These days, given customer preferences and the current state of our car market in this country, the announcement of a new Equinox is as important to GM’s bottom line as was rolling out a new Impala back in the day.

The United States Postal Service has been moving toward electrification for a while now, though it’s not made the progress some had initially hoped. The EVs are coming, however, and the USPS is looking to support that fleet with thousands of chargers located at post offices across the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a seismic shift in how people work, play, and live, and that includes car shopping. Faced with the existential crisis of having no physical customers, dealers began offering remote car-buying services and shipping. Online retailers took off, too, but the party never lasts forever. Vroom, an online used-vehicle retailer, recently announced that it would sunset its e-commerce business, suspending sales on its website.

Google has announced plans to update Android Auto to reduce the time drivers are required to look at screens. This includes the obligatory mention of leveraging artificial intelligence. But the phrase has become a blanket term for any advanced computing integrated into other systems, meaning we have to dig a little deeper to understand what AI brings to the table. While Google hasn’t gotten overly specific, it has said it wants to place an emphasis on improving safety.

The tri-shield brand continues to push forth into that good night, bragging about sales increases in this country whilst showing off a shadowy image of what is said to be the next three-row Enclave.

We’ve known about the Porsche Macan EV for quite a while now, with spy shots and previews popping up all over the internet. Until recently, however, we’d not had an official look from Porsche, but the automaker pulled back the curtain – sort of – by sharing a design sketch of the upcoming electrified SUV.

Updated with new information from Waymo after publication. We corrected dates for the company's Arizona operations, and Waymo noted that its expansion plans are not tied to Cruise's in any way.

General Motors’ Cruise has had a rough few months, ending with it pulling back on autonomous testing efforts across the country. Now, Alphabet’s Waymo is looking to expand, asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to grow its services in Los Angeles.

While most car dealerships are honest, legitimate businesses, some don’t hold their customers in such high regard, charging more than they should without the right disclosures about what the fees are for. Hidden fees aren’t just annoying and shady, though, they can be very expensive, and last year, a Federal Trade Commission ruling aimed to shut the practice down.

The National Automobile Dealers Association protested the decision, joining the Texas Auto Dealers Association in filing a petition in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, leading to a pause on the FTC's rule.

After facing significant challenges ramping up production and meeting customer demand for the F-150 Lightning, Ford recently announced layoffs that will drastically cut volume at its electric vehicle factory in Michigan.

Whilst the machine shown in these digital images are technically for a European model, it is all but certain this electric N Line will be available in America very soon.

Looking ahead to the 2024 calendar year, Honda has laid out some of its plans for the forthcoming 12 months. While we’re sure they’ve still a few things up their sleeve (after all, the phrase “We can’t comment on future product” is a PR mainstay), the news does give us a good idea as to what’s in store – plus a shot of the 2025 Civic Hybrid.

While there are plenty of people that remain annoyed that the Ford Mustang Mach-E continues carrying the Mustang name, the vehicle itself is probably one of the better examples from the electric-crossover segment. Hoping to sweeten the pot, Ford has elected to offer the vehicle with an optional appearance package and some new paint options allowing for one of the best color combinations in automotive history — bronze and green. 

Maserati recently rolled out its first fully electric vehicle in the GranTurismo Folgore, but its roadmap to converting the rest of its lineup is murky. Multiple delays have slowed the Italian automaker’s progress, and we’re now learning that the Quattroporte Folgore will become Maserati’s third delayed EV.

Ford has long offered beefy off-road variants of the F-Series pickup, but the electric F-150 Lightning’s introduction raised questions about how robust a non-internal-combustion truck could be in the dirt. Ford Performance and RTR recently teamed up to find answers to those questions, and the result is the F-150 Lightning Switchgear, a high-performance concept truck with Raptor-like looks.

Huawei has announced it will continue becoming intertwined with the automotive sector after signing onto a joint venture with Chinese state-owned carmaker Changan Automobile. The telecommunications giant has established Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan ($140 million USD) and a focus on smart car equipment manufacturing, artificial intelligence system integration services, and AI software development.

