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Thursday, March 5, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for March 5, 2020

Mar 05, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2020 Geneva Motor Show Mega Photo Gallery | The auto show that wasn't

The 2020 Geneva Motor Show didn't take place in Geneva this year. Instead, it played on computer screens across the world. Most of the car companies that would have debuted cars at the show decided to host livestream reveals of their own. That means …

2021 Genesis G80 takes its luxury credentials upmarket

This far sharper, third-generation 2021 Genesis G80 midsized sedan could be the one to break through the luxury glass ceiling. The G80 was already a handsome four-door with responsive handling and noteworthy luxury touches. Design-wise, in joining th…

2020 Honda CR-V Touring Review | Road-tripping Honda's jack of all trades

Over the past two decades, the Honda CR-V has embodied Honda's reputation for building durable, comfortable and user-friendly family cars that don't require a ton of unscheduled attention (aside from a brief hiccup with transmission reliability). As …

2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S First Drive | Behold, the 603-horsepower spa

LOS ANGELES – When the Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG debuted at the turn of the century, it seemed like an anomaly. The hot-rodded SUV raised the question, what was it for? Its sport suspension limited its on-road comfort, and for outright speed it made mor…

Cadillac Celestiq, Lyriq, Hummer, other future GM electric cars: Here's everything we saw at 'EV Day'

WARREN, Mich. — Today, General Motors held an "EV Day" event at its Warren, Michigan, campus to present its new "Ultium" battery technology , modular electric vehicle architecture and soon-to-come electric vehicles . Unfortunately, we were forbidden fr…

Electric Jaguar XJ spied testing at high speed on frozen roads

The image gallery above represents our best look yet of the soon-to-be-reborn Jaguar XJ. Unlike the sedan's first 50 or so years, this one is electric, which makes sense considering the original mission statement for Jag's flagship people hauler was …

'The Batman' will introduce a new, hot rod Batmobile

We've gotten our first look at the new Batmobile today care of "The Batman" director Matt Reeves, who shared the latest incarnation of the iconic comic and movie car on Twitter in a series of polished promotional photos showing off a muscular, retro-…

Porsche's brightest minds clash over whether the sacred 911 should go hybrid

The emblematic Porsche 911 hasn't adopted electrification yet in spite of the endless rumors claiming it would. The current-generation model (pictured) was developed with zero-emissions powertrains in mind, and prototypes are being tested around the …

Why Jaguar Land Rover's Havn ride-hailing service sounds nicer than Uber or Lyft

Havn is a new app-based ride-hailing service that has launched in London, and promises a more upscale experience than Uber, Lyft, or the city's characteristic black cabs. Havn is backed financially by Jaguar Land Rover, and it exclusively uses Jaguar…

Roland Gumpert Nathalie is a methanol fuel-cell supercar because why not

Roland Gumpert launched his Apollo more than 10 years ago, eventually losing his fearsome coupe to insolvency and Consolidated Ideal TeamVentures . Gumpert, however, was working on more models, one of them called the Explosion , shown in Geneva in 2014…

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for March 4, 2020

Mar 04, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

The Koenigsegg Gemera has a floating, spinning camera on its dashboard

The Koenigsegg Gemera , a clean-sheet four-seat performance hybrid, debuted this week and instantly became one of the most stunning debuts of the year. But with all the hullabaloo about the two extra seats and the trick engine setup, most people overl…

2021 Ford Bronco details emerge on what that seventh gear is for

Magna Powertrain, formerly known as transmission-maker Getrag, posted a spec sheet on its Getrag-Ford site that laid out a few specs on the 5/6/7MTI550 gearbox. The "5/6/7" indicates the number of potential gears. This is the same gearbox that Bozi T…

Aston Martin V12 Speedster is a $950,000 exotic dream that's wild as the wind

The roofless, windshield-less, ultra-rare, ultra-expensive supercar space is getting busy. We had the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 ; then we got the McLaren Elva , and now the Aston Martin V12 Speedster is joining the ranks. McLaren will let you add a win…

