2018 porsche 911 turbo s

Henry Payne The Detroit News Published 3:46 p.m. UTC Aug 23, 2018 Pontiac — I drove two future classics along Woodward last week, a red Corvette ZR-1 and blue Acura NSX. The odd couple — one an old-school ground-pounding Chevy V-8, the other a luxury hybrid-cyborg from the future — turned heads wherever I went. And they effortlessly negotiated laps around M1 Concourse’s test track. Yet, the pair share more than first meets the eye. They are the only supercars made in America by major brands. They are the top-of-the-line prestige cars of automakers that produce hundreds of thousands of vehicles. And they represent the alpha and omega of the gas-powered supercar. In one year, the two vehicles — for all their apparent differences — will become more alike in the form of a mid-engine Corvette built on an Acura-like lightweight chassis. It will pack the potential of megabuck hypercars in a sub-$200,000 package. Dodge’s cessation … [Read more...] about NSX and ZR1: Made in the USA supercars

Hannah Elliott Bloomberg News Published 8:36 p.m. UTC Aug 13, 2018 Next week, more than 20,000 car enthusiasts will trek to Pebble Beach, Calif., the Pacific peninsula 90 minutes south of Silicon Valley, for one of the most important classic car shows on earth, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. There will be an aurora-blue1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale, expected to sell at auction for $3.3 million to $3.8 million, and a 1963 Aston Martin DP 215 Grand Touring Competition Prototype, listed for $18 million to $22 million. Total auction sales from the likes of Bonhams, Gooding & Co., and RM Sotheby’s are expected to bring in $342 million this year, up 4 percent from 2017 and the highest since a record $428 million in 2014, according to Hagerty predictions. But luxury carmakers are increasingly using Pebble Beach as an opportunity to show new cars on the backs of those glamorous old ones. This year, Bugatti will debut a supercar called the Divo. Audi will unveil … [Read more...] about Luxury automakers piggybacking on classic car shows

Henry Payne The Detroit News Published 3:35 p.m. UTC Aug 9, 2018 The exotic Lamborghini’s engine roared in my ears as I crested a hill on a remote farm road and shifted into fifth gear. The great beast lurched forward. My foot to the floor, the speedometer hit ... 31 miles per hour. Didn’t know Lamborghini made tractors, did you? Long before it crafted greyhounds like the Countach, Huracan and Aventador, the Italian marque began as a post-World War II tractor-maker. Today, Lamborghini’s sports car and tractor operations are under different ownership, but the bull logo still, improbably, graces the hoods of diesel-powered tractors and V-12 supercars in Europe. But the only place in the U.S. you can find them both under the same roof is in Metamora, Michigan. Detroit media entrepreneur Kevin Adell has one of the most eclectic auto collections in the country with a stable that includes everything from a 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 to one of the made-for-TV … [Read more...] about Payne: Lamborghini supercar meets Lamborghini tractor

opinion Henry Payne The Detroit News Published 3:58 p.m. UTC Jun 7, 2018 As we approach 2020, evolution is delivering us a new species of automobile.  Thanks to advancements in electronic and materials engineering, new cyborgs have emerged from the lab with light-speed performance capabilities outside, tranquil cabins inside: the Audi R8, Porsche 911 Turbo, Chevy Corvette ZR1, Mercedes GT AMG 63. Next to them in our garages are three-row premium SUVs sitting on car-like chassis that can haul a soccer team to practice while deftly carving country roads on the way: Mazda CX-9, Audi Q7, Acura MDX, Buick Enclave. But dinosaurs from a decade ago still roam the Earth. Two of these museum pieces fit neatly in my stable recently: the 2018 Nissan GT-R Track Edition supercar and Lexus GX 460. They are the perfect family couple — the Lexus a three-row daily workhorse, the GT-R a dazzling thoroughbred. Take the Lexus up north to the cabin; take the Nissan up … [Read more...] about Payne: Nissan GT-R and Lexus GX show their age