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Disney Releases More Details On Its New Cars-Themed Land
Say hello to Piston Peak National Park.
Last year, Disney announced an entire land dedicated to Pixar’s Cars at its Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando. Aside from a few illustrations that, actually, looked pretty awesome, the details were otherwise scarce. But today, the company has revealed new information on its next big expansion—including a name.
Say goodbye to Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America (RIP), and say hello to Piston Peak National Park (which, you probably don’t remember, was a real place in Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue movie). The new Cars area will be ripe with thick pine forests and snowy mountain peaks, and include a river that runs through the entire land. It will be the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom.
Disney Imagineers drew inspiration from America’s national parks for this new land, with the Piston Peak mountain range inspired by Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The faux national park will also include a visitor’s lodge, a Ranger headquarters, and walking trails alongside two designated Cars attractions.
The first attraction, an off-road rally-style ride, will allow guests to weave through the forests and over Piston Peak on a trackless ride vehicle with new characters from the Cars franchise. Disney promises it will be “just like a real race.” A second, yet-to-be-named attraction will be geared toward smaller children and families.
Piston Peak National Park will extend from Liberty Square all the way to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and toward the updated Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster, which is set to re-open sometime in 2026. Guests who want to experience Tom Sawyer Island and the Riverboat before work begins on the new land have until July 7.
Disney hasn’t said exactly when the new land will open. But for such a massive expansion, don’t expect to see anything until at least 2027 or 2028.
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Lamborghini Axes Its First Electric Car. Calls EVs An ‘Expensive Hobby’
An electric Urus isn’t happening either.
It’s been nearly three years since Lamborghini did the unthinkable and took the wraps off an electric car. Although it was only a concept, the Lanzador was presented as a window into Sant’Agata Bolognese’s EV future, with plans to launch a production version in 2028. However, it didn’t take long for the exotic Italian marque to realize that high-end customers would be reluctant to buy a car without a combustion engine.
In late 2024, the model’s launch was pushed back by a full year to 2029. Now, the all-electric Lanzador has been canceled. Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann admitted in an interview with The Sunday Times (subscription required) that the firm’s target audience has little desire to make the switch to EVs, saying interest in a raging bull without a V8 or a V12 is “close to zero.”
The head honcho admits Lamborghini needed more than a year to decide whether the Lanzador should reach the assembly line. After extensive internal debates and meetings with customers and dealers, the company chose to pull the plug at the end of 2025. The 61-year-old German executive sees EVs as an “expensive hobby,” requiring a significant financial outlay with little return.
‘Investing heavily in full-EV development when the market and customer base are not ready would be an expensive hobby, and financially irresponsible towards shareholders, customers [and] to our employees and their families.’
But the Lanzador isn’t entirely dead. The Audi-owned brand intends to launch a plug-in hybrid version with a gas engine by the end of the decade. Similarly, the next-generation Urus won’t go fully electric either, with Winkelmann claiming that Lamborghini “couldn’t risk [a Urus EV]” for fear it wouldn’t sell. Instead, the new Urus, arriving around the same time as the Lanzador, will retain a plug-in hybrid setup.
Although the EU is pressuring automakers to pursue electric vehicles and decarbonize their lineups, Lamborghini is holding tightly to combustion engines. Winkelmann argues that EVs fail to deliver the “emotional connection” of a gas-powered car. Going the plug-in hybrid route is viewed as the best compromise, satisfying both regulators and buyers.
Motor1’s Take: Lamborghini would probably want to sell pure ICE vehicles if it could, but that’s no longer feasible. With stricter emissions regulations looming, electrification is unavoidable. By 2035, automakers operating in the European Union must cut CO2 emissions by 90 percent compared to 2021 levels. Even before that, an intermediate target arrives in 2030, when fleet emissions must fall by at least 55 percent relative to 2021.
Not everyone agrees with Lamborghini’s view on EVs. Archival Ferrari is just months away from introducing the Luce, its first Prancing Horse without a combustion engine, which premieres on May 25. Bentley is also set to unveil its inaugural EV this year, leaving only a handful of carmakers without an electric model in their portfolios.
Mind you, Lamborghini isn’t completely closing the door on EVs, but for now, it doesn’t view such a move as a sound financial investment. If it can meet emissions regulations with plug-in hybrids, why rush headlong into full electrification?
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Source:
The Sunday Times
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