Tag Archives: vehicles

News

Red Bull’s RB17 Hypercar Locks In Its Final Form—and It Looks Like a Weapon

Red Bull has never been subtle. This is the company that turned energy drinks into a Formula One dynasty and then decided that wasn’t ambitious enough. Now it’s building a hypercar. Not a “road car with track capability” hypercar, mind you, but a full-blown, track-only projectile designed with one overriding objective: go very, very fast.

We first saw the RB17 back in July 2024, a tantalizing preview of Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ first crack at a customer car. Today, the covers come off the finalized design ahead of its on-sale debut later this year—and the production-spec RB17 looks even more focused, more aggressive, and somehow more unhinged than the prototype that preceded it.

If the original RB17 hinted at Formula One DNA, the finished version shouts it through a carbon-fiber megaphone.

The front end is cleaner than before, but don’t mistake restraint for friendliness. Slim LED headlights are neatly integrated into sharply sculpted bodywork, and every surface appears to exist solely to manage airflow. There’s no decorative fluff here, no “design for design’s sake.” The RB17’s nose looks like it was shaped in a wind tunnel because, well, it probably was.

Move along the side profile and things get even more serious. Deep channels slice through the carbon bodywork, guiding air rearward toward massive cooling zones. The roof-mounted intake feeds the mid-mounted engine directly, while a towering central fin—clearly inspired by endurance racing prototypes—anchors the whole thing visually and aerodynamically. It’s the kind of fin that suggests the RB17 would feel right at home blasting down the Mulsanne Straight at 3 a.m.

Despite being strictly a track car, the RB17 does check a few boxes typically reserved for road-going hypercars. It has mirrors. It has a windshield wiper. Those details may sound mundane, but they signal something important: this isn’t a rolling concept or a design exercise. What you’re looking at is very close to what customers will actually receive.

Open the cockpit, and any lingering doubt disappears.

Red Bull has gone all-in on race-car minimalism. There are no touchscreens, no glossy infotainment panels, and no distractions masquerading as luxury. Instead, the cockpit is dominated by physical controls—real buttons, real switches, the good stuff. The seating position, steering wheel, and sightlines were all designed with lap times as the primary metric, not comfort on a cross-country drive that will never happen.

And then there’s the engine. Oh yes, the engine.

At the heart of the RB17 sits a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V-10 developed by Cosworth, an engine builder with a résumé that reads like a greatest-hits album of motorsport. This one revs to a spine-tingling 15,000 rpm and produces roughly 1,000 horsepower on its own. An electric motor adds another 200 hp, bringing total output to a deeply unnecessary—and deeply wonderful—1,200 horsepower.

Power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox, backed up by a hydraulically locking active limited-slip differential. Reverse gear? That’s handled by the hybrid system, because of course it is. Everything about this drivetrain screams purpose, efficiency, and total disregard for moderation.

Red Bull plans to build just 50 examples of the RB17, ensuring exclusivity is baked in from the start. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but let’s not kid ourselves—this is a well-over-seven-figure proposition aimed at collectors who already have garages full of rare machinery and still want something that feels truly special.

The RB17 is currently undergoing final testing, which suggests production is imminent. When it does arrive, it won’t be street legal, it won’t be practical, and it definitely won’t be subtle. But it will be fast in a way that feels almost rebellious in today’s era of downsized engines and digital everything.

Red Bull didn’t just build a hypercar. It built a statement—one that revs to 15,000 rpm and dares the rest of the automotive world to keep up.

Source: Red Bull Advanced Technologies via Top Gear

News

BMW Takes the Wheel at Alpina—And Promises Speed with a Silk-Lined Ride

For six decades, Alpina has lived in a sweet spot that BMW’s own M division never quite occupied. While M chased lap times and Nürburgring bragging rights, Alpina quietly perfected the art of going very fast without rattling your fillings loose. Now, that philosophy is officially back under BMW’s direct control—and Munich is making it clear that Alpina’s mission won’t be diluted into just another performance sub-brand.

BMW has completed its long-planned takeover of the Buchloe-based firm and relaunched it as BMW Alpina, an “exclusive standalone brand” within the BMW Group, sitting alongside BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce. If that sounds like corporate reshuffling, the intent is more meaningful than the press-release phrasing suggests: Alpina is no longer a semi-independent tuner with factory blessing. It’s now fully baked into BMW’s long-term strategy.

The acquisition itself isn’t new—BMW bought Alpina back in 2022—but an agreement with the founding Bovensiepen family allowed the company to operate independently until the end of 2025. That window has now closed, marking the end of Alpina as we knew it. The final independently developed Alpina debuted last year, quietly closing a chapter that included legends like the B7 Bi-Turbo and the diesel-powered torque monster known as the D5.

BMW isn’t ready to talk specifics about upcoming models yet. The early phase is focused on what it calls “brand activation,” which is marketing-speak for setting the stage before the cars arrive. Still, BMW has dropped enough hints to sketch a clear direction—and it’s reassuringly familiar.

According to BMW, future Alpina models will emphasize a “unique balance of maximum performance and superior driving comfort,” paired with “hallmark driving characteristics.” That’s corporate poetry for the Alpina formula enthusiasts already understand: effortless speed, long-legged gearing, suspension tuned for real roads, and interiors that feel more bespoke lounge than track-day cockpit.

Crucially, BMW is keen to draw a bright line between Alpina and BMW M. That distinction has always been Alpina’s lifeblood. Where M cars tend to shout, Alpinas whisper—until you bury the throttle and realize you’re traveling at a speed that would get your license revoked in several countries simultaneously. Expect that duality to remain intact.

