The latest changes to F1 power units are not just about speed-they're about efficiency, sustainability, and technology that could eventually influence the cars you drive every day.
The project was originally intended to be much less, simply a garage for the owners' current beloved collection of five Porsches-two convertibles, a coupe, an SUV, and an electric sedan. But as they started talking, says lead architect Carl Baker, the mission crept to include "the ability to indulge all of their hobbies."
In the short term, expectations are brutally realistic, but this is still a team intent on making noise from day one. That intent will be made clear when Cadillac unveils the livery of its first F1 car during a Super Bowl commercial Sunday. Such a move is a statement and arrival aimed as much at mainstream America as at a paddock that, for years, questioned whether the brand belonged on the grid at all.
In a more-natural habitat - the serpentine road course of Sonoma Raceway - this 1,250-horsepower hybrid advances its case as the fastest production car in American history, and among the speediest to ever roam this planet's surface.
This is the first-ever Chinese Gran Turismo performance racer to be materialized, and the air flow obsession goes beyond everything you would imagine. Although one cannot drive it for real anytime soon, you can explore the two-door performance car in Gran Turismo 7, using the company's dedicated simulator with exact racing seats as the concept car.
The original 300 SL Uhlenhaut Coupe, the racing variant that never made it to public roads, remains one of the most valuable cars ever auctioned, fetching $143 million at a 2022 Sotheby's sale. So when concept designer Gabriel Naretto decided to name his reimagined Mercedes-AMG shooting brake after the man himself, the pressure to deliver something worthy of that legacy was immense.
The newly unveiled car is ultra-agile thanks to the weight reduction achieved by shaving off components like the skid-control, torque-vectoring, or automatic brake-assist. It doesn't even have power steering, and gives buyers the option to skip the air conditioning unit for weight reduction, making it the ideal fit for raw purists who want to feel every little change happening in the driving dynamics.
The new Volkswagen ID. Polo's interior is charmingly retro, in more ways than one. It doesn't just pack a lot more buttons and physical controlsthe compact EV also features design cues from classic Volkswagen models, like the original Polo and Golf. Best of all: a digital "tape deck" view when you play music. Volkswagen loves to lean on nostalgia. But sometimes, it just doesn't work out.
The Hyundai Staria Electric is powered by an 84-kilowatt-hour battery that enables a WLTP combined range of 248 miles. It's not based on the E-GMP platform, but it borrows its best feature. This is the Hyundai Staria Electric, a battery-powered minivan that will compete with models like the Volkswagen ID. Buzz and Kia PV5 when it goes on sale later this year in Europe and Korea.
They argue that all the equipment it loses in the quest for improved affordability is enough to make it not worth considering. But is that really true? Most of the criticism boils down to one idea: Tesla cut comfort and convenience features and that all adds up to make it feel cheap. So I treated the Standard like a normal car for almost two weeks, waiting for the moment it started to feel compromised and like a bad choice. It never came.