Motor News

Acura announced that it has begun production of the 2023 Integra at its plant in Marysville, Ohio.The Integra is powered by a 200-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four, mated to either a continuously variable automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.Pricing starts at $31,895, and the Integra will start to reach dealerships in June. Acura recently revealed pricing for the 2023 Integra, and now production has officially begun for the luxury brand’s new entry-level hatchback. Acura announced today that the Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio has started building customer-ready Integras, signaling the return of one Acura’s most beloved nameplates and the return of a manual transmission to the Acura lineup for the first time since 2015. The Integra is being built on the same assembly line as the larger TLX sedan, and it also shares the Marysville facility with the Honda Accord. This is the first time a car bearing the Integra name has been built in the United States, and it becomes the fifth car in the Acura lineup to be produced in Ohio.

The 2023 Integra comes standard with a 200-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four borrowed from the Honda Civic Si. The base Integra starts at $31,895 and comes with a continuously variable automatic transmission, but buyers can also opt for a six-speed manual. This requires choosing the A-Spec and technology packages, adding goodies like a limited-slip differential and adaptive dampers but boosting the price to $36,895. The 2023 Integra will start to hit dealerships in early June and Acura is taking reservations on its website.
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• This 2009 Audi R8 4.2 has a current bid of $41,226 on the Bring a Trailer auction website.• The car shows 12,000 miles on its odometer.• Bidding ends Wednesday, May 11.The ever-faster march of technology makes it easy to stay focused on the next greatest thing. But it also makes it easy to forget how great some of the automotive world’s “less-advanced” vehicles were not long ago—and, in many cases, still are. Case in point is arguably one of the most underrated modern supercars, the first-generation Audi R8, such as this 2009 model we came across on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is owned by Hearst Autos.

The original R8, which debuted for 2008, hails from a simpler time, back when Ferrari SUVs and widespread electrification were only fever dreams. True, the R8 still exists in V-10 form as a 562- or 602-hp bastion of internal-combustion fury, but today’s second-gen car has been infected by more computer processors and has lost some of the original’s elegance. In contrast, the soft, sultry lines of the first-gen R8 say exotic without shouting it, and in base form it had a mere 420 horsepower from a 4.2-liter V-8. But that melodious naturally aspirated engine loved to rev and, unlike today’s automatic-only R8, could be paired with a six-speed manual transmission. Just as important is the satisfying clack-clack action you get from working that shifter through its exposed metal gates as you bolt to 60 mph in a little over four seconds.

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While that may be slow by contemporary supercar standards, it’s more about the theater of speed here, and the manual R8 is a Sydney Opera House of driving enjoyment. Which is exactly what you want in a comfortable, well-mannered performance car that you can savor every day. “The R8 will cruise the freeway with as little ride disruption and mechanical commotion as an (Audi) A4,” we wrote in 2007. “Yet at speed the R8 gathers itself into a tautly controlled crouch, heading where it’s pointed with remarkable precision and exhibiting none of the propensity for snap rotation that some mid-engined cars have made famous.” Pitted against the Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911 Turbo, the R8’s goodness earned it a comparison-test win in 2008. Much of the R8’s ”wonderfully neutral” character can be traced to its rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, as well as the optional magnetorheological dampers found on this 2009 example painted in Phantom Black Pearl with matching side-blade trim. Inside the surprisingly spacious cabin you’ll find lots of black leather, a Bang & Olufsen premium stereo, and long-haul friendly sport seats with heaters. Currently for sale in Texas, this car only has 12,000 miles on its clock, plus a recent service record, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Louisiana title.

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What really grabbed our attention is the current $41,226 bid on this car’s Bring a Trailer page. With six days left in the auction, that figure surely will creep upwards. But that’s still a discount-rack price for a car that cost around $110,000 when new. While that level of depreciation largely is the result of the greater popularity for the more powerful V-10 model that was added for 2009, we don’t care when it makes the standard car a viable alternative to a new Toyota Supra—and a far more special one at that. Besides, a little more speed is only an aftermarket supercharger away.

