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The Torsus Praetorian is an off-road bus that can hold up to 35 people.It uses a heavy-duty MAN truck chassis and a six-cylinder diesel engine.Prices range from the equivalent of $185,000 and go up to around $445,000.What vehicle would be best suited for the apocalypse? The typical answers tend to feature rugged trucks or SUVs. But what if you need to move more people?This could be the bus for the end times. Built in Slovakia, the Torsus Praetorian is able to carry up to 35 occupants further into the wilderness than almost anything else thanks to its combination of a bus body with the underpinnings of an off-road truck. Using a heavy-duty MAN chassis, four-wheel drive, and a six-cylinder diesel engine, Torsus claims it can climb a 33 degree incline and wade through water up to three feet in depth.

Torsus

Designed to haul personnel through the world’s toughest environments, the Praetorian uses a 6.9-liter MAN D08 turbodiesel engine which makes 286 horsepower and 849 pound-feet of torque and a nine-speed ZF automatic transmission. It can operate in rear-drive mode, or the front axle can be engaged. There is also a front differential lock, although selecting this restricts the front wheels’ steering angle. Torsus claims a 32 degree approach angle, 26 degree departure angle, and minimum ground clearance of 13.4 inches beneath the axles. Fully laden, the Praetorian’s maximum possible weight is a substantial 29,550 pounds—and it also has a standard 62-mph speed limiter. Given the forces involved, that’s probably sensible.Torsus is particularly proud of the Praetorian’s air conditioning system, which has been extensively tested in environments as hot as Australia’s Great Sandy desert. The company says it can reduce the temperature in the cabin from 140 Fahrenheit to 85 Fahrenheit in just three minutes, and down to 68 Fahrenheit in under 15 minutes—all while carrying a full load of 35 occupants. The system can also provide addition cooling to the engine in extreme situations, like trying to climb sand dunes. A similarly powerful heating system and the bus’s insulation are designed for Arctic conditions.

Torsus

The Torsus Praetorian has been on sale since 2018, but new innovations for 2021 include LED lighting, a power-operated door that incorporates pneumatic footsteps, and an automatic fire suppressant system for the 79 gallon fuel tank and underhood area. While designed primarily for industrial and military use, the Praetorian is available in various configurations, from bus to what the Torsus refers at as a “Command Center.” There’s even the chance for adventurous millionaires to buy overland camping versions, or alternatively to commission their own build based on the stripped-out entry level version. Prices start at the equivalent of $185,000 for the bare-bones version and rise to $445,000 for the top-spec Expedition. Sadly, the Praetorian isn’t federalized for sale in the U.S.
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Bring a Trailer is running an auction for the last Plymouth vehicle ever built, a 2001 Neon LX that rolled off the line in June 2001.The Neon in question is a single-owner car with 68 miles showing on the digital odometer.There’s no reserve, but as of Monday evening, the bidding stood at $10,250. The auction ends on May 10 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time. We’ll update this story with the final selling price.If you’ve got several thousand dollars and a particular taste for pristine examples of objectively boring cars, have we got a car for you. Bring a Trailer (with which Car and Driver shares a parent company) is running an auction for the last Plymouth car ever built, a 2001 Neon. Hagerty reports that the car was custom ordered by Darrell Davis, who was then senior vice-president of parts and service for DaimlerChrysler. The car’s digital odometer has only recorded 68 miles of travel, and it’s currently based in Florida, safe from the salty winters of its Midwestern birthplace.

The Neon is in the LX trim. It has a silver exterior and a black leather interior, and it’s packed with options including wood-grain trim, a sunroof, and an in-dash CD changer. It has front-wheel drive and a five-speed manual transmission, and it’s powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

Bring a Trailer

Davis drove the car off the Belvidere, Illinois, assembly line himself and has saved every conceivable piece of memorabilia for the next owner. That person will take delivery of a banner displayed above the car as it came off the line, a never-installed radio antenna, the original window sticker, and assorted other paperwork and miscellaneous items. The car is stored in a climate-controlled garage, but there’s some corrosion visible on the muffler in the pictures provided to Bring a Trailer.

