Pontiac, Michigan — The BMW M3 and M2 are not just the brand’s performance halos, they are the latest inductees to the supercar club. With 450-plus horsepower and handling from the gods (not to mention entries from Rahal Letterman Racing in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship GT class), they deserve consideration alongside rear-engine coupes like the Corvette C8 and Porsche 911.
But how different are the Bimmer siblings from one another?
For 2024, compact-class M3 (and its M4 coupe twin) vs. subcompact-class M2 are instantly distinguishable by their radically different design experiments. But under the skin, they appear separated at birth. Same manual/automatic gearbox options, similar twin-turbo inline-6 engines, same mono-pane dash display, same Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.
Is the smaller M2 still the better driver’s car? I took an automatic, all-wheel-drive 502-horse M3 Competition and manual, rear-wheel-drive 453-horse M2 to Hell and back (and to M1 Concourse’s Champion Raceway and back) for a taste test of these meaty dishes.
Both M3 and M2 have spent a lot of time at the dinner table, bucking up to nearly two tons. Yes, the M2, too.
Enthusiasts lamented that the G80 generation M3 not only gained front kidneys the size of Tweedledum and Tweedledee — but the girth to match. The M3 tipped the scales 230 pounds more than its predecessor. For 2024 M2 designers resisted the big kidneys for a chiseled, square look, but it, too, has porked up by 250 pounds over the last-gen coupe to 3,814 pounds—just 70 shy of big brother. Oof.
Credit bigger dimensions, bigger screen, bigger everything (except, lamentably the miniature backseat). Happily, the latest-gen cars have spent a lot of time in the gym to maintain their coordination. Supercar coordination.
Over the daunting, undulating roads of Hell, Michigan, in Sports Plus mode, the M pair were stupid quick. Gulping ribbons of asphalt, they stuck to the road like black on asphalt. Lack of body roll at (speed deleted to keep my license) recalled the precision of a Corvette C8 — if not quite the Porsche 911’s poise.
A big asset of the M3/M2 is M MODE, which turned the head-up display into a horizontal, digital engine tachometer. Every performance car should have this feature to keep your eyes on the road when using a stick-or-paddle-shift at speed. Add optional all-wheel drive and 503 horsepower for the M3 Competition trim and it delivered impressive acceleration numbers.
Engage launch control and the sedan explodes out of the blocks to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds — a comparable number to the 911 and ‘Vette. The M3 Comp’s sticker price is a lofty $83,595 with all-wheel drive (the first-ever M3 so offered) — nearly double the price of the standard $45K 3-series. But as a supercar, that it is a bargain on par with the Corvette C8 ZR2, and $20K cheaper than a 911.
The M2’s stick shift (also available in the M3) gave me more control, if less raw acceleration. The visceral thrill of rowing the 2’s box to redline was complemented by a much-improved, notchier shifter than previous generations. At $20K less than an M3, advantage to M2.
But with four doors and more rear legroom over the tight M2, the M3 is a supercar you can pack the family in. Advantage M3.
After a day in Hell, the M killer whales had outgrown their rural pond. I would routinely flirt with triple-digit speeds before backing off to avoid attracting attention. Like their supercar peers, there is more performance here that can only be explored on a race track.
On M1 Concourse in Pontiac, the Bimmers were nimble despite their girth. The chassis have multiple cross braces to add rigidity while suspension tuning keeps the cars hunkered down in high-speed turns. Accelerating out of M1’s Turn 6 hairpin in second gear in the M3, the aforementioned head-up tach flashed yellow lights when it was time to shift at 7,200 RPM. BRAP! I upshifted into third with the right, steering-wheel-mounted paddle. BRAP! Into fourth. Beautiful.
Though BMW uses a single-clutch transmission, it’s as buttery smooth as Porsche’s famed dual-clutch boxes. I hit 120 mph at the end of the straight in the M3 — 114 mph in the M2 — before giant 15-inch brakes brought the missiles back to earth. My M3 tester had ceramic brakes optioned for $8,500 (cough), but steelies will do just fine.
Don’t get the $4,500 carbon-fiber competition seats either. They are the most uncomfortable I’ve sat in. They keep you planted on track, sure — but so do plastic go-kart seats. After my 3-hour round trip to Hell and back, my back was barking so loud I had to lay down. Stick with the standard bolstered leather thrones.
Onlookers lamented the mild external sound of the Ms at speed, but inside they’re satisfying. The twin-turbo inline-6’s acceleration is ballistic, exploding from its 2,750 torque peak all the way to redline (thus the importance of that head-up tac). Upshifts crackle, downshifts burp like Godzilla enjoying a good meal. Standard are the Sport 4S tires, but super-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber (or slicks) are preferred for track days.
Interiors use identical tech with a lovely curved screen encompassing a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 14.9-inch infotainment screen. Voice commands are inconsistent.
“Go to Hell, Michigan,” I said. The BMW routed me to Hillman, MI. Sigh. I switched to Android Auto.
Other tech upgrades hit their mark. The M3’s automatic mono-shifter (also available in the M2) was tight, intuitive. The touchscreen meant I never had to fool with the rotary iDrive. And I could scroll through radio stations on the head-up display using steering-wheel controls so my eyes never left the road.
Styling is subjective, but I think the M3’s big maw will wear better than M3’s Lego blocks — as will its four-door utility. Um, assuming you have a extra 20 grand in your pocket. Which M to recommend? Let me tease a third option.
At 3,489 pounds, the last-gen 445-horsepower M2 CS is the best handling BMW driver’s car I’ve piloted. With a better power-to-weight ratio and armed with a stick, it’s more tossable than the heavy 2024 model. The stick shift is rubbery but time behind the wheel begats familiarity.
Styling is timeless — no trendy, art school design experiments here. Wide kidneys and a sleek, muscular body. The trick is to find one since the 2020 CS was only built for one model year. See you in Hell.2023 BMW M2
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive four-passenger sports coupe
Price: $62,200 base, including $995 destination charge ($75,345 as tested)
Power plant: 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged, inline 6-cylinder
Power: 453 horsepower, 406 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic
St. George, Utah — When I was a kid in West Virginia, my friends and I would play in a sandbox with Tonka trucks and Matchbox cars. Six decades later, not much has changed.
But the toys are better.
Bouncing through the red sand of Sand Hollow State Park in Utah, I floored the 470-horsepower V-8 in the 2024 Jeep Wrangler 392 Rubicon and the rear-end sluiced right, my passenger hanging on to the “Oh, crap!” bar on the front console for dear life. WAUUURRGGHHH! went the V-8. HAHAHAHA! went my media colleague. Jeep knows where our inner children live.
The off-road sandbox has become more crowded in the last few years as Americans have gone bonkers for SUVs, trucks and their performance counterparts. Chevrolet has introduced more ZR2 off-road trucks, GMC its AT4 brutes and Toyota its TRD models, but the marquee matchup — the toys all the cool kids want — are the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco, which have locked horns in a death match that is better than Holyfield vs. Tyson. I’m pretty sure ears will be bitten off.
With the muscle-car segment shriveling between the approaching walls of low consumer demand and government emissions edicts, Wrangler vs. Bronco has replaced Camaro vs. Mustang as the new American toy war.
Ripping its shirt — er, doors — off just like Wrangler, the muscular upstart Bronco has revealed innovative class features like a rotary transfer-case dial, independent front suspension, dash-mounted controls and 37-inch all-terrain tires. It’s awesome. King Jeep hasn’t taken the competition lying down.
For 2024, the off-road world’s pioneer has responded with an army of updated, high-tech assault Wranglers that would send shivers down a foreign army’s spine.
From the two-door, $33,690, manual Sport to the athletic Willys, the posh Sahara, plug-in hybrid 4xe and my loaded $96K 392 Rubicon, the Wrangler lineup spans a luxury vehicle-like $65,000 price-spread that sweeps up customers from Moab marauders to green geeks.
Like muscle cars, Jeeps don’t come cheap, especially as you load these bots with the latest off-road weaponry to conquer sand, mud, rocks, boulders, streams and — um — Utah obstacles like Hot Tub on Hell’s Revenge (jeez, all we track guys gotta deal with is asphalt).
So allow me to recommend one of the more affordable mutts of the litter: the two-door Willys. My tester was $47K, but ditch the auto tranny and Safety Pack option — who needs blind-spot/park monitoring off-road? — and it’s yours for under $40K.
Call ‘em mutts because all Wranglers are mixed, retro/modern breeds. True to its name, my Willys tester traces its roots to the original Willys WWII Jeeps with two doors, stick shift, “Sarge” green military paint and drop-down front windshield. What, no machine gun in back? But my modern Willys would run circles around the ol’ man with its armored underbody plating, locking rear differential and yuuuuge all-terrain 33-inch BF Goodrich KO2 tires.
Add a bullmastiff-like charcoal face (exclusive to Willys) and my mutt was cute as a puppy and as playful to boot. With the soft roof peeled back, we flopped around town, my cap blowing off somewhere along State Route 7. Willys looks tough with its outsized 33s, but its short, two-door configuration meant it was easy to park while still offering a healthy back seat for friends.
More mutt? Like every 2024 model beginning with the Sport and Sport S models below Willys, mine came equipped with a handsome horizontal dash housing a 12.3-inch Uconnect 5 touchscreen right out of a top-breed Wagoneer. Wranglers equipped with navigation get an “Adventure Guide” so you find long trails and navigate them with your screen. Man, these off-roaders are getting’ fancy. Next, they’ll have showers.
Along the north rim of Sand Hollow, I grunted across trails and scrub before coming upon a gaggle of ATVs plowing through sand to a rocky plateau.
Easy, Payne. Your knobby tires are still aired up to 40 PSI.
To go deeper into Mother Nature with more cargo room, air your 33s down to 20 PSI. Or get a four-door, four-wheel-drive Rubicon with twin-locking differentials and detachable front rollbar like my High Velocity White $60,350 tester (delete the WARN winch and steely bumpers and the sticker drops to $55K). With traction at all four corners, 11-inch ground clearance, and 44-degree approach angle, this beast can climb Devils Tower.
Shift into neutral, yank the T-case shifter back to four-wheel-low, detach the sway-bar on the lower console and you’re ready to go. Bronco drivers will recoil at this antique dance, which the Ford has updated with a console dial and high-dash buttons. Wrangler prides itself on old-school controls — including its signature solid front axle. Want some ear biting? Get Wrangler and Bronco dudes to debate axles.
On our media test trip, Rubicons crawled all over the landscape at impossible angles (aided by forward-facing cameras). But where the trail ends and the asphalt begins, my Rubicon soft top is more civil than its forebear. Connected to the car by Bluetooth, I called Mrs. Payne 2,000 miles away in Michigan and she came through as clear as if she were sitting next to me. Credit laminated glass and interior insulation — plus a seven-microphone array — that’s lowered interior noise by 15 decibels.
Will it work with the top down and doors off? No, silly. Neither is Wrangler as smooth on road as the independent-front-suspension Bronco.
Where Wrangler got smoother was in the $76,000 4xe plug-in model — which reaches out to green buyers who will find Jeep’s growly, gas-fed V-6 immoral, yet still need a gas engine to get them to the remote havens of Utah or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With 21 miles of battery range on tap, I drove silently around St. George — the electric motor even regenerating extra miles when the range hit zero.
The 4xe will also regenerate $7,500 of the 4xe’s $10,000 premium back to your wallet if you lease the 4xe — no matter the price tag, no matter your income. Call it green for greenies.
I doubt 4xe and 392 owners will go to the same cocktail parties. But they may wind up at the same off-road parks like, say, the white sand of Silver Lake on Michigan’s west side. Imagine a 392 — WAUUURRGGHHH! — slinging sand past a silent 4xe — SSSHHHHH!
That’s my kind of sandbox.
Next week: BMW showdown – M3 or M2?
2024 Jeep Wrangler
Vehicle type: Front-engine, ladder-frame chassis, four-wheel-drive four-passenger SUV
Price: $33,690 base, including $1,795 destination ($47,675 Willys, $60,350 Rubicon, $67,935 Rubicon X 4xe and $95,945 Rubicon 392 as tested)
Power plant: 3.6-liter V-6, 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 cylinder, 2.0-liter turbocharged plug-in hybrid with turbo-4 mated to 14 kWh battery and electric motor, 6.4-liter Hemi V-8
Power: 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque (V-6), 270 horsepower and 295 pund-feet of torque (turbo-4), 375 horsepower, 470 pound-feet of torque (hybrid), 470 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque (V-8)
Transmission: Six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.0 seconds (Rubicon 392, Car and Driver); 5,000-pound tow capacity (turbo-4 and V-6)
Weight: 4,044 pounds (Willys) and 5,268 (392) as tested
Ann Arbor — Auto startups are all the rage this decade as entrepreneurs see a historic shift to electrified and autonomous vehicles. On the electric front, companies like Rivian, Fisker, Lightning eMotors, Lordstown and Vinfast aim to recreate the magic that made Tesla the industry’s highest-valued automaker. Tesla, meanwhile, dreams of a self-driving jackpot alongside startups Cruise, Waymo and Zooks, which are flooding select cities with the latest self-driving bots.
