Motor News

Glacier View River Retreat

Glacier View River Retreat near Anchorage, Alaska, hosts a charming event each July 4: launching cars, trucks, and RVs off a cliff and down 300 feet to their doom.The tradition started in the early 2000s, when someone hit a moose and needed to dispose of the wrecked vehicle. That someone had imagination, and it was all downhill from there.They love nature in Alaska, so it goes without saying that when the party’s over, what’s left of the vehicles is taken to be recycled. This Fourth of July tradition is a little Evel Knievel, a little Demolition Derby, and 100 percent awesome. Where other towns gather to watch fireworks and chow down on hot dogs to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Alaskans in and around Anchorage travel to Glacier View River Retreat in Glacier View, Alaska, to watch cars get launched off a 300-foot cliff. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:
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No Alaskans were harmed in the making of this video. In fact, the system for launching the cars is completely hands-off. Car and Driver spoke with Arnie Hrncir, one of the founders of Glacier View River Retreat and the organizer of the event, and he explained that they have two launch tracks: one with a railroad track that attaches to the vehicles’ steering arm, and another one where they tie the steering wheel straight with ratchet straps and open the throttle.
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As if that wasn’t cool enough, the cars are painted with some wacky paint jobs. Many of the 13 vehicles that got launched off the cliff this year featured red, white, and blue alongside patriotic slogans, but others were personalized to represent the community. Above are pictures of a few of the cars courtesy of Ice Monkey Garage, a local customization shop.
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Some even came all the way from Reno, Nevada, as part of the Caravan of Carnage. This one below was painted by residents of Maple Springs of Palmer, a nursing and rehabilitation community outside Anchorage.
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The Glacier View Fourth of July Car Launch began in 2005, according to Hrncir, and it started in a way that can only happen in Alaska. In 2003, his wife hit a moose in their Volvo, and eventually he got tired of working on the car. What to do with a totaled Volvo? Put a rock in the trunk and run it off a cliff. Obviously. Now, though, it has evolved over the years to become an Independence Day event dedicated to what Hrncir calls an “F Day.” “F Day means it’s freedom, faith, family, food, and fun,” he said, “We’re having a birthday party [for the U.S.].” He also highlighted the importance of honoring veterans to the event, noting that they acknowledge veterans’ contributions to this country “over and over” throughout the day.

Glacier View River Retreat

After the birthday party is over, the cars are loaded up onto 18-wheelers and taken to be recycled, because the second-best way to celebrate America the Beautiful—after launching cars, of course—is to honor her natural beauty by keeping her clean.
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VinFast, a Vietnamese startup that targets starting sales of its electric crossovers in the United States this year, will open its first showrooms next week.The showrooms will be in Santa Monica, San Diego, San Mateo, Corte Madera, Commerce, and Berkeley, California, with 24 more stores due to open in the state by the end of 2022.VinFast’s lineup includes the two-row VF8 and the three-row VF9, both of which have a dual-motor setup and claimed ranges between 248 and 369 miles.VinFast, a Vietnamese automaker founded in 2017, has been plotting its entry into the U.S. car market for some time. In 2021, after unveiling a pair of electric SUVs, VinFast declared its intentions to bring its EVs stateside in March 2022. Although the fledgling company missed that objective, VinFast still claims it will begin American sales by end of 2022. Now the company is preparing to take a major step toward that goal. As first reported in Automotive News, VinFast will open its first six U.S. showrooms in California next week, with plans for 30 locations throughout the state by the end of the year.

The VinFast VF8.
Tung Pham Photo

The stores will open on July 14 in Santa Monica, San Diego, San Mateo, Corte Madera, Commerce, and Berkeley. This plan was confirmed to Car and Driver by a VinFast spokesperson on Friday. VinFast set up its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles in 2021 and has been displaying its two-row VF8 crossover around the Golden State in an attempt to drum up hype before sales begin.

