 4 Series shouldn’t feel like a small 8 Series,” said design boss Domagoj Dukec. “Else the 4 would feel like it were for people who couldn’t afford an 8. We have customers who could afford a Rolls-Royce yet buy a 1 Series.”

3 Bmw 4 series 2020 hero front

Afternoon delight

4pm is the most popular time to buy a Tesla online in Europe, during a 3-6pm ‘rush hour’. Three-quarters of Teslas are sold online. The busiest day is Tuesday, just ahead of Wednesday. In the Netherlands and Germany, more than 50% of people buy without a test drive.

2 Tesla model 3 2019 hero front

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

The facelifted BMW 4 Series has improved on an already solid proposition but can it hold off the likes of the latest generation Audi A5 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupé?

Back to top

Ami could come to the UK

The quirky Citroen Ami two-seat electric car has been industrialised for left-hand-drive only, CEO Vincent Cobée has revealed, but it may still come to the UK. “There’s no reason why this structure couldn’t exist in right-hand-drive in rapid-development mode,” he said. “If the UK team believes there’s a business case, we will gladly consider it.”

1 Citroen ami 2020 static rear

READ MORE

Citroen Ami is electric two-seater for £17 per month 

2020 BMW 4 Series Coupe revealed with dramatic new look 

BMW design chief: New 4 Series grille will be 'brand-shaper'

Join the debate

Comments
4
Add a comment…
SmokingCoal 16 June 2020

Tesla

More than 50% of people buy a Tesla without a test drive? The hype around these cars is obviously the biggest selling factor.

xxxx 16 June 2020

Tesla

Maybe a ride as a passenger is enough to convince.  p.s. have you seen their share price recently, compare it with BMW's over the last 5 years and you may be a bit less negative around BEV's or Tesla future

manicm 16 June 2020

SmokingCoal wrote:

SmokingCoal wrote:

More than 50% of people buy a Tesla without a test drive? The hype around these cars is obviously the biggest selling factor.

More than 50% of Ferrari owners also never test drove their cars.

Hype? Well even if Teslas were wantonly bad cars I'd still buy one simply because of their vastly superior charging network.

 

manicm 16 June 2020

So what happened to last week

So what happened to last week's Autocar Confidential?