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Payne: Subaru WRX gets fancy new duds, still wants to play hard
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 6, 2022
Santa Rosa, California — An old stagecoach trail running through Mendocino County called Mountain View Road is hell. Its blind, narrow, asphalt path is pocked with patches and neglect. It snakes below a canopy of redwood trees, the perpetually damp surface iced with pine needles making the road surface even more challenging.
My 2022 Subaru WRX tester was in heaven.
Rally bred, the WRX (short for World Rally Cross) cut across the challenging terrain like Barry Sanders through a defensive line. Stiffly damped, its suspension absorbed road irregularities. Barreling into a tight series of S turns, I flicked the stick into second, then blasted out of the corner — the all-wheel-drive system propelled by 271 ponies.
A road that would be a nightmare in the average family SUV turns into a grin-inducing playground at the wheel of the WRX.
The swift Subie is the latest remade entry in my favorite automotive segment: pocket rockets. These talented hellions will happily do daily chores all week, then gleefully devour country roads on the weekend. It’s a segment apparently sheltered from the SUV revolution — so passionate is its fanbase (guilty as charged), so capable are the players.
Each athlete brings a unique skill set to the arena, with the Subaru flaunting manual-shifting, all-wheel-drive DNA born of some of the toughest rally-racing terrain in the world. Mountain View Road? Ha, have you seen Motu Road Gorge in New Zealand? Like the Volkswagen Golf GTI, WRX is a segment icon.
And like the GTI, the ’Ru got a total makeover for the new model year.
The remake is timely given the all-out assault by its competitive set on the market. Notably, WRX has been challenged by the Mazda3 Turbo as the only segment competitor offering AWD — a boon to those of us living in snow country.
The Mazda has set segment benchmarks for looks and interior panache. Its gorgeous tablet-topped dash and hatchback utility make it a formidable rival.
Subie answers with its most daring exterior style ever, its boomerang headlights bracketing the familiar hexagonal grille while also emphasizing the compact car’s wider stance compared with the standard Impreza compact car. Indeed, while WRX shares the Global Platform that undergirds Impreza, the WRX has divorced itself (even dropping the Impreza family name!) from its underpowered sibling and adopting its own unique body panels. The blistered rear fenders and huge quad-pipe-engorged rear diffuser instantly send a message as you come upon a WRX: do you know who you are tangling with?
More controversial are blocky black fender claddings that echo other, more-off-road oriented Subaru Wilderness models. The cladding is unusual. But given WRX’s rally focus and liberal use of black makeup, the styling works remarkably well.
Inside, the ’Ru brings a trendy new 11.6-inch center screen copied from its Outback and Legacy siblings. The touchscreen (complete with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity) is easier to use than the Mazda’s sometimes quirky remote rotary controller, but it isn’t as driver-focused as the 3’s high-mounted tablet.
Style marks go to the automatic-shifting Mazda, but the Subaru is intensely performance driven, starting with a tight six-speed shifter.
Plunging through the redwoods, I never missed a shift. The throws are short, the pedals conveniently placed for heel-and-toe downshifts, even for my size 15s. The arrangement is better than the Golf GTI’s stick, if not on par with the Honda Civic Si’s terrific shifter — one of the best I’ve experienced this side of a Porsche.
Unlike the GTI and SI, however, WRX is curiously emotion-less. There is no rev match on downshift, no growl, not even a SPORT drive mode selector (though the top model GT trim will get six driving modes with its automatic tranny). Odd choice that.
With a quieter cabin that the last gen, the WRX engine feels curiously removed from otherwise pulse-pounding performance. Take the AWD system, for example.
While the Si and GTI bring superb front-wheel-drive, limited-slip differentials that help rotate them through the twisties, the ’Ru goes all out with a rear-wheel-biased, longitudinally mounted low-center-of-gravity Boxer engine that feeds all that power to all four wheels all the time. You know, like an Audi.
Adding nearly another half-liter to last gen’s 2.0-liter engine, the Subie pulls hard. Past quibbles about turbo-lag are forgotten. As I overcooked it into a mountain switchback, the rear end came around nicely as I applied throttle.
So proud is Subaru of its AWD drive grip that it provides sticky summer tires — standard — for WRX.
I’m a sucker for hatchbacks, and the Golf’s hatch utility gives it a leg up over WRX and Si. Subarus are traditionally strong on the standard feature front, but the manual WRX oddly overlooks adaptive cruise control (reserving it for the automatic, even though manuals make up 85% of WRX’s sales volume). ACC — especially for the young (average age 37) WRX buyer — is becoming an essential feature. Both GTI and Si offer it on their manuals.
Not overlooked is seating comfort. Over four hours of aggressive driving, my big 6’5” frame never felt uncomfortable.
The WRX’s new thrones have been extensively reworked, and my Premium trim’s (the meat of WRX sales) cloth seats were as comfortable as if they had been leather while keeping me in place though the curves.
Rear legroom is admirable, too. The ’Ru has put its extra inch of wheelbase to good use, and could fit my giraffe legs easily behind myself in the backseat. But for the tight Mazda, roomy rear seating for four has become a segment staple — though your passengers may squirm when you point at the S curves ahead.
So iconic is the WRX that Subaru no longer feels the need to enter it in a high-profile race series. It exited the World Rally Championship (recording a record 46 wins) over a decade ago, and American Rallycross expired during the pandemic. The WRX is not alone in the Subaru performance lineup, sandwiched between the BRZ and the winged STI.
As engaging as the rear-wheel-dive BRZ is, however, WRX — for about the same price — shows off its value with winter-friendly AWD, comfy seating for four, deep trunk space and big-screen ergonomics.
If you were hoping for a WRX for Christmas, however, you were disappointed. Production was delayed until January.
2022 Subaru WRX
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger pocket rocket
Price: Est. $29,000 (est. $32,000 Premium trim, Solar Orange Pearl paint as tested)
Powerplant: 2.4-liter turbo-4 cylinder Boxer engine
Power: 271 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual, continuously variable transmission (CVT)
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.4 seconds (Car and Driver est., manual); top speed, 145 mph
Weight: 3,320 pounds (premium as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA, 19 mpg city/25 highway/21 combined (auto); 19 mpg city/26 highway/22 combined (manual)
Report card
Highs: Upgraded looks; AWD OMG
Lows: Emotionless engine note; no adaptive cruise control with manual
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Truck e-Wars: Chevy Silverado EV brings 400-mile range, bed extender
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 6, 2022
The Detroit truck wars have gone electric.
Answering Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 Lightning EV salvo, General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet let loose its first electric Silverado pickup truck Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with headline-grabbing features like a mid-gate bed extender, 664 horsepower, and 400-mile range.
Aimed at affluent first-adopters in an EV market accustomed to $100,000 Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S sports sedans, the loaded, $105,000, 2024 Silverado RST pickup will lead the EV truck parade, followed by other model trims in 2024. A 400-mile-range, fleet-focused Work Truck is scheduled to go on sale in spring 2023, while the RST is due to arrive in late 2023.
Like Lightning, Silverado EV pricing starts at just under $40,000 before government tax breaks. Unlike Lightning, which uses a familiar F-150 ladder frame, the Silverado EV makes a clean break from its petrol-powered Silverado stablemate with an all-new platform based on GM’s 800-volt Ultium battery skateboard and capable of fast, 350-kW charging. It’s the same architecture that cradles the Hummer EV — GMC’s first foray into the e-pickup space.
“We have a foot in both camps,” said Chevrolet marketing guru Steve Majoros as the brand will now produce trucks on gas and electric platforms. Majoros and the Silverado team gave media a sneak peak of the pickup ahead of its official CES intro.
After the fleet-customer Work Truck and top-shelf RST retail model, production will ramp up in 2024, with models like the base WT ($39,900 with a smaller battery), RST, and Trail Boss models stickering at $50,000-$80,000.
Chevrolet’s Dearborn rival is already taking orders with four trims advertised to hit the market this spring: Lightning Pro ($39,974, excluding 1,695 destination charge), XLT ($52,974), Lariat ($67,474), and Platinum ($90,874).
The big-battery, 400-mile Work Truck (price yet to be determined) aims to help corporate fleets satisfy ESG (environmental, social, and governance) demands of green investors by filling their fleets with zero-emission vehicles.
“The Silverado EV (provides) customers with a true work-capable truck to help them begin the transition to an electric fleet and assist them in achieving their own sustainability goals,” said GM Fleet VP Ed Peper.
The retail strategy will initially target premium EV buyers who also have the coin for, say, a $105k Mercedes EQS EV. Pickups like the Silverado High Country have become prized by luxury items in recent years, though the RST EV will cost $40,000 more than a fully-loaded V8-powered High Country.
For that price, buyers will get a lot. The Silverado EV is a rolling tech showcase. It plays in the same space as other luxury trucks from startups like Rivian, Bollinger, and Tesla boasting big performance numbers that high-torque batteries can deliver.
The same Ultium batteries that rocket the tri-motor, $112,595 Hummer from 0-60 mph in 3.0 seconds will get the dual-motor Silverado RST there in under 4.5 seconds. Credit a gob-smacking 664-horsepower and 780 pound-feet of torque. The high-voltage platform rivals the Porsche and Lucid Air luxury cars and can add 100 miles of range in 10 minutes at a fast charger. The Chevy’s 400-mile range bests Lightning by 100 miles.
“The Ultium Platform enabled our design and engineering teams to start from a clean slate and create a pickup with impressive performance,” said Nichole Kraatz, Silverado EV chief engineer, who added the architecture allows over-the-air software updates to improve the truck over time.
The truck’s sprawling, 145.6-inch wheelbase sits on giant, 24-inch wheels and an independent air suspension — its profile sleeker than the similarly-sized, gas-powered Silverado. For range-extending aerodynamics, the hood and cowl are lower. A fashionable, LED light runs the width of the grille-less front fascia, similar to Lightning. Silverado EV doesn’t share any body panels with its gas brother.
Step up into the cabin and the truck turns on via card, key, or phone app recognition. Interior space is palatial. Twin 11-and-17-inch screens anchor the dash with a 14-inch head-up display projected over the hood. Drivers can delve deep into the infotainment menus while driving hands-free with SuperCruise semi-autonomous tech. Also notable is a Tesla-like column shifter and class-leading 7 gallons of console storage space.
The pickup’s signature piece is the bed.
A flying buttress C-pillar — reminiscent of the 2013 Chevy Avalanche pickup — frames the 5’ 11” bed that can be extended to 9 feet (10’ 10” with the tailgate down) by dropping the Multi-Flex Midgate wall and window behind the rear, crew-cab passengers. It’s not as radical looking as the angular Tesla Cybertruck, but it’s distinct from traditional, boxy Silverados. The gate can be split 60/40 — or drop flat with storage for the removable window. The rear Multi-Flex Tailgate offers multi-functionality like walk-in steps or a work table.
“This is not a conventionally-styled pickup,” said designer Ryan Vaughn. “It’s more muscular, more sleek. It’s driven by functionality. The electric range is important.”
The bed’s utility is aided by the stiff chassis structure that sits atop the Ultium platform — the battery low for improved center of gravity. An underbody shield runs the length of the truck, helping keep road noise from the cabin.
The RST offers four-wheel steer for maneuverability in tight spots on and off-road. Hook up a trailer and it will tow 10,000 pounds — though that will likely compromise range. TFLTruck.com estimates towing degrades mpg in a gas/hybrid-powered trucks by 70% — and will take a similar toll on battery range.
Without an engine up front, the void below the hood is used as an e-frunk (front trunk) that can hold three pieces of luggage. Frunks were popularized by Tesla EVs and the Ford Lightning offers its own lockable cavity. Overall, the RST and Work Truck feature 10 charging outlets, which Chevy says can be used to power a tailgate party, home or even another EV.
The fleet-focused Work Truck will arrive ahead of the RST and will be more spare while still boasting 400-mile range. The Multi-Flex Tailgate is unavailable and power downsized to 510 ponies and 615 pound-feet of torque. Payload? 1,200 pounds compared with the RST’s 1,300, with towing capability at 8,000 pounds.
The Work Truck is distinguished by a black fascia — shades of its gas peer.
Chevy bills the six-figure RST as a “statement truck” — a halo EV to lure customers and encourage dealers to invest in EV infrastructure. It will likely compete with the $92k Lightning Platinum, the top trim of Ford’s EV pickup. Of Chevy’s 2,900 dealers, Majoros says 2,000 have been certified to sell low-volume Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV crossovers, making them equipped for Silverado EV sales too.
Chevrolet is bullish on the California market. The Golden State not only has the nation’s most onerous environmental regulations but also its biggest EV sector, with nearly half of American EV sales. Silverado is the No. 1 selling pickup in Los Angeles.
The Silverado EV will be assembled alongside the Hummer EV at the Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, the plant retooled with an EV-focused, $2.2 billion investment.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Mercedes’ sleek, electric Vision EQXX concept claims 620-mile range
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 5, 2022
Mercedes kicked off the new year Monday with its Vision EQXX concept, a long-range electric halo vehicle for the German brand.
