All posts in “Motoring”

Check Out This Million-Dollar Beast of an Off-Road Camper

Let’s face it: there are many cool camping vehicles out there. Some offer refined luxury; others deliver serious off-road capability. But few will match up on either front with the truly extravagant Rise 4×4 from German builder Stone Offroad Design, first spotted by New Atlas.

rise 4x4 offroad camper interior

SOD

rise 4x4 camper interior sleeping compartment

SOD

All-wheel drive camper vans are great, but the Rise 4×4 takes it a few steps further — using a Mercedes-built Unimog as the base vehicle in either 230-horsepower four-cylinder or 395 hp six-cylinder diesel form. SOD doesn’t mess with the stock Unimog components, which include a 4×4 system with dedicated off-road gears, locking front and rear differentials and raised intakes that permit almost four feet of water-fording. Need more proof how badass this thing is? The Rise 4×4 doesn’t just have a rear spare tire carrier; it has a rear spare tire carrier that can also carry an ATV.

You’d expect such an off-road beast to go utilitarian on the interior. But the Rise 4×4 has about as nice of an interior as you will find in a camping vehicle. The kitchen features a full-size refrigerator and freezer and a four-burner induction cooktop. The Rise 4×4 does have a wet bath…but it’s about the nicest wet bath one could imagine, with a rainfall shower and a floating vanity. The cabin sleeps four with a sleeper compartment above the cab and another bed that floats down above the dinette/lounge area. SOD provides heating, air conditioning and heated floors.

The Rise 4×4 offers a combination of capability and luxury that would make even an EarthRomer feel low rent. And the price tag — for the Europeans eligible to buy the Rise 4×4 — reflects that. SOD only lists the price for the six-cylinder model on its website. It comes out to €899,900 with VAT included. That converts to more than $1 million at the current exchange rate, which — even factoring in recent inflation — remains a staggering sum for an off-road camper.

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The Jeep Gladiator We Really Want May Not Arrive Until 2023

Last summer, Jeep launched the plug-in hybrid Wrangler 4xe — which we quickly discovered is the best version of SUV currently on sale. The multiple price hikes since suggest it’s been quite popular with everyone else, too. That success begs the question as to when Jeep will offer the 4xe powertrain — which provides an impressive 375 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque — on its Wrangler-based pickup, the Gladiator.

Well, if you were hoping to score a Gladiator 4xe next year, you might have to keep waiting.
Citing an FCA Stellantis source, Mopar Insiders claims the Gladiator will indeed receive the Wrangler’s 4xe powertrain —but Jeep will wait until the Gladiator undergoes a mid-cycle refresh, which will come in 2023 for the 2024 model year.

The report does not list any technical hurdles for including the 4xe powertrain in the Gladiator, so the delay may just come down to where Jeep needs to prioritize resources. Jeep sells more than twice as many Wranglers as Gladiators, so naturally, the Wrangler got the 4xe first. And the Grand Cherokee is Jeep’s best-selling car, so it makes sense for Jeep to roll out the 4xe trim for it (coming for 2022 on the all-new model). Jeep also has an important mid-cycle refresh to perform on the Wrangler — now facing formidable competition — for the 2023 model year.

That Mopar Insiders timeline would have a hybrid Gladiator arriving around the same time its prime competitors get one. The global Ford Ranger launched without a hybrid option. But the platform is planned for hybrids. And it’s conceivable the American Ranger could start with one in 2023 as a 2024 model year vehicle. Toyota will also debut the new Tacoma — which should almost definitely have a hybrid powertrain option — around the same time.

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The New Ford Ranger Could Share One of the Bronco’s Best Traits

It’s safe to say that the launch of the new Ford Ranger has been confusing. Ford sells a global Ranger in Australia, Europe and more than 180 countries worldwide; Ford also offers a nearly identical Ranger in the American market — albeit with different, non-diesel powertrains. Ford launched the global version just before Thanksgiving. But because Ford doesn’t comment on future products, we’re now left to guess which global Ranger features will make it stateside.

ford ranger 2023 with rooftop tent

Ford

ford ranger 2023

Ford

One Global Ranger feature that should transfer over — which we have already seen Ford do in American with the Bronco — is the offer of a smorgasbord of name-brand accessories from the dealer. Ford’s Australian website has just previewed such offerings with inspirational images showing the new Ranger sporting accessories from ARB and other outlets.

Ford shows three categories of inspirational images: Off-Road, Touring and Camping. The Camping category depicts Rangers with a rooftop tent and a cool slide-out camp kitchen in the bed. The Off-Road category shows a Ranger with added underbody protection, a bull bar and a snorkel. Ford should have a similar slate of offerings planned for America, if not those exact ones — Americans may not be as keen on bull bars.

Offering such accessories from the dealer is a great deal for Ford; it lets them profit from accessories buyers would add in the aftermarket anyway. But it also makes accessorizing your truck easier for buyers, by saving them the hassle of buying and installing items from a third party. When you buy accessories from Ford, you can roll them into the cost of the lease or purchase payment. And you have the assurance of knowing that your add-ons will not affect any factory warranties or safety features.

Ford has not set a date yet for the American Ranger’s reveal. A recent Ford Authority article suggested that Ford Ranger production will begin at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in May 2023. That truck may even offer a hybrid model — or a full-electric version.

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Polestar Just Served Up a Sneak Peak at Their Most Important Car Yet

A couple years ago, Volvo branched out its Polestar division — formerly known for making awesome blue station wagons — into its own performance car brand. Since then, we’ve seen the Polestar 1, a sleek, plug-in hybrid GT car, and the the Polestar 2, an all-electric fastback sedan. The next car to launch will be the Polestar 3 — one of our most anticipated future electric vehicles. And Polestar just offered up another teaser image of it.

The Polestar 3 will be a “premium electric performance SUV,” according to the brand. Polestar has scheduled the launch for sometime in 2022. It will be the first Polestar vehicle built at Volvo’s plant in South Carolina as part of a pledge to “build in America for Americans.”

Judging from the photo, the Polestar 3 looks like an SUV version of the Polestar 2. Beyond that, we don’t know a whole lot about it.

According to the British website Autocar, the Polestar 3 will be a two-row SUV rather than a three-row. Like the Polestar 2, it will come in both single-motor and dual-motor versions. Autocar says the Polestar 3 will be closely related to the electric Volvo SUV that replaces the XC90. But the Polestar 3 will be more powerful.

