Honda is a diverse company with a wide range of products that includes planes, boat engines, and motorcycles. The Japanese brand is best known for its reliable and well-built cars that, for the most part, are boring — except for the Civic Type R. Take the Honda CR-V, for example. It’s a class-leading SUV, but you’re not going to buy it for its thrilling performance. Leave it to Honda and some hysterical engineers without a budget to make a drool-worthy CR-V. All it took was for Honda to cram an 800-horsepower, hybrid powertrain from an IndyCar and create a deranged design. Honda describes the CR-V Hybrid Racer in the best way, calling it a “rolling electrified laboratory.”
Before we get into the CR-V Hybrid Racer, we’re going to try to rationalize its existence. IndyCar is introducing some new rules for the 2024 season. Honda, which first got into IndyCar in 1994, is getting ready for the upcoming 2024 season, where IndyCars will have to be electrified. To strum up some interest in the next era of IndyCar racing, Honda has come out with the CR-V Hybrid Racer, which the automaker is calling a “sneak preview.”
That explains why the CR-V Hybrid Racer looks like a chiseled Arnold Schwarzenegger and the regular CR-V is more Danny DeVito. Underneath the cartoonish exterior with the enormous wing, gigantic diffuser, wide fenders, and titanic front splitter, the CR-V Hybrid Racer features a tube-frame chassis. Then, there’s the twin-turbo 2.2-liter V6 engine that features a hybrid system. The engine is mated to an XTRAC 6-speed sequential transmission. Both of these components come directly from an Indy Car racer. The V6 engine also runs on 100% renewable race fuel that was developed by Shell for the 2023 IndyCar season.
Unlike the electrified IndyCars that are coming for the 2024 season, the CR-V Hybrid Racer has electrified power that comes from Skeleton Supercapacitors and an Empel MGU hybrid motor unit. It’s a unique hybrid system for the racy SUV.
Honda also sourced the CR-V Hybrid Racer’s rear suspension and brakes from an IndyCar. The front brakes and suspension are from an Acura NSX GT-3 Evo22. With Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 summer tires that measure 305/35 at the back, the SUV shouldn’t have a problem putting its power down.
As much as we would love to see a high-performance CR-V – this would make for a rad CR-V Type R – the CR-V Hybrid Racer isn’t that. It’s a one-off science experiment where the nerds are car people. It’s an incredible engineering exercise that could evolve over the future. The CR-V Hybrid Racer will make its debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. The electrified SUV will also be at other IndyCar events where Honda will use it for on-track demonstrations.
You don’t have to be an artist to notice that automotive design has changed dramatically over the past few decades. While every decade sees automobile designers take inspiration from outside the automotive industry, new-age vehicles are blazing their own paths for automotive designs. In order to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of automotive design, BMW recently moved its innovative Designworks division to Santa Monica, California. At first glance, the move might be confusing. For the past 50 years, Designworks has been located in Thousand Oaks and has worked out of a 70,000 square-foot facility. The new studio in Santa Monica has just 16,000 square feet of space. While the change in location may seem like a business deal gone bad, the change will help Designworks really flex its muscles as an innovative design studio. That should mean more stirring designs for consumers.
Not too long ago, we thought BMW Mini was officially done with the manual transmission. Supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Mini wasn’t able to offer a vehicle with a manual gearbox in the U.S. Then, Mini brought the manual back in three models in October 2022 and announced a new driving school to teach people how to drive a car with a manual transmission. Mini just announced changes to its 2024 lineup, and the automaker will have seven models that are available with a six-speed manual soon. In other words, Mini’s bringing fun back. Sticking with the news on the availability of a manual transmission, the seven models that will be available with a six-speed gearbox include: Cooper 2-Door Hardtop, Cooper S 2-Door Hardtop, John Cooper Works 2-Door Hardtop, Cooper Convertible, Cooper S convertible, Cooper 4-Door Hardtop, and Cooper S 4-Door Hardtop. Production of these manual-equipped Minis will begin on March 1.
No one purchases a Ferrari to save money. The exotic Italian marque is known for having vehicles that rival house prices. And with Ferrari set to introduce its first SUV, the all-new 2024 Purosangue, in the near future, we weren’t expecting that trend to end anytime soon. But the reported price for the upcoming Ferrari SUV even gave us reason to pause and drew some gasps. You’d better sit down before we share the news. According to Car and Driver, Ferrari sent the outlet an email claiming that the V12-powered Ferrari Purosangue would start at a whopping $398,350. For what it’s worth, that price does include the $5,000 destination fee.
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