autoevolution
 

Aurel Niculescu

9,656  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.
Hypothetical 2026 Toyota Corolla Looks Ready For the Electric Revolution, Has ICE Too
Hypothetical 2026 Toyota Corolla Looks Ready For the Electric Revolution, Has ICE Too

16 Feb 2024, 09:28 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Last year, Toyota almost lost the title for the world's best-selling nameplate to the EV star from Tesla – Model Y. Of course, the corner-office head honchos still found a way to keep the accolade for the Japanese automaker. Initi...

 
2024 Lucid Air Pure Is Cheaper Than a Tesla Model S, But They Still Don't Compare Equally
2024 Lucid Air Pure Is Cheaper Than a Tesla Model S, But They Still Don't Compare Equally

16 Feb 2024, 08:54 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Lucid Motors recently announced new prices for (most) of the Air range (Pure, Touring, Grand Touring), making its base option cheaper than a Tesla Model S, but there's a catch, as always. The electric vehicle company from Newark, Califo...

 
C8 Chevy Corvette Drags Supra, Charger, and Saleen, There's Almost No Competition
C8 Chevy Corvette Drags Supra, Charger, and Saleen, There's Almost No Competition

16 Feb 2024, 08:11 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / They say (across the rumor mill) that General Motors produced at Bowling Green the first EX VIN C8 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 just a day before Valentine's Day, but don't get your hopes up for the upcoming quarter-mile dragstrip skirmishes &n...

 
GM Super Cruise Network Jumps From 400 to 750k Miles, Includes Lots of Minor Highways
GM Super Cruise Network Jumps From 400 to 750k Miles, Includes Lots of Minor Highways

16 Feb 2024, 07:30 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The company claims it now has the largest such hands-free semi-autonomous network in North America following the latest expansion that soared from around 400k (almost 644,000 km) to 750k miles (1,207,008 km) in the United States and Canada. I...

 
2025 Ram 2500 & 3500 HD Arrive Colorful in the CGI Garage, Sport Ritzy Interiors
2025 Ram 2500 & 3500 HD Arrive Colorful in the CGI Garage, Sport Ritzy Interiors

15 Feb 2024, 23:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / As always, in 2023, the best-selling automotive nameplates in America included, in order, the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram trucks. In fact, they were also the gold, silver, and bronze medalists with almost 751k units, over 543k vehic...

 
Incoming Colorful 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid Refresh Gets Unofficially Revealed From All POVs
Incoming Colorful 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid Refresh Gets Unofficially Revealed From All POVs

15 Feb 2024, 21:04 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Back in January, American Honda offered an outlook on its 2024 US automotive business, confidently predicting even higher sales for the namesake brand and Acura after last year's jump of 33% in deliveries. In 2023, the Japanese automake...

 
Check Out the 2025 Audi Q9 Morphing Into a Worthy BMW X7 Rival Before Your Eyes
Check Out the 2025 Audi Q9 Morphing Into a Worthy BMW X7 Rival Before Your Eyes

15 Feb 2024, 10:13 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / After the dizzying powertrains that no one understands even years after their introduction, Audi is preparing another fresh naming scheme where its even model numbers are reserved for all-electric variants, and the odd ones designate the legacy ICE...

 
Beautiful Chevy Corvette C8.Z51 Edition Drags Camaro ZL1, Someone Gets Stunned
Beautiful Chevy Corvette C8.Z51 Edition Drags Camaro ZL1, Someone Gets Stunned

15 Feb 2024, 09:31 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Today, even though it's still available on the company's US portal from $31k, you would be getting Chevy Camaro 'leftovers' because, unfortunately, the sixth generation of the pony car ended production in December 2023. All that...

 
2025 Kia Tasman Pickup Truck Can't Decide on Its New Looks, Virtual Artists Cue In
2025 Kia Tasman Pickup Truck Can't Decide on Its New Looks, Virtual Artists Cue In

15 Feb 2024, 08:50 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The pickup truck sector is about to get even more crowded, as South Korean automaker Kia is preparing to launch its first open-bed truck with a body-on-frame construction for worldwide markets. Rumored and spied on numerous occasions, the ne...

 
ICE Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevy Silverado 454 SS Jump to the 2020s for a CGI Battle
ICE Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevy Silverado 454 SS Jump to the 2020s for a CGI Battle

15 Feb 2024, 08:05 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / GMC Syclone, Chevrolet 454 SS, and Ford F-150 SVT Lightning were the options for high-performance RWD pickup trucks during the early 1990s. Now, during the middle of the 2020s, the options are more extensive but also mostly electric. All old...

