Category Archives: NEW CARS

NEW CARS

The Lone Star Returns: McLaren Le Mans Hypercar Goes Full Americana

There are two kinds of car launches. The first involves some sad men in suits unveiling yet another grey crossover in an airport hangar with free sandwiches. The second is what McLaren did last week at Monterey Car Week: wheel out a million-horsepower spaceship dressed in heritage paint, sprinkle it with motorsport royalty, and casually announce that you too can own one… provided you’ve got a bank balance bigger than the GDP of Liechtenstein.

Meet Project: Endurance, McLaren’s new Le Mans Hypercar. This isn’t some cynical limited-edition with more carbon fibre than actual purpose. No, this is the real thing — a car that’s actually going racing in the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship, and one you can buy. Well, “buy” in the sense of gaining access to one of the most exclusive car clubs on the planet, where instead of wine tastings and golf days you get telemetry readouts, pit crews, and driver coaching from actual racing pros.

Unveiled by McLaren Group Holdings CEO Nick Collins and McLaren Racing’s Zak Brown, with racing legend Justin Bell on hosting duties (yes, the same Justin Bell who helped pilot a McLaren F1 GTR to third at Le Mans in 1995), the hypercar appeared in its new livery — a patriotic throwback to McLaren’s first Triple Crown triumph.

If you’re not a motorsport anorak, here’s a quick refresher: McLaren is one of the only teams to have conquered racing’s “Triple Crown” — Indy 500, Monaco GP, and Le Mans. The car’s paint job celebrates the 1974 Indy 500 win with Texan legend Johnny Rutherford, also known as “Lone Star JR.” So yes, the hypercar now wears McLaren Orange, a blue stripe ripped from the Texas flag, and a big white star on the roof. To complete the look, it carries Rutherford’s number 3, plus McLaren’s old-school Speedy Kiwi logo, because nothing says heritage like a cartoon bird in sneakers.

And if you’re thinking, “that’s a bit loud”, good. A hypercar should shout. It should swagger. It should make other cars feel inadequate just by existing.

But the real magic isn’t just the paint — it’s the ownership. Buy into Project: Endurance and you don’t just get a garage ornament. You get a two-year track program at the world’s most famous circuits, your own pit crew, race engineers, and professional coaching to make sure you don’t bin it into Eau Rouge on your first lap. It’s less like buying a car, more like signing up for an F1 driver cosplay package where the only thing missing is the TV interviews and a swarm of autograph hunters.

Nick Collins summed it up best: “There is a huge level of excitement… the opportunity to be directly involved in development and testing is a very special proposition.” Translation: if you’ve got the cash, McLaren will turn you into a semi-professional racing driver without you having to move into a caravan outside Silverstone.

So here it is: the McLaren Le Mans Hypercar. Loud, orange, steeped in history, and ready to take on the world in 2027. It’s not just a car. It’s a ticket into motorsport’s most elite inner circle. And if you’re one of the chosen few to own one, you’ll get to live out the ultimate racing fantasy — Lone Star and all.

Source: McLaren

NEW CARS

The Acura RSX Prototype: Yellow Fever Hits Monterey

Acura has pulled the covers off something big — and I don’t just mean the colossal expanse of its “Propulsion Yellow Pearl” paint. Meet the RSX Prototype, the brand’s first proper in-house crack at an electric SUV. And yes, it’s as loud as a mariachi band in a phone booth.

Now, Monterey Car Week is no place for the timid. It’s a playground for the absurd, the extravagant, and the “my-watch-costs-as-much-as-your-house” brigade. So Acura showing up here with a bright yellow, coupe-shaped SUV is like crashing the Met Gala in a samurai suit — bold, but you’ll get noticed.

This isn’t just another EV-shaped promise, though. The RSX is the first child of Honda’s all-new EV platform, conceived and built at the company’s shiny new Ohio EV Hub. Production will kick off in 2026 at the same Marysville Auto Plant that gives us the Integra, proving Honda can build petrol, hybrid, and fully electric cars under one roof without having a nervous breakdown.

Underneath the highlighter paint, the RSX Prototype means business. Dual motors, AWD, sport-tuned double wishbones, Brembos the size of dinner plates, and a low center of gravity all come as standard. In other words, it’s less “eco-box” and more “eco-boxer.”

