Motor News

Mercedes confirmed that it will reopen orders for several V-8 models after previously suspending these models’ U.S. availability for the 2022 model year.Orders are now open for the G550, AMG G63, GLE580, AMG GLE63, GLS580, and Maybach GLS600, as reported by Motor Authority.A few models are still missing, including the AMG E63, the AMG GT63 4-Door, and the AMG GLS63.Several V-8–powered models will soon rejoin Mercedes’ U.S. lineup after being dropped for the 2022 model year. A Mercedes-Benz spokesperson confirmed to C/D that the company is reopening orders for certain versions of the 2022 G-class, GLE-class, and GLS-class SUVs powered by the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engine.

In addition to the Mercedes-Benz G550, GLE580, and GLS580, AMG 63 versions of the G-class and GLE-class—plus the Maybach GLS600—will be available again. But not the AMG GLS63, which is still missing from the lineup. The AMG E63 and AMG GT63 4-Door will also remain absent for the time being, and Mercedes said it could not provide any details regarding the availability of these models. The S-class sedan and new AMG SL-class convertible also use this same V-8 engine but did not appear to be affected by the same production issues.We assume that the easing of supply-chain issues is the main reason that these models are returning, although Mercedes has been relatively quiet throughout this ordeal. The suspension of these models was initially blamed on “various global, external and internal requirements, as well as several other factors, including but not limited to challenges in the supply chain,” which could also include emissions regulations.

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The Chevrolet Spark will be discontinued later this year, with production lasting through August, a GM spokesperson confirmed.The Spark is currently the cheapest new car on sale in the United States, starting at $14,595.Chevy will not offer a direct replacement for the Spark, instead directing customers to its Trax and Trailblazer subcompact crossovers, both of which start over $20,000.If you want a brand-new Chevrolet Spark, you’d better act fast. Chevy’s diminutive hatchback—currently the cheapest new car on sale in the United States—will be discontinued later this year, a General Motors spokesperson confirmed to Car and Driver today.

Chevrolet

Production of the Spark will continue through August, at which point it will depart from the Chevy lineup after a 10-year run. The Spark is not expected to get a direct replacement, with the GM spokesperson saying that customers looking for a ride at “an approachable price still have strong options within Chevrolet’s family of compact SUVs.”

If you want to get your hands on a new Spark before it goes the way of the dodo, you’ll have to cough up just $14,595 for the base LS model, around a third of the average cost of a new car, which has skyrocketed to $47,077. All Sparks use a 98-horsepower inline-four, crawling to 60 mph in 10.8 seconds but returning an EPA-rated 33 mpg combined. After the Spark departs, customers looking for a cheap Chevrolet will have to turn to the aging Trax, starting at $22,595, or the Trailblazer, starting at $22,795. Both subcompact crossovers cost substantially more than the Spark, which will leave customers seeking a sub-$20,000 car to consider other brands. The title of cheapest car in the U.S. will migrate to the Nissan Versa, starting at $16,105, with the $16,125 Mitsubishi Mirage close behind.
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Polestar has built a special version of its 2 hatchback called the Arctic Circle, outfitted for driving in snowy and icy conditions.The Arctic Circle gets extra power and torque as well as studded tires, softer springs, and a prototype launch control system.LED rally-style lights are attached up front and Recaro bucket seats are found inside, but the Polestar 2 Article Circle will remain a one-off.Electric vehicle maker Polestar—spun off from parent company Volvo back in 2017—hails from snowy Sweden, and the company has used its familiarity with wintry conditions to create the one-off Polestar 2 Arctic Circle. Developed by Polestar’s chief chassis engineer Joakim Rydholm, who races rally cars in his spare time, the Arctic Circle turns up the wick on the Polestar 2 to help it better tackle icy roads at high speeds.
Starting with a Polestar 2 Long Range dual-motor model with the Performance package, the car was raised by 1.2 inches and fitted with custom studded 245/35R-19 winter tires, with each tire bearing 490 0.16-inch metal studs. Polestar also increased power and torque, with the Arctic Circle putting out 469 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque. This is up from 408 hp and 487 pound-feet in the standard Polestar 2, although an over-the-air update for 2022 will see 476 hp and 502 pound-feet available for customers of the Long Range dual-motor.

