Luxury

Hennessey Performance is celebrating Christmas by delivering Christmas trees as fast as possible. The company’s previous sleigh, a Jeep Trackhawk, managed to deliver it by touching speeds of up 181 mph. But, this time, they want to get it done even faster. So, they’ve upgraded their sleigh to an Audi RS6 Avant that’s been tuned to make 800 reindeer; err., I mean 800 horses. They tried the same with a tuned Porsche 911 Turbo S recently, but it failed. But, the Audi RS6 Avant managed to break the record and is now officially Hennessey’s fastest Christmas tree transporter!

The folks at ‘Carwow’ brought two Ford Mustangs to the drag strip. One of them is the 760-horsepower Shelby Mustang GT500, and the other, a Clive Sutton Mustang that makes 850 horses. Can the Sutton-tuned Mustang get an easy win, or will the Shelby GT500 defy the odds and pin its rival down? Let’s find out.

BMW and its M division are gearing up for a busy 2022. It’s got quite a lot of vehicles lined up for debut, like the M2, the M3 Touring, the XM, and even the iX M60. Amidst all this, we now get news that the performance arm of the German automaker is planning for a special vehicle. This is rumored to be a special edition of the BMW M4 to commemorate BMW M’s 50th anniversary. But, do you think the company will mark its Golden Jubilee with just another M4?

The folks at Carwow came up with yet another interesting mix of cars for a series of races. The contenders this time were three Porsches, namely, the 992 911 Turbo S, the 991 911 GT2 RS, and the 992 911 GT3. The Turbo S and the GT2 RS have twin turbos, unlike the naturally aspirated GT3, but only the Turbo S had an all-wheel-drive system here. With so many factors playing a role, which car do you think will come out with bragging rights?

The Audi R8 has been a staple when one talks about performance cars. The car comes with a naturally aspirated V-10 that makes us go weak in the knees even today. We are even more emotionally invested in it now because the R8 is about to be electrified and the V-10 engine will be buried forever. The same engine powers the Lamborghini Huracan as well, but the marque is working on developing a twin-turbo V-8 successor for it. But, until the final adieu, Audi will try to milk the machine as much as possible, and the latest updates to it are a testament to that.

The new Acura MDX Type S establishes a few highlights for the automaker: the MDX is the first Acura SUV to wear a Type S badge, but it is also the most powerful, best-handling, and most lavishly equipped Acura SUV ever.

The 2022 MDX Type S will arrive at dealers just a few days before Christmas, so, if you have $66,700 there’s an idea for a present!

Toyota and Lexus recently unveiled 16 upcoming electric vehicles (EVs), and this includes the RZ. As a reminder, the Lexus RZ is not the company’s first EV. That would be the UX 300e, but this will be the first Lexus model to ride on a dedicated EV platform,

Mercedes launched an assault at the 2021 IAA Mobility Show when it rolled out five EVs - the EQE family sedan, the EQB crossover, EQG Concept off-roader, and the Maybach EQS SUV. The fifth model was the AMG EQS, which was the first AMG model in the EQ lineup. Now, the automaker is following it up with the AMG EQE. The performance version of the EQE was spotted testing recently, proving that the company is taking the electric game to the next level.

Although it was bound to happen, this comes as a surprise. GMC dropped a short trailer teasing the new upcoming Electric Sierra Denali. The automaker hasn’t revealed any details about it, but gave us a glimpse of its front fascia. Well, something’s better than nothing and we at least know GMC has already started working on electrifying the Sierra.

Shelby is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year. To commemorate the special occasion, the company has come up with another limited-production Mustang GT500 Edition called the GT500KR. The ‘KR’ moniker stands for ‘King of the Road’ and it isn’t a new badge and is one of the most famous Shelby Mustangs ever.

To make sure the KR badge isn’t diluted, Shelby has slapped it on a 900-horsepower Ford Mustang GT500! The production will be limited to 225 examples across three model years of the muscle car.

The Mercedes-AMG C43 – the entry-level AMG C-class – has been spotted yet again on public roads, but this time, it has shed almost all of its camo. This time around, only the front and rear fascia have been covered, but even with that, you can make out just about everything since all of the preliminary and concealing camo is gone. With so little camo, we can say with almost no doubt that Mercedes will be revealing it soon, maybe even before the end of 2021.

First off, let me point out that we know this is the AMG C43 based on the lower ride height and the larger yet fake air vents. That lower ride height comes courtesy of an even stiffer suspension, and there are true quad exhaust outlet sin the rear to go with the larger brakes and the lip spoiler on the rear decklid.

