Integra Type S price revealed, the Vanquish Aston should have made, Wrangler 4xe recalled

To nobody’s surprise, the Integra Type S costs more than $50K

Intake: Pricing is out for Acura’s hotly anticipated Integra Type S. The high-performance front-wheel-drive sports car will ring the register for $51,995, just a hair shy of $20,000 more than a base Integra. For that money, you’ll get a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for 320 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque, a six-speed manual transmission, and four-piston Brembo front disc brakes. Other performance hardware includes adaptive suspension and lightweight wheels with wider Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires. The Integra Type S is the fourth Type S model launched by Acura in the past two years, joining the MDX Type S SUV, the TLX Type S sport sedan, and the NSX Type S supercar. Order books will open next week, on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Exhaust: A $20,100 gap between the Type S and the base Integra is no small sum, but it’s probably better to compare the Type S to the Honda Civic Type R with which the Acura shares its mechanicals. That $8000 delta for a nicer interior, a better sound system, and the 5 additional ponies seems just about right. What’s more, that’s roughly the same pricing gap as the one between the Honda Civic Si and the Acura Integra A-Spec. Viewed in that context, the Integra Type S seems rather fairly priced.  — Nathan Petroelje

Ian Callum crafts the consummate Vanquish

Intake: British designer Ian Callum isn’t done with the Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish just yet. Callum has always viewed his 2001 supercar as incomplete, telling Hagerty.com, “I think more assertiveness was needed for the car to bring it up to scratch.” That led him to develop the limited-run Callum Vanquish 25 resto-mod, but even that doesn’t appear to be enough, for he’s now taken the car further still. Callum has just revealed a proposal for a Vanquish Shooting Brake and it might just be the most sublime take on Aston’s Noughties coupe ever. The render sees the Vanquish re-imagined with a longer roofline, wide rear flanks, and just the hint of a ducktail spoiler. Glorious isn’t it?

Exhaust: “Another twist on our Vanquish VC25,” is all that Callum said as he teased the car. Will he build it? We can but hope. — Nik Berg

New York battling car theft with free Apple AirTags

Intake: New York City is adding a new weapon to its car theft battle: Apple AirTags. At least some residents are eligible to receive the free Bluetooth-powered tracking devices to combat a spike in car thefts in the five boroughs, Mayor Eric Adams announced. According to CBS News, the city will hand out 500 AirTags for free, donated by the Association for a Better New York, to residents, including in the Bronx where car thefts rose 19.4 percent from this time last year. Citywide, the number of stolen vehicles is up 11.4 percent.

Exhaust: “It allows our officers to be more strategic while mitigating pursuits, keeping us safe and keeping the community safe,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said. “Hopefully we recover your car undamaged, we take a bad guy off the streets, and you get a car back to conduct your business and it doesn’t impose on your life.” Car owners can hide the AirTags in places like the car’s glove compartment or trunk. If a user’s vehicle is stolen, they can locate it in an app that tracks the user’s car in real time using a Bluetooth signal, and alert the police.  — Steven Cole Smith

Supply chain issues hit Ford’s F-150

Intake: Ford has been hit with another supply chain issue, says Reuters, and this time the culprit is door handles. The company is parking some new F-150s until the door handle issue is solved. “The automaker is working to resolve the issue,” a source said on Wednesday, “adding that some vehicles have been parked until the proper handle can be installed while some shipments are being held.” “While a supplier part shortage is affecting some of our North American plants, we expect to make up all of the production that is impacted,” the automaker told Reuters.

Exhaust: Ford temporarily halted production at three plants over the weekend where it makes both gasoline and electric versions of the F-150 pickup truck, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. “The automaker is building trucks with temporary door handles and then parking them until correct ones are available,” the Journal said. Production has since resumed at the facilities, but now workers are building some trucks with substitute handles, including ones that are the wrong color or don’t have the proper keyholes, until the proper parts are available. — SCS

Meanwhile, Ford is cutting prices on the Mustang Mach-E

Intake: In response to Tesla’s price cuts on its products, Ford is trimming prices for the second time this year on its Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle. Ford’s price cuts for the Mach-E average $3000 to $4000 for most models, or about 6 percent. That puts the Mach-E’s sticker price at between $43,000 and $60,000.  Ford also said it would increase production of the Mach-E in the second half of this year and has re-opened the order books.

Exhaust: The price change is due in part to a switch from nickel cobalt manganese battery cells to lithium iron phosphate cells for the standard range battery pack, which cost less to produce and charges up quicker. Power and range have also been improved. Tesla’s Elon Musk has been very aggressive in cutting prices at least a half-dozen times this year as the battle for electric vehicles intensifies. Musk is trading price for volume, and the effect on stock prices has been varied. — SCS

Jeep recalling some Wranglers for battery issue

Intake: Jeep is recalling about 2500 of its popular 2022–23 Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid for a potential battery issue. The Wranglers may have incorrect fuse fasteners in the high-voltage battery that could cause the fuse to fail, resulting in an abrupt power loss. The part was manufactured by Samsung, NHTSA says. Possible warning signs may include a malfunctioning indicator lamp, changes in the Jeep’s drivability, or a peculiar noise.

Exhaust: This comes on the heels of a Stellantis recall of nearly 46,000 Jeep and Ram vehicles with a 3.0-liter diesel engine because their high-pressure fuel pumps may fail, which can result in a stalling engine, increasing the risk of a crash. — SCS

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