85 articles by Seper Arjmandi
Mercedes-AMG CLE 646: a rear-drive V8 built by hand, 30 of them
Mercedes-AMG revealed the CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung on 10 September 2026, the second model in its Mythos series after the PureSpeed and a run of just 30 cars. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo M177 Evo V8 makes 475 kW (646 PS) and 850 Nm, and drives the rear wheels only, which no AMG V8 has done since the 2022 C63 S. Each car starts as a CLE 53 and is rebuilt by hand 60 mm wider in carbon fibre, 170 kg lighter at 1,895 kg, on four-way adjustable KW coilovers. 0-100 km/h takes 3.9 seconds and the top speed is limited to 310 km/h.
Audi brought back the A2, and this time efficiency is the whole point
Audi revealed the A2 e-tron on 7 September 2026, reviving a name last used on an aluminium economy car and attaching it to a rear-wheel-drive electric hatchback built around efficiency. Four power levels run from 125 kW (170 hp) to 240 kW (326 hp), over batteries of 52, 61 or 84 kWh gross, the two smaller ones lithium iron phosphate and the largest nickel manganese cobalt. WLTP range runs from 423 km to 646 km, and the most efficient version returns 12.8 kWh per 100 km against a drag coefficient of 0.24. DC charging peaks at 183 kW for 10 to 80 per cent in 24 to 29 minutes. Prices open at €38,200 in Germany, orders in autumn 2026 and deliveries from December.
The Polestar 4 SUV goes on sale, and this one has a rear window
The Polestar 4 SUV opened for orders on 2 September 2026, joining the Polestar 4 coupé rather than replacing it. Polestar quotes up to 630 km WLTP in rear-motor form and up to 544 hp in dual-motor form on the same 400 V architecture, with retuned chassis components shared with the latest coupé. It is built in Busan, South Korea, and goes on sale in a majority of Polestar markets. Polestar announced the car on 7 July 2026 and has still published no battery capacity, no acceleration figure, no boot volume and no prices.
The 2027 Lexus NX drops petrol-only power and says almost nothing else
Lexus revealed the 2027 NX on 1 September 2026 and made its compact crossover entirely electrified: the petrol-only NX 250 and NX 350 are gone, leaving the NX 350h hybrid and the NX 450h+ plug-in across Premium, Premium+, F SPORT and Luxury grades. The plug-in gets a newly developed lithium-ion battery with 8 per cent more output and 30 per cent more capacity, DC fast charging as standard, and over 40 miles of EV range on select grades. A new e-Axle integrates transaxle, motor and power control unit to lower the centre of gravity, and the 14-inch Lexus Interface screen is now standard on every grade. Lexus published no total system output, no battery capacity in kWh, no acceleration figure and no prices, and says the car reaches global markets by the end of 2026.
Porsche built 100 manual GT3s for four Alpine countries and nobody else
Porsche announced the 911 GT3 Bergsport on 1 September 2026, a market edition of 100 cars sold only in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland. It wears Valleygreenmetallic, a green with gold metallic particles created for the car through Paint to Sample Plus, over forged wheels in satin White Gold and Ceramica with orange brake calipers. The Lightweight Package with carbon-fibre bucket seats and the six-speed manual gearbox are part of the specification, along with HD-Matrix LED headlights, front axle lift and the 90-litre fuel tank. It premiered on 3 September at the Arosa ClassicCar hill climb in Switzerland with Jörg Bergmeister driving. Porsche has not published a price.
Mulliner built a Continental GT to match a 1950 Mark VI
Bentley revealed a Mulliner-built Continental GT Azure on 27 August 2026 finished in homage to a two-tone green and black H.J. Mulliner-bodied Mark VI from its own Heritage Collection, delivered in January 1950. The tribute wears solid Barnato Green with a Mulliner Black contrasting roof, a carbon-fibre styling specification, black 22-inch ten-spoke wheels with bright machining and black brake calipers. Inside is Cricket Ball red main hide with Beluga secondary, diamond quilting with embroidered Azure emblems, dark stained burr walnut over Grand Black piano veneer, and treadplates reading Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of production in Crewe, 1946-2026. Both cars were displayed together at the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club celebration at the British Motor Museum on 29 August.
