2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Sport Utility 4-door, No Reserve on 2040-cars

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Mercedes may be working on a new electric car dubbed 'Ecoluxe'

Automobile has a lengthy piece this month on how the four German mass-market luxury manufacturers each plan to go after Tesla with their own electric vehicles. It was written by Georg Kacher, the magazine's European bureau chief, and the English version came a month after he wrote the German-language original for Autobild. Tesla isn't exactly a threat to the Germans, but, according to the report, the Model S is planting the right kinds of seeds in niches that are important to the luxury players. The thinking is that - in addition to needed electric vehicles anyway for stricter US regulations - it's better to start designing the machinery now. The article posited Porsche's attack would rest on the coming Panamera platform, but a big hurdle would be battery placement. Unable to find one large space for a lithium-ion pack, engineers would instead put batteries everywhere they could, for a supposed tally of some "108 battery pouches" throughout the body. A few days after the Automobile piece, however, Porsche publicly said it had no intention of challenging the Model S, because the enthusiastic driving the brand is known for doesn't jive with useful range. In Kacher's retelling, Mercedes' plans are even more ambitious, supposedly taking aim at the Model S and the coming Model X. It would do this with an investment in excess of $2 billion in a program called "Ecoluxe" – Mercedes has no brand division akin to BMW's i and Audi's e-tron. The new brand would create a four-strong family of bespoke electric vehicles: a smaller platform with a wheelbase around 106 inches and a larger one with a wheelbase around 118 inches. In addition, the range would have "provisions for rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and rear-wheel steering." The numbers are impressive: seating for seven in the larger vehicles, both longer than 16 feet, front and rear storage areas, ratings of up to 610 horsepower and production capacity of 80,000 units per year. When would we see such creatures? Perhaps as soon as 2019. We do know that if Tesla can knock the Model X over the outfield fence, automakers are going to have to do something. We don't know what the chances are that Ecoluxe is Mercedes' first move - but such a plan could help explain the weird Mercedes concept spied in October.

Driving the Chevy C8 Corvette Convertible, Polestar 1 and Porsche 718 Cayman T | Autoblog Podcast #649

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. Lately, they've been driving some pretty great cars, and one OK car. John's had the Chevy C8 Corvette Convertible and Polestar 1. Greg's been enjoying the Porsche 718 Cayman T. Jeremy's been testing the Buick Encore GX. After a long day of driving and writing, our editors like to enjoy a cold beer, and share some of their favorites for the fall. They also get an update from a listener about a winning recipe and a new plug-in hybrid purchase. Autoblog Podcast #649 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman T 2020 Polestar 1 2020 Buick Encore GX Fall beer fun (For those interested: Shakshuka recipe) Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Porsche 911 RSR stops just long enough to have its photo taken

When it comes to Porsche and its rapidly escalating endurance racing program, all eyes may be on the new 919 Hybrid - and with good reason: that's the vehicle with which Porsche will be challenging the likes of Audi and Toyota for wins in the top-tier LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and at Le Mans. But it's the 911 RSR that does and will continue to form the backbone of the factory's effort.
The 470-horsepower racing version of the road-going 911 took a one-two finish in its class at Le Mans last year, and also won its class at the Daytona 24 this past January as well. This year Porsche will field two of them in the WEC, another two in the United SportsCar Championship here in the US and will sell countless more to customer racing teams that will undoubtedly continue to rack up trophies in racing series around the world. This, then, might be a unique chance to see one standing still. Check it out in our gallery of live images above from the Geneva Motor Show.