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The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL will be offered in two models, SL55 and SL63.Among the notable changes, the SL switches to two-plus-two seating. It also has standard all-wheel drive, a first for the model.The new SL arrives in dealerships in early 2022. Pricing has not yet been released. The Mercedes SL is a car that used to loom large in the public consciousness, but that hasn’t been the case lately. Once widely recognized as a rolling symbol of success, the SL’s sheen faded with the R230 generation that debuted for 2002 and the follow-up R231 generation that was ushered offstage after 2020. Seeking to shake off the doldrums, the all-new 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL alters the formula with the most dramatic changes yet. The change in nomenclature is a tipoff that the development of the new SL was handed over to the AMG division. The new SL debuts a new AMG architecture, and Mercedes claims that nothing under the skin of the new R232 generation is carried over from its predecessor or shared with the AMG GT roadster.The car will be offered initially as the SL55 and the SL63, both using a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8. For the first time, though, the SL’s engine will be powering all four wheels, as AMG’s 4Matic+ all-wheel drive is standard on both models.

Mercedes-AMG

The SL’s new look is smoother and rounder, with a larger cabin, a less-exaggerated hood length, and a stubbier tail. The new SL adds nearly 5 inches between the axles, with the wheelbase growing from 101.7 to 106.3 inches. Overall length, by contrast, increases by just under three inches, to 185.2. Width is up by an inch and a half, to 75.4 inches. Cargo space is about the same as before at 8.5 cubic feet, or 7.5 with the roof stowed. Both models roll on 20-x-9-inch front and 20-x-11.5-inch rear wheels, with 21s available as an option.The SL55 can be dressed up with a chrome package or an AMG Night package, while the SL63 offers an AMG Exterior Carbon Fiber package and an AMG Aerodynamics package. The latter includes an active aero element in the underbody in front of the engine that extends to increase downforce. All SLs, however, feature active louvers on the front air intakes and a retractable rear spoiler.From the front, with its “Panamericana” vertical-bar grille, the new SL looks much like the current AMG GT roadster, but that model will be redesigned soon, and Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener says that when it appears, “the difference [between the two cars] will be more.”Whereas the last two SL generations featured a retractable hard top, Mercedes has reverted to a classic soft top for the new car, marking another major departure. As Wagener notes, “If you start with a retractable hard top again, you will get what you have right now, which is not appealing in my view.”

Mercedes-AMG

The triple-layer canvas roof weighs 46 pounds less than the previous retractable hard top and can be raised or lowered in 15 seconds at speeds up to 37 mph. It also allowed Mercedes to enlarge the SL’s cabin without the need for a commensurately larger boot to house an outsize folding hard top. The stretched passenger compartment wedges in a pair of rear jump seats, a feature last offered in the R107 model of the 1980s.The cabin also features a digital instrument cluster and a large center touchscreen, but they’re not merged under a single piece of glass as in some Mercedes models. Instead, the SL uses separate screens as in the new S-class. In the roadster, however, the 11.9-inch portrait-oriented center display is adjustable in angle to be more easily seen with the top down. Of course, the infotainment runs the latest MBUX operating system including the “Hey, Mercedes” digital assistant. Active multicontour seats with massage are standard, as are Mercedes’s Airscarf neck-level heating and (in the SL63) a head-up display.Apart from the bonkers SL65 AMG Black Series, the last great SL was arguably the R129 generation, which for its time was a high-tech tour de force. The new one also ratchets up the technology quotient, bringing the full panoply of Mercedes driver-assistance features to the SL. These include augmented video navigation, Distonic Plus with stop-and-go, and active steering assist including automated lane changing, plus automated parking for perpendicular or parallel spaces. The active brake assist now also watches for oncoming traffic when turning, and a new exit warning system alerts occupants exiting the car to vehicles approaching from behind.

