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BMW is preparing a second-generation X2, after discontinuing the sleeker alternative to the X1 after the 2023 model year.The teaser shows an angular grille lined with LEDs and a more sharply sloping roofline than the previous X2.The 2025 X2 should use the same four-cylinder engines as the X1, with a 241-hp base model and a 312-hp M35i performance variant.BMW pioneered the oxymoronic “SUV coupe” segment when it launched the sloped-back X6 in 2008 as a sportier-looking alternative to the X5 crossover. A slinkier X2 joined the lineup as a counterpart to the subcompact X1 in 2018, but underwent minimal changes before fizzling out after 2023. But BMW is readying a replacement, teasing a second-generation X2 in a recent video. The X2 is shrouded in darkness in the video, but a shot of the silhouette reveals a roofline that dives downward in a more dramatic fashion than the previous X2, capped off by a small lip spoiler. We also catch a glimpse of the front end’s bold LED lighting, which outlines the octagonal kidney grille, mimicking the the look seen on the XM performance SUV. The headlights feature two vertical LED elements with a slight kink in the middle, similar to the refreshed 2024 X5.More BMW NewsBMW didn’t provide any other hints about the next generation X2 but the crossover is expected to ride on the same platform as the latest X1, which debuted for 2023. The X2 should use the same engines as its more practical sibling, with a 241-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four in the base model. The M35i performance model that joins the X1 lineup for 2024 should also make an appearance, with the turbo 2.0-liter tuned to produce 312 hp. BMW is expected to also reveal an electric iX2, but its unclear if this will be offered in the United States since the iX1 has remained an Europe-only affair. The second generation X2 should debut before the end of the year and arrive in the U.S. as a 2025 model.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

Toyota unveiled a new limited-edition version of the full-size Tundra pickup based on the 1794 trim. The special edition comes with a Fox Shocks 1.1 inch lift kit and a specially designed leather interior. It will be limited to 1500 units when it goes on sale next spring.Toyota’s upwards quest to make a dent in the Big Three’s full-size truck dominance continues. To that end, Toyota announced a new special-edition version of the Tundra called the 1794 Limited Edition complete with a different look inside and out and a lift kit. ToyotaMost of the changes for the 1794 Limited Edition come in the way of visual and material changes, though the special edition does get a small performance boost in the way of 2.5 inch Fox internal bypass shocks with piggyback reservoirs and a 1.1 inch lift. The exterior of the truck distinguishes itself from the rest of the flock with a dark chrome finish for the grille and side moldings, as well as blacked-out accents. The tailgate ditches the standard “TUNDRA” text, and replaces it with a special stamp to further differentiate the truck.The interior sets itself even further apart from other Tundras with the inclusion of copious amounts of brown leather. According to Toyota, the design was developed in conjunction with the Texas based Saddleback Leather Company.ToyotaAs a bonus, Toyota is including a matching set of leather accessories with the truck, including an overnight bag, tool roll, owner’s manual case, key glove, and small bag. The 1794 Limited Edition will be kept to 1500 units and will go on sale some time in spring 2024. We’re not sure on official pricing yet, but we imagine it will come in a few thousand dollars above the standard 1794 trim’s $64,310 starting price. More on the TundraThis 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 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

We all know what it feels like to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if cars had feelings, there’s a 964-era Porsche 911 in the Seattle area that would definitely know all about that one. That’s because it happened to be parked in a garage in close proximity to a Polaris Slingshot that thieves had targeted for the Gone in 60 Seconds treatment. Tucked in under a car cover, the Guards Red 964 obviously wasn’t a daily driver and probably wouldn’t immediately be missed. And so the Porsche—freshly painted, with H&R suspension and a Das Sport half cage—joined the Polaris in an unauthorized exit from the garage, and the owner was none the wiser until receiving a call from the police a few weeks later asking, “Do you know where your car is?” He didn’t, but he was about to find out that the Porsche community had already tracked down his car, albeit not unscathed.Auburn Police DepartmentWhy were the police looking for a car that wasn’t reported stolen? Well, as it happens, the thieves didn’t stop their crime spree at grand theft auto, and the red 911 had been spotted near the scene of a homicide. Police in Auburn, Washington, had grainy security camera footage of a red 911 but they couldn’t tell much else about it. So they did the logical thing and tracked down somebody who could, calling boutique Seattle Porsche shop Dobson Stuttgart to ask for help. There, sales and marketing manager Matt Adair took a look at the photos and immediately knew what car to look for—though he didn’t know whose it was.Beat up and covered in fingerprint dust, but recovered.Matt Adair|Car and Driver“I ID’d it as a 1990-ish 964 with aftermarket wheels,” Adair says. “There aren’t a lot of 964s around, so I asked if they wanted me to dig into that. They did, so I hit up my Porsche groups and a few others and got an outpouring of people who saw the car in Northgate, or Tacoma. Apparently it had been making the rounds for a few weeks.”But initially, the sightings from Adair’s Porsche network were strictly past tense, leads gone cold. Within 24 hours, though, a contact in Portland, Oregon, said he found it. “He sent a photo and it was the car,” says Adair. “I called the Auburn PD and the detective I’d talked to wasn’t there.” Thus Adair undertook the strange and awkward task of calling 911 and convincing the dispatcher that police were required at a particular address in Oregon, on account of a stolen red 911 on grey Rotiforms parked outside. “Then they had an officer in Portland call me, since I knew where the car was, and they were there within a half hour and arrested the guy.” Ouch.Matt Adair|Car and DriverThe car was towed back to Dobson Stuttgart covered in black fingerprint dust and wearing the scars of its unfortunate road trip. “The owner called me and said, ‘Now what?’ and I told him that based on my experience with stolen cars, it’ll probably be totaled,” Adair says. The trunk was taped down, since the latch had been pried open with a crowbar. The ignition now started with a flat-blade screwdriver. Underneath, the thieves looked to have hit a speed bump at freeway pace—or gone off-roading—based on dents to the engine case. The Fabspeed exhaust was partially ripped off, the lower bodywork scraped up. More ouch.Matt Adair|Car and DriverA sad result, but at least the car was recovered and its illicit custodian arrested before more mayhem ensued—the search warrant for the car reads “theft of motor vehicle” and “murder in the second degree”. And if the choice of vehicle had been anything more anodyne than a perfect red 964, that suspect might still be at large. Moral: if you’re getting up to crimes, don’t cross the Porsche-heads.More Police ChasesSenior EditorEzra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He’s now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive. More

