Home » Lifestyle » Autos » Page 233

Autos

WazupnaijaNaija Entertainment  blogs & Forums – LifestyleAutos

2021 Ford Bronco: “Lightning Blue” Is Limited, Warthog/Raptor Getting 37-Inch Tires

Ford’s official Twitter account kicked out two significant revelations about the 2021 Bronco SUV today: First, it’ll offer a huge 37-inch tire option from the factory, and second, the available “Lightning Blue” paint color will be limited to Launch Edition models. Besides turning the spotlight back to the Bronco after its big reveal in July and before its on-sale date early next year, the tweets filled in some more pieces of the production 4×4’s puzzle for excited fans eager for more info. Seriously, the Bronco’s Getting a 37-Inch Tire Option? The tire-related Bronco tweet blares: “Testing 37-inch hooves!” alongside a picture of what appears to be a camouflaged prototype of the Raptor/Warthog high-performance version. Ford isn’...

The One-Off Ferrari Omologata Is a Very Special 812 Superfast

Buying a new Ferrari is obviously a special experience, but there are always well-heeled folks who think even ticking all the option boxes or selecting a unique paint color aren’t enough to set their car apart from other buyers’. Because of this, bespoke bodywork has become a big business, albeit not in terms of volume but rather money and prestige. Take the recently unveiled and very outrageous Aston Martin Victor, which is very much in this vein, as well as 10 V-12 Ferraris since 2009—a roster that now includes this one-of-one, 812 Superfast-based Ferrari Omologata custom creation. See all 11 photos Of course, for decades, custom bodywork was the norm rather than the exception for rarified European sports and luxury cars, and several coachbuilding outfits might body the same ...

BMW to Pay $18 Million for Inflating Monthly Sales Numbers

BMW is in hot water for its sales reporting tactics. The Security and Exchange Commission entered into a settlement with the automaker. BMW will pay $18 million for inflating sales numbers in the U.S. from 2015 to 2019. According to a release sent out by the SEC this week, BMW kept a reserve of unreported retail sales that it used to reach company targets, ignoring when the sales actually happened. The agency also says BMW paid dealers to erroneously label vehicles as loaners or demonstrators so they could count them as sold. BMW reported the misleading sales information while going on to raise $18 billion from investors in corporate bond offerings. “Companies accessing U.S. markets to raise capital have an obligation to provide accurate information to investors,” said Ste...

1997–2001 Honda CR-V: A Compact Crossover is Born

The Honda CR-V is so common today, its numbers so thick on the ground in most places, that you’ve probably never stopped to consider what the compact crossover’s name means—or that it means anything at all. As a standout member of a mostly drab segment, the Honda’s name could just be the same old alphanumeric mumbo-jumbo applied to any number of modern vehicles. But did you know that it actually means “Comfortable Runabout Vehicle”? The funky name reflects the newness of what the CR-V represented back in the mid-1990s: there literally wasn’t a term for what it was, so Honda made one up. Among the first of a new kind of in-between vehicles (not quite a car, but not quite an SUV), the Honda, and others like it, would sometimes be called “soft-roaders...

2021 Audi Q5 Sportback First Look: Baby Got (Sport)Back

Audi adds a more rakish sibling to the Q5 model line for 2021. Dubbed the Q5 Sportback, the latest iteration of the brand’s compact crossover takes on the BMW X4 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class Coupe.  Like its competition, the Q5 Sportback trades cargo space for style. Whereas today’s Q5 sports 23.1 cubic feet of space aft of its rear seatback, the Sportback offers just 18.0 cubes. That’s on par with the Bimmer and Merc, which provide 17.7 and 18.5 cubic feet of space with all seats in place. Fold the Sportback’s rear seats down and its cargo hold expands to 52.3 cubic feet, a sum that bests the X4’s and GLC’s and nearly matches that of the current Q5’s 53.1-cubic-foot space. See all 33 photos 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback: Familiar Face Predictably, th...

2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended Takes Rear-Seat Luxury to the Max

Rolls-Royce showed off the all-new 2021 Ghost, the brand’s “entry-level” luxury sedan (ha!), at the beginning of September. It’s a cleaner, statelier design that doesn’t reinvent the Ghost concept so much as hone it to a sharp edge. Built on the brand’s aluminum spaceframe chassis, the luxury sedan now has a platform befitting its station, too. Now Rolls-Royce is showing off the extended wheelbase version—fittingly enough, called the Ghost Extended. See all 10 photos And extended, it is. The wheelbase swells by six inches, and the overall length by seven. There’s a weight penalty to grow your Ghost, but it doesn’t appear to faze the sedan at all. The 102 pounds of additional weight involved in the stretch fails to affect the manufacturer-prov...

