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Weekly Recap: Takeaways from the Frankfurt Motor Show

We obsessively covered the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, and naturally, we selected our favorites from this fall's biggest automotive event. Now that the dust has settled, we're looking ahead to what it all means. Here are three takeaways from the floor in Frankfurt. The Germans are serious about electric vehicles: It's a bit cliche to say BMW, Mercedes, and Audi have downplayed electrics in favor of other technologies, like diesels. For a time that may have been true, but those three companies, along with Porsche and Volkswagen, are emerging as leaders in EV development. That was on display in Frankfurt, when all of them revealed either all-electric or plug-in hybrid models. Gas prices are relatively low in the United States, but clearly the Germans are thinking long-term and globally. Everyone is serious about SUVs: You gotta have one, even if you're Bentley or Jaguar. It's 2015 and it's what consumers want. As Jaguar design director Ian Callum put it, "Not to be in the sector would be a little naive for the sake of purity." It's not just the flashy exotic luxury makers. Nissan showed the Gripz concept, which is rakish, radical, and meant to blend traits of SUVs and sports cars into a vehicle that really crosses over. Look for more, especially in the luxury sector, as Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin ramp up their own SUV efforts. There's no ceiling to the luxury market: Speaking of high-end cars, companies are continuing to invest in extravagant wares beyond just SUVs. Even during the recession, ultra-luxury makers remained relevant, and now they're back at full stride. In Frankfurt, that was illustrated by yet another S-Class model, the cabriolet, which will come in S550 and S63 AMG variants in the United States. Ferrari also showed off the 488 Spider, and Lamborghini opened up the Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder. Meanwhile, Bugatti's Vision Grand Turismo concept reminded enthusiasts that it's plotting life after the Veyron. European auto shows always draw the glitziest reveals from luxury makers, and this year didn't disappoint. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 Honda Civic redesigned with snazzier style, turbo power The 10th-generation of the Honda Civic debuted this week at events in Los Angeles and Detroit ahead of its launch in the United States this fall as a 2016 model. Honda fortified the Civic with LED lights, an available turbo engine, and a more tech-laden cabin.

Ferrari delivers one-off F12 SP America in New York

Ferrari's Special Projects division has apparently been keeping busy. We're sure that we don't even see half of the special one-offs Maranello's customer skunkworks unit produces, but we've been seeing quite a few lately.
The last one that popped up on our radar screens was the F12 TRS revealed at the recent Ferrari Cavalcade in Sicily, and now it seems that the Prancing Horse marque has delivered another. It's similarly based on the F12 Berlinetta, but instead of taking its inspiration from the 250 Testa Rossa with a unique roadster body-style, the F12 SP America pictured here seems to pay stylistic tribute to the 250 GTO - evident in the trio of nostrils in the nose, the unique side vents, the slates behind the windows and the restyled rear haunches that meld into an integrated rear spoiler.
This unique take of the F12 was delivered to its assuredly wealthy commissioner by Wide World Ferrari Maserati in Spring Valley, NY, which tells you as much as the chosen model name that this particular one-off is staying right here in the United States.

Stellantis and Ferrari boss is pitted against his own mother in Agnelli inheritance drama

  MILAN, Italy — A court in Turin is set to rule in the coming weeks on an inheritance dispute dividing the Agnelli family, the founders of the Fiat car company and arguably the best known of Italy's business dynasties. The case stems from the estate of Gianni Agnelli, the celebrated Fiat boss who was a symbol of Italy's post-war economic boom and who died two decades ago. It pits Agnelli's daughter Margherita, who inherited 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), against three of her eight children including her eldest, John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari and carmaker Stellantis. In the dispute that has riven one of Italy's elite families, Margherita is fighting to overturn agreements she signed after her father's death in order to eventually benefit her five children from a second marriage, sources close to her say. Should the Turin court decide in her favor, Margherita, who is 67 and Gianni Agnelli's only surviving child, could stake a claim to half of her late mother's estate and a share in the Elkann family business. The center of the dispute The dispute has its origins in an inheritance deal known as the "Geneva pacts" that Margherita, an artist and philanthropist, signed in 2004 after the death of her father the previous year and agreed to when Fiat was on the brink of bankruptcy. Under the first pact, Margherita received property, works of art and other liquid assets from Gianni's estate and renounced any future influence in the Dicembre (December) company, a key part of the ownership structure of Exor, the Agnelli-family holding. The pacts cemented John Elkann's position as Gianni Agnelli's chosen successor and effectively took his mother Margherita out of the equation. John Elkann, 47, now leads Exor, which owns slices of prestigious businesses and brands including national newspapers and the soccer club Juventus. The second pact covered what would happen to the estate of Margherita's mother Marella, who died in 2019 aged 91. Marella passed her Dicembre stake to three of her grandchildren, John, his brother Lapo and sister Ginevra, from Margherita's first marriage to journalist Alain Elkann. Margherita wants the pacts to be rescinded to be able to give her children with second husband Serge De Pahlen, a Franco-Russian former Fiat executive, a share of their grandmother's estate, sources close to her say.