The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 blends the brand’s iconic off-road capability with a stunning Hemi V8, but the SUV’s time on the market is limited. A JL Wrangler Forums member got ahold of a letter from the automaker to dealers, telling them that it will allocate a single Final Edition of the V8 Wrangler if they can beat last year’s January sales numbers.

Seventy-five years ago, a pair of Volkswagen Beetles were imported to this country, marking the start of this brand on our shores. Tempus fugit, VW plans to roll out numerous advertisement efforts to mark the milestone.

Lamborghini has broken its own sales record by delivering over 10,000 automobiles in 2023. While that’s still less than mainstream manufacturers are pushing out the door in a given week, it represents a major shift in how the brand does business and will likely open it up to additional regulatory scrutiny.

Automakers love putting out teasers, using us media dopes to build anticipation.

You know what’s great about gearheads being at the helm of a car company instead of dour bedwetting accountants? Entertaining product tends to crop up, that’s what. And while the machine shown here is not intended for the North American market, we think there could be a case for it on this side of the pond.

We’ve been hearing about attacks on shipments on the Red Sea for a while now, but the violence has probably felt like an isolated problem to many people. Shipping delays and logistics challenges have real consequences, though, and Tesla is finding that out the hard way.

The Ariya arrived later than Nissan wanted, but it’s good enough to warrant a look from EV buyers. However, it didn’t have an engaging driving experience or much in the way of performance. Nissan’s changing that for 2024 – at least in Japan – with the new Ariya Nismo.

After a brief flirtation with warmer-weather months, the North American International Auto Show, also known as the Detroit Auto Show, is returning to a January date.

Many states’ highway departments post funny messages on roadside signs that warn drivers to buckle up, slow down, or watch for emergency vehicles. Despite the fact that they’re entertaining and get the message across, the federal government isn’t in on the joke and has released new guidance on the signs, asking state agencies to cut out the funny business.

Companies often tout their green initiatives as a way to drum up new business, but the expensive reality of investing in EVs and other technologies isn’t always clear up front. Hertz found that out the hard way, as it aggressively invested in new EVs for its rental fleet a couple of years ago, only to begin selling them off in 2024.

After several months of spy shots and looking at the updated Tesla Model 3 in European markets, the car is finally available in North America. Tesla added the car to its online configurator without much fanfare, but there are plenty of changes to the automaker’s popular sedan.

With Stellantis opting to supplant the HEMI V8 with the Hurricane inline six-cylinder engine, there was a gnashing of teeth from Mopar fans who viewed the change as unpleasantly European. The manufacturer is well aware of this and has been fielding special editions of V8-powered models to profit as much as possible off the larger displacement engines before they’re discontinued.

It’s now the Dodge Durango’s turn, with Stellantis announcing “last call” editions of the V8-equipped SUV.

Just about everything is more expensive these days. Why, just last week, our Managing Editor was complaining about his trip to buy methylated spirits and a hammer drill as part of his planned New Year’s Eve festivities*. This is why it’s all the more remarkable when automakers essentially hold the line on pricing models for a new model year – especially when it is one of their best sellers.

Honda used CES 2024 to reveal a couple of purely conceptual automobiles and then announced that one of them would serve as the basis for its new EV line coming in 2026. They’ll even have their own logo, which the company also teased this week.

Stellantis will be working with BlackBerry on a new virtual cockpit they believe will allow for faster development and lower production costs. The system, which is part of the company’s Virtual Engineering Workbench, is designed to replicate automotive controls using Amazon Web Services’ data cloud and is supposed to reduce development turnaround cycles by “up to 100 times.” The stated goal is to ensure new infotainment tech is created and then pushed to the public quickly and efficiently.

We’ve often said that building cars is hard – and those difficulties don’t always end even after a company stops making them. It’s like bad news coming in even after one has turned off their phone. 

It certainly seemed like the fabled Honda-Sony EV would stay a rumor, but the pair announced a formal joint venture in 2022 that put the speculation to rest. Sony Honda Mobility unveiled its Afeela EV in early 2023, and at this year’s CES, the car rolled on stage, driven by a Playstation 5 controller.

Nobody’s doubting rapper will.i.am’s legacy in the music business, but his track record designing cars and working with automakers has yielded some… interesting results. Mercedes-Benz hopes to lean more on the music credentials with its will.i.am partnership, as it has recruited the musician to redesign the electric vehicle sound experience.

