Unless youve been living under an especially virulent rock, it will not have escaped your notice that Ford introduced the all-electric Mustang Mach-E earlier this week in Los Angeles. Any serious entrant into the EV market is a big deal these days, especially one from the Detroit Three, a group frequently accused (sometimes unfairly) of being perpetually behind the eight-ball.This alone would have undoubtedly set tongues wagging. Once the build team confirmed they decided to call this all-electric crossover a Mustang, the conversation went into orbit.Public reaction was as swift as it was predictable. Online comments from the Twitterverse ranged from an SUV is not a Mustang, to this will not resonate. One user proclaimed the Mustang Mach E to be an Edsel-level failure in terms of marketing, a comment that will surely sting anyone at the Blue Oval whos read that particular case study.Now that its been revealed, how do you feel about Ford calling the Mach-E a Mustang? #MustangMachE driving.ca (@drivingdotca) November 18, 2019The EV Association of Alberta, not exactly a group given to wild and untamed pronouncements, said on Twitter Ford certainly took a risk naming it after the iconic sports car at a minimum, it has sparked much conversation. We hope the vehicle sells for Ford, but perhaps a different name would have avoided alienating a large number of Ford fansThat statement is one of the more measured and thoughtful weve seen; its also the most correct. Ford did take a plunge into the unknown by affixing the Mustang name to this car, a decision that has indeed sparked much conversation. There is a case to be made Ford knew it needed all the buzz they could get after all, the Glass House does not enjoy the same rabid fan base as a certain other EV company whose name begins with T and ends in esla.In a sidebar with Automotive News, it apparently took a great deal of convincing to get Bill Ford himself on board with calling the Mach-E a Mustang. I certainly wasnt sold at the beginning far from it, said Ford to AN. I said, No, Im sorry, I dont want to hurt the brand. This is not going to be a Mustang.So what changed? A lap in an early prototype, apparently. After absorbing the specs on paper, Bill Ford said he saw the performance characteristics and driving dynamics evolve as time went on to the point where he could concede Yeah, this is a Mustang.Not everyone was on board, apparently. Our own feet on the ground during the cars introduction told us that, during the product presentation, Ford copped to the fact a few Mustang boffins within the company were decidedly hands-off. When a reporter asked You selected a pretty wide and talented team of previous Mustang engineers to work on this Mach-E. Were there any that were asked to work on the project and refused? the answer from Ford was Oh, definitely, an admission that definitely falls in the category of Things That Make You Go Hmmm.Vintage behind-the-scenes photograph of Carroll Shelby and the Ford Mustang SHELB-E during the filming of Ford vs Tesla. (Non colorized) pic.twitter.com/SmT7nAm6xd McMike (@_McMike_) November 19, 2019Theres been a proliferation of nicknames for the SUV already, including the obvious papier mâché pun, plus suggestions for alternatives. If the petition to change the name from “Mustang Mach E” reaches the ears of higher-ups at FoMoCo, perhaps theyll consider instead calling it the Lincoln Mark-E, or, as writer Rory Carroll offered on Twitter, the Galax-E.Well leave the final word to jokester McMike on Twitter, who mashed up a photo of a young Carroll Shelby standing next to the Mach-E. A pair of EV crossovers, both with boatloads of chutzpah and similar all-electric range? Ford vs. Tesla,
Origin: Wild horses: The internet reacts to Ford’s 2021 Mustang Mach-E
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Bugatti Chiron breaks the internet – and top speed records – by nailing 490 km/h
Bugatti has just smashed the record for the fastest production car by a country mile, pulling off an incredible 304.77-mph (490-km/h) top speed run at Volkswagens Ehra-Lessien test track August 2, reports Top Gear.To complete this incredible feat, the production Chiron was modified with a 25-cm-longer tail section, highlighted by a pair of over-under shotgun-style exhaust tips designed to throw emissions from the tailpipe as far from the car as possible to reduce turbulence.Bugattis head of exterior design, Frank Heyl, said, for obvious reasons, the company had to get everything right with this car, from the aesthetics to the engine to the aerodynamics.While the aesthetics may be the least important factor when it comes to breaking speed records, the car looks fabulous, with a split rear window and an orange-and-black colour scheme lifted, we think, from an authentic 1930s Bugatti Type 57.The luxurious interior of this way-fast Chiron has been swapped out for a much more purposeful arrangement, with only the drivers seat left intact; everything else has been replaced with computers and a roll cage.The 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine has been slightly tuned up to 1,600 horsepower, which is why Bugatti gave the car the nickname Thor.The real hero here is Michelin, which was finally able to make a tire that could withstand the high speeds and incredible down force.We expect other supercar makers will, eventually, catch up with Bugatti, but that doesnt really matter anymore, because the French brand is retiring from setting speed records; in a release, CEO Stephan Winkelmann said he wants to focus on other automotive milestones instead.Our goal was to be the first manufacturer ever to reach the magic 300-mile-per-hour mark, Winkelmann was quoted. We have now achieved this making ourselves, the entire team and myself, incredibly proud.We have shown several times that we build the fastest cars in the world. In the future we will focus on other
Origin: Bugatti Chiron breaks the internet – and top speed records – by nailing 490 km/h
The 2020 Corvette C8 reveal nearly broke the Internet
The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8Chevrolet It hasn’t even hit streets yet, and the 2020 Corvette C8 is already breaking records for GM.In fact, it was the very act of revealing it that led to the first record. On July 18, GM revealed the first ever mid-engined ‘Vette in an online event, and the traffic generated was almost too much for the automaker’s websites. The livestream stalled at times due to the 471,000 people watching around the world, and as soon as Chevy announced the “Visualizer” configurator was up on the site, it too was nearly drawn to a grind for almost a day by a continual flood of users. The day after the reveal, with the C8 live on the site, Chevrolet.com welcomed more visitors than any other day in its history, and five times more than the daily norm. “With a pretty rabid and passionate base, we knew we’d take 24 hours of grief,” Steve Majoros, director of Chevrolet passenger car and crossover marketing, told Roadshow. “The majority of people got the full (configurator) experience, which is the full 3D experience. We do have a way that the system throttles to what we’re calling a 2D experience (to speed load time). Once we hit thresholds, we worked with Amazon Web Services very quickly to double our server capacity.” The Corvette page on Chevrolet.com continued to garner the clicks for the rest of July, too, earning 2.4 million visits between the 18 and the end of the month. So did the Visualizer — some 1.3 million people spent over 152,000 hours configuring over 940,000 C8s before August 1. Have your tried the Visualizer? If not, click your way around your own digital Corvette C8 here.
Origin: The 2020 Corvette C8 reveal nearly broke the Internet
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