Spy Shots

The BMW 3 Series is arguably Bimmer’s most popular model, and it’s about to go electric. The all-electric 3 Series is one of the 25 electric and electrified models that BMW has in the pipeline, and while most of those models will probably end up being electric crossovers and SUVs, the 3 Series EV is arguably the most intriguing, in part because it’s shaped as a sedan and has big shoes to fill.

Recent spy shots of a heavily camouflaged 3 Series sporting “Electric Test Vehicle” stickers recently made their way into the Interwebs, providing us with all we need to know that the car under all the swirly bits is nothing else but the electric 3 Series. There’s no set timetable on when the electric 3 Series will hit the market, but with testing ongoing, it wouldn’t be surprising to see BMW debut the model this year ahead of a possible launch in 2021.

The 2021 Volkswagen SMV is a brand-new SUV that the German firm will unleash on the Chinese market sometime in 2020. Based on a concept vehicle unveiled at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show, the SMV is slightly bigger than the Atlas, currently the company’s longest SUV.

Specifically, at 201 inches long the SMV is almost three inches longer than the Atlas, sold as the Teramont in China. The production model doesn’t have an official name yet, but it was spotted testing in cold weather in Sweden. But don’t get your hopes up, although Volkswagen is testing it in Europe, the SMV will be a China-only vehicle. Let’s find out more about it in the speculative review below.

The 2021 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT is an upcoming version of the Cayenne Coupe, a sleek SUV that Porsche originally introduced for the 2020 model year. Spotted testing in the wild with a different exhaust layout, the 2021 Cayenne Turbo GT is rumored to become the company’s range-topping model. It could also be a hybrid that generates more oomph than the already impressive Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid model. The fact that it was also spotted at the Nurburgring in the past suggests it will be more dynamic than any other Cayenne on the market. The equivalent of the 911 GT3 for SUVs if you will. The name is not yet official, but it could be called the Cayenne Coupe Turbo GT5, a badge that Porsche trademarked back in 2015.

Remember the excessively polarizing BMW Concept 4 shown at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show? Well, some of its distinctive styling cues are bound to be trickled down to the upcoming BMW 4 Series Coupé and we’ve already seen pics that suggest the oversized kidney grille is one such element.

Although we’ll have to wait a while to see the new 4 Series take a bow, our spy photographers caught a heavily camouflaged test mule and managed to sneak inside for a couple of interior shots. Read all about it and more in the in-depth review below.

The turn of the year marked the official demise of the BMW 6 Series in the U.S. But while it will no longer be offered in the U.S. market, the 6er will live on on the other side of the Atlantic. Proof of that comes in the form of new spy photos our eagle-eyed photographers culled of the soon-to-release, mid-cycle 6 Series Gran Turismo. Prototypes of the updated 6 Series GT have been spotted sporting barely enough camouflage to cover its entire body. A few physical changes are expected to come for the facelifted model, including some design cues that we’ve already seen in other new Bimmer models. The updated BMW 6 Series GT is scheduled to hit the market in the middle of 2020 as a 2021 model. It stands as the last 6 Series model in the market.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA is en route to receiving a plug-in-hybrid variant that would go under the 250 e badging. Info is scarce, but Stuttgart’s compact four-door coupé could be in line for the same powertrain used by the A-Class and B-Class PHEV.

On the design front, changes are to be of minimal impact both inside and out and will be resumed to new badging and the addition of plug-in sockets that would allow users to recharge their cars when not in use. Although there’s no word on a debut date, the 2020 Geneva Motor Show looks like a plausible launch platform for the CLA PHEV. Here’s everything we know so far.

BMW is set to launch an all-new 4-Series two-door sometime in 2019 or 2020, and while the G23 coupe version will not feature any dramatic changes over the current model, the G22 droptop will. Spy shots indicate that for the first time in two generations (E93 and F33), BMW is giving up on the folding hardtop design in favor of the more traditional soft top option which it last used on the E46 model discontinued in 2006.

Heavy camouflage covers the prototype spotted, but this important change is quite evident as the canvas top is left completely bare (quite obviously on purpose). It might be an illusion caused by the camo, but it also appears this new 4-Series has a longer hood and rear decklid compared to its predecessor.

Update 12/30/2019: The BMW 4 Series Convertible was caught on the back of a transport on the way to some final testing before its big debut. Check out the latest pictures in our “Spy Shots” section below.

