Motor News

The 2023 Jeep Cherokee lineup includes only two models: Altitude Lux and Trailhawk.The 180-hp 2.4-liter inline-four is the base engine, and the 270-hp 2.0-liter turbo-four is optional.Jeep says it’s preparing to end production of the current-generation Cherokee next month.Jeep has greatly reduced the Cherokee’s lineup for what appears to be the current generation’s final model year. The 2023 Cherokee is now available in either Altitude Lux and Trailhawk trim levels, and the only engine choices are now the naturally aspirated 180-hp 2.4-liter inline-four and a 270-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four; the previous 3.2-liter V-6 engine has been dropped.Pricing starts at $39,290 for the Altitude Lux and $42,890 for the Trailhawk, and both come standard with four-wheel drive. That’s a big jump from the 2022 model’s base price, which started at $31,590 for the front-wheel-drive Altitude; even the 2022 Altitude 4×4, though, was $6200 less than this year’s Altitude Lux model, which does get extra equipment including leather seats, a heated steering wheel, and remote start. The Trailhawk, which previously had the 3.2-liter V-6 engine, gets a $3750 price bump over last year.More on the CherokeeWe previously reported that the Belvedere, Illinois, plant that builds the compact SUV would be idled after February 2023. Jeep told us then that the Cherokees being built now are 2023 models. Reports that Cherokee production could move to Mexico after the Illinois plant is idled suggest that the Cherokee’s replacement might be coming soon. The current KL generation of the Cherokee has been on sale since the 2014 model year and is overdue for a replacement. 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 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. More

Lexus is bestowing some updates upon the RC and RC F coupe models for 2023.A new touchscreen sits atop the dash, replacing the old sunken screen that was controlled only by a touchpad.There’s also a new Special Appearance package available for F Sport models.Lexus isn’t quite ready to replace the aging RC coupe with a redesigned model, but it is making some updates to both the standard RC and performance RC F models for the 2023 model year. The biggest change is inside, where the dashboard is revised to accommodate a new touchscreen. There are also new colors, newly available appearance packages, and minor performance tweaks.The standard RC, which is available in RC300 and RC350 configurations, adds an F Sport Special Appearance package with a two-tone color scheme that pairs a gray body with a black roof and hood and 19-inch Enkei wheels. This same gray exterior color, called Incognito, is also newly available on the RC F Track Edition. Lexus also says that the Track Edition benefits from new Hitachi shocks.More on the RCWe appreciate the updates to the RC’s infotainment system, as the fact that the display moves forward and can now be controlled as a touchscreen means you won’t have to rely as much on the fussy touchpad controller on the console. An 8.0-inch screen is standard, and a 10.3-inch screen is optional.Pricing stars at $45,470 for the rear-wheel-drive RC300 with its turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four engine. The RC350, which has a 3.5-liter V-6, costs $53,020 with the optional F Sport package. To get the RC F’s sonorous 5.0-liter V-8 engine, you’ll need $67,845.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 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. More

We’re excited to announce that we’re running another Lightning Lap-inspired track day at our favorite track, Virginia International Raceway, in its best and most challenging, 4.1-mile Grand Course configuration.We’ve been doing annual pilgrimages there since 2006 to run our Lightning Lap track shootout of the year’s hottest performance cars (and sometimes SUVs). We’ve now run 315 production vehicles, the most recent 17 of which we’ll be publishing in early February.In case you can’t tell, our love of VIR’s Grand Course is infectious, and we want to not only tell you of its spectacularism but also show you. That’s why we’ve organized another track day that’s happening on Wednesday, May 10th. We’ve heard your feedback; our previous two events came together with insufficient lead time to plan the trek, and the requirement for significant previous track experience disqualified a number of interested folks. That’s why we’ve added a new category of drivers this time around that will be done in a lead-follow format and is open to anyone. Trust us, you’ll want someone to follow the first time around Grand.Really, you don’t even need a vehicle to drive, as on-site shop and driving instruction Kaizen Autosport, who is our partner in organizing this event will rent you various options ranging from a BMW M240i to a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.Unlike last time, the May 10th date will be 100-percent devoted to the Lightning Lap track day, rather than integrate with a larger track-day weekend. But as at our previous two track days, cars for the experienced run groups will be segmented into the same LL1 through LL5 price categories we use for Lightning Lap, and there will be three 30-minute practice sessions in the morning and two 30-minute timed sessions in the afternoon where you’ll be gunning for the class win.Go here for more details and to sign up. For 10 percent off the $795 entry fee, use code CDVIP2023.We’re always counting down to our next VIR visit. See you there!Register HereThis 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

