Cars – Page 3

F1 in Italy: Look what happens when the downforce comes off

Cars, Formula 1, sportscar racing / Kelly Newman / September 8, 2025

That was enough to allow Piastri past. However, the team instructed the championship leader to slow down and relinquish the position to Norris. It was a team mistake, not a driver mistake, and McLaren is doing everything in its power to ensure the eventual champion gets there because of their driving and not some external factor. Piastri didn’t sound exactly happy on the radio. But F1 is a team sport, and racing drivers are employees—when your boss gives you an order, it’s wise to do what they ask and argue about it after the fact, if continued employment is one of your goals.

Oscar Piastri (L) and Lando Norris (R) have a very 21st century relationship. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

For many, a slow pit stop is just one of those things bestowed by the racing gods, and even Verstappen pointed that out when informed by his engineer of the change in positions behind him. After the race, Norris seemed a little embarrassed to have been given the place back, but the emerging consensus from former drivers was that, since Norris had been asked about pit stop priority, and had been undercut anyway, that was sufficient to excuse the request.

McLaren’s approach to handling its drivers is markedly different from the all-out war we saw when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso raced for it in 2007. Then, neither went home with the big trophy at the end of the year—their infighting allowed Kimi Raikkonen to take the title for Ferrari instead.

That won’t happen this year; either Norris or Piastri will be crowned at the end of the year, with the other having to wait at least another year. The pair have even been asked how they want the team to celebrate in the event the other driver wins—a sensitivity that feels refreshingly new for Formula 1.

Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan in two weeks for another low-downforce race. Can we expect another Verstappen victory?

F1 in Italy: Look what happens when the downforce comes off Read More »

Porsche’s insanely clever hybrid engine comes to the 911 Turbo S

Cars, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid, Porsche 911 Turbo S / Shannon Garcia / September 7, 2025

Today, Porsche debuted a new 911 variant at the IAA Mobility show in Munich, Germany. It’s the most powerful 911 to date, excluding some limited-run models, and may well be the quickest to 60 mph from a standing start, dispatching that dash in just 2.4 seconds. And it’s all thanks to one of the most interesting hybrid powertrains on sale today.

Rather than just bolting an electric motor to an existing 911, Porsche designed an entirely new 3.6 L flat-six engine, taking the opportunity to ditch the belt drive and move some of the ancillaries, which can instead be powered by the car’s 400 V traction battery.

The system debuted in the 911 GTS T-Hybrid, which Ars recently reviewed. For that car, Porsche added a single electric turbocharger, which works like the MGU-H in a Formula 1 car. It spins up almost instantly to 120,000 rpm to eliminate throttle lag, but also recaptures excess energy from the spinning turbine and sends that to the 1.9 kWh battery pack.

The result is a turbocharged engine that has a remarkable throttle response that’s more like an EV, with no perceptible lag between initial tip-in and power being delivered to the wheels.

For the 2026 911 Turbo S, there are a pair of these electric turbochargers. And like the GTS, you’ll find a 53 hp (40 kW), 110 lb-ft (150 Nm) permanent synchronous motor inside the eight-speed dual clutch transmission. Total output is a heady 701 hp (523 kW) and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm), which is sufficient to cut the 0–60 mph (0–98 km/h) time to 2.4 seconds. 124 mph (200 km/h) takes just 8.4 seconds, half a second less than the 2025 Turbo S.

Porsche’s insanely clever hybrid engine comes to the 911 Turbo S Read More »

BMW debuts 6th-generation EV powertrain in the all-electric iX3

BMW iX3, BMW Neue Klasse, Cars / Beth Washington / September 5, 2025

Class-leading efficiency and computer-controlled driving dynamics combine.

The new iX3 marks the start of a new design language for BMW SUVs. Credit: BMW

BMW has an all-electric replacement for its X3 crossover on the way. When it arrives in mid-2026, it will have the lowest carbon footprint of any BMW yet, thanks to an obsessive approach to sustainability during the design process. But we knew that already; what we couldn’t tell you then, but can now, is everything else we know about the first of the so-called Neue Klasse electric vehicles.

