Today marks an important milestone in the history of the Lincoln Motor Company. Precisely 100 years ago, the Ford Motor Company purchased Lincoln, paying automotive engineer and inventor Henry Leland $8 million for the acquisition. Since then, Ford has grown the brand to become the luxury marque it is today. … Read more
Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has a new name. As of February 1, 2022, the company is formally called Mercedes-Benz AG. The moniker represents Daimler’s passenger vehicle operation only, following the spinoff of the company’s truck and bus division that’s officially known as Daimler Truck AG. Mercedes-Benz AG … Read more
Used car prices continue to rise, averaging $28,205 in December 2021 according to Kelley Blue Book. Prices are up 28 percent over the previous year, an extraordinarily huge increase brought on by COVD-induced shortages and surging demand. Sparse inventories are being replenished too, with inventories rising to 50 days for … Read more
The pinnacle of Cadillac performance is the V Series, especially the Blackwing sequence. Both the CT4 and CT5 sedans offer V-Series and Blackwing variants, but soon they will be joined by the range-topping Escalade, at least in the V-Series department. In a series of teases this week, Cadillac hinted at … Read more
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show, is slated to return in September 2022. After a near four-year absence, the popular show will rejoin the auto show circuit with a 12-day event held at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit. Backed by the Detroit … Read more
For the second consecutive year, the Ford Motor Company won two of the three North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) awards. Ford won the utility vehicle class with its all-new Bronco and garnered the truck award with the Ford Maverick. Meanwhile, the Honda Civic is the North … Read more
The figures are in for 2021 U.S. auto sales and the numbers are revealing. We learned that Toyota overtook GM in total sales, the first time a foreign manufacturer unseated a domestic leader. GM’s sales fell 13 percent over 2020, while Toyota’s rose by 10 percent. Both manufacturers were impacted … Read more
Chevrolet took the wraps off the Silverado EV at the 2022 CES and we’re eager to share what we know about it. The Silverado EV is the latest in upwards of 30 electrified GM models coming by 2025, with most based on the company’s Ultium all-electric architecture. The first model … Read more
The Chrysler marque has fallen on hard times lately, obscured under Fiat Chrysler and seemingly threatened with the emergence of Stellantis in 2021. With just two models left – the Pacifica minivan and the aged 300 sedan – its future seemed in doubt. While Stellantis was consolidating Fiat Chrysler with … Read more
One of the most hotly anticipated new pickup truck models is not the in-production GMC Hummer EV nor is it the Rivian R1T. It even is not the Tesla Cybertruck, a model that has been promised and delayed for several years. Instead, the model is the Ford F-150 Lightning, an … Read more
BrightDrop, which is GM’s commercial EV arm, delivered the first five of its EV600 vehicles to FedEx this month. The initial delivery kicks off an order totaling 500 electric Light Commercial Vehicles (eLCVs) contracted by the delivery company. The all-electric, zero-emissions vehicles represent an important component in FedEx’s quest to … Read more
Toyota Motor Corporation announced this week that the company is investing $70 billion to move the automaker toward an electrified future. The pivot includes both its Toyota and Lexus brands, with the latter slated to become electric only. Kicking off the effort for the luxury marque is the Lexus RZ … Read more
Toyota Motor North America announced on Monday that it selected a site near Liberty, NC, for its new electric vehicle battery plant. Toyota officials along with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Liberty mayor Fillmore York were on hand at the Greensboro-Randolph site where the plant will be located. Specifically, … Read more
Automotive manufacturers are busy making plans to switch to electrification, with investments in the tens of billions of dollars expected. Manufacturers such as GM, Volkswagen, Ford, and Hyundai announced their plans in recent weeks, but curiously absent was Nissan. That’s all changed as Nissan revealed near the end of the … Read more
The world’s largest retailer launches its first self-driving vehicles. The future is now with autonomous driving. Well, at least for Walmart it is. The Arkansas-headquartered company has teamed with autonomous developer Gatik to deploy a pair of autonomous vehicles in its delivery system. The vehicles travel seven miles between a … Read more
