Aurelia Butler

On April 17, 1964, the world got its first look at a new model from Ford called the Mustang. Now, the Mustang is about to turn 60, and Ford is not letting that milestone go unnoticed. Ford announced a special Vermillion and Ebony (red and black) logo on Wednesday to pay tribute to the iconic American pony car. The new logo takes design inspiration from the badging and wheel center caps from the 1964 show car that debuted at the World’s Fair that year. The retro-themed badges are red with black stripes with “60 Years” text as a reminder of how long the Mustang has been around. FordBut the 60th-anniversary celebration does not end there. Ford teased a special feature that will be available to owners of the seventh-generation Mustang. Around April 17, Ford is going to push this new feature to those owners via a software update. There is no cost for this new feature. The automaker says owners just need to turn on Automatic Software Updates in the settings menu through their vehicle’s Sync 4 touchscreen to receive it. The Chevrolet Camaro is dead, and the V-8–powered Dodge Challenger has also driven into the sunset. That leaves the Ford Mustang as the only surviving V-8-powered American muscle car. No performance enhancements were announced along with the 60th anniversary, so it’s safe to assume the Mustang GT will continue on with 486 horsepower and 500 horsepower in Dark Horse trim. From the ArchiveThe Mustang was a sales hit the moment it launched in 1964 and has proven to be quite popular in recent years as well. Ford claims it was America’s best-selling sports car last year based on 2023 U.S. registrations. “As we get set to celebrate Mustang’s 60th anniversary, that same passion and excitement continues with our seventh-generation Mustang, now headed to customers in 85 markets around the world,” said Jeff Marentic, Ford general manager for truck, family, and enthusiast vehicles. More

Numerous automakers are facing shipping challenges after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed earlier this week.Traffic has been suspended at the Port of Baltimore until further notice, creating issues for many automakers who import vehicles through this large and busy port.According to Automotive News, Audi, Bentley, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Lamborghini, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Volvo depend on the port for importing, exporting, and parts shipment.Numerous automakers are facing shipping challenges on America’s Eastern seaboard following the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which left six people missing and presumed dead. The collapse occurred after a 948-foot container ship collided with the bridge, bringing it down almost immediately. On Tuesday, following the collapse, the Port of Baltimore said that vessel traffic in and out of the port would be suspended until further notice, though trucks within the port’s terminals can still be processed.KENA BETANCUR|Getty ImagesVehicles leaving the port in Baltimore after the incident on Tuesday, March 26. The port’s closing has created a logistical headache for many automakers who use the area to import vehicles into the United States. Most major automakers use this location to import and export vehicles and parts.A report from Automotive News notes that Volkswagen and BMW are two examples of automakers that will be less affected because their terminals are located east of the bridge and remain accessible. Others are not so lucky, the paper said, and are being forced to find workarounds until things can return to normal. “This is a terrible tragedy and our sympathies go out to those injured and still missing in Baltimore,” said John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a firm that represents Ford, GM, Toyota, and Volkswagen, among other major automakers in the U.S. “It’s too early to say what impact this incident will have on the auto business, but there will certainly be a disruption. Baltimore is the No. 1 automobile port in the U.S., and we’re in touch with federal officials to help them understand the scale of automotive operations there.”Cargo ContentLast year, the private and public terminals within the Baltimore port handled 847,158 cars and light trucks. That’s more than any other port inside the United States. “It’s a large port with a lot of flow through it, so it’s going to have an impact,” John Lawler, Ford CFO, said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV. “We’ll work on the workarounds. We’ll have to divert parts to other ports along the East Coast or elsewhere in the country.”Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dimitris Psillakis told CNBC that not enough time has passed to glean an accurate picture. “It’s too early to see the effects,” Psillakis said on ‘Money Movers.’ “The situation is still developing, so we’ll do our best to make sure we find ways to supply vehicles to the market. But it is still too early to judge.” He also said the Baltimore port is one of four U.S. distribution centers that the company uses for vehicles coming from Germany. A spokesperson for General Motors told the Detroit Free Press that the automaker is working with its logistics providers to find shipping options at other ports and that GM does not expect major disruptions to its shipping operations. Like GM, many of the automakers affected by the suspension in traffic in the Baltimore port say they expect minimal impact. But the extent of the disruptions likely won’t be known for some time yet, as with the supply-chain problems that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More

