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Volkswagen’s electric ID.Buzz minivan is taking another baby step toward production, as it’s been seen cold-weather testing in northern Sweden.The retro-future styling has been toned down somewhat from the original concept shown back in 2017, but the van is on track to launch in North America in 2023 as a 2024 model.The van seen testing in these photos is still partly camouflaged, particularly on the front end around the headlamps and front emblem. The long-awaited 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz is getting ever closer to becoming reality. These photos show it wearing very little camouflage in cold-weather testing near the Arctic Circle. From these photos, the electric minivan has lost some of its retro charm in the transition from concept to production vehicle, but it’s still looking attractive and practical.

Brian Williams

Originally shown in 2017 at the Detroit auto show, the ID.Buzz concept was touted as a modern interpretation of the 1960s Microbus, an icon of the hippie era. The ID.Buzz will feature an all-electric powertrain and shares its structure with the smaller ID.4 SUV. We expect the base model to have rear-wheel drive and come with around 200 horsepower; an all-wheel-drive variant could offer around 300 horsepower from dual electric motors.If the ID.4 is anything to go by, the ID.Buzz should deliver a driving range somewhere around 260 miles of range per charge. An onboard charger capable of DC fast charging is expected to be standard, resulting in charging times as little as 30 minutes to reach an80 percent charge.

Brian Williams

Unfortunately, there are no spy photos of the ID.Buzz’s interior yet, and we don’t see a third row of seats through the windows in these photos. But we do expect the ID.Buzz to come standard with such a feature, which may help the ID.Buzz catch on with families seeking a three-row electric vehicle at an affordable price. We expect to find out more about Volkswagen’s new EV van closer to the ID.Buzz’s reveal date, which should be sometime late next year.

Volkswagen

We recently had a chance to see a prototype of the ID.Buzz in person in Munich, Germany, where Volkswagen and partner Argo AI are testing an autonomous driving system. That prototype wore much more camo than the one seen here and had external radar and lidar sensors mounted on all sides for the computer vision system, making it hard to get a good idea of what the production van would look like.
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Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the Project Maybach, an electric off-road coupe concept designed as part of a partnership with the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh.The Project Maybach has extreme proportions and carries off-road goodies including skid plates and an exterior roll cage.The concept comes in a tan and black two-tone look and features solar panels under a transparent panel in the hood.Mercedes-Benz teamed up with influential fashion designer Virgil Abloh last year to create the chunky, race-car-inspired Project Geländewagen, a jaw-dropping design piece based on the iconic G-class. Now Mercedes-Benz is paying tribute to Abloh, who died Sunday at age 41 of cancer, by unveiling the Project Maybach concept. The stunning show car was designed under the guidance of Abloh—who founded the design company Off-White and headed Louis Vuitton’s menswear division—and Mercedes’s chief design officer, Gorden Wagener.

Mercedes-Benz

While the concept’s long-hood proportions evoke the Mercedes-Maybach 6 concept from 2016, Mercedes says that every piece of the Project Maybach, which stretches nearly 20 feet in length, was built from scratch. The electric coupe is decked out for off-roading, with thick, knobby all-terrain tires and an exterior roll cage sprouting up and over the cabin. There are also tough metal skid plates at the front and rear and body cladding with exposed rivets over the wheel wells.

Mercedes-Benz

The Project Maybach’s front end features striking circular headlights and chrome vertical grille trim pieces under a glowing full-width light bar. Four auxiliary lights adorn a bull bar attached to the bumper, and four more lights extend from the roof rack. Round taillights mimic the headlights, and the two-tone appearance hides solar cells, for boosting the Maybach’s range, under the hood. It’s unclear if the Project Maybach previews a potential production vehicle, but Mercedes did say that the concept “exemplifies the possibilities of future design.” The Project Maybach is on display at the Rubell Museum in Miami December 1–2 in memory of Abloh, “to respectfully celebrate the work of a truly unique design talent.”
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The Bring a Trailer auction site is currently listing this 1965 International Harvester Scout 80, product of a 2753-hour restoration process.This Scout is an example of the Champagne Series, which was introduced for 1964 and included luxuries such as vinyl bucket seats and a removable hard top. Bidding ends on Monday, December 6, and as of this writing bids are already above $12,000 and sure to go much higher.The notion of what constitutes a luxurious SUV has certainly changed over time, as is starkly illustrated by this beautifully restored 1965 International Harvester Scout 80 currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer.Commenters on the auction website are losing their minds over the painstaking level of detail in the restoration of this Scout, which is said to have been a 2753-hour endeavor. The build was chronicled by the owner/restorer in a 76-page series of posts on the International Harvester fan site binderplanet.com.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

The restoration is truly impressive, but an additional element that makes this Scout stand out is that it’s a Champagne Series model. Introduced for 1964, the Champagne Series featured the Doll Up interior trim (yes, really) with such luxuries as carpeting, a headliner, a driver’s-side sun visor, a dash pad, embossed vinyl door panels, vinyl bucket seats, sound deadening, and chrome-plated control knobs. The dash and steering wheel were painted to match the champagne-colored upholstery. Talk about puttin’ on the ritz.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

This Scout also boasts a Travel Top, which is a removable fiberglass hard top, plus a rear bench seat, full wheel covers, and an AM radio. Power is by a Comanche four-cylinder engine, originally 152 cubic inches, now rebuilt and bored over. (A turbo was also offered.) The gearbox is a three-speed manual with a Warn overdrive. This Scout also features four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case controlled by a pair of floor shifters, a Power-Lok rear differential, and twin fuel tanks.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

At this writing with five days to go before the December 6 deadline, bidding stands at $12,250 but is sure to go much higher. Previous Scouts on BaT have brought as much as six figures, although those were all heavily modded trucks. We find this faithfully restored Scout far more intoxicating. As Robin Leach used to say, “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.”

Bring a Trailer

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BMW has released teaser images of the i7, the electric variant of the next-generation 7-series.The i7 is seen undergoing testing in Arjeplog, Sweden, close to the Arctic Circle.The i7 will be unveiled next year, and will be sold alongside gas-powered versions of the next 7 Series.Last year, BMW announced that the next generation of its flagship sedan, the 7-series, would be available with a fully electric powertrain. Now the Bavarian automaker has confirmed that the EV version will be called i7 and provided teaser images of a camouflaged prototype testing in extreme conditions at the BMW Group winter test center in Sweden near the Arctic Circle. BMW says it is using the icy Swedish roads to test driving dynamics and the electric powertrain’s ability to withstand the intense cold.

BMW

BMW’s camouflage is quite effective at masking the i7’s true design, but we are able to make out a few details. The horizontally-oriented headlights are set relatively low in the front end and there appears to be a cut line that extends across the top of the lights and the grille, creating a furrowed-brow look. Thin vertical air intakes extend from the edges of the headlights, and there are small holes for battery cooling in the lower front bumper. The rear end is well-disguised, but we can make out the Hofmeister kink in the side windows, a trademark BMW design element.

BMW says that the i7 will use the fifth generation of BMW’s eDrive technology already seen in the iX SUV. BMW is expected to offer gas-powered and hybridized versions of the next 7-series alongside the i7, explaining that the i7 is “based on the same vehicle concept as all further model variants of the BMW 7 Series.” The i7 will be revealed at some point during 2022 and will compete with other luxury EVs such as the Mercedes EQS and Lucid Motors Air.
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The 2022 Hyundai Kona N starts at $35,425, which is $1900 more than a manual-equipped Veloster N. It uses a 286-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, and there’s no manual option. An eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is standard. The 2022 Kona N will start arriving at dealerships next week.Hyundai’s N lineup is expanding, with the hot moniker being added to the Elantra sedan and Kona crossover, and they’re quite the performance bargain. Hyundai has yet to announce pricing for the Elantra (we expect it to be in the low-$30,000 range), but the Kona N will start at $35,425 when it goes on sale next week. That’s more expensive than the 10Best-winning Volkswagen Golf GTI.
That starting price makes the Kona N $1900 more expensive than the manual-equipped Veloster N but just $400 more than the DCT model; the Kona N is only available with that eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. All three existing N models use a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that makes 286 horsepower and 289 pound-feet of torque thanks to an N Grin Shift overboost function on DCT-equipped cars. We have yet to strap our test gear to the Kona N, but Hyundai claims it’ll reach 60 mph in 5.5 seconds.

Kona N models come standard with a launch control function, a 10.3-inch touchscreen (available in other 2022 Konas), a variable exhaust system, and 19-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero summer tires. And it’s available in a new Kona N–exclusive Sonic Blue exterior color. You can get a taste of the N life with the $28,425 Kona N Line, but after testing one, we’d suggest spending the extra $7000 to get into the full N model.
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Remember when Rich Benoit, a.k.a. Rich Rebuilds, decided to stuff the electric motor from a Zero motorcycle into an ATV to create his own electric off-road toy? Well, Polaris is taking that idea to the factory level with the new 2022 Ranger XP Kinetic, an off-road utility vehicle packing Zero power. The motor, which makes 110 horsepower and 140 pound-feet of torque, looks to be the ZF75-10 used in the SR/S bike. In the Zero, the ZF75-10 produces a 124-mph top speed. In the Ranger: that’ll be less. But probably still a thrilling way to haul some bales of hay over yonder hill, or break trail out to your camp, or engage in any of the other adventurous and photogenic outdoors activities we imagine such a machine might inspire. The XP Kinetic isn’t an RZR, but neither is it a dour work cart like the Ranger EV with its 30 horsepower and lead-acid batteries. Ten inches of suspension travel and 14 inches of ground clearance speak to some fun.

Now that is a clean barn.
Polaris

The XP Kinetic will be available in Premium trim for $24,999 or Ultimate trim for $29,999. The main difference is battery capacity, which doubles in the Ultimate, from 14.9 kWh to 29.8 kWh. Polaris doesn’t specify whether those numbers are gross or usable capacity but says range will be around 45 miles or 80 miles, depending on the model. The Ultimate also doubles the charge rate of the Premium’s onboard charger, from 3 kW to 6 kW, although either can be outfitted with an accessory charger that adds another 3 kW. So equipped, a Premium could charge from zero to 100 percent in less than three hours. The standard chargers equate to a roughly five-hour charge time.

For buyers nervous about the longevity of an electric powertrain in an off-road vehicle, the Kinetic’s electric powertrain components carry a three-year warranty, with a five-year warranty on the battery. A full underbody skid plate is standard, implying Polaris learned some lessons from Tesla and its early experiences with deficiencies in underbody armor.

Does it confuse a horse when the trailer is moving but there’s no engine noise?
Polaris

In keeping with its mission as a farm implement with a fun side, the XP Kinetic can tow 2500 pounds and haul 1250 pounds of payload in its bed. It’s also available with most of the same accessories that fit the Ranger XP 1000, like a winch or a heated cab. The XP 1000, it should be noted, was the former powerhouse of the Ranger lineup. It makes 82 horsepower. Of course, you can also “charge” it with a five-gallon can of regular unleaded, so there’s that.

Polaris

Evidently, any new EV, land or sea, requires a reservation, and the XP Kinetic is no different: Reservations open today, December 1, 2021. Production commences next summer, at which point we’ll get to see how Rich Rebuilds’ Zero-meets-powersports concept translates to a real production UTV.

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