STOCKHOLM — Sweden has indicted a 47-year-old man suspected of handing information to a?Russian diplomat, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Monday.
The prosecutor said in a statement that the man, who was not identified, had worked as a consultant at several Swedish companies, where he had illegally obtained and sold information, placing the country's security at risk. Public service broadcaster SVT said the man was Swedish.
"While a consultant at his former workplaces, I allege that he obtained material with the purpose of providing information to a foreign power, in this case?Russia," prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said.
"The man was apprehended whilst meeting a?Russian diplomat where he had just received 27,800 Swedish crowns ($3,360) from the diplomat."
SVT reported that the man being charged had passed on information from automaker?Volvo?Cars and truckmaker Scania.
A Scania spokesman confirmed that the man had worked as a consultant at the firm, while?Volvo?Cars declined to comment.
The authority said the man had transferred material from computers to memory sticks as well as photographing the screen of his work computer, adding the crime could carry a sentence of up to six years in prison.
"The crime is serious and, if convicted, the suspect could expect a lengthy sentence," Ljungqvist said.
Around the time that OPEC shut off the oil taps, The General realized that it was time to sell more small cars from GM divisions not previously known for such machines. The logical candidate for this project was the Chevrolet Nova, a rear-wheel-drive compact that shared much of its chassis design with the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. The Nova-based Pontiac Ventura came out in the 1971 model year, and the Buick and Oldsmobile Divisions began producing their own badge-engineered Nova siblings for 1973 (Cadillac was late to the party, but eventually created the Nova-based Seville for 1976). At first, the Buickized Nova got Apollo badges, but the better-known Skylark name was applied to these cars for the 1975 through 1979 model years. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those Nova-based Skylarks, found in a Denver self-serve yard.
From the 1964 through 1972 model years, the Skylark lived on the A-Body chassis and was sibling to the Chevrolet Chevelle/Malibu, Pontiac LeMans/Tempest/GTO, and Oldsmobile Cutlass/442. After the 1975-1979 rear-wheel-drive X-Body phase, the Skylark name then went onto the unrelated?front-wheel-dive X-Body chassis developed for the Chevrolet Citation.
It's a Nova, sure, but Buick made sure that it had a bit more swank than its Chevy counterpart.
Checked seat fabric with big square buttons!
The base engine in the '78 Skylark was the 3.8-liter Buick V6, rated at 110 horsepower. GM had invested in a new crankshaft design for this engine the year before, so it no longer had the "odd-fire" cut-down V8 crankshaft that shook the fillings out of so many drivers' teeth in earlier years. An assortment of low-compression V8s from Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick were available as optional equipment as well, eventually leading to the "Chevymobile" lawsuits of a few years later.
The base transmission in this car was a three-speed manual (I'm not sure if you could still get a three-on-the-tree column-shift manual Skylark in 1978, but a three-on-the-floor manual was available for sure). The very last three-on-the-tree car Americans could buy was the '79 Nova and its Olds Omega/Pontiac Phoenix siblings, while the final three-on-the-floor cars were the '81 Malibu and siblings. This car has the optional three-speed automatic.
A factory AM radio cost $82 extra, or about $343 in 2021 dollars.?
The absolute cheapest 1978 Chevrolet Nova sedan had an MSRP of $4,074 (about $17,050 today), while your Chevrolet dealer offered near-identical Nova sedans for just $3,777. The 1978 Cadillac Seville, not quite as identical to the Nova but closely related, cost an impressive $14,267.
The Nova-based Skylark continued to be built in Iran into the late 1980s, and many of those cars remain on the streets of Iran to this day.
For quality, room, and just plain good thinking, you'd have to look pretty hard to do better than the '78 Buicks.
Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.?See official rules on Omaze.
"No Time to Die," the latest installment of the James Bond series, was recently pushed back again, this time promising a October 8, 2021 release date. Considering the original release date was November 2019, we’re not going to hold our breath that we will get to see Daniel Craig in his final Bond performance at all this calendar year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bit of Bond in our life. Especially now that Omaze is holding a sweepstakes for a 2021 Aston Martin DBX. Think of it as a Bond vehicle for the family driver.?
