News

Cadillac has launched Curated by Cadillac, a bespoke personalisation programme, on the electric Escalade IQ, and the option alone costs 54,995 dollars. It brings the hand-built Celestiq experience, 160 hand-applied paints, 44 interior configurations and a design concierge, to a wider audience, built at the same Michigan Artisan Center. The programme is North America only for now, which raises the obvious question for a brand pushing hard into Europe: when does the continent get it?

Dodge has revived the storied Super Bee name on the 2027 Charger, and it breaks two muscle-car rules at once: it is neither electric nor a V8. Power comes from a 600 hp Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six, more than the old Hemi ever made, after Dodge's electric Charger Daytona flopped with its core buyers. Offered as a coupe or sedan, it is a live test of whether muscle is about performance or the specific theatre of a V8.

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.