Motor News

Audi is adding the stealthy black Panther Edition (first seen on the RS5) to the 2021 R8 supercar.
It’s finished in Panther Black with carbon fiber trim, red wheels, and a red interior.
Limited to 50 cars, the R8 Panther Edition will arrive in dealers this month starting at $184,795.
Audi product manager Anthony Garbis spec’d his 2018 SQ5 with a Panther Black paint job, giving him the idea for the RS5 Panther Edition, which we spotted at the L.A. auto show last year. The stealthy black Panther Black, which appears more like a deep purple at a closer glance, is now making its way on to the 2021 Audi R8, and it’ll be limited to just 30 cars.

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Audi

The R8 Panther Edition, available on the rear-wheel-drive model, is finished in the Audi-exclusive Panther Black crystal effect paint with carbon-fiber mirrors, engine compartment, and side intakes as well as blacked-out Audi badges. It sits on 20-inch matte black with bright red trim five-double-spoke wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires. Whether or not those wheels look good is a matter of personal taste.

Audi RS5 to Come in Panther Limited Edition

Red dominates the interior, too. Audi racing seats are wrapped in Crimson Red leather with the rest of the interior trimmed in Audi exclusive black leather with Crimson Red stitching. There’s alcantara on the headliner, gear selector, and steering wheel, which has a Crimson Red 12-o’clock marker. A Bang & Olufsen sound system is standard on the Panther Edition.

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Audi

A naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V-10 is at the heart of the 2021 Audi R8 Panther Edition, and it produces 532 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque, while the all-wheel-drive R8 Performance model makes 602 horses. Audi claims that the 532-hp R8 launches to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds with a top speed of 201 mph. The Panther Edition cars are equipped with a sport exhaust system to amplify the 10-cylinder roar.
The 2021 Audi R8 Panther Edition, which is limited to 50 units, will arrive in the U.S. this month starting at $184,795.
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Hyundai reportedly wants to buy Boston Dynamics from Softbank. It could be part of a wild effort to build walking cars. More

Mazda will give away 50 of its MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary Edition cars to 50 people who have helped their communities during this year of pandemic.
The individuals being honored include teachers, health-care workers, and small-business owners and were chosen from among nominations sent in by the public this fall.
The 100th Anniversary Miata is named to celebrate Mazda’s 100th year in operation.
As the year comes to a close, one way Mazda is celebrating its 100th anniversary is by honoring 50 people who have helped their communities through this challenging year. Those individuals are being given 100th Anniversary Special Edition MX-5 Miatas as a thank-you gift. The special Miatas are normally priced starting at $33,615.

100th Anniversary Mazda Miata Unveiled

Mazda Celebrates 100 Years with Special Editions

Mazda MX-5 Miata History, from 1989 to Today

The winners, chosen after a call for nominations this fall, include health-care workers, teachers, small business owners, and people who have done various good deeds. New Jersey middle-school shop teacher Jason Erdreich is one such winner. Erdreich organized a team of people with 3-D printers to manufacture 12,000 pieces of personal protection equipment (PPE) and also came up with innovative ways to conduct STEM classes remotely.
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Christie Purviance, an ICU nurse in Texas, is another. While Purviance cared for COVID-19 patients, she went above and beyond in helping connect them with their families through video chatting and photos.

Mazda

The 100th Anniversary Edition has many nods to Mazda’s first vehicle, the R360 coupe, including its Snowflake White Pearl Mica paint job, red interior, and red soft top. This special edition Miata is based on the 2020 MX-5 Miata Grand Touring model. It wears Mazda’s 100th Anniversary logo on the leather headrests and floor.
Erdreich’s 100th Anniversary Edition Miata will be the second in his garage: he already has a first-generation Miata. So it’s safe to assume that he’ll have his 2020 Miata diving into corners on back roads in no time—an experience which he and the other 49 winners richly deserve.
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Jaguar has updated the high-performance SVR version of the F-Pace SUV for 2021.
It has 14 more lb-ft of torque from its supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine.
There are also exterior and interior enhancements.
The V-8–powered SVR version of the Jaguar F-Pace is getting many of the same updates as the standard model for 2021—and then some. In addition to the visual changes and new infotainment system, the SVR also benefits from more torque and tuning changes that promise to improve its performance.

