Category: Highlight

  • 2022 Audi RS 3, 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS, 2023 Chevy Corvette Z06: This Week’s Top Photos

    Audi revealed its redesigned 2022 RS 3 compact performance sedan this week. The new car represents only an evolution of its predecessor, but customers can look forward to more power, a more sophisticated drivetrain, and a drift mode.

    2022 Audi RS Q E-Tron Dakar Rally contender

    2022 Audi RS Q E-Tron Dakar Rally contender

    The brand with the four rings also revealed a wild extended-range electric SUV designed for the Dakar Rally. The SUV, whose first season will be 2022, is being entered in the grueling event to stress test new electric-vehicle technology destined for Audi’s future road cars.

    2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS first drive (EQS 450+)

    2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS first drive (EQS 450+)

    Mercedes-Benz has reached a major turning point with the launch of its first dedicated EV, the 2022 EQS. The big hatch is due in showrooms this fall with a 108-kilowatt-hour battery, and we’ve just driven it.

    2021 Mercedes-Benz AMG E63 S wagon

    2021 Mercedes-Benz AMG E63 S wagon

    Another Mercedes we tested this week was the 2021 Mercedes AMG E63 S wagon. A wagon may seem geeky, but the recently updated AMG deals out thrilling power and performance.

    2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392

    2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392

    We also tested the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 again, and are still left wondering whether a vehicle like this should really be this fast. Then again, it delivers on every marketable promise with its big knobby tires, loud V-8 burble, and ridiculous off-road capability.

    2022 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 spy shots - Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

    2022 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 spy shots – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

    Chevrolet this week finally confirmed a new Z06 based on the C8 Corvette. It’s coming for the 2023 model year and will almost certainly pack a naturally aspirated V-8 with a flat-plane crank and over 600 hp.

    Pininfarina Battista client spec

    Pininfarina Battista client spec

    And finally, Pininfarina showed off the first client spec for its upcoming Battista electric hypercar. Apparently it takes its inspiration from New York City.

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  • Audi RS Q E-Tron super SUV gets ready to rock at 2022 Dakar Rally

    It was less than a year ago that Audi announced its intention to enter the 2022 Dakar Rally with a bespoke SUV powered by electric motors, and on Friday we got our first look at the brand with the four rings’ contender.

    Called the RS Q E-Tron, the wild off-roader has been designed as a rally raid-style vehicle, much like Prodrive’s BRX Hunter which competed for the first time earlier this year in the 2021 Dakar Rally.

    The Audi is a much more sophisticated beast as it is powered by an extended-range electric powertrain that relies on a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 mated to a generator to keep the battery on the boil. The battery is a 50-kilowatt-hour unit that alone weighs 815 pounds.

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    The wheels are driven exclusively by a pair of electric motors, with a single motor at each axle to form an all-wheel-drive system and software controlling the torque distribution. The electric motors, which feature a single-speed transmission, can also act as generators under braking and help to top up the battery. Peak output is 670 hp, though this may be limited depending on the rules for the 2022 Dakar Rally.

    The electric motors are the same Audi uses in Formula E, a sport the automaker will quit after the current season. Audi said the motors needed only minor modifications for use in its Dakar contender. As for the range extender, it was lifted out of Audi’s former RS 5 DTM race car. It will operate between 4,500 and 6,000 rpm, which is the engine’s optimal band for efficiency, Audi said.

    Competing in the Dakar will allow Audi to stress test multiple components similar to what will feature in the automaker’s future electric road cars. Unlike Formula E, whose races last just 45 minutes, the Dakar Rally has multiple stages spanning two weeks, with some stages running close to 500 miles in length and lasting multiple hours. The 2022 rally will run through the deserts of Saudi Arabia next January.

    2022 Audi RS Q E-Tron Dakar Rally contender

    2022 Audi RS Q E-Tron Dakar Rally contender

    “What we are trying to do has never been done before,” Andreas Roos, head of Audi’s Dakar project, said in a statement. “This is the ultimate challenge for an electric drivetrain.”

    Audi has made a multi-year commitment to compete in the Dakar Rally. And while it has never competed in the event before, fellow Volkswagen Group brands Porsche and Volkswagen have experience to call on—especially VW which scored a hat track of wins between 2009 and 2011.

    Concurrent with the Dakar program, Audi plans to compete in the new LMDh class serving as the top class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship. LMDh’s first season will be in 2023.

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  • Electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class launches in 2024

    Mercedes-Benz will launch a battery-electric version of the iconic G-Class in 2024, the automaker said on Thursday.

    Confirmation of the electric G-Class, which could go by the name EQG, was made during a presentation outlining Mercedes’ plans to transition to a full-electric brand by 2030. Yes, get ready to say goodbye to internal-combustion engines at Mercedes-Benz, including at Mercedes-Benz AMG.

    Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius first mentioned plans for an electric G-Class in 2019. At the time, he said Mercedes had looked at discontinuing the G-Class, but he felt that the last Mercedes to be built should be a G-Class.

    But why the long gestation? The big and blocky G-Class will require a substantial kilowatt-hour rating and Mercedes may want to wait until battery technology improves. It isn’t clear whether Mercedes will electrify the G-Class platform, or install the G-Class body on one of its electric platforms.

    A plug-in hybrid G-Class is likely to eventuate before the electric version, and it could come with an AMG badge attached. AMG plans to introduce plug-in hybrid technology across its range before switching to a full-electric lineup, and the Affalterbach tuner is known to be readying a powerful setup incorporating a V-8. This setup debuts shortly in the GT 4-Door Coupe and will offer more than 800 hp.

    Note, if you want an electric G-Class today, there’s a company in Austria by the name of Kreisel that offers an electric conversion, though so far the company has only shown converted versions of the previous-generation G-Class. Kreisel’s setup features an 80-kwh battery and an electric motor at each axle for a combined 482 hp. One of the first people to take up Kreisel’s G-Class electric conversion was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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