Latest news with #Carsales
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ferrari Might Build Its First New Manual Transmission in Over a Decade
Ferrari could be about to make a lot of enthusiasts very happy. The Italian marque is considering bringing back the gated manual transmission following a decade-plus absence, according to Carsales. There's a catch, though. The coveted mechanical feature would only be available on special models. More from Robb Report Bill Gates's Former Waterfront Mansion in Florida Can Be Yours for $23.5 Million Inside a Stunning, Fire-Resistant Family Retreat on a Sunny Hilltop in NorCal's Wine Country Bermuda: Preserving the Past, Inspiring the Future In an interview with the magazine, Ferrari's chief product development officer, Gianmaria Fulgenzi, revealed that the company is 'reaching the limit of performance' with its road cars. That's not because the company can't wring more power out of its engines, but because its customers wouldn't be able to handle it—unless they were to put in the kind of training required of professional race car drivers. 'I don't think all our customers want to have to train every morning just to drive our cars,' he told the magazine. Ferrari hasn't sold a car with a third pedal since the California was discontinued back in 2012. The stick shift was sacrificed in the name of performance, so, at a time when the company has pushed things just about as they can go in that area, it makes sense that it's thinking about bringing the gearbox back. Fulgenzi said this would involve 'limiting performance' to manage the heavy clutch. If Ferrari does bring back the manual, don't expect it to be available line-wide. Fulgenzi made clear that the option would not be available on the company's standard production models. Instead, it would only be available on its more exclusive releases, like the Icona series. 'Probably an Icona car, because it's a car that represents our heritage, a car to be admired and to be driven in a certain way,' he said. Fulgazi also revealed that the marque hasn't reached this softened stance on its own. Unsurprisingly, the executive says that 'customers are already asking' for the company to bring back the manual. It's not hard to imagine a gated manual making the next Icona model even more desirable. Not that the seven-figure cars need much help on that front. At the very least, this all sounds like good news for Ferrari Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who, earlier this season, expressed interest in helping the marque build an F40 tribute—with a manual. Best of Robb Report The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Toyota is sticking with ICE and manuals indefinitely
Toyota already offers several choices when it comes to rowing your own gears. The GR86, Supra, the outside-the-US-only GR Yaris, and the GR Corolla hatchback all offer a six-speed manual transmission and fully rely on petrol power. The good news is that the brand will continue to favor fans of the manual transmission, at least for the foreseeable future.'There is still room to satisfy dyed in the wool performance car lovers,' said Sean Hanley in an interview with Australian outlet Carsales. Hanley is VP of Sales and Marketing for Toyota in the land Down Under, and he's sure there's still a thriving market for enthusiast-focused vehicles that rely on internal combustion and good ol' self-shifting fun. 'Combustion engines and manual transmissions will be around for a long, long time,' he says. Hanley was specific in mentioning that it would be the brand's GR sub-brand that handles most of the heavy lifting here, which makes sense given the existing product line. We're not sure there's much clamoring for a manual Highlander, after all. He also highlighted a special Yaris M Concept that touted a mid-engine configuration, which has led some to deduce that the legendary MR2's return is as sure a thing as it has ever been. While he was clearly aligning himself with traditional enthusiasts passionate about 'that snap, crackle and pop we all love so much," Hanley says the brand is far from discounting electrification entirely. He claims that engaging and performance focused EVs will 'no doubt' appear in the future, though no specifics were given past that. Hanley also stated that GR is considering expanding their performance parts catalog as another area to grow the even gave a nod to hydrogen as the potential fuel of the enthusiast's future. He made a remark alluding to the fact that internal combustion engines could include hydrogen-fueled ones. Toyota and BMW are the two brands most frequently associated with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCV), but automakers like Hyundai and Honda have skin in the game, too. His hydrogen sidebar is even more intriguing when you consider that Toyota has already paired a manual gearbox with a hydrogen burning mill. The fascinating GR Corolla H2 Concept is a competition race car sporting a converted liquid hydrogen fueling system. Liquid hydrogen is easier and quicker to pump than its gas form, but poses some unique challenges. Most of them revolve around storing and pumping something that only exists in conditions under -253 degrees Celsius (-423 Fahrenheit). Rumors abound about the future of Toyota performance vehicles. From the ever-persistent allegations of a returning Celica to a joint project with Mazda and mythical MR2 successor, there's no shortage of speculation. The product roadmap is really anyone's guess, because Toyota certainly isn't saying anything specific. But as long as there's a manual transmission in it, we're happy to patiently – and eagerly – wait. Love reading Autoblog? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get exclusive articles, insider insights, and the latest updates delivered right to your inbox. Click here to sign up now!