But while these automakers chase huge market caps for a new world order, other startups are going back to the future.
Startups like Revology, which is manufacturing a stable-full of classic 1960s Mustangs upgraded with state-of-the-art tech. If more startups follow (Los Angeles-based Singer Design does resto-mod Porsche 911s), it echoes the automotive future predicted by industry icon and ex-GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz in 2019.
“We are approaching the end of the line for the automobile because travel will be in . . . fully autonomous modules. You will call for it, input your destination and go to the freeway,” wrote Lutz in a much-buzzed-about Automotive News op-ed. “Like racehorse breeders, there will be manufacturers of race cars and sports cars and off-road vehicles. But it will be a cottage industry.”
Perhaps like the 51,000-square-foot Orlando “cottage” where Revology churns out its ponies. Now in its sixth year of production, Revology is growing with eight models to choose from, including best-sellers the1966 GT convertible and 1967 Shelby GT500 that I tested here. While the company has a sliver of the production orders from massive startups like California-based Rivian (not to mention market cap) it has moved production in-house and is nearly doubling output to 64 vehicles this year.
“Our customers want V-8 engines,” smiled CEO and founder Tom Scarpello from the right seat before I drowned him out by flattening the throttle and letting loose 710 horses down Huron River Drive.
With disposable income to buy Revology’s $200k-plus cars, Scarpello’s customers look a lot like Lutz’s “well-to-do (drivers who), to the amazement of all their friends, still know how to drive.”
Customers like Edsel Ford and Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford who — while touting an all-EV Ford future — makes no secret about his love for classic ponies. Bill Ford has a 1966 Revology GT Convertible on order.
“The V-8 engines are part of the experience. You just feel it,” said Scarpello after I brought the GT500 back to earth at a dull roar. “We talk to our customers about making EVs with classic Mustang bodies, but they don’t want electrification.”
What they want is that timeless Mustang style — our growling, ’67 GT500 stopped people in their tracks as we cruised through Ann Arbor — but without the hassle of owning an aging classic with 55-year-old wiring. They also want the latest amenities like a touchscreen, backup camera, Apple CarPlay, push-button start, and — well, Roush power.
Sourced from Roush in Livonia, the supercharged 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 under the hood puts out an astonishing 710 horsepower compared to the original’s 335.
The first company to license Ford and Shelby heritage models and refresh them with modern know-how, Revology offers these models for order on its website, just like a big automaker:
Scarpello knows muscle. He started in manufacturing with Ford in 1988 before going back to school for degrees in finance and marketing. Working for Ford’s SVT performance division from 1998-2004 — which inspired vehicles like the Ford GT — inspired Revology’s mission.
“That was a great time,” said Scarpello. “We worked at a company within a company. A lot of that philosophy I’ve adopted with Revology. We’re taking an existing (Mustang) design and modifying it to make the cars more fun to drive. We want to keep their style and character and make them modern in the way they function.”
He has slowly built his business — first sourcing bodies from Dynacorn in which to stuff the Herculean engines from Roush. But over time, he has learned manufacturing integration, and now his ponies are made in house on a single chassis to better fine-tune the product. That has led to changes like a new 8.8-inch rear axle.
“We are able to control the packaging. WE need to have the dimensions exactly right,” said the Revology chief. “We are loading so much more power into the body than the original design.”
It’s a fine balance. At the reins of the GT500 (car #163 that Revology has built), I found the beast remarkably poised like a modern Mustang GT even as I gripped a wood steering wheel right out of the ‘60s. In addition to the old school six-speed manual, about 50% of customers opt for Ford’s state-of-the-art, 10-speed transmission. I could even Bluetooth my phone — if you can hear it ring.
Revology has added minimal sound-deadening material to keep the V-8’s raw emotion. Other throwbacks include high beams that are still activated by your foot toggling a floorboard button.
Part of what’s driving the industry to electrification is prohibitive, mutli-million-dollar fines to discourage V-8 engines. But Scarpello’s cottage flies under those regulations as long as he makes fewer than 325 vehicles a year with industry-proven engines and chassis equipment..
He’s a long way from 325. But as he ramps up production — his cottage now employs 92 elves — other manufacturers are eager for him to maintain the Detroit legacy.
“Chevrolet and Dodge have both expressed interest in doing similar, classic Camaro and Challenger models,” he smiled. “Though they haven’t said if they’d provide the capital.” Scarpello financed the company himself, and he has been careful not to get ahead of his skis.
“Very few costumer products have had the life cycle that Mustang has had, and that really resonates with people,” he said. Indeed, Ford is just rolling out its latest, seventh-generation pony on a global scale, which in turn complements Revology’s classics. “It’s a global phenomenon — we have customers in 15 countries.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Ojai, California — The 2024 Acura Integra Type S is two driven wheels shy of perfect.
Acura’s hatchback icon is back after 22 years in the wilderness and it’s a delicious addition to my favorite menu: compact hot hatches. With sportscar handling, hatchback utility, all-season usability and a price tag under $55K, premium hatches like the Type S and VW Golf R flirt with nirvana. Save for its stubborn lack of all-wheel drive, the Integra Type S is as good as it gets.
Building on Acura’s successful, entry-level Integra — which returned as the segment’s runaway best-seller last year — Type S is a steroid-fed lab monster like Honda’s Civic Type R icon. The Made-in-Marysville Integra immediately separates itself from the conservatively styled Honda with a wardrobe that would make a Rottweiler whimper.
Type S looks like an Acura and Dodge Charger Widebody had a love child (with the Acura NSX and Chevy Corvette as godparents). This Integra is S-pecial. Measuring 3.5 inches wider across the front track than the standard Integra, Type S grows big blistered fenders to hold 10.5-inch-wide rubber at all four corners. Indeed, all sheet metal fore of the A-pillar has been remade, including functional hood scoop and wider grille to feed the 320-horse turbocharged beast within.
Massive, NSX-like corner brake ducts cool the 13.8-inch Brembo brakes needed to bring Type S back to earth after flying low across twisted country roads. The drama continues out back under massive glutes, where three, center-mounted tailpipes (the ‘Vette Z06 has four) exhale with a snap, crackle ‘n’ pop.
Come upon one of these Tasmanian devils in the wild and you’ll recognize it (especially if dressed in exclusive Tiger Eye Pearl). But you won’t see it for long.
Luffing through the twisties of California State Route 150 west of Malibu, I saw a sport bike fill my mirrors looking for a fight. Packing its 310-pound feet of torque lower in the torque band than Type R, my S was able to hold off the bike’s inherent advantage in acceleration through a fast downhill stretch as I rowed the sensational short-throw manual box. #SaveTheManual.
Then we hit a series of S-turns. Goodbye.
Stiff as an ironing board through heaving turns in Sport Plus mode, the Acura disappeared from the two-wheeler, its sophisticated, dual-strut front suspension rotating the front-wheel driver without a hint of understeer.
But to achieve perfection, Type S should have added all-wheel drive to the two-wheel-drive Civic formula. Not for grip (Lord knows the Type S has gobs of it), but for customers paying the $7,000 premium for an all-season Acura.
AWD is an Acura lineup signature, from the TLX sedan to the RDX SUV to the NSX supercar. Elsewhere along CA-150, I encountered a flat-black NSX Type S — menacing and well driven. We danced through the twisties, the nimble 3,280-pound sedan shadowing the 3,898-pound supercar’s every move (that is, until the NSX applied its 600 horses down a straightaway).
Honda’s front suspension engineering is dazzling for motorheads like me who take the Civic Type R and Type S to the track. But by Acura’s own admission, Type S’s target audience is not the track rats who covet the Civic model. Which is why the Type S doesn’t feature a big wing out back or the $1,780 option of track-focused Michelin Cup 2 tires like Type R.
Acura says Integra is the “Ultimate Street Performer” aimed at an older, saner demographic. Its $50,000 competitive set is made up of all-wheel drivers: Audi S3, BMW M235i XDrive, Mercedes CLA AMG 35 and the slightly more affordable $46K VW Golf R.
The Seattle and Detroit Payne families own hatchback compacts and AWD is important for their all-season climates. Front-wheel drivers struggle to scale my driveway in the snow. When my snowboarding, speed-freak Seattle son shopped for a hatchback recently, only AWD models made his list (the attractive Mazda Turbo3 — its 310 pound-feet of torque on par with Type S — got the nod). That all-season, all-wheel-drive goodness is why the Golf R hatch is my segment benchmark.
Sure, AWD would add weight to the 3,850-pound Integra — but at 3,415 pounds, Golf R is hardly Porky Pig. Integra may lose those AWD customers, but the lines to buy this multi-talented athlete will still stretch out the door.
While Golf R comes up shy of perfection due to its tight rear legroom, Integra shines with 2.5 more inches and nearly 5 cubic feet more cargo space. Those best-in-class numbers make Civic — um, Integra — #1 in utility.
The Type S cabin is barely disguised Civic, but the 11th-gen Honda is borderline premium to begin with, sporting wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, honeycomb dash and digital gauges. Then Acura slaters on the icing: Head-up display, premium ELS Studio audio, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist and auto-high beams are all standard. My leather-wrapped tester’s seats were dipped in red with matching dash trim.
The seats not only held me in place at play — they were so comfortable I could have driven cross-country to Detroit. Contrast that with the BMW M2 sport seats I recently tested that had my back screaming in agony after an afternoon’s drive.
At the Integra’s core is its silver shift knob — operating the best gearbox this side of a Porsche 911.
Cruising along a crowded, stop-and-go California urban stretch in COMFORT mode, I activated adaptive cruise to keep a distance from the vehicles in front of me — the system only cutting off below 25 mph when the engine bogged. As traffic thinned on rural roads, Type S begged to be manhandled in SPORT PLUS mode, and the manual’s short throws never failed me. Never delivering a box of neutrals. Never accidentally finding 4th instead of 2nd.
The predictable box mirrors the brand’s reputation for reliability — a key attribute in any premium vehicle that begs to be pushed. Just as Porsches are the go-to track supercar because they can hammer apexes all day long without flinching, so too does Honda-Acura quality give you confidence to take the 7,200-rpm, 2.0-liter engine to the limit. Expect to leave the Acura service center with receipts for hundreds of dollars — not thousands.
The Integra Type S may find its limits in snow quicker than its AWD competitors, but after the plows come, the Acura lives up to its forefathers as one of the most satisfying rides in the market. As for my quest for the perfect car, it’s getting closer.
Next week: 2024 Jeep Wrangler
2024 Acura Integra Type S
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive five-passenger performance sedan
Price: $51,995, including $1,995 destination fee
Powerplant: 2.0-liter turbo-4 cylinder
Power: 320 horsepower, 310 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.0 seconds (Car and Driver). Top speed, 167 mph
Weight: 3,280 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA, 21 mpg city/28 highway/24 combined (19 mpg observed under the cane)
OceanGate brought its Titan submersible to Oakland County Airport on Nov. 6, 2021, looking to sell $250,000 tickets for a seat to the Titanic shipwreck 13,000 feet below the Atlantic Ocean’s surface off Newfoundland.
I was invited, though I didn’t have the financial means — or the claustrophobic tolerance — to join the expedition in the cramped, single-porthole vessel. But I did have a keen interest in the pilot, my friend and former classmate Stockton “Tock” Rush.
From test pilot Chuck Yeager to Mount Everest explorer Sir Edmund Hillary, risk-takers are a special breed. OceanGate CEO Tock was one of them. Unlike the astronauts and explorers who lived to reach the summit of mountains and outer space, however, Tock was fascinated by going to the bottom of the ocean. Since he founded OceanGate in 2009, I followed his progress — occasionally visiting his headquarters in Everett, Washington, north of his Seattle home.
Tragically, Tock died this week — along with four other adventure seekers — aboard the Titan when the craft imploded, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, at the bottom of the Atlantic, just 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow. It was the Titan’s fourth trip to the 111-year-old shipwreck since 2021.
