Porsche 911 Heritage Design Packs add retro flair to modern cars

At the 2019 New York International Auto Show, Porsche showcased two 911 Speedsters. A bright red version displayed the final production form, of which 1,948 units will be built, and a silver car with white graphics showed the concept that previewed the production model. Although the Speedsters' slick exterior design captured guests' attention, the interior on the concept car was crafted with the Heritage Design Package, which Porsche just announced will inspire future limited-edition models and future option packs on upcoming 911 models.

The Speedster is part of Porsche's Heritage Design Strategy. Together, Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and Style Porsche are aiming to keep the company's history alive by integrating classic designs from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s into new models. These designs will rightfully be applied to modern 911s.

Porsche says that the 911 Speedster with the Heritage Design Package "gives an initial outlook on the design of these 'lifestyle' vehicles," and that "additional special models will follow as of next year, at certain intervals and in limited numbers." Additionally, new Heritage Design Packages will be available on 911s with elements from aforementioned decades. Based on a quotes from a press release, it sounds like Porsche could apply these features on a hybrid 911.

"To us it is vital to transport the brand's values into the future. Heritage Design models represent an intentional addition to contemporary hybrid and electric vehicles as part of which technical innovations are in the focus," Porsche Director of Exclusive Manufaktur Vehicles Boris Apenbrink said.

"Porsche set benchmarks in terms of design and styling from the outset – vehicles from different eras are style icons nowadays. We bring back these iconic looks and thus prove that Porsche will stay true to its roots, even in the age of electrification," Director Interior Design Style Ivo van Hulten added.

Everything from old color and equipment cards to museum vehicles will influence the Heritage Design Packages. Porsche fanatics can rejoice at the thought of the reemergence of Pepita, Pasha, corduroy, and plaid patterns, which will be produced with "cutting-edge materials."

The first special-edition model will debut next year, and Porsche says it will wear the old-school logo from the '60s. We'll have to wait and see what else it brings to the show. For more Porsche interior design love, check out the company's Top 5 seat designs.

2019 Hyundai Tucson upgraded to an IIHS Top Safety Pick+

The 2019 Hyundai Tucson compact crossover received a number of updates for the new model year. It got updated styling and a freshened powertrain lineup without turbo engines. But it also got a set of optional headlights that performed better in IIHS testing, so the new model year improves its overall rating from Top Safety Pick to Top Safety Pick+.

Each model year of Tucson has a number of slightly different headlight configurations, but the best possible headlights on the 2018 model were rated the second highest score of "Acceptable." The 2019 Tucson now has a couple of headlight configurations rated the highest score of "Good." This improvement was enough to give the Tucson the highest Top Safety Pick+ rating — at least those examples equipped with the best headlights. Most of the 2019 Tucsons have headlights rated at least "Acceptable," too, but you'll want to avoid the base halogen headlights that are rated "Poor."

As for the rest of the Tucson's scores, it earns the "Good" rating in every single crash test, including the passenger-side small-offset crash. It gets the highest score of "Superior" for forward collision prevention with the automatic emergency braking system, which is now standard for 2019, stopping the car completely from speeds up to 25 mph. For attaching car seats using LATCH anchors, access was "Marginal" to "Acceptable."

The Citroen C4 Cactus is nearly dead, and that's probably for the best

At OBABLOG, we have a special fondness for the Citroen C4 Cactus. A couple of our past editors were particularly into the odd crossover and even managed to drive one of the first-generation models in the U.S. So our initial reaction was sadness when hearing from Top Gear that the model was being discontinued after the current generation. But after a little more thought, we realized this is probably for the best.

What made the C4 Cactus so lovable and strange when it first launched was its styling (above), and in particular, its AirBumps. No, they weren't some strange automotive disease, but rather plastic panels full of air pockets meant to shield the car from all manner of dent-inflicting items. Each air pocket was lozenge shaped, and indeed the entire car looked a bit like a lozenge. The interior was also quirky in its own ways, but all those features made it the cult icon among car journalists that it is.

Then the next-generation came out, and it was significantly more mainstream. The once-prominent AirBumps became a trio of vestigial pockets at the bottom of the doors, blended into black plastic like almost any other crossover. The other bits of plastic armor around the Cactus had also disappeared. It even sprouted a more conventional chrome grille motif between the running lights. In just one generation, Citroen had stolen much of what made the Cactus weird and cool. The one consolation was the implementation of a hydraulic suspension system, but that's becoming common across the Citroen range.

If the pattern set by the second-generation Cactus continued, it surely would have become just another crossover. It would no longer be that strange and clever machine we're all fond of. And that surely would be worse than seeing it disappear with its reputation intact. In the meantime, Citroen's product head told Top Gear the model may not be gone forever. So we'll simply look forward to the day Citroen feels adventurous again and gives us a future Cactus successor worthy of the name.