2021 Jaguar F-Pace Has New Powertrain, Tech

The Jaguar F-Pace SVR Should Be Quicker

The supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine makes the same 550 horsepower as before, but an additional 14 lb-ft of torque are on board for 2021. Jaguar says this raises the top speed by 2 mph, to a claimed 178 mph, and quickens the sprint to 60 mph by 0.3 seconds, to a claimed 3.8 seconds. We tested a 2019 F-Pace SVR and recorded a time of 4.0 seconds, so we’ll see if the 2021 model can outdo that time when we’re able to strap our test equipment to one.
Jaguar also says it has made tuning changes to the suspension, steering, and brakes. The sharpened exterior styling not only looks a bit more modern but is apparently functional, with the company claiming that aerodynamic drag has been reduced and additional vents improve cooling for the engine and brakes.

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Jaguar

Inside, there’s a new 11.4-inch touchscreen running Jaguar’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment software. Faux-suede upholstery is standard with leather optional, and the steering wheel and certain knobs feature new designs.
Jaguar has yet to announce pricing for the updated 2021 F-Pace SVR, but we expect it to start a few thousand dollars higher than the outgoing model’s $81,750 base price.
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Hyundai announced an electric-vehicle platform called E-GMP that will serve as the base of Hyundai and Kia’s global EV future beginning in 2021.
Vehicles on the new platform can generate as much as 600 horsepower, and a high-performance model will be one of the upcoming EVs, Hyundai said today.
Hyundai didn’t share details on battery pack size, but said that it’s targeting 310 miles of range.
EVs today have become major parts of auto companies’ road maps. By now, automakers have come to the realization that shoving electric vehicle parts into vehicles built to run on gasoline doesn’t always result in the type of efficiency an EV and a manufacturing line need. With that in mind, Hyundai is the latest automaker to announce a modular EV-only platform, also announcing that it will produce 23 battery-electric vehicles by 2025.

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The new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) will be the underpinning of new Hyundai and Kia EVs starting in 2021. The first vehicle will be the Hyundai Ioniq 5 that we’ve so far only seen in concept form. It will then be used in other vehicles from Hyundai and Kia, likely to include the other Ioniq EVs we’re expecting from the Korean automaker. It will also be used for future Genesis EVs.

Hyundai

The platform’s main components will be a battery pack under the cabin and an all-in-one motor, transmission, and inverter designed and developed by Hyundai. By bundling the components, Hyundai said, it raised the maximum speed of the motor by up to 70 percent compared to existing motors, despite its small size. The company says that it can squeeze up to 600 horsepower from the system and that the company will show off a high-performance vehicle next year.
Both Tesla and Lucid design their own motors for the sake of efficiency. Hyundai doing the same thing instead of using something off the shelf from a supplier could help it accomplish they type of efficiencies found in EV-centric automakers.
Hyundai says that the planned high-performance vehicle on the E-GMP platform will be capable of doing zero to 60 mph in less than 3.5 seconds and have a top speed of 161 mph, with rear- and all-wheel-drive versions available. The all-wheel-drive version will be powered by two electric motors instead of one. To save energy, the front motor will decouple from the wheels when it’s not needed.

