Motor News

A study conducted in the last week of April found that most car shoppers have heard about the semiconductor chip shortage and are aware that it is affecting vehicle production, supply, and thus prices.Forty percent say they’re willing to pay 12 percent over MSRP for a new car. Given average new-car prices, that means $5000.Over a third of shoppers looking now say they’d wait to buy, given the high prices, and a quarter of those people say they’ll buy used instead.You already know this, but we’ll say it again: car prices are climbing. A report in April showed prices were around 4 percent higher than a year before, and we’ve beat that news drum repeatedly in the past month. It turns out that people seem to understand that there’s no way around it if you want to buy a new car today.Cox Automotive released a study this week showing just how receptive buyers are to higher prices. Forty percent, Cox found, would not shy away from being charged a 12 percent premium. Given that the average new-car MSRP in the U.S. is almost $42,000, that means four in 10 people would accept a price that’s $5000 more than what the sticker says.Despite the higher expected prices, only 37 percent said they’d wait to buy a vehicle, with 70 percent of those saying they’ll wait at least three months to purchase and 23 percent saying they’ll look at used vehicles, instead.

Cox Automotive spokesman Mark Schirmer told Car and Driver: “The current auto market, with low inventory and high demand, is anything but normal. And we know it’s driving people away.”Cox’s research shows that 87 percent of consumers recognize the issue is impacting both domestic and import nameplates. As the issue is industry-wide, 73 percent of consumers are expecting to face higher prices at the dealerships, and nearly 60 percent believe they will find lower incentives. One main reason for this non-sticker shock is the limited supply times that we’re all living in. Cox’s survey was conducts in the last week of April, and found that 75 percent of car shoppers knew about the global semiconductor chip shortage and that it was wrecking havoc on new car production. Almost as many, 73 percent, said they expected to see higher prices at the dealership, and almost 60 percent said they expected that any incentives they might find would be lower than before.Cox’s Schirmer also says, however, that “Our recent research shows nearly 40 percent of buyers who were considered ‘in market’ for a vehicle are now dropping out or deciding to delay their purchase. High prices and limited selection are likely the cause.” And does this sound like anyone you know? “For the most part, car buying in America continues to be driven by the deal,” he said, noting that even under current conditions, “Older shoppers—and specifically older male shoppers—[are] less willing to pay over sticker. These older buyers are a cohort we call ‘Straight Shooters,’ and they are experienced vehicle buyers, with plenty of good deals in their past. Paying above sticker is an unnatural act for this group.”

2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe.
Stellantis

Just over a million and a half vehicles were sold in the U.S. in April. According to iSeeCars, the fastest-selling cars in the U.S. last month were the Chevrolet Corvette (average price $87,390), the Jeep Wrangler 4xe ($57,161), and the Kia Telluride ($44,723). Fastest-selling means these vehicles spent the shortest time waiting on dealer lots for someone to take them home. In total, 16 models were sold in an average of under 20 days, while the overall average for the entire market was 48.3 days.At the end of April, there were less than 2 million new vehicles on dealership lots in the U.S., which was 42 percent lower than April 2020. Cox said it believes supply will continue to be low until at least the end of the year.
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The Golden Ray, the ill-fated cargo ship that capsized in September 2019 with 4200 vehicles on board, caught fire on Friday afternoon, May 14.The ship’s remains are in the water of Saint Simons Sound, off the coast of Georgia, and it has been the subject of a complex salvage effort for more than 18 months.Only about 1000 of the thousands of ruined cars, trucks, and SUVs on board have been removed from the wreck to date.Thick black smoke billowed out from the Golden Ray shipwreck on Friday afternoon as it sat half-salvaged off the coast of St. Simons Island, Georgia. The Golden Ray is the ship that capsized in September 2019 with more than 4000 new vehicles inside.Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Himes, a spokesperson for the St. Simons Incident Command, says the fire started as crews were testing fire suppression systems while preparing to cut into the third of the ship’s eight sections; four sections have already been removed. This is the first time that a major fire has broken out since the salvage operation began, and it dwarfs the fires that broke out during the ship’s capsizing.

