A Dubai-based startup named Devel has started testing what it claims is the most powerful gasoline-burning engine ever designed for a street-legal production car.

Developed by Michigan-based tuner Steve Morris Engines, the engine in question is a 12.3-liter V16 with an aluminum block and heads. It’s a 32-valve unit equipped with four large turbochargers, and it spins the rear wheels only via a four-speed automatic transmission.

Recently tested on a dynometer, the 16-cylinder engine generates a volcano-awakening 4,515 horsepower at 6,900 rpm and 3,519 lb-ft. of torque at 6,600 rpm when the turbos are programmed to provide 36 psi of boost. Devel explains the engine is theoretically capable of churning out over 5,000 horsepower with the right amount of boost, but the dyno it was tested on maxed out at 4,515 ponies.

Running regular pump gas, the 16-cylinder provides 3,006 horsepower at 6,900 rpm and 2,407 lb-ft. of torque at 6,400 rpm. Performance figures haven’t been published yet, so whether Devel’s initial predictions that the Sixteen will be capable of reaching 60 mph in a jaw-dropping 1.8 seconds and top out at nearly 350 mph are still accurate is anyone’s guess.

While Devel is presumably moving forward with plans to build the Sixteen, additional details such as when it will launch and where it will be sold are being kept under wraps for the time being. If it ever lands, expect the hypercar to land as an exclusive limited-edition model priced well into the seven digits.

India’s Mahindra & Mahindra has reportedly finalized its buyout of Italian design house Pininfarina.

The move is viewed as a significant piece of Mahindra’s global expansion plans, potentially giving the company a design edge across its wide range of group subsidiaries.

“The legendary high-end design credentials of Pininfarina will significantly enhance the design capabilities of the entire Mahindra group,” chairman Anand Mahindra said in a statement published by Bloomberg. “Given the increasing design sensibilities of today’s consumers, product design will greatly influence customer choice and experience, and hence our success.”

Already one of the largest automakers for the Indian market, Mahindra has had its eye on the US market for several years. The project was scrapped in 2012 amid legal disputes with dealers and difficulties certifying a US-compliant pickup. The company recently hinted at a second attempt, and its Korean subsidiary Ssangyong could also be preparing to take the plunge.

Pininfarina’s modern designers may be best known for their work with Ferrari, though the company has worked with a number of other automotive brands from Ford to Bentley.

The acquisition is reported to be worth $185 million USD.

Lamborghini has rejected the possibility of using the Urus SUV’s V8 engine in any other models.

Reports suggest a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter powerplant is being developed by Lamborghini specifically for the Urus, representing a downsize shift from the Huracan‘s 5.2-liter V10 and the Aventador‘s mighty 6.5-liter V12.

Chief executive Stephan Winkelmann in 2012 hinted that a turbocharged engine was not out of the question for the Huracan, though not from the model’s initial launch.

The company is said to have debated wether to share the Urus engine with other models. The Italian marque expects the SUV to eventually account for more than half of its overall annual sales volume, suggesting the Urus itself may represent the answer to regulatory pressure without forcing any coupes or roadsters to immediately downsize.

Speaking to Autocar, Winkelmann also argued in favor of keeping true to the Raging Bull’s “one car, one engine” tradition.

“We are not saying that future engines will never beat what we have in our cars; we are saying as long as there is nothing that is better, especially at low revs or in terms of the sound that the V10 and V12 have, we stick to them,” he added.

Despite the Urus’ downsized engine and room for groceries or children, Winkelmann recently told LeftLane that Lamborghini will stop short of offering autonomous driving technology. The company appears to be positioning the crossover as a driver’s vehicle, built to deliver an exhilarating experience for which the brand is known.

The first units are expected to arrive in showrooms by the second half of 2018, each likely carrying a price tag around $200,000.

In a review of its industry sales data, Automotive News has found that the domestic automakers are curtailing large-scale sales to rental fleets, while some Asian OEMs have been picking up the slack.

General Motors especially has curtailed its “fleet dumping” in recent months, Automotive News says, while Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Toyota (the latter two to a lesser degree) have seen an uptick over the same period of time.

The outlet also compared historical fleet sales figures to this year’s numbers, and found that only 13.6% of GM’s sales in 2015 so far were accounted for by rental fleet; in 2012, that number was 18.6–nearly one-fifth of the company’s total sales volume.

Of the “Detroit Three,” FCA is faring the worst, flirting with a total that could rival its 2012 numbers. Ford’s numbers have been more haphazard. While the company’s fleet sales have decreased from 15.4% of their total volume in 2012 to just 11% this year, their fleet volume has actually increased slightly year-to-date.

Hyundai, on the other hand, is trending the other direction. Through November, a whopping 22.4% of the company’s volume has gone to rental fleets. In 2012, that figure was below 10%.

An analyst for Edmunds.com said the corresponding uptick in rental sales from automakers such as Hyundai and Kia reflects their brands’ dependence on cars and car-based crossovers.

In other words? Trucks are hot, and the Koreans don’t sell many.

A California-based EV startup has partnered with one of China’s largest automakers to take on Tesla and released a teaser of their planned Tesla-fighter.

According to the UK’s AutoCar, the BAIC has become the majority stakeholder — via their Beijing Electric Vehicle Company subsidiary — of Atieva, an EV firm from Silicon Valley. German engineering conglomerate Siemens and SK Group, Korean battery manufacturer.

