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• This 1980 Zastava 750 SE is today’s Bring a Trailer auction pick.• The diminutive, no-frills car is based on the Fiat 600 and was produced in Yugoslavia from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s.• The car is located in California, and the auction ends on Monday, July 18.The classic Fiat 500 and the related Fiat 600 radiate a certain La Dolce Vita Mediterranean summer cool, but if they’ve grown common in the resort city where you keep your megayacht, you might consider this Zastava 750 instead.

Up for sale right now on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—this Zastava looks adorable in its resprayed powder blue with a white interior. It’s also charmingly simple: Note the crank windows, two-spoke steering wheel, and painted metal dash.

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Bring a Trailer

The Zastava is essentially a rebadged Fiat 600. It could also be considered the proto-Yugo, as it was built in the former Yugoslavia for three decades starting in 1955—first as the 600, then the 750, and lastly as the 850. This later model features front-hinged doors and, as an SE, wrings 30 rather than 25 horsepower from its rear-mounted 767-cc four-cylinder engine, which is paired with a four-speed manual transaxle.

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This example is said to have undergone some restoration work prior to the current owner’s purchase of the car in Croatia. It’s now located in California, where the engine was rebuilt and the water pump replaced. It would appear this Zastava is ready to turn heads, whether at the next Yugoslavian imports meetup or puttering around the harbor at your next port of call.Bidding is currently at $4200 with five days to go before the auction ends on Monday, July 18.
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Cadillac has released more revealing images of the Celestiq EV.The rear view shows a low-slung fastback silhouette, while the interior has a four-seat layout with a sumptuous rear cabin.The Celestiq is rumored to start at around $300,000 and will be built at GM’s tech center in Michigan.Cadillac is continuing to parse out information about its upcoming EV flagship, the Celestiq, and the latest images give us our best look yet at the car’s exterior and interior. With a low-slung fastback shape, exquisite detailing, and a hedonistic rear seat, the Celestiq—seen here in “Show Car” form—will attempt to take Cadillac into a higher echelon of the luxury market. Reports suggest that the Celestiq will not only carry a six-figure price tag, but that it could start at around $300,000, also known as Bentley and Rolls-Royce territory.

Cadillac

The Celestiq’s rear end suggests it will be a hatchback similar in shape to the Porsche Panamera or Mercedes-Benz EQS. The front view shows seven-spoke wheels with an intricate pattern that are wrapped in tires with a “Michelin Pilot Sport EV” designation.

Inside, we can see a clear view of four seats trimmed in red leather, and the rear seats appear to have their own entertainment screens, control knob, and seat-adjustment controls. Myriad screens dot the cabin, with a large widescreen setup on the dashboard, a screen between the front seats, a screen between the rear seats, and the aforementioned entertainment screens on the backs of the front seats.We don’t know how much the Celestiq concept car will change as it reaches production, but given that this model will be hand-built, the version you can buy may end up being fairly close to what you see here. We’ll learn more about the Celestiq soon, as the show car will finally make its debut soon.
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The most powerful Italian car in history is finally in official production mode. The Pininfarina Battista, whose electric motors drive 1900 horsepower and 1725 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels, famously shares roots with the Rimac Nevera. But almost a year following our first drive, a series of tweaks and refinements have since put a finer point on the $1.99 million hypercar, which the Mahindra-owned manufacturer says will reach U.S. garages later this year.”We’ve improved the performance aspects and gained consistency with reliability and durability,” chief product and engineering officer Paolo Dellachà told Car and Driver. “During the last 11 months we’ve also been fine tuning the e-powertrain, chassis calibration, ESC, and torque vectoring,” he adds. “I can tell you it is more refined and way faster than when you drove it [11 months ago].”

Pininfarina

That last bit is a gobsmacking claim. On paper, Pininfarina reports a zero-to-60-mph time of 1.8 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 217 mph, both of which remain unchanged. Incidentally, Battista feels even quicker by the seat of the pants than the figures suggest. Dellachà says the car is now faster around a racetrack due to improvements at corner exit and power delivery. However, we’re inclined to believe the average Battista buyer might not be hot to trot the multimillion-dollar EV with hot laps at their local circuit.

Pininfarina’s first nameplate since the Azzurra in the mid-1980s claims incremental distinctions over the Nevera, including a signature sound and a literal hum, which vibrates at 54 hertz. Just-released homologation details reveal the Battista is EPA rated at 300 miles of combined range (290 city/309 highway), edging out the Nevera’s 287 combined figure. Pininfarina also boosted its official torque figure by 29 pound-feet, while the Nevera takes the power crown with 1914 hp. Dellachà says that DC quick-charging has also been upped from 180 kW to 250 kW, and the five drive modes are now individually customizable.Battista honors its design house roots by bringing a bit of Italianate flair its Croatian counterpart’s straight-laced treatment. It’s a tipping point that likely serves as a strong draw for buyers like serial supercar collector and first customer Luciano Colosio, who told Financial Times that he has at one time owned a McLaren F1, a Bugatti Veyron, two Aston Martin One-77s, and numerous Ferraris. The publication says Colosio once had a strict V-12–only policy but has since shifted his viewpoint on electron-powered supercars—a cleverly leveraged preference that bolsters the argument for ultra-high-performance battery electric vehicles. Exterior designer Dave Amantea, who is working individually with each buyer to spec their Battistas, says the exterior can be configured in up to 13.9 quintillion configurations. Only 150 units will be produced in total, which helps explain why the boutique builder estimates 10 weeks to build each Battista at their Cambiano, Italy, facility. The hand-painted Anniversario spec extends that time frame to 18 weeks.Pininfarina also released details on three after-sales packages. Eccellenza offers five or 10 years of maintenance for “providing optimum performance and safeguarding its warranty and value,” at $72,000 or $145,000 respectively; Futura extends the battery and powertrain warranty an additional seven years (for a total of 10 years) for $150,000; and the Eterna package includes a set of replacement body parts in the unfortunate event that they’re needed. Pricing for the extra bodywork depends on the ordered vehicle’s specs.Watch this space for updates when we take a closer look at Pininfarina Battista at Monterey Car Week in August and get behind the wheel for a drive of the final production-spec car.