Win a 2021 Aston Martin DBX and $20,000 - Enter at Omaze
The 2021 DBX features a 542 horsepower twin-turbo V8 that will rocket the SUV to a top speed of 180 mph. We haven’t gotten behind the wheel of the finished production version, but here’s what we thought when we drove the prototype in Oman:
“As it stands, the DBX’s interior is just as gorgeously finished as you’d expect, with pretty veneers and acres of supple hides stitched together with imaginative detailing (even though the pretty little HVAC vents look like they couldn’t possibly deliver strong airflow on a toasty summer’s day). And while the nose has been called out (rightfully) as being a tad too similar to the considerably more down-market Ford Escape, the upturned tail is a saucy, visually arresting feature that all but redeems the sins of the front.
“Inside the cabin, DBX’s rear legroom is expansive, a fairly transparent concession to the Asian market, where more owners are likely to be chauffeured than drive. However, there’s plenty to enjoy from behind the wheel, where six drive modes (one offering individually tailored settings) allow the DBX to take on different personalities. Default mode is GT, a somewhat tame configuration that gets sharper when switched to Sport, which drops the suspension 0.59 inches. Dial it to Sport Plus, and things get palpably more interesting: The body lowers another 0.59 inches, power gets dialed rearward (which lights up the ESP indicator on the digital dash), and the exhaust adds more bangs and pops. Terrain mode boosts the body up 0.59 inches from baseline, while Terrain Plus offers more articulation at low speeds with an additional 1.2 inches of clearance. Coupled with a 48-volt active anti-roll system, the air suspension is arguably the technical star of the show, allowing for a wide range of damping and body control.”
You’re probably asking yourself, what does it take to win? Well, first of all there is no donation or purchase necessary to enter, though your odds dramatically increase if you do: $10 will get you 100 entries in this raffle, while $50 will get you 1,000 entries and $100 will get you 2,000 entries.?
The donations themselves benefit The Paul Walker Foundation, which, according to Omaze, “exists to DO GOOD. Led by Paul’s daughter, Meadow Walker, the foundation empowers current and future generations to promote spontaneous goodwill and random acts of kindness on a small and large scale. The foundation provides grants and scholarships to selected students and initiatives that are changing the world. Your generous donation will benefit their efforts to carry a legacy and Do Good.”
If you want this opportunity to play Bond, and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t, enter here. The deadline to enter is May 19, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
TAIPEI — Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said on Saturday she had received a letter from the White House on the global shortage of auto chips and Taiwanese semiconductor firms are “doing what they should” to address the problem.
Tight chip supplies have caused problems for auto makers globally, who in some cases are having to curtail production.
This week U.S. President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, thanked Wang for her efforts to resolve the shortage in coordination with the island’s manufacturers.
Wang told reporters that she had received the letter on Friday night, adding she had previously met with local chip makers on the issue, referring to meetings she has held in recent weeks.
“Going forward, manufacturers are doing what they should,” she said.
This is a problem affecting car makers around the world, including in the United States, Japan and Europe, and Taiwan is an important supplier, Wang added.
“We are helping as much as we can,” she said.
The shortage has affected Volkswagen, Ford, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and other car makers.
Chip makers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip maker, have pledged to prioritize production.
The issue has become a diplomatic one. As well as the letter from the United States, Germany’s economy minister has also written to Wang asking for help.
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Harley-Davidson is known for lots of things — big V-twin engines dripping in chrome, heavyweight touring motorcycles, leather — but they definitely aren't known for diving into completely new market segments. The brand-new Pan America 1250 challenges that perception. It's a clean-sheet adventure touring motorcycle, and even if it's still sporting a V-twin, this one is liquid cooled and tuned to produce 150 horsepower, 94 pound-feet of torque, a 9,500-rpm redline and "a broad powerband that builds to a rush of high-RPM power."
That 60-degree, 1,250-cubic-centimeter, double-overhead-cam engine is a stressed member with a front frame, mid frame and tail section bolting directly to it to make up the chassis. A cast-aluminum swingarm stretches the wheelbase to 62.2 inches, which is just a half inch longer than the Ducati Multistrada V4. Cast aluminum wheels measure 19 inches up front and 17 inches at the rear. The seat height adjusts between 34.2 inches in the low position and 35.2 inches in the high position.
