Author: Sofia
Originally limited to 1,500 units in the U.S. for the 2023 model year, the Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition will now be available for 2024 as well. Toyota made the announcement on Thursday, though the automaker didn’t say whether production will still be limited. It did however confirm that production for the GR Corolla will be increased. Part of the reason for the limited supply is that the GR Corolla range is built at the Gazoo Racing factory in Motomachi, Japan, alongside the smaller GR Yaris sold overseas. Toyota cited strong demand as the reason for increasing production and extending…
Fernando Alonso made the switch from Alpine to Aston Martin for the 2023 Formula 1 season, and his new team is already making use of the two-time F1 champion’s star power with a video featuring Alonso behind the wheel of the Aston Martin DBX707 SUV. Alonso philosophizes about the perfect lap, noting that while computers can predict the limit, a driver’s intuition can exceed it. Yet, in a voiceover over a mock test session at an unnamed track, Alonso concedes that the perfect lap “is always out of reach.” The Spaniard’s handling of the DBX707 is dramatic but doesn’t seem…
A possible coolant pump problem for the HVAC system is causing Porsche to recall 24,467 units of the Panamera from the 2017 to 2020 model years. Bentley’s recalling 650 examples of the sibling 2020 Continental GT for the same issue. Porsche was notified of a malfunction in the external heat pump for the Panamera’s climate control in December 2022. An automaker investigation found that it’s possible for excess humidity or even liquid to get past the pump seals and short out the pump’s circuit board and connector. In rare instances, the malfunction could cause a fire. This can happen even…
Lamborghini celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2023 and has a number of events planned. One of these was the reveal this week of the Huracán STO Time Chaser_111100, a one-off Huracán STO with an exterior dressed up by Japanese artist IKEUCHI. IKEUCHI’s art work features a cyber-industrial style, with broken computer parts, electrical wiring, and plastic bits and pieces all utilized by the artist. For the Huracán STO Time Chaser_111100—the numerical component of the name is binary code for the number 60—IKEUCHI looked to combine elements from Lamborghini’s past to create something that looks like it might be from the future.…
Chinese auto giant Zhejiang Geely on Thursday introduced Geely Galaxy as a sub-brand of its mass-market Geely brand, aimed at buyers seeking upmarket cars equipped with either hybrid or fully electric powertrains. At a launch event held in Hangzhou, China, Geely showed two Geely Galaxy-branded vehicles, one a sleek sedan concept and the other a plug-in hybrid SUV that will start sales in China in the second quarter of 2023. There’s been no mention of sales in other markets. Geely said Galaxy will have a lineup spanning seven distinct models within two years, four of them plug-in hybrids and the…
Germany’s Sono Motors announced Friday that it will “terminate its Sion passenger car program,” effective immediately, and will instead focus on its solar solutions. Buried within the announcement was a glimmer of hope for those who would like to see the affordable solar car make it to market: Sono intends to sell its Sion program. The Sono Sion was scheduled to start production in Finland in the second half of 2023, with a claimed price as low as $25,000, including EU incentives. It has been a standout idea and a potentially disruptive product from the start as it aimed to…
Ford’s Explorer is about to go under the knife for a nip and tuck. Camouflaged prototypes for the updated three-row mid-size SUV have been spotted, hinting at some of the changes we can expect. Our spy photography caught prototypes for both the rugged Timberline and sporty ST grades, and the camouflage gear on the testers hints at new fascias front and rear, as well as revised lights. There are also some shots of the interior of the ST prototype. They reveal a new digital instrument cluster and a large landscape-oriented infotainment screen. The current Explorer features a small 8.0-inch infotainment…
Prototypes for the first electric sports car from Porsche have been spotted testing. The car is an electric next-generation 718 Boxster convertible, which was confirmed last March by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume for launch by 2025. An electric 718 Cayman coupe should also be in the pipeline. The prototypes are heavily camouflaged, but details like active shutters in the front fascia’s air intakes can be clearly seen, as can the light strip forming the taillights. The exhaust vent on the prototypes is fake to fool onlookers, and it appears an active rear wing might sit along the leading edge of…
Automakers are trying out subscription models for EVs as an alternative to traditional buying or leasing, but a new Deloitte report argues they may also play a somewhat surprising role in gasoline-car sales. With expected growth in EV adoption, concerns over the resale value of internal-combustion cars may drive subscription models, according to the report. This conclusion was based on a fall 2022 survey of more than 9,500 consumers in the U.S. and Europe, according to Deloitte. But that worry doesn’t always go in the direction we might expect. Of those surveyed, 57% of European consumers and 55% of U.S.…
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has expressed his desire to keep the internal-combustion engine alive in motorsport’s top echelon, despite the push by some automakers and governments to fully embrace electric vehicles. In an in-depth interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore published on Monday, Domenicali said F1 “will never go electric” when asked how the sport fits in the era of sustainability and electric mobility. He added that F1 aims to be carbon neutral by 2030, and that the lofty goal can be achieved by switching to 100% sustainable fuel—something F1 and its partners are developing in time…