Motor News

Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final ruling for Low Volume Vehicle Manufacturers.
It’s not official yet, but when it is, companies such as DeLorean and Superformance will be able to sell finished, turnkey replica cars in the U.S.
Replica makers must apply for approval from the NHTSA, EPA, and CARB, and U.S. sales will be capped at 325 units per year.
On January 15, in the waning days of the Trump administration and roughly four years after it was expected, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finalized a 102-page ruling that will permit the production of turnkey replica cars from companies including the new DeLorean Motor Company (DMC).
The ruling will allow Low Volume Vehicle Manufacturers (LVVM) to build and sell up to 325 units of replica cars per year in the United States. That means DMC—same name, new company—can get back to work on its version of the updated DMC-12. Superformance—which provided the Cobras in Ford vs. Ferrari—will be able to sell complete Cobras and Daytona coupes. And Morgan can bring its vintage wares to our shores already built and ready to drive.

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That is, as soon as the rule is published in the Federal Register, the last step toward making a regulation official. There was hope that could happen within a week, but Wednesday evening, in the first hours of the Biden administration, a regulatory freeze went into effect giving new agency heads a chance to review work in progress.
“The people I am talking to are not sure if we are talking days or weeks but not likely months,” Stuart Gosswein, the senior director of federal government affairs for the SEMA aftermarket trade group, told us.
Congress originally instructed NHTSA to finalize the rules by the end of 2016, but it wasn’t until January 2020 that the agency finally issued a 118-page proposed ruling. NHTSA went silent after that. In November, when we spoke to DMC and SEMA about the delay, both shrugged. They never knew what had happened or when something might be done.
It’s equally mystifying why NHTSA finally moved the process forward, but no one is complaining. In a release, SEMA president and CEO Christopher J. Kersting said: “The roadblocks have been eliminated. Companies will be able to hire workers, start making necessary parts and components, and produce and sell cars.”
The final draft addresses all of the points in the earlier proposal that SEMA and replica-car makers took issue with, such as agreeing to let courts handle intellectual property disputes. NHTSA also agreed to a 10 percent variance in vehicle dimensions, and replicas don’t need to be exact clones of the original down to moldings and trim pieces. Only engines with current EPA approval can be used, but lighting, window glazing, and certain seat belt provisions will be covered under the federal motor vehicle standards in effect at the time the original vehicle was produced.

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Gosswein said LVVMs will need to register with NHTSA, the EPA, and, if they wish to sell cars in California, the California Air Resources Board (CARB). After submitting information and a picture of the original and replica vehicles to NHTSA, the agency has 90 days to review the application. If there are no complaints, the manufacturer can start the production lines at the end of those 90 days. Before Wednesday’s regulatory hold, that could have meant some new replicas on the streets as soon as May.
Not so with a new DMC-12, however. Company vice president James Espey told Car and Driver that DMC doesn’t plan on submitting its paperwork to the two federal agencies and California until it has finalized the powertrain and financing for the new stainless-steel coupe. The engine the company planned for four years ago runs out of emissions compliance in 2024. He’s not sure it makes sense to use a motor so close to the end of its life. DMC could also go electric. “We have to consider all the things available now that weren’t on the table five years ago,” Espey said.
Espey said the company needs to go over the new ruling with its engineering team in the U.K., find a way forward with its planned engine supplier and sort out approvals, and line up between $5 million and $10 million to complete development and begin production. So a new DeLorean is optimistically still at least 18 months away.
SEMA to Focus on Powertrains
SEMA’s Gosswein said that since NHTSA has done its job, SEMA will turn its efforts to powertrains. “We need to get engine companies to produce engine packages or work with big manufacturers so that [LVVMs] can collaborate.”
SEMA doesn’t want to see replica makers forced into producing their own EPA-compliant engines because OEMs and engine suppliers decline to invest the time and money necessary to provide suitable units. SEMA wants to create a replica-engine ecosystem ensuring a variety of makes and sizes are available.
For instance, “GM had an LS3 engine package from 2012 that was for specially constructed vehicles in California,” Gosswein said. The approval for the LS3 package lapsed, but “that’s something GM can update for the current model year and get CARB to recertify.”
In the meantime, DMC has big plans for this year. January 21 marked the 40th anniversary of the final assembly of the original DMC-12. Considering the DMC-12’s continued brand recognition, Espey is confident we’ll get the gullwinged wonder we’ve been hoping for. He said he continues to get a few messages a week from potential buyers asking if they can send deposits.
“I still think the brand has a lot of power,” he said. “We’re open to talking to suppliers, investors, and others because there’s a lot of demand, and I don’t think having to wait a year or a year and a half is going to put a lot of people off.”
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のちすたチャンネル on YouTube