Hyundai

EVs based on the new platform, Hyundai said, would be capable of about 310 miles of range on the WLTP scale and capable of charging to 80 percent in 18 minutes, thanks to an 800-volt architecture that supports charging speeds up to 350 kW. A five-minute charge can add about 60 miles. Hyundai did not release details on battery sizes that will be available on any of the upcoming vehicles or even a range of battery-pack sizes for the upcoming platform. It does note that the batteries will sit under the cabin and the vehicles will have a long wheelbase that would enable more cabin space for occupants and cargo.
Albert Biermann, president and head of R&D for the Hyundai Motor Group, said the rear-wheel-driven-based E-GMP will extend Hyundai’s “technological leadership into segments where customers demand excellent driving dynamics and outstanding efficiency.”
Finally, the E-GMP supports bidirectional charging. This means that with a charging station that supports the feature, a vehicle using the E-GMP platform can discharge its energy from its battery back to the grid or to a house that supports such a feature. The vehicle-to-load (V2L) function supplies 3.5 kW of power which, according to Hyundai, can operate a mid-size air conditioner and a 55-inch TV for 24 hours. A customer could conceivably use that to get the power out of a vehicle during a heat-wave-induced power outage. But more important, it can be used to charge another EV.
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After spending 414,000 happy miles driving a Mitsubishi Mirage, the Huots traded it in—for a brand-new Mirage.
They used it mostly as a courier vehicle for a medical sample delivery company.
Dubbed the Purple Won, the tiny car did all this while tackling Minnesota winters and acting as a symbol of the couple’s love of the Minnesota Vikings and Prince.
We love what we love. Jerry and Janice Huot seem to love three things: the Minnesota Vikings, the musical genius of Prince, and their 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage, in which they racked up an incredible 414,000 miles. That’s four flips of the odometer in six years in a vehicle that’s not known for its creature comforts. Just imagine how it must have been tossed around by the winds of passing semis, almost being swallowed by large potholes and buried in snowdrifts, as they traveled up and down the state of Minnesota.

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New/Old: ’14 Mitsubishi Mirage vs. ’05 VW Phaeton

The 400K adventure started, like many others, with a trip to a local showroom. While looking to trade in a Cadillac for an inexpensive vehicle with great fuel economy, the Huots came across a Plasma Purple subcompact 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. Smitten by its color and value, they took it home. After Janice added the initial 7000 or so miles, Jerry took over the vehicle and used it for his courier business driving around Minnesota delivering medical samples from medical offices to labs. If you took a drug test in Minneapolis in the past six years, your urine might have traveled in Jerry’s Mirage.
The couple dubbed the vehicle the Purple Won, with the name on a set of vanity plates as a nod to Minneapolis’s favorite son, Prince, who was known as the Purple One. The tiny vehicle was also used to display the Huots’ love of the Minnesota Vikings by putting on a set of magnetic horn decals, as well as when Jerry dressed the Mirage in a Vikings helmet for Janice’s birthday. Outside work hours, the couple used the vehicle to haul rocks and mulch up their gravel driveway.
The Huots were nothing if not brand loyal: they’d also owned an Outlander Sport and a Montero Sport in the past. Still, their willingness to spend hundreds of thousands of miles bumping along in a subcompact requires a little context. The Mirage occupies a market segment not known for comfort. To reach 414,000 miles in six years, Jerry Hout would have to put an average of 69,000 miles of road underneath him and his Mirage per year. To accomplish that driving five days a week for work, he would be hauling medical samples about 265 miles per day Monday through Friday. That’s an incredible amount of miles and time in such a tiny vehicle.
But you can’t argue with love. Even if that love involves being crammed in the Little Economy Car That Could over hundreds of miles a day. Let’s just hope they were listening to Prince the entire time.
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November new-vehicle sales saw an overall decline year over year, but much of it was attributable to the low number of selling days in November.
Toyota and Hyundai both saw sales decline based on volume, but when adjusted for the daily selling rate, the automakers saw their sales increase in November as compared to last year.
Despite the negative data, the auto industry is continuing its improvement from lows in April as a result of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
November new-vehicle sales numbers are rolling in, and at first glance, the results would suggest that the consistent recovery we’ve seen since sales bottomed out in April has ended. Compared with November 2019, Toyota saw sales drop 1 percent, Hyundai had sales fall 9 percent, and Mazda’s sales were down 10.8 percent.

