Motor News

The lightweight M5 “Competition Sport” is coming soon with an even more powerful twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8. More

Subaru revealed its second-gen BRZ Super GT race car during a motorsport fan appreciation live stream.
Super GT is the top level of racing in Japan, and everything from the Toyota Prius to European GT3 cars from Audi and BMW race in it.
The 2022 Subaru BRZ road car is powered by a 228-hp 2.4-liter flat-four and will go on sale in the U.S. in fall 2021.
The 2022 Subaru BRZ sticks to the purist sports-car formula with a naturally aspirated engine, a standard manual transmission, and rear-wheel drive. Like the first-generation sports car, the second-gen BRZ will race in Japan’s Super GT GT300 series. The new race car was revealed during a Subaru Motorsport fan appreciation live stream. If you’re here just to see and listen to the new race car, we’ll help you out: it’s shown in the video below at 1:54:47.
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Super GT is the top level of grand-touring auto racing in Japan, and it’s split between two groups: GT500 and GT300. In the GT300 series, where the cars are less powerful, Japanese automakers race everything from the Toyota Prius to the Subaru BRZ. GT3 cars from European manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz also participate.
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A naturally aspirated 228-hp 2.4-liter flat-four powers the 2022 BRZ, while the Super GT car should use an upgraded and more powerful four-cylinder engine. Subaru didn’t share many details on the new race car’s powertrain, though Car and Driver has reached out to the automaker for more information. The previous-gen road cars were powered by a 2.0-liter unit that produced 205 horsepower and 156 lb-ft of torque, although the first-gen BRZ GT300 car used the EJ20 engine from the Subaru Legacy.

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The new race car’s bodywork looks similar to the previous-gen’s, huge wing and all, but it also sports the 2022 BRZ’s chunkier headlights and sleeker taillights. The new road car is only just over an inch longer and half an inch lower than the first-gen car. It’ll go on sale in the U.S. in the fall of next year, and pricing is expected to start around $30,000.
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General Motors is recalling 624,216 of its 2019–2021 trucks and SUVs to fix a problem with the front center seatbelt bracket.
Included are 2019–2021 Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra 1500 and 2020–2021 Silverado/Sierra 2500 and 3500 pickups, as well as 2021 Chevrolet Suburban (pictured) and Tahoe and GMC Yukon XL SUVs.
The problem affects vehicles with the 40/20/40 split-folding front bench seats, not those with front bucket seats, according to the NHTSA defect report.
General Motors has announced a recall for 624,216 trucks and SUVs with split-bench front seats from the 2019 through 2021 model years. According to the report filed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the problem is improperly installed seatbelt brackets in the center of the front row. It could cause a person sitting in the center of the front row to be incompletely restrained, which could lead to injury in case of hard braking or a crash, NHTSA said.

Get Recall Notices to Your Phone with NHTSA App

The problem affects 2019–2021 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, 2020–2021 Silverado and Sierra 2500/3500 pickups, and 2021 Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe and GMC Yukon XL SUVs. The issue does not affect 2019 Silverado and Sierra Limited models built on the previous-generation platform, GM siad.
The defect report states that occupants of the vehicles could hear a rattling noise from the center seat or console area, or they could notice that the center seatbelt in front has become loose or even detached. GM will begin notifying owners on February 1 and will inspect and reassemble seatbelt brackets that are improperly installed.
Meanwhile, owners of Chevrolet and GMC trucks or SUVs from the affected model years can check the NHTSA recalls website to see if their vehicle is included in the recall.
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Starting at $36,695, the 228i sedan is still a few hundred dollars more than the cheapest Bimmer, the X1 crossover. More

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Volkswagen is teasing an autonomous robot that charges EVs in parking lots.
The robot would tow batteries to individual vehicles and hook them up to begin charging.
No word on when this will become a reality, but it does solve the issue of adding charging to a garage without placing individual charging stations at parking stalls.