The Polestar 3 should be a vitally important car for the Polestar brand. Crossovers are the top-selling vehicles for just about every car brand, and while the Polestar 2 may be a proof of concept, the Polestar 3 will be expected to be a stronger seller. And Polestar is projecting those sales to increase ten-fold by 2025 ahead of an IPO early next year.

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Could VW Be Bringing Its Sexiest Car to America?

The Volkswagen Arteon has a lot to offer. The midsize sedan looks outstanding, is comfortable and spacious, and even excels in the winter, thanks to its available all-wheel drive. And there’s a good bet you’ve never seen one in the wild, because no one buys them. While sales jumped 47% year over year in 2020, the aging Passat still outsold the Arteon six times over.

Why does no one buy the Arteon? Well, paying nearly $50,000 for a VW halo sedan is a tough ask. And VW of America has not given our version any of the cool options Europeans score on the Arteon, like a high-performance R version, VW’s sportier dual-clutch transmission and a shooting brake (er, station wagon) body style.

But there’s some evidence that may change soon. CarBuzz found that Volkswagen filed documents with the USPTO to patent the Arteon shooting brake’s body style here.

Patenting the design is no guarantee that VW will bring the Arteon Shooting Brake to America. Going all-in on the low-selling Arteon by catering to enthusiasts would be an about-face on VW’s U.S. product strategy of late: trimming down the traditional car lineup and focusing on more profitable SUVs as the brand converts to EVs.

And as painful as it may be to admit, manufacturers — like VW, notably — have probably abandoned the road-going wagon segment in the U.S. with good reason — very few people want them. The mythical wagon buyer would exist upmarket, where VW does want to position the Arteon. But paying upmarket prices for a VW would still be a tough sell for non-SUV buyers — unless VW added something crazy like a plug-in hybrid engine into the mix.

Patenting the Arteon shooting brake design (and the grille for the Arteon R sedan) in America does suggest that VW is at least considering fleshing out the Arteon lineup for U.S. buyers. That said, VW responded to CarBuzz with a crisp “no plans for this market,” which indicates those plans — if they ever materialize — may not be imminent.

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This Rooftop Tent Is Made for Overlanding Dominance

Here at Gear Patrol, we’re something of evangelists for rooftop tents. Well, rather, we’ve become evangelists, in no small part due to a renewed appreciation for car camping and other forms of Getting Away From It All that became a lifeline to sanity during the sketchiest months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Still, those out there who fancy themselves overlanders might have found themselves wanting something a little sturdier to throw on top of their Land Cruisers — if as much for appearances as for an actual need for a burlier tent.

Well, lucky for those folks, the crew at Colorado-based Roofnest have whipped up something that looks extra-cool atop an off-roader: the new Roofnest Condor Overland rooftop tent.

The 165-lb Condor Overland’s exterior is constructed from aluminum, helping it better withstand whatever impacts wind up thrown at it (hail, pouncing mountain lions, lava bombs). Like many other Roofnest products, it also includes accessory channels on the side that you can use to mount crossbars atop the tent that can handle up to 100 pounds when the tent is closed, and even up to 40 pounds when it’s swung open.

Inside, as you’ll find in other Roofnests, there’s a 2.5-inch thick foam mattress large enough to sleep two adults comfortably (or a third person if you don’t mind spooning). There’s also a skylight that zips open to let in the moonlight, as well as an LED light strip in case it’s not cooperating.

roofnest tent

Roofnest

Oh, and in case you weren’t already salivating, here’s something to sweeten the pot: as part of Roofnest’s Cyber Monday Week sales extravaganza, the Condor Overland is $300 cheaper than it’ll be the rest of the time.

Roofnest Condor Overland

roofnest.com

$3,295.00

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Porsche May Have a Wild New 3-Row SUV Coming, Report Says

The idea of Porsche building SUVs is no longer controversial. The Macan and Cayenne have become Porsche’s most popular and profitable vehicles, and have developed into impressive sports cars in their own right. What Porsche does not have in the lineup, however: a three-row, family-hauling crossover. But that may change very soon.

Automotive News is reporting that Porsche is developing a new flagship model that will be larger, longer and wider than the Cayenne. The vehicle, the report suggests, will likely offer up to three rows of seats, with room for as many as seven people. The report has it arriving for the second half of the 2020s — so figure around 2026.

It’s not clear what precisely this new Porsche will look like. One dealer described it to Automotive News as a “new style of vehicle that is part sedan, part crossover” and noted it was “rakish.” So, a larger cross between the Cayenne and Panamera? Well, not quite. Another dealer said the vehicle is “very un Porsche-like” with a flat rear design that is “not anything like a Macan or a Cayenne.”

Unlike most current three-row family haulers, Porsche’s vehicle won’t be powered by pure internal combustion. Dealers told Automotive News that the flagship would launch as a plug-in hybrid with an EV to follow. But Automotive News also says the vehicle will borrow from advancements made by VW’s Landjet project, which is purported to deliver a similarly-described EV that could offer more than 400 miles of range. However, if that’s the case, why bother with PHEV in 2026?

Why a three-row SUV? Automotive News says going practical would be a bid to attract younger buyers to the Porsche brand. They cite an AutoPacific survey, which found that the median age of Porsche car buyers was 60 — while the median age of Porsche SUV buyers was just 38. While it may be tempting to blame older buyers for Porsche SUVs, there’s a better chance that maniac dropping $140,000-plus on a new 718 Cayman GT4 RS is the one answering to “Grandpa.”

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Now’s the Best Time to Plan an RV Road Trip, Thanks to This Black Friday Deal

motorhome at free camp site with milky way sky in new zealand

Suriyapong ThongsawangGetty Images

Odds are good you’re probably not preparing for a long road trip vacation right this second. Any travel this year tends to be of the heading-home-for-the-holidays variety, not the let’s-see-where-life-takes-us type. Still, if you’re anything like us, you’re probably dreaming of your next fun road trip already — plotting out which national parks you’ve yet to explore, scouting routes between breweries you’d like to visit, or simply looking for spots on the map that seem interesting.

And if, like many Americans during the last couple years, you’ve been bitten with the camper bug, you might be thinking about taking your next trip in an RV, camper van or with a travel trailer hanging from the hitch of your truck or SUV. After all, vacationing out of a mobile campsite opens up all sorts of opportunities that might otherwise go untapped: you can stay closer to the trails you want to hike, save money on hotels…or just not have to worry about calling cabs on that cross-country brewery tour.