The idea of a Lotus crossover might make some fans of the British sports carmaker a little squeamish, but if Lotus is going to stick around, it’s going to need a higher-volume model with more mass-market appeal. Lotus revealed that it’s developing a compact crossover in 2017, but we still don’t know much about its underpinnings and design. However, a batch of patent images that surfaced the Web provided some hints as to what the British crossover will look like, and our designer created a rendering of the vehicle.

So what do we actually know about this crossover so far? First, it will be built in China and launched exclusively in that market before expanding to Europe and Japan. No word on U.S. availability just yet, but it’s very likely that North America will get it too. Second, Lotus aims to win SUV enthusiasts with one of the lightest and most dynamic vehicles on the market. "The SUV market changes as well – it’s not just cars that are six feet high and wide now, it’s a huge market that’s becoming more segmented. There is a niche within that for a Lotus crossover that is light and aerodynamic and handles like nothing else," former Lotus CEO, Jean-Marc Gales told Autocar in October 2017. Lotus began testing the crossover in 2019, but the prototype is just an old Lynk & Co 01 model. As a reminder, Lynk & Co is owned by Geely, the same Chinese company that owns Lotus (and Volvo for that matter).

Updated 06/24/2019: Our spy photographers caught the very first mules for the upcoming Lotus SUV out for the first testing session.

The Genesis GV80 is the first SUV to wear the “Genesis” nameplate, but it won’t remain by itself for very long. Its smaller sibling, the GV70, is already scheduled to arrive in 2021, giving Hyundai’s upstart luxury brand a Development of the GV70 is ongoing, which explains the batch of spy photos we received from our eagle-eyed spy photographers. The SUV is still largely covered in camouflage wraps, but there are telling signs that the GV70 will share a lot of things with its big brother, not to mention its sedan counterpart, the G70.

The BMW X2 is barely two years old as a model and it’s already headed down the path of electrification. A prototype version of Bimmer’s relatively new compact crossover has been spotted in the snowy abode of Sweden, and while it’s easy to assume that said model is the plug-in hybrid variant of the X2, the truth is that it’s not.

This crossover is the test mule of the iX2, the all-electric version of the X2 crossover that will be launched sometime in 2021 or 2022. The spy photos captured the iX2 prototype sans any camouflage and that’s not by accident. Visually, it’s still the X2 but that little sticker that says “electric test vehicle” confirms that, other than a few design changes, this prototype is an all-electric crossover hiding in the X2’s clothing.

Mercedes’ lineup of electric crossovers and SUVs continues to take shape with a fresh batch of spy photos of a model that looks a lot like the Mercedes GLB-Class. Except this isn’t the GLB; this is the GLB’s all-electric alter ego, the EQ B. The spy photos were taken in Sweden where the EQ B is undergoing winter testing. Mercedes hasn’t divulged the juicy details of the EQ B, but it is believed that, among other things, it will largely take the form of the GLB, albeit with a few minor tweaks to reflect is all-electric stature. No timetable has been given on when the Mercedes EQ B will launch, but we do know that the all-electric crossover will not hit the U.S. market until 2021.

It’s a small crossover based on the 2021 Mercedes GLA Battery placement in the floor Could still take cues from EQA Concept Should go on sale sometime in late-2020 249-mile range, 60 kWh battery

Mercedes has finally unveiled the new GLA, and during the presentation, we were treated to a teaser of the Mercedes EQA EV – a model once believed to be an entry-level hatchback. The image was clear enough that we can confirm the EQA will, in fact, be a very small crossover, one that we’ve seen in the prototype form in the past. This raises a big question, though. Why isn’t the production version of the Mercedes EQA going to take after the Concept EQA that was shown off by Mercedes back in 2017, and what happened to the hatchback body style?

The 2021 Wiesmann MF 6 is an upcoming sports car built by the German company. A spiritual successor to the GT MF 5, the MF 6 is Wiesmann’s first production model since it went bankrupt in 2014. Reopened in 2016, Wiesmann confirmed a new sports car for 2020. The vehicle is known as Project Gecko and the MF 6 name has yet to be confirmed, but it’s a natural choice given that the new sports car is supposed to be an evolution of previous models. Wiesmann confirmed that the MF 6 will feature a BMW engine, just like its predecessors. A teaser video and sketches posted on the company’s website reveal a familiar design that reminds of the MF 5.