Ask anyone in my Princeton University Class of 1984 which one of us would be brave enough to dare such a mission, and Tock would be at the top of the list. Coming from a family of car racers, I have a need for speed that has taken me to some of America’s greatest race tracks, and Tock took great interest in my motorsports adventures.
But he had much bigger boundaries to explore.
When we were 19 years old, he became the world’s youngest commercial airline pilot, commanding Saudi Airlines planes during our college summers. After graduating with an engineering degree in 1984, he went to work as an aerospace engineer for McDonnell Douglas in California, but he chafed at working in the bureaucratic corporate world funded by government tax dollars.
In the summer of 1985 — during one of McDonnell Douglas’s frequent military project shutdowns while they waited for Congress to pass defense appropriation monies — my wife, Talbot, and I met up with him outside St. Louis (my wife’s hometown) in order to help him get an Ultralight airplane off the ground. A plane that Tock had built himself.
With a parachute strapped to his back and the Ultralight’s single propeller whirring away, he skimmed west St. Louis county cornfields while we chased him in our car. He eventually landed his maiden flight — on target — in a farm field he had designated miles away.
Like many pioneers, Tock came from a family of means. He was an heir to the Standard Oil fortune by virtue of his grandfather, director Ralph Davies. His namesakes — Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton — were signers of the Declaration of Independence, and their portraits hang in the foyer of his Seattle home.
Like those American pioneers, he was determined to explore new frontiers, and the ocean floor became his obsession. On a visit to Everett last decade, we boarded the first prototype sub that Tock and his engineering team had developed to test the lightweight construction that could transport a crew to the Titanic. Determined to explore the secrets of the world’s vast oceans, Tock saw the Titanic fascination — and the adventure-tourist revenue it could produce — as key to financing multiple adventures.
The project was laborious in financing, building and transporting the vessel to the Bahamas and other deep-sea locations to test. On a trip to Newfoundland in 2018 to test a new GMC Sierra truck, I learned that Tock was nearby as construction on the Titan was completed, and he had turned his focus to the big prize: taking passengers to the Titanic.
The vessel would make some 50 deep Atlantic simulation dives before completing its first Titanic trip in 2021. Shortly thereafter, the OceanGate team towed the Titan to a hangar in Oakland County Airport before a small audience of thrill seekers to sell the experience. The team included Tock’s wife (and Talbot’s college roommate), Wendy, a mission specialist whose great-grandparents had, coincidentally, perished aboard the Titanic.
My wife and I ascended the steps onto the Titan’s platform and ducked our heads into the low-lit passenger compartment behind the single, bow-mounted porthole. Inside, Tock gave us a tour of the controls and safety procedures. I can only remember thinking how my claustrophobia — not to mention my 6-foot-5 size — would be a problem for the 2.5-hour dive down to the Titanic.
Never mind bobbing on the surface for days in the Titan’s mothership — the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince — patiently waiting for the weather to clear for the dive.
The presentation included thrilling pictures from previous expeditions, but Tock and his team were blunt about the risks. Like the Apollo 1 crew fatalities or the multiple fatalities of explorers who have tried climbing Everest — the risk of death would always shadow you when pushing the envelope of the exploration.
Tock lived to conquer those risks. He — and his fellow passengers — died doing what they loved.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Chelsea — Sleek, simple and sophisticated, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 takes direct aim at the Tesla Model 3.
And that’s rare for an industry that has answered Tesla’s stunning one-two punch of the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV with … a single SUV jab. Think about it. Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, Cadillac Lyriq, Chevy Blazer EV, Toyota bZ4X, Subaru Solterra, Nissan Ariya, Mazda MX-30, Audi Q4 e-tron, Genesis GV60, Fisker Ocean, Lexus RX, Kia EV6 — automakers have entered the EV segment by taking on the Model Y while largely ignoring the compact $41,880 sedan that changed the EV game.
Yeah, yeah, I know, the sedan is kaput. Finished. Soooo 15 minutes ago. Which is why manufacturers rushed to fill the most popular segment in autodom — the compact SUV — with their first EVs. But being a low-slung sedan didn’t deter the Model 3 from selling like hotcakes.
So, determined to make its mark in the electric world, Hyundai has followed the master: it has (like everyone else) created an Ioniq 5 SUV to take on the Model Y, and an Ioniq 6 to chase the Model 3.
I flogged the sexy 6’s top-trim, $58K all-wheel-drive Limited model over the twisty country roads of Washtenaw County. It follows the Model 3 formula but with significant differences.
Bury the throttle out of a corner and 6 surges forward, its front and rear electric motors offering instant thrust. But it’s not as eager as the — ZOT! — all-wheel-drive Model 3 (a fact borne out by an all-wheel-drive Model 3’s 0-60 mph time, which is a full second quicker than my AWD Ioniq 6 tester) due to carrying another 600 pounds over the 4,086-pound Tesla.
That extra weight comes with benefits. Ioniq 6 feels more substantial than the Tesla’s tinnier construction quality. The Hyundai is heavy, like it’s been carved from oak, and doors close with a satisfying THUNK. Ioniq 6’s wheelbase is also three inches longer than Model 3, which translates into a significant four more inches of rear legroom — and six more cubic feet of interior space.
When I wasn’t enjoying the Hyundai’s smooth ride behind the wheel I was sprawling comfortably in the back seat. All that interior space, however, steals from cargo room, which is just 11 cubic feet compared to the Tesla’s 19 — a subtraction exacerbated by Hyundai declining to offer a frunk (front trunk) as Tesla does.
Consistent with Tesla, Ioniq 6’s cockpit is dominated by a big horizontal screen — though the Hyundai’s screen sprawls across the dash, splitting in two to offer an instrument display behind the steering wheel and infotainment display over the console. Tesla, of course, stuffs all its controls into a single 15-inch tablet. Both Hyundai and Tesla further unclutter the cabin by placing gear shifters on the steering column.
Like its Silicon Valley foe, Hyundai delights in wowing with new digital toys.
Ioniq 6 boasts multi-step regenerative braking (to my preferred one-pedal driving), multiple drive modes including SPORT, artificial propulsion sounds, self-parking — even the ability to remote park the Hyundai from outside the car. These features are also available on Hyundai’s similar luxury Genesis GV60 model, which begs the question: why would you pay 10 grand more for the Genesis than the Hyundai? Or pay more for a BMW i4 EV sedan, which has specs very similar to the Ioniq 6? Indeed, if you close your eyes (please don’t if driving), these EVs all are virtually identical in feel.
The answer, of course, is brand. Who’s going to pay nearly 60 large for a Ioniq 6 when you can have a $60K Genesis GV60 or BMW i4? Or a $60K Tesla? The Ioniq 6 is priced right on top of Tesla’s icon with a $42,715 entry-level, rear-wheel-drive model all the way up to a $56K AWD model (Tesla’s Performance model is $55,630).
Hyundai’s answer is style, something that has benefited Tesla all these years. The Ioniq has undeniable 6-appeal.
Its design language is simple like the Model 3, but with more flair. I particularly like the signature black mustache that underlines the headlights — and hides irregularities like the sonar sensors (for self-parking, etc.). It’s a feature that Tesla could learn from. My friend Anne loves her Model Y — but for its spooky black, Voldemort face.
The elegance continues with a beautiful, uninterrupted arc under the greenhouse to the boot, which tapers into a swan tail. It’s a fuselage that reminds of a Mercedes S-class or CLA. Not bad design company to be in. And it’s why you do an EV sedan. It gets noticed. As utilitarian as the Model Y is, it can’t match the Model 3’s racier shape.
That shape is what distinguishes the Ioniq 6 from the Ioniq 5, too. But unlike Tesla — the Model Y is essentially a jacked-up Model 3 hatchback — Hyundai has chosen an entirely different shape for its Ioniq 5 SUV. The 5 is angular, retro. It matches the brand’s “chess piece” philosophy that every model should look different even as the pieces conform to the Hyundai philosophy (the twin Ioniqs have nearly identical interiors, screens, features, price).
So Ioniq 6 stands apart from 5, and from its Tesla EV peer. The larger question is: does it make a case for EV adoption? Here, my Ioniq 6 struggles against another familiar sedan competitor: the gas-powered Hyundai Sonata.
For $20,000 less, a loaded $37K Sonata Limited is also an attractive chess piece. Stunning fascia, sleek lines, distinctive tail. Similar dual-screen interior, tech features, self-park assist. For 2024, the Sonata Limited model reportedly even receives the same remote self-park assist the Ioniq 6 boasts.
The Sonata also more than doubles Ioniq 6’s range — to 588 miles — while not requiring you to install an expensive 240-volt charger in your home. Ioniq’s stiff price premium and charging demands mean EVs are a niche segment — even with a $7,500 tax credit, which the Ioniq models don’t quality for since they are made in Korea,
The Tesla twins quality for the federal largesse, making it tougher for the Hyundai twosome to compete against America’s most successful domestic EV maker. But if you’re an EV buyer and you want something different than the same ol’ Model 3 your green pals drive, then Hyundai has a sedan for you. It’s different, and the same.
Next week: 2024 Acura Integra Type S
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, rear- and all-wheel-drive five-passenger sedan
Price: $41,715, including $1,115 destination fee ($57,425 long-range, AWD Limited as tested)
Powerplant: 53-77.4 kWh lithium-ion battery with single or dual electric-motors; 800-volt charging, 10-80% fast charge in 18 minutes (mfr.)
In a long white and blue building behind I-94’s 80-foot-tall Uniroyal tire landmark in Allen Park, cars are traveling at speeds up to 200 mph.
While stationary.
Ford’s Vehicle Performance and Electrification Center houses the world’s first 200 mph aerodynamic wind tunnel. The state-of-the-art Rolling Road Wind Tunnel—fed by a 26-foot tall, 7,000-horsepower wind turbine—is part of the development of a new generation of Ford vehicles, including the 2024 Mustang.
France had a decidedly American accent last weekend.
Detroit brands descended on the world’s most famous endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Corvette dominating the GT class, Cadillac taking third place overall, and a special Camaro NASCAR bringing V-8 thunder to 325,000 fans at the bucolic French circuit 130 miles west of Paris. The race was not as kind to Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske as its trio of Porsche hypercars struggled with mechanical difficulties.
Auto racing is an international currency trading in excellence, and motorsports has taken on a high profile as performance brands compete in global markets. On Le Mans’ 100th anniversary, Detroit automakers were front and center selling everything from Cadillac elegance to NASCAR muscle.
Hypercar-class racers’ complicated hybrid-electric systems proved problematic across multiple teams with even the winning Ferrari having a nerve-racking moment at its last pit stop when the car wouldn’t start.
On to the 2024 Le Mans, when Detroit’s presence will grow again. Ford unveiled a Mustang that will compete in the 2024 GT class to try to dethrone crosstown rival Corvette.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Corvette, Cadillac, Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Toyota GR. The world’s top performance brands have converged on France this weekend to compete for auto racing’s premier endurance title, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Next year a pony will join them.
Ford unveiled the Mustang GT3 race car Friday for the 2024 race season ahead of the 100th running of Le Mans. Following in the footsteps of Ford’s legendary 1966 GT40 and 2016 GT racers, the GT3 will compete against the world’s top production-based sports-cars at Le Mans next year as well as in other global series.
The GT3 represents a triumph of Ford’s product strategy as the Mustang — a key pillar of the Blue Oval’s icon brand strategy along with the F-150 truck and Bronco SUV — has weathered government emissions regulations that have contributed to the demise of muscle car competitors Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger. The seventh-generation, 2024 Mustang is due to hit showrooms this fall.
“Ford and Le Mans are bound together by history. And now we’re coming back to the most important race in the world,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley, a skilled race driver himself. “It is not Ford versus Ferrari anymore. It is Ford versus everyone. Going back to Le Mans is the beginning of building a global motorsports business with Mustang, just like we are doing with Bronco and Raptor off-road.”
Ford is partnering with race chassis manufacturer Multimatic to produce its race car. Multimatic built the Ford GT that won the Le Mans GT class in 2016 on its first try. The Toronto-based race shop also builds the Porsche 963 prototype race car that Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske has entered this weekend as Chairman Roger Penske tries to add Le Mans to his trophy case filled with 19 Indy 500 wins.
Renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee is also a Ford partner, designing the livery for the GT3 debut. Inspired by the new Dark Horse performance model that will debut on the seventh-generation muscle car alongside the traditional Ecoboost and GT models, the Mustang GT3 will carry a ferocious V-8 under the hood.
