Lexus is proud to announce a new version of the RC luxury sports coupe, which is scheduled to make its global debut at the Paris Motor Show in October.

Since its introduction in 2014, the RC has played a major role in promoting the Lexus brand’s commitment to delivering an emotional driving experience. Thanks to its aggressive styling and versatile driving character, the RC has become a highly sought-after coupe by enthusiasts who value performance and world-class craftsmanship.

The fresh new styling of the 2019 RC retains all the virtues of the previous model yet further refines the design language first established by the flagship LC coupe. Inside the cabin, everything from the high- quality materials to the design of controls and gauges were reevaluated to maximize driving pleasure.

Enhancements have also been made to the RC’s aerodynamics, tires and suspension, as well as improvements to engine response and steering feel, all of which result in a sharper and more refined drive. This provides a high level of driver confidence and a reassuring ride quality, making it an ideal companion whether you’re challenging a twisty mountain road or taking a long-distance journey on the open highway.

New RC Features Sporty, Yet Elegant Design

Lexus designers sought to maintain the RC’s dynamic coupe proportions, while adding a high level of elegance to the exterior. This was done through the addition of distinctive design elements, such as a new front bumper corner that flows down from the headlamps and a grille mesh pattern that gradually transforms from top to bottom. Optional triple LED headlamps and L-shaped LED clearance lamps also add to the car’s more refined appearance. Air ducts have been added to the corner of the RC’s rear bumpers along with revised rear combination lamps that now house more pronounced L-shaped lenses, a new signature design feature for Lexus coupes.

The new RC F Sport receives the grille mesh pattern that graces all F Sport vehicles, as well as numerous other custom exterior and interior items exclusive to the F Sport, including aggressively-styled 19-in. alloy wheels that were inspired by those on the LS and LC.

A total of 10 different exterior colors will be available for the RC, including a new color, Blue Vortex Metallic, that truly convey the car’s sporty nature.

Updated Interior Details Further Refine the RC Experience

In order the enhance the feel of the cabin, a new Dark Gray Streamline treatment has been applied to the heater control panel and audio panel, while enlarged knee pads have been raised to create a heightened sense of space.

New ornamentation, also Dark Gray Streamline, will be made standard on the RC F Sport. In all, the customer can choose from six different types of interior trim. Interior colors include Glazed Caramel and Black with Yellow accents. In all, there are seven exclusive interior color combinations available, including those for the F Sport.

Taking a car from the first prototype to its production ready state requires a lot of development time, and even more money. Coming up with a show car is the easiest part. There are plenty of engineering firms who can make one happen.

To name a few, Dubai’s W Motors used Rimac for the Hypersport and Magna for its new Fenyr. Singapore’s Vanda Electrics turned to Williams Advanced Engineering for the upcoming Dendrobium, while the Hong Kong/Germany-based Apollo used the Garella-family’s Manufattura Automobili Torino (MAT) to engineer the now sold-out Intenza Emozione. Not unlike Jim Glickenhaus’ SCG.

While the Apollo project was taken over by Germany’s HWA, Paolo Garella’s company is now building modern, Ferrari-based Lancia Stratoses to make the world a better place.

Dubai’s 320 mph Devel Sixteen was also an MAT project, but a source has told us that Garella’s company is no longer working on the supercar with the absurd numbers.

According to our source, the Devel Sixteen has a vast list of problems that are keeping it from getting anywhere close to production. That its American-built twin-turbo V16 might be a 5007 horsepower engine, but it was built for drag racing, with no cooling for road use whatsoever.

The Devel team has reportedly learned a lot about aerodynamics while trying to figure out how to make the car stay on the ground above 300 miles per hour. But when MAT left the project, our source tells us the Devel Sixteen was still acting pretty much like a giant wing.

That said, the Devel Sixteen isn’t dead, but it’s certainly on hold for the time being. On the plus side, Devel also has a 6×6 desert stormer concept, which seems like a solid idea.