Porsche working on a lightweight 911 Turbo

With the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S , Porsche copied the launch template it laid out for the Carrera, debuting the hotter S model first. The head of the carmaker's 911 product line, Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, explained the launch cadence to Auto Expres…

2021 Audi E-Tron GT spied looking just like the concept

Despite having seen the concept over a year ago in L.A., and even driving it , it's a bit surprising that this is the first time one of our spy photographers has caught a glimpse of the Audi E-Tron GT. Even though it has been a long wait, fans of the …

[VIDEO] Tesla unleashes Model 3 Track Mode V2 update, even Track Package parts

Tesla just dropped two performance-minded upgrades for the Model 3 Performance with the Performance Upgrade, one of them a software update, the other actual bolt-on performance parts. Owners will shortly have Track Mode V2 uploaded over-the-air to th…

2020 VW Atlas Cross Sport First Drive | More and less of a good thing

VANCOUVER, B.C. – You can never have too many SUVs, right? Certainly seems that way considering that more than half of new vehicle sales are going to them, and it's a trend that Volkswagen is seeing in its own lineup, where take-rate percentages are …

Ford Transit electric commercial vans coming to U.S. and Canada for 2022

In this age of Amazon, delivery to your door has become the biggest of businesses, and delivery by any means, from piece-workers' personal vehicles to USPS postal trucks to, someday, pizza robots — but most especially, delivery by cargo vans. Amazon …

Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport: born to speed (and drift) through the twisties

Bugatti made automotive history in 2019 when it built a long-tail variant of the Chiron that was still accelerating when it smashed through the 300-mph barrier . With the speed record broken and set, the French company wants to prove it also knows a t…

Car sales in China fall 80% in February on coronavirus epidemic

BEIJING — Passenger car retail sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, fell 80% in February because of the coronavirus epidemic, one of the country's industry associations said on Wednesday. The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said i…

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for March 3, 2020

Mar 03, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Koenigsegg Gemera hybrid has 1,700-hp, and you can bring all your friends

The rumor was right. Koenigsegg has just unveiled the Gemera, an all-new member to the family that sports four seats, two scissor doors, and a massively powerful hybrid powertrain that still allows for pure electric driving. In the same breath, Koeni…

2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S revealed as the quickest and most powerful yet

Porsche isn't letting the rampant coronavirus ruin its surprise. The new 911 Turbo S that had been scheduled to break cover at the now-canceled 2020 Geneva Motor Show has made its debut online with a generous 60-horsepower bump over its celebrated pr…

Alfa Romeo's Giulia Quadrifoglio gets the GTA treatment

Alfa Romeo will celebrate 110 years of building some of the world's most emotional driving machines with a brand-new Giulia Quadrifoglio GTA. GTA, which stands for "Gran Turismo Alleggerita," is a throwback to the 1965 Giulia Sprint GT, which first g…

2020 Audi S4 First Drive | Sport sedan refreshed and relevant

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. — That the most significant changes to the 2020 Audi A4 lineup, which includes the A4, A4 Allroad and S4, are its revised sheetmetal and a new infotainment system should tell us something: We're likely halfway through the life…

Hyundai says the Prophecy concept illustrates the ultimate automotive form

Hyundai is on a quest to extract complexity from its design department in order to make its cars purer and more minimalist. It introduced a concept named Prophecy to illustrate the direction it will take future electric models in. The company calls …

Bentley Mulliner Bacalar is so bespoke, it's a whole different car

Bentley talks a lot about "bespoke" — the customized elements done at the hands of its Mulliner division — but the newly unveiled Bentley Mulliner Bacalar takes the idea to a new level. This isn't just a unique paint color or a special upholstery fab…

