For the 50th anniversary of the M brand, which started as BMW Motorsport, BMW will bring back a classic logo for some models as well as 50 old colors including Daytona Violet and Macao Blue.The “BMW Motorsport” emblem puts three specific semicircles in blue, violet, and red around the BMW roundel to represent how the automaker is connected to racing.These new old features will be available by request starting in January, and the first models built with the old logos will come off the line in March.UPDATE 11/27/21, 4 p.m.: In the U.S., BMW will make the newly announced anniversary badging standard on its M division high-performance models including the M3 and M4, and it will be an option on M340i, M440i, and other M models. However, unlike in other markets, vehicles with the M Sport package are not eligible for the historic badging, a BMW spokesperson said today.BMW is bringing back a performance logo from its racing past along with a large number of old-school paint colors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BMW Motorsport. The actual anniversary date won’t happen until May 24, 2022, but when you want to look backward, it doesn’t hurt to start early.

BMW

BMW announced this week it will once again offer the classic BMW Motorsport emblem on selected models next year, but you’ll have to be the kind of person who asks for it. First, the new old logo will only be available by request. Second, you will have to buy a new M model. Whatever you choose, only orders for new BMWs placed starting at the end of January 2022 will be able to be outfitted with the new old emblem, and the first cars built with the classic logo will be built starting in March.

The new emblem—inspired by the classic BMW Motorsport logo—will replace the standard blue and white roundel on the vehicle’s front and rear and on the wheel hubs. The BMW Motorsport logo surrounds the brand’s standard logo with blue, violet, and red semicircle lines. This version was first used in 1973 on BMW Motorsport’s racing cars. BMW says the colors represent BMW (blue), racing (red), and the way the two are connected (violet).On top of the trip to the history books for the way its new vehicles will look, BMW said 2022 will be an exciting year. Exactly what that encompasses has not yet been revealed.”We have a great year ahead of us, which will be celebrated with unique product highlights and exciting performances,” said Franciscus van Meel, chairman of the board of management of BMW M, in a statement. “The M has long been considered the strongest letter in the world, and in our company’s anniversary year it is stronger than ever.”

When it comes to exterior paint options, BMW said it will reintroduce what it calls “50 iconic and historically significant BMW M paint finishes” on selected models next year. The list includes Dakar Yellow, Fire Orange, Daytona Violet, Macao Blue, Imola Red, and Frozen Marina Bay Blue. These old paint options will be available on some new options next year, including the first M3 Touring model and the M4 Coupé series.At some point in 2022, BMW will also introduce the successor to the M2, and it will launch the “first electrified high-performance model in the history of BMW M GmbH.”
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Tesla announced it posted a profit of $16 million for the first quarter of 2020 even with complications surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. Musk said he believes that a vehicle equipped with Tesla’s Full Self Driving will be able to drive from home to work most of the time with no interventions by the end of […] More

Two prototypes for the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 were spied testing on the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany.One of the ZR1s was seen sporting a ginormous rear wing, while the other one appeared to have the same wing as the Z06 model’s Z07 package.The ZR1 is also festooned with several additional intakes on the side bodywork and a deep vent in the hood.With a 670-hp flat-plane-crank V-8 and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is an extreme machine, as our time spent with a menacing gray example is currently proving. But Chevrolet intends to take its iconic sports car even further with a new ZR1 model, and spy photos of two different examples of the high-performance Vette testing on the Nürburgring in Germany have revealed the ZR1’s radical look.Brian Williams/SpiedBilde|Car and DriverThe first thing to catch the eye is the gigantic wing. The Z06’s rear wing is no shrinking violet, but the ZR1 takes things a step further with taller struts, a wider mainplane, and larger endplates. A second ZR1 prototype was also photographed on the ‘Ring wearing the Z06’s smaller wing. It’s possible that Chevy plans to offer two aero packages—as it does with the Z06 and did with the previous ZR1—or the automaker may be testing the different wings to get a better sense of the aerodynamic affect of the bigger unit.At the front end, a sharp splitter and aggressive dive planes help produce downforce but don’t look substantially different than the elements on the Z06’s Z07 performance package. The front grilles don’t look too different, either, but a massive slash in the hood has been added to route air up and over the cockpit and toward the rear wing. Given how deep the outlet looks, we believe the ZR1 may not have a frunk, similar to the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Brian Williams/SpiedBilde|Car and DriverChevy also added increased venting along the ZR1’s flanks—the main triangular inlet seen on the Z06 remains, but with a second smaller intake sprouting off of it and another additional vent sitting atop the ZR1’s bulky shoulders. Big wing aside, the rear end of the ZR1 appears largely the same as the Z06’s. The ZR1 rides on more intricate wheels than lower-tiered Corvettes, and the wheels may be bigger than the 20-inch and 21-inch staggered setup on the Z06. The ZR1 is expected to arrive for the 2025 model year and will add two turbochargers to the Z06’s 5.5-liter V-8. That could mean north of 800 horsepower sent to the rear wheels, and while it will likely be heavier than the Z06, it should still bolt to 60 mph in under 2.5 seconds. We expect the price to start around $150,000—not cheap, but significantly less than its European supercar rivals. The ZR1 may be the final pure-internal-combustion version of the Corvette.More about the CorvetteThis 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.Associate News EditorCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan. More

