Overview

Sports cars are having a moment—witness the revived Toyota Supra and the splashy mid-engine Corvette that both debuted last year—so it’s perfect timing for Nissan to redesign its aging Z coupe. Perfect, also, because it’s clearly become dated. Historically, Nissan’s sports car has sported an alphanumeric name, such as the outgoing 370Z model and the original 240Z from 1969, but this generation will simply be called Z. The 2023 Z is powered by a 400-hp twin-turbocharged V-6 engine driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual or a nine-speed automatic. We’re impressed with the Z’s playful handling and zippy acceleration and we were delighted to find that it’s overall more refined than the car it replaces. Mercifully, the Z also receives a technology update with new touchscreen infotainment, a reconfigurable digital gauge display, and a host of new driver-assistance features. Whereas the last generation 370Z went up against more affordable sports cars such as the Mazda MX-5 Miata and the Toyota 86 in price and performance, this next-generation car moves slightly up-market to put the Supra in its crosshairs.

What’s New for 2023?

Nissan’s iconic Z-car is all-new for 2023. Previewed by the Z Proto concept car, the new Z draws design inspiration from past models but gives us a glimpse into the future with updated technology and a much-needed interior modernization. The new Z goes on sale in summer 2022 as a hardtop coupe but a convertible version could follow later.

Pricing and Which One to Buy

• Preorders for Honda’s new factory race car based on the 11^th-gen Civic opened this week, with deliveries projected for fall 2022.
• The HPD Civic Si FE1 Race Car is being produced by the Honda Performance Development (HPD) racing division.
• Tested and developed in-house and built in Marysville, Ohio, it will start at $55,000 with all the bells and whistles to go racing.

Honda Performance Development’s racing Civic Si, labeled the HPD Civic Si FE1, that made its debut at SEMA 2021 is now open for preorder. Based on the 2022 Civic Si, it was revealed last fall at SEMA 2021 alongside a slew of other performance-oriented Hondas. Honda announced the FE1 was developed and tested in-house by its HPD engineers and each car will be built at Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville Ohio.

The FE1 will start at $55,000 before tax, compared to the roadgoing Civic Si, which starts at $28,595, but it will come equipped for the track with features including an installed roll cage and “a full range of HPD-developed and homologated parts including the engine, suspension, exhaust, fuel cell, and Motec electronics packages.” HPD also removed the original Si’s sunroof, sound proofing, insulation, underbody coating, and seam sealer to slim down the FE1.

Honda hasn’t released performance numbers, but if the FE1 is anything like the 2022 Si it’s based on, we’re sure it will excite. What we do know is that the FE1 will come equipped with Honda’s L15CA turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four paired with an “HPD-strengthened” six-speed manual transmission. That engine makes 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque in the road car.



Honda HPD

While the $55,000 sticker price is pretty affordable for a ready-to-race package, the deposit required to secure an order is steep. HPD is asking customers to submit a $25,000 deposit with the remaining balance due when the car is completed.

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• The 2023 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Bison was teased today in a short video Chevy posted on YouTube.
• The video reveals Bison-specific lights, underbody protection, and wheels from AEV, an off-road-oriented parts supplier.
• The Silverado ZR2 Bison arrives this summer, and while pricing is still unknown, we expect it to cost about $76,000.

Fans of the mid-size Chevy Colorado ZR2 are already familiar with its optional Bison package, which features trail-ready upgrades from American Expedition Vehicles (AEV). Soon, the half-ton Chevy Silverado ZR2 will also get the Bison treatment, as revealed today by a short video clip that Chevy posted on YouTube.

The approximately 30-second video opens with a shrouded shot of the Bison-equipped Silverado’s front lights. Compared with the regular ZR2 version, it appears to have a different set of fog lights in the lower bumper. Since the Colorado ZR2 Bison has a unique steel bumper from AEV, it’s safe to assume the Silverado will get one, too. Also teased in the video are AEV-badged wheels mixed between tracking shots of skid plates underneath the truck, another hallmark of the Bison transformation. The video concludes with a closeup of the tailgate and what looks like a silver-colored appliqué.



