Confidential car: discounted Volkswagen EV, JLR sports car Twitter and more

volkswagen badge Our reporters drive blank notebooks for a week into gossip from all over the automotive industry.

This week round up tech gossip, skimp on Volkswagen budget EVs, chat sports cars with Mercedes, hear from Mazda at motorshows and more.

Volkswagen in affordable EV

Volkswagen's budget electric car is on track for a 2023 launch and will cost £18,000, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has confirmed. “We have to do this and we have the Chinese, Spanish and German teams working,” he said. “They are working hard, but there is still some way to go. It's really hard to get a decent range for a car under £18,000”.

T-t wow

Jaguar Land Rover produced a specially designed sports car, likely based on the F-type, that production never made, a Twitter conversation between two employees suggests. Commenting on Ferrari's new Roma, CBO Special Projects manager Adi Smith asked designer Cesar Pieri: “Did you sell our special project? Looks very familiar." Pieri replied, “Looks like someone found our papers! At least they produce it somehow.”

Merz tells sports

Sports cars will be featured in Mercedes lines for years to come, says the firm's design director, Gorden Wagener, as more and more racetracks are being built. “I read that one race is open for a week in China,” he said. “Many of them are private clinics, but this highlights that there is still strong demand for sports cars in the future.”

Mazda: show(s) must go on

Despite being a successful automaker at the motor show, Mazda thinks they still have a place for their brand. Design boss Ikuo Maeda said, "The motor show is a good opportunity for manufacturers to express their corporate vision, philosophy and corporate identity all at one booth."

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