Have you gotten used to the massive kidney grilles yet? Because the four-door version of the new 4er will have them, too. More

More than 11,000 BMW iX xDrive50 and iX M60 from 2022 through 2024 model years are under recall due to a cruise control software error. Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explain that the driver can inadvertently hit the cruise control button and activate the system. BMW will notify owners starting July 28. BMW of North America has issued a recall for approximately 11,180 iX xDrive50 and iX M60 electric SUVs because of a potential safety concern involving the cruise control.According to BMW, when turning the steering wheel at low speed, the driver is at risk of inadvertently contacting the cruise control button. This complication could lead to unexpected acceleration or deceleration, although the cruise control icon will become visible and the driver can deactivate the system by either braking or pressing the cruise control on/off button. BMWSeparately, more than 14,000 BMW EVs, including about 5000 iX SUVs, were recalled earlier this year over a problem with short-circuiting in the high-voltage battery, as well as a few dozen 2022 iX EVs for a problem with battery manufacturing that could allow debris to enter the battery. In both cases, BMW issued Stop Drive orders until the problems could be fixed under recall.For the current issue, BMW will begin notifying vehicle owners in July about the need for a software update. In the meantime, iX owners can check the NHTSA recalls website to see if their vehicle is included in the recall.Other Recent RecallsSummer Editorial InternAlessandra Kaestner, a Chicago native, has always been interested in journalism. She remembers listening to NPR every day before school with her parents and trying to race her dad to get the New York Times from the front door. Alessandra continued her passion for journalism by working at her university’s newspaper during her first year and into her sophomore year: the Cornell Daily Sun. She is majoring in psychology and philosophy and wants to explore law and journalism. Although she does not have a lot of background in the world of cars, Alessandra is interested in expanding her knowledge and gaining experience. She could not be more excited to work with so many talented people at Car and Driver. More

The Ford GT LM Edition is a final sendoff for Ford’s 660-horsepower supercar.The LM honors Ford’s successes in endurance racing with a choice of blue or red carbon fiber on the exterior and blue or red accents in the interior.Just 20 will be built, and the GT LM Edition will be delivered this fall before production concludes at the end of 2022.The Ford GT’s story began in the early 1960s when Ford challenged Ferrari for top honors at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the GT40, sweeping the podium in 1966. Ford revived the nameplate in 2005 and then brought the moniker back in in 2016 for both a roadgoing supercar and a race car, which miraculously secured a class victory at Le Mans on the fiftieth anniversary of Ford’s first win. Now the Ford GT’s second generation is coming to an end, and Ford has revealed the 2022 GT LM Edition as a sendoff for the race-bred supercar.FordFordThe LM sees the carbon-fiber body painted in Liquid Silver, with either red- or blue-tinted carbon-fiber accents to honor the 2016 No. 68 Le Mans class winner. This tinted look appears on the front splitter, side sills, mirror stalks, rear diffuser, and engine bay louvres. The 20-inch carbon-fiber wheels also feature the colored highlights, and black Brembo brake calipers. FordThe GT LM Edition also has a 3D-printed titanium dual exhaust, which sits below a 3D-printed GT LM logo. The interior is decked out with Alcantara-wrapped carbon fiber seats, with the driver’s seat in either red or blue and the Ebony-colored passenger seat featuring matching red or blue stitching. The color of the start button also matches the driver’s bucket, and the rest of the interior is upholstered in Ebony leather or Alcantara with plenty of carbon trim. FordFordThe final version of the GT also has a unique badge on the dashboard that ties the vehicle back to its racing roots. Ford took the engine from the No. 69 GT race car that placed third at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, which had been disassembled and put in storage, and ground the crankshaft into a powder. What remained of the crankshaft was then used to create a bespoke alloy that was 3D-printed to create the plaque.More Special Edition Ford GTsOnly 20 examples of this final edition will be built, with deliveries starting this fall before production comes to an end before 2023. Ford hasn’t revealed a price, but it’s likely a substantial amount more than the $500,000 cost of the “standard” GT supercar. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

In some countries, the leader’s limo is worth over 100 times that of the best-selling car. Where does The Beast stack up? More

Croatian EV startup Rimac takes control of Bugatti, merging its hypercar-making operation with the 112-year-old marque and acquiring a 55 percent stake in the new Bugatti-Rimac.Cars from the two brands will be badged and built separately, but future Bugattis will use Rimac’s high-performance electric drivetrains.Porsche takes the remaining 45 percent stake in Bugatti-Rimac on behalf of Volkswagen and retains its 24 percent share in the Rimac Group.UPDATE 7/5/2021, 2:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional details.Croatian EV startup Rimac has taken control of Bugatti, with two all-new Bugatti models engineered by Rimac set to appear by 2030. A 2000-hp hybrid hypercar with a naturally aspirated combustion engine comes first, followed by Bugatti’s first full EV. Bugatti will merge with Rimac’s hypercar business, which makes the Nevera (pictured above), to create a new company, Bugatti-Rimac. The two brands’ cars will continue to be developed and badged separately. Rimac will hold a 55 percent stake in the new entity, which will begin to trade in the current quarter. Porsche, which has been given responsibility for Bugatti by their joint parent Volkswagen, will hold the remainder.

