Ford and Google to Reinvent the Connected Vehicle Experience

Ford and Google announced a unique six-year partnership that will see the automaker team up with Google to have the search and AI giant become its preferred cloud provider. The partnership will give Ford access to Google’s growing expertise in AI and machine learning to drive and reinvent Ford’s connected vehicle experience.

For Ford owners, those driving Ford and Lincoln vehicles will be come with Android and provide access to Google apps and services. The two companies also announced the establishment of a new collaborative group, Team Upshift that will see two companies collaborate on a series of new projects, personalized consumer experiences and developing new retail experiences.

“As Ford continues the most profound transformation in our history with electrification, connectivity and self-driving, Google and Ford coming together establishes an innovation powerhouse truly able to deliver a superior experience for our customers and modernize our business,” said Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford in a release that accompanied the announcement.

“From the first moving assembly line to the latest driver-assist technology, Ford has set the pace of innovation for the automotive industry for nearly 120 years,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “We’re proud to partner to apply the best of Google’s AI, data analytics, compute and cloud platforms to help transform Ford’s business and build automotive technologies that keep people safe and connected on the road.”

Beginning in 2023, Ford and Lincoln customers will start to see benefits from digital experiences built on the Android OS and Google’s apps and services. Some of these will include:

• With Google Assistant, drivers can keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel, by getting things done with just their voice.

• With Google Maps as the vehicles’ primary navigation, drivers can reach their destination faster with information on real-time traffic, automatic rerouting, lane guidance and more.

• With Google Play, drivers will have access to their apps for listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks and more. These apps are optimized and integrated for in-vehicle use.

• Android in the car also enables Ford and third-party developers to build apps that provide a constantly improving and ever-more-personalized ownership experience.

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The BMW 540i is worth your serious consideration

The COVID-19 global pandemic led to some interesting, and at times, worrying human behavior. From unfounded conspiracy theories to a dwindling video game retailer whose stock somehow exploded overnight due to a group of Reddit trolls, it’s fair to say people don’t fare well when asked to stay at home for months on end.

In my case, the pandemic had me panic-shuffling through Facebook’s Marketplace pages in search of the next big thing in automotive ownership. And, for some reason, I ended up buying an old German sport sedan. I know, not the best idea. But hear me out.

In case you haven’t noticed, many iconic models sold between the 1980s and 1990s have recently spiked up in value. Looking for a vintage air-cooled Porsche 911? Forget about it. A well-kept Acura Integra Type R? Good luck. A naturally aspirated BMW M car? You missed the boat on that one a while ago, pal.

This sudden growth in automotive values is attributable to two things: generation X, which grew up during the 80s and 90s, is now looking for the cars of its childhood. Also, as we head deeper into a world of electric crossovers, classic, analog performance machines are becoming a rarity. Since I was afraid of missing out on an opportunity to save a classic while I could afford one, I pulled the trigger on an early 2000s BMW 5-Series.

Honoring Automotive History

While I embrace tomorrow’s electric reality with much enthusiasm, the fact that the automotive industry is transitioning into cleaner propulsion methods signifies that an important change in car culture is also happening.

As a professional who’s revenue comes solely from writing about cars, I felt it was my duty to save at least one relic from the automobile’s petrol-addicted past. In the future, I want to open a garage door and tell my kid: “look, this is what cars used to be like.”

But that relic also needed to be an automotive icon, one that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg to buy. I had to find a car that people will remember, but also one that still hasn’t been ravaged by the market. And even if my criteria were straightforward: manual transmission, rear-wheel drive and V8-powered; finding that jewel wasn’t going to be easy.

Thankfully, Quebec’s 8 PM COVID-19 curfew meant I had a lot of free time on my hands. After cycling through car ads, I finally locked my sights on a 540i.

While the BMW M cars from that era, more specifically the E46 M3 and E39 M5, are now pretty much unattainable due to a rapid explosion in their market values, the “almost M car” variants are still somewhat affordable, yet they’ve also demonstrated a slow, but steady growth in value as well. I reckoned that if I could get my hands on a well-kept 540i at a decent price, it could possibly be worth more down the road.

The BMW 540i is worth considering for several reasons. First, it’s based on the E39 chassis, arguably the best sport sedan platform BMW ever built. This architecture can be found underneath the entire BMW 5-series lineup sold between 1995 and 2003. To the eyes of many, this generation of the 5-Series represents BMW’s “golden” era, offering an almost perfect blend of luxury and performance, all while presenting itself through a clean, understated yet timeless design.

BMW 540i

The 540i also had the reputation of being a “baby” M5. Like its high-performance sister, it too was powered by a naturally aspirated V8, but of smaller displacement (4.4 versus 4.9-liters). It was also rear-wheel drive and could be had with a slick-shifting six-speed manual transmission.

Yet, while it pumped out a stout 282 horsepower and 324 lb-ft of torque (310 lb-ft on pre-2000 cars), allowing to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h of just over 5.5 seconds, the 540i looked no different than a humble 5-Series. In other words, only a true BMW connoisseur knows what it is.