V-8s have been under attack by global emissions regulators, but eight-holers are dominant at Le Mans, powering everything from the Mustang to Penske’s Porsche to the Corvette that took GT-class pole for Saturday’s race start. M-Sport will assemble the race car’s 5.4-liter, so-called Coyote V-8.
“For a project like the Mustang GT3, we turned to our most trusted partners in the motorsports world to help bring this vehicle together,” said Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook.
The race car bears the signature long hood and fastback of the production car, but is otherwise radically upgraded for the demands of high-speed, high-downforce endurance racing. The carbon-fiber-skinned race car has grown a big wing and diffuser out back, while the front fenders ripple with air vents for aerodynamic downforce. The menacing front end looks like something out of “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
The Mustang GT3 represents Ford’s ambitious goal to sell race cars to customers across the world as Porsche has done for years — promising income to a Ford Performance unit that traditionally has been essential to engineering and marketing, not a profit center. The same goes for Chevrolet, which introduced its own, remade Corvette GT3 car at the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier this year with global sales in mind.
The Mustang GT3’s first customer is Germany-based Proton Competition, which will campaign a pair of ponies in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. Stateside, Ford Performance will field a two-car factory team in IMSA’s 2024 GTD Pro class.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Detroit — The Detroit Grand Prix returned downtown with a bang as IndyCar superstars Alex Palou and Will Power put on a show for the TV cameras. The series champions from the last two years (Palou 2021, Power 2022) going wheel-to-wheel for the win. Representing IndyCar’s two powerhouse teams (Palou from Ganassi Racing, Power with Team Penske). Spaniard versus Aussie. Honda power versus Chevrolet power.
All with the Made-for-TV backdrop of General Motors Co.’s global headquarters in perfect, 80-degree Michigan summer weather. There were also small victories that made the weekend memorable.
Reuss redeemed
The GP’s return downtown was sweet redemption for Mark Reuss. The GM president’s 2018 pace-car crash in a Corvette ZR1 was one of the Belle Isle era’s most infamous moments. And it was especially cruel given Reuss’s reputation as one of the industry’s most accomplished executive drivers. He is a licensed race driver with countless hours at GM’s Milford test facility as well as Germany’s formidable Nürburgring. Mistakes happen (especially on cold tires).
So you knew Reuss relished the chance to get the monkey off his back and Sunday’s race was his time. A red, mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette Z06 convertible — at 670-horses, the most-powerful, normally-aspirated V8-powered supercar ever made — was a prominent presence at the Grand Prix all weekend. But it was a mystery who the IndyCar pace driver would be.
As the ‘Vette led the 27-car IndyCar field on its pace laps, onlookers noted how strongly it came onto the pit straight. Reuss confirmed afterwards he had jumped back in the saddle.
“My favorite part of the track was coming off Turn 4 facing the Detroit River,” said Reuss, “then going down the back straight next to the RenCen towards the pits.”
Go-karting
Belle Isle Turn 2 where Reuss went into the wall was the track’s signature turn. An off-camber, high speed S-turn, it claimed many victims over the years. There was nothing like it on the new downtown course since the 1.7-mile track had to follow the city grid of 90-degree turns.
“I was a big fan of Belle Isle, it had more fast corners,” said McLaren driver Pato O’Ward after Friday’s practice session. “You don’t have a lot of space to work with (downtown). It’s very challenging.”
His McLaren teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, said the track reminded him of go-kart racing. “It’s a very mechanical grip track. The wings don’t have a chance to work because you’re in first gear for all the corners.”
Early concerns were that the course would be too tight to pass, producing a parade. It was anything but. As Sunday unfolded, the race got wild, like, well, go-karting.
Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi had an epic battle, banging wheels in the Turn 4-5 complex.
“I think the track really came alive during the race,” said Rosenqvist. “Even on full tanks, we were doing, like, qualifying lap times. Bouncing between the walls, it’s insane how much effort goes into it mentally to do a hundred laps out there, especially when you have to race other guys around you.”
Palou and Power swapped and re-swapped first place, the latter giving an outside fake at the end of the 190-mph Jefferson Avenue straightaway, then diving inside for the pass. Contact was the rule, not the exception.
Even Palou, an early skeptic of the track, came around to its race-ability.
“The track kept evolving with our sessions and with other series. It was a lot better than I expected. Hopefully we can tweak some stuff and make it even better for next year. I cannot wait (to return).”
Tweaks? Expect the Jefferson straight to be smoothed to make drafting easier. And a redesigned Turn 1 entry to better accommodate cars exiting the pits.
Racin’ in the streets
Part of the track’s challenge was its small size because Penske Entertainment Corp. organizers wanted to make it easy for spectators to get back and forth between downtown restaurants, Cadillac Square business activations, Hart Plaza and the RenCen. Sitting in the Turn 3 hairpin grandstands Friday night after practice, I watched a construction crew check that manhole covers (185 of them on Jefferson alone) were secured with blowtorches. Then I strolled three blocks to Woodward with my wife to a choice of restaurants including Shake Shack, Townhouse and BESA.
Then there was the logistical headache of keeping a major international border functioning in the middle of an IndyCar race.
Improbably, the track and city functioned in parallel. Literally, in the case of Jefferson Avenue, where Windsor Tunnel traffic from Canada went east on Jefferson to I-375 at 25 mph — while IndyCars zipped by at 190 mph down the westbound lanes.
Legally, of course.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Charlevoix — The new 2024 Buick Encore GX may be petite. But it has presence.
Parked in the middle of downtown Charlevoix over a busy Memorial Day weekend, the premium brand’s entry-level compact SUV turned heads. “Never seen that before. What is it?” said one passerby. “That’s a Buick?” said another, echoing the brand’s catchy ad campaign.
Buick has come back from the dead thanks to an SUV model-line makeover — and the entry-level Encore and three-row Enclave in particular. The 2024 models continue the momentum with all-new designs inspired by the Wildcat electric coupe concept. Encore and Enclave are not electric, which is a good thing since EVs are not ready for prime time (will they ever be?) when it comes to road trips.
I left Oakland County with a full tank of gas and 370 miles of range, enough to get me nonstop to Charlevoix with fuel to spare. And that was a good thing since I hit a traffic-choked I-75 at 3 p.m. Friday headed north. Normally, a 3 ½-hour journey, it would take us five hours in traffic, and my wife and I were in no mood to spend more time sitting at electric chargers for another 35-60 minutes refueling the battery as we would in, say, a similarly-sized Chevy Bolt EUV. And that’s assuming no wait lines on a busy holiday weekend.
Like the Wildcat (and recently redesigned Enclave), GX sports thin cat’s-eyes running lights at the top of the front fascia and a low grille across the chin. The effect is a futuristic Transformer robot face — echoed by the rear lights and diffuser — with nicely scalloped sheetmetal in between. Headlights are almost unnoticeable — the small mid-mounted beams are like dimples on either side of the wide-mouth grille.
In keeping with this spare new design (look, gramps, no more portholes on the side of the hood!), the Encore GX is badged with the new, simplified three-shield Buick logo that was first seen on the Wildcat. The cabin’s lines are also easy on the eyes with a sculpted 19-inch display engorged with an 8-inch gauge cluster and 11-inch infotainment touchscreen display.
Driving the Encore GX is as serene an experience as viewing its lovely aesthetics.
GX purred along I-75 headed north with a quiet cabin insulated from the 1.3-liter three-banger up front. When needed to merge into traffic or make a quick passing maneuver, the turbocharged mill provided a healthy 174 torque managed by a liquid-smooth nine-speed automatic transmission.
This is no BMW X1 or Mazda CX-30 Sport, however — your lead-foot reviewer’s preferred vehicles in class — but the Buick brand is not seeking motorheads. It wants customers longing for style and comfort — not G-forces and stoplight launches.
Indeed, underneath its new wardrobe the standard GX is basically a last-gen Chevy Trax. Same 102-inch wheelbase, same 1.2-liter or 1.3-liter 3-banger, same front-wheel-drive-based platform, same cramped rear seats. For the same price, you could get the new, handsome Chevy Trax Activ — on an updated chassis — that adds four more inches of wheelbase and two more inches of rear legroom. Ooooo, I like that new Chevy.
Which is why you should start your Encore GX shopping with the all-wheel-drive version — a $1,500 option (available on all three trims: Preferred, Sport, Avenir) that’s unavailable on Trax.
Starting at $29,350 on the base Preferred trim, the GX AWD will allow you to navigate Michigan’s endless winters with confidence. Just don’t go drag-racing any BMW X1s out of stoplights. Bimmer earns its $8K premium over the Encore by throwing mud on you with its 295 pound-feet of torque.
If that doesn’t concern you, then my top-trim Avenir tester suits Buick’s country-club vibe just fine. Load its comfy interior with leather seats, auto windshield wipers and cell-phone charger, and it’ll ring the register at $39K. That’s in the affordable premium luxe sweet spot — eight grand south of a comparable BMW X1 and 12 grand north of a Chevy Trax Activ.
Despite giving up legroom and cargo space to the remade Trax, the Encore GX has a neat trick that Trax lacks: A forward-folding front seat.
In downtown Charlevoix, my wife spied a big, wide rug she wanted to take home. No problem.
I flattened the front passenger seat, flattened the second-row, 60-40 split seat, then opened the hatch and shoved the rug all the way through the cabin to the front dash. Mrs. Payne sat in the left rear seat for the ride home next to the rug. That magic front seat can also be used as an ottoman for, say, a leg that’s been operated on. Like when I had a knee replacement a few years back and my wife drove me home — my stiff right leg laying over the flattened front seat.
Such attention to cabin detail is typical of GM products, and the Buick shares the intuitive steering wheel controls found in other vehicles from the automaker. Those ergonomics extend to the back side of the wheel, where you can adjust radio volume with your right hand — and scroll stations with your left.
Alas, that ergonomic attention is missing when it comes to rear visibility, and the Encore has one of the worst C-pillar blind-spots of any compact vehicle I’ve driven. A standard 360-degree view would be a nice solution to this problem — especially given the Buick’s premium luxe market.
Alas, GM (and Buick) are stingy when it comes to tech. The 360-degree camera will set you back an additional $1,095 as part of an advanced technology package that also includes adaptive cruise control. For a company trying to lead the industry into a self-driving future with its Cruise and Super Cruise technologies, the lack of standard ACC is another, ahem, blind spot. Especially when you consider that ACC comes standard on a Mazda CX-30 for just $24K.
With the demise of the base Encore, Encore GX is Buick’s entry-level offering. For now. That will soon change with the introduction of the fastback Envista compact SUV starting just below $24K.
But Envista will be FWD only. If it’s an entry-level premium compact you’re looking for with AWD below $40K, then Buick is a compelling choice. Especially if your hubby is planning knee surgery.
Next week: 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6
2024 Buick Encore GX
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel-drive five-passenger SUV
Price: $26,895, including $1,295 destination fee ($38,980 Avenir model as tested)
As president of Bloomfield Hills-based Penske Corp., Bud Denker runs a $39 billion global transportation services company employing more than 70,000 people worldwide in 3,200 locations.
But of particular interest to Detroit, Denker also chairs the Detroit Grand Prix, and he and his boss, Roger Penske, have a soft spot for motor racing.
This weekend, they are bringing open-wheel racing back to the downtown streets of Motown after a 32-year hiatus.
“This will be the most inclusive event our city has seen — maybe any sports event has seen anywhere — because of how we’re bringing the fans in for free,” said Denker, 64, of the 1.7-mile street circuit that will encircle General Motors Co.’s Renaissance Center. “Fans will have access to Hart Plaza for free. And the riverfront for free. And entertainment for free. I don’t know if we’re going to have 50,000 people a day or 75,000 or 100,000. We’re making the site fully inclusive.”
Denker has run the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Belle Isle since 2007, two years after he came on board at Penske Corp. after leaving Kodak. The return of the GP to downtown streets has created a post-COVID buzz in the city and won praise from sponsors and community leaders alike.
Bud Denker has been instrumental in bringing the Detroit Grand Prix back downtown.TODD MCINTURF, THE DETROIT NEWS
“Bud’s vision and leadership have been a catalyst in bringing this iconic race back to the streets of Detroit,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president of GM Performance and Motorsports. “A constant advocate for the city and race fans alike, the Detroit Grand Prix exists in large part because of the efforts of Bud and his team.”
A native of Hastings, Michigan, Denker got hooked on racing in elementary school when he and his father watched the Indy 500 on TV and cheered local Hastings hero Gordon Johncock, a two-time winner.“From there, I just became a gearhead,” Denker said with a smile. “To make some money in college at Lake Superior State up in Sault Ste. Marie, I worked in a garage and fixed mufflers, shocks, brakes, wheels. Who would know — so many years later — I’d be with Roger Penske and live my dream of racing and running a very, very large business.”