Well, if any of this sounds even remotely like you, we highly suggest start seriously considering what you’d like to do next. Because when you book now through November 30th, you can save up to 15 percent on rentals through RV marketplace Outdoorsy — the AirBnB of campers.

That means you have access to an extensive peer-shared variety of camper vans, travel trailers, bus-sized luxury Class C RVs and midsize family-sized Class B motorhomes all across America, all for less than you’ll normally spend on such a booking. All you have to do is use the code TravelOutdoorsy at checkout — and make sure you book your trip before midnight EST on Tuesday, November 30th.

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Want a New Toyota Tundra? You Could Be Waiting More Than a Year

Toyota finally updated the Tundra full-size pickup with an all-new model for 2022. It’s excellent, and feels like a bonafide competitor for the segment’s heavy-hitters like the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500. But if you’re all-in on buying Toyota’s new big truck, you may need to wait for a bit.

CarsDirect spoke with a Southern California Toyota dealer who estimated that the wait could be as long as a year and a half for certain Tundra trims — and said that may end up meaning many buyers get 2023 model year vehicles. That sounds ominous. Suffice it to say, it’s unlikely a Tundra will show up in your driveway with a big red bow on Christmas morning.

But things may not get Ford Bronco bad. Tundra models with the base twin-turbo V6 engine start arriving in December. And the chip shortage may limit initial dealer allotments; the Toyota dealer noted to CarsDirect that Toyota allotted just 61 Tundras to Los Angeles area dealers for the first three months. And getting on a dealer waitlist is the only way to get one, as Toyota does not take factory orders.

High-performance hybrid Tundras will also take longer. Tundras with those engines — perhaps including a new super-lux Capstone trim — aren’t entering production until Spring. One model that will be hybrid-only is the top-of-the-line TRD Pro model. And the waitlist may have a disproportionate number of TRD Pro buyers — people who can afford to wait for their fully-loaded off-roader.

The production situation at every automaker is fluid right now. Forecasts about the chip shortage don’t look great. And Toyota has been cutting back on planned production, though the 15% production scale back in November 2021 still meant they were building more vehicles than November 2020. Besides, getting profitable Tundras out the factory door should be one of Toyota’s main priorities with whatever resources are available in 2022.

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The 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness Is Born to Be Wild

subaru forester wilderness 2022

Will Sabel Courtney

For all its success — and one glance at Subaru sales figures for the last couple decades are all it takes to see just how big a success it’s been, as the carmaker has moved more than 2.3 million copies since it debuted — the Subaru Forester has always, in a way, languished in the shadow of the Outback. The Outback was the trailblazer, helping define not just its parent company’s path forward from the Nineties but the very concept of the crossover that would go on to dominate the automotive world. The Forester, in turn, was arguably just a variation on the theme — a little taller and shorter than the Outback, a little more traditionally SUV-like in style, but ultimately designed to appeal to the same sort of buyer.

Not that their similarities have hurt either of them. Come 2021, both Outback and Forester have been happily living side by side in Subaru dealerships for nearly 25 years. So when the Outback received a fancy new Wilderness variant earlier this year that seemed perfect for the growing legions of people seeking respite and escape in the great outdoors, it was only a matter of time before the Forester followed suit.

As it turns out, that “matter of time” worked out to be about six months.

Is the Subaru Forester Wilderness new?

Yes — in particular, the “Wilderness” part. All Foresters score a mild mid-life refresh for the 2022 model year, receiving, among other things, a new front bumper, grille, fog lights and headlights, version 4.0 of Subaru’s EyeSight active safety suite, revised suspension tuning and an updated X-mode for low-traction situations. Still, you could be forgiven for not picking up on the differences between 2021 and 2022 Foresters — except, that is, for the Wilderness variant.

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What makes the Subaru Forester Wilderness special?

The Forester Wilderness boasts a similar upgrade kit as the Outback Wilderness does: improved approach and departure angles, more aggressive all-terrain tires, extra ground clearance, more aggressive-looking front and rear ends and a dash of added visual panache in the form of black body cladding (which works way better here than it does on the new WRX).

Versus the regular 2022 Forester, approach, breakover and departure angles climb 3.5º, 1.4º and 0.8º to 23.5º, 21º and 25.4º, respectively, while ground clearance rises half an inch to 9.2 — 0.3 inches lower than the Outback Wilderness. (The reason it’s less? 9.2 in of ground clearance makes the Forester as tall as a vehicle can be and still roll off the assembly line in Japan, a problem that doesn’t affect the made-in-America Outback.)

The Wilderness doesn’t see any boost in power over other Foresters; it uses the same naturally-aspirated boxer-four as the rest of the line, which leaves it down 78 horses and 101 lb-ft of torque against the turbocharged Outback Wilderness. That said, the CVT gearbox has been significantly adjusted when compared with the regular Forester, giving it a broader range of ratios to play with — primarily at the low end, for better acceleration off the line and at low speeds.

Also like the Outback Wilderness, the Forester Wilderness boasts tweaks designed to make life easier for folks who want to actually live their lives like people in Subaru ads.

There’s a full-size spare on a wheel that’s identical to the four found on the corners, so a blowout won’t leave you high and dry when off-road. (It’s also a nice pushback against the trend of ditching spare tires for inflator kits, which, in this writer’s opinion, needs to stop.) The adjusted gearbox helps double towing capacity to 3,000 lbs — enough for a small camping trailer. And the roof rack has been pumped up to allow 220 pounds when the vehicle is in motion and 800 lbs when parked — enough to easily accommodate a rooftop tent.

What’s the Forester Wilderness like to drive?

Plenty acceptable. Driving involvement isn’t the name of the game here (if you want that, go buy a BRZ); like most modern Subies, the Forester feels a little disconnected from behind the wheel. That said, it feels a bit more dialed-in than the Outback Wilderness; driving them half a year and one whole continent apart makes pinning down the differences a bit tricky, but I’d say the Forester feels more composed on winding roads, with a bit less body roll and more accurate, more direct steering.