As I write this, clean, low mileage examples are selling anywhere between $12,000 to $15,000 USD on websites like Bring a Trailer. Of course, manual-transmission cars, as well as models sold after the 2002 facelift, hold a better value. The crown jewel is the 540i Touring with a manual transmission. Anything in wagon form with a V8 under its hood is bound to climb in value.

Be Prepared Before Buying

I was thrilled to have found a beautifully maintained example here in Montreal with only 96,000 km on its odometer. The Orient Blue 540i Sport had spent most of its winters locked up in a heated garage, never seeing snow or salt. Furthermore, its service history checked out: only two owners, with most of its maintenance always performed at a BMW dealership. The Carfax was also clean, with no reported accidents.

That, by the way; making sure that the car has a thorough service history is an important step when shopping for an old BMW. While the 540i has proven to be considerably more solid than the rest of the 5-Series lineup, an old German luxury sedan remains – ahem – an old luxury German sedan. In other words, it won’t exactly be cheap to own. While it’s true that the 540i is less maintenance intensive than an M5, it still has its share of issues. If preventive maintenance isn’t performed, the financial consequences could be catastrophic.

BMW 540i

During the car’s inspection, make sure to look for potential oil leaks, particularly around the head covers. This could be due to a dried-up head cover gasket. It’s the same story for the entire cooling system. Try to spot signs of coolant leaks from the system’s hoses. A good practice for old BMW engines is to eventually replace all hoses for sturdier aftermarket components.

Also make sure to run the engine on idle for an extended period. If you hear a loud ticking noise from the engine compartment, there could be something wrong with the VANOS system, which was BMW’s valve timing technology. It’s important to have the system verified every 100,000 km or so. Finally, while BMW’s 4.4-liter V8 utilized a timing chain, the chain guides themselves are made of plastic and can wear over time. It’s recommended to have them serviced when approaching 200,000 km.

All of this may seem terrifying if you don’t know what you’re getting into. But you’ll be happy to hear that the internet is a gold mine of information for the BMW E39. Also, try to quickly get in touch with a BMW specialist. Not only do they understand these cars better than your average mechanic, they’ll also typically charge less than a BMW technician. If well maintained, a well-kept BMW 540i manual is definitely a future classic that’s worth saving before it’s too late.

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Hyundai Canada announces 2021 prices for Santa Fe and Santa Fe Hybrid.

Hyundai Canada announced their pricing for the 2021 Santa Fe that will now include hybrid trims.

The newly enhanced design includes all-new drivetrains, upgraded interior finishes and elements, borrowed from its larger sibling Palisade, as well as segment-leading technologies and safety elements.

Three new drivetrains will be made available starting with the new 2.5-litre Smartstream base engine that will be available in all trim levels except the hybrid and the newly introduced top-trim Ultimate Calligraphy. It will be matched to an eight-speed Automatic transmission.

The Hybrid trim will be equipped with a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine paired to a 44.2 kW electric-drive motor that will transfer the power to the wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. The power output from both the gas engine and electric motor combined produces a healthy 226 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque.

New to the Santa Fe is Hyundai’s newly introduced Ultimate Calligraphy trim level. The new trim level adds such luxuries as Nappa leather, suede headliner, a colour head-up display, and exclusive trim finishes and accents. The Ultimate Calligraphy will benefit from a 2.5-litre turbocharged engine that produces 277 hp and 311 lb-ft of torque. The engine is now matched to an eight-speed, wet dual clutch. This combination allows for greater towing capacity and Santa Fe has added a seven-pin trailer connector in this trim.

The Santa Fe comes with a segment-leading 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and also available is Hyundai’s Remote Smart Park Assist (RSPA) that allows the driver to park or exit from a tight parking spot from outside the vehicle by means of the remote key fob – the Santa Fe is the only vehicle in its segment to offer this.

The 2021 Prices are as follows:

Trim Engine Trans. MSRP
Essential FWD 2.5L GDI MPI 8AT $31,399
Essential 2.5L GDI MPI 8AT $33,399
Preferred 2.5L GDI MPI 8AT $36,399
Preferred Trend 2.5L GDI MPI 8AT $38,499
Preferred Trend Hybrid 1.6T + 44kW 6AT $41,399
Luxury Hybrid 1.6T + 44kW 6AT $43,799
Ultimate Calligraphy 2.5T GDI MPI 8DCT $47,499

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News Roundup: Yoke’s on Tesla, General Green Motors, Toyota Sells the Most, More

Tesla revealed big improvements to the Model S and Model X, though one of them is more on the unusual side. The S starts with new Plaid and Plaid+ options, offering a new tri-motor system. More motors mean more power, and the Plaid+ offers more than 1,100 hp. It also boasts an almost incredible 837 km range estimate, with special brake rotors and the lowest 0-100 km/h time of any production car. Plaid offers 628 km of range while the final option, the Dual Motor Long Range, manages 663 km. It starts from $114,900, with the Plaid+ at $189,990. The interior has been extensively revised including a new larger center display that can even play modern video games, as well as revised trim and redesigned door panels. It also has that yoke-style half-wheel that is guaranteed to be controversial. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the car’s logic would replace the need for signals and a drive/reverse selector as well, so those move to the touchscreen.