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Your next vacation could be a three-day rooftop camping adventure at one of two locations in Germany.These adventures, offered for €2490 through Porsche, include a roof-top tent and a Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo station wagon.Bring your friends along, as the excursions can be booked with enough cars and tents for up to eight people.If the road is calling you this summer, listen closely. Is it speaking German? If so, Porsche has two different camping road trips that may be of interest. You can even bring seven of your friends, so long as each camper has €2490, or around $2628 at today’s exchange rate, to drop on the three-day adventure.

Porsche

For that outlay of cash, Porsche will set you up with a Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo station wagon, a rooftop tent, and an itinerary of activities in either the Black Forest or the Rhine-Hesse wine region. Both start and end in Stuttgart, but the Black Forest outing includes a zipline tour and a hiking excursion while the Rhine-Hesse version offers overnight stays at wineries with a wine tasting and gourmet dinner at Sekthaus Raumland.

Porsche

Porsche provides meals, bedding, and other camping equipment for you, so if you’re flying in from the United States, all you need to bring is your personal items and your sense of adventure. You could, of course, get a rooftop tent for your own car but not every model can accommodate something like that. Plus, your Subaru or 4Runner isn’t going to be as much fun to drive as a 670-hp electric Porsche station wagon.
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The 2022 Audi RS3 has a starting price of $59,995.It has a 401-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five engine and all-wheel drive.Audi says it will reach U.S. dealerships starting this summer.The new 2022 Audi RS3 keeps many of the best characteristics of the old one, most notably its characterful turbocharged five-cylinder engine. But the price will rise somewhat to a new starting cost of $59,995, in accordance with some new features and the redesigned exterior and interior shared with the latest generation of the lesser A3 and S3 models.

The turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five stays roughly the same as before but now produces 401 horsepower, compared with 394 hp for the 2020 RS3 (Audi skipped the 2021 model year). Torque is also up 15 pound-feet, to 369 pound-feet. A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is standard, as is an all-wheel-drive system that now boasts torque-vectoring capabilities and a drift mode.Audi hasn’t released detailed pricing information for the new model, but if it’s anything like the old car it’ll be offered in a single trim level with various option packages. We know for sure that an upgraded exhaust will cost extra; summer tires are standard, but aggressive Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R rubber will be optional, too. Eight colors will be offered, including the Kyalami Green you see here.Audi says the new RS3 will start arriving at dealerships this summer.
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Tobias Moers is replaced as the boss of Aston Martin after less than two years. Former Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa is the new Aston boss. Another ex-Ferrari exec, Roberto Fedeli, is set to become Aston CTO.It has not quite been two years since we last told you about Aston Martin ousting a CEO and installing a replacement from another automaker. Now history is repeating with confirmation that the AMG executive who took the top job at the British sports-car maker in 2020, Tobias Moers, is himself leaving—and is being succeeded by one-time Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa.The official release announcing the change thanked Moers for his service to Aston, and said that—although he has already left the company’s board—he will continue to support the leadership team until the end of July. Felisa is already a non-executive director of Aston Martin, but previously worked at Ferrari for 26 years, leading road car development for much of that time and latterly as the Italian company’s CEO. Yet at 76 years of age, Felisa seems unlikely to be taking on such a demanding and likely stressful new job for the long haul. He will be joined at Aston by another former Ferrari executive, Roberto Fedeli, who will serve as Chief Technical Officer.

While Moers’s sometimes abrasive management style was at least partially responsible for some of Aston’s executive exodus (chief designer Miles Nurnberger, chief engineer Matt Becker and head of Special Operations David King all left last year) the German did help to bring some much-needed stability to the brand and also to increase sales. Aston’s first-quarter results for 2022, released alongside news of Moers’ departure, show that although the company is still losing money it has increased revenues and is on track to deliver more than 6600 cars globally this year. Last year it managed 6182. Moers also spearheaded development of the well-received Vantage F1 Edition, DBX 707 and the sold-out Vantage V12.

