Motor News

Hennessey has revealed the Venom F5 Revolution roadster, an open-top version of the company’s track-focused supercar that features a carbon-fiber roof panel.While the 6.6-liter V-8 engine still produces 1817 horsepower, revised aerodynamics promise to make the Revolution Roadster even quicker around a race circuit. The Revolution Roadster will be built in a limited edition of 12, each of which will cost at least $3 million. First came the Hennessey Venom F5 in 2020, an 1817-hp ballistic missile with a claimed 311-mph top speed. The Texas-based supercar maker then chopped off the roof in 2022 to create the Venom F5 Roadster, followed by the lighter, track-honed Revolution model earlier this year. Now Hennessey has taken the next logical step, with this Venom F5 Revolution Roadster that debuts next week at The Quail during Monterey Car Week. HennesseyThe Revolution Roadster removes the roof from the hardcore Venom F5, normally a major compromise on structural rigidity that would not be ideal at the track. But Hennessey claims that this hasn’t lessened the Revolution Roadster’s abilities, with the Venom F5’s carbon-fiber monocoque and carbon-fiber body keeping the supercar stiff and structurally sound.About That RoofThe roof is a removable panel composed of carbon-fiber composites—there’s no powered operation here, with four quick-release bolts and two latches holding it in place. This saves weight over a powered setup, although the panel is still lined with Alcantara for a hint of luxury inside. Hennessey says the roof weighs just 18 pounds. HennesseyThe Revolution Roadster is powered by the same twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V-8 engine as the other Venom F5s. The motor unleashes the same 1817 horsepower, with Hennessey focusing on aerodynamic improvements instead of extra oomph for its track edition. A glass window—which Hennessey says is four times stronger than normal glass—is integrated into the engine cover to provide a view of the powertrain.HennesseyLike the Revolution Coupe, the Roadster wears a sharp front splitter and dive planes on the front bumper that look like they could slice off your leg. There’s also a towering rear wing and a roof scoop that feeds air to the 6.6-liter engine. Under the skin, Hennessey says, it retuned the suspension for the Revolution models. HennesseyThe Revolution Roadster will start at $3 million. Only 12 will be built, and every unit is already sold. The example seen here, featuring beautiful exposed carbon fiber, is one of just five “Bare Carbon” versions that presumably cost even more. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Associate News EditorCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan. More

Pricing for the 2023 Lucid Air has been slashed by thousands of dollars per trim. The Air Pure model now starts at $83,900, more than $5000 cheaper than before, while both the Touring and Grand Touring models have seen $12,550 cut from their starting prices. Destination charges also drop, from $1650 to $1500.Luxury electric-vehicle manufacturer Lucid is officially cutting the prices on its Air electric sedan. The starting price for 2023 Air models has been slashed by thousands of dollars per trim, with the largest cuts arriving for the Touring and Grand Touring models. The dual-motor AWD Air Pure model now starts at $83,900, a $5150 decrease from before. The Touring and Grand Touring models receive twice the cost decrease, with both models now starting $12,550 lower than before. That works out to a $96,500 price for the Touring and a $127,100 cost out the door for the Grand Touring. Michael Simari|Car and DriverAfter the EV startup increased prices last June, these recent reductions bring the Air directly in line with the company’s initial pricing figures announced in March 2022. At that time, the Air Pure’s starting price was $78,900, and the Touring’s was $96,500. More Lucid NewsPrices We Didn’t Get (Yet)We reached out to Lucid for confirmation on pricing for the rear-drive Pure model scheduled to begin availability in September. We asked whether the original 2022 starting price of $78,900 would be the new price. The spokesperson wouldn’t confirm a price for the model but did state that “We did work back from that original price in determining pricing for [the] currently available Pure AWD.”The company also didn’t state a new price for the 2024 Grand Touring Performance, which is noticeably absent from the Lucid online configurator. A spokesperson declined comment when asked, leading us to believe that the top-spec model may not survive to see the 2024 model year. We got a brief taste of the Grand Touring Performance near Lucid’s headquarters last spring, while also putting the regular Grand Touring model through our testing regimen. Associate News EditorJack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More

Lexus is adding a plug-in-hybrid model to the RX lineup for 2024.It’s called the RX450h+ and it has the same powertrain as the smaller NX450h+, with a slightly shorter claimed electric range and slightly lower efficiency.The RX450h+ starts at $70,080 and will go on sale by the end of the year.For 2024, Lexus is adding a third hybrid option for the RX SUV. The new RX450h+ model joins the lineup as a plug-in hybrid, complementing the existing RX350h and RX500h F Sport Performance hybrids. The plug-in version offers a claimed 35 mile electric range and has the same setup as the smaller NX450h+.The RX450h+ has a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four plus three electric motors; this is the same all-wheel-drive setup found in the NX450h+ and Toyota RAV4 Prime. It has a 6.6-kilowatt onboard charger that can charge the 18.1-kWh battery pack in two and a half hours using a 240-volt outlet. It has slightly more power, with a total output of 304 hp compared with the other models’ 302 hp. The larger RX won’t be as quick as those smaller PHEVs, though, with Lexus claiming a 60 mph time of 6.2 seconds.LexusThe RX450h+ is expensive, starting at $70,080, making it the costliest model in the RX lineup. It comes standard with all the features included on the lesser powertrains’ Luxury trim level including a head-up display, leather upholstery, heated and cooled front and rear seats, and a panoramic sunroof.EPA fuel-economy ratings are 35 mpg combined while running on hybrid power, just 1 mpg less than the RX350h, and 83 MPGe including electric driving. Lexus says the RX450h+ will be available at dealerships by the end of the year.LexusMore on Lexus HybridsThis content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Senior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