The Honda S2000 is a serious machine. With a sky-high redline and one of the most potent naturally aspirated four-cylinders ever made, the light roadster demands a serious driver to get the most out of it. And few drivers are as serious as the one in this video, uploaded in may by Nochisuta Channel on YouTube.
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The video features an S2000 attacking what one Reddit commenter identifies as Gunsai Touge, which you might know from Initial D or Best Motoring. It’s one of the more famous touges—or winding/mountain roads—in Japanese car culture, in part because of its tight turns and high-speed sections. It demands full attention, with zero runoffs and no room for error. So it’s all the more surprising to see an S2000 going so fast it catches air.

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That jump, the climax of the video, is what got the video posted on the /r/cars subreddit this week. It shows the lowered S2000 grabbing air, slamming back down in a shower of sparks, and kicking sideways into a perfectly controlled drift. But the whole video is worth watching, if only for the bravery required to maintain this pace on such a treacherous road.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a final set of regulations affecting autonomous cars.
These rules were first promulgated last March and carry over from work started in the Obama administration.
Most interesting, perhaps, is that there are new terms for the “driver’s seat” and the “steering wheel” on self-driving vehicles.
Automakers know exactly how safe their self-driving cars should be now that the U.S. government has updated its decades-old regulations to include vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or seats. In short, any light-duty vehicle designed to carry people and drive itself has to protect those people the same way that every other vehicle does.

