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    This Range Rover Fell off a Truck

    A brand-new Range Rover was destroyed Thursday morning after it apparently fell off the back of a car transporter while traveling down a highway in New Jersey, The Daily Voice reports.The incident occurred on the northbound side of Route 17 in Paramus at around 8:30 a.m. A black Honda Accord was caught up in the ensuing chaos, with both cars having to be towed from the scene. According to photographer Boyd A. Loving, who was on the scene, at least one person was injured. The extent of their injuries was not revealed.From the photos, it appears none of the other Range Rovers in transit were damaged. It’s unclear what caused the SUV to fall off the transporter.

    It’s important to note the 2023 Range Rover in question was wearing California manufacturer plates at the time of the incident. The transporter it came off was carrying five identical Range Rovers in the same exact color, seemingly with the same exact specifications. This leads us to believe the transporter was likely on its way to Jaguar Land Rover’s headquarters, just up the road in Mahwah, New Jersey.
    A Land Rover spokesperson confirmed to Road & Track via email it was aware of the incident, but did not confirm whether the vehicles were owned by the company or where they were headed. Paramus police did not immediately respond to our request for additional information.

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    Ford Won't Let You Buy Your Leased EV When the Contract Ends

    Ford has removed the end-of-lease buyout option for its customers who lease an EV such as an F-150 Lightning or Mustang Mach-E after June 15, 2022.Customers who’ve leased EVs prior to June 15 are in the clear; they can still do a buyout at lease end if they want.It comes as part of Ford’s plan to make its electric vehicles more affordable and to keep those batteries in the Ford network.Ford has made a change to its lease policy that will prevent people leasing the F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, and E-Transit EVs from choosing to purchase the vehicle at the end of the contract. The customers will need to return the vehicle, at which time they can either lease a new vehicle or simply return the car. The reason, a Ford spokesperson told Car and Driver, is the desire to keep EVs “in the Ford network longer” to maintain control over battery recycling and materials. The news came in a letter to dealers earlier this month and, Ford said, affects 38 states now and the rest by the end of the year, so customers should check with their local dealers to find out where they stand.It’s worth noting that other automakers in the recent past have limited customers’ ability to sell their lease to others outside the brand, in a move to keep their stock to themselves as the used-car market continues to be tight and prices go up.

    Ford

    As automakers continue to move toward a future where EV sales are the mainstream, battery production has remained a thorn in the side of many manufacturers. A fairly major part of that issue is the cost associated with battery production and research. Ford itself is investing $185 million on a battery center labeled Ford Ion Park.

    The Ford spokesperson told C/D, “Ford’s battery strategy includes recycling and localizing battery production, and Ford Credit’s plan for EV leasing enables customers to replace their vehicles with the newest model at lease end while keeping the vehicle in the Ford network longer so Ford can better manage battery recycling and materials.” We confirmed with Ford that the changes only apply to leases that began June 15 or after. If you began a lease on a Ford EV before then and think you may want to buy out at the end of your lease term, you remain in the clear.
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    2022 Toyota Tundra Recalled over Loose Nuts; New bZ4X also Recalled as Wheels Could Fall Off

    Toyota has issued a recall of Tundras from the 2022 model year to fix a problem with nuts on the rear axle assembly.Approximately 46,000 Tundras are part of the recall in the United States.The recall report filed with NHTSA blames the loosening of certain nuts on the rear axle assembly and said, “If complete separation occurs, this can affect vehicle stability and brake performance, increasing the risk of a crash.”Nearly 50,000 Toyota Tundra pickup trucks are being recalled due to risk of rear axle assembly nuts loosening and potentially falling off the vehicle completely. The automaker says that “Vehicles in this recall have certain nuts on the rear axle assembly that can loosen over time.” In the event that the nut does fall off, Toyota said it could potentially cause the axle subassembly to separate from the axle, potentially risking a crash.The announcement states that owners of affected vehicles will be notified by late July 2022, but does not give a specific date. Dealers will inspect and tighten loose nuts or, if necessary, replace them, Toyota said.