Mercedes-AMG

Under the hood, the SL skips the previously available twin-turbo V-6 in favor of two V-8s. The M117 V-8 in the SL55 makes 469 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. The SL63 version makes 577 hp and 590 pound-feet and features active engine mounts. In either car, the hand-built engine is mated to a nine-speed AMG Speedshift MCT automatic transmission with a Race Start launch-control function. Mercedes is giving a factory-estimated zero-to-60-mph time of 3.8 seconds for the SL55 and 3.5 seconds for the SL63.Jochen Hermann, chief technical officer for Mercedes-AMG, confirms that the new SL is also slated to get AMG’s E Performance plug-in-hybrid system. That combines the 4.0-liter V-8 with an electric motor powering the rear wheels and could offer as much as 804 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque.Besides all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering appears on the SL for the first time and is also standard. The system cuts the turning circle by approximately two and a half feet, to 40.4 feet. An electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential is standard on the SL63 and optional on the SL55. Ceramic-composite brake rotors are optional. The SL includes adaptive dampers, with the suspension adding hydraulic roll stabilization in place of anti-roll bars on the SL63 (optional on the SL55). An available front-axle lift system can raise the front of the car by 1.2 inches, and it can be programmed to remember a location (such as a steep driveway) and activate automatically. With the addition of all-wheel drive and the switch to two-plus-two seating, curb weight climbs by approximately 220 pounds.Despite all these performance enhancements, the R232 SL does not regain its stature as the brand’s range-topping roadster, since it must fly below the AMG GT roadster. Instead, it needs to be more of a grand tourer—thus the rear seats and all-wheel drive—the better to scoop up any buyers who might have shopped the now-discontinued S-class convertible. Pricing for the 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL has not been released, but we estimate the SL55’s base sticker will come in just under $100,000 and the SL63 will be a good 20 percent more. The new SL arrives in dealerships in the first half of 2022. That’s when we’ll see whether it can regain its status as a rolling success symbol.
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After eight years at the helm, CEO Mike Flewitt (pictured with the 765LT) is leaving British supercar company McLaren.During his tenure, Flewitt was plain-spoken with media, and one of the things he made plain was that McLaren was not going to follow other elite carmakers such as Ferrari and Aston Martin in building a sport-utility vehicle. With the company’s financial challenges and amid disappointing results for the GT and Elva, Flewitt’s abrupt departure now seems to leave the door open for a super-SUV that could be a savior. The soap opera at the top of the auto industry is frequently fascinating, but we’re here for the cars. So you’ll rarely finding us reporting the details of executive arrivals and departures. But sometimes a change of leadership can indicate a much bigger switch, and although we only have half the story so far—British supercar maker McLaren confirming that CEO Mike Flewitt is leaving, but not who is set to permanently replace him—we suspect there’s likely something more happening in the background here.Journalists tended to like Flewitt, a no-nonsense Liverpudlian who spent most of his career at Ford before joining McLaren. He spoke his mind and was happy to venture further in interviews than his PR managers wanted him to; his confirmation to Car and Driver that there would be an LT version of the 720S on the same day the basic car made its debut was a fine example of this engaging enthusiasm. But he also made an oft-repeated promise that McLaren would never build an SUV, or anything like one. [editoriallinks id=’56231793-e286-4ba0-b6c5-1634446723a0′ align=’left’][/editoriallinks]That pledge won plenty of positive reaction. It seemed like a low-risk strategy in the era when sales of McLaren’s carbon supercars were riding high and the company was still expanding. But as rival luxury makers started to launch their super-utes, Flewitt’s promise started to look more like a hostage to fortune, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and McLaren’s global sales collapsed. The company narrowly survived a cash-flow crisis, one that forced it to cut 1200 jobs and to raise cash against its space-age headquarters. McLaren’s crisis found a parallel in the one being suffered by another British luxury player, Aston Martin, which had also been suffering from falling sales and revenues. Aston had nearly run out of cash developing its first SUV, the DBX, and was also trying to raise the funds necessary to build a series of mid-engine supercars intended to take on McLaren, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. But Aston also had a relationship with a much bigger automaker in the form of Mercedes-Benz, one that has grown much closer in the last year with the arrival of former AMG boss Tobias Moers as Aston’s CEO.[image id=’cf6bc030-37b7-46a3-a95c-4fb99c5c6c65′ mediaId=’1b25cff5-eed3-4106-af93-04eca0867717′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=’Aston Martin DBX.’ expand=” crop=’original’][/image]McLaren doesn’t have any such relationship. Company insiders have told C/D a technical alliance with a major German automaker, believed to be BMW, was being discussed some time ago—but this never happened. Meaning McLaren and the company’s suffering shareholders have had to bear the huge costs both of developing its next-generation models, which will use a new carbon-fiber architecture, and of the hybridized V-6 engine that will power the first of these, the Artura.[image id=’7c8a6e43-405c-4c35-82c2-caad8a675fde’ mediaId=’fb09edf2-95fb-47b0-bb09-7908cd11045d’ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=’McLaren Artura.’ expand=” crop=’18×11′][/image]The Artura was originally scheduled to arrive in 2020, but its launch has been pushed back into 2022 seemingly due to the engineering challenge of bringing such a complicated car to market. Sales have been disappointing for both the McLaren GT, a fine car which is categorically not the Bentley Continental rival it was originally described as, and the roofless, screenless Elva. These failures seem to have played a significant part in Flewitt’s abrupt departure from the company, with technical leadership passing to McLaren Group director Michael Macht, former Porsche CEO, and other functions to executive chairman Paul Walsh while a permanent full-time successor is sought. It seems likely the choice of new boss will signal a change of direction. Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin have all launched SUVs, all of which are currently their respective companies’ bestselling models. Even Ferrari is set to create something very similar in the form of the Ferrari Purosangue. We can respect Flewitt for holding out against this trend, but we would be very surprised if his successor doesn’t choose to reverse that decision, especially given the possibility of moving straight to a fully electric SUV using somebody else’s platform. (Lotus has explicitly said it wants to license its forthcoming “lightweight” EV platform, which will support 800-volt architecture and produce cars able to go from zero to 62 mph in under three seconds.) [image id=’492f3b32-202a-4996-924a-b895a84f991d’ mediaId=’c061b323-e8d5-4789-be9d-f94d193ab3c9′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=’Matt Becker at Aston Martin. ‘ expand=” crop=’18×11′][/image]By happy coincidence, McLaren has recently poached Aston Martin’s chief chassis engineer, Matt Becker. The man who led development of the DBX would seem an ideal candidate to introduce another British luxury brand to a more sports-utilitarian future. [poll id=’5194d6f3-4d79-49dd-ba77-f7c8afcb1381_0f9934bb36c83′ type=’text’ question=’Should they or shouldn’t they?’ answer1=’A McLaren SUV would be awesome.’ answer2=’He was right. They shouldn’t.’][/poll]