The VinFast VF9, formerly called the VF e36.
VinFast

VinFast plans to launch two EVs as its foray into the U.S. market—the aforementioned VF8 and a larger, three-row VF9. The former will have a dual-motor powertrain with either 348 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, or 402 ponies and 457 pound-feet. VinFast claims 5.8-second and 5.3-second 60-mph acceleration times, respectively, and ranges between 248 and 290 miles on Europe’s more optimistic WLTP test cycle. The VF9 comes exclusively with the 402-hp dual-motor setup and a claimed 6.3-second sprint to 60 mph. Range for the VF9 is estimated between 262 and 369 miles on the WLTP cycle.

The VF8 will start at $40,700 and the VF9 at $55,500, but these prices will not include the battery, which will be leased from VinFast. There will be a cheaper monthly plan at $35 for the VF8 and $44 for the VF9, with a limit of 310 driving miles per month, or an unlimited lease at $110 and $160 a month. VinFast also says a purchase option for the battery will be offered in the future. Along with aiming to sell its electric SUVs in the U.S., VinFast eventually plans to assemble cars here as well. Earlier this year, the automaker announced plans to invest $2 billion in a plant in Chatham County, North Carolina. Production is supposed to get underway in July 2024, with the capacity to build 150,000 units per year.
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This week’s question comes from a viewer who asked the oracles of the Window Shop series: What’s the perfect car for a real-estate agent? Any experienced Realtor would have asked in return: What are you selling and where? You can’t sell million-dollar homes in a Pontiac, but you can’t sell off-grid North Dakota yurts in a BMW 7-series.Lacking such information, the episode turned into another Myers-Briggs test for the panelists. The genteel John Pearley Huffman needed a mere 90 seconds to land on a vintage Mercedes S-class. It looked more likely to be promoting fire-sale tract homes in a Tucson suburb, but like so much real estate nowadays, it’s a fixer-upper that just needs a little vision.Joey Capparella went for a slice of history—his own—securing the keys to a Land Rover LR2, a vehicle that had been owned by a real-estate agent in his past. Although that Realtor made the house sale, perhaps Capparella should have heeded the instincts of his youth when it came to the Landie. Unless he was trying to sell condos and colonials in Connecticut.

Jonathon Ramsey sent one right up the middle, aiming to satisfy the greatest number of real-estate agents in the largest geographical area. His Jeep Grand Cherokee wouldn’t win any awards for style, but as the automotive equivalent of a two-bedroom ranch house on a quarter of an acre, it’s familiar and approachable, and the driver probably hosts great grillouts. K.C. Colwell prioritized space and comfort for his clients, pulling up in a Genesis G90. In fact, depending on his real estate beat, the interior of his car might have been nicer than any home he had to show.Tony Quiroga yet again defied expectations, nabbing a Lincoln that everyone can fit in and that nobody loves. This one’s for the new real-estate agent still doing his overnight Uber gig while he waits on his first big commission check. But these days, there are probably more than a few of them out there.Hop in and come check out our model episode. We really think you’re going to like this next one.

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The 2022 Audi RS7 will be offered as a fully loaded Exclusive Edition that’s limited to 23 copies for the U.S. market. The Exclusive Edition’s exclusive bits are Mamba Black Pearl paint, blue brake calipers, and blue stitching inside.The RS7 Exclusive Edition will be priced at $166,495 when it goes on sale later this summer.With a starting price approaching $120,000, 2022 Audi RS7s aren’t thick on the ground anywhere. While that high-dollar price and the fastback hatchback’s ultra-high performance make every example relatively exclusive, Audi is releasing a more exclusive, limited-production version appropriately dubbed the RS7 Exclusive Edition.

