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Comments from Ford CEO Jim Farley on Thursday seemed to indicate that the company was going to transition to 100 percent online, fixed-price sales for its EV offerings to stay competitive with modern retail expectations. A Ford spokesperson clarified those comments on Friday, which he says were taken out of context.Rather than a complete transition to a new distribution model, Ford spokesperson Said Deep told Road & Track, Ford is simply discussing developing a 100 percent digital online transaction platform, not transitioning 100 percent of sales to a digital platform. In Farley’s initial comments reported Thursday, he compared the sales strategy to the way some retail companies have adjusted to digital competitors.”I believe for retail, we have to . . . It’s kind of like what happened between Amazon and Target. Target could have gone away, but they didn’t,” Farley says. “They bolted on an e-commerce platform and then they use their physical store to add groceries, and make returns much easier than Amazon. They use their expertise as a physical retailer to their advantage, but they modernize the e-commerce piece, so it would be really easy to do business with them. It’s exactly what we have to do on the retail side. We’ve got to go to non-negotiated price, we’ve got to go to 100 percent online. The vehicle, there’s no inventory, goes directly to the customer, 100 percent remote pickup and delivery. But then we have this opportunity to use our physical presence to outperform them.”When asked if the change would mean transitioning away from a dealer model to focus on direct-to-consumer sales, Deep reaffirmed that the Ford dealer network remains a crucial element of the company’s future.”Leaning into” Dealer Network”Our dealers are a competitive advantage for us as they are closely connected with their customers and communities they serve,” says Deep. “This is the reason we are leaning into them and working with them to dramatically improve our overall customer experience for EVs. We want them to be even more specialized in the future, and we plan to craft a new set of operating standards for Ford EV sales that would combine the ease and most popular aspects of direct-sale startups with the expertise our dealers have developed over more than a century. Ford and our dealers want to deliver the best experience we can for our customers. The digital retailing experience is critical. Whether the customer is at home or in a dealer showroom, they expect an outstanding digital experience. Our ability, together with our dealers, to deliver a 100 percent digitally supported, world-class customer experience is going to serve our customers very well no matter how they want to do business with us.” The quote indicates that the existing dealer model will be integrated with something that resembles the direct sale model for the consumer, including direct delivery. It does not necessarily mean that dealers would not have stock on hand, though.”Directly to the customer is about sourcing just in time—built to order for an individual customer and delivered through our dealer network,” Deep says. “If they want it delivered directly to their home, our dealers can help do that as well. We’ve had great success with this already on Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. This is just one way we are looking at reducing the amount of stock a dealer needs to hold, reducing costs for both Ford and our dealers that we can reinvest in more compelling products and services for our customers.”

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• This splendid Agave Green 1973 BMW 2002tii is currently up for auction on the Bring a Trailer website.• This is the car that really made BMW in the United States, and it brings back fond memories, since I owned one in high school in the 1980s.• Bidding on the 2002 is currently at $17,000, with five days to go until the June 8 auction end date.The BMW 2002 sport coupe, particularly the fuel-injected version designated by the tii suffix, was the car that gave BMW its foothold in the United States, providing the foundational bona fides for the brand’s eventual Ultimate Driving Machine tagline. We choose this gorgeous ’73 tii as our pick of the day from Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of the Hearst Autos group. The car has a 2.0-liter inline-four with a five-speed manual transmission and features 13-inch wheels, front disc brakes, front bucket seats, and a sunroof. It has been repainted in its original color, Agave Green.

But my reasons for selecting this car go well beyond those details and the model’s key position in the Bavarian Motor Works canon. When I was just a young car fanatic, in high school in suburban Detroit in the 1980s, I bought a 1973 BMW 2002 as my first real vehicle. It was more than a bit ratty, with rusty fenders, rockers, and hood. It had 120,000 miles on it, though the 2.0-liter engine and four-speed manual transmission had both been rebuilt at around 75K, and it sported Bilstein shocks, an Ansa exhaust, a Weber carb, and Pirelli tires. The tan vinyl on the passenger seat was torn, and much of the stuffing had fallen away, exposing the internal springs.

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I worked every weekend, about 25 hours a week, at a pizzeria and then a lovely local Italian restaurant to keep my Bimmer running, and it ate up every cent I earned. Eventually, however, I saved up enough to have all the rusty bits replaced with clean new sheetmetal, and the car repainted in a non-factory blue that was closer to the azure in the BMW roundel.

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The summer after my senior year, within weeks of getting the car back from the shop, I was on my way to visit some old folks I’d met at a local home for senior citizens, as part of a community service program I’d helped found at my school. While stopped at a red light, some coked out a-hole rear ended me, spinning my beloved 02 into the intersection in a spray of gas, metal, and round taillight plastic lenses. The car was totaled. I was unhurt, physically. I was emotionally devastated. I loved that car. It taught me how to drive.

