The Auto World

A Corvette ZR1X will pace the 110th Indianapolis 500 on May 24. The C8’s livery commemorates the US’s 250th birthday this year. Hybrid, all-wheel drive supercar’s 5.5-liter V8 makes 1,250 hp. Corvettes have paced every Indianapolis 500 race since 2017, and plenty before that, but there’s something different about this year’s car. For the first time it’s almost as fast as the single seaters it’ll be leading around the Brickyard. That’s because this year’s Corvette pace car is the top-line ZR1X. With a top speed of 233 mph (375 kmh), the all-wheel drive, hybrid-assisted weapon is surprisingly close to the 230 to 240 mph (370 to 386 kmh) speeds IndyCar racers hit on the oval during qualifying. Related: Trump’s Indycar Race In Washington DC Is Free For Fans, But Not For Taxpayers That doesn’t mean it could keep up over a lap. The Indy cars run slick tyres, oval-specif...

Ford has already booked a $1.3 billion tariff refund on its earnings report. GM expects to recover roughly $500 million through the new refund program. Stellantis is in line for about $469 million from the same refund process. The cheque is in the mail, apparently, and Detroit is first in line. Washington has only just cracked open its tariff refund program, and already the country’s largest automakers are queueing up to claim back what they paid. For an administration that spent years insisting foreign governments footed the bill, the optics are not flattering. Approximately $166 billion in tariffs, which were unlawfully imposed through the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), will be refunded to importers over the coming months. The refunds follow a February U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of the tariff program, prompting companies to begin filing claims last week. In its most recent ear...

California ends “citation immunity” for robotaxis starting July 1. First responders gain 30-second access plus emergency geofencing. Heavy trucks over 10,001 lbs are now cleared for autonomous testing. California’s autonomous vehicle industry has spent years operating under a regulatory framework that, in practice, treated its products as exempt from the rules everyone else has to follow. That ends now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has formally adopted a new framework allowing officers to ticket robotaxis, while simultaneously opening the state’s highways to heavy-duty autonomous trucks under tight conditions. The loophole was always faintly absurd. Traffic citations are written to whoever is sitting behind the wheel. When no one is, officers had no mechanism to enforce the rules. Assembly Bill 1777 first published on September 27, 2024, closes the gap on July 1. The Power To Cite The most significant change comes from defining how police interact wit...

Giant screens stay, but real switches return for key in-cabin functions. The steering wheel scroll wheel is replacing haptic slide controls again. Executives admit the brand knew about the complaints two years ago. Over the last decade, it’s been easy to see a shift away from buttons and toward iPad-sized screens in cars. In fact, plenty of brands, Mercedes included, boast about how many inches of screen they offer in certain models. While giant screens are objectively eye-catching, physical buttons clearly have some advantages. Now, Mercedes is doubling down on the screens but admitting that last part too. Buttons will soon return to the brand’s interior design, but the screens are staying, like it or not. More: Hyundai’s Design Boss Embraces Analog Controls “When we do car research clinics, customers are very clear: ‘We love the big screens, but we want to have [hard controls for] specific functionalities.’” Those are the words of Mercedes executive Mathias Geisen t...

Jeep has revealed the design of the facelifted Avenger. It sports an illuminated grille and a new front bumper. Subcompact could also benefit from an updated interior. The teaser drip-fed earlier this week has now run its course. Jeep has pulled the covers off the facelifted Avenger in Brazil. It looks instantly recognizable, but has a modernized design that echoes newer models such as the Compass . As part of the makeover, the crossover adopts an all-new seven slot grille with illuminated accents. The company also appears to have ditched the black grille surround, which gives the model a cleaner and more streamlined appearance. Review: Jeep Avenger EV Is A Fun Little Gem That’s Too Small For America Further below, we can see a redesigned front bumper and revised cladding. The faux silver skid plate is also accompanied by new horizontal accents, which help to break up the mass of black plastic cladding. They’re joined by two new slots beneath the headlights, which coul...

Volvo is open to building Geely EVs at their South Carolina plant. Facility is underutilized as it makes slow-selling EX90 and Polestar 3. Geely had previously suggested they want to come to US in 2-3 years. Volvo had high hopes for their Ridgeville, South Carolina plant, which opened in 2018 to build the S60. Unfortunately, the sedan arrived as consumers were embracing crossovers. The S60 rode off into the sunset six years later and the plant was retooled to build the even slower-selling EX90 and Polestar 3. This has left the facility underutilized and the automaker will attempt to address that problem by adding the XC60 later this year . However, they might not stop there. More: Volvo’s Chinese Parent Built A $14K Sedan Americans Can’t Get In an interview, Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said the company would consider building Geely vehicles at the plant as they have excess capacity. However, the executive told Business Insider that any such move would require the Chin...