It might seem like a lot of the economic news these days is glum, what with inflation and rising interest rates and the collapse in value of your NFT of Tesla stock (real double whammy there). But turn that frown upside down, because 2022 was a record year for Bentley, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce! Which means that rich people are still feeling optimistic about the economy. And if rich people are optimistic about the economy, well, what could go wrong? Ferrari is still languidly crunching its numbers after a second cappuccino and Porsche says it’ll tally its scores after just a few more laps of the Nürburgring, but at least some of the results are in, and they’re rosy. Let’s start with the Bovine from Bologna, Lamborghini.Stratospheric ShoppingLast year, Lamborghini delivered 9233 cars, a new high score. The US was the number one market, with 2721 cars delivered (U-S-A! U-S-A!) and overall sales were up 10 percent from last year. Even the Aventador had a record year (753 cars) despite production ending last September. Like former Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, the Aventador retired at the height of its abilities—in this case, the ability to get the newly rich to part with hundreds of thousands of dollars for a car with a single-clutch automatic transmission. The most popular Lambo? We regret to inform you that it was the Urus.Where is Emea? If you have to ask, you can’t afford to live there.stefano.rutigliano@lamborghini.com|Car and DriverBentley delivered 15,174 cars in 2022, which beat 2021’s 14,658 cars, which was also a new record. At this rate there will soon be more actual Bentleys than dogs named Bentley, which is saying something since that was the 15th most popular name for male dogs last year. The Americas was Bentley’s biggest market, and although Bentley very charitably doesn’t break out the most important country on those two continents, we’d bet it rhymes with “U-S-A! U-S-A!” and isn’t Uruguay. The most popular Bentley model? We’re terribly sad to report that it was the Bentayga. Some Bentleys, as seen in the company’s second-biggest market. Hint: Unlike Bentley’s biggest market, it doesn’t include a single Waffle House location.Car and DriverElsewhere on the Island That’s Surrounded By Europe but Isn’t Part of It, Rolls-Royce sold 6021 of its extremely comfortable vehicles in 2022, also a record. Rolls also brags that, besides selling a pile of cars, that mix included a lot of really expensive ones from its Bespoke outfit, saying, “commissions were also at record levels last year, with our clients’ requests becoming ever more imaginative and technically demanding”. Is it us, or do we detect a hint of exasperation in that statement? “Mummy, I shall be simply inconsolable unless you buy me a Rolls-Royce Boattail and a pony with six legs!” Rolls says the average Bespoke car cost half a million Euros, to which we say: Try harder, rich people. Rolls is cagey about how much money it made, but it seems like it might tell us after a third glass of wine, claiming, “the marque will make a significant contribution to its principal shareholder”. That would be one Chester P. Larvae-Smoot, Lord Duke of Underbottom, the demanding but ultimately kindhearted aristocrat who won Rolls-Royce in a game of snooker in 2003. Wait, sorry—no, they’re talking about BMW. They’re saying they send money home to Germany, and they’d better or else. The most popular Rolls-Royce last year was, we simply hate to tell you this, the Cullinan.The Rolls-Royce Ghost was the bestselling model in the Asia-Pacific region. We didn’t have a photo of one there, though, so here’s a chicken climbing into one.Ezra Dyer|Car and DriverAs we said, we’re still awaiting numbers from some other companies, but as of the latest reports (Mercedes-Benz S-class sales up 24 percent at the end of Q3), things were looking great. Based on all this good news, maybe you should stop asking yourself whether you can afford to buy a Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica and ask yourself whether you can afford not to. But just try to stay realistic about how great everything is going. Lamborghini’s 10 percent year-over-year sales increase is good, but not as good as the 15 percent increase it saw in another record year, 2007.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

