autoevolution
 

Aurel Niculescu

9,649  ARTICLES

Staff Writer
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Once upon a time there was a little boy that didn't know his age but dreamed of reaching high in the sky alongside the absolute best aviators. He was passionate about reading books (action and Sci-Fi), grew up with many great authors and soon discovered the mirage of cinema.

There he understood anything is possible if you work hard and passionately strive to follow your imagination. This is how at the age of 16 he managed to fulfill the first dream – flying alone in a glider plane. He was no Tom Cruise, of course, so young adulthood brought him back to reality.

With every kick in the familiar *utt comes a chance to step forward, so a seemingly unimportant ad in one of his favorite automotive magazines brought a dilemma - follow through with the current job or dare to achieve greatness by deploying (previously) unknown literary skills.

Since 2006, he’s been perfecting them at Automondial, Supercar, Cox, Autoshow, Autopro, Auto Motor & Sport, and more magazines plus their online versions. After driving some of the best and worst cars in Europe and around the world, he’s part of the autoevolution team, where he aims to develop his best-ever form.
Ferrari 412 Hommage Design Project Sends Out Mixed Signals, Keeps the ICE Power
Ferrari 412 Hommage Design Project Sends Out Mixed Signals, Keeps the ICE Power

15 May 2024, 06:32 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The good folks over at Car Design World (aka cardesignworld on social media) tipped us off to this independent design project by artist Baptiste de Brugiere. You might think he's another member of the imaginative realm of digital car cont...

 
720-HP 2024 Ford F-150 Raptor R Becomes an Off-Road Fashion Statement in No Time
720-HP 2024 Ford F-150 Raptor R Becomes an Off-Road Fashion Statement in No Time

14 May 2024, 13:05 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The good folks over at Wheels Boutique and ANRKY Wheels are all located in Miami, Florida, making it easy to work together on fancy aftermarket builds. It also helps when they're solicited by car-passionate public figures, of course. That ...

 
Refreshed VW Golf R Wants to Become a Virtual AWD Mid-Engine Rival for the C8 Corvette
Refreshed VW Golf R Wants to Become a Virtual AWD Mid-Engine Rival for the C8 Corvette

14 May 2024, 10:15 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Marouane Bembli, a prolific car reviewer and automotive virtual artist better known as TheSketchMonkey on social media, is keen on unofficially bringing to CGI life a mid-engine Volkswagen Golf R. Wait, what?! Volkswagen isn't exactly ...

 
Skoda Launches Refreshed Octavia, Says Best-Seller Nameplate Is Better Than Ever
Skoda Launches Refreshed Octavia, Says Best-Seller Nameplate Is Better Than Ever

14 May 2024, 08:59 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Mlada Boleslav-based Czech automaker is pretty proud of Octavia's heritage, which includes a 65-year-old history and four modern iterations since 1996. And it's for good measure – it has already produced more than seven million ...

 
Updated 2025 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X Unofficial Preview Has Fresh CGI Colors All Over
Updated 2025 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X Unofficial Preview Has Fresh CGI Colors All Over

14 May 2024, 08:09 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Japanese automaker holds the unlikely honor of selling the cheapest car in America – the Versa sedan – until it discontinues it. Soon enough, Nissan will ditch it alongside the Titan full-size pickup truck, as well as the Altima, wh...

 
BMW M5 Drags C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Somebody Gets Stomped. Twice!
BMW M5 Drags C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Somebody Gets Stomped. Twice!

14 May 2024, 06:58 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Bavarians over at BMW are one of the quirkiest automakers at the moment – they can give you plenty of subjects of controversy via models like the iX, XM, 7 Series, and i7, or the X7 LCI but also lots of reasons to rejoice when using their...

 
Virtually Reborn 2025 Buick Roadmaster Simply Puts Woodgrain on Electra-LT Concept
Virtually Reborn 2025 Buick Roadmaster Simply Puts Woodgrain on Electra-LT Concept

14 May 2024, 06:19 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Ford Motor Company has long foregone building passenger cars for North America – aside from the S650 seventh generation 2024 Ford Mustang, of course. General Motors is also closing the tap even tighter with the announced disappearance of the ...

 
2024 Genesis Neolun Concept Digitally Morphs Into a Potential GV90 Flagship SUV
2024 Genesis Neolun Concept Digitally Morphs Into a Potential GV90 Flagship SUV

13 May 2024, 20:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Hyundai and Kia are two of the most prolific automakers in the world – not only as far as their own brands are concerned, but also in terms of novelties. Hyundai, of course, takes the royalties with the Genesis luxury marquee. Initially e...

 
Porsche Teases 911 Hybrid. It's Faster Than Its Predecessor By 8.7s on the Green Hell
Porsche Teases 911 Hybrid. It's Faster Than Its Predecessor By 8.7s on the Green Hell

13 May 2024, 11:56 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The world premiere of the new Porsche 911 Hybrid is scheduled for a live broadcast on May 28, 2024, and the 2025MY is way faster on the Nurburgring. Most likely, it will also bring a nip and tuck of the entire series with it. The Stuttgart-base...

