By Hannah Elliott
Even the pandemic didn’t stop automakers from unveiling cars in 2020. From the achingly beautiful Ferrari Roma to the electric Polestar 2, and from the Mercedes-Maybach GLS to three track-worthy wagons, the new products provided some optimism about the future of driving while many other diversions (concerts, shopping, travel) stalled.
But that’s old news.
What I’m really looking forward to driving in 2021 is not a car at all. It’s a truck: the Rivian R1T.
The company announced it in 2018, long before Tesla Inc.’s Cybertruck and General Motors Co.’s Hummer EV, so it’s about time. (Last year, I wrote about wanting to drive the Cybertruck … and I’m still waiting for that test drive.)
Sales of classic cars, on the other hand, have remained positively stable.
“2020 was a very strange year: There was a lot of appetite” to buy cars, says Brian Rabold, vice president of valuation services at Hagerty, a company that insures classic and collectible cars. The proliferation of online platforms from auction houses and startups alike enabled consumer hunger. “A lot of people had more time, they weren’t traveling, they weren’t leaving the house. You could just sit in front of the computer and shop. All of that conspired to make 2020 really strong.”
Gooding & Co. auction house reported $9.2 million in sales and a respectable 77% sell-through for its Geared online auction, which saw blue-chip classics like the $1.14 million 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing hammer well within its pricing estimates. At Bring a Trailer, founder Randy Nonnenberg reported his highest-ever day for traffic amid some of the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic.
By Hannah Elliott
The Venom F5 has front fenders arched in a wolf snarl and a rear roofline ribbed like the back of some ancient reptile. The sides of its body are chiseled back to skeletal proportions; the quad cluster of rear tailpipes looks as if it might as well spew fire. It comes with a 6.6-liter twin-turbo 1,817-horsepower V8 engine and a featherlight weight of 2,998 pounds.
And with an anticipated top speed of 311 mph (500.5 km/h), it could set a new record as the world’s fastest car.
The $2.1 million coupe is considerably faster than the Hennessey Venom GT that set a 270.49 mph world record in 2014 and faster still than the Bugatti Chiron prototype, the current record holder at 304.77 mph; the fastest production car right now is the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 277.87 mph).
An autonomous vehicle company acquired this year by Amazon has unveiled a four-person robo-taxi, a compact, multidirectional vehicle designed for dense, urban environments.
The carriage-style interior of the vehicle produced by Zoox Inc. has two benches that face each other. There is no steering wheel. It measures just under 12 feet long, about a foot shorter than a standard Mini Cooper.
It is among the first vehicles with bidirectional capabilities and four-wheel steering, allowing for better maneuverability. It has a top speed of 75 miles per hour.
The vehicle is being tested in the company s base of Foster City, California, as well as Las Vegas and San Francisco, Zoox said Monday.
Zero SR/S: This $19,995 electric motorcycle with 110 HP engine & 70 mph top speed might just be the best bike of 2020 indiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.