As we count down to the last auto show of the season, we’ve still got a few more teasers coming forth to tantalize the year’s last big reveals. McLaren has shown us bits of its Sports Series car, the first of three tiers of vehicles the company will offer. This time, we get a shot of the door and the message that they’ll once again challenge what we believe about sports cars.
The image of the door is accompanied by the hashtag #blackswanmoments not to signify any relation the horrific mental breakdown of a ballerina, but to the moment in 1697 when Dutch explorers discovered black swans in Australia, which until that moment were only thought to be white.
Thus a “black swan moment” is when something completely changes how we look at the world, like when you discover Twizzlers can be used as straws (your welcome).
McLaren intends to release stories behind the black swan moments that shaped the company’s history, leading up to the full reveal of the Sport Series car at the New York Auto Show this April. From what we know of it, the Sports Series vehicle will be the lower of three tiers – the pending Sports series, Super, which the 650S and its variants are classed, and Ultimate, which is comprised of the P1 and P1 GTR.
Teasers aren’t usually much to go by, but in this case, that feather-like groove towards the air scoop actually looks pretty cool, and we hope that the rest of the Mercedes AMG GT-fighter looks just as sharp. We’ll only have to wait a couple more weeks to find out.
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.