The aerodynamic EQXX packs a similar-size battery as Mercedes’ current, full-size production EQS sedan into a compact chassis about the size of the entry-level, gas-powered Mercedes CLA Class. Introduced ahead of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, EQXX is also stuffed with a full-dash infotainment screen and virtuous, sustainable materials prized by green customers.
Mercedes announced that, when the concept hits the road this spring, it will be capable of 620 miles of range — a trip from Detroit to New York City. That figure rivals that of gas-electric hybrids like the 633-mile-range Toyota Prius, though it comes up short of diesel-powered marathoners like the 1,000-mile-range Ram 1500 pickup.
The Merc follows in the footsteps of other European moon shots like the 2002 Volkswagen 1-Liter concept, a similarly sleek, cigar-shaped, diesel-powered creation that achieved the European benchmark of using just one liter of petrol to travel 100 kilometers — the equivalent of 237 mpg.
For the EV Age, Mercedes says its concept will hit a new efficiency target of less than 10 kWh consumed per 100 kilometers traveled (6 miles per kWh).
The VW diesel appeared at a time when Middle East conflict dominated headlines and Europe was determined to free itself of Mideast oil by encouraging the adoption of efficient, diesel-powered autos. Diesels have since fallen out of favor with governments. EVs are the new political fashion and EQXX claims the moral high ground as governments force non-fossil fuel vehicles.
“The Mercedes-Benz EQXX is how we imagine the future of electric cars,” said Mercedes Chairman Ola Källenius. “The EQXX is an advanced car in so many dimensions — and it even looks stunning and futuristic. With that, it underlines where our entire company is headed: We will build the world’s most desirable electric cars.”
The EQXX achieves its efficiency goals with a low frontal area and a long, race car-like tail. The Merc boasts a drag co-efficient of just 0.17 — lower than state-of-the-art production cars like Lucid Air’s 0.20 and Tesla Model S Plaid’s 0.208. The low drag co-efficient is achieved with a smaller frontal area than the entry-level, Mercedes CLA-class and a rear track width 2 inches less than at the front.
The concept’s range numbers are better than the brand’s current, $103,360 EQS production EV halo, which gets 350 miles of range. In packing a similar 100 kWh battery into a compact-class chassis, EQXX claims 95% driveline efficiency compared with 75% for the EQS. Drawing on its experience in Formula One and Formula E racing — both of which utilize battery technology — the Vision concept claims 50% less volume and 30% less weight than the EQS battery.
The lightweight battery means the Mercedes tips the scale at 3,858 pounds — or about the same girth as a Tesla Model 3 that has nearly half the range. A solar roof on EQXX delivers another 16 miles of potential mileage.
“Driven by the idea of zero impact on our planet and a highly responsible use of green energy, we encouraged our engineers to go above and beyond,” reads the EQXX news release. “The VISION EQXX is the result of a mission we set to break through technological barriers and lift energy efficiency to new heights. It answers the progressive demands of a modern generation of customer.”
But Mercedes’ push toward electrification is driven by more than political virtue signaling. Long dominant in the U.S. market, Germany’s Teutonic trio of Mercedes, BMW and Audi have been passed by the Model 3, which recorded more than 200,000 unit sales in 2020, compared with just 52,000 for Mercedes’ best-selling GLC-class sport utility. As EV mandates accelerate in the next few years, Tesla is in the catbird seat, accounting for about 80% of EV sales in the U.S.
“Marking the launch of a new, super-purist design style, the EQXX represents a new expression of efficiency in interior design,” says the Mercedes press release, echoing Tesla. “In a departure from the conventional design approach, the interior layout focuses on just a few modules and the beautiful simplicity of lightweight design.”
The design includes vegan leather seats made from mycelium, adapted from the rootlike structure of mushrooms. Carpets are made from bamboo fiber, and the rear floor from landfill items like mixed plastics, cardboard, even baby diapers.
The chassis is based on a 900-volt architecture for quicker charging and a heat pump is integrated to keep cold-weather battery losses to a minimum in, for example, frigid Michigan winters.
“By making efficiency the new currency, Mercedes-Benz has created … luxury and convenience with less impact on nature, and more electric mobility with less waste,” says the Mercedes press release.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: High Five! Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a stylish, roomy and speedy EV
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 5, 2022
Julian, California — We’ve come a long way from Pious to Ioniq.
Twenty years ago, the Toyota Prius sparked a green segment in the American car market. The stylish hybrid was gobbled up by granola chewers and became a hit, inspiring predictions from the pointy-head class that hybrids would dominate the market by 2020. Hybrid GMC Yukons, Ford Fusion hybrids, Chevy Volts came and went as the hybrid hype fizzled. Turns out, green is a niche like V-8s, diesel trucks, off-road dirt kickers.
Now comes another green spasm and the market is flooding with battery-powered vehicles. But this time, the niche is fun.
Hybrids wore out their welcome in part because they were sooooo cloying. Their screens awoke with tree branches reminding us they were doing good. Saving the planet! Just like Leo DiCaprio! Prius was derisively dubbed the “Pious” and the name stuck.
The Ioniq 5 is not that car, even as it is the Prius’s logical heir.
“What is that?” a passerby on a San Diego sidewalk exclaimed, ogling the Hyundai’s brooding, Dodge Challenger-like cowl, creased doors and sci-fi pixel taillights. “It’s cool looking.”
“You should see the inside,” I smiled, flinging the door open to reveal twin 12-inch screens like a computer desktop. “Ooooooh,” my new friend panted.
Self-driving through California traffic (good Lord, is it ever not rush hour in Cali?), I toggled the 5’s left turn signal and the car automatically switched lanes. Then I floored the accelerator pedal — ZOT! — and 446 pound-feet of torque shot me past the slower car. Toggle the right signal and I automatically merged back in lane. Gimme a high 5!
Green doesn’t have to be vanilla. It’s a lesson Hyundai learned with its Ioniq sub-brand, which started in 2015 as an electrified answer to Prius but lacked personality.
Then along came stylish Tesla rocket ships that you could summon across a parking lot and drag race out of stoplights. How cool can EVs be? Mustang now makes one.
The edgy Ioniq 5 follows in these sexpots’ footsteps, but it is more interested in room than vroom.
Sure, the Ioniq can wear you out with windy speeches about how moral it is — “seats, headliner, door trim, floor, arm rests use eco-friendly, sustainably sourced materials (that) include recycled PET bottles, plant-based yarns and natural wool yarns and bio paint with plant extracts” — but these claims are buried in press releases. There’s not a green leaf to be found on its mod bodywork.
The 5 reminds that the Prius was a very practical car. It had good cargo space under the rear hatchback (begiining with 2004 models), good visibility, head-up dash driving info (before head-up displays were a thing), and could go forever on a tank of gas.
Ioniq follows in Prius’s footsteps with an EV that is more hatchback than SUV. The 5 is stretched over the longest wheelbase in Hyundai’s lineup — longer even than the Palisade three-row SUV. Note: in an indication of EVs’ niche status, however, my Limited trim Ioniq 5 tester cost nine grand more than a similarly equipped full-size Palisade Limited. That’s a lot of extra coin for a compact-class Hyundai.
My 6’5” frame easily sat behind myself in the 5’s rear seat with knee room to spare. Heck, Hyundai could fit a third row in this thing (like the spacious Tesla Model Y) if it wanted to. A Tesla-like panoramic sunroof gives the cabin an added sense of openness.
The airiness continues up front. The Ioniq employs an open footwell like the original Tesla Model S (or my parents’ 1960s Buick station wagon), so I could splay my feet while self-driving. Postal carriers might embrace the 5 to easily slide across the seat to stuff mailboxes.
When I get a hot hatch at home like the VW Golf GTI or Mazda 3 Turbo, I head to Hell, Michigan, to have some fun. When in San Diego, the spaghetti curves of the Laguna Mountains beckon.
Ioniq’s acceleration may be bioniq, but it is no hot hatch.
This is curious given Hyundai’s choice (like its Model Y, Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen VW ID.4 rivals) to make the base single-motor Ioniq 5 a rear-wheel-drive car to optimize performance. Hyundai certainly knows how to make corner carvers like the rabid Veloster N.
But 5 could care less about handling. Through the California-79 twisties, my all-wheel-drive tester wallowed about, an indifferent dance partner. “Payne, do we really have to do this?” it seemed to say as I toggled SPORT mode, trying to add pep.
My hatchback preference would be the VW Golf GTI, which is an absolute riot to flog through the curves — while offering plenty of hatchback utility and range to spare for long weekends in the mountains. But I belong in the motorhead niche.
For green buyers who don’t have my need for speed, Ioniq offers everything you need — including good range. Range is the Achilles heel of EVs, limiting them to metro commuters. Within its metropolitan envelope, the Ioniq 5 works hard to earn your trust.
For example: behold the heat pump.
Outside SoCal’s climate paradise, northern latitudes are hell on EVs. Option all-wheel drive on Ioniq 5 and it reduces range from 303 to 256 miles. But the AWD 5 comes standard with a heat pump to assure you get that range even in cold temps. The only EV (including my Model 3) that has hit its mileage marks in sub-30 degree weather was a Hyundai Kona EV I tested two year ago — complete with heat pump.
That assurance should get you good range around Michigan when Hyundai begins to sell 5s beyond its core coastal markets in 2022. If you need to juice up the 5 at a local Supercharger, it won’t keep you waiting.
After a full day flogging 5 through the mountains, I stopped at an Electrify America supercharger at a shopping mall with just 27% of charge remaining. ZOT! With Hyundai’s Porsche Taycan-like, 800-volt recharging architecture, I filled to 80% (205 miles) in just 15 minutes — twice as fast as in my 400-volt Tesla.
That’s not Tucson fast (Hyundai’s best-selling compact SUV will fill up with 370 miles worth of petrol in just 5 minutes), but it’s a stop that can be budgeted into a busy day.
And that 15 minutes will help you bone up on more of the Ioniq 5’s cool features. Like Smaht Pahk. After unplugging, you can summon the car to you with Hyundai’s smartphone app. Just like Hollywood actor John Krasinski in that TV ad.
He’s not nearly as pious as DiCaprio.
2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, rear- and all-wheel-drive five-passenger hot hatch
Price: $40,925, including $1,225 destination fee ($55,725 as tested)
Powerplant: 58 kWh or 77.4 kWh lithium-ion battery with single or dual-electric-motor drive
Power: 225 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque (RWD); 320 horsepower, 446 pound-feet of torque (AWD)
Transmission: single-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.9 seconds (Car and Driver, AWD as tested); top speed, 115 mph
Weight: 4,662 pounds (AWD as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA, 114 MPGe (FWD), 98 MPGe (AWD); range, 303 miles (FWD), 256 miles (AWD)
Report card
Highs: Sharp looks; roomy cabin
Lows: Pricey; limited initial nationwide availability
Overall: 3 stars
Payne: These are the Top 10 new car features of 2021
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 29, 2021
Combine SUV demand, electric motors and an electronics revolution, and you had a recipe for innovation in 2021. Auto workshop elves were busy hammering together new treats for us.
Showrooms offered pickup trucks from $20,000 entry-level models to $140,000 electric monsters. Electric sports sedans boasted acceleration numbers quicker than super sports cars. Jeep inspired a new generation of overland SUVs. Look inside, and they were full of goodies. So capable is the modern vehicle that it was hard to find enough chips to operate them — condolences if you’re having to wait for these toys to appear in your driveway.
Here are the Top 10 new features of 2021.
Backseat living rooms. Americans live in their cars and they are looking more and more like our domiciles. The Jeep Grand Cherokee and Nissan Pathfinder got third-row seating so roomy that 6’5” basketball players like me could comfortably lounge back there. The second-row seat in the Kia Carnival is literally a lounge with a par of reclining Barcaloungers. And Jeep’s Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer allow you to hook up your phone to backseat screens and binge-watch your favorite Netflix series. Ah, home away from home.
Thirty-fives. 33s once were a reference to vinyl records. In the auto world, 33s designate the biggest diameter off-road tires offered on the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon — at least until this year, when the Ford Bronco Sasquatch package offered 35s. Those were immediately matched by Wrangler’s Xtreme Recon Package. Not only do they look awesome, they are invincible over rough terrain.
Phone apps. This was the year phone apps became a common commodity. Pioneered by (who else?) Tesla as a way to, say, preheat your car or check its charging state, the feature can now be found on many vehicles from Hyundais to BMWs. Naturally, Tesla is taking the app a step further with Summon, so your car will come to your phone like a sort of mechanical dog.
Curved screens. Go ahead, ooh and aah at the curved screens behind the steering wheel of the Porsche Taycan, Lucid Air EVs (extending 34 inches) and Cadillac Escalade (38 inches). They aren’t easy to make, but expect more of them from luxury makers.
Hoodless displays. Speaking of screens, Hyundai Tucson, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ford Mustang Mach-E introduced bright, hoodless instrument screens — continuing the trend of autos becoming rolling smartphones. The Hyundai screens also allow for a more symmetrical interior with clean horizontal lines around the cabin.
Cabinet doors. Mazda’s first EV, the MX-30, disappointed with its 100-mile range. But the stylish ute wowed with cabinet doors — the sort of thing we’re used to seeing on show cars. The 2019 Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition, for example, wowed at the Detroit Auto Show with a limited, 80th Lincoln anniversary, 80-car run. Not only do the MX-30 doors differentiate the EV from its gas cousin CX-30 — they also enable easy entry and egress.
