Cars

An SUV is not part of McLaren’s plans, now or in future. McLaren’s design chief, Mark Roberts, made that clear at an event preceding the 2019 Canadian International Auto Show. According to Roberts, McLaren isn’t going to stray away from its core identity as an automaker that delivers the “ultimate driving experience.” Since McLaren believes that developing an SUV strays from that identity, it’s not a question of “if” the company ends up building one, as it is “when” we’re going to stop thinking it will. It’s not happening. Not now. Not in the future. So stop wishing for a McLaren SUV to one day enter our lives. Unless the automaker undergoes a dramatic shift in philosophy, you have a better chance of seeing a 150-horsepower Ferrari city car than a McLaren SUV.

The wait for Lamborghini’s first hybrid supercar will come to an end at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. The yet-to-be-named hybrid monster is a touchpoint for the Italian automaker as it lays the foundation for its own hybrid plans for the future. For now, the hybrid supercar goes by the name “LB48H.” Details are still scarce at this point, but Lamborghini is expected to take styling cues from the Terzo Millenio EV Concept it unveiled last year and graft them onto the hybrid supercar. This model also holds the distinction for being the rarest among all hybrid exotics that have been released in recent years. Lamborghini’s building only 63 units — the 63-car volume is a nod to 1963, the year Lamborghini was born — and, unfortunately for all of us, all 63 units are already accounted for.

Four years after dropping jaws on the floor of the North American International Auto Show, we learn the Hyundai Santa Cruz Concept could finally come to our lives in the next few years. Just don’t expect the production version to look anything like the concept that caused a ruckus in Detroit back in 2015. Time is the biggest culprit behind this shift. It’s been four years since Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz, and a lot has changed within Hyundai during that time. The company’s new decision-makers are taking a different approach from the regime that championed the concept’s production back then. It remains to be seen how the different stylistic approach affects the production model’s appeal, but that’s also just one of many questions that Hyundai needs to answer before the production pickup arrives.

The Porsche 911 GT3 has been around since 1999, continuing Stuttgart’s habit of unleashing high-performance spec iterations of its iconic sports car originally started in the ‘70s with the incredible Carrera RS. Now, with the imminent arrival of an all-new 911 (also known as the 992 generation) by the end of 2018, we’ve been waiting for details on the next GT3. Luckily, it looks like we got just that, as our spy photographers snapped a few shots of a possible undercover 992-spec GT3 out and about undergoing some cold weather testing. As such, we drew up a quick speculative review on what to expect.

Updated 02/19/2019: Our spy photographers caught the upcoming 911 GT3 out for a new testing session, this time during cold winter conditions. The car is expected to make its world debut at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

Continue reading to learn more about the 2020 Porsche 911 GT3.

Subaru will add another study to its Viziv line of concepts that it’s been parading at motor shows over the past half-decade. This latest one, the seventh in the series, is called Subaru Viziv Adrenaline, and it’s set to make its debut next month, at the 2019 Geneva motor show.

The 2019 Ford Focus ST is the performance-oriented version of the fourth-generation Focus, a hatchback unveiled in 2018. Introduced in February 2019, the new Focus ST brings many changes to the table, including a bigger EcoBoost engine, more power than ever, and state-of-the-art technology. Unlike its predecessors, the new Focus ST won’t come to the U.S., as Ford decided to stop offering most of its passenger cars in North America. The previous-gen Focus ST was already more powerful than its main competitor, the Volkswagen Golf GTI, and the new hatchback takes things up a notch. Rated at 276 horsepower, it’s also more powerful than the Hyundai i30 N with the Performance Package, which places the Focus ST at the top of its segment. Alongside the new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, Ford also unveiled a new EcoBlue mill for diesel enthusiasts that want an alternative to the Golf GTD. Let’s find out how the new Focus ST compares to its rivals in the review below.

Citroen is a manufacturer that many still associate with clever technical innovations wrapped in a unique styling package and, by that definition, the new Ami Concept fits right into the brand’s historic mold. It’s also not the first Citroen to be called Ami, so maybe the automaker is timidly trying to play the history card with this petit concept.

Let’s start your Mondays off on a good note with a story about a young nurse from California and the generosity of a Scion xB owner. Kayla Cooper walked into an Auto City dealership with the intent of purchasing a vehicle. What she got instead was a free car from Dan Laguardia, who handed her the keys to his Scion xB after learning that Cooper couldn’t close a deal on her car purchase. There’s obviously more to this story — we’ll get to that — but, in a nutshell, it shows the power of kindness and generosity in a world that probably needs more doses of both.

Heavy-duty truck wars are well underway. Although the Ram HD and Ford Super Duty are rather well geared for it, it seems that the new 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD just beat them to the punch in some segments. This is an all-new truck and is a huge improvement over the outgoing model. As such, I’ve compiled a list of facts that will shed some light on the new 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD. They will teach you why the new HD is a behemoth that sits at the very top of the truck segment.