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ford's Raptors Won't Go Electric or PHEV Anytime Soon, Insiders Say
Ford offers some excellent electrified powertrains (and one full electric one, too) across its vast pickup lineup, but one place you don't see electrification taking place yet is in the off-road Raptor lineup. Don't expect it to happen anytime soon, either. A recent report from Australia's Carsales delves into the timing of an electric Raptor, suggesting it'll happen one day — but that day is aways off. 'Inevitable at some time in the future that there will be electrified offerings [of Raptor] … but we're still working through what that means,' Ford's head of the International Markets Group Kay Hart said. Keep in mind that Hart speaks for all sorts of Ford's international markets, but the U.S. is not under that umbrella; the Raptor sold in those markets is the Ranger Raptor, though, a truck now sold here in the United States. Hart says the Raptor will continue to deliver better and more refined internal combustion engines in the short term, but puts no timeframe on when electrification might begin. How Ford might go about injecting electrification into Raptor models on the road to full electrification is another open question. Justin Capicchiano, Ford Performance, SVE program manager, spoke about the downsides of a plug-in hybrid. 'A straightforward PHEV is probably not going to let you deliver what you want to do,' Capicchiano told Carsales. 'You have to put that battery somewhere, and the logical position is going to be somewhere out the back, and that's going to impact your off-road capability.' It's not as though Ford's Raptor models are prime examples of Colin Chapman's maxim of simplify and add lightness, but adding on poundage without performance is an additional worry. 'Any battery-based system, you are looking at what the performance is like when the battery gets degraded,' Capicchiano said. 'Does it overcome the weight of the battery when the battery gets depleted?' The large batteries and electric motors that make up a plug-in hybrid system add huge amounts of weight to cars – just ask the latest BMW M5. And once you run dry of electric power, you're lugging around a huge battery, hurting both performance and efficiency. That doesn't rule out the path of a traditional hybrid like the F-150 PowerBoost, however; while it doesn't offer the electric-only driving range a PHEV provides, the weight penalty is much less from its smaller battery. For now, at least, we're happy to continue pounding around in the sand with Ford's V6- and V8-powered Raptors for as long as Ford lets us. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Did Hyundai Just Tease a Production Version of the N Vision 74?
It's wise to not get your hopes up too high about any shred of Hyundai N Vision 74 news. Conflicting rumors and reports about the hydrogen-powered retro-modern sports car have it feeling more like a ping-pong ball than a car — and now, there's yet another morsel of evidence that it might exist. A Monday preview for Hyundai's new documentary, 'The Great Heritage: CAR,' features a shot of what could very well be a blurred prototype of the N Vision 74. First brought to our attention by Australia's Carsales, the subject appears for just an instant toward the end of the documentary teaser alongside the un-blurred N Vision 74 Concept car, rotating in sync with the prototype. It's difficult to tell much about the blurred vehicle in the video, but its general shape mimics the lines and proportions of the retro-futuristic N Vision 74 Concept. The only bit that sticks out as clearly visible is an aggressive front chin spoiler. It's not an exact copy of the concept, but it sure does look close. The wedge-like nose also sticks out prominently in the same fashion as the concept car, though there doesn't appear to be an enormous rear wing. That'd be an expected loss from concept to production. (But even if it's not standard, we'd love to have an optional wing to make the production car look like the concept.) The stainless steel-like appearance of the concept is also traded for a coat of bright red paint, but that's the last detail we can make out from the obfuscated image. What does this mean? Well, it pushes more doubt to last year's report we saw from South Korean outlet iNews24 that claimed the N Vision 74 project was cancelled. That report from September was just one of the many back-and-forths we've seen in the frenzy around the sports car. As for the documentary, episode one is already out on Korea's WAVVE platform, and it's safe to say the N Vision 74 is definitely going to be an ongoing topic of discusssion. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