Most of the interior changes will also apply to the Model X crossover, though it will offer Plaid ($159,990) and not Plaid+. That version of the X gets a 558 km range estimate, while the Dual Motor Long Range ($124,990) offers 580 km.

General Motors announced it was planning to become carbon neutral by 2040 including products as well as the company’s operations. As part of that, the company said that it “aspires to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035.” That’s not a guarantee of 100 percent EV by 2035, or even a definite plan, just that the automaker is hoping it can accomplish the task. It wouldn’t apply to medium or heavy-duty vehicles (large trucks). GM said it will spend $27 billion on electric and autonomous vehicles by 2025, up from $20B promised just over a year ago. GM said it will make up more than half of capital and R&D spending for the company. The automaker did commit to sourcing 100 percent renewable energy for US sites by 2030, and 2035 globally, five years sooner than previously stated.

HondaVAC

The title of most vehicles sold in the world has changed hands this year. Volkswagen Group has held the title for the last five years, but this year the Toyota family, which includes Daihatsu and Hino, get the honours. The group sold 9.53 million vehicles worldwide, while VW hit just 9.31. Though with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures in place, it was not a banner year for the two (or most other) automakers. 2021 could go to either, as VW moves to more EVs and both hope for their core markets to make a return to normal.

HondaVAC

To help reduce its own CO2 emissions, Volkswagen Canada has a new low-emissions website. Instead of colour photos, text, and fancy other features, it’s black and white and the photos are all made up of letters and other characters. Volkswagen says that it makes their site 99 per cent more greenhouse gas friendly than before, and their data shows that is a lot. VW says a normal site getting 100,000 views a month generates 2,110 kg of CO2 every year, and that’s about what a small car would generate in a year. The new site looks cool, too, especially if you’re a fan of the ASCII art that was a standard of early Internet sites. The automaker hopes other sites will follow, helping to cut the four percent of global emissions linked to Internet activity.

HondaVAC

Honda’s Odyssey minivan has made a very early change from the 2021 to 2022 model year, just a few months after the 2021 arrived with an extensive refresh and before all of Honda’s 2021 models have even hit dealers. The change to the Odyssey for 2022 is the removal of the HondaVAC built-in vacuum system, not available for the model year, reportedly due to supplier issues. The feature may return next year, but if you want your Honda van to suck you should look for a 2021. The MSRP is up slightly for 2022 as well, starting from $43,105 for an EX-RES and ranging to $54,305 for a Touring.

HondaVAC

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Ford of Canada Names Bev Goodman as New President and CEO

Ford of Canada has named Bev Goodman as its new president and CEO.

That announcement that came this Monday morning, said that Goodman will helm the automaker immediately, replacing Dean Stoneley who has been appointed as general manager, North America truck, Ford Motor Company, a newly created position.

In a release to the media about Goodman’s appointment, Kumar Galhotra, Ford president, Americas and International Markets Group said: “During a year of extraordinary challenges, Dean led the Ford of Canada team to its twelfth consecutive year of sales leadership and now brings his agile leadership approach and strong customer focus to the critical role of maintaining Ford’s dominance in the North American truck market. At this time of rapid change in the auto industry, Bev demonstrates a deep understanding of what matters most to our customers now, and in the future. She also has a proven track record of working collaboratively with our dealer partners and a commitment to innovation as Ford accelerates its efforts to deliver high-quality, high-value vehicles and services.”

“I look forward to embracing new ways to serve our customers across the country as we introduce iconic vehicles such as the Mustang Mach-E, Bronco and F-150 hybrid,” said Goodman in a press release. “We’ll focus on delivering the benefits of electrification and connectivity to consumers, including plans for the $1.8-billion transformation of our Oakville Assembly Complex to a battery electric vehicle manufacturing facility and continuing to grow our advanced connectivity and innovation centres,”

Ford of Canada’s operations include a national headquarters, three regional offices, three vehicle assembly and engine manufacturing plants, two parts distribution centres, two research and development sites, and three connectivity and innovation centres.

Bev Goodman

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Base Camp: 2021 Kia Seltos LX FWD

Kia has always had a seat around the Base Camp kitchen table, offering well-made and stylish machines that are packed with features. While the brand has been moving upscale in recent years (Stinger, Telluride, et al) they also haven’t forgotten its roots. Entry-level small vehicles still make up a portion of their showroom. In this instalment, we sample one of the smallest – and newest – rigs to wear a Kia badge.

Seltos is part of a new(ish) breed of SUV and crossover, packaging a high seating position into the frame of what might have otherwise been a small hatchback had the buying public not gravitated to this type of bodystyle ages ago. The base LX wears a sticker price of $23,095 and is powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre four cylinder engine making 146 horsepower. In this guise, it funnels power through an automatic transmission to the front wheels only; those seeking all-wheel drive (AWD) action will need to shell out an extra $2000 for that privilege.