There’s a smaller Land Rover Defender on the way, and it’ll be electric, a Jaguar Land Rover executive said at a recent investor conference, according to Autocar. The “baby” Defender, as Autocar calls it, will be built on JLR’s Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform and is expected to arrive in 2027. It’ll be one of four models built on the EMA platform, joining the next-generation Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, and Land Rover Discovery Sport, Autocar reports. Based on the EMA platform’s dimensions, the new, smaller Defender (which could possibly carry the Defender Sport nameplate) will be about 15 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, making it a bit smaller than a BMW X3. Defenders Old and NewThis new smaller Defender wouldn’t replace the current full-size SUV in Land Rover’s lineup. In fact, the next-generation Defender is expected to arrive in 2026, according to Autocar, based on the company’s Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform, which supports both purely electric and hybrid ICE powertrains. It’s then we expect the first full-size Defender EV to make its first appearance. Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing. More

Nissan confirmed that 2024 would be the last model year for the Titan full-size pickup.Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, assembly plant will end production of the Titan in summer 2024.Pricing for the 2024 Titan starts at $47,665.Since we recently covered pricing for the 2024 Nissan Titan pickup, Nissan has confirmed that this model year will be the last for its full-size truck. Production of the Titan and Titan XD will end in summer 2024 at Nissan’s plant in Canton, Mississippi, to make way for two new electric vehicles that will be built there. One will be a Nissan EV sedan, which we think will be called the Maxima, and the other will be an Infiniti equivalent.The Titan was first introduced for 2003 and was Nissan’s first entry into the full-size pickup market. Its second generation arrived for 2017 and introduced a variant called XD that was meant to fit between light-duty and heavy-duty trucks. The Titan never sold in volumes anywhere close to the levels of the domestic full-size trucks, and has even lagged behind its only other Japanese competitor, the Toyota Tundra. Through the first half of 2023, Nissan sold just 10,550 Titans in the U.S.More on Nissan TrucksThe mid-size Frontier will now be the only pickup truck in Nissan’s lineup. Nissan has also teased a future electric pickup with a concept car called the Surf-Out that looks to be similar in size to the Frontier. Nissan executives have stated an intention to build a mid-size electric truck for the U.S. market, as the Frontier has consistently sold better than the Titan.Before production ends next year, the Titan will still be available at Nissan dealerships. The updated 2024 model is already on sale and gets a new SV Bronze Edition appearance package along with a rejiggered trim lineup.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Senior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

Heat-related refinery outages helped shut down some petroleum refining capacity in the U.S. last month, and drivers are noticing the changes at the pump.The national average gas price for a gallon of gas shot up to $3.82 this week, the highest since October 2022.Other factors contributing to your paying more to fill up are rising prices for a barrel of oil and lower gasoline inventory supplies. And if more hurricanes arrive soon, they may cause prices to climb again.If you’re still pumping your car full of liquid energy, you’ve probably noticed a higher price recently. You’re not alone. Gas prices have reached a nine-month high nationwide, thanks to both familiar and unexpected causes.During the last week of July, the average price of a gallon of gasoline shot up 16.5 cents, to $3.72 a gallon, according to GasBuddy. Diesel fuel also shot up 15.5 cents to an average of $3.99 per gallon. On August 3, GasBuddy saw the national average rise to $3.82 a gallon, the highest since October 2022.Do Your BestThose price spikes were due to three main factors, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said in a statement: heat-related refinery outages, strong summer demand for gasoline, and gasoline inventories that were at their lowest July level since 2015.Strong demand and low inventories are classic high-gas-price triggers, but heat-related outages are less common. AAA, which tracks gas prices, said the extreme heat we’re all experiencing this summer meant some U.S. refineries, especially those near the Gulf of Mexico, had to cut back. Due to the high heat, the U.S. refined around 500,000 fewer barrels a day than usual.Hottest Month EverJuly was the hottest month in all of recorded human history. The transportation sector, including personal cars and trucks as well as commercial vehicles, airplanes, and trains, is one of the most significant contributors to anthropogenic U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which contribute to climate change. Transportation accounted for almost a third (29 percent) of all U.S. GHG emissions in 2021.Gas station in Austin, Texas, on August 3, 2023.Brandon Bell|Getty ImagesThe heat wave is only partly responsible for the high gas prices, however. The cost of a barrel of oil started climbing in July from the high-$60s to mid-$70s that we saw in May and June to more than $80. AAA said the recent increase was due to the end of releases from the strategic petroleum reserve and “concerns over cuts in supply from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the second- and third-largest oil producers in the world.” GasBuddy said gasoline inventories are also down 2.8 percent from a year ago and 6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.So, what happens next? AAA said in a statement this week that the good news is that the price hikes have started to level out and that further price decreases could be on the way. Gas could also get more expensive if this year’s hurricane season puts further strains on gasoline production. As De Haan said, “Drivers may want to brace for potentially higher prices yet.”Contributing EditorSebastian Blanco has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids, and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk, and other outlets. His first green-car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles and discovering the new technology’s importance not just for the auto industry, but for the world as a whole. Throw in the recent shift to autonomous vehicles, and there are more interesting changes happening now than most people can wrap their heads around. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.  More