The 911 GT3 R Rennsport debuted at the 2023 Rennsport Reunion in Monterey, California. It will be a limited edition of 77 cars. The naturally aspirated six-cylinder revs to 9400 rpm and makes 611 hp. Only the hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R. Redefining the idea of a track toy, Porsche has released a version of its 911 GT3 R that has so much power and downforce, it’s illegal. Well, it’s illegal by FIA competition rules. The competition 911 GT3 that the Rennsport is based on was designed specifically to be raced in FIA or IMSA events like Le Mans or the Daytona 24, where strict rules govern the “Balance of Power” as to how light a car can be, what gearing it can use, and how much horsepower and aero is permitted. The 911 GT3 Rennsport asks, “What if those rules didn’t apply?”Designed by Grant Larson and Thorsten Klein from the Style Porsche team—which heads up many of Porsche’s one-off and special-edition projects, the 911 GT3 Rennsport is low and long. The hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R, but all other body panels are different from the homologated race car’s. All the air intakes and ground effects are also specific to the GT3 R Rennsport. Even the mirrors are gone, replaced with a three-camera system that shows the driver traffic via a monitor in the cockpit.By traffic, of course, we mean only other racers. The GT3 R Rennsport is about as not–street legal as you can get, and you’re unlikely to go unnoticed if you try to take it through a fast-food window. If you did, though, there’s plenty of room to rest your lunch on the massive rear wing, which is based on the Brumos Porsche 935/77, which won the 1978 24 Hours of Daytona. The wing works as more than a picnic bench. Downforce is so extreme that Porsche had to add additional supports to hold it up. You’ll be eating alone, though: like the GT3 R, the Rennsport model is a single seater, with most of the interior taken up by a roll cage. PorscheUnderneath, the GT3 R Rennsport is almost the same as the GT3 R. The car rides on a bespoke Michelin tire. The front suspension has unequal-length control arms and the rear is a multilink setup. The KW Shocks are five-way adjustable and Porsche Motorsport delivers the car with the chassis already tuned for general performance. Additional fine-tuning can be done using available shims. The AP brakes are aluminum monoblocks, with titanium backing plates behind the pads which reduce unsprung weight by a little more than two pounds. The fuel tank is lighter too, by about the same amount. There’s no air conditioning. The driver is cooled by a ventilated seat. The planned curb weight is 2734 pounds. You can get your GT3 Rennsport in seven different colors. The standard is Agate Grey and raw carbon, but if you’d prefer Ruby Star—as you should—it’s possible. Three liveries based on Porsche history will also be available, one designed around the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, one in classic Porsche Motorsport red and white, and one in various shades of blue. All GT3 Rennsports sit on 18-inch BBS wheels which do meet the tech requirements of a center-locking competition wheel, even if the car they are bolted to is a right-ole cheater. PorscheOne of the major limitations in FIA competition is power, and the GT3 R Rennsport doesn’t play by those rules. The Rennsport uses the 4.2-liter naturally aspirated flat-six engine from the standard GT3 R, but rather than a limited 557 hp, the special edition makes 611 hp and the direct injection is specifically tuned to run on E25 bioethonol and eFuel, although it can also run on conventional gasoline. All that power goes to the rear wheels via a sequential six-speed gearbox. Paddles on the wheel control the shifts, and the transmission ratio has a different sixth gear, making the GT3 R Rennsport 12 mph faster than the GT3 R on the top end. If you want to hear it, an unmuffled version is available, but for those who might ever want to hear something else—or run at a track with decibel limits—two muffled and catalytic convertor versions are also on the order sheet. Get your orders in now, as Porsche is only making 77 examples of the $1,046,000 GT3 R Rennsport. More 911 GT3sThis 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 Editor, FeaturesLike a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews.     More