Bring a Trailer

The 2001 Neon was the second model year of the car’s second generation, and it was also sold as a Dodge in the United States and a Chrysler in other markets. After Plymouth folded on June 29, 2001 (the day after this car was built), Dodge continued building the cars and selling them in the U.S. until 2006.The Neon cost $18,210 when new. That works out to $27,250 in 2021 money. There’s no reserve on the auction, and at press time on the evening of Monday, May 3, the bidding stood at $10,000 after having risen quickly in the afternoon. The auction is scheduled to end on Monday, May 10 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time. Davis, who says he has owned 160 cars in his life and is now selling the Neon in an attempt to shrink his fleet, is hoping the car will go to someone who can appreciate its place in automotive history.
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Ford and BMW have invested in Colorado-based solid-state battery startup Solid Power.Solid-state batteries are promised to offer greater energy density than the lithium-ion batteries that are currently used in electric vehicles.The upcoming EVs with the new batteries will arrive by 2030. Ford and BMW are investing $130 million in solid-state battery startup Solid Power in a push to reduce the cost and increase the range of their future electric vehicles. Ford initially contributed to an earlier investment round in 2019, and both automakers have joint agreements to use the technology in upcoming electric vehicles that will arrive by 2030. Solid-state batteries, which are not yet being used in mass-market cars, promise to offer greater energy density compared to the lithium-ion batteries typically used in today’s electric vehicles. Solid Power uses sulfide-based cells and promises that its solid electrolyte is not flammable, and it says they deliver more than 50 percent more energy density. The startup produces them using a manufacturing infrastructure similar to that used for lithium-ion battery production.

A BloombergNEF (New Energy Finance) report from December 2020 said that the production costs of manufacturing solid-state batteries could be 40 percent that of current lithium-ion batteries when they reach full-scale production. However, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer told CNBC that its investment in solid-state batteries is currently “significantly smaller” than for lithium-ion.Solid Power will begin production of the automotive batteries early next year, according to Doug Campbell, CEO and co-founder of Solid Power. They’ll be used for the testing and development of upcoming Ford and BMW vehicles starting then, too. Ford announced last week that it’s opening a $185 million lab called “Ford Ion Park” next year to develop new processes for producing these solid-state battery packs in house. Ford just launched the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover, of which it has sold 6614 so far this year, and the electric F-150 Lightning will arrive next year. BMW currently has the electric i3 on sale in the U.S. and the i4 sedan and iX crossover will arrive soon. It says that its new generation of electric vehicles will launch in the middle of the decade. A prototype car with the technology will be on the road by 2025, BMW says.
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We have some great news for French car enthusiasts in our nation’s capital. Free2Move, a ride-sharing and rental service, may soon be offering the Citroën Ami, a tiny electric two-seat hatchback sold in Europe, to customers in the Washington, D.C., area.

Free2Move has published a teaser on LinkedIn showing a silhouette of the Ami along with the phrase “From France with Love,” along with the caption, “Something big is coming to Washington, D.C.,” suggesting it plans to introduce the Ami into its lineup of available shared cars sometime soon. Sounds promising.
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The Ami is already in use by Free2Move on the other side of the pond and, as you can probably already tell, barely qualifies as a car. According to Carscoops, it’s technically considered a quadricycle in Europe, being shorter and narrower than even a Smart Fortwo. Thanks to a 5.5-kWh battery pack mounted in the floor, it’s able to reach a top speed of 28 mph, with a range of up to 44 miles. There’s no word yet on when exactly the Ami might be available to drive in D.C., or how much it’ll cost to rent. Considering the car can be purchased for as low as around $7250 in Europe, we suspect it won’t be too pricey.

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Williams Advanced Engineering is using its EVX modular electric vehicle platform with Italdesign’s well-known vehicle design capabilities. The firms say they are offering a “complete upper-premium EV production solution for electric sports GTs, crossovers, and sedans.”Thanks to the composite structural battery, EVX provides the platform to deliver vehicles with class-leading light weight and chassis stiffness, Williams says.Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and Italdesign are cooperating on a modular platform for building a wide variety of high-end electric cars. WAE was formed in 2010 from the Williams Formula 1 team, while the Italdesign design studio has been part of the VW Group since 2010. The companies say the platform can be used as a basis for creating sports cars, crossovers, and sedans, and it’s being offered to both new EV entrants and OEMs.

The convertible platform.
WAE

The core of the joint offer is Williams’s EVX electric-car platform with a structural battery. Williams says the EVX platform allows EVs to be industrialized quickly, emphasizing “performance, flexibility, and business cases for small- to medium-volume production.

“The platform is made from recycled composite materials and aluminum,” Williams says, “making EVX lightweight and setting new standards for static and torsional stiffness.” EVX can accommodate wheelbases from 114 inches to 122 inches and both rear- and all-wheel-drive layouts. Customers will be able to choose the vehicle design and the powertrain. WAE says a version of its modular battery system was developed for Formula E, and it can enable either a power output up to 1000 kW or a 620-mile range. In addition to Formula E, WAE supplies batteries for the Extreme E off-road racing series and a new European-based electric touring car series called the Electric Touring Car Racing series, or ETCR. Williams says the platform is designed for battery sizes between 104.0 and 120.0 kWh.