The springs in the Arctic Circle are 30 percent softer than those on the production Polestar 2, and the three-way performance Öhlins dampers were also retuned. Strut braces were added at the front and rear for better torsional rigidity and steering responsiveness. Polestar also introduced a prototype launch control system, activated via steering-wheel-mounted paddles.
The Arctic Circle plays rally-car dress-up with white 19-inch OZ Racing wheels, four Stedi Quad Pro LED lights fitted up front, a carbon-fiber skid plate, and gold recovery straps front and rear. The interior features Recaro front bucket seats and a carbon-fiber snow shovel in the trunk for emergency situations. The Arctic Circle is wrapped in a slick-looking matte gray and white livery. Polestar noted that the Arctic Circle will not be put into production, describing it as a “unique showpiece.” Perhaps a determined Polestar 2 owner could re-create the electric rally car look with enough elbow grease.
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Kia has announced the recall of more than 410,000 Forte, Sedona, and Soul vehicles to fix airbags that may not deploy in a crash.The recall includes the 2017–2018 Forte, the 2017 Forte Koup, and the 2017–2019 Sedona, Soul, and Soul EV.Kia said there have been no accidents or injuries as a result of the issue, and owners will be notified in March to bring in their vehicles for airbag replacement. Kia will recall more than 410,000 of its vehicles in the U.S. to replace airbags that may not deploy in case of a crash. The problem, first spotted late last year by Kia service team members in South Korea and detailed in the NHTSA recall report, involves a faulty airbag control unit (ACU). The ACU’s cover could come into contact with other components on the circuit board and damage soldering joints, potentially leading to non-deployment of airbags in a crash. A warning sign is that the airbag warning light may come on and trigger a diagnostic code.

2018 Kia Soul EV.
Kia

The vehicles recalled are 253,281 2017–2019 Kia Soul and 953 Soul EV models, with 47,690 Kia Sedona minivans from 2017–2019 and 108,693 2017–2018 Kia Forte cars also included. Kia will send out notifications to owners starting in March.

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Swedish hypercar maker Koenigsegg has long been a home for novel engineering, and that’s evident in its new electric motor. Developed for the Gemera four-seater, this electric motor, dubbed the Quark, is a tiny powerhouse. In a package that weighs just 63 pounds, the Quark develops 335 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. For scale, that’s a 330-mL (11 ounce) energy drink in the pictures seen throughout.

Koenigsegg

The Quark, announced Monday, combines both radial- and axial-flux constructions to offer a good balance between power and torque. Rather than explain the difference between the two, I’ll turn you toward this article from EV trade publication Charged. All you really need to know is that this is a best-of-both-worlds solution—Koenigsegg claims the Quark has an industry-leading torque-power-weight ratio. Those peak power and torque figures are only available for 20 seconds, which is common among EV motors. After 20 seconds, the figures drop to 134 hp and 184 pound-feet of torque. That’s fine for the Gemera, which has three electric motors and a 592-hp three-cylinder.

“The Quark is designed to bolster the low-speed range of the Gemera, where you need it, for brutal acceleration,” said Koengisegg electric-motor design lead Dragos-Mihai Postariu in a statement. “The ICE then focuses on the high-speed range. What this means in terms of performance for the Gemera is a big power surge followed by a continuous record-speed push to 400 km/h [248.5 mph] without any torque or power losses.”

Koenigsegg

Naturally, Koenigsegg uses all sorts of interesting materials for the construction of the Quark, including aerospace/motorsport-grade steel and hollow carbon fiber—Koenigsegg’s Aircore technology—for the rotor. The company hopes the Quark will find a home in more than just the Gemera, as it was also designed for aerospace and marine applications.”The Quark is unique in its high efficiency in combination with its class-leading torque-to-power-to-rpm-to-weight matrix,” said CEO Christian von Koenigsegg in a statement. “This means, when using the Quark in applications such as marine, aircraft or VTOL, there is no need for a step-down transmission, instead direct drive can be achieved, as the rpm of the motor is right from the get-go. Small high-revving motors can have higher peak power-to-weight ratio, but they need transmissions in most applications in order to get to the desired output rpm and torque, causing energy loss and adding weight and complexity to do the same job. So any benefit in size is lost.”