There’s no shortage of equipment inside the Seltos, with an array of active safety tools like blind spot warning aids and rear cross traffic alerts showing up as standard kit. Air conditioning and cruise control are on board, plus a six-speaker audio system that deploys an 8-inch display screen. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are found, though satellite radio is not. Cloth seats are heated in the front row and the steering wheel has both tilt and telescope adjustments.

The brand known for value hasn’t skimped on exterior jewelry, either. Alloy wheels are wrapped up in 16-inch tires (no cheap hubcaps here) and projector headlights are shared with more expensive trims as are the fog lamps. Heated power side view mirrors with built-in turn signal repeaters are body coloured, just like the door handles. An array of bright colours is available but the Onyx Black shown here is the only no-charge option. At least Kia doesn’t restrict its funky paint to the more expensive trims, I suppose.

Review: 2021 Kia Seltos LX

Windows are tinted and a little rear spoiler juts from the roof. Even the silver bumper accents designed to look like AWD skid plates remain. In short, it’ll be tough – save for the wheels – to tell this is a base model at first glance.

What We’d Choose

Making the $2,000 walk to an all-wheel drive equipped LX isn’t chump change, a sum that will tack about $40 per month onto a typical car loan. Sending power to all four wheels also invites a fuel economy penalty of approximately 0.5L/100km. By itself, that amount isn’t unbearable but the cumulative effects will add up over time. Best, then, to stick with the base LX and invest about a third of your savings into a good set of name-brand winter tires. It’s noted that AWD models don’t get much more ground clearance – just an extra 0.3-inches.

Your long-of-torso author does appreciate this trim is devoid of sunroof, a feature which rudely scuppers nearly two inches of front seat headroom. That might be enough to make up for the LX FWD model’s lack of satellite radio and push button start. Hey, at least the extra headroom means I won’t bonk my head while digging in my pocket for the keys.

Find rest of the Base Camp series here

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Racing Roundup: New Canadian Racing Series Announced

Filipe Albuquerque, Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor, driving a Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi, won the Rolex 24 at Daytona this weekend – but you already knew that. I have news that many of you don’t know about. Some do, but a lot don’t.

Chris Bye, a long-time Canadian road racer (he was in a Porsche at the 2003 Rolex) and author (he wrote Crash Test, about his brother and fellow racer Rick Bye’s devastating highway accident) has announced the creation of a new GT4/TCR professional sports car racing series that will start competing, God (and COVID) willing, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this coming May.

A tentative schedule has the series running at five locations the first year with the first races – two 45-minute sprints are currently planned at each meet – at CTMP and winding up there in October. In between, a TBA race will be held in July and there will be in two in August at Calabogie Motorsport Park near Ottawa and Circuit ICAR in Montreal.

Bye is one of those men who doesn’t pull his punches. He makes his living arranging and organizing vehicle launch events for many of Canada’s automobile manufacturers and he wants more. He figures by getting them involved in his series – fingers crossed – he can impress them on his company’s merits.

He also makes no bones that he’s in this game to make money.

“This is a for-profit entity,” he told me in an interview. “I have been completely up front about this. I am not sponsoring this like I did the Pfaff plaid Porsche car in the IMSA WeatherTech championship or other cars and series I’ve sponsored over the years. This is a business opportunity. I do business with about half the manufacturers; I would like to do business with them all. This (series) gives me a foot in the door of the manufacturers I don’t deal with and if that doesn’t work, I will just go knocking on their door.”

Bye said COVID-19 forced his hand. “COVID kind of decimated my business (many unveilings were put on hold or restricted to local launches) and I was looking for something to keep our team together.”

When the pandemic hit last March, the Pfaff car was parked and then about mid-summer, Steve Bortolotti, the team manager, called and said the car and the team would sit out of the WeatherTech championship till 2021. “I had a new Audi RS3 TCR car at the time and Steve suggested we do some races in the Canadian Touring Car Championship.”

So they did a deal. Quebec racer Zach Vanier drove and he won the championship. And that, Bye said, is where the idea for a new series started.

“Some of the teams started talking and they’d been doing the same thing for a number of years and were looking for something different. And there was one thing: if you’re a boxer, you’re an amateur boxer till the day you get paid; then you’re a professional. If you show up at a race track with zero prize money, you can call it whatever you want, but if there’s no prize money and nothing to win, it’s not professional (suggesting that this is the case with the CTCC).

“So we saw an opportunity to do a series that offers a value proposition back to the drivers, teams and sponsors and will operate under full transparency. The teams will know what sponsorship revenue is coming in and where it’s going. I can tell you now that there is a prize fund; money is in place. It’s not as big as we want it to be but it’s still January. We will continue to work hard to put money back into the teams.

“We are talking to a couple of potential title sponsors. Nothing is signed but we do have some sponsorship in place. I‘m not at liberty at this time to reveal who and what but it’s there.

“If somebody wins, they get paid. We’re focusing exclusively on the homologated GT4 and TCR platforms; we want manufacturers to get involved. We work with many of the manufacturers now; we’re in their buildings on a regular basis. Their goal is to sell cars and to engage with the dealers. So we’re sticking to those two platforms. It’s easier for the fans to understand.”

