What’s new in motoring

As the automotive industry continues to transform, a slew of vehicles with new design ideas are making their way to Australia.

In recent years, the personal vehicle has become the so-called ‘third space’, a place that, particularly with the rise of connected vehicles and electrification (read: charging times), experts are saying we will be spending more time in. Combine this thought with the need for climate solutions, new material and luxury innovation, as well as the packaging freedom that removing an engine will allow, and soon the industry will find itself caught between looking back to look forward or completely throwing away the history books altogether. The next iteration of the personal vehicle promises to introduce fresh ideas that will have a knock-on effect of wider change and consumer expectations. Here, we round up six new models making waves across the board.

It’s a remarkable vision from nose to tail and a swift, smooth ride that begs to stretch its legs the whole 400 kilometres of its electric range.

Rolls-Royce Spectre: Electrified elegance

Serene, extravagant, head-turning – one could be describing any Rolls-Royce, yet we’re referring to the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the British luxury marque’s first EV. It’s a remarkable vision from nose to tail and a swift, smooth ride that begs to stretch its legs the whole 400 kilometres of its electric range. Upon Spectre’s reveal, Rolls-Royce’s then-CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös says this four-seater, two-door coupe was a “Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second”. Favouring more familiar and much-adored stylings of the past, it has a long front bonnet decorated with a new aerodynamically designed ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’, dramatic ‘Pantheon Grille’, low-slung driving position and graceful sloped rear. However, that tail has been sculpted from a single piece of aluminium for clean styling and, importantly, aerodynamic purposes. “It’s a very intricate tailoring of what aluminium is able to do,” says design director Anders Warming. “We really stretched our engineering colleagues; they helped us a lot to get the right processes in place uninterrupted.”

This clean finish is accentuated by vertical, modernist taillights designed to look as if they’re floating, which Warming refers to as “islands in a lake”. The 1.5-metre coach doors, the largest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, open backwards and are optimised for weight distribution and sound attenuation, with both of these factors helped by 700 kilograms of battery under its flat floor. The infotainment system is subtle, set flush into the dashboard, and there is still some old-world detailing left in the form of buttons and dials, eight of which are shortcuts to certain features within the system. The specification and bespoke touches available can be as broad as one’s imagination, but one new option includes fitting 4,796 of the famous ‘starlight’ lights into the doors. It may be a luxury EV fit for the future, but it’s very much still a grand dame at heart.

Few brands can claim producing timeless design with aplomb, except Porsche with the 911’s evolution.

Porsche 911 Carrera T: Purist appeal

Few brands can claim producing timeless design with aplomb, except Porsche with the 911’s evolution. From the lateral curvature of the centre lines to the drop in the fastback, the triangular side windows, the flat front bonnet and the iconic bug eyes, the 911 nameplate has enjoyed – as well as greatly benefited from – choosing continuity over revolution for more than 50 years. This feat hasn’t been simple, as Porsche’s designers often admit. Iconic designs are sensitive to the slightest change – and Porsche purists are still hard to please.

It’s lucky then that the latest model to arrive in Australia, the Carrera T, is designed to appeal to this particular consumer – those seeking a lightweight, manual performer fit for grand touring that can also elicit a thrilling drive. The T stands for touring and is a throwback to the original 911 T, first created in 1968, that became a cult classic despite its model year lifespan only lasting five years. The new Carrera T continues the lineage – signature shape, lightweight materials at the centre and incredibly fun to throw around. It’s arguably as close as one can get to the older 911s that are now so coveted, just with a pleasant amount of modern-day kit.

With a seven-speed gearbox as standard and the no-cost option of rear seats, the Carrera T is at least 35 kilograms lighter than its siblings, and its stripped-back approach arrives in more subtle forms, so as not to upset the apple cart: reduced insulation and a lighter battery. It still has the renowned bi-turbo (twin-turbocharged) 3-litre flat-six-cylinder petrol engine in the rear, Porsche’s Torque Vectoring system for excellent handling and the highly responsive, lowered PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) for a sporty and firm ride. These may seem technical, but it’s these small design-meets-engineering wizardries that make a 911, a 911.

Velar is now more aligned to its luxury siblings than ever before – small but elegant detailing that feels jewellery-like.

Range Rover Velar: Goldilocks-approved luxury

As the middle child of the Range Rover family, the Velar might not earn as much hype as its regal big sibling nor as much youth-focused attention as the Evoque crossover, but it blends the best of both in versatility, usability, style and a fun-to-drive capacity. It’s sketched from the distinctive Range Rover silhouette signature governed by three lines – a slightly falling roofline, a strong continuous shoulder and a rising line that sits in the sill. Velar is the more ‘car-like’ sibling of the luxury SUV trio, in the sense that it doesn’t feel large or utilitarian and is a much more engaging vehicle to drive. But thanks to the reductive modernist design ethos at play, much of its spirit comes from its subtlety. Velar is now more aligned to its luxury siblings than ever before – small but elegant detailing that feels jewellery-like, proportions that have been optimised to appear clean yet muscular and a slightly lowered bumper that allows for a more agile stance.

Like many other marques looking to interiors, Range Rover has doubled down on creating a lounge-like experience inside the cabin with a focus on materiality, including luxury sustainable materials and luxurious leathers, soft cosseting applied around the cockpit and a decluttering of excess visual noise. Much of the latter comes down to the stellar and customisable Pivi Pro infotainment system – arguably one of the most intuitive systems on the market, where every feature is accessible within two screen taps. The 11.4-inch curved screen is nestled in the front dash for easy access but doesn’t dominate the space. By blending this idea of clean modernity with a calming aesthetic, Velar is a beautiful example of balance in execution, resulting in a dynamic, luxury SUV that makes the driver feel relaxed yet totally in control.