The Nismo Z finally gets a manual, and Japan gets the facelifted Z
Nissan opened Japanese orders for the facelifted Fairlady Z on August 27, 2026. The Nismo gains a six-speed manual it never had, with a short-throw shifter, a strengthened clutch and reworked throttle and ignition mapping. Standard cars make 405 PS, the Nismo 420 PS. Prices run from 5,737,600 yen to 9,752,600 yen for the Nismo.
Lamborghini paints a Temerario in the Italian flag for Ad Personam's 20th
Lamborghini published the Temerario Tricolore on August 24, 2026, a one-off Ad Personam commission marking twenty years of the personalisation programme. Blu Marinus Shiny below, Bianco Monocerus above, Nero Noctis details and red calipers. The mechanical package is standard Temerario: a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors, 920 CV combined.
Genesis built a flagship with coach doors and no B-pillar
Genesis unveiled the GV90 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on 19 August 2026, its first full-size electric flagship SUV. A 123.5 kWh battery gives roughly 500 km in seven-seat form, and a 350 kW charger takes it from 10 to 80 per cent in 22 minutes. The dual-motor drivetrain makes 490 kW and 800 Nm through a dual e-LSD, with rear-wheel steering up to five degrees and multi-chamber air suspension. The Neolun version adds coach doors on a dual-motion hinge and front seats that swivel 180 degrees when parked. Genesis has published no 0-100 time, top speed, kerb weight or price.
Mercedes facelifts the C-Class: lit-up grille, and the buttons come back
Mercedes revealed the facelifted W206 C-Class on August 17, 2026, with German order books opening the same day from €48,844. Four-cylinder petrol from 130 kW to 190 kW, two diesels, and a C 400 e 4MATIC plug-in hybrid with 290 kW and about 100 km of electric range. Sedan and Estate.
Kimera K-39: a Lancia 037 tribute with a 1,000 hp Koenigsegg V8 and a manual gearbox
Kimera Automobili was the featured marque at the Monterey Motorsports Festival on August 15, 2026, giving the K-39 Stradale and the K-39 Race Car their first public showing together. A bespoke twin-turbo V8 developed by Koenigsegg makes 1,000 hp and 1,200 Nm through a manual gearbox, in a carbon-monocoque car shaped by the Lancia 037 and the Group 5 Beta Montecarlo Turbo.
Acura NEXERA Vision: the concept that sets Acura's next design language
Acura revealed the NEXERA Vision concept at The Quail on August 14, 2026. It introduces a new exterior and interior design language and a lighting signature Acura calls phantom lighting, which the company has confirmed for production on the fourth-generation RDX Hybrid, expected within 18 months. Designed at Acura Design California under Yasutake Tsuchida.
Aston Martin Valen: 838 hp makes it the most powerful front-engined production car
Aston Martin used Monterey Car Week to reveal the Valen, a 150-car front-engined V12 supercar making 850 PS, or 838 hp, and 1,000 Nm. Aston claims it as the most powerful front-engined production car ever built. Full carbon body, quad titanium exhaust, magnesium wheels as standard, and first deliveries in the second quarter of 2027.
Gordon Murray S1: a 12,100 rpm Cosworth V12 and a six-speed manual, from the man who did the F1
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles revealed the S1 at The Quail on August 14, 2026. A bespoke 4.2-litre Cosworth V12 revving to 12,100 rpm, up to 690 PS, a six-speed manual with a touring sixth gear, and every body panel new against the S1 LM it descends from. All 64 cars were sold before the reveal.
Lamborghini Revuelto SV: 1,065 CV, 1,963 cars, and none of them for sale to you
Lamborghini has revealed the Revuelto SV at Monterey Car Week: 783 kW, 1,065 CV, 348 km/h and 2.4 seconds to 100 km/h, making it the most powerful and fastest-accelerating production car the company has built. A double-wing rear end lifts total downforce by 80 percent over the standard Revuelto, the dampers are manually adjustable and derived from GT3 practice, and the brakes move to CCM-R Plus discs. Production is 1,963 cars, a nod to the founding year, and all of them are reserved for existing customers and collectors.
McLaren McL 6GT: the first manual McLaren road car since the F1
McLaren revealed the McL 6GT at Monterey Car Week on August 14, 2026: a V8, rear-wheel-drive concept with a manual gearbox, the first in a McLaren road car since the F1 went out of production. It is a tribute to the M6GT that Bruce McLaren never finished, and it previews a production model due in 2028. McLaren has confirmed the layout and the hardware but released no power, weight, performance or price figures.