Chevy

While there’s a lot that isn’t shown in the video, we can make some educated guesses about the AEV upgrades that the Silverado ZR2 will get based on the Bison package that’s currently offered on the Colorado variant. Since it doesn’t include any performance modifications, the Silverado ZR2’s 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8, spool-valve dampers, knobby 33-inch all-terrain tires, and electronic locking front and rear diffs should go untouched. The Silverado Bison could also receive special overfenders and a steel rear bumper. A snorkel air intake and a front winch mounting plate are also possible add-ons. Inside, it’ll likely have AEV callouts on the floor mats, headrests, or elsewhere.



Marc Urbano

At the end of the video, viewers are told the 2023 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Bison is coming this summer. The bow-tie brand hasn’t yet released any pricing details, but the 2022 Silverado ZR2 starts at $69,295. The Bison package costs $5750 on the 2022 Colorado ZR2. So, we’d bet the AEV makeover will cost about $6000 on the half-ton truck, putting the Silverado ZR2 Bison at about $76k. Chevy is expected to announce its actual price before it arrives this summer.

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• Honda and Sony announced today that they plan to form a new company to build and sell electric vehicles.
• The two brands intend to create the new company this year and sell the first EV model by 2025.
• Honda will provide manufacturing facilities and Sony will provide its tech-focused expertise.

UPDATE 6/16/22: Honda and Sony announced today that they have officially signed a joint venture agreement for a new company called “Sony Honda Mobility Inc.” The new firm will focus on producing electric vehicles and mobility services, with plans to begin EV sales and mobility service operations in 2025.

What happens when an automaker like Honda teams up with a tech company like Sony to create a new brand of electric vehicles? The world could find out in the not-so-distant future as the two industry giants announced today that they will work together to jointly develop and sell new electric vehicles.

While Honda and Sony are still in the process of negotiating the details of such a partnership, they said in a joint statement that the goal is to create the new company within the year. The ambitious plan is also said to include selling the newly formed brand’s first EV model by 2025, with further plans to commercialize and provide mobility services.



BEHROUZ MEHRIGetty Images

The new company has yet to be named­—Sonda or Hony mashups immediately come to mind—but the business plan is for it to handle the design, development, planning, and sales aspects. However, Honda will be charged with manufacturing the vehicles using its facilities. Sony is said to be responsible for building the platform for the mobility service.

Honda last year said it’s committed to only selling battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles by 2040. The gradual increase in those types of vehicles over the next two decades will coincide with declining production and the eventual elimination of the automaker’s internal-combustion offerings. The first two of the brand’s new EV models—created in a partnership with GM and not part of the Sony team-up—are expected to arrive on our shores starting in 2024, one being the Honda Prologue and the other being part of Acura’s premium lineup.

At the announcement today, Sony had its Vision-S 02 prototype electric crossover from the CES technology show on display. That, plus an earlier Vision-S 01 electric sedan, had already indicated Sony’s intention to enter the EV market in some capacity.

This story was originally published March 4, 2022.

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• The Celestiq will be hand-built at GM’s Global Technical Center, the first production vehicle to be made there.
• GM plans to invest over $81 million to prepare the Center, where renovation efforts have already begun, to build the Celestiq.
• The Celestiq will benefit from the Center’s Additive Industrialization Center, which will provide it with likely the highest volume of 3D-printed parts of any GM production vehicle.

GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, has been the company’s home base for engineering and design since its opening in 1956, but it has never built a vehicle for production. That is, until now.

Wednesday evening, Cadillac announced that GM plans to manufacture the Celestiq, first teased in early 2021, at the Center. There, it will utilize, “advanced manufacturing technology and tools,” to hand-build Cadillac’s future flagship EV.

The Celestiq is one of 30 EVs GM plans to release by 2025, and we expect it to compete with other luxury EV sedans like the Tesla Model S and the Mercedes-Benz EQS. It follows Cadillac’s EV SUV, the Lyriq, which will likely hit the market as a 2023 model. Like the Lyriq, the Celestiq will use GM’s new line of scalable EV battery technology. This technology is expected to give the Celestiq more than 300 miles of driving range thanks to a battery pack with potential capacity of as much as 100.0 kWh.

When the production Celestiq goes on sale, which we expect will be for the 2025 model year, it will likely feature a dual-motor powertrain with all-wheel drive. Four-wheel steering is also a possibility, as well as a full-dashboard LED display and a smart glass roof, of which the transparency can be adjusted in quadrants. All in all, the Celestiq could command a six-figure price when it goes on sale.

