Author: EVAI

The last Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing built will be among the lots of a small, but exclusive, RM Sotheby’s auction in Las Vegas. Scheduled to cross the block Nov. 22, this Gullwing is the last of 1,400 built between 1954 and 1957. That’s based on its chassis number (7500079) and completion date (May 15, 1957), according to the auction listing…

Infiniti brought a QX80 concept that’s ready for tailgating to the 2024 SEMA show, now running in Las Vegas. The Autograph Lounge concept is based on the redesigned 2025 Infiniti QX80, with most of the changes at the back. A television and custom Klipsch audio system—from the same supplier of the QX80’s factory audio systems—are…

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Rivian R1S? What does it compare to? The Rivian R1S is an electric three-row SUV with three battery pack size options. With its gut-dropping acceleration, bona fide off-road prowess, and overall on-road comfort, it can’t be matched by the Kia EV9, Tesla Model X, and any other of the small but growing number…

Leftover fabric from car airbags is now being used in sneakers, helping to lower the environmental impact of cars and footwear alike.

The Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50 uses airbag nylon fabric remnants from Toyoda Gosei, one of Toyota’s captive suppliers, in its upper elements. Launched in January 2023, the sneaker won a Good Design Award 2024 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

Toyota Land Cruiser showing off airbags

“Making an upcycled product using waste material as a main material is seen as the kind of action that is needed by society, both from the viewpoint of effective use of materials and in arousing users’ interest in material waste in today’s society,” jurors said in a statement.

Toyoda Goesi has also marketed bags and pen cases made from airbag fabric and scraps from leather steering-wheel wrappers under its own Re-S brand. There have been a great many airbag recalls in recent years, some of which include hundreds of thousands of vehicles, like the Toyota Grand Highlander, so if the material could potentially be recovered, the supplier has shown a way to potentially use it.

2025 Toyota Grand Highlander

Automakers and suppliers are also well on the way to cutting the footprint of vehicles by taking other types of recovered materials—from landfill waste to ripped jeans—and using them for vehicle cabins.

Other odd but useful recovery efforts that may pay off big include recovering magnet material from old hard drives for EV motors. And Kia has ambitious plans, announced in 2021, to phase out leather and up the level of recycled plastics in its cabins and vehicles.

• Edmunds compared the Lucid Air Sapphire with the Tesla Model S Plaid with the optional Track Pack.
• Together, the two American EVs produce over 2,200 horsepower.

We live in fascinating times. You could go online right now and place an order for a four-door electric sedan that goes the distance, is comfortable and is seriously fast–among the fastest in the world, in fact.

Two models fit the bill currently, and they’re both made in the United States. There’s the original Tesla Model S Plaid, with its 1,020 horsepower and sub-2-second sprint to 60 miles per hour. Then, there’s the newer, fancier and more expensive Lucid Air Sapphire. 

There have been plenty of comparisons between the two EVs, but none quite like the one put together by our friends at Edmunds. As you’ll see in the video embedded below, Edmunds pitted the 2023 Tesla Model S Plaid with the optional $20,000 Track Package against the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire.

Tesla’s pricey add-on comes with carbon ceramic brakes and forged brake calipers, which enables the 4,810-pound EV to, you know, brake properly. Some fancy wheels are also included, as is some “track-ready brake fluid.” The car’s firmware is also slightly different, to take advantage of the new stuff. 

Like the Model S Plaid, the Lucid Air Sapphire is powered by three electric motors. Unlike the Plaid, however, Lucid managed to squeeze out 1,234 horsepower from the setup, lowering the 0-60 mph time to just 1.89 seconds, as opposed to the Model S Plaid’s 1.99 seconds. On paper, at least.

Suffice to say, they’re very fast. Edmunds’ course consists of a quarter-mile drag race, followed by a braking section, a U-turn and then another sprint toward the start/finish line. It’s a very simple layout but it’s designed to test acceleration, braking and handling. Two runs are clocked and at the end of the first run, the drivers switch cars to eliminate any potential advantage or disadvantage.

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In the Model S Plaid, the battery was preconditioned for the Drag Strip mode, which took about 15 minutes to complete. The suspension was set to Sport and in the lowest ride height. 

In the Lucid Air Sapphire, Track mode was selected, then the Drag Strip option–a little easier than in the Model S, but I’ll give Tesla credit for making the whole operation a little more dramatic, especially when it comes to the Cheetah stance that the Model S Plaid takes right before launch.

Now that the specs are out of the way, I’ll just say this: the race you’re about to see in the video is intense. At the end of the first run, the Lucid Air was clocked at a speed of 164 miles per hour. Let’s not forget that both these cars are four-door family sedans, so experiencing this amount of power and speed seems like cheating physics a little bit.

