Motor News

Hyundai has begun production of the 2022 Santa Cruz compact pickup.It’s built on the same line as the Santa Fe, Tucson, Sonata, and Elantra.The Santa Cruz should be reaching dealerships within the next few months.The Ford Maverick may have stolen the Hyundai Santa Cruz’s thunder as the newest compact pickup truck on the block, but now the race is on to see which can get to customers’ hands first. Hyundai has officially started production of the Santa Cruz at its factory in Alabama, and the company says it will start reaching dealerships within the next few months.The Santa Cruz is being built on the same assembly line as the Santa Fe SUV, the Sonata and Elantra sedans, and the Tucson SUV with which it shares many components. It offers the same base engine as the Tucson, a 2.5-liter inline-four, and also the turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four that’s available in the Santa Fe.

We don’t have pricing yet for the Santa Cruz, but we expect it to start around $25,000. We also know it will be available with either front- or all-wheel drive and in SE, SEL, SEL Premium, and Limited trim levels. Shorter in length than the Maverick, the Santa Cruz has a 4.3-foot bed to the Ford’s 4.5-foot bed. The base front-wheel-drive Santa Cruz is rated to tow 3500 pounds, while the turbo model is expected to have a tow rating of 5000 pounds.
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The 2022 Infiniti QX60 is redesigned with many luxury details, inside and out, intended to make the mid-size SUV more enjoyable to live with.It keeps the same 3.5-liter V-6 as the outgoing model but swaps out the CVT for a nine-speed automatic transmission.Pricing is not yet available, but the new model is expected out by the end of the summer.Infiniti has been teasing out the launch of the redesigned 2022 QX60 for more than six months with peeks at a fashionable leather interior, promises of a geared transmission to replace the CVT, and an elegant concept build—the QX60 Monograph—that made it clear the incoming QX60 would be wider and more imposing than the outgoing model. The tease continues, as we still haven’t driven Infiniti’s mid-size family hauler, but now that we’ve seen it in the sheetmetal, we can report that fans of the previous QX60 will find the new version more comfortable and more stylish, with lots of clever details, both aesthetic and useful.
If you liked the tall, square looks of the Monograph and its floating two-tone roof, you’re in luck, because the high fenders, large grille, slim lights, and blacked-out roof supports all make an appearance in the 2022 QX60, even though only the top Autograph trim will get the two-tone paint.

The exterior rewards an attentive walkaround. There are some neat little details, from the twists in the grille to the hatched silver trim plate inside the headlights. The production QX60 doesn’t get the flush door handles of the concept, but it does have the taillights with individual LEDs in a thin band that give the back of the SUV the look of a quickly departing spaceship. The only misstep we see in the exterior is the chrome faux exhaust tips at the bottom of the rear fascia. They don’t do anything, and why are they so shiny? Ah well, subjective. What isn’t subjective is that the 2022 QX60 doesn’t just look like it has a more aggressive stance; it’s measurable. The tires, 255/50-20 Bridgestones, are wider by 0.8 inch than before. The QX60’s track width measures 66.9 inches, 1.2 inches wider, and the overall height also gains 1.1 inches while losing 1.4 inches in length, resulting in a broad-shouldered machine that will still fit in a small garage. Under the big hood is the same naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V-6 from the previous QX60, making 295 horsepower. Only now, instead of a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), it’s backed by a nine-speed automatic transmission. Tim Franklin, director of product planning for Infiniti Americas, says the move to a geared transmission reflects customer feedback, but also Infiniti’s goals of reaching a broader audience with the new QX60. “It’s a luxury vehicle, and people expect certain things,” he said, adding that the change also means that a properly equipped AWD QX60 is now rated to tow up to 6000 pounds, an increase of 1000 pounds over the last version. The QX60 is still built on a front-wheel-drive platform, but all-wheel drive that can automatically send up to half the power to the rear wheels will be available on every trim level.
The exterior is dramatically new design for Infiniti, but the real changes come when you step inside. There might be one person who thinks the new interior isn’t an improvement over the old one, but we’d bet there aren’t two. Everything, from the shape of the dash with its sweeping, integrated console to the contrast piping around the seats, is more attractive and more comfortable. The available digital dash is clear and customizable. A 12.3-inch touchscreen sits surrounded by quilted leather, ready to display all your nav and infotainment needs, including Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay capability. And, as is sensible when offering wireless connectivity, there’s an optional wireless charging pad. Below the touchscreen, climate controls and massaging seat options are controlled through a backlit capacitive touchscreen, with hard knobs for power and temperature. If you don’t feel like cleaning smudges off the glossy displays, there are redundant physical button and rotary knob controls next to the cupholders, in front of a thick, padded armrest.

