Weekly news: UK's most popular car colour revealed, plus Van Reviewer Awards results and more

Here's the news you need to know this week.

Van news first this week… the Kia PV5 and Ford Ranger PHEV have won the top honours at the very first Van Reviewer Awards, with the PV5 named as Best New Van and the Ranger PHEV securing Best New Pick-Up. The PV5 claimed the top award for vans after an exceptional first year for Kia’s first electric van, which achieved a Guinness World Record and was named International Van of the Year. Built on a dedicated electric van platform, PV5 impressed judges (and us) with its flexible body configurations, payload potential, and clear positioning as a purpose-built electric light commercial vehicle. Sharing the spotlight is the Ford Ranger PHEV, the first plug-in hybrid version of the UK’s best-selling pick-up truck. Ranger PHEV combines a petrol-electric drivetrain with four-wheel drive, delivering electric-only driving and retaining the payload carrying, towing and off-road abilities we all expect from the Ranger. Both vehicles received 4.5-star Autotrader reviews (nearly perfect scores) and were named in my best vans and pick-up trucks of 2025 article. Two big wins for two big winners in my book! - Tom Roberts.

We love our data here at Autotrader and enjoyed crunching the numbers on car-buying trends in 2025 to find out what’s hot and what’s not. We’re not the only ones analysing buying habits, though, and industry body the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) has taken a break from its day job of lobbying government on serious business like theZEV Mandate and Electric Car Grant to share the crucial information we REALLY need. Which is to say what are the most popular colour choices for the nation’s car buyers? Somewhat disappointingly grey retains the top spot it’s held for the last eight years with over half a million sales, black not far behind. Blue came in third while the stats noted a return to favour for silver. Despite not figuring especially high in the overall stats green seems to be picking up in popularity, coming seventh with just shy of 100,000 registrations but recording a 46.3 per cent increase. Cue lots of on-message ‘green cars on the rise’ headlines! Yellow has also done well, these two trends perhaps explained by the success of the Renault 5 and the popularity of these more vibrant colour options among its target audience. Chapeau to Renault for immediately jumping on the news and sharing a fresh selection of pictures of colourful 5s to brighten up the grey January weather!
Dan Trent

If you didn’t already get the memo the ‘Neue Klasse’ iX3 we drove recently marks a generational shift for BMW in its looks, onboard tech and the electric drive system powering it. And having introduced that in a sensible family SUV BMW has thrown the toy box to the M performance division to have some fun with it. The response? For now it’s described as the BMW M Neue Klasse and teased with some images of a disguised saloon-shaped test car doing big drifts on a frozen lake. The technology making it do that is M’s twist on the iX3’s electric drive, updated with individual motors in each of the four wheels. Powered by the (slightly sinister) sounding Heart of Joy control system, this M Dynamic Performance Control means the M Neue Klasse can put its considerable power to the ground in any number of exciting ways. This draws a direct link to the M cars of the past, like the petrol-powered M3s and M5s that made the performance division’s name. If some of that can be reinvented for the electric age with this new car BMW M might just be onto a winner! Dan Trent