'Tis the time of year for buzzword-heavy press releases that tend to be word salads. Kia is no exception today with its CES news.

Still, should you take the time to dig through these things and translate them into plain English, you get a sense of what's up.

In this case, the company is showing several modular concept vehicles that are meant to help businesses do their work better.

Some of the best, or at least most memorable, Super Bowl ads of the past few years came from Stellantis or General Motors.

Remember Will Ferrell schilling for GM? Or that Bruce Springsteen Jeep ad? Or when the Soprano children were reunited, again for GM?

Yeah, well, not this year. Both companies are going to sit this one out.

Marijuana is legal in several states, and you can even order ketamine from a Facebook ad. What you do behind closed doors is, in most cases, your business, but what about if you’re the CEO of several companies with combined values in the hundreds of billions of dollars? That’s a question Tesla’s board members are facing, as CEO Elon Musk’s alleged drug use has been plastered across the internet and news stations everywhere.

The Honda Motor Company has reportedly been going over prospective plans to build a $13.83 billion facility in Canada that would focus on the production of electric vehicles. Japan's Nikkei news group broke the story over the weekend, suggesting the site could include on-site battery production that would help the manufacturer with regional content requirements tied to U.S. incentives.

Given the hype around AI, this year’s CES soirée in the Las Vegas desert is sure to be awash with such technology – most of which will likely be deployed in strange and perhaps terrifying ways. Arguably falling into the latter category is VW’s decision to present the first vehicles in which the artificial-intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT is integrated into its IDA voice assistant.

Some good news? The feature is only being “considered for the United States” at the moment.

VinFast Auto is planning to show off several electric vehicles at CES it would like to see sold within the United States in the coming years. Despite the brand initially looking like another automotive startup doomed to failure, it’s managed to outlast much of the competition and continues to express a desire to break into the North American market. Its booth will reportedly include the VF8 compact crossover, boxy VF3 microcar, and a new pickup concept.

Smart home devices and hubs can be awesome or infuriating, depending on how you use them. Even so, Samsung hopes to keep things simple with its newest efforts, which see it partnering with two automakers to integrate EV and other functions with its SmartThings platform.

Tesla has long been accused of being, um, “overly optimistic” about its EVs’ range estimates. Its vehicles often fall further from their EPA estimates than other models, prompting an investigation by the DOJ and owner complaints. Now, the automaker has quietly reduced its advertised range estimates, with some falling by significant amounts.

A Johns Hopkins School of Public Health’s Bloomberg American Health Initiative study, published late last year, has suggested that narrow streets are safer than wider ones.

It sounds counterintuitive. But let us dig in to see how the report came together.

In a highly anticipated announcement, the North American Car, Truck, and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) awards for 2024 have been declared. These prestigious awards, a highlight in the automotive industry calendar, recognize outstanding vehicles following extensive testing and evaluation. The process, involving rigorous scrutiny by automotive experts, highlights the year's most innovative and high-performing vehicles.

Remember when there was a shortage of microchips in the automotive industry? Pepperidge Farm remembers. According to reports, images showing fields of almost-but-not-quite completed new cars awaiting One More Chip, along with manufacturers wildly deleting features like heated seats as if they were the mob deleting computer files, could be permanently in the rear-view mirror.

Ford was the most-recalled automaker in 2023, and it had one more to slide in before the new year rolled in. The company is recalling more than 100,000 F-150s for an issue with the rear axle hub bolt that could cause it to break and make a crash or rollaway more likely. Ford issued the recall on December 22.

The EV tax credit rules changed again at the beginning of 2024, and stricter requirements on battery materials sourcing cut several previously qualified models from the list. Most GM models failed to make the cut, at least temporarily, and the automaker is offering $7,500 compensatory discounts to keep sales flowing.

Croatian hypercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili has thrown the world a bit of a curveball. The business is reportedly in the middle of a plot to develop robotaxi services for Europe and making some decent headway at that.

There is no shortage of machines jumping on the off-road bandwagon as of late. Rigs like the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato get big grins and all the ink but jacked up machines like the Wilderness line at Subaru are pushing these builds well into the mainstream. Audi is dipping a toe into these muddy waters with the all-electric Q8 e-tron Edition Dakar.

Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) has recently initiated a safety recall campaign affecting a specific range of vehicles equipped with the M254 engine. The recall, identified by NHTSA Campaign Number 23V878000, addresses an issue related to the high-pressure fuel pump that could lead to potential safety hazards for vehicle owners and other road users. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of the recall, its implications, and the necessary steps for affected vehicle owners to ensure their safety on the road.

Stellantis pulled out of last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show and the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show, stating that it was trying to save money amid the now resolved UAW strike. It likewise announced it would be skipping CES for 2024 (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) for the same reasons.

However, it’s starting to look like the company just isn’t interested in attending the big events anymore. Reports have claimed Stellantis will continue snubbing industry shows located in North America for the foreseeable future, with the Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS) being the next on the list. Stellantis says dealers can decide if they want to make an appearance at subsequent trade events while corporate takes a pass.

Redesigning the wheel is great, as long as the thing you’re changing actually needs it. Automakers are primary offenders in this area, changing the gear selector and many other long-consistent components.

Tesla changed several things in its vehicles, the most baffling of which is the turn signal stalk, which it removed in favor of steering wheel-mounted buttons. That “update” is cause for concern for driving schools in Norway, where many instructors believe the buttons are dangerous in some situations and have banned Teslas from their lessons.

Leather has become an increasingly contentious automotive production material as automakers look to go green and many groups lobby for animal-free supply chains. While many companies have shifted to sustainable materials and plant-based alternatives to animal hides, a leather trade group is fighting back. One 4 Leather says that cow leather has a lower carbon footprint than the alternatives, but that might not be enough to change minds.

Rivian has filed a patent for a full-size spare wheel mount designed to accommodate additional components that can enhance the capabilities of the all-electric R1S SUV.

The spare mount has the wheel oriented so the cavity is facing outward, allowing Rivian to throw in cylindrical containers dedicated to specific purposes. The patent list makes mention of the space being utilized for a “first aid kit, waste can, water container, cooler, vacuum canister, compressed air system, toolbox, electrical appliance, electrical cord wound on a reel, a camera, or other types of containers.”

Zuffenhausen has knocked Tesla off its perch as king of the ‘ring, throwing down an all-electric lap time within a shout of the bonkers Rimac Nevera.

Tesla just had its best sales year ever, beating its sales target and delivering more than 484,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. Despite that success, the company fell behind Chinese automaker BYD for the first time.

We’ve been hearing about Volkswagen’s Scout brand revival for a while now, and it finally appears we don’t have long to wait for a first look. The automaker recently released a short teaser video, and while details are scarce, the end states that the first model is due this summer.

With Toyota discussing its desire to build an automatic transmission dedicated for performance applications, driving enthusiasts around the world are eager to find out when the unit will be affixed to the GR Yaris. Meanwhile, Americans want to know when it will be adapted for the GR Corolla and prospective performance products Toyota may actually sell in the United States. There has been no shortage of rumors, with one of the most recent suggesting Toyota’s newest “Direct Automatic Transmission” (DAT) will debut during the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon. Production is supposed to commence at roughly the same time.

General Motors’ Cruise has had an exceptionally tough 2023, but the company isn’t going down without a fight or, in this case, a massive lawsuit against the city of San Francisco. GM has paid San Francisco $108 million in taxes and $13 million in interest since 2016 and now wants it back.

Rather than taxing GM and Cruise separately, as the automaker claims it should, the city lumped them together, resulting in higher tax bills.

Tesla recently began rolling out its refreshed Model 3 sedan in some global markets, and the automaker is now gearing up for an update to its best-selling model. Bloomberg broke the story, which claims that the Model Y is due for a thorough update next year.

Today, most EVs use lithium-ion batteries, just like the phone in your pocket. While the battery chemistry is well-known and thoroughly tested at this point in time, the setup has weaknesses that could be addressed by alternative designs. A Volkswagen-funded Chinese automaker has a new type of battery that offers some benefits over lithium-ion batteries, namely cost and cold weather performance, but it’s unclear if we’ll see them in the United States.