COMMENT

CAN NISSAN DO A RENAULT IN THIS CHALLENGING ERA?

These are tough times for global car makers: new US trade tariffs threaten to upend decades of globalised production strategy and, at a regional level, vehicle development is increasingly led by ever-shifting regulation – as this week’s welcome clarity on the UK’s ZEV mandate shows (p10).

It was already hard enough to thrive in this competitive environment, as new Nissan boss Ivan Espinosa knows only too well (p42). Global instability aside, the Japanese company has had a turbulent past few years.

Since the Carlos Ghosn fallout, Nissan’s alliance with Renault has been shaky and the company hasn’t adapted as quickly as it might have to tech-forward markets such as China.

That has left it exposed and struggling, a predicament made worse by recent global turmoil. So Espinosa has a difficult task ahead of him but Nissan has a range of strong models on which to build and its old alliance partner shows there is hope. A few years back, Renault was also struggling but Luca de Meo’s bold leadership and stunning new products, such as the 5, have sparked a major turnaround. To achieve that, though, Espinosa first has to fix Nissan’s base and give it the strength to survive whatever market chaos a tariff war could cause in the coming years. We’ll be following Nissan’s progress closely.

Rachel Burgess, magazine editor rachel.burgess@haymarket.com

Meanwhile, online…

autocar.co.uk

New manual M2 reviewed BMW has given the M2 a 20bhp power boost – and kept the manual gearbox. Illya Verpraet guides you around it .

Cars that returned from the dead We look at the makes and models that have been resurrected – for better and worse.

Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust: remember that? Diesel-electric hybrid created by Clarkson, Hammond and May gets the Autocar road test treatment.

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24 FORD PUMA TURNS ELECTRIC: OUR VERDICT

Issue 6667 | Volume 324 | No 6

NEWSFirstsight of new baby Defender EV 4 Merc-AMG C63 to turn six-pot PHEV 6 Porsche’s sleek electric Cayenne 8 UK gives hybrids stay of execution 10 GAC’s ‘Mini’ and SUV are UK-bound 12 Tougher safety tests questioned 14 BYD’s Denza to hit Europe this year 16 FIRST DRIVES Ford Puma Gen-E 24 Denza Z9 GT 27 Morgan Supersport 29 ROAD TESTS Bentley Continental GT Hybrid 30 Audi S6 E-tron Avant 36 FEATURESNewNissanboss Ivan Espinosa 42 Nissan Sakura: electric kei car fun 46 How millionaires spec a Valkyrie 48 Insights into Vauxhall’s Luton past 50 LONG-TERMERSMiniCooper S 54 Bentley Bentayga 56 Renault Scenic 57 Volvo EX40 58 Ford Explorer 58 Mazda MX-5 59 COLUMNSJesseCrosse 13 Mark Tisshaw 15 Steve Cropley 17 Matt Prior 18 Damien Smith 19 Testing, testing 41 Why I love… 74 EVERY WEEK Your Views 20 How to subscribe 22 Lost in the archive 65 Road test results 67 USED CARS Honda Jazz buying guide 60 My car & I 62 Caught in the classifieds 63

48 WE PERSONALISE OUR ASTON VALKYRIE

16 APRIL 2025 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 3