WAE supplies batteries to Extreme E series.
@kubajszcom

Williams says its structural battery is new and explains it this way: “Front and rear chassis structures mount to the carbon-composite case, and crash loads can be transferred via internal reinforcements to the integral side sills,” Williams says. “The resulting higher-profiled cross-section achieves much of the torsional stiffness needed to deliver the full potential of the platform.” So, the company says, there is less reliance on the “upper structure,” potentially offering more freedom in vehicle design.

The SUV concept has a Maserati-ish front end.
WAE

WAE says the modular platform is “ready for customization by the Italdesign styling team, who will shape the final vehicle to match the brand’s requirements in terms of marketing positioning, design direction, etc.”

WAE says it can do a sedan, too.
WAE

“Demand for high-performance electric vehicles is continuing to show considerable growth but to date, there has not been a complete EV production solution,” says WAE tech director Paul McNamara. “This unique relationship brings together state-of-the-art EV rolling chassis technology with one of the world’s leaders in vehicle body engineering.”Italdesign chief technical officer Antonion Casu said the idea is to offer cars in the “GT, sedan, crossover, and convertible markets, fully customizable inside and outside. We are targeting business cases that will cover different production volumes from an Ultra Limited Series up to 10,000 units a year, 500 of which can be built by Italdesign at our facilities in Turin.”

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Imagine a game show where everyone is obsessed with cars. Where arguments about the trivial are elevated above important issues. Where there are no winners or losers—or at least where winning or losing doesn’t matter. That’s Window Shop with Car and Driver. Every week, the WS crew tries to help you escape reality in favor of a goofier plane of existence. Don’t get too excited, though; this show has all the production values of a recorded Zoom call.So what’s on the menu today? Host Tony Quiroga set the challenge: Find a car (or cars) that you lusted after as a freshly minted driver. The usual gang of misfits weighed in.Contributor John Pearley Huffman looked back to his halcyon teenage years and dreamt of owning a genuine, Penske-built, Mark Donohue–driven race car. Quiroga cruelly nixed that, so Pearley presented the late-70s Porsche 911 Turbo (930) as an alternative.Contributor Jonathon Ramsey brought up that other icon of the ’70s, the Lamborghini Countach. The youngest and most practical of the shoppers, Joey Capparella, went hardcore norm-core with a 2006 Acura RSX Type-S. Deputy testing director K.C. Colwell undermined Pearley’s choice by presenting a brilliant 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo (993). And Quiroga, going full nut burger, picked a 1991 Lotus Esprit Turbo and then had the audacity to claim that GM electronics made it reliable.Tune in now to watch these frenemies compete in our ridiculous little game show.

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Pricing for the updated 2022 Genesis G70 starts at $38,570.The base model is more expensive than before, but the more powerful 3.3T version is cheaper.The G70 will be arriving at U.S. dealerships this summer.Genesis remains a value player in the luxury space, but its prices are gradually creeping upward. The updated version of the G70 sedan for 2022 carries a base price that’s $1525 higher than last year’s model. It now starts at $38,570 for the base rear-wheel-drive 2.0T model.