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I’ve always wanted another 2002 but never pursued it, falling instead into a million other forms of weird car love. When I returned to my high school for my 25th reunion a decade ago, BMW was kind enough to loan me a perfect tii, in the same shade as my dearly departed 02, and I had a reverie. But since I own a green 1990 Range Rover and a green 1979 Fiat 124 Spider, were I to buy again, this one seems like an ideal choice.

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Marriages, like engines, need consistent TLC to run smoothly. Letting either one of them languish is a recipe for sputtering, backfires, and name calling. It’s the same with Window Shop, which, after two weeks off, is trying to clear its pipes with champagne and cheuginess. Viewer Ace Fighterpilot provided this week’s challenge: find a car to drive away in on one’s wedding day. The budget was $30,000, which could have bought a lot of cake or a lot of couples’ therapy, both of which might go down easier than the selections.Loving Santa Barbara husband John Pearley Huffman got the bells pealing with a two-horsepower Citroën. These were alarm bells, and no, not that Citroën. This one’s smaller and extremely red inside. Pearley reasoned the French connection would make for great photos, although his point got lost in a discussion about how tiny a couple would need to be to fit inside the car. Vegas-nuptial veteran Elana Scherr pulled up in a wedding-standard Rolls-Royce. On the outside, the tired but game Roller said come hither. Then she opened the doors on an interior that said to the groom, “Circus Circus did me a solid; prove you love me and get in.”Kentucky bachelor Jonathon Ramsey went for a Jaguar convertible. This one’s relentless mechanical needs would remind the couple to relentlessly love one each other as well. Yes, his choice was also voted “Most Likely to Be Driven to the Divorce,” but this episode ends after the reception, making such hypotheticals irrelevant. The espoused K.C. Colwell kept his choice as simple as his wedding venue, dipping into the Buick archives for classic Midwest Americana. The giant grille and Peggy Sue Got Married vibe was accused of being festooned with cheuginess instead of cans and streamers. Neither Wikipedia nor debate could help us make sense of the term—or the car. Man-about-Utah Tony Quiroga shacked up at a Love’s truck stop in the desert state for this episode. Doing his best impression of a Kentucky bachelor, his chosen butter-yellow Cadillac was perhaps the best Rorschach test for catching the woman of your life who is also a freak, and maybe a trucker.If you see these vehicles at a wedding, could be best to live it up at the reception and make some time in your calendar to attend a second marriage. Or make an offer for something well under $30,000.

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The 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 with the Manthey Performance Kit is 4.19 seconds quicker around the Nürburgring than the normal GT3, according to Porsche.The Porsche-backed, dealer-installed Manthey kit includes a host of aerodynamic and chassis upgrades.Unfortunately, the Manthey kit is currently only available in Europe, but it’s possible it will come stateside in the future.The Porsche 911 GT3 is a phenomenal track car. In stock form, Porsche says it lapped the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife (a.k.a. the North Loop) in just under seven minutes. Fitted with the new factory-backed Manthey Performance kit, the company says, the GT3 went around the ‘Ring 4.19 seconds quicker, posting a 6:55.7 lap time. That’s awesome. Less awesome is that the kit is currently only sold in Europe.

A Porsche spokesperson told us the company is still considering making the Manthey setup available in the U.S., but a final decision is still up in the air. Meanwhile, lucky European customers who can afford a new 911 GT3 can expect to spend the equivalent of $48,000 U.S. on the dealer-installed setup. What performance upgrade does that money buy? We’ll tell you.
The Manthey Performance kit was co-developed by Porsche engineers in Weissach and Manthey’s Nordschleife specialists. The kit primarily focuses on the GT3’s aerodynamics and chassis components, preserving the coupe’s naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six. The U.S.-spec engine produces 502 horsepower at 8400 rpm and 346 pound-feet of torque at 6100 rpm. Equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, the GT3 we tested hit 60 mph in 2.7 seconds, stopped from 70 mph in 133 feet, and generated 1.11 g of cornering grip.
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Those test figures might change after the Manthey transformation, but, unfortunately, we won’t know unless it comes to our shores. What we do know is that the kit increases downforce with aero alterations on the front, back, side, and even underneath of the car. The GT3’s defining feature is arguably its manually adjustable carbon-fiber rear wing, which has a distinct swan-neck design. After the Manthey conversion, it grows wider and adds a Gurney flap. The other updates include a redesigned rear diffuser and “aerodiscs” on the rear wheels, all made of carbon fiber.
Manthey-equipped models feature a specially developed suspension with four-way-adjustable coil-over shocks. The GT3’s springs are also said to be 10 percent stiffer up front and 7 percent stiffer in the back. The Manthey kit even offers upgraded brake pads. Steel-braided brake lines and a towing loop, in the event an overzealous driver accidentally leaves the racetrack, are both standard. As with the normal GT3, Manthey models can be fitted with 20- or 21-inch forged wheels. A set of ultra-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires are also optional, and they were worn by the car that set the GT3 lap record at the ‘Ring. The Manthey Performance kit is currently available to order in Europe, and Porsche says deliveries will begin this fall.
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