Aurelia Butler

Pricing for the 2023 Lucid Air has been slashed by thousands of dollars per trim. The Air Pure model now starts at $83,900, more than $5000 cheaper than before, while both the Touring and Grand Touring models have seen $12,550 cut from their starting prices. Destination charges also drop, from $1650 to $1500.Luxury electric-vehicle manufacturer Lucid is officially cutting the prices on its Air electric sedan. The starting price for 2023 Air models has been slashed by thousands of dollars per trim, with the largest cuts arriving for the Touring and Grand Touring models. The dual-motor AWD Air Pure model now starts at $83,900, a $5150 decrease from before. The Touring and Grand Touring models receive twice the cost decrease, with both models now starting $12,550 lower than before. That works out to a $96,500 price for the Touring and a $127,100 cost out the door for the Grand Touring. Michael Simari|Car and DriverAfter the EV startup increased prices last June, these recent reductions bring the Air directly in line with the company’s initial pricing figures announced in March 2022. At that time, the Air Pure’s starting price was $78,900, and the Touring’s was $96,500. More Lucid NewsPrices We Didn’t Get (Yet)We reached out to Lucid for confirmation on pricing for the rear-drive Pure model scheduled to begin availability in September. We asked whether the original 2022 starting price of $78,900 would be the new price. The spokesperson wouldn’t confirm a price for the model but did state that “We did work back from that original price in determining pricing for [the] currently available Pure AWD.”The company also didn’t state a new price for the 2024 Grand Touring Performance, which is noticeably absent from the Lucid online configurator. A spokesperson declined comment when asked, leading us to believe that the top-spec model may not survive to see the 2024 model year. We got a brief taste of the Grand Touring Performance near Lucid’s headquarters last spring, while also putting the regular Grand Touring model through our testing regimen. Associate News EditorJack 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

Lexus is adding a plug-in-hybrid model to the RX lineup for 2024.It’s called the RX450h+ and it has the same powertrain as the smaller NX450h+, with a slightly shorter claimed electric range and slightly lower efficiency.The RX450h+ starts at $70,080 and will go on sale by the end of the year.For 2024, Lexus is adding a third hybrid option for the RX SUV. The new RX450h+ model joins the lineup as a plug-in hybrid, complementing the existing RX350h and RX500h F Sport Performance hybrids. The plug-in version offers a claimed 35 mile electric range and has the same setup as the smaller NX450h+.The RX450h+ has a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four plus three electric motors; this is the same all-wheel-drive setup found in the NX450h+ and Toyota RAV4 Prime. It has a 6.6-kilowatt onboard charger that can charge the 18.1-kWh battery pack in two and a half hours using a 240-volt outlet. It has slightly more power, with a total output of 304 hp compared with the other models’ 302 hp. The larger RX won’t be as quick as those smaller PHEVs, though, with Lexus claiming a 60 mph time of 6.2 seconds.LexusThe RX450h+ is expensive, starting at $70,080, making it the costliest model in the RX lineup. It comes standard with all the features included on the lesser powertrains’ Luxury trim level including a head-up display, leather upholstery, heated and cooled front and rear seats, and a panoramic sunroof.EPA fuel-economy ratings are 35 mpg combined while running on hybrid power, just 1 mpg less than the RX350h, and 83 MPGe including electric driving. Lexus says the RX450h+ will be available at dealerships by the end of the year.LexusMore on Lexus HybridsThis content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Senior EditorDespite 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

There’s a smaller Land Rover Defender on the way, and it’ll be electric, a Jaguar Land Rover executive said at a recent investor conference, according to Autocar. The “baby” Defender, as Autocar calls it, will be built on JLR’s Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform and is expected to arrive in 2027. It’ll be one of four models built on the EMA platform, joining the next-generation Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, and Land Rover Discovery Sport, Autocar reports. Based on the EMA platform’s dimensions, the new, smaller Defender (which could possibly carry the Defender Sport nameplate) will be about 15 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, making it a bit smaller than a BMW X3. Defenders Old and NewThis new smaller Defender wouldn’t replace the current full-size SUV in Land Rover’s lineup. In fact, the next-generation Defender is expected to arrive in 2026, according to Autocar, based on the company’s Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform, which supports both purely electric and hybrid ICE powertrains. It’s then we expect the first full-size Defender EV to make its first appearance. Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing. More