“The Neue Klasse is our biggest future-focused project and marks a huge leap forward in terms of technologies, driving experience, and design,” said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse. “Practically everything about it is new, yet it is also more BMW than ever. Our whole product range will benefit from the innovations brought by the Neue Klasse—whichever drive system technology is employed. What started as a bold vision has now become reality: the BMW iX3 is the first Neue Klasse model to go into series production, kicking off a new era for BMW.”

A new face

The iX3 also debuts a new corporate face for BMW’s SUVs: From now on, these will have tall, narrow kidney grilles like the one you see here, as opposed to the short, wide grille seen on the front of the Neue Klasse sedan (which is almost certainly the next 3 Series). LEDs replace chrome, and there’s a new take on BMW’s usual four headlights, although the illuminated kidney grill is an option, not mandatory. Despite the two-box shape, the iX3 manages a drag coefficient of just 0.24.

Sixth-generation

As befitting a company called the Bavarian Motor Works, BMW has been in the business of designing and building its own electric powertrains for quite some time, in contrast to some rivals that have been buying EV tech from suppliers. In addition to the class-leading manufacturing efficiency, the sixth-generation electric powertrain should be extremely efficient—around 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km) from an SUV-shape, which is 20–25 percent better than current SUV EVs.

The first variant will be the iX3 50 xDrive, which boasts a combined 463 hp (345 kW) and 475 lb-ft (645 Nm) from its pair of motors. The front axle uses an asynchronous motor, with an electrically excited synchronous motor at the rear axle providing most of the power.

There’s 40 percent more regenerative braking than BMW’s current powertrains. We weren’t given an exact threshold where the friction brakes take over, but it should be around 0.5–0.6 G. That means that the iX3 will regeneratively brake for the overwhelming majority of the time—just 5–10 percent of braking events should require the friction brakes, we’re told. And the regen should be smoother and more precise, as well as quieter than before. There’s even some regenerative braking should the ABS trigger.

A BMW iX3 is parked, charging — NACS port comes standard, with a CCS1 adapter. Credit: BMW

For the Neue Klasse, BMW has moved to a new 800 V battery, using cylindrical cells rather than the prismatic cells you’d find in an iX or i4. Energy density is 20 percent greater than the current cells, and the pack has a usable capacity of 108 kWh. That means you can expect a range of up to 400 miles, although the official EPA rating will only arrive next year.

The new pack charges a lot faster, too. It can accept up to 400 kW, should you find a charger capable of such power. If so, the 10–80 percent charge should take 21 minutes. (BMW also says it will add 230 miles in 10 minutes.) The iX3 is capable of acting as a mobile power bank (V2L) as well as powering a home or even the grid (this requires a V2H-capable wall box), and North American iX3s will sport NACS charging ports.

Software-defined

The Neue Klasse is a clean-sheet design, and BMW has used this as an opportunity to clear out the legacy cruft that has accumulated over the years. Instead of hundreds of discrete black boxes, each with a single electric control unit (ECU) performing a single job, the iX3 uses four high-performance computers, each in charge of a different domain. Among the benefits of this approach? Almost 2,000 feet (600 m) less wiring and a weight saving of about 30 percent compared to a conventional wiring loom with all its ECUs. Taking single-function controllers out of the loop and replacing them with a domain computer also cuts latency.

The Heart of Joy is the domain controller responsible for driving dynamics and the powertrain, and can cope with up to four electric motors, something we should see in electric M-badged Neue Klasse models in the future. But good driving dynamics require more than just a fancy computer brain. The iX3 is extremely stiff, with the front and rear axles mounted to the battery pack. Weight distribution is a near-perfect 49: 51.

BMW iX3 inteiror — The interior is quite faithful to the concept we saw last year. The black strip at the base of the windshield is the panoramic display. Credit: BMW

A different domain controller is in charge of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). This water-cooled computer is 20 times faster than the processors that control the ADAS in a current BMW, and was developed in-house by BMW. The automaker says the focus is always on the driver’s needs in a way that is smart, symbiotic, and safe. There are AI/ML algorithms for perception and planning, but safety-proven rule-based algorithms always have the final say in the decision-making process.