How Exclusive Is the RS7 Exclusive Edition?The 2022 Audi RS7 Exclusive Edition will be limited to 23 copies, all of which are earmarked for the U.S. market. That means only 22 other people in America will have a ’22 RS7 like yours, unless, of course, you plan on buying more than one. What’s so exclusive about this special RS7? Actually, it’s really just unique styling cues. No other 2022 RS7 will have this Mamba Black Pearl paint that combines with the car’s standard-equipped Carbon Optic package to make the thing look seriously sinister. That means every model has blacked-out exterior trim and 22-inch V-spoke wheels mounted on summer rubber.

Audi

With every RS7 Exclusive Edition comes virtually every available option. The list of obligatory upgrades includes everything from a powerful Bang & Olufsen sound system and night vision to an air suspension and a sport exhaust. The latter helps provide the soundtrack for the RS7’s 591-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, which pairs with an eight-speed transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive. Also included on the Exclusive Edition are carbon-ceramic brakes that feature blue-painted calipers, another RS7 exclusive.

Audi

The RS7 Exclusive Edition gets exclusive (there’s that word again) Sepang Blue stitching throughout the cabin. The color traces the diamond pattern on the seats as well as parts of the dash, doors, and other leather-covered surfaces. The floor mats and some of the controls are also accented with blue. This is the only thing inside the car that separates the Exclusive Edition from any other 2022 RS7.Audi says the RS7 Exclusive Edition will cost $166,495 when it goes on sale later this summer. The regular ’22 RS7 starts at $119,595; adding every option pushes the total price to about $156,000. That begs the question: Are the Exclusive Edition’s exclusives enough to justify its roughly $10K price premium? That’s up to the people who can afford one.
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News of planned electric-vehicle battery plants has become increasingly common as automakers including Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, and others move forward with ambitious EV plans.The latest is VW, which announced plans to open six battery-cell production plants starting with Salzgitter, or project ‘SalzGiga,’ which it calls “the blueprint” for the six total battery plants it plans to open.The first plant will start production in 2025 and is meant to supply battery needs for about 500,000 EVs once up and running.Volkswagen Group held a “symbolic groundbreaking ceremony” this week for what it calls SalzGiga, the first of six identical battery-cell production plants it expects to build in Europe and North America over the rest of the decade. The new plant, with planned capacity up to 40 gigawatt-hours, will supply roughly half a million electric vehicles. It will start production in 2025.The cell plant will be operated by PowerCo, a VW Group subsidiary for battery manufacturing established in January. Ultimately, VW expects to build 240 GWh of battery production capacity for up to three million EVs by 2030.

VW

VW Follows Tesla, BYD, GMIn doing so, VW follows in the footsteps of Tesla, BYD, General Motors, and other makers. Tesla has Gigafactories for cells and/or vehicles up and running in Reno, Nevada; Austin, Texas; Berlin, Germany; and Shanghai, China, totaling up to 150 GWh at full tilt. More are on the drawing board. CEO Elon Musk first cited the need for a “gigafactory” to build huge volumes of cells back in November 2013, as Tesla still struggled to ramp up its Model S production.

VW

Chinese maker BYD actually started as a battery company in 1995, then branched into vehicles in 2003 after acquiring a small Chinese automaker. At first it sold only cars with internal-combustion engines, then added plug-in hybrids. It built its last car without a plug this past March.