He and “The Captain” hit it off, and Penske gave him the assignment of bringing Indy racing back to the Motor City in 2007. Recalled Denker: “The question was asked to Roger: what legacy would you like to leave behind after the (2006) Super Bowl so the city isn’t forgotten about? He said: ‘We’re going to bring racing back to Belle Isle.’”From 1982-91, the original Detroit GP hosted Formula One and IndyCar (then called CART) races before moving from downtown to Belle Isle in 1992. The island was unpopular with drivers due to unsatisfactory facilities and an uninspired track layout, and the race was ultimately shelved in 2001. But Penske wouldn’t let go.
From 2007-22, Denker and his team put Belle Isle back on the IndyCar map (with sabbaticals during the Great Recession and the 2020 COVID year). Drivers enjoyed the remade, challenging 2.4-mile circuit, and the event poured millions into Belle Isle’s infrastructure.
But Team Penske got the itch to bring the race back downtown.“The importance of racing on Belle Isle was fantastic,” said Denker. “But as I look back now, it may as well have been 50 miles from Detroit: get in the bus, go to Belle Isle, take the bus back, get in the car, leave. The impact … wasn’t enough. Now we’re downtown, and we’re impacting everything.”
Bud Denker, chairman of the Detroit Grand Prix
The importance of racing on Belle Isle was fantastic. But as I look back now, it may as well have been 50 miles from Detroit: Get in the bus, go to Belle Isle, take the bus back, get in the car, leave. The impact … wasn’t enough.
Denker decided not to recreate the old F1 track. “It cut through areas that suffocated businesses and cut them off for literally a week or two,” he said.
Now, grandstands for the circuit’s signature 180-mph back straight on Jefferson Avenue give easy access to busy, restaurant-rich Campus Martius and Woodward Avenue. A 180-degree hairpin at the end of the straightaway funnels racers past The Fist to Atwater Street on the waterfront. Denker satisfied the 1,000-foot pit-lane requirement by building parallel, 500-foot lanes on Franklin Street — a first for IndyCar.
Much of the circuit will be free of charge, but the Grand Prix should make plenty of dough from grandstands and pit chalets — GM’s Renaissance Center towering above them.“What other world headquarters anywhere in the world has a racetrack surrounding it?” Denker said. “The Spirit of Detroit, The Fist, Renaissance Center, the riverfront. These are images that will come into play with every photographer’s shot, and people (will) find them very compelling when they watch from around the world.”
Detroit — When preparing for a race weekend, IndyCar drivers spend a lot of time on track simulators learning the line, reference points, best passing locations. But there’s no substitute for walking the course — especially a downtown Detroit street course that no one has raced before.
“She’s definitely bumpy,” Ganassi Racing team driver and rising star Marcus Armstrong said, as I walked the track with him and Detroit Grand Prix Chairman Bud Denker at twilight Tuesday night. “The circuit will separate the men from the boys because of the very abrasive layout, the corner characteristics and the unforgiving concrete walls. You just have to drive the wheels off it.”
Denker himself is a skilled driver and has spent extensive time driving the track at speed in sports cars, in order to help make it more hospitable to open-wheel, winged, 700-horsepower IndyCar missiles when they hit the streets Friday for the first practice sessions of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.
“It’s a new track that no one has raced before. Anybody can win this race this year,” Denker said, as he picked up clipped wire endings from track fencing that construction crews had installed just minutes before.
Anybody like American Josef Newgarden, last Sunday’s Indy 500 winner. Or IndyCar points leader Alex Palou of Spain. Or New Zealander Armstrong, a rookie phenom by way of Europe’s Formula 2 series. Armstrong placed eighth at the last street circuit race in Long Beach in his No. 11, Honda-powered steed — his best result so far — but the weather-scarred streets of Detroit are a long way from the sunbathed boulevards of southern California.
Turn 9 — a 90-degree right-hander that leads onto the short pit straight — is the intersection of St. Antoine and Franklin streets. It’s a crazy-quilt of concrete pavement surfaces — typical of heavily-traveled Detroit streets — and a long way from the billiard-smooth, asphalt, closed-circuit tracks like Barber Motorsports Park, Mid-Ohio, or Road America, where I race a Lola sports car in the North American Sports 2000 series.
Those tracks are also on the IndyCar schedule — part of a stew of street courses and 230-mph ovals that combine to make IndyCar the most challenging driver’s series in the world.
“I think Turn 9 might catch some drivers out, like Turn 13 at Belle Isle,” smiled Denker, recalling the diabolical corner that put many a driver into the wall as they exited onto the old track’s front straight.
A long, 0.7-mile-long straightway between Turns 2 and 3 will be a signature of the new downtown circuit. Three lanes wide, it runs east-to-west along Jefferson Avenue, past the Renaissance Center, and into a 180-degree, left-hand hairpin just past The Fist.
“That straight is very long. . . and is the best passing opportunity. So, there’s not going to be a lack of chaos there,” Armstrong said.
It presented challenges for Denker and his team. Armstrong, who has been racing the track on Honda’s simulator, expects speeds to exceed the 185 mph IndyCars hit at other fast venues like Long Beach and Road America. Lap times? Armstrong and Denker predict 1.04-minute laps on IndyCar’s harder-compound, Firestone Black tires. On the softer Firestone Reds, times may flirt with 1-minute flat.
“We’re going to have cars going 190 mph down Jefferson Avenue . . .legally,” Denker said, smiling.
Those speeds required that his team check — and secure — every one of the 185 manhole covers on the straightway.
“I hope they have those secured,” Armstrong said. “The bottom of our cars are essentially a vacuum with the rear (wing and) diffuser, which suck the car to the ground — and the concrete into the car.”
Bringing an IndyCar back to earth from 190 to 50 mph also meant repaving some 300 yards of Jefferson east of Griswold. “The braking zone had to be smoother,” Denker said.
His crew also has been paving and grinding other key sections of the nine-turn track, like the uphill Turn 6-7 esses (along the waterfront to the Renaissance Center’s west), where IndyCars build speed for another potential passing opportunity into the Turn 8 left-hander.
Turn 8 will also be tricky as drivers enter the pits there — the only dual-lane pit entrance in the sport. The dual lane was necessitated when Denker couldn’t locate a logical, 1,000-foot stretch for pit lane. So he split it into parallel, 500-foot lanes. With the RenCen as its backdrop, the pits will be another Detroit GP signature.
Armstrong said the pit lane is a wild card.
“Honestly, our simulation looked a bit different than what it is now,” the 22-year-old said, peering down the dual lanes. “It looks a bit tighter than I thought. It’s going to be interesting when there is a yellow — and there will be — when all 20-some cars come in at the same time. It’s going to be like rush hour (with) everyone funneling into that small area.”
Single-lane pits are already fraught with tension (see the chaos that altered Palou’s Indy 500 Sunday). Now imagine cars frantically merging into parallel lanes that then merge into a single lane heading back into Turn One.
“There are no traffic lights in motor racing,” Armstrong smiled nervously.
Re-entering the track, drivers must stay right of a white merge line until they get to Turn One. Meanwhile, on-track racers braking into Turn One must stay left of the merge line.
It’s going to be wild.
“It’s going to be fun,” Armstrong laughed.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. He races in the North American Sports 2000 series. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Auburn Hills — Amidst the sea of SUVs in today’s market there are a few rebels. With unusual designs, features, accessible pricing and different personalities, they defy convention.
Call them quirkboxes. Two new entries for the 2023 Quirky Qar Qlub are the plug-in hybrid Kia Niro and manual-transmission Volkswagen Golf GTI.
While aimed at different audiences, both hatches are fundamentally utilitarian while coming loaded with state-of-the-art technology, big screens and — most important for this comparo — off-beat features for those who want more from their transportation than a competent appliance.
With lamb chop sideburns right out of a ’70s crime movie, the Niro plug-in offers the duality of gas-or-battery power coupled with unique interior features. The Golf GTI, meanwhile, is that rare driver’s car that offers a manual transmission while modeling the coolest fog lights in Autoville.
I took the quirky qouple for a drive that warmed my soul on an otherwise hideously cold overcast April day.
Niro debuted six years ago in a 2017 Super Bowl ad as a granola-eating, Earth-saving hybrid with (plug in your cloying Hollywood celebrity here) Melissa McCarthy at the wheel saving the Earth for whales, trees, ice caps and rhinos (what, no polar bears?). Oh, please. The ads haven’t gotten any better for 2023 (see the Niro’s mawkish “The Sapling” spot saving more trees) — but Niro has.
Dude, the exterior’s D-pillar black lamb chops run from the roofline to the rear wheels! The sideburns alone separated it from the other SUVs in an Auburn Hills shopping center parking lot — but there is more. Quirky flower blossom wheels. Sci-fi front fascia right out of a Blade Runner matinee. Add Cadillac Lyriq-like rear taillights and the new Niro looks nothing like the cookie-cutter Niro of old.
Volkswagen designs are notoriously evolutionary, and no one will mistake the GTI for anything but a Golf. But the eighth generation is a major upgrade in interior tech (more on that later), and the exterior echoes that advance. Using modern LED technology, the upper light bar is considerably narrower — and more sinister — than past models. The tapered hood is punctuated by five-leaf-clover fog lights that I turned on as I hustled through traffic on this spray-soaked day. Out back, a signature quirk is the VW logo that doubles as a hatchback opener.
Both Golf and Niro are front-wheel drivers but Golf GTI showed off its performance focus in the rain with righteous grip from the Goodyear Sport all-season tires and sophisticated suspension electronics that allowed me to put its 273 pound-feet of torque to pavement with little wheelspin.
Niro’s handling is less-well engineered, and my throttle jabs generally led to wild spinning of the front tires on wet pavement. There was little reward in hustling the Kia into corners anyway as the chassis felt dull compared to the razor-sharp V-dub.
That sharpness is magnified by the six-speed manual’s crisp shifter.
I rowed the VW box through the gloom, maximizing the 2.0-liter tubo-4’s sizable 241-horsepower. In full control, I never missed a shift, never jerked the clutch. The drivetrain was a perfectly tuned instrument of speed. #SaveTheManual.
Niro’s 180 horses and 195 pound-feet of torque are plenty peppy — if well shy of the GTI’s 5.4-second 0-60 mph adventures. But like the Golf with its manual, Niro wants the driver to have some fun. In ECO mode, I used the steering column-paddles to bump up regenerative braking so I could one-pedal drive the Kia like a Tesla.
Switch to SPORT mode in Oakland County’s twisties and the paddles — voila! — became manual shifters, allowing me to row the 1.6-liter gas engine for all it was worth. Plug Niro in at night and you’ll wake up with 33 miles of electric-only range if you push the “EV” button next to the console’s rotary shifter. Lean into the accelerator, though — say, merging onto I-75 — and the gas engine would kick in to help the small 11.1 kWh battery turn the front wheels.
Settle in to a 75-mph commute on I-75, and you’ll find the most significant upgrades for these quirk qars in the dash displays.
Niro gets the same hoodless mono-screen across the dash found in its Sportage and Ioniq siblings. Behind the glass are twin digital displays with the infotainment display clocking in at 10.3 inches. Artfully designed and quick to the touch, the latter is easy to navigate — as were steering wheel-mounted controls. Niro sports excellent adaptive cruise control (like Sportage) so that I could drive virtually hands-free on the interstate.
True to its quirky mission, the climate and volume controls share the same button on the dash. Which means that — if you forget to choose the correct mode — you may be turning up cabin heat instead of turning up the Stones. Odd? Yes, that’s what we like in Qlub Quirk.
The GTI’s interior, too, is now dominated by a mono-pane housing twin digital screens. Digital goodies include a lap timer for when the weather clears and you want to take the hot hatch out to Gingerman Raceway for a track day. The simple infotainment system is aesthetically pleasing but completely knob-free — which takes time to figure out. One of the things VW has figured out is how to deliver an adaptive cruise system that works with a manual.
Though not quite as competent as Kia’s system, the GTI’s ACC was smooth even as I shifted between fifth and sixth gears on the interstate. That sophistication extended to the VW’s wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay — while the Kia still requires a wire to allow you to mirror your phone.
To prevent my battery from draining while the phone navigated me to Oakland University, VW thoughtfully places a charger at the fore of the console that held even my gigantic Galaxy S20.
Captain Quirk?
