When it comes to vehicle wheels, bigger is almost certainly better. Better handling and better looks is a good enough reason for large-diameter wheels on almost any vehicle, but how big is too big? According to Audi, weve almost reached critical mass already.The latest Audi vehicles all come with huge wheels a set of gigantic 23-inch units, in fact, can be found on the RS Q8.The A6 has optional 21-inch rims, and the 2020 RS 6 Avant is available with 22-inch wheels as an option.But wheels larger than 23 inches make no sense, Audi design boss Marc Lichte told Motor Authority last week. Package wise, I would say this is definitely close to the limit.Ask GM, however, and itll say 23-inch wheels are just the start. Were headed towards 24- and 26-inch wheels, General Motors design boss Michael Simcoe predicted while speaking on the Brembo Red podcast. He also mentioned that 18- and 19-inch wheels are now considered small by modern standards.Concept cars are all drawn with almost comically large wheels in the first place, so it was only natural wed see them finally make it into the production versions.So who do you think will come out right in these forecasts? Will consumers heed the Germans logic, and stop wheel sizes at 23 inches; or will we take the donk route the American suggests and make Bigfoot-sized wheels commonplace?Take Our Poll
Origin: Audi designer suggests wheel size has peaked, but GM thinks 26-inchers coming
suggests
SUV demand could negate environmental benefit of EVs, study suggests
2019 Nissan KicksNissan With federal elections on the horizon, the issue of climate change is top of mind for many Canadians. Well, here’s a bit of news for those climate change activists driving SUVs. A new analysis performed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests that environmental progress made by the shift to electric vehicles may be offset by the rising demand for SUVs. Commentary on the study notes even with major automakers projecting a tenfold increase in annual EV sales by 2030, and a general slackening of sales of internal-combustion-engine vehicles, the rise of SUVs alone, which consume on average a quarter more energy than smaller cars, is enough to cancel out the benefits of the other shifts. For perspective, there were over 200 million SUVs on the planet in 2018; in 2010, there were only 35 million. That means, over those eight years, SUVs accounted for some 60 per cent of the increase in the world’s cars.The author calls this move a “silent structural change,” claiming the SUV sector was the second-largest contributor to all CO2 emissions from 2010-2018. Better than the power sector, but worse than iron, steel, trucks or aviation. “If consumers’ appetite for SUVs continues to grow at a similar pace seen in the last decade, SUVs would add nearly 2 million barrels a day in global oil demand by 2040, offsetting the savings from nearly 150 million electric cars,” says the study.Kind of puts a new perspective on your Toyota 4Runner, doesn’t
Origin: SUV demand could negate environmental benefit of EVs, study suggests
Watch: video suggests you’re paying for car wheel spokes you don’t need
When trying to explain the physics behind driving a car, you can go the charts-diagrams-and-calculations route or you can go the tinkering-until-something-breaks route.When it comes to answering the questions Can you drive a car on a wheel with all but three spokes cut out? Two spokes? One? Russian YouTuber Garage 54 chose the latter, pulling off an interesting and, uh, scientific experiment by completely destroying some old rims.His YouTube channel works basically like a Russian car-themed Mythbusters — we really dig the clip where he tries driving a Lada with four engines strapped end-to-end.But more than that one, we dig his most recent video. It starts with a bunch of junk, some mismatched wheels and a question: how many spokes can you cut out and still drive?After being fitted to the car, each of the three wheels receives some added lightness by way of removing the spokes, one by one. First, a six-spoke wheel is cut down to three; a 16-spoke is cut down to eight; and an eight-spoke cut down to four.None of the wheels seem to notice the lack of structure, and perform their job dutifully. Its when the wheels start to become more asymmetrical that problems start to occur, and Garage54 keeps cutting at the rims until there is only one spoke left on each.The conclusion? Its amazing what kind of forces the single spoke of an alloy car wheel can take when put under some pretty extreme stresses. Eventually, all the wheels are destroyed, but, surprisingly, they lasted a pretty long time. Obviously, absent the aforementioned charts and diagrams, we cant really go into the details of the forces acting upon any part of the wheels at a given point.But its safe to say the video is entertaining and that maybe you can afford to get away with a couple fewer spokes on your
Origin: Watch: video suggests you’re paying for car wheel spokes you don’t need
Porsche exec suggests next-gen 718 could be AWD, electric
At the recent unveiling of its all-electric Taycan, Porsche announced that by 2025, half of all its models worldwide would have some form of electrification.But we didnt expect this one: according to hints from a Porsche exec who talked to Top Gear, the next generation of the 718 Boxster and Cayman could be powered entirely by batteries.The 718 just fits EV, doesnt it? The next generation of these cars would be a good time to go all-electric, the magazine quotes Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the board.Furthermore, Meschke replied to a question about all-wheel drive with Yes, it needs to be, that makes sense, even though the platform has forever been rear-wheel-driven, as the driving gods intended.The automaker has been adding plug-in hybrid technology to its models for a while, of course, and along with unveiling the Mission E concept that prefaced the Taycan, Porsche took the wraps off the battery-powered Cayman E-volution concept car a couple of years back at an electric vehicle symposium in Stuttgart.It basically looked like a stock Cayman with some green badges, but the company stressed that it was just another EV development project and wouldnt go into production. And of course the Taycan isnt going to stand alone. A wagon version of it, the Taycan Cross Turismo, will come toward the end of 2020. After that, an all-electric Macan is expected to arrive in 2022. Meschke confirmed the current gas-powered Macan will initially be sold alongside it, but will be dropped after a couple of years.The Cayenne and Panamera are also planned for full electricity, but so far, theres been no word on replacing the dino-juice engine in the 911 for something that plugs into the wall. It seems even Porsche must realize that some things are
Origin: Porsche exec suggests next-gen 718 could be AWD, electric
Mazda developing ‘RX-9’ sports car, new patent suggests
A chassis design patent filed last week by Mazda suggests the company is developing a successor to the rotary-powered RX-8 sports car. As reported by Japan’s Motor Magazine, the ‘Vehicle Shock Absorption Structure’ appears to show a spaceframe-style structure unlike that currently featured on Mazda’s range of hatchbacks, saloons and SUVs. The report also highlights the presence of a performance-oriented double-wishbone front suspension set-up, used primarily by sports cars, with a prominent crossmember suggesting a front-mid engine layout. The resulting engine bay is relatively small, leading the report to suggest Mazda could be developing a compact new rotary motor, in keeping with the tradition started by the company’s iconic RX-7 and carried into its RX-8 successor. Lightness appears to be a priority as well, with carbonfibre-reinforced plastic and aluminium featuring prominently throughout. A source at Mazda told Motor Magazine that the RX-9 will sit atop a newly developed bespoke platform, not intended for use elsewhere in the company’s line-up. Earlier this year, Mazda acquired a patent for a new type of turbocharger designed with rotary power in mind, enhancing intake efficiency, improving performance and keeping soot and water out of the combustion chamber. Mazda design boss Ikuo Maeda has previously confirmed to Autocar that a production version of the 2015 RX Vision concept was still on the table. “When it is decided as a brand that we need a sports car, that’s when we will produce the car,” he said. “As you know, we already have the MX-5. If we need a more premium sports car, then we need to have a serious think about
Origin: Mazda developing ‘RX-9’ sports car, new patent suggests
Ford study suggests most Americans don’t know nothin’ about EVs
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFord As Ford amps up its electric-vehicle campaign in advance of the launch of the electric F-150, it has been trying to get an idea of where people are in terms of acceptance and understanding of the EV market. As part of the brand’s research into the emerging market, it funded a study that polled drivers across international car markets to see just how much or little they understood about EVs. You can see for yourself in the published results on Medium, but it doesn’t exactly tally up to a vote of confidence for the electric future. In fact, it exposes a pretty crucial gap in our societies’ EV education. Perhaps the most startling figure is the percentage of people who believe electric vehicles require gas to run. Forty-two percent of Americans polled believed that to be true. It isn’t, except in a hybrid. It’s also not true that EVs suck at towing, but 67 per cent of people still believe that. Ford recently attempted to correct some of the misconceptions on this front when it used an electric F-150 prototype to tow a 1-million-pound train. Some 90 per cent think EVs can’t keep up off the starting line, believing them to be inferior at accelerating. (They obviously haven’t seen this.) Sixty-five per cent of people who identified as being on the hunt for an AWD said they wouldn’t go with an EV, which might be explained by the gap in understanding of how the batteries function in different weather conditions. The study found that 80 per cent of Americans figure winter cold or summer heat would defeat EVs, which is also not true — well, not entirely, anyway. The point is, collectively speaking, we don’t know squat about electric vehicles. Or at least Americans don’t. Do you think a poll of Canadians would have us fare any
Origin: Ford study suggests most Americans don’t know nothin’ about EVs
People are ready for self-driving cars, study suggests
BMW announced early 2015 it would team up with FCA and Intel to put 40 self-driving test vehicles on the road by the end of 2017.BMW Driving is so yesterday. That’s the sentiment drawn from a recent study by a French agency that suggests most buyers are ready to embrace the self-driving car revolution. Capgemini, a digital consulting agency based in Paris, France, has found many people are keen to start using autonomous cars. The study, which polled 5,500 people around the world, including drivers and automotive execs, suggests most folks are looking forward to the extra time they’ll gain from using a self-driving car. Sixty-three per cent of people say they’d spend that new-found time socializing with family and friends, be it digitally on FaceTime or in real life inside of the car, while 45 per cent said they’d spend the time snoozing. Of course, there are even more, ahem, activities one could engage in inside a self-driving vehicle (we’re talking about sex, shhhh). It’s not just safety and the technical aspects of autonomous cars that will determine their adoption rate—it’s also the consumer experience, Markus Winkler, the director of the global automotive sector at Capgemini, told Automotive News. The study also found that consumers are willing to increase their spend, with 56 per cent saying they’d fork out up to 20 per cent more to have a self-driving car. Half of the people polled also felt that in the future, they’d trust their self-driving car to make safe decisions during unexpected situations, pick-up family and friends (like minors) who don’t have a license, and even run errands. The Chinese respondents were most welcoming of an autonomous future, while the British were most wary. Interestingly, the layman (a.k.a. the public) proved to be more optimistic about the potential for a self-driving future than the automotive executives interviewed, perhaps due to a general misunderstanding of the challenges facing the technology. The study also showed when it comes to accepting self-driving tech, buyers are more trusting of the bigger and more established automakers than they are of the start-ups in the field.
Origin: People are ready for self-driving cars, study suggests
All about car 