Modern cars look like they come from an alternate future

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By: Sergiu Tudose

There's something vaguely unsettling about the Hyundai IONIQ 6 parked across the street from my home. It's not that it's ugly, because it's not. I think it's more interesting than ugly, per se. What bothers me about it is that it makes me feel as though I'm experiencing some sort of temporal anomaly.

It looks ridiculous parked between a 2018 Mazda3 and a late model Audi A4. Again, it's not ugly. But it just doesn't belong here. And it's not just the Hyundai. It's the BMW 7 Series / i7. It's the Cybertruck. It's the Lucid Air. The Gravity. The Ferrari Luce. Audi Nuvolari. EQ-Brand Mercedes models. And now, the new Neue Klasse BMWs are heading in that direction too.

We've somehow reached the point where normal production cars look like something out of a Hollywood movie in which the action takes place in the year 2060. It's like we've skipped over what the 2020s were supposed to be in terms of automotive design and arrived at a temporal junction inhabited by all these cars that were never meant to evolve past their concept phase.

You can't refer to these designs as "modern", because that ship has sailed. It's not even the right word. You'd have to call them "futuristic". But what even is that? It's cool when one or two cars are futuristic.

But when the entire industry shifts toward designs that have no business existing in this decade? The term I'd use is "unsettling". It's just weird. It's an industry at odds with itself, constantly overcorrecting in a desperate attempt to keep up with unhealthy outliers.

I know you're waiting for me to talk about the Jaguar Type 01, and I will. In a minute. Let me get more of this stuff off my chest first.

Looking back to the 1980s, car designers certainly knew how to draw something futuristic - from the Ford Probe concept all the way to the Peugeot Quasar or the Italdesign Aztec. Those were never going to make it into production. The designers were just flexing.

But nowadays? If you can dream it, you can build it... and that's not the healthiest of habits when it comes to consumer products that rely heavily on brand continuity and tradition.

Concept cars have always had an important job to do. They were meant to show us a possible design direction for the brand, as well as where designers thought cars might eventually go from a visual standpoint. It was a completely different job than that of production cars, which were meant to keep us anchored in the present while looking to the future, but only ever so slightly.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Cristian Agatie

Tesla has been trying hard to convince European regulators that its Full Self-Driving software is safe and should be approved across the EU. All its statistics and all the pressure from both the carmaker and its European fans couldn't convince everyone that FSD should be approved. A vote scheduled for October 6 has been postponed, with European regulators citing misleading names and disregard for speed limits.

The Netherlands was the first country to grant Tesla FSD an EU Type Approval in April. Since then, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Croatia mirrored the Dutch RDW's approval. However, heavyweights like France, Germany, Spain, Italy, or the UK have not followed suit. Without their support, a vote on Tesla FSD at the European Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) was postponed until December. 

Since the RDW's approval in April, Tesla has been running social media campaigns to pressure European regulators. Elon Musk has insisted that officials opposing FSD approval have blood on their hands, and FSD could save thousands of lives. A recent Reuters report unveiled the scale of Tesla pressure campaign to influence FSD approval in European countries. 

Besides pressuring the regulators, the report revealed how Tesla doctored statistics about the crashes its FSD system allegedly prevented. The carmaker compared data produced by FSD-equipped Tesla cars driven by its own professional drivers to Tesla cars driven without FSD by regular owners across Europe.

Eventually, some regulators caved to the pressure, while others were unconvinced. The most criticized FSD flaws were speeding and insufficient driver monitoring. Tesla did, in fact, change its software in Europe to allow drivers to adjust speed limits, something that North American FSD users can't. It also enforced stricter driver monitoring on European cars to appease local regulators.

The next TCMV meeting will take place in December, and many Tesla fans believe FSD will finally get approved. The carmaker has tried hard to sway Germany to vote in favor of FSD, and it's now confident it did just that. Earlier this week, reports indicated that Germany's Federal Ministry for Transport (BMV) caved to Tesla's pressure after securing several concessions.

Specifically, the BMV wanted Tesla to change the FSD name, with "Tesla Assisted Driving" as a proposed alternative. Another requirement was to restrict FSD so it only exceeds the posted speed limits by up to 10%. If Tesla accepts, Germany would support the European approval process "as quickly as possible." Speeding has been flagged as the most important issue that made FSD approval a non-starter for many European authorities.

Unsurprisingly, the American carmaker jumped at the opportunity, and the Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) name stuck. It permeated Tesla's marketing materials across Europe almost immediately. This gives you an idea of how desperate Tesla is to get its automated driving system approved in Europe. Even if that means upsetting its die-hard fans, who already invented new words starting with the letter R to turn the acronym into "TARD." Don't ask me why.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Alex Oagana

For at least five consecutive generations, the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class have pretty much defined what a compact executive sedan should be. That said, this specific fight is arguably one of the most balanced ones in the automotive world, where neither carmaker has ever established a constant or definitive superiority over the other,

Every seven years or so we get a new 3 Series, the original champion and from some perspective the originator of the segment it sits in, and in recent times it usually coincides with a mid-cycle facelift for the C-Class. The year 2026 is a bit special, though, because both Mercedes-Benz and BMW have unveiled the first-ever all-electric versions of their compact executive sedans.

