Auto - TechEBlog

Ferrari’s Only Matte Black (Nero Opaco) Enzo Goes Sealed at Upcoming RM Sotheby’s Auction

By Bill Smith September 7, 2026

Chassis 136069 left Maranello in October 2004 in a color Ferrari almost never allowed. A member of the Royal Family of Brunei ordered this 2004 Enzo in Matte Nero Opaco, factory matte black applied to no other car in the 400-example run built from 2002 to 2004. Work began on June 8. Four months later the finished car went to the family’s London house with matching Nero leather, Nero carpets, Rosso gauges, and the larger seats. Occasional sightings in Hampstead, Mayfair, and Knightsbridge were as close as most people ever got to it.

A2 e-tron is the Result of Audi Reviving Its Strangest Hatch as a 646-Kilometer Efficiency Machine

By Bill Smith September 7, 2026

Audi put the A2 name back on a production car this morning, and the claim attached to it is blunt. A2 e-tron is the most efficient electric Audi the company has built, with official consumption as low as 12.8 kWh per 100 kilometers and a WLTP range that reaches 646 kilometers on the largest battery.

Jensen Interceptor GTX Puts 960 Supercharged Horses on Track Before Any Road Car Exists

By Bill Smith September 5, 2026

Jensen International Automotive spent years restoring classic Interceptors in Oxfordshire. This week the company showed a completely new car instead. Called the Interceptor GTX, the two-seat coupe is a track-only prototype built to prove an all-new aluminum platform, a Texas-built V8, and the shape of future road cars. Around 80 percent of its exterior is meant to survive when those street versions arrive.

Lamborghini Temerario Polizia Unveiled, Boasts 907 Horses for Italy’s Most Urgent Runs

By Bill Smith September 4, 2026

On Friday at Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata Bolognese headquarters, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stood with Chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann as a Temerario in official Polizia colors entered service. Prefect Renato Cortese attended for Police Chief Vittorio Pisani. A book called “I motori della Polizia,” a short record of the force’s working machines, was presented with the car.

Tesla’s Cybercab Pulls Up in Austin for First Public Test Rides With No Wheel Left to Hold

By Bill Smith September 4, 2026

Gold two-seaters started carrying passengers through Austin this week after a quiet Thursday event and a Friday opening on Tesla’s Robotaxi app. Early riders who managed to snag one described a ride so uneventful it felt almost ordinary, which is the whole point of a taxi that never asks you to drive. Cybercab is a purpose-built two-door electric coupe with butterfly doors, no steering wheel, no pedals, and no side mirrors. Tesla designed it only for unsupervised robotaxi work. You book it the same way you book a Model Y robotaxi, then walk up to a car that opens itself when you are close enough. Doors also close on their own once both people are seated. A tap on Start Ride on the big center screen sends it rolling.

Gold Without a Wheel, Tesla’s Cybercab Takes Austin

By Bill Smith September 3, 2026

Gold two-seaters with butterfly doors rolled through downtown Austin on Thursday, September 3, and none of them had a steering wheel. Tesla used an invite-only gathering at ACL Live to put its purpose-built Cybercab into the same Robotaxi app that has already been carrying paying riders in Model Y SUVs since June 2025. Guests got the first spins Thursday evening. Broader public hails in a limited Austin zone were set to open Friday.

Range Rover Electric Opens for Orders With 542 Horsepower and a Familiar Face

By Bill Smith September 2, 2026

Range Rover Electric finally arrived this week after a delayed decade of work, and order books are open now for the 2027 model. JLR kept the fifth-generation silhouette almost intact, then fitted an aero grille, cleaner wheels, and a smoothed underbody so the big SUV still looks like a Range Rover from across a parking lot. Solihull builds it next to the petrol and plug-in versions, while Wolverhampton makes the battery packs and drive units. Martin Limpert, Range Rover’s managing director, called electric propulsion a natural match for the cabin’s calm, and he also said the company pushed testing further than first planned so the car would still feel like the original luxury SUV.

ID. California Cruise Turns Volkswagen’s Electric Bus Into a Quiet Two-Person Base Camp

By Bill Smith August 30, 2026

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles put the ID. California Cruise on the floor at Düsseldorf’s Caravan Salon as the first battery-powered member of a name that has lived on diesel since 1988. Built on the ID. Buzz Pro, the van arrives in short and long wheelbases and keeps the familiar two-tone shape, adding only California lettering on the tailgate and Cruise graphics along the flanks. German pricing starts at €60,761, about $70,500, which undercuts the midsize diesel California Beach by a few thousand euros. First customer vans are due in early 2027, with more electric California variants promised by 2028.

Aston Martin Valen is Most Powerful Front-Engine Car Yet, Limited to 150 Units

By Bill Smith August 24, 2026

Aston Martin has officially introduced the Valen, a new limited-edition coupe that the company claims is the world’s most powerful front-engine production vehicle. The Valen is based on the current Vanquish chassis and was designed by the Q special vehicles team in collaboration with the Special Vehicle Operations department. It takes the classic long-hood, short-deck layout and makes every essential system work harder. Only 150 will be constructed, with the first vehicles expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2027. The base price is approximately two million dollars before options.

Auto Enthusiast Recreates the Mazda Suitcase Car from the 90s

By Bill Smith August 24, 2026

In 1991, seven Mazda transmission research engineers combined a hard-shell Samsonite and a pocket bike to create something no airline would ever allow. Their submission for the company’s Fantasyard contest was a three-wheeled motorcycle that folded into luggage, weighed seventy-one pounds, and could reach speeds of nearly nineteen miles per hour with a 33.6-cubic-centimeter two-stroke engine. Assembly takes approximately one minute. The thing was highlighted on Oprah and at major auto shows, but just one original remains today.