1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport 7.0l on 2040-cars

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Paul Newman's overachieving 'Volvette' up for bid

For the longest time, it was the ultimate suburban family hauler. But this particular Volvo wagon had a life far beyond the Wegmans parking lots and high school playing fields. This particular 1998 V90 belonged to no ordinary soccer mom or dad, as Paul Newman owned it. Maybe he raced it around the rural roadways of Westport, Connecticut, with kids is tow or to pick up pizzas. The actor, who owned a race team in and out of three decades and racked up four SCCA National Championships, was given the “Volvette” as a surprise gift from one of his teams in 2007, so-called because it was crammed with a 400 horsepower 6.0-liter Chevy LS2 engine and four-speed automatic found in sixth-generation Corvettes from 2005 to 2007. The car, as well as dozens of artifacts of NewmanÂ’s racing career including rings, medals, art, and memorabilia, are on auction currently at RM Sotheby's online: High Speed: Paul NewmanÂ’s Racing Legacy. Bidding closes June 13. The V90 is one of two Newman machines on the block. Estimated winning bid is expected to be $20,000 to $25,000. NewmanÂ’s affection for Volvos dated back some time: his first pumped-up Swedish example was a1988 Volvo 740 powered by a 3.8-liter turbocharged V6 from a Buick Grand National. The car recently sold on Bring a Trailer for $87,777. The middle-child swapped Volvo was a 1995 960 with a supercharged 5.0-liter Mustang V8. Newman famously convinced friend David Letterman to get one (Letterman once co-owned Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing). Quipping that Volvo station wagons were “just as ugly as homemade shoes,” Letterman nevertheless ordered one and went on to rave about it. With upwards of 400 horsepower or more, one such modified Volvo 960 tested by Car and Driver was as fast as a mid-Â’90s Mustang Cobra. The hot-rod Volvo currently on offer accommodates Porsche 911 components in the front end and mods to the driveshaft. Says the auctionÂ’s description, “The exterior was kept unchanged, as Newman was known to prefer a stock look with his Swedish station wagons.” Sadly, Newman had not enough years left to sufficiently enjoy the Volvette. He died of cancer at age 82 a year after it was given to him. Related video: Celebrities Buick Volvo Auctions Automotive History Wagon

Buick Velite 6 MAV is the brand's first all-electric vehicle

Buick is making a big splash at the 2019 Shanghai Motor Show. It just debuted the brand's first all-electric vehicle, dubbed the Velite 6 MAV, which is a production version of the concept we saw a year ago. The vehicle is reportedly built on a new platform GM developed with China's SAIC and will be sold in China. This platform uses a "new-generation pure electric drive system," but it's not based on the new electric vehicle platform GM said is going to underpin new electric cars in the U.S. starting in 2021. Consumers may not want it here anyways. The electric motor makes 114 horsepower and 188 pound-feet of torque. It has a "city" electric driving range of 187 miles, but Buick doesn't quote any numbers as they would pertain to our EPA rating system. That's plenty of range for most folks, but the lack of power would be a tough sell here. Buick calls this thing an MAV, which stands for multi-activity vehicle. It's tough to put a car type on it, because it borrows elements from several different styles. We'll just distill it to a mash-up between a wagon and a crossover, sort of like the Subaru Outback. At least it appears utilitarian. Buick says that it costs about $25,000 after all the Chinese government subsidies for an electric vehicle have been applied. The goal here is to give the Buick-hungry Chinese market an electric option, and this doesn't look half bad. GM is even entering into a car-sharing venture to deploy 5,000 Velite 6s with EVCARD (car sharing company) into strategic areas. Those will reportedly be put into operation on April 28 this year.

Buick Encore production increased to lift supply by 50%

Trying to zero in on the Buick Encore leads us to the conclusion that the only place it really fits is in buyers' driveways. Every member of its so-called competitive set – we've read everything from the Ford C-Max to the Nissan Juke to the Volkswagen Tiguan to the BMW X1 – is so different in small yet fundamental ways that the Encore neatly slinks between them all, and with 48,892 sales in 2014, it doesn't stop slinking until it reaches consumer garages. That success, and preparation for the aggrandizing of the compact CUV segment, is why General Motors is upping production for the US market by 50 percent. Analysts keep predicting there will be more shoppers for tiny crossovers, and that's why those that don't have them are getting them. Yet the Encore came out in 2013 before people realized the power of the segment, and it has substantially out-performed GM and observer expectations: analysts predicted 18,500 US sales in 2013 and 25,000 in 2015; in 2013 we wrote, "We admit it. We have no earthly idea how this whole thing is going to shake out." It shook out 31,046 sales in 2013, puffing that number up by more than 50 percent last year. GM thinks that this year it will it will go from Buick's third-best-selling vehicle to its best-selling vehicle. GM wants that to continue, what with the Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, and Mazda CX-3 on the way. Dealers say they'd sell more if they could get them, and the four-month lead time at the moment between a dealer ordering and taking delivery – about double the normal time – creates a handicap. Plants in Mexico, Korea, and Spain will hive off production to bolster US inventory to keep the "downsizing empty nesters" who love it, happy. Seeing as the coming competition is falls meaningfully outside the Buick's combination of traits, there's a chance its popular tale can continue.