Autos

Noble is one of Britain’s unsung automotive heroes, reserved for those in the IYKYK crowd who favor raw performance and authentic driving over computer-enhanced trickery from the brand’s German counterparts, or wild amounts of flair from the Italians. Now, Noble provides not just a closer look, but plenty more information about its upcoming “baby” supercar, the M500. Taking one step down from the formidable M600 supercar that was debuted in 2010, the M500 is said to be a less extreme version of its big brother, but this will by no means make for a car that should be overlooked. Instead, the M500 will come with the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 from Ford which powers the GT, offering around 550 BHP to rival upcoming supercars such as the Maserati MC20, or t...

Airless tires aren’t new — you can thank the likes of Michelin for that — but that hasn’t stopped Hankook from exploring what’s possible when it comes to reinventing the wheel with its new i-Flex tire. i-Flex was debuted at CES 2022 on a conceptual Hyundai plug and drive model, but it’s the tires themselves that have garnered all the attention. If you suffer from trypophobia, look away, as the i-Flex presents a cylindrical array of biometric-looking holes that link together to provide structure to the exterior tire wall, which measures 10″ in size with a 400mm diameter and 105mm width, made for the aforementioned concept vehicle. The airless tire is the perfect technological advancement as the automotive industry continues to go autonomous — ...

Jim and Mike Ring, co-founders of Ringbrothers, work out of their Wisconsin workshop to build some of the world’s most impressive custom American muscle cars, often for high-flying clientele such as Future and Kevin Hart. Now, the brothers have unveiled their latest one-off, the 1969 Dodge Charger “CAPTIV.” Sporting a fetching “Speed Violation Yellow” paint job inspired by Porsche’s “114 Signal Yellow”, 19″ and 20″ HRE rims, black and chrome accents, and a completely reupholstered interior, the “CAPTIV” goes to show how Ringbrothers can take a classic and turn it into a usable everyday restomod. It packs a V8 Mopar Hellcat crate engine mated to a Tremec six-speed manual transmission, sending 707 HP to the rear wheels w...

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. For our latest edition of DRIVERS, we’re excited to reveal a secret stemming all the way from Smallville, Kansas and while it is foreign, it’s only from Germany, not Krypton. Meet Erik Valdez, actor for the CW drama show Superman & Lois. The Superman origin series, which premiered its second season on January 11, tells the alternate universe story of Clark Kent, his wife Lois ...

Drivers using Tesla‘s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta can now choose between three different driving profiles that will determine how the car will react to various situations on the road. Tesla is offering a “Chill,” “Average” and “Assertive” mode that has different degrees of aggressiveness and possibly safety. According to Not a Tesla App feature was initially pulled from the 10.3 version in October 2021 but Tesla recently issued a 10.3.1 update that included a revamped iteration of the FSD profiles. The notes also indicated that the FSD profiles were meant as a way “to control behaviors like rolling stops, speed-based lane changes, following distance and yellow light headway. One Twitter user posted an image that showed Tesla’s descript...

For many autophiles, the Nissan Skyline GT-R is up there with the best cars of all time, no matter which era or specification the car may come in. Now, the auction site Bring a Trailer has a clean and tastefully modified example of a 1971 Nissan Skyline GTX KGC10 up for sale, and while it may not be a true 2000GT Hakosuka, it’s about as close as one can get without spending upwards of $200,000 USD. This particular example features plenty of modifications, ranging from an L28 inline-six engine that’s fitted with a Kameari Engine Works 3.0-liter stroker kit and triple Mikuni carburetors that is good for producing 186 HP and 200 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. While these may not be the Skyline figures we’re used to, these numbers should be good for getting the car going...