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The 2022 Toyota GR86 sports car will start at $28,725, with the Premium trim starting at $31,325.It comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission and a six-speed automatic is a $1500 option.The GR86 will arrive at U.S. Toyota dealerships in December, the company says.Toyota has revealed another small point of differentiation between the new 2022 GR86 sports car and its twin, the 2022 Subaru BRZ: the price. The 86 starts at $28,725 for the base trim, just barely undercutting the BRZ’s starting price of $28,955.

That starting price is for the base model, which comes with a six-speed manual transmission and a 2.4-liter boxer-four engine with 228 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. A more expensive Premium trim is available for $31,325 and swaps out the base car’s 17-inch wheels and all-season tires for 18-inch wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires. The Premium also gains a larger rear spoiler, heated front seats, and leather and faux-suede upholstery.A six-speed automatic transmission is available for $1500 on either trim, but we don’t recommend choosing the two-pedal option in a fun-loving rear-wheel-drive sports car like this. The automatic-transmission car does come with a few extra driver-assistance systems—including adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and lane-departure warning—that the manual car does without.
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A new Range Rover is here, which is reason enough to head right to its online configurator tool to see all the possible combinations. The redesigned 2022 model’s starting price of $105,350 is really just a light suggestion, as there are numerous expensive upgrades available including a long-wheelbase configuration, a loaded Autobiography trim level, a First Edition with special visuals, and a wide range of exterior and interior colors. We gathered a few editors to choose their ideal specs and came up with these selections.