Koenigsegg

Koenigsegg is also marketing an EV drive unit made up of two Quark motors, plus its small but powerful inverter, and small low-ratio planetary gearsets at each output shaft. The unit is called the Terrier, and it serves up 670 hp and 811 pound-feet in a package that weighs just 187 pounds, and which offers torque vectoring across an axle. A Terrier can be bolted directly to a car’s monocoque as well.More information on the Terrier unit is forthcoming, and presumably, it will be featured on future Koenigsegg products. As ever, the numbers are deeply impressive and entirely unsurprising from the innovative Swedish firm.

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Tesla will issue an over-the-air software update to disable the “rolling stop” feature in the Full Self-Driving Beta as part of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall.The feature allows Teslas equipped with the FSD Beta to travel through a four-way-stop intersection at up to 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop.Tesla says it is not aware of any incidents caused by the feature, and the update will be released in early February.Tesla will recall 53,822 vehicles by issuing an over-the-air software update disabling a feature called “rolling stop” found in the Full Self-Driving Beta software, documents on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recalls site said today. The recall affects nearly every Model S, X, 3, and Y with the Full Self-Driving Beta running firmware release 2020.40.4.10 or newer.The feature in question, “rolling stop,” permits the vehicle, when operating in the Full Self-Driving Beta, to drive through a four-way-stop intersection at up to 5.6 mph if a list of criteria are met. NHTSA points out that “entering an all-way-stop intersection without coming to a complete stop may increase the risk of collision.”

Tesla

The conditions that must be met for the “rolling stop” feature to activate include it being enabled in the FSD Beta Profile settings and that the vehicle is approaching a four-way stop at under 5.6 mph. Other criteria include that “no relevant moving cars are detected near the intersection” as well as “no relevant pedestrians or bicyclists” and that there is “sufficient visibility for the vehicle while approaching the intersection.” Lastly, all of the intersecting roads need to have a speed limit of 30 mph or less. If these conditions are met, the vehicle will drive through the intersection at a speed between 0.1 and 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop first; if not, the vehicle will come to a full stop. The firmware including the “rolling stop” feature was released via an over-the-air update to vehicles with the FSD Beta on October 20, 2020. Tesla and the NHSTA met this year on January 10 and January 19, with a recall determination made on January 20 to shut down the feature starting with firmware release 2021.44.30.15, which is expected to be released over the air to affected vehicles in early February. Tesla said it “is not aware of any collisions, injuries or fatalities related to this condition.” The update will be free for owners, who can check NHTSA’s recalls website for updates.

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The DBX 707 is a performance version of Aston Martin’s SUV.The revised V-8 engine has 697 horsepower and works with a new nine-speed gearbox. It will go on sale this year, priced from $235,086.Aston Martin has been promising a faster version of the DBX since the regular one launched, and this is most definitely it. Based on manufacturer claims, the new 2023 DBX 707 is set to be the quickest performance SUV on the market, with Aston CEO Tobias Moers saying the company hopes to prove that by setting the corresponding record on the Nürburgring.

Positioned above the standard DBX, which will continue to be sold alongside it, the DBX 707 has been given a substantial power upgrade thanks to an upgraded version of the 4.0-liter AMG V-8 that Aston says it has substantially engineered in-house. The engine uses new ball-bearing turbochargers and a revised calibration to boost output to 697 horsepower (the “707” name refers to metric horsepower). That’s 155 hp more than the regular DBX and means the DBX 707 outguns such luminaries as the 626-hp Bentley Bentayga W12 Speed, the 641-hp Lamborghini Urus and even the 670-hp Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid. Moers admitted that the Porsche was Aston’s benchmark target when he introduced journalists to the new car. The DBX 707’s torque output has risen too, with a new peak of 663 pound-feet. And the 707 swaps out the conventional nine-speed automatic transmission in the regular DBX to AMG’s snappier nine-speed gearbox with a wet-clutch pack instead of a torque converter. This will allow for quicker gear changes and launch-control starts, with a shorter final drive ratio meaning the 707 is claimed to be capable of a 3.1-second sprint to 60 mph. This would tie our result for the Lamborghini Urus, which is the quickest SUV we’ve ever tested.Given that improbable level of performance, and Moers’ desire for Nürburgring glory, it’s no surprise that the DBX 707 will have standard carbon-ceramic brakes with huge 16.5 inch rotors at the front and 15.4 inch discs at the rear. 22-inch wheels will be standard, and 23-inchers an option. These will wear Pirelli tires, but Moers says that any attempt to break the Cayenne Turbo S’s 7:38.9 Nürburgring time will be on more aggressive track-biased rubber: “at the end of the day it’s a tire test.”

