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American luxury EV maker Lucid is entering the French market through an operational partnership with Emil Frey France, one of the country's largest automotive groups. Lucid keeps control of its brand and commercial strategy through its own import organisation, while Emil Frey provides operational support, and the Lucid Air and Gravity will be shown to French buyers for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in October. It is a smart, low-risk way for a newcomer to enter a crowded premium market.

Formula 1 has agreed to cut the maximum grand prix distance from 305 km to 290 km in 2027, a change Motorsport.com reports went to the teams by email and still needs World Motorsport Council ratification. The reason is fuel: the power split moves to 58:42 in favour of the combustion engine, and the tank cannot grow to match. It would be the sport's first shortening since 1958.

WirtschaftsWoche reports that Volkswagen's management board has already approved a plan to phase out Seat by the end of 2029, with the proposal due before the supervisory board on Friday. Cupra, created out of Seat's performance badge in 2018, sold 328,800 cars last year against Seat's 257,400. Volkswagen declines to comment, and Seat says no decision has been taken.

Formula 1 celebrated the 20th anniversary of Pixar's Cars at the Italian Grand Prix, with a physical Lightning McQueen car turning a lap of Monza and the Mercedes-AMG safety car running a special Cars-inspired livery for the weekend. It is part of an expanded F1 and Disney “Fuel the Magic” partnership, now extended through the end of 2028, and it delighted fans, not least Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, a well-known Lightning McQueen superfan.

A rare rotary-powered Mazda 767B, a class winner at Le Mans and a relative of the famous 787B, was caught in a paddock fire at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca. It escaped with only minor damage because it had been wrapped in paint protection film, which took the brunt of the heat. Owner Tony McIntosh says the car got lucky, and with only one to two months of repairs needed, it is expected back on track within weeks.

Horse Powertrain has revealed the 3DHT200, a hybrid drive unit that packs 13 components into one housing and, the company says, delivers up to 4,920 Nm at the wheels. Horse is 45 percent Renault, 45 percent Geely and 10 percent Aramco. Its new unit debuts on the Geely Galaxy Cruiser 700, a 1,128 PS off-roader that Geely has confirmed for Britain.

Belgian sportscar star Laurens Vanthoor has joined McLaren's new Hypercar programme for its 2027 FIA WEC debut, ending a decade with Porsche. He says the switch from a German manufacturer to a British race team has been “very refreshing,” and is chasing the outright Le Mans win that tempted him away. Vanthoor and Mikkel Jensen form McLaren's 2027 line-up, though Vanthoor will race the Porsche 963 in IMSA into 2027 before moving to McLaren full time in 2028.

Rivals including Red Bull and McLaren are copying Ferrari's Formula 1 aero designs, from an exhaust winglet the FIA is banning for 2027 to a rotating rear wing, proof that the SF-26 is widely seen as the best chassis on the grid. Yet Ferrari sits second because of a power unit weakness the rules make hard to fix, with the ADUO engine catch-up mechanism proving too costly to be a game-changer. Team boss Fred Vasseur says Ferrari will keep pushing upgrades to the end of the season.

Apple's new chief executive John Ternus took over from Tim Cook on 1 September 2026. He is an amateur racer who, according to the Wall Street Journal, laps Laguna Seca in under 1 minute 40 seconds and owns one of the 77 Porsche 935s built in 2019. That car has 700 PS, is not road legal, and was unveiled at the very circuit he drives it on.