August 21st Throttle 🏎💨

What’s up Throttle Heads 😎I know I have not posted for a week which I am sure was a little disappointing to you all but sometimes it gets a little crazy. There was a lot of car news going on all thanks to Monterrey Car Week in California.

BMW Is Bringing The M5 Touring To The States

It’s official ‼️ Something very magical happens at BMW as they are bringing the wagon version of the M5 super sedan to the US 🦅. This marks the first time BMW has brought a touring version of the M5 to the US. The M3 Touring was not brought to the United States when it was unveiled last year much to the disappointment of many US fans. The M5 touring makes its way to the United States as performance wagons have had a small surge in popularity in recent years forged by cars such as the Audi RS6 Advant.

The Touring will do 0-60 in 3.5 seconds at least which is projected to be 0.1 seconds slower than the sedan. However, the real-world numbers will most likely be much better as BMW tends to be conservative on the official performance numbers for their cars. Under the hood is the same twin-turbo V8 engine mated to an electric motor for a combined 717 horsepower. With the sedan M5 already being a whale, the touring is going to be heavier although BMW has hopefully tuned the car to handle much lighter than it is.

Ford Cancels Three-Row Electric SUV To Focus On Hybrids

Ford has recently made a very big change to its electric vehicle lineup which not only includes canceling plans for a three-row electric SUV but also to shift the focus towards hybrid vehicles. This shift is mainly due to the fact Ford believes hybrid vehicles are much more cost-effective for consumers. This play makes a lot of sense as electric vehicles tend to cost more upfront compared to their electric counterparts. This will also see Ford decrease its yearly spending on EVs from 40% to 30%.

Ford plans to use the resources it would have previously used to build a three-row SUV to invest more in hybrids. This will probably prove to be commercially successful as my car buyers are more open to buying hybrids than EVs as it is similar to what they already know. Ford will use this focus on hybrids to not only make their battery supply chain more sustainable (the practice of mining materials like lithium for batteries is highly unsustainable) as well as to make it more price competitive. If Ford truly wants to be a powerhouse in the EV landscape, it will need to make its vehicles some of the most accessible. Ford’s CEO Jim Farley summed this up nicely, when he said “If you are not competitive on battery cost, you are not competitive”.

BMW Recalls 721,000 Cars Due to Fire Risk

Thanks to a faulty seal on the water pump of 720,796 vehicles, BMW no longer has to recall hundreds of thousands of vehicles due to a fire risk ☠️. This recall covers a good chunk of the BMW lineup from 2012-2018. This includes the Z4 convertible, certain 2, 3, 4, and 5 series cars, and certain X1, X3, X4, and X5 SUVs.

To get technical, the problem with the effect of cars involves water being able to drip out of the ventilation system potentially causing a short circuit in the engine electronics. BMWs filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals 18 events where this has already occurred. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported so far. BMW has already begun notifying dealers and notifications to customers are expected to go out shortly. Owners will be instructed to bring their car to the dealership for an inspection and if necessary, a plate will be installed to prevent any leaking fluid from short-circulating the electronics.

Priceless Ford Concept Car Bursts Into Flames Leaving Pebble Beach

Sunday was a very sad day last week as the Ford Probe 1 Ghia concept car from 1979 burst into flames leaving the Pebble Beach Concurs d’Elegance car show this week. It was on display last week as part of the Wedge Shaped Concepts Cars and Prototypes Class. David Grundfoir of Scott Grundfor, Co., a California restoration shop that bought the Probe 1 from Ford in 2002 confirmed the car was severely damaged in the fire. The car was being towed to the freeway when a passing car notified the driver of smoke coming from the trailer at which point the driver realized it was too late to save the car.

The cause of the fire remains unknown with the Monterey Fire Department estimating the damages totaled over $1 million. The Probe was a special and visionary concept car that was envisioned to show what a family car of the 1980s would look like. When most of Ford’s cars were angular, the Probe 1 looked like a spaceship. It included a low nose, pop-up headlights, and enough glass to cover a skyscraper. Just like a Tesla, it had recessed door handles and skirts covering the rear wheels. This gave it a drag coefficient of 0.25 which is similar to a Prius or a Tesla Model 3. The probe had a very advanced interior which was computerized with Touch controls. In the 1980s this was very advanced and foreshadowed what the interiors of modern cars would look like in the 2020s.