Goodyear unveiled a tire with 90 percent sustainable materials at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week.The new tire, which has passed all regulatory and internal tests for road use, makes use of sustainable products such as soybean oil, rice husks, and pine resin, in place of standard compounds. Goodyear still needs to figure out scaling measures before bringing the demonstration tire to market. The company plans to first bring a 70 percent sustainable material tire to market this year.Goodyear’s company cafeteria schedule just got leaked. We hope you’re excited about three meals of tofu a day stretching into eternity. We jest, but if Goodyear’s newest tire reveal is anything to go on, the tire giant will need all the soy it can get in the coming years. An increase in awareness and consideration for the environment over the last few years is leading tire manufacturers to create more aggressive sustainability goals. Goodyear, which has a stated goal of introducing its first 100 percent sustainable tire by 2030, is making strides toward that future with a demonstration tire showcased at CES last week. Produced with 90 percent sustainable materials, the demonstration tire has already passed all regulatory and internal tests needed for road use. Of course, passing regulatory tests means nothing in terms of tire performance, as plenty of terrible tires are approved for road use. But we do know the demonstration tire excels in at least one measure: rolling resistance. Goodyear claims its sustainable tire rolls more easily than that of a comparison tire with traditional materials.All Things TiresBesides natural rubber, modern tires utilize steel, textiles, synthetic polymers, and a laundry list of chemicals to keep your car in contact with the tarmac below. This hodgepodge of materials has an adverse effect on the environment, though. As tires wear, they leave behind bits of rubber and chemicals that pollute the environment. Not Goodyear’s newest tire, though. It leaves behind a whiff of tofu, and oddly, a hint of pine schnapps.GoodyearTire manufacturers are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to the chemical makeup of their tires’ compound. So much so in fact, that these companies often avoid filing trademarks on the subject in order to keep competitors from stealing this information. Goodyear, however, shared the 17 key ingredients across 12 components that make these tires roll. This recipe includes soybean oil, to keep the tire pliable in changing temperatures; rice husk ash silica, to improve grip; and pine resin, which replaces standard petroleum-based resins. Goodyear conceded it has yet to determine the scale needed to bring the demonstration tire to market yet. Even so, the company plans to bring a tire that’s 70 percent sustainable to market by the end of the year. If Goodyear has its way, then its sustainable tires ought to bring new meaning to the phrase “eat my rubber.”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 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. More

