Aurelia Butler

The 2024 Lexus TX350 starts at $55,050, and the TX500h hybrid starts at $69,350.The TX550h+ plug-in hybrid will likely be even more expensive.Lexus says the TX350 and TX500h are on sale now and the plug-in hybrid will arrive in early 2024.Lexus has announced ambitious pricing for the new 2024 TX, as the three-row SUV will start at $55,000 for the TX350 and ranges up to over $76,000 for a loaded TX500h F Sport Performance hybrid model. That’s considerably more than the previous RX L, and thousands more than the starting prices of rival mid-size luxury SUVs such as the Infiniti QX60 and Cadillac XT6. We don’t even yet know pricing for the eventual TX550h+ plug-in hybrid, but that might top $80,000 given that it’s the most powerful version in the lineup.The front-wheel-drive TX350 model, which has a 275-hp turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four, carries a base price of $55,050 and gets more expensive as you opt for the better-equipped Premium ($58,450) and Luxury ($60,950) trim levels. All-wheel drive costs $1600 extra.More on New Lexus ModelsPony up to the $69,350 TX500h and you get standard all-wheel drive thanks to a hybrid setup that includes the same turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four plus electric motors. It produces 366 horsepower in total and essentially the same setup found in the related Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max. The TX500h comes standard with F Sport Performance upgrades including adaptive dampers and several appearance tweaks. It also offers a more expensive trim level with extra kit, the $72,650 TX500h F Sport Performance Luxury (say that two times fast).Lexus says the TX350 and TX500h models are reaching dealerships already, while the TX550h+ will go on sale in early 2024. Pricing for that model will be announced later on.Senior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

The Mullen GT is an electric sports car from a startup with roots in China.It claims a 60 mph time of 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph.The price is $150,000 and deliveries are said to start in 2025 or 2026.Deep in Citi Field Lot E is an unidentifiable coupe under a green tent. Its low-slung body, cloaked in flat gray with a large black swoosh, is more concealing with every closing step. There’s a dragonfly emblem on the nose. A side swoosh is finished in exposed carbon and channels air to a pair of heat exchangers. The tail says Mullen. It’s the Mullen GT, an electric sports car from a startup that plans to start delivering cars in the U.S. in 2025 or 2026.Like many automotive startups, Mullen’s backstory is complicated. It starts with the 2015 Shanghai debut of the Qiantu K50, an electric sports car that parent company Great Wall Huaguan would sell in China from 2018 until 2020. Later, at the 2019 New York Auto Show, a California company called Mullen Automotive pledged to import kits and sell finished, fully-certified examples in 2020. We’ve tracked many EV brands that have yet to sell a single car in the U.S., such as Bollinger, of which Mullen now owns a 60 percent stake. Mullen’s Nasdaq IPO was in November 2021 and it had a second reveal weeks later at the Los Angeles Auto Show, an SUV coupe called the Mullen Five. Now, at this parking lot in Queens, we’re devoting an afternoon to Mullen’s elusive two-seater, the rebadged EV that Qiantu quit building three years ago. While Mullen was also prepping to build rebadged Chinese cargo vans and trucksin Mississippi, the K50 was using at least four names. Until last March, it was the Dragonfly K50, Mullen K50, Qiantu K50 by Mullen, or Mullen Dragonfly. Next to us is Mitchell Dyche, an engineer whose six-foot-five frame comfortably fits in the cozy cabin. He says he specified the 19-inch center-lock wheels, Brembo brakes, and the Pirelli P Zero tires. The rest is Qiantu’s original vision, right down to the manufacturer etchings on the glass. Up close, it looks good. Inside and out, the Mullen GT has the proportions and dimensions of a mid-engine car. It has about the same footprint as an Acura NSX. The body gaps could be tighter, but the GT is not the scrappy prototype we expected. There’s a large portrait touchscreen canted toward the driver that’s still under development, a digital instrument panel, and a large curved shifter. Unlike countless Chinese cars, the GT doesn’t overtly copy the design of any established brands. And while it’s a demonstrator, there’s noticeable polish.MullenThe dual-motor setup is silent and devoid of whine, the regen is smooth, body motions are controlled, and the steering is pleasantly weighted. The specs are reasonable for a performance EV: About 400 horsepower packed into an aluminum frame with carbon body panels, all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, a 78.0-kWh T-shaped lithium-ion battery with the bulk of its cells behind the driver, and a claimed 230 miles of range. In Sport mode, the GT gets a little perkier, though in our three short laps we didn’t feel either motor shifting torque. Grip and stopping power are expectedly high.But Mullen has downgraded the GT’s performance since March, when it More

The camper versions of Volkswagen’s iconic Microbus may be great to camp in, but they’re not so great to drive. This build solves that problem.Created (mostly) from a 1974 VW Type 2, this VW is sure to be the only one of its kind at Burning Man.This is one Bring a Trailer auction where you’ll instead want to bring a tow vehicle.Volkswagen Microbus campers are undeniably cool. They’re also undeniably slow. Attaching a cart to a team of sloths is probably a faster way to get around. And maybe it isn’t the greatest idea to drive around in modern traffic in a vehicle where the front crash protection is basically just your legs. But what if you could have all the fun of a pop-top vintage VW, without the downsides? Have we got the camper for you.Car and DriverToday’s pick at auction site Bring A Trailer (or in this case, maybe Bring a Trailer Hitch?)—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—is a 1974 Volkswagen Type 2 Westfalia… trailer. It’s a wacky but well-executed idea that gets rid of the slow vintage-vehicle part of Westfalia ownership but lets you keep the quirky camper fun.Bring a TrailerThe builder took a 1974 VW Type 2, repaired all the rust, then welded up the front doors and wheel wells and jettisoned the front axle and steering gear. A new tube-frame chassis underneath provides structural strength, and the removal of the engine creates more storage than you’d get in a powered Westy. The interior is finished in nicely contrasting bamboo and tweed, and foam insulation keeps the cold at bay. A pop-top camper top from a 1972 Wesfalia completes the makeover.Bring a TrailerWith a stated total weight of 2360 pounds and a tongue weight of 250 pounds, this Westfalia trailer can be towed by a broad range of vehicles. Embrace an environmentally friendly attitude, as befits a 1970s Westfalia, and hook it up behind your EV and go enjoy nature. Or strap this thing behind a Ram TRX and beat everyone else to the psychedelic rock festival. Bring a TrailerOf course, the real power move would be to tow this trailer with another Westfalia, although it would have to be one of those resto-modded ones done up with a Subaru engine and upgraded brakes. Imagine the double-takes you’d get when cruising down the highway.Related StoriesIn any event, this fun little VW bus-trailer is going to be headed out on new adventures soon. The no-reserve auction ends October 5.Contributing EditorBrendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More