Infiniti

The second row offers an option of bench seat, making the QX60 a seven-passenger hauler, or captain’s chairs with a removable center console. Both versions feature one-touch buttons to tilt and slide the seats forward so third-row passengers can get in or out easily, even if there are child-safety seats in the second row. The seats fold quickly, and entrance to the third row requires no gymnastics, although the uncovered rails of the second row make third-row foot space uneven and messy. Visibility from the third row is good because of the QX60’s stepped-up seating design, which raises each row slightly above the one before it. The standard moonroof makes for even lighting throughout the cabin, but even though it isn’t a dreary back seat, it’s a cramped ride back there, best left to the small and flexible. If you’re carrying cargo that can’t complain, both rows fold nearly flat, offering 41.6 cubic feet of storage. There’s also a large underfloor cargo area, occupying space that was formerly taken up by subwoofers—which are now in the rear panels. The QX60, sibling to the Nissan Pathfinder, has been a popular vehicle for Infiniti. This redesign addresses criticisms of the dull interior and transmission which, if the price is right, should put it back in competition in the mid-size SUV segment where it squares off the Genesis GV80, BMW X5, and Volvo XC90, among others. The most recent QX60 was the 2020 model, which currently starts in the $45,000-to-$50,000 range, albeit with fewer trim levels. For the 2022 models, Infiniti has yet to release details of available trims, pricing, or EPA ratings, all of which are expected by the end of summer 2021. We hope by then we’ll be driving one.
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The EPA released range estimates for the Mustang Mach-E GT and GT Performance Edition—the former goes 270 miles on a charge while the latter can travel 260 miles.The GT and GT Performance Edition both have 480 horsepower and all-wheel drive.Deliveries of the GT and GT Performance begin in the fall, with prices for the GT starting at $61,000.With 480 horsepower and all-wheel drive, the top-of-the-line Mustang Mach-E GT claims to have the performance to live up to its iconic namesake. And now that the EPA has released estimates for both the GT and the GT Performance Edition models, we know that the higher-performance electric SUV’s range does not suffer massively compared to the Mustang Mach-E’s less powerful variants.
The EPA estimates the range of the GT at 270 miles, while the GT Performance Edition, which has an extra 34 pound-feet of torque for a total of 634 pound-feet, will go 260 miles on a charge. The GT and GT Performance Edition are only available with the 88.0-kWh Extended Range (ER) battery and both have two electric motors, one on each axle, providing all-wheel drive.These estimates are on the higher end among Mach-E trim levels, with the GT’s 270 miles matching the range of the Premium ER AWD. Although the sporty Mach-E models can’t compete with the 305-mile range of the California Route 1 (which uses the ER RWD setup), both the GT and Performance Edition can travel significantly further than any Mach-E equipped with the 68.0-kWh Standard Range battery, which is good for 211 miles of range with AWD and 230 miles of range with RWD.

