China

Spy photographers have caught the new Volkswagen Viloran poking out from underneath a cover, ahead of its Chinese-market launch later this year. The photos, snapped by CarNewsChina, give us an early look at the the new two-box Volkswagen before its launch at the end of 2019.

Volkswagen has set yet another record with its ID.R electric race car, and it’s the most breathtaking one yet. Race driver Romain Dumas took the ID.R up Tianmen Mountain Big Gate Road on September 2. It’s a 10.9km-long, concrete-surfaced road with 99 curves that ascends Tianmenshan – Chinese for Heaven’s Gate Mountain – in the Hunan Province of China. The total time was 7:38.585 minutes, making for the fastest ascent of Tianmenshan.

There is no shortage of Chinese EV startups to keep us amused with unlikely concepts and far-off products. Your first instinct on seeing pictures of the Human Horizons HiPhi 1 is probably to regard it as one of the ones less likely to make production, and fair enough; this is a vast electric SUV with gullwing flaps in the roof above its rear doors. (Sound familiar, though?)

Ford has revealed a revisedversion of the car that could have been the new Falcon. The Chinese-market Ford Taurus has had its first facelift since going on sale in 2015. Despite being exclusive to China, the Ford Taurus produced for the Middle Kingdom received significant input from Ford Australia during the design and development process, based on the local arm's know-how from nearly six decades of Falcon production.

Skoda has previewed a new sporty SUV concept for China, scheduled to be unveiled at the Shenzen motor show in June. Shown in a pair of design sketches, the Vision GT looks to be an athletic compact crossover that appears to draw much inspiration from the new Scala hatchback, along with the company's wider SUV range.