Though BAIC currently sells an electric five-door compact in China with an 87-mile range, by the looks of the teaser sketch Atieva is going the Tesla route. Rather than an econobox, the Atieva’s debut car is slated to be a sleek luxury sedan that has the Model S in its sights.

As the report points out, the BAIC’s comparatively paltry range is hindered by its 23.4 kWh lithium ion battery. The Atieva, however, will sport a larger battery pack and up-to-date battery technology, extending that range to a rumored 300 miles.

AutoCar also reveals that Atieva was co-founded by a former vice president at Tesla. The company started out creating code to support battery functions in plug-in hybrid applications. BAIC, on the other hand, is owned by the Chinese government and boasts an 8 percent market share in its home country. It has also formed joint ventures with Hyundai and Daimler-Benz.

The first Atieva model is scheduled to debut at the 2016 Beijing Motor Show.

Mercedes-Benz continues its co-branding deal with Nintendo by placing the GLA compact crossover front and center in a new Super Mario game.

In the recently-released Super Mario Maker the turtle-stomping plumber-turned-hero is back in a traditional side-scrolling adventure. Released for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, the twist is that the players get to create their own levels and upload them for others to play and comment on.

This week Mercedes uploaded its own playable level in the style of the original 8-bit Nintendo Super Mario Bros game. It even includes a mushroom “power up” that puts Mario behind the wheel of pixel-drawn GLA. In case there is any confusion, since the result looks kind of like a generic silver SUV, the designers make sure you can’t miss the words “Mercedes” and “GLA” written in blocks throughout the level.

The automaker made waves in August when it featured three models in Mario Kart 8. It was the first time Nintendo had ever included a real-world model in the fantasy racing game’s 23 years of publication. Those models included a 1934 Silver Arrow race car, a 1957 300SL Gullwing, and, well, the GLA.

Super Mario Maker is available on the Nintendo Wii U gaming system.

Chinese web giant Baidu has started testing a fully autonomous prototype on the streets of Beijing.

While rival Google built a self-driving car from the ground up, Baidu chose to buy a BMW 3 Series GT and fit it with all of the cameras, sensors, and lasers required for autonomous operation. The system is capable of detecting other motorists, obstacles in the road, and pedestrians. During the initial 18-mile test, the GT reached a top speed of 62 mph, and it performed U-turns, left and right turns, lane changes, and merging maneuvers on public roads.

Baidu’s self-driving 3 Series GT relies on highly automated driving (HAD) maps that record accurate 3D road data in real time and are capable of detecting precisely where the vehicle is situated. The technology is still in its infancy, but Baidu predicts a vast majority of China’s roads could be mapped with HAD mapping within five to 10 years, paving the way for the widespread adoption of autonomous passenger cars and city buses.

Baidu explains developing a self-driving car is more difficult in China than elsewhere in the world.

“Fully autonomous driving under mixed road conditions is universally challenging, with complexity further heightened by Beijing’s road conditions and unpredictable driver behavior,” said Wang Jing, the senior vice president of Baidu and the general manager of the firm’s newly-established Autonomous Driving Business Unit, in a statement.

The company hopes to bring a self-driving car to the market in the not-too-distant future, but a more specific time frame hasn’t been given yet.

Jaguar has revealed it’s not interested in launching a semi-autonomous car because it believes the technology isn’t ready for prime time yet.

Stephen Boulter, the project manager of the XF line, told Mashable he believes semi-autonomous technology is dangerous because it has a tendency to give motorists a “false sense of security.” Consequently, Jaguar’s automatic braking feature slows the new 2016 XF (pictured) down if it detects that a collision is imminent, but it’s not programmed to bring the car to a complete stop. Boulter has ruled out automatic steering — a feature offered on a vast majority of the XF’s competitors — for the same reason.

“We have the same hardware as Tesla. To do Autopilot, all you need is electric power steering — you don’t need an EV.” conceded the executive. “If something happens [with Autopilot], it could set the technology back a decade,” he warned.

Instead, Jaguar is focusing on bringing a fully autonomous car to the market in a safe and timely manner. Boulter announced that the British car maker will soon begin testing autonomous cars on the roads around its headquarters in Gaydon, England, though he stopped short of disclosing when the model will be ready to hit showrooms.

Saab is returning to the automotive fray in 2017 with an all-electric vehicle based on a “heavily upgraded” 9-3 sedan.

Speaking at Stora Bildagen — billed as Sweden’s largest automotive conference — Mattias Bergman, president of Saab’s parent company NEVS outlined a five-model lineup to be rolled out by 2018. According to Saab Blog, these cars will be made available in Sweden and China first.

The report further notes that the 9-3-based EV will be built in Saab’s old factory in Trollhattan and assembled in a new plant in Tianjin, China. Bergman says the yet-unnamed pilot model will serve as a proof of concept before the next four all-new models are launched.

The four 2018 models will consist of a midsize family SUV, an “active all-rounder” midsize fastback, a midsize crossover with styling similar to the fastback, and a compact sporty urban SUV. All of them will share an electric powertrain built on the common Phoenix architecture. Apparently, an earlier report about a return of SportCombi is no longer valid. There are no names for any of the models yet, and even the Saab brand name itself is not a certainty (though it is likely, says Saab Blog).

Bergman called the project “one of the largest industrial industrial projects in Sweden.”