Something wicked this way comes, courtesy of Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing. Their co-developed supercar has been hyped for some time now, but the full measure of its power had not yet been realized.
The Wall Street Journal spoke with project engineer David King to understand the caliber of car under construction and the revelations are staggering. Due to its sophisticated aerodynamic design, the AM-RB 001 will generation 4,000 pounds of downforce. That’s enough for the track-specific variant to drive upside down (assuming the right speed is achieved). Road going examples won’t make quite as much downforce, but they’re still certain to hold fast to the pavement.
“Nothing remotely like it has ever been tried on a road car,” said King. The amount of downforce will be controlled by an active suspension system based on driving conditions. In addition to the air-flow pressure, the supercar will corner at 4.0G, roughly equivalent to modern Formula 1 cars.
So it will grip very, very well. What about acceleration? With just 2,200 pounds to get moving and a 1,000-horsepower V12 providing thrust, speed won’t be an issue. Reportedly, the AM-RB 001 will go from a standstill to 200 mph in just 10 seconds. For reference, the 1,341hp Koenigsegg One:1 supercar hustles to 186 mph in 11.92 seconds. Power to weight ratio rules all, kids.
Thought we’re talking about the AM-RB as if it’s right around the corner, production is still a few years off, and when models are assembled, all will certainly have been spoken for. Only 175 road cars and 25 track cars are planned, each with a price tag of at least $3 million. While that may sound like a lot, consider that the collaboration car will almost certainly be the quickest vehicle on the market when it goes on sale. The ultra wealthy tend to fork over small fortunes for that kind of prestige.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.