Not entirely unexpected, the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class electric (W520) and the new BMW i3 (NA0) are some of the most technically divergent direct rivals from the two companies, despite competing for the same buyers, and in the same size and price brackets. They do have a lot of similarities between them as well, such as both using dedicated technical platforms instead of being based on their combustion-powered brothers.

Taking a deep dive through their specifications is where their different engineering ideas become more apparent. The Mercedes-Benz is larger, heavier, but also faster and more powerful at equivalent specification levels. The BMW is smaller and lighter, which in theory should make it handle sportier, but chooses efficiency and range as its calling cards instead of straightline performance or comfort.

With that in mind, each model has its specific strengths and weaknesses, especially when compared to each other, as if both Stuttgart’s and Munich’s engineers had prior knowledge about the other one’s project and tried very hard not to copy each other. The philosophy behind the C-Class electric isn’t a new one for Mercedes, as most of their cars have always prioritized comfort and luxury, while most BMWs have traditionally had a reasonably higher dose of sporty handling compared to their rivals..

This situation makes it both easy and hard to compare the two new electric sedans, especially since a lot of sales, and subsequent profits, rest on their shoulders. Apart from their SUV brothers, unsurprisingly sharing the same platforms, the C-Class electric and the new i3 are arguably the most important models from the two German arch rivals. That said, I decided to really dive into each of their available versions and see which has the upper hand in the most crucial areas.

Power and Performance: How The Turntables Have Turned

Historically speaking, at least when it comes to their mainstream, non-performance models, BMWs have usually offered a tad more performance than their three-pointed star competitors. That paradigm has completely shifted when it came to the Mercedes-Benz GLC electric and the second-generation BMW iX3, with every version of the Merc so far being more powerful and quicker than the BMW.

Considering the C-Class electric and the i3 sedan share their SUV brothers’ platforms, the situation is identical here, and it doesn’t even matter if we’re talking about the less expensive C 300 4Matic vs the i3 40 xDrive or the top of the range versions of the two.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Aurel Niculescu

The Hyundai Tucson compact crossover SUV was born in 2004, and to showcase the South Korean’s incipient global ambitions, it was named after a far-away place, namely the city of Tucson, Arizona, in the United States of America. The initial years were tough, and the second-generation model was even marketed under a different name (iX35) in markets like the Old Continent, Australia, and China.

The model eventually settled into its own after the third generation, and as Hyundai’s global ambitions grew larger, the best-selling Tucson compact crossover SUV also became a lot bolder than before. While the first and second generations were primarily aimed at the entry-level customers of compact CUVs, the third generation went a little further and started acting like it could fight the grands on equal footing.

However, the styling was a little too bland and generic to win the hearts of everyone, so Hyundai decided to stand out in any crowd with the NX4 model introduced in 2020 that completely reworked all perceptions regarding the affordable and comfortable Hyundai Tucson. With its quirky front design and sculpted profile plus a sloping rear, it became a styling statement for the entire lineup.

Now, to show that Hyundai isn’t afraid of change, forget everything you know about the current 2026 Hyundai Tucson because the 2027 model year gets a complete redesign that actually makes it completely different from the previous iteration. It’s larger and boxier, has a completely new interior, and also has up to 288 horsepower.

As if Hyundai is about to let the Tucson star in the upcoming Blade Runner 2099 Sci-Fi limited series or another Robocop reboot, the exterior of the 2027 Tucson looks prime for a dystopian Cyberpunk-style future. The cool thing is that Hyundai is bringing the 2027 Tucson right now to market – before the end of the year at home in South Korea and early 2027 in North America.

The crossover is now edgier than ever, a lot boxier and roomier than its predecessor, and so rugged that even the XRT Pro model doesn’t look too different from the regular version. The length is now 185 inches (almost 470 cm), up by 2.3 inches or 5.84 cm, and the wheelbase has grown to 109.6 inches or 278.4 cm. There’s also more width (75 inches or 190.5 cm), and the doors open 10 degrees more, to 83 degrees.

It’s also taller, of course, to keep the proportions, and trunk space is now 41.7 cu. ft. (1,067 liters) with a 60:40 split-folding rear seat configuration. Of note, wheel options range from 17 to 20 inches now, and those edge-to-edge LEDs front and rear are massive ‘H’ letters, of course, to establish once again the company’s identity. On the outside, the changes are so massive that it’s going to be a tough sell to previous-generation owners, for sure.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Mircea Panait

Ferrari's latest prototype to be spied on public roads isn't your usual development vehicle due to fluorescent streaks. Those flow-vis paint marks tell us more about its development than the red camouflage that covers the front and rear ends of the 296 Challenge Stradale, an upcoming Fezza that borrows many of the motorsport-spec goodies the Prancing Horse debuted on the internal combustion-only 296 Challenge.