Cyan Racing, formerly known as Polestar Racing, is furthering its ties to Geely-owned brands by partnering with Lynk & Co to take on the FIA WTCR series in 2019. The companies will race the Lynk & Co 03 TCR race car, which has spawned a concept road car.

Thed Bj rk, starting his seventh season with Cyan Racing, will drive one of the TCR cars for 2019. The driver, who piloted a Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 to a 2017 World Touring Car Championship win, was on hand to introduce the Lynk & Co TCR race car at an event at Fuji Raceway in Japan this week. He and his team will face off against seven automakers including Audi, Alfa Romeo, Honda, Hyundai, Peugeot, Seat, and Volkswagen. As a refresher, the FIA World Touring Car Championship adopted the TCR touring car specification and changed its name to WTCR in 2018.

We don’t know much about the concept, called the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan, other than the fact that it’s “closely connected” to the race car program and it will produce 500 hp. The production 03 debuted earlier this year in China promising a Volvo-developed turbocharged 1.5-liter I-4 and a plug-in hybrid drivetrain, but it’s unclear if the concept or race car will use either of those. “The concept car will be the first step towards an extended performance offer,” according to a press release from Cyan Racing and Lynk & Co.

If you’re not familiar with Lynk & Co, it’s a relatively new brand launched by Geely and Volvo in 2016. Its models are designed and engineered in Sweden, and they place an emphasis on fixed prices, online sales, and digital sharing. Eventually, Lynk & Co wants to make a play for the U.S. market with a new SUV.

Lexus LC 500 race cars have swept the top four positions in the penultimate round of the 2018 Super GT championship at Autopolis in Japan.

Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy in the #1 KeePer TOM’S LC 500 climbed steadily from fifth on the grid to win by almost half a second from Yuhi Sekiguchi and Le Mans winner Kazuki Nakajima in the au TOM’S #36 LC 500.

The win was the first this season for the defending champions and puts them level on points at the top of the drivers’ championship standings ahead of the season’s final round at Motegi next month.

Car #19, the WedsSport ADVAN LC 500 of Yuji Kunimoto and Kenta Yamashita, took the final spot on the podium from 10th on the grid while the #38 ZENT CERUMO LC 500 of Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura completed the all-Lexus top four.

Kamui Kobayashi finished eighth in the DENSO KOBELCO SARD Lexus LC 500 shared with Heikki Kovalainen while the WAKO’S 4CR Lexus LC 500 of IndyCar-bound Felix Rosenqvist and Kazuya Oshima finished ninth, giving Lexus six of the top 10 places.

Hirakawa said he had not expected to win after Honda NSX-GT rivals took the top three places in qualifying, but victory had come courtesy of his team’s pit-stop strategy and overall support.

He said he was confident approaching the season finale because the LC 500 had shown its ability to perform well at Motegi.

Lexus also enjoyed success in the GT300 class with Yuichi Nakayama and Morio Nitta securing the top spot in the #96 K-tunes RC F GT3.

The eighth and final round of the Super GT championship will be held at Motegi on November 10-11.

This is the 2020 BMW M340i sedan, the most powerful 3 Series ever offered (so long as you consider its long line of M3 models as separate from the rest of the line). Available with rear- and all-wheel drive, the M340i takes after other mild M Sport variants by featuring specific features and tuning from BMW’s M Performance division without being a full-fledged M car such as the M3.

Under the M340i’s hood sits a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six cylinder engine producing 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. BMW estimates the M340i xDrive sedan can do 0–60 in 4.2 seconds, which is 0.4 seconds quicker than the current 320-hp non-M 340i xDrive sedan. An eight-speed automatic transmission with wheel-mounted shift paddles features Launch Control and Intelligent programming that will alter shift points using data gleaned from the standard navigation system. As we already knew (boo!), no manual transmission will be offered.

M Sport bits and pieces include an electronically locking rear differential that comes standard on both rear- and all-wheel-drive M340i models, and upgraded brakes with four-piston calipers at the front and single-piston at the rear. New optional suspension bits feature continuously variable damping all around and a compression limiting system at the rear that BMW says will improve ride and handling. And, like all new 3 Series models, they boast perfect 50:50 weight distribution, wider tracks front and rear, a chassis that is 25-percent stiffer than the last generation, and a body that’s up to 121 pounds lighter.

