Autos

Porsche’s original Boxster sports car was presaged by the silver 1993 Boxster concept car that carried a strong whiff of the original 1955–56 550 Spyder. You know, the car that actor and cool-guy James Dean nicknamed the “Little Bastard” before meeting his early demise in it? Porsche wasn’t finished flirting with a 550 revival, however; after the Boxster came out in 1997, the German automaker rolled out a Boxster 550 Anniversary Edition celebrating the original sports car’s 50th birthday. Later, the Boxster Spyder models kept the 550’s idea of a stripped-down, lightweight mid-engine sports car alive. And just last year, there was this: The Vision Spyder concept. You probably didn’t see it, because it’s one of a trove of concept cars and desig...

Peter Salzmann is an Austrian daredevil. As a base jumper, he takes his life into his own hands on a regular basis, but apparently, the rush of falling from a helicopter and soaring downward through clouds and beautiful landscapes wasn’t cutting it anymore. Salzmann wanted a way to prolong his jumps. In essence, he wanted to fly. That’s where BMW came in. Salzmann worked with BMW’s i division to create a set of impellers for his wingsuit. The theory was that if the impellers create enough thrust, they would allow him to prolong his jumps. Think of Salzmann as sort of a human kite. It took three years for the electrified wingsuit to go from concept to completion. During that time, the suit was tested in a number of wind tunnels specifically designed to work out t...

The 2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S‘s reign as the fastest executive car around the Nürburgring is over, as Mercedes-AMG reclaims the crown with its 2021 GT 63 S 4-Door. While the three-pointed star’s slinky sedan continues to rely on the same 630-hp twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 as before, the top-of-the-line trim benefits from a handful of chassis and suspension tweaks for the new model year, the combination of which helped the mighty Mercedes achieve a lap time of seven minutes and 27.8 seconds around the nearly 13-mile long track. That’s approximately two seconds quicker than the time logged by the 620-hp Panamera Turbo S, which knocked the GT 63 S 4-Door from the podium position earlier in the year. See all 7 photos In order to achieve this time, the GT 63 S 4-D...

The Ram Power Wagon is the original four-by pickup, descended from the WC-series trucks that helped the United States military in World War II. As was the case with the Jeep CJ, these trucks‘ war-proven hardware adapted well to rugged civilian use. The Power Wagons were built to do work, and they did, no matter the terrain or conditions. Ram’s 75th Anniversary Edition is a tribute to the original, with plenty of aesthetic callouts and special badging to set it apart. See all 14 photos The 2021 Ram 2500 Power Wagon 75th Anniversary Edition‘s hardware is essentially the same as any other, but that’s no dig. The broader Ram HD range was our 2020 Truck of the Year, and the prior-generation, off-road-oriented 2500 Power Wagon earned a place in our hearts after a yea...

Land Rover’s Discovery may not seem all that exciting parked next to the new Defender SUV, its smaller and more off-road-focused sibling (and MotorTrend‘s 2021 SUV of the Year), but it’s not forgotten. For 2021, Land Rover has gone through the Discovery with a fine-tooth comb, uncovering a smattering of tiny opportunities for improvement. A few more USB ports here, a new shift lever there, and—biggest of all—a new touchscreen infotainment system named Pivi Pro. For an idea of just how small Land Rover thought when tackling its updates for the Discovery, take a look at this rig’s face. It looks pretty much the same as before, right? Almost. The LEDs in the headlights are lowered for a more purposeful appearance, the grille is new, and so are those straked vertical in...

Hyundai’s lineup is stacked with SUVs, and with the Kona, Santa Fe, Palisade, Tucson, Nexo, and Venue on the menu, there’s seemingly something for almost every niche. That does not mean, however, that the Korean automaker is resting on its laurels. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Hyundai has just announced that its current SUV blitz will continue through the end of 2021, including 12 new or significantly updated SUVs and SUV variants. Here’s some of what you can expect. The 2022 Kona and Kona N-Line have already been announced, however, and we know a high-performance Kona N is on the way. We expect the Kona N to share a powertrain with the Veloster N, meaning a turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 that will make between 250 and 275 horsepower. The 2022 Tucson and 2021 San...

Look, FCA wasn’t a great name in the first place and took some getting used to, but at least it was easy to say. Adding PSA to that—so, FCA-PSA—would be too much alphabet soup, though, and the firms have too many large brands to smoothly integrate into the corporate name, and doing so may have caused the “kids” to fight over which ones the parents love most. The combined company will cover FCA’s Chrysler, Dodge, Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Ram brands, and Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, and Vauxhall from the PSA side. “Stellantis is rooted in the Latin verb stello meaning ‘to brighten with stars.’ It draws inspiration from this new and ambitious alignment of storied automotive brands and strong company cultures that in coming together ar...

Earlier this year, our European friends saw the new Corolla GR Sport, hoping a bit of the full-bore GR performance models’ mojo will rub off on what amounts to a tasteful appearance package. Now the C-HR GR Sport joins the party. Like its Corolla GR Sport stablemate, it brings sharper looks and a sporty demeanor on top of its unaltered powertrain. As with many sporty or special editions these days, the C-HR GR Sport utilizes lots of black accents. The Toyota badge on the front gets a black background, the headlight housings are darkened, the center of the bumper and the fog light bezels are black, and the grille is rendered in a “dark chrome” finish. In profile, black door inserts set off the unique 19-inch alloy wheels, and similar black effects are found on the rear—ref...