Aurelia Butler

The 2023 Lincoln Corsair is getting updated styling, showing off a taller grille and an updated interior with a 13.2-inch screen.The newly updated ActiveGlide system, Lincoln’s equivalent to the Ford SuperCruise hands-free driving system, is being added for the 2023 model year.Pricing for the Corsair will start at $39,885 for the base model with front-wheel drive. The new models will begin arriving at dealerships in early 2023. The 2023 Lincoln Corsair, the company’s top seller, is dropping its lackluster 2.3-liter turbocharged engine option and will receive updated styling inside and out. On the outside, the front grille is now taller and the daytime running lights have been updated to form the shape of wings. Lincoln is adding two new exterior paint options, Crystal Red and Whisper Blue. More on LincolnThe interior of the 2023 Corsair is also updated. The center screen is increasing in size to 13.2-inches and will now feature Sync 4 technology. The 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster is standard equipment. Lincoln is adding two new interior color themes. The new Smoked Truffle interior features a combination of neutral tans and browns. Eternal Red offers a more colorful option, pairing red leather on the seats and dash with gray and black accents throughout the interior. Ford recently announced the updated 1.2 version of BlueCruise, which is branded as ActiveGlide for Lincoln. Appearing first in the Navigator, the hands-free driving system will be added to the Corsair in 2023. ActiveGlide 1.2 only works on pre-mapped roads and only up to 80 miles per hour. The updated system will be able to perform hands-free lane changes and can suggest a lane change if the car senses traffic is moving faster in a different lane. The system is not able to perform all functions of driving, and the driver is still required to remain alert and ready to take over at any time. Corsairs on C/DLincoln is dropping the turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four engine option for 2023. That leaves the choice of the base turbocharged 2.0-liter engine or the 2.5-liter plug-in-hybrid (PHEV) version. The 2.3-liter engine shouldn’t really be missed, as our testing showed nearly equivalent performance sticking with the 2.0. Choosing the base 2.0-liter will provide 250 horsepower, while upgrading to the top-of-the-line plug-in-hybrid Grand Touring nets a total of 266 horsepower. The 2.0-liter turbo option tested with AWD provided 30 mpg in our 200-mile highway fuel-economy test. We have not tested the PHEV version yet, but the EPA says it will provide 28 miles of electric range. Pricing for the 2023 Corsair will increase by $2110, starting at $39,885 for the base front-wheel-drive model. All-wheel drive is an additional $2300. The Black Label trim is still not available on the Corsair, making the Grand Touring, starting at $54,580, the highest trim available. The new Corsair will begin arriving in dealerships beginning early 2023. 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.This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More

Veteran automotive writer and photographer Richard Prince has just released his latest book, Corvette 70 Years: The One and Only (Motorbooks/Quarto $60.00), and it is a lavish love letter to a model Prince has cherished since he was a boy. “My connection to Corvette goes back to early childhood,” he told Car and Driver, recalling the time he first saw a mid-year C2. “I was smitten because it was, in my opinion, among the most beautiful cars ever produced. It was the car I wanted when I got my license.”Related StoriesPrince’s infatuation has resulted not only in his having owned at least one Corvette consistently for the past 40 years, but in his founding, with his wife, a restoration shop specializing in Corvettes, his writing three previous books, and over 1500 articles on the model, and to his acting as official Corvette photographer for Chevrolet since the introduction of the C5.Pre-Order NowMotorbooks Corvette 70 Years: The One and OnlyPre-Order NowMotorbooks Corvette 70 Years: The One and OnlyThis inside connection proved invaluable in the creation of the book, in which over half of the often rare (or previously unseen) images came from GM’s internal archives. But it also made perusing these annals occasionally uncanny. “Because I’ve worked with GM for so many years, thousands of my own images are in the archive,” Prince said. “So it was a bit surreal to be doing research and frequently coming across my own work.” One would imagine that after telling the story of Chevy’s “Plastic Fantastic” sports car so often, there might be little else to discover. But Prince’s detailed approach to the subject yields fresh insights. He was particularly interested to ferret out new information on the origin of the Corvette in the early 1950s, at the dawn of America’s interest in sports cars. Zora Arkus-Duntov catches air in a pre-production Corvette.GM media archive”Perhaps the most surprising thing I found was an audio tape of a 1954 interview of GM styling vice president Harley Earl conducted by a Detroit-based journalist named Stanley Brams,” Prince said. In that interview, Earl states that the idea for creating Corvette came to him in September 1951 while he was at a sports car race in Watkins Glen, New York. “Mr. Earl was inspired by the huge crowds and intense enthusiasm he witnessed there in 1951,” he said. “Hearing directly from him in this taped interview answers the question definitively.” 1957 Corvette SSGM media archiveHe was also compelled to find that, despite the car’s iconic nature and marketplace success, its ongoing existence has often remained precarious. “It was surprising just how fragile Corvette’s survival has been over almost all of its history,” Prince said. “It is well known that many at GM wanted to abandon it early on when sales were dismal,” he said, noting that at the end of the 1954 model year, about one-third of production remained unsold. “It’s not well known, however, that the car came very close to an unceremonious death numerous times over its 70-year history, including in recent decades when GM faced intense financial difficulties that ultimately led to its bankruptcy reorganization.” The Corvette was saved from the gallows repeatedly by passionate, powerful people within GM, who believed in its mission and drove this passion forward.Corvette 4-Rotor prototypeGM media archivePrince believes in this mission as well, citing the compelling and unique nature of Corvette’s core equities: an intensely passionate enthusiast base, an unrivaled cost-to-performance ratio, high production numbers that fuel affordability on the new and used market, and the cars’ general durability and reliability. But he’s no purist, and thankfully foregoes rallying against arcane changes like the move from round to square taillights, from pop-up to fixed headlamps, or even from a front- to a mid-engine layout. “A lot of enthusiasts, particularly the more vocal ones, are fiercely loyal to their favorite era, and decry any deviations from tradition,” he said. “I take an entirely different approach. Evolution and advancement are essential if Corvette is to survive.”Design proposals for the C5 CorvetteGM media archiveThis makes his detailed and well-researched book more joyous to read (and look at), grounded as it is in the model’s lifelong and ongoing adaptation. With an all-electric Corvette confirmed and forthcoming, Prince’s perspective is at once timely and appreciated.This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More