Bye said that some of Canada’s most famous international racing teams – Multimatic Motorsports of Markham, AIM Autosport, R. Ferri – have signed on to run in the series. Their entries bring the number of cars to 18 or 20.

“All have sent in registration deposits for one car but they say there might be more than one. The Multimatic model, for instance, is they are the builder of the Ford GT4 Mustang, so they might have a car in the factory that someone might come along and provide an operating budget for, or they might sell the car to a customer and then maintain the car for the client. R. Ferri, for instance, with the Ferrari Challenge, the customers own those cars and R. Ferri offers the trackside support.

“It’s all COVID. Most of the people racing are running businesses. They can’t go away and come home and quarantine for 14 days. They want to stay and race in Canada.

“We’re super excited. The support we’ve had from the motorsport community and the manufacturers has been incredible.”

This new racing series, of course, is going right up against the established Canadian Touring Car Championship for sponsors, cars and places to race. Is this a good idea? I’ll be back next week with an analysis.

IMSA ROLEX 24 AND OTHER ONE-AND-TWO LINE RACING NEWS

Roger Penske sat down one day and figured that with an IndyCar team, NASCAR Cup and Xfinity stock car teams, an IMSA sports car team, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and plans to help rejuvenate the Road to Indy racing programs that something had to give. So he and his IMSA Acura DPi team agreed with Honda Performance Development that somebody else should run the sports car program.

Or, Honda decided to pull the plug. It doesn’t matter which version you want to believe, the end result is the same. The Honda/Penske relationship came to an end at the end of the 2020 season.

Honda then decided on Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian to run the Acura program. Sunday, at the Daytona International Speedway, drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor won the 59th Rolex 24 At Daytona for WTR. The historic race opened the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Lead driver Albuquerque suspected something was amiss with his closest competitor near the end of the race. He was right. Albuquerque watched in his mirrors as Renger van der Zande, driving a Cadillac for Chip Ganassi Racing, was forced to pit with a flat right rear tire with 7 minutes, 50 seconds left in the race, allowing Albuquerque to drive the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 DPi to the finish line 4.704 seconds ahead of the No. 48 Action Express Racing/Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Kamui Kobayashi, who was supported by Jimmie Johnson, Simon Pagenaud and Mike Rockenfeller.

It was Albuquerque’s second Rolex victory in the past four years and the third consecutive Rolex victory for Wayne Taylor Racing.

Rolex 24 At Daytona Provisional Results

2021-Rolex-24-At-Daytona-Provisional-Results.pdf (imsa.com)

WTR joined Chip Ganassi Racing as the only teams to score three consecutive overall victories in the Rolex 24. The Ganassi team went back-to-back-to-back from 2006-2009. It also was the fifth overall Rolex 24 victory for Wayne Taylor Racing, which previously won in 2005, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

Following Kobayashi (who was also chasing a third straight Rolex 24 win) was the No. 55 Multimatic Motorsports of Markham’s Mazda RT24-P shared by Oliver Jarvis, Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito.

In the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, Paul-Loup Chatin put the finishing touches on a 19.513-second victory by the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 over the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA co-driven by John Farano of Toronto, Gabriel Aubry, Tim Buret and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Chatin co-drove the No. 18 with Ryan Dalziel, Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley. The Era Motorsport car’s livery was designed, in part, by a 6-year-old from Whitby, Owen MacEachern.

Spencer Pigot drove the final stint of a three-lap victory in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class by the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 he shared with Gar Robinson, Scott Andrews and Oliver Askew. LMP3 was making its WeatherTech Championship debut and the cars were racing for 24 hours for the first time.

The WeatherTech Championship season resumes March 17-20 with the 12 Hours at Sebring. My thanks to the IMSA Communications Staff who provided the raw material for this report.

THERE’S MORE . . . . .

