Best Shots: August 2020

Monday, August 31, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for August 31, 2020

Aug 31, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye starts at $80,000

This year the 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye becomes the most powerful factory Charger ever. And, big surprise, it's the most expensive Charger in the lineup, with a base price of $80,090 including the $1,495 destination charge. That's also a …

Jeep Grand Wagoneer teased yet again with an homage to Detroit

While Jeep seems quite pleased with their "Wagoneer Wednesday " silliness, Fridays seem to be the true payoff for those of us looking for substantial updates on the revival of Jeep's family-hauler nameplate. With the Grand Wagoneer just days away from…

2021 Acura TLX 2.0T begins production, but the Type S will have to wait

The 2021 Acura TLX is officially rolling off the assembly line in Marysville, Ohio. This marks the beginning of a new generation for the Acura, which promises to be "the quickest, best-handling and most well-appointed sport sedan in the brand's 35-ye…

Ferrari 812 Superfast variant spied, could be a GTO

The chance to buy a new, naturally aspirated V12-powered Ferrari is closing, and the camouflaged 812 Superfast we're looking at here is likely going to be one of the last. Our spy photographer caught two 812s running around, but the changes are simil…

Lucid explains why its first production car is a sedan, not an SUV

California-based Lucid will introduce its first car, an electric sedan named Air, on September 9. Waltzing onto the increasingly crowded EV scene with a sedan in a market dominated by crossovers and SUVs might sound counter-intuitive, but the company…

Former Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko dies at 71

TOKYO — Former Mitsubishi Motors Chief Executive Osamu Masuko, who engineered the Japanese automaker's alliance with Nissan, has died. He was 71. Masuko was named a special adviser to the company when he resigned for health reasons as of Aug. 7 . Mit…

Tesla worked with the FBI to block a million dollar ransomware attack

Earlier this week, the FBI arrested a 27-year-old Russian citizen for attempting to carry out a ransomware attack against a US company. It turns out that company was Tesla, Electrek reports. According to a complaint shared by the Department …

Continental's 'corporate confessional' sheds light on Nazi past

"Corporate confessionals" are a long-standing (albeit unfortunate) tradition for German businesses that were tapped to fuel the Nazi war machine. The list of companies with ties to the Third Reich includes everything from consumer staples such as Bay…

Android 11 will offer wireless Android Auto features on most phones

Once Android 11 rolls out, the list of phones that can use wireless Android Auto will grow considerably. Google has updated Android Auto's FAQ page (as spotted by 9to5Google ) to add that almost all devices installed with the upcoming mobile OS will g…

[VIDEO] Wendell Scott — the first Black American full-time competitor in NASCAR

Wendell Oliver Scott was the first Black American full-time competitor in NASCAR history. During the time period of the Civil Rights Movement, Wendell Scott loved nothing more than to grab the steering wheel and go as fast as he could on the race tra…

Friday, August 28, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for August 28, 2020

Aug 28, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Chevy Corvette Z06 rumor suggests 9,000 rpm redline from flat-plane crank V8

It's time to head back to Rumor Town with the Chevrolet Corvette. This time, Motor Trend says it has a scoop on the upcoming Z06 and ZR1 versions of the mid-engine sports car. Although, if what MT claims is true, we might as well just call them super…

Chevrolet explains how it's keeping the C8 Corvette's hood from flying open

Chevrolet leveraged the eighth-generation Corvette 's over-the-air software updating system to address reports of hoods flying open while the car is moving. In a video, above, posted on YouTube, Tadge Juechter, the model's executive chief engineer, us…

GM moves Corvette engineering team members to EV and AV division

The shovels over at InsideEVs hit pay dirt yesterday. As the outlet described it, an internal memo from GM's EVP of global product development, Doug Parks, moves members of the Corvette engineering team from global products programs to the autonomous…

Chrysler 300 soldiers on for 2021 with pared-down range, higher price

Chrysler's last remaining sedan, the 300, will enter the 2021 model year with fewer trim levels and a higher price, according to a recent report. The 2021 model will be the second-generation 300's 10th year on the American market. Well-informed webs…

First 2021 Ford Bronco-involved wedding proposal happens at Michigan Central Station

What do you get when you combine a Ford Bronco , Michigan Central Station and a diamond ring? A car fan's version of "happily ever after," according to this report from Fox 2 . Taylor McQueen was a huge Bronco fan, so when her boyfriend Daniel Kubistec…

2021 Kia Seltos falls short of IIHS Top Safety Pick

The 2021 Kia Seltos missed out on an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick award due to under-performing headlights, the organization announced Thursday. Kia's new baby SUV aced the safety watchdog's crash safety and collision…

Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque: Here's what's coming up

Land Rover has given the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque a raft of updates and a couple of special editions, some of which we expect to head our way, perhaps for the 2021 model year. What we don't expect in the U.S. are two new 2.0-liter Ingen…

Ex-UAW President Williams charged in union fund scandal

DETROIT - The former president of the United Auto Workers, Dennis Williams, was charged in Detroit on Thursday with conspiring with other union officials to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars in UAW funds, U.S. prosecutors said. The charging …

Hyundai is investigating why the Palisade's interior smells foul

Carmakers are increasingly putting scent dispensers in their models . Hyundai's flagship Palisade SUV seemingly has one, too, but it wasn't added intentionally, and some owners complain that it smells utterly rank. Exploring the depths of online foru…

Bollinger Motors announces Deliver-E electric delivery van

Bollinger Motors hasn't yet begun production of its B1 and B2 electric off-road trucks , but it's already using their underpinnings for an expanded product portfolio. We've already seen its E-Chassis and B2 Electric Chassis Cab it will offer for elect…