Unibody pickups. Based on SUV platforms, the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Fe broke the pickup mold, offering smooth-riding affordable pickups for less than $30k. With their smaller size came cool new bed features like a sliding tonneau cover on the back of the Santa Cruz. The Maverick appealed to pickup owners’ Do-It-Yourself ethic with multiple options. There’s a QR code in its bed, for example. Scan the code with your phone and Ford takes you to a website with helpful tips on how to, for example, hack 12-volt bed wiring to configure your favorite accessories. A pair of 110-volt outlets are also back there to power tailgate parties.
GOAT mode. At the center of the popular Ford Bronco is an electronic GOAT (Goes On Any Terrain) dial that drivers can simply spin to access the off-road bruiser’s variety of drive modes. Combined with electronic buttons atop the dash for complementary functions like swaybar disconnect or Trail Turn Assist, the Bronco’s electronics advance the cause of trailblazing.
Crab walk. Teased for an early 2023 launch, the Hummer EV is the industry’s most outrageous vehicle with 9,000-pound curb weight, 3.0-second zero-60 mph capability, and crab walk. Hummers were spotted testing on public roads moving in a coordinated shuffle dance. Thanks to all-wheel-steer, the dance has practical applications off-road when the Hummer gets into a tight spot and can move sideways to get out of trouble.
Mega-frunk. Mid-engine sports cars pioneered the “frunk” (front trunk). EVs made it popular. Electric pickup trucks have supersized it. I’m cheating a bit here since the Ford F-150 Lightning won’t be out until next spring, but I got an eyeful this year. Freed of a front engine, the pickup Ford revealed in May boasts the world’s biggest frunk, with 14 cubic feet of cargo room that can fit two golf bags and 400 pounds of payload. Expect more mega-frunks as EV pickups battle it out.
More: Tiny shifters, lane nannies top list of most annoying car technology
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Sci-fi Lucid Air offers Tesla performance, European style
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 29, 2021
Woodside, California — In 2017 I hustled across Skyline Boulevard here in an American-made, electric, 680-horsepower Tesla Model S P100D. The car was hypnotic — a new standard for luxury that blew away rivals like Mercedes S-class and the BMW 7-series in acceleration (2.3 seconds zero-60) and tech. My goosebumps told me luxury had a new boss.
Four years later and I followed in the Tesla’s tire tracks in the 2022 Lucid Air. The goosebumps were back.
The creation of original Model S engineering genius Peter Rawlinson, Lucid Air has followed the Tesla playbook — leap-frogging the European competition with sci-fi performance, instant torque and drop-dead beauty. With clean-sheet designs propelled by state-of-the-art electric-motor technology, the twin Silicon Valley startups stand atop the luxury class for most electrifying vehicles (pun intended).
At a Woodside stoplight, I triggered launch control by flooring both pedals. Then released the brake. I was halfway to the moon before my vision cleared. With 1,111 horsepower (um, about the same as Penske’s famed 1973 Porsche 917-30 Can Am for you racing fans), the 5,200-pound rocket ship launches to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. Nearly as quick as the P100D.
Having achieved these heights, the Lucid steps back to ask whether the world is big enough for another Tesla. Push the limits of autonomous driving? Of government regulation? Controls in screen? Yoke steering wheel?
Let Tesla be Tesla. Lucid tries a third way. With one foot in New World power and the other in Old World European luxury, Lucid aims to be the Mercedes of the electronics age.
Take that mind-blowing acceleration, for example.
Unlike Tesla, Lucid hasn’t taken its business model from “Spaceballs,” the movie. My rocket-pad launch was not achieved using Ludicrous or Plaid mode. Lucid sports more conventional Smooth, Swift and (the ultimate Launch Control-equipped) Sprint drive suite. It dovetails with a product that wants to bring classic elegance to EVs, while Tesla explores the bleeding edge of smartphone tech on four wheels.
My $170,500 Air Dream tester is already a collector’s item. Just 520 will be built to launch the model line which begins at $78,900 with the Lucid Air Pure. Slip inside the sedan and it recognized my key like the Model S Plaid I tested earlier this month. No starter button. No brake initiation. Hand meets glove.
But the interior surrounds are more European luxury than Apple smartphone. Lush materials. Porsche Taycan-like, 34-inch curved screen. A traditional full wheel (flat-bottom for ease of entry) versus the Model S’s yoke steering wheel.
A second console screen follows the Tesla example — containing drive modes, steering wheel, climate, even mirror controls. Sealed tight with sound-deadening materials, the 2 1/2-ton space ship is a dream to drive. Like the Model S, it feels organic — no piped-in faux engine sounds like Taycan. Just silent, relentless torque.
At busy Alice’s Restaurant on Route 35 I stepped out of the cabin and Air drew onlookers like a magnet. They’re used to exotic vehicles in the wealthy Bay Area where startups Rivian and Tesla have redefined luxury sedans and pickups (not to mention the stodgy image of EVs).
I remember the first time I saw the Air prototype at the 2017 New York Auto Show. Slim chrome cowl over slimmer headlights. High sills. Bubble greenhouse. It looked like a car from a sci-fi flick.
Take Air to the local country club and your guests will spill out from a backseat as big as your living room. Unlike the prototype, however, the rear compartment is spare, devoid of seat recliners and passenger tablets like Euro rivals. Drive controls are familiar, though you may have to explain one-foot regenerative driving to the valet.
The expected EV details are here. Up front is a bigger frunk than the Tesla — so big it has a sub-frunk. The new Mercedes EQS and BMW iX don’t have frunks. Huh?
Blame poor packaging, something Lucid and Tesla have down cold. The Air has the interior room of a Merc S-class, the wheelbase of an E-class. Credit Lucid’s compact motors — more space efficient than even Tesla’s hallowed tech. Sitting on an industry-leading 900-volt architecture (compared to the Model S’s 400 volt), Lucid benefits from battery technology developed for Formula E racing by battery partner Atieva.
Plug the Air into a 350-kWh charging station and it claims 300 miles of range added in 22 minutes. That’s tops for EVs, though still well shy of a gas engine’s capability.
Air’s huge 118-kWh battery pack is mounted low in a skateboard chassis, and I tackled Route 35’s twisties with confidence. Throttle back and ogle the redwoods canopy above through a Tesla Model X-like panoramic roof.
The standard Lucid Pure features a full steel roof. That front trunk is enveloped by a dramatic clam-shell hood, as is the rear trunk.
Lux buyers want white-glove dealership service, and here Lucid is a work in progress. Following Tesla’s pioneering path (and statehouse lobbyists), it wants to build its brand with unique “studio” showrooms and adjoining service centers. Mobile units will provide home service for small fixes — a convenience I enjoy with my own Model 3.
But my Tesla showroom/service center is an hour away, and mobile units can take days for an appointment. Lucid will face similar challenges. Speaking of infrastructure, Tesla’s secret sauce is a Supercharging network integrated with vehicle software, easing owners’ range-anxiety on long hauls. Lucid puts its trust in a promised network of third-party chargers — in particular partner Electrify America.
In the Golden State Lucid navigated a mock trip to Santa Barbara. The system dutifully found an EA supercharger on the way. Nice start. But, in the Age of Tesla, buyers will also want to know how long they will be at the charger, where to eat nearby, and so on. Lucid hopes its sexy looks, 520-mile range and powerful motors will keep owners content until the charging network catches up.
It also promises self-driving technology. Eschewing Tesla’s daring all-road Autopilot, Lucid talks of a “DreamDrive” hands-free system like Cadillac SuperCruise and Ford BlueCruise. Lucids will get an over-the-air update to awake 32 onboard sensors — including LIDAR for all-season nasty weather.
In just a decade American brands have upended the luxury vehicle landscape. They aren’t called Cadillac or Lincoln. They are fresh-faced kids named Tesla and Lucid. And they come up quickly, silently in your rear-view mirror.
2022 Lucid Air
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive five-passenger luxury sedan
Price: $78,900, including $1,500 destination fee ($170,500 Dream Air Performance as tested)
Powerplant: 118 kWh lithium-ion battery with dual-electric-motor drive
Power: 480 horsepower, 443 pound-feet of torque (1,111 horsepower, 1,025 pound-feet of torque Dream Air as tested)
Transmission: single-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.5 seconds (mfr); top speed, 168 mph
Weight: 5,200 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA, 114 MPGe (FWD), 98 MPGe (AWD); range, 406 miles (Pure), 520 miles (Dream Air)
Report card
Highs: Gorgeous figure; best-in-class EV range
Lows: Slim dealer network; gets pricey
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Inside Lucid, Tesla’s Silicon Valley EV arch-rival
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 29, 2021
Newark, California — Located just 11 miles up the San Francisco Bay from Tesla Inc.’s Fremont factory, Lucid Motors is the third electric vehicle maker in California’s Big Three.
With a market capitalization hovering near $100 billion — more than Detroit’s Big Three of General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV — the brand joins Tesla and Irvine-based Rivian Automotive Inc. as highly-valued, 21st-century automakers delivering a new breed of luxury performance.
With ex-Tesla chief engineer Peter Rawlinson at the helm, the Bay Area startup wants to be beat Tesla at its own game. With a stunning, 1,111-horsepower sedan as its flagship, Lucid is coming to a studio showroom near you.
Boasting the industry’s longest range and most-efficient electric motors, it aims to be an American icon. Significantly, Lucid does not offer Tesla’s secret sauce: A proprietary charging network. Instead, it boasts technology-partner Atieva, which produces the battery packs for the international Formula E electric racing series that is pushing the boundaries of battery performance.
Lucid is headquartered in an unassuming office park here, its sans-serif logo glowing atop a low, glass building. Inside, the lobby is dominated by the Lucid Air’s 900-volt, skateboard architecture — its batteries slung low between the four wheels. As the first, $169,000 Air Dream Edition models come down the line at the company’s Casa Grande, Arizona, assembly plant, the company dreams of 500,000-a-year production volumes by 2030 — including production of the Gravity SUV in 2023.
But first it needs to sell the Air, one of the most stunning cars on the market, whether gas-or-electric powered. After wowing the 2017 New York Auto Show, the Air prototype has been methodically prepared for production while Rawlinson & Co. raised capital, a production facility, and performance expectations.
Designed by ex-Mazda design chief Derek Jenkins, Air uses the skateboard chassis to full advantage. Without a gas engine up front, the sleek sedan sits on a wheelbase for a mid-size BMW 5-series — but with interior room similar to a full-size BMW 7-series, including a rear seat fit for 7-footers.
The sci-fi nose features a thin chrome brow stretching the width of the fascia — an even thinner line of LED headlight underneath it. Clam shell hoods reveal big cargo spaces for rear and front trunks. The car wouldn’t be out of place in a Tron movie.
The cabin is dominated by twin console and instrument screens, the latter a 34-inch, curved piece of glass that remind of the Porsche Taycan EV. A panoramic glass roof spans the cabin.
The years after he helped bring the Model S to market, engineer Rawlinson hopes the Air will be the EV standard for the next decade.
Rawlinson took the helm of battery-maker Atieva in 2014 with the promise of building an EV brand. In addition to Jenkins, the Welsh-born engineer has attracted top industry talent to Lucid including ex-Tesla Model 3 and Audi manufacturing veteran Peter Hochholdinger and ex-Apple and Rivian software engineer Michael Bell.
In the back of Lucid’s HQ, doors open to a big development bay where workers fuss over Air models in various states of undress. Atieva’s Formula E manufacturing is also done under the building’s roof, a reminder of the importance of race track-to-production technology transfer which has been key to gasoline engine development over the last two centuries.
“There is a lot of talk of racing technology transfer in the industry, but this is the real deal,” said Justin Berkowitz, Lucid Public Relations Manager for Technology who came over from BMW. Rawlinson himself was Lotus chief engineer, a company with deep roots in racing, before his stint at Tesla.
Beginning in 2018, Ateiva has been the sole manufacturer of batteries for Formula E — its high-performance cells riding in Jaguar, Audi, Porsche, and other racers. Similar battery cell tech sits in the belly of the Air, achieving an industry first 500-miles plus of range (520 miles in the Dream Edition and Grand Touring models).
The batteries drive Rawlinson’s prized, electric drive unit. With a power density of 9.05/kilogram — three times that of the Tesla Model S — at 20,000 RPM, the small, 163-pound drive unit efficiently integrates the electric motor and differential into one housing. The result is not only more power — the Air Dream Edition’s horsepower rivals that of the $3.8 million Aston Martin Valkyrie hybrid supercar — but space efficiency that allows class-leading front trunk space.
Lucid is ambitious. After the Air Dream’s launch — Grand Touring and base Pure models will follow — Lucid’s Gravity SUV will go toe-to-toe with the gull-winged Tesla Model X. Lucid plans to expand into Canada, Europe in 2022, and China in 2023.
The Air’s beauty, performance, and startup appeal earned it a nomination for North American Car of the Year versus affordable, more established models like the Honda Civic and VW Golf GTI.