An upper-level Pan America 1250 Special model (pictured above) gains electronically adjustable semi-active front and rear suspension, tire pressure monitoring, a steering damper, a center stand, brush guard and skid plate, an adjustable rear brake pedal, an adaptive front headlight and heated handgrips. The electronic suspension automatically drops the bike when at rest and raises back up under motion.
Michelin Scorcher Adventure tires designed specifically for the Pan America come standard, and Michelin Anakee Wild tires with a more aggressive tread pattern will also be offered. Tubeless laced wheels will also be offered.
The radial monoblock four-piston brake calipers were co-developed with Brembo. The 47-mm inverted front fork and rear shock are sourced from Showa and provide 7.48 inches of travel at each end. A tilting 6.8-inch touchscreen display features Bluetooth connectivity and navigation through an app offered for Apple and Android phones.
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Road, Sport, Rain, Off-Road and Off-Road Plus ride modes are selectable, each tailoring the bike's electronics package to suit the needs of the rider and the terrain. The Pan America 1250 features Cornering Rider Safety Enhancements, which relies on an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to offer Cornering Enhanced Electronically Linked Braking, Cornering Enhanced Antilock Braking System, Cornering Enhanced Traction Control System, Cornering Enhanced Drag-Torque Slip Control System, and Hill Hold Control. Cruise control comes standard.
The Pan America 1250 will start at $17,319, which undercuts the Multistrada V4 (which is a clear competitor, though more powerful with 170 ponies from its four-cylinder engine). The Special edition model is $19,999. Both will arrive in dealerships this spring. Naturally, a whole host of accessories will launch alongside the adventure bike, including luggage options, seats and windshields. We expect a few more new motorcycles featuring this Revolution Max engine will be revealed in the coming months.
In the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport range, the Badlands is marketed as the off-road specialist. To back that up, it includes an array of off-road-oriented features. As it turns out, though, some of those features also make it the most entertaining version on the street. Add in ample convenience features and competitive pricing, and you have the best Bronco Sport and a serious competitor among rugged, entry-level crossovers.
Distinguishing the Badlands from other Bronco Sports are the mechanical upgrades. Under the hood is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque (on premium fuel). Those are increases of 69 hp and 87 lb-ft over other Bronco Sport models. It’s coupled to an eight-speed automatic sending power to all four wheels, but it gets a torque-vectoring dual-clutch rear differential. And in addition to providing torque vectoring, it, and the center differential, can be locked for extra traction. The transmission and rear diff get their own oil coolers, too. The Badlands comes standard with 28.5-inch all-terrain tires as standard, with 29-inch tires as an option. The Badlands also gets off-road-tuned suspension with hydraulic bump stops, skid plates, unique Mud and Rock Crawl drive modes (aka G.O.A.T modes), a front-mounted camera, as well as Ford’s off-road cruise control system called Trail Control.
We’ve previously spent some time with the Badlands off-road, where its trail tools performed admirably. This time, we were able to try it out in its real natural habitat, city streets and freeways, and it more than makes a case for itself here, too. The engine is a sweetheart. Not only does it deliver every bit of its rated output, it does so over a fat power band, making it quick in nearly any situation. Then there’s that trick rear axle. While not the same as what was found in the dearly departed Ford Focus RS, it operates in a similar manner: on either side of the differential is a clutch that can engage or disengage an axle to send power to the wheel where it’s most needed (torque-vectoring). And in sport mode, the torque-vectoring tuning is adjusted, and even more of the engine's torque is sent rearward. This seriously changes the character of the Bronco Sport, making it more neutral and willing to power through corners. In the default mode, or in the regular 1.5-liter-equipped Bronco Sport that has a more conventional, non-torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, there’s more natural tendency toward understeer. We’d love to see Ford make this all-wheel-drive system available in something like an Escape ST.
Not all of these changes necessarily improve the on-road experience, but they don’t really detract from it either. The off-road-tuned suspension can be a little busy and bumpy over mildly rough pavement, something we noted with a non-Badlands Bronco Sport. It does breeze through big potholes, though. There’s some mild-to-moderate body roll, due in part to the crossover’s tall stature. Still, it’s quite responsive and maneuverable. The all-terrain tires also had more than adequate grip and are surprisingly quiet, maintaining the well-isolated cabin's serenity.