Similarly, GM plans five joint-venture battery factories with its longtime cell partner LG Energy Solutions. The first, in Lordstown, Ohio, should start production this year. Two more sites have been announced, in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing, Michigan. All will provide cells to a growing number of EVs planned for the company’s Ultium platform. Cells for the currently low volume of GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriqs are now produced on a small pilot-production line operated by the partners in Michigan. Total capacity across the five will be roughly 150 GWh.As of this year, BYD sells more plug-in vehicles (both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid) than even Tesla—let alone GM—so VW Group is coming from behind. In part, this is because of the political sensitivity of its massive employment to the German economy. A substantial share of the company is held by the state of Lower Saxony, and Works Council (union) representatives sit on the company’s board. Assuaging Employee, Political ConcernsThe location of VW’s first “giga” factory thus carries great symbolic importance. It is being built at Salzgitter, the massive plant where more than 6800 employees now assemble roughly a million combustion engines a year. The site has built more than 62 million engines to date, ranging from four to 16 cylinders. But with many markets committed to ending sales of vehicles with tailpipes by 2030 or 2035, those jobs are clearly threatened—so VW put what it calls its global center for battery development in the heart of Lower Saxony, at this plant. Thursday’s carefully choreographed event, attended by employees, executives, and dignitaries alike, was intended to underscore the message that jobs would be preserved.Many dignitaries, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, spoke at the SalzGiga ceremony. One was the premier of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, who used automotive history in an analogy for this latest evolution of Salzgitter. He noted the 1970 Volkswagen K70, the first VW in history to be powered by a water-cooled inline-four-cylinder engine—driving its front wheels, even—had been built at the Salzgitter plant. It presaged the company’s subsequent, successful Golf and Passat.That analogy was unexpectedly apt, since the intellectual property represented by the K70 hadn’t been developed by VW at all. The model came from NSU, which VW acquired after the company was effectively bankrupted by the development and warranty costs of its Wankel rotary–powered Ro80 luxury sedan.Similarly, VW does not have sole ownership of the cell chemistries that will go into the large volumes of batteries fitted to the millions of EVs it will be producing by the end of this decade. Tesla partnered with Panasonic and GM partnered with LG, but VW notably omitted any discussion of its cell partners from today’s ceremony.Instead, while CEO Diess proclaimed the company is “bringing the leading-edge technology of the future to Germany,” today the source of that technology remains predominantly in Asia.
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The 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X will get the AEV treatment, which includes special steel bumpers and tougher skid plates.The AEV upgrades also allow increased clearances and bigger 33-inch mud-terrain tires like on the Chevy Silverado ZR2.The AT4X AEV Edition will arrive later next year, and GMC says the beefy bolt-ons will eventually be standard on every 2023 AT4X.When GMC pulled the covers off the new-for-2022 Sierra 1500 AT4X, it was billed as the brand’s most off-road-capable model ever. It was essentially the GMC version of the rugged and ready Chevy Silverado ZR2. While the two shared exclusive equipment, such as Multimatic spool-valve dampers and electronic locking front and rear differentials, the AT4X’s compromises made it somewhat inferior to the Chevy for off-roading. That changes with the 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X AEV Edition and its beefy bolt-on hardware.

ZR2 vs. AT4X vs. AT4X AEV EditionThe most notable difference between the ZR2 and the regular AT4X is their drastically different front bumpers. The former looks like it was designed to clear tall obstacles, while the latter looks like it was designed to crash into tall obstacles. During our first drive of the AT4X, we learned that GMC decided against adopting the wilder front bumper because the company felt it deviated too much from the front styling that customers preferred. Not only does this limit the truck’s approach angle to 25.5 degrees, but it also means the AT4X can’t accommodate the 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory Mud-Terrain tires found on the ZR2. Instead, the regular AT4X is stuck with slightly smaller mud-terrain tires.

GMC

GMC

But the AT4X AEV Edition is different. With its specially designed steel front bumper from American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), this version of the Sierra can fit the bigger Goodyears. Its approach angle also increases to 32.5 degrees, earning bragging rights over the ZR2’s 31.8-degree pitch. The factory-installed, AEV-supplied front bumper includes a section to install a winch, too, which GMC claims no other half-ton pickup truck offers. The AEV-enhanced AT4X also has a unique steel rear bumper and a 23.4-degree departure angle (0.4 degrees higher than before). Along with a slighter higher breakover angle (23 versus 22.7 degrees), the AEV Edition raises the AT4X’s ground clearance an extra 0.4 inch to 11.2 inches. Under Armor for PickupsTo help protect the underside of the Sierra 1500 AT4X, AEV provides five skid plates that armorize critical parts such as the differential, fuel tank, transfer case, and steering gear. These hot-stamped boron steel plates are said to be 3.5 times stronger than similar cold-stamped steel plates. Who knew? The AEV extras don’t end there; the AT4X has its own gloss-black 18-inch wheels featuring recessed valve stems that are better protected from rocks. The AEV treatment is further identified by subtle front-end restyling as well as a black element on the tailgate. Inside are all-weather floor mats and embroidered headrests.

