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Maserati honors Juan Manuel Fangio with F Tributo special editions

Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio was one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Logging a record five F1 championships between 1951-57, four of them back-to-back, Fangio was the winningest driver in F1 history until Michael Schumacher won his sixth championship in 2003, almost half a century later. Maserati is now paying homage to Fangio with two special edition vehicles.  The Ghibli and Levante F Tributo commemorate Fangio's F1 victories behind the wheel of a Maserati 250F in the 1957 season. Fangio had previously won the world championship for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz, though in 1954 he won the driver's championship while driving for both Maserati and Mercedes. The "F" stands for Fangio, and "Tributo" means "tribute" in Italian. Though Maserati does not appear to have increased performance figures for the F Tributo duo, they do come in two exclusive paint jobs. Rosso Tributo is a vibrant red inspired by the crimson hue that represented Italy in the era when race car liveries were determined by country of origin. The second color, Azzurro Tributo, is a blue that represents, along with yellow, the flag of Modena, Maserati's home. Both cars also feature yellow brake calipers and a yellow outline on their 21-inch wheels, a callback to the yellow stripe on the nose of Fangio's 250F. The yellow cues continue on the inside, where giallo contrast stitching brightens up the black leather interiors. The Ghibli and Levante are also denoted by black "F Tributo" badges on the front fenders, as well as body-colored Maserati trident logos on the C-pillars. We're not totally convinced that a luxury sedan and crossover would be the type of car Fangio would love to drive, but if this is your bag you should act quickly. Maserati hasn't said how many F Tributo cars they plan to sell, only stating that numbers will be "very limited". 

Stellantis earnings rise along with EV sales

AMSTERDAM — Automaker Stellantis on Wednesday reported its earnings grew in 2022 from a year earlier and said its push into electric vehicles led to a jump in sales even as it faces growing competition from an industrywide shift to more climate-friendly offerings. Stellantis, formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and FranceÂ’s PSA Peugeot, said net revenue of 179.6 billion euros ($191 billion) was up 18% from 2021, citing strong pricing and its mix of vehicles. It reported net profit of 16.8 billion euros, up 26% from 2021. Stellantis plans to convert all of its European sales and half of its U.S. sales to battery-electric vehicles by 2030. It said the strategy led to a 41% increase in battery EV sales in 2022, to 288,000 vehicles, compared with the year earlier. The company has “demonstrated the effectiveness of our electrification strategy in Europe,” CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “We now have the technology, the products, the raw materials and the full battery ecosystem to lead that same transformative journey in North America, starting with our first fully electric Ram vehicles from 2023 and Jeep from 2024.” The automaker is competing in an increasingly crowded field for a share of the electric vehicle market. Companies are scrambling to roll out environmentally friendly models as they look to hit goals of cutting climate-changing emissions, driven by government pressure. The transformation has gotten a boost from a U.S. law that is rolling out big subsidies for clean technology like EVs but has European governments calling out the harm that they say the funding poses to homegrown industry across the Atlantic. Stellantis' Jeep brand will start selling two fully electric SUVs in North America and another one in Europe over the next two years. It says its Ram brand will roll out an electric pickup truck this year, joining a rush of EV competitors looking to claim a piece of the full-size truck market. The company plans to bring 25 battery-electric models to the U.S. by 2030. As part of that push, it has said it would build two EV battery factories in North America. A $2.5 billion joint venture with Samsung will bring one of those facilities to Indiana, which is expected to employ up to 1,400 workers. The other factory will be in Windsor, Ontario, a collaboration with South KoreaÂ’s LG Energy Solution that aims to create about 2,500 jobs. The EV push comes amid a slowdown in U.S.

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is new SUV king of the 'Ring

It's been a couple years since the last Nurburgring SUV lap record was set by the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, a quick time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds making it the first SUV to pull off a sub-8 minute time. The Cayenne's glory days are over, though, as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio just obliterated that time. Alfa's wild SUV with its Ferrari-based 510-horsepower twin-turbo V6 managed to whip around the north loop of the 'Ring in just 7 minutes and 51 seconds. Not only does that make it 8 seconds quicker than the Cayenne, it's an insane 23 seconds faster than the Land Rover Range Rover SVR, the record holder before Porsche. The Stelvio also was working with a notable power disadvantage compared with the Cayenne and the Range Rover. The Porsche packed 565 horsepower, and the Land Rover had 542 horsepower. View 9 Photos Alfa Romeo also got the whole lap on film, which you can view up above. The video also shows that the Stelvio had an aftermarket roll cage fitted for an extra layer of safety. Alfa didn't say anything about how that might affect performance or what may have been done to offset it. But as we always point out with these records, they shouldn't be taken too seriously, especially for the SUV segment, in which we can virtually guarantee no one will be attempting to replicate this lap time with their personal Stelvios. Related Video: