AUTONEWS

The Porsche 911 shooting brake is coming

While Porsche has dabbled with station wagons through efforts like the Panamera Sport Turismo and the Taycan Cross Turismo, the brand has been careful to keep its experimentation far afield of the hallowed 911.

It's as much a practical consideration as it is one for the nameplate's lineage. Because they're not rear-engined cars, the Panamera and the Taycan are both far better candidates for the body style.

Regardless, that's a hurdle the aftermarket is more than willing to overcome.

That's because an outfit by the name of Indecent Vehicles has announced it will be building a 911-based shooting brake. The company first took to social media to canvas feedback for the concept a little over a week ago.

Following an overwhelmingly glowing response, Indecent has confirmed that the design is headed for production. Per its latest Instagram update, we should be seeing the first of these shooting brakes some time early next year.

Now, Indecent openly concedes that the project is aiming for "spectacular looks" rather than any kind of added practicality, As the engine will remain at the rear, the transformation isn't about to yield an abundance of extra storage. In that sense, it's not a 'true' wagon or shooting brake.

Still, who can blame the buyer for wanting to turn this striking 911 creation into a reality? The extended sloped roofline, widebody arches and added spoilers all make for eye-catching additions to the enduring Porsche icon, and the result is a surprisingly harmonious conversion.

As indecent a Porsche 911 as any...Besides, this kind of dramatic reinterpretation is completely aligned with Indecent's brand. Across Porsche's 997 and 991 platforms, the multinational outfit has reworked the 911 in more ways than one.

Accordingly, it's well-versed in reimagining the icon, as its past efforts include everything from slammed widebody conversions and shockingly mammoth wings to high-riding safari builds and even modern slant nose revivals.

Moreover, each creation has delivered on the company's name by challenging Porsche tradition. Whether in power, bodywork modifications or even just color choice, they're a far cry from the cars that appeal to purists.

Towards that end, this build promises to be Indecent's most, well, indecent project yet. If in shock value alone, it's an effort that will push the envelope of tradition, not only for the 911 but also for the auto industry at large.

After all, because of the uniqueness of the roofline relative to its engine and rear hatch, Indecent is still unsure of what to call the thing.

According to Carscoops, the first 911 shooting brake will be based on a Porsche 911 Turbo, and the build will add $350,000 on top of the donor car. Indecent plans to reveal the finished conversion at the 2027 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

About the Author: Gray is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, motorcycles and anything else with wheels. When he's not chasing the latest industry news, he's probably wrenching on one of many projects. For better or worse, he believes classics make perfectly practical daily drivers.

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

AUTONEWS

EU to reduce VAT on EVs, implement stronger uptake targets, leaked electrification strategy shows

The EU’s electrification strategy, due to be published this week, commits the European Commission to presenting a framework for reducing VAT on EVs.

A leaked draft of the strategy, seen by EV Infrastructure News, includes measures to increase EV uptake. It will assess stronger zero emissions vehicle uptake targets for public procurement, with the Commission due to put forward a recommendation for fiscal and nonfiscal demand-side incentives for EV uptake by Q4 2026.

As part of the Green VAT initiative announced in the Clean Industrial Deal, which targeted 30% electrification by 2030, the Commission will present an EU framework for Member States to reduce VAT on electrification assets including EVs, heat pumps and domestic batteries.

The formal publication of the electrification strategy was announced for 15 July, though some reports now say it will be out on 17 July.

An overall electrification target of [X]% by 2040, which will become EU legislation, is not included in the leaked document seen by media, but it sets out the measures the European Commission (EC) will take to achieve its targets.

This will include removing five barriers to electrification:

Reducing the gap between electricity and fossil fuel costs by adding flexibility to reduce the costs of operating the system, making electricity cheaper and deploying more homegrown clean energy.

Lowering the upfront costs of electrification for end-users across the industrial sector, transport and buildings.

Increased access to infrastructure and enhancing the productivity of electricity grids through investment in transmission, EV charging networks, port infrastructure and district heating and cooling.

Accelerating innovation in electrification solutions, including emerging technologies such as small modular nuclear reactors (SMNRs), hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CC&S).

Growing and upskilling electrification technologies workforces and the European manufacturing and supply chain sectors.

Measures include deploying 200GW of energy storage by 2030 to meet energy system flexibility needs. The details of how the EC will achieve this are explored in an article available on our sister publication, Energy-Storage.news.