GMC

As with the regular AT4X, the 2023 AEV Edition only comes with the 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8, 10-speed automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive. GMC says it will announce pricing for the specialized truck closer to its launch later next year. The regular ’23 Sierra 1500 AT4X is set to start at $79,295, and you can expect the AEV version will cost several thousand dollars more. A GMC spokesperson said the company intends to make the AEV enhancements standard on every 2023 AT4X, but that won’t happen until later in the model year.
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Volkswagen has released images of a once-planned successor to the Phaeton, showcasing a stylish sedan that could’ve been.The Phaeton was the brand’s flagship luxury sedan, intended as a competitor for the likes of the Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series.Debuting in 2002, the Phaeton sold just a few thousand units in the U.S. from 2004 to 2006, and it was discontinued globally in 2016.

Much like the horse-drawn carriage with which it shared a name, the Volkswagen Phaeton faded into the fog of history after just one generation. But as Volkswagen celebrates 20 years since the luxury sedan’s initial debut at the 2002 Geneva auto show, the company is now releasing never-before-seen photos of the second-generation Phaeton that might have been. Sold in the U.S. from 2004 to 2006, the first-generation Phaeton was eventually discontinued globally in 2016. At that point, Volkswagen says, a successor known as the Phaeton D2 was already in the works, but it never came to pass.

The original Phaeton (left) pictured next to the successor concept (right).
Volkswagen AG

What you see here is a concept version of the D2 model. At first glance, the “new” Phaeton is characterized by longer, sharper lines than the original, and it forgoes the round, doe-eyed tail lights of the previous generation for narrower, angular ones.

Volkswagen AG

On the inside, generous wood and chrome accents give the D2 a similar feel to the original. But the use of quilted upholstery throughout, a curved-glass display, and sleeker styling update the lounge-inspired interior for the modern day. That curved display eventually was used in the third-generation Touareg, which also never made it to the U.S. The Phaeton’s rear seats also feature two entertainment screens mounted on the headrests.

Volkswagen AG

While the company didn’t release much in the way of specs for the Phaeton D2, the concept was based on the Volkswagen Group’s MLB platform, used for many Audi models and the Porsche Macan. In an alternate universe, maybe we would have seen the shiny new Phaeton riding down the highway alongside those cars, but for now, we’re left with a glimpse at a hypothetical luxury Volkswagen that never was.
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Fundamentally, the 2022 Subaru BRZ and the 2022 Toyota GR86 are the same car. The two have the same engine and body structure. It can even be tricky to tell them apart at a distance. Drive the two at speed, as we did for the most recent Lightning Lap at Virginia International Raceway, and you’d be too consumed by fun to notice any differences in handling.But on the road, these two sports coupes don’t drive the same way, and that difference interested our resident suspension expert (and former engineer) Dan Edmunds. He drove both cars over the same twisty canyon two-way and then crawled underneath to try and find the changes. Beyond the usual tuning differences (shocks, springs rates, and anti-roll bars), the BRZ and GR86 diverge in more ways than we expected. For example, the BRZ not only uses a hollow front anti-roll bar but it also has a lighter aluminum front knuckle, indicating that Subaru was willing to spend extra money to save weight.

At the rear, we found two entirely different rear anti-roll-bar mounting points, meaning different subframe designs for the Subaru and the Toyota. This means more complexity and cost in the assembly process, even if the two cars are built on the same assembly line as the Subaru WRX and Crosstrek. It might also speak to how firmly Subaru and Toyota believe in their respective suspension design philosophies.

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