Inside, things get properly futuristic with ASIMO OS — Honda’s new operating system named after its famous robot. Unlike your grumpy laptop, ASIMO OS is designed to learn. It’ll pick up on your driving habits, your music tastes, and presumably your unhealthy addiction to podcasts about unsolved crimes. Expect OTA updates, personalization galore, and a creeping suspicion that your car now knows more about you than your partner.

And because no modern EV is complete without a superhero party trick, the RSX can power your house during a blackout. Appliances, tools, even your espresso machine on a camping trip — the RSX is basically a bright yellow battery pack with Brembos.

Design-wise, it’s a strong evolution of the Acura Performance EV Concept we saw last year, only angrier. The fastback roofline screams coupe, the 21-inch alloys scream “don’t curb me,” and the rear light bar is a cheeky nod to the NSX of old. The new separated headlamp setup looks sharp too — more katana slash than mood lighting.

But beyond the tech, the stance, and the paint, here’s the real story: Acura is finally planting its EV flag in the ground. This isn’t a compliance car or a re-badged General Motors joint. The RSX is the real deal — a homegrown, performance-focused electric SUV meant to drag the brand into its next chapter.

Will it be good to drive? The ingredients suggest yes. Will it tempt Tesla buyers away from their beige-walled Superchargers? Possibly. Will the paint color look incredible on Instagram at Pebble Beach? Absolutely.

The RSX Prototype is Acura saying: “We’re still here, we’re still sporty, and we’re ready for the electric age.” And if that future is painted in Propulsion Yellow Pearl, well… bring your sunglasses.

Source: Acura

NEW CARS

Meyers Manx LFG: The Buggy That Ate Baja

Some cars are born to be sensible. Some are born to be fast. And then there’s the new Meyers Manx LFG, which was clearly born after a tequila-fuelled night in a garage full of Porsche engines, carbon fibre, and the occasional surfboard.

For years, the reborn Meyers Manx has been giving us beach buggies with a smorgasbord of powertrains—VW flat-fours, three-cylinder radials, even batteries. Nice. Fun. A bit “Margaritaville.” But now? Now it’s gone nuclear. Teaming up with the lunatics at Tuthill Porsche, Manx has unveiled the LFG—an all-wheel-drive, flat-six tribute to the 1967 Baja 1000-winning Manx. And yes, before you ask, LFG stands for exactly what you think it does.

The Look

The carbon-fibre body comes from Freeman Thomas, the same man who penned the Audi TT and VW New Beetle. Except here, instead of polite German Bauhaus curves, he’s delivered something that looks like it escaped from Mad Max but stopped for tacos along the way.

The Bits That Matter

Specs are thin on the ground, but the options list includes Tuthill’s snarling four-valve, air-cooled flat-six from the 911K, bolted to a six-speed sequential gearbox. Power goes everywhere thanks to limited-slip differentials at the front, centre, and rear. Suspension? Twin adjustable coilovers on each corner. Tyres? BF Goodrich all-terrains, obviously, because this thing isn’t for your local Whole Foods car park.

And because even dune-slaying hooligans sometimes like comfort, there’s an enclosed cockpit with air-con. Don’t like roofs? Two minutes later, you’re back to windswept hair and a face full of sand.

The Vibe

Richard Tuthill himself calls it “fun, mischievous” and reckons it could probably “go to the moon and back.” That’s not PR waffle, that’s just Tuthill being his usual straight-talking self. If you’ve ever seen what his 911s can survive, you’ll know he’s not exaggerating.

The Catch

Only 100 will be built, and while no one’s putting numbers on it yet, if you’ve got to ask… you can’t afford it. Think several hundred thousand. Still, buy one and you’re not just getting the car—you’re getting driving tours led by Manx and Tuthill themselves. The first is in 2027, lining up perfectly with the 50th anniversary of the Manx’s Baja win.

So what is the Meyers Manx LFG? It’s a rally-ready Porsche-powered dune buggy with more attitude than a teenage drummer. It’s a car that doesn’t just whisper “let’s go for a drive,” it screams Let’s F**ing Go.*

Source: Meyers Manx