The real kicker here is that the C-Class lineup is ditching all large engines, with a turbocharged and hybridized four-cylinder being the only offering. In this case, the entry-level AMG will be losing the twin-turbo 3.0-liter engine and gaining a 2.0-liter. It’s the same M139 four-banger that’s found in the AMG A45 S, and in that model it’s good for 416 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque – an improvement of 31 horsepower over the outgoing model with a V-6 but a bit down on torque. This power output could change for the C43 (or perhaps C53 if a certain rumor is correct).

The good news is that we won’t have to wait for long as a debut could happen very soon with March of 2022 being the latest we’ll see it.

Just a few weeks ago, Genesis pulled the wraps off its new G90 flagship luxury sedan, but only a few exterior photos were released. This time, however, every single detail about the G90 has been revealed, including its gorgeously-design interior.

The Audi SQ5 is already a significant upgrade over the base Q5. For example, customers in the States will get a significant upgrade of an extra 100 horsepower when choosing the SQ5 over the base Q5. In Europe, though, there are a lot of tuners that will find ways to make this difference even bigger. The last one to do so is ABT Sportsline, who is offering an upgrade kit for the SQ5 TDI - both standard and Sportback versions.

The first new car from Lotus in a long time also happens to be the last internal combustion-engined car. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting to you, the Lotus Emira. The Emira was launched earlier this year, but the company didn’t reveal all the details about it. Since then, Lotus has given us the information in chunks, and now, we have all that we need, right from the interior and exterior details to its drivetrain and pricing specs.

The Mercedes EQ line of EVs isn’t very old, but the automaker is adding products to the lineup at a superficial rate. At the 2021 IAA Mobility Show, the automaker revealed a total of five EQ products, namely – the AMG EQS performance sedan, the EQE family sedan, the EQB crossover, EQG Concept off-roader, and the Maybach EQS SUV.

As if these weren’t enough, our spy photographers have now spotted the EQE SUV testing in the wild. It will slot in between the EQB crossover and the EQS SUV.

Update 12-14-2021: The EQE SUV has been spied yet again, this time doing winter testing. See it below!

The 2022 Mercedes GLE has been spotted a number of times in the past, and this time, we found it playing in the Scandinavian snow. Oddly enough, it was sporting more camo than before. Very little will change as part of this facelift, but the current model has only been on the market for a few years (since 2019, to be exact), so this is more about freshening up an already decent package.

What will change, however, are in the subtle areas of the GLE. Expect revised headlights and taillights, a new grille, and probably different mesh behind the corner vents. The decoy grille on this model represents what you’ll probably see on the higher trim levels, although, the production version will feature a considerable amount of chrome. The hood, body sheel, and rear hatch should remain largely the same.

The interior of the 2022 GLE will see an updated version of the MBUX infotainment system, a new steering wheel, and perhaps a slight change in trim design and offering. The powertrain will also remain largely untouched, but there could be some minor tweaks to increase either power, efficiency or – in a perfect world – both. This means a choice of the 2.0-liter inline-four in the GLE 350 or the 3.0-liter inline-six with EQ boost in the GLE 450. The former will deliver at least 255 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque while the latter comes with 362 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. 0-60 mph happens in between 5.5 and 7.0 seconds.

Expect the updated GLE to debut sometime in the first few months of 2022, with sales to commence right away as a 2022 model.

Honda shows its commitment to continual improvement with its 2022 array of top-shelf, tour-tastic Gold Wing models. The Gold Wing range received a handful of improvements to include reworked heads and cylinders that reduce the weight of the drivetrain plus stock foglights and revised ergonomics to boost performance, safety, and comfort across the boards. Of course, this comes on top of the speed and handling for which the Gold Wings have long been famous to make it a serious competitor in the U.S. touring market.

The Porsche 911 is known to be a driver’s car. Lately, we’ve seen various 911 models dominate the drag strip as well. But, is the base 911 Carrera also in the same league? Mat Watson from Carwow finds out by pitting it against the BMW M3 Competition for a series of straight-line races. The BMW makes 125 horses more than the Porsche, but it is also almost 500 pounds heavier. Which car do you think will win?

BMW is arguably one of the first mainstream manufacturers to offer an electric vehicle (EV). Though it did not take off as much as we expected, the i3 hatch was one of the first decent EVs you could buy that isn’t a Tesla. Now though, the i3 has officially been reincarnated as an electric 3 Series, which was leaked in China ahead of its global debut.

While the Polestar 2 is no slouch in terms of performance, it was never really able to match the Model 3 in terms of outright performance. That’s about to change, thanks to a software update introduced by the Swedish EV maker.

The ever-increasing influx of start-up EV manufacturers is apparent and while most of them seem to be coming from China, the Mullen Five comes from the sunny state of California. With Tesla now being accompanied by plenty of other EV manufacturers, it will be interesting to see how each of them will set itself apart from the pack. It seems Mullen Five wants to be the more sophisticated and luxurious EV, Tesla never managed to be. But will it succeed?