Author: Jim Resnick

Telsa Model Ss in the company's European production center in Tilburg, Netherlands. (credit: Getty Images | Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg)

Wake turbulence can ruin your day. Large aircraft deposit a strong ground-bound vortex that can cause huge altitude losses for other aircraft following them.

In the jet wash of a gob-smacking 325,000 pre-orders—at $1,000 each—for the upcoming Model 3 in just one week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had bad news for his investors on Thursday. He told them the July 1, 2017 start date for production "is not a date that will actually be met." While this would be the fourth production delay for the Model 3 since the concept was first floated several years ago, the news doesn't stop there. New, more aggressive production goals have been set, even though Tesla is losing primary executive staff responsible for achieving them. The financial performance of the company has also worsened.

Tesla is already struggling to meet production deadlines for its current Model S and Model X units.
Quality glitches with the Model X's "falcon wings" and seat latches have led not just to production delays, but apprehension about the X's positive initial reception. Tesla is actually suing its supplier for the doors.

Jim Resnick

With 707hp under the hood, there aren't many cars as powerful as the Dodge Hellcat.

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Henry Kissinger once famously said "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." This may have been Kissinger's most lucid moment. The statement is certainly a glass full of lucidity in the face of combustion run amok under the $62,495 Dodge Challenger Hellcat's hood.

One could easily get hung up on statistics here. Peak horsepower of 707 (527kW). Peak torque of 650 lb-ft (881Nm). A supercharger that, by itself, displaces greater swept volume (2.4L) than most of the world's automotive engines. And 110bar—nearly 1,600psi—of combustion pressure in each cylinder all paint a picture not so much of internal combustion, but of internal warfare.

It all started with a rather innocuous conversation between then-head of Chrysler's Street and Racing Technology division, Ralph Gilles, and Hellcat Chief Engineer Chris Cowland.

(credit: Jim Resnick)

How do you change a standard-bearer? Like or not, Toyota's Prius was the first poster car for environmentalists, anti-establishment types, and the Hollywood beautiful. But even Earth-saving cars must be seen and the redesigned Prius—influenced by Toyota’s nearly-$60,000 Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car (California market only)—beats the ugly drum with vigor. Later in life, Galileo went blind but even he would have recoiled at the new Prius. Beneath the skin, however, the redesigned Prius uses handsome, energy-stingy engineering.

The new design's slashes and gashes hide the car's Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform, which actually lowers the car, provides additional high-strength steel, and nets 60-percent increased torsional rigidity. Both the headlights and tail lights are now LEDs and the hood descends lower at the leading edge than before. More importantly, the car's hybrid battery is relocated from under the trunk to below the rear seat. Combined with a new double-wishbone rear suspension, this allows marginally more trunk space, up from 22 to 25 cubic feet (623L to 707L). You simply cannot fool air, though, and the new Prius cuts through it with a slightly improved drag coefficient of 0.24, where the outgoing model posted a Cd of 0.25.

Helping it reach that low-drag figure are grille shutters that close when radiator airflow isn't needed. The shutters also stay closed on cold starts to help the internal combustion engine reach optimal operating temperature faster. Other aero trickery includes fins mounted on the under trays, spats aside the gas tank that keep airflow smooth, and tail lamps that channel air.