 
2024 Lexus GX 550 Fits Snuggly Two Types of Aftermarket Wheels, Albeit Only in CGI
2024 Lexus GX 550 Fits Snuggly Two Types of Aftermarket Wheels, Albeit Only in CGI

14 Feb 2024, 13:00 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Sometimes, the promise of something cool is too mesmerizing not to revisit it from time to time. For example, the 2024 Lexus GX 550 pledges to deliver posh comfort and great luxury in a rugged, off-road-capable package. And we're certainly dow...

 
Honda Isn't Late Anymore, Strikes First Blow With Imagined EV Compact Pickup Truck
Honda Isn't Late Anymore, Strikes First Blow With Imagined EV Compact Pickup Truck

14 Feb 2024, 11:14 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The Japanese automaker is fashionably late on the US automotive market at a number of jamborees. For example, it's only now starting the assault on the EV sector with help from GM, and the Civic Hybrid waited until the mid-cycle refresh to att...

 
Refreshed Skoda Octavia Drops By With Subtle Design Updates and 261-HP vRS Wagon
Refreshed Skoda Octavia Drops By With Subtle Design Updates and 261-HP vRS Wagon

14 Feb 2024, 10:32 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / After the recent update of the Volkswagen Golf and upcoming Audi S3, it was only a matter of time - as teased - before we saw the larger Czech cousin come out refreshed, as well. There are both good news and no bad news here, by the way. Rei...

 
All-Electric Entry-Level MINI Cooper E Classic Boasts 181 HP and 190 Miles of Range
All-Electric Entry-Level MINI Cooper E Classic Boasts 181 HP and 190 Miles of Range

14 Feb 2024, 09:40 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / "Electrical, efficient, emotional." That's how MINI describes the all-new base Cooper E version - but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be cheap or severely underpowered. The range, however,… Back in September 2...

 
Turbo Ford Mustang GT Drags Surprising Corvette and Hellcat, Someone's a 9-Second Wonder
Turbo Ford Mustang GT Drags Surprising Corvette and Hellcat, Someone's a 9-Second Wonder

14 Feb 2024, 08:52 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Soon enough, the S550 Ford Mustang, C7 Chevy Corvette, and L-bodied Hellcats will fade into distant memory because none of them are in production anymore. Luckily, the local quarter-mile dragstrip still remains a safe haven to remind us they were o...

 
Making Chrysler's Halcyon Concept a Station Wagon Could Solve Tesla and Lucid Problems
Making Chrysler's Halcyon Concept a Station Wagon Could Solve Tesla and Lucid Problems

14 Feb 2024, 08:14 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Ignoring the Airflow elephant in the room, Stellantis allowed Chrysler to restart its belated EV ambitions with the stunning Halcyon concept. Interestingly, it's both mesmerizing and easy to discard. Let's start with the bad. If yo...

 
MINI Welcomes More Countryman to Australia, Two EVs and John Cooper Works in Tow
MINI Welcomes More Countryman to Australia, Two EVs and John Cooper Works in Tow

14 Feb 2024, 07:38 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / In December 2023, the British automaker under German parenting, spread its high-riding wings by announcing that the U25 third-generation Countryman subcompact crossover SUV was available in the Land Down Under. Marking a significant departur...

 
Ultra-Rare Lamborghini Urus Performante Essenza SCV12 Becomes a Unique Widebody Super-SUV
Ultra-Rare Lamborghini Urus Performante Essenza SCV12 Becomes a Unique Widebody Super-SUV

13 Feb 2024, 14:25 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / The good folks over at Lamborghini couldn't be happier with the way things are going right now – they surpassed the 10k delivery threshold in 2023, and the record sales will continue to pile up because the new Revuelto is sold out until ...

 
Fresh Abarth 695 '75° Anniversario' Pays Homage to the Italian Brand and T-Jet Mill
Fresh Abarth 695 '75° Anniversario' Pays Homage to the Italian Brand and T-Jet Mill

13 Feb 2024, 13:50 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Established almost 75 years ago, the Italian brand Abarth is well known for its high-performance Fiat derivatives - and now the culmination is this special 695 edition. Also, this might be a sad moment to witness because the company is embarking on...

 
Chrysler Halcyon Concept Features 'STLA Everything,' Including Breathtaking Door Idea
Chrysler Halcyon Concept Features 'STLA Everything,' Including Breathtaking Door Idea

13 Feb 2024, 10:48 UTC · By: Aurel Niculescu / Stellantis is finally moving Chrysler into the right EV direction and the Halcyon 'sedan' concept is the harbinger of things to come - all imbued with STLA stuff that they hope will make Tesla green with envy, rather than sustainability. ...

 

Stories by Aurel Niculescu