2022 Porsche 911 Gt3 Coupe 2d on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Top Gear teases Porsche 918 vs McLaren P1 vs LaFerrari showdown

It's the comparison test we've been waiting over a year to come together: the hybrid hypercar showdown of the century between the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and Ferrari LaFerrari. They've each got hybrid powertrains pairing eight or more cylinders with an electric motor to drive around 900 horsepower through seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions. They come from exotic automakers with rich racing pedigrees, and each costs around a million bucks. Leave it to the guys from Top Gear, then, to finally put it together. The story adorns the cover of this month's issue of Top Gear magazine, which arranged the showdown – not the television program that started it all. Fortunately, they didn't miss the opportunity to capture the action on video, which will be available to iPad subscribers – but whether you've got access or not, you can catch a short clip of the seven-figure hybrid hypercars right here. News Source: Top Gear via YouTube Ferrari McLaren Porsche Hybrid Supercars Videos porsche 918 spyder mclaren p1 ferrari laferrari

Dealers mobilize to protect their margins from automaker subscription services

Six individual auto brands — Lincoln, Cadillac, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo — have established or are trialing a vehicle subscription service in the U.S. Three third-party companies — Flexdrive, Clutch and Carma — run brand-agnostic subscription services. And three automakers — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and General Motors — have also launched short-term rental services. Dealers, afraid of how these trends might affect their margins, are building political and lawmaking campaigns to protect their revenue streams. So far, three states are investigating automaker subscriptions, and Indiana has banned any such service until next year. It's certain that those three states are the first fronts in a long political and legal battle. Powerful dealer franchise laws mandate the existence of dealers and restrict how automakers are allowed to interact with customers to sell a vehicle. On top of that, Bob Reisner, CEO of Nassau Business Funding & Services, said, "Dealers and their associations are among the strongest political operators in many states. They as a group are difficult for state politicians to vote against." In California earlier this year, the state Assembly debated a bill with wide-ranging provisions to protect against what the California New Car Dealers Association called "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." One of those provisions stipulated that subscription services need to go through dealers, but that item got stripped out when dealers and manufacturers agreed to discuss the matter further. In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a moratorium on all subscription programs by dealers or manufacturers until May 1, 2019, to give legislators more time to investigate. Dealers in New Jersey have taken their campaign to the state capitol, asking that the cars in subscription programs get a different classification for registration purposes. Automakers run the current subscription services and own the vehicles. Sign-ups and financial transactions happen online or through apps, leaving dealers to do little more than act as fulfillment centers to various degrees, with little legal recourse as to compensation amounts when they're called on to deliver or service a car. That's a bad base to build on for business owners who've sunk millions of dollars into their operations.

Super Bowl car commercials: Follow along as we riff on them live

Join Autoblog editors Sunday starting around 6:30 p.m. ET as we react to all of the car commercials during the game. We know Hummer, Porsche, Hyundai and others will have splashy ads, and naturally, there's usually a few surprises. Whether you're a Chiefs or 49ers fan — or don't care about football — the commercials are always a highlight. And for us, the car spots are the most intriguing. Weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments section. Let's kick off.   FIRST QUARTER Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore liveblogs the first quarter. F9 We'll count this as a car commercial. The latest edition of the Fast & Furious looks like it well, will have cars. We'll punt on further comment. PORSCHE I like it. Creative. Sort of a Night at the Museum feel. The guards stage a theft and then a car chase. The Taycan looked good. Get fired up — the future for Porsche is electric. The spot is meant to illustrate how fun that can be. I don't need any convincing.    SECOND QUARTER Associate Editor Byron Hurd is liveblogging the second quarter.  HYUNDAI Hyundai checked in super early with their Sonata "Smaht Pahk" commercial, which manages to score points for being both cute and clever while also being a fairly good commercial in a vacuum. We saw it last week, so there were no surprises here, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  Fun note: If you go to the Sonata landing page on Hyundai's web site, you can choose "plain old English" or "the Boston way" for your language; the latter will translate the page. Enjoy.  FORD Hi ho, West Coast Editor James Riswick here. Apparently, the guys in Detroit didn't get the Mustang Mach E ad featuring Idris Elba and a whole boat load of awesome old Mustangs. Pretty sure it's bound to be viewed the exact same way as the car itself: traditionalists will be aghast, while non-car people will be intrigued by a new, all-electric, crossover version of one of the few cars they've heard of.  GENESIS They're coming more rapidly now. Genesis gets some love thanks to Chrissy Teigen and John Legend; this was another known quantity, but Hyundai's luxury brand managed another solid entry here thanks to its choice of stars. Teigen and Legend got the chance to throw back to the latter's "Sexiest Man Alive" honors, which Teigen often teases him for. Another solid all-around spot.  GMC/HUMMER Are there just no surprises left? Don't tell me; I know the answer. LeBron James fronts the revived Hummer, which will be an EV sold as a GMC.