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'Top Gear' episode 1 recap | A new beginning, again

Season 27 of "Top Gear" kicked off Sunday night, and we were there on our couches for the premiere to see everything Chris Harris, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness had to offer. With only five episodes in this season, this new group of characters doesn’t have much time to get it right. They started with a bang, on a massive road trip through Ethiopia in cars identical to their first vehicle purchases. Before that, though, the hosts recognized the rebirths and numerous changes "Top Gear" has gone through since Clarkson, Hammond and May left the premises. Good on "Top Gear" for not brushing over any sort of controversy and unrest, then getting on with the show as itÂ’s meant to be. As is typical for "Top Gear," the adventure/story portion of the show was definitely the most entertaining. We wholeheartedly approve of all the vehicles these guys bought as their first transportation — watching Chris Harris toss his little Mini around the sand and rocks was especially joyful. The boys get on rather well together for just starting off, and while the interludes for challenges didnÂ’t feel totally natural, the challenges themselves were still fun to watch. Being in Ethiopia with such a vast array of alien-to-us shooting locations definitely helped keep us entertained from a visual standpoint. We werenÂ’t surprised to see Chris Harris handling the “serious car review” portion of the show where he pitted a Ferrari 488 Pista against a McLaren 600LT — the others aren't traditional automotive journalists. We wonÂ’t give away who won, but the Ferrari did manage to surprise us in one particular area. Perhaps the most important aspect of the whole episode is how the three hosts got on with each other (Sabine Schmitz was nowhere to be seen). ThereÂ’s no Captain Slow or American car maniac amongst the group, but a comedian (Paddy) and cricketer (Freddie) certainly do bring fresh voices and perspectives. WeÂ’ll give them time to warm up to each other as the season goes on, with a new episode this coming Sunday. One thing we know for sure after this first go: Chris Harris really does not like the hot desert as much as he loves hot, burning rubber.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for sale in Germany at $64 million

Prices keep climbing for the Ferrari 250 GTO with virtually no end in sight. In 1969 one sold for just $2,500, but by the 1980s they were trading for hundreds of thousands, then millions, then tens of millions to the point that the last last year, one was reported to have changed hands at $52 million. But now there's a GTO for sale in Germany that could eclipse even that gargantuan price tag.
Ferrari made 39 examples of the 250 GTO between 1962 and 1962, and the item listing on mobile.de doesn't give much in the way of specifics as to which exactly we're looking at. But last we checked, there were only two GTOs in Germany, and the other one was silver. That leaves chassis number 3809GT, which was delivered new in '62 to Switzerland and participated in numerous endurance races and hillclimb events throughout the early 60s. 3809GT has been owned until now by one Hartmut Ibing, who bought it in 1976 when values were in the tens of thousands, not tens of millions. Given how his asset has appreciated so dramatically, and with less than 10,000 miles on the odometers over 52 years, we could understand how Ibing would want to cash out.
Of course we could be mistaken and we could be looking at an entirely different example - the vast majority were, after all, painted red and fitted with blue upholstery just like this one - but either way, we're looking at a price tag of 47.6 million euros. That's nearly $64 million at today's rates, inclusive of Germany's 19 percent VAT rate that adds a staggering $10 million in taxes to the pre-tax price of 40 million euros, which comes in under $54 million but would still be the most ever paid for a GTO (or really, just about any car ever made).

Stellantis ready to kill brands and fix U.S. problems, CEO Tavares says

  MILAN — Stellantis is taking steps to fix weak margins and high inventory at its U.S. operations and will not hesitate to axe underperforming brands in its sprawling portfolio, its chief executive Carlos Tavares said on Thursday. The warning for lossmaking brands is a turnaround for Tavares, who has maintained since Stellantis was created in 2021 from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA that all of its 14 brands including Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep have a future. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down," Carlos Tavares told reporters after the world's No. 4 automaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results, sending its shares down as much as 10%. "We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money." The automaker now also considers China's Leapmotor as its 15th brand, after it agreed to a broad cooperation with the group. Stellantis does not release figures for individual brands, except for Maserati which reported an 82 million euro adjusted operating loss in the first half. Some analysts say Maserati could possibly be a target for a sale by Stellantis, while other brands such as Lancia or DS might be at risk of being scrapped given their marginal contribution to the group's overall sales. Stellantis' Milan-listed shares were down as much as 12.5% on Thursday, hitting their lowest since August 2023. That brings the loss for the year so far to 22%, making them the worst performer among the major European automakers. Few automotive brands have been killed off since General Motors ditched the unprofitable Saturn and Pontiac during a U.S. government-led bankruptcy in the global financial crisis in 2008. Tavares is under pressure to revive flagging margins and sales and cut inventory in the United States as Stellantis bets on the launch of 20 new models this year which it hopes will boost profitability. Recent poor results from global carmakers have heightened worries about a weakening outlook for sales across major markets such as the U.S., whilst they also juggle an expensive transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. Japan's Nissan Motor saw first-quarter profit almost completely wiped out on Thursday and slashed its annual outlook, as deep discounting in the United States shredded its margins. Tavares said he would be working through the summer with his U.S. team on how to improve performance and cut inventory.