Autos

For car enthusiasts, driving is about more than just the technical specifics. Open Road explores not just what these cars do, but what they mean. Whether it’s an old, new, or exotic model, HYPEBEAST is looking beyond the stats to unpack the simple pleasures of automotive. “But what’s different about it?” That was the main comment heard from friends when the two-toned fragment design x Maserati Ghibli S Q4 rolled into their driveway. While the Trident bears a bit of prestige and luxury to anyone who’s aware, a collaboration with the Japanese streetwear brand raised a few eyebrows and questions, particularly what the partnership entails and why. To understand these questions, it’s more important to take a step back and understand fragment design. Without giving ...

DRIVERS is a series highlighting influential individuals in the HYPEBEAST sphere and their passion towards all things automotive. The approach is simple: what is car culture to you, and why do you have a passion for it? Each contributor is given a chance to shine light on their personal vehicle or vehicles, and asked to remark on how they are driving culture forward, both metaphorically and literally. The term “lifestyle” gets thrown around a lot in the car industry and many companies, brands and personalities tend to use it without really understanding its meaning. For Intaek Ryo, he has made a veritable business out of the term. Intaek Ryo, better known to his friends as simply Ryo, runs the South Korean brand Peaches. You’ve probably seen its logo around before – a pla...

British motorcycle company Triumph has tapped into Formula 1 team Williams‘ sister Advanced Engineering division to co-develop its new TE-1 electric bike. While the vehicle won’t directly be a production model fans can purchase, the TE-1 marks the company’s venture into lightweight electric powertrains in order to develop more powerful and sustainable motorcycles in the future. Williams has managed to equip the bike with a 15 kWh battery that pushes a peak output of 170 kW, equivalent to roughly 228 horsepower, with a continuous output of 130 kW, or around 174 horsepower. Unlike conventional motorcycles, the power is then delivered through the rear wheel with a toothed belt instead of a chain. Utilizing 360-volt electrics, the TE-1 can charge from zero to 80% in just unde...

After much anticipation, Alfa Romeo has finally unveiled the automaker’s first-ever crossover, and it’s also got its own NFT. Named the Tonale, the new vehicle comes with two different engine options: a greener plug-in hybrid model and a fully gas-powered option, but both all-wheel drives. The former will pair a 1.3-liter MultiAir turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a 90kW electric motor to push out a combined 272 horsepower, while the latter relies on a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that can produce a slightly lesser 256 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. As expected, the Tonale also comes with a whole range of tech features. The interior carries both a 10.25-inch center screen with a 12.3-inch display for the dashboard complete with an Android infotainment sys...

For more than a century, Rolls-Royce‘s vehicles have proudly displayed the Spirit of Luxury figure with multiple design changes throughout the years. 111 years to the day the Spirit of Ecstacy was first registered to Rolls Royce, the luxury automaker tweaks its mascot once again to usher in the new electrification era. The redesigned Spirit of Ecstasy figure will appear on the company’s very first EV, the Spectre. Spectre will be Rolls-Royce’s most aerodynamic car to date with early prototypes recording a drag coefficient of just 0.26 (Formula 1 cars are typically between 0.7 and 1.1). The figurine has been given a more streamlined and graceful stance to match, “adding an authentically contemporary aura to her dynamism and commanding presence,” Rolls-Royce sai...

Kanye West, now better known as just Ye, has revealed his latest whip. Some have drawn comparisons of his vehicle to Batman‘s Batmobile, but one thing is for certain is that for Kanye, it’s the “Yemobile.” The rapper is no stranger to making moves when it comes to cars. Late last year, Ye was auctioning off six of his Wyoming cars, which totaled to over $434,780 USD. After reports of Ye selling his custom Ripsaw EV2 tank to the Diesel Brothers, it seems that the DONDA rapper has added yet another supercar to his fleet of automobiles. The “Yemobile” is a modified BAC Mono. The company specializes in single-seater road-legal sports vehicles and only has 12 dealership agreements across four continents, making the cars super rare. Briggs Automotive Company (...