 
2026 Kia Electric Pickup Truck Gets Unofficially Rendered for America, Lightning Beware?
2026 Kia Electric Pickup Truck Gets Unofficially Rendered for America, Lightning Beware?

13 May 2024, 09:28 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / As far as the South Korean automaker is concerned, the automotive newsreel has two major subjects – its upcoming GT versions of some all-electric models and its potentially US-bound Tasman mid-size pickup truck. Well, now the imaginative real...

 
Ford Explorer ST Drags BMW X6 and Dodge Durango SRT 392, Wet Chaos Quickly Ensues
Ford Explorer ST Drags BMW X6 and Dodge Durango SRT 392, Wet Chaos Quickly Ensues

13 May 2024, 08:54 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Sam, the host of the Sam CarLegion channel on YouTube, has prepared yet another drag-and-roll race skirmish with mid-size crossover SUVs – and it was about time since he hasn't had one in a few weeks already. A prolific YouTuber...

 
Retro-Futuristic, Imagined Cadillac EV Sedan Doesn't Want to Be Called CT6. DeVille Then?
Retro-Futuristic, Imagined Cadillac EV Sedan Doesn't Want to Be Called CT6. DeVille Then?

13 May 2024, 07:14 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Cadillac, once seen as the doormat for German and Asian luxury brands all around the world, has since resurged more confident than ever on the back of great sales performance at home and especially in the world's largest car market – Chi...

 
Virtually Reborn Buick Grand National Pretends It Has AWD and 650-HP Twin-Turbo V6
Virtually Reborn Buick Grand National Pretends It Has AWD and 650-HP Twin-Turbo V6

13 May 2024, 06:44 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The near-premium US automaker doesn't come up in our news lane nearly as often as it used to just a few years ago because no matter how hard we try to give it five minutes of glory, it just doesn't have that much to show for itself anymor...

 
Now I've Seen Everything: Mirror Rose Gold Tesla Cybertruck Rides on Dual-Tone 30s
Now I've Seen Everything: Mirror Rose Gold Tesla Cybertruck Rides on Dual-Tone 30s

12 May 2024, 15:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Ladies and gentlemen, everything is possible in life – don't let anyone deter you from achieving even your wildest dreams. Seriously, only the sky is the limit – and not even that when you have enough money and love cars. This ...

 
Hypothetical 2025 Subaru Baja Hybrid Revival Digitally Threatens Maverick and Santa Cruz
Hypothetical 2025 Subaru Baja Hybrid Revival Digitally Threatens Maverick and Santa Cruz

12 May 2024, 01:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The reborn US compact pickup truck sector feels pretty light at the moment, with only the hybrid or EcoBoost Ford Maverick whooping the bed-equipped, ritzier Hyundai Santa Cruz as if there's no tomorrow. The latter is trying to stage a com...

 
Refreshed Tesla Model Y Best-Seller Gets Realistically Portrayed With CGI Model 3 Cues 
Refreshed Tesla Model Y Best-Seller Gets Realistically Portrayed With CGI Model 3 Cues 

11 May 2024, 22:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / With automakers thinking about the EV cooldown – even Rimac's CEO admits that ICEs are cooler as he hasn't found buyers for the 150 Nevera hypercars it plans to build – Tesla is currently with the back against a wall. Lega...

 
Ferrari 12Cilindri Rocks Miami Vice Vibes When Digitally Lowered on Aftermarket Wheels
Ferrari 12Cilindri Rocks Miami Vice Vibes When Digitally Lowered on Aftermarket Wheels

11 May 2024, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / There has been plenty of focus on Ferrari's latest 2+2 berlinetta and retractable hardtop convertible, the 12Cilindri - the aftermarket realm likes that, of course. But do you think they need to wait and patiently hold their horses just becaus...

 
Animal Car Planet: Batur Is a Cock-of-the-Rock, M4 CS a Beaver, Cullinan a Polar Bear
Animal Car Planet: Batur Is a Cock-of-the-Rock, M4 CS a Beaver, Cullinan a Polar Bear

11 May 2024, 15:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / I know that many people don't identify cars with animals, but sometimes, when life gives you lemon vehicles, you need to do some Discovery HD lemonade with them. At least, that's what I feel about a trio of high-end proposals that were re...

 
Tesla Model S Plaid Drags Tuned Civic, Mustang GT, Charger Daytona and Results Are Funny
Tesla Model S Plaid Drags Tuned Civic, Mustang GT, Charger Daytona and Results Are Funny

11 May 2024, 06:34 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Tesla as a company and the entire EV market as a whole are currently going through some hard times, with people still reluctant to switch over to battery power due to the now-classic issues: range anxiety, lack of proper charging infrastructure, an...

 
2025 Infiniti QX80 'Black Edition' Gets Virtually Ritzier With Stylish Digital Trim
2025 Infiniti QX80 'Black Edition' Gets Virtually Ritzier With Stylish Digital Trim

11 May 2024, 01:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / When it was introduced to America, the 2025 Infiniti QX80 (which was available to see in the metal at the 2024 New York Auto Show) got more of everything – a more mature design, more technology features, more horsepower under the hood, as wel...

 

Stories by Aurel Niculescu