Cadillac is in the process of electrifying its lineup, but so far that has only translated into a slew of crossovers, SUVs, and one massive sedan; the $340,000 Celestiq. That seems to be changing. At least as far as concept cars are concerned.

The American brand is teasing a new concept vehicle called Opulent Velocity, which appears to be a low-slung sedan or coupe. Here’s everything Cadillac has told us about it: It’s electric with zero emissions, it’s celebrating 20 years of V-Series Cadillacs, and it has an exhaust note. 

We can hope that this car is V8-powered, but I doubt it. Despite making a bold noise as it goes by, this thing is gonna be an EV with something along the lines of Dodge’s “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust,” if I had to bet. GM is planning more PHEVs, but there’s no indication that the Cadillac brand—which will be GM’s first to fully electrify—is a part of that scheme. 

The video above is the most telling thing about the concept vehicle, but below I’ve pulled a few of the best stills and included the one image Cadillac sent over so we can try and get a better look at this thing. It’s not a crossover, at the very least.

The only other thing Cadillac said is that we’ll learn more about the car “later this year”, which could mean several months. In any case, as soon as we know more, you’ll be the first to know.

Jody Scheckter is best known for winning the 1979 Formula One World Driver’s Championship. But he also spent time driving the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, possibly the most bizarre F1 car of all time. Now, Scheckter is selling his personal P34, an original chassis built into a full-on, working race car in 2008.

While the P34 originally raced during the 1976 and 1977 seasons, this one’s relatively short history means it presents in excellent condition. “Chassis 8” is paired to a correct Ford-Cosworth DFV 3.0-liter V8 engine.

The P34’s odd, six-wheeled design resulted from the creative thinking of Tyrrell technical director Derek Gardner. He figured that he could package smaller wheels below the wing. The second set of rubber would make up for the tinier size’s reduced contact patch. There would also be reduced drag compared to the air flowing over the taller tires competitors used.

Gardner also guessed that having two more wheels would result in better braking. In the real world, racing drivers struggled with the layout, though. “The braking was supposed to be better: well, it was when you were braking in a straight line, but as soon as you turned in, the little wheels slid, and you had to come off the pedal, so there was no advantage there,” Scheckter told Motor Sport magazine in 2008, according to a story published on Formula1.com.

Despite the design weaknesses, the P34 found success on the track. Scheckter drove the car to its only outright victory at the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix. He and teammate Patrick Depailler had a total of 10 podium finishes that season, including coming in second and third, respectively, at the Monaco Grand Prix. Unfortunately, 1977 didn’t go as well, with only four podiums for the team.

A neat touch in the cabin is the clear panels cut into the body so drivers can see the tires. The portholes allowed the driver to better position the car while cornering and gauge tire wear. 

Scheckter’s car looks like it was built to 1976 specs, going by the brake-cooling NACA ducts on the front wing. Tweaks for the 1977 season included a revised design with large mesh panels.

Since this P34 isn’t a genuine race-used item, the new buyer has less of a reason to leave the car in the garage as a collector’s item and lots of incentive to take it to the track. It’ll go up for auction in May at RM Sotheby’s sale in Monaco, with an estimated price of $490,000 to $700,000 with no reserve.

 

There’s nothing wrong with the Porsche 911 Turbo S, unless, of course, you have a soft spot for the classic ducktail spoiler. We do, and apparently, so do the folks at Techart. The latest offering from the German-based tuning company adds one to the Turbo S, and to sweeten the deal, you can get up to 790 horsepower, too.
Feast your eyes on the Techart GTstreet R Touring. As you can see, there’s a bit more than a new rear wing happening here. Techart says its new body kit features over 40 different components, including customizable front and rear aprons. There are new carbon fenders, side skirts, air intakes, fender flares, and a hood, among other things. That’s a lot of carbon, and it can be detailed with either a gloss or matte finish.

But, the pièce de résistance is that oh-so-sweet ducktail at the back. It’s a classic look that, frankly, we’d like to see more of straight from Porsche. Techart swaps the standard Turbo S setup with this fixed spoiler, which the company says is balanced for downforce and good aerodynamics at higher speeds. It’s also 60 percent lighter than what you get from the factory, and the design gets more air to the boosted flat-six engine to help it stay cool.

That’s important, because Techart also offers power upgrades on the GTstreet R Touring. Two stages are available, with the first adding a modest 60 hp and 74 pound-feet of torque to the already potent engine. The second stage is more aggressive, swapping in new turbochargers and a tune that adjusts engine and gearbox parameters. There’s also a custom exhaust system bolted up, all resulting in 790 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque. That’s a 150-hp and 110-lb-ft increase from a stock Turbo S. Techart says the top speed is 217 mph.