If there's one area that could use improvement, it’s the slow-shifting automatic transmission – be it left to its own devices or, worse, when prodded by the driver in manual mode.? Fortunately, it's smooth enough and the transmission computer has a good shift logic, so it doesn’t shift too often and doesn’t have to go through multiple cogs to get to the one it wants.
While the Badlands’ mechanical bits are its main draw, it also receives some nice interior upgrades. Dark blue or orange upholstery replaces the plain black or gray found in entry-level models, and an equally attractive brown leather upholstery is an option. Those colors are mirrored on plastic trim in the doors and dash, which brighten up the otherwise dull interior and distract from some of the cheaper hard plastics on display. Ford also offers an optional brown and black leather and faux suede that’s even fancier. Regardless of upholstery, the front seats feature heating and multiple ways to adjust them, with the driver getting power adjustment. Automatic climate control is standard, with dual-zone as an option.
The Badlands comes standard with the same 8-inch infotainment system as every Bronco Sport along with also-standard Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and four USB ports. The touchscreen is bright, sharp and responsive, and located where it’s easy to read and reach. The instrument panel relies on traditional analog gauges bolstered by a 6.5-inch central display. It features eye-catching graphics, which is generally a good thing, but when selecting drive/GOAT modes, it takes forever for the system to cycle through the special mode-specific animation. The lag time between turning the mode dial and its confirmation onscreen is far too long, though also an issue we've found in other Fords.
It doesn’t miss out on too much compared to the nearly identically priced, but far less powerful, Outer Banks trim level. The ostensibly more plush Outer Banks includes dual-zone automatic climate control, auto-dimming rearview mirror, ambient lighting, leather-trimmed seats, a heated steering wheel, remote start, and rain-sensing wipers. Most of these features are available on the Badlands with the addition of the $2,595 Badlands Package. But even without that, we’d take the Badlands over the Outer Banks for the much improved driving experience.
Besides being an attractive package compared to other trim levels, the Bronco Sport Badlands is a highly competitive rugged crossover. Not that it's easy to identify obvious apples-to-apples competitors. It's roomier than Jeep's Renegade and Compass Trailhawk models, and offers more power and better handling while featuring at least as much off-road capability. It's also pricier ($4,000 more than Renegade; $2,000 more than Compass). Above it in size and price are the Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, Subaru Outback XT and Toyota RAV4 TRD Off-Road, but their powertrains hardly align and the latter pair are hardly rock crawlers.
Of course, the Bronco Sport, particularly the Badlands, has broad enough appeal that it can easily be considered by those who have no intention of ever going off-road. So, if you’re simply in the market for a stylish, capable little crossover, you owe it to yourself to check out the Bronco Sport, and in particular the Badlands. Sure, it will get you surprisingly far off-road, but it will also keep you quite entertained on the road, all at a reasonable price.
FRANKFURT — Electric hypercar maker Rimac Automobili and Volkswagen's supercar brand Bugatti are a good technological fit, Porsche's CEO told German weekly Automobilwoche, fueling hopes that a deal between the two could happen soon.
British automotive magazine Car last year reported that Volkswagen was on the verge of selling Bugatti to Rimac Automobili, citing sources.
In exchange, Porsche, also owned by Volkswagen, would raise the 15.5% stake it owns in Rimac, founded by Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, Car said.
"At the moment there are intense deliberations on how Bugatti can be developed in the best possible way. Rimac could play a role here because the brands are a good technological fit," Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said.
"There are various scenarios with different structures. I believe that the issue will be decided by the group in the first half of the year," said Blume, who also sits on the management board of parent Volkswagen.
Rimac has developed an electric supercar platform, which he supplies to other carmakers, including Pininfarina.
Blume also confirmed higher savings targets for Porsche, saying the carmaker plans to support results by 10 billion euros ($12.1 billion) of cost cuts by 2025, up from 6 billion previously.
Lucid Motors on Monday agreed to go public by merging with Churchill Capital IV Corp, a blank-check firm backed by Wall Street dealmaker and former Citigroup banker Michael Klein, in a deal that valued the combined company at $11.75 billion.
The deal with Churchill Capital IV Corp includes a private investment of $2.5 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, funds managed by BlackRock and others. It is expected to provide Lucid with $4.6 billion in proceeds.