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022 expanded purchase incentives for new electric vehicles, and added one for used EVs as well. That is one way to get people interested in buying EVs, of course. But it’s actually another part of that massive act that is likely to do far more for U.S. manufacturing and adoption of EVs even than purchase incentives.Called Section 45X, it funds 10 years of production credits for manufacturing battery cells, photovoltaic solar cells, and components for wind energy. And it has the potential to make EV batteries built in the U.S. so cheap that large swathes of Western cell and battery manufacturing will rush to locate in North America.Lies, Damn Lies, and Battery MarketingOne of the truisms in the electric-vehicle worry is that no one will talk in detail about battery costs. Adapted from a quote variously attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and U.S. humorist Mark Twain, battery experts often say there are three kinds of lies: “lies, damn lies, and [battery] marketing.”For most of the past decade, $100 per kilowatt-hour (at the battery pack level, not the slightly lower cell cost) was thought to be the Holy Grail. In November 2021, battery cost for the industry overall was calculated at $132/kWh by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Tesla is now thought to be at or below $100/kWh for the pack. Over the past year, though, cell prices—and hence pack prices—have risen due to soaring prices for lithium and other battery metals due to both higher demand and supply hiccups.In 2021, a U.S. Department of Energy official suggested $60/kWh as a reasonable goal at the cell level. That might mean $80/kWh at the pack level for vehicles in production in 2025 or beyond, including Teslas with the company’s 4680 cells (a different format), vastly more VW Group models, and GM’s dozen or more announced Ultium models. Car and Driver recently interviewed an experienced EV battery production specialist who asked not to be named. This person has worked for and consulted with numerous companies making cells in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and remains deeply in touch today with the cutting edge of that industry.The bottom line of the conversation was that, as the specialist put it, “All the stories on the IRA are burying the lede”—an editing phrase meaning to focus on something other than the main story, and to mention the key fact only in passing lower down.Cutting up to Half the Cost of Batteries?Our expert pointed us to Section 45X, which in one fell swoop will cut one-third to one-half off the total cost of any EV battery with both cells and pack built in the U.S. To quote U.S. clean-tech investor Ion Yadigaroglu, interviewed by Bloomberg Green last week: Very simply, if you build a factory and run it in America, and it makes a battery, as the battery pack leaves the factory, you get $45 a kilowatt-hour. [The subsidy covers $35 per kilowatt-hour for battery cell production but adds another $10 for battery packs.] That’s more than a third of the cost of making [the battery] pack. And the way things are going, it could be the entire cost of making a battery pack within the 10-year span of the IRA.Our battery expert suggested this means all carmakers assembling vehicles in the U.S. will ultimately build their own battery factories, whether through joint ventures (like GM-LG) or designing and building their own cells (like Tesla’s efforts to bring its 4680 cells to market in large volumes). Designing and building cells directly reduces or eliminates profits to a third-party cell maker, but it’s far from a core competence today for most makers. Then again, how could they pass up this huge credit? A pack the size of the 131.0-kWh Ford Lightning’s amounts to $5895 for every one that rolls off the line. Do I Get an Incentive or Not?Meanwhile, the IRA bill’s purchase incentives—for which final rules are overdue—have garnered a lot of attention. They differentiate between passenger cars and light trucks, and for the first time, used EVs under a certain price can receive incentives as well.Any vehicle must be assembled in the U.S. even to be considered for qualification. Then, a rising percentage of its battery minerals must be sourced from a specific list of countries (which does not include China), and its battery cells must be assembled in North America. The IRS’s decisions on which vehicles are eligible, and what distinguishes a passenger vehicle from a light-duty truck like an SUV, have been messy, to say the least. Related StoryIt’s understandable that the prospect of $7500 off the price of a new car gets huge attention among shoppers, dealers, and carmakers. But on an average new-vehicle price of more than $47,000 (as of December), cutting the price of an EV battery pack substantially will likely have more impact.We can’t know how the battery-production incentives will play out in real life. The rules are still being finalized. We don’t know, for instance, whether existing cell plants (e.g. Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, an LG Chem plant in Michigan) will qualify.More crucial to consumers, we can’t predict how the savings will be used by automakers. If most EV models built in the U.S. today break even at best, undoubtedly battery makers will want to increase their margins—making it easier to build new plants and boost volume. At the same time, car companies may use some of the reduction in battery cost to boost EV profits to the same level as those on gasoline vehicles.By now, the EV transition is not just ongoing, but accelerating. Carmakers will want every opportunity to make their EVs competitive in the market—and lowering prices is a classic way of doing just that. Still, while you may see a lot of analysis about possible effects, it’s too early to know how these battery-production incentives will affect consumer EV prices. If you take away one main point, it should be this: Sure, a $7500 consumer rebate on a qualifying new EV is nothing to sneeze at. But that’s not the most important EV-related part of the “IRA” by a long shot. Five to 10 years hence, carmakers have a huge opportunity to make much, much cheaper EVs. That’s the real goal. Shopping List More