First, though, the vehicles and all their next-generation components have to be built, and to do that, GM is investing more than $81 million to prep the Global Technical Center for the car’s production. These efforts at the campus have already begun, GM says, and the investment will fund the purchase and installation of manufacturing equipment.



General Motors

The campus is also home to GM’s Additive Industrialization Center, which opened in 2020 to pioneer GM’s initiatives to 3D-print functional and aesthetic components for its vehicles. The Celestiq will feature more than 100 3D-printed polymer and metal components, which is expected to be the most on any GM production vehicle, and 3D-printed components will also be used in the Celestiq’s assembly process.

Additional details on the Celestiq will be available when it’s fully revealed in late July.

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• Rivian R1S order holders were notified by email of delayed delivery dates.
• The new dates range as far as December 2022.
• Delivery dates are based on pre-order date, customer location, and pre-order configuration.

Preorders for the Rivian R1S are facing further delays that the company states are a result of ongoing supply-chain and service-infrastructure issues. Autoevolution reported earlier this week that order holders had been notified of the delay via email. The original email, which appears to differ slightly from person to person based on “preorder date, delivery location and current configuration,” was posted to a Rivian owner forum.

Rivian said it is prioritizing delivery areas where service infrastructure is already in place, in order to “provide the full ownership experience to Rivian owners from day one.” With delivery dates jumping around so much, and with the company previously being under fire for raising prices during the preorder period, it isn’t a huge shock to hear about one more delay. Forum posters have listed expected delivery dates of their R1S between August and December 2022, with Rivian seemingly holding out that it can get all preorders delivered by the end of the year.



Rivian

The R1S will be the second production model from the company and is its first SUV. It will start at $84,500 and, like the R1T EV pickup, uses a 128.9-kWh battery pack, which the EPA estimates is good for 316 miles of range. The 2022 model is offered only as a quad-motor Launch Edition. Cheaper trim levels, including Explore and Adventure models, are expected to be added for the 2023 model year. A larger Max battery pack, with a claimed 400-plus miles of range, also has been delayed until 2023, the company previously announced.

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Morgan has never followed the herd, and as larger and more sensible automakers continue to downsize their powerplants (or swap to electric power entirely), the British sports-car maker has gone the other way. The last Morgan 3 Wheeler used an air-cooled two-cylinder engine, but the new one has been upgraded with a more advanced water-cooled three-cylinder. Don’t worry, that concludes this Morgan’s sensibleness.

Simply categorizing the new Super 3 is a challenge. It is not a car, as it continues to lack the fourth wheel that is widely regarded as being an essential qualification for an automobile. But nor is it a motorcycle, what with its steering wheel, shift lever, and pedals—plus that extra point of contact with the ground. As a motorized tricycle it has divided the world’s legislators. In Europe its headlights are required to be mounted outboard like a car, as you see in the images from our drive in England. But in the United States the lights will sit in the central aperture as if it were a three-wheeled motorcycle.

While the Super 3 model is an all-new vehicle, its basics remain very basic. It lacks doors, a roof, and a windshield beyond small bolt-on plexiglass deflectors. But by Morgan standards the Super 3 is a technical tour de force, the first vehicle the British company has produced in its 113-year history to feature a unibody construction. Unlike every previous Morgan, including the company’s current four-wheel models, there is no longer a frame incorporating ye olde English timber beneath the bodywork. In the Super 3, aluminum sections are welded into an integrated structure.

The Harley-Davidson-style V-twin of the old 3 Wheeler was a hugely charismatic powerplant, but also an outdated one. That air-cooled engine struggled to pass even relatively lenient motorcycle emissions standards, which was reflected in its progressive loss of power. It made 116 horsepower when it was launched in 2011, but just 82 horses by the time it retired, having been strangled like a Malaise-era V-8. The new 1.5-liter three comes from Ford (Morgan has always been agnostic when it comes to choosing powerplants), and it brings a peak output of 118 ponies and 110 pound-feet of torque. The Super 3 weighs only 1400 pounds or so, giving it a sprightly power-to-weight ratio for something with one driven wheel. Power reaches the rear tire through a five-speed manual transmission sourced from an older-gen Mazda Miata, plus a bevel gear-turned drivebelt.