Someone asked Porsche for a slantnose, and Porsche said yes
Porsche published the Flachbau RS on August 14, 2026, a one-off commission from the Sonderwunsch department built with Manthey on a customer's existing 911 GT2 RS. New wheel arches, a new headlight system and a U-shaped bonnet graphic reference the 935/78. The rear wing sits roughly five centimetres higher and makes 554 kg of downforce on the rear axle in its High Downforce setting at 340 km/h.
Spyker is back, and it brought a manual gearbox
Spyker revealed the C8 Preliator XXV Coupé on August 14, 2026 at The Quail, its first new model in a decade and the first under the revived company. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 makes a claimed 800 hp and 1,000 Nm to 8,000 rpm, driving through a genuine six-speed manual. Every aluminium panel is hand-shaped at Coventry Prototype Panels over a spaceframe engineered in-house, around 2,100 hours per car. Production is capped at 25.
Denza's N8 claims 1,003 km on a charge, and BYD is not saying from which version
BYD's Denza brand has detailed the N8, a full-size electric SUV offered as a five-seat N8 and a six-seat long-wheelbase N8L. Two LFP packs of 105.792 and 130.15 kWh support quoted CLTC ranges of 800, 840, 970 and up to 1,003 km, with 960 km for the N8L. The drivetrain is either a single rear motor at 429 or 497 hp or a tri-motor arrangement with one 270 kW front and two 310 kW rear motors for 890 kW, about 1,193 hp. BYD has not published which pack or range belongs to which drivetrain, and no 0-100, top speed or kerb weight has been released.
Ferrari CZ26: a one-off that wins by leaving things out
Ferrari revealed the CZ26 at Monterey on August 13, 2026, a Special Projects one-off built for a US client on SF90 Stradale hardware. Argento Veloce paint, a two-box silhouette with almost no surface drama, and the SF90's 986 hp plug-in hybrid V8 underneath: 2.5 seconds to 100 km/h and 328 km/h.
Koenigsegg built a tribute to the race car it never got to race
Koenigsegg revealed the CCGT1 in Monterey on August 13, 2026. It is built on CC850 bones, with only the doors and the removable roof carried over, and it honours the CCGT endurance racer that was cancelled in 2007 when the FIA rewrote the GT1 rules before the car turned a competitive lap. The 5.0 twin-turbo V8 makes 1,280 hp on pump fuel and 1,600 hp on E85, the redesigned aero generates up to 800 kg of downforce at 250 km/h, and a new active rear wing adjusts through 30 degrees on its own. Koenigsegg has published no weight, no 0-100 and no top speed. Seventy will be built, all allocated before the public debut.
Cadillac Celestiq Night Test: a one-of-one commission that deletes the chrome
Cadillac has revealed the Celestiq Night Test, a one-of-one commission finished in Caspia Tricoat Metallic with Jade-finish lighting bezels and dark 23-inch wheels. The brief was performance without theatre: diffuse the light rather than reflect it. Announced August 12, hand-assembled at the Cadillac Artisan Center in Warren, Michigan, and making its public debut at The Quail during Monterey Car Week on August 14.
Rezvani Beast X: 1,560 hp, all-wheel drive, five cars, and no photographs of it yet
Rezvani Motors has revealed the Beast X, a five-car carbon-bodied hypercar built on the mid-engine C8 Corvette. The company claims 1,560 hp and 1,280 lb-ft from a bespoke 6.2-litre twin-turbo V8, an eight-speed dual-clutch, full-time all-wheel drive and 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds. Rezvani has not published a price, a top speed, a kerb weight or a delivery date, and has not released a single photograph of a finished car.
Bugatti Destrier: the third Programme Solitaire W16 lands on the Bolide
Bugatti has revealed the Destrier, the third car under its Programme Solitaire bespoke commission tier. It keeps the Bolide's 1,600 PS quad-turbo 8.0-litre W16 and its carbon-fibre monocoque, but strips every wing, vent and diffuser fin off the track car to leave a minimalist coachbuilt sculpture over a track-car powertrain. Public debut at The Quail during Monterey Car Week 2026 on August 16.