Category: Highlight

  • Mazda’s next-generation vehicle platform to be used with gas, diesel, EVs, and front- and rear-wheel drive

    Mazda last week announced an ambitious electrification strategy, including a dedicated EV platform scheduled for introduction by 2025, as well as new hybrids and plug-in hybrids.

    A new Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture platform will underpin a host of new models launching between 2022 and 2025, including five hybrids, five plug-in hybrids, and three all-electric cars, a Mazda press release said. The company said the platform will accommodate transverse power units in small vehicles and longitudinal power units in larger vehicles. A transverse layout is usually associated with front-wheel-drive cars, and a longitudinal layout works most often with rear-wheel drive.

    Mazda also released the pictures shown here, which show its near-term powertrains, including a rotary engine range extender, large gasoline and diesel engines with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, and a large gas engine plug-in hybrid. The rotary should be a transverse setup, while the large powertrains will be longitudinal.

    Due between 2025 and 2030 will be additional all-electric models based on the EV-specific Skyactiv Scalable EV Architecture, Mazda said.

    With this launch cadence, Mazda expects 100% of its lineup to save some degree of electrification by 2030, with EVs representing 25% of that total.

    Mazda gasoline mild-hybrid powertrain

    Mazda gasoline mild-hybrid powertrain

    Mazda said the new models will target major markets like the U.S., China, Europe, and Japan, but didn’t go into further detail.

    We do know the MX-30 crossover is scheduled to reach the U.S. later this year in all-electric form as a 2022 model, with a rotary range extender coming in calendar-year 2022 for the 2023 model year. It will use the CX-30’s platform. Mazda’s ongoing partnership with Toyota could lead to technology sharing as well.

    The Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture appears to be the much-discussed rear-wheel-drive platform set to underpin the next-generation Mazda 6. Mazda is expected to use inline-6 engines, with displacements ranging from 3.0 liters to 3.3 liters, in vehicles based on this platform, and they could include SUVs. The vehicles will also likely use the 48-volt mild-hybrid system. A report earlier this year said the new engines and platform will arrive in SUVs initially, before the redesigned Mazda 6 sedan.

    Past reports have also indicated Mazda may be working on a new sports car, possibly called RX-9, but if that happens, don’t expect it to be a Wankel-powered successor to the RX-7 and RX-8. Mazda has said its new rotary engines will be used as EV range extenders only.

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  • Alumination: Documentary illuminates the story of an American icon

    Icons of the American roadways are subject to debate: Corvette or Model T? Route 66 or the modern interstates? Waffle House or Stuckey’s? Standard Oil or Shell? Paper maps or GPS?

    But there may be one road-going icon that stand alone, above debate. It’s the Airstream trailer, and “Alumination,” a documentary film about the aluminum-riveted icon is scheduled to premiere in October (though read on to discover how you can view the movie before its official debut).

    Actually, the film was scheduled to premiere months ago, but that was before the coronavirus pandemic put such debuts, and people such as actor-turned-filmmaker Eric Bricker, on hold.

    Alumination poster

    Alumination poster

    Actually, Bricker isn’t on hold, he and his team have been working on their next film project. Bricker is a native of St. Louis, where his grandmother took him to a lot of movies and where he was part of a high school choir. He was encouraged to try out for the school’s production of “Guys and Dolls” and landed the leading role of Sky Masterson.

    He enrolled at Indiana University to study business, only to end up majoring in English literature with minors in theater and art history and acting in a production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Movies seen with his grandmother sparked his interest in Hollywood, and he moved there after college, only to discover he would rather make movies than appear in them. After 15 years, he also discovered he’d rather make those movies from a base in Austin, Texas, where he’s lived since 2007.

    Bricker and his co-producer, Lisa Hughes, premiered their first joint project, “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Schulman,” with Dustin Hoffman narrating the story of architectural photographer Julius Shulman. It was Hughes who called Bricker in 2013 and suggested the Airstream trailer as their next film project.

    “That’s where the adventure began,” Bricker recalled, admitting that he and Hughes not only discovered the story of the popular aluminum trailers, but also that of their creator, Wally Byam, and the community of Airstream owners.