Acura DPi

Helio Castroneves is such a character. Clowning around as usual, he said there would be a big party at Wayne Taylor’s house Sunday night to celebrate the victory and everybody was invited. “When I get the address, I’ll put it out on my Twitter,” he joked. At least, I think he was joking. . . . . . For the fourth time in its history, Corvette Racing stood on the top step of the podium in the Rolex 24 – but there was a twist. Driver Antonio Garcia tested negative to COVID-19 upon arriving in the United States but during the race a positive test was delivered to the race team. He was pulled from the car (IMSA later determined Corvette had adhered to all protocols). All crew members and others who came into contact with Garcia will be tested after 72 hours as per CDC guidelines. On the podium, then, his teammates, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg, stood on the top step (see photo). They, with Garcia, drove the No. 3 Mobil1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to victory in the GT Le Mans class. . . . . . Canadians Kuno Wittmer of Hudson, Que., and Orey Fidani of Toronto, in a McLaren, won the season-opening race for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona. . . . . . For a report of how all the Canadians did at Daytona, my friends at RaceCanada.ca prepared a chart. You can find it here . . . . . . After being out of racing for a few years because of a concussion suffered in a racing crash, 29-year-old Penticton, B.C., racer Sarah Cornett-Ching will return to late-model racing this season in South Carolina with support from House of Raeford Farms. . . . . . Dale Coyne has partnered with Rick Ware Racing to run Ed Jones for the entire 2021 NTGT IndyCar Season and a second car that will attempt to qualify for the Indy 500 and select other races. . . . . . NASCAR is expecting 30,000 fans at the 101,000-capacity Daytona International Speedway for this month’s Daytona 500. . . . . . Ken Roczen won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross in Indianapolis at the weekend. . . . . . The one-and-only CART/IndyCar racing reporter, historian and columnist, Robin Miller, is one of nine motorsport legends named to the Motorsport Hall of Fame of America. Davey Allison (stock cars), John Cobb (land speed records), Larry Dixon (drag racing), Janet Guthrie (Indy and stock cars), Nicky Hayden (motorycles), Fran Muncey (powerboats), Ray Nichels (historic) and Judy Stropus (sports cars) are the others. . . . . . . Sorry, don’t know her name, but the woman pit reporter during the overnight feed of the Rolex 24 said this about a driver change: “ . . . and perhaps a new drinks bottle.” Ya think? . . . . . Fourteen-time National champion and reigning title winner Jordan Szoke will return to defend his title in 2021, partnering again with Kawasaki Motors and S4-R Competition Racing Oil. . . . . . World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series officials have released a massive payout of more than $600,000 available between the five World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series events at Huset’s Speedway in South Dakota and Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota. This includes the potential for one driver to take home $180,000 thanks to a huge six-figure bonus to anyone who can sweep the finale at both tracks. It all starts on Monday, June 21. Now, $600,000? Where is this money coming from? I thought we were in the middle of a pandemic, with the world pretty much shut down. They had 50 cars for the Rolex; I think they had 30 last year. IndyCar is going to have regular fields of 25 or 26 cars. Again, where is the money coming from?

Norris McDonald / Special to wheels.ca

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First Drive: 2021 Nissan Versa

Cheap and cheerful cars have been picked off one by one by consumers allergic to anything that’s not a crossover or doesn’t sit 5 feet off the ground. In Canada and U.S., cars like the Ford Fiesta and Mazda2 have all gone the way of the Dodo bird, relegated to the annals of automotive history.

With global car platforms and the democratization of once advanced tech reserved for expensive luxury automobiles, the average crossover and SUV have become much more accessible.

But here, in the great white north, we’ve always been bigger supporters of the small car, like the recently discontinued Nissan Micra that wasn’t sold in the US. So it was perplexing when an all-new Versa sedan was released there last year and not here.

That’s changed now and the new Versa has arrived on our side of the fence for the 2021 model year, on sale at your local Nissan dealer at the time of this writing.

The Versa’s defining trait has always been a spacious and airy cabin packaged into a compact shell that makes it feel one-size larger than it really is.

If lots of space is the reason you loved the old Versa and Versa Note, then you’ll love this new one too. You’ll also be happy to hear that it doesn’t feel like the cheap beater you drove everywhere during your high school years.

The new entry-level Versa slots in perfectly within the rest of the Nissan lineup with its V-motion grille, kinked C-pillar, and floating roof similar to the new Sentra and Altima. It’s also longer, lower, and wider, with a smaller wheel gap, contributing to its mature, streamlined appearance. It’s another link in Nissan’s commitment to sedans as the brand moves forward with its Nissan Next strategy and introduces a brace of new models to the market.

With the Versa, there are three trims to choose from: S, SV, and SR. All are motivated by the same 1.6-litre port-injected 4-cylinder producing 122 hp and 114 lb-ft of torque, powering the front wheels.

A manual transmission is standard on the base S trim which starts at $16,498. You can add a CVT to it for $1500 and it comes bundled with a 60/40 split-folding rear seat that strangely isn’t available if you prefer rowing your own gears. You’ll also have to give up Apple Carplay and Android Auto if you opt for that third pedal, a packaging oddity I hope Nissan will address in the future.

There’s quite a bit of standard gear on the base trim like keyless entry with push button start, automatic headlights with high beam assist, emergency braking with pedestrian detection, a lane departure warning system, and rear emergency braking.

The SV adds the CVT, blind spot monitoring, heated front seats, a 7-inch Nissan Connect infotainment system along with an advanced gauge cluster screen, and Apple Car play/Android auto integration.

Opt for the range-topping SR at $20,998 and you get 17-inch alloy wheels, a remote engine starter, and LED headlights.

First Drive 2021 Nissan Versa

First Drive 2021 Nissan Versa

My fully loaded SR tester didn’t feel like it was lacking anything, with a level of equipment that you’d find on larger, more expensive cars. This is also the first time I’ve seen a remote starter on a car at this price point, a feature I used more than a few times.

The roomy cabin, while heavy on the use of hard plastic doesn’t feel “cheap”. There are good attempts at adding some creature comforts like the soft-touch dash panel and padded arm rests on the door cards. Well-designed buttons and knobs, including a large volume and tuning knob are easy to use and have a nice, quality feel to them.

