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GM Refuses to Let the V8 Die

Not long ago, it felt like the V8 was being quietly escorted out of the building. Stricter emissions rules, turbocharged fours, and electrification all seemed to be writing the obituary for the eight-cylinder. But General Motors, never one to give up on horsepower without a fight, is doing the opposite—doubling down with an all-new generation of small-block V8 engines that will power Chevrolets, GMCs, and Cadillacs well into the next decade.

This sixth-generation V8 family isn’t just a mild update. GM is retooling multiple plants to support it, confirming production at facilities in Flint, Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, and now adding St. Catharines, Ontario, to the mix. That Canadian plant has already returned to two shifts as it ramps up for V8 production, underscoring just how serious GM is about keeping the internal-combustion flame alive.

The investment behind it is massive. GM says it has poured more than CA$2.6 billion into its Canadian operations over the past five years, including $280 million specifically allocated to support next-generation full-size pickups—vehicles that will be among the first to benefit from these new engines.

While GM hasn’t yet released official specs, the rumor mill is already running hot. The new V8 may revive the storied LS6 name and is expected to come in several flavors, including 5.7-liter and 6.6-liter variants. Sitting at the top of the food chain could be a 6.7-liter flagship, reportedly using an aluminum block and a dual fuel-injection setup that combines both direct and port injection—an arrangement that typically improves both power delivery and emissions performance.

And no, these engines aren’t just for work trucks and big SUVs. GM plans to drop them into sports cars too, starting with the Corvette lineup. That includes the long-awaited return of the Grand Sport, which has already been spotted during an official photoshoot wearing a familiar Admiral Blue paint job and red quarter-panel stripes, a visual callback to the beloved C7-era model.

If the rumors are accurate, the Grand Sport’s 6.7-liter V8 could make around 550 horsepower. That would slot it neatly between the standard Stingray and the more extreme E-Ray and Z06, creating a true sweet spot for buyers who want big power without stepping into full-blown track-weapon territory.

In an era when many automakers are shrinking engines or eliminating them altogether, GM’s new V8 push feels almost rebellious. It’s a reminder that while the future may be electric, the present still has room for thunderous exhaust notes, tire-shredding torque, and the kind of engines that made Detroit famous in the first place.

And if this new small-block delivers on its promise, the V8 won’t just survive—it might just be getting started again.

Source: GM

News

Bugatti Turns a Frozen Swiss Lake into the World’s Coolest Car Show

If you’re going to celebrate one of the most outrageous automotive dynasties in history, you might as well do it on a frozen lake in the Swiss Alps.

That, in essence, is what Bugatti did at The I.C.E. St. Moritz, the now-legendary winter concours that transforms Lake St. Moritz into a glittering stage for some of the world’s rarest and most desirable automobiles. More than 20,000 enthusiasts braved the cold to watch the French marque turn snow and ice into a backdrop worthy of its legacy—and its future.

And Bugatti didn’t show up quietly.

Veyrons on Ice, Skaters in Between

Front and center were three of the most coveted Veyrons ever built, all from the Les Légendes de Bugatti collection: the Grand Sport Vitesse Soleil de Nuit, Rembrandt Bugatti, and Meo Costantini. These aren’t just special editions; they’re rolling sculptures built to honor the people and stories that made Bugatti what it is.

Seeing them parked is impressive. Seeing them on ice, surrounded by professional figure skaters weaving between them like something out of a surreal fashion shoot, is something else entirely. It was part concours, part performance art, and entirely Bugatti—mixing absurd levels of engineering with a sense of drama no other brand even attempts.

These cars represent the moment Bugatti reinvented the hypercar. When the Veyron arrived in the mid-2000s, it didn’t just raise the bar—it launched it into orbit. A thousand horsepower. Over 250 mph. And the kind of craftsmanship you’d expect from a Swiss watchmaker. Two decades later, those numbers are no longer unthinkable—but the Veyron’s impact still is.

A Tiny Tribute to a Giant Legacy

Bugatti also took a moment to look much further back. Hedley Studios unveiled a one-off Bugatti Baby II ‘Meo Costantini’, a scaled-down electric tribute to the legendary Type 35—the race car that helped make Bugatti famous nearly a century ago.

Parked alongside its modern namesake, the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Meo Costantini, it was a reminder of how remarkably consistent Bugatti’s design DNA has been. From pre-war racers to four-turbocharged monsters, the marque has always balanced elegance with outrageous performance.