The 2023 Fisker Ocean lineup is getting its prices slashed by between $14K and $24K, depending on the trim level.The top-spec Extreme’s base price drops from $63,937 to $39,937; the entry-level Sport and mid-tier Ultra now start at $27,437 and $37,437, respectively. The dramatic price cuts come as Fisker fights to avoid bankruptcy, having recently paused production for six weeks to address the situation.Fisker appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy, and today the California-based startup has announced that it is drastically slashing prices for the 2023 Ocean electric SUV. The lineup consists of three trim levels, starting with the front-drive Sport and moving up to better-equipped all-wheel-drive models—the Ultra and top-of-the-line Extreme. The entry-level Sport sees its starting price drop by $14K, from $41,437 to $27,734. The mid-tier Ultra’s starting price is cut $18K, from $55,437 to $37,437. Finally, the Extreme’s previous base price has gone from $63,937 all the way down to $39,937, which amounts to a substantial $24,000 discount. All of these figures include the $2438 destination fee.Fisker said the reduced prices apply to 2023 models with the company new 2024 Ocean OS 2.0 software installed. The discounts will also go into effect this Friday, March 29. In its press release, the company said,”Fisker is strategically positioning Ocean to be a more affordable and compelling EV choice, competitively available to EV buyers.”Car and Driver has reached out to a Fisker spokesperson to ask if the price cuts will apply to the 2024 Ocean too, however, we have yet to hear back from them. We will update this story if or when we get a response.It’s no coincidence that the dramatic price cuts come as the company fights to avoid bankruptcy. This past February, Fisker’s problems became obvious after an ominous earnings call that provided a bleak outlook followed by mass layoffs. Then, starting last week on March 18, the company paused production for six weeks as it worked on a plan to address its current financial turmoil. While Fisker has announced a commitment from an existing investor along with a new wave of financing reportedly worth up to $150 million in gross proceeds, talks with a large unnamed automaker have since broken down, according to Reuters. Fisker has also been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange as its financial woes grow.Other Ocean StoriesEric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si. More

As the Polestar 4 makes its North American entrance at the New York auto show, the automaker has revealed its full pricing breakdown.Pricing for the single-motor base variant starts at $56,300 while the top trim dual-motor variant with the Plus and Performance packs comes in at $74,300; all models are labeled as “long range.”Polestar will begin taking orders for the Polestar 4 in late April 2024 with deliveries planned to start later in the year. Polestar’s lineup is about to grow by a factor of one Polestar 4 SUV, and the company has just revealed its full pricing breakdown in the run-up to its arrival. In its cheapest form, the base Long-range single-motor variant starts at $56,300 and features 272 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque from its rear-drive powertrain. PolestarBuyers can choose between single- and dual-motor options, with single-motor trims getting rear-wheel drive and dual-motor variants featuring all-wheel drive. Stepping up to all-wheel-drive models brings the base price to $64,300. Beyond the drivetrain choices, Polestar packages options in a choice of four Packs: Pilot, Pro, Plus, and Performance. Adding the Pilot or Pro package costs an additional $1500 or $2000 respectively, while the Plus Pack is $5500 extra. The Performance Pack is only available on the long-range, dual-motor Polestar 4, and when bundled with the Plus pack, it brings the price to $74,300. The Pilot Pack comes standard on dual-motor cars and adds driver-assistance features including pilot assist and lane-change assist. The Pro Pack swaps the standard 20-inch wheels for a set of 21-inch Pro wheels and adds a special set of seatbelts and valve stem caps. The Performance Pack adds 22-inch forged wheels, Brembo brake calipers, performance tires, and special gold seatbelts and valve stem caps. PolestarAll Polestar 4 models bear the moniker “Long Range” and come equipped with a 94.0-kWh battery capable of charging speeds up to 200 kW DC and 11 kW AC no matter the power designation chosen. Polestar is targeting an EPA estimate of more than 300 miles of range. Single-motor versions feature a 268-hp electric motor driving the rear wheels, while dual-motor Polestar 4s get all-wheel drive and 536 horses. Polestar will open order books in late April 2024, with deliveries expected to begin sometime in the fourth quarter of the year. More on the Polestar 4Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More

Kia showed a hatchback version of the new K4 compact and confirmed it’s coming to the U.S.The previous-gen Forte didn’t offer a hatchback version in America.We don’t have exact timing, but Kia says the hatchback version is coming “at a later date.”Although the outgoing Kia Forte was offered only as a sedan in the U.S., many of its compact competitors—namely the Honda Civic, Mazda 3, and Toyota Corolla—also offer a hatchback variant. Now we know that Kia is remedying that with the new 2025 K4, as the company showed a new hatchback version at the New York auto show and confirmed that it will come to the U.S. The K4 hatch looks quite different than the sedan, at least aft of the B-pillar. It incorporates a “floating roof” design with an interestingly shaped chrome trim piece around the rear window and D-pillar. The taillights are similar to the sedan’s, with LED lighting strips stretching nearly the width of the car. The relatively upright hatchback shape looks promising for the cargo area, which should offer more space than the sedan’s trunk. We expect the hatchback to share its powertrains with the sedan, meaning it will offer a 147-hp naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-four in lower trims and a 190-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four in the GT-Line Turbo model.Kia referred to the hatchback as the K4 5-door hatch, but we don’t yet know what the official name will be. The company previously used the “5” designation for models such as the Rio 5 and Forte 5, but K4 5 doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Kia didn’t provide exact timing for the K4 hatchback’s arrival, but did say it’s coming “at a later date.” The K4 sedan is scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. in the second half of this year, so the hatch might arrive by the end of the year or in early 2025. Look for more details to come over the next few months.More on the K4Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More