Lincoln’s stunning concept, Tuthill’s 11k-rpm 911 restomod, Geneva Motor Show’s surprising new location

Lincoln’s Model L100 Concept has epic styling, no steering wheel

Intake: Lincoln released a wild concept car with stunning proportions, streamlined styling, extensive accent lighting, and rear-hinged doors that also actuate a rear-hinged roof panel. Called the Model L100 for a 100th (actually 102nd) anniversary homage to the 1922 (err, 1920) Lincoln L-Series, this concept car hints at an electric powertrain and shows a lofty interior design with floating seats, a lighted floor, and a featureless dashboard worthy of Level 5 autonomous driving technology. While most photos given to the media are computer generated renderings, the Model L100 exists in the flesh, and is on display at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Exhaust:Subtle yet stunning details like the reintroduction of the 1926 Greyhound mascot (only now in solid crystal) and the aforementioned lighting signatures are likely to make production on a future Lincoln flagship. So what’s the biggest takeaway from this Concept EV Lincoln? Probably the most impressive light show made in the short history of Lincoln Embrace, the brand’s signature approach detection system that gives you a functional yet entertaining light show at night. While lighted wheels are an extreme, odds are the forthcoming embrace will be even better than what Chinese buyers currently experience with the Zephyr sedan. – Sajeev Mehta

70 years on, the BRM V-16 will race again at Goodwood

Intake: A recreated BRM Mk1 P15 V-16 will soon do what it does best and go racing. Under the direction of Simon, Paul, and Nick Owen,—grandsons of former BRM team manager Sir Alfred Owen—three “new” examples of this most spectacular 1950s racer are being built by specialists Hall and Hall. Engineer and helmsman Rob Hall will take the wheel of chassis number four during the Goodwood Trophy at September’s Goodwood Revival, making it probably the loudest race of the event. Hall’s car will wear the number five in tribute to Froilan Gonzalez who won the Goodwood Trophy in 1952, and a selection of other BRM machines will be on show as British Racing Motors marks 60 years since it won the 1962 Formula One World Championship.

Exhaust: Goodwood just got even more glorious, and hats off to the Owen brothers for not only bringing their grandfather’s vision back to life, but for setting it loose amongst a pack of hard-charging racers, despite the millions invested in it. “We have been very clear from the start of the project that the final three MK1 P15’s are to be built so that they can be seen and be heard,” says John Owen, son of Sir Alfred Owen and BRM Director. “They form an incredibly important part of British Motor Racing and British engineering history and it is vital that this is not forgotten. What better way to demonstrate this to the next generation by actually racing?” —Nik Berg

GM Defense, American Rheinmetall partner in bid to win military truck contract

Intake: GM Defense and American Rheinmetall Vehicles, a leading developer of tactical wheeled and tracked combat vehicles and systems, are teaming up to win a contract to create a Common Tactical Truck (CTT) for the U.S. Army. After auditioning multiple entrants, the Army plans to award the $5 billion contract in December 2022 and will purchase approximately 5700 vehicles. The Rheinmetall-GM Defense HX3-CTT is the next-gen variant of Rheinmetall’s HX family of military-off-the-shelf tactical trucks. GM Defense successfully delivered hundreds of Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISV) to the Army, and GMD President Steve duMont is eager to score another win. “With American Rheinmetall Vehicles’ HX3 as the starting point, I’m confident that together we will deliver a winning solution that meets or exceeds the Army’s requirements and provides a platform for growth and technology insertion to support our warfighters well into the future.”

Exhaust: Unlike the Ultium-based electric light reconnaissance vehicle (eLRV) that GM Defense announced in November 2021, the HX3-CTT (like its HX3 namesake) will likely be diesel-powered, hopefully proving that there is room—and a need—for both EVs and ICE-powered vehicles in the military, as well as the real world. — Jeff Peek

Tuthill Porsche is unveiling an 11K-rpm 911 restomod today

Intake: U.K.-based Tuthill Porsche will debut a positively bonkers 911 restomod today at The Quail today in Monterey. Dubbed the 911K, this carbon-bodied, sub-2000-pound golden masterpiece boasts a flat-six engine with an eleven-thousand-rpm redline. Holy moly. From details like the chrome grate over the rear engine cover and the chrome outlining on the rear taillamps seen in Instagram posts teasing the machine, we can infer that this appears to be styled like an original (1963–1972) 911. But rather than try to nail down a specific model year that this is derived from, it’s best to think of this creation as another respected Porsche shop’s take on the absolute ultimate 911. We’ll find out more details later today when this gilded machine takes to the lawn at the Quail Lodge & Golf Club.

