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Genesis will launch a performance-oriented Sport model of its G80 luxury car with unique styling cues.The G80 Sport will likely join the lineup as a 2022 model later this year.A rear-wheel-steering system on the Sport will enhance the luxury sedan’s performance, but Genesis hasn’t given other details of changes on the G80 Sport.We’ve praised the new Genesis G80 for setting a new standard in panache for the luxury brand, and now the automaker has doubled down by introducing a Sport trim that comes out later this year. While we aren’t sure yet if the car’s powertrain will get enhancements for this more performance-oriented model, Genesis has said the G80 Sport will receive a rear-wheel-steering system.

Genesis

We expect the G80 Sport will be offered with both turbocharged four- and six-cylinder engine options, like the current non-sport lineup, but it remains to be seen if either engine will see a boost in power for duty in the G80 Sport. We reached out to Genesis for comment but we were told detailed specs will be released closer to the car’s launch.

Several design tweaks will help the Sport look the part, including a reworked front grille and bumper, Sport-specific 20-inch wheels, a tweaked rear bumper, and a revised lower rear diffuser. The cabin will also receive new embellishments including a three-spoke steering wheel and aluminum and carbon-fiber interior trim pieces.

Genesis

Genesis will debut two new interior color schemes on the G80 Sport. The first is a black monotone look with either gray or red contrast stitching, and the second is a black and Sevilla Red two-tone scheme. Buyers will also be able to choose from new quilted or chevron-style patterned stitching. The car is said to be ready to launch in North America in the third quarter of 2021, and we expect it to be available to buyers shortly after that as a 2022 model.

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Companies working on autonomous and driver assistance technologies did not need to report any incidents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about times when their vehicles did not work as advertised. Now they do.For at least the next three years, any of the more than 100 companies working on autonomous (AV) and driver assist (ADAS) technologies will need to file reports about any crash that resulted in more than a minor scrape, as well as monthly reports if they have zero crashes.NHTSA will collect this information and release it to the public, but there are carveouts for legitimate confidential information.There are more than 100 companies testing autonomous vehicles or autonomous driving technologies in the U.S. This little tidbit comes from a new Standing General Order issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that requires all of these companies to let the federal government know when any of their AVs are involved in a crash more serious than a fender bender. This represents a policy change from the previous presidential administration, when the Department of Transportation said it didn’t want to discourage innovation with too many regulations. NHTSA sent its order to 108 autonomous technology companies, ranging from Aimotive to Zoox, to let them know that they are now responsible for submitting detailed crash information when there’s been a crash and a car’s Automated Driving Systems (ADS) or Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) was engaged. Level 2 ADAS includes many common safety features on today’s vehicles, including things like lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control and branded collections of these technologies including Tesla’s Autopilot and GM’s Super Cruise.

The order reads, in part: “Given the rapid evolution of these technologies and testing of new technologies and features on publicly accessible roads, it is critical for NHTSA to exercise its robust oversight over potential safety defects in vehicles operating with ADS and Level 2 ADAS.” NHTSA said it needs this information to keep roads safe for all users, which is why companies have to report incidents that involve airbags deploying, someone dying or being sent to the hospital, a vehicle that ended up being towed, or if someone outside the vehicle, like pedestrians or bicyclists, was involved.Safety advocates say the new requirements are overdue and will help the public understand what’s happening with all of these new driver assistance and EV technologies. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase said in a statement that the new crash reporting requirements will help NHTSA determine just how safe, or not safe, crash avoidance and automated driving systems are, and make this information available to the public.”It is particularly timely for NHTSA to adopt this new reporting requirement given the paucity of data collected by the voluntary Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative,” she said. “History and experience have repeatedly shown that voluntary agreements fail to yield accurate, comprehensive and reliable results.”

Companies will not be able to hide behind claims of confidentiality to keep from reporting any incidents. NHTSA said it will recognize three categories of information that might actually be confidential: which version of a company’s technology the vehicle was using, whether or not the vehicle was within its operational design domain at the time of the incident, and some of the narrative the company is required to write down to explain what happened. So, for example, if a company’s technology wasn’t designed to work in sleet, the company still needs to report that its car crashed while it was sleeting, but the public will not necessarily learn that this tech is sleet challenged. NHTSA did make it clear that “Making a request for confidential treatment does not ensure that the information claimed to be confidential will be determined to be confidential.”NHTSA will make the crash data collected through this order, not including legitimate confidential information, publicly available over time. The companies subject to the order have one day from learning about a crash involving ADS/ADAS to file an initial report with NHTSA, and 10 days to follow up with more details. If one of the 108 companies doesn’t have any incidents, it must file a monthly report to that effect. NHTSA’s order is in effect for the next three years.
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Croatian EV startup Rimac takes control of Bugatti, merging its hypercar-making operation with the 112-year-old marque and acquiring a 55 percent stake in the new Bugatti-Rimac.Cars from the two brands will be badged and built separately, but future Bugattis will use Rimac’s high-performance electric drivetrains.Porsche takes the remaining 45 percent stake in Bugatti-Rimac on behalf of Volkswagen and retains its 24 percent share in the Rimac Group.UPDATE 7/5/2021, 2:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional details.Croatian EV startup Rimac has taken control of Bugatti, with two all-new Bugatti models engineered by Rimac set to appear by 2030. A 2000-hp hybrid hypercar with a naturally aspirated combustion engine comes first, followed by Bugatti’s first full EV. Bugatti will merge with Rimac’s hypercar business, which makes the Nevera (pictured above), to create a new company, Bugatti-Rimac. The two brands’ cars will continue to be developed and badged separately. Rimac will hold a 55 percent stake in the new entity, which will begin to trade in the current quarter. Porsche, which has been given responsibility for Bugatti by their joint parent Volkswagen, will hold the remainder.

