Car News

Volkswagen has continued the drip-feed of information about the 2020 Mk8 Golf, revealing details about the car's 48V mild-hybrid powertrains. Initially, the mHEV (that'd be mild hybrid electric vehicle) system will be mated with a 1.0-litre and 1.5-litre petrol engines and a DSG, but Volkswagen says the tech will eventually spread to "the entire fleet", and claims it's good for a 0.4L/100km improvement in consumption.

BMW has offered a teaser of its upcoming M8 Coupe and Convertible, revealing details about its highly customisable M Mode. Modern performance cars will let you tweak essentially every facet of their driving experience. Throttle response, engine noise, steering weight – they're all changeable, depending on the driver's mood. REVIEW: BMW 8 Series tested in Australia

Starting later this year, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) will begin offering cars with an online 'ecosystem' headlined by an infotainment system running Google's Android operating system, and using cloud services from Harman, part of the sprawling Samsung conglomerate. Cars equipped with the new system will have a new Android-based infotainment setup with over-the-air updates, built-in app support, satellite navigation, automatic emergency calling, and smartphone connectivity.

Elon Musk says Tesla cars could be able to drive themselves by the end of 2019, on the back of today's full self-driving computer reveal. According to the outspoken CEO, the new computer is "the best chip in the world... objectively". It was unveiled at an investor day in Palo Alto, California. It'll be built in Texas by Samsung, with the company suggesting supply shouldn't be an issue. We've heard that before, though.

French manufacturer Renault has announced its first large-scale pilot into reversible electric charging, kicking off in the Netherlands and Portugal. In a statement released this week, the company says: "Our alternating-current technology has the particularity of placing the reversible charger inside vehicles, so it just requires a simple, inexpensive adaptation of the existing charging terminals".