    2023 Toyota bZ4X.
    Toyota

    The Tundra recall comes just one day after the company issued a separate recall on the just-released 2023 bZ4X EV over wheels that could fall off. In this case, the hub bolts on a wheel could come loose, causing the wheel to detach from the car. While the bZ4X recall only affects 260 vehicles in the U.S. and about 2700 total worldwide, the company stated that no one should drive these cars until a remedy is found. Owners of these cars should have been notified on June 23. In both cases, vehicle owners can check the NHTSA recalls website where the recall information should be posted soon, to find out if their vehicle is included

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    Best Car Commercial Jingles: Window Shop with Car and Driver

    This week’s challenge comes from the vital fringes of the automotive industry: find the best car-commercial jingle and a car to go with it. According to the contestants, catchy hooks have been hard to find of late. If this week’s episode of Window Shop were a radio station, it would be dedicated to the oldies.John Pearley Huffman, known for his radio voice intros and love of old cars, combined both talents. He played a repurposed 1964 song out of Nashville that hawked a 1983 Volkswagen from Pennsylvania. Pearley then hit the high note with a listing for a little red hatchback so sweet it could have given Prince ideas about a little red Corvette. California girl Elana Scherr bopped to an English cover of a song by California group Sonny & Cher. Considering the age of the Plymouth advertised, unless Scherr is reincarnated, we don’t know when she would have seen the commercial before digging it up on YouTube. We suspect she just wanted to plug the fact that her personal Dodge version of that Plymouth was for sale on eBay. Joey Capparella stuck to form with his jingle, keeping it simple. An upbeat ditty out of Brazil advertised a smorgasbord of Mazdas by repeating a single word for 30 seconds. He broke his own mold with his listing, however, cueing up one of the most complicated and delicate Mazdas ever sold in the U.S. Bacon- and bourbon-loving Jonathon Ramsey went for a heartland anthem, calling on George Thorogood’s help selling a Buick. Nothing should make an enthusiast pine for the good old days faster than hearing classic song lines turned into shilling like “200 horsepower, no time for chrome.” Speaking of the heartland, Tony Quiroga’s jingle was another American standard, based on a song about a train ride that almost everyone remembers. Almost no one remembers the Cutlass that jingle advertised except the despondent men reportedly in the core demographic. This week’s episode proved that earworms might not sell cars, but they can be more memorable than the product they’re flogging and sometimes of better quality.

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    Porsche 963 Endurance Racer Brings Retro Look to Goodwood Festival of Speed

    On Friday, Porsche revealed the Porsche 963 endurance-racing car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.The car is the result of a collaboration between Porsche Motorsport and Team Penske first announced in 2021.The Porsche 963 will compete in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as it’s built to new-for-2023 LMDh specification.After nearly 15 years of separation, Porsche Motorsport and Team Penske have gotten back together. This time, the collaborative effort, known as Porsche Penske Motorsport, will field a new endurance race car, the Porsche 963, which was unveiled Friday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The renewed partnership was first announced in May of 2021 with the intention of running factory entries in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. That dream has now come to fruition with the 963 set to debut in the new GTP class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023.
    The hypercar is built to LMDh specifications, with a LMP2-category chassis supplied by Canada-based Multimatic and spec hybrid components from Bosch, Williams Advanced Engineering, and Xtrac. However, the star of the show is the 963’s 4.6-liter twin-turbo V-8, which is based on the hybrid 918 Spyder’s engine. The powertrain will deliver 680 horsepower to the rear wheels in an effort to snag overall victories in races like the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Sebring. The body of the 963 is reminiscent of the smooth, rounded look of previous Porsche-Team Penske collaborations like the Porsche 962 of the 1980s, but sharper headlights and a rear light bar reminiscent of the current 911’s give the 963 a more modern look. The paint design, too, is at once retro and sleek. Black, white, and red color blocking give a traditional race-car look, while gradient white-to-black lines arching over the red section inspire images of air flowing across the vehicle.
    LMDh cars are new for 2023, and they are the first category of hypercars to be able to race in championships both in North America and across the Atlantic. The use of spec parts like the chassis and hybrid systems also cuts costs for OEMs, so the category has attracted entries from many manufacturers, with Acura, BMW, and Cadillac in addition to Porsche already confirmed for 2023. The 963 has already seen 4900 test miles and will get a full practice run when it drives non-competitively in the FIA WEC’s 8 Hours of Bahrain in November. After that, Porsche Penske Motorsport will prepare four total cars to be based in Mooresville, North Carolina, and Mannheim, Germany, and compete in the IMSA and FIA WEC circuits.
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    Bentley Speed Six Continuation Recaptures the Glory Days of Le Mans in 1930

