Articles by Andrew Chesterton

Chinese brand Leapmotor has slammed a major rival, labelling MG's MG4 XPower "undriveable" and vowing to produce a better performance EV in the B05 Ultra.That's the word from Leapmotor's Alexis Cieslewicz, Head of Product Marketing in Europe, who is also working on the introduction of the brand's most performance-focused model to date, the B05 Ultra.The just-launched B05, which will arrive in Australia later this year and produces 160kW and 240Nm, is the start of Leapmotor's sportier journey. In China, it has already been joined by an Ultra variant, which ups the outputs to 180kW and 320Nm.Leapmotor in Europe is already planning for more again, potentially further dialling up the power along with adding "extras" in its Ultra, which will arrive in the later stages of next year.For perspective, the B05 in China and Europe are wildly different, with the Euro (and Australian) version being completely retuned by Alfa Romeo at its Balocco Proving Ground. The brand also changed the suspension mounting points to deliver a lower centre of gravity, creating what it says is a "different animal" to the Chinese version.The same, and possibly more, will be done to the Ultra."It is not sure that it will be exactly the one you see in China. In the sense that it is Ultra and it should be Ultra," says Danilo Annese, the brand's Head of Commercial Operations in Europe."We are discussing that (Europe's Ultra) is not that car. It is not the Chinese car, (that) is a body kit. And we want to do it a little bit better than that. But the sky is the limit. Let's see what we can do."When it comes to dialling up the power, though, Leapmotor issued a cautionary tale, shading a major rival by describing its 300kW performance hatch as "undriveable"."I am also looking for a good compromise between power and control," Cieslewicz says. "Because we do not want to have something like the MG4 , which has 470 horsepower, but it is undriveable."

Nissan's answer to the BYD Shark 6 has just taken a big step towards an Australian launch, with the Navara Pro PHEV taking the first step on its export journey from China.Revealed in China as the Nissan Frontier Pro, the brand's first plug-in hybrid ute has been renamed the Navara Pro and revealed in the Phillipines, part of Nissan's "From China" export strategy that will lean on China, rather than Japan or Thailand, as an export hub.The Navara Pro is otherwise the same as the Frontier Pro, with the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a transmission-mounted electric motor producing a potent 320kW and 800Nm combined. The EV-only range is around 100kms WLTP.“As a lead market, China plays a dual role for Nissan, both as a strong market in its own right and a critical source of global competitiveness. This unveiling signal the beginning of our ‘From China’ export strategy, and I am pleased to see these vehicles reaching customers beyond China for the first time," says Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s chief performance officer."The models demonstrate strong product competitiveness and represent an important step in strengthening our global portfolio and responding more quickly to diverse customer needs. We are excited to bring them to customers in the Philippines as we continue to accelerate this momentum across markets.”CarsGuide understands that, in markets where Navara has nameplate recognition, the Frontier Pro will be renamed as it has been in the Phillipines. And that would include Australia, where the Navara Pro would go head-to-head with the BYD Shark 6.And that could be happening sooner rather than later – and even this year – with reports pointing the project having sign-off in Australia, and moving faster than the original 2027 launch expectation suggested.

BYD's potentially game-changing ute product is ready to launch, with the Mako readying for its international debut in September this year.The focus so far has been entirely in South America, where the Mako will arrive to battle vehicles like the Fiat Toro, with the Mako a car-based unibody utility that would sit below the ladder-frame Shark 6.That would put it on a collision course with everything from the Ford Maverick to the upcoming Corolla Cross-based ute from Toyota, codenamed Project 150D.In Brazil, the Mako is a plug-in hybrid producing an expected 175kW, and promising a circa-100km EV-only driving range, along with a choice of two- or all-wheel drive.A European launch also seems likely – though under the name Shark 5 – given patent filings have appeared in the EU. Reports also point to a flagship 1.5-litre PHEV variant producing 200kW of power being developed.Things are less clear in Australia, but the success of the Shark 6 in our market would surely have local executives excited by the prospect of expanding the range.Just this week, BYD's most senior executive promised a new model designed for Australia would launch here this year, telling CarsGuide that a "special model" was on its way."We have another special model, just for Australian customers," Liu Xueliang, Group Vice President of BYD and General Manager of BYD Asia-Pacific Auto Sales Division Liu told CarsGuide.Chief Operating Officer of BYD Australia Stephen Collins was pressed for more information, but would only say that the brand will “have more to say about that later in the year”.