That easy to live with theme continues with the snappy and intuitive Nissan Connect infotainment system and full featured gauge cluster screen that you can use to control the stereo, driver assistance functions, and more.

Sitting behind myself I had plenty of leg and knee room and just enough headroom to be comfortable. At 6 feet tall, I was definitely impressed with how they were able to carve out such a large space back there, which only becomes more impressive when popping open the cavernous 416-litre trunk.

I don’t usually look forward to driving sub compact cars because they can be, well, horrible to drive. Yawn-inducing, and fun killing, most don’t make good use of the their tidy footprint and relatively light chassis. But that’s not the case here as the Versa exhibits few bad habits after a week of putting it through its paces.

The SR, with it’s 17-inch wheels, orange –trimmed seats, and flat bottom-steering wheel even manages to feel somewhat sporty with sharp, direct steering and well controlled body roll.

First Drive 2021 Nissan Versa

It’s comfortable too and quiet at speed with fatigue-free seats and a good ride that leans more towards the stiffer side of things. The engine, while no powerhouse, felt peppy around town but ran out of steam north of 70 km/h. It was also well insulated, able to filter out much of the road and wind noise, even at highway speeds.

The weak link, as expected, is the CVT, which seemed to have a mind of its own, rolling through simulated gears when it wanted to and holding revs at other times. I couldn’t figure out the logic behind it, but one redeeming quality is fuel economy. The highest I saw was 8.5L/100 km, while booking it around town and it dipped as low as 6.1 on the highway.

The more I drove the Versa, the more I liked it. I started to appreciate that for under $20,000 you can get a brand new, well-engineered little car with a full factory warranty and some really cool tech. It’s also fun behind the wheel and doesn’t constantly remind you that you bought the cheap car. If you’re in the market for a new car that won’t break the bank, the Versa needs to be considered.

The vehicle was provided to the writer by the automaker. Content and vehicle evaluations were not subject to approval.

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Porsche Unveils Never-Before-Seen Concept Cars

Any interviewer who’s tried to press a German auto executive knows they don’t easily give up their secrets. So it was a pleasant surprise to have them willingly share a few with us.

Traditionally, concept cars are automaker’s way of testing the waters, pushing the boundaries of design and engineering possibilities and revealing the direction future models might follow. While some of these concepts find their way to the international show stage, most are hidden away in dusty vaults beneath the manufacturer’s headquarters.

But recently Porsche compiled a carefully curated selection of some of their most significant concept vehicles, and released them in “Porsche Unseen”, a 328-page book of photos and design studies. The fifteen vehicles featured in the book will also be on display to the public for the first time once the Stuttgart Porsche museum, temporarily closed due to COVID restrictions, opens at the end of January.

We were invited to attend a sneak preview of three of these one-off concepts, unveiled for the first time in a virtual reveal presided over by Michael Mauer, Porsche’s Head of Design.

“When you compare projects like production cars, where we really have, based on our design criteria, certain things that we don’t touch – when you talk about these concepts for the future we basically have no restrictions” said Mauer. “By having this freedom, we collect experience which might have an influence on current products. But it is to find this balance, to build up this tension between the history that the design language is based on, and the challenge to further develop it”.

Sweeping the cloth away from the first display, he unveils the Porsche 919 Street, a sleek, low-slung rocket ship of a concept, clearly influenced by Porsche’s prototype LMP1 LeMans racecar.

The concept features the same cab-forward carbon-fibre monocoque as the record-breaking LeMans car, with enormous fenders, a bubble-shaped cockpit with rooftop fin, and gigantic side air scoops. The rear end, modified to comply with road regulations, features a full width LED brake light. Under the curvaceous carbon-fibre was to have been the same 900 hp hybrid powertrain as the LeMans racer.

Although the 919 Street sadly remains a clay model that never made it to production stage, because as Mauer said, “this racing technology is so complicated and highly complex that it would have been too hard to give it into customer hands” the models are always intended as a “starting point for discussion within the company.” The research learned from studies like the 919 Street helped bring the all-electric Taycan to fruition. “We were much faster when the decision was made to go into the electrical world, because years before we had already found an architecture that is applicable to this new generation”.

The next concept to be revealed is the Porsche Vision Spyder, a two-seater sports car that pays homage to Porsche’s lightweight 1954 550 Spyder. The 550 helped establish Porsche’s performance legacy on the racetrack, but the most infamous example was probably “The Little Bastard” – the car in which actor James Dean met his unfortunate demise.

Porsche Concept Cars

“It’s not just the surface treatment, the shape of the car,” said Mauer. “We always want to influence the fantasy of customers who look at the car. James Dean and the 550, this is really an experience, and as a designer you have to look back at that car and you want to bring that feeling … even though none of the designers who worked on this car was even born in that time.”

