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Showing posts from July, 2018

2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera first drive review: dead serious, dead sexy

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Twelve-cylinder engines are an endangered automotive species. Only a handful are left: Mercedes and Maybach share one, and so do BMW and Rolls-Royce. Ferrari has its holdout—and it’s impossible to leave out Bentley’s W-12, though its offbeat cylinder layout makes it an outlier among outliers. The 2019 Aston Martin DBS...

Porsche designed Mission E Cross Turismo with self-driving tech in mind

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Porsche's Mission E Cross Turismo concept was the big surprise of March's 2018 Geneva auto show. It previews a potential soft-roader version of Porsche's upcoming Taycan electric sedan, and Porsche has been dropping hints that the Cross Turismo could make it into production at some point. Not everyone has been happy with the design, though. One...

Elon Musk says future Teslas will be like K.I.T.T. with AI

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Twitter makes it incredibly easy to gain insight into what Tesla CEO Elon Musk is thinking, for better or worse. On Sunday, Musk let slip on the social media platform that future Teslas will be reminiscent of K.I.T.T. of "Knight Rider" fame, complete with artificial intelligence. Musk replied to a Twitter user asking if we'll see K.I.T.T.-like...

BMW has no plans for a new Z4 M

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Just the other day, BMW made us smile as it remains committed to offering a manual gearbox on its performance models for the time being. Today is a new day, however, and that means it's a new chance for BMW to let us down. The automaker is achieving that goal with news that the redesigned BMW Z4 will not receive a dedicated M version. Remember the...

2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon recalled because cruise control can stay on

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More often than not, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon steals headlines due to its incredible performance and otherworldly specifications. This time, it's in the news because of a recall. Owners of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon will soon see notifications in their mailboxes as Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles plans to recall certain Demons due to a...

New website connects professional racing coaches with enthusiasts

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Want to rent a house in Michigan for the weekend? No problem, go to AirBnB and in a few clicks can have you in a lovely cottage on a lake. Looking to find a professional racing coach to sit right-seat during a track day or to help with launch timing at the dragstrip? A new website called MotorsportsCoach.com is launching to help connect...

Hungaroring F1 test: Giovinazzi blitzes Vettel's record for Ferrari

Antonio Giovinazzi lapped more than half a second quicker than Sebastian Vettel's official circuit record as he used hypersoft tyres to comfortably top day one of Formula 1's Hungaroring test

Ford GT that sold for $1.8M at auction is up for sale, again

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The controversial 2017 Ford GT that sold at Mecum's Indianapolis auction this past May is up for sale yet again. It's once again being sold by Mecum, this time at the auction house's Monterey Car Week sale. To recap this particular GT's story, the supercar sold at auction for $1.8 million in May and somehow skid past Ford's buyer agreement...

Stoffel Vandoorne 'feels back to normal' after F1's Hungarian GP

Stoffel Vandoorne says his performance in the Hungarian Grand Prix is "a good sign that everything is back to normal" after a miserable recent run of form in Formula 1

Hyundai i30 N long-term review

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Standard spec is good so paint colour is our car’s only option What’s Hyundai’s first hot hatch and N-brand debutant really like? Let’s find out Why we're running it: To determine whether Hyundai’s first stab at a hot hatch can stand up to its more established foes in everyday life Month 1 -  Month 2  - Month 3 - Month 4 -  Specs Life with a Hyundai i30 N: Month 4 The hot hatch pays a visit to its spiritual home, the Nordschleife - 27th June 2018 Forget Goodwood , Le Mans or Spa – for me, the greatest motorsport event is the Nürburgring 24 Hours . How so? Because nowhere else lets you get so close to such incredible racing. Trust me, once you’ve seen GT3 cars scream past old Calibras in the dead of night at the toughest circuit in the world, everything else seems sterile. Hyundai was competing at this year’s N24 with a pair of i30 N TCR cars, and invited us to bring our longtermer along. Rachel Burgess, our i30 N’s custodian, wasn’t available, but I most definitely

Faraday Future FF91, final Pagani Huayra, Porsche 911 GT3 Cabrio: Car News Headlines

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Electric car startup Faraday Future reached a major milestone recently with the construction of its first body-in-white for the FF91. With the milestone passed, the company is now confident of getting the FF91 delivered to customers by the end of 2018. Pagani has built the final example of the Huayra coupe, unless it decides later to build a few...