Thursday, August 27, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for August 27, 2020

Aug 27, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2020 Jack Roush Edition Mustang First Drive | All sizzle, no snake

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — "Jack Roush Edition Mustang" may be a bit of a mouthful, especially considering it doesn't really tell you much, but rest assured, this supercharged 2020 Ford Mustang GT with a Shelby GT500-topping 775 horsepower is every bit as nut…

2021 Kia Stinger engine details revealed, and it's getting more power

Powertrain details on the updated Kia Stinger are out, and the theme is more power. We got to see the revised looks a couple of weeks ago , but the information out of Korea today completes the picture of what the Stinger will soon look like. Kia is a…

Ford's gamer-designed race car looks ready for Le Mans in 2060

The 647-horsepower GT is no longer the flagship of the Ford lineup; at least not in the video game world. The company introduced a virtual race car named Team Fordzilla P1 that explores what a track-bred hypercar could look like in a few decades. It'…

2021 Porsche 718 Boxster has the classic Porsche sound

The 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0 and its hardtop twin the Cayman represent a return of the naturally aspirated flat-six engine to the 718 line beyond the very limited edition GT4 and Spyder variants . It gains power compared with the previous four…

Watch cars park themselves at Ford, Bosch, Bedrock garage in Detroit

DETROIT — So after the coronavirus threat has passed, you head downtown for a baseball game. You get to the parking garage, and using an app on your phone, you link your SUV to the garage's computers and sensors, and the SUV finds a spot on the fourt…

Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo launch delayed

Porsche will launch a more spacious variant of its Taycan electric car later than planned, citing strong demand for the initial model in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Cross Turismo version of the vehicle will debut in early 2021 instead…

Ford is open to selling the Baja-ready Bronco R racer to customers

Ford previewed the 2021 Bronco by entering a purpose-built, high-performance prototype in the 2019 edition of the Baja 1000. The super-SUV is scheduled to race in the 2020 event, again backed by the Blue Oval's official team, and one of the company's…

As Tesla talks about going smaller, Honda's first all-electric car is already there

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — Many automakers are betting on sedans and SUVs in the switch to electric cars. And Tesla is only now realizing that it needs a cheaper, smaller hatchback for overseas markets. But Honda already has that car, deciding smaller is be…

Mercedes-AMG SL Roadster teased as it begins public road testing

We've seen spy photos of the next-generation Mercedes-AMG SL Roadster recently, but now Mercedes has seen fit to release its own images. The photos come as Mercedes announces the car is beginning testing on public roads. There isn't much else Mercede…

Lister Stealth debuts as a reworked Jaguar F-Pace SVR with 195-mph top speed

The Lister Jaguar F-Pace is here, and according to Lister, it's "Britain's fastest and most powerful SUV." Top speed is 195 mph. Bentley might like a word about this claim, as it considers the Bentayga Speed to be the fastest SUV in the world. Howeve…

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for August 26, 2020

Aug 26, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Porsche unveils updated 2021 Panamera with new looks, more punch

Porsche has pulled the sheet off the 2021 Panamera, giving us details on its updated styling, some engine upgrades and even a couple of tweaks to the model hierarchy. The highlight of the '21 Panamera is an overhauled V8 engine. Porsche says it mad…

2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E First Edition was sold out, but not anymore

Turns out the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E First Edition isn't as "sold out" as we were initially led to believe . Ford has decided to re-open the books for the limited edition first year model, but it's not doing it in a normal fashion. Instead of allo…

2021 Mazda CX-5 gains new infotainment, cheaper entry for the Turbo

Mazda has updated the 2021 Mazda CX-5 with a couple notable changes in the new model year. It's the brand's best seller by a longshot, and we think buyers of the 2021 car will like what Mazda has done. The infotainment system is new this year, as Ma…

2021 Ford Bronco gets estimated package pricing in buyer survey

Ford has begun sending certain 2021 Bronco reservation holders what the automaker describes as "an advance ordering survey to help us understand consumer demand for certain features on the new Bronco." The responses will help Ford product planners un…

Porsche 911 GT3 RS looks like a race car in new spy photos

The Porsche 911 GT3 RS represents the most hardcore, track-focused naturally aspirated version of the sports car available. The newest version, spotted for the first time in these spy photos, looks like it might be the most outrageous yet. At least i…

[VIDEO] GM offers first official 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV glimpse in teaser

The GM rollout of the next generation of electric cars is underway. We saw a lot of what's to come back in March at the automaker's EV Day at its Warren, Michigan, design center. Cameras were forbidden, but among the vehicles we saw were the updated …

2020 Audi S7 Road Test | Sportback fans sign up here

The 2020 Audi S7 is a German technological tour de force. Its taillights and headlights greet the owner with a welcoming light show upon pressing the unlock button. Electric, soft-close doors whir shut luxuriously. An array of three impressive HD scr…

Lucid Air battery capacity, cargo volume revealed

After Lucid Motors recently told us it had downsized the Air electric luxury sedan's long-rang battery from 130 kilowatt-hours to an undisclosed capacity, and still managed to get a projected range of 517 miles from it, we were impressed. Today, Luci…

Hyundai Kona and Kona N sharpen their teeth with shark-inspired look

The Hyundai Kona is but a couple of years old, and there's already an update on the way. The South Korean automaker teased the redesigned faces for the standard Kona and the spunky Kona N, revealing that the subcompact crossover is about to get provo…

2020 Volvo S60 T8 Long-Term Update | 10,000-mile checkup

It's been about seven months since we took delivery of our 2020 Volvo S60 T8 long-term tester. At the start, all of us here at Autoblog were taking turns in the luxurious and quick Swedish sedan. Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, that's changed dra…