French automotive company DS Automobiles is known for its luxurious lifestyle-based vehicles such as the DS 3 and DS 9, but now it looks to the future of electrification with the unveiling of its new concept, the E-TENSE PERFORMANCE. This prototype draws heavily from DS Performance, the division that looks after the brand’s involvement in Formula E. As a result, it features two electric motors that produce 815 hp and 8,000Nm of torque at the wheels that are derived from Formula E technology and know-how, as well as a battery that’s housed in a carbon-aluminum composite envelope and is positioned at the center-rear for optimum levels of weight distribution. A specially-designed carbon monocoque has been used for the structure of the car, housing the drivetrain from the Formula E...

Japanese automaker Toyota is working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on creating a manned Lunar Cruiser that aims to be operational by the end of the decade. The ultimate goal of the project is to help humanity live on the moon by 2040, and eventually on Mars. The Lunar Cruiser, which eludes to Toyota’s popular Land Cruiser SUV, is essentially a fuel-cell-powered mobile laboratory that features living quarters, workstations, and cutting-edge scientific instruments. The pressurized rover is expected to have a “lunar-surface cruising range of more than 10,000 km.” Toyota and JAXA entered into a joint research agreement for a “manned pressurized lunar rover” in 2019, and have since then, been creating virtual reality visualizations, conducting ...

Koenigsegg has just released news of an impressive breakthrough in powertrain technology with its Quark electric motor. Developed for the Gemera hypercar, the Quark weighs just 63 pounds and can produce 335hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. Koenigsegg drove home the point of how compact the motor is by photoing the Quark next to a 330ml energy drink can. “The Quark is unique in its high efficiency in combination with its class-leading torque-to-power-to-rpm-to-weight matrix. This means, when using the Quark in applications such as marine, aircraft or VTOL, there is no need for a step-down transmission, instead direct drive can be achieved, as the RPM of the motor is right from the get-go. Small high-revving motors can have a higher peak power-to-weight ratio, but they need transmissions in ...

Indian Motorcycle has just unveiled two new Rogue versions of its classic Scout motorcycle. Arriving as the Scout Rogue and Scout Rogue Sixty, each bike has been enhanced cosmetically with increased handling. The styling has been made more aggressive via 19-inch wheels, mini-ape hanger handlebars, a blacked-out exhaust system, a solo seat, and a quarter fairing. The bikes are powered by a liquid-cooled V-Twin where the Scout Rogue puts down 78hp, the Scout Rogue Sixty 100hp, and are priced at $9,999 USD and $11,499 USD, respectively. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Indian Motorcycle (@indianmotorcycle) In other automotive news, Koenigsegg’s compact 63-pound Quark electric motor can produce 335 horsepower. Click here to view full gallery at HYPEBEAST

Complaints have surged over the past three months against Tesla over what owners are calling “phantom braking.” The complaints lodged to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have reached 107 over the period as compared to a total of 34 in the 22 months prior, and detail a phenomenon where a Tesla vehicle would unexpectedly engage its brakes and almost completely stop the car despite having no particular reason to do so, causing potentially dangerous situations if you’re on a highway or in the middle of traffic. It’s not the first time the automaker has known of its vehicles behaving this way. Back in October, Tesla had to recall a version of its beta Full Self-Driving software due to its emergency braking system being triggered erroneously by the updat...

Tesla is now forced to recall 817,000 vehicles over faulty seatbelt notifications. On Thursday, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed that a series of Tesla models — including the 2021-2022 Model S and X, the 2017-2022 Model 3, and the 2020-2022 Model Y — have failed to satisfy federal safety standards regarding “Occupant Crash Protection” because they would fail to notify the driver of unbuckled seatbelts when the car starts. Tesla has since acknowledged the software error, explaining that the chime would not activate only under specific circumstances and so far it has not received reports of any crashes or injuries resulting from the fault. The automaker will now fix the issue with an over-the-air software update. The news comes shortly after the au...