I’m a hot hatch guy and the VW brings the heat as one of the best driver’s cars in the market today. The manual may be a rare feature, but it’s prized by enthusiasts. In addition to its prodigious power, GTI also brings a nearly identical application of modern tech for five grand less than Niro. For its extra price, Niro offers more space for rear passengers and their cargo.
Whether your veins run green or hot-blooded red, Kia and VW have a little something different just for you.
2023 Kia Niro Plug-in
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive five-passenger SUV
Price: $40,785, including $1,295 destination fee ($41,635 manual with SX Touring as tested)
Powerplant: 1.6-liter inline-4 cylinder mated to 11.1 kWh battery and electric motor
Power: 180 horsepower, 195 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: six-speed dual-clutch automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.3 seconds (Car and Driver)
Weight: 3,466 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA, 48 mpg city/44 highway/46 combined; 26 miles of battery-only range (mnftr.)
Report card
Highs: Fun with paddles; roomy interior
Lows: No wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto; gets pricey
Overall: 3 stars
2023 Volkswagen Golf GTI manual
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive five-passenger hot hatch
Price: $35,330, including $1,095 destination fee ($36,840 SE manual as tested)
Powerplant: 2.0-liter turbo-4 cylinder
Power: 241 horsepower, 273 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: six-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.4 seconds (automatic, Motor Trend)
Detroit — Forget full-size trucks, the hottest pickup wars are in the midsize segment.
Chevrolet this week debuted the remade, second-generation Colorado ZR2 Bison — a steroid-jacked beast to take on similar hellions from Toyota, Ford, GMC and Jeep. With big tires, tech and power (Bison even has sports-car-like launch control), the performance pickups kick asphalt. They are the new, $50,00-plus battleground for vehicle performance, displacing the muscle car wars of old that included the doomed Camaro.
With bulging fenders, mod-parts and fearsome looks, these pickups take beefcake cues from their muscle car brethren — but apply it to the sizzling off-road space with sales volumes that muscle cars could only dream about.
“It’s the Golden Age of the pickup truck,” said Andre Smirnov, managing editor of TFLTrucks.com, which benchmarks industry truck performance. “This is the new muscle segment with multiple manufacturers competing across the board.”
Analysts credit the performance explosion to the Detroit Three’s exit from sedans in recent years to focus on popular, higher-riding SUVs and trucks. They also point to regulatory changes that have squeezed profit margins on high-performance cars.
“There is precedent for this in the 1970s when fuel economy rules killed off muscle cars,” said veteran auto analyst Karl Brauer of iSeeCars.com. “So automakers started putting effort into hot-rod trucks like the Dodge L’il Red Express, Dodge Warlock, Chevy Sport and Jeep Honcho that weren’t subject to the strictest government rules.”
Automakers are under similar pressure today to make electric vehicles — facing big fines for making high-horsepower V-8 engines. Dodge, for example, was fined $700 million in 2022 for emissions violations and subsequently canceled the iconic, V8-powered Charger and Challenger muscle cars. Chevrolet followed suit, axing its Camaro model.
Here come the muscle trucks.
With half the cylinders of a 5.0-liter Camaro SS, the Bison puts out nearly the same torque (430 pound-feet vs. 455 for the Camaro) thanks to slapping a turbocharger on its 2.7-liter mill. Despite the reduced displacement, the heavier Bison still gets lower fuel economy than the Camaro. The Bison’s price? An estimated $55,000 when it comes to market this fall, just above the $50k Camaro SS (and shy of the outgoing, top-dog $70k Camaro ZL1). Colorado sales dwarf the Camaro — 89,000 to 24,000 units in 2022 — meaning the ZR2 Bison (and its ZR2 sister) help generate big profit as halo vehicles for the Chevrolet truck line.
Combined with GMC (which is expanding its performance lineup with similar AT4X and AT4X AEV hell-raisers), the midsize trucks sold over 100,000 units last year. Even as Chevy commits to making electric cars to satisfy government mandates, the expanded Colorado lineup shows how the brand can still satisfy consumer demand by selling more gas-fired vehicles than ever.
It’s not alone. The Bison competes against a wave of midsize truck performance that even last decade’s Second Golden Age of the muscle car (as Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis liked to call it) couldn’t match.
Ford — which made performance trucks fashionable in 2010 with its full-size, desert-mauling F-150 Raptor — is bringing a Ranger Raptor to market this year with a screaming V-6 engine and 33-inch off-road tires. The Toyota Tacoma, long the king of the middie segment, just dropped an all-new, gym-toned, hybrid TRD performance truck with a class-leading 482 pound-feet of torque and detachable sway bar for rock crawling. Detachable sway bars, of course, are the signature of the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon pickup with a growling V-6 engine that sounds great—especially with all four doors and the roof removed.
How does the Bison compete against these weapons?
Based on the already capable, high-spec ZR2 performance truck, Bison is the product of a GM partnership with after-market, Montana-based American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) — which has made off-road hot rods for 20 years — and of extensive off-road racing by driver Chad Hall in the Best of the Desert series.
For an estimated upcharge of $5,750, Bison wraps the ZR2 in Boron steel armor for off-road toughness — not unlike a Camaro ZR1 upgrading to light-weight carbon fiber for on-track speed. Indeed, some of the Colorado’s engineering team came from the Camaro program, where high-performance Multimatic shocks were first used. Multimatics are now standard on ZR2 — and Bison pairs them with bigger, 35-inch off-road tires, a one-inch wider track, 12.1-inch ground clearance, front-and-rear steel bumpers, and best-in-class 26.8-inch breakover angle.
“The ZR2 Bison is a racing truck coming to production without the roll cage and fuel cell,” said TFLTruck’s Smirnov. “This is essentially the same truck that Chad Hall has been racing.”
To emphasize its race roots, Bison boasts class-exclusive launch control in its Full-Monty, Baja drive mode. Flatten brake and accelerator pedals, wait for engine revs to plateau, then release the brake. ZR2 Bison will launch just like a Corvette — the eight-speed auto transmission firing off quick shifts.
For high-speed Baja runs, Bison boasts 9.9 inches front and 11.6 inches rear suspension travel — paired with hydraulic bump stops to soak up the punishment of off-road hooning. All this speed comes at a sacrifice to towing capacity, which declines to 5,500 pounds compared with 7,700 in the standard Colorado.
You’ll know the Bison by the AEV decal on the bed, AEV stitching on the seats and those enormous tires. The tires are so big that the spare no longer fits under the bed — it mounts in the bed instead.
In addition to its stump-pulling torque, the truck’s blown 4-banger puts out 310 horsepower versus the old V-6’s 308 horses (and measly 275 torque). This is enough to keep up with the formidable competition. Ranger Raptor leads the heard with 405 ponies from its turbo-V6 (and a Colorado-matching 430 torque). But the Taco TRD Pro takes the torque crown with 465 pound-feet.
For all its bulging biceps and deltoids, the 2024 Bison is refined inside. The interior gains twin, configurable, digital screens for the instrument and console displays. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard — as is a four-door Crew Cab with (tight) rear seats and a 5.5-foot bed.
Safety features like auto high beams and emergency brake assist are standard, as is a nifty, 45-inch-wide lockable tailgate storage box. Just like the muscle car era, Chevy offers accessories like a winch, rock rails and snorkel for enthusiasts who really want to push the limits.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Carlsbad, California — Henry Ford wasn’t the only one who saw the potential of affordable transportation for the American masses. For the last half-century waves of affordable foreign vehicles have washed up on U.S. shores. Volkswagen Beetles. Toyota Corollas. Honda Civics. Hyundai Elantras. Millions of them, built to last and cheaper than anything we Yanks could hammer together.
These days electric vehicles are all the rage, and — right on cue — here comes a foreign manufacturer with a more affordable idea. Meet the Vietnamese-built VinFast VF 8. It features interior room, mono-screen, frunk and self-driving tech like the Tesla Model X — for half the price.
Just $56K. Wait, what?
It’s a commentary on today’s EV market that 56 grand (lease for $528 a month with $5,200 up front) is considered affordable. But that’s electrics for you. Governments are forcing an EV transition, and automakers have figured out the demand is among the swells. VinFast brand is targeting affordable luxury — as opposed to affordable mainstream like its predecessors.
If you crave a Model X but don’t have $100,000 (lease for $1,300 a month with $7,500 down) lying around, then come take a ride with me in the VF 8.
Open the door, touch the brake and it’s on. Just like a Tesla. To adjust the mirrors, go into the big 15.6-inch screen to the right of the steering wheel, poke the mirror icon, then use the button on the steering wheel to adjust the mirrors. Just like a Tesla. The steering wheel, too? Yup, son of Tesla.
In fact, my VinFast tester had a frunk, moonroof, two-mode regenerative braking, no AM radio and no instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. Just like a Tesla. Over the hills of Carlsbad north of San Diego, the big ute was whisper quiet but for the whine of the twin electric motors when I put my boot in it. The torque was instant, launching the beast into I-5 traffic like a shot despite its 5,700-pound girth.
Just like a Tesla.
Of course, for half the price you wouldn’t expect everything to be strawberries and cream, and it’s not. VinFast’s exterior design was contracted out to Paninfarina — yes, the Italian design house that has made eye-catching wardrobes for Ferrari and Cadillac and Alfa and Citroen. For its VF 8 fee, Paninfarina apparently took, um, a Citroen C5 design off the shelf.
The VF 8 fascia bears Citroen’s “heartbeat” logo — with an inverted V in the middle — giving the Vietnamese wagon a French accent. But the rest of the front is busy, clashing with the simplicity of the interior and elegant flanks that taper to muscular rear fenders. The big screen is waaaay too reflective.
The drivetrain isn’t fully baked. Press the DRIVE button (VinFast is controlled by four raised buttons on the console instead of a Tesla stalk) and VF 8 shudders like you just woke it up from a nap.
Wah-huh? Where we going?
Lift your foot off the throttle after a swift 5.5-second 0-60 mph launch out of a stoplight and the car lurches forward like a six-foot-tall 12-year old on a basketball court whose brain and legs aren’t yet communicating. Hey, it’s VinFast’s first big game, too. They’ll likely get better. Tesla is the world’s undisputed champ at making electric motors (Lucid is pretty good too) while VinFast gets its e-motors from a supplier to save money.
But there are thoughtful touches too that indicate VinFast has done its homework. Talk to Tesla owners and half of them wish their cars came with a head-up display to complement the center screen. VinFast does that and it’s standard on the VF 8.
And then there’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Yup, VinFast offers them, unlike Tesla — perhaps the biggest gripe of the Tesla tribe.
My VF 8 City Plus model upgrades over the base $414-a-month City Eco with a moonroof equipped with both a sun shade and glass opener (operated via the touchscreen, of course). Again, two features some Tesla owners crave.
Just as VinFast has maximized its skateboard, engine-less electric chassis to accommodate a frunk up front, so does it offer palatial legroom in back and good cargo space. VinFast has a flood of product coming in the year ahead, including the compact VF 6/7 and the three-row VF 9. But Vietnam’s biggest company clearly saw white space in the midsize segment. Most automakers have offered their first EVs as compacts — Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5/6, Genesis GV60, Kia EV6 (pause for breath), Jaguar iPace, Audi Q5, Lexus RZ.
The midsize space is uncrowded: the much pricier Model X, Rivian R1S, BMW iX and Cadillac Lyriq.
But despite its value proposition (which includes a $7,500 tax credit when leased, best-in-the-industry, comprehensive, 10-year/125,000 mile warranty and free charger and installation for your home — wow!) the lease-only-for-now VinFast has its work cut out for it. EVs are a luxe buy, and customers with $50K to spend are going to look first at a $55K Tesla Model Y. Heck, they may also prefer a roomy $55K Kia V6, which is also a premium EV at an affordable price.
There’s also the matter of Tesla’s secret sauce — its charging network.
A student of Tesla in its design, operation and retail network, VinFast still couldn’t bring itself — like every other automaker — to invest in its own charging network. VinFast hopes the patchwork of Electrify America, EVGo, ChargePoint fast chargers (subsidized by billions from Uncle Sugar) will be just as good.
Using the VF 8 app, I routed a mock 293-mile journey from Raleigh, North Carolina to Washington, D.C., and the navigation dutifully routed via supercharger (for a 38-minute charge stop) just like my Model 3. Whether the, ahem, EA charger would be functioning, the app didn’t say.
Why did I route from Raleigh, you ask? Because that’s where VinFast is building its manufacturing plant. Like the foreign transplants that came before it, the Vietnamese company is not just banking on affordability, but on being close to its customers. And, of course, to qualify for $7,500 from Uncle Sugar.