The Polestar 3 has an airy, uncluttered feel inside – interior tranquillity is a hallmark of the brand’s DNA – while still preserving the high-rise stance loved by SUV drivers.

Polestar 3: A sustainable SUV rethink

Seven years after the marque’s global debut, Polestar has revealed its first SUV, the Polestar 3 – a sporty, streamlined take on the most popular category of personal vehicle. Empowered by the freedom a battery offers, the Polestar design studio rethought the dimensions of a traditional long-wheelbase luxury SUV and lowered the roof and belt line to introduce a more aerodynamic silhouette. By tilting the seats slightly backwards and lowering the dashboard to create a sportier driving position, the Polestar 3 has an airy, uncluttered feel inside – interior tranquillity is a hallmark of the brand’s DNA – while still preserving the high-rise stance loved by SUV drivers.

The Swedish marque has one of the strongest sustainability credentials in the automotive industry. Since 2021, the company has been releasing life-cycle assessments of its new vehicles. This action has led the company to focus on drawing boundaries around manufacturing processes and suppliers as well as material innovation. Eighty per cent of the Polestar 3’s aluminium, for example, is sourced from post-industrial waste, and the interior’s headlining and carpets use 100 per cent recycled textiles. Some of the other interior materials include a bio-attributed MicroTech (a vegan alternative to leather and fossil fuel-derived PVC made using recycled polyester textile and wood pulp residue), natural fibre composites made from flax and optional animal welfare-certified and chrome-free leather and fully traceable wool upholsteries. “For far too long, sustainability has been regarded as an added layer to an otherwise predefined product,” says head of Polestar Design, Maximilian Missoni. “But if you take it seriously … sustainability not only changes the impact our products have on the environment but inspires us to create entirely new aesthetics.”

MINI has always rooted itself in fun, and the new MINI Cooper 3-door, available in both electric and petrol, achieves this through several new digital and tactile elements.

MINI Cooper: Gen Z-led design

From the BMW i3 and future-classic i8 of the 2010s to the new i models, BMW has undoubtedly been at the forefront of innovation across materials, electrification and interesting technologies. It should come as no surprise then that MINI is reaping the benefits of its parent company’s research and development, though its approach is drawing from youth behaviours and online culture.

MINI has always rooted itself in fun, and the new MINI Cooper 3-door, available in both electric and petrol, achieves this through several new digital and tactile elements. Inside the vehicle, hard dash plastics are now replaced with a soft and almost sneaker- inspired, recycled polyester fabric, which is warmly backlit with customisable LED lights. The round digital screen in the centre of the vehicle is guarded by a personal AI assistant, an English bulldog named Spike. Tapping into the evolving trend of personal aesthetics seen all over social media platforms like TikTok and in popular Gen Z software platforms like Notion and Landing, MINI has also included an option to upload any image to the centre console – like a lock screen – and the vehicle will perform a colour analysis and adjust the interior lighting and system theme to match the image. No image? There are several themes to choose from, and the oversized go-kart also has the ability to take downloadable in-car selfies.

The silhouette has also undergone a soft evolution in the form of a more futuristic finish – clean lines, an unfussy front grille and an option of three exterior light modes to choose from. It’s worth remembering MINI’s legendary status among the youthquake-era of the 1960s. In its new form, the Cooper encapsulates this once again for modern times, speaking directly to finding moments of joy, optimism and freedom found within personal expression.

The EV3 is a joyful culmination of ideas rooted in usability and fresh approaches to what a car can be.

Kia EV3: Interiors for living

Having already made a statement with the flagship EV9 last year, at Milan Design Week this year, Kia hosted a quiet reveal of its latest and much smaller crossover, the EV3, alongside an artistic presentation centred on design processes. Playing with the remix and forward-facing South Korean approach to culture, the EV3 is a joyful culmination of ideas rooted in usability and fresh approaches to what a car can be.

Kia is one of a handful of makers taking exterior bodywork into a contemporary place of hyper-faceted finishes – think boxy silhouettes, sharp angles and geometric polygon-like shapes. Inside the spacious EV3, however, is where things get interesting. “One of the great advantages we have with these new platforms is there’s a lot more potential for interior space,” says Jochen Paesen, Kia’s vice president of interior design. “Our designers took inspiration from living rooms – that idea of small spaces that are very versatile.” Paesan and his team looked at how they could create a “horizontal feeling”, which offers a greater feeling of “openness”. This, he says, included reducing controls and raising everything on view to a higher level. “It’s better for your eye line, but it allows us to create more space in the centre. This is where the idea of the living room space and creating space for different use cases is important.”

The EV3 sees the introduction of various storage ideas and a centre console that transforms into a pull-out table big enough to use as a laptop stand. At the launch, this showcased a new recycled material we can look forward to appearing in future Kia vehicles too in a terrazzo-like speckled finish*. Of the new ideas, Paesan says, “we just wanted to liven things up a little bit, bring a little bit of character to the interior. We’re using fabrics and inspirations from homes, from furniture and from product design to create a warm and welcoming feeling.”

*Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the EV3’s interior design and specifications of actual production models may differ or vary depending on the country.