To manage the extra thrust, a sport suspension upgrade drops the car approximately 1 inch. Techart adjustable coilovers are optional, supported by Techart center lock wheels measuring 20 inches in front 21 at the back. The company widens the front track by an inch, and carbon aero disc brakes are available. As for the interior, expect a plethora of leather, Alcantara, carbon fiber, aluminum, and more.

How much will an 800-hp 911 Turbo S with a ducktail spoiler cost you? Techart only mentions the cost for European buyers, starting at 98,250 Euros. That converts to approximately $107,000, but keep in mind, that’s just the cost for conversion. You still need a $230,000 911 Turbo S, and plus the cost for any additional Techart options. With the price comes exclusivity, though; the company only plans to build 25 examples.

Rivian surprised everyone today by not only revealing the hotly-anticipated R2 SUV at a starting price of just $45,000, but also showing us another car, the R3, as well as a new battery cell that underpins both cars. The cell is called the 4695 due to its diameter of 46 millimeters and height of 95 millimeters. Its specs have yet to be detailed, but it’s considerably larger than Tesla’s 4680 cells, which could mean a lot.

As battery cells get bigger their voltage does not change unless the chemistry changes, and Rivian is more likely than not using conventional lithium-ion chemistry. What does increase is the cell’s rating in amp-hours, which translates into a 4695 holding more energy than a 4680. But there’s more.

Larger cells can typically charge and discharge at higher rates. In short, this means the R2 will likely be able to charge faster and offer more peak power than if it got its juice from a slightly slimmer pack made of 4680s. The car’s regenerative braking can also be stronger, which may offer efficiency gains.

 

Rivian is not the first to get into the 4695 game. BMW recently revealed samples of a 4695 cell it plans to use in its Neue Klasse of EVs from 2025 onwards. Indeed, several battery manufacturers are now producing cells in this 46mm form factor, including Samsung SDI, Panasonic, and LG.

We don’t know the exact specs of these new 4695 cells, but we can do a little bit of guestimation about the pack’s specs based on images Rivian showed us at the reveal.

Zooming in on the pack, it appears to consist of 3 large modules separated by heavy internal frame rails. Each module is 34 cells wide by 8 deep, for a total content of 272 cells. If we’re talking lithium-ion and we assume the cells are all wired in series, we get a module voltage of 979.2V (nominal). That’s a 1000V architecture, not 800V as speculation might otherwise indicate. 

With three of these modules wires in parallel, the voltage will remain the same but the current available will go up considerably. We don’t know what the individual cell ratings are, but other 4695s are capable of pulse discharging at up to 10C, or ten times their rated capacity in amp-hours. This could mean available power as high as 900kW, or around 1,200 horsepower. The Rivian’s 4680s likely err on the side of capacity, though, so such high discharge rates are unlikely.

Once the electric automaker unveils the total capacity of the pack, that sort of information can be extrapolated. For now, just know that these new battery cells will likely enable performance on par if not greater than what Tesla is capable of in cars like the Model Y. How efficiently the rest of the drivetrain uses this energy is going to matter in terms of real-world performance, but the kilowatt-hours are there for the taking. 

We don’t get Skodas in the United States, and by “we,” I mean my fellow American colleagues and the majority of Motor1’s audience. I am fortunate enough to be living in Europe, where Skodas are a common sight on every street corner. The company’s flagship model is the Superb, but this one is no ordinary version of the Czech range-topper.

A previous-generation model in the wagon body style, this pre-facelift Superb hides an Audi secret under its hood. While Skoda sold the car exclusively with four-cylinder engines, this green machine ups the cylinder count to five. Yes, it has a 2.5 TFSI unit from an Audi RS3. The engine from Ingolstadt makes about 400 horsepower in stock form, already a healthy boost of 120 hp compared to the most potent Superb offered by Skoda during this generation.

The inline-five has been massaged to deliver a bonkers 720 hp and 830 Nm (612 lb-ft) of torque, therefore turning an otherwise mundane midsize wagon into an absolute rocket. The sleeper family estate was pushed hard on an unrestricted section of the German Autobahn where it needed just 3.32 seconds to hit 62 mph (100 km/h).

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, it completed the 62 to 124 mph (100 to 200 km/h) sprint in 6.06 seconds, achieving a 0-124 mph (0-200 km/h) run in just 9.38 seconds. The quarter-mile took 10.77 seconds. Flat out, it almost reached the magical 300 km/h (186 mph) mark. You can see the speedometer just gave up after 260 km/h (162 mph), refusing to go any higher.