The exact source of the fire is unknown, though Section 3 does comprise the ship’s engine room. What’s more, unified command officials reckoned during an April 26 briefing that there could be as much as 44,000 gallons of fuel while gaming out worst-case scenarios; more than 320,000 gallons had been siphoned out before cutting operations began. Also: only 1000 cars aboard the Golden Ray have been removed from the wreck site in total.
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All nonessential responders have been safely evacuated from the VB-10000 “crane-saw” catamaran, which is just upwind from the heaviest smoke and the most essential instrument in the salvage operation—as it lifts and cuts the ship. No injuries have been observed. Crews continue to fight the fire with seawater from a flotilla of tugboats against winds that had been forecasted at 20 mph.

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Friend and former C/D contributor Jason Cammisa returns to Window Shop this week to help us look for sleepers that cost less than $20,000. Not to be confused with the 1973 Woody Allen movie, in the car world, a sleeper (a.k.a. a Q-ship or Q-car) is a vehicle that doesn’t look fast but is. Think, wolf in sheep’s clothing. First up is Santa Barbara’s favorite son and Road & Track’s newest staffer, John Pearley Huffman. Now that Huffman no longer has to worry about his freelance career, he has even more time to devote to Toyota Tundras. So it should surprise no one that his pick is a 2007 Tundra with the 381-hp 5.7-liter V-8. While some might not suspect a pickup can produce a sub-six-second time to 60, Cammisa points out that many modern trucks with the right engines can be very quick.No one denies deputy testing director K.C. Colwell’s Q-ship. Following in the footsteps of Jason Statham in Transporter 2, Colwell selects a 2005 Audi A8L W-12. We bring up the potential headaches of the 450-hp engine and wonder why and how and why the seller got verified on a car-listing site. Cammisa tells us the real problem isn’t the 6.0-liter W-12 under the hood, it’s the car’s air suspension. We take his word for it. Contributor Jonathon Ramsey finds a very similar car to Colwell’s: an Audi S8. Known for its 5.2-liter version of the Lamborghini V-10, this car brings back memories of several accidents and expensive fixes we had with an S8 long-termer. By the end of Ramsey’s presentation, we wonder if it’s in fact the very same car. (It’s not.)Cammisa shows off three interesting sleepers but asks us to judge his 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8. A mean-looking SUV, we debate how a monochromatic Jeep with 20-inch wheels can be a sleeper. As usual, we don’t settle anything and just bicker a lot. Last to go is deputy editor Tony Quiroga, who created the challenge after watching Cammisa’s video on the Mercedes 500E/E500. Quiroga blows the budget by nearly $5000 but finds what might be the ultimate Q-ship. Tune in to see if his choice can pull off the win despite breaking the rules.

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A new generation of the Kia Sportage will arrive for the 2023 model year.These spy photos show that it will have a new design with an interesting headlight treatment.The U.S. market will likely get a long-wheelbase model, while these photos show the smaller Europe-market version.A new version of the Kia Sportage is in the works, and according to these spy photos it may feature a polarizing front-end design. The headlights are mounted low, the grille features an interesting texture, and the hood has an unusual cutline. We suspect Kia is going for a split-headlight look similar to older Jeep Cherokee and Nissan Juke models, and we’re curious to see how it turns out when the production Sportage is revealed, likely later this year.

KGP Photography

The car pictured here is a Europe-market version of the Sportage, which means it is smaller than the longer-wheelbase version we’ll likely get in the U.S. This is similar to the related 2022 Hyundai Tucson, with which the Sportage should share a platform. The Kia is also likely to get the same engines as the Tucson, which include a base 2.5-liter inline-four, a hybrid with a turbo 1.6-liter inline-four, and a plug-in hybrid with a larger battery pack. Front-wheel drive will be standard with all-wheel drive optional.In keeping with the current Sportage lineup, Kia may offer a more powerful turbocharged engine as an optional upgrade. The turbo 2.5-liter inline-four found in the K5 and Sorento seems like a likely choice, and it could produce somewhere between 280 and 300 horsepower for a possible Sportage SX or GT model.