BMW enthusiasts revere the E28 generation as the starting point of the M5.As a Europe-spec car, this example wears cleaner-look small bumpers and has a host of rare options.This Bring a Trailer online auction ends on Wednesday, August 9.Car and DriverYou might think that, as the reigning monarch of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf would choose as his personal car a Volvo or a Saab. But King Carl, who ascended to the throne in September 1973, evidently has more sporting tastes. His Majesty the King has cultivated a decades-long fascination with BMW, and when he ordered himself an M5 in the late 1980s, he got the spec absolutely right.Bring a TrailerThat car, a 1987 M5 with a royal touch, is currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer, which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos. Reportedly, the king of Sweden owned three of these ultimate ’80s sleeper sedans, and this one is tricked out in an ideal spec.Bring a TrailerFirst, we’ll point out that Euro-spec bumpers on an E28-generation 5-series look so much better than the protruding U.S. ones. Second, the color palette is absolutely on point. Malachite dark green with gold basketweave 16-inch BBS wheels and a thin gold pinstripe is super tasty. Exhibiting characteristic Swedish understatement, the King also chose Shadowline trim rather than chrome and had the rear badging removed.Bring a TrailerThe interior is all-business black, in contrast to the tan interior typical of U.S. E28 M5 models. Further, it’s tricked out with additional leather throughout: on the door panels, steering column, even the sun visors. And whereas today’s M cars often are awash in carbon fiber, here we find subtle M stripes on the steering wheel and shifter.Bring a TrailerAs for the big-stick part of this quietly speaking sports sedan, that’s provided by a 3.5-liter inline-six good for 286 horsepower in European tune. This golden-age BMW three-pedal throne room makes the case: It’s good to be king.More BMW M goodnessContributing EditorBrendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More

We hear that Mercedes-AMG is considering bringing the V-8 back to the high-performance C-class and E-class models.The twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 could possibly be combined with a hybrid setup, as in the AMG GT63 S E Performance and AMG S63.These V-8 models could arrive as soon as 2026, sources say.The AMG community is not amused. The most powerful AMG C-class, the C63, traded the V-8 for a hybridized turbo-four, and the next top-of-the-line E-class, the upcoming E63, will make do with an inline-six plug-in-hybrid setup. Some say that’s not good enough to do battle with the BMW M3, which has a twin-turbo inline-six, and the future BMW M5, which is slated to have a hybrid setup with a twin-turbo V-8. The upcoming Audi RS5 and RS7 will also be powered by a V-6 hybrid good for up to 640 horsepower.The only escape route out of this dilemma is the reinstitution of the M177 4.0-liter V-8 engine, which will return to the C- and E-class in 2026, two independent sources say. The eight-cylinder is currently being modified to meet EU7 emissions standards. This engine is currently used in the 831-hp AMG GT63 S E Performance and the 791-hp AMG S63, and it’s combined with a hybrid setup in both of those applications.Mercedes-AMGAccording to senior engineers directly involved in the matter, both the C-class and E-class need only minor bodywork changes to accommodate the twin-turbo powerplant, the PHEV battery plus electric motor, and the auxiliary equipment. Since the C- and E-class are under evaluation for a life-cycle extension beyond 2028, the hardcore AMG versions may remain in production well into the next decade.More New Mercedes ModelsThis content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Contributing EditorAlthough I was born the only son of an ornithologist and a postal clerk, it was clear from the beginning that birdwatching and stamp collecting were not my thing. Had I known that God wanted me to grow to 6’8″, I also would have ruled out anything to do with cars, which are to blame for a couple of slipped discs, a torn ligament, and that stupid stooped posture behind the wheel. While working as a keeper in the Aberdeen Zoo, smuggling cheap cigarettes from Yugoslavia to Germany, and an embarrassing interlude with an amateur drama group also failed to yield fulfillment, driving and writing about cars became a much better option. And it still is now, many years later, as I approach my 70th birthday. I love every aspect of my job except long-haul travel on lousy airlines, and I hope it shows. More