Author: News Room
Roughly every five years, BFGoodrich celebrates the November 14, 1976 launch of its Radial All-Terrain T/A tire. Here’s the hoopla from 2010, more from 2016, and a Facebook post from 2021. The Radial T/A was “the first light truck radial specifically designed for off-road recreational vehicle use” in a world of bias-ply competitors, at a time when many regular road cars still rode on bias-ply tires. BFGoodrich Company engineers began testing the tire in Baja in 1975. In 1976, the week before its launch, BFG ran an Oldsmobile Starfire in the Baja 1000 driven by Fritz Kroyer. The Olds was…
McLaren just introduced the new W1. Porsche will pull back the cover on its latest hypercar in a few months. Now, more than a decade after the introduction of the LaFerrari, Ferrari has a new flagship dubbed the F80. And just like the LaFerrari, this one hopes to rewrite hypercar history. The big news is what’s under the hood: A hybrid V-6. Ferrari chopped its iconic V-12 in half and slapped three electric motors into the powertrain. The 3.0-liter engine alone makes 900 horsepower, and when combined with the electric motors, the F80 has a total output of 1,184 hp.…
We’ve been focusing on Stellantis’ performance (or lack of it) in the United States, but how is the company doing in Europe? Well, much like in North America, not that great. Deliveries in the third quarter of the year fell by 17%. As if that wasn’t bad enough, production of yet another car will be paused because of slow demand. Assembled at the Pomigliano d’Arco factory in Italy, the aging Panda will be on a hiatus for several days next month. Why? Italian news agency Ansa claims Stellantis told unions “These measures are necessary to adapt production to current market…
Back in August 2021, Stellantis said Alfa Romeo would go purely electric in the Enlarged Europe, North America, and China regions by 2027. Fast forward to October 2024, Alfa’s outgoing CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato suggests that might not happen after all. Speaking at the ongoing Paris Motor Show, the 58-year-old executive hinted gas engines are likely to stick around longer than initially planned. Imparato told Auto Express that Santo Ficili, the upcoming Alfa Romeo CEO, “has the flex” to adopt a more versatile powertrain lineup for the new Stelvio and Giulia. If the purely electric versions of the SUV and sedan…
Mercedes is transitioning its portfolio to the 2025 model year in the United States where there are a bunch of notable changes. Even though it hasn’t been around for that long, the controversial AMG C-Class lineup is already getting a few updates. The C43 and C63 now have a third generation of the MBUX infotainment and a center airbag between the front seats. More importantly, there are hardware upgrades for both. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG C43 uses an uprated version of the turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline engine. The four-pot mill now makes 416 horsepower, an increase of 14 hp. Torque remains unchanged,…
BMW CEO Oliver Zipse called for an end to the 2035 EU combustion engine ban. He cites “pessimism” in the region and reliance on China for batteries as the main reasons. EV sales have largely dropped for most automakers through 2024 amid cooling demand. In early 2023, the European Union voted on strict emission regulations that effectively banned the sale of new vehicles with combustion engines. At the time, electric vehicle development was in overdrive and trends pointed to increasing demand, but alas, times have changed. BMW is now among a growing coalition calling for an end to the ban.…
Toyota added an eight-speed automatic transmission option for the 2025 GR Corolla. The automaker believes 80 percent of buyers will still choose the manual transmission. The 2025 GR Corolla reaches dealerships this winter. The Toyota GR Corolla cruises into 2025 with some minor updates and one major new option. Accompanying the standard-issue six-speed manual transmission is an eight-speed automatic, opening the hot hatch to buyers who are unwilling or unable to work three pedals. We’ve often seen buyers flock to automatics when they become available, but that might not be the case for the sporty GR Corolla. A Toyota spokesperson…
The P39 40th Special Edition is a heavily modified Porsche 911 Turbo S. RML Group upgraded the engine to make 900 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. The company is only building 10 of them. RML Group is a UK-based engineering company known for previous creations like the Nissan Juke-R and the street-legal Aston Martin Vulcan. The shop’s latest project, the P39 40th Special Edition, is based on the 992.1-generation 911 Turbo S—and it is one impressive performance car. The P39 40SE has a slightly longer wheelbase than the standard 911, a Le Mans-inspired carbon fiber body, and more power—a lot more. RML…
Hyundai has been on a hot streak with its N performance cars. First, we got the lovable Veloster N hatchback. Then there was the Kona N SUV and the Elantra N sedan. Eventually, Hyundai even extended its N badge to an EV—the Ioniq 5 N. Which, by the way, is excellent. While the Ioniq 5 N was Hyundai’s first performance EV, it certainly won’t be the last. The company has confirmed a new Ioniq 6 N based on the Ioniq 6 electric sedan. Like every other N car before it, the Ioniq 6 N will have more power, a stiffer…
Ferrari’s new hypercar will debut on October 17. A teaser video was posted, then removed, from Instagram showing a car under a red cover. Codenamed F250, it’s expected to be a V-6 hybrid with over 1,200 horsepower. At long last, Ferrari will have a new flagship hypercar to set our performance-loving hearts aflutter. We’ve seen camouflaged prototypes for the better part of a year, but that all goes away on October 17. By our watch, that’s less than 24 hours as this post goes live. And we’re so ready for it. Ferrari dropped a surprise teaser video on its social…