Cadillac now has a new model, and a volume player, to kickstart its Australian sales ambitions, with the Optiq arriving to take on everything from the BMW iX3 to the Genesis GV60. So, does this all-electric medium SUV have what it takes to compete?

BYD has finished second in Australia's new-car sales race for the second consecutive month, delivering more vehicles than long-standing household names like Ford, Kia, Hyundai and Mazda, and trailing only Toyota in terms of total sales.

The internet can be a horrible swamp, and the comments surrounding Ferrari’s unveiling were particularly, though predictably, brutal.“Great thing Enzo can’t see this garbage,” read one. “He’ll be rolling in his tomb,” said another. “This is such a cynical marketing product purely conceived to make money for the company. It hurts me on a cellular level to see Ferrari stoop so low,” wrote another user who clearly needs to get outside more. Fun fact, though. Those comments had nothing to do with the Luce, Ferrari’s first EV that was revealed to much fanfare and even more furore this week. That was actually the reaction to the Purosangue, the brand’s first SUV, and the model that would – according to the internet at least – definitely, absolutely and entirely destroy the fabled Italian marque.That didn’t happen, though, did it? I recently met an Australian buyer who’d dropped $1.1m on his Purosangue, and he had to wait almost two years for his production slot to open up, such was the demand. It is a massive driver of Ferrari profit, too, and is consistently among the brand's best-selling models, despite a production cap.The point is, the internet was wrong. And I suspect this same Luce storm will die in the teacup in much the same way.Now, I’d be lying if I said my eyebrows didn’t shoot skywards when I first clapped eyes on the Ferrari Luce at its unveiling event in Italy. I can’t say for sure what I expected, but I can say for sure that it wasn’t this. But having now spent some time with it, and even more time digesting it, I can tell you that the internet is wrong once again.The point has been so painfully missed by the Ferrari Facebook army, who seem to have been expecting an 849 Testarossa with a battery. Ferrari has made it clear this isn’t a vehicle designed to appeal to Ferraristi faithful. It’s designed to appeal to an entirely new audience, and that is not an audience with a poster of a petrol-powered Prancing Horse on their wall.The Luce had to look different to everything else in the Ferrari range, both to appeal to a new buyer, but also (and I suspect more importantly) to ring-fence the rest of the Ferrari range and preserve their fuel-exploding mystique. I think that's also why the Luce is slower than the fastest Tesla and lacks the brand's angriest driving modes – it can't have its EV outshine the lustier, brand-defining models."This is a different kind of Ferrari. And that was the point. That was the entire purpose of the exercise," LoveFrom (the firm who penned the Luce) co-founder Mark Newson told me.This wasn't supposed to be in the mould of other Ferraris.But I actually think the more pressing question is, if not this design, then what? Is the issue with the Luce, or is merely the fact that it’s electric?If it’s the former, then tell me what design could have possibly pleased the traditionalists? Something more like a Rimac Nevera? Perhaps, but I would argue Ferrari already has cars like that, and that plonking a couple of electric motors on a 12Cilindri would have only riled the web up worse.If it’s the latter – and I think it definitely is – then what the hell is everyone so upset about? There is one electric Ferrari, and nine petrol-powered options in the brand’s regular range in Australia. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it – the fleet is still 90 per cent in your favour. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder – or whoever is behind the keyboard – but I can tell you this; the exterior design has continued to grow on me. It is undeniably forward-looking, and I think a pretty bold vision of what a family friendly Ferrari EV can be. Is it my favourite-looking Prancing Horse? No, but it doesn't have to be. And if the exterior of the Luce is controversial, the cabin isn't. The interior is spectacular, blending elegance and tech in a way that feels really, really special.Will I buy one? Irrelevant, I'm afraid. I can't afford it. And that's one thing the internet masses and I have very much in common.