There’s a hands-free, partially automated driving system that works at up to 85 mph (136 km/h) on premapped divided-lane highways, and an interesting new feature is the cooperative braking and steering during active assistance. Unlike just about every car on the road currently, using the brake will not immediately kill the cruise control, and if you intentionally cross the median or a lane marker and are looking where you’re going, the eye-tracking driver monitoring system sees you and won’t try to correct. (But if you veer across the lane and aren’t looking, the car will steer you back.)

Shy tech

The iX3’s interior is near-identical to the concept we saw last March. BMW calls this approach shy tech, where controls or displays are invisible when inactive. There’s a new multifunction steering wheel—that will surely be divisive—which puts the ADAS controls on its left side, and media controls on the right. The iDrive rotary controller is no more, but there are plenty of physical buttons (not capacitive ones) for things like windows and mirrors.

BMW says the rotary controller wouldn’t have worked well with the new iDrive UI for the trapezoidal touchscreen. (Additionally, it told us that in some regions, drivers never used the rotary controller at all.) The screen is closer to the driver than in current BMWs, and the trapezoidal shape rather effectively means the left side of the screen—which has persistent, common functions—is always close to your right hand. After playing with the system for a while, I think the UI is a lot easier to navigate than the current BMW infotainment system, good though that is.

The multifunction steering wheel looks unconventional. BMW

I’ve often been complimentary about voice recognition in BMWs, and the iX3 has an upgrade here. The natural language processing is now based on Alexa, not Cerence’s tech, and there’s a cartoon visualization for the personal assistant that looks a bit like a ninja, or perhaps an alien. This will make eye contact with the person giving voice commands, so it can discern between driver and passenger.

At the base of the windshield is the new panoramic display. This presents information in zones—you can personalize what shows up in the center and right zones, but the one in front of the driver will always be the critical stuff like your speed and any warnings or alerts. There’s also an optional heads-up display.

BMW says we can expect the iX3 50 eDrive to arrive in the US next summer, starting at around $60,000.

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

BMW debuts 6th-generation EV powertrain in the all-electric iX3 Read More »

Honda combines Type-R handling with hybrid efficiency for 2026 Prelude

Cars, Honda Prelude / Beth Washington / September 4, 2025

The chassis benefits from parts from a different Civic—the Type-R hot hatch. Ars has sadly yet to sample the current-generation Type-R, but everyone I know who has driven one has come away smiling. Type-R parts include the front suspension’s dual-axis struts and the Brembo brakes, which are there for when regen braking via the hybrid system is no longer sufficient.

Adaptive dampers control the Prelude’s ride, and there are four different drive modes. The powertrain simulates a manual transmission with something called S+ Shift, which “delivers quick simulated gearshift responses through seamless coordination between the engine and high-power motor, including downshift blips, rev matching, and gear holding.”

The shape is dictated by airflow. Honda

If the end result is as good as Hyundai’s N E-shift, it should be fun to play with. And if it isn’t, you can just leave the car in automatic mode.

Beyond that, expect all the latest Honda advanced driver assistance systems (also known as Honda Sensing), and an Android Automotive-based infotainment system with Google built in and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

We’ll have to wait until sooner to the car’s arrival to get pricing, but expect the Prelude to start somewhere between $38,000 and $40,000.

Honda combines Type-R handling with hybrid efficiency for 2026 Prelude Read More »

Audi design finds its minimalist groove again with Concept C

Audi Concept C, Audi TT, Cars, concept car / Shannon Garcia / September 3, 2025

Fans of the TT rejoice—there’s a new Audi two-seater on the way. The German automaker just unveiled Concept C, a stylish and minimalist sports car that marks the start of a new styling philosophy and, hopefully, a return to the bold designs that brought it so much success.

