NEWS

Electric vehicles were right there at the beginning of the automobile, and have never really gone away, although battery technology was never advanced enough to make them all that practical once gasoline internal-combustion engines were perfected. That’s changing now, but it’s also fascinating to look back at how we got to this point. Past EV attempts, no matter how limited in capability, contributed to the pool of knowledge that has gotten us to the point where battery-electric vehicles are practical, and even desirable today. And this classic EV bus, the 1979 Volkswagen Elektrotransporter, is one of those steps along the path to today. See all 7 photos Volkswagen of America purchased this van recently, and plans to restore it. Before that happens, VW will show off this deligh...

Lightning is back. Except, the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning shares absolutely nothing with the original Lightning pickups that first debuted in the early 1990s. Even the old sport truck’s iconic Lightning badge has been redesigned for the all-new EV pickup truck by the same name. And though it is often said history repeats itself, in this case history has reincarnated itself into something somehow both more powerful and less sinister. The Power of Lightning The original 1993 Ford Lightning was, according to our archives, “a Mustang Cobra with a cargo bed.” It had a 5.8-liter V-8 under its huge hood that made 240 horsepower—which in today’s context isn’t much, but in 1993 it was plenty. The Lightning also was a relatively low-key project that was commissioned by F...

You don’t trot out Walter Röhrl for fast laps at the Hockenheimring if you’re just doing a photo op with a pedestrian SUV. That’s why Porsche has our complete attention with the latest release, which features the legendary rally driver (and, more recently, Porsche test driver) getting some wheel time in a new version of the Cayenne Coupe. See all 46 photos Now, hold that thought and flash back to a few years ago, when our own Jonny Lieberman heard from a well-placed insider that Porsche’s GT division was finally going to do an SUV—the slinky Cayenne Coupe, per the source. Meanwhile, across the hall, senior editor Scott Evans heard directly from Mr. GT himself—Andy Preuninger, head of said division—that Porsche Motorsport was responsible for turning a “regular&...

Here’s your problem: You’re dying to go see the latest Fast and Furious installment, F9, when it opens on June 25th, but you just don’t know what to drive to the theater. Well, friends and neighbors, out of a fog of NOOOOSSSSSS comes the solution: Paul Walker’s orange 1994 Toyota Supra from the first F&F movie! One of the original movie cars will be up for sale at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas auction taking place June 18-19, just before F9 arrives. For those who can’t remember 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, this was the orange Supra that Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker’s character) built up from a wreck after his green Eclipse (the one with the 17-speed manual transmission) was unceremoniously detonated. O’Conner later uses the S...