“It’s an effortless vehicle. Interior is a knockout. The performance is extraordinary,” said NACTOY juror Lindsay Brooke, publications editor for the Society of Automotive Engineers. “And for being such a big machine it really handles better than I thought it would. If they can build up this brand it will be a powerhouse in electric vehicles.”
It has gained the reputation as the “next Tesla” here in Silicon Valley, but some analysts are wary.
“Tesla also enjoyed a first-mover’s advantage in the EV market. Today, the EV market is much more saturated,” writes Motley Fool consumer goods analyst Leo Sun. “In addition to competing against Tesla, Lucid will need to fend off traditional automakers like Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen. That saturation will make it tough for latecomers like Lucid and Rivian to replicate Tesla’s growth.”
Intriguingly the Air Dream Edition begins customer deliveries at about the same time as Tesla’s own 1,000-horsepower beast, the Model S Plaid, which hits the market at $134,490. The Lucid boasts 124 miles range more than the Tesla while still providing shocking power. The Plaid hits 60 mph in 2 seconds, the Air in 2.5.
Game on.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: 4Fest off-road autopalooza will be Detroit’s fourth major September auto event
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 21, 2021
If you like beer, go to Munich for Oktoberfest. If you like autos, fall in the Motor City is looking a lot like Septemberfest.
The 4th annual Detroit 4Fest will be held Sept. 16-18, completing a diverse quartet of major auto events next fall including the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14-25; the American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse, Sept. 29-Oct. 2; and the Hagerty Concours d’Elegance at the Detroit Institute of the Arts with a September date yet to be determined.
Held at Holly Oaks ORV park in Oakland County, Detroit 4fest powered by Jeep will be the month’s signature event for off-roaders, showing off the talents of dirt-kickers like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco in their natural habitat.
The 2022 event hopes to gain momentum from 2021’s successful gathering that saw some 5,000 attendees and nearly 600 vehicles. As automakers drift away from static auto shows, experiential events like 4Fest are a chance for brands to show off their wares to customers in real-world surrounds.
“Lots of cool thing to bring to southeast Michigan (next year). Unlike traditional auto shows, 4fest is very participative,” said Detroit 4fest CEO Tom Zielinski in an interview. “You get to go off-roading for real. That makes it an especially attractive place for all automakers to show off their latest greatest vehicles. On top of all that, it’s an environment for the aftermarket companies to show off their wares in places where you can go use them.”
Detroit 4fest vendors include a who’s who of off-road products like Polaris, CanAm, Rebel, America’s Most Wanted, Fox, Hypercraft, Rancho Suspension — in addition to familiar automotive brands like Ram, Ford and Jeep.
Jeep introduced the 2022 Wrangler Willys to 4Fest media in ’21 with the Xtreme Recon package that includes huge 35-inch tires and specially-tuned shocks. And Ford Motor Co. showed off its all-new Bronco with rides to 4Fest attendees over Holly Oaks challenging terrain.
The park’s terrain is a showplace for the capabilities of features like four-wheel-drive, descent control and swaybar disconnect.
The pandemic dove-tailed with a market trend toward SUVs and more off-road capable vehicles. Exploring the outdoors is a lifestyle choice and as customers looked to take their vehicles overlanding, automakers fed the urge with new choices like the Bronco Sport, Wrangler 4xe, Wrangler 392, Chevy Silverado Trail Boss, Wilderness trims of popular Subaru SUVs, and more.
“Go out and have a fun weekend all weekend long, spray the mud off, and you have your daily driver to go to work,” smiled Zielinski.
4Fest has grown in popularity with this trend with events in ’21 including Detroit4Fest, Minnesota4Fest, and Texas4Fest in Austin, Texas.
Detroit4Fest is structured for the hardcore enthusiast who wants to assault trails in their side-by-side mudder — or for the novice who wants to learn the capabilities of their new SUV. Seminars and demos are available from industry experts including Offroad Skills 101, Tread Lightly principals, and Vehicle Setup.
For 2022, Detroit 4fest is also cooking up some off-road racing.
“King of the Hammers President Dave Cole and I are plotting and conspiring,” said Zielinski of one of the best-known off-road racers in the country. “We may have some really cool racing features to add to 4Fest next year. There may even be an EV component which adds a cool modern twist. There’s some cool stuff coming in the EV space.”
In addition to off-roading on Holly Oaks’ network of trails, attending seminars and shopping in the vendor village, visitors can chow down at food trucks. The event is free to the public, while drivers can register their vehicles beginning on Jan. 10, 2022.
Holly Oaks’ 121-acre arena is gaining a reputation as one of the nation’s premier off-road destinations since it opened in 2020. 4Fest hoped to open an additional 71 acres to participants in 2021, but rainy weather prevented bulldozers from prepping the area. It should be available come next fall’s Septemberfest.
Detroit 4Fest
When: Friday, Sept. 16 (media only). Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 17-18 public days, registration opens Jan. 10, 2022
Where: Holly Oaks ORV Park, 13536 Dixie Hwy, Holly, MI 48442
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2021 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year: Fresh, feisty, ‘ffordable Ford Maverick pickup
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 16, 2021
News that Dodge is burying its iconic Hellcat models sent a shiver through the auto market this fall as enthusiasts fear a wave of cookie-cutter electric vehicles in the decade ahead. Government scolds are in the driver’s seat — are we doomed for a repeat of “That ’70s Show”?
Happily in 2021, the auto menu is a feast of flavors.
Consider the year saw the introduction of everything from the V-8-powered, 668-horsepower Cadillac CT-5 Blackwing to the battery-powered, 1,020-horsepower Tesla Model S Plaid. Automotive purists got manual toys from the $28K Subaru BRZ to the $138K Porsche 911 GTS. Even the pickup market saw an explosion in diversity with rookies like the entry-level Ford Maverick and electric Rivian R1T.
The sudden growth of pickups beyond the usual light-duty workhorses dovetailed with the SUV revolution that has washed over the U.S. market in the past 10 years. Volume SUV segments saw upgrades from familiar names like Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder and Jeep Wrangler, as well as new kids like Volkswagen ID.4 and Genesis G70. Americans escaped to the great, socially distanced outdoors in the adventurous Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler 4xe — as well as new trim lines like Subaru Wilderness.
We got a Mach-E, e-Tron, MX30, TLX, Ioniq 5, RS6, Carnival and Karma. Off-road, on-track, gas, electric, three-motor, four-wheel-drive.
My 2021 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year winners:
Third place: Tesla Model S
Yeah, I know, it starts at $91,190 and is out of reach for most of us. But the Model S has been the most influential car of the past decade and the 2022 model is its first major reboot since the OG wowed in 2011.
After Tesla’s success, other companies remade their business models (see Cadillac and Jaguar) to go all-electric. But Tesla’s secret sauce is more than battery power. The Model S remade the luxe space with fresh design, big screens and performance. The ’22 model continues Tesla’s relentless effort to re-imagine the automobile.
The new Model S interior echoes its Model 3/Y siblings with a landscape-oriented, 17-inch infotainment display that includes everything from Autopilot self-driving controls to streaming channels to watch while you’re recharging at the brand’s cross-country network of Superchargers (the only way to travel EV).
The already minimalist interior gets more so by deleting steering wheel turn signal and shift stalks. Shifting (PARK, FORWARD, REVERSE) is done via swipe on the big screen while the turn signal is integrated into the vehicle’s signature feature, a steering wheel yoke. No joke. Toyota is already following Tesla by adapting a yoke of its own for the forthcoming bZ4X EV.
I tested the $134K Model Plaid, which takes the car’s already superhuman performance to another level: 2-second zero-60 mph launches, cornering grip greater than a Corvette C8. Its 1,020-horsepower, tri-motor drivetrain propels the car to acceleration speeds greater than even the legendary, $3 million Bugatti Chiron supercar — for 20% of the price and 50% more seats.
Runner-up: Volkswagen Golf GTI
The original hot hatch, the Golf GTI has been my baseline for best all-around vehicle. Fun to drive, fuel-efficient, seating for five, hatchback utility — all for an affordable price. Like the Tesla, Golf GTI has reset the bar again with its 2022 model update.
The exterior is updated with sharp stampings and thin headlights — an industry trend as designers love to play with their new LED tools. For my money, the V-dub outclasses its Audi S3 cousin. The car’s performance is more engaging than the Audi’s (with which it shares a platform) thanks to its manual transmission option and hatchback.
The manual bonds driver to machine and there are few experiences more engaging than rowing the Golf over a twisty road. Drivers who prefer automatics will enjoy the GTI too, with its optional “chiclet” shifter right out of a Porsche.
The interior is the real game-changer as VW has brought in twin digital screens with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Honda also introduced an all-new Civic Si this year that is an even more affordable pocket rocket than GTI — but the Golf’s hatchback utility trumps the Civic sedan’s standard trunk.
Winner: Ford Maverick pickup
With average prices hovering around $40,000, affordable new vehicles are an endangered species. Say hello to the terrific $21k Maverick.
Not only is the compact pickup a tasty appetizer for Ford’s sprawling truck menu, it’s the entry-level vehicle in Ford’s lineup. And the $21,490 model is no stripped starter. It comes standard with hybrid drivetrain, 500-mile range, 191 horsepower, cool steel wheels, smartphone connectivity and clever interior.
It’s a Swiss (Dearborn?) Army knife for the urban do-it-yourselfer with a roomy interior and capable of carrying 1,500 pounds of mulch in its 4.5-foot bed (the same size as, ahem, an electric, $70K Rivian R1T pickup). Need more oomph? Upgrade to the 250-horse, 2.0-liter turbo-4 engine that can tow 4,500 pounds. If it’s an Olympic weightlifter you want, buy a ladder-frame F-150 truck, but you can’t park big brother easily in a downtown parking spot.
Built south of the border on the same unibody platform as the Bronco Sport (The News’ 2020 Vehicle of the Year) and Escape SUVs, Maverick is fun to drive around town and on the open road. The rear seat can be flipped up, revealing all kinds of sub-storage thanks to its flexible frame. Get the sub-seat organizer — part of a $50 five-pack of gadgets for the rear seat console including cord wrap, cupholder, grocery bag holder and trash bin.
The Maverick is now the third SUV-based pickup in the U.S., and automakers will be watching the wee Ford closely to see if the king of ladder-frame trucks can also sell the unibody variety. Early signs are that customers are biting.
Alas, the affordable Maverick is not immune from chip shortages. Model year 2022 Mavericks are sold out and new orders will not be filled until next summer.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Honda makes ’em drool with racy, 2023 Civic Type R teaser
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 16, 2021
One of 2022’s most hotly anticipated cars is the Honda Civic’s range-topping Type R performance model. Honda whetted enthusiasts’ appetites with camouflaged, teaser photos of the hot hatch undergoing development at the Suzuka Formula One race track in Japan this week.
The striptease doesn’t leave much to the imagination.
The 2023 Type R takes the 11th generation Civic’s conservative styling and adds a big rear wing, swollen rear fenders for fatter tires, center tri-tailpipes, and bigger front grilles to feed the turbocharged beast within. The current-generation Type R makes an impressive 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque from its 2.0-liter turbo-4 engine and the new-gen model is expected to update the formula.
In defiance of the SUV trend, the compact 2022 Civic sedan was the sixth best-selling non-pickup vehicle in America in the first nine months of 2021, according to Car and Driver. The new Type R will likely be built in Indiana alongside the Civic Sport hatchback after Honda discontinued production in Swindon, England, earlier this year. The move would continue to cement Honda as one of the Midwest’s biggest manufacturers. The Japanese company already produces the #2 best-selling SUV in America, the CR-V, in East Liberty, Ohio, and the Accord sedan in nearby Marysville. Some 95% of Honda’s U.S.-sold vehicles are made in North America.
The 10th-generation car, manufactured from 2017-2021, was a wild sculpture of wings, splitters and scoops. Car and Driver wrote that the exterior looked like “a disheveled knife drawer,” and the new gen tones down the wardrobe significantly.
The last-gen car was a hit. So coveted is the Type R, it owns the fifth-highest retained value in the U.S. market — 61.3% after five years, according to IntelliChoice — behind only the Porsche Cayman GT4, Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder, Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet.
At half (or less) of the sticker price of those exotic beasts, the ultimate Civic is one of the most capable front-wheel drive cars in the market.
With standard, six-speed manual transmission, the 10th-generation car set the fastest time ever recorded at Germany’s epic Nürburgring race track for a FWD vehicle in 2017. Renault’s Mégane R.S. Trophy-R beat that time in 2019, and the new Type R surely has its sights on taking the title back when it debuts sometime next year.
The Honda leads a parade of affordable, front-wheel-drive, $30K-something performance compacts into the market, including the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Toyota Corolla GR, Acura Integra Type-S, and Hyundai Elantra N — and the popular Civic Si sedan, which shares the Type R’s manual shifter but is shy about 100 horsepower.
“I have a Type R on order,” said Jason Richman, a Honda enthusiast from Chicago. “I cannot wait. Last year’s Si compared to the Type R was like night and day. With the 11th-generation Si stepping up so much, the Type R is going to be at another level.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Tesla Plaid pushes the limits of speed and tech
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 9, 2021
Pontiac — When Spaceballs One hits Plaid speed in Mel Brooks’ classic “Star Wars” spoof, the space ship shakes like a tin can, the engines scream, the crew cowers, and the evil Dark Helmet (played by the incomparable Rick Moranis in a send-up of Darth Vader) yells: “What have I done? My brains are going into my feet!”
