Baby Mercedes G-Class, Toyota Century SUV: The Week In Reverse

Mercedes-Benz confirmed a baby G-Class, Toyota revealed a Rolls-Royce Cullinan rival, and Mini ditched the manual transmission. It’s the Week in Reverse, right there at Motor Authority.

It’s official. Mercedes-Benz will launch a smaller sibling to the G-Class. No details have been released apart from the vehicle’s confirmation, but rumors point to a vehicle similar in size to the GLC-Class and powered by batteries.

One wouldn’t normally associate Toyota with the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, but the Japanese auto giant this week launched a Century SUV to challenge Bentley’s Bentayga and Rolls-Royce’s Cullinan. It comes exclusively with a V-6 plug-in hybrid powertrain and is priced to start at approximately $170,000 in Toyota’s home market.

Mini has been one of the strongest proponents of the manual transmission in recent years but the automaker this week said its next-generation Cooper range will be automatic-only, which means the end of the third pedal at the brand. The announcement wasn’t a huge surprise as Mini earlier this year rolled out a special 1to6 Edition version of its outgoing hatch as a celebration of the manual transmission.

Ford launched a new performance flagship for its Mustang Mach-E. It’s called the Mustang Mach-E Rally, and it boasts more torque, more ground clearance, and a rally-bred look. Development is ongoing but Ford said to expect a quicker 0-60 mph time than the 3.5 seconds of the Mach-E GT Performance.

Revived Italian sports car marque Bizzarrini revealed a modern supercar powered by a Cosworth V-12. It’s called the Giotto, after Bizzarrini founder Giotto Bizzarrini, and Giorgetto Giugiaro was tapped to help design the car. He was also involved in the design of the original Bizzarrini 5300 GT back in the 1960s.