Aurelia Butler

Ford debuted the F-100 Eluminator concept at this year’s SEMA aftermarket show. It debuts the first use of the Eluminator electric crate motor, using a dual-motor setup producing the same 480 horsepower and 634 pound-feet of torque ad the Mustang Mach-E Performance. The electric crate motor is available to purchase for $3900. Earlier this year, Ford announced its first electric crate motor called the Eluminator: a 281-hp electric motor from the Mustang Mach-E GT. Now Ford is giving the world an example of what the Eluminator can be used for at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas with it used on a 1978 F-100 pickup.
However, the F-100 Eluminator concept uses the same dual-motor electric powertrain from the 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT Performance, which Ford claims will reach 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The two motors make a combined 480 horsepower and 634 pound-feet of torque. The version you’ll be able to buy from Ford makes 281 horsepower and 317 pound-feet. Of course, the electric motors aren’t the only electric hardware that’ll need to be installed—the Mach-E GT’s 88.0-kWh battery pack provides the juice.

The concept truck was built by MLe Racecars and the Roadster Shop, and it’s finished in Avalanche Gray with copper accents. A set of 19-inch wheels are wrapped with Michelin Latitude Sport tires, and it has an aggressive stance, nailing the retro look. The interior features avocado-tanned leather and a billet aluminum dashboard with the 15.5-inch center touchscreen from the Mustang Mach-E.
Ford’s production electric pickup, the F-150 Lightning, will go on sale next year. In the meantime, the Eluminator electric crate motor is available to purchase online now for $3900, and it’s street legal in all 50 states. We can’t wait to see the EV conversions people come up with.

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Toyota custom built a Tacoma camper called Tacozilla for the 2021 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Its vintage yellow, orange and bronze color scheme scheme is inspired by Toyota campers from the ’60s and ’70s.The lifted Tacoma camper has a full bathroom and kitchen and rides on 33-inch all-terrain tires. Toyota trucks are choice rigs for many in the overlanding community, and Toyota knows it. So, at the 2021 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Japanese automaker is debuting its new custom camper called Tacozilla, and it’s appropriately retro.
Tacozilla is a custom camper based on a Tacoma TRD Sport that was built at Toyota’s Motorsports garage and painted in Texas. Its vintage yellow, orange and bronze color scheme scheme draws inspiration from Toyota campers from the ’60s and ’70s. A smoothed out and narrower top and bottom means that the Tacozilla is still able to navigate off-road trails; plus, Toyota says that someone over six feet tall can walk around inside the camper.

Toyota

Toyota

It’s quite cozy inside, featuring teak flooring, a kitchen with a stove and sink, a full bathroom with a shower, and a pop-up skylight. There’s a TV, too. The kitchen table is 3D printed and can convert into a sleeping space. When it’s stowed, it’s a backlit piece of wall art.

This Tacoma still has the same fender flares as the stock truck, and Toyota lifted it, providing two additional inches of ground clearance. Bronze 17-inch TRD wheels are wrapped with 33-inch General Grabber all-terrain tires. A fuel-tank filler is separated from the camper, and an auxiliary battery was installed in the engine bay, a common addition for overlanding rigs for extra power. The Tacozilla is only a special prototype truck to showcase at the SEMA show, but we’re sure it’ll give a ton of inspiration to overlanders and Toyota faithful.
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It’s only a pilot program for now, but Tesla has big plans to allow electric vehicles from other automakers to use its global network of 25,000 Superchargers.For now, though, only 10 such stations in the Netherlands are open to EVs with a CCS port, and then only for people who live in Holland.Tesla said it will pay attention to issues regarding congestion and pricing before it expands availability of these Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs in other locations.As promised, Tesla has started opening its Supercharger network to non-Tesla electric vehicles. As expected, the devil is in the details.