The 2022 Tesla Model S Plaid isn’t quite so harrowing. Though I think my brains did bounce off the back of my skull.
I took the Plaid out onto M1 Concourse’s Champion Motor Speedway this week to experience the world’s new standard for speed. Zero-60 mph in sub-two seconds, 1,020 horsepower, 9.23-second quarter mile at (cough) 156 mph. For comparison, the fastest gas-powered car, the supercharged, 840-horse Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, hits 60 in 2.3 seconds — and the quarter in 9.65. In cold, 30-degree temps on a damp December track, I couldn’t match Tesla’s claimed 1.99-second 0-60 sprint, achieved in optimal California conditions.
But I did manage a series of 2½-second, launch-controlled, 0-60 runs that were a serenely violent experience.
Set Launch Control by matting the brake and accelerator pedals with (respectively) your left and right feet. Release the brake. Holy Mother of Mercy.
The Model S Plaid briefly recoiled as if it been hit by a bolt of lightning. The instrument display lit up with Spaceballs-like orange Plaid graphics. Then the Tesla exploded forward, the tri-motors’ instant, 1,050 pound-feet-of-electric-torque silently crushing my spine into the seatback. According to the data crunchers at Motor Trend, Plaid generates 1.00 g-load at launch, peaking at 1.23-g at 32 mph.
Sixty mph blew by in a snap, but Plaid didn’t stop there, hitting 120 mph in about seven seconds — or about the time it takes a Nissan Leaf EV to hit 60.
“Just stop this thing! I order you! Stooooop!” yells Spaceballs’ Dark Helmet as he holds on for dear life.
But as the end of M1’s back straight rushed up, I simply hit the Plaid’s big brakes and the sedan rotated beautifully into the long, 150-degree Turn 7 sweeper. Another data point? Plaid not only shattered Motor Trend’s acceleration records, it went from 0-to-100-and-back-to-0 again in 8.2 seconds, beating the McLaren Senna supercar by 0.3 seconds.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is obviously a Spaceballs fan and Plaid has always been the goal of the Tesla’s flagship Model S. But Model S’s performance long ago reset expectations for EVs.
In 2012, the standard, $70K Model S wowed with 5.1-second 0-60 acceleration and 240-mile range. The Silicon Valley automaker relentlessly improved the formula, introducing more capable, more costly all-wheel-drive models. In 2015, Tesla dropped the Model S P90D with Ludicrous mode — a reference, natch, to the speed Spaceballs One hits before Plaid.
I tested Ludicrous six years ago and it made me light-headed, so instant was the torque. It was a Cedar Point roller-coaster ride, and you could do it over and over and over. Zero-60? 2.8 seconds. Now comes Plaid — nearly 30% quicker.
Credit those three carbon-sleeved motors driving the wheels (up from two), more efficient battery pack and fatter 9.5/10.5-inch tires front/rear under enlarged fenders.
But Tesla has always been about much more than straight-line speed. Musk and his elves are about rethinking the automobile (no coincidence Model S badging echoes the revolutionary Ford Model T of a century ago). And legacy automakers are paying attention.
Tesla also captured the popular imagination with its iPhone-simple interior — 17-inch screen, over-the-air updates, Autopilot driver-assist capability.
Desperate to catch the American car company that has been eating their lunch the last decade (something Detroit premium makers struggled to do), German makers have brought out the big guns with EVs like the Porsche Taycan, Mercedes EQS and Audi e-tron GT.
Your move, Tesla. If Model S’s exterior plays it safe (subtle changes include front/rear face tucks and rear Plaid badge), the interior does anything but. Where brand halos usually set the lineup’s tone, Model S takes its design cues from its popular Model 3 junior sibling.
The signature 17-inch center screen has been flipped to landscape mode against a simple horizontal dash (secluded air vents and all) like the Model 3 I’ve owned for three years. Unlike 3, S still features an instrument display, now more subtly integrated into the dash.
What’s really daring in the 2022 Model S is the yoke steering wheel.
Obsessive about pushing the envelope, Tesla has adopted a wheel more common to game consoles and Formula One Racing. Dude, round is sooo 15 minutes ago.
The design improves instrument-display visibility (see that Plaid light show) and is easy to use on track. But it takes getting used-to around parking lots and other tight turns typically negotiated by rotating the wheel hand-over-hand. I found myself learning one-handed driving in tight situations like a baton twirler. If Tesla introduced one-pedal regenerative driving, why not one-hand steering?
The Model 3’s clever, multi-functional scroll orbs are now the heart of the Model S yoke. But Musk & Co. continue to push boundaries by striking the shift and turn signal stalks. Shifting between park, drive and reverse is now done by a screen slider, turn signals by wheel-based buttons. The latter can be maddening.
Cruising along I-75, I actuated Navigate on Autopilot with a simple press of the scroll orb — then automatically changed lanes with the turn-signal button.
At the limits, no one can compete with the Porsche Taycan for handling talent, but Plaid makes a good effort with its state-of-the-art adaptive suspension. In COMFORT mode, I floated above Detroit’s pocked streets. In PLAID mode, the Model S crouched low — hugging M1 Concourse’s turns despite wintry conditions.
Overcooking it into Turn 9, I caught the Plaid’s rear end easily, the car’s electronics helping herd its 4,677-pound girth back into line.
The first significant makeover of the Model S in a decade, Plaid once more raises the bar for luxury performance. With its unmatched Supercharger network, shocking speed, predictable handling and leading-edge tech, it’s the most ambitious sedan in the world. No doubt, its price is only attainable to a few. But at $134,490, it is not only $50,000 cheaper than the comparable Porsche Taycan or Merc EQS, it’s $5K less than the P90D I drove in 2015.
Tesla has gone Plaid, and the competition is still catching up.
2022 Tesla Model S Plaid
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: $134,490 including $1,200 destination fee ($99,490 for base Model S)
Powerplant: 98 kWh lithium-ion battery with three-electric-motor drive
Power: 1,020 horsepower, 1,050 pound-feet torque
Transmission: Single-speed direct drive
Performance: 0-60 mph, 1.99 seconds (mfr.), 2.07 seconds (Motor Trend); top speed, 200 mph
Weight: 4,766 pounds
Range: 348-396 miles (depending on wheel selection)
Report card
Highs: Rocket-ship acceleration; sci-fi interior tech
Lows: Clumsy turn signal buttons on steering wheel; phantom braking in Autopilot
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: For Christmas, track your dream car in an affordable experience
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 9, 2021
Atlanta — Just a direct flight away, Michiganians can visit Avengers headquarters, jump in a $150,000 Porsche 911 like Tony Stark, and spend an afternoon doing hot laps with an expert instructor.
Cost? About $500.
The world of Porsche and other performance makes has become a lot more accessible this Christmas for auto buffs who don’t necessarily have the means to purchase the cars of their dreams. The Porsche Experience Center (which Marvel used to film Avenger headquarters in the superhero franchise’s hit movies) is the cutting edge of a growing menu of auto experiences available to consumers directly from manufacturers.
Once the exclusive domain of expensive driving schools and track rentals, automakers are opening affordable opportunities to bond with their creations. The opportunities come as the performance product landscape has never been so robust. Track enthusiasts can find everything from a $38,000 Ford Mustang GT to a $60,000 Dodge Challenger Hellcat and even a $60k Chevy Corvette — an exotic, mid-engine package once unthinkable under $100,000.
These thoroughbreds are complemented by off-road performance too: think Jeep Wrangler, Ford Bronco and Ford F-150 Raptor.
The manufacturer programs signal a golden era for auto performance not seen since the ’60s. While emissions mandates and $8-a-gallon gasoline are squeezing vehicle choice abroad, U.S. makers are thriving on cheap gas and deep pockets.
Ford has long been a pioneer in offering performance opportunities to owners beyond getting the kids to school on time. Ford is opening a network of “Off-Roadeos” to celebrate the debut of its much-anticipated Bronco — and owners can take advantage of the opportunity for free (travel to these sites not included). Not to be outdone, the Jeep Adventure Academy caters to 4×4 owners with rugged playgrounds from Hollister, California, to Vermont starting at $329 a day.
But the buffet is opening up for non-owners as well.
The Ford Performance Racing School in Charlotte, North Carolina, offers one or two-day driving schools in the iconic Mustang GT starting at $1,695. “All Ford Performance Racing School classes are conducted by professional instructors (offering) exhilarating, on-track driving instruction for every performance driving enthusiast, regardless of skill level or goal,” says the website.
GM has a similar program for those who want to see if the sexy Corvette C8 is their cup of tea before dropping their life’s savings. The opportunity costs $3,695 for a two-day school and buys them a ticket to Pahrump, Nevada. Owners get in for a grand.
Cadillac sweetens the deal for those who want to saddle up a ferocious CT4-V or CT5-V Blackwing sedan. Tuition is free for owners, $3,545 for non-owners. The school attracts about 12 to 24 Cadillac students per week.
Closer to home in Pontiac, Dodge makes available Dodge Charger Hellcats and Viper sports cars at M1 Concourse. For $2,000, customers can get schooled in how to drive M1’s race track in their own car, then take a spin in the Hellcat and Viper for comparison.
“The package was suspended last year due to COVID and we’re looking at bringing it back in 2022,” said Marc Molzen, chief instructor for M1 Concourse.
And then there’s Porsche. Its affordable offer to non-owners is unusual for such a high-performance brand.
The automaker keeps a fleet of 911 supercars, mid-engine Caymans/Boxers, Cayennes SUVs and Taycan EVs for curious drivers to experience. Porsche is the world’s baseline for performance, and drivers can experience the extraordinary limits of these automobiles for the price of an airline ticket to Atlanta.
The experience not only allows Porsche the opportunity to addict potential buyers to the brand’s legendary speed, but also enables exposure to new products like the 2022 Porsche 911 GTS hellion — or the Taycan EV as the industry makes a risky bet on battery-only vehicles.
A visit to Porsche’s Georgia facility — which backs up to Atlanta’s Hartfield International Airport (fewer complaints from the neighbors about noise that way) — is also evidence of how foreign automakers have come to dominate geographical regions of the country outside the Detroit Three’s lair.
Today, Honda rules central Ohio with two plants churning out some of the highest-volume vehicles in the U.S. market like the CR-V SUV and Accord sedan. South Carolina is home of BMW, which produces its North American SUVs in Spartanburg — while also offering a driving experience like Porsche’s to whet consumers’ appetite for the Bavarian brand.
Out west, Tesla has become the signature California brand — its electronic wizardry in sync with a West Coast tech culture. Tesla does not offer driving experiences, but manufactures vehicles in a Fremont plant once home to GM.
Porsche has no production in the U.S., yet the American market is essential to its success.
Since the first 356 Speedster was sold in 1950, Porsche has aggressively marketed to Americans, establishing a New Jersey-based North American HQ in 1960. Porsche’s headquarters in Atlanta (established in 2015) is an ambitious effort. Set on 27 acres, the headquarters building is an architectural gem that has attracted multiple movie studios for filming — including Avengers. The company plans to expand the facility with a sprawling networks of roads and proving grounds.
For now, the Porsche Experience is concentrated on a 1.5-mile track that envelopes a complex of skid pad, wet-skid pad, slalom course and off-road course. The 90-minute program is designed with German efficiency to accommodate a traveler with an overnight stay in Atlanta’s airport on their way overseas.
Customers can choose from an extensive menu of driving experiences, from a singular date with the Porsche Boxster ($365) to a comparison test of 500-horsepower 911 Turbo and 911 GTS ($975). Allow me to recommend the latter. It’s the Christmas season.
The program includes food at the palatial headquarters and a guided tour of the facilities — featuring the Porsche Heritage Museum — a rotating exhibit that features some of the most legendary cars in Porsche’s racing/production pantheon.
My tour included Jack Ryan’s black #12 Porsche 911 — the first 911 to go to victory circle when it won the 2.0-liter class at the 1964 24 Hours of Daytona.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: The times they are a-changin’ with BMW’s wild, 750-horse XM super-ute
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 2, 2021
The auto market is wacky these days. The popular Dodge Hellcat is being axed, automakers are converting their fleets to electric vehicles with limited demand, and Ford’s entry-level vehicle is a pickup truck.
Not to be outdone, BMW’s M performance division is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an electrified super-ute.
The division’s second standalone M-vehicle, the BMW XM SUV is a long way from the original, legendary mid-engine 1979 M1 supercar. In a sign of the times, BMW’s most powerful car for the 2020s will be a sport utility model carrying a plug-in hybrid powertrain under the hood.
The 750-horsepower BMW XM debuted this week with supersized power, body stampings, and twin-kidney grilles that can be seen from space. BMW called the x-otically designed XM a concept car, but it is likely close to finis form as it will go into production at the automaker’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, assembly pant in just 12 months.
In keeping with the changing times, XM took its bow at the international Art Basel show’s Miami Beach exhibition as automakers look for new ways to debut their wares beyond the traditional auto show. The XM was unveiled with a special musical performance by Grammy-wining hip hop artist Nas beside a sculpture crafted for the occasion by Brooklyn-based artist Kennedy Yanko.
