Car Show

Hot Wheels Legends Tour goes digital for May 16 Hoonigan event

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
May 15, 2020, 7:59 am

The Hot Wheels Legends Tour rolls on, digitally, with its first event in months happening on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Hot Wheels, Mattel

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing events worldwide to be cancelled and postponed, many are closing to go digital, like what AutomotiveMap did with the Virtual Car Show a few weeks ago. The Hot Wheels Legends Tour was supposed to be coming to a city near you this spring and summer. Now, it's also going digital with this week's tour stop happening on Hoonigan's YouTube channel or Hot Wheels' Facebook page instead of in a parking lot.

Starting at 9 a.m. PST on May 16, audiences can watch live judging from a panel consisting of top motorsports athlete Colette Davis, Hoonigan auto experts, and Hot Wheels designers. The finalist from the Hot Wheels Legends Tour virtual stop will join all other Legends Tour finalists at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas in November for a chance to have his or her car immortalized as an iconic Hot Wheels die-cast.

Nnashhole SEMA Hot Wheels Super Tuner Honda "Nashhole" was the winner of the 2019 edition of the tour. A Hot Wheels version of the model is coming in 2020. Photo courtesy of Hot Wheels

But the fun doesn't end there. Honda is bringing the Honda Super Tuner Legends Series – the custom tuner component of the Tour – to the digital stop. The Legends Tour digital stop will feature select custom-tuned Honda vehicles, where one custom-tuned Honda vehicle will be selected as a "Honda Super Tuner Finalist".

All finalists will then compete to earn the "Honda Super Tuner" title, which includes an opportunity to display their vehicle at the 2020 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, November 3-6, 2020.

Last year's Super Tuner winner was "Nashhole", a 1957 Nash Metropolitan owned by Greg Salzillo and Dave Ford that earned its ticket to the finals at the Los Angeles event. Hot Wheels enthusiasts can expect to see a miniature replica of the "Nashhole" in stores in 2020.

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Industry news

New Honda supply may be limited for a while

Honda notified dealers of upcoming supply cuts.

Photo courtesy of American Honda Motor Co., Inc

Honda, like all major automakers today, is truly a global operation. Though it produces plenty of vehicles here in the United States, many of the components it relies on for manufacturing come from elsewhere in the world. That means Honda, like the other auto giants, needs its global supply chain operating smoothly in order to prevent disruption. Unfortunately for Honda dealers and potential customers, disruption is what's about to happen. The automaker recently sent a letter to its dealers, forecasting reduced vehicle supply in the coming weeks.


2021 Honda Ridgeline No. 19 - Honda Photo courtesy of American Honda Motor Co., Inc


The dealer letter, posted to the Civic XI forum and fan site, was dated August 25 and confirmed by a dealer upset with the development, according to Automotive News. In the letter, Honda cites the ongoing pandemic and microchip shortages as major factors impacting its production efforts. Total shipments to dealers could be cut by up to 40 percent, but not all models will be affected to the same degree.

The letter noted that supplies of the Pilot and Passport SUVs will hold steady, and shared that production of the Civic hatchback is on schedule. However, the situation is fluid and could change at any time, so there's a chance that timelines could speed up or slack off as necessary.


2022 Honda Pilot Some models will see more cuts than others.Photo courtesy of American Honda Motor Co., Inc


Honda is just the latest in a long line of automakers struggling to keep pace with demand in the face of several converging global crises. In an effort to keep vehicles rolling out of factories, General Motors has implemented selective feature cuts in some of its new vehicles, such as the removal of engine start/stop tech from some trucks and SUVs. Earlier this month, Ford Motor Company told Mustang Mach-E buyers to expect delays of at least six weeks as it grapples with the chip shortage, and will temporarily reduce production capacity at a few of its plants.

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New sports car

The Acura Integra is coming back in 2022

This is all we know about the new Integra's styling.

Acura

Secrets are hard to keep these days. It seems like new products always end up being leaked by one of the hundreds of people involved in the development process, to the point that even the most secretive companies have a hard time unveiling a product that people don't already know about. That wasn't the case this week, though. After announcing the final version of its NSX supercar at Monterey Car Week, Acura took to the skies with an impressive drone show that eventually spelled out a message no one expected to see: The Integra is coming back in 2022.



The original car launched in 1986, and its legend grew over time. After accumulating dozens of awards and spawning an entire industry around customizing and enhancing the Integra, Honda and Acura discontinued the car in 2001. We saw a successor to the crown in the Acura RSX for a few short years afterward, but it's been 15 years since a small, tossable sports car has graced the Acura catalog. Granted, Honda has been on a tear with the Civic Si and Civic Type-R, but there has been a hole in the Acura lineup for some time now.


Acura Integra The original Integra is the stuff of legend.Acura


Waiting is the hardest part, as they say. Other than the gorgeous drone display and tantalizingly mysterious teaser photo, we know nothing, which is a difficult spot to be as a car enthusiast. There are a few details, though. The car will return in 2022 as a "compact premium entrant," according to the press release. Company VP and Acura Brand Officer Jon Ikeda also said that the car is "returning to the Acura lineup with the same fun-to-drive spirit and DNA of the original, fulfilling our commitment to Precision Crafted Performance in every way – design, performance and the overall driving experience."

Given parent company Honda's success with performance versions of the Civic, we're optimistic that the 2022 Integra will put its compact dimensions to good use on the road and on the track. We'll have to be patient, though, because official details won't become available until closer to the car's introduction in 2022.


2022 Acura Integra Acura shared the new Integra's logo.Acura

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