If you read our coverage of Book by Cadillac, you’ll recall it was a minor financial disaster that had to be shut down in 2018. Cadillac was trying to develop a subscription model, following the lead of other premium manufacturers attempting to usher in a new age of consumerism, sans ownership. But the public didn’t take the bait.

We’ve had niggles about subscription-based sales models for years, whether it be for something hidden in your digital dashboard or affixed to an entire automobile. While they make sense for some services, we couldn’t make the numbers work for cars. It’s almost always the most expensive way to get into any given automobile. However, you do get a few nice perks as a consolation — things like insurance, registration, and maintenance — since you’re effectively renting the car. In the case of Cadillac, Book also allowed you to swap vehicles via a concierge service that would deliver the swapped vehicle pretty much anywhere you wanted — offering bottle water, umbrellas, and a positive attitude upon arrival.

Those extravagances may have been justifiable for those with money to burn, but the general populace wasn’t there to help General Motors shoulder the burden. The pilot program ended roughly a year ago. Yet GM’s chief marketing officer, Deborah Wahl, said Book would return in 2020, bigger and better than ever.  Read More >

As members of the media swarm over new vehicles in Los Angeles, a legal drama is playing out in Detroit. General Motors has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against cross-town rival Fiat Chrysler, alleging FCA conspired to undermine the collective bargaining process and create unfair advantages by bribing UAW officials.

This cost GM lots of money, the automaker claims, and now it wants to collect.

“This lawsuit is intended to hold FCA accountable for the harm its actions have caused our company and to ensure a level playing field going forward,” said Craig Glidden, GM Executive Vice President and General Counsel, in a statement. Read More >

If you’re keeping track, the Vision T Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept is the seventh design study to roll out of Hyundai’s styling studio in recent memory. Appearing Wednesday at the L.A. Auto Show, the plug-in utility vehicle has the bad timing of debuting at the same moment Toyota unveiled a plug-in crossover you’ll soon be able to buy and drive home.

Unfortunate timing aside, the concept does give us a glimpse of Hyundai’s future. Read More >

When Dodge first built a Challenger, back in 1959, it was actually a Coronet. A decade later, the car returned as the spiritual foundation of the coupe we know today. Presumably, the name is intended to represent Chrysler rising to meet the Challenges laid by rival manufacturers already building American muscle. But we can nitpick here endlessly, going back to the 1950s and giving the pentastar brand plenty of credit for going bananas on horsepower.

It would actually take decades for us to realize the Challenger’s true purpose — serving as a canvas for a hilarious number of special edition vehicles. Thankfully, they usually turn out to be fairly enjoyable and totally on brand, leaving us with little to complain about.

For the Challenger’s 50th anniversary, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to offer limited production Dodges in new colors with commemorative bling. It’s basically the same recipe Ford used for the 50th Anniversary Mustang but with some additional brashness from Dodge. However, while those Fords only came in Wimbledon White and Kona Blue, the Challenger comes in every high-impact paint color FCA has at its disposal — including Gold Rush.  Read More >

Kia earned applause for being ballsy enough to launch a rear-drive sports sedan at a time when buyers were heading in the other direction. Don’t go, Kia said, we’ve got a more affordable option for traditional driving!

Rear- or all-wheel drive greeted buyers looking for something fresh, with four- or six-cylinder power doing the motivating. Since its late-2017 arrival, the Stinger’s sales have fallen off a bit from last year’s tally, when it sold in low but consistent numbers. For 2020, the brand may be looking to reduce build configurations.

That means less four-cylinder choice and the removal of the model’s entry-level model. Apparently, this won’t cause much pain to your wallet. Read More >

After years of rumors and real-world development, Aston Martin has finally joined the SUV crew. Among its members these days? Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, and Jaguar, with the likes of Lotus and Ferrari eager to join this high-riding posse of automotive misfits.