Australia's crowded new-car market won't survive as is, with one of the country's best-known brands describing our market as a "jungle" that will cause some manufacturers to fail financially and leave.That's the word from Volkswagen Australia's Head of Passenger Cars, Piergiorgio Minto, who has a simple answer when asked if all brands can survive in our market: "No"."For sure some brands will leave the market," he said.Minto has worked for Volkswagen around the world, including the Middle East, Russia and Germany, before arriving in Australia around 18 months ago.He said that, despite his experience, he underestimated how competitive the Australian new-car market was, considering its comparative size, with new and mostly Chinese brands either launching or announcing their intention to almost monthly.In the past few years, Australia's usually static market has swollen with the arrival of brands like Xpeng, BYD, Denza, Chery, Jaecoo, GAC, JAC, Geely, Zeekr, Smart and more. Yet more brands, including Dreame, Nio, Jetour and Forthing, have confirmed their intention to launch.While new brand pile in and fight for market share, the pool of buyers isn't growing any bigger. And it's this, says Volkswagen, that will force brands to depart Australia."The Australian market was, for me, a big surprise, because I thought about it as quite a simple market. And at the end of the day, it's a very competitive market," he says. "It's a market that is about 1.2 million, if we take the light commercials. It's less than one million for purely passenger cars. And you have 70+ brands in it. I think it's the most crowded market in the world."I don't want to say it was a big surprise, because I knew a little bit about what was going on. But this was one thing where you really need to see it, to touch the situation, to be inside the situation, to get a little bit of a better feeling of what is going on."To understand how we need to steer the future of the brand in this kind of jungle. So I'm not worried, actually. It is a good challenge. It's something that is pushing us to find better solutions and better steering orientation."

One of Volkswagen’s most important vehicles has welcomed what will almost certainly be its most important powertrain, with a plug-in hybrid variant here to capture all those people tired of having to black-market an organ every time they need to fill up.And it turns out that there are a lot of those people. Plug-in hybrid sales are up 119 per cent so far this year — and more than 500 per cent in April alone — and it’s into this PHEV feeding frenzy that Volkswagen launches its plug-in Tiguan, which is available in Elegance guise, or as a sportier and more powerful R-Line.In Elegance guise, the sticker price is $64,590 before on-road costs, while the R-Line ups the cost to $74,550. Both have sharp drive-away price deals at the moment that will see you on the road for less than the RRP.There's a solid inclusion list too, mirroring the non-hybrid range, as well as some driving kit, like adaptive damping, and a clever e-diff that smooths out understeer and dials up grip.Well, VW calls it an eHybrid, which is company parlance, but the end result is the same, with its powertrain combining a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a front-mounted electric motor and a 19.7kWh battery.Electric driving range is around 115km (WLTP), and both grades are set up for 40kW DC charging, or 11kW charging at home — the latter meaning you can essentially use a regular power point, or a much faster wallbox-style charger.Opt for the Elegance, and the total system power is 150kW and 350Nm, while the R-Line is tuned to deliver 200kW and 400Nm. Both feed their power through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, and are front-drive only, with the electric motor positioned on the front axle.Power is only ever a small part of a new-car story. Producing grunt is often the easy part. Delivering it in a car that feels properly ready to receive it is seemingly much harder.Happily, the Tiguan is a definite bright spot on the soft and spongy horizon of new-car sales in Australia. It feels properly engineered from behind the wheel, with a ride that delivers true connection with the road surface below, even if it does definitely stray into too-hard (and even a bit jittery) territory over corrugated road surfaces. There's not a huge amount of body roll when cornering, and it feels sorted from behind the wheel.The way the electric power is delivered in this car is also a bonus. It is very noticeable that it is using exclusively electric power from low speeds. The torque is instantaneous and it propels you forward before the engine kicks in at about 20 kilometers an hour or so. The result is an SUV that feels more like a nippy little EV at city speeds, before turning into plug-in family transport elsewhere.There are only two quirks that irk me a little. One is the consistency of the brake pedal feel, which sometimes feels like there is plenty of pedal travel, and other times feels like there isn't much at all, which makes how much pressure to apply a little unpredictable at times. The other is the weight of the steering, which can go from very light as you brake into a corner, before quickly weighting up as you accelerate out. Neither are major problems, but can take a little getting used to.Inside, the interior lighting is customisable and has a nice, sporty touch in the R-Line, while the twin screen setup – including the gigantic centre screen – is premium in look and feel, too.Be warned though, the driver-distraction monitor doesn't just sound an alarm, but locks you out of the screen until it decides that you're paying attention again, so if you're doing something on the screen, it then freezes.But kudos to Volkswagen for concocting an iPhone wireless charging solution that actually holds your phone in place, with a little lift flap in the centre console that keeps things secure while charging, whether that's via the twin USB-C ports or via the twin wireless charging pads.Elsewhere, and apart from the plastic-feeling centre console edging, everything in the cabin is nicely wrapped, and it does give the sense of a car that just feels well sorted, both on the road and from the driver's seat.Space in the backseat is ample for my 175cm frame, and boot space is pretty family friendly – despite a slight space penalty to pay compared to non-hybrid models –with 490 litres with the rear seats in place, and 1486 litres with the second row stowed.