What to expect from Codemasters' F1 2018 game ahead of release

F1 2018 is the latest official Formula 1 video game from Codemasters and, as its August 24 release date edges closer, Autosport outlines what gamers can expect

BMW announces new £890 million factory in Hungary

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The new plant in Debrecen, Hungary, will have the capacity to produce up to 150,000 cars per year BMW has announced that it will build a new, €1 billion (£890 million) factory in Debrecen, Hungary, as it expands its European production.  The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 150,000 cars per year. It will employ over 1000 people and produce BMW-badged models . It brings the brand’s number of global factories to 18, with 13 of those in Europe. This makes sense, given that Europe takes nearly half of all BMW Group sales.  It’s not yet been announced which models will be produced at the plant, but, given that BMW has factories in the US and Asia, it’s likely that the plant will cater for European demand.  BMW Group boss Harald Krüger said: “The BMW Group’s decision to build this new plant reaffirms our perspective for global growth. After significant investments in China, Mexico and the US, we're now strengthening our activities in Europe to maintain a worldwide b

Mercedes admits Hungarian GP strategy too much for 'valiant' Bottas

Mercedes Formula 1 technical director James Allison believes Valtteri Bottas put in a "valiant" performance in the Hungarian Grand Prix but the team's strategy asked too much of his tyres

Uber ceases self-driving truck development to focus on cars

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Uber will park its self-driving truck development in order to focus more resources on self-driving cars, the company announced Monday. The ride-hailing giant originally got into the game in 2016 when it acquired a startup by the name of Otto that was developing self-driving technology for trucks. Otto was co-founded by Anthony Levandowski, the...

How F1 teams chased 'dirty downforce' gains in Hungarian GP

The Hungaroring is a challenge for Formula 1 drivers and engineers alike, and is often likened to Monaco but without the walls

Toyota's Project Portal fuel cell semi progresses to beta stage

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Toyota isn't giving up on its support of fuel cells and is instead working on applying the technology in both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The automaker already has a fuel cell car on sale in the form of the Mirai and has hinted at more offerings, including from its upmarket brand Lexus. Toyota doesn't have a fuel cell-powered...

Skoda Kodiaq GT: Chinese-market SUV-coupe leaked online

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Source: CarNewsChina Five-seat coupé version of Skoda's largest SUV has been leaked ahead of its debut at September's Chengdu motor show Pictures and details of the forthcoming Skoda  Kodiaq  GT have been leaked online ahead of the car's debut at the Chengdu motor show in September. The five-seat coupé version of Skoda's largest SUV follows in the tracks of the Audi Q8 , BMW X6 and X4 and Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupé and GLE Coupé , but at a significantly lower price point. Design changes over the regular Kodiaq include new bumpers and tail-lights, wider rear wheel arches, dual tail-pipes and, of course, a tapered roofline featuring a small spoiler. The Kodiaq GT will be manufactured for the Chinese market by joint venture SAIC-Volkswagen in Shanghai. It will go on sale by the end of the year, reports CarNewsChina , priced from around CNY220,000 (around £24,500). In the UK, the regular Kodiaq is priced from £21,895. Leaked figures suggest that the Kodiaq GT is 4

Bell steps down as Renault's F1 technical chief for part-time role

Bob Bell is switching from his role as the Renault Formula 1 team's chief technical officer to a part-time position as a technical advisor to the French manufacturer

Porsche Taycan: 592bhp, 310-mile range and sub-3.5sec 0-62mph time confirmed

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Customers are joining the waiting list for Porsche’s first all-electric car even though it hasn't yet been revealed; Porsche is slowly releasing performance figures, though Porsche has confirmed that its first full-electric car, the Taycan , will top 310 miles of range, sprint to 62mph in less than 3.5 seconds and produce more than 592bhp (600ps) from twin electric motors powering all four wheels. The 0-62mph figure puts the Taycan — called the Mission E when it was under development — one full second behind the full-fat Tesla Model S P100D, but more than half a second faster than the non-performance 100D. Porsche claims that acceleration is "well under" 3.5 seconds, stopping short of providing an actual figure, while it claims 124mph is achieved in less than 12 seconds. The electric range of 310 mile places it above the Model S 75D, but is up to 83 miles short of the 100D's claimed 393-mile range, as tested on the NEDC cycle.  Customers are already vying for to

Drive.ai self-driving taxi service starts trial in Texas

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Silicon Valley-based Drive.ai has become the latest firm offering rides to the public in a self-driving car. Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving unit Waymo has been running its Early Riders trial in Phoenix, Arizona for several months and plans to start a commercial service later this year. Aptiv's nuTonomy has also been running a trial with its own...