The optional twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6 engine, though, is less expensive than before, as a G70 in rear-wheel-drive 3.3T configuration starts at $43,145, down from the 2021 3.3T model’s $47,245 starting price. Both engines offer all-wheel drive as a $2100 option. The 2.0T model offers only a single higher trim level, called Prestige, while 3.3T cars are available in Sport Advanced and Sport Prestige trims. There’s also an exclusive G70 Launch Edition with special color combos that costs $53,345. It’s offered only with the 3.3T engine and either rear- or all-wheel drive.The 2022 G70 benefits from updated styling that makes it look more similar to the newer G80 and GV80. It’s freshened inside, too, with a larger infotainment screen and a few new features.
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Uber announced this week it would partner with Walgreens to allow users to book a COVID-19 vaccine and a ride to the appointment at the same time. It also announced that users can now book rental cars through the app, thanks to new partnerships with Avis and Hertz. And there’s one more gimmick they should have tried a long time ago: riders can now order and collect food delivery orders while they are on a ride-hail trip. Just remember to tip your driver extra if you make them wait in the Taco Bell drive-thru line.This Week in SheetmetalIt was a slow week for reveals after the flurry of activity related to last week’s Shanghai Auto Show, but we caught a glimpse of the C8 Corvette Z06 and Zr1 in a video posted to a Corvette-themed YouTube channel. The cars were heavily camouflaged, but there’s no hiding the sound of a flat-plane crank V-8.Volkswagen announced a GTX Performance trim for its ID.4 electric crossover. The new variant will have all-wheel drive and 295 horsepower compared to the base model’s rear-wheel drive and 201 horses. The trim name is intended as a nod to our beloved GTI, but we’ll have to drive one before we decide if the souped-up ID.4 is worthy of that association.[image id=’12495b3a-cf60-4850-961f-d688bec86596′ mediaId=’25f872da-ac1b-4705-9cf2-30094fec6c72′ align=’right’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’original’][/image]Mercedes will bring its 503-hp GLC63 S SUV to the United States after previously limiting U.S. customers to the sleeker-looking but less useful GLC63 S Coupe. That power comes from a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engine, and if the coupe is any indicator, it should be blazing fast. Hyundai has announced the details of its Kona N crossover. The Kona will be the second member of the N family in the U.S. (the first was the Veloster N, which we love). It will hit dealerships this fall with 286 horsepower from a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine.[image id=’2aea6974-2566-47da-a9b5-a237b66ac5e9′ mediaId=’ed5248fb-b9b6-406b-aed9-90d203c296c2′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’original’][/image]Energy IndependenceFord gets the batteries for its Mustang Mach-E EV from LG Chem, which also supplies batteries for the Chevrolet Bolt and other EVs. But the best supplier is no supplier at all, which is why Ford has announced a new battery production R&D project in southeastern Michigan. The endeavor, called Ion Park, started as a pilot last year. Ford has already spent $100 million on the project, which it hopes will uncover cheaper, quicker ways to build electric vehicle battery cells at scale. If the project bears fruit it could be well worth the investment. Ford is due to launch an electric F-150, which we now know will be called the Lightning, in the middle of next year.Porsche also gets its EV batteries from LG Chem and is also investigating the possibility of building its own. Porsche says it will build a battery factory in Tübingen, Germany. Volkswagen, Porsche’s parent company, has separate plans to build half a dozen battery factories throughout Europe, but the Tübingen factory will specialize in what Porsche CEO Oliver Blume referred to as “high-performance” battery cells.General Motors has already invested scads of cash in its proprietary battery project, called Ultium, but may be wishing it had independence of a different kind after its workers’ union, the UAW, raised objections to a GM plan to spend $1 billion on a new EV factory in Mexico. The plant would manufacture batteries and other components for EVs to be sold in the United States and around the world. But the UAW says that since GM is courting government subsidies and investment for its EVs, the company should build its cars (and hire its employees) in the United States. GM didn’t outline its side of the argument, but presumably it can be summed up thusly: $$.[editoriallinks id=’0f520a9a-6d84-4b69-b126-b5c8b774e3d9′ align=’left’][/editoriallinks]Supply Chain Disasters, ContinuedThe semiconductor shortage continues to upend the car world. Ford says the shortage could result in a 50 percent cut to production in the second quarter, and Volkswagen has recently announced new plant shutdowns. But that’s old news. The new thing to worry about is an impending summer fuel shortage, brought on by a shortage of drivers qualified to drive the fuel tankers. The key takeaway from the story is that the fuel shortages are likely to be minor and isolated as long as people don’t panic and start to hoard fuel. So don’t do that.[image id=’7520f524-166e-4d66-b65e-4249834285de’ mediaId=’b9e0de15-e1c2-4fa4-895a-dfb0c4a10545′ align=’left’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’original’][/image]And if you’ve spent fourteen months daydreaming about a vacation to Hawaii, be warned that that fantasy may have to include some creative transportation solutions. As the vaccinated and the incautious head out on vacation there has been a run on rental cars in Hawaii that has pushed rates for rental cars above $200 per day. One rental company was even advertising a Toyota Camry at $700 per day last month. In the face of those prices, some vacationers are choosing to rent wheels from U-Haul, so it’s probably only a matter of time before those prices skyrocket, too. We suggest turning to Craigslist instead, where industrious locals are listing their personal cars for rent at more reasonable prices. Further readingThe New York Times has a delightful look into the lives of long-haul truckers who take their pets on the road. Or read about the Vietnamese electric car company that’s hoping to make a splash in the U.S. and European markets. And don’t think we’ve forgotten about everyone’s favorite capsized cargo ship. Here’s an update on the Golden Ray, still stuck off the Georgia coast and still full of doomed (and dangling) cars.

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