The naturally-aspirated boxer-four may be a long way off from the idealized flat-sixes found in Porsches, but the Forester never felt underpowered over the course of several hours of driving around Oregon, even when dashing around at altitudes of a mile up. Granted, it never came close to feeling overly powerful, either — I found the paddles handy to help hold revs mid-tach when climbing long hills — but for long highway slogs, daily drives and so forth, it’s plenty potent.

Subaru — perhaps more confident than I might have expected about this crossover’s capabilities — gave us a bounty of off-road time behind the wheel during our day with the Forester Wilderness, including both an off-road course where we could test the limits of the X-Mode system and a 10-plus-mile drive down old logging around carved across the side of a mountain that offered up an almost worrisome number of chances to test the penetrative protection of the engine underguard (a $130 option that seems well worth it, as do the other pieces of available steel protection for the belly of the car) and the durability of the Yokohama Geolandar all-terrain tires.

To its credit, the Forester powered through everything we could throw at it — sand, silt, mud, snow, dirt, rocks and so forth — without so much as a care. The shorter gear ratios supply more torque to the wheels at low speeds, which, combined with the grippy off-road tires, makes powering through most off-road situations easy; just choose your line well, and try not to wince when you hear rocks bang off the aforementioned skid plate. (Again, spend the money on the undercarriage body armor.)

What’s the Subaru Forester Wilderness like inside?

Pretty familiar if you’ve been in any Subies lately. Up front, it’s roomy and generally well laid-out, with a good balance between physical controls for HVAC and drive modes and touchscreen inputs for other, less important stuff. The Starlink infotainment system, while still a hefty improvement over Subaru’s prior setups, is adequate, if not quite class-leading; it doesn’t respond quite as quickly or look quite as nice as some other such setups, and certain tasks require more digging around in menus than seems necessary. The small second display mounted above the primary one is a handy feature, however, putting secondary vehicle data up near the driver’s eye line. (That said, why in God’s name does the view from the wide-angle front view camera display there, instead of on the main screen, where you could actually make out any detail in the image?)

As with the Outback Wilderness, the seats are upholstered in water-resistant upholstery which should fear no mud nor liquid; likewise, standard thick, rubber floormats catch whatever gunk is on your feet instead of letting you grind it into the carpet. The rear seatbacks are also washable, so pets and playthings tossed in the cargo area shouldn’t leave nasty stains.

Space inside is plenty ample, so long as you’re not looking to transport more than three very tall people. And the cargo bay’s height helps offset some of its lack of depth compared with some other crossovers; so long as you don’t mind stacking high, you should be able to fit plenty of gear back there.

What does the Forester Wilderness compete against?

The off-road-angled compact SUV market is a fairly competitive one these days. The Ford Bronco Sport Badlands, Toyota RAV4 TRD Off-Road and Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk represent the closest competitors, though I wouldn’t be shocked to see more than a few folks cross-shop it against the similarly adventurous lifestyle-aimed Hyundai Santa Cruz.

Arguably, however, the closest competitor is right alongside the Forester on the lot: the Outback Wilderness. The Outback has more power, ground clearance and interior space going for it; that said, it’s not that much more (at least, of the latter two), and you’ll pay $4,1175 over the Forester for it. Unless your active lifestyle includes regular instances of needing turbocharged power — if most of your adventures take you well above 5,280 feet, or if you plan on towing on a regular basis — the Forester Wilderness will likely fill your needs just fine.

The 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness

Base Price: $33,945

Powertrain: 2.5-liter flat-four; continuously variable transmission; all-wheel-drive

Horsepower: 182

Torque: 176 lb-ft

EPA Fuel Economy: 25 mpg city, 28 mpg highway

Seats: 5

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The Subaru Outback Wilderness Doubles Down on the Formula

Subaru’s newest car packs the extra off-road prowess Outback buyers have been craving.

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Porsche Just Unleashed 2 Sexy-Looking (and Beastly) New Taycans

It’s probably no surprise to hear that Porsche is steadily fleshing out the model tree of its electric car, the Taycan. And the EV’s variants track those from the rest of the Porsche lineup: We’ve had the high-performance Taycan Turbo and Turbo S models, the mid-level 4S, and both RWD and AWD riffs on the base model. Now, at the L.A. Auto Show, Porsche is unveiling a new Taycan, the GTS — which will be available in sedan and Sport Turismo (wagon) versions.

taycan gts

Porsche

taycan cross turismo

Porsche

Porsche describes its GTS trims as “the optimal combination of performance and luxury, without sacrificing everyday usability.” What GTS means in practice is a Goldilocks trim that’s a cut above the base models, without getting quite as aggressive (or expensive) as the Turbo trim.

The Taycan GTS and Taycan GTS Sport Turismo employ a dual-motor setup with a smaller permanent magnet single-speed motor up front and a larger permanent magnet rear motor with a two-speed transmission. Their combined output is up to 590 horsepower with launch control, a little bit beyond halfway between the Taycan 4S (462 hp) and the Taycan Turbo (670 hp). If you’re comparing the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo to other hot wagons, it’s one horsepower off the Audi RS 6 Avant.

Both Taycan GTS variants come standard with a 93.4 kWh Performance Battery Plus and Porsche’s 800-volt architecture. Porsche did not mention range for the Taycan GTS, but both cars can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds and fast charge from 5-80 percent in 22.5 minutes.

Porsche says the Taycan GTS will have bespoke calibration and tuning. And the Porsche Electric Sport Sound — should you choose to deploy it — is deeper and louder than in other cars. Plus, if you weren’t a fan of the body cladding on the Taycan Cross Turismo, you’re in luck; there’s no such cladding on the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo, and the rear spoiler is body color.

porsche taycan gts

Porsche

The Taycan GTS will start at $131,400 for the sedan and $133,300 for the Sport Turismo. Neither price includes Porsche’s mandatory $1,350 delivery, processing and handling fee. Taycan GTS models are ready to order now, and Porsche says deliveries will start during Q2 2022.

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This Winter Tire Is the Perfect Adventure Buddy

If you’re looking for a quality tire to navigate you safely through a northern winter, then look no further than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10. The unique double-stud technology makes use of two stud types that offer maximum safety on ice and snow. The center studs improve acceleration and braking grip, while the studs on the shoulder areas maximize grip during turning and lane changes. This is the tire you want on your car when navigating the icy road up to your favorite mountain. Plus, the Hakkapeliitta has sustainability in mind — it’s made in industry-leading factories and offers an efficient low rolling resistance. It all adds up to help minimize your carbon footprint. Make sure you stay confident and safe on the road while doing everything you love this winter by securing the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 below.