Adding a permanent, connected device to your car might have some upsides. It also introduces a new way for hackers to track you or collect personal information, as first reported by Vice.A group of cybersecurity researchers recently published a report on various weaknesses they’ve discovered in connected cars. The hackers found ways to precisely locate cars from major OEMs, including customer names, phone numbers, email addresses, and loan statuses.For Reviver’s RPlates, the hackers discovered they could change the message the plates displayed and, yes, track the cars. The vulnerability has been fixed.Well, that didn’t take long. The California DMV approved new digital license plates from Reviver in October, and now we’ve learned how vulnerable they could be to outside hacking attacks.One More Thing That’s DigitalReviver, the only company that offers digital license plates, points out that they provide some technical benefits over traditional metal plates, like automatic tag renewals and the ability to change what they say to things like STOLEN in case the car it’s attached to is, well, stolen. But there have always been downsides, including higher cost and added complexity.Last week, as Vice reported, a group of cybersecurity researchers interested in finding access points to connected vehicles announced they had found vulnerabilities in several brands and services. This included the ability to locate and track vehicles from multiple brands, including Kia, Honda, Infiniti, Nissan, Acura, Hyundai, and Genesis. They could also find personal details on customers of many brands, including the loan status of Toyota customers, according to the published report.When it came to a connected vehicle network called Spireon that is mainly involved with fleet-management applications, the hackers said they “had access to everything.” For Reviver, the team accessed the network without too much apparent hassle.The cybersecurity researchers published the details of how they gained access to Reviver’s back end, which involved viewing how the app and other online services behaved during a password reset request. People with more understanding of lines of code can see the details here. ReviverOnce inside Reviver’s network, the researchers had “full super administrative access” to all user accounts and vehicles for all Reviver-connected vehicles. This would have allowed them to track the physical location of these plates, change the plate to say whatever they wanted, and access all user records, “including what vehicles people owned, their physical address, phone number, and email address.”Officially, Reviver admits that the customer data it collects might be vulnerable to outside actors. “We have adopted reasonable and appropriate security procedures to help protect against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access to the information you provide to us,” the company said on its website. “Please note, however, that no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your information and privacy, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you disclose or transmit to the services.”Reviver Responded QuicklyThings appear to be solved, for now. The cybersecurity researchers said they reported the vulnerability to Reviver, and it was quickly patched. Still, had these white-hat hackers not been trying to fix problems, they had the power to “remotely update, track, or delete anyone’s Reviver plate.” The researchers said they “could additionally access any dealer (e.g., Mercedes-Benz dealerships will package Reviver plates) and update the default image used by the dealer when the newly purchased vehicle still had Dealer tags.” They also gained full access to Reviver’s fleet management functionality.In a statement, Reviver told Car and Driver it met with a member of the cybersecurity research team after being informed of the potential application vulnerability. After the meeting, Reviver not only patched its application in under 24 hours, it also “took further measures to prevent this from occurring in the future.” Reviver said no customer information was affected. “As part of our commitment to data security and privacy, we also used this opportunity to identify and implement additional safeguards to supplement our existing, significant protections,” the company said. “Cybersecurity is central to our mission to modernize the driving experience and we will continue to work with industry-leading professionals, tools, and systems to build and monitor our secure platforms for connected vehicles.”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 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. More

Chevrolet has released the first official teaser for the 2024 Corvette E-Ray.This hybrid version of the C8 Corvette will have all-wheel drive.It debuts next week, on January 17.The latest version of the C8 Corvette will break ground in many ways. It’s a hybrid and features all-wheel drive, both firsts for any production Corvette, and we now know it will make its official debut January 17, thanks to this official teaser video that shows a blue E-Ray driving through snowy conditions.The E-Ray had leaked previously on Chevy’s configurator tool, which gave us a glimpse at its widebody appearance shared with the Z06. We also saw “ERAY” badges and a button inside suggesting adjustable regenerative braking. This teaser video also shows a new function called Stealth mode, which we figure is a way of keeping the car in electric mode to minimize the sound of the V-8 gasoline engine.More on the E-RayWe’ll learn lots more about the E-Ray soon enough, as it will make its debut next week. We expect it to go on sale sometime later this year as a 2024 model. Check back here for full coverage of this exciting new version of the mid-engine Corvette.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 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. More

Porsche unveiled the off-road-focused 911 Dakar last fall; now the company is showing off three wraps that owners can have added to the special 911.Each focuses on emulating a different rally car that raced in the East African Safari Rally in the 1970s, with the red and blue wavy look of the Rallye 1978 package catching our eye the most.All three wraps can be ordered from the factory through the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur program. The Porsche 911 model range is already incredibly complex, with more than two dozen variants ranging from comfy grand tourers to hard-core track tools. But late last year the German automaker added yet another version to the 911 lineup, the limited-production Dakar. Now Porsche is showing off three exclusive wraps that lucky owners can spec their 911 Dakar in to emulate the race cars that competed in the 1971, 1974, and 1978 editions