The Pontiac we’re referring to is the city in Michigan, not the defunct General Motors brand named for it. A longtime part of the action for the famed Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, set this year for August 12, has been its street-legal drag racing, known as Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge and presented by MotorTrend. It’s the second stop on a national Roadkill tour by Dodge, and beginning this year, all the activities are being transferred from Woodward Avenue to the downtown area of nearby Pontiac.

The initial Roadkill happening took place earlier this year in Las Vegas, and saw the rollout of Dodge’s new Challenger SRT Demon 170. Now in its eighth year, the Pontiac portion of the tour will be broadcast live via MotorTrend’s streaming platforms.

By adding the three-row Ascent to its model lineup, Subaru has established itself as an unlikely, but indisputably successful, purveyor of premiums SUVs. Subaru of America took time out this week to unveil pricing for the 2024 version of the Ascent, which arrives in showrooms this fall. The starting price for the Ascent lineup will step out from $34,195, but there’s actually more to report about the revised Ascent than that.

That’s because the Ascent will feature a new generation of Subaru’s widely selected EyeSight driver assist with a new wide-angle mono camera to help with collision avoidance, active cruise control and so forth. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity will be newly standard. So will a surround-view security camera with a 360-degree overhead view. Best of all is that you’ll have little trouble finding an Ascent to suit your needs, given the fact that it’s offered in no less than six trim levels: Base, Premium, Onyx Edition, Onyx Edition Limited, Limited and Touring.

As these words are typed, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is still winding down to its conclusion, after plenty of news was made during the race week run-up. Here’s part of it, as Ford has introduced its Mustang GT3 race car, scheduled to compete in 2024, and based on the new, forthcoming 2024 Mustang Dark Horse production car. Beyond that, Ford has introduced the multicolor plumage for its new global Ford Performance branding.

Beginning next year, the Mustang GT3 will compete in the FIA’s global GT3 category. The race car is a collaboration between Ford, the British race car fabricator Multimatic, and M-Sport, which ordinarily builds World Rally Championship engines but this time, will be massaging the GT3’s 5.4-liter Coyote engine for durability in world-class endurance competition.

It was great to make my first appearance in several years as a guest on the radio show of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, from his studio in Waldwick, New Jersey, this weekend. In catching up, Ron posed today’s weightiest automotive question, “What do you think of electric.” The short-for-broadcast answer is, they’re here, and developing an infrastructure to support them will be critical to their future growth in the marketplace. To that end, General Motors has restated its commitment to developing a universal standard for the quick recharging of EVs, and has won its customers access to some 12,000 Tesla Supercharger charging stations already on line, the deal taking effect next year.

The overall plan calls for GM to integrate its EVs into the new North American Charging Standard, or NACS, for new electric vehicles by 2025. The agreement with Tesla builds on GM’s existing Ultium Charge 360 initiative to improve charging access for vehicular, home and workplace applications. Hooking GM vehicles up to the Tesla network will initially require an adapted until NACS is fully implemented.

Only a few hundred were produced, and nobody could foresee what followed, but the rollout of the first Corvette in 1953 eventually led to the fiberglass sports car embodying Chevrolet high performance in a way that no other model has matched, and resulting in an unbroken chain of go-fast excellence that includes the current mid-engine C8. A car that significant deserves a special birthday celebration, and the Corvette’s getting one this year.

How, you say? By the fact that Corvette has been named a featured marque at this year’s running of one of the world’s great automotive events, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, being held August 16th through 19th at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on the Monterey Peninsula of California. Along with hundreds of vintage race cars that will do battle at the event, Laguna Seca will also host examples of historically significant Corvettes of the past that will be taking part in a curated display. The Rolex Reunion is one of North America’s greatest car events of any kind, held when Monterey Car Week is running full blast. If you’ve never been, you seriously owe yourself a visit.

None of us are particularly thrilled at the news, but the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro, the car that restored the bowtie to the pony wars, is being retired after the 2024 model year, and we still don’t know what’s going to replace it. Part of the Camaro’s recent heritage has been an array of special editions marking performance and manufacturing milestones, a step that Chevrolet’s about to take again. It recalls the Camaro’s original name (one of them – “Caramout” was another) from when it was a General Motors concept and known internally as the Panther.