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There’s a Chance Audi Might Be Buying McLaren. Here’s Why That Would Make Sense

McLaren has been trying to raise money

McLaren would be the easiest way for Audi to get into F1

Audi (and Lamborghini) could help build a McLaren SUV

McLaren has thus far been a holdout about getting in on this SUV fad — a.k.a. the modern car market. But the Lamborghini Urus has been a massive sales success. Ditto for Rolls-Royce with the Cullinan. Aston Martin has an SUV. Ferrari has one in development. McLaren building an SUV will probably be a necessity for the bottom line.

Access to Audi engines and platforms — as it did with Lamborghini — could help McLaren get a profitable VW-platform-based SUV to market fairly quickly.

McLaren could help Lamborghini ditch V12 engines

Audi owns Lamborghini, and Lamborghini has a big engineering project ahead of itself. The company hasn’t released an all-new sports car — if we’re discounting the Urus — since 2014. The future will mean not just ditching the V12 engines for road cars, but producing future hybrid — Lamborghini has pledged to be all hybrid in some form by 2024 — and electric cars. McLaren engineering — already building hybrid sports cars —could help facilitate that project.

The 2024 Toyota Tacoma: Here’s Everything You Need to Know

What we know so far about the most-eagerly-awaited midsize truck

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The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Is a Luxurious, Legitimate Off-Roader

all new 2022 jeep® grand cherokee trailhawk

Stellantis

The Wrangler is Jeep’s iconic off-roader. It’s why a Jeep brand exists in the first place. But these days, Jeep’s most popular — and arguably most important — vehicle is the Grand Cherokee. With the re-advent of the Wagoneer, the Grand Cherokee can no longer claim to be the brand’s flagship SUV, but it remains the volume seller, profit driver…and SUV that Stellantis will move heaven, earth and every available microchip to sell.

The all-new fifth-generation Grand Cherokee is arriving in three phases. The three-row Grand Cherokee L hit dealers last summer; now, Jeep is following up with the two-row Grand Cherokee, which will begin deliveries before the end of the year. The third phase will be the plug-in hybrid Grand Cherokee 4xe, launching early next year.

Jeep brought media members to Moab, Utah — off-roading Mecca and the brand’s unofficial home away from home — to drive the new 2022 two-row Grand Cherokee. It was not because Moab was a convenient place to gather journalists — it certainly was not — but to underscore what makes the Grand Cherokee unique. The market teems with fancy midsize crossovers, and most of them pose as being adventurous. But the Grand Cherokee — when properly equipped — is the only one that can perform like a Jeep when it leaves the pavement.

And boy, can it do so.

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Why is the Jeep Grand Cherokee special?

Since first smashing through the plate glass in 1992, the Grand Cherokee has been the Jeep most buyers want and need. It has delivered solid on-road handling and comfort with a unibody platform and independent front and rear suspensions. The cabin has felt top-notch, and there’s always been ample cargo space. It makes all the compromises the Wrangler doesn’t — while still being a credible off-roader — and its success allows the Wrangler to remain uncompromised.

How does the Jeep Grand Cherokee drive on-road?

Like most midsize SUVs (there are exceptions), the Grand Cherokee is not a performance car. But it meets typical, everyday demands with a high-proficiency level. The Grand Cherokee has direct, well-weighted steering. Power delivery is smooth, most of the time. It handles corners without throwing its weight around. It was very comfortable cruising placidly around the blissfully empty two-lane highways around Moab.

The Grand Cherokee doesn’t reward aggressive driving. Going full lead-foot elicits a lot of groaning from its not-particularly-gratifying engines. The transmission can get out of sorts, start holding gears too long — and not intuit when you have calmed down. This is a car you want to play it cool with and keep between the lines.

Should you get the Grand Cherokee with a V6 or V8?

The Grand Cherokee comes with two engine options — for now. The base engine is the 290-hp 3.6-liter V6 Stellantis puts in everything from the Jeep Gladiator to the Chrysler Pacifica. You can upgrade to 357 hp and 390 lb-ft with a 5.7-liter V8. Usually, it would be obligatory for me as a car journalist to fluff my chest hair, grunt like Tim Allen and tell you to go for the V8. In reality, though, I would save some money and stick with the V6.

The only point of driving a V8 in 2021 is that it’s fun and gratifying. The Grand Cherokee V8 isn’t particularly dynamic; you don’t get a game-changing amount of power in everyday driving, and the sound doesn’t roar from the cabin. On my first leg driving a V8 Overland, I had to double-check that the car had the V8 on the spec sheet. You do get better max towing — 7,200 lbs — with the V8, but the V6 is no slouch, pulling up to 6,200 lbs. The one classic V8 feature the engine offers is crushing your fuel economy vs. the V6 by 4-5 mpg.

The V6 will be enough engine for most. And if you genuinely need an upgrade, wait for the 4xe, which should outperform the V8 at just about everything.

How does the Grand Cherokee drive off-road?

The fourth-generation WK2 Grand Cherokee was capable off-road. The new WL-gen Grand Cherokee — in Trailhawk trim — is an off-roader. The Grand Cherokee Trailhawk can hoist itself up to 11.3 inches of ground clearance and wade through two feet of water. And like the Wrangler Rubicon, you can disconnect the sway bar, which takes the Grand Cherokee to another level.

Jeep didn’t take us on the Hell’s Revenge trail, purportedly due to time constraints. But we did climb the starting portion of a reasonably gnarly mountain trail that required ample articulation, tight maneuvering, frequent spotting from a Jeep Jamboree crew and going onto three wheels on more than one occasion to overcome obstacles. The Grand Cherokee’s hill ascent and descent control works impressively. That said, I eventually resorted to the pedals, as it was too hard to modulate using the shift paddles in a lead-follow situation where I was repeatedly going to full steering lock.

I won’t say the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is the Wrangler’s equal. But almost no Grand Cherokee driver will push their SUV to the extremes where the distinctions between the two would be relevant.

What’s the Grand Cherokee interior like?

Outstanding. Jeep aims for the Grand Cherokee interior — in Summit Reserve trim — to outdo any competitor’s SUV (the goal for the Grand Wagoneer, meanwhile, is to beat any other vehicle). The Grand Cherokee nails that on every level. The design is gorgeous, with impressive craftsmanship and attention to detail. The material quality — Palermo leather and open-pore wood — is unrivaled for the price point.

