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This week, I've been over to Coventry's Advanced Technology centre, to preview the new mid size SUV from Alfa Romeo; the Tonale (rhymes with finale). The Tonale, according to Alfa, signals La Metamorfosi; the company's radical evolution to a new era of connectivity and electrification. Although it shares a platform with a number of sister brand Jeep models, Tonale has been reconfigured to deliver the characteristic Alfa Romeo driving dynamics; the team responsible for the Giulia GTA suspension were involved here. Steering feel is, according to Alfa engineers, the most direct in its class, that class comprising the Volvo XC40, the Audi Q3, Benz GLA, and Range Rover Evoque. Two propulsion methods will be available in the UK: A 160bhp, Miller cycle, 48v mild hybrid, equipped with an extra clutch, making it possible to move slowly, queue in traffic, and remain at a constant motorway speed powered only by electricity. The plug in hybrid electr...

In April 2016, Parliament enacted legislation enabling councils to remove out of date and unnecessary road signs. Nearly 6 years  later, and the difference is negligible, but the intention behind it is admirable. Road signs as we know them today really began in 1963, when the British Government commissioned a review into the signage used on the nation’s roads. The Worboys Report (named after the chair of the committee, ICI’s Sir Walter Worboys) re-defined and standardised the signage in use, replacing the inconsistent, localised, often incoherent and ill-placed text-based warnings, with the clear, pictogram versions that we know today.  Against a background of an enormous increase in car ownership, the governments of the 50’s and 60’s were tasked with modernising the road network, which, with the exception of the M1 (opened 1959) was still recognisably pre-war. The combination of confusing signs, a young population eager to enjoy the freedom of the road, no drink driving laws,...