The Volkswagen Tayron eHybrid might just be the hidden gem in VW’s SUV line-up, and it’s all because you get less of something, not more.Sounds weird, I know, but stay with me. It was once pretty easy to identify the difference between the Tiguan and the Tiguan Allspace. One had five seats, and the other mostly had seven. Simple.But this Tayron eHybrid changes that equation. It’s the plug-in hybrid replacement for the Allspace, joining the petrol-powered versions that have already launched in Australia.And like the just-launched Tiguan eHybrid, it’s exclusively a five-seat affair. But it’s also bigger, cheaper and I reckon better to drive than the Tiguan, if it doesn’t have the immediate nameplate recognition of its smaller sibling.Same five seats, same petrol-electric powertrain, just with more space for less money, even if its equipment list isn’t quite as generous as the one in the Tiguan.The Tayron eHybrid is the latest arrival in Volkswagen’s plug-in hybrid push, sharing its powertrain specifics with the Tiguan eHybrid. That means a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a front-mounted electric motor and a 19.7kWh (net) battery, and an all-electric driving range of around 115km on the WLTP cycle.Both grades are set up for 40kW DC charging, or 11kW charging at home — the latter meaning you can essentially use a regular power point, or a much faster wallbox charger.There are two trim levels, the Elegance and the sportier-feeling R-Line, with the latter also adding progressive steering to the driving aid list (both also get adaptive damping and an e-diff lock). There are also different power outputs for each — in Elegance guise, that means 150kW and 350Nm, while the R-Line improves the grunt on offer to 200kW and 400Nm.Each trim has its petrol engine and electric motor up front, meaning front-wheel drive, with the battery at the rear, and feed their power through a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox.And all of that is largely identical to the Tiguan. But from there, things change.The Tayron PHEV might not sport the seven seats of internal combustion versions, but it’s still got the body size to fit them. It’s both longer and wider than its five-seat sibling, and it serves up wagon-like space in its boot, with a sizable 705 litres with the second row in place, and a massive 1915 litres with the row folded flat. That makes this a proper family transporter. There is oodles of room in the back seat, too, though there is a comically large tunnel running through the centre of the backseat that will definitely impact leg room for adults riding in the middle seat.The window seats offer an adult-friendly amount of room, though. I’m 175cm, and had no issue getting comfortable. There’s also a pull-down divider, twin USB ports and tri-zone automatic climate with twin rear vents.Both the Elegance and R-Line interior treatments are clean and modern, with solid material choices and a genuine feel of quality in the elements you interact with.In more good news, I think the cheapest version is the stronger buy. The extra power on offer in the $75,990 R-Line version actually feels unnecessary in the context of the Tayron. The performance in the $62,390 Elegance feels ample, especially with the added zip from the electric motor when taking off at city speeds. Right now both models are significantly cheaper, too, with a limited drive-away offer on both grades that will see you on the road for less than the RRP.Anyway, the Elegance is officially about one second slower to 100km/h than the R-Line, sure, but a) it doesn’t feel it, and b) who cares? This is spacious family transport, not a Nurburgring rocket.It can get a bit revvy when when you really plant your foot from a rolling speed, and it can feel too firm on properly jittery road surfaces. But it’s otherwise a competent and pretty comfortable drive, with a confident weight to the steering and a feeling of connection between drive and car, especially on winding roads, that’s sometimes missing from its competition.There are subtle differences in the way the Tayron and Tiguan drive. Both feel competent and buttoned down, but the Tayron feels a little more stable and better balanced, likely owing to the 110mm longer wheelbase.Like in the Tiguan, the EV power delivered when you take off really eases forward progression so much so that you really don't want for more power.In Elegance trim, your spend buys you 19-inch alloy wheels, an auto-opening boot, and LED lighting. Inside, there’s leather trim with seats that offer heating, cooling and ventilation, a digital driver display, a 12.9-inch central screen and wireless charging.Springing for the R-Line nabs you a sportier look, as well as 20-inch alloy wheels and VW’s clever Matrix LED headlights. There’s a bigger screen and some other niceties, too, but how much all of that matters is up to you.Unfortunately, Volkswagen won’t budge on its now-too-short-feeling five-year and unlimited-kilometre warranty, which grates in a world of seven-, eight- and 10-year warranties. Volkswagen insists its customers don’t want or need more, but I’d like to speak to some of these customers. The battery is covered for eight years or 160,000kms. Servicing is required annually, and a three-year prepaid package will set you back $1605, while a five-year package is $3391For mine, the Tayran is the VW sleeper, and the Elegance eHybrid is the pick of the plug-in bunch.