Foreign automakers didn’t need subsidies to sell their wares in year’s past, and the $7,500 is evidence EVs are too expensive. Unless you’re a premium buyer.
For now, VinFast is only selling in California, which might as well be a foreign country compared to EV adoption in the Midwest. But Vietnam’s biggest automaker has its eyes on all 50 states, and it’s moving very VinFast.Next week: Quirkbox comparo: VW GTI manual vs. Kia Niro Plug-in
2023 VinFast VF 8
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive five-passenger SUV
Price: $51,000, including $1,200 destination charge ($56,000 City Plus model as tested)
Powerplant: 82 or 86-kWh lithium-ion battery with twin electric motors
Power: 260 horsepower, 368 pound-feet of torque (City Eco) 300 horsepower, 457 pound-feet of torque (City Plus)
Detroit — As the Detroit Grand Prix approaches, the NTT IndyCar Series has been turbocharged by a new, weekly TV show in the mold of Formula One’s successful “Drive to Survive.” Broadcast on the CW Network, the six-part series goes behind the scenes to give viewers an up-close look at the personalities behind the wheel.
“Drive to Survive” hooked millions of sports-starved American fans on the international open-wheel sport during the COVID pandemic. But while 10 “Drive” episodes document the previous F1 year, 100 Days episodes document the current racing season right up until the sport’s biggest event, the Indianapolis 500, on Memorial Day — a week before the Detroit Grand Prix.
The format’s inspiration came from the NFL’s Emmy-winning hit series, “Hard Knocks,” a five-part series that goes behind the scenes of teams like the Detroit Lions.
“Obviously, similarities to ‘Drive to Survive,’ but I find it more like ‘Hard Knocks’ because we are taking advantage of the story lines as they happen in real time,” said executive producer Bryan Terry, a Lake Orion native now working in New York with VICE Media. “The value of being in the moment is so real. We are magnifying — and participating in — those story lines.”
“100 Days” debuted on April 27 with an episode about the season’s first race in St. Petersburg, Florida, the series will run through June 1. The weekly episodes — which run every Thursday at 9 PM and are then available for streaming from CW and VICE apps — weave story lines about the sport’s superstars with race coverage.
One of those superstars is Rahal Letterman Lanigan team co-owner David Letterman. “This is no exaggeration,” said the former late-night host in opening the series. “If you win the Indianapolis 500, you’re going to be immortal.”
The series tracks some of the compelling mortals vying to win 500 — and season championship — in the fastest, American-based racing series.
“You see Josef Newgarden, who looks like Captain America, and you get to meet his wife — and find out she was a Disney princess at Disney World and that’s where they met. You think, this is too good to be true,” Terry said in an interview. “Or Pato O’Ward, who take his Cobra out on the air strip in Mexico. What a cool life.”
Terry said the series’ first priority was gaining drivers’ trust as “100 Days” embedded cameramen and cameras with teams and in homes. “A bad day at the office is a bad day — so on those days we are just a little more sensitive,” he said. “The last thing. . . you want is a camera in your face. We understand (if we) back off there will payoff down the road because we know these guys will have respect for us.”
That trust has allowed cameras to cover tense moments like six-time champion Scott Dixon’s confrontation with O’Ward after they crashed at Long Beach — to touching moments like Team Penske driver Will Power’s home treatment of his wife’s serious medical condition.
That drama complements high-speed, on-track drama such as last Sunday’s 230-mph Indianapolis qualifying shoot-out that left veteran Graham Rahal sobbing in the pits after he failed to make the 33-car field — only to have his chances resurrected the next day when Stefan Wilson suffered a spinal injury in practice, and his team came calling on Rahal as a substitute. Made-for-TV stuff.
“’100 Days’ does such a good job capturing the essence of (IndyCar), and the competitiveness of the drivers,” Detroit Grand Prix President Michael Montri said. “What we found is there is a good portion of people watching it who have never seen a race before.”
The series has averaged just under 200,000 viewers for its first four episodes. Montri said it’s performed particularly well with younger demographics with 15% of its audience in the 18-34 demographic — the ninth highest on the CW this year (out of 295 programs). Among women ages 18-34 audience the show is in the top 25th percentile.
“The drivers are calling us up and saying: You should go lobster fishing with me, or we’re going to go play tennis,” Terry said. “The willingness of the drivers goes a long way.”
The lobster fisherman is IndyCar sophomore racer Kyle Kirkwood, a fishing enthusiast who was featured in the series third episode diving for shellfish in Pompano Beach, Florida. Oh, yes, and he also win the Long Beach Grand Prix — his first IndyCar victory.
“We’re getting a good following,” Kirkwood said in an interview from Indianapolis where IndyCar spends the month of May ahead of the 500. “Viewers get to see what drivers do in their everyday lives. They get to see their family, and … who we are as athletes which I think people can relate to.”
Kirkwood said that the IndyCar reality show is also a natural extension of the outreach that drivers now do in promoting the sport — whether to sponsors or to their social media accounts.
“In most sports nowadays, being able to talk in front of a camera or on social media accounts and create content for people to follow is a part of racing,” he said. “At the end of the day going fast in a race car is what keeps you your job. But you having good skills in front of a camera is a huge asset to any race team.”
Producer Terry said drivers’ media and social skills have helped “100 Days” introduce IndyCar to a new audience as well as show existing fans a side of the sport they’ve never seen before.
“It used to be (drivers) would leave the field and then go home and shut the door,” he said. “But now that isn’t the way people behave, so I think there is a willingness to open the doors. These shows are nothing without the athletes and that access.”
The TV series’ final episode debuts Thursday, June 1 just four days after the Indy 500 and one day ahead of the June 2-4 Detroit Grand Prix downtown. “Drive to Survive” just completed its fifth season, and Hard Knocks just completed its 18th featring the Lions and Arizona Cadianals.
“Our initial order was to promote the 500, and take advance of something that’s already a huge part of US sports traditon,” said “100 Days” producer Terry. “There’s a good chance that more will happen. We would love to do more.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Encinitas, California — The electric age has brought a flood of startups to the auto industry not seen for a century. Buoyed by the success of Tesla and the promise of government subsidies, small American companies like Rivian, Lucid, Lordstown, Fisker and others are vying to be the next big thing.
VinFast is a different sort of startup.
Like its startup contemporaries, VinFast — founded in 2017 — is young, hungry and determined to make its mark with electric SUVs. Unlike its U.S.-based rival, VinFast is headquartered in Hanoi and has access to the capital resources of the largest company in Vietnam: the $20.2 billion Vingroup.
Celebrating its 30th birthday this year, the company founded by Chairman Phạm Nhật Vượng has, like Hyundai and Toyota Asian multinationals before it, smelled the opportunity to offer an affordable auto alternative in the U.S. market. Like Chinese automakers GAC, Byton and Qiantu, which unveiled concepts for the U.S. market at major auto shows over the last five years, VinFast made a splash at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show with a stage-full of concept vehicles.
Unlike its Chinese competitors, however, VinFast has followed through on its promise. The VF 8 SUV is now on sale in California, America’s biggest EV market. VinFast says the midsize ute will be quickly followed by the large, three-row VF 9 — and then the VF 6 and VF 7 compact models later this year.
“Since Day One, we had a global strategy,” said VinFast CEO of North America Van Anh Nguyen in an interview at the VF 8’s media launch in California. “We want to become a global, fully-electric company and here we are. We’ve delivered vehicles to Vietnamese customers and now we are delivering the VF 8 to American customers.”
Nguyen emphasized a key to VinFast’s quick-strike strategy is working with partners to develop its vehicles rather than organically growing as an auto company from within. For example, it began in Vietnam in 2017 licensing chassis from BMW and building cars for its local market. VinFast completed its first manufacturing facility in 21 months in Haiphong and began producing its LUX A2.0 sedan and LUX SA2.0 SUV.
For its EVs, VinFast has designed its own skateboard chassis with a business model that follows in Tesla’s footsteps. Beginning in the California and Canadian markets, VinFast will operate through retail/service centers complimented by mobile units to service vehicles at customers’ homes.
“One of our models is connecting intelligence globally,” said Nguyen. “We chose to work with the best partners in styling, in engineering.”
Electric motors, batteries and exterior styling have been contracted to third parties. The VF 8’s designer? The legendary Italian design shop, Paninfarina. Like other startups, VinFast has poached talent from legacy manufacturers. Former General Motors Co. designer David Lyons, for example, has further refined the VF 8 design in-house.
“What sticks with me is how big Vingroup is,” said Paul Waatti, manager of industry analysis for AutoPacific, who visited the company’s headquarters last year. “They are 2.4% of Vietnam’s GDP. It’s a massive company with resources to back up VinFast. They are in this for the long haul.”
VinFast’s corporate parent that made its initial fortune selling ramen noodles in Ukraine before expanding into real estate, retail malls, hotels, energy services, and universities in Vietnam. Unlike European and Japanese automakers who forged their brands in highly competitive domestic markets before exporting to the United States, VinFast is Vietnam’s only car company — a symbol of national pride in an emerging economy were less than 10% of the population owns a vehicle.
“We get a lot of support from our parent company Vingroup, the largest company in Vietnam,” continued Nguyen. “We have a huge ecosystem in Vietnam where Vingroup has been in operation for 30 years.”
VinFast follows current corporate fashion in outlining a larger purpose to “create a better life for people” and “a sustainable future for everyone.” The VinFast premium product strategy has predecessors.
Toyota’s Lexus brand came to the U.S. market in the 1980s looking like a Mercedes knockoff — but for thousands less. So, too, the VF 8. Inside the model’s spare interior, Tesla’s influence is apparent as the SUV is run by a single, 15.8-inch screen. Basic functions like adjusting mirrors and the steering wheel column are controlled in the screen. And, like Lexus, the VF 8 can be had for thousands less than other market players.
“VinFast has set their sights on the toughest market in the world,” said AutoPacific’s Waatti. “They’ve got some issues to work through on the VF 8. The VF 7 looks gorgeous. It’s going to be about building brand equity and loyalty in a crowded market.”
The VF 8’s $46,000 sticker price is half that of a similarly-sized Tesla Model X. It’s $30k less than comparable Audi and Cadillac EVs. Its price is similar to a Kia EV6, which is also trying to compete for the EV market’s premium customer. The Vietnam-made VF 8 is initially offered only as a lease so that it can take advantage of a loophole in federal law that allows imported electrics to offer customers the full $7,500 tax credit.
To gain the $7,500 on purchase, an EV must be produced in the United States (ultimately, its battery must be produced here too). To that end VinFast is building a production facility in Chatham County, North Carolina, with production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. It would be the company’s second manufacturing facility after the Haiphong plant.
“We have looked at different states. We chose North Carolina,” said Nguyen, who has moved to Raleigh to oversee the facility’s construction on the 220-acre site. “Looking at the regulations, tax rebates, it makes so much sense to have manufacturing here so we can relate to our north America customers faster.”
VinFast has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state that includes an incentive package worth $1.2 billion.
As for building batteries, the company admits the challenges of contracting with Chinese manufacturers like CATL while at the same time promising a sustainable green model. CATL processes lithium in China, one of the world’s dirtiest manufacturing environments, while a majority of the world’s cobalt (a key ingredient of battery packs) comes from Congo, where child labor is often used in mining.
“It’s a challenge the whole industry is grappling with,” said Senor Director for Charging Sean Ackley.
Even before the $7,500 rebate, the midsize VF 8 will cost just $414 a month to lease — a figure more in line with a compact Audi A3 sedan than a midsize luxury EV from Tesla or BMW, which are generally north of $1,000 a month.
“There are three areas VinFast focuses on: 1) Quality, 2) Great styling and 3) service,” said Nguyen. The company backs up the latter with a best-in-industry, comprehensive, 10 year/125,000-mile warranty.
VinFast is the leading auto retailer in Vietnam, and sells electric buses and e-scooters in addition to its VF 8, VF 9 and VF e34 models. The latter was the first EV produced by VinFast (in 2021) but company marketing chief Robert Muller said the subcompact EV is too small for the U.S. market.
“We decided to start sales in California. The electric infrastructure and incentive program and EV adoption ratios are high here,” said Nguyen of a state that dangles HOV-lane privileges and another $7,500 for customers to purchase an EV. “From here, we will expand to other states as well.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
The Toyota Tacoma has long been King of the Hill in the midsize truck wars. But new, modern entries from Ford, Jeep, GMC and Chevy have challenged that hegemony.
For 2024, Toyota has responded with an all-new weapon.
