Vehicles 136

• Kia U.K. saved a pre-production Soul EV prototype from being crushed, converting it into a concept for the Boardmasters 2021 surfing and music festival.
• The Soul EV gains a 3.0-inch lift, revised suspension, wider track, and chunky 265/75 R16 Maxxis Bighorn tires wrapped around 16-inch white steel wheels.
• The custom roof rack can carry two Tahe Bic Malibu surfboards, while the rear seat is replaced with a white-stained spruce deck for extra cargo room.

Automakers often destroy pre-production prototypes after they’ve reached the end of the development process, but Kia’s U.K. division recently saved a Kia Soul EV prototype that was destined for the crusher. After it avoided an untimely death, this Soul was transformed into this custom, lifted surf-mobile for Boardmasters 2021, a surfing and music festival on the Cornish Coast in England.

Based on the Soul EV, which is not sold in the U.S. and is the only Soul available in Europe, the Boardmasters Edition retains the production car’s powertrain, with a 64.0-kWh battery feeding a 201-horsepower electric motor powering the front wheels. While the powertrain is untouched, the Boardmasters Edition sits on new 16-inch white steel wheels shod in 265/75 R16 Maxxis Bighorn tires, which required redesigned wheel arches.

Along with off-road tires, the Boardmasters Edition gains a modified suspension with a 3.0-inch lift, as well as a 4.3-inch wider track at the front and 4.5-inch wider track at the rear. There is also steel roof rack that holds a pair of Tahe Bic Malibu surfboards and raises the Soul’s height to 76.8 inches, ten inches higher than a Kia Sorento. The rack includes a pair of LED spotlights and a solar panel to help recharge the battery pack while you’re out riding the waves. Kia acknowledged that these changes would negatively impact the Soul EV’s 280-mile range (on Europe’s WLTP testing cycle).

The special edition keeps the production-spec Neptune Blue paint but adds white stripes and Boardmasters logos. Inside, the Soul EV’s rear bench has been removed to enlarge the cargo capacity, and the trunk floor features white-stained spruce wood. The tailgate also includes a fold-out bench and a swing-out arm for drying wetsuits or towels. The Soul EV Boardmasters Edition will be on display throughout the festival from August 11 to 15.

• Acura is bringing the Type S badge to the NSX, and the 2022 NSX Type S will have an upgraded version of the twin-turbo hybrid V-6 powertrain.
• 2022 will be the final model year for the current-generation NSX, which has been on sale since 2017.
• Every 2022 NSX will be a Type S, and Acura will only build 350 in total, with 300 of those destined for the United States.

Acura recently revived the Type S badge for the 355-hp TLX Type S sport sedan and MDX Typ S crossover, and now the company has confirmed that the NSX supercar will also receive the Type S treatment. But there’s a sad caveat: the higher-performance NSX Type S will serve as a send-off for the hybrid sports car, with Acura announcing that 2022 will be the final model year for the current generation.

Every 2022 NSX will be a Type S, and Acura will be limiting production to 350 units in total, with 300 offered in the United States. Last year, Acura sold 128 examples of the NSX in the U.S., down from 238 the year before. This marks the first time a Type S–branded NSX will be sold in the U.S., as the original NSX Type S was for Japan only.

Acura says the NSX Type S will receive “an enhanced version” of the twin-turbocharged V-6 and the Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system. The current 3.5-liter gasoline engine mated to three electric motors is good for a combined 573 horsepower, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Type S crest 600 hp. We’re not sure whether that extra oomph would come from upgrades to the V-6, tweaks to the electric motors, or both.

The Type S could also feature a more aggressive suspension setup, different wheels and tires, larger brakes, and a louder exhaust. There also could be some minor styling changes, as the design has remained virtually unchanged since 2017. These teaser photos indicate it will offer some sort of matte paint and come with a unique wheel design. The 2022 Acura NSX Type S will be revealed on August 12, at which point customer orders for the limited production run will open.

The chip shortage, the pandemic, the weather, and your rheumatoid arthritis acting up—and everything is conspiring to drive up prices of used cars across America. According to a study by iSeeCars.com, the average used car price in June rose a whopping $7,583, or 32.7 percent compared to what it was last year. This comes after a 26.4-percent year-over-year increase in May and a 16.8-percent year-over-year increase in April. The Nissan Leaf had the highest percentage increase at 48.1, while the Mercedes G-Wagon had the highest dollar increase at $50,271.

It’s crazy!

This is an update of a study we ran in April, when the year-over-year price increase was 16.8 percent,” said iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer. “There were cars that had only minor price increases, or that didn’t increase at all. However, in June, even the smallest price increases are still significant and prove that buyers looking for used cars should wait if they have the option to do so. However, for buyers that don’t have the option of waiting, there are some models that weren’t as drastically impacted by price hikes.”

It’s just that those models not impacted by price hikes are not on this list. This list is for those cars most impacted. And almost all cars got a price increase due to demand.

So now is the time to sell, sell, sell anything you have parked in the garage, the driveway or under a tree in the backyard. Drag it to the curb, put a “For Sale” sign on it, and rake in the dinero.

Sports cars and pickup trucks—the cars people are more likely to want to buy—had the highest price increases, making them the best to sell. Small SUVs, hatchbacks and minivans—the vehicles people are more likely to have to buy—only saw minor price bumps.

Here are the 10 biggest increases by model year-over-year as of June 2021.

