| QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I love this car. With it, I tremble with cold in winter and I die of heat in summer. It is in perfect osmosis with my nature and with my workshop installed at the bottom of a wood.” Japanese illustrator extraordinaire Hayao Miyazaki, revered in his home country (think of him as the Japanese Walt Disney) on his latest Citroën 2CV. He’s owned several 2CVs and has driven one to work every day for 40 years.
DON'T LOOK NOW
… But even more (and bigger) SUVs are on the way. GMC introduced its 2021 Yukon, Yukon XL and Yukon AT4. Compared to the outgoing model, the new Yukons are slightly larger and have more cargo room. The exterior is sleeker with a larger grille (what’s up with all these ginormous grilles?!?), and the interior looks more upscale. The AT4 trim is new, adding skidplates, a two-speed transfer case, 20-inch Goodyear all-terrain tires, hill-descent control and an off-rode mode for what GMC calls the Traction Select system. The new Yukon goes on sale this summer.
Hyundai’s luxury arm Genesis finally gets its new crossover, the long-awaited GV80, also coming later this year. The design is a collaboration between Genesis Advanced Design Studio in Germany, the U.S. and South Korea. The GV80 goes on sale later this year in the red-hot midsize luxury crossover wars, taking on BMW’s X5, Mercedes’ GLE and Audi’s Q7 and the sales-leading Lexus RX.
HUMMMMMMM
Speaking of GMC, word is the Hummer name is returning—as GMC’s EV sub-brand. Hummer left us in 2010, and it looks like this time, rather than a stand-alone GM brand, GMC is going to sell electric pickup trucks called Hummers, built at the company’s Hamtramck plant. The EVs could go on sale 2021 or 2022—just in time to battle electric pickups from Ford, Rivian, Bollinger and more. We might not have to wait long to see the Hummer: GM might reveal the truck to the world in a 2020 Super Bowl ad spot featuring LeBron James, no less! Watch for it on Feb. 2.
RACING LINES
The NHRA Pro Stock class is losing a champion after the 2020 season: Three-time champ Jason Line is stepping away from his Summit Racing Camaro. Line, 50, won the 2006, 2011 and 2016 titles. He has 51 NHRA wins, 49 in Pro Stock and two in the Sportsman class. After this season, he plans to work his magic building and tuning engines for Pro Stock and Sportsman-class cars for Ken Black Racing.
NASCAR hopes to get its new-for-2021 cars to teams this July. The 2021 car has more changes than any single iteration of what came before it. Hoping to get more manufacturers involved, NASCAR is looking at using a spec chassis, allowing V6 engines and some hybrid technology, a sequential gearbox, independent rear suspension and more.
CAR NEWS AND NOTES
Sweet!! Porsche introduced two new 718 models available to order and coming this summer, the 718 Boxster and Cayman GTS. Sportier than the standard 718s in most every regard, the models start with a 4.0-liter flat-six, producing 394 hp and 309 lb-ft of torque. The cars hit 60 mph from rest in just 4.3 seconds, and top speed is 182 mph. No pricing yet, but the outgoing GTS starts at more than $80,000, so we’re guessing around $90,000. If the drive delivers what the specs promise, it’s worth it.
Last October, we reported on the Mark 8 VW Golf, and now comes word the GTI version is going to be shown at the Geneva show in March with the mighty Golf R shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. VW confirmed those are the only two models we’ll get. Power for the base GTI is around 242 hp, with a hotter 287-hp performance model optional. The Golf R is surely getting a bump over the outgoing model’s 288 hp. A 300-plus output (!!) seems inevitable.
It looks like Ford’s oft-rumored Bronco is going to show its grille at the Detroit show this spring. The Ranger-based Wrangler fighter should have either a removable roof or removable roof panels. We expect Ford’s 2.3-liter turbo-four and an available twin-turbo V6, four-wheel drive, a low range and off-road tires. We can only hope for a Raptor version.
WHAT WE'RE DRIVING
Digital guru Andrew Stoy flew 84,859,058,390 hours round trip to Oman so he could spend a day in Aston Martin’s new SUV, the DBX. Yes, I just said “Aston Martin” and “SUV” in the same sentence. The apocalypse is indeed nigh, but as Stoy explains, an Aston SUV is easier to swallow than, say, a Lamborghini Urus.
Managing editor Robin Warner got to try the new Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, a plug-in hybrid using a 3.0-liter turbo, an electric motor and a 14.1-kWh battery. Total system output is 455 hp/516 lb-ft. The crossover can hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, goes about 20 miles on electricity and averages around 25 mpg combined city/highway. Warner reports the Cayenne is comfy and drives well and—bonus!—can also tow up to 7,716 pounds.
SOME ODDS, MOSTLY ENDS
17BenBricks’ Bentley Blower in Lego, commemorating the company’s rich, record-setting ’20s and ’30s racing history, is one of the cooler Lego sets we’ve seen lately. The scale model has a detailed engine with a working crankshaft and a working steering wheel, and it even has positive wheel camber, just like the real cars. Naturally, the Bentley is dark green and has the British flag and racing numbers. The car is a Lego Ideas project, and it needs 10,000 votes on the Lego Ideas website. Then Legos evaluates the model to see if it can go into production. Fingers crossed.
Barrett-Jackson CEO Craig Jackson rescued a car called Little Red from the North Texas field it had sat in for 20 years. Who cares, you say? Little Red is one of two prototype Shelby GT500 Mustangs. It’s restored and on display alongside the Green Hornet, another GT500 prototype, at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona.
LISTEN UP
Be sure to check out the Autoweek podcast episode 92. Natalie Neff joins Andrew Stoy, Graham Kozak and Wesley Wren to tackle this week’s ‘Autoweek Talks’ topic: time. Graham spins a yarn about vintage clock restoration and the gang tackles what decade was most important for the modern car. Then Wesley joins Wes Raynal and Mark Vaughn to talk about Mark’s trip to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Mark guides us through what he saw at the show. Later the guys dissect Sony’s entry into the automotive realm. Wrapping the show, Patrick Carone joins Stoy, Kozak and Wren in the studio to talk about his time with a Mercedes-Benz SL500, and the group reviews the new Nissan Titan and the BMW 840i.
WHAT’S AHEAD
Make sure to check in with autoweek.com this weekend for all the latest racing notes and news from our never-say-sleep motorsports team, including coverage of the Chili Bowl live from Tulsa.
--Wes Raynal, Editor
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