The Mach-E’s closest rival is the Tesla Model Y Performance, which also utilizes a dual-motor AWD arrangement. The Model Y Performance’s motors make around 470 hp combined, shooting the egg-shaped crossover to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds in Car and Driver testing. The Model Y Performance also goes further on a charge than the Mach-E, with an EPA-rated 303 miles of range.The Mustang Mach-E GT starts at $61,000, about $1000 less than the Model Y Performance, and the GT Performance Edition costs an additional $5,000. Deliveries begin in the fall, and Ford says that more than half of the orders for the Mach-E GT so far have been for the Performance Edition.
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While in New York City to check out the newest location of Aston Martin’s luxury housing developments, we were offered the chance to try out Aston’s race simulator.The AMR-C01 costs $80,000 and features a 49-inch curved display and the precise seating you’d get in the Aston Martin Valkyrie, although this is different from the Valkyrie driving simulator C/D tried out a few years ago.Since we first told you about Aston’s pricey AMR-C01 simulator in 2020, only 20 of the planned 150 have been sold, so there’s still time to get one.Honestly, what were you doing at this point last year? If, like us, you left your real car parked and put thousands of miles on a trove of imaginary cars streaming from a huge flatscreen, you were gaming. Nonstop. More than half the country turned to video games in 2020. And seemingly everyone bought a new webcam and monitor. With production chains dismantled and at-home offices clamoring for electronics, the spike in gaming made it socially acceptable for grown adults to play in their living rooms while shouting at other grown adults in their living rooms. We amassed over 60 million Forza Horizon credits and built a garage of 300 cars. It was an incredible time.That brings us to the ultimate driving game time-suck available today, the Aston Martin AMR-C01, an $80,000 carbon fiber Jet Ski–like device that will park inside the homes of the world’s wealthiest gamers. Unlike a real Aston, the AMR-C01 is best sampled after a racquetball match, a cigar on the terrace, and some very old bottles of cognac. It’s a party, and as every gamer knows, the best parties are always indoors.

Aston Martin

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Inside a very dark room in a very expensive apartment building in lower Manhattan, we tried our hand at Laguna Seca behind the wheel of a Vantage GT4, and then the AMR-One, within the immersive Assetto Corsa. This is not Forza, so instead of collecting points for bashing an Aston into a stone wall, Assetto punishes you any time a tire touches dirt. It’s violent. Let go of the yokes as the GT4 breaks into a slide, and the powerful rear-wheel-drive car snaps left to right and left again. Tank slappers like these are accurately drilled into your knees. Ow. You’re never supposed to white-knuckle a race car, but you can’t afford too light a touch. The drilled metal brake pedal operates the same way. It won’t bite until you’re deep and deliberate with the stroke. Games like Assetto aren’t fun, really. Project Cars, iRacing, and other motorsport titles are training pads for real race car drivers who log hundreds of miles before they arrive for Friday practice. Darren Turner, a former Aston Martin factory driver who races a private GT4 in the British GT Cup, helped fine-tune the digital car we’re slicing through Corkscrew. But the sense of speed is more impressive than the physics. The AMR-C01 uses a single 49-inch curved display like a miniature IMAX movie. The rakish A-pillars and windshield fill the periphery. The in-car view wraps the dash around the physical steering wheel. We’ve driven sims that tack multiple displays onto a metal cage. The hard cuts slice the image across the panels. No good.

Aston Martin

Getting into the AMR-C01 is an exercise that’s almost too arduous for a living-room toy. The high carbon sill and rigid bucket seat (at the same fixed angle as in the upcoming Valkyrie) require a limber frame and some ungraceful movements. Powered fore/aft adjustments for the seat ensure a snug fit. They’re on the console, next to the kill switch with the red cover. Bathroom breaks will need to wait. And anyone over six foot two will stand back and watch. Tall people don’t fit well in real exotic cars or simulated ones.

Aston Martin

The idea of an Aston-branded simulator started between Turner and Aston’s chief designer Marek Reichman. The chassis comes in any of Aston’s racing liveries or factory paints, while the seat upholstery is available in any color leather or microsuede. The etched Aston badge on the nose is another Valkyrie touch.”The idea was to have something that’s beautiful,” says James Guess, who manages Base Performance Simulators, the British company that will help build only 150 examples. It’s marketed using the name Curv Racing Simulators.The AMR-C01 can run any Windows-based racing game, and there’s a wireless keyboard and trackpad that fits into a handy slot in the chassis. Hook it up to a surround sound stereo and you’d never see the light of day. It’s not quite the Red Bull Racing simulator we drove that Aston Martin used to develop the Valkyrie, but such a rig wouldn’t fit so neatly in a luxury apartment.

Aston Martin

However, the hardware beneath the Aston’s silky skin isn’t quite top shelf. The 120-Hz monitor runs at 2K resolution, not even 4K or the 8K of the best gaming screens. The graphics card, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, is significantly outpaced by the 3080 and 3090 chip sets. The Intel processor is the older i7, not the bleedingly fast 10-core i9. Many racing games haven’t yet touched the limits of these super silicon wonders, and yet in a short time, the AMR-C01 will be lapped by faster rigs built by home gamers at a fraction of the price. Guess thinks the computer hardware wouldn’t fit inside, since the majority of space accommodates the gamer’s legs and feet. But then again, an Aston Martin is always about more than the latest tech.So far, only 20 Aston sims have shipped. Meanwhile, Guess is racing a real Aston alongside Turner that is currently second in the championship. Sometimes the real thing has to be experienced outside.