We’ll see the 2020 M340i sedan at the upcoming LA Auto Show, and it will hit dealerships in July 2019. In the meantime, check out the high-res image gallery up above.

Ford announced recently that it would be building a few more Ford GTs and accepting new applications. It also revealed the 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition that fully embraced the car’s history with the Gulf Oil paint scheme.

But getting an approved application from Ford won’t be the only way to get one of these blue and orange beauties. Ford will be auctioning the very first of these special edition cars at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction on January 19.

The car will have the first VIN of the Heritage Editions, and it will feature all the goodies of the special version. That includes the blue and orange paint, the racing number 9 affixed to the hood and doors, forged aluminum wheels, orange brake calipers and a black Alcantara interior with blue and orange stitching.

An added bonus, the proceeds from the auction will go to benefit the United Way of southeast Michigan. The fact this is a charity car, the first of a special line, and a generally difficult vehicle to purchase means it will probably be seriously pricey. Certainly it will go for more than the base price of about $450,000. It could hit seven figures, since John Cena’s car went for $1.4 million.

If you are planning on bidding on the new Ford GT Heritage Edition, you may want to bring a little extra spare cash and room in your trailer, too. The reason is that you could also bring home a previous generation Ford GT Heritage Edition in the same color scheme from the same auction. In fact, three 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition cars will be available. Happy bidding!

Fresh from receiving a 150 million-euro infusion from National Electric Vehicle Sweden, the Chinese-backed company that bought up Saab’s assets out of bankruptcy, supercar maker Koenigsegg has signaled just what it plans to do under the new joint venture.

Christian von Koenigsegg gave an interview to Top Gear in which he said he wants to develop an all-new supercar to sit below ultra-exclusive models like the Agera RS and Regera, priced at around €1 million (about $1.15 million) to grow sales from 20 a year into the hundreds, because “our brand has outgrown our production volumes by quite a big margin.”

“Given the freevalve technology, we can actually cold-start the car on pure alcohol, down to -30 degrees Celsius, so there’s no need for any fossil fuel mix then,” he told Top Gear. “The idea is to prove to the world that even a combustion engine can be completely CO2 neutral.”

Von Koenigsegg previously hinted at the setup after talking about how his engineers were responding to Tesla’s claims that its forthcoming next-generation Roadster would be capable of a 1.9-second 0-60 mph time. He further hints that the new hybridized supercar will look unmistakably like a Keonigsegg but be in a different segment altogether from either the Agera RS or plug-in hybrid Regera.

Consider us very much intrigued and eager to hear more. Meanwhile, Koenigsegg has said it plans to reveal the successor to the Agera RS next month at the Geneva Motor Show based on a refined version of the same supercharged V8 combustion engine.

The new joint venture with NEVS, meanwhile, sees that company take a 65 percent ownership stake, with Koenigsegg holding the rest and contributing its trove of intellectual property, technology licenses and product design. NEVS also gets a 20 percent stake in Koenigsegg itself.

After four and a half seasons racing in Formula E, Brazilian-born Nelson Piquet Jr. will part ways with the Jaguar Racing squad to pursue other interests.

Since he started in his fifth season in December last year, Piquet Jr. has scored just a single point, which he claimed for a tenth place finish in Saudi Arabia.

“I have enjoyed working with Panasonic Jaguar Racing over the past season and a half but results in season five have not met the collective expectations of myself and the team,” said Piquet Jr.

Joining Jaguar at the start of the 2017/18 season, Piquet Jr, finished the season just inside the top ten in ninth – two places behind teammate Mitch Evans.

“We made a big step forward when Nelson joined us in season 4,” said Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Principal James Barclay.

“He achieved some strong results for the team, but recent results have not met his or the team’s expectations.

“We want to take this opportunity to thank Nelson for all the hard work he has put in since joining us ahead of season 4; he has contributed a significant amount into the development of the car,” added the team boss.