The 2024 Camaro Collector’s Edition, just being announced, will resurrect the Panther theme and let it permeate these models across several equipment levels, culminating in the track-day screamer that’s known as the Camaro ZL1 1LE. The Collector’s Edition outfits LT/RS, LT1 and SS trims with a new Panther Black Metallic Tintcoat paint, along with specific striping and Panther-themed 20-inch wheels. Opt for the 650 horsepower ZL1 coupe, to be built in just 350 commemorative editions, and you get a Panther-inspired matte black finish, plus a collector’s Canfield Sport 45mm wristwatch from Shinola so you can strut even when the Camaro’s cooling down. Deliveries are expected to get underway by late summer.

If you’re old enough, you likely remember the images from the beach-party movies of the 1960s and such that depicted Volkswagen Sambas facing the glittering Pacific with surfboards lashed to the top. So it makes perfect sense, and is in no way coincidental, that Volkswagen chose the sun-kissed community of Huntington Beach, California, to debut its three-row ID. Buzz electric minivan, a vehicle clearly inspired by the Microbus of years gone by.

The zero-emissions ID. Buzz, in its three-row configuration, is specifically designed for use in North America, with additional wheelbase and a larger battery back than the home-market ID. Buzz introduced earlier. For North America, the van gets a 91 kWh battery pack that can produce 282 horsepower in rear-drive versions, with an all-wheel-drive model also being introduced. Prices have yet to be announced, and actual sales are scheduled to start off in 2024.

The original Shelby Cobra had a gilt-edged competition history, not just on road courses, but more obscurely, on the drag strip. That happened in the mid-1960s when our friend Bruce Larson, the Pennsylvania drag racing legend, took delivery of a drag-tuned Cobra that became known as the Dragonsnake, which he used to run through the sports-class drag categories that existed then. In 1966, Larson sold the fuchsia-painted Cobra to Ed Hedrick of Philadelphia, using it to win every NHRA race he entered, a total that came to include the U.S. Nationals and an NHRA national record. As part of the 100th anniversary of Carroll Shelby’s birth, this landmark Cobra is being re-created in extremely limited numbers.

Built under license from Shelby American, Pennsylvania-based Legendary GT Continuation Cars will produce a total of five copies of the original Dragonsnake. The first, unveiled by Larson at the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals, will replicate his purple Corvette eater, as shown above, only with some upgrades. The Dragonsnake will utilize aluminum bodywork with a color-matched Cobra hardtop, running on an original-configuration frame with 4-inch round main tubes. The chassis will also feature disc brakes and adjustable Penske shocks. Power comes from a Weber-fed 364-cu.in. Ford-sourced V-8 that the manufacturer says will produce 500 horsepower.

The Colorado is Chevrolet’s longstanding entry into the booming market for midsize pickups, and is normally associated with homeowners hauling raw materials for domestic projects back from Lowe’s. Chevrolet is rolling out a new Colorado variant that’s got roughhouse play on its mind. The 2024 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison is a pure off-roader, designed and built in conjunction with American Expedition Vehicles.

There’s a lot of interesting components to the Bison package. The jounce control dampers come from Multimatic, which specializes in designing shock-control technologies for world-class race cars. The Bison is reported to have best-in-class approach, departure and breakover angles for confronting obstacles. AEV will supply the rear bumper, the winch-capable front bumper and the 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels. Standard power will come from Chevrolet’s turbocharged 2.7-liter engine.

Toyota’s expansive portfolio of commodious SUVs is about to grow again, as production prepares to commence in Princeton, Indiana, on the 2024 Grand Highlander. The midsize SUV will provide buyers with three powertrain choices, including two hybrids, along with a third row of seats that Toyota assures will fit adults. Available technological goodies will include an array of assists such as Traffic Jam Assist, Heads-Up Display and a Digital Rearview Mirror.

Toyota intends to offer three powertrain combinations across three Grand Highlander trim levels, with AWD optional across the board. Engine choices begin with a 2.4-liter petroleum engine with 265 horsepower, a 2.5-liter hybrid rated at 245 horsepower and the Hybrid MAX powertrain that generates 362 horsepower, along with a 5,000-pound towing capacity. Deliveries will start getting underway this summer.