Clean Vehicles Directive strengthened in 2027...The Clean Vehicles Directive promotes clean mobility solutions in public procurement tenders across EU Member States. In August 2021, when it became law, the directive set a minimum percentage of clean vehicles in the aggregate public procurement across a Member State. Targets ranged between 17.6% and 38.5% for light-duty vehicles.

By Q4 2027, the Commission will review the Clean Vehicles Directive to assess possible further strengthening of the targets. Perhaps notably absent from the draft is the equivalent for consumer vehicles: in October last year, EU Member States agreed in principle to enshrine the 2035 phase out of all carbon emitting vehicles (including traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrid vehicles) into law.

In March, however, several EU countries threatened to block the ban unless an exemption that would allow sales of new cars with internal combustion engines that run only on e-fuels was included, an amendment that was passed but may not get through parliament successfully.

There have been rumours of the phase-out date being changed, but the electrification strategy just states that the number of battery EVs on European roads has increased sixfold since 2020, with over 8 million now registered.

European EV charging infrastructure...Any measures to increase EV uptake will drive charging infrastructure demand. The electrification strategy states that “multiple measures and support have been provided” for recharging infrastructure, seeing over 1.1 million public EV chargepoints now installed across the EU.

It continues that additional financial support is needed to “reassure” chargepoint operators (CPOs) and “convince consumers that electric mobility will rapidly become the most reliable and accessible form of transport, even in less densely populated areas”.

As such, the Commission commits to reviewing the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) this year, to further support charging rollout, including for electric heavy-duty vehicles (e-HDVs). It will update the common technical specifications used in the AFIR to ensure interoperability and that bi-directional charging capabilities are included.

For e-HDVs, the Commission will expand the e-HDVs Clean Transport Corridors initiative to other TEN-T corridors and facilitate financial support for the derisking of investment in e-HDV recharging stations.

It said it will work with Member States to identify remaining ways it can enable the deployment of e-HDVs and the infrastructure to support them, “including incentives for the demand for the vehicles and agree on joint action plans for the enabling framework for the transition under the 2030 CO2 targets for e-HDVs”.

V2G to reduce electricity costs...The Commission also commits to launching a framework for regulatory sandboxes and living labs across Member States to enable new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) business models, to increase the potential for consumer flexibility to address high electricity costs.

The draft document says that by mid-2027, the Commission will assess and promote the introduction of smart charging by default in electricity supply contracts related to EVs, introducing V2G requirements for new EVs by the end of the same year.

Those requirements would include technical specifications to enable interoperability, such as standardised communication protocols. Currently, it is a lack of standardisation across technology and legislation that presents a barrier to wider deployment of V2G.

https://www.evinfrastructurenews.com/

AUTONEWS

Electric Ford Super Mustang Mach-E is the fastest at Goodwood

The fastest car in the hill climb at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​was a very special Ford Mustang Mach-E.

The model, called the Super Mustang Mach-E, was first introduced last year and was originally developed for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Just three weeks ago, Romain Dumas won the "race to the clouds" with a time of 8:18.202.

During Sunday's Shoot-Out Final, Dumas drove the Super Mustang Mach-E again and finished on top again. The Frenchman set a best time of 41.98 seconds, recording his third consecutive victory at Goodwood and fifth overall.

It began with the pre-war monsters, Duncan Pittaway in his 28.4-litre Fiat 76 ‘Beast of Turin’ set a benchmark of 80.08 seconds for the rest of the field to chase. It didn’t take long for Archie Collings in his Mercedes 120hp to best him by just eight thousandths of a second, and from there the times kept on tumbling. 

From pre-war to the present day, the Production Road Car class saw the very latest creations from Bentley, Ferrari, TWR and Gunther Werks, showcasing the capabilities of modern technology to bring the times down into the 50s. 

British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill looked lively in the Nissan 300ZX Turbo to break into the 40s with a 48.48 before Johnny Cecotto suffered an unfortunate incident into Molecomb which brought proceedings to a halt as his stricken BMW M3 DTM E92 was extricated by the straw bales. 

George Krass in the V8 Chevrolet Corvette C5.R got things back underway with a tricky run on an incredibly dusty course, and he was followed by the similarly potent Ford Mustang GTS-1.