“Art Basel in Miami Beach is the perfect moment to launch the BMW Concept XM, a product unlike anything we’ve ever produced,” said BMW North America marketing boss Uwe Dreher. “This unique concept vehicle is matched perfectly to the expressive artwork from our partner artists, underscoring BMW Group’s commitment to supporting culture and the arts.”
BMW wowed the auto world in 1978 with the Italian-designed M1, a mid-engine cyborg that opened BMW’s M performance era. The M1 was produced in limited numbers — just 453 units were built in order to homologate it for international racing — but it fathered the German maker’s signature performance badge. So successful has M division become that it inspired similar product strategies from competitors like Cadillac (V-series badge), Mercedes (AMG) and Audi (S-line).
Generations of steroid-fed, M-badged hellions have followed, with the M3 and M4 performance cars the most iconic. But as the world has flipped for four-wheel-drive SUVs, BMW has found a vast new market for M-badged utes despite their inherently inferior handling compared with low-slung sedans — much less mid-engine supercars.
So for Bimmer’s 50th, the XM super-SUV popped out of the birthday cake.
The XM also introduces the M-badge’s first plug-in hybrid drivetrain — marrying the capabilities of battery power with the brand’s traditional, twin-turbo, 4.4-liter V-8 gas engine. The XM can cruise silently on battery power for up to 30 miles — or you can stomp your right lead foot and rocket out of stoplights with 737 pound-feet of combined gas-electric torque. The XM out-guns other super-utes like the Lamborghini Urus (641 horsepower), Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat (710) and Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid (670).
Unlike M-badged sedans, however, it’s unlikely to be seen at track days.
“The BMW Concept XM represents a complete re-imagining of the high-performance vehicle segment,” said M division chief Franciscus van Meel. “It underlines the ability of BMW M to break with established conventions, and . . . also shows how we are approaching the step-by-step electrification of our brand.”
The BMW brand has been challenged by EV maker Tesla. The U.S.-based automaker’s Model 3 outsold all other luxury models in 2020 — its 206,500 unit sales beating BMW’s X3 by more than 3:1.
The XM — with a similar wheelbase to BMW’s largest SUV, the X7 — wraps its performance in one of the most angular SUV designs this side of a Lamborghini Urus.
The huge, oxygonal front kidneys — filed with horizontal slats — set the tone for a bold design dominated by polygonal shapes on the exterior and interior. Headlights and taillights are reduced to spare strips, while pentagon wheel wells (sitting atop enormous, 23-inch wheels), square exhaust pipes, hexagonal air vents — even hexagonal seat headrest cutouts — define the styling. Breaking up the polygons are twin BMW roundel logos on the rear glass commemorating the original M1 supercar.
A two-tone paint scheme finishes the upper body in matte gold-bronze — the lower torso in Space Grey Metallic. A high-gloss black boundary — dubbed “black belt” — separates the two colors.
Underneath the narrow greenhouse is an all-digital cockpit wrapped in upscale leather, copper and carbon fiber.
A curved display screen dominates the dash, stretching from behind the steering wheel over the center console. The system is operated by BMW’s familiar remote i-Drive controller. Behind the driver-focused cockpit are rear “M Lounge” seats secluded by black-tinted windows and decorated with “deep aquamarine shade Petrol,” in contrast to the front brown leather.
The headliner is decorated with an artistic three-dimensional prism structure — echoing the Art Basel gallery displays nearby. The new SUV will be on display all week at Miami’s convention center.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Honda Civic Si is a manual-shift value meal
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 2, 2021
Simi Valley, California — Some performance cars fit like a glove. The Ford Mustang HiPo, Porsche Cayman, Volkswagen Golf GTI. They are intuitive to drive. Instantly familiar. Balanced.
Put the 2022 Honda Civic Si on the list.
This is Honda’s driver’s car. Manual gearbox only. Rev-matching downshifts. Limited slip differential. Charging though the twisted canyons of Simi Valley north of Los Angeles, the Civic Si never put a foot wrong. The sedan rotated effortlessly for a front-wheel-drive car, summer tires sticking like flypaper. Rowing the box, I stomped the throttle and turns flew by.
Call it Si-mi Valley. This is where Angelenos come to escape suffocating traffic, cramped apartments, insufferable celebrities. It’s the playground of sports cars, hot hatches, sport bikes. The Civic Si is proof you can have it all in one car.
Honda took the compact class by storm in 2015, unveiling an ambitious 10th-generation Civic baselined to an Audi A4 and fine-tuned at the famed race track in Nurburgring, Germany, for goodness sake. The Civic boasted best-in-class fuel economy, rear leg room, smartphone connectivity. I dubbed it King Civic, the compact by which all others must be judged. Si and Type R performance models followed, each better than the last.
For its encore, Civic hasn’t rested on its laurels. The standard Civic introduced earlier this year won rave media and reviews with generous features, affordable sticker and sleek fastback variant.
But for enthusiasts like me, a Civic lineup isn’t complete until the performance models come along. Remarkably, Si is better in nearly all respects from the last gen. Let’s go inside out.
Engineers have sweated the details. The stick shift goes to the head of the class, rivaling Porsche and Mazda for short, notchy throws. In more mundane stop-and-go urban commutes, owners will appreciate the easy clutch.
Speaking of clutches, heel-and-toe downshifts are a snap (much improved over the previous gen, where even my size 15 clown feet struggled to blip the throttle on downshifts). Not that you’ll need it. Honda is also throwing Si drivers the same rev-matching convenience as the last-gen Type R track rat. Whether in the LA canyons or GingerMan Raceway in west Michigan, the digital feature makes downshifts wonderfully efficient.
Toggle the drive mode rocker to SPORT and Si tenses for action. I rode shotgun with Honda IMSA racer Ryan Eversley for a spell and he sung the praises of the heavy steering and sticky rubber. They are natural outcroppings of a Honda racing culture that spans everything from Eversley’s TCR racer to IndyCar.
All of this mechanical goodness is wrapped in Civic’s upscale interior — a major leap from last gen’s plasticky, too-busy interface. So appealing is the signature honeycomb dash that Honda’s High Performance Division kept it in the upcoming Si TCA race car — while stripping out the rest of the interior for light-weighting and rollbar.
The production cockpit features a sunroof and all-digital instrument/console displays (standard on the base Civic), with Si bringing a 9-inch version with one of the most intuitive infotainment layouts this side of Jeep’s UConnect 5. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity beats many luxury cars to market, and Civic — true to Honda’s obsession with detail — even makes sure directions from Google Maps translate to the instrument display so you never have to take your eyes off the road. BMW does that too — for $50,000.
Jump into Civic Si and it will recognize your phone’s Google Maps directions (look Ma, it’s wireless!) and chart your course. So much fun is Si to drive, you’ll get there early.
Add in Honda’s standard Safety Sensing suite of adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist, auto-rear braking and laser night vision (kidding about that last one), and Si stickers at $2,000 more than the outgoing car.
It’s one of the best $28,315 bargains in autodom.
I’m a Golf GTI missionary — VW’s iconic, FWD stick-shift hellion — but to get the same features on the GTI (base price $31,000) I’d have to shell out a cool $35,290. Ouch.
That’s a lotta coin for the V-dub’s hatchback and 272 pound feet of torque (vs. Si’s 192). The Honda knows its niche, and sets the bar for sub-$30K pocket rockets.
Golf’s advantages expose the Si’s weak spots. Since the screaming, 201-horse 2006 Si (I still own one) the car’s numbers haven’t budged, while Golf GTI has increased by 25% to 240 ponies. Sure, the torque band has fattened as Honda went turbo power, but my right foot wants more. Blame federal bluenoses — and Honda’s target of 30 mpg-plus — for holding the numbers back.
Out back, I would prefer Si with a hatchback, like that offered on Civic’s $29K Sport model. The hatch brings utility and design character — but at added engineering cost.
After the far-out design of the 10th-gen Civic (its boomerang taillights right out of a comic book), Generation 11 is mercifully more conservative, with styling that will endure for years like my similarly spare 2006 model. The ’22 Si does gain cool black 18-inch wheels, a honeycomb front grille (echoing the dash) and Blazing Orange paint to help separate it from the rest of the brood.
Honda says it’s saving the hatch for the Type R.
The 2022 Civic’s return to more austere styling comes as the Hyundai Elantra N muscles its way into the segment. The Elantra looks like it was penned by an ex-pat Lamborghini designer, with more jagged surfaces than a broken mirror. Nice to have choices.
I tested the Civic Si after the Los Angeles Auto Show and it was a breath of fresh air after the nonstop gloom-and-doom press conferences pushing morally correct electric SUVs with the sex appeal of a granola bar.
Si is what automobiles were meant to be since Henry Ford terrorized Grosse Pointe. It’s a sedan designed to seat four and fetch the groceries. But it is also built for freedom — a car that can transport you to the joys of the open road.
For lead foots who want a little more from their ride, Si’s an engaging date for an autocross or a track day at GingerMan. Just be sure and bring a spare set of tires. It’s so much fun to drive, you might wear the summers to the bone.
2022 Honda Civic Si
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger sports sedan
Price: $28,315, including $1,015 destination fee ($28,910 with summer tires and Blazing Orange paint as tested)
Powerplant: 1.5-liter turbo-4 cylinder
Power: 200 horsepower, 192 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.4 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 135 mph
Weight: 2,952 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA, 27 mpg city/37 highway/31 combined
Report card
Highs: A joy to drive; manual shifter from the gods
Lows: Bland face for such a fun car; no hatchback
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Porsche Cayman GTS sings sweet music for the sports car purist
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 29, 2021
Hell — In this age of rapid technological change, we crave analog experiences. We enjoy unplugged instrumental music. Or cozying up with a page-turning novel rather than a digital Kindle. In the auto world, the normally aspirated, rear-wheel-drive manual sports car is the purist’s choice. MX-5 Miata, Mustang GT, Subaru BRZ.
The summit of the art form is the Porsche Cayman GTS.
With its howling 394-horsepower flat-6 engine amidships, six-speed manual shifter and tight chassis, it is the Stradivarius of pure automotive instruments. On the writhing roads of Livingston County west of Hell, the Cayman proved why you have to take this thoroughbred out of the city to fully realize its potential.
Hadley Road swells and dips like a roller-coaster with blind turns and long straightaways. The Cayman GTS stuck to every undulation like a fly to flypaper. Its steering is telepathic, hitting my marks — the front and rear ends a symphony of balance. Speaking of symphonies, the six-cylinder chambers breathe in natural air like God intended — no turbos or superchargers here — then exhale through twin pipes with a passionate wail.
Like listening to Springsteen belt the chorus of “Born to Run,” I kept the volume on high — habitually driving a gear lower so I could maintain revs over 3,000 RPM.
Yet even as the Cayman GTS has achieved iconic status, it is under assault on multiple fronts.
The greatest threat are government killjoys who aim to strangle the flat-6’s vocal chords. In order to meet increasingly restrictive global emissions rules, Cayman (and sister Boxster convertible) had to downsize to four pistons in 2017 — resorting to the turbocharger to maintain power.
Robbed of the six’s siren call, customers went elsewhere and U.S. Cayman sales dropped by half in 2019. Under Communist China’s strict mandates, the 4-banger is all that’s available, but in the USA, Porsche heard customer demand and rallied to offer the flat-6 where possible (matched with a manual to sweeten the deal).
The result is the GTS and Cayman GT4 models, which represent the mid-engine terror’s rebel soul.
At M1 Concourse’s Champion Motor Speedway in Pontiac, I paused at pit exit to engage launch control. WAAUUUUGGHHH! The engine spiked at 5500 RPM before I dumped the clutch and leapt into Turn One, clicking off upshifts with short, precise throws.
The lap is an enthralling carnival ride with multiple thrills: neck-straining G-loads, lurid power slides, heart-stopping brakes. The aural highlight comes on the back straight where I exit the hairpin in first gear, then open the throttle to 8,000 RPM as I row the box — BAM, BAM, BAM — to fourth gear. Some people like Carmen, I’ll take the Cayman’s operatic notes.
But as European nannies further turn the screws, Car and Driver reports that the next-gen Cayman-Boxer will be electric — a radical move that could fundamentally change this storied athlete. Battery weight (the Cayman GTS weighs a mere 3,042 pounds) is the enemy of sports cars — not to mention the lack of audio thrills.
Porsche has made known it will not mess with its iconic 911, which will remain gas-fired. Perhaps they learned the lesson of Mustang, which compromised its own sports car halo with a four-cylinder weakling in response to federal nannies in the 1970s. It was reviled by purists.
But if reports are true, Porsche seems willing to experiment with its mid-engine icon. It’s “That ’70s Show” again, and automakers are in a tight spot. Who do you anger, bureaucrats or customers?
Cayman is no longer alone in the sub-$100K mid-engine supercar space.
Chevy’s Corvette has gone mid-engine, too, putting its own heavenly, naturally aspirated V-8 soundtrack just behind your right ear. The V-8 is no-less addicting than the Cayman’s flat-6, and designers nailed the car’s proportions on their first try — bringing the ’Vette’s signature sharp design cues in contrast to the Cayman’s spare, bullet shape.