Vietnam’s VinFast intends to market EVs stateside. A relatively new automaker is making plans to sell its cars in the United States. VinFast, the Vietnamese automotive manufacturer, will bring two electric vehicles to the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show in November. Founded in 2017, VinFast began producing its first models … Read more
Upstart Lucid Motors launches its first product. Production of the Lucid Air sedan has commenced, as an assembly line in Arizona rolled off its first models this week. The long-awaited, all-electric model has the Tesla Model S sedan in its crosshairs, promising a 520-mile range and with performance numbers that … Read more
Ford lays out its EV strategy that’s centered on a joint venture. The Ford Motor Company announced this week an $11.4 billion investment it says will help the company “lead America’s shift to electric vehicles.” Specifically, the automaker will build a mega campus in Stanton, Tennessee, allocating $5.6 billion toward … Read more
The Ford Motor Company is discontinuing the EcoSport, its smallest crossover utility vehicle. Built in India and introduced to the U.S. market in late 2017, the little SUV goes away as the automaker winds down its Indian manufacturing arm. The EcoSport is also built in Romania for the European market, … Read more
So long, farewell to two more models. The number of car models available continues to shrink, as manufacturers prioritize other body styles. Specifically, utility vehicles and trucks. We are not all that surprised when a model goes away. Although some like the previously dropped Ford Taurus and the on-again, off-again … Read more
Ford considers a way to move unfinished models closer to customers. The auto industry is in a world of hurt due to the global semiconductor chip shortage. In the U.S., some manufacturers are suffering more than others, with the shortage reducing the output of certain models by half or more. … Read more
Ram, Dodge, Fiat, and other Stellatis brands will field all-electric models starting in 2024. Nearly every major manufacturer has revealed their plans to electrify their fleets. With governments pushing for the end of or the severe restriction of the internal combustion engine, that transition is underway. In the U.S., the … Read more
Volvo Cars will eliminate the internal combustion engine earlier than most. Volvo Cars held a leadership position on efficient and electrified vehicles until recently. But with manufacturers such as Ford and GM investing billions to bring dozens of new products to the market, the company has had to respond with … Read more
Prologue is the start of something new for Honda. Like other manufacturers, Honda is pursuing a path to vehicle electrification. However, unlike most competitors, they are not going this road alone. At least not initially. As the first half of 2021 draws to a close, Honda’s North American operation announced … Read more
The United States Postal Service (USPS) places it largest order in three decades. Oshkosh Defense wins and will manufacturer in South Carolina. South Carolina is the location for the new Oshkosh Defense manufacturing plant that is slated to build the next-generation USPS delivery vehicles. Specifically, the Wisconsin-based manufacturer chose Spartanburg … Read more
Pictured: The chassis of Mazda large gasoline engine vehicles with a PHEV. Mazda outlines its plans for an electric future with Zoom Zoom. Earlier this month, we learned that Mazda will drop a pair of models from its U.S. portfolio this year. Both the small CX-3 crossover and the midsize … Read more
Widened tax credit for electric vehicles receives congressional support. Shoppers of Tesla and GM electric vehicles are no longer eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit. That is due to both companies using up their 200,000-unit credit. In Tesla’s case, the incentive ended years ago. While other automakers jump into … Read more
Lightning strikes the F-150 range. Well, the Ford Motor Company has done it. After hinting about a full-electric pickup truck for several years and finally settling on a name this month, the introduction of the F-150 Lightning EV at a global news conference last night brought the hype to its … Read more
A hybrid stop as Lamborghini goes electric. Eventually. If you are an automaker, the operative word today is “electrification.” At this point, nearly every automaker has announced its plans or is already in transition. The movement to an all-electric fleet will not happen in a matter of years. Instead, it … Read more
Automaker institutes a new build-shy term to describe its current production methodology. The term “build-shy” is new, but it aptly describes one automaker’s production strategy in this era of global chip shortages. GM, which is comprised of the Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC brands, isn’t allowing a shortage of semiconductor … Read more