The California automaker just changed its rules to allow drivers of other companies’ EVs to use the Tesla Supercharger at just 10 locations in the Netherlands. This makes sense for two reasons. First, Holland leads the EU in charging stations per capita with almost 75,000 stations, almost a third of the amount in the entire EU, from all charging providers, lightening the immediate load on these stations. Second, the European Union has been talking about requiring EV chargers there to be compatible with all modern EVs for years now. While Tesla EVs and Superchargers in the U.S. still use Tesla’s proprietary connector, Tesla has shifted to selling vehicles with a CCS connector in Europe.That means some of Tesla’s European Superchargers already have a CCS connector in addition to the proprietary port. This makes opening the station to other CCS-equipped vehicles easier. And, starting this week, 10 Dutch Supercharger stations will be able to power up other EVs, as long as those cars have a CCS-style connector port. In other words,the Nissan Leaf—and other EVs with CHAdeMO ports—will not be able to take advantage of Tesla’s open network, but Nissan and other automakers that once relied on CHAdeMO have already signaled they are moving away from this early DC fast-charging standard and toward CCS across the board.Tesla is calling the initial program its “Non-Tesla Supercharger pilot,” and it requires drivers of non-Tesla EVs to live in the Netherlands to take part, at least for now. These drivers also need to use the Tesla smartphone app (version 4.2.3 or higher) and create a Tesla account to access a charging session. In the app, there is now an option to “Charge Your Non-Tesla,” which requires adding a payment method and a few button taps to start or stop a session. Non-Tesla drivers will also need to let the app know precisely which charging cable they’re using, since only Tesla EVs have the right communication protocols to determine that automatically at this point.

Opening up its Supercharger stations will give Tesla a new and potentially large revenue stream. It’s too early to estimate how much money it could bring in, but, publicly, Tesla is more worried about the costs than the profit. Tesla said it is charging varying rates at the 10 stations and that non-Tesla drivers will pay more because their sessions reflect “additional costs incurred to support charging a broad range of vehicles and adjustments to our sites to accommodate these vehicles.” The per-kWh price to charge will be listed in the app, and drivers who think they will use Superchargers regularly can sign up for a charging membership that can lower the cost. Idle Fees Coming?Some Tesla drivers have already started worrying about how this change in policy will affect their wait times at busy locations, since Tesla drivers can continue to use these 10 stations as before. The company does apply “idle fees” if an EV is left plugged in too long or after it’s done charging. The rates for these fees vary by country, but are around 50 cents per minute or $1 a minute if all plugs at that station are occupied. Tesla said it “will be closely monitoring each site for congestion and listening to customers about their experiences,” and anyone with an EV that doesn’t have a CCS connector should submit a report to Tesla Customer Support. We assume this is to gauge the demand for making more changes to Supercharging stations in the future. After all, Tesla said in its announcement that it hopes to “learn and iterate quickly,” as it expands the pilot program to “eventually welcome both Tesla and Non-Tesla drivers at every Supercharger worldwide.” Tesla currently operates more than 25,000 Superchargers around the world. For Tesla drivers who want to charge up at non-Supercharger locations, the automaker includes a J1772 adapter that is compatible with most Level 2 public charging stations and supports charging speeds up to 19.2 kW with its vehicles. It also sells the adapter separately for $50.
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The 2022 Honda Civic Si will start at $28,315.The only option is a set of summer tires for $200.Honda says the Civic Si will arrive at dealerships by the end of the year.The 2022 Honda Civic Si’s key numbers don’t paint the best picture: not only does it have less horsepower than its predecessor, it’s also more expensive. The new model starts at $28,315—a $2120 increase over the 2020 model. But it is cheaper than the VW GTI, and we’re still looking forward to the day when we can get behind the wheel.

All 2022 Civic Si sedans—the coupe is no more for this latest generation—come with a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four with 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. Honda says that peak torque comes on at 1800 rpm, 300 rpm sooner than in the old car. A six-speed manual transmission is standard equipment, and there’s no automatic option (#savethemanuals).The only option is a set of summer tires for $200. Honda is attempting to justify the Si’s higher base price by including more standard equipment including a premium audio system, a rev-matching feature for the transmission, and additional drive-mode customization options.Look for the new Civic Si to arrive at U.S. dealerships by the end of the year.
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Audi has revealed updates to the 2022 A8 full-size luxury sedan.The long-wheelbase A8L will be available in the U.S., along with the high-performance S8.Key changes are to the headlights, taillights, and grille, along with interior tweaks.While the new ultra-luxury Horch model will be sold only in China, Audi has confirmed that an updated version of the A8 luxury sedan will be making its way to our shores for 2022. Full U.S. specs aren’t available yet, but these photos of the Europe-spec car indicate the changes in store for this flagship four-door.