The ’Vette dropped a rung on purists’ wish list when it sacrificed its manual transmission for its eighth-gen car. But it’s no great loss, as the last-gen Corvette C7 manual was a mushy, three-gated 7-speed that often left drivers with a bag of neutrals. The Porsche is crisp, notchy — gear changes require nothing more than a flick of the wrist.
It’s pure sports car.
But interior technology matters, and Cayman lags the ’Vette. The Porsche is tidy, ergonomically friendly — especially with regards to performance, where the brand has pioneered a steering wheel-based mode selector so you can rotate into SPORT PLUS without taking your eyes off the road. Corvette has learned the lesson with tools like Z mode.
Yet the Cayman interior relies on flimsy cupholders that retract from the dash (hang on to your drink before zipping through Hell!). The ’Vette has access to the full GM toolbox, and brings Apple Carplay/Android Auto and an array of digital instrument displays — even an optional head-up display — that wear well on long trips.
Cayman is more accommodating in the luggage compartment. There is ample space in the frunk for a carry-on bag (or helmet if you’re headed for a track), and the rear hatchback can swallow lots of stuff, including a golf bag. As I’m a proponent of Golf GTIs and Mazda 3s, the Porsche’s hot hatch warms my heart.
As does the styling.
Given the 1970s-like regulatory upheaval going on today, many customers will be holding on to their flat-6 Caymans/Boxsters for years to come. Cayman helps with its timeless looks. It’s a German thing (my son’s 2012 Golf GTI still looks relevant even as the V-dub has evolved two generations since), and the Cayman should wear well just as 911s and 928s before it.
For Cayman fans with even more need for speed, Porsche offers a winged GT4 with sticky Sport Cup 2 tires. The Cayman GTS — in the tradition of performance “tweeners” like the Corvette Grand Sport or Cadillac V-series — is a happy medium between full-on track rat and base car.
Base is a relevant term and the Cayman starts at a Corvette-like $61,850. Stuff it with the GTS’s glorious flat-6 and the price jumps to $88,750. Don’t expect that number to decline much in the years ahead.
Porsche has crafted an icon, a classic that will be more appreciated over time as a benchmark for handling and gas-powered performance.
Dancing on the edge of adhesion around Turn 10A at M1 Concourse, I flicked the Cayman’s stick into third gear and the Cayman sang. Simple, repeatable, thrilling. What purists crave.
2021 Porsche Cayman GTS
Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-passenger sports car
Price: $88,150, including $1,350 destination fee ($100,990 as tested)
Powerplant: 4.0-liter Boxer flat-6 cylinder
Power: 394 horsepower, 309 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.3 seconds (mfr); Top speed, 182 mph
Weight: 3,042 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA, 17 mpg city/24 highway/19 combined
Report card
Highs: Flat-6 music; precision handling
Lows: Infotainment tech lags; gets pricey with options
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
What’s your car worth? Honda, Lexus take home JD Power Residual Value Award, again
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 29, 2021
Buy a new home and you can track its value on Zillow or Redfin. Buy a new car and JD Power is at your service tracking residual value.
If you own a Honda or Lexus, then your asset is looking pretty good.
That’s the conclusion of ALG, a division of JD Power, and its 2022 Residual Value Awards which honor the Japanese companies as the top brands in the mass market and premium segments. In addition to the coveted brand awards, ALG handed out trophies to models in 29 segments this month, including the GMC Sierra HD as winner of ALG’s first award for fullsize heavy duty pickup.
Other notable Detroit winners were the Dodge Charger for fullsize car and the Ford Bronco as off-road utility.
“It’s Honda’s tenth time winning the brand award. Toyota has only won once. There is only one other brand that’s won our award and that’s Subaru and they have won eight times,” said ALG Vice President Eric Lyman in an interview.
ALG’s awards recognize vehicles projected to hold the highest percentage of their manufacturer’s suggested retail price after three-years of ownership. The value is a key factor in which models buyers shop for — as well a key variable in valuing the estimated $225 billion lease portfolio of vehicles in the United States.
The residual awards judge vehicles on long-term quality and design, as well as the overall brand desirability.
“We have these three Japanese brands (Honda, Subaru, and Toyota) well known for their long term durability, quality and resale value winning the award year after year,” said Lyman. “But we’ve seen the domestic brands and Korean brands close the gap. We’ve got representation from the Detroit Three auto makers with Ford Bronco winning for (their) first year in market. Dodge Charger is the perennial winner in the full-size segment, and Chevy Tahoe winning in full-size utility.”
For model-year 2022, 284 vehicles were assessed in 29 segments. Eligibility for the brand award requires a manufacturer to have model entries in at least four different segments.
In taking home the mass market brand bauble, Honda also won three model segments. By contrast Lexus won best premium brand even as none of its models won a segment outright.
“The achievement of Lexus speaks to an impressive, industry-leading continuity of residual value across its entire lineup,” Lyman said. “It’s like a decathlete who doesn’t have to win any of the individual 10 events but scores enough points in each of them to stand atop the podium.”
Honda and Hyundai share the most model-level awards, with three each. Audi, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru and Toyota had winners in two categories.
In addition to Bronco and Sierra first, notable winners were the Mercedes-Benz AMG GT sedan topping long-time Premium Executive segment champ Lexus LS. In the emerging electric vehicle market, the Kona EV won for best mass market EV while the Tesla Model Y won the premium EV segment.
Full list of model winners:
Compact Utility: Subaru Forester
Full-size Utility: Chevy Tahoe
Micro Utility: Hyundai Kona
Midsize 2-Row: Honda Passport
Midsize 3-Row: Kia Telluride
Off-Road Utility: Ford Bronco
Premium Full-size Utility: Jeep Grand Wagoneer
Premium Midsize 2-Row: Range Rover Velar
Premium Midsize 3-Row: Land Rover Discovery
Premium Subcompact Utility: Audi Q3
Subcompact Utility: Mazda CX-30
Mass Market Electric: Hyundai Kona EV
Premium Electric: Tesla Model Y
Fullsize HD Pickup: GMC Sierra HD
Fullsize Pickup: Toyota Tundra
Midsize Pickup: Toyota Tacoma
Commercial Van: Mercedes Metris
Minivan: Honda Odyssey
Compact Car: Honda Civic
Fullsize: Dodge Charger
Midsize: Kia K5
Premium Compact: BMW 2-series
Premium Executive: Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door
Premium Fullsize: Audi Allroad
Premium Midsize: Genesis G70
Premium Sportscar: Porsche 911
Sportscar: Subaru WRX
Subcompact: Hyundai Accent
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Dodge drops Hellcat V8, previews new age of electric Muscle
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 29, 2021
The Era of Electrification has claimed its first big scalp.
Dodge is ending production of its iconic, V8-powered Hellcat Challenger and Charger muscle cars models by 2023 as the brand transitions to a mix of electrified EV, hybrid, and plug-in drivetrains in the face of government regulations forcing battery-powered vehicles. The high horsepower, supercharged hemi engines have defined the brand for the last six years, driving an increase in sales as Dodge stuffed Hellcat V8s into everything from its muscle cars to the three-row Durango SUV.
The Charger and Challenger models, however, will remain in the lineup as the Hellcats pass into history. The news amps up the pressure on Dodge’s first so-called eMuscle electric car, due early next year in prototype form, to deliver on its promise of a new era of Tesla-like, electric performance.
“People are really nervous about (electrification),” Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said in an interview at the Los Angeles Auto Show. “(But) power isn’t going away. Muscle isn’t going away. We’re going to show a concept of our all-electric muscle car. We’re going to show it in about four months. We’re going to show you what it can do . . . and redefine American muscle.”
Reaction to Dodge’s announcement ending the sizzling, supercharged V-8s from the enthusiast community was met with a mix of rage, disbelief, and resignation.
“Hellcat production is sadly going to end in 2023,” moaned enthusiast publication Car and Driver of the Hellcat engines that delivered between 707 and 840 horsepower. “You have two years left to buy a Hellcat. We won’t let the Hellcat’s rambunctious whine of its supercharger be forgotten by the whispering whir of electric motors.”
Wrote Hellcat_Red on the SRT Hellcat Forum: “Seems like we are close to say good bye at the most legendary American muscle car. Really sad the future that is coming.”
“Not happy with this forced EV situation. Guess I need to order a Redeye before it’s too late,” added “S8ER01Z” in reference to the 797-horsepower V-8 Challenger model..
“2024 will be the new plug-in stuff, no thanks,” said Caddy59.
The Hellcat lineup — paired with ringleader Kuniskis’s over-the-top marketing instincts — has driven a brand sensation. Despite being built on two-decade-old platforms, the sinister looking Challenger and Charger vaulted over Camaro in Detroit’s muscle car race and is challenging Mustang for #1. They are best-sellers in the coveted California market. Dodge web traffic has been epic despite its relatively low sales volume — across three models — compared to megabrands like Chevrolet and Ford.
The move to electrification challenges the brand’s devil-may-care personality.
“In a world where everyone is obsessed with making everything better for the environment, the Challenger just doesn’t care. It doesn’t care what people think or say about it,” wrote HotCar.com earlier this year. “Fans of the Challenger do not want a hybrid powertrain or an electric SUV model. What they want is a fire-breathing muscle car.”
Dodge isn’t the only brand grappling with electrification’s challenge to a carefully-manicured image.
Porsche has been clear that it will not electrify its iconic 911 supercar, the brand’s touchstone. Instead, it has moved into battery power with the Porsche Taycan sedan and Taycan Cross-Turismo. It has already felt the sting of trying to accommodate MPG concerns in its performance cars — when it replaced its Cayman/Boxster sports cars’ screaming 6-cylinder engine with a 4-cylinder, the models lost half their U.S. sales.
Ford, too, has been careful to not to fiddle with its V-8 secret sauce. When the Blue Oval used its Mustang performance brand to introduce its first EV, it chose an all-new Mach E SUV while leaving the fire-breathing Mustang coupe alone with its gas-engine lineup.
Patrick Rall, a writer with StellPower.com, is influential in the muscle car community and a Hellcat owner himself. Like Porsche and Mustang, he thinks Dodge recognizes the purity of its V-8 Challenger muscle car and will choose to electrify the Charger sedan.
“Like the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S Plaid, it makes sense for Dodge to explore the sedan space,” he said. “If you’re going to be the best, you have to take on the best.”
CEO Kuniskis is aware he is playing with fire.
“I’m juggling knives because I’ve gotta’ keep two different huge factions happy because at some point those two factions will converge,” he told Motor Trend at the LA Show, referencing customers who will embrace electrification and those who want his brand’s signature V-8 and V-6 power. “The problem is no one knows when they will converge. My job is to provide confidence, over the next 24 months, that we’re gonna’ do this.”
Industry insiders say that the EPA-forced change to electrification is fraught with danger, pointing to the 1970s when federal MPG standards tripped up Detroit automakers.
“The ’70s were the Dark Ages of the auto industry,” said Karl Baer, industry analyst with ISeeCars, recalling models like the 1974-78 Ford Mustang II that scaled back on performance to meet MPG concerns. Reviled by purists, the Mustang II is rarely seen in Woodward Dream Cruise parades.
“The older cars were better than the new ones in the 1970s,” said Brauer. “There were big changes, big government mandates. I hope that doesn’t happen again and we’re more technologically advanced this time.”
For its part, Dodge seems to be assembling a diverse lineup of drivetrains beyond the EV debuting early next year.
Built on an all-new platform beginning in 2024 to accommodate electrified powertrains — which The Detroit News first reported in 2019 — the Challenger and Charger, say experts, will likely get hybrid and plugin drivetrains utilizing a hybrid ZF transmission recently contracted by Stellantis.
Brauer said Dodge’s small size and unique image affords corporate parent Stellantis room to experiment.
“Dodge profits are a sliver of total revenue,” he said. “So the risk of remaking Dodge is less than, say, the volume Jeep brand. If Dodge can remake Hellcat power with the right kind of car, then it will help a certain percentage of traditional buyers to give electrification a try.”
Dodge has been here before when it developed the Dodge Dart to meet Obama Administration requirements that the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance make a 40 mpg car. The Dart was manufactured from 2013-2016 before it died due to poor sales.
Significantly, Stellantis is not toying with its V8-powered formula in its high-volume Jeep brand. The Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer were both launched on all-new platforms this year and both boast optional normally-aspirated, 5.7-liter V-8s in addition to standard V-6s.
As Dodge accelerates towards its new era in 2024, Kuniskis said the brand will roll out a series of teasers to keep customers engaged.
“When we say we’re going to electrification in 24 months it would have been easy to go quiet. We don’t do anything quiet, we don’t so anything subtle,” he smiled. “We put out a calendar, . . . there’s 24 doors and those doors are going to open every couple of months or so. We’ll show our full electric plan as we get to the end, and we’ll show (gas-engine) stuff along the way.”
Dodge has already teased a new Jailbreak package on its Charger and Challenger Redeye models that allow buyers to customize them for $995. And it’s shown an EV logo called the “fratzog” — a made-up word for the triangle arrangement of three arrowhead shapes used by the brand in the 1960s.