Remade from the ground up, Tacoma features eight different trims, a suite of standard features, high-tech interior, multiple cab-and-box configurations, and the segment’s first hybrid drivetrain. Standard in the Taco’s dirt-kicking TRD Pro and new Trailhunter trims, the so-called i-Force Max turbo-4 hybrid powertrain pumps out a class-best 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. The blizzard of choices includes a stick-shift transmission option, an industry rarity. Game on.
“With even more off-road capability, reliability, (and) a host of options for every owner, we’re confident that Tacoma will remain the top choice for midsize pickup buyers,” said Toyota group general manager Dave Christ.
Like the recently unveiled Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon, Tacoma has ditched its V-6 drivetrain. Unlike those competitors, Tacoma still offers two varieties of cab (two and four-door options) and two bed sizes (5-foot and 6-foot) and that elusive manual gearbox.
Unlike other foreign automakers, Toyota has been determined to take on the Detroit Three in the pickup wars. But while the full-size Toyota Tundra has struggled to close the sales gap with the Ford, GM and Ram franchises, Taco has been the benchmark for the midsize segment for two decades.
For Toyota, Tacoma is THE off-road franchise.
It maintained its sales lead even as the Tacoma got long in the tooth and as its rivals — Colorado, Canyon, Nissan Frontier, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator — stepped up with state-of-the-art dirt-kickers. With the fifth-gen Tacoma, Toyota appears determined to bring out all the stops to maintain its sales lead.
The Taco shares a lot with big brother Tundra, including the brand’s new TNGA-F global truck platform, digital displays and electrified powertrain option. Where Tundra downsized from a V-8 to a twin-turbo V-6 hybrid in its top-trim models, Tacoma has ditched its V-6 mill for a turbo-4 cylinder mated to an electric motor.
The brawny four leads a family of 2.4-liter turbo-4’s that begin with a 228 horsepower and 243 torque in the base trim SR. Step up to other models and the power increases to 278 horses and 317 torque. Manual transmission models produce 270 horsepower and 310 torque.
The engine is cradled in a remade, high-strength steel ladder-frame with a redesigned, multi-link coil rear suspension offered in top-trim Limited, Trailhunter and TRD Pro models — an upgrade over the truck’s traditional leaf springs for a better ride. Frame cross-members have been fortified to increase durability and carry Toyota-optioned gear like rooftop tents and camp fridges. Max towing clocks in at 6,500 pounds with a 1,709-pound payload. In a sign of how long in the tooth the old Taco was, the ‘24 model gets standard, four-wheel disc brakes. Other modern goodies include a low-speed, trail-assist cruise control feature and electronic power steering.
Tacoma’s calling card is its Baja-tuned, high-speed TRD Pro model — and its ruggedness now informs the entire lineup.
The top-trim Pro is fitted with the latest, greatest, three-way adjustable internal bypass Fox shocks. The TRD Sport trim gets red, sport-tuned shocks; TRD Off-Road gains Bilstein remote reservoir shocks; and Trailhunter introduces Old Man Emu (OME) 4×4 suspension for off-road misbehavior.
The cabin is remade with a tablet screen high on the console dash. A 14-inch touchscreen (shared with Tundra) and 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster are optioned. Other electronic goo-gaws like wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard. Also standard is Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 that includes adaptive cruise control and auto high-beams. The rear seats join in the fun with more storage space underneath (gas models only, hybrid models need the space for the battery).
All these upgrades are wrapped in a muscular exterior design penned by Toyota’s North American design team based in California and Ann Arbor.
The new wardrobe is available in SR, SR5, TRD PreRunner, TRD Sport, TRD Off Road, Limited, TRD Pro and Trailhunter trims. Configurations include a two-door XtraCab mated to a 6-foot box, and a four-door Double Cab mated to 5-or-6-foot bed.
“We looked at our truck DNA and the Toyota Baja race trucks for inspiration to capture the extreme spirit of off-road adventure,” said design chief Kevin Hunter.
In that spirit, the Tacoma gains an off-road model, aimed at going off the grid for rock-crawling, stream-fording, and extended campsite journeys. You’ll know it by its bronze-colored “TOYOTA” grille and 20-inch LED light bar. Trailhunter gets an additional two-inch lift courtesy of 33-inch Goodyear Territory R/T tires and an A-pillar air intake.
Trailhunter still defers to TRD Pro as top dog, however.
Likely to list around $50,000 when it is introduced early next year (hybrid models are delayed).,the Fox shock-shod Pro has a ground clearance of 11 inches — two inches higher than the previous gen — front skid plate and wider stance for high-speed off-roading.
The TRD Pro also debuts a seat with its own suspension. Dubbed the IsoDynamic Performance Seat with and air-over-oil shock absorber system, it aims to stabilize the driver’s field of vision on rugged trails.
Assembled in Mexico and California, the new Tacoma goes on sale later this year with an estimated $28,000 starting price.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Milan, Italy — European governments have historically been more aggressive than the United States in regulating fuel consumption with high gas taxes, favorable diesel tax breaks and escalating penalties on non-electric automobiles.
That is about to change.
Automakers selling in the United States will face exorbitant federal fines from regulatory bodies by 2026 if they do not meet electric vehicle sales targets. Together with the goal of California — America’s largest auto market — to ban gas engine sales by 2035, that poses a significant challenge for automakers over the next decade in a market where customer prefer gas power.
“By 2026, the United States will have the most strict emissions regulations in the world along with the Netherlands and France,” said Alfa Romeo global product chief Daniel Guzzafame at the media launch of Alfa’s first electrified vehicle, the subcompact Tonale SUV. “The fines won’t be in the thousands, they will be in the millions on automakers in order to move them toward electrification.”
Unlike in Europe, however, U.S. customers are largely unaware of the costly EV transition as penalties are mostly born by automakers — not consumers. Across the pond, by contrast, auto buyers have for years paid penalties for owning less-efficient cars — to the point where gas-powered cars are forbidden in some urban areas. In the smaller land mass of Europe, customers have the option of ubiquitous public transportation when the price of owning a car gets too high.
Yet, European governments still struggle to get consumers into EVs without massive subsidies. Italy, for example, has seen EV adoption rates stall below 4% of sales with subsidies at $3,300 per car compared to a $10,000 continent average. That has led to a push for synthetic fuels in order to keep internal combustion engines viable.
“The challenge for EV adoption is consumer anxiety,” said Stephanie Brinley, senior auto analyst for IHS Markit. “People have to make changes in their lifestyle to drive an EV, and people like their gas cars and don’t want to change.”
Crucially, the European Union’s 2035 ban on internal combustion engines includes a loophole for vehicles to burn synthetic fuels that are under development — a loophole California (and other so-called zero-emission-vehicle states that have followed its lead) have resisted in their push to eliminate ICEs by ’35.
“Italy and Germany successfully won an exemption for e-fuels,” said Guzzafame, “though they will likely be very expensive.” Gasoline costs $7 a gallon in European cities like Milan.
Escalating automaker fines have already pushed brands like Dodge to eliminate such popular gas cars in the United States as the Challenger coupe and Charger sedan by the 2024 model year. Other performance models like Chevy’s Camaro are exiting the market because their thirsty V-8 engines make it hard for manufacturer fleets to satisfy government rules.
European governments also penalize automakers for emissions non-compliance (measured in carbon dioxide grams per kilometer), but consumer markets also penalize manufacturers for making thirsty vehicles. Buy a powerful 505-horsepower, 3.0-liter Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio in Italy, for example, and you will pay a stiff 15,000-20,000 Euro fine (the Euro is comparable in price to the U.S. dollar) for its fuel consumption (271 g/km). Guzzafame said the Giulia would then be subject to another 3,000 Euro in annual fees.
By comparison, the plug-in hybrid Tonale — Alfa’s first electrified vehicle — emits only 26 g/km on the government test and is subject to a penalty of about 1,000 Euro on purchase.
“A full-sized American pickup truck would be unaffordable here,” said Guzzafame, who spent years as an engineer in the United States before assuming his current role at Alfa in Italy. “It would be a luxury vehicle.”
Older, inner-city European streets are also unhospitable to the large trucks and SUVs you see on U.S. roads. But in Europe’s suburbs and rural highways, SUVs like Tonale (and Volvo XC40 and BMW X1) are common — though the SUV mix tends to be a size smaller than in the United States (America’s best-selling SUV, the midsize Toyota RAV4 SUV, is a rare large vehicle here) due to the emissions penalties and $7-a-gallon gas.
America’s single-minded push toward battery-powered vehicles is one reason Alfa is exporting only its Tonale plug-in hybrid model to the United States as a bridge to full electrification. Like other small-volume luxury brands Cadillac and Jaguar, Alfa plans to go all-electric in the United States this decade.
“They have to go EV. It’s a demand coming from government, not consumers,” said analyst Brinley, a performance car fan herself. “Automakers recognize that enthusiasts like sound and dynamics, but it may take some time to develop EVs that people will get excited about.”
In Europe, however, Tonale will be offered in diesel and gas-hybrid versions as well as full electrics. Alfa expects the powertrain trifecta to carve the market pie in equal slices, with the hybrid leading the way.
In the 1990s, Europe’s regulatory regime favored diesel for its superior efficiency over gas (lower CO2 g/km), which led to a diesel stampede. A decade ago, some 80% of new European vehicles sold were oil-burners before Volkswagen AG’s Dieselgate scandal soured politicians and green fashion turned to battery power. Given the sheer quantity of diesel engines on the road, Europe maintains a love-hate relationship with the fuel and Italian diesel prices are typically a more affordable $6.70 a gallon compared to gasoline’s $7.30. In the United States, personal diesel transportation never took off.
Governments frown on diesels in European cities, and come 2025, diesel cars will be banned from Paris and Madrid. Other urban areas, including Milan, plan bans by 2030. Milan has a sliding Area A, B, C urban scale — with A prohibiting anything but electric cars.
Automakers like Alfa expect similar urban regulation will reach the United States, and the Tonale hybrid’s ability to run on battery power alone for 30 miles makes it compliant for highways and zero-emission cities.
Though EVs are best suited for short-range, urban environments, Italians share Americans’ cold feet for EVs. The Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore found just 3.7% of vehicles sold in Italy in 2022 were electric — compared to 5.6% in the United States — despite Italy having the footprint of New Mexico and the population of California and New York combined.
Those EV sales proportions pale next to Norway’s EV new-car market share of 79%, the Netherlands’ 23% and Germany’s 18%. EVs are scarce here in Milan’s inner city, with a smattering of Tesla Model 3s and Ys and shoebox-sized Smart and Citroen Ami EVs. The generally high cost of vehicle ownership — and Italy’s dense cities — has driven many urban residents to public transit.
High EV adoption is being driven by state subsidies, say analysts, and Italy lags behind its neighbors. In Norway, government subsidies reach 50% of sticker price. The U.S. government subsidizes the purchase of EVs up to $7,500, but only 14 vehicles qualify under the complicated regulations of the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year.
“Internationally, EV incentives come in many forms, from outright subsidies to tax relief to carpool-lane access to the ability to drive into city centers,” said Anton Wahlman, an auto analyst with the financial publication Seeking Alpha. “If the consumer had to pay the real cost, EVs would be a 1% market share proposition.”
Meanwhile, America’s infatuation with hybrid Formula One racing might translate to sales as Alfa fields an F1 team with three U.S. Grand Prix on the calendar. Motorsport reflects the difference in U.S. and European approaches to zero-emissions transport.
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula One — the top rung of global motorsport — has ruled out EV racing, pointing to synthetic fuels as the sport’s future. Beginning in 2026, all F1 team engines will be powered by e-fuels — one reason automakers like Ford, Audi and Cadillac have embraced F1 as a way to entertain customers while also meeting their net-zero goals.
Under F1’s new ‘26 engine package, the electric motor will produce nearly half of the hybrid race car’s power — or about the same percentage the electric motor will supply to the Alfa Tonale.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
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“We spent approximately 250 hours in the wind tunnel developing the new Mustang,” said Mustang and Bronco aerodynamicist Jonathan Gesek. “The aerodynamics of the Mustang Dark Horse have created the most track-capable 5.0-liter Mustang to date.”
“This is a really special time in racing. We have so many manufacturers with this new hybrid platform (that) are going to be able to race together,” said General Motors Co. vice president for performance and motorsports Jim Campbell, referencing new regulations that allow North American and European race cars to compete in the same so-called “hypercar” class for the first time in decades. “We have, I think, 14 different manufacturers racing together. The crowds that came out are incredible.”