Lynk & Co Zero Concept: One Swede Chinese Electric SUV

It may seem like a nascent startup to us Americans, but Lynk & Co is already well-established in China, reporting more than 300,000 overall sales since the first vehicle went on sale in 2018. That’s quite a bit. Its range in that market is heavy on small crossovers that share an architecture with its corporate sibling, Volvo. Lynk & Co’s next play is to move in on the lower rungs of the EV crossover space, a place that more established players such as Tesla and Volkswagen are making moves in. Meet the Link & Co Zero concept. The Zero concept is a car-like crossover and a full-on EV, unlike the hybrids and PHEVs that Lynk & Co currently sells. It recalls the very first concept from the company, the CCC. The connection is more theoretical than literal, but th...

Ioniq Concept Cabin Previews the Future of EV Interiors

Hyundai recently announced it will rejigger the Ioniq lineup—currently a trio of gasoline-electric hybrid, plug-in, and electric hatchbacks—into its own EV brand. That vision includes rethinking what an electric vehicle should offer, not only in terms of driving range but also interior design. As such, Hyundai is showing its new Ioniq Concept Cabin, which previews future EV interiors and resembles your living room. We can expect to see some of these innovations reach reality within the next year. Partnering with LG Electronics, Hyundai created an interior that incorporates TVs, cabin-cleaning robots, and plenty of room to relax. A 77.0-inch flexible organic LED screen is attached to the ceiling, and it is large enough so two people can watch something different at the same time. Speakers i...

What Is Tesla’s “Tight Wolverine” Electric Pickup Truck?

At Tesla’s Battery Day, founder Elon Musk dropped a typically cryptic reference to a smaller version of the Cybertruck for markets outside of the U.S. This is a truck that Musk has talked about before—more on that in a minute—but what he called it during the Q&A session is what perked our ears up. “Tight Wolverine“…what’s that? What Was Musk Talking About? Here’s what Musk said, specifically: “We’ll probably make an international version that’ll be—kind of smaller, kind of like a tight wolverine package. It’ll still be cooler, but it’ll be smaller because you just can’t make a truck like [the Cybertruck] for most markets.” The statement comes at the 2:45:00 minute mark in the Battery Day video, when asked abou...

2021 Ford Puma ST: Ford’s Euro-only CUV Gets a Sporting Edge

Remember when the ST badge was reserved for the Focus? Then it migrated to the Fiesta, the Explorer, and Edge. Well, now it’s the Puma’s turn. The cutesy little crossover that we don’t get in the states—which by itself is curious, given America’s hankering for SUVs—just received the ST treatment. It’s the first performance SUV that Ford has given Europe, and even though the upgrades are standard ST fare, it adds up to yet another sporty compact from Ford that we want but can’t have. The first thing that comes to mind when you think ST is probably power. To that end, the Puma gets a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine (likely the same unit from the current, also Euro-only Fiesta ST) that makes 197 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 236 lb-ft of torque between 2,500...

Take a Gander at Jeep’s 80th Anniversary Edition Lineup

As any automaker having a birthday is wont to do, Jeep is celebrating its 80th birthday with special editions all across its lineup. (1940 was the year the U.S. military solicited companies to pitch a design for what would eventually become the World War II Jeeps produced by Willys and Ford; the word wouldn’t become a registered trademark, and thus an official brand, under Willys until 1950.) Indeed, every 2021 Jeep thus gains an 80th Anniversary Edition, which Jeep previously announced but took until now to finally release some photos of the things. These models arrive in dealerships during the fourth quarter of the year. Features vary somewhat on the 80th Anniversary Editions, but all are well equipped. They have several design details in common, inclu...

Lordstown Endurance Electric Pickup: Peek Inside Its Screen-Heavy Cabin

Lordstown Motors is continuing the slow tease of its Endurance electric pickup this week, now revealing interior photos ahead of the truck’s launch next year. Much like the interiors of the Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1T, the cabin of the Endurance is dominated by screens rather than physical buttons. A long frame on the dashboard houses three separate screens, underneath of which sit physical climate-control knobs. Other notable features inside the five-seat truck include a rotary shifter and large cup holders. The cabin has a decidedly industrial feel with stark metallic accents, and the overall interior aesthetic matches the minimalist design of the exterior. The Endurance will have no shortage of rivals. The Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer, and Bollinger B2 are all...