Back when emissions regulations weren’t as strict, Skoda was selling the Superb with more than four cylinders. The first-generation model since the Volkswagen Group took over had V6 gasoline and diesel engines while its successor had a 3.6-liter VR6. The original Superb offered during the 1930s and 1940s had a big ol’ 4.0-liter V8 as well as a variety of inline-sixes.

In 2024, the recently launched Superb is a four-banger affair, topping out at 265 horsepower for the most potent model of the lot. Sadly, Skoda has never offered a high-performance RS version but this guy built one for himself by cramming in an RS3 engine.

It’s a perfect all-rounder since it’s fast, practical, spacious, and has decent tech, without shoving huge screens in your face. The styling won’t set your pulse racing but in the age of overdesigned cars, the typically understated Skodas are deemed as classy by some folks, yours truly included.

The Jaguar C-X75 concept originally debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. It seemed like the company was close to putting the vehicle into production, but Jaguar eventually canceled the project after building a few prototypes. Now, famed designer Ian Callum’s company Callum has taken up the reigns, converting one of those models into a road-legal machine as a customer commission.

The C-X75 that Callum made road-ready was one of the four surviving stunt cars from the filming of 2015’s Spectre. Dave Bautista’s Mr. Hinx character drove it in a chase scene against Daniel Craig’s James Bond in the Aston Martin DB10.

Ian Callum led the design team for the original C-X75 concept, while Williams Advanced Engineering built the stunt cars for the film. Rather than the plan to use hybrid powertrains for the original production-spec C-X75, these cars received Jaguar 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engines.

Callum had to make hundreds of changes so their client could use the car in the UK. It has things like a has a quieter exhaust, catalytic converters, and a revised engine calibration. The body wears a fresh coat of paint, and the panel gaps have been tightened. There are also new side mirrors with integrated turn signals in place of the foam pieces on the stunt car.

 

The C-X75 was initially supposed to use an unconventional powertrain. It would have had four electric motors, each making 195 horsepower. Plus, two turbines would have been capable of running on compressed natural gas, diesel, biofuel, or LPG to charge the battery. Jaguar claimed the car could hit 62 miles per hour in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 186 mph. The hybrid setup, according to the company, would’ve allowed for a 560-mile range.

Jaguar continued to develop the C-X75 but dropped the plan to use turbines as a range extender. The company switched to working with Cosworth to prepare a supercharged and turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with a 10,000 rpm redline. Plus, there would have been two electric motors – one powering each axle. The total output was approximately 850 horsepower.

The newly road-legal C-X75 will make its public debut at the Bicester Heritage Scramble on April 21.

Apple has been working on its driverless car—Project Titan—for more than a decade. But now, the tech giant is officially calling it quits. According to Bloomberg, Apple has killed its electric car plans to focus on generative artificial intelligence instead.

More than 2,000 employees assigned to the project were told Tuesday that it would be discontinued, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. The announcement was reportedly made by Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President in charge of the project, Kevin Lynch. A number of those employees will move to Apple’s AI team, but others will face layoffs.

“Apple made the disclosure internally Tuesday, surprising the nearly 2,000 employees working on the project,” the report says.

 

Apple started on Project Titan in 2014 as a fully autonomous vehicle a la Waymo, but then shifted to something more akin to a Tesla competitor—and was even rumored to parter with current automakers like Hyundai and Toyota. The company reportedly ramped up on-road tests over the last few months before rumors indicated that the project was slimmed down earlier this year.

Apple was aiming for an on-sale date of 2026 before pushing that date back to 2028, and rumors indicated that the production model would cost just under $100,000. Fully autonomous driving would be available for use on the highway. But now, the dream of an iCar is likely dead for good.

TVR has had an eclectic history of producing stunning British sports cars. But not everything created by the company was destined for the track. In the early 2000s, TVR’s owner, Peter Wheeler, thought of an amphibious vehicle capable of serving a host of roles. A new video from Harry’s Garage captures the only existing Scamander prototype starting up and driving for the first time in over a decade. 

The Scamander last ran in 2012 or 2013, according to Wheeler’s son Joe. Time is usually unkind to even the most reliable cars that haven’t moved, but the amphibious car seems mostly unaffected, chilling through the 2010s without much decay.

The Ford-sourced 3.0-liter V6 engine starts up without hesitation. The turn signals, brakes, and windshield wiper works too, while the canopy opens and closes without issue. One of the rear-view cameras works as well, but the digital screen for the dash needs to be fixed, so the Scamander far from perfect. It’ll require work before it’s road-legal again, the short test drive revealing a possible issue somewhere in the driveline.