The brand will also double down on customization. BMW promises a “remarkable portfolio” of bespoke options, focusing on premium materials and craftsmanship. Translation: Lavalina leather, subtle exterior detailing, and the kind of personalization that appeals to buyers who know exactly why they’re choosing Alpina—and don’t need to explain it to anyone else. BMW says each vehicle will be “an exclusive object for connoisseurs,” which feels like a carefully chosen phrase aimed directly at Alpina’s traditionally understated clientele.

Design-wise, BMW Alpina is already laying groundwork. Former Polestar design chief Max Missoni has been tapped to oversee the brand’s aesthetic direction, a move that suggests modern minimalism rather than retro pastiche. Reinforcing that link between past and future is a newly revealed wordmark, inspired by an asymmetrical logo Alpina experimented with in the 1970s. It’s subtle, heritage-aware, and refreshingly free of nostalgia overload—exactly the tone Alpina has always favored.

What remains unanswered is how far BMW will let Alpina roam technically. Historically, Alpina engines were hand-assembled and heavily reworked, earning their own VINs and manufacturer status in Germany. Whether BMW will preserve that level of mechanical distinction—or shift Alpina closer to ultra-luxury, factory-approved specials—will define the brand’s next era.

For now, BMW’s messaging suggests restraint rather than reinvention. Alpina isn’t being turned into a softer M, nor a harder Rolls-Royce. Instead, BMW appears intent on preserving Alpina as the thinking person’s performance brand—the one you choose not to impress your neighbors, but because you know exactly what makes a great car great.

If BMW sticks to that plan, Alpina’s future could be quieter than an M car’s—and all the faster for it.

Source: BMW

NEW CARS

Mercedes-AMG Refreshes the GLE 53 Ahead of a Critical 2027 Showdown

Mercedes-Benz is in the middle of a creative changing of the guard. Longtime design chief Gorden Wagener—arguably the single most influential stylist the brand has had in the modern era—has announced he’s stepping down after nearly three decades. His fingerprints, however, aren’t coming off the sheetmetal anytime soon. One of the next reminders arrives with the refreshed Mercedes-AMG GLE 53, due in 2026 as a 2027 model-year SUV.

If this feels like déjà vu, that’s because it kind of is. The fourth-generation GLE dates back to 2018, with the AMG 53 performance variant following a year later. It already received a mid-cycle refresh for 2023, but in today’s hyper-competitive luxury-SUV arms race, “recently updated” ages about as well as last year’s smartphone. Mercedes knows it needs to keep pace—not just within its own lineup, but against an oncoming wave of newer, sharper rivals.

So yes, the GLE is getting another facelift. And no, Mercedes isn’t pretending it’s anything more than that.

The most obvious change will be the lighting signature. By the time this refreshed GLE hits the road in fall 2027, Mercedes’ star-shaped daytime running lights will be everywhere. What began as a clever design flourish on the rear of the E-Class has quickly turned into a full-blown brand identifier, now spreading to both ends of facelifted models across the lineup—including AMG variants. Think of it as Stuttgart’s answer to BMW’s angel eyes, only more literal.

Between those new starry DRLs sits a revised grille that’s expected to do what modern luxury grilles do best: get bigger. While camouflage hides the final details for now, the word is that the new opening will be noticeably larger than the current GLE’s and may borrow cues from the recently revealed electric GLC with EQ Technology. If that’s the case, expect a more upright, more assertive face—one that leans harder into presence than subtlety.

Notably, the updated grille will finally wear a proper frame. The current GLE, AMG or otherwise, goes frameless up front, which has always felt a little unfinished in a segment obsessed with visual gravitas. This change alone could significantly alter how substantial the GLE looks in your rearview mirror.

There will be the usual facelift fare as well: revised bumpers, fresh wheel designs, and small detail tweaks meant to distract from the fact that the underlying sheetmetal is unchanged. That’s the nature of a mid-cycle update—especially one layered on top of an earlier refresh. Mercedes isn’t rewriting the GLE’s design story here; it’s just editing for relevance.

Under the hood, don’t expect reinvention either. The AMG GLE 53 will almost certainly carry over its mild-hybrid 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six. In current form, the setup makes 429 horsepower (435 metric), delivered with the smooth, muscular character AMG has largely perfected in this configuration. That said, history suggests the engineers in Affalterbach won’t be able to resist squeezing out a few extra ponies before the 2026 debut. Whether that comes from revised software, mild hardware tweaks, or a more aggressive hybrid assist remains to be seen—but incremental gains are all but guaranteed.

And incremental might not be enough.

The real pressure isn’t coming from within Mercedes’ own lineup; it’s coming from Munich. BMW’s next-generation X5, internal code G65, is scheduled to launch in 2026 as a 2027 model-year vehicle—the same timing as the refreshed GLE. Unlike Mercedes, BMW is starting fresh. The new X5 will usher in the brand’s Neue Klasse design language, and an M60 performance variant is already in the pipeline.

Translation: newer platform, bolder styling, and a clear performance halo.

Against that backdrop, the GLE’s age becomes harder to hide, no matter how clever the lighting graphics or how large the grille grows. Mercedes will need every visual trick—and every extra horsepower—to keep the AMG GLE 53 from looking like yesterday’s news parked next to BMW’s all-new contender.

Still, there’s something to be said for maturity. The GLE remains a known quantity: comfortable, quick, and unmistakably premium, with AMG’s inline-six offering real-world performance that feels more usable than headline-grabbing specs suggest. This refresh isn’t about stealing the spotlight—it’s about staying in the conversation.

And in a segment where loyalty runs deep and design sells almost as much as performance, that might be enough to carry Mercedes-AMG through the next round of the luxury-SUV heavyweight bout.

Photos: SH Proshots