There are design cues and links back through Audi’s history, but this is no pastiche of a retro design as we might have seen from J Mays. Rather, Audi’s design team under Chief Creative Officer Massimo Frascella says that the design influences include one of the pre-war Silver Arrows racing cars, the 1936 Auto Union Type C—Audi being one of the four brands that combined to form Auto Union.

The design is deceptively large—bigger than a TT or even an R8. Aud

The slats that cover the Concept C’s rear bring to mind the cooling louvres at the rear of the Type C, necessary to let the heat generated by its monstrous V16 engine to escape the rear engine bay. But I also see some of the streamlined Rennlimousine in the Concept C’s slab sides.

It’s a much simpler design than the TT concept from 1995, which manages to look almost fussy in its details compared to the Concept C. But the way the air intakes are formed underneath the headlights reminds me a lot of the Bentley Hunaudieres, a mid-engined concept from 1999.

Audi design finds its minimalist groove again with Concept C Read More »

Beyond technology? How Bentley is reacting to the 21st century.

bentley, Cars, Chinese EVs, Features, Monterey Car Week / 9u50fv / September 3, 2025

Chinese manufacturers are embedding more digital bells and whistles that impact all segments of the market, and not just in China. “Just as in other segments, the Chinese OEMs are moving faster than anyone else on software, especially for infotainment, bringing big screens and digital assistants with homegrown software and lots of connectivity, but also on driving assist and automation,” Abuelsamid said. “These vehicles are being equipped with lidar, radar, cameras, and point-to-point driving assist, similar to Tesla navigation on Autopilot.”

The onslaught of features by Chinese competitors has luxury European automakers on their toes.

“Hongqi is probably the closest to a direct competitor in China and certainly has some offerings that might considered be in a similar class to Bentley,” Abuelsamid said. “There are numerous other brands that continue to move upscale and will likely eventually reach a similar level, even if they aren’t as hand-built as a Bentley, such as the BYD Yangwang U8 SUV.”

For example, the Maextro S800, a premium car born out of Huawei and JA joint venture, crab-walks a 16-degree angle to make tight parking easy, features hand-off “level 3” partially automated driving, and charges from 10 to 80 percent in just 10.5 minutes, according to Inside EVs.

“We see it drives demand for features and what people expect their cars to have,” Walliser said. “They say, ‘Hey, if my $50,000 car has self-driving capabilities, why don’t I have it in my $250,000 car?’ So this is the real rival. It’s a feature competition, and it raises expectations,” Walliser said.

EXP 15

Bentley’s latest concept, the EXP 15, hints at this next generation of predictive elements customers say they want. Clever UX design includes a rotating dashboard and illuminated forms on the dash, which are mixed with fine wools, leathers, and premium materials in the cabin. “I think we have to continue [to think] like that in self-driving capabilities. We do not have to be first in the market,” Walliser said. “We need to plan when we offer it. It comes also for infotainment, for app connection, for everything that makes life in the car convenient, such as self-parking capabilities.”

Dr. Matthias Rabe serves on Bentley’s board of management and oversees Research and Development. He thinks the right approach to technology for Bentley is for the car to serve as a sort of virtual butler. “What I would like to have, for example, is that the customer drives to the front of the house, pops out, and the car parks itself, charges itself, and probably gets cleaned by itself,” Rabe said.

Beyond technology? How Bentley is reacting to the 21st century. Read More »

Tesla has a new master plan—it just doesn’t have any specifics

AI, Cars / DJ Henderson / September 3, 2025

Tesla also disbanded the team building its “Dojo” supercomputer several weeks ago. Much touted by Musk in the past as the key to beating autonomous vehicle developers like Waymo (which has already deployed commercially in several cities), Tesla will no longer rely on this in-house resource and instead rely on external companies, according to Bloomberg.

“Shortages in resources can be remedied by improved technology, greater innovation and new ideas,” the plan continues.

Then plan veers into corporate buzzwords, with statements like “[o]ur desire to push beyond what is considered achievable will foster the growth needed for truly sustainable abundance.”

