Industry News

Cars aren’t typically sold in flea markets, especially one that’s as unique as a DeLorean DMC. And yet, a flea market in Estonia — yes, Estonia — has one. More importantly, it’s for sale, and you can take it home with you. It’s not exactly the kind of transaction you’d normally see from this flea market, but I think we already established that this isn’t your typical Estonian tag market, either.

Visually, the second-generation Subaru BRZ is a major departure from its predecessor. It’s also packing a bigger 2.4-liter engine, which counts as an answered prayer to everyone who wanted the new BRZ to pack more power than the first-generation model.

The 2.4-liter four-cylinder mill is still naturally aspirated, bursting the bubble of those who wanted the new BRZ’s engine to be turbocharged. As disappointing — for some — as that sounds, Subaru had reasons for sticking with a naturally aspirated engine.

Car culture covers a lot of space in the automotive world, so much so that a license plate can sell for $170,000 without any sweat. The British plate in question — it has a registration number of “O 10” — is one of the rarest ones in the world, largely because of how old it is. The identity of the new owner wasn’t revealed, but the plates did sell for a whopping £128,800 (close to $170,000 based on current exchange rates) at Silverstone Auctions. For a little perspective, the plate is more expensive than a 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT R, which sells for around $163,000 in the U.S.

The Porsche 911 Turbo is arguably one of the most iconic cars in history. A car of that stature doesn’t just stay a car; its name lives on in other ways like, say, a limited-edition sneaker line that comes courtesy of Porsche’s partnership with sports apparel company PUMA.

The two German brands are teaming up to create this line of special edition shoes to celebrate the legend of the 911 Turbo. Only 500 pairs of shoes will be created across the entire size range, and if you’re looking to score a pair, you best be quick about it. The range will launch on November 17, 2020, and if it’s as hyped as we think it is, those 500 pairs will be gone faster than the 992-generation 911 Turbo can hit a quarter-mile. That’s 10.1 seconds at 137 mph, by the way.

When you’re buying a home, you typically buy the home and the garage comes with it, right? But how often do you get offered a garage and the home — and access to a super limited supercar for one year — comes with it? That’s what’s in store for you when you take McLaren and Pendry Residences West Hollywood on their offer of a one-of-a-kind “super garage.” The two companies are joining forces to build this insane flex of luxury. It’s described as an amenity for someone who buys a two-story penthouse called Terrace Estate 608, and the price for all of that is a cough-inducing $16 million.

When the Bronco was unveiled, a lot of us were disappointed by the absence of a V-8 mill. But, we still had hopes that it could become a reality someday. However, Ford made it clear that a V-8 will not be offered here. Although we had our deliberations, this confirmation from Ford served as the final nail in the coffin.

It has now come to light that Ford was sure about not offering one right from the start. In fact, it even built the Bronco without bothering to check if a V-8 engine could be plonked in or not! Speaking with Ford Authority, Bronco’s Chief Engineer, Eric Loefller said that they hadn’t even given it a shot during its development days.

Porsche recently unveiled several concept cars that it has kept out of sight over the last 15 years. Among them, there’s the Vision Renndienst, an all-electric van that pays tribute to the old vans that Porsche used as support vehicles for its racing program back in the 1950s and 1960s. They were mainly first-generation Volkswagen Microbus vans, usually painted red and labeled "renndienst," which is German for "racing service." The van concept looks surprisingly hot, and given that Porsche already built something similar in the past, maybe it’s time Stuttgart rolls out a production van. Of the high-performance variety, of course.

Porsche just published "Porsche Unseen," a book that showcases design studies and never-before-seen concept cars from 2005 to 2019. The release unveils a few spectacular designs, including the 919 Street, a road-legal version of the incredible 919 Hybrid race car. But apparently the 919 Street wasn’t Porsche only idea for a streetable hypercar. Porsche also envisioned the Vision 920, a Le Mans racer for the road, also described as its "most extreme vision of a super sports car."

Porsche recently unveiled several design studies and concept cars it has created over the past 15 years, and some of them, including the 904 Living Legend, are downright impressive. Created in 2013, the 904 Living Legend is a tribute to the iconic 904 sports car of the 1960s. Design-wise, the 904 Living Legend is a combination between the modern Cayman and the classic 904, but the drivetrain underneath that sleek body is surprising, to say the least.

