Weekend Roundup: 9/8/17-9/10/17

TVR Launches New 500 HP, 200MPH GriffithFor years, we have known that TVR was bringing us a new car, as pre-orders were accepting starting over two years ago. Now, with all 250 pre-orders sold and reportedly up to 400 on order in total, TVR has revealed the final details of their future car, the new Griffith.

The current Griffith was revealed at the Goodwood Revival, and features a Cosworth-tuned, 500-horsepower 5.0-liter Ford V8 connected to a Tremec Magnum XL six-speed manual sending power to the rear wheels. The car has 50:50 weight distribution and weighs just 2755 pounds, all of which adds up to make a car capable of 200mph.

The launch edition shown above features a unique red-orange paint, custom alloy wheels, a full leather interior, and a bespoke infotainment system, as well as the standard (and extremely bad-ass) side exit exhaust.

While the thought of a ‘bespoke infotainment system’ from a small British car company might scare some people away, there will surely be enough insane people to help TVR make this a successful venture.  Production starts in late 2018, and pricing starts at £90,000, or around $119,000 in American dollars, although US certification and availability have not been announced.

BMW Shows X7 Concept: Please, Take it Back 

BMW revealed their Concept X7 iPerformance at the IAA Cars 2017 show in Frankfurt, detailing the future production model set to make its debut in 2018. Well, there it is, in all of its ‘styled’ glory. While the car demonstrates a new interior design, as well as a switch to more main-stream hybrid offerings, the main headline (literally) is the styling.

Featuring “intently focused lines” for the exterior design, BMW has run into a problem: Kidney beans are not made of “intently focused lines”. This has led to some design headaches for the designers when it came to the iconic “kidney bean grille” of the brand. It seems to overcome these problems, the designers simply sharpened the bean, and slapped it on the front, leading to a design that can charitably be called awkward.

Combined with the extremely tiny headlights and over-sized intakes, the grille results in a front end with no real design language besides that of ‘not great’. While this is a concept, and designs can change, with the introduction date pegged for 2018, this may be close to what we get…

U.S. House Passes Autonomous Driving Exemption Bill

While political news may be taken up by the Commander-in-Chief and his Twitter, the House of Representatives made some headlines with the passing of the Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act (SELF DRIVE), which seeks to open the nations roads to autonomous vehicle development.

The bill exempts automakers from some safety standards that aren’t relevant to autonomous vehicles and permits selling up to 25,000 cars per year without needing to meet current auto safety standards. That cap would increase to 100,000 over the next three years. This seeks to block states from passing laws of their own restricting the technology or banning it outright.

The California-based advocate group Consumer Watchdog voices many people’s concern in a statement, part of which reads, “The autonomous vehicle bill just passed by the House leaves a wild west without adequate safety protections for consumers.”

While the bill still has to pass the Senate to end up on the President’s desk for signing into law, it will more than likely end up their sooner rather than later, as they have already been debating a similar bill of their own.

China Begins Studies Leading to Ban of Gas and Diesel Passenger Vehicle EnginesPer a report from the BBC, China plans to ban the production and sale of diesel and gasoline cars and vans at an as-yet determined date. The country’s Vice Minister of Industry Xin Guobin told Xinhua, China’s official news agency, “Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s development,” and as such, “relevant research” had been started regarding a proper introduction date.

This move follows the UK and France, which have announced similar bans set for 2040, in efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. The market has been shifting this direction for some time, as Chinese-owned carmaker Volvo said in July that all its new car models would have an electric motor from 2019. Major companies such as Ford and  Renault-Nissan have also announced accelerated EV development in the country.

China already wants electric battery cars and plug-in hybrids to account for at least one-fifth of its vehicle sales by 2025. Xin predicted the change would create “turbulent times” in the industry.

For. Sure.