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- New M2 CS leaks, Nissan sells home, Alonso laps Monaco in Valhalla
New M2 CS leaks, Nissan sells home, Alonso laps Monaco in Valhalla
PLUS: Buy a Le Mans car, Bugatti quiz, EV fight
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2025-05-27
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Releases & Reviews
BMW’s Villa d’Este preview shows the M2 CS wearing bronze mesh wheels, re-profiled bumper ducts and a sculpted ducktail spoiler. Expect roughly 40 extra horses over the base car, nudging output past 500 hp (373 kW) when full specs land on 28 May.
Car and Driver clocks the 0–60 mph run in 3.3 s, courtesy of 422 hp (315 kW) and 400 lb-ft (542 Nm), making this $47 k crossover Volvo’s quickest model. Its 64 kWh pack is EPA-rated at 253 miles (407 km), yet high-speed testing yielded 160 miles (257 km) and sub-par 83 kW fast-charge averages.
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Technology, Market Data & Analysis
European BEV registrations jumped 28 % last month, yet Tesla’s Model Y tumbled 53 % to 4,495 units, falling to ninth place. BYD and the VW ID family led the charts, underscoring how quickly the region’s once-dominant pure-EV brand is ceding ground.
Volvo will cut 3,000 office roles—15 % of its white-collar staff—to save 18 billion krona (~$1.9 billion) amid soft EV demand and tariff jitters. A 1.5 billion-krona charge funds the autumn-deadline restructure, aimed at reversing a 24 % YTD share slump.
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Car Culture
Video shows Fernando Alonso wringing out Aston’s Valhalla prototype on an empty Monaco circuit, confirming its 1,064 hp (794 kW) hybrid V8 and 811 lb-ft (1,100 Nm) punch. The F1 legend’s feedback finalises aero and chassis tuning before customer cars arrive later this year.
Autoweek compiles every teaser for Apple’s film F1, where Brad Pitt’s 60-year-old Sonny Hayes makes a last-chance comeback for a struggling team; Lewis Hamilton produces. Shot with Top Gun: Maverick crew, the IMAX feature lands 27 June, promising visceral on-track realism.
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Miscellaneous
Facing a $4.5 billion loss, Nissan is considering a sale-leaseback of its Yokohama HQ, valued at 100 billion yen (~$700 million). The cash grab would accompany seven plant closures, 20,000 layoffs and a 70 % parts-complexity cut in CEO Ivan Espinosa’s turnaround plan.
Edmunds data reveal 3-year-old used cars averaging $30,522—just $17,000 shy of new models—thanks to chip-shortage-era production droughts. With inventories thin and looming tariffs threatening new-car supply, analyst Ivan Drury warns buyers that significant price relief remains distant.
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Quick Links
The SCG 007s adapts its Le Mans-winning chassis for the road, packing a twin-turbo 6.2-liter V-8 with 1,000 horsepower (746 kW) and 737 lb-ft (999 Nm), pushrod suspension, onboard air jacks, and street-friendly lift and A/C.
Top Gear’s timeline traces Bugatti’s velocity lineage from the 138-hp Type 35 to the 1,775-hp (1,325 kW) hybrid Tourbillon, celebrating milestones such as the Chiron Super Sport’s 300 mph (483 km/h) breakthrough.
The House-passed “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would axe federal EV tax credits after 2025 and impose hefty annual fees—$250 for EVs, $100 for hybrids—matching gas taxes on roughly 1,359 gallons, now headed for a Senate fight.
A sell-out crowd of roughly 350,000 watched rookie pole-sitter headline the 109th Indy 500, where Álex Palou’s 700 hp (522 kW) machines averaged nearly 170 mph (274 km/h), reviving the event’s carnival aura.
VW’s ID.EVERY1 city EV aims to relaunch the brand in 2027 with a €18,000 (~$19,400) price, 38 kWh LFP pack, front-drive 95 hp (71 kW) motor and Rivian-code software promising 155 mile (249 km) real-world range.
MotorTrend’s sleeper list pairs boardroom looks with brute force, spotlighting stealth missiles like the Lucid Air Sapphire’s 1,234 hp (920 kW) tri-motor punch and the Audi S8’s 563 hp (420 kW) hush-quick luxury.
Motor1 unpacks BMW’s closed-deck B58, explaining how forged internals, diesel-grade block rigidity and Valvetronic breathing let tuners push the 3.0-liter straight-six beyond 1,000 hp (746 kW) on stock bottom-ends—echoing the storied 2JZ.
Doug DeMuro’s channel stages blindfolded exhaust trivia, hilariously mistaking an Oldsmobile Bravada for a Pantera and proving even seasoned reviewers can’t always tell a 4.3-liter V-6 from a 6.2-liter AMG soundtrack.
A German court handed ex-VW engineers up to 4.5 years in prison and two colleagues probation for Dieselgate fraud, while former CEO Martin Winterkorn’s delayed case remains uncertain nearly a decade after the emissions ruse.
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