The DBX is a two-row utility vehicle boasting a profile you can find elsewhere in the industry and an engine sourced from the Germans. It’s a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 borrowed from AMG, and it motivates this largest-ever Aston with 542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Price? If you need to ask, you cannot afford. Read More >

In our question of the day post last Wednesday, we asked you to submit the vehicles that left you wondering what the manufacturers behind them were thinking. Today, we’ll take the opposite tack and focus our attention on the automotive products which came along at exactly the right time.

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It seems the automotive industry has learned that the instant torque and potency potential afforded by electric motors can be a selling feature all its own, relegating the usual save-the-planet messaging to the back burner. Even the traditionally staid and sensible Toyota is getting in on the game.

Not just Toyota, but even the RAV4 — a compact and newly revamped crossover most often associated with placid nuclear families boasting at least one parent who works for the public sector. Toyota is eager to tell you that an upcoming variant, revealed this week at the L.A. Auto Show, will get you to 60 mph quicker than any RAV4 that came before.

And it’ll do so without using gas. Read More >

How much content can we milk out of the new Mustang Mach-E? Plenty, as it turns out.

When this EV hits the streets next year, it’ll be offered in several different trims. By definition, there must be a base model, right? Absolutely. And, in this case, it is called the Select (cue raging Lincoln loyalists). This post isn’t to acquit the Mach-E or Ford’s decision to call the thing a Mustang. Rather, it’s to see if the cheapest version has enough equipment to warrant a look when it shows up in a few months.

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Lincoln’s been a bit of a resurgent brand of late, and the newest crossover for future Matthew McConaughey commercials is the Corsair Grand Touring.

This plug-in hybrid crossover has electric all-wheel drive (read: electric drive motors provide most of the power to the wheels) and will give Lincoln a second PHEV offering, following the introduction of the Aviator Grand Touring.

A 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder mates with an electric motor to provide what Lincoln is targeting as 266 system horsepower. The brand’s aim? “More than” 25 miles of all-electric range.

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Silly naming convention aside – what’s with the misplace period and the dual z’s/zeds, Volkswagen? – the Volkswagen ID. Space Vizzion Concept is meant to preview something sleek.

A drag coefficient of 0.24 is nothing to sneeze at, indeed. Had my crappy CAD designs gotten that sort of number in eighth grade, perhaps I’ve have earned an A and would be designing cars instead of writing about them.

Ahem.

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With America now fully retreated from the compact car space, Japan is left holding the bag in a dwindling market. For two automakers — Honda and Toyota — the abandonment of the compact car market has added wind to slackening sails, but their gain comes at the expense of other players. Nissan is one of those players.

With its next-generation Sentra, Nissan hopes to steal from its rivals’ plates and amass a bigger slice of the pie. Read More >

And then there were two. Volkswagen Group, which is leading the (mainstream) charge on vehicle electrification, has a second high-end electric vehicle to tempt cozy greenies, and like its sibling, its styling aims to comfort, not repel.

The Audi E-Tron Sportback (“e-tron” Sportback in Audi parlance) is a slightly more curvaceous, sportier version of the E-Tron two-row crossover that began appearing earlier this year. Like that model, the Sportback doesn’t turn away traditional premium buyers with Jetsons-like styling and overbearing nods to the technology that lurks beneath its surface. It’s all-electric, yes, but you’d hardly know it from standing next to one. Read More >

Back before we had standards and practices barring tainted food from store shelves, there was a colossal stretch of history when you could buy discounted meat that was well past its best-buy date. The older the cheaper.

These days, those kinds of discounts really only apply to inedible items — like cars. But you don’t have to suffer any of the ramifications of eating thrice-cooked, spoiled meats when you get a car that the manufacturer decides is no longer fit for human consumption. Read More >

Alfa Romeo’s Giulia and Stelvio will receive a mid-cycle refresh for the 2020 model year. As is the norm with Italian models, the changes are being referenced by Western media as a sexification providing erotic pleasure to the eyes. In truth, Fiat Chrysler is simply offering both models with optional appearance kits and freshened interiors.

Then again, perhaps the true measure of automotive sexiness is finding a model you want to spend all of your spare time inside — as that’s often the benchmark with human beings.

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