Summarize

It's been a touch quiet once again at the Auto News Desk, but it got a lot busier over the past day or two. 

Biggest news of the week was Gordon Murray’s new T50 supercar breaking cover. The 12100rpm 485kW 4-litre Cosworth V12-engined 'logical successor' to his 1992 McLaren F1 will see first deliveries early in 2022. Murray calls his ultra-light, mid-engined, all-carbonfibre three-seater ‘fan car’ that is also his 50th car design, “the purest, lightest, most driver-focused supercar ever built”…

Talking high tech, the most exciting aspect of the facelifted Mercedes E Class has to be its ‘electrified’ new FAME modular hybrid four-cylinder engines. The new 205kW 440Nm M254 petrol 350 and forthcoming 200kW 550Nm diesel have their 12kW 180Nm 8V hybrid starter generator now rather integrated to the 9G-Tronic gearbox for greater modularity.

Both new engines progress through four ‘boost' phases across their rev range, starting with the electric starter generator assisting the combustion engine, while its inbuilt electric compressor prepares the inlet charge ahead of the ‘conventional’ turbocharger, before an overboost takes over on top. All that eliminates lag and delivers the output and performance of a significantly larger capacity naturally aspirated engine…

Maserati is also on the power trail with its hardcore new 435kW 730Nm Trofeo triplets, all of which pack the the trident brand's new top-spec biturbo 3.8-litre V8 good for 326km/h. The Ghibli gets to 100km/h in a Maserati record 4.3 seconds, while the Quattroporte limos gets there in 4.5-seconds thanks to the new Corsa driving mode's launch control and the Levante SUV gets its first V8 in this full cream Trofeo spec…

Kia also this week showed its new Sonet off in the flesh as it confirmed the baby SUV comes with two 1.2-litre four-cylinder and a powerful turbo direct injection 1.0 T-GDi petrols and an efficient 1.5-litre CRDi diesel. It will be in SA later this year.

Closer to home, Isuzu has added a bargain 130kW 380Nm turbodiesel 3-litre 6-speed automatic double-cab to its bargain X-Rider range at just R515K. Looks like quite a bargain.

Looking ahead, those grainy images scoop the forthcoming 2021 Toyota GR 86. Styling will be an evolution of the existing 86, but there's a revolution under the skin around Toyota's New Global Architecture and a 40kW power hike too, as the Subaru-derived boxer four-pot grows to a 195kW turbo 2.4-litre driving the rear wheels of the now Gazoo-badged coupé that will once again clone with the Fuji brand's BRZ. Tasty!

And finally, a little history — that’s the world's oldest surviving Kombi — or 'Bulli' as some call it — which rolled off the VW production line in 1950 in the picture in front of the machine that pressed some of its panels, 70 years anon...