Joey Capparella’s $115,050 Standard Wheelbase P400

Land Rover

Land Rover

I’ve always felt that Range Rovers are the rare vehicles with six-figure price tags that are truly worth it, and I’m confident that will continue to be the case with new model. I chose a standard-wheelbase model in its P400 trim because I’m a fan of JLR’s inline-six engine. British Racing Green was a natural choice for the exterior color, despite a steep $4500 option price, and the $1000 black contrast roof adds a touch of modernity to the look. 23-inch wheels are available, but I chose a set of 22-inchers for $2300 in an attempt to preserve the ride quality somewhat. Few of the interior options appealed to me, as even the base cabin looks very plush, but I did opt for the $300 heated steering wheel and the $1200 sound-system upgrade. My spec comes out to a total price of $115,050Caleb Miller’s $161,700 Standard Wheelbase Autobiography P530

Land Rover

Land Rover

While I’m all in favor of frugality when buying an economy car, I believe in splurging when it comes to a high-end SUV like the new Range Rover. To that end, I chose a standard wheelbase model in the Autobiography trim, which starts at $152,000 and adds goodies such as 24-way heated and cooled front seats with massage, a heads-up display, SiriusXM satellite radio, a refrigerator compartment in the front console, and an upgraded sound system. Selecting the Autobiography locks in the V-8 engine, which I would’ve opted for anyway. I went for a subtle exterior look, with gloss Constellation Blue paint—a $4550 option—and the Shadow Exterior pack for an extra $1000 to channel my inner James Bond villain. To match the blacked-out trim, I upgraded to 23-inch gloss black wheels, an additional $1500. Inside I went for Deep Garnet, which surprisingly did not boost the price, but I did spend $1300 on the Natural Black Birch veneer, aiming to match the black exterior details while avoiding the fingerprint-attracting gloss black finish. Otherwise, I left the options list alone, since the Autobiography model is already decked out to the nines. My Range Rover came in at $161,700.Drew Dorian’s $158,250 Long Wheelbase Autobiography P530

Land Rover

Land Rover

I think the redesigned Range Rover looks good. Really good. I’d probably be happy with just about any spec, but in this fantasy I went for the long-wheelbase model and the Autobiography trim. This combination automatically adds the more powerful twin-turbo V-8 engine, and the extra space inside should make it even easier for rear seat passengers to ride in comfort. The Autobiography loads up the Range Rover with goodies including handsome 22-inch wheels, massaging front seats, rear captain’s chairs, an air purification system, a 35-speaker Meridian stereo system, a rear-seat entertainment system, and all the best driver-assistance tech. I’d resist the urge to try out one of the new satin paint finishes and stick with a standard metallic; the one that I like the best is Belgravia Green. I also really like the SV Bespoke 22-inch wheel option for $900. Inside, I’d swap the standard black leather upholstery out for the rich saddle-colored Caraway theme and I’d go with the SV Bespoke walnut wood trim. All in, I’m looking at a steep $158,250 for this beauty, which is why this will remain a fantasy.Connor Hoffman’s $131,350 Standard Wheelbase P530

Land Rover

Land Rover

I think the new Land Rover Range Rover looks like a concept car that should’ve never gone into production (especially in the rear), but if I had to buy one, I’d go for the standard wheelbase, not the new seven-seat model. I’m not going for the fancy Autobiography or First Edition model because why add excess to an already excessive SUV? Selecting the 523-hp twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 is almost an instinct. Thank goodness Land Rover provides more color choices than Jeep, so I’m choosing Tourmaline Brown with a gloss finish, which costs $4,550, and adding the Shadow Exterior Pack for $1000. These standard 21-inch wheels look derpy, so this Range Rover is getting fitted with 23-inch gloss black wheels for $3000 and black black calipers for $550. The roof needs to be black too ($1000). I’m going with the Caraway interior, sticking with the base Windsor leather and Brown Walnut veneer trim to avoid racking up the price even more, which makes my 2022 Range Rover cost $131,350. That’s Porsche 911 money.

