So does Paris at the moment.

They did this because a terror attack was thwarted near Notre-Dame recently that involved a parked car filled with gas bottles.

Ferrari is FIAT too and those two things you’re describing has already been the strategy of the FIAT group with those three brands for ages. Why do you think Ferrari doesn’t make a 4-door or a cheap car? Because Maserati and Alfa have been doing just that for years.

That’s essentially what’s happening.

I haven’t been near these new Alfas, but can already tell quality and engineering just aren’t there

It looks okay really. It’s just a bloated Giulia, they didn’t take many risks. And it has a proper in-house RWD Alfa Romeo platform and V6 engine, which is something we thought no Alfa would ever have again in the times of the 159 and Brera. If this is what it takes to finance more interesting cars, so be it.

Holy shit! What’s the story behind this one? The body seems to have a lot of Zagato cues.

The new Conti isn’t badge engineered. Unless you count platform-sharing as badge engineering, which is ridiculous. Luxury cars will never again be based on bespoke platforms, it makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever. Doesn’t stop things like the Rolls-Royce Wraith from being incredible machines.

It creates an image of adventure that people buy into when they get a Mini. Any Mini. They’ll associate that image built by the motorsport successes with the brand at large, not any particular sporty model. They don’t actually want a sporty model anyway, they’re expensive and uncomfortable.

No one would buy it. Motorsports today is about brand-building and storytelling, it’s rarely about actual technical development (for example the Dakar MINIs are run by X-Raid which uses their own tech) and even less so about developping hardcore versions. It’s not for nothing that motorsports investments fall under…

They’re certainly convenient. As far as silhouettes go however the X-Raid Countryman looked remarkably like the production car. Much more than the Peugeot 3008 DKR ressembles the real thing, anyway.

Well, they’ll make a new Countryman John Cooper Works All4 for sure. Probably as close as you’ll get.

Surely can’t cost too much to put the new Countryman body on top, since underneath it’s an X-Raid chassis that has nothing to do with MINIs and used to be a BMW X5 beforehand.

I don’t think they’re taking the challenge lightly, but this Peugeot Sport. They were the absolute masters of the Paris-Dakar when it was in Africa and it only took them two tries to win the South American version. Plus they have a cracking team of drivers.

Platform sharing has not stopped premium brands like Audi or Lexus achieve tremendous success. The problem is that for some inexplicable reason, Jaguars used to be judged not by the criteria of premium cars but of luxury cars, which they aren’t and never have been.

The Porsche family’s holding company owns part of VAG, but it’s not the same as Porsche the car company.

I don’t think the 2.0T has a manual in any market. Here in France where I think we get the same choices as in Italy, you can only have a manual with the small diesel (and the Quadrifoglio).

For what it’s worth, the UK isn’t getting the manual Quadrifoglio either and Chris Harris said it’s shit anyway and the auto is much better.

Citroëns!

I’m not saying what BMW is doing with MINI isn’t cynical, and I absolutely agree that it’s a German bastardization of what a British car actually is, or rather was. But that was apparent from the moment they made that Mini Clubman concept with the little tea spoons back in the day.