News Roundup: National EV noise rules, a hypercar that runs on plastic waste, and more

Article content

Welcome to our roundup of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.

Article content

Here’s what you missed while you were away. 

EVs and hybrids must make noise at low speed, government mandate

The Canadian government is making some noise in the electric vehicle sector with a new mandate ordering automakers to equip all hybrids and EVs with audible engine sounds to help inform pedestrians and cyclists of vehicle movement. Effective immediately, the rule change impacts basically all consumer vehicles including cars, SUVs, trucks, buses, and low-speed vehicles under 4,537 kg, most of which already feature noise-making devices that comply with existing U.S. and international regulations.

Automakers will be left to choose their own vehicle ‘sound’ in Canada, but it must be in a continuous tone, and it must rise and fall in volume and pitch to signal acceleration and deceleration. It must also be at least about as loud as the noise from a standard gas engine. Between 2013 and 2017, an estimated 19 fatalities and 991 injuries were caused by collisions between hybrids and pedestrians, and three fatalities and 523 injuries with cyclists, according to the Ministry of Transport. 

Article content

Newfoundland man drives home in rented car after canceled flight from Toronto

Thousands of travelers spent unplanned hours in airports recently as wild winter weather and holiday traffic caused extreme delays and cancellations. But one man from Newfoundland wasn’t about to let a little snow and wind ruin his holiday plans. When the flight provider cancelled his trip, David Bradbury rented a Toyota Corolla from a booth at Pearson International Airport and drove the 3,000 km to his home, reported to be in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland. This includes a seven-hour ferry ride from Cape Breton to the island province.  

As impressive as this may sound to us “mainlanders,” Newfoundland-born writer Matthew Guy points out, “most Newfoundlanders are used to quickly adapting their plans (sometimes in creative ways), thanks to weather or fuel shortages or the simple lack of service which comes part and parcel with living on a barren rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Article content

The Bertone GB110 is a 1,100-hp hypercar powered by plastic waste

Italian coachbuilder Bertone has announced its plans to level up and become a full-blown automaker with a hypercar called the GB110, so named in honour of the Gruppo Bertone’s 110th anniversary. Not a lot has been revealed about the car or the company’s plans to make it, but Bertone so far says it intends to build just 33 of the limited-edition cars, each fitted with a mid-mounted powerplant that will make 1,100 hp and 811 lb-ft of torque. Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h is predicted to take just 2.79 seconds, to 200 km/h just 6.79 seconds, and to 300 km/h in 14 seconds before eventually topping out at 380 km/h.  

Notably, that combustion engine will be designed to run on plastic waste, thanks to a partnership between Bertone and renewable fuel company Select Fuel. Where that fuel will come is another unknown at this point. 

Article content

“The GB110 is an amazingly powerful car, but at the same time, it’s designed for everyday use,” said Jean-Franck Ricci, CEO of Bertone, in the GB110 reveal video (click here to watch the video). “It’s built with ergonomics and comfort as a high priority.”

2024 Mercedes-Benz G-Class spied with mild style update

The G-Class has been resting on its laurels from a design perspective essentially since it was created back in 1979. It’s a profile that Mercedes doesn’t think is broken and is therefore not fixing. And based on some recent spy shots, that continues to be A-OK by us! 

The 2024 Mercedes-Benz G-Class was spotted out in a camouflage suit in Stuttgart, Germany recently, looking a lot like it used to, and still does. There appear to be mild revisions to the bumpers front and rear, and perhaps some adjustments to the tail lights. Inside, we expect to find the latest MBUX infotainment system and maybe a bigger screen fronting a new centre console. 

Article content

Subtle changes, yes, but remember, this is a nameplate whose first generation lasted from the late ’70s until 2017. 

The Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato is a potato salad of a car

Alfa Romeo is marking 100 years of collaboration with Milan design house Zagato through the production of a one-off Giulia. The GTAm-based SWB Zagato touring coupe features carbon fibre bodywork, a six-speed manual transmission, a Ferrari-sourced 2.9L twin-turbo V6 making 533 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque. But all this doesn’t save it, according to reviewer Elle Alder, from being a flat, cold, “potato salad” of a car. 

Alder takes issue with the car’s attempt to mash design inspiration together like so much boiled egg and mayonnaise; a low-slung nose, a double-bubble roof, a 1960s TZ-inspired Kamm tail. Is this a recipe, or were these ingredients picked out of a hat? 

“Shortening a Giulia GTAm into the Giulia SWB Zagato is an ambitious concept, but its final form disappoints,” writes Alder. “Lumpy and contorted and overstyled as it is, this starchy extrusion seems an anniversary celebration better quietly forgotten.”