In keeping with Musk’s recent robot obsession, there’s very little mention of Tesla electric vehicles other than a brief mention of autonomous vehicles, but there is quite a lot of text devoted to the company’s humanoid robot. “Jobs and tasks that are particularly monotonous or dangerous can now be accomplished by other means,” it states, blithely eliding the fact that it makes very little sense to compromise an industrial robot with a bipedal humanoid body, as evinced by the non-humanoid form factors of just about every industrial robot working today. Robot arms mounted to the floor don’t need to worry about balance, nor do quadraped robots with wheels.

Tesla has a new master plan—it just doesn’t have any specifics Read More »

Chinese EV buyers are cooling on Tesla and BYD

BYD, Cars, Tesla / Beth Washington / September 2, 2025

Meanwhile, BYD now accounts for 1.1 percent of all new cars sold in the European Union.

There is one bright spot for Tesla, however—it sold 8,370 cars in Turkey in August, making it that country’s second-most popular automaker.

Robots will save Tesla?

But perhaps Tesla shareholders shouldn’t worry about cratering sales. On Monday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used his social media network to yet again prophesize that the company’s future is not cars. Despite the fact that selling cars brings in 75 percent of the revenue and is responsible for the carbon credits that keep the company in the black, EVs are but a mere distraction. Instead, Musk claims that 80 percent of Tesla’s value will come from selling humanoid robots.

Musk has been promoting Tesla’s humanoid robot for some years now, with flashy demos that, instead of actual robotics, were waldos in action, mindlessly copying the motions of human controllers who were operating them remotely.

Despite the very non-humanoid shape of industrial robots in car factories, Musk has said the Tesla robots will find their way onto the company’s production line to build cars, presumably to replace workers whom he would otherwise have to pay salaries and benefits. But the CEO has grander ambitions for his robots, claiming on an investor call last year that the company will sell billions of humanoid robots a year.

Chinese EV buyers are cooling on Tesla and BYD Read More »

Slate Auto’s sub-$30,000 EV pickup is due next year—here’s the factory

Cars, Slate Auto / Kelly Newman / September 2, 2025

WARSAW, Indiana—The Blank Slate pickup scratches a particular itch for some, fulfilling the desire for an EV powertrain without all the bells and whistles associated with a modern vehicle. Gone is the infotainment screen, the lane-keeping assistance, and, for those concerned about surveillance, a modem. Instead, it’s an unpainted modular pickup and can be configured post-production into nearly anything the owner wants. Oh, and it’s cheap.

This Old Factory

For decades, the RR Donnelley & Sons printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana, pumped out catalogs. Glossy shopping books from JCPenney, Sears, and—my personal favorite—Radio Shack left the plant and were shipped all over the country to eager shoppers looking for their next mail-order delight. Then the Internet broke all of that.

The last employees clocked out in 2023.

A room formerly used in the printing process is filled with locals, elected officials, and journalists. The plan is to use this room in the future as a customer center and potentially a delivery location. The company is toying with the idea of allowing customers to take delivery of their pickups at the factory. No word on whether that would eliminate the delivery fee.

A woman stands at a podium in front of an audience. To her right is a small pickup truck. — Slate Auto CEO Chris Barman addresses the attendees at the factory open day. Credit: Roberto Baldwin

For now, it’s a meeting place, a way for Slate to meet with an audience at its factory. A chance in a post-EV tax incentive world to remind people that its vehicle is coming to market in “the mid twenties,” which is likely in the upper portion of that spread. ($27,500 seems like a good guess.)

Slate CEO Chris Barman took the stage and reiterated the company’s plan to start production at the 1.4 million square-foot (130,000 m2) site beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026. Barman noted that, unlike traditional pickups built with up to 6,000 parts, the Slate will be assembled with just 600 parts. Also, there’s no need for a paint shop or large stamping. The size of the facility is relatively small for vehicle assembly, but it’s apparently perfect for Slate.