On the tech front, the UConnect 5 system is quick, intuitive and customizable. It’s gold-standard of proprietary infotainment systems. The Grand Cherokee does not just offer rear-seat screens; the front passenger also gets a screen that can act as a second command center for navigation and controlling the other screens.

And, oh yeah, the Grand Cherokee offers the McIntosh sound system, which may be the best premium audio experience available in an automobile.

How much does a Grand Cherokee cost?

The Grand Cherokee is not cheap, especially if you want to level up. The starting MSRP is $37,390, or $39,390 if you want a 4×4 model. That climbs all the way up to the Summit Reserve at $63,365. Jeep charges a mandatory $1,795 destination charge on top of that. Options can jack the price up even further.

The cheapest Grand Cherokee I drove was the V6 Trailhawk, which started at $51,275 and ended up costing $59,945. I also drove a V6 Summit Reserve that priced out to $67,795 and a V8 Overland that came out to $68,765.

I would guess most buyers end up with the second-tier Limited trim, which starts at $45,710 for the 4×4 version. I wouldn’t be surprised if the three-row L — which Jeep says is already setting monthly sales records without the two-row — becomes the more popular version.

What are some Grand Cherokee alternatives?

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Powertrain: 3.6-liter V6 / 5.7-liter V8; eight-speed automatic; two- or four-wheel-drive

Horsepower: 290 / 357

Torque: 257 lb-ft / 390 lb-ft

EPA Fuel Economy: 19 mpg city, 26 mpg highway (14 mpg city, 22 mpg highway)

Seats: 5

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The 2023 Toyota 4Runner: What You Need to Know

Much-needed upgrades are coming soon. Here’s what you can expect.

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BMW May Debut Its New, Monstrously Powerful SUV This Month

The new XM / X8 M should hit the U.S. as a 2023 car

This vehicle should be built at BMW’s Spartanburg, NJ plant. So it’s coming to America. Thinking rationally, a concept car reveal in Nov. 2021 would likely presage a production car reveal sometime in 2022 with deliveries starting late 2022 or early 2023 for the 2023 model year.

The Toyota Supra Could Finally Get a Stick Shift, Rumor Claims

A manual transmission Supra could come in spring 2022

Car Sensor says Toyota will introduce a manual transmission version of the Supra in spring 2022. While the 2.0-liter model would seem the more natural fit — its BMW counterpart has been fitted with a manual already — the report says Toyota will add the option to the more powerful 3.0-liter inline-six.

Toyota could drop an even more exciting Supra in 2023

Car Sensor says that Toyota will produce a small run of GRMN Supras that will arrive in 2023. That tuned-up version could get the engine from the BMW M3 and M4 — and may also offer a manual transmission.

Plus, the long-promised Toyota hot hatch may be on its way

The 2023 Toyota 4Runner: What You Need to Know

Much-needed upgrades are coming soon. Here’s what you can expect.

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Enter to Win a Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster

An Omaze sweepstakes is giving away a Mercedes-AMG GT Stealth Edition convertible. Every donation supports Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, which helps local communities by supporting organizations that fight hunger and fund workforce education.

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Subaru Just Revealed a Lot More About Its Newest SUV

Next week, many some of the world’s automakers will descend on the City of Angels for the Los Angeles Auto Show. One of the most eagerly anticipated launches will be Subaru’s newest SUV, the Solterra. Co-developed with Toyota much like the BRZ, it will be the brand’s first electric vehicle. And we just learned a whole lot more about it, because Subaru unveiled the Japanese version, which should be pretty similar to the model released in America.

subaru solterra

Subaru

The Japanese Solterra comes in two versions: a 201-horsepower front-wheel drive model and a 215-hp all-wheel drive model. Range estimates — likely to be less under the less-optimistic EPA testing cycle — are 329 miles and 285 miles, respectively. We don’t know whether the U.S. will get both versions, or whether they will be more potent than the numbers listed. But those specs would put the Solterra at about the same power-to-weight ratio as the FWD Volkswagen ID.4 (though the AWD Solterra would be significantly less powerful than VW’s nearly 300-horsepower AWD offering)

In theory, the Solterra should be a hit for Subaru. It resolves the brand’s one sales conundrum in America: the stereotypical Subaru customer is an eco-conscious nature lover who lives in Portland — the sort of people who would buy into EVs — yet the brand has lagged behind the likes of Toyota and Honda at getting more efficient hybrid and electric vehicles to market. Indeed, their major innovation with the Outback and Forester over the past year has been two new Wilderness models that make those cars less efficient.

Critical for the Solterra will be its price point, which Subaru didn’t mention. If it’s the EV for Subaru crossover buyers and starts around the same price as the Volkswagen ID.4 or Hyundai Kona Electric, that should be a formula that works out well.

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Ford Will Build You a 700-Horsepower V8 F-150, But There’s a Catch

Ford has mostly moved to V6 power for the F-150 pickup. But unlike Toyota, Ford will still sell you an F-150 packing a naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8. And as it turns out, you won’t have to wait for the Raptor R to arrive next year to get one with 700 horsepower. According to Ford Authority, Ford Performance will soon offer a new supercharger kit with a Whipple supercharger for the current-generation V8 F-150.

The stock 5.0-liter V8 is not the most powerful engine in the F-150 lineup, delivering around 400 horsepower (versus up to 450 hp for the twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6). But the Ford Performance supercharger kit can ramp that up to 700 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, enough oomph to reportedly propel the truck from 0-60 mph in less than five seconds — about as quick as the electric F-150 Lightning.

Sure, you can get a third-party modified F-150 that will perform similarly. But there are some advantages to building one through Ford Performance. The supercharger kit has gone through Ford’s durability and validation testing — the equivalent of running the engine for 100,000 miles. The kit comes with a three-year, 30,000-mile warranty, and installing it does not affect existing factory warranties if you install it at a dealership.

The slight catch is, well, that: you need to install the kit at the dealership; it’s not coming ready-to-go from the factory. The 10-12 hour install process should be straightforward, but will likely cost a few thousand dollars tacked on to the supercharger kit’s price, which — based on past Ford Performance supercharger kits — will likely run around $7,500. And the upgrades to the air intake and exhaust you’ll likely want to pair with your newly supercharged V8 engine come separately.

