Jaguar bids the F-Type farewell, U.S.-made EVs dominate, Goodwood to honor Carroll Shelby

F-Type gets a royal sendoff that celebrates 75 years of Jaguar sports cars

Intake: Ahead of the brand’s all-electric pivot in 2025, Jaguar is giving its gorgeous sports coupe and convertible a going-away present as the F-Type ceases production in 2024. The F-Type R-Dynamic offers a supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 with 450 hp and rear-wheel-drive, but the two all-wheel-drive variants will get special 75th-anniversary goodies. The F-Type 75 uses the same 450-hp V-8 while the F-Type R 75 gets a 575-hp version of the 5-liter. The special options available include Giola Green metallic paint and unique interior appointments. MSRP for the coupe starts at $79,175 and orders are open now.

Exhaust: We’ll be sad to see Jaguar’s F-Type go and will miss its beautiful lines as much as we will its wonderful V-8 and its glorious noise. The one consolation is that the Giola Green is very appropriate for a British sports car. — Brandan Gillogly

U.S.-made EVs are dominating the domestic EV market

Intake: According to new vehicle registration data from Experian, electric vehicles built in the U.S. are dominating the domestic EV market. The report comes from Automotive News, which also says that thanks to new tax incentives stipulating where an EV must be produced, that trend is likely to increase. The Experian data says that roughly three of every four new EVs registered in the states during the first 11 months of 2022 were assembled in the U.S. Tesla led the way volume-wise, with 431,740 new vehicle registrations in the U.S. last year. (The company doesn’t break out manufacturing data by region, so analysts must estimate how many of those Teslas were built at the Austin, Texas, plant or the Fremont, California plant.) Other EV makers with strong American footprints include GM, Ford, and Rivian.

Exhaust: As automakers race to ensure that their EVs qualify for the full $7500 tax incentive, expect to see more foreign brands stand up manufacturing facilities here in the U.S. Hyundai recently announced plans for a plant in Georgia, and Volkswagen just recently began producing its ID.4 EV at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, facility to satisfy the bill’s conditions. — Nathan Petroelje

2023 Goodwood Revival will celebrate Carroll Shelby

Intake: The Stars and Stripes will be flying over Goodwood in September as the annual Revival classic car races are held in tribute to Carroll Shelby. Shelby would have been 100 years old in 2023, and the British circuit has been linked to the racer, car maker, and entrepreneur since the early days of his career. In 1959 Shelby won the RAC Tourist Trophy in an Aston Martin DBR1/300 which he shared with Jack Fairman and Stirling Moss. Shelby had just won Le Mans with Roy Salvadori in the same car, and victory at Goodwood wrapped up the World Championship for Aston. Goodwood will honor Shelby with feature races and exhibits featuring cars he raced, including the MG-TC he first campaigned in 1952, along with the cars he went on to design and develop.

“Goodwood held a very special place in my grandfather’s heart,” said Aaron Shelby, board member of Carroll Shelby International. “He competed there as a driver in an Aston Martin and returned to race at the Circuit with the Shelby American team cars during the 1960s. Carroll attended the Goodwood Revival with his Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, and as a Word War II aviator, he especially admired the vintage warbird exhibit. We’re honored that the Duke of Richmond and his team have chosen to honor the 100th anniversary of Carroll’s birthday this year. We look forward to a marvelous weekend at the Goodwood Revival.”

Exhaust: The 2023 Goodwood Revival is set to be an absolute belter, as this year marks not just 25 years since the event began, but 75 years since the circuit opened. The three-day motorsports festival takes place on September 8–10 and tickets are available now at the Goodwood Road and Racing website. — Nik Berg

Ducati sets sales record, led by non-superbike models

Intake: The motorcycle brand best known for being Italian, red, and fast announced yesterday that 2022 was a banner year with over 61,000 Ducatis finding new homes. Interestingly, the three bikes leading the sales boom are the Multistrada V4 (10,716 sold), Monster (7739 sold), and the Scrambler 800 family (6880 sold). According to Francesco Milicia, Ducati’s VP of global sales and after sales, these record sales came despite logistic and supply chain issues in the first six months of the year. Considering there are more than 800 Ducati dealerships worldwide, these sales numbers indicate that the Bologna-based brand seems to be onto something as of late.

Exhaust: One of every six Ducatis rolling out of showrooms was some variant of the Multistrada adventure bike, meaning even motorcycles brands are not immune from the quest for more functional machines, i.e. the multitude of car brands that subsidize the sports cars by selling SUVs and grand touring four-doors. If it keeps the thumping Desmo twins in production, we aren’t complaining. For now. — Kyle Smith

NACTOY announces car, truck, and SUV of the year

Intake: The 2023 North American Car, Truck, and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) award winners are in: The North American Car of the Year is the Acura Integra, the truck of the year is the Ford F-150 Lightning, and the SUV of the year is the Kia EV6. This year’s NACTOY awards began with 47 eligible vehicles that were new or substantially changed, which jurors later narrowed in three rounds of independently verified voting to 26 semifinalists, then nine finalists, and then the 2023 winners. The Integra beat out the Nissan Z and the Genesis G80 EV; the Lightning won over the Lordstown Endurance and the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2, and the Kia EV6 won over the Cadillac Lyriq and the Genesis GV60.

Exhaust: Good vehicles all. As a voter, I preferred the Z and the Lyriq, but that’s why we have 50 voters from the U.S. and Canada, all independent journalists. Congratulations to the winners. — Steven Cole Smith

Michigan-based Carvana dealership loses its license

Intake: According to a report by the Detroit Free Press, a Carvana dealership located in Novi, Michigan has agreed to surrender its dealer license following a state investigation last fall that revealed that Carvana committed violations of the Michigan Vehicle Code. The problems stemmed from the untimely delivery of titles following a vehicle’s sale. On Wednesday, Carvana’s senior associate general counsel, Chris Olson, told the Free Press that Carvana would hand in its in-state dealer license for a period of three years, after which it can apply for a new one.

Exhaust: The Free Press article noted that Michigan car buyers could still purchase a car from Carvana online and take delivery of it that way. 2022 was a bruiser of a year for Carvana, with plummeting used-car prices squeezing profit margins, eventually forcing massive layoffs. Its stock price has tumbled from $360/share in August of 2021 to just $5.49/share at the time of this writing. Legal issues in multiple states, much like the issue that forced the surrender of its dealer license at the Novi location, have ailed the company as well. — Nathan Petroelje