Dumas' special Mustang was also faster than the fourth-generation (Gen4) Formula E car driven by Daniel Ticktum on the short hill course, with a time of 42.46 seconds.

There were many other impressive cars in the Shoot-Out finale, but none could match the electric vehicles. Third place went to Alex Summers in a 1974 Shadow-Chevrolet DN4 Can-Am sports prototype with a time of 46.31 seconds, just 0.01 seconds faster than Johan Kristoffersson in a Volkswagen Polo RallyCross.

Perhaps the biggest crowd favorite was Travis Pastrana in his special Subaru Brataroo 9500 Turbo, who finished in 46.77 seconds.

AUTONEWS

Self-driving cars: near-miss driving data can expedite AV algorithm training

The safety performance of autonomous vehicle (AV) algorithms is boosted 90% using simulation data that better incorporates near-miss incidents with outright failures, according to new research led by University of Michigan Engineering.

The finding could help accelerate testing and data gathering to prove AV technology is safe, boost public confidence in the vehicles and move the auto industry along the long-promised path toward Level 4 and Level 5 automation. The work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and published earlier this year in Nature Communications.

The promise of self-driving cars is that they could greatly reduce the roughly 40,000 deaths by vehicle that occur annually in the United States. But despite historic investments of more than $160 billion in AV technology, the public’s acceptance of driverless vehicles has remained stubbornly low. Safety concerns lie at the heart of this reluctance.

The algorithms responsible for safety, which control the movement of AVs, need to be “trained” to safely operate vehicles in all kinds of traffic situations. That training comes in the form of data collected from real-world AV testing, computer simulations and combinations of the two. 

Once trained, AV control algorithms are tested to determine where the problems lie. Then it’s back to training the algorithm to address those problems.

“With AI, we have something called the seesaw problem—you find a problem, and then you run simulation variations to train to solve the problem,” said Henry Liu, director of both Mcity and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). “Then, unfortunately, sometime after the training, another unanticipated side of the same problem arises, or even completely new problems that have never appeared before.”

In this situation, programmers have two options: design an entirely new neural network architecture or change the training data. Since the first option is time- and cost-prohibitive, the instinct is to load up on crash data to train the network what not to do. But focusing on crash data excludes incidents that are at least as valuable.

“What we’ve learned is that the training is more effective when you’re utilizing data from both crashes and near misses,” Liu said. “They are both safety-critical scenarios, and a near miss means the vehicle was able to maneuver through a situation successfully without a crash.

“In simulated testing, near misses occur a thousand times more often than crashes. Bundling failures and near misses improves overall performance dramatically.”

The team tested their approach in the Mcity Test Facility, achieving 90% improvement in the vehicle’s safety performance.

The study builds on previous work by U-M researchers, which helped address the “curse of rarity” in AV testing—the fact that safety-critical events like crashes and near misses are statistically rare. On-road testing would require hundreds of millions or billions of miles to gather enough information from real crashes and near misses to be useful. U-M’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to train AVs helped reduce testing miles required by 99.9%.

The research was funded by the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation at U-M and the National Science Foundation.

University of Michigan Engineering

AUTONEWS

Turning fly ash waste into greener tire rubber

Tires are essential to modern transport, but their production and use raise environmental concerns. One important issue is zinc oxide, a common activator used in rubber vulcanization. Zinc oxide helps rubber form the crosslinked network that gives tires their strength, elasticity and durability. However, zinc can be released into the environment during manufacturing, recycling and tire wear, where it may affect aquatic ecosystems.

An international collaborative team from Kasetsart University in Thailand and Newcastle University in Singapore investigated whether fly ash, an industrial waste from coal-fired power plants, could partially replace zinc oxide in tire tread rubber. The research is published in the journal Waste Management.

Fly ash contains several metal oxides, including calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide and iron oxide. These compounds can help activate the vulcanization process in rubber, suggesting that fly ash could do more than act as an inert filler. It could also help reduce reliance on zinc oxide.

Testing fly ash in tread rubber...The researchers prepared tire tread rubber compounds with different zinc oxide-to-fly ash ratios: 3:0 as the control, followed by 2:1, 1:2, 0:3 and 0:5 parts per hundred rubber. They then tested curing behavior, crosslink density, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical properties, abrasion resistance, zinc release in water and environmental impact using gate-to-gate life cycle assessment.