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What seems like an obvious conclusion after nearly a decade of government studies and guidance was instead confusion. Automakers, tech giants, and startups developing the technology have faced an uncertain path to commercial success. As more states allowed on-road testing of autonomous vehicles, federal law remained ambiguous on their certification and sale to the general public. With the rules in limbo, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had been accepting dozen of petitions to temporarily exempt certain self-driving prototypes from federal law.
Specific terms in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) define the features, performance, and test procedures that, with very few exceptions, every production vehicle must pass in the U.S. While its archaic language prevents us from enjoying trick headlights, this same language has protected us from crashes and injuries that still kill people in countries with weak or no national safety laws. But automakers, bursting at the seams to build cars that drive better than we do, have curbed these plans without official and clear changes to these regulations.
In March 2020, NHTSA issued a proposal to amend the “200 series” rules in the FMVSS that govern how a car’s seatbelts, airbags, seats, windshield, and other critical parts must be installed. The rules also define crash tests. While NHTSA has always updated these rules with tougher standards, the agency may have never thought a passenger would sit in a driver’s seat or that a steering wheel could fold out of sight.
Finally, this month, in the period between the U.S. Capitol attacks and the presidential inauguration, NHTSA finalized them. Here’s what the updated rules do—and don’t do—for cars with Level 3, 4, and 5 autonomous systems.
Everyone up Front Is a Passenger
The driver’s designated seating position must have smart airbags that can sense if a child, regardless of their posture, is in the seat. Currently, the law only applies for the front passenger seat. A second airbag readiness light will be required in addition to the one for the front passenger seat to show whether the airbag is activated or not.
The Driver May Not Be a Driver
All mentions of the “driver’s seat” or “front passenger seat” will now be called “front row” when being used as a reference point for measurements and other tests. The “driver’s seat” in other conditions will be called “driver’s designated seating position” to indicate where a driver can be if the vehicle manufacturer allows such control. But “driver,” unlike in previous NHTSA proposals, will not be redefined to mean an automated driving system. This is still a human.
“Manually Operated Driver Controls” Does Not Mean Remote Controls
This is a new term and is meant to combine the traditional array of pedals and steering wheel. NHTSA explicitly states it does not mean control by smartphone or tablet, any kind of remote control, or joystick.
Make the Wackiest Steering Wheels and Pedals You Want
Instead of “steering wheel,” the rules will now state “steering control.” However, since NHTSA states it never defined the wheel as being a perfect circle, manufacturers can go crazy with shapes so long as they satisfy current regulations that protect a driver from the steering wheel. NHTSA also says that automakers can design any stowable steering wheel and pedal controls so long as they work in two operating states: when stowed, they cannot be used; when deployed, they must be in full reach and control of the driver.
Inboard Seats Are Allowed
Any seat positioned more than 12 inches from either door is classified as an inboard seat. So far, this has only applied to front and rear middle passengers in a bench configuration. Now, NHTSA will allow single inboard bucket seats in the first row and many combinations thereof (such as two seats on the far right, or two in the middle and none on either side). In cases where there are two inboard seats in one row, only one has to have a smart airbag and a three-point seatbelt. The other, at the manufacturer’s choosing, does not have to be covered by an airbag and only requires a lap belt. This is in accordance with current regulations and recognizes, however oddly, that placing two frontal airbags in close proximity would cause further complications in a crash.
Non-Forward-Facing Seats Are Not Allowed
These rules apply to forward-facing seats only and aren’t intended for use with sideways, open-concept, “campfire,” or similar types of seating arrangements.
Folding Driver’s Seats Are Allowed
Apparently Tesla, based on statements during the proposal’s comment period, wants to be able to stow the driver’s seat when its vehicles are in autonomous mode. NHTSA says, on page 76 of the Final Rule document: “Although such a system would be unnecessary (and likely illogical), a manufacturer could provide a system that stows the driver’s seat when the controls are stowed.”

Self-Driving Car Levels 0 to 5 Explained

Nothing changes for cars with semi-automated driving systems that are Level 2 and below. Currently, there are no cars with true Level 3 systems—those that will drive fully autonomously, with the driver on standby in case of emergency—but many automakers are testing the capability. For that, they’ll have to certify that their cars meet the autonomous rules above in addition to the normal rules.
But while these new rules offer much-needed clarity, they don’t govern how any autonomous driving system should function. NHTSA has been overtly hands-off in this area and still has no requirements for how such critical systems like emergency braking or adaptive cruise should work. But for now, the door is wide open for future autonomous cars—even if there isn’t a seat at that door.
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If you don’t mind taking your car obsession to extremes, and are wealthy enough to afford it, a new listing for a property near Dallas could be just the “sprawling car haven” you’ve been looking for.
The pearl, for drivers, is a 10-stall garage and a well-appointed vehicle repair facility, with multiple car lifts and a paint application booth.
When you’re not driving or working on your rides, you can lounge in the pool or the automotive-themed entertainment space with a wall of TVs.
If you’ve ever visited a shabby-chic, old-school gas station-cum-repair garage and thought, “I could live here if it only had an outdoor pool,” we’re found the home for you. Say hello to your new $8 million home—complete with a 10-car garage—in Roanoke, Texas.

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Sitting on a 10-acre property 20 minutes outside Dallas/Fort Worth, the “sprawling car haven” (as Realtor.com describes it) is large enough that it actually requires two addresses. The house features five bedrooms, five full bathrooms, and two half-baths in 7419 square feet. If that’s not enough room for you, there’s also a guest house and an “outdoor living center,” an outdoor fireplace, and a built-in wine cooler.

via Realtor.com

The exterior parking area is, Zillow notes, “oversized,” and the property’s listing agent told the Dallas Morning News that’s because five of those acres are basically an empty space that has been used to park cars.
But it’s the garage that is likely to get Car and Driver readers most interested. Alongside room for 10 vehicles to shelter in place, the property includes: “car lifts, a paint application booth, a tire changer, and antique memorabilia galore to get your Fast and Furious fix followed by fun around the fire pit and in the oversized tiered pool,” according to Realtor.com.