Stepping up to the British team in Piquet’s place will be ex-Virgin Racing Formula E driver and fellow Brit Alex Lynn. Since leaving Virgin at the end of the 2017/18 season, Lynn returns to the all-electric series to partner Mitch Evans from the 2019 Rome E-Prix onwards.

“I am really excited to get behind the wheel of the Jaguar I-TYPE 3 in Rome. Joining Panasonic Jaguar Racing is a great opportunity for me,” said Lynn.

“I am focused on working with Mitch, the engineers and technicians to put in a strong performance from now until the end of the season.”

Finishing his debut season in Formula E 16th overall, Lynn will be pushing for podiums alongside Jaguar’s maiden win in the series.

“Our objective this season is to be competing for podiums, we have agreed that Alex will join the team from the next event in Rome,” said Barclay.

“With half the season remaining we will be pushing very hard for strong results. I would like to welcome Alex to the Panasonic Jaguar Racing and look forward to working with him.”

By any objective measure, todays Ford GT street car is unusually close in design to the GT race car that the Blue Oval competes with at racetracks around the globe. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the two can’t get even closer. Enter the Ford GT Mk II. Believe it or not, in many ways, this $1.2 million, track-only model is actually more potent than the company’s own factory race cars.

Unveiled at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday, just 45 of these GT Mk II models will be produced. Ford officials tell Roadshow that these examples are earmarked to come out of the GT’s original planned allocation of 1,350 cars so as not to harm the resale or collector value of existing cars with a larger total production figure.

Like the GT street car, each Ford GT Mk II is powered by a version of the automaker’s volume 3.5-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine, a powerplant whose basic architecture it shares with the Blue Oval’s chief breadwinner, the F-150 pickup. However, that V6 is tuned here to deliver a nice, round 700 horsepower — 53 hp more than the road car and a whopping 200 ponies more than the race car.

That’s because racing-series sanctioning bodies tend to force certain design compromises in the name of parity and closer, more entertaining racing. But what if such restrictions weren’t a factor? About a year and a half ago, Ford and the folks at Canada’s Multimatic, which helped develop and assemble the GT, began to ask themselves just that.

Ford admits the Mk II wasn’t always in the company’s plans since the GT’s inception, but with enthusiasts behind the project like these, this car was arguably inevitable.

Power play

In order to extract that much additional power out of the engine and set up the car for track duty, the GT’s engine receives a roof-mounted air intake which supplies cold air to auxiliary coolers for the engine, clutch and transmission. There’s also a nifty new charge air cooler with water sprayer used to keep engine temps in check during particularly hard running.

Why no street?

If you’ve got fantasies about flouting your local laws and driving the Ford GT Mk II on the street, it’s worth noting that this racecar rides even closer to the pavement than the already ultra-low-slung GT street car, and unlike the latter’s trick adjustable ride height, the Mk II sits at a fixed ride height that probably wouldn’t be compatible with many driveways and poorly maintained surfaces.

As Chevrolet’s C8.R race car debuts this weekend at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Chevy team has revealed the EPA fuel-economy numbers for the 2020 Corvette.

The upcoming mid-engine car, they said, will get 15 mpg in the city and 27 on the highway, which compares favorably against competitors including the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S and its own C7 predecessor.

The outgoing 2019 Corvette C7, equipped with an automatic transmission, was EPA rated at 15 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, so the C8 Corvette shines more brightly compared to its predecessor in highway driving. It’s also got pretty impressive range; Chevrolet points out it’ll do just short of 500 miles on a single tank of gas.

If compared to its primary competitor, the current Porsche 911, the 2020 Corvette doesn’t stack up quite as favorably in town but is close in highway driving. The new 911 is rated at 20 mpg city and 26 mpg on the highway.

Equipped with a mid-mounted 6.2-liter V-8, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray launched to from zero to 60 mph 2.8 seconds in our testing and can reach speeds of 184 mph. Fuel economy, of course, is not the first thing a Corvette driver is looking for, but it helps.