Toyota had an eventful time at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. It was not just the Sequoia getting honored with the TRD Pro badge, or Toyota presenting the 2020 Tacoma. The automaker revealed the TRD Off-road version of the RAV4. Toyota’s trusted compact crossover was beefed-up and launched with more off-road capability. Does the RAV4 TRD Off-Road make a compelling case for itself as an ’off-roader"?

BMW has very recently launched its first ever X7 SUV, a seven-seater that occupies the top position in the manufacturer’s high rider lineup. With a starting price in the U.S. of $73,900, it is $13,200 more expensive than the smaller X5, so it needs a good story to help get sales moving. In this case, it needs one that turns everyday obstacles and situations into fantastically exaggerated mythical encounters.

Jenson Button continues to charter the unknown in his post-F1 career and, after tackling the Japanese Super GT Championship and coming home with the champion’s crown and also taking a stab at Le Mans, the Briton will now race in the legendary Baja 1000 off-road race. To prepare, he and his outfit, Rocket Motorsport, will partake in next month’s Mint 400 aboard an 850 horsepower Brenthel Industries Truck.

This year, Ross Brawn and Jenson Button will celebrate a decade since the small British F1 team built by Brawn, formerly of Ferrari, from the ashes of the Honda F1 project took on the might of Formula 1’s top brass and beat’em all in its first and only full season of racing. Since then, many things have changed. Brawn is now part of the team that holds the reigns of F1’s future while Button, aged 39, left F1 at the end of the 2016 season and has taken on new challenges since. This one might just be the toughest yet for a man known for his participation in multiple triathlons.

If you think the new 2020 BMW 7-Series grille is too big, but you still want the car, then why not buy the most powerful and fastest version of it so that people don’t have a chance to see your car’s monumental nostrils? That version is the reworked 7-Series called the 2020 Alpina B7. It was just revealed last week in Palm Springs and is touted as the world’s fastest three-box sedan.

Toyota has been jacking up its trucks and SUVs and slapping them with the TRD Pro cadge for a long time now. The ’TRD Pro’ suffix is a privilege of sorts these days, and the vehicles that are honored with it go on to become big. Seeing mainstream Toyota vehicles injected with TRD DNA are a blessing. At the Chicago Auto Show, the Japanese giant decided to add one more model to its lineup that included the Tundra, Tacoma, and the 4Runner. Toyota teased the new addition to the TRD Pro family a few days before the Chicago Auto Show commenced and people took wild guesses to figure out which model had been drugged. But Toyota dropped a bomb when the vehicle happened to be the age-old Sequoia SUV. Well, the rest is history.

The Bentley Bentayga Speed is the range-topping version of the company’s first-ever SUV. Launched in early 2019, it joins the standard gas model, the diesel, and the hybrid versions of the British hauler. The Speed badge is borrowed from the Continental GT, which Bentley introduced for the first time back in 2008. Just like the Continental GT Speed, the Bentayga Speed is a slightly beefed-up version of the regular model. It’s also equipped with unique features, while some of the Bentayga’s usual options are offered as standard. However, the Speed is only marginally more powerful than the Bentayga, which prevents Bentley from having a full-fledged competitor for the Lamborghini Urus. Still, it’s the company’s most powerful SUV yet, and it’s also one of only two production SUVs that can hit 190 mph.

There are cars in this business that are exclusive, and there are cars in this business that are exclusive. The Mercedes-AMG ONE belongs in the latter group. It’s so exclusive that Mercedes-AMG only plans to build 275 units of the Formula One technology-derived hypercar. It’s so exclusive that each of the 275 units costs almost $3 million. It’s so exclusive that, apparently, Mercedes-AMG sent all 275 prospective owners a box with a template inside it. The customers are required to imprint their hands on the template so AMG can make them the perfect pair of driving gloves. And if you’re wondering how much these customers had to pay to reserve one slot for the ONE, the answer is around $565,000 based on current exchange rates. That’s only the deposit, folks. The freakin’ deposit.

Just when you thought you knew everything about the life-sized, brick-version Bugatti Chiron that LEGO created last year, this detailed look at the incredible creation opens up details that we didn’t know about the replica. The credit belongs to the folks over at The Straight Pipes, who managed to get an in-depth look at the LEGO Chiron when it was on display at the 2019 Canadian International Auto Show. We know that this replica was created with over one million bricks. That’s old news. What we didn’t know is that most of the LEGO Chiron’s body is comprised of flexible sheets made of bricks that are shaped like triangles. That’s one of the many details you’ll learn from this 10-minute deep dive into what is arguably the sickest-looking full-scale model that LEGO has ever created.

Ford Performance has finally unveiled the all-new Ford Focus ST. Although it does not feature a lot of exterior and interior changes, the hatch is pumped up on the inside. Under the hood sit’s as much as 276 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque just waiting to be unleashed. On paper, the 2020 Ford Focus ST seems very promising. Does it have enough to take on the Volkswagen Golf GTI/GTD?

Back in 2017, Ford axed the V-6 engine option for its iconic Mustang muscle car, leaving a rather sizable gap in terms of price and power between the base trim-level four-cylinder and the upgraded V-8 GT. Now, it’s looking like the Blue Oval might change that with the upcoming 2020 model year update.