    Bentley’s second Le Mans–inspired re-creation made its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today. Just 12 will be made, and all are sold already.It features a 200-hp 6.6-liter straight-six engine and a claimed 125-mph top speed, for the very brave.Bentley is a brand that often tells us of its urgent desire to move forward into an electrified future. This definitely isn’t that, although it is truly glorious. Having previously produced an all-new “continuation” version of the famous Blower that drove at Le Mans in 1930, the British company is now following up with another seven-figure re-creation, this time of the slightly slower, but more successful, Speed Six that actually won the race.When we drove the Blower Continuation last year, we emerged from the experience wearing fly-spattered goggles, and amazed that Volkswagen Group’s lawyers had allowed such a vehicle to be built in the careful age we live in. The Blower’s imprecise steering and almost entirely ineffectual brakes meant it felt like a driving adventure at 80 mph—with Bentley saying it was capable of 125 mph flat out. Now a lucky few will have a chance to experience something similar with the Speed Six.
    Bentley’s Mulliner division is going to build just 12 of the new car, with each one costing more than $1.8 million at current exchange rates. Don’t bother sending an appropriately Edwardian telegram or a carrier pigeon to the company’s Crewe factory expressing interest: the entire allocation have already been sold.

    Constructed by the same team behind the Blower Continuation, the Speed Six Continuation is based on new parts built to match carefully scanned cars that competed at Le Mans. The first of these is a genuine works car, “old number three,” which competed in 1930 but crashed out after two hours. The second is a 1929 road car wearing identical Vanden Plas bodywork to those of the works cars; these were the days when you really could buy a race winner and drive it on the street. Along with original blueprints, these were used by Mulliner to create a 3D CAD model of the car, which will be used as the basis for the new dozen.Bentley won the 1929 Le Mans 24 hours in dominant style, the Speed Six driven by company chairman Woolf Barnato and Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin finishing seven laps ahead of a chasing pack of 4.5-liter Bentleys that took second, third and fourth places. Competition was tougher in 1930 with the entry of a powerful Mercedes SSK driven by Rudolf Caracciola and Christian Werner, one that was a strong favorite before the race started. But Birkin, driving a privately entered supercharged Bentley Blower, set a pace that caused both his and Caracciola’s chasing car to break. Barnato’s Speed Six took another victory, with a second works car finishing in second place.Bentley’s eponymous founder, W.O. Bentley, didn’t like supercharging and so had given the Speed Six a brawny naturally aspirated 6.6-liter engine. In roadgoing form, it made 147 horsepower—at a time when the Model T Ford made 20 hp—and in race trim the ‘Six was claimed to make 200 hp.Having announced the Speed Six Continuation at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Bentley says it will be building a prototype version in the second half of the year, with the run of customer versions following behind. Just don’t forget your flying goggles.

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    2023 Chevy Colorado Will Debut in ZR2 Off-Road Form July 28

    A new version of the Chevy Colorado pickup is coming for 2023.This teaser shows the ZR2 model, which has numerous add-ons for off-roading.The new truck will debut July 28, and a similar GMC Canyon AT4X is coming too.A new teaser video shows an updated 2023 version of Chevrolet’s mid-size pickup truck, the Colorado, bounding around the desert ahead of its official debut July 28. Both of GM’s smaller trucks, the Colorado and the closely related GMC Canyon, are being redesigned for the 2023 model year, and the company describes the trucks as “all-new.” We reckon that means they will both have new bodies and upgraded interiors, although we think the trucks’ underpinnings will largely stay the same.