The California-based EV maker had said in August that it aims to start selling its first luxury model, Lucid Air, early this year. The electric sedan would be the first to achieve a 500-mile driving range, the company said. (https://reut.rs/3nBdh0I)
Lucid Air has a starting price of $77,400. But it would come down to $69,900 as customers may be eligible for a federal tax credit of $7,500.
After the luxury electric sedan was priced, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk had in October last year announced a cut in the price of Model S Sedan. He tweeted, "The gauntlet has been thrown down!"
It was last year that other EV makers such as Nikola Corp and Fisker Inc went public through mergers with blank-check firms. Los Angeles-based EV firm Faraday Future Inc also announced a deal with a blank-check company to go public earlier this year.
Founded in 2007 by former Tesla Inc executive Bernard Tse and entrepreneur Sam Weng as Atieva Inc, Lucid had received initial funding from Chinese technology company LeEco, which is controlled by Faraday Future founder Jia Yueting.
Churchill capital Corp IV, the fourth special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by former Citigroup Inc banker Michael Klein, went public in a $1.8 billion initial public offering (IPO) in July last year.
SPACs are shell companies which raise money through an IPO to take another company public within two years.
Such mergers have become a popular alternatives for companies looking to go public, with over 200 SPAC deals collectively raising more than $70 billion in equity last year.
LONDON — Shares in Tesla were set to plunge into the red for the year on Tuesday, hit by a broad selloff of high-flying technology stocks and the fall of bitcoin, in which the electric carmaker recently invested $1.5 billion.
Tesla was down over 6% in U.S. premarket deals after a 8.5% drop during the previous session.
The firm led by Elon Musk has had a stellar ride since 2020, which it began at about $85 per share, before reaching the $900 mark on Jan. 25.
Currently trading at about $673 in pre-market transactions, the stock has lost 25% from its peak, which is beyond the 20% level which technically defines a bear market.
Bitcoin has also swung into a bear market, falling from a peak of $58,354 on Feb. 21 to a low of $45,000 earlier on Tuesday.
A German-based trader said he was "taking chips off the table" on Tesla as its $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency could "backfire now."
Among the factors contributing to the rise of the stocks is surging retail and institutional demand for "environmental, social, and governance" (ESG) friendly investments.
"There is a lot of reasons – purely from a sustainability angle – to hold Tesla, it is part of that transformation towards a more sustainable business model," Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer at asset manager NN IP told Reuters on Friday.
He added however that Elon Musk's decision to invest in bitcoin could weigh on Tesla's ESG rating.
The billionaire has been criticized for lauding bitcoin prior to Tesla's purchase of the cryptocurrency.
His role in encouraging a retail frenzy in the shares of U.S. video game chain GameStop and driving up the price of the meme-based digital currency dogecoin have also come under fire while being acclaimed by a large fan base.
Analysts at Barclays noted that there had been a drop of conversations about the electric car maker in Reddit's WallStreetBets forum, which could explain some of the loss of appetite for the stock.
"With only 2-3 total submissions on each of the past several days, we remain below the trend in attention that has come along with big returns jumps in the past," the analysts said in a note.
Other analysts have also cautioned against investing in the stock, which remains one of the most expensive on the S&P 500 index at 163 times its 12-month forward earnings.
While investing in bets against the company's stock have backfired spectacularly in the past, short interest in Tesla shares still stood at 5.5%, according to Refinitiv data.
NEW YORK — Two of the biggest remaining American tire companies are joining forces.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber is acquiring Cooper in a deal valued at $2.5 billion that will combine the two century-old Ohio manufacturers.
Cooper, founded in 1914, is the fifth-largest tire maker in North America based on revenue. The company has about 10,000 employees in 15 countries. In addition to the Cooper brand, it also owns Mastercraft, Roadmaster and Mickey Thompson.
For Goodyear, the bigger company, the deal will nearly double its presence in China. Cooper will get access to Goodyear's 2,500 retail locations.
The auto industry navigated a whirlwind year with the pandemic and all of the economic disruptions that accompanied it. Industry analysts see a rebound this year as vaccines are more broadly distributed, but many do not see activity reaching the levels of 2019, before the pandemic hit.
But shares in both companies have been rising sharply over the past year, particularly in the past three moths. Shares of Goodyear are up more than 21% in the past 30 days. Shares of Cooper are up almost 10% in that time.