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Porsche is adding the GTS model to the 2022 911, and it’s available in rear- and all-wheel-drive coupe and cabriolet models along with an all-wheel-drive Targa. They’re powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six that makes 473 horsepower and is available with either an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic or a seven-speed manual transmission. The 2022 911 GTS models are available to order now and will arrive early next year starting at $138,050.Porsche is adding the GTS model to the 992-generation 911’s lineup, and they have 30 more horsepower than the Carrera S models along with other performance upgrades. They’ll arrive in the U.S. early next year in rear- and all-wheel-drive coupe and convertible models along with an all-wheel-drive Targa variant.
The GTS model’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six produces 473 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, increases of 30 horsepower and 30 pound-feet over the Carrera S. An eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is standard, and a seven-speed manual with a 0.4-inch-shorter shift lever is optional. Porsche claims a zero-to-60-mph time of 3.1 seconds from the automatic-equipped Carrera 4 GTS, though, in our test of the Carrera 4S, we reached that mark in 2.8 seconds. Porsche’s sport exhaust system is standard on the GTS models.

Porsche’s adaptive dampers and Sport suspension’s 0.4-inch-lower ride height come standard and are specifically tuned for the GTS. The stopping power comes from 16.1-inch front and 15.0-inch rear iron rotors from the 911 Turbo and pair with black center-lock wheels derived from the Turbo S and sized 20 inches up front and 21 inches rear. An available lightweight package with carbon-fiber seats and lighter glass sheds 55 pounds, and it removes the rear seats and adds rear-axle steering.Like previous-generation GTS models, the new cars feature additional black trim inside and out. Their spoiler lip, rear grille, and GTS badging are all blacked out, and the Targa bar is black on the open-roof model. Porsche’s dynamic LED headlights with darkened surrounds are standard and the rear lights are also darker. Inside, a GT sport steering wheel and four-way adjustable sport seats are standard, and the interior is trimmed in Porsche’s suedelike Race-Tex material and carbon fiber.
The 2022 Porsche 911 GTS models are available to order now starting at $138,050 for the Carrera GTS, $150,850 for the Carrera GTS cabriolet, $145,350 for the Carrera 4 GTS, and the Carrera 4 GTS cabriolet and Targa 4 GTS both start at $158,150.
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Aston Martin is terminating its relationship with the Nebula Project of Switzerland over money it said it didn’t receive for Valkyrie, Valhalla, and Vanquish cars, saying it will lose as much as $21 million by ending the agreement. Nebula shares management with AF Cars, which also produces Zagato models and sells the Callum Vanquish 25.In other news, Aston has axed its track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro—but will announce a different variant later in June.The Aston Martin Valkyrie is set to be one of the world’s fastest and most exotic cars, but it has not had an easy development program. The original schedule, which had the 1160-hp hypercar slated to reach customers last year, was delayed by COVID-related complications. Now Aston is suing a Swiss dealer group, claiming it has withheld deposits it has received for the Valkyrie. From now on, Reuters reported today, Aston will collect the money from customers itself. There have been more complications, too: Car and Driver has also learned that the proposed track-only AMR Pro version of the Valkyrie has been canceled, with the company set to announce a different variant next week.