You’d think a beastly machine capable of treading water would have four-wheel drive, but Wheeler kept the Scamander to two-wheel drive to save weight, with an automatic gearbox channeling the power.

The cabin has three seats, with the driver sitting in the middle. The engine is directly behind the passenger compartment, separated by a thin, removable cover. The two passenger seats fold down to carry stretchers, and the steering wheel flips up to aid the driver in getting in and out of the gangly machine that looks almost beetle-like.

Wheeler sold TVR in 2005 before completing the Scamander, but he continued working on it until he died in 2009. Hopefully his son can get it road-ready sometime in the near future.

Although Fiat was the best-selling Stellantis brand in 2023, its glory days in Europe are long gone. However, the Italian marque is now looking to get back into shape on the Old Continent with an extended family of new models. Unveiled today, but not at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show, these five concepts preview a family of Panda models.

Attached below, an official video starring Fiat CEO Olivier Francois gives us an idea of what to expect soon in terms of products and design language. Leading the way will be a long-belated replacement for the aging Panda. The revamped supermini was initially previewed in 2019 by the Centoventi and is now getting closer to reality with a new concept simply called “City Car.”

Touted as a “Mega Panda,” the new model will be unveiled in production guise in July when Fiat will celebrate its 125^th anniversary. The boxy B-segment model will be bigger than the outgoing car and is touted as a global model with combustion engines and fully electric powertrains. Essentially, the next-generation Panda will be Fiat’s equivalent of the Citroën C3. Meanwhile, this concept is a funky take on the Panda 4×4 from the 1980s, suggesting the subsequent production version will have better ground clearance, chunky proportions, and a rugged look.

The so-called “Giga Panda” is a larger crossover that Fiat intends to pit against the new Dacia Duster, provided it’s actually going into production. It too embraces the boxy design traits with illuminated rectangles, square wheel arches, and a flat roofline. You can imagine a road-going version won’t look as outlandish, but it does go to show Fiat intends to be more daring with its future models.

The Fastback appears to be a coupe-ified version of the Giga Panda with a heavily sloped roofline. It adds style (although that’s subjective) to the detriment of practicality by adopting a rakish rear end, enabling a high-riding, swoopy shape. Fiat hints the concept is a window into the future of a model destined for Latin America, Middle East, Africa, “and even Europe.”

Our favorite of the lot would have to be the camper. It rides high on all-terrain tires and looks more along the lines of a jacked-up minivan, sort of like Fiat’s take on the Mitsubishi Delica. This “ultimate do-it-all vehicle” is also a nod to the Panda 4×4 of the 1980s, and hopefully, it’ll enter production one day.

Fiat trucks are popular in some parts of the world such as Latin America. Relevant products include the Strada and Fullback, with the Titano coming later in 2024. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the fifth and final new concept is a double cab pickup, one that Fiat believes it can be a commercial success even in Europe.

After the new Panda goes official in July, Fiat intends to introduce a new model annually between 2025 and 2027. The revamped product portfolio will come after a successful 2023 when the Stellantis marque sold 1.35 million vehicles.

Boost is a hell of a drug. One minute it could have you on top of the world, delivering tons of power and torque to help you set a personal best lap time at your local track. The next minute, it could have you on the side of the track with oil pouring from underneath your car. We’re betting that’s exactly what happened to whomever used this turbocharged Mitsubishi engine last.

Eric from the I Do Cars YouTube channel wanted to see exactly how this Mitsubishi 4B11T, taken out of a Lancer Ralliart, met its end. From the jump we can see a massive hole in the block, with lots of surrounding damage. It only gets worse once Eric digs deeper.

 

Because this engine wasn’t very high-mileage, there are surfaces that looks surprisingly clean. The timing chain area is like-new, and the cylinder head isn’t stained by years of old, unchanged oil. But after removing the camshafts, Eric points out damage to the journals means these parts still might not be reusable, signaling the carnage to come.

Removing the cylinder head reveals the main problem area: Cylinder three, or what’s left of it, anyway. The piston looks to have literally exploded, with the top portion loose in the cylinder and splitting into pieces. The oil pan is full of giant pieces of piston, rod, bearing, and block material. The incident was so severe that it broke the block’s base plate into two pieces. This must’ve felt like a grenade exploding in the engine bay. 

Eric suspects there must’ve been a massive amount of boost going into this engine when it gave out, given the pure destruction that resulted from the failure. The wear on the connecting rod bearings that survived suggest there might’ve been a shortage of oil and lots of high rpm, too. Not a great combination for keeping an engine healthy.

Boost is a cruel mistress.