No word on what sort of fuel economy adding the supercharger to the 5.0-liter V8 F-150 will give you. But we suspect it will be substantially more polluting than Ford’s new electric crate engine.

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Zero Motorcycle Upgrades Can Now Be Unlocked Like a Video Game

Zero Motorcycles — the world’s leading electric motorcycle maker — made a few big announcements yesterday, including a breakthrough new battery and an accessible new bike. And yet our biggest takeaway after attending the presentation in Manhattan was the fact that, through its new Cypher Store, you can essentially upgrade your motorcycle at the touch of a button.

Here’s a quick recap of the highlights. Feel free to decide for yourself which is most compelling.

The Battery Got Better

zero motorcycles

Zero Motorcycles

The brand has somehow managed to pack 20 percent more energy into its largest Z-Force lithium ion batteries. The two standard capacities are 14.4+ kWh and 15.6+ kWh, with both being “upgradeable” to 17.3 kWh (more on that later). The 14.4+ kWh one will come with the standard 2022 SR/S and SR/F as well as the all new 2022 SR (more on that later too). The 15.6+ kWh one will feature in premium editions of the SR/S and SR/F. With the optional Power Tank, you’ll have nearly 21 kWh of onboard juice.

What’s all that translate to? An industry-leading 227 miles/365 km of city range and 113 miles/182 km at 70 mph. That’s a healthy jump over existing Zero bikes, which top out at 201 miles of city range.

The Store Is a Paradigm Shifter

zero

Zero Motorcycles

zero

Zero Motorcycles

We wanted to save this news for last, but it kinda makes more sense to discuss in this order. Basically, Zero has a new Cypher Store (accessible online and via app) that completely rethinks how you can upgrade your bike. Not only can you boost your battery, as mentioned above, but also you can unlock a whole host of features made possible through the Cypher III+ operating system. As the headline of this store hints, the process is rather similar to a video game where you can unlock new abilities and weapons for your character as you progress. (It has been a while since we actually played a video game, but you get the idea.)

Here’s an initial list of tweaks that will be rolled out by the spring of 2022: faster charging, extender range, speed and performance boosts, park mode, heated grips and on-dash navigation. We are hearing that in park mode, you’ll be able to more delicately ease your bike into any spot — with, yes, reverse. Zero says all these upgrades are optional for the 2022 SR/S, SR/F, and SR, with more features and compatibility to come in down the road. Talk about a paradigm shift.

At least, that’s what Zero CEO Sam Paschel calls it, and it’s pretty hard to argue with him. What this development sets up is a situation where loads of digital-based upgrades to your bike are just built in — you simply need to splash the cash to snag them (or in some cases subscribe to them). It’s a pretty dramatic rethinking of how such things work — and a fascinating business move, too. We will be interested to see how customers respond — and how long it is before some hotshot tries to hack it.

The Newest Bike, the 2022 SR, Is an Affordable Throwback

zero

Zero Motorcycles

Finally, in a nod to the past and the future, Zero is bringing back the original street moto, the SR, but with upgrades all over the place. The idea is to deliver a premium feel in a more wallet-friendly package — backed by the ZF 75-10 motor, roaring to spin up 122 ft-lb of torque, 74 hp, and a top speed of 104 mph. Building on one we discussed in the last section, you’ll have the option through the store to boost performance and speed, as well as the battery — together with the Power Tank lifting it to the aforementioned 21 kWh. You can also charge it using the public EV charging network. At a base price of $17,995, the new SR is $2,000 cheaper than the SR/S and $3,500 cheaper than the SR/F.

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The 2022 Range Rover Continues Land Rover’s Legacy, But Forges Its Own Design Path

The all-new Land Rover Range Rover certainly has its share of impressive and startling features — not the least of which is its starting price of above $100,000. Arguably, however, the most striking element of the new SUV is its overall design — which, while markedly updated, is still unmistakably familiar.

This is the fifth generation of Land Rover’s top-of-the-line offering, and while the Rangie has maintained a general shape over the past 50 years, its raison d’etre has shifted drastically. First introduced as a utility vehicle with luxury drizzled over top like icing, the Range Rover‘s strong off-road credentials have become a foregone conclusion; these days, with each subsequent generation, the brand has concentrated more heavily on premium appointments, advanced tech, and design to match.

2023 land rover front
The 2022 Range Rover’s front end looks familiar, but trust us, there’s plenty of new beneath the skin.

Land Rover

This time around, design updates have resulted in striking, almost avante garde looks. While the 2022 Range Rover of course carries the luxury torch, packing plush interiors and top-tier tech, its sheet metal is certainly the star of this fifth-gen show. The overall Range Rover shape is still unmistakable in this latest version, but the design updates are plentiful as its form pushes boundaries of the minimal and futuristic.

We spoke to Gerry McGovern, chief creative officer of Jaguar Land Rover, about the 2022 Range Rover design, from his “reductionist” approach, modernism, and when form should–and shouldn’t–follow function. That interview is below; first, however, comes an overview of the 2022 Range Rover’s biggest updates.

The new Range Rover: the powertrains

Powertrain options in the 2022 Range Rover include a new 523-horsepower twin-turbo V8 by BMW; it’ll push the SUV from 0 to 60 mph in a claimed 4.4 seconds. There’s also a mild hybrid turbocharged inline-six setup at launch; a plug-in hybrid with 434 horsepower and 62 miles of all-electric range will join the lineup in the 2023 model year. In 2024 we’ll see a fully electric Ranger Rover bow.

The new Range Rover: the chassis

A new “body architecture” called MLA-Flex provides the platform for the new Range Rover and all its variants, including standard and long wheelbase models, which can be configured in four-, five- and seven-seat configurations. The seven-seat/three-row option is new to the Range Rover lineup, and available only on long wheelbase models.

2023 range rover
Do not attempt to drive naked drivetrain alone at home.

Land Rover

Land Rover is introducing a system called Chassis Control to the Range Rover as well. This technology suite oversees the MLA-Flex architecture and other mechanical and tech elements to control the driving experience; Land Rover calls this a “mechatronic ecosystem,” which admittedly sounds more like the sort of environment you’d find on Cybertron.