On paper, the Valkyrie remains every bit as special as it did when we first learned about what would become a collaboration between the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team and Aston Martin back in 2017. The car is the brainchild of Adrian Newey, the most successful F1 designer of all time, and will incorporate both a screaming naturally aspirated Cosworth-built V-12 engine and an ultra-lightweight structure which will give it a pound-to-horsepower ratio better than that of most GT race cars.But the development saga has been complicated. Aston’s statement makes clear that the company entered into an agreement with Nebula Project in Niederwil, Switzerland, in 2016 to help fund the development of the Valkyrie. They also teamed on the cars that would become the mid-engined Valhalla and Vanquish, on which Aston has also started work. According to Aston’s statement: “Under the terms of this agreement, Nebula Project AG was to receive royalty payments, which could have been significant over time, linked to production volumes of these programs and [Nebula] meeting its funding commitments.” Aston says Nebula failed to pay Valkyrie customers’ deposits forward, so it has terminated both the agreement and its contract with AF Cars, the company that operated its Saint Gallen dealership in Switzerland and shared its directors with Nebula. Doing this is anticipated to reduce cash flow by as much as $21 million at current exchange rates, but Aston says it will ultimately save money through not having to make royalty payments. The company also confirms it has not entered into similar deals with any other third party, with the claim it was agreed upon by “prior management” prominent in the statement.AF Cars also controls the R-Reforged brand, which has been selling factory-approved Zagato-bodied coupe and speedster versions of the previous-generation Vantage, and which is also marketing Ian Callum’s exclusive restomod version of the original Vanquish. We don’t know how the termination of the agreement will affect those projects.

Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro at Geneva auto show, 2019.
Aston Martin

In separate but related news, Aston is set to unveil another version of the Valkyrie at the end of this month. Pictures taken from what seems to be a configurator page leaked yesterday showing a car with much more aggressive wingwork than the regular Valkyrie. Aston insiders have confirmed that this is the replacement for the proposed track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro, which was meant to be limited to no more than 25 cars but which was quietly axed at the end of last year when potential customers who had expressed interest were told the car was no longer going ahead. The lights, wipers, and door mirrors visible on the new Valkyrie variant in the leaked images strongly suggest it will be street legal.

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Hyundai has shared the first non-camouflaged photos of the new Elantra N high-performance sedan. We’ll know full specs soon, but it’s expected to use a 276-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine and offer either a manual or a dual-clutch-automatic transmission. The Elantra N will join the Veloster N and Kona N in Hyundai’s growing N performance lineup. Hyundai is sharing the first non-camouflaged images of the upcoming four-door Elantra N high-performance sedan. The new model will join the Kona N crossover and Veloster N hot hatch in the Korean automaker’s growing N performance lineup when it’s officially revealed in July.

Hyundai

The Elantra N is expected to be powered by the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that’s found in the Kona N and Veloster N. It makes 276 hp and 289 pound-feet of torque, and the Elantra N will offer either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Below the Elantra N sits the new N-line model, which makes 201 horsepower from a turbo 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine.

We can see that the N will have a sportier appearance than the Elantra N-line thanks to the addition of a rear spoiler, red trim on the side skirts and bumpers, and large dual exhaust tips, which should provide a raucous exhaust note. It’ll also have a stiffer suspension, larger brakes, and 19-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. The Elantra N could arrive in the U.S. by the end of the year or early next, and we’ll know more information and specs soon. A Hyundai spokesperson told Car and Driver that the U.S. version will be shown at the New York auto show in late August. It should start at around $30,000 and compete with less powerful sporty sedans such as the Volkswagen Jetta GLI and Honda Civic Si.
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Toyota has revealed an image of the 2022 Tundra’s interior. It shows a large center mounted touchscreen, which will help it compete against the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500, which both have available 12.0-inch screens. Toyota showed an image of a TRD Pro model last week, and the full truck will debut in the coming months. If Toyota wants its new Tundra full-size pickup to compete with trucks from Ford and Ram it’ll need to have a significantly improved interior. A large central touchscreen is crucial, and Toyota is showing from this teaser photo of the new truck’s interior that it’s serious about making it stand out.
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This teaser photo shows the top of the new Tundra’s dash, and it seems to be the same TRD Pro model that Toyota revealed last week. Two JBL speakers are mounted inside the A pillars, and the steering wheel has a red stripe atop the steering wheel, likely exclusive to the TRD Pro model. The main attraction is the large center-mounted touchscreen, which has Apple CarPlay displayed in this photo.

The current Tundra comes standard with a 7.0-inch touchscreen, though an 8.0-inch unit is available. The new truck’s will be much larger so it can compete with the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500’s available 12.0-inch screens. A smaller screen will likely be standard on the new Tundra. Look for more information on the 2022 Tundra in the coming months, and Toyota could drop a few more bits of information before its official debut this year.
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