    In the teaser, we can see that the Colorado’s front end looks different, as do the taillights. The version shown is the off-road-oriented ZR2, which has chunky all-terrain tires, a light bar behind the cab, and what Chevy calls a “Safari Bar” on the front. Like the current ZR2, the new model will likely have suspension upgrades including different shocks and a higher ride height. The Chevy’s GMC sibling, the Canyon, will also add an off-road model called AT4X that should be equivalent to the ZR2; that model has also been teased and appears to have a different body than the current truck.The current Colorado and Canyon offer three engine choices: a 2.5-liter inline-four, a 3.6-liter V-6, or a turbodiesel 2.8-liter inline-four. We’re guessing that the base four-cylinder might be dropped, and that GM could add the Silverado’s turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four as an option. Both rear- and four-wheel drive will remain on the menu.Stay tuned to learn more about the 2023 Colorado and Canyon, as the Chevy will debut July 28 and the GMC should follow soon after.
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    Hero Passion XTEC Launch Price Rs 75k – Gets LED DRLs, Bluetooth

    Hero Motocorp is offering a 5-year standard warranty with Passion Xtec2022 Hero Passion XTECHero MotoCorp has expanded its Xtec lineup by introducing Passion Xtec at a starting price of Rs 74,590 (ex-showroom). Prior to this launch, the Xtec range from Hero comprised four models including Splendor+ XTec, Glamour 125 XTec, Pleasure+ 110 XTec and Destini 125 XTec.The Indian bikemaker is offering Passion Xtec in two variants- drum brake and disc brake, the latter gets a price tag of Rs 78,990 (ex-showroom). This makes it Rs 5,000-6,000 more expensive than base Passion Pro. For the additional premium, the Xtec version of Passion gets plenty of useful features over the standard model.Hero Passion Xtec – Features on offerSpeaking of features, Passion Xtec is laced with amenities like a first-in-class projector LED headlamp, a fully digital instrument cluster with readouts for Real-Time Mileage Indicator, Low-Fuel Indicator and Service Reminder; USB charging port and a side-stand engine cut-off switch. The instrument console is also enabled with Bluetooth connectivity that offers SMS and call alerts.The Blue backlit instrument cluster also shows phone battery percentage. The company has also claimed that the new LED headlamp offers the best in segment brightness with a 12 percent longer beam than the conventional halogen lamp. The latest iteration of the commuter motorcycle features a chromed 3D branding and rim tape on its fuel tank that increases its premium appeal.2022 Hero Passion XTECOn the occasion of this launch, Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp, said, “The Hero Passion is an iconic brand and enjoys massive customer trust for over a decade. With its new style and new attitude, the Passion XTec will appeal to the new age riders and with the latest technology features, it will set the benchmark for the segment.”2022 Hero Passion XTECPowertrain & Hardware SpecsMechanical specs of Passion Xtec remain identical to the standard model. Powering Passion Xtec is the same 110cc BS-VI compliant engine that produces an output of 9 bhp at 7500rpm and a peak torque of 9.79 Nm at 5,000rpm. This motor is paired with a 4-speed gearbox. It is also offered with the patented i3S start/stop technology for better fuel efficiency.Cycle parts of Passion Xtec also remain similar with a suspension setup consisting of conventional telescopic forks up front and twin shock absorbers at rear. Braking duties are handled by drum brakes as standard on both ends with an optional disc brake at front. Braking hardware is complemented by a Combi Braking System (CBS).2022 Hero Passion Prices June 2022The commuter bike rides on 18-inch alloy wheels shod with 80/100 sections of tyres at both front and rear ends. The motorcycle sits on a diamond frame with a wheelbase of 1,270 mm and a ground clearance of 180mm. It has a saddle height of 799mm. Hero MotoCorp will be increasing prices by up to Rs 3k from 1st July. More