“People come up to me all the time and they say: ‘Hey, you’re the Dodge guy, you’re gonna be totally opposed to EVs. What are you doing? Are you selling out?’” said Kuniskis. “I say, no, performance isn’t going away. There are some really cool innovative things we can do with electrification.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Corvette Racing goes big with two global series, Z06 GT3.R customer car
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 23, 2021
Chevrolet is revving up its Corvette race program.
Corvette Racing has been integral to development and marketing of the brand’s iconic sportscar, and, for the first time in its 24-year history, the race team will compete for both the 2022 IMSA sportscar championship in the U.S. and World Endurance series overseas. Come the 2024 calendar year, GM will offer — also for the first time — the mid-engine, C8.R race car to private teams to go head-to-head against Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin and other supercars in international GT3 competition.
The program expansion follows the C8.R’s second straight U.S. title in the IMSA endurance sportscar series. That success has paralleled the red-hot sales of the production Corvette with sale prices often well above sticker.
“This is the most ambitious schedule that Corvette Racing has faced,” said Jim Campbell, chief of parent General Motors Co.’s Chevy Performance and Motorsports. “It will be an honor to race in both the IMSA and WEC series at some of the best tracks in the world.”
A dominant player in IMSA since Corvette first went GT racing in 1999, the team has also raced in choice World Endurance Championship (WEC) races like France’s Le Mans and Spa in Belgium. The new year will mark the first time Corvette will field a full-time car in both series. Since 2001, Corvette has won 13 IMSA manufacturers championships.
The announcement came as Chevy showed off the 670-horsepower Corvette Z06 performance model for the first time at a major auto show in Los Angeles. The Z06 shares the same high-revving V-8 engine the C8.R has been campaigning the last two years on the race circuit. A significant departure from the standard Corvette’s traditional push-rod, the Z06’s 5.5-liter mill utilizes Ferrari-like flat-plane crank technology that shrieks to 8,600 RPM.
Corvette’s move comes as sports car racing undergoes a major shift in the next two years with unprecedented interest from manufacturers across the globe. Race teams from Cadillac, Acura, Audi, BMW and Porsche will compete in an international prototype class.
On the Grand Touring front, IMSA is consolidating its GT classes into one and eliminating the GTLM class where Corvette dominated the last two years over entrants from Porsche, Ferrari and BMW. For 2022, the team — managed by Pratt & Miller in New Hudson — will field a C8.R slightly modified for the GTD class with a different rear wing and customer Michelin racing tires.
The driver teams that were fielded in the 2021 IMSA GTLM class will split with the team of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg (Garcia and Taylor were driver champs in 2021) going to IMSA GTD for its 10-race schedule, while Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims go globe-trotting in the WEC. The international series features six races at venues from Japan to Bahrain to Sebring, Florida.
“This is a World Championship and that is something that is really important for Corvette, Chevrolet and our team,” said Tandy. “Going for a world championship is something that not many people compete for, so I’m looking forward to what comes ahead.”
Corvette will field two cars in June at the world’s premier endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, where it has won eight times since 2001.
Competitors in the IMSA GTD class run the gamut with private entries from Lamborghini, McLaren, Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, Acura, Audi, Lexus and BMW. Intriguingly, the Chevy would be the only mainstream badge in a sea of luxury makes — a testimony to how much less the Corvette C8.R costs than its peers even as it boasts similar capability.
“It’s an exciting time for Corvette — first with the reveal of the production Z06, and now confirming the Z06 GT3.R,” said Chevy Director of Motorsports Competition Engineering Mark Stielow. “The GT3.R will allow customer race teams the opportunity to campaign a Corvette that has benefited from Corvette Racing’s rich history.”
The production Z06 and GT3.R race car are closely related, with the latter sharing the same aluminum chassis, engine and similar aerodynamic features.
GT3 racing spans the planet with series in countries from England and Spain to Australia and Japan. In the U.S. the 2021 GT World Challenge America featured seven races.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Fisker: Why EV startup valuations are sky high and going higher
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 22, 2021
Los Angeles — Is Fisker the next electric vehicle unicorn?
The California-based EV company unveiled a final prototype here this week of its first, widely-anticipated SUV, the Ocean, with production to begin in November 2022. If Fisker, run by EV pioneer Henrik Fisker, follows the pattern of U.S. EV startups, it should be a multi-billion dollar company in a year.
Sister EV startups Rivian and Lucid have seen their market values roar to dizzying heights in recent weeks after producing their first vehicles. With no revenue and one $70,000 pickup truck in its lineup, Irvine, California-based Rivian owns a market cap of $140 billion, more than General Motors. Lucid Motor’s $160k Air sedan rolled off the line last month and its market cap is now about $90 billion, more than Ford Motor Company.
Subscribers: LA Auto Show: Reborn Fisker unveils the Ocean EV
“Wall Street (investors) think half of the global market will be EVs by 2030. Wall Street is betting that startup EVs automakers are going to make up most of that production,” CEO Fisker said in an interview in Los Angeles just hours before unveiling the Ocean on Wednesday. Battery-electric vehicles make up under 3% of U.S. sales.
Fisker’s prediction is self-interested, but consistent with current trends.
Despite facing competition from numerous legacy automakers in the EV space, Tesla — the first all-electric startup to enter the mainstream market in 2012 with its Model S sedan — still owns an 80% market share with a growing list of vehicles including the Model 3 sedan and Model Y and Model X SUVs. EV entries from household names like Chevy, Volvo, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes have barely dented Tesla’s juggernaut, which delivered 499,550 vehicles in 2020 — an increase of 36% over the previous year in the midst of a global pandemic.
Tesla’s market value soared over $1 trillion this month — more than the nine largest auto companies combined.
“Like other startups, we are building an EV company from the ground up,” said Fisker. “We are currently valued at $7 billion. The difference between us and Rivian and Lucid is that we won’t be in production for another year. If we hit our targets, I expect to see similar success.”
Joe Phillippi of Autotrends Consulting, a veteran Wall Street analyst, is doubtful that EVs will make up half of global sales anytime soon. “I don’t see it, that’s 50 million units a year,” he said. “I worry this a bubble, but it’s a bubble that may last a long time. There’s a lot of money chasing these ideas.”
Fisker attributed investor confidence to a combination of government coercion and consumer acceptance.
Fisker’s home state of California, for example — the largest auto market in the world’s richest country — is mandating that all new car sales be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The state has repeatedly had to adjust its goals over the last two decades, however, as consumers have been reluctant to adopt battery-powered vehicles.
China, the world’s biggest auto market, has mandated that all vehicles must be electrified — battery-powered, plug-in hybrid, or hybrid — by 2035. And the European Union has announced a ban on gas-powered cars by 2035.
“Europe is moving so fast. I expect that half of our sales will by in Europe,” said CEO Fisker. He said cities like London are banning diesel cars and Norway is moving to eliminate gas and diesel engines.
West Coast-based, Fisker is outsourcing its manufacturing to Magna in Europe. That strategy is in contrast to the “Big Three” electrics of Tesla, Rivian and Lucid, which run their own assembly operations stateside. Fisker said it’s important for startups to keep costs down and to deliver products on time — and Magna is a proven manufacturer, having produced the Mercedes G-class and Jaguar i-Pace. The Ocean EV is made on a heavily-modified, front-wheel-drive EV skateboard platform of Magna’s making.
Fisker said Magna’s Graz, Austria, plant also meets Fisker’s carbon neutrality goals by sourcing its electricity from hydroelectric power. Hydro-power also played a key role in Volkswagen’ location of its first U.S. EV plant in Tennessee.
While upper trims of the Ocean will cost over $70,000, Fisker is keen on keeping the starting price of his cars below $40,000.
“Magna’s base platform saved us a lot of time because we didn’t have to do basic design things,” he said. “But we still had the flexibility to change what we needed. It’s important because we’ve got to get our development time under 2½ years.”
He is particularly bullish on his next, smaller SUV called the Peach. With a price target under the Ocean, Fisker said PEAR will be outsourced to manufacturing partner Foxconn in Lordstown and will bring EVs to higher volume segments.
He suggested one reason for Rivian’s high market cap is its production of fleet vehicles to, for example, Amazon, which must meet sustainability targets. He expects vehicles like Ocean and Peach to do similar fleet business.
“But ultimately, retail buying will pick up as the cost of EVs continues to go down under $40,000,” he said.
He said 75% of customers ordering Ocean EVs are crossing over from gas-powered vehicles from makers such as Mercedes and BMW.
The Ocean boasts similar proportions to the hot-selling Tesla Model Y. The standard, front-wheel-drive Sport model offers 250-mile range, a 17-inch center tablet, panoramic sunroof and digital camera mirror.
It debuted Wednesday at the LA Auto Show.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: 2021 LA Best in Show features EVs, gas-powered muscle
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 19, 2021
Los Angeles — The City of Angels is a different place than I left after the last, 2019 LA Auto Show. Like a dystopian Hollywood film, fear of viruses and climate Apocalypse haunt the city. Unlike middle America, masks are still mandated, vaccines required for entry, automaker press conferences grim with warnings of an uninhabitable planet, and big exhibit halls empty of many major brands.
But there is still lots of eye candy here for auto lovers.
California is determined to drive an electric car revolution just as its tech giants transformed everything from phones to media. Gas engines will be banned here by 2035. Startup and legacy manufacturers have responded with a variety of innovative EV product to capture the public’s attention.
Customers still overwhelmingly prefer petrol power and there is plenty of everything to choose from. Here’s the show’s Top 10:
Chevrolet Corvette Z06. The show stopper. The first performance upgrade of GM’s mid-engine predator is as wicked looking as it is fast. Under its shark’s skin is the sportscar’s first overhead cam, V-8 engine. It’s the same mill that propelled the C8.R race car to two consecutive IMSA sportscar championships. Too bad Chevy can’t rev it to 8,600 RPM at the show.
Porsche Mission R. This track-focused e-missile follows the Mission E as Porsche’s second electric concept. Just as the Mission E previewed the production Taycan, so is the Mission R fueling rumors of an electric production Cayman sportscar. The winged Mission R imagines a Porsche race series (think similar 911 Club Sport series) with enough battery to make a 30-minute sprint race. The R has twin motors and 1,100 horsepower. Electrifying.
Hyundai Seven. Dude, far-out show concepts are back. The Seven previews a (likely) 2024, three-row, family EV with 300 miles of range, full glass rear, and a pixelated, front-end light show like a Cadillac Lyriq. Open the cabin doors and Seven offers a configurable, three-row furniture showcase complete with couch, fridge, and shoe drawers. Anticipating more pandemics to come, the interior offers an airliner-inspired Hygiene Airflow System to isolate air circulation between front and rear passengers. UVC lights sanitize the interior when you exit. Jeepers.
Dodge Challenger SRT Redeye Jailbreak. America’s favorite muscle car can be customized for just $995. Put down $80k for your Dodge Redeye, and pick from a cookie jar of Jailbreak goodies. Colors, stripes, seats. . . with Dodge throwing some new offerings like Hammerhead Grey upholstery, copper and bronze trim, and unique 20-by-11-inch wheels. Oh, and you get 10-horsepower boost to (gasp) 807 ponies.
Subaru Solterra. Subie’s eco-friendly buyers finally get an EV. Though with just 220 miles, its range may challenge adventure seekers. Otherwise, the Solterra delivers the outdoor brand’s signature AWD capability with front/rear electric motors and 8.3-inch ground clearance. The interior is the most modern ‘Ru yet with a waterfall-style console and hoodless, digital instrument display. Co-developed with Toyota, Solterra masked headlights appear inspired by Catwoman.
Subaru WRX. Not to be left out, Subie’s speed freak base finally gets a new-gen WRX hellion built on the brand’s modern Global Platform. The architecture should further enhance WRX’s AWD handling while delivering state-of-the-art electronics. You’ll know it by the boomerang headlights and macho fender cladding.
Fisker Ocean. EV-pioneer Henrik Fisker wowed with a low-slung, performance sedan last decade. For his next chapter, Fisker introduces a boxy, electric SUV. The Karma wowed outside, Ocean does its talking inside with a rotating, 17-inch screen that displays in portrait and landscape mode. Just like your smartphone. Check out the cargo doggie windows so your canine can sniff the air. Woof.
Kia EV-6. EV-6 joins cousin Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 EV in bucking the boxy EV trend (see Fisker nearby). EV-6 stand out with a low front end and hatchback stance. The interior is big screen, EV-chic with lots of digital derring-do.
Ford F-150 Lightning. Most pickup trucks show off their beds. The Lightning EV leads with its frunk. That big hole under the front hood where the engine used to be is wide open on the LA Show floor to show off its bottomless cargo capacity. Let the kiddies jump in for a photo op. Visitors will also marvel at the 4.5-second zero-60 mph time and the giant console inside.
Vinfast VF e35. It’s the Wild West for EVs and the young Vietnamese startup wants in. The compact e35 checks all the boxes with an SUV, Nvidia-chip powered self-drive system — even a single screen interior like a Tesla Model Y. Chinese companies like Byton, GAC, and Qiantu all whiffed on US delivery promises. If Vinfast can price itself $20k below the mighty Model Y, it might have a future here.
The LA Show is back. Keep an eye on it because it may be your electric future.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.