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Robots typically fall into two categories: a helpful friend like R2D2 or a killing machine like the T1000. While Volkswagen begins its video of its mobile charging robot with the percussion associated with the Terminator movies, it quickly pivots to R2D2-esque noises as it teases its rather cute solution to charging EVs in parking lots without installed charging stations.
This prototype for the mobile charging robot is one of the concepts the Volkswagen Group is developing to help bring the charging infrastructure up to par with the number of electric vehicles the automaker is hoping to sell over the next few years.
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This technology uses car-to-x (a.k.a. V2X vehicle-to-everything) communications. In a second video, VW shows a driver pulling into a spot in a garage and using an app to tell the charging robot that their vehicle needs juice. The robot grabs the so-called “mobile energy storage” unit, which is essentially a battery on wheels, and tows it over to the vehicle and plugs it in to begin charging.
The robot will then either return to its home base and wait to remove the rolling battery or grab another mobile energy storage unit and attach that to another vehicle. All of this is done without the need for a human attendant, according to Volkswagen. It’s less terrifying and more practical than the autonomous metal snake Tesla showed off in 2015.
These types of systems could allow parking garages to have a charging infrastructure without the need to place a charging station at individual parking stalls. Instead, the rolling battery packs can be charged at a single location and deployed as needed.
There’s no word on when the adorable robot car butler will become a reality. But in its release, Volkswagen stated, “The mobile charging robot has successfully reached prototype status and will now be comprehensively further developed.”
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Professional detailer Larry Kosilla gets to play with some seriously cool metal. He’s been tasked with cleaning, detailing, and restoring countless classic cars, including our Road & Track deputy editor Bob Sorokanich’s two-door Jeep Cherokee. His latest project? A virtually new Buick Grand National barn find with just 56 miles on the clock.

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No, that’s not a typo. This 1987 Grand National was purchased by the original owner in Columbus, Ohio, driven home, and parked in a barn for 34 years. It was recently purchased by its new owner and trailered to Brooklyn, New York, where Kosilla picked it up.
Despite its age and lack of attention over the past three decades, the car was in pretty good shape. There were neither rat nests nor excessive mold inside, and because it was kept inside a dry, well-kept building, there’s no rust or paint damage (aside from some scratches on the passenger side caused by the previous owner’s dog).
Kosilla, with his array of pro-level tools and chemicals, is able to make quick work of the paint swirls and scratches, bringing the 56-mile Grand National back to showroom condition without ruining any of its originality. Every step of the process is documented in great detail, and it’s incredibly satisfying to watch.

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The ultra-compact Toyota C+pod EV is currently available for corporate and local government fleets.
Toyota plans to offer the 12-horsepower two-seater to consumers before 2022.
Totota recently announced plans to bring 60 new electrified vehicles to market by 2025 including a solid-state-battery–powered EV.
Toyota has long had the technology for battery electric vehicles. In addition to its highly successful hybrid vehicles, the automaker built and sold two generations of the very limited edition RAV4 EV back in 1997. Still, the company has been slow to adopt EVs for the masses. Even the automaker’s president, Akio Toyoda, believes that electric vehicles are overhyped and has warned against countries banning gas-powered automobiles.
But that hasn’t stopped Toyota from announcing the diminutive C+pod for Japan. This tiny EV will initially be available for corporate and local government fleets during its current limited launch. Those looking for an eensy-weensy EV to cruise around Tokyo don’t fret, as the automaker intends to offer the vehicle to consumers by 2022.
According to Toyota, the electric C+pod will have a WLTP range of 93 miles thanks to a 9.1-kWh battery pack. Its single 12-horsepower electric motor will push the tiny vehicle to a top speed of 37 mph, so don’t expect to see it on the freeway anytime soon. It’s smaller than a Smart Fortwo and lines up more with the weird but enjoyable Renault Twizy.

Toyota

The C+pod is part of Toyota’s desire to expand partnerships in the mobility and electrification world. In addition to making the C+pod a go-to vehicle for car-sharing programs in a dense urban environments, it’s also launching Toyota Green Charge with Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co. to create a single point of contact for corporations to adding electric charging infrastructure.

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Toyota has stated recently that it intends to introduce 60 new electrified vehicles by 2025 that include EV, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. We’re also expecting the company to unveil an electric SUV for Europe in 2021. The Japanese automaker has also stated that it intends to introduce a vehicle equipped with a solid-state battery sometime in the first half of this decade.
So while its leadership isn’t keen on EV regulations, Toyota is making inroads to getting EVs on the road—even diminutive ones.
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GM will preview a few Chevy and Cadillac hybrids and EVs at the virtual Consumer Electronics Show on January 12. More