Cars

After years of working on it, Land Rover is going to reveal an all-new Defender this year. The old Defender was phased out in 2016 mainly due to the fact that it did not meet safety standards for both occupants and pedestrians - they couldn’t even equip the old one with airbags, so a ground-up redesign was decided.

Nissan is currently celebrating five decades of the GT-R with the debut of the 2020 GT-R 50th Edition at the 2019 New York Auto Show. While we’re happy to see Nissan paying tribute to one of the greatest Japanese sports cars of all time, you’d be forgiven for saying the automaker is dragging its feet when it comes to introducing a new generation for Godzilla. However, recent comments made by a few folks high in the Nissan corporate food chain seem to suggest that the company is indeed working to pin down exactly what the R36 will bring to the table, including electric power options, handling upgrades, and possibly even self-driving capability.

Although the Chinese car market is currently undergoing a sales slump, it’s still the biggest car market in the world. No surprise then that the recent Auto Shanghai show brought out oodles of attractive new debuts, many of which provide clues as to what’ll arrive on these shores in the near future. As such, we’ve got the best of the best lined up right here in the following list.

The Ford Bronco is the next hot thing in the world of SUVs. Relying on the cache built up by the original Bronco that was discontinued in 1996, the new model is tipped to sell in big numbers if Ford gets the recipe right and revives an off-roader revered for its no-nonsense attitude. We’re now hearing that the name ’Scout,’ along with the ’Bronco Scout’ moniker are in the process of being trademarked by Ford through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The ’Scout’ name can either refer to the upcoming ’Baby Bronco’ or just a trim level of the Bronco itself.

Information has been thin regarding the 2021 Ford Bronco, which is set to go into production this year. We’ve heard a lot of rumors, but few can be checked and considered as facts. For instance, we’ve heard that the Bronco will come with either two or four doors and a removable soft top option will be available as Ford plans to take on the Jeep Wrangler - a rumor backed by these patent fillings. We also reported that the 2019 Ford Ranger and the 2021 Ford Bronco will sport the same underpinnings and that the Bronco might be fitted with a seven-speed manual after all. Let’s let the rumor mill spin a bit more and talk about the Scout.

The 2020 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante is the cabriolet version of the company’s latest range-topping grand tourer. Introduced to replace the already iconic but old Vanquish S Volante, the DBS Superleggera name returns after a six-year absence with a brand-new design, underpinnings from the 2018 Aston Martin DB11, and a turbocharged V-12 engine that generates in excess of 700 horsepower.

Designed to replace the aging Vanquish Volante, the 2020 DBS Superleggera Volante benefits from Aston Martin’s new design language that’s sleeker and more aggressive. The cabriolet is identical to the coupe below the waist, but it features a canvas top instead of the usual metal roof. A more luxurious interior, new technology, and a beefed-up drivetrain round out the grand tourer that challenges the 2020 Bentley Continental GTC.

The 2020 Porsche 911 Speedster is a limited-edition version of the 991-generation 911. Based on the 991.2 model discontinued in 2019, the 2020 911 Speedster is the last iteration of the eight-year-old sports car. It’s also the first Speedster since 2010, when Porsche sold a limited-edition model of 356 units based on the 997-generation 911.

Previewed by a couple of concept cars used to celebrate the company’s 70th anniversary of building sports cars, the 2020 911 Speedster is actually very similar to the show cars. But unlike its predecessors, it’s based on the track-ready 911 GT3 and generates in excess of 500 horsepower. As a result, it’s also the first Speedster developed by the Porsche Motorsport division. It also comes with a Heritage Design package that adds unique features inspired by vintage Porsche race cars, as well as a premium timepiece.

I picture you glancing over this article and thinking, "How can he compare these two SUVs, they’re not even playing ball in the same field?", and while that is true, it’s not an exercise in futility. Both the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS and the 2020 Porsche Cayenne offer buckets of luxury and are expensive, so it’s worth putting them head to head to see what type of SUV is, ultimately, better.

In this matchup, you’ve got on the one hand the bear-like, full-size GLS SUV or the mid-size, sporty Cayenne SUV. The latter doesn’t offer as much interior room but can get you from A to B quicker. Also, it’s worth comparing these two mean peddlers because comparing the new GLS with the X7 is all too predictable - but we’ll tackle that too, don’t worry!

From the outset, you can probably guess who the winners will be in each category, right? I mean, just look at the GLS: it has a straight roofline and an almost straight back end to round things off. It features a longer wheelbase and up to seven full seats with all the amenities one could ask for. It must be the winner when it comes to the interior category, right? And the Cayenne must be the winner in the drivetrain department due to its higher output engines in the more expensive trim levels and, by and large, it also looks a bit nicer due to its lower stance, right? But things aren’t as simple as they seem from the outside.