Mauer pointed out a few key areas of the Vision that have been influenced by the original 550: “first, it’s a very small, compact car which is a challenge with today’s technology”. While the modern elements such as the vertical headlamps, full-width familial Porsche rear taillight, and gaping air ducts are clearly pulled from Porsche’s design language, the low, frameless windshield and its overall compact minimalism harken back to its iconic predecessor. The connection is further underscored by the “551” badging, and “131” race decals, and hammered home by the “Little Bastard” license plate.

The final vehicle unveiled was a funky, and futuristic concept designed as a “family-friendly space” for up to six people. The Renndienst, which translates to “Race Service” in German was inspired by the early Volkswagen T1 minibus. A full-size, one-off design study, the concept explores the possibility of Porsche’s first foray into the electrified minivan segment. It’s an intriguing, if somewhat unsettling design for a Porsche purist, which maximizes interior space by locating all the electric powertrain components beneath the vehicle. The six-seater van places the driver front and centre, McLaren F1 style.

Porsche Concept Cars

“When it comes to the visions we develop, it is not about bringing every car onto the road, said Mauer. Instead, it is more a question of establishing creative space and a relationship with the future”. While we may never see the Renndienst’s design language roll off the production line verbatim, it was important for Mauer and his team to explore the idea without restrictions. Their futuristic “space shuttle” questions their current styles and traditions, and may someday influence vehicles to come.

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Kia Canada has weathered the pandemic and sees only success for this year

While COVID took the wind out of the North American economy last year, Kia Canada found itself having one its most successful years last year, and sees only continuing success for this year.

Elias El-Achhab, Kia Canada’s COO said that when 2020 started the automaker was expecting a record 2020 with plans to break its annual sales records. Not bad for coming off of a successful celebration of the company’s 20 years in Canada in 2019.

“Looking back, we started with a successful January and a successful February, and then COVID came along,” he added. “Everything crashed ant the whole automotive industry was trying to stay alive for the next thirty days. Everyone went into survival mode.”

For many, that meant simply focusing on what could be done immediately to stay afloat as vehicle sales across North America cratered as U.S. states and Canadian provinces began rolling out lockdown orders to control the spread of the virus. Kia Canada could have done the same. Instead, it took another route.

“We could have decided to just try and survive, or we could put together a game plan to make the most of the situation that was happening,” El-Achhab continued.

Kia Canada realized it had built up over the many years in Canada a lot of good will with Canadians and strong customer loyalty with its vehicles; and the company was going into 2020 with a strong slate of new and refreshed vehicles for Canadians. The Kia Telluride, Soul and Stinger were solid sellers and earning a bevy of awards and recognitions, including several AJAC Car of the Year awards. And Kia was ready to launch one of its most anticipated vehicles, the Kia Seltos.

Canadians, however, also wanted more from Kia Canada.

Michael Kopke, director of marketing with Kia Canada said that what Kia Canada’s dealers and management teams were hearing was that Canadians wanted support from Kia Canada when it came to the vehicles they had bought and financed. So Kia Canada decided not to take the path others had opted which was for deferring payments, but instead to make those payments for the customer.

Kopke said that was the idea behind the ‘Kia Has You Covered’ program. From May to August of last year Kia Canada told customers it would pay for the first six months on a financed vehicle, and the first three months on a leased vehicle. This program assured buyers that Kia was there to help and support them. And, he added, it complemented Kia Canada’s Power to Give initiative that saw the automaker donate 60,000 face shields to the Public Health Agency of Canada to support frontline healthcare workers. As well, Kia Canada donated $200,000 to Food Banks Canada and provided vehicles to help deliver food where needed.

Along with payment and lease support, Kia Canada also made it a point to stay on track with the launch of its Kia Seltos. “At the end of the day, you only get one chance to launch a vehicle and while the pandemic is challenging, we had huge confidence in the Seltos and that it would be successful,” said Kopke.

Kia Canada was not wrong in that assessment. Sales for the Seltos in Canada have been strong with over 13,000 of the Seltos being sold in Canada at the end of 2020. Kopke and El-Achhab said that the Seltos has captured the attention of the younger car buying demographic in Canada, and it certainly helped that the ads for the Kia Seltos featured Billie Eilish’s song ‘Bad Guy’, a massive hit for the singer who is popular with Millennial car buyers. The ad with the song was so popular that at YouTube Canada’s annual Ads Leaderboard event, that ad for the Kia Seltos had over five million views and praised for its cinematic aesthetic and dynamic music video feel.

El-Achhab added that 2020 proved to be one of the most successful sales years for Kia Canada, despite everything the pandemic wrought. The company can boast of eight months of record sales, with August of last year being one of the best months ever for the company in its entire Canadian history. It sold over 72,000 vehicles, with the Forte and Sorento being its best selling models.

El-Achhab and Kopke both expect that 2021 will continue to be a strong year for Kia Canada. Signs already point to a recovery for the automotive sector in Canada, and Kia Canada plans to bring new products to market such as the newly reimagined 2021 Kia Sorento that was just launched, the Kia K5 and new hybrid, and all-electric vehicles to come to market later this year.

“We have other surprises as well,” El-Achhab hinted. “Kia is a maturing brand that will see it bring new customer on-board to the brand going forward.”

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