Tag Archives: vehicles

News

The Slowest Lap in Nürburgring History Belongs to an 8-HP Ligier JS50

Automakers love to flex Nürburgring lap times like they’re Olympic medals. Faster is always better, bragging rights are eternal, and tenths of a second matter. But Ligier, a French brand best known these days for quadricycles and once upon a time for Formula 1, decided to ask a far more important question: what happens if you aim for the slowest lap instead?

Enter the Ligier JS50, a diesel-powered quadricycle that exists in the same philosophical space as the Citroën Ami—that is, transportation reduced to its bare minimum. In its most potent configuration, the JS50 makes a fearsome eight horsepower and tops out at 28 mph, assuming gravity, wind resistance, and mild ridicule are all on its side.

French automotive journalists Nicolas Meunier and Martin Coulomb took this heroic underdog to the Nürburgring for an official, timed lap of the full 12.9-mile Nordschleife. Against all odds—and several long straights—the JS50 completed the circuit in 28 minutes and 25.8 seconds. Congratulations are in order: that is now the slowest officially recorded Nürburgring lap in history.

In doing so, the JS50 dethroned a legend. The previous holder of this dubious honor was the East German Trabant P50, which lumbered around the Ring in 16 minutes and 1 second back in 1960. Perspective matters here. The current Nürburgring benchmark, set by the Mercedes-AMG One, is 6 minutes and 29.1 seconds—less than a quarter of the time it took the Ligier, and roughly how long the JS50 spent accelerating onto a straight.

Ligier, fully leaning into the joke, claimed the lap time “hinted at its glorious history in Formula 1,” according to Autocar. And honestly? Fair enough. It takes real confidence to show up to the world’s most intimidating racetrack with eight horsepower and a dream.

The bigger challenge, however, wasn’t speed—or the lack thereof—but fuel range. Meunier and Coulomb set out to complete the entire lap on a single tank of diesel. Mission accomplished. The JS50 averaged a remarkable 94.1 mpg, proving that while it may be slow, it’s spectacularly efficient at being slow.

For the occasion, the quadricycle was fitted with what Ligier calls its “ultimate racing experience” package. This includes horsepower-boosting decals (science is still debating how) and a go-faster body kit that mostly tells the world you’re in on the joke. Amazingly, Ligier is reportedly considering offering this package to customers following the successful Nürburgring run.

And honestly? We hope they do. In a world obsessed with speed records, there’s something refreshing about a car that shows up, takes its time, sips fuel, and leaves with a trophy nobody else was brave—or patient—enough to chase.

Source: Autocar

News

Geely Signals Serious U.S. Intentions for Its Premium Brands

The United States remains the automotive world’s most tempting prize—and one of its most difficult. For Geely Holding Group, the sprawling Chinese conglomerate that already owns Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus, the next act may finally involve putting its own newer brands on American roads. If the plan comes together, Zeekr and Lynk & Co could be built and sold in the U.S. before the end of the decade.

That’s the message coming from Geely insiders, who are now openly discussing America not as a hypothetical but as a question of timing and execution. And crucially, Geely may already have the infrastructure to pull it off without tripping over tariffs: Volvo’s factory in South Carolina.

Speaking with Autoline, Ash Sutcliffe, Geely Holding Group’s head of global communications, made it clear that the U.S. is very much on the company’s strategic radar—even if no firm commitments have been signed in ink yet.

“Right now, we’re looking at all global markets where we can expand,” Sutcliffe said. “We’re currently very strong in China. We’re developing strong in Southeast Asia. Europe is very stable. But the big question for us is when and where will we go to the USA?”

That hesitation isn’t surprising. The U.S. market has become increasingly hostile territory for Chinese-built vehicles, thanks to steep tariffs, political scrutiny, and tightening regulations. But Geely’s ownership of Volvo gives it a potential workaround: local production. Building vehicles in South Carolina would allow Geely to sidestep import penalties while presenting its products as “American-built,” at least in the regulatory sense.

Sutcliffe pointed specifically to Zeekr and Lynk & Co as brands that could resonate stateside. Both sit above mass-market offerings, aiming squarely at the premium space—an area where American buyers have shown a growing appetite, particularly for tech-heavy electrified vehicles.

And that appetite matters. While Geely declined to lock in a production timeline, Sutcliffe suggested that clarity may not be far off. An official announcement, he said, could arrive within the next two to three years.

That window aligns neatly with broader industry shifts. By the late 2020s, EV adoption in the U.S. is expected to be deeper, charging infrastructure more mature, and consumers more comfortable with brands that didn’t exist on American soil a decade earlier. Tesla cracked that psychological barrier. Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis blew it wide open. The door isn’t closed—it’s just guarded.

“From what we’re seeing so far, there’s strong demand for affordable, premium, and luxury vehicles,” Sutcliffe said. “So I think we’re in a good place to offer the American consumer something very different.”