Aston Martin DBX 707
Aston Martin

But Moers also seems to have had a strained relationship with Aston’s executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire who also owns a substantial stake in the company. In January Autocar reported that Moers’s future was in doubt, and although the company responded with a statement denying the claims, the relationship only lasted for another five months.What does this mean for Aston products? In the short term, probably not a great deal: development of revised versions of the company’s sports-car range is well underway, and Aston has already agreed a deal with Mercedes for widespread technology sharing. But Felisa’s arrival suggests there may well be another change of direction for Aston’s supercar projects, with the company having previously committed to developing two mid-engined models around a hybridized powertrain. The original plan had been for Aston to develop its own electrically assisted V-6 for these, one that Moers switched to proposed use of an AMG-sourced V-8. Given Felisa and Fedeli’s long association with Ferrari, another new direction may be on the cards, with Aston insiders saying consideration is already being given to opening an engineering center in Italy. Whether those models can bring the volumes that Aston needs for long-term viability is a different question: the official target is to move production to 10,000 cars a year, something that would doubtless be made easier in the current market with more SUV variants than pure-blooded sports cars.One thing we can safely predict is that Aston’s future will continue to provide plenty of drama, as well as—we hope—compelling products. We promise to report all of it.

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Fisker has shown a teaser image for what will be its third model, after the Ocean and the Pear, called Project Ronin.The slinky sports car is aiming to have the longest range for a production EV and will include active aerodynamics and snazzy doors. A full reveal will come in August of 2023, with Fisker aiming for production in the second half of 2024.Production of Fisker’s first new electric vehicle, the Ocean crossover, is set to begin this November, but before the Ocean officially arrives Fisker has already announced what it hopes will become its third model. Dubbed Project Ronin, the vehicle will be an electric sports car with seating for four and dramatic proportions, as revealed by the accompanying teaser image.

The Fisker Ocean.
Fisker

The name is a reference to the 1998 action film Ronin, starring Robert De Niro and remembered for its realistic car chases featuring European sedans sliding around Paris and the French countryside. Development of the grand touring sports car began last year, and Fisker’s lofty goal is for the Ronin to have “the world’s longest range for a production EV.” That means it will have to beat the Lucid Air, which is rated to deliver up to 520 miles of range by the EPA. Fisker claims that Project Ronin will have “an innovative battery design” that incorporates the battery pack into the structure of the vehicle. The sports car will also feature active aerodynamics and lightweight materials.

Fisker also says the Ronin will have unique doors that improve ingress and egress, but didn’t reveal what form these apertures will take. The cabin is described as “a luxurious, sustainable vegan interior.” Fisker says that Project Ronin will be fully unveiled in August 2023, with production beginning in the second half of 2024. Before then, Fisker is expected to reveal its second crossover, the Pear, with sales also planned for 2024.
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• We chose this 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 396 as our Bring a Trailer pick today. (BaT, like Car and Driver, is owned by Hearst Autos.• The Chevelle has a four-speed manual and a 402 cubic inch V-8 engine.• The auction ends in four days and bidding currently sits at over $55,000.Let us tell you what Melba Toast is packin’ here, all right. We got 3:31 Positrac out back, 402 cubic inches, 10.25:1 pistons, single four-barrel carb, Turbo-Jet 350 horsepower. We’re talkin’ some muscle. Say, do you own this 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 that’s on Bring a Trailer? No? It’d be a lot cooler if you did.