Slate Auto’s sub-$30,000 EV pickup is due next year—here’s the factory Read More »

Porsche’s next Cayenne is fully electric—we drove the prototype

Cars, new porsche cayenne, Porsche Cayenne Electric / Mike M. / September 2, 2025

The original Cayenne saved Porsche. How will the fourth-generation model do? Porsche

But I spent much of my time behind the wheel at more moderate velocities, winding around the narrow, blind roads that work their way around the Catalan region of Spain. Porsche hasn’t yet quoted a curb weight for any of the Cayenne Electric flavors, but however far it tips the scales, it still feels light and nimble. Steering is firm but sharp with decent feedback, and this big SUV dives into and screams out of corners with perfect poise.

It was only really over big, unsettling movements, speed bumps and the like, that I could feel how much mass was beneath me in the Cayenne Electric. When summiting asphalt imperfections like that, the curious shape of that central OLED really shone.

That display is bent at roughly a 45-degree angle, a profile that allows it to perfectly conform to both the angle of the dashboard and that of the center console. Porsche placed a padded wrist rest right beneath that and then designed the user interface to position the most important controls along the lower portion of the display, the part that’s in line with your hand.

The result is you can rest your wrist there comfortably, queue up your favorite playlist, and crank the ventilated seats, all without making any accidental taps on bumpy roads. And despite this car not entering production until next year, that software was snappy and responsive. It didn’t lock up on me once during a full day behind the wheel.

A prototype Porsche Cayenne Electric drifts in the dirt, throwing up a rooster tail. — You’ll need a low-grip surface if you want to go sliding around. Credit: Porsche

Yes, next year is a long time to wait for the Cayenne Electric to enter production. It’s hard to know what the American EV scene will look like in three months, never mind 12, but for now, at least, Porsche’s next SUV is shaping up extremely well. When it does hit the market, it will sit in dealerships alongside the existing Cayenne, which will continue to be available. Choice is good, and if you’re in the market but not in a hurry, I’d suggest waiting for this. If the price is right, it will be a clear-cut winner.

Porsche’s next Cayenne is fully electric—we drove the prototype Read More »

Tesla denied having fatal crash data until a hacker found it

Cars, Tesla lawsuit / 9u50fv / August 30, 2025

Tesla only acknowledged that it had received the data once the police took the Tesla’s damaged infotainment system and autopilot control unit to a Tesla technician to diagnose, but at that time the local collision snapshot was considered unrecoverable.

That’s where the hacker, only identified as @greentheonly, his username on X, came in. Greentheonly told The Washington Post that, “for any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there.”

During the trial, Tesla told the court that it hadn’t hidden the data, but lost it. The company’s lawyer told the Post that Tesla’s data handling practices were “clumsy” and that another search turned up the data, after acknowledging that @greentheonly had retrieved the snapshot locally from the car.

“We didn’t think we had it, and we found out we did… And, thankfully, we did because this is an amazingly helpful piece of information,” said Tesla’s lawyer, Joel Smith.

Tesla denied having fatal crash data until a hacker found it Read More »

As GM prepares to switch its EVs to NACS, it has some new adapters

Cars, CCS1, EV charging, GM Energy, NACS / Mike M. / August 28, 2025

The first adapter that GM released, which cost $225, allowed CCS1-equipped EVs to connect to a NACS charger. But now, GM will have a range of adapters so that any of its EV customers can charge anywhere, as long as they have the right dongle.

For existing GM EVs with CCS1, there is a GM NACS DC adapter, just for fast charging. And for level 2 (AC) charging, there’s a GM NACS level 2 adapter.

For the NACS-equipped GM EVs (which, again, have yet to hit the showrooms), there’s a GM CCS1 DC adapter that will let those EVs use existing non-Tesla DC charging infrastructure, like Electrify America’s 350 kW chargers. There is also a GM J1772 AC adapter, which will let a GM NACS EV slow-charge from the ubiquitous J1772 port. And a pair of adapters will be compatible with GM’s Energy Powershift home charger, which lets an EV use its battery to power the house if necessary, also known as vehicle-to-home or V2H.

Although we don’t have exact prices for each adapter, GM told Ars the range costs between $67 and $195.

As GM prepares to switch its EVs to NACS, it has some new adapters Read More »