    “We were fascinated by these iconic travel trailers, the iconic design piece and the iconic brand, that was our point of departure,” Bricker said. “But once we jumped in, the thing that really stood out was the people that use these trailers. We didn’t know about the community. We didn’t know what we were in for, the cult of Airstream. It’s the most welcoming world, a combination of enthusiasm and an openness and willingness to share.”

    If that sounds like the collector car community, it makes sense. Airstream trailers are cherished by their owners much like collector cars by their owners. In some cases, Airstream owners have sought out vintage cars or trucks to pull their vintage trailers.

    “Everyone, even Generation Z, has emblazoned in their memories Airstream travel trailers,” Bricker added.

    But the Airstream community wasn’t the only surprise the filmmakers encountered.

    Alumination movie poster

    Alumination movie poster

    “The story and the spirit of Wally Byam,” Bricker said of perhaps his biggest surprise in the long process. “He’s an unsung American entrepreneurial hero. There aren’t too many individuals who have had his sense of vision, the rigor he would apply, continually striving to make things better, weathering the hard times, doing these caravans for marketing. I’m very happy we had the opportunity to tell the Airstream story, his story.”

    However, figuring out how to braid together the various strings was one reason it took so long for the film to go from inspiration to final cut. What finally brought everything together, Bricker said, was a photograph of Byam touching an Airstream, “almost like he’s installing his spirit into the trailer, and I do think the travel trailers carry the spirit of Wally Byam.” A spirit, he added, activated as well by the people who use those trailers.

    “Alumination,” which runs 77 minutes and is narrated by Kate Pierson of The B-52s, was scheduled to debut in the spring of 2020 at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which now will be held in October 2021.

    However, you don’t have to wait until then to see the movie. Silverstream Filmworks offers private screenings for groups of 50 or more, and if you want will offer question-and-answer sessions with the producers as well.

    “Independent film is tough,” Bricker noted. “If you want to achieve financial freedom, I would not recommend going down the documentary path. But for the majority of documentary filmmakers, it’s passion, following their curiosity.”

    Curious about Airstream? Gather a group of 49 or more friends now, or wait until this fall when the movie makes its official debut at the Newport Beach festival. And then? The producers, of course, hope for a theatrical release, followed by a run on one of the digital platforms such as Netflix or Amazon, and by fans buying copies for their film libraries, perhaps even to view yet again in some wilderness location while camping in their Airstream trailers.

    This article, written by Larry Edsall, was originally published on ClassicCars.com, an editorial partner of Motor Authority.

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  • 2021 Ferrari 812 GTS prances into Jay Leno’s Garage

    After checking out the mid-engine Ferrari SF90 Stradale, Jay Leno switched to the front-engine 812 GTS for a recent episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

    The Ferrari 812 GTS is a convertible version of the 812 Superfast, sporting a retractable hardtop in place of the Superfast’s fixed roof. So it’s perfect for Leno’s Los Angeles locale.

    Like the 812 Superfast, the 812 GTS is powered by a naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V-12, producing 789 hp and 530 lb-ft of torque. The engine drives the rear wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. Ferrari quotes 0-62 mph in less than three seconds, with a top speed of over 211 mph.

    2021 Ferrari 812 GTS on Jay Leno's Garage

    2021 Ferrari 812 GTS on Jay Leno’s Garage

    When it was unveiled in 2019, the 812 GTS was the first V-12 Ferrari convertible since 2014’s limited-edition F60 America. In terms of regular production cars, it was the first since the 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider of the early 1970s. However, Ferrari has since unveiled the 812 Competizione A, a more hardcore targa version with 812 hp.

    Leno was impressed by the design, noting that the V-12 front-engine cars are Ferrari’s traditional bailiwick. He liked the driving dynamics too, praising the smoothness of the V-12, the comfortable ride, and the handling precision of what is a fairly large car. A four-wheel steering system, shared with the 812 Superfast and originally from the F12tdf, likely helps with that.

    A hardcore version of the 812 Superfast is expected to be a swan song for the naturally-aspirated Ferrari V-12. So watch Leno take the 812 GTS for a spin, and listen to that V-12 wail.

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