Exhaust: Getting any engine to rev to 11K is no small feat; Singer, California’s famous Porsche restomod shop, had to leverage the technological might of Williams Advanced Engineering just to get the 4.0-liter flat-six engine is uses to rev to 9000. The rest of the car looks positively sublime, from the matte aluminum shift knob for the five-speed manual transmission, to the drool-worthy carbon-fiber intake plenum, to … well everything, really. Expect the price tag to be properly ludicrous—if they even mention such a thing; this could very well be a Singer scenario in that sense, as well: If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. — Nathan Petroelje

The Geneva Motor Show is back on… in Qatar

Intake: For the fourth year in a row, the halls of Geneva’s Palexpo will remain empty in February 2023, as the Swiss auto show has once again been cancelled. Instead, the Geneva International Motor Show will be held in November at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Qatar. Originally the Doha event was to be in addition to the home venue as part of a sponsorship deal with Qatar Tourism, but now the Middle Eastern event will go it alone. “In these uncertain times, many brands are not in a position to commit to participating in a show in Europe in the winter,” said CEO Sandro Mesquita. “After assessing all the elements, it has become clear to the foundation that the 2023 Salon cannot take place in Geneva as planned.”

Exhaust: As the first major European auto show of the year, Geneva has played host to some of the most memorable motoring debuts in history, from the Lamborghini LP500, to the Jaguar E-type, original Range Rover, Audi quattro, McLaren P1, and both the Ferrari 288 GTO LaFerrari. We suspect that Qatar won’t attract quite the same level of interest. –Nik Berg

Porsche simulates a hydrogen engine on the Nordschleife

Intake: Computer simulations are a staple of new car development. Nearly every aspect of a given design is tested endlessly in code before becoming metal or plastic. The latest example of this is Porsche’s simulation of a hydrogen engine running a lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The 14.18-mile loop is not the entire Nürburgring, but still a hot testing bed for many manufacturers. The eight cylinder engine was merely a data set based on a current engine and was created to solve some of the problems that come with burning hydrogen; low exhaust gas temperatures means turbochargers require redesign to deliver appropriate air mass and raised compression to make for efficient burn. All this math calculated to a 8 minute, 20 second time around the north course in Porsche’s digital environment.

Exhaust: Those of you familiar with hydrogen engines will know that last word—environment—is an interesting one to use. While hydrogen engines tend to have very low C02 emissions, they can easily exceed ICE powerplants when it comes to Nitrous Oxide, otherwise known as NOx. Porsche claims this simulation was merely to examine the potential of alternative fuels and expand the power of its engineering tools. That said, Porsche says the emissions from this digital engine would have passed Euro 7 standards, which would be no small feat. This powertrain will likely never leave the computer, but trying new things is not bad and it is fun to see what is possible. — Kyle Smith

Acura’s revives ZDX nameplate for first electric SUV

Intake: Despite much speculation around a United States Patent Office filing (including from us), Acura’s forthcoming electric SUV will not be called the ADX. Instead, the company will revive for it a bygone nameplate, ZDX. Acura says the ZDX will arrive at market sometime in 2024, cribbing many of the styling themes from the Precision EV concept that bowed earlier this week at Pebble Beach. There will also be a driver-focused Type S variant, joining the NSX, MDX, and TLX. The ZDX will be co-developed with General Motors as part of a partnership the two automakers announced in Spring of 2020. GM’s Ultium battery platform to underpin the model. (A Honda-badged vehicle, to be named the Prologue, will also come into being as part of this partnership.)

Exhaust: The ZDX nameplate first landed on a coupe-like SUV that debuted at the 2009 New York International Auto Show, the production version of which was offered for sale from the 2010 model year through 2013. Just 7,191 examples of the older ZDX were produced and sold before Honda axed the model due to poor sales. In retrospect, in an industry now flooded with such vehicles, the ZDX was an avant-garde idea that Acura simply introduced too soon.

Given that the new ZDX will be Acura’s first zero-emission vehicle, spearheading the marque’s pivot to electrification, we’d say it’s a fitting model name to revive. We’re curious to hear what sort of details will set apart the ZDX Type S from the standard variant, but we’re going to have to wait a while to find out. Hopefully Acura’s superb Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) tech can take on some form in the electric future. — NP