German automaker Electricbrands has revealed a new all-in-one modular EV that can be easily transformed to provide a wide range of mobility solutions whether that be for business, casual city driving, road trip adventures, or camping. The base model of the XBUS is shaped like a mini pickup truck, and rear panels can be mounted to transform the vehicle into a pickup truck, transporter, boxcar, camper, Cabrio, or a combination of all the above. The camper has enough space for a mini-kitchen, sink, fridge, and TV socket, while the box offers up to 6000 cubic meters of load volume. The electric transformer features a solar roof that extends its range by up to 200 km and four efficient wheel motors that feed braking energy back into its batteries. As an alternative to lengthy charge times, it&#...

Friedreich Motorsports’ tuning subsidiary FRIEDRICH PERFORMANCE might not be as well known as its other German counterparts, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pull out all the stops when it comes to tuning icons such as the Porsche 911 GT3. For its latest project, the branch has taken the latest-generation GT3 and has given it a considerable visual and technical overhaul, lifting from other Porsche models as well as its own know-how. The result is a GT3 that’s been refined, fine-tuning it to become the perfect example of a road-going race car. Starting with the engine, FRIEDRICH PERFORMANCE has boosted the four-liter flat-six unit from 502 HP to 541 HP, while peak torque measures in at 482 Nm, resulting in a 0-62 MPH time of 3.3 seconds — 0.1 seconds less than th...

In the summer of last year, a 2003 BMW Alpina Roadster V8 sold on Bring a Trailer for $352,500 USD, and now another almost-identical example has landed on BaT with its price edging closer by the minute to that of the previously sold iteration. Aside from the obvious fact that these cars are largely the same, what makes the auction of this iteration special is that, quite simply, it exists. The Alpina Roadster V8 is an incredibly rare German beast, limited to just 555 examples that are rarer than the BMW Z8 that it’s based on. As its name suggests, the Roadster is fitted with an Alpina-tuned 4.8-liter V8 paired with a five-speed Switch-Tronic automatic transmission, which delivers 375 HP and 383 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. Noise comes out of a dual-set-up of tailpipes at the r...

Tesla is now raising the price of its Full Self Driving software once again, bringing the still-in-beta program to $12,000 USD within the U.S. market. According to a tweet from the automaker’s CEO Elon Musk, the $2,000 USD price hike will come into effect on January 17, and the monthly subscription price of $199 USD will also increase, although he didn’t provide any explicit reasons as to why Tesla is charging more. At the same time, Musk also noted that prices for Full Self Driving will continue to increase as the company gets nearer to launching its fully-complete version. The new price marks a significant increase from the original $8,000 USD Tesla charged back in October of 2020 when the software was first launched. It’s also important to note that despite its name, F...

As the world patiently waits for the roll-out of Mercedes-AMG’s SL, it seems that motoring enthusiasts are finding comfort in old Merc’s more than ever before, such as this pristine 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series that’s landed on PCARMARKET. The SL 65 AMG Black Series takes the already hardcore 6.3-liter V8 SL 63 AMG, let alone the beefier SL 65 AMG, and completely reworks these to become the monster that it stands as today. Under the hood is a twin-turbocharged six-liter V12 producing 661 HP and 738 lb-ft of torque, which is good for a 0-60 MPH sprint of just 3.6 seconds, despite all that power being sent to the rear wheels alone. For Mercedes-Benz, the Black Series marked the most hardcore of any of its cars, and today the badge can only be found on its flags...

For the second consecutive year, Toyota has reigned supreme as the world’s most searched car brand. Results were compiled according to Compare the Market‘s annual analysis of Google Trends data which have shown that the Japanese car manufacturer has been the top search term in 47 out of 154 countries in 2021. In the four years that Compare the Market has published the report, Toyota has held the top spot for three out of the four years, in 2018, 2020 and 2021. BMW and Mercedes-Benz remained consistent as podium contenders over the year. While Toyota represented 31% of all searches in 2021, searches, in general, have declined from 35% in 2020 while other brands’ searches gained momentum. In 2019, BMW took the top spot and became the most searched brand in 118 countries, se...