Nissan confirmed that 2024 would be the last model year for the Titan full-size pickup.Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, assembly plant will end production of the Titan in summer 2024.Pricing for the 2024 Titan starts at $47,665.Since we recently covered pricing for the 2024 Nissan Titan pickup, Nissan has confirmed that this model year will be the last for its full-size truck. Production of the Titan and Titan XD will end in summer 2024 at Nissan’s plant in Canton, Mississippi, to make way for two new electric vehicles that will be built there. One will be a Nissan EV sedan, which we think will be called the Maxima, and the other will be an Infiniti equivalent.The Titan was first introduced for 2003 and was Nissan’s first entry into the full-size pickup market. Its second generation arrived for 2017 and introduced a variant called XD that was meant to fit between light-duty and heavy-duty trucks. The Titan never sold in volumes anywhere close to the levels of the domestic full-size trucks, and has even lagged behind its only other Japanese competitor, the Toyota Tundra. Through the first half of 2023, Nissan sold just 10,550 Titans in the U.S.More on Nissan TrucksThe mid-size Frontier will now be the only pickup truck in Nissan’s lineup. Nissan has also teased a future electric pickup with a concept car called the Surf-Out that looks to be similar in size to the Frontier. Nissan executives have stated an intention to build a mid-size electric truck for the U.S. market, as the Frontier has consistently sold better than the Titan.Before production ends next year, the Titan will still be available at Nissan dealerships. The updated 2024 model is already on sale and gets a new SV Bronze Edition appearance package along with a rejiggered trim lineup.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Senior EditorDespite 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

Heat-related refinery outages helped shut down some petroleum refining capacity in the U.S. last month, and drivers are noticing the changes at the pump.The national average gas price for a gallon of gas shot up to $3.82 this week, the highest since October 2022.Other factors contributing to your paying more to fill up are rising prices for a barrel of oil and lower gasoline inventory supplies. And if more hurricanes arrive soon, they may cause prices to climb again.If you’re still pumping your car full of liquid energy, you’ve probably noticed a higher price recently. You’re not alone. Gas prices have reached a nine-month high nationwide, thanks to both familiar and unexpected causes.During the last week of July, the average price of a gallon of gasoline shot up 16.5 cents, to $3.72 a gallon, according to GasBuddy. Diesel fuel also shot up 15.5 cents to an average of $3.99 per gallon. On August 3, GasBuddy saw the national average rise to $3.82 a gallon, the highest since October 2022.Do Your BestThose price spikes were due to three main factors, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said in a statement: heat-related refinery outages, strong summer demand for gasoline, and gasoline inventories that were at their lowest July level since 2015.Strong demand and low inventories are classic high-gas-price triggers, but heat-related outages are less common. AAA, which tracks gas prices, said the extreme heat we’re all experiencing this summer meant some U.S. refineries, especially those near the Gulf of Mexico, had to cut back. Due to the high heat, the U.S. refined around 500,000 fewer barrels a day than usual.Hottest Month EverJuly was the hottest month in all of recorded human history. The transportation sector, including personal cars and trucks as well as commercial vehicles, airplanes, and trains, is one of the most significant contributors to anthropogenic U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which contribute to climate change. Transportation accounted for almost a third (29 percent) of all U.S. GHG emissions in 2021.Gas station in Austin, Texas, on August 3, 2023.Brandon Bell|Getty ImagesThe heat wave is only partly responsible for the high gas prices, however. The cost of a barrel of oil started climbing in July from the high-$60s to mid-$70s that we saw in May and June to more than $80. AAA said the recent increase was due to the end of releases from the strategic petroleum reserve and “concerns over cuts in supply from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the second- and third-largest oil producers in the world.” GasBuddy said gasoline inventories are also down 2.8 percent from a year ago and 6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.So, what happens next? AAA said in a statement this week that the good news is that the price hikes have started to level out and that further price decreases could be on the way. Gas could also get more expensive if this year’s hurricane season puts further strains on gasoline production. As De Haan said, “Drivers may want to brace for potentially higher prices yet.”Contributing EditorSebastian Blanco has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids, and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk, and other outlets. His first green-car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles and discovering the new technology’s importance not just for the auto industry, but for the world as a whole. Throw in the recent shift to autonomous vehicles, and there are more interesting changes happening now than most people can wrap their heads around. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.  More