The long-rumored deal sees Rimac, which was founded in 2009 and to date has delivered only a handful of cars, take majority ownership of a marque established a century earlier and with one of the most illustrious histories in the automotive world.Bugatti will merge with Rimac’s hypercar business, which has just begun building the Nevera (pictured above), to create a new company, Bugatti-Rimac. The two brands’ cars will continue to be developed and badged separately. Rimac will hold a 55 percent stake in the new entity. Porsche, which controls Bugatti on behalf of their joint parent Volkswagen, will hold the remainder.”This is a great responsibility,” Mate Rimac said as he announced the deal dressed in shorts and running shoes alongside the suited Porsche CEO Oliver Blume. “We are standing on the shoulders of giants here. Bugatti defined the hypercar, and we have to make it a success not only in terms of its products, but also profitable.”Sources close to the deal say that talks began two years ago when the Volkswagen Group approached Rimac to help it develop a hybrid version of the Bugatti Chiron. Rimac offered to create an entirely new hybrid hypercar with a naturally aspirated engine for less than it would have cost to update the existing car. Instead of buying the bulk of the new car’s engineering from Rimac, Volkswagen offered the startup a merger. The sources said VW had been considering shuttering Bugatti rather than commit the investment required to make it fully electric in time.

Bugatti’s headquarters in Molsheim, France.
Bugatti

The current Rimac Automobili will be renamed the Rimac Group with an unchanged ownership structure. Mate Rimac, the company’s 33-year-old founder, has the largest stake at 37 percent. Porsche is the second-largest shareholder, having built its 24 percent share over the past three years. Hyundai is third with 12 percent.The new Rimac Group will hold the majority share in its new Bugatti-Rimac subsidiary. A new, separate business named Rimac Technology and wholly owned by the Rimac Group will continue to develop and sell the company’s high-performance EV powertrains and autonomous driving systems to major carmakers. It has already completed around 30 such projects and is working with at least 10 major carmakers, including its two OEM shareholders as well as Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin. Rimac Technology’s turnover is expected to exceed the hypercar maker’s by around four to one. To preserve the tech company’s independence and ability to supply other carmakers, Porsche is not expected to increase its stake in the Group. With its 45 percent holding in Bugatti-Rimac and its 24 percent stake in the Rimac Group, Porsche will indirectly own the majority of the new merged company, and it gains the same exposure to Rimac’s existing, record-breaking Nevera and its future hypercars. But Blume was clear that Porsche doesn’t want and won’t have operational control, with Mate Rimac becoming CEO of all three companies. “As a shareholder we want a real entrepreneur as CEO,” he said. “It is our clear strategy to pass operational control to Mate.”Rimac-branded cars will continue to be built in Croatia with the company moving to a spectacular new $240 million “campus” near the capital, Zagreb, in 2023. Bugattis will still be assembled at the company’s château and atelier in Molsheim, eastern France, where it was established in 1909. Both brands will use powertrains developed and made by Rimac Technology in Croatia.Mate Rimac hinted heavily that future Bugattis may have more than two seats and two doors. “In its heritage, Bugatti has models that are more than just hypercars,” he said. “There’s an opportunity for Bugatti in the future to have very interesting cars that are completely different to other models on the market, while Rimac remains a maker of very high-performance sports cars. But we haven’t figured that out ourselves yet.”The idea of Bugatti being passed to such a young entrepreneur and his relatively unproven startup may cause raised eyebrows among Bugatti customers and aficionados. But there are plenty of parallels between Mate Rimac and Ettore Bugatti. Rimac got his start at age 20, when he bolted an electric motor from a forklift truck into his old BMW 3-series. Bugatti did something similar at age 17, fitting a combustion engine to a pedal tricycle. By 20 he’d designed and shown his first car and, like Rimac, licensed his first designs to existing carmakers. The firm he founded has been reborn twice before: once when bought by Romano Artioli in 1987, resulting in the EB110 of 1991, and again when acquired by Volkswagen in 1998, with the Veyron going into production in 2005. “Bugatti’s fourth chapter starts now,” Rimac said, “and with Porsche at our backs I believe we can do incredible things.”
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