The 2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is a ruggedized wagon version of the Taycan electric sedan.
It’s available in 4, 4S, Turbo, and Turbo S models that all come standard with an 83.7-kWh battery pack, two electric motors, all-wheel drive, and an air suspension that raises them 0.8-inch taller than the sedan.
The Cross Turismo will arrive this summer, starting at $92,250.
Porsche’s new Taycan Cross Turismo is a lifted, wagon version of its electric sedan with body cladding and SUV aspirations, much like the Audi A6 Allroad and the Mercedes-Benz E450 All-Terrain. It will be available in the U.S. in the summer of 2021 in 4, 4S (pictured above), Turbo, and Turbo S (pictured below) models. The Cross Turismo costs $1530 more than a comparable Taycan sedan, starting at $92,250 for the entry-level model and stretching to $188,950 for the Turbo S.

How We’d Spec It: Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo

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Porsche

All-wheel drive is standard on the Cross Turismo, unlike the available rear-drive version of the sedan. All Cross Turismos also get the larger of the Taycan’s two battery packs, what Porsche calls Performance Battery Plus and holds 83.7-kWh of usable energy, and two permanent-magnet synchronous motors that generate a combined 469 horsepower in the Taycan Cross Turismo 4, 562 in the 4S, 670 in the Turbo, and 750 hp in the Turbo S. These are the same outputs as the equivalent sedans, and the 4 is on par with the base Taycan sedan with the bigger battery. Porsche says the Turbo S Cross Turismo will reach 60 mph in 2.7 seconds, though we managed 2.4 seconds in the sedan in our testing.

2021 Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo Adds a Hatch

Range estimates will be announced closer to the Taycan Cross Turismo’s summer arrival, but with the bigger battery, the 2021 Taycan 4S sedan is now EPA rated at 227 miles, while we achieved 180 miles in our 75-mph test. EPA estimates on the 2021 Taycan Turbo and Turbo S haven’t been released, but the 2020 models were rated at 201 and 192 miles. The Cross Turismo’s range mode lowers the cars 0.8 inch, but we can expect its range estimates to be slightly lower across the board due to its higher ride height in all other modes and almost 100 extra pounds of curb weight compared to the sedans.

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Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo (right), Taycan 4S Cross Turismo (right).
Porsche

Porsche’s adaptive dampers and an air suspension are standard on all models and make the Taycan Cross Turismo ride 0.8 inch higher than the sedan. A Gravel drive mode increases ride height another 0.4 inch. An optional off-road design package gives the Cross Turismo the extra ride height of Gravel mode all the time, and adds unique front and rear fascias, even more body cladding, and side skirts (as pictured above). A roof rack and a rear-mounted bike rack will also be available from Porsche.

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Porsche

The Taycan Cross Turismo’s longer body allows for slightly more headroom compared to the sedan, and it comes standard with a panoramic glass sunroof. The rest of the interior is akin to the sedan: 16.8-inch digital gauge cluster, a 10.9-inch touchscreen with an 8.4-inch touchscreen below it for climate and other controls, and an available passenger display.

Porsche Taycan vs. Tesla Model S: The Test

2020 Taycan 4S Goes 180 Miles in C/D Range Test

2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S at Lightning Lap 2021

And, of course, there’s more cargo space compared to the sedan, but not a lot more. The Taycan 4 and 4S Cross Turismo have 16 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats up, compared to the 14-cubic-foot trunk of the sedan. However, the Cross Turismo’s 43 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats down is 8 more than the Mercedes E450 All-Terrain wagon. The Turbo and Turbo S models have 1.5 less cubic feet of space, and that’s because, as Porsche told Car and Driver, because a Bose sound system, which has hardware in the trunk, is standard on the top two models. Additionally, the Taycan’s 2.9-cubic-foot frunk remains. Still, there are electric crossovers with considerably more cargo space, including the Tesla Model Y with its 68 cubic feet of maximum storage. Perhaps the coming electric Macan will be able to better compete in this regard.
Additionally, Porsche is offering two new electric bicycles to go with the Taycan Cross Turismo: the eBike Sport for street use, and the eBike Cross for the trails. They’ll be on sale, in three sizes, in the spring.
The 2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo will be available in the U.S. in the summer with three years of included charging from Electrify America. Pricing is set at $92,250 for the 4, $111,650 for the 4S, $154,850 for the Turbo, and $188,950 for the Turbo S.
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