Apple introduced its latest Watch this week, the Series 8, and there’s something there for drivers who don’t have a built-in automatic emergency service in their vehicle.The new Watch uses a new accelerometer and gyroscope, along with other data, to detect a crash, and it can then automatically tell emergency responders that you’ve had an incident and where you are.USAA has a similar feature in its SafePilot app, which has been quietly identifying crashes since being introduced last November.Today’s connected cars are already experts at contacting emergency services when a crash happens. But now you can get a similar service in an older vehicle or one that simply doesn’t have that tech onboard—as long as you are wearing the new Apple Watch.Apple’s new Watch debuted this week and, amid a slew of health updates, it introduced a new feature called Crash Detection. Crash Detection is similar to Fall Detection, which Apple Watches have had since Series 4, which can tell if you’ve fallen and automatically contact emergency services if you need help.The new Apple Watch uses a high-g-force accelerometer that can detect up to 256 g’s of impact. The Watch combines the data from this new accelerometer with information from a three-axis gyroscope, the microphone, a barometer, and GPS data. The data gets crunched by an algorithm that was trained by observing more than a million hours of real-world driving and crash data, Apple said, to figure out if you’ve been in a “severe crash.” The feature is available on the new Series 8 watch and even on the bargain-priced SE model.Since the watch is connected to the cellular network on its own or through your iPhone, it can also contact emergency services and tell them where you are, if you’re in an area with cellular coverage. Any emergency contacts in your phone can also be contacted. Insurer USAA Adds Crash DetectionA similar automatic crash detection service was announced last month for the USAA insurance company’s SafePilot app. Sensors in a phone are different from those in a smartwatch, and USAA said that its app requires the driver to verify that a crash has indeed happened. The auto insurer said in a statement that letting an app automatically detect a crash can simplify and expedite the claims process, and you can even file a claim on the spot, “via a streamlined process.” USAA said it quietly launched crash detection in the SafePilot app in November 2021 and the app has already made more than 36,000 crash notifications since that time.”The traditional claim process can be highly manual and involves a series of questions and answers to properly investigate the claim,” Luke Harris, USAA’s vice president of innovation, told Digital Insurance. “The availability of telematics data provides insights into accidents that can help reduce the number of questions and time involved in investigating the event, which allows our claims team to focus their time on addressing our members’ specific needs and streamlining the process of getting them back on the road.”Another automatic crash detection option comes from Verizon, which offers the service on its Smart Family app for parents to be alerted to possible accidents for children who are new drivers.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.This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More

Volkswagen revealed the ID. Xtreme concept today, based on a test mule that was used to develop the ID.4 GTX.The ID. Xtreme has 87 more horsepower than a standard all-wheel-drive ID.4 at 382 hp, and it rides on unique 18-inch wheels.Other modifications include wider wheel arches, an LED light bar, and a redesigned bumper with a bull bar and aluminum underbody cladding.Normally, when a new vehicle debuts, the test mules that helped develop the finished product are either crushed or tucked away in a warehouse like the Lost Ark in Indiana Jones. But Volkswagen took a different approach with one of its test vehicles for the ID.4. Instead, it was converted into the ID. Xtreme concept revealed today in Locarno, Switzerland, giving a taste of what an off-road version of Volkswagen’s electric crossover could look like.The concept is based on an ID.4 GTX, which is sold as the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive ID.4 in the United States sans the GTX badge. That means the ID. Xtreme sends power to all four wheels, and software changes to the drive control unit boost the output to 382 horsepower, 87 ponies more than the standard GTX.The ID. Xtreme also gets, well, more extreme looks thanks to a raised suspension, 18-inch off-road wheels, and approximately 2.0-inch-wider 3D-printed wheel arches. A butch bull bar also protrudes from a redesigned front bumper, while an LED light bar is perched atop the roof to illuminate rough terrain at night. A completely closed aluminum underbody has been installed to protect the battery from pesky rocks and other debris. More VW NewsThe snazzy livery on the outside is apparently mirrored by orange accents on the interior, although Volkswagen didn’t provide any photos of the cabin. Volkswagen also says there are redesigned seats and that many surfaces are wrapped in Alcantara. The ID. Xtreme has been fitted with a sound generator in the wheel well that projects some sort of driving noise created by Volkswagen’s design team, although without a recording, we can only guess at what it sounds like. We doubt anything like the ID. Xtreme will ever be offered by Volkswagen, although with Honda launching the TrailSport sub-brand, Subaru creating the Wilderness line, and Hyundai adding the XRT badge, off-road appearance packages have become a hot trend and Volkswagen might be inclined to join in. 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.This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More