Pictured in Germany, the heavily camouflaged prototype is bigger on downforce and cooling than the plug-in hybrid 296 Speciale and the first iteration of the V6-powered supercar. The flow-vis paint, which is especially obvious in the rear aerodynamic diffuser area, works in a similar fashion to the fluorescent paint used by the Scuderia in Formula 1.

Beyond the Challenge-inspired exterior updates, the biggest question remains what actually hides in the engine compartment. If the 296 Challenge Stradale is purely internal combustion with a sprinkle of additional carbon-fiber elements for good measure, then look forward to the lightest road-going 296 entitled to wear license plates.

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The carparazzi also spotted the 2027 Hyundai Tucson-twinned 2028 Kia Sportage, and just like its brother, layers of camo hide a more upright design. Based on the proportions alone, the next iteration has the makings of the most substantial design change in Sportage history. It all starts with the flatter nose, sharper roofline, and more angular pillars.

Boxier than ever before, the redesigned Sportage is expected with an Y-shaped front lighting signature. A connecting light bar may be featured as well. At the rear, a pair of vertical taillights would help the front-biased crossover look more like a proper sport utility vehicle. The all-new Sportage, however, shouldn't be viewed as a Tucson with different badges and slightly altered lights.

The Kia has its own design language, preserving a distinct character across the lineup from Hyundai. Regarding powertrain choices, a 1.6-liter turbo inline-four with either hybrid or plug-in hybrid assistance will definitely help the Sportage fend off the electrified versions of the segment-leading Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. In the US market, dealers will get this crossover as a 2028 model.

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If hybrids aren't to your liking, bad news! The facelifted BMW M5 is still a plug-in hybrid, and the latest spy photos reveal a substantial makeover that borrows heavily from the Neue Klasse design language. In stark contrast to the new 3 Series and its battery-powered equivalent, the M5 interprets the Neue Klasse design language more conservatively.

Compared to both Neue Klasse models and the outgoing pre-facelift, the M5 dons a cleaner fascia with slightly different openings in the lower bumper. The lights are slimmer, and there is no denying that BMW has also given the M5 a different lighting signature. With a bit of luck, yellow running lights may be on the menu. Its twin-turbo V8, plug-in system, and M xDrive are all expected to carry over with little in the way of updates.

The current model produces a combined 717 horsepower and 738 pound-feet (1,000 Newton-meters) on premium-grade dinosaur brew, and all four tires are already having a hard time handling that kind of torque and the M5's sheer weight. As such, BMW is predisposed to focus on the handling side of the biz and the Neue Klasse tech-heavy cabin. And yes, prepared to bid farewell to the rotary iDrive controller we all know and love.

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A very interesting design that is perfectly fine to either hate or love, the very first electric vehicle from Jaguar has inspired an unofficial rendering of something that should not work. That something is the Range Rover Type 01 luxury sedan by Luca Serafini, who has taken the Jaguar Type 01's low roofline, broad proportions, and long hood to create this design study.

Only a few visible changes make a world of difference from the production model, shifting the car's identity from Jaguar to Range Rover. Looking at the bigger picture, this rendering also harks back to the Road Rover prototypes that civilized the old Land Rover series of body-on-frame 4x4s, a project that ultimately resulted in the Range Rover's rollout in 1970.

A surprising change introduced by the pixel artist is the adoption of a rear window, an update that brings the Range Rover-branded vehicle closer to actual sedans than fastback-style models with either four or five doors. Jaguar omits a rear window to achieve an uninterrupted aesthetic, maintaining the clean yet bold design previewed by the Type 00 concept. Naturally, the road-going Jaguar uses a digital camera feed because of it.

By: Bogdan Popa

Pioneer is back in action, and this time, it’s thanks to new-gen toys. First, the company took the wraps off a dash cam that includes a location sharing button. This idea makes perfect sense. If you’re involved in an accident and need urgent help, you can press this button on the dash cam and have it send a text message to an emergency contact via your phone.

Second, Pioneer unveiled an Android Auto and CarPlay screen that even your grandma can install. While aftermarket receivers require professional installation, this new product can just be placed on your dashboard, connected to power using the lighter socket, and that’s it. It supports both wired and wireless Android Auto and CarPlay.

Speaking of Android Auto, there’s finally some good news for users out there: Netflix is now available on Android Auto thanks to a genius app that uses Chrome to provide easy access to the web-based UI of the streaming service. The wavy progress bar borrowed from the Google Pixel is still there, Google says, so if the feature disappeared, it’s because of the developer who created your media app.

Congratulations for reaching the finish line!

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