Only two weeks have passed since the UAW called a strike on Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, but the action has already had significant effect. Beyond the non-stop international media attention, the strike has spread to 38 new production facilities, been visited by one former and one current American president, and caused multiple auto suppliers to announce layoffs. More on the StrikeWhat Has HappenedThe initial strike on September 15 called for roughly 13,000 UAW members to stop work at three plants. Ford’s Michigan Assembly in Wayne, Michigan, was the first, where the company currently builds the Bronco and Ranger. GM’s Wentzville Assembly in Wentzville, Missouri, was the second, which currently builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, among others. Finally, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio, was the third, which builds the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. A week later, 5600 workers walked out of 38 General Motors and Stellantis facilities in 20 states. UAW president Shawn Fain said that Ford dodged additional stoppages because it is “serious about reaching a deal.” The other two, however, were “a different story,” and so were punished by a further wave of the UAW’s Stand Up Strike.What’s NextAs the strike enters its third week of negotiations with the Big Three, the UAW’s scope of action looks set to expand, and we’re likely to see more action soon. On Tuesday, UAW president Shawn Fain pledged that, should negotiations not make any significant headway, he was ready to “amp up the pressure.” Fain is expected to announce an expansion of the UAW’s rolling Stand Up Strike via Facebook Live on Friday September 29 at 10 a.m. Eastern time.This time, it seems unlikely that Ford will escape further escalation. “Ford will likely be pulled back into the strike escalation,” says Ambrose Conroy, an auto supply chain expert and founder of Seraph Consulting. “The UAW gave them some time to try and get a deal done, but it did not happen. We expect the pressure to be turned up on Ford.”Scott Olson|Getty ImagesAs to what will happen, that is unclear. “The UAW may lift the strike on the first plants and choose to impact the Big Three in other places,” Conroy says. “Bringing workers back to the original plants will restore their pay and allow UAW membership to share the suffering; taking down new plants will spread chaos and pain within the OEMs.”Suppliers, however, are already affected. CIE Newcor, a manufacturer of components and subassemblies, and Dana, a supplier mainly focused on powertrains, have warned that hundreds of layoffs are coming in the wake of the ongoing strike.Those impacts will only increase should this strike lingers. “This is a game of chicken where the participants may not have that much to gain,” Conroy says. “Hyundai, Tesla, Rivian, and Toyota all stand to gain while the Big 3 and union labor lose out on market share and jobs if this continues for too long.”President Biden VisitFain took the initial strike expansion as an opportunity to invite President Biden to join the picket lines. Biden did just that on September 26. Speaking at GM’s Willow Run Redistribution Center in Belleville, Michigan, Biden said: “You saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before, made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot, and the companies were in trouble. But now they’re doing incredibly well, and guess what, you should be doing incredibly well, too.”This visit made Biden the first modern sitting U.S. president to join a picket line, according to the AP, a contrast to previous presidential union relations, like Ronald Reagan’s firing of 11,000 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in 1981.JIM WATSON|Getty ImagesFormer president Donald Trump, on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, was quick to follow Biden. Trump spoke at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township, Michigan, curiously a non-union outfit. But, rather than rally the UAW members against big corporations, he instead used the platform to decry the industry’s shift toward electric vehicles, saying: “It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years you’re all going to be out of business.” More

Toyota has dropped the base L trim for the 2024 Highlander SUV. The LE is the new cheapest version the mid-size SUV and marks a $2500 price increase over last year’s base model. The manufacturer is also bringing the Nightshade Edition to the Hybrid versions of the Highlander LE and XLE. Toyota is shaking up the 2024 Highlander lineup by adding a Nightshade Edition and dropping the former entry-level L trim. The removal comes as another example of a manufacturer dropping a base version, while subsequently raising the barrier of entry for the vehicle.That means for 2024, the cheapest Toyota Highlander will set you back $40,515—a $2500 increase over last year’s base model. It should be noted, however, that the price of the LE trim has only increased by $100 for the new model year. Upgrading to the hybrid version will run you an extra $1600, as will the upgrade to all-wheel drive from the standard front-drive configuration.Toyota also decided to end the Highlander Bronze Edition trim, deeming it instead time to add a Nightshade Edition for the family SUV. The package is only available on the hybrid versions of the LE and XLE trim and runs $1000. Like with other Nightshade Editions, the Highlander comes with black trim on the grille, mirror caps, door handles, and special badging. Both the LE and XLE roll on a set of black 18-inch five spoke wheels, and the XLE version gets a set of black roof rails. ToyotaThe interior features black seats finished in either cloth or two-tone Softex, depending on trim level. The XLE also comes with 10-way power-adjustable heated front seats and second row captain’s chairs. Exterior paint options on the Nightshade include Cement, Wind Chill Pearl, Midnight Black Metallic, or Ruby Flare Pearl. The front-drive version of the LE Nightshade will run you $43,115, while the all-wheel-drive version is $44,715. Stepping up to the front-drive version of the XLE cost $46,265, and the addition of all-wheel drive brings that total to $47,660.More on the Highlander LineupAssociate 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