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Kia has released U.S. specs for the 2023 Sportage compact SUV.It has the same base engine as the Hyundai Tucson and will offer LX, EX, SX, X-Line, and X-Pro trim levels.The Sportage will go on sale in the U.S. in early 2022, with a hybrid to follow.Kia is nearly ready to bring its redesigned 2023 Sportage to the U.S., and we now have a lot more details on the new model that’s set to arrive on our shores in the first quarter of 2022. Larger than before and with a wider array of trim levels, the new compact SUV features an interesting design inside and out and offers a new off-road variant called X-Pro. A gasoline version with a four-cylinder engine will arrive first, with a hybrid set to join the lineup later on.

The new Sportage has a 3.4-inch longer wheelbase than before, and its overall length has grown by 7.1 inches. This makes for a large cargo area measuring 40 cubic feet with the rear seats up, which beats its corporate cousin the Hyundai Tucson and the Honda CR-V. The U.S. version has the same distinctive headlight setup as the global model we saw earlier this year.
Like the Tucson, the base engine is a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four that will make 187 horsepower in the Sportage. An eight-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive are standard, with all-wheel drive optional. A Sportage hybrid is coming later on, but Kia has yet to provide details on that powertrain. AWD models also feature a bit of extra ground clearance, and there are two available models—the X-Line and the X-Pro—that play up the Sportage’s off-road cred.The X-Line is an appearance package with different bumpers, wheels, a beefier roof rack, and black trim. The X-Pro features additional upgrades including 17-inch wheels with BF Goodrich all-terrain tires, a heated windshield, and LED fog lights. Other trim levels include LX, EX, and SX, and the SX, X-Line, and X-Pro models offer a Prestige package with additional niceties.
Higher trim levels have a modern-looking interior with two large screens: a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 12.3-inch central infotainment display. The base LX model has a smaller 8.0-inch touchscreen. There’s an interesting touch panel below the infotainment screen that controls the radio and the HVAC system, and the two physical knobs on either side can change function depending on what’s displayed, becoming either volume and tuning knobs for audio or temperature knobs for the climate control.Driver-assistance systems including lane-keep assist and forward collision warning are standard across the board, but blind-spot warning and adaptive cruise control are optional.Kia has yet to announce pricing for the 2023 Sportage, but we expect it to start a bit higher than the current model, which costs between $25,265 and $36,425. The nonhybrid is set to go on sale in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2022, with the hybrid likely to follow a few months later.
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Lucid Motors has announced it’s holding an event on October 30 called Dream Delivery where the first reservation-holding customers can pick up their Lucid Air Dream Edition EVs. The event is likely to be based at Lucid’s headquarters in Newark, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. A “Lucid Rally” as part of the event will include company executives along with the customers and is intended to showcase the car’s performance, Lucid said.520 Dream Edition cars, priced starting at $169,000, will be the first delivered to buyers. Air Grand Touring cars will come out next. Orders for the slightly more affordable Touring and Pure models won’t reach customers until 2022. Lucid Motors, a company that originated in Silicon Valley, doesn’t let its factory’s remote location in the Phoenix suburb of Casa Grande, Arizona, keep it from pulling off Instagram-ready product positioning. The startup EV maker held a splashy start-of-production event at the plant in September, and on Saturday, October 30, it will bring together a group of customers in California to pick up their Dream Edition EVs, the launch version of the luxury Air sedan. As part of the “Dream Delivery” event, the customers get to participate with company executives in a Lucid Rally, then take home their personally configured cars.Earlier this week, Lucid tweeted this photo of several Air cars sedans loaded onto a transporter.
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These first Lucid owners will be those who placed reservations for the inaugural Dream Edition in either Range or Performance spec, starting at $169,000. Both cars are dual-motor, all-wheel-drive models that have an 118.0-kWh battery pack. The cars promise a top speed of 168 mph. Claimed range on the 1111-hp Performance model is 451 miles for the car with 21-inch wheels, or 471 miles with 19-inch wheels. As its name suggests, the 933-hp Range version offers more miles between charges: 481 or 520 miles, depending on wheel choice.There’s also a $139,000 Grand Touring version of the Lucid Air, which will begin to reach reservation holders after the 520 buyers of the $169,000 Dream Edition get theirs. The $77,400 Pure and $95,000 Touring trims will reach their buyers in 2022, Lucid said, while the Gravity SUV isn’t due until 2023.
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Uber has announced it is partnering with Hertz to offer 50,000 Tesla EVs as rentals for ride-sharing drivers over the next two years.The pilot program will start November 1 in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., but will expand to other U.S. citiesHertz just agreed to purchase more than $4 billion for 100,000 Tesla Model 3 cars in a deal announced Monday.Uber Technologies issued an announcement today that it will offer Teslas to its ride-sharing drivers to rent for a flat monthly fee that will include insurance and maintenance costs. The company will source the Teslas, which Reuters reported will be “mostly” Model 3 cars, from rental giant Hertz. Hertz itself just inked a deal to buy 100,000 Teslas to add to its rental fleet by the end of next year.