The key changes are seen in the headlights, taillights, and grille, which have all been reshaped. There are also new wheel designs and new colors available, although we’re not sure if all five newly available matte paint options will be offered in the U.S. Inside, there are a few additions to the trim palette, and entertainment screens for the rear passengers are a new option.
We don’t expect many changes to the A8’s powertrain lineup, which should again include a 335-hp turbo 3.0-liter V-6 in the 55 version, a 453-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 in the 60, and a 563-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 in the S8. The plug-in hybrid with a combined 443 horsepower should continue on as well. And like before, the A8 will likely be available in the U.S. only in its long-wheelbase A8L form.Audi says the updated A8 won’t reach the U.S. market for a while longer, but when it does we expect pricing to rise somewhat compared with the 2021 model’s base price of $87,545 for the A8L and $133,245 for the S8.
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Ford has revealed it will finally be putting a V-8–powered Bronco into production. Before you get too excited, no, it’s not a street-legal Jeep Wrangler 392 fighter. Instead, the V-8 Bronco will be a race truck designed to take on desert races, including the Baja 1000. Dubbed the Bronco DR, this truck is based on the four-door production Bronco but uses a 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 sourced from the current Mustang GT. Ford is aiming for over 400 horsepower but hasn’t released any exact specifications just yet. Motorsport specialists Multimatic are heavily involved, supplying its well-known DSSV dampers as well as the roll cage and lower control arms. There are dozens of other off-road-focused mods, including a transfer case from the F-150, unique front half-shafts, and a rear-mounted radiator. Weight comes in at a hefty 6200 pounds, while 37-inch BFGoodrich KM3 tires mean an approach angle of 47 degrees, a departure angle of 37 degrees, and a breakover angle of 33 degrees.

Ford says much of the Bronco DR’s styling was influenced by the company’s first modern Bronco-derived race truck, the Bronco R. There’s a united fascia, a light bar above the cabin, and widebody fenders to shroud the massive rubber in the wheel wells. But where the Bronco R was fielded with the intention of proving the robustness of the production Bronco’s powertrain, the Bronco DR has a different mission: to be a reliable turnkey solution for dedicated desert racers. The automaker says the first 50 examples of the Bronco DR will become available for sale in late 2022, priced in the “mid-$200,000 range.” We’re excited to see how they perform.

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul has just signed a new bill that will bump fines for exhaust noise violation in the state from $150 to $1000. The bill is called SLEEP, and, because all lawmakers inherently love a good acronym, that stands for “Stop Loud and Excessive Exhaust Pollution.” According to SEMA’s catalog of exhaust noise laws, it is the harshest legally-codified fine for an exhaust noise violation in any state. The fine doubles the next closest, $500 per violation in the state of Colorado.

It is a puzzling direction, a move that comes a year and a half after California chose to go the opposite direction and greatly decrease the state’s ability to hand out tickets for exhaust noise. Even before returning to a “Fix-it” ticket system, California’s system still only resulted in fines under $200.New York is moving in this direction in part because of concerns about the noise created by illegal drag racing throughout the state. The New York Times highlighted that drag racing culture in October of last year, proposing that the trend had increased greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic.More extreme actions to cut down on drag racing noise have been proposed, too; Gothamist reports that one State Senator has proposed night-time speed cameras positioned anywhere that street racing is purported to be happening. Another lawmaker has offered up noise-detecting tools to identify and track loud cars as they drive by.The bill also includes a provision for shops installing those parts, culminating in the state pulling a shop’s operating license if they are caught installing overly-loud mufflers three times.

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