Author: news@motorauthority.com (Stephen Edelstein)
Toyota has filed a patent application for color-changing paint, a technology that might let owners or dealerships quickly change the colours of cars. As Toyota notes in the applying—which was published by the USA Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on March, 19, but originally filed in 2022—owners will probably want to change paint colours to maintain up with trends or simply to change things up. Dealers could also change colours to make cars easier to sell, Toyota suggests. But as an alternative of a fancy repaint or vinyl wrap, Toyota claims to have developed paint that may alter its hues…
A pair of recent General Motors patent filings show potential extendable cargo bed systems for pickup trucks. Such a feature could give drivers the cargo capability of an extended bed after they need it, while maintaining the smaller footprint of a short-bed pickup the remaining of the time. One application, titled “Pickup Truck Cargo Bed Extension Systems,” was published by the USA Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on March 12. On this application, GM describes an extendable tailgate that would create as much as an 8-foot-long cargo area. For the design, the tailgate and floor would slide back to elongate…
Unlike its Veyron predecessor, the Bugatti Chiron was planned only as a coupe. But to mark the top of its quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W-16 engine, Bugatti turned the Chiron into the Mistral, which was revealed for 2022 Monterey Automobile Week. “The Chiron family was never intended to have a roadster model,” Emilio Scervo, CTO of Bugatti Rimac, said in a press release delving into the Mistral’s development. “A Chiron with no roof is perhaps a tremendous automotive for a lot of others, nevertheless it would not meet the uncompromisingly high standards that Bugatti adheres to.” Bugatti Mistral Ensuring the Mistral lived…
In case your job is stealing hamburgers, it helps to have an excellent getaway automobile. McDonald’s has given the Hamburglar—cartoon burger thief extraordinaire—his own ride. It is a modified 1970 Plymouth Barracuda called, inevitably, the Burgercuda. It’s being driven cross country, and McDonald’s is inviting fast food customers to win prizes by spotting it and scanning a QR code on the rear quarter panels. Unexplained within the press release from the fast food giant is why a automobile called the Barracuda is getting used to steal burgers and never Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. McDonald’s Hamburglar Burgercuda 1970 Plymouth Barracuda The Barracuda has…
Rivian has filed two patent applications for integrated lighting within the roof rails in its electric pickup trucks and SUVs. The 2 applications show barely different versions of a lighting system that might be a part of the roof cross bars typically used to secure cargo. Accompanying drawings show pickup trucks and SUVs resembling the present Rivian R1T and R1S, respectively. Rivian roof rail lighting system patent image (version one) The primary application—published by the USA Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Jan. 11, and filed on Sep. 12, 2022—have fairly conventional looking cross bars with lights that may project…
A 2023 Ford Bronco DR with throwback paint has surfaced on the market on Bring a Trailer. Announced in 2021, the Bronco DR (short for Desert Racer) is a turnkey race truck intended as a spiritual successor to Broncos that competed within the Baja 1000 within the Sixties and Seventies. Just 50 are thought to have been built, all as 2023 models with a mid-$200,000 price tag. The truck up on the market stands out much more due to body panels finished in Mystichrome, the color-shifting paint only offered from the factory on the 2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra. The…
A Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ will probably be among the many featured lots at a Bonhams auction scheduled for January 25 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Chiron Super Sport 300+ is the production version of the automobile Bugatti used to win the race to 300 mph. Andy Wallace, a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and Bugatti test driver, hit a top speed of 304.773 mph in Sept. 2019 on the Ehra Lessein test track in Germany, securing the Chiron’s title because the world’s fastest production automobile. On the time, Wallace said the record-setting automobile—a pre-production prototype—wasn’t out of breath…
A 2004 Land Rover Range Rover once owned by Queen Elizabeth II is up for auction within the U.K. via Iconic Auctioneers. The British royal vehicle fleet has seen some extravagant one-off vehicles, including an open-top Range Rover parade automotive, though this appears to be a mostly stock example of a third-generation Range Rover. Royal-specific equipment includes extra lights within the grille, a dog barrier, load space mat, side steps, and dust flaps, in line with the auction listing. The Range Rover also has dual rear-window switches and rear grab handles to ease entry and exit, features commonly seen on…
Rivian has filed a patent application for a fold-out camp kitchen for its R1S electric SUV, hinting that the automaker is mulling expanding availability of this feature from the R1T pickup truck. Within the R1T, the camp kitchen slides out from the Gear Tunnel pass-through positioned behind the cab. The R1S doesn’t have this space, so the patent application, which was published by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Oct. 3, proposes having the camp kitchen deploy from the tailgate. The Camp Kitchen has a cooktop and a sink that is filled via a versatile hose. It also…
A one-off Saab prototype is headed to auction shortly. Called the Saab EX, the unique automobile is scheduled to cross the block at a Bonhams auction on October 8. Built to rejoice Saab’s fiftieth anniversary in 1997, the EX was constructed not in Sweden, but in Oslo, Norway, by Per Ekstrøm. Nonetheless, it was in-built collaboration with each the Saab factory and Norwegian authorities, ensuring that it’s fully road legal and drives like Saab production cars of the period, in line with the auction listing. Sharing a wheelbase with the contemporary Saab 900, the EX has exaggerated coupe styling with…
