Bentley’s Le Mans tribute Continentals, VW’s electric flagship sedan, beware the new car smell

Limited-run Bentley Continental wears a memento from Le Mans

Intake: In celebration of 20 years since its last outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bentley is making 48 very special Continental GT and GT convertibles that carry a little piece of the engineering that propelled the #7 Bentley Speed 8 LMGTP car to overall victory in 2003. The Le Mans Collection, as these special Contis are known, each house within their center-console rotating assemblies a piece of one of the valves from the twin-turbo V-8 from the #7 car. The interior also has a few other flourishes: The 12-hour analog clock you’d normally find there has been replaced by a digital clock with a 24-hour custom-made dial, and the door sills and dashboard hold special inserts marking each of Bentley’s victories at the grueling endurance race. Each car will wear gorgeous Verdant Green exterior paint with a moonbeam racing stripe, and the number 7 is painted into the front grille. Power will come from a 6.0-liter twin-turbo W-12 pushing 650 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. No word on the price yet, but expect these ones to be rather spendy.

Exhaust: The Speed 8 is one of the coolest Le Mans champions ever, and no color is quite as striking as a good deep British green. For as many eye-roll-inducing tribute cars as we get year to year, this one is surprisingly awesome in our eyes. That engine valve looks beautiful. — Nathan Petroelje

Intake: Volkswagen’s first all-electric sedan, the mid-size ID.7, will premier in a global live stream on April 17. The new car will join the ID.4 SUV and ID. Buzz van in the brand’s U.S. line-up, but unlike its smaller sibling, which is assembled in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the ID.7 will be built in Germany and China. VW describes the car as “the comfortable limousine for long-distance travel,” suggesting that its range will be significantly higher than the 275 miles afforded to the ID.4 by the E.P.A. test cycle. “The ID.7 is an extremely important model for Volkswagen in China, Canada, and the USA. It impresses with plenty of space, innovative assist systems, and modern features like a high-end infotainment system. Our customers will receive a genuine premium package with the first all-electric flagship model from Volkswagen,” claims Imelda Labbé, Volkswagen’s Member of the Board of Management for Sales, Marketing, and Aftersales. The camouflage comes off at 8 a.m. EST on April 17.

Exhaust: While most of the world is obsessed with SUVs, EV buyers are still suckers for a sedan, thanks in no small part to Tesla, of course. VW is hoping to take a significant piece of that action with the ID.7 as part of a $7.7 billion investment in “the electric and digital transformation” of the brand in America. — Nik Berg

Rising danger: SUVs vs. bicyclists, study says

Intake: In a study that should surprise no one, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researched bicycle vs. vehicle accidents, and determined SUVs, with their higher nose and reduced forward visibility, provide the most danger to cyclists. According to Automotive News, “The tall front end of SUVs can strike bicyclists higher on their bodies above the center of gravity. This results in riders getting knocked down, where they can be run over, rather than being thrown onto the hood of the vehicle, said IIHS statistician Sam Monfort, the lead author of the study.” The research, titled “Higher point of impact makes SUV crashes more dangerous for cyclists,” analyzed data from 71 Michigan bicycle crashes that involved a single SUV or car and a bicyclist age 16 or older. Trauma to the body was 55 percent higher for SUVs than for cars, and scores for head injuries inflicted by SUVs were 63 percent higher.

Exhaust: Automotive News, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reports that bicycle crash rates are on the rise. In 2021, 966 cyclists were reported killed in crashes, according to NHTSA. This is up from 621 bicyclist fatalities in 2010. — SCS

Study: That new-car smell can be harmful

Intake: A new study claiming that a new-car smell can be harmful to your health is making the rounds of science publications, as well as USA Today. The study claims, according to USA Today, “Researchers at Harvard University and the Beijing Institute of Technology in China conducted a study on the chemicals that create the new car smell, finding that the smell could increase the risk of cancer, and it doesn’t take much time to be in the vehicle for it to become a hazard.” The culprit is mostly formaldehyde, which the study found at levels that were 34.9 percent higher than Chinese national safety standards, and acetaldehyde, a probable human carcinogen, which was found to be at levels 60.5 percent higher than Chinese national safety standards.

Exhaust: Researchers put sensors inside new cars, then closed them up for 12 days in the summer heat. It is difficult to divine what cars, and from where, were used in the study, which would have been helpful information. The entire study can be read here. This is hardly the first time these claims have been made: AAA Magazine wrote about a similar study by the Ecology Center in 2020. — Steven Cole Smith

Restored 1927 Alvis Grand Prix car debuts this weekend

Intake: The sole surviving front-wheel-drive Alvis Grand Prix racing car, once abandoned in a scrapyard in Coventry, England, is being revived by The Alvis Car Company, its original creator. It is set to mark its first public appearance in Chiba City, Japan, at Automobile Council 2023 this weekend, 96 years after its race debut at the 1927 Junior Car Club 200 Mile Race at Brooklands. The Alvis caused a stir in 1927 owing to its highly unusual mechanical layout. Remarkably, the car has no conventional front axle. Instead, the steering system uses four elliptic leaf springs in a unique, independent arrangement. An in-line, eight-cylinder, 1.5-liter, supercharged engine sits just behind the longitudinally mounted gearbox, giving the car a distinctive length when compared to its competition.

Exhaust: After qualifying second in the British Grand Prix, the car fell out and was retired. Upon returning to the Alvis factory, the car’s engine was removed and entirely dismantled to diagnose the cause of the failure: a shattered connecting rod, now on display in Alvis’ showroom in Kenilworth, England. The Alvis Car Company still builds limited-edition copies of original Alvis designs. — SCS