Aston Martin

Beyond the new wheels, visual distinctions for the DBX 707 include a bigger front bumper with an even larger front grille, dark window surrounds in place of chrome trim, and a massive diffuser element at the back with quad exhaust tips. The interior gets new sport seats, although the DBX’s regular comfort seats will remain a no-cost option, plus a revised center console with a rotary gear selector. There are also new shortcut buttons for various drive modes on the lower console, meaning drivers won’t have to use the infotainment system to tweak settings for the adaptive suspension, stability control, active exhaust system, and gearbox.Although the DBX 707 still uses Aston’s existing infotainment system, the one based on Mercedes’ last-generation STAR architecture, Moers also promises that development of a bespoke Aston User Interface is underway. “We cannot change the nav system, that takes a while, but we are creating a bespoke nav system and HMI for Aston without any more usage of Mercedes,” he promises.

Aston Martin

Moers is also bullish on the DBX 707’s sales prospects, surmising that the 707 could make up around 60 percent of all DBX sales. This is despite a $235,086 pricetag which makes it more than $50,000 more expensive than the standard car. Production will start before the end of the first quarter of 2022.
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The EPA estimates the 2022 Toyota Tundra Hybrid at up to 22 mpg combined, which is 7 mpg more than the outgoing V-8 model. The iForce MAX hybrid uses a twin-turbo 3.4-liter V-6 paired with an electric motor and nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Pricing for the hybrid starts at $53,995, and it will arrive in the spring. The 2022 Toyota Tundra replaces the previous model’s 5.7-liter V-8 in favor of a twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6 engine for the sake of efficiency. A nonhybrid version of the V-6 is standard and a iForce MAX hybrid setup is optional, and we now have official EPA fuel-economy estimates for the gas-electric Tundra. Although the hybrid is not as efficient as the Ford F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, it’s a huge improvement over the old Tundra.

2022 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
Toyota

At an EPA-estimated 22 mpg combined for rear-wheel-drive models and 21 mpg for four-wheel-drive trucks, the Tundra’s hybrid powertrain is 7 mpg more efficient than the outgoing model’s 5.7-liter V-8. It’s rated at up to 20 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway in its two-wheel-drive configuration, though adding four-wheel drive knocks 1 mpg off in the city and 2 mpg on the highway.

The F-150 PowerBoost hybrid is 3 mpg and 2 mpg more efficient than the Tundra iForce MAX, per the EPA’s standards. Both the F-150 PowerBoost and Tundra iForce MAX use a twin-turbocharged V-6 engine and roughly 1.5-kWh battery packs, but the Ford’s pack is a lithium-ion unit and the Toyota’s is a nickel-metal hydride pack. The Tundra’s electric motor is sandwiched between the engine and 10-speed automatic transmission and adds 48 horsepower for a total combined output of 437 horsepower and 583 pound-feet of torque. Even the nonhybrid twin-turbo V-6 is significantly more efficient that the outgoing model’s naturally aspirated V-8. But at 20 mpg combined, the standard iForce is 2 mpg less efficient than a Ram 1500 with the 3.6-liter V-6 with a 48-volt hybrid assist Ram calls “eTorque.” The Tundra’s combined rating is equal to a turbo four-cylinder Chevy Silverado, though the Chevy does better in city driving and on the highway.

EPA

Toyota says that Tundras equipped with the iForce MAX hybrid will start arriving at dealerships in the spring, and pricing starts at $53,995. The hybrid is available starting on the Limited trim level and up and it costs $3400 extra over the nonhybrid.
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