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Lotus Advanced Performance is a new division that will create several limited-edition bespoke models.The division is hoping to have both a new car and customer event by the end of the year.Simon Lane, the director of Lotus Advanced Performance, previously lead the similar Aston Martin Q division. Although Lotus just had its best sales year in a decade, selling 1710 units worldwide in 2021, that’s still a small batch of vehicles. But that isn’t stopping the company from getting even more exclusive. Lotus has now created a new division called Lotus Advanced Performance (LAP) aimed at creating bespoke cars and experiences for its customers.We sat down for a chat with Simon Lane, the new director of Lotus Advanced Performance and visionary for the group. Lane comes to Lotus fresh from heading up Aston Martin’s similar Q division.

When Lotus announced the new division in February, it released an enticing photo displaying what looks like the rear end of an open-wheel race car with a large wing. Notably, two exhaust pipes can be seen sticking out the back of the teaser car. We think it looks a bit like the Lotus 72, or perhaps the Type 49, but all Lane would give was “It’s clearly a very significant car for Lotus.” Excitingly, Lane also told us that, as the rest of Lotus moves toward full electrification, this division is retaining the right to “play” with internal combustion engines, albeit in very low volumes. LAP isn’t waiting around to get the ball rolling on production. Lane described the division as having four main “product streams,” with motorsport being one. Earlier this spring, it launched its first car, the Emira GT4 as a dedicated track machine based on the Emira mid-engine sports car. Lane told us that talks have started on what the team wants its next motorsport-focused car to look like, but there are no concrete decisions yet. He did explain that the proposed Electric GT series from the FIA is something his team is looking at, though offered no additional clues on that particular front.

Lotus Cars

The second “product stream” or “model line” would develop cars built on existing platforms. That means something on the Emira platform other than the aforementioned GT4, something on the Evija platform, or perhaps a performance version of the upcoming Eletre to compete with other performance SUVs. Bespoke options like unique paint jobs or liveries would also fall into this category. Modern Take on the PastHere’s where things get exciting. The third stream for LAP is set to consist of historic vehicles, both period-correct continuation cars and restomod-style cars with old designs and newer mechanical components.“I’ve discovered that there are a number of original drawings for cars that were completed in the Colin Chapman era, that never made it off the drawing board,” said Lane. “That’s really exciting, there were some amazing cars that were designed back then. And I think using a blend of original beautiful designs for cars that were designed by Colin, and modern technology offer us the opportunity to develop some really cool cars.”

Lotus Cars

Looking ahead, Lane also told us that LAP is hoping to launch its second car by the end of the year. “I would like to think that you will see something from us by the end of the year,” said Lane. The target for the first bespoke vehicle in the restomod line is later in 2023.It’s important to note that these will all be incredibly limited in number. We were told that most cars from Lotus Advanced Performance would have less than 100 made, and some would be as low as single digits. The fourth stream for LAP is in the experiential world with things like track days or tours of the company’s factory at Hethel. This page shows a great example of the sort of experience Lane put on with Aston Martin and works as a marker for what customers can expect Lotus to put on in the coming months and years.
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EV startup Canoo has made an agreement with Walmart to provide 4500 of its electric commercial vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. Walmart will be the first to receive a special model called the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), which has been specifically modified for short-range delivery purposes.The announcement saw Canoo’s stock open Tuesday at nearly double the value it closed at on Monday. Walmart will row its boat for the final leg of online-order deliveries with 4500 Canoos. As part of its initiative to achieve zero emissions by 2040, the superstore chain said today that it has signed a “definitive agreement” with Canoo, an U.S. EV startup, to purchase 4500 of its electric vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. It will also have the option to purchase up to 10,000 more later.

Canoo announced the agreement Tuesday, which involves the brand’s specialty Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDVs), which Walmart will become the first entity to receive. The LDV is a modified version of Canoo’s pod-shaped Lifestyle Vehicle (LV), an all-electric consumer utility vehicle with up to seven seats in a unique limousine-esque U-shape. The Delivery version, however, forgoes rear seats for cargo space and boasts 250 miles of range via an 80.0-kWh battery. Canoo also claims a 1464-pound payload capacity.

Lineup of Canoo LV models.
Canoo

Walmart will use the LDVs for last-mile delivery, which is the final step in an online-order package’s delivery. Basically, the Canoos will take your package from a local transportation hub to your front door. In the release, Canoo claims that the vehicles should hit the road for Walmart in 2023, but that LDVs will begin limited use in the coming weeks around the Dallas/Fort Worth area so Walmart can fine-tune the vehicle’s configuration. Car and Driver recently reported financial troubles for the up-and-coming EV startup, but Tuesday’s announcement saw Canoo’s stock open at $4.65 a share, nearly double its Monday closing value of $2.37. The company went public in December 2020, opening at $22.75 a share, but it has since steadily declined, though it’s important to note that other EV startups to have recently gone public—Rivian, Lightning eMotors, and others—have been following the same trajectory.
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The Walmart deal comes after another big Canoo announcement regarding fleet-use of the LV. The spunky pods were recently commissioned by NASA for use as transport vehicles in the upcoming Artemis moon-landing missions. All in all, things may be looking up for Canoo.
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