• Trevor Milton, who founded and then served as executive chairman at EV startup Nikola, was indicted Thursday morning by the U.S. Department of Justice on three counts of criminal fraud.
• Prosecutors allege that Milton made false and misleading statements to investors about the abilities and technology of the company’s products, allegedly cheating investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Nikola distanced itself from the indictment, which is only directed at Milton, and said that it is still aiming to start production of its Tre cab-over electric truck this year.

The founder and former executive chairman of electric truck startup Nikola, Trevor Milton, has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on three counts of criminal fraud for making false and misleading statements to investors. The charges, brought by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, follow a year of turmoil for Milton, who resigned from the company in September 2020.

A year ago, things were looking good for Nikola. The company was drumming up hype about its Badger pickup (pictured above), which was to be sold with electric and hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains, and was about to announce a partnership with General Motors, with GM engineering and assembling the Badger and taking a stake in Nikola. Soon after, however, a short seller called Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Nikola of fraud and specifically accusing Milton of lying about the technology and capabilities of Nikola’s vehicles. The fallout from the report saw Milton resign and GM back partly out of the deal, saying in November that it would only supply the fuel cells for the Badger.

According to the indictment, from November 2019 until his resignation in September 2020, Milton allegedly deceived investors into buying Nikola shares by making untruthful statements regarding the company’s products and underlying technology. Following the indictment, Nikola released a statement clarifying that “today’s government actions are against Mr. Milton individually, and not against the company” and that “Nikola has cooperated with the government throughout the course of its inquiry

Last November, Nikola confirmed that it had received grand jury subpoenas from the Department of Justice regarding the fraud allegations, and in February, after an external review by a law firm, the company admitted that both it and Milton had made partially or completely inaccurate statements. Prosecutors in the indictment claim these false statements caused individual investors in Nikola to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Milton had previously tweeted that he would stand up against “false allegations” before deleting his Twitter account in September of last year and vanishing from the public eye. In its statement, Nikola said it is “focused on delivering Nikola Tre battery-electric trucks later this year.” The Tre is a cab-over semi truck that Nikola claims will have a 753.0-kWh battery and 350 miles of range, with production to begin this year and a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain joining the lineup in 2023. Nikola’s stock prices dropped 10 percent in pre-market trading today following news of the indictment.

• McLaren revealed the 765LT Spider convertible, and it has a carbon fiber retractable hardtop that can be raised or lowered in 11 seconds.
• The 765LT Spider is powered by a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that produces 755 horsepower, and McLaren says it’ll do 60 mph in 2.7 seconds.
• Orders are open now starting at $388,000.

The McLaren 765LT, the stripped-down, track-focused Longtail counterpart to the 720S, is the third-fastest car at our annual Lightning Lap test with a time of 2:38.4 around Virginia International Raceway’s Grand Course. That’s not its only accomplishment at VIR. It also hit the fastest speed we’ve ever recorded—174.6 mph—on the front straight. Now there’s a Spider convertible model available to order, and like the coupe it’s limited to 765 units.

Its one-piece carbon retractable hardtop can be raised and lowered in 11 seconds (quicker than the 675LT Spider) can operate at speeds up to 31 mph. McLaren says it provides more headroom than the Coupe, even with the top up. The Spider also has a power rear window that can be lowered even when the roof is up like the 720S Spider (or the Toyota 4Runner), and you’ll have to pay extra for air conditioning or a sound system. The 765LT Spider is 108 pounds heavier than the coupe, McLaren says.

• The Fisker Ocean SUV will be revealed at the Los Angeles auto show in November, ahead of the start of production in 2022.
• The battery-electric SUV will start at $37,499, promising a range of 300 miles in addition to features like a solar roof.
• Fisker plans to open brand experience centers in a number of major cities in 2022, ahead of the start of production.

Henrik Fisker’s EV startup will bring a production version of the battery-electric Ocean SUV to the Los Angeles auto show this fall, following its first appearance at nearly two years ago at the CES technology show. Promised to come with a 300-mile range and a $37,499 starting price,prior to any incentives, the Ocean is slated to be produced by Austria’s Magna Steyr starting next fall, using Magna’s own EV architecture.

The SUV is due to enter production in the fourth quarter of 2022, a timeline from which Fisker has not backed away from since the deal with Magna was announced, with the Los Angeles auto show later this year serving as its big debut. Testing of production prototypes is set to start later this year, with the company stating that it has 17,300 paid reservations for the SUV so far in addition to 62,000 hand-raisers, as well as fleet orders from companies including Onto, Viggo, and Credit Agricole Consumer Finance.

“Our reservation and order process was designed from the outset to be transparent, to prioritize quality over quantity and to ensure our stakeholders have confidence in the commitment of our reservation holders,” said Fisker chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker. “As we get closer to launch, we will be working with our prospective owners to transition their reservations into contracted orders. We have many loyal supporters of the company waiting for their Ocean, and the reservation system is purposely designed to be fair to those who reserve with the intention to ultimately take delivery.”

FISKER

The company also plans to open six Fisker Brand Experience Centers. The first such locations will open their doors in early 2022 in Los Angeles and Munich, with the rest (likely New York, Copenhagen, Miami, and London) scheduled to open in the second half of 2022. The centers are expected to serve as analogues to various company-owned stores launched by a number of other automakers, an approach popularized by Tesla, where customers can experience the Fisker models, talk to vehicle experts, and place orders.