The Bolide Brings the Ice to Its Knees

If the Veyron display was about heritage and glamour, the Bolide was about raw, unfiltered insanity.

Bugatti brought three examples of its track-only W16 monster onto the icy circuit carved into the lake, where their owners drove them in front of a stunned crowd. On dry asphalt, the Bolide is a barely-tamed missile. On ice, it becomes something even more surreal: a 1600-horsepower experiment in physics, grip, and bravery.

It was a spectacle you could only get away with in a place like St. Moritz, where the audience expects the impossible—and Bugatti delivers.

From Type 35 to EB110

The concours side of the event was just as rich. Historic Bugattis including the Type 13, Type 35, and Type 37A competed in the Open Wheels class, while the iconic EB110—the 1990s supercar that bridged Bugatti’s old and modern eras—stood proudly in the “Birth of the Hypercar” category.

It was a rolling timeline of the brand’s evolution, all displayed on a frozen sheet of Alpine perfection.

More Than a Car Show

Off the ice, Bugatti hosted guests in the I.C.E. Village, a winter-chic chalet-style hub where owners, collectors, and fans mingled over drinks and stories. For Bugatti, this wasn’t just a marketing exercise—it was a family reunion.

As Managing Director Hendrik Malinowski put it, the event was about more than just showing cars. It was about celebrating what makes Bugatti Bugatti: the people, the passion, and the willingness to do things no one else would even consider.

And really, what other brand would think to drift hypercars across a frozen Alpine lake while figure skaters dance between Veyrons?

Exactly.

Source: Bugatti

News

McMurtry Spéirling is coming this summer

There are startups that promise to change the world, and then there’s McMurtry Automotive, which decided the best way to announce itself was to obliterate a 23-year-old Formula 1 record at Goodwood with a vacuum-cleaner-sized electric missile. Now the British firm is taking the next logical step: moving out of the garage-project phase and into a purpose-built factory in Gloucestershire to start building the real thing.

McMurtry Spéirling is coming this summer

The new site in Wotton-under-Edge covers roughly a square mile, which is an absurdly large footprint for a company that builds a single-seat electric hypercar smaller than a Honda Civic. Production of the Spéirling Pure is set to begin any moment now, with the first customer car scheduled to leave the factory this summer. For a company that only a few years ago was known mostly for YouTube-breaking hillclimb runs, that’s a huge milestone.

And McMurtry isn’t stopping at just one outrageously fast toy. Its existing headquarters nearby will become an R&D hub for a new offshoot called McMurtry Technology, a contract-engineering business already claiming “high-profile clients” and seven-figure revenues. Translation: the same engineers who figured out how to make a 1000-horsepower electric fan car stick to the road are now available for hire.

Still the Hillclimb King

The Spéirling’s legend was sealed in 2022, when Max Chilton drove a prototype up the Goodwood hill in 39.08 seconds, smashing the long-standing record set by a McLaren Formula 1 car in 1999. That wasn’t just quick—it was physics-bending. The car’s downforce-generating fan system effectively allows it to glue itself to the asphalt, regardless of speed.

What’s coming off the new production line is even more unhinged. Customer cars will get revised motors sending a full 1000 horsepower to the rear wheels, fed by a 60-kWh battery pack that’s 15 percent lighter than before. McMurtry says kerb weight will be under 1000 kilograms—roughly what a Mazda Miata weighs, except this one launches to 62 mph in 1.5 seconds and keeps pulling to more than 190 mph.

Small Car, Big Humans

The Spéirling Pure measures just 3.45 meters long and seats exactly one person, but McMurtry insists it can fit drivers up to 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighing up to 146 kilograms. That’s either impressive packaging or proof that British engineers are really, really good at Tetris.

Only 100 examples will be built, each starting at £995,000 before taxes, delivery, and the sort of options you probably don’t want to ask about. That puts it firmly in the ultra-exclusive hypercar club—but unlike most million-pound toys, this one isn’t trying to be elegant, luxurious, or even especially pretty. It’s trying to be the fastest thing you’ve ever experienced.

With a new factory coming online and customer deliveries about to begin, McMurtry is moving from internet sensation to actual manufacturer. The Spéirling is no longer just a record-setting prototype—it’s a production car with a production line. And if it performs on the road anything like it did at Goodwood, the hypercar world is about to get very, very nervous.

Source: McMurtry Automotive

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