Aston Martin is known as a maker of exquisite and refined grand tourers, long-legged cars that offer enough panache to satisfy Ian Fleming’s James Bond on many an occasion. You could say Aston Martin knows every trick there is to know when it comes to building a front-engined GT car and that’s why they’re now looking to build more and more cars with the engine behind the seats. But the Valkyrie, the new Vanquish, and the AM-RB 003 aren’t the first of their kind in Aston Martin’s history.

When you think of any DB model from Aston Martin, you imagine an elegant two-door tourer ready for long journeys with a sumptuous and well-appointed interior and a feisty engine in front of the windshield. The company’s one and only Le Mans winner, the DBR1, was also front-engined as was the futuristic brick-like Lagonda luxury sedan from the ’70s. But, then, in the ’80s, when Aston Martin returned to sports car racing, it did so with a mid-engined car. This effectively heralded a new breed of Aston Martins, one that has stayed away from the public highways up until now but one that’s interesting to look into nonetheless.

Last week, the world’s biggest automakers swarmed the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to show off their latest and greatest models, delivering a host of fresh sedans, crossovers, and concepts to an auto-hungry public. As such, we’ve compiled all the hottest reveals right here for your perusal and enjoyment.

Tesla is a small automaker compared to the global giants, yet it leads the pack from a technical and technological standpoint in many areas. One such area is in the field of autonomous driving tech, and the automaker recently showcased its newest self-driving tech and how it intends to use them at a special event held at its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

The McLaren Senna is the company’s latest track-ready supercar. A successor to theP1, the Senna dropped the hybrid drivetrain for pure V-8 power and adopted a more aerodynamic design. The Senna is essentially a race car for the road, but it also spawned a track-only GTR version. Come 2019, and Hennessey Performance launched a couple of upgrades for the supercar.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that the Senna can be further tweaked, but the folks over at Hennessey are known for their capability to push just about any car to the limit. If you think that the Senna’s 789-horsepower rating is impressive, you need to know that the British supercar can generate much more than that. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

Aston Martin just unveiled the 2020 DBS Superleggera Volante! Framed as the convertible version of the brand’s hugely desirable DBS Superleggera coupe, the Volante pairs all the usual grand touring awesomeness with endless drop-top fun.

Mounted in that shapely frontend is the same engine as the hardtop DBS Superleggera, namely a turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12 producing 715 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Routing the power to the rear axle is an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF.

Top speed clocks in at 211 mph, while the sprint to 62 mph takes 3.6 seconds. Keep your foot down, and the Volante will go from 0 to 100 mph in 6.7 seconds.

You’ll have eight body colors to choose from, as well as six headliner colors. Quad exhaust pipes are in the rear, while up front, the reworked aero blasts the brakes with cold air, while also reducing lift and enhancing stability. Interestingly, the new bodyworks produces up to 390 pounds of downforce at speed, just 6.6 pounds less than what you get with the coupe model.

The fabric roof takes 14 seconds to open and 16 seconds to close, but we’d recommend keeping it open to make it easier to hear that V-12 wail. Leather, carbon fiber, and metal accents make it nice inside the cabin.

Pricing for the 2020 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante starts at $329,100. Look for deliveries to kick off in the third quarter of the year.

The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS represents the third generation of the company’s already iconic SUV. Introduced at the 2019 New York Auto Show, it offers more space, more comfort, and more luxury while retaining a familiar face. The GLS arrives to take on the BMW X7, the company’s first foray in the full-size SUV market, the Lincoln Navigator, and the Cadillac Escalade.

The GLS adopts Mercedes’ latest styling language, seen most recently on the smaller GLE crossover. The exterior has smoother surfaces and sportier fascias, while the interior borrows from the S-Class sedan but features a few unique cues as well. Under the hood, the GLS retains its two-engine lineup with V-6 and V-8 offerings for the U.S. market, but both units are paired to 48-volt mild hybrid systems.

Automotive electrification may mean that we’re moving toward a future where the internal combustion engine lives only in the history books, but all of this fancy electric technology actually comes with a silver lining. There will come a day when all you can by is an all-electric vehicle, but this very technology is also extending the life of the internal combustion engine. And, that’s a good thing. Take Mercedes-AMG, for example. The brand will one day deliver only electric sports cars, but that’s not coming as quickly as we originally thought. In a recent interview with Road & Track, Mercedes-AMG Boss, Tobias Moers, said that starting in 2021 all AMG branded models will feature some kind of hybrid drivetrain and that the company is “heading fast in that direction.” And, while this means that AMG-branded cars won’t lose that feeling of soul that you get from a rumbly, precision-turned engine, it also means that AMG cars will get more powerful, faster, and better. And, it all comes down to some tech that we’ve already seen – the 805-horsepower hybrid drivetrain from the 2017 Mercedes-AMG GT Concept!