via Realtor.com

Pictures on the property listing show that the current owner has a bit of an automotive obsession. There are enough old license plates hanging on the walls to keep you busy on eBay for a while if you were to sell them off. Classic automotive industry memorabilia is tacked to the ceilings and walls. Rusty old gas pumps sit outside, and at least one has been turned into a cooler in the entertainment area (which also has five TV screens). An old Chevrolet pickup converted into what looks like a bar sits in one of the building’s many nooks. We assume the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio and Cadillac XT5 will not be included.

via Realtor.com

via Realtor.com

The house and garage and everything else are currently listed on a number of real estate sites for $7,999,000. Not bad for a facility that was built in 2014 and could be yours for an estimated monthly payment of just $37,493. But hey, at least there are no homeowner association fees. It was put up for sale earlier this month and, if you’re interested in buying, the realtor is offering virtual tours this weekend.

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Our trip through the week’s stories including Cadillac Blackwing pre-orders, the world’s newest automaker, and various regulatory dramas. More

The challenge facing the lovable band of misfits today is to find a vehicle that costs under $15,000 that’s likely to hold its value over the next five years.
Join host and deputy editor Tony Quiroga alongside Trapper John, Hot Lips, Klinger, and Radar as they make amusing remarks about old cars that they probably won’t purchase. Insults, obscure references, and jokes about colleagues who aren’t present ensue. And it’s all captured using that miracle technology you should have invested in a year ago: Zoom.
Watch the episode and you’ll see contributor John Pearley Huffman’s mid-engine Toyota, Jonathon Ramsey’s FJ100 Land Cruiser, Quiroga’s like-new C4 Corvette with 24,000 miles, and deputy testing director K.C. Colwell’s W126 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL. Each car is presented with the passion of the series’ regulars as they try to convince one another that their choice is choicest. Special guest star, former C/D editor, and now automotive engineer David Gluckman brings in a suspiciously ratty but possibly okay Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo. This is the sort of expert analysis upon which you can rely to make smart buying decisions. Maybe.
While this series started as a way to share our common enthusiasm and show off our car-searching skills, as of late, it has become a competition to get the most votes. And with the rules always up for modification, coalition building and near bribery are now the rule. Fortunately, winning doesn’t really matter.
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Sony tells Car and Driver that it has no plans to mass-produce or sell its Vision-S concept but instead is using it to test technology so it can be part of the autonomous-vehicle future.
The company is leveraging the knowledge it has acquired from across many aspects of its business, from cameras and computing to its entertainment division.
Even if we won’t get a Sony car anytime soon, this project could lead to future autonomous vehicles with PlayStations and cutting-edge audio onboard.
Sony genuinely surprised the attendees of the annual CES technology conference in 2020 with its Vision-S show car. Earlier in January 2021, the technology and entertainment company did it again at CES 2021 with footage and an announcement that the Vision-S was being tested on public roads to optimize safety. So, naturally, the idea of Sony eventually building and selling the Vision-S seemed plausible. The reality, Sony tells us, is that it’s a test bed for Sony technology, helping to make sure the company is part of the era of autonomous driving.

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A Sony spokesperson told Car and Driver: “At present, we have no plans to mass-produce or sell the vehicle. With mobility expected as a major megatrend into the future, we’re exploring how Sony can contribute in a meaningful way to the era of autonomous driving.” Some of those contributions could be entertainment related, the spokesperson indicated, saying, “Through our strengths in imaging and sensing, we aim to contribute to both safety and reliability in autonomous driving, while also delivering a powerful experience leveraging entertainment in the mobility space.”
It’s not entirely surprising—but we’re a bit disappointed. The Vision-S looks stunning, and driving a car built by the same company that brought us the Walkman and the PlayStation seems like a natural progression for the technology giant.
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To tackle self-driving, the concept in its current form uses 40 sensors, four of which are lidar, as part of its Safety Cocoon that monitors both the interior and exterior and creates a 360-degree view of the world. It currently has a Level 2+ driver-assistance package, but Sony hopes it will be upgrading it to a Level 4 system, where, with software upgrades, the vehicle drives itself in most situations without the need for a driver.

