Nico Hulkenberg in the #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid has taken the German sportscar maker to victory over sister company Audi. The car was also driven by Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.
Second place was claimed by the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber, and Timo Bernhard.
Audi filled the third and fourth spots with its Audi R18 e-tron quattro and the third Porsche car took fifth.
I’m all for cheap cars. What I’m not for is unnecessarily cheap cars. And if I was given a new, fresh-out-of-the-Thai-takeout-box Mirage, I’d probably give it right back.
“Apple CarPlay will debut in 2016 Cadillac models featuring CUE’s 8-in multi-touch screen except the SRX Crossover, a model that will move to an all-new generation in early 2016.”
Leave it to Cadillac to bury news of their SRX replacement – fully expected to be renamed XT5 – on the second paragraph of a press release about Apple CarPlay. After all, the SRX isn’t Cadillac’s most popular model or anything.
Oh wait – actually, it is.
Regulation. It dictates the majority of modern car design. Whether it be for pedestrian safety, crash worthiness, economies of scale, or fuel efficiency, the basic building blocks of modern cars are decided well before pencil is met with freshly-bleached paper (or, these days, before stylus meets tablet).
That last item – fuel efficiency – is as much a matter of aerodynamics as it is what’s under the hood, and aerodynamic efficiency isn’t just about fenders and trunk lids.
Which brings me to wheels – specifically, OEM wheels – and how absolutely ugly they’ve gotten the last few years.
They’re potent, popular and can’t be stopped. Everyone wants to buy one. Every dealer wants to sell one. Just like the crack-like epidemic of SUVs in the ’90s, the subcompact crossover is the blue meth of today.
Here’s what happened overnight.
Burt Reynolds and his 1977 Pontiac Trans Am in “Smokey and the Bandit”, complete with gold on black screaming chicken and honeycomb wheels, are solidly part of the zeitgeist of the late ’70s.
But what if they weren’t?
The stolen multi-generational single-family 1980 Toyota Celica Supra we reported on in May has been returned to its rightful owners.
Lois writes:
Hey! The car was recovered! In Eugene OR. Plates gone, ignition messed up, but otherwise in good condition!
Late to the party, Hyundai is working on a large SUV based on the luxury Genesis sedan, reports Reuters.
It’s part of a plan to turn around the Korean automaker’s misfortunes as its sales have slipped in contrast to record industry growth.
Subaru has a problem, though it’s a problem many other automakers would love to have. The small Japanese automaker is growing at a rapid rate and it’s fully expected to run out of capacity to fulfill demand sooner rather than later. Most automakers would simply expand and flood the market with more units to feed the sales rush, but for Subaru it might mean becoming the opposite of the market position and perception they’ve taken years to cultivate.
As Bloomberg‘s Kyle Stock puts it, “Being small, though, is the reason Subaru has become such a big deal. With manufacturing capacity maxed out, it now has to decide what kind of company it wants to be.”
As Richard Hammond and James May wrap up the “lost episodes” of Top Gear sans Jeremy Clarkson, the three are rumored to be heading to Netflix with the unsuspended pair turning down deals worth 4 million GBP.
Here’s what caught our eyes over the weekend.
When Sergio Marchionne picked the day for Ferrari’s IPO, it looks like he may have ignored the lawyers.
An offering of 10 percent of Ferrari on the open market, originally scheduled for this month, has been pushed back to October.
The image might be grainy making it difficult to see the details with clarity, this is the sixth-generation BMW 7-Series. Autocar was able to snap a screenshot of the new full-size luxury sedan as it popped up on one of BMW’s online configurators.
As we reported earlier, Clyde Campbell and a number of his associates, including his successor Veronica Johns and former boss Ernst Lieb by way of his Motorworld dealerships, are being named in a misappropriation case claiming $30 million AUD was funnelled out of company coffers.
This weekend, more details have come to light, including how Campbell was able to pilfer FCA funds without raising red flags in Detroit.
The story verges on conspiracy and includes the wife of Campbell, his successor, a formerly disgraced Daimler executive, a casino, a boat and extravagant homes paid for by FCA without its knowing. Even Campbell’s wife’s hairdresser received a free Jeep as part of the brand’s “ambassador” program.
Mark Hawthorne of The Sydney Morning Herald remarked, “It has all the makings of a Hollywood script. In Elizabeth Hurley, it even has the presence of a Hollywood star.”
As rumors swirl about the eventual release of the BMW M3 Touring, Theophilus Chin has put a couple of renders together of Bavaria’s hot D-pillared automobile.
Here’s what happened overnight (and stories we’ve missed over the last few days).
Updated with statement from Lincoln at bottom.
If rumors prove true, Lincoln could end its love affair with MK alphabet soup names with a new Aviator based upon the new Ford Explorer.
According to a second-hand source, TTAC has been told Ford engineers are working on a project internally called ‘Aviator’ based on the new Explorer. The source also stated there will not be a next-generation Ford Flex and will kill off the Lincoln MKT in the process.
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