5 Rides on Our Radar: See This Year’s Best Auto News

2024 has been a banner year for automobiles of all stripes. Porsche builds the 911 Speedster that never was, BMW delivers the M5 Touring (after 40 years), and a storied Canadian firm launches avant-garde electric motorcycles. Discover the details behind the top auto news stories below.

Maybach on Maybach

Maybach heard you like Maybach, and they’re putting the most amount of Maybach ever into their first two-seat convertible. We’re talking Maybach crest logos all over the fabric roof, on the door handles, the front grille, the trunk lid, on the seats, behind the seats, and even painted all over the hood. (The latter involves printing the Maybach pattern onto the hood after it’s been painted and hand-sanded, and then hitting it with two matte clear coats — and another hand-sanding.) Powering all that gleaming paint is a 4.0-litre biturbo V8 good for 577 horsepower. Grand tourers don’t get much grander.

Dream Factory

Luca Trazzi, an architect and industrial designer born in Verona in 1962, had a special wish. He wished for the missing 911 Speedster, a Speedster based on the 993-generation 911, a car that Porsche never actually put into production. Luckily for Trazzi, Porsche’s Sonderwunsch division exists to turn wishes into reality. (Sonderwunsch literally translates as “special wishes.”) “As a young boy, I fell head over heels in love with the puristic Porsche Speedster […] Ever since, I’ve managed to live my passion, or more precisely, my Speedster-mania, ” Trazzi said. It took Porsche’s team more than three years to create this one-off Speedster based on a 1994 911 Carrera Cabrio (Type 993), but we’d say (and Trazzi would surely agree) it was worth the wait.

Waiting Game

It’s been 40 years since BMW introduced the genre-defining M5 sports sedan, which means it’s also been 40 years since a small but vocal group of diehard (and deep-pocketed) enthusiasts have been pining for an M5 station wagon. It would be the ultimate high-power family hauler, one car to rule them all. Well, it’s finally here. The all-new 2025 BMW M5 Touring — all 2,508 kilograms of it — will be coming to Canada. M Division has, as you’d expect, completely overhauled the brakes, chassis, and electronics to cope with 717 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque from a monstrous plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain. That’s right, it’s a plug-in, yet another first for the M5. No doubt, this brute is going to haul groceries and haul…well, you get the idea.

Kicking It

Our favourite little budget SUV just got a glow-up, and it’s not so little anymore. All-new for 2025, the Nissan Kicks is bigger, roomier, and now available with all-wheel drive. It’s filled with surprising luxuries too, like a panoramic glass moonroof, two 12.3-inch widescreen displays, advanced ProPilot driver assistance, and Bose speakers cleverly hidden in the headrests.

On the Pulse

Decades after the discontinuation of their motorcycle division, Canadian firm Can-Am is reviving the business with a pair of futuristic all-electric motorcycles, the Pulse and Origin. One is a city commuter, and the other is an all-terrain warrior which hops from pavement to dirt with ease. Can-Am built the two bikes around a shared battery and motor unit, capable of 47 horsepower and a combined range of 115 to 130 kilometres. Pre-orders are underway for deliveries in early 2025, and the SHARP team will be doing some first-hand testing before the end of the year.

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