KGP Photography

We should find out more about the Sportage later this year as it is revealed for global markets. The U.S. version likely won’t arrive until 2022 for the 2023 model year, as Kia has already released information about the carryover 2022 Sportage for our market.
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Outfitting a new (or used) Airstream trailer just got easier with a new collection of decor items from home-goods retailer Pottery Barn.The collection includes custom-fitted bedding, matching tableware, travel-friendly games, and other accessories.This collection is the second one to come from a partnership between the two luxury brands and it’s available for purchase now through both the Pottery Barn website and will launch on the Airstream accessory website in June.A record number of Americans are venturing into the recreational-vehicle world these days,—the RV Industry Association expects deliveries to be up nearly 20 percent in 2021 over last year. With demand for travel trailers, motorhomes, and campers at a fever pitch and many people wanting to take all the luxury of home with them on the road, Airstream has partnered with the home-decor specialists at Pottery Barn for a collection of accessories that are custom-fitted for the brand’s travel trailers.
The collection of goods includes custom-fitted organic-cotton bedding, dinnerware, kitchen linens, barware, indoor/outdoor pillows, and even small accessories such as wine-bottle stoppers and travel games. A picnic set includes service for four in a hike-friendly canvas backpack. Many of the items sport a graphic of the iconic Airstream “silver bullet” trailer, and items such as coffee mugs and door mats are emblazoned with the phrase “Always Home.”

Airstream and Pottery Barn have partnered on accessories before, but this large collection of over 40 items gives shoppers more choice. Everything here is available now through the Pottery Barn website and in June will appear on the Airstream Supply Company’s website alongside other Airstream-approved parts and accessories. Prices range from $12 to $899.
We can’t help but think that these items would look nice at any campsite, even those not occupied by an Airstream. So if you’re one of the thousands of Americans who is new to camping and want to customize your travel experience with some high-end decor this seems as good a place to start as any.
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The auction site Bring a Trailer has just listed a 1988 Callaway Corvette, but not just any Callaway Corvette.This C4 Vette was part of Project Sledgehammer, Callaway’s program to create the fastest, most uncompromised roadgoing Corvette ever. Its predecessor was part of a Car and Driver multi-car test in 1987 called “A Gathering of Eagles.”The auction ends on May 23, and bidding has already exceeded $450,000.Today, a very special Corvette has gone up for auction on Bring a Trailer: the 1988 Project Sledgehammer Callaway Corvette. Anyone who’s followed the storied history of the Chevrolet Corvette likely knows about Callaway, a specialty vehicles company that develops performance modifications and packages for production vehicles with an emphasis on Corvettes.

Back in 1988, the Callaway team set out on Project Sledgehammer with the goal of pushing the C4 Corvette platform to its absolute limit in order to create the most uncompromised roadgoing Vette ever. It eventually resulted in a road-car speed record of 254.76 mph in 1989 that stood long past the turn of the century.

Bring a Trailer

[image id=’54efd29e-c240-4686-af06-09e3fbda2cde’ mediaId=’8ac1e550-2fc3-4896-9cb2-97c1f01cd809′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’true’ caption=” expand=” crop=’18×11′][/image]The Sledgehammer even has a history with Car and Driver. Its predecessor, nicknamed the Top Gun Corvette, made an appearance in the story “A Gathering of Eagles” in our December 1987 issue. The story tells how it logged a speed of 231 mph at the top-speed event we held on the Transportation Research Center’s 7.5-mile oval. Snippets of the event and background on the car can be found in this YouTube video:
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In the years since that record-setting run, the 200-mph club has steadily grown, but none has gone quite as far to separate itself from the pack as the Sledgehammer. In order to make the leap from the 231-mph mark measured at our Eagles event to the target of 250 mph required major modifications: pieces of the frame had to be removed for packaging purposes, an entirely new body kit for improved aerodynamics had to be developed, and a new 5.7-liter twin-turbo V-8 built by John Lingenfelter with a stronger rotating assembly, new heads, a new camshaft, and larger turbochargers capable of more boost replaced the Callaway-designed mill. When all was said and done, the Sledgehammer was able to produce a massive amount of power—especially for the time—to the tune of 880 horsepower and 772 pound-feet. Perhaps best of all is that, despite all the changes it went through, the Sledge never lost its manual transmission.

