Weekly news: BYD trumps Tesla, VW brings back buttons, Kia reveals the EV2 and more!

Here’s our roundup of the top news stories which have caught our attention this week.

Headlines at a glance

• Volkswagen has listened to customer feedback and promises to make its cars easier to use – physical buttons are in and haptic controls are out! The upcoming ID. Polo will debut this new direction and VW is leaning into its heritage with retro digital displays inspired by the original Golf • Last year BYD became the world’s biggest seller of electric cars, beating Tesla at its own game. In December 2025 BYD was the sixth best-selling brand in the UK, while Tesla came in eighth behind Volvo. Find out more about 2025 new car sales here! • The Brussels Motor Show kicked off this week with brands showcasing new models including the electric Renault Twingo, Citroen ELO concept and Kia EV2

Early last year Kia teased the EV2 Concept and it has now revealed the final production version of the compact electric SUV at the Brussels Motor Show. The EV2 will feature the latest tech, flexible sliding rear seats and plenty of safety systems. Built in Europe, the EV2 is expected to cost around £24,000 to align with rivals like the Renault 4, Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID. Cross. Alongside the EV2, Kia has also premiered performance focused GT versions of the EV3, EV4 and EV5 which will join the recently updated EV6 GT in the line-up.

As new year’s resolutions go the Government’s pledge to reduce the number of people killed on British roads through a wide-ranging overhaul of road safety strategy is one we can all get behind. While this inevitably includes new and stricter rules and firmer enforcement of existing ones it’s not the ‘war on the motorist’ some might have feared, given the policy document acknowledges the shared responsibility between drivers, regulators, car manufacturers and local authorities to make our roads ever safer. You can read our detailed analysis here but, in short, the proposals include minimum learning periods so new drivers can build more experience before going for their licence, sight and competence tests for older drivers, stricter enforcement of drink and drug driving laws, alignment with European regulations for mandatory electronic driver safety aids and a new body to analyse what went wrong when accidents do occur to make sure they don’t happen again. – Dan Trent

Van news now and we’re looking at the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market as a whole… which declined by just over 10 per cent in 2025, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). While that doesn’t sound great, we still saw well over 315K new registrations with large vans proving to be the most popular category. However, the best news is that registrations of new electric vans rose by 36.2 per cent translating to over 30K more electric vans hitting the streets. The SMMT cautioned that while 2025’s electric van market share stood at 9.5 per cent and was a new annual record, it was still a way off the 16 per cent mandated by the Government adding that this reflected “a clear gap between ambition and reality”. There are now over 40 electric vans on the market to choose from, two of which we have more news about with Volkswagen confirming bigger batteries for its e-Transporters and e-Caravelles. The increase from 64kWh to 70kWh battery packs will now allow these vehicles to drive for up to 236 miles, a 13 per cent increase. Charging times will also decrease, with the example of a stop at a 125kW DC charging station seeing a 10 to 80 per cent charge achievable in around 30 minutes. This is the kind of incremental improvements we need to see in electric van technology to boost uptake. The closer these vehicles get to providing a similar range to what you’d get with a full tank of diesel the easier it will be to get people into them voluntarily. It’s only a matter of time. – Tom Roberts