Silent and heavy. Two words that usually stalk any big-battery EV. And the two words Ferrari has spent five years, and untold millions, trying to banish from its new and potentially brand-defining electric vehicle, the Luce.The Luce is arguably the biggest gamble Ferrari has taken in decades. It’s no secret that savage, sonorous exhaust notes and fuel-exploding engines are staples of the supercar world. Which is likely why so many supercar makers — including Lamborghini, Aston Martin and McLaren — have either cancelled, delayed or walked back their EV plans.Ferrari, though, has continued at full throttle. The five-year project has at last reached its zenith, with the covers coming off the Luce in Rome ahead of its Australian arrival next year.The project has been shrouded in near-complete secrecy, but the veil has finally been lifted, with the Luce now detailed in full.We now know the Luce isn’t just staggeringly powerful, but will also be among the world’s most expensive EVs, with a price tag expected to sit above one million dollars in Australia.There is a litany of firsts here, too. The Luce is Ferrari’s first EV, the first model the brand has produced with seating for five, and the first vehicle since 2010 to have had its design entirely outsourced.Instead of being penned by Ferrari’s in-house design studio, the Luce was designed — inside and out — by LoveFrom, the US-based design collective founded by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive and Australian Marc Newson.As a result, it bears almost no resemblance to Ferrari’s supercar family. Instead, it adopts a mostly familiar four-door EV silhouette, complete with a sizeable glasshouse designed to look as though it sits beneath the Luce’s outer shell, as if the bodywork has been lowered from above.There are still several truly Ferrari elements, though, like the razor-sharp nose and the deep aero channel that funnels air over the bonnet and beneath the boot spoiler. Then there are the massive staggered alloys – 23 inches at the front and 24 inches at the rear – and spellbinding in the new Turbine wheel design, machined from a solid piece of aluminium.“The concept that we came up with very, very early on — which became kind of the overarching philosophy of part of the exterior design — was this idea that you had an interior glasshouse, which is basically this large, black glasshouse area,” says Marc Newson.“That’s essentially surrounded by the body of the car, which at the end of the day is probably doing most of the aero work.“The reason we identified that as a really interesting direction, or an interesting sort of philosophy to pursue, was that it gave us the opportunity to create some very clean and very unique forms.”But there is no escaping the fact this is unlike anything else in the Ferrari portfolio. And that, Newson says, is no accident.“This is a different kind of Ferrari. And that was the point. That was the entire purpose of the exercise,” he says.The other thing that still feels very Ferrari is the power and performance on offer. Ferrari hasn’t quite reinvented the wheel here, but it has made each of them a hell of a lot more powerful, fitting every corner of the Luce with its own electric motor.Yes, that’s four motors in total, producing a combined 772kW and 990Nm. And that has exactly the effect on performance you might expect, with the Luce clipping 100km/h in 2.5 seconds and 200km/h in 6.8 seconds.In fact, there is a lot going on at each of the Luce’s corners, with every wheel able to deliver power, capture regenerative energy, provide steering inputs or dictate vertical movement to improve contact-patch grip.“The car has an agility that you don’t expect, that you cannot link with your perception of the dimensions of the car,” says Raffaele de Simone, Ferrari’s head of test development and test driving.“The feeling of the Luce is based on the fact that at these four corners, the four motors are managed by a control unit that decides how to satisfy in a very harmonic way. You don’t perceive which system is working on the four corners, you just have to turn the wheel, to place the car where you want on the road, and the car goes there.”The power can flow naturally in automatic mode, or the driver can take more control through the gearshift-style paddles behind the steering wheel. Ferrari’s take on a simulated gearbox doesn’t actually deliver a shift-like step in power, but instead controls torque flow and regenerative braking, effectively delivering more power or more stopping force with each pull of a paddle.“On the left side, you increase the engine braking, exactly like a combustion-engine car. On the other side, you unleash power,” de Simone says.