The results showed that fly ash could support rubber vulcanization even when zinc oxide was reduced. The 2:1 and 1:2 zinc oxide-to-fly ash formulations showed crosslinking behavior comparable to the conventional zinc oxide control. This means zinc oxide could be reduced by around one-third or two-thirds while maintaining effective vulcanization.

Mechanical performance was also largely preserved. The 2:1 and 1:2 formulations showed tensile strength, modulus and crosslink density comparable to the control rubber. Their dynamic mechanical behavior was also similar, suggesting that important tire-related indicators, including road grip and rolling resistance, were not significantly compromised.

                         Graphical abstract. Credit: Waste Management (2025)

Lower zinc release, mixed trade-offs...The environmental benefit was clear in zinc release tests. After three months in water, the 1:2 zinc oxide-to-fly ash formulation reduced zinc release by 63% compared with the control. This is important because zinc leakage from tire materials can contribute to aquatic ecotoxicity.

Life cycle assessment also showed that replacing zinc oxide with fly ash reduced freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity and global warming potential. The lowest environmental impacts were observed when zinc oxide was fully replaced at the 0:3 ratio. However, the study also showed that higher fly ash loading can affect material performance, so partial replacement appears to offer the best balance between rubber properties and environmental benefit.

A circular use for fly ash...The work points to a practical circular economy route for tire materials. Instead of treating fly ash only as a waste stream, it can be repurposed as a functional ingredient in rubber compounds. At the same time, tire manufacturers could reduce zinc oxide use, lower zinc release and improve the environmental profile of tire tread formulations.

The findings are relevant to tire manufacturers, rubber compounders, waste management companies and sustainability teams seeking lower-impact materials for transport applications. They also highlight opportunities for countries with both rubber industries and fly ash waste streams to develop more circular industrial supply chains.

Provided by Newcastle University in Singapore

AUTONEWS

Ford Ranger Super Duty vs. Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series

The Ford Ranger Super Duty outperforms the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series in payload, towing capacity, and technology, while the Toyota model upholds its historic reputation for mechanical simplicity and extreme off-road ruggedness. The Ranger Super Duty was developed specifically as a factory-built "workhorse" to challenge the 70 Series' dominance in the heavy-duty pickup and industrial fleet markets.

The Ranger Super Duty utilizes a robust platform modified from the standard Ranger, focusing on maximum work capability. The LandCruiser 70 Series (especially the LC79 single- and double-cab versions) sticks to its classic formula, updated with automatic transmissions and more modern engines.

Ford Ranger Super Duty: It truly stands out in this regard. Its reinforced chassis rails and heavy-duty front and rear axles allow it to carry nearly two tons in the bed/on the chassis and tow 4.5 tons straight from the factory, without the need for aftermarket suspension modifications (GVM upgrades).

Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series: Despite having been the go-to vehicle for mining and farming for decades, it lags significantly behind in factory-rated figures, requiring third-party suspension kits if the user needs to haul or tow at the same level as the Ford.

The Ford is vastly more modern. It features a 12-inch infotainment system with Ford SYNC4, wireless smartphone mirroring, a digital instrument cluster, adaptive cruise control, and 360° cameras that are ideal for maneuvering with trailers.

: In the double-cab configuration, the Ranger offers far more rear-seat legroom and headroom, along with dedicated A/C vents and a 400W power inverter. The 70 Series retains a Spartan interior, featuring a rustic hard-plastic finish and dated ergonomics.

MOTO GP

Sachsenring: Marc Márquez extends his dominance

Ducati’s Marc Márquez led from start to finish to win the German MotoGP GP, with Trackhouse Aprilia duo Ai Ogura and Raúl Fernandez rounding out the Sachsenring podium. Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) finished 11th after an impressive charge through the field.

Sunday brought sunny skies and a dry track for the German GP, ​​with an ambient temperature of 26°C and an asphalt temperature of 39°C at Sachsenring. Winds were blowing at 4 km/h, while relative humidity hovered around 45%.

Fermín Aldeguer, Johann Zarco, and Marco Bezzecchi were absent from the race. The Gresini rider had fractured a vertebra during practice for the Dutch GP and was not replaced by the team; meanwhile, Zarco continued recovering from injuries sustained in a severe crash at the Catalan GP, ​​with Cal Crutchlow remaining as his substitute at LCR. Bezzecchi, having fractured his left collarbone during qualifying, was forced to withdraw from the round.