Bring a Trailer

The Sledgehammer’s BaT listing states that it has just over 2000 miles on the odometer and has spent the majority of its time in a museum environment—and from the photos it sure looks like that’s the case. It’s hard to say how quick this car would’ve been on the street; we only had a chance to test the standard Callaway Corvette back then, but it’s safe to say the Sledgehammer would better those numbers and then some. As of this writing, the bid sits at $325,000. The auction will go for another 11 days and you’ll need a lot of coin—quite possibly into the seven figures—to get a chance to test it out for yourself. With its one-off rarity and rich history, it’s unlikely the mighty Sledgehammer will see much more than museum-parking duty for the rest of its life, and that’s probably for the best. In a world rapidly proliferating with electric vehicles it’s important we don’t forget the past.
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Mitsubishi is bringing back the Ralliart performance subbrand, as first reported by Forbes.Ralliart was most recently applied to the Lancer and Galant in the U.S. in the late-2000s.Ralliart also encompasses a range of performance accessories.Mitsubishi is digging into its rich rallying history and reviving the Ralliart performance subbrand. The name will return soon, according to an earnings presentation, although the company provided few details about which vehicles it would be applied to or even if it will come to the U.S. market.

Most recently, Mitsubishi offered a turbocharged Ralliart version of the Lancer in the U.S. from 2009 to 2014 that fit between the base car and the higher-performance, all-wheel-drive Lancer Evolution. There was also a Ralliart version of the Galant mid-size sedan. Now that Mitsubishi’s lineup features mostly SUVs, we could reasonably expect Ralliart versions of crossovers such as the Outlander and Eclipse Cross; in the presentation, Mitsubishi showed the Ralliart logo alongside a version of its global L200 pickup.Mitsubishi refers to the return of Ralliart as helping towards its goal of “realization of Mitsubishi Motors–ness.” We’re not sure what that means, but we won’t complain about an renewed emphasis on performance in whatever form it takes. Expect to hear more about future Mitsubishi Ralliart models within the next few months as Mitsubishi fleshes out its plans.
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Porsche has released pricing for the 2022 718 Boxster and Cayman, and price increases range from $600 to $2500 depending on the model. The 718 has three engine options: two turbocharged flat-fours, providing 300 and 350 horsepower, or a 394- or 414-hp 4.0-liter flat-six engine.The 2022 Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman are available to order now and will arrive in the U.S. this fall. Porsche’s 718 model line, which includes the Boxster convertible and Cayman coupe, has received a slight price increase for the 2022 model year. They’re available to order now and will arrive in the U.S. this fall starting at $61,850 for the Cayman and $63,950 for the Boxster.

2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 in Shark Blue.
Porsche

Those prices are for the base-model cars, which are powered by a 300-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four and come standard with a six-speed manual gearbox (Porsche’s PDK dual-clutch automatic is optional). The Cayman and Boxster S models, which start at $73,850 and $75,950, use a 350-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter flat-four. Both models are $600 more than the previous model year. The T models, which come with a sport suspension and the 2.0-liter engine, start at $70,950 for the Cayman and $73,050 for the Boxster, and they’re $700 more than before.

Last year Porsche replaced the 718 GTS with a new GTS 4.0 model, and it gets a 394-hp 4.0-liter flat-six engine. This year, the GTS models are also $600 more expensive, starting at $88,750 for the Cayman GTS 4.0 and $90,850 for the Boxster GTS 4.0. Porsche also introduced a Boxster 25th Anniversary model last year, which uses the 394-hp 4.0-liter, and now it’s $2500 more, starting at $102,450. The top-of-the line track-focused Cayman GT4 now costs $102,550 and the 718 Spyder is $99,650. They both use a 414-hp version of the 4.0-liter flat-six and recently added the option of a dual-clutch automatic transmission.Orders for the 2022 Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman are open now, and they can be finished in two new colors: Shark Blue (introduced on the new 911 GT3) and Frozenberry Metallic. Buyers can also now get painted keys in a leather pouch, the owner’s manual in a leather pouch, and personalized floor mats.
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