Faraday Future FF 91 on track for December customer deliveries

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Sino-American brand’s first body-in-white production car has been completed and its aim for first deliveries before the year’s end reiterated Customer deliveries of  Faraday Future’s first model, the FF 91  electric SUV, will commence by the end of the year, the Sino-American brand has announced.  The first body-in-white example of the car has been completed ahead of schedule at Faraday Future’s factory in Hanford, California , prior to production officially starting before customer deliveries commence in December.  Since the car’s debut at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Faraday Future claims it has been undergoing an intensive test procedure ahead of entering production. The company’s well-documented financial difficulties have dominated headlines, but recent fundraising rounds have put the project back on track, with 64,000 orders to fulfil.  Faraday Future has released a list of the production steps and processes involved in the construction of the FF 91, including

Hungaroring testing: Giovinazzi fastest for Ferrari on first morning

Antonio Giovinazzi set the pace for Ferrari on the opening morning of Formula 1's post-Hungarian Grand Prix test

Dan Ticktum's F1 test absence in Hungary goes back to 2016 ban

Red Bull protege Dan Ticktum's ineligibility to take part in Formula 1 testing is a legacy of his 2016 ban from racing, FIA race director Charlie Whiting has explained

Renault needs to solve 'unacceptable' F1 tyre issues in Hungary test

Renault says this week's Hungaroring test will be crucial in helping it address its understanding of Pirelli's Formula 1 tyres, which team boss Cyril Abiteboul says is currently "not acceptable"

Rival F1 teams compromise Force India sale plans

The efforts of Force India administrator FRP Advisory to sell the team in the coming days could be compromised by opposition from three rival teams

Faraday Future hits key milestone with first FF91 body-in-white

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Electric car startup Faraday Future appears to be back on track with development of its first model, the FF91, following a rough couple of years resulting from cash shortages and a senior executive exodus. The company on Monday announced it has completed the first body-in-white for the FF91 at its plant in Hanford, California. It's the first time...

Skoda Karoq Scout confirmed for Paris motor show debut

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Toughened four-wheel-drive small SUV gets three engines, styling tweaks and upgraded equipment Skoda will take the Karoq Scout  — a more off-road-friendly version of the Karoq, its Nissan Qashqai rival — to the Paris motor show in October.  The Karoq Scout gets four-wheel drive as standard and, in line with other Scout models in the Czech brand’s line-up, hardy styling and additional equipment over the standard car.  It’ll be launched with three engine options — a 148bhp  1.5-litre petrol engine and a 2.0-litre diesel with 148bhp or 187bhp. The lower-powered diesel is the only one to get a manual gearbox as an option.  On the outside, the Karoq Scout is marked out by a metallic rear bumper, scuff plates and sump guard. The model gets 18in wheels as standard, with  19in alloy wheels  an option,  as well as exclusive badging and tinted windows.  The interior also has exclusive touches; the seat upholstery gets bespoke Scout badging and brown highlights to illustrate that it'

Blue flags to lap cars made Gasly aware how good Hungarian GP was

Pierre Gasly realised how well his Hungarian Grand Prix was going when he saw blue flags being waved for the Formula 1 drivers he was lapping, not for himself

F1 2019 front wing designs make on-track debut in Hungary testing

Williams, Force India and Red Bull provided a first on-track glimpse at Formula 1's 2019 front wing regulations on the opening morning of the two-day test in Hungary

2019 Mercedes-Benz B-Class spy shots and video

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Mercedes-Benz engineers are approaching the final stages of testing prototypes for a redesigned B-Class minivan. The car represents just one of eight body styles Mercedes plans for its new-generation compact car family, the first two members of which are the redesigned A-Class hatchback and new A-Class sedan. Others will include replacements for...

Autocar confidential: Porsche Taycan progress, Mini’s Union flag lights, Skoda starts online sales & more

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Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up this week's gossip from across the automotive industry This week's snippets of automotive gossip include news on the Porsche Taycan , the reception to  Mini’s Union Jack tail-light design, Renault Mégane sales and Skoda introducing online car buying.  Porsche Taycan orders begin:  Customers have begun vying for top position on the waiting list for the Porsche Taycan, even though the production version has yet to be revealed, UK boss Alexander Pollich has said. He did not confirm numbers for the car, which will be unveiled next year, but called the response “fantastic”. He added: “The history of Porsche began with an electric car in 1898 and that provides some inspiration and motivation for us. There was a big gap, but we have led with the introduction of hybrids and now we will use our heritage and learnings to offer a class-leading electric car.” Mini’s Union flag tail-lights:  The reaction to the updated Mini’s conspicuo

Pagani Huayra L'Ultimo is 100th and final Huayra coupe

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Pagani calls this it's final Huayra coupe. The nickname L'Ultimo has even been applied, which translates to "The Last" in Italian. Yes, this is the 100th Huayra built, and it's a tribute to Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who in a recent interview said Pagani's first car, the Zonda, is "terrible to drive." Miami-based luxury car dealer...