Million Air Summer 2021

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etr li at ve eler SUMMER 2021

RIVIAN R1T Pickup trucks sit at the very heart of American car culture. Last year, five of the industry’s top 10 best-selling vehicles were pickups. Although rugged, powerful, pragmatic in design and beloved, the sector largely lacks luxury, fuel efficiency and modernization. Backed by Amazon and Ford, the all-electric Rivian R1T pickup truck can negotiate up to three feet of water, boasts 800 hp and a 0-60 mph in three seconds flat. In other words, it’ll fit right in while also having the ability to thrust the last remaining automobile segment into the future. With a range of 300 to 400 miles, depending on the model selected, R1T is set for a summer launch; the accompanying 10,000 public charging stations to be erected across America and Canada will arrive by the end of 2023. The R1T’s towing capacity will tap out at an impressive 11,000 lbs and, according to the company, use the same amount of charge as a combustion engine would gas. A gear tunnel runs through the middle of the truck, and available accessories include a four-gallon water tank, induction cooktop, 30-piece Snow Peak cookware set and EV-specific, off-road tires developed in concert with Pirelli. Hand-built in Illinois, R1T launch edition from $75,000, rivian.com Agreement, which is largely made possible by VW’s five-year, $86bn investment in digital and EV technologies. To transition from the world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder gas engines to completely retiring internal combustion engines inside of a decade is remarkable. Bentley V8 Flying Spur from $196,000, bentleymotors.com BENTLEY FLYING SPUR V8 While electrification is the de rigueur topic throughout the automotive industry, Bentley is the first brand to steadfastly plant a flag and announce a series of notable sustainable luxury initiatives and goals, not least of which includes moving to full plug-in or battery electric autos by 2026, followed by a complete battery electrification of its model range by 2030. More impressively, by 2023, each of its five vehicles will be available in a hybrid variant, and the first purely electric Bentley will be launched in 2025. Bear in mind, it typically takes manufacturers roughly five years to debut a new car, much less transfer their entire set of offerings to a different kind of motor and platform. The British brand also aims to become carbon neutral by 2030, first by reducing its factory environmental impact by 75% in the next four years. Volkswagen Group, Bentley’s parent company, supports the brand’s goals of surpassing the two-degree target of the Paris Climate

Photos Richard Pardon, Richard Giordano