“Different” is doing a lot of work there. Zeekr, for example, leans heavily into minimalist design, high-end materials, and aggressive electrification—think Scandinavian restraint with Chinese tech ambition. Lynk & Co plays a slightly funkier card, blending youthful styling with subscription-friendly ownership concepts that could either feel refreshing or confusing in a market still wedded to traditional buying habits.

Still, Geely isn’t coming in cold. Volvo has spent years rebuilding trust and prestige in the U.S., while Polestar has already tested American waters with mixed—but instructive—results. If Geely applies those lessons, Zeekr and Lynk & Co could arrive better prepared than most newcomers.

For now, everything remains conditional. No production lines have been assigned, no dealer networks announced, and no vehicles confirmed. But for the first time, Geely isn’t asking if it should come to America—it’s asking how.

And in today’s auto industry, that shift alone is worth paying attention to.

Source: Autoline

News

Ford Mustang Still Dominates the American Sports Car Market

Sports cars have never been about mass appeal. They’re indulgences—loud, low, occasionally impractical statements made by people who still care about steering feel and redlines. But even by those standards, 2025 was rough. Sales across the sports-car landscape largely collapsed last year, with only a handful of bright spots punctuating what looks like a slow retreat from the enthusiast market.

The Ford Mustang remains the genre’s immovable object. America’s best-selling sports car didn’t just hold the line—it improved it, posting a modest but meaningful 3.0-percent sales increase to 45,333 units. In a market where “up” is now an exotic concept, the Mustang’s resilience speaks volumes. Whether it’s brand recognition, accessible pricing, or the fact that Ford still bothers to market the thing, the Mustang continues to do what it’s always done: sell.

That success only highlights the pain elsewhere. Chevrolet’s Corvette, once a reliable counterweight to the Mustang’s dominance, fell hard. Sales dropped 26.4 percent year over year to 24,533 units. That’s a steep decline for a mid-engine car that still looks like it escaped from a Le Mans paddock. Supply constraints, price creep, and the fading novelty of the C8 layout likely all played a role. The Corvette is still aspirational—but aspiration doesn’t always translate to signed paperwork.

Dodge’s situation is less subtle and far more dramatic. With the two-door Challenger officially discontinued at the end of 2023 and replaced by new Charger variants, Dodge effectively reset its performance lineup. The result? Charger and Challenger sales collapsed by more than 80 percent year over year, falling from 61,810 units to just 9,562. That’s not a slump—it’s a reboot hangover. Whether buyers eventually warm to the new Charger’s mission remains to be seen, but the old-school muscle crowd didn’t follow immediately.

Elsewhere, the Japanese brands delivered the most interesting surprises. The Nissan Z quietly had a banner year, with sales jumping an impressive 73.4 percent to 5,487 units. That figure nearly doubles Toyota Supra sales, which themselves rose a respectable 12.9 percent to 2,953 cars. Even more interesting is the context: the Supra is mechanically related to the BMW Z4, which barely moved the needle at all. BMW sold 2,113 Z4s in 2025, down less than one percent from the year prior. Toyota outsold BMW by roughly 500 units—a reminder that badge engineering only works when the badge resonates.

The Mazda MX-5 Miata also did what the Miata always does: quietly succeed. Sales climbed 7.7 percent to 8,727 units, making it one of the few sports cars besides the Mustang and Z to post a gain. Lightweight, affordable, and blissfully unconcerned with horsepower wars, the Miata continues to thrive by sticking to fundamentals.

Not everyone was so lucky. Volkswagen’s hot hatches took a hit, and pricing is the obvious culprit. Golf GTI sales fell 24.4 percent, while the Golf R dropped 20.9 percent. Tariffs pushed the R past the $50,000 mark, while the GTI now starts near $36,000—roughly $6,000 more than it cost in 2020. That’s a tough sell for cars once defined by attainable performance. Enthusiasts noticed, and many walked.

Subaru had an especially rough year. WRX sales plummeted 41.1 percent to 10,930 units, a decline Subaru attributed to production priorities at its Gunma Prefecture plant, where Foresters—particularly the Hybrid—took precedence. Translation: sedans got sidelined. The BRZ didn’t fare much better, with sales down 13.8 percent to just 2,881 units. Subaru even raised the BRZ’s starting price by nearly $1,000 for 2025, offering a new Sport mode for manual cars as consolation. Buyers weren’t impressed. Toyota’s mechanically similar GR86 sold nearly three times as many units despite its own 13.0-percent decline.

Step back, and the picture becomes clear. Sports cars aren’t dead—but they are shrinking. Rising prices, shifting manufacturing priorities, and a market increasingly obsessed with crossovers have squeezed a segment that already lived on the margins. The winners are the cars that either offer something truly unique (Miata), carry massive cultural weight (Mustang), or hit the sweet spot between nostalgia and modernity (Nissan Z).

Everyone else is fighting gravity.

For enthusiasts, that makes every surviving sports car feel a little more precious—and every sales report a little more sobering.