Uber had previously stated it would transition to becoming an EV-only service by 2030 in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. It also started a Zero Emissions Incentive program that rewards drivers who use EVs by paying them $1 more per trip, up to a maximum of $4000 a year. The Teslas will also qualify to be called Uber Green or Uber Comfort rides, which charge riders a premium.

Uber

The pilot program will start in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., starting on November 1. Hertz will make the total 50,000 Teslas available to Uber drivers by 2023, Uber’s statement said. Initially, drivers who rent the EVs will be charged $334 per week, which will include insurance and maintenance costs, but the price will drop to $299 “or lower” later. To apply, drivers must have a 4.7 or higher rating and have completed at least 150 trips with Uber.Uber already has programs to encourage drivers to use an electric vehicle in their work. The service’s website offers an $8000 rebate for purchase of a 2021 Nissan Leaf or $6000 for a 2022 Nissan Leaf. Uber also offers $2500 rebates for purchase or lease of a 2021 Chevy Bolt EV, in addition to deals the buyer can get from the Chevrolet dealer or GM. Uber drivers can also rent an unspecified EV from Avis for $260 a week, with a fee of $65 a week for unlimited charging.

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Honda announced today it will bring not one, but two race-car concepts based on the new Civic Si sedan to this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. The first car, dubbed the HPD Honda Civic Si, is a turnkey factory race car designed to compete in the SRO TC Americas series. The other is a one-off model put together by a collection of Honda engineers, meant to compete at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill happening in December.

The HPD Honda Civic Si will represent the company’s next generation of grassroots racing, succeeding the wildly fun-to-drive Civic Si TCA. Built from a body-in-white to adhere to the SRO TC Americas rulebook, it’s stuffed with all of the safety and performance gear necessary to perform on track. As far as drivetrain modifications go, there’s a tune for the 1.5-liter turbo inline-four, a strengthened fourth gear, a specialized exhaust, and a race-spec limited-slip differential. Other upgrades include Bilstein dampers, Eibach coil springs, adjustable control arms, and Wilwood rotors with six-piston calipers up front.The one-off Si meant to run in this year’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill is a bit more customized, with similar safety gear but a lot more drivetrain mods. Assembled and raced by engineers across the company’s divisions, the car features a new tune for the engine, an oil cooler, a bigger radiator, a titanium exhaust, a custom gearset for the transmission, and specific engine mounts. There are Paragon brakes all around with endurance racing pads from Pagid, cooled with custom brake ducts. The dampers are KW competition units, paired to H&R race-spec coil springs. There are also custom forged wheels, a custom vented carbon hood, and custom LED exterior lights.

The Si meant to race at Thunderhill will be the first of the two Civics to make a public appearance post-SEMA when it competes for a class win on December 3. We expect the SRO car to begin competition with the 2022 season. Honda has yet to release pricing, though we expect it to come in around the $60,000 mark. That may sound expensive, but when you consider all of the expensive parts necessary to make it legal for competition, you’ll realize it’s actually a bargain.

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