Be it a futuristic design, a pre-production model, or a technological showcase, the concept car is now a major part of the automotive world. Tens of concept vehicles are being released every year and many of them are downright spectacular. But the concept cars we see are just a fraction of the concept vehicles that are being designed or built behind closed doors. If you need proof, Porsche just published "Porsche Unseen," a book that showcases design studies from 2005 to 2019. Three of them have been released online as well, and they’re as spectacular as they get.

Bizzarrini, an Italian manufacturer that built a few notable sports and racing cars in the 1960s, could return after 50 years of absence. The company formerly led by engineer and designer Giotto Bizzarrini is reportedly being revived by London-based luxury car dealer group Pegasus Brands and a team led by former Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez.

The majority of cars in production in 2020 still feature internal combustion engines, but this may change in 20 years. Classic cars may still be allowed to use their gas and diesel engines, but the amount of time you will be allowed to drive them on public roads may be strictly regulated.

Retrofitting such cars with electric motors will be difficult and expensive and at least one carmaker is looking for a solution. Porsche things that synthetic fuel may solve this problem and keep valuable classics on the road.

FCA’s crate engine lineup is steadily growing with the addition of some tasteful mills. The group’s parts and accessories division, Mopar, unveiled the most powerful version of the Hellcat engine that can be plonked into any vehicle of your choice.

Dubbed as the Hellcrate Redeye crate engine, this 6.2-liter V-8 mill will dish out 807 ponies and 717 pound-feet of torque. Could it BE any better? (high five if you read that in Chandler Bing’s voice!)

After five years on the market, Ford decided to discontinue the Shelby GT350 based on the sixth-generation Mustang. Introduced in 2015, the Shelby GT350 and the GT350R won’t be offered for the 2021 model year. If you already own one, this is good news as the value of the GT350 is likely to go up. If you missed on the GT350, well, you can always go for the beefed-up GT500.

Back in 2013, Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz entered a cooperation through which the British company gained access to the 4.0-liter V-8 AMG engine and various components for its production models. In exchange, Mercedes-Benz received an equity participation of five-percent in Aston Martin, which eventually transformed into a 2.6-percent stake. Earlier in 2020 we heard rumors that Aston Martin needs to develop its own engine as Mercedes is slowly phasing out the AMG V-8, but it seems that the companies are actually taking their partnership further. Aston Martin is set to gain access to new Mercedes technologies, which in turn will receive new shares in the British firm.

The Volkswagen Group is currently busy deciding what to do with some of its brands. Bugatti is rumored to be sold off to Rimac, while the fate of [Lamborghini and Ducati could be decided next month.>art189736] Now, it seems that the Bentley brand will also be repositioned within the group. Currently placed directly under the Volkswagen Group umbrella, Bentley is rumored to be taken over by Audi, which also oversees the Lamborghini, Ducati, and Italdesign Giugiaro brands.

Tesla’s pricing for its models is going down, but the automaker is making up from those prospective losses by raising the prices for using its Supercharger network. That appears to be the case after a report from the Aussie website CarExpert indicated that charging at any of Tesla’s 35 Supercharger stations in the Land Down Under will now cost AUD0.52 (USD0.37) per kilowatt-hour. That’s an increase from the AUD0.42/kWh (USD0.30) that Tesla was charging as recently as September. Since 2017, the cost of charging a Tesla in Australia has gone up by as much as 23 percent, and with Tesla’s model price cuts continuing, don’t expect the cost of using the Supercharger network to flatten out, either.

The Tesla Model 3 is the undisputed king despite some strong upcoming competition, like the Polestar 2. People may say it’s because of the first-mover advantage or the fact that it has been in the segment the longest, which is true to an extent, but it’s also because of the continuous updates. Tesla has managed to keep the product fresh – even though it looks the same from the beginning – by introducing new packages, constant over-the-air updates, and so on. Now, the automaker has refreshed the Model 3 for the 2020 model year and it comes with quite a few changes that make it an even better product.