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That’s because this car has a Muncie M-21 four-speed transmission, front disc brakes and cowl induction, for when your buddy rolls up alongside in White Lightning and wants to prove he’s got better shoes. But this isn’t some stripped down racer, no sir. It’s got luxury, too—check out the vinyl roof and AM/FM radio. And that trunk would look just right filled with ice and your favorite beverages when there’s a fiesta in the making out at the moontower. The spare tire is in there, too.No need to have your friends watch the leather, man, because the interior is black vinyl. It used to have a white interior, but black was the original so they put it back that way. Crazy. Speaking of, what’s up with the badges saying “396” but the engine is a 402? Did it get bored out or something along the way? No, that’s just what Chevy did back in ’70. They stashed an extra six cubes in there and didn’t tell anybody. Right on. That’s what we call livin’, man: L-I-V-I-N.

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The older you get, the more rules they’re going to try to get you to follow, so keep that in mind when you’re deciding whether to bid on one of the last great Heavy Chevys. Maybe your financial advisor says not to invest in Chevelles, but that’s what a square would say. A car like this keeps getting older, but it’ll always make you feel the same age. Alright, alright.

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UPDATE 5/4/2022: DeLorean’s revealed even more of the upcoming EVolved’s rear end, including the vehicle’s full-width taillight and badging.UPDATE 4/4/2022: DeLorean revealed the first image of the upcoming EVolved. The company plans to reveal this new model at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on August 18, a few days before its originally planned reveal on the event’s Concept Lawn. The image shows the left-rear corner of the electric car, including its wide rear fenders, louvered rear roof panel, and silver and black two-tone paint job, which appears to be a nod to the original DeLorean’s stainless steel body panels and black trim pieces.Not everyone is familiar with the DeLorean Motor Company name, but most people know the automaker’s now legendary product: the DMC DeLorean. Although sold only for the 1981–1983 model years, the sports car’s stainless steel body panels and gullwing doors made it—and continue to make it—a wholly unique and head-turning vehicle. No wonder director Robert Zemeckis chose the car to serve as the time machine in the Back to the Future movie franchise.

It was only a matter of time, then, until another entity brought the notorious vehicle back to life. DeLorean Motors Reimagined is doing just that. The company, whose largest shareholder is the DeLorean Motor Company that sells parts for and restores original DeLoreans, is set to reveal its new-age take on John Z. DeLorean’s classic coupe at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August.

DeLorean

The car DeLorean parks on the Concept Lawn at the Concours will bear the name EVolved and is set to preview the company’s low-volume production vehicle. Unlike the gasoline-powered DeLorean of yore, the EVolved will receive motivation from a battery-electric powertrain. Company officials are keeping mum on most of the car’s key details at the moment, but chief executive officer Joost de Vries, who previously held positions at companies such as Volvo and Tesla, shared with Car and Driver that the reborn DeLorean is expected to offer at least 300 miles of driving range.The finished product ought to crib styling cues from its forebear without recycling its looks. As chief marketing officer Troy Beetz said, the car the company plans to show off at Pebble Beach imagines what a modern DeLorean might look like “had it been around for the last 40 years.”Whether this results in a car that turns heads in the same way its predecessor did remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the company wants to create a vehicle that caters to people’s emotions, with de Vries divulging that the forthcoming DeLorean sacrifices some aerodynamic efficiency in the name of style.

Nicole Rivelli Photographie

Despite its looks, the original DeLorean’s performance was rather unimpressive. Don’t expect that facet of the old car to carry over to the new one. Although de Vries was adamant about the DeLorean redux “not [being] a hypercar,” he did state that the company is engineering the vehicle to appeal to “people who want to drive.”It’s clear the folks spearheading this project possess the experience and passion to theoretically create a competitive high-end electric sports car. Still, it’s neither easy nor inexpensive for a rather small organization to build and produce a new and profitable vehicle. We certainly want to believe in the promise of a modern-day DeLorean, and we’re excited to see what the company brings to Pebble in August. That said, we’ll likely maintain a bit of healthy skepticism until we see the operation start delivering vehicles to customers.
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