BMW i4 Concept First Look | Golden grilles

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Our brave new world of digital debuts and virtual press conferences makes the spread of automotive news instant and effortless. But there's no substitute for laying eyes on fresh sheetmetal in the flesh. Thanks to a rare case…

2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class refresh brings All-Terrain and PHEV models to America

The 2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class is getting a thorough styling update for the new model year, plus a few other detail changes. The V6 is gone, America is finally getting the All-Terrain wagon, and there's a plug-in hybrid sedan on the way. Unsurprisin…

Mansory Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible is gaudy and green to the max

Mansory is all about excess, and if the Geneva Motor Show were going on, all visitors to its booth would likely need eye protection upon entering. Take this Mansory Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible for an example. The exterior paint may be matte…

The Mansory Venatus is a widebody Lamborghini Urus that could scar your retinas

Nothing says, "I am a person of exquisite taste with an appreciation for subtlety " quite like the purchase of a Lamborghini Urus, but there are some in the world for whom that is not enough, people who need just a little bit more if they're to be pro…

Monday, March 2, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for March 2, 2020

Mar 02, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

How to drive the 2020 Corvette C8 for $300

The National Corvette Museum (NCM) isn't just getting one C8 Corvette , or two, or three. The NCM Motorsports Park currently has seven mid-engined Corvettes on order, and they're already built waiting to ship to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the muse…

Audi E-Tron S and E-Tron Sportback S add a motor, bursts of 496 hp

Audi is next out of the Volkswagen Group gate with hot versions of its battery-electric rides. The Ingolstadt automaker announced S versions of the E-Tron and E-Tron Sportback, which add power and performance by adding a third motor to the drivetrain…

[VIDEO] See the Fisker Ocean electric crossover on video for the first time

We've already seen the Fisker Ocean crossover in the flesh at its global debut at CES 2020 , but, as always, that was just the beginning of its story. Fisker had planned on bringing its new electric car to the Geneva Motor Show, but, sadly, the entire…

2020 Audi Q7 First Drive | Still too small?

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Point the 2020 Audi Q7's octagonal maw up California's Route 243 and the three-row luxury ute's stoic body control, just-right gear selection and right-now power delivery define an SUV that's at once a respectable driving tool,…

2020 Lincoln Navigator gets a price bump as sales stay strong

The Lincoln Navigator is still doing the business on dealer lots, and as sales climb, so do the prices. CarsDirect reports the flagship SUV's MSRP has gone up again as of February, a letter to dealers explaining that the bump "continues to keep the L…

Volvo dealers say C40 compact electric crossover, big XC100 coming

Two long-lived rumors about Volvo products step closer to tangible reality. A new Volvo product to slot in under the XC40 has been rumored for at least 14 years, when Volvo tuner Heico Sportive built an XC30 in 2006 using a C30 hatchback. Come 2011, …

2020 Mazda3 gets five-star overall rating from NHTSA

Mazda is adding another figurative piece of silverware for its heralded Mazda3 , this time in the form of a five-star overall rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The designation applies to both the hatchback and four-door s…

KNine Racing cross-breeds a Ford F-150 Raptor and a UTV

Irish outfit KNine Racing saw the hole between a UTV and the Ford F-150 Raptor and decided to fill it. As The Drive tells it , the result is called Mini Raptor, which places a sealed cabin, convenience features, and Raptor-like bodywork on top of a Ca…

Japan sends official to Lebanon over fugitive Carlos Ghosn

BEIRUT — Japan's deputy justice minister met top officials in Lebanon on Monday over the case of Nissan's fugitive ex-boss, Carlos Ghosn, who fled to his home country late last year while on bail in Japan and awaiting trial. Ghosn was arrested in la…

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Ford LTD Sedan

Ford extracted an amazing amount of value from its rear-wheel-drive Fox platform , which stayed in production from the 1978 model year through 2005 (if you consider the SN95 Mustang to be a true Fox, as I do), and we don't have space here to list ever…