The second run was a little different, with the Model S set in Track mode instead of Drag Strip mode in the hopes that the car would send more power to the wheels when exiting the corner at the end of the straight. Did it help? Well, not really. For what it’s worth, though, the Model S Plaid, even with the $20,000 Track Pack, is still half the price of the Air Sapphire, which retails for a sweet, sweet $250,500. Meanwhile, Tesla is asking $91,630 for a base Model S Plaid without the Track Pack.

So, is it worth spending a quarter of a million dollars on an admittedly very nice EV? You be the judge.

California-based UP.FIT, a division of Tesla tuner Unplugged Performance, has turned a Tesla Model S Plaid into a police car. Debuting at the 2024 SEMA show in Las Vegas, the Plaid police cruiser is destined for a community outreach program of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, according to Unplugged Performance. The company’s UP.FIT division…

• GM is phasing out Apple CarPlay in its lineup
• New Chevy, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick EVs won’t have Apple CarPlay
• GM’s software boss believes the automaker’s making the right call

General Motors is still committed to phasing out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity in future EVs, software boss Baris Cetinok said in a recent interview with The Verge.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which allow users to “project” features from their smartphones onto in-car displays—plus more for EVs, including route planning—have proven popular with customers. But GM announced last year that it would stop including them in future EVs as it shifts to a new Google-based infotainment system.

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV

That’s still the best path forward, Cetinok told The Verge, because it allows GM “to create the most deeply integrated experience that you can create with the vehicle,” rather than relying on interfaces ported in from smartphone apps.

“We are not shipping devices with just monitors; we’re not a monitor company,” said Cetinok, who previously worked at Apple in product management and marketing for features like Apple Pay and iCloud. Abandoning deeper smartphone connectivity will create a seamless experience across different features, such as driver aids like GM’s Super Cruise and entertainment features like podcast apps, he claimed.

2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS

The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV was the first GM vehicle to launch without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and subsequent EV launches like the Chevy Equinox EV and Chevy Silverado EV have also gone without those features. It’s likely more of an adjustment for users who prefer Apple features like Apple Maps. Google-based infotainment systems in newer GM EVs incorporate many of the same features as Android Auto, such as Google Maps and Google Assistant voice recognition.

Deep integration of software features can be important for route planning, as access to the vehicle’s state of charge and other data is needed to determine charging stops and precondition battery packs for the quickest possible charge. But as other automakers have demonstrated, that doesn’t mean taking functionality away. For instance, Ford EVs offer a choice, with these abilities integrated with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as via its own built-in navigation systems.

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Mercdes-Benz S-Class? What does it compare to? The S-Class is Mercedes-Benz’s top sedan. It’s similar in concept to the BMW 7-Series and Audi A8, as well as the Lexus LS. Is the 2025 Mercdes-Benz S-Class a good car? It’s about as good as a sedan can get. The S-Class brims with tech and style, and…

Nissan is recalling 4,036 Z sports cars because malfunctioning sensors could increase the risk of injury to pedestrians in a collision. The recall, which encompasses 2023 and 2024 models, stems from righthand pedestrian-detection sensors that may be reversed in the front-bumper wiring harness. This could prevent the pop-up hood, a feature designed…

Mazda on Thursday provided an update on its powertrain development efforts, which will emphasize bringing more development work on all-electric and hybrid powertrains in-house going forward.

After launching the low-range MX-30 crossover, which has already been discontinued in the U.S., with all-electric and range-extended powertrains, Mazda has leaned on partners for electrification. A hybrid version of the CX-50 crossover SUV arrives for the 2025 model year with a Toyota-sourced hybrid system, while the EZ-6 electric sedan was developed in partnership with China’s Changan Automobile.

Mazda electrification plans for current decade

Now Mazda is trying to stand on its own. In Thursday’s presentation, the automaker said it was developing its own hybrid system to be used in the next-generation CX-5 crossover SUV launching sometime between 2025 and 2027. After the CX-5, the hybrid system could then be applied to larger models, Mazda said.

Closer to the end of that time frame, around 2027, Mazda also plans to launch an electric SUV based on its own dedicated EV platform, with a plug-in hybrid variant also possible. This will be sold alongside an electric SUV co-developed with Changan.

2025 Mazda EZ-6

Mazda also confirmed that it had inked battery supply deals with AESC and Panasonic to secure needed battery volumes up to 2030. A new factory in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture will assemble cells from Panasonic, with which Mazda has been in talks since at least 2023, into modules.

Development of internal-combustion engines will continue as well. In the same presentation, Mazda announced a new Skyactiv-Z family of 4-cylinder engines due to launch in 2027, and said that it reinstated a rotary-engine development team in February. The MX-30 currently uses a small rotary engine as a range extender, but this hints at broader use of the piston-less engines that are a big part of Mazda lore. The automaker in May also allied with Subaru and Toyota to find ways to further reduce emissions from combustion engines.