All riders opted for hard front tires and medium rear tires for the 30-lap German GP. In the first start featuring the new, more spaced-out grid configuration introduced by the series, Marc Márquez got away well and held the lead, followed by Álex Márquez, while Ai Ogura gained two positions to move into third place.

Moreira also made a strong start, jumping from 18th to 14th; he entered the points-scoring positions and demonstrated the strength of his RC213V during the opening laps of the Sachsenring race.

Marc Márquez remained in the lead but was unable to pull out a significant gap during the early laps. The margin to his brother was just 0.3 seconds, while the Trackhouse pair kept pace with the Ducatis, with Fernández now in third and Ogura in fourth.

The race's first crash occurred on the fourth lap. Di Giannantonio lost control of his bike at Turn 10 and ended up in the gravel, paving the way for Acosta to take fifth place on the KTM in Germany.

Shortly after, Joan Mir suffered another crash on his Honda. Having already signed with Gresini for 2027, the Spaniard lost the front end at Turn 13, adding another accident to his tally with the Japanese manufacturer.

A few minutes later, Álex Márquez crashed at the same spot and also retired from the German GP, ​​leaving second place open for Fernández. From lap 11 onwards, Marc Márquez managed a 1.3-second gap over Fernández to secure the victory at the Sachsenring.

Moreira benefited from the crashes and climbed to 11th place, securing a strong position to score points while working to close the gap to Brad Binder and aim for a top-10 finish in the German race.

From the 20th lap, Marc Márquez opened up a 2.1-second lead over Fernández and cruised toward victory, but the battle for second place heated up. Ogura maintained a strong pace in the second half of the race, caught up to his teammate, and secured a Trackhouse one-two finish on the podium.

Acosta also pulled away from the mid-pack and secured fourth place for KTM, while Martín rounded out the top five.

At the start, Marc Márquez held the lead with Álex Márquez right behind, while Ai Ogura moved up to third. Moreira, who started 17th, climbed to 16th during the opening laps.

On lap 4, VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio crashed at Turn 10, triggering a yellow flag in the sector and ruining his chances of holding onto second place in the championship. Meanwhile, Raúl Fernández overtook his teammate Ogura to take third place, and Moreira moved up to 13th. At the front, the gap between the top three was less than half a second.

On lap 8, Honda's Joan Mir crashed at the tricky Turn 13, triggering a yellow flag in that sector. Two laps later, Turn 13 claimed another victim—Álex Márquez, who had been running in second place—causing another yellow flag. Thanks to these crashes, Moreira moved up to 11th.

By lap 13, Márquez was extending his lead over Fernández to 1.4 seconds; Fernández remained under pressure from his teammate Ogura and from Pedro Acosta, who was further back. In the battle between Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín, the Aprilia rider held his ground and stayed in fifth place through the halfway point of the race.

On the 19th lap, Márquez continued to pull away at the front, holding a lead of over two seconds over Fernández, who was still being challenged by Ogura.

Two laps later, Bastianini overtook Moreira—dropping him to 12th—while Ogura closed to within three-tenths of a second of his Trackhouse teammate. Shortly after, LCR's Cal Crutchlow crashed at Turn 3, causing another yellow flag.

On lap 25, Ogura finally managed to attack and overtake Fernández, taking over second place in both the race and the riders' championship. A lap later, Bagnaia managed to pass Martín, but the Spaniard immediately fought back to reclaim fifth place.

Despite constant pressure from Álex, Marc capitalized on the narrowness of the track section where Álex was closest, gaining an advantage in the final sector—usually the best spot for overtaking—all while Di Giannantonio lurked nearby. Ogura fell decisively behind.

Capping off a masterclass in sprint race management, Marc Márquez claimed his fourth Sprint victory of the season, with Álex Márquez returning to the Saturday podium for the first time since his injury in Catalonia, and Fabio Di Giannantonio completing a Ducati 1-2-3.

Ai Ogura crossed the finish line completely alone, while Raúl Fernández held firm in fifth place against Jorge Martín. Pecco Bagnaia finished seventh after pulling away from Pedro Acosta, and Fabio Quartararo secured the final point up for grabs.

by Autonews