“The more you go on the left, the more you have engine braking. The more you go upshift, the more you release power. These power stages are called Torque Index.“Supposing that you are approaching a tight corner, on the exit you will have the chance to exploit only part of the power of the car, because it’s a way to better control the huge amount of torque. And this helps the driver to be connected with the throttle, with the limitation in power to find the right sensitivity on throttle.“It’s something that, with electric powertrains, was not possible. You were driven by computers, managing in your place the stability of the vehicle. Now you are back to driving, you are back to control, and this is a tool to control it.”Ferrari has also controlled almost every part of the EV build process, including assembling the battery. In this case, it is a 122kWh NCM unit that the brand says delivers a driving range of more than 500km, though there is a catch.Given the power on offer here, gentleness is required to maximise range. Ferrari makes that part easy by limiting output in its different drive modes to preserve the battery. In Range mode, power is capped at 320kW, with the grunt fed through the two rear motors. In Tour, all four motors contribute a total of 460kW. Finally, Performance delivers 725 kW and, presumably, drains the battery very, very quickly.Ferrari says the battery is designed not only to be repaired, but also fully replaced. If, as expected, battery chemistry improves significantly in the next 10 years, the Luce’s 122kWh unit could be swapped out for better tech.Perhaps the biggest change, though, is in the cabin, which feels less like a traditional Ferrari interior and more device-like and tech-focused. It is a beautifully appointed, modern-feeling space, and one in which screens are supplemented by tactile controls.A thin, elegant steering wheel frames a new, ferociously high-tech and layered driver display, in which the top screen has circular cut-outs, creating a gauge-like impression for the screen behind. Physical needles are then attached, rising and falling with your inputs.The central screen is a thing of beauty, too. It is hinged so it can be angled towards the passenger if required, while the switches and toggles beneath are exclusively aluminium or glass. In the top right corner, another needle-adorned digital gauge can cycle through a clock, stopwatch or compass.Also fun is the launch-control function, accessed via a fighter-pilot ejector-seat-style handle mounted next to the driver’s head.“It’s a fusion between digital and analogue, and the physical world,” Ferrari says.But back to the idea of weight and sound — or the lack of it. Ferrari knows the importance of a soundtrack, and it has developed an in-house solution it likens to an electric guitar, and that it says makes a driver feel like Jimi Hendrix.There are no fake Jetsons sounds here. Instead, a sensor and accelerometer capture the sounds and vibrations of the e-motor, match them to your driving inputs, and then amplify them inside and outside the cabin.The system took five years of work and 40,000km of dedicated track testing to develop, with the result, Ferrari says, being an almost rock-star sensation for owners.“Now one might wonder, ‘Okay, but you are amplifying, so it’s fake, right? It’s fake, you’re amplifying,’” says Antonino Palermo, vehicle NVH and sound engineer at Ferrari.“If we think to the musical parallel, an electric guitar musician — Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour — when they are playing, they have expressivity. When they play the guitar you can feel the human aspect, the intention.“Here the musician is you. It’s your driving.”The second key element is the positioning of the battery, and the design of the vehicle itself, with a laser focus on lowering the Luce’s centre of gravity. Ferrari says it is 95mm lower than in the Purosangue, helping the Luce feel at least 400kg lighter when cornering than its actual 2260kg kerb weight. The claimed driver experience, then, is akin to a car that weighs closer to 1700kg.“You look at the car on the outside, you go into it with a forecast of what a big car could be like to drive. You have your background experience that says where the SUVs are and where the sedans are, and then where the rear mid-engine Ferrari is,” de Simone says.“Where to place in this scenario the experience of the Luce? The car has an agility that you don’t expect, that you cannot link with your view of the dimensions of the car.“For this type of car, in terms of size, roominess and versatility, there is no connection with the handling of the car. This ratio has been completely rewritten.”