On the entertainment front, the company is talking about something it calls 360 Reality Audio, which creates an audio sphere around the heads of all the occupants using speakers in the headrests for optimized audio for everyone in the car. A longer-term goal is to add a PlayStation with a 5G connection for online gaming in the vehicle.
The Vision-S was built with help from partner Magna Steyr, and it gives the automaker the opportunity to test all these technologies in an environment completely controlled by Sony. There’s no need to compromise based on what’s currently available in the market, and because it’s not using an automaker’s pre-installed hardware and software, there are fewer limits to what Sony can achieve.
Meanwhile, the Apple Car Looms
Speculation about the Vision-S coming to market comes at a time when reports about a car from another technology giant, Apple, have started to proliferate. The iPhone company’s long-rumored electric car has once again started grabbing headlines with speculation that it will go into production in 2024 and that Apple will be teaming up with Kia to build it, none of which either company has confirmed.

Sony Vision-S interior
Sony

Even though it’s not coming to a driveway near you, the Vision-S isn’t going away anytime soon. Sony plans to continue to test and share the progress it makes with the vehicle. The spokesperson’s statement does leave the door cracked slightly for the possibility of a mass-produced Sony vehicle in the future. But even if that doesn’t come to fruition, if PlayStations start showing up in self-driving cars that are using Sony optics and sensors to see the world, the prototype Vision-S concept will have done its job.

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The 2021 Porsche Panamera starts at $88,550, and its prices stay the same, excluding the addition of the new Turbo S and 4S E-Hybrid models.
The 620-hp Turbo S, which replaces the 2020 Panamera Turbo, starts at $179,050, and the new 4S E-Hybrid starts at $114,650.
The 2021 Panamera is available to order now and will arrive in the U.S. in the spring.
Porsche has replaced the 2020 Panamera’s Turbo model with a more powerful Turbo S for the 2021 model year and added a new 4S E-Hybrid model as well. The rest of the Panamera lineup’s prices are unchanged, starting at $88,550 for the base model. Even the Panamera GTS ($130,650), which produces 20 more horsepower from its turbocharged V-8, sees no price increase. However, the base Panamera is still more expensive than other luxury sedans such as the Audi A7, BMW 8-series Gran Coupe, and Mercedes-Benz CLS-class.

2021 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid.
Porsche

The 4S can now be had as a plug-in E-Hybrid, which, along with the rest of the E-Hybrid lineup (Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and Turbo S E-Hybrid), gets a larger 17.9-kWh battery pack, up 3.8 kWh from the previous models. The new 4S E-Hybrid starts at $114,650 and is powered by a twin-turbo V-6 in conjunction with an electric motor and the new battery pack and makes 552 horsepower. It’s also available as longer-wheelbase Executive ($125,950) and Sport Turismo wagon ($118,650) models, like other Panameras excluding the base model and the GTS, which only has standard and Sport Turismo offerings.

2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S Flexes Its 620 HP

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For the 2021 model year, Porsche dropped the 550-hp Panamera Turbo model in favor of a new, more powerful Turbo S. It starts at $179,050—$24,700 more than the 2020 Panamera Turbo—and is powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 that produces 620 horsepower and 604 pound-feet of torque. Porsche claims that it’ll reach 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. The new Turbo S is also available as Executive ($189,450) and Sport Turismo ($183,050) models.
Porsche has also given the 2021 Panamera a few small visual changes as well including a slightly sportier front end, a full-width LED strip on the taillights, and some new wheels. In addition, wireless Apple CarPlay capability and wireless phone charging are standard on all 2021 Panameras.
The 2021 Porsche Panameras are available to order now and will arrive in the U.S. in the spring.
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