The Super 3 looks both ridiculous and awesome at the same time. Morgan has given the new car—which loses the polished jewelry of the old one’s twin-cylinder heads—a more modern front end with a curved cowling above the alloy crossmember that locates the suspension arms. Behind that, the car’s basic shape is very fuselage-like, but with flat side panels hiding the radiators and featuring mounting points for what Morgan promises will be a range of luggage bags and accessories. There’s also a small amount of space beneath the rear trunk.

Getting in was simple, although likely more of a challenge for those with shorter legs. There is a carefully angled step-plate in front of the seats that you swing an ankle onto, then brace yourself on the roll hoop before sliding downward. The seat can’t be moved; like a small aircraft, the Super 3 is very sensitive to changes in mass. But the pedal box can be adjusted, as can the rake of the steering wheel. We found it easy to get comfortable, though our elbows did hang outside of the cockpit in the slipstream. The wind screens deflect a fair amount of wind (and rain), but Super 3 drivers are well advised to wear some form of eye protection.

Instrumentation is provided by two circular digital dials—one for speed, one for engine rpm and fuel level—with switchgear limited to a turn-signal stalk and toggles for the lights, horn, and, under a flap, the engine start button. The good news is that the interior is fully waterproof. Doubly so as, in the finest British summer tradition, steady rain settled in when we started our test drive from the factory in Malvern.

It is immediately obvious that this three-wheeled Morgan has been built and engineered to much higher standards than the old one. The last 3 Wheeler was big on charm but short on sophistication. It was crude, uncomfortable, and inconsistent, with the combination of its less-than-solid structure and primitive suspension making it hard to predict what it was going to do next. The new one is vastly better. The car we drove was a late-cycle prototype, with Morgan’s chief designer, Jonathan Wells, particularly keen to point out that the gap in the trunk lid will be tighter on production cars. Yet the driving experience was representative of what customers will experience.

Morgan’s shift from air- to water-cooled engines rivals the significance of Porsche’s similar transition between the 993 and 996 generations of the 911. The new engine suits the Super 3 well. Morgan has long been accomplished at making everyday powerplants feel special, and the combination of smart throttle calibration and a rorty exhaust gives the impression of enthusiasm—one borne out by lively performance. The company’s claimed 6.9-second 60-mph time might seem leisurely by the unhinged standards of modern sports cars, but hard acceleration in the Super 3 feels far more exciting given its lack of weather protection and the rear tire’s frequent struggles for traction. With the tachometer displaying digits rather than a rendered needle, the numbers change color and shake as the three-banger closes in on its 6900-rpm redline.

The narrow 20-inch front tires are specially developed Avons sized 130/90R-20. Their ballooning sidewalls make them look like classic motorcycle tires, but their flat tread makes them effectively car tires, better suited to dealing with slip angles than the rounder profiles of bike rubber. Slip angles are something the Super 3 is good at generating, especially on wet surfaces. Front-end grip is modest but surrenders progressively and with the transition communicated clearly through the unassisted steering. At the back, a deliberately unsticky 195/65R-15 all-season tire is fitted to balance the levels of adhesion front to rear. This balance is enough to allow the Super 3’s cornering line to be easily altered with the accelerator. At higher speeds, pressing harder tips the car into gentle understeer, while easing off tucks the nose in. At gentler velocities the rear can be persuaded to slide, and on gravel or wet grass the Super 3 can rip sick donuts.

Indeed, the Super 3’s low handling limits don’t limit the fun to be had. It feels exciting even below 60 mph, and the idea of attempting to verify its claimed 130-mph top speed is frankly terrifying. The lack of any form of traction or stability control, or even ABS, means the Super 3 must be driven with a higher degree of respect than most new performance cars. Even with the front tires on the verge of locking up under braking, it doesn’t seem to slow down particularly quickly. Yet the well-weighted, accurate controls and crisp feedback give plenty of confidence for what is going to happen next. Considerable effort has been put into details such as the weight and positioning of the pedals, so as to encourage heel-and-toe shifting, and ensuring the five-speed’s shift action is as sweet as in the Miata it was originally designed for.

For a vehicle featuring almost nothing extraneous, the Super 3 will be hugely configurable. Buyers will be able to select exterior graphics as well as basic colors, plus numerous accessories that will attach to the body’s clever mounting system. The company reckons it is likely that every build will be different, which, when you think about it, is pretty eccentric. While that comes standard on any Morgan, the new Super 3 promises to take it to a new level when it reaches the U.S. later this summer.

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