As expected, the 2022 Range Rover is laden with off-road prowess; supplementing those chops is a suite of on-road performance kit, as well. An electronic air suspension system works in tandem with technology called eHorizon to automatically adjust suspension settings as road conditions change. All-wheel steering is standard on all models, providing improved maneuverability at low speed and more stability at highway speeds; the rear axle will pivot up to seven degrees either in tandem with or opposed to the direction of the front wheels.

The new Range Rover: the tech

Land Rover has added noise-cancelling features to the Range Rover’s tech arsenal. In the name of a quieter, more serene cabin atmosphere, speakers use that noise-cancelling capability to eliminate unwanted ambient noise– “wheel vibrations, tire noise and engine sounds”– while floating down the road. This tech is part of a new Meridian Signature Sound System. Additional luxury tech includes available power assisted doors (starting 2023) with integrated safety features (“anti-pinch,” for example), and can be opened via the infotainment controls “at angles of up to 10 degrees while off-road,” presumably when you want to make a dramatic exit out on the trails.

New Range Rovers will feature integrated Alexa tech from Amazon, and an available 13.1-inch infotainment touchscreen that’s designed to appear as though “floating” in the cabin. Also “floating” in the new Range Rover: a 13.7-inch instrument panel with all sorts of digital configurations for necessary information.

2023 range rover interior
Broad swaths of high-end materials and Land Rover’s Pivi Pro infotainment system dominate the interior; sadly, the round shifter is no more.

Land Rover

The new Range Rover: personalization

The SV version of the 2022 Range Rover is available for customers who want to personalize their SUV, and offers a plethora of options of elements that can be modified. SV models (both standard and long wheelbase) will feature ceramic “SV Roundel” emblems to indicate provenance, and two pre-configured design themes. Special materials are on offer for SV customers, including ceramic trim elements, “mosaic marquetry” and “sustainable non-leather Ultrafabrics.”

The new Range Rover model lineup

Base Range Rover models are called SE: SE models with the mild-hybrid I6 power plant start at $104,000; the long wheelbase (LWB) seven-seat SE starts at $110,000. Upgrade to the V8 and starting prices rise to $118,700 (SE) and $124,700 (SE LWB).

The rest of the current lineup features only the V8. Those models are: Autobiography ($152,000), Autobiography LWB seven-seat ($154,000), Autobiography LWB ($156,000), First Edition ($158,200), and First Edition LWB ($163,500).

An interview with Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern

After a couple of presentations about the 2022 Range Rover’s capability, technology, and luxury, we had a brief chat with Gerry McGovern, who opined about modernist design in the automotive space, and then walked us around the new SUV to highlight some of the most striking new design cues.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

GP: As vehicles continue to become increasingly more complex in terms of added physical technology and meeting government regulations, how challenging is it to maintain extreme simplicity in design?

Gerry McGovern: That is a big challenge. Because engineers naturally want to add more stuff in to demonstrate their expertise and the technology. And there is a lot of technology in the vehicle, but the way to do it is in a way that it’s not in your face all the time. It’s there if you want to use it. In terms of the overall aesthetic, it’s not about adding more stuff in; it’s about taking it out. But when you expose something it has to be nice quality.

The new design is beautiful. It’s almost Bauhaus in its simplicity.

GM: I don’t like using the word “beautiful.” It’s as much about what you don’t do as what you do do. It’s about curation, about curating it.

Not every consumer is a modernist. That’s not to say they don’t go for that reductive approach, but you can go too far with it. That’s why I say “it’s not minimal” — the interior of a Tesla is so reductive that it doesn’t look expensive, doesn’t look like anything. It’s all a balance.

2023 land rover
Rear view represents the biggest visual difference with the outgoing Range Rover.

Land Rover

How much of your personal style and personal style philosophy comes through in this Range Rover, and in Land Rover design?

GM: I suppose the thing that’s the strongest element is this preoccupation with modernism, which I truly believe is [integral to Land Rover] — and it’s something that other brands haven’t embraced maybe because [for] other brands, design doesn’t really sit at the top of the pile. You can see it in the way vehicles are designed; [they’ll have] proportions that aren’t correct because the wrong decisions have been made at a conceptual stage.

Having said that, I live in a modernist house, not a traditional house. And all the stuff in it is modern, or different periods of modern. But I am quite eclectic, although I, you know, as time has gone on, have taken stuff out…even the way I dress now isn’t quite as eclectic as it used to be.

2023 land rover
Moonroof? Of course.

Land Rover

So the new Range Rover is a reductionist design. Other brands seem to go in the other direction. Almost maximalist, in a way.

GM: It’s interesting you use the word maximalist because I’ve been doing these studies as part of the role I’ve been asked to do in terms of developing the business: informing them what [design] means to our brand. When you actually look at modernism, there’s many forms of it — organic modernism to desert modern to brutalist — and there are two extremes if it: minimalist…and maximalist.

But for us, it’s about getting the right balance. I read quite often “Land Rover or Range Rover’s minimalist…” But it isn’t highly decorative and it’s not excessive.

[Mr. McGovern walked me toward one of the new Range Rovers on display, and stops us off the vehicle’s right rear flank so that we’re looking down the side toward the front bumper area.]

Look at that minimal front overhang. The more you look at it…it’s incredibly sophisticated, complex surface development. And you can only make that work if you’re reductive in your surfaces. Getting that level of precision in the line work–designers always want to put more on, more on, more on. Take it off!

2023 land rover
Split tailgate remains; BYO dog.

Land Rover

So the strategy is to make the ‘one line’ beautiful?

Yeah, well just make it work. It’s that simplicity. It’s like some cartoonists, who are brilliant and can capture what somebody looks like with just a couple of lines. That’s what we’re trying to get.

[The Range Rover lines aren’t] informed by ‘form follows function,’ either. Because you’d never wind up with a car like [this]. Because at the rear you’d maximize the interior [by squaring it off]. But [the body panels around the wheel well] pull in, exposes the tire, which is its “bicep” if you like.

[Mr. McGovern gestures toward the Range Rover’s rear cargo area, and with his hands draws a boxy shape in the air around the SUV’s curving rear haunches.]

And if you were maximizing the space in here, we’d have the corners out here and lose that look.

That’s the difference of what’s happened at Land Rover: we’ve gone through a culture change. They always looked the way they did because of what they did. They were ‘form follows function.’

[We] don’t need to want to be loved by everybody. We need to represent something. Hold the line, stick with it, and just evolve. Don’t worry about not being liked by everyone. I’d rather have a view than be the same as everybody else.

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