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Without adjusting for number of selling days, J.D. Power projects, November sales fell 14.6 percent year over year. Yet, November 2020 had three fewer selling days—for just 23 in total—than November of last year, along with one less weekend. Adjusting for those factors, J.D. Power estimated that November sales dropped just 3.5 percent.
“November 2020 is a prime example of why accounting for selling day differences is important in measuring comparable sales performance,” Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power, said in a note. “After two consecutive months of year-over-year retail sales gains, a quirk in the November sales calendar will result in new-vehicle retail sales appearing to fall 12 percent.”
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Toyota’s sales fell in November, but on a daily-selling-rate basis—which takes into account the discrepancy of selling days in November—Toyota’s sales were up 12.6 percent as compared to last year. Toyota’s trucks and SUVs showed particular strength with the divisions seeing sales jump by 14.1 and 12.6 percent, respectively, based on daily selling rate. Just based on volume, truck sales grew 1 percent while SUV sales fell 0.6 percent. The Highlander, 4Runner, and Tacoma showed particular strength, as well as the Camry among the car division.
Hyundai’s sales followed a similar trajectory as Toyota’s: the Korean automaker saw its sales climb 4 percent on a daily-selling-rate basis. Based solely on volume, the Kona, Palisade, and Sonata all had sales jump in November as compared to last year. The Kona’s sales grew by 29.9 percent, the Palisade’s by 18.2 percent, and the Sonata’s by 28 percent.
Transaction-Price Rise Helped Automakers
Overall, although sales did fall in the month of November, automakers benefited from a year-over-year increase in the average transaction price of new vehicles. Average prices rose 1.3 percent as compared to last year, according to an estimate from Kelley Blue Book, with the largest price increases seen among Fiat Chrysler and General Motors vehicles.

Fewer Cars on Dealer Lots Is a 2020 Thing

“While the sales results illustrate the continued strength of consumer demand, that strength is further reinforced by transaction prices hitting another record high, even as manufacturers and retailers continue to remain disciplined on new-vehicle incentives and discounts,” King added.
Mazda, which saw sales fall in November, posted an increase of 0.1 percent in sales on a daily-selling-rate basis; that increase in sales is bolstered by the CX-30, which was new last year and posted limited sales in November 2019. Mazda’s two most popular models, the Mazda 3 and the CX-5, saw sales drop 17.5 and 1.7 percent based on daily selling rate last month. Based on volume, Subaru saw sales drop 11.4 percent in November but had strong sales of its Crosstrek and Outback. The Crosstrek had sales increase 23.7 percent and the Outback 3.5 percent.
Several other automakers, including Ford and Honda, are expected to report November monthly sales, while others, including General Motors, Nissan, Fiat Chrysler, and most European brands, only report quarterly sales.
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The 2021 Ram 3500 with the Cummins turbo-diesel 6.7-liter inline-six now makes 1075 lb-ft of torque, which is 75 more than last year.
The mightiest version can now tow 37,100 pounds with a gooseneck hitch, an increase of 2000 pounds versus the outgoing model.
The heavy-duty Ram’s new figures leapfrog those of the 2021 Ford Super Duty and provide class-leading bragging rights—for the moment.
Heavy-duty pickup trucks are a lot like tennis players. When one sends a powerful shot toward the sideline, the other one volleys back with an even more powerful stroke. A similar scene plays out in virtually every model year as the latest HD trucks compete for the titles of best-in-class torque and towing. While the Ford Super Duty fielded 2020’s champion, the 2021 Ram 3500 now takes over the top spot.

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The high-output Cummins turbo-diesel 6.7-liter inline-six that’s only available on the Ram 3500 now pumps out 1075 lb-ft of torque. That’s 75 more than last year’s version and 25 more than the Power Stroke turbo-diesel 6.7-liter V-8 (1050 lb-ft total) that’s optional on the Super Duty. To extract the extra torque, Ram says it raised the boost limits with a variable-geometry turbocharger and increased the flow rate in the fuel-delivery system. However, Ford’s Power Stroke does make more horsepower (475) than the Ram’s mightiest Cummins (400).

FCA

To increase the Ram 3500’s maximum gooseneck towing to 37,100 pounds (2000 more than before), the rear portion of the truck’s heavy-duty frame has been enhanced and the fifth-wheel hitch has been redesigned in-house by Ram Engineering. The upgrades allow it to leapfrog the 2021 Ford F-450, which tops out at 37,000 pounds with a gooseneck hitch. As a consolation prize for Blue Oval fans, the 2021 Ram 3500’s maximum conventional tow rating of 23,000 pounds trails the F-450’s figure by 1200 pounds (24,200 total).

FCA

For those who are interested in buying a new heavy-duty Ram without the high-output Cummins, which will be available in dealerships this month, every 2021 model is now available with a digital rearview mirror. This new option provides an unobstructed view of what’s behind the truck by displaying a video image in the mirror.
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