After the "Unintended Acceleration" debacle of 1986, in which a 60 Minutes report on the auto-trans-equipped Audi 5000's alleged tendency to drive itself at full throttle into garage walls, sales of all Audis — even non-5000s with manual transmissions — plummeted in the United States and stayed at low levels well into the 1990s. That didn't stop Audi from bringing over the big, fast, luxurious Audi V8, though, starting in the 1989 model year. Here's one of those first-year V8s (yes, it's an annoying name for a car), found in a Denver self-service wrecking yard.

If a high-end German sedan doesn't get babied its whole life, its resale value will plummet in a hurry. Once that fifth owner gets a 7-Series, S-Class, or V8/A8 for $1,200 and skips important maintenance items, while allowing the interior to get beat up, the junkyard awaits.

Audis went to electronic digital odometers soon after this, so I'm not sure how many miles the 21st-century Audis I see in wrecking yards manage to turn. This car got respectably close to 200,000 miles during its 30 years on the road.

240 horsepower from this futuristic (at the time) DOHC, 3.6-liter V8. That was serious stuff in 1989, when the new Corvettegot 245 horses from its 5.7-liter pushrod V8.

The MSRP on this car started at $47,450, or about $100,000 in inflation-adjusted 2019 dollars. A new BMW 735i listed at $54,000 and the Mercedes-Benz 420SEL cost $61,210 that year, and neither of them came with all-wheel-drive. Of course, the '89 Toyota Cressida blew them all away on a value-per-dollar basis, selling for a mere $21,498, but we can assume that few Audi V8 shoppers even considered the Toyota.

The abundant body filler and backyard-applied tape repairs indicate that this car didn't get the sort of treatment it deserved during its last few years, and so it ended up in this sad place.

U.S. waives tariffs on Japanese aluminum for Tesla battery cells

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department has agreed to Tesla's request to waive 10 percent tariffs on imported aluminum from Japan used in the manufacture of battery cells at Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory, government documents show. The Palo Alto, California-based company made the request in documents posted in April and said the aluminum is produced by Nippon Light Metal Co Ltd and was seeking a tariff exclusion for 10,000 tonnes annually.

The Commerce Department said in a document dated June 5 and posted on a government website in recent days that the aluminum "is not produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality." The waiver is good for one year. Tesla did not immediately comment.

The battery cells are assembled into packs which are the energy source for the Tesla Model 3 vehicle as well as energy storage products, Tesla said in its request. "Tesla is the only US manufacturer of these battery types and planned production of these batteries will increase exponentially over the next few years," the company's request said.

Tesla's exclusion request specified several different width and thickness for aluminum sheets. Tesla said U.S. manufacturers cannot "meet the alloy composition or thickness requirements. Domestic producers also cannot meet the annual volume requirement."

No objections were filed to Tesla's request.

Tesla previously sought other tariff exemptions from the U.S. Trade Representative's Office for Chinese-made parts, including the Model 3 car computer and the Autopilot "brain" that were rejected. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler)

2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Duramax First Drive | All-American oil burner

Veneno Roadster, One:1, One-77, LaFerrari, P1, Veyron headline 25-car Bonham's auction

Stunning collection was seized by European authorities

Bonhams is holding a no-reserve auction in fall 2019 that includes some of the most valuable and sought-after supercars of the past decade. The lot of 25 beautiful collector items includes a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, a Koenigsegg One:1, an Aston Martin One-77, a Ferrari LaFerrari, a McLaren P1, and a Bugatti Veyron. The collection, which was seized from a corrupt politician from Equatorial Guinea, is valued at roughly $13 million.

If selling off future classics that are still in their infancy as collector items seems strange, it's because this is not a straightforward situation. These cars will be sold off by the State of Geneva, not a person. The collection was previously owned by the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, but the cars were seized when he was placed under investigation for money laundering and unfair management of public interests.

These 25 cars, which were located in Geneva, were first sequestered in fall 2016. A trial court ordered them sold off, and the money earned from the sales would be invested in social programs that benefit Equatorial Guinea. And so, Equatorial Guinea is about to see an influx of cash, as every vehicle is valued in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

The rarest might be the Koenigsegg One:1. One of only six remaining, it has 371 miles on the dial, and is valued at roughly $1.8 million. The Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, one of nine in the world, is a close second. It has 202 miles logged, and is valued at about $5.1 million.

The Aston Martin One-77 is another rare bird. It is example No. 35 of 77, holds a 7.3-liter V12 engine, and is valued at about $1.4 million. A McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari, and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 round out the top of the list. The remaining cars are not fully detailed, but they include examples from Mercedes-Maybach, Bentley, Maserati and Porsche.

The auction will take place on Sunday, Sept. 29, at the Bonmont Golf & Country Club near Lake Geneva. For more photos and information, visit Bonhams.

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