The long-rumored deal sees Rimac, which was founded in 2009 and to date has delivered only a handful of cars, take majority ownership of a marque established a century earlier and with one of the most illustrious histories in the automotive world.Bugatti will merge with Rimac’s hypercar business, which has just begun building the Nevera (pictured above), to create a new company, Bugatti-Rimac. The two brands’ cars will continue to be developed and badged separately. Rimac will hold a 55 percent stake in the new entity. Porsche, which controls Bugatti on behalf of their joint parent Volkswagen, will hold the remainder.”This is a great responsibility,” Mate Rimac said as he announced the deal dressed in shorts and running shoes alongside the suited Porsche CEO Oliver Blume. “We are standing on the shoulders of giants here. Bugatti defined the hypercar, and we have to make it a success not only in terms of its products, but also profitable.”Sources close to the deal say that talks began two years ago when the Volkswagen Group approached Rimac to help it develop a hybrid version of the Bugatti Chiron. Rimac offered to create an entirely new hybrid hypercar with a naturally aspirated engine for less than it would have cost to update the existing car. Instead of buying the bulk of the new car’s engineering from Rimac, Volkswagen offered the startup a merger. The sources said VW had been considering shuttering Bugatti rather than commit the investment required to make it fully electric in time.

Bugatti’s headquarters in Molsheim, France.
Bugatti

The current Rimac Automobili will be renamed the Rimac Group with an unchanged ownership structure. Mate Rimac, the company’s 33-year-old founder, has the largest stake at 37 percent. Porsche is the second-largest shareholder, having built its 24 percent share over the past three years. Hyundai is third with 12 percent.The new Rimac Group will hold the majority share in its new Bugatti-Rimac subsidiary. A new, separate business named Rimac Technology and wholly owned by the Rimac Group will continue to develop and sell the company’s high-performance EV powertrains and autonomous driving systems to major carmakers. It has already completed around 30 such projects and is working with at least 10 major carmakers, including its two OEM shareholders as well as Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin. Rimac Technology’s turnover is expected to exceed the hypercar maker’s by around four to one. To preserve the tech company’s independence and ability to supply other carmakers, Porsche is not expected to increase its stake in the Group. With its 45 percent holding in Bugatti-Rimac and its 24 percent stake in the Rimac Group, Porsche will indirectly own the majority of the new merged company, and it gains the same exposure to Rimac’s existing, record-breaking Nevera and its future hypercars. But Blume was clear that Porsche doesn’t want and won’t have operational control, with Mate Rimac becoming CEO of all three companies. “As a shareholder we want a real entrepreneur as CEO,” he said. “It is our clear strategy to pass operational control to Mate.”Rimac-branded cars will continue to be built in Croatia with the company moving to a spectacular new $240 million “campus” near the capital, Zagreb, in 2023. Bugattis will still be assembled at the company’s château and atelier in Molsheim, eastern France, where it was established in 1909. Both brands will use powertrains developed and made by Rimac Technology in Croatia.Mate Rimac hinted heavily that future Bugattis may have more than two seats and two doors. “In its heritage, Bugatti has models that are more than just hypercars,” he said. “There’s an opportunity for Bugatti in the future to have very interesting cars that are completely different to other models on the market, while Rimac remains a maker of very high-performance sports cars. But we haven’t figured that out ourselves yet.”The idea of Bugatti being passed to such a young entrepreneur and his relatively unproven startup may cause raised eyebrows among Bugatti customers and aficionados. But there are plenty of parallels between Mate Rimac and Ettore Bugatti. Rimac got his start at age 20, when he bolted an electric motor from a forklift truck into his old BMW 3-series. Bugatti did something similar at age 17, fitting a combustion engine to a pedal tricycle. By 20 he’d designed and shown his first car and, like Rimac, licensed his first designs to existing carmakers. The firm he founded has been reborn twice before: once when bought by Romano Artioli in 1987, resulting in the EB110 of 1991, and again when acquired by Volkswagen in 1998, with the Veyron going into production in 2005. “Bugatti’s fourth chapter starts now,” Rimac said, “and with Porsche at our backs I believe we can do incredible things.”
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