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Aston Martin has revealed three one-off DB12 S grand tourers at Pebble Beach, and the tribute behind them is deliberately obscure: the registration plates VMF 63, 64 and 65 worn by its three works DB2 racers at the 1951 Le Mans. Each is Carbon Black with a single period accent colour, over the new 691 hp DB12 S with standard carbon-ceramic brakes. It is heritage marketing aimed squarely at connoisseurs, and a reminder that provenance is fast becoming the real luxury.

Jaguar has revealed the interior of the Type 01, its production electric GT, after a year of ridicule over its radical rebrand. The cabin is built around a dramatic brass spine that splits it into four individual seats, with a travertine palette, artisan textiles and, most tellingly, the screens hidden away rather than flaunted. It is a bold rejection of the touchscreen, and the first real sign there was a coherent idea beneath the controversy, though the price, power and drive remain unseen.

Ford has reportedly shown US dealers a near-final four-door Mustang design, codenamed Mach 4, with pricing expected to start under $40,000 and a hybridised version of the 5.0-litre Coyote V8 under the bonnet.

AO Racing will make its Intercontinental GT Challenge debut at the Suzuka 1000km on 11 to 13 September, partnering with Absolute Racing to field a Porsche 911 GT3 R nicknamed Bushi Rex, backed by three Porsche factory drivers.

Frank Heyl, Bugatti's director of design, has revealed his own bespoke Veyron 16.4, named Le Directeur, at Monterey Car Week. Chassis 795021 wears a deep metallic green, L'Or Blanc-inspired graphics, a hidden Le Directeur signature under the wing and, overhead, a headliner printed with Heyl's own design sketches. It is one of the most beautiful Veyron redesigns yet, and the purest possible look at the unfiltered taste of the man who shapes Bugatti.

JCB, the British digger maker, has set a US speed record with its Hydromax streamliner, hitting 368.347 mph, roughly 593 km/h, at Bonneville. The twist is the powertrain: not a battery or a fuel cell, but an 800 hp piston engine burning hydrogen, the first hydrogen-engine car to set a US record. It is really a proof-of-concept for JCB's hydrogen combustion engines for construction machinery, and an FIA world-record attempt is next.

Porsche heads into the Formula E season finale in London on 15 and 16 August having already won the manufacturers' title, but the trophies with its name on them are still open. A Porsche-powered driver, Jake Dennis, leads the drivers' race, yet he races for customer team Andretti, while works driver Pascal Wehrlein is third and the factory team trails Jaguar. The Porsche 99X Electric also retires this weekend.

Bentley's first EV, the Torcal, debuts the Curation Engine, a system that orchestrates cabin light, sound, scent, climate and displays around how you want to feel, grounded in sensory neuroscience with four modes. Because the Torcal shares Volkswagen Group's electric platform with Porsche and Audi, Bentley can no longer sell emotion through a bespoke drivetrain, so it engineers the feeling in the cabin instead. It is clever, and quietly revealing about where luxury is heading.

Close to 30 million vehicles have been recalled across recent quarters, and one of the fastest-growing causes is software, especially the screens it runs on. The clearest example is the rearview camera, a legally required safety feature that now runs as an app and can freeze or blank out, prompting recalls of over a million cars each from Ford and from Toyota, Lexus and Subaru. It is the safety bill for a decade of touchscreen-first design.