Shareholders of Cooper Tire & Rubber, based in Findlay, Ohio, will get $41.75 in cash and about .9 shares of Goodyear common stock per share of Cooper stock. Based on Goodyear's closing price on Friday, the total consideration for Cooper shareholders is $54.36 per share, a 24% premium to Cooper's closing price on Friday. Shares in Cooper jumped 17% in premarket trading.
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the second half of this year. It would give shareholders of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio, about 84% of the company and Cooper shareholders with the remaining 16%, the companies said.
Texas oil refineries shut by cold-weather disruptions may take several weeks to resume normal operations, industry experts said on Friday, helping to push up fuel prices.
About a fifth of oil processing was halted by power outages, shortages of natural gas and water this week.
Average retail gasoline prices rose 6 cents on the week and are up 9 cents in the last month, to $2.33 a gallon, the American Automobile Association said. It forecast inventories would fall, keeping prices higher through month’s end.
“We are 2-1/2 to three weeks away from restoring most operations” at affected refineries, said Andrew Lipow, president of Houston-based consultancy Lipow Oil Associates.
The refinery shutdowns will depress prices for U.S. crude oil and widen the spread between U.S. and Brent crude, Paul Sankey of independent energy researcher Sankey Research said in a note. He forecast “heavy pressure on US crude prices from returning supply into no demand from a major refining outage that will last 2-3 weeks.”
U.S. crude futures fell 1.5% on Friday, to $59.60 a barrel, as producers signaled plans to restart production. U.S. crude is up 22% year to date. U.S. gasoline futures on the New York exchange rose to $1.805 per gallon.
“The spreads tell me that crude oil will come back quicker” than refining margins, said Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA.
Refinery operators are assessing facilities and may need to repair any damage to pipelines, cooling towers and other equipment before slowly and carefully restarting, Lipow said.
Shortages and high prices for natural gas have also affected refiners. Texas officials this week asked natural gas suppliers to prioritize deliveries to electric utilities and residential customers, leaving less of the fuel to supply refinery operations, Lipow said.
Slowly resuming electricity and water needed to power the plants also is likely to cause delays at Texas Gulf Coast refineries beyond what is normal after business-pausing natural disasters such as hurricanes, he said.
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The 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class is here, and it certainly shouldn't surprise anyone on the outside with looks closely based on its bigger siblings. But the familiar body hides a bigger car with a new four-cylinder-only engine range and S-Class inspired interior.
At first glance, the C-Class doesn't look significantly different from before, but the changes are in the details. At the front are the scowling headlights and widened front grille that can be seen throughout the Mercedes sedan lineup from the A- to S-Classes. Similarly, the thin and wide taillights are certainly familiar as is the longer rear deck. The hood picks up dual power bulges, and the roofline has a shallower slope toward the trunk lid. The whole car is bigger, too, picking up 2.5 inches in length, an inch of wheelbase, and about half an inch of width.
Stepping inside reveals a new, distinctive environment, and one that's between half an inch to an inch larger in most areas than before. It's clearly derived from the new S-Class with the waterfall dash panels and portrait-orientation center touchscreen. It's all at a smaller scale than the S-Class, though, and the air vents are rounded squares rather than slim rectangles. The screens are standard features, with the instrument panel measuring in at 12.3 inches and the infotainment display at 11.9 inches. Among the tech features available are augmented reality camera displays, over-the-air updates, ambient lighting, multiple display themes and a fingerprint reader for accessing personal vehicle settings and information.
Powering the C-Class is just one engine for now, a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. It makes the same 255 horsepower as the old model, but now makes 295 pound-feet of torque, an increase of 22. It's also paired with a 48-volt starter/generator that produces 20 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque. It allows for smoother and longer starting and stopping, plus coasting and energy regeneration. Despite the increase in torque, the 0-60 mph time has dropped to 5.9 seconds from 5.7. There is once again a choice of rear- or 4Matic all-wheel drive, but the only transmission is a nine-speed automatic. It all rides on newly designed suspension that retains the multi-link independent setup like the old model.?
The new C-Class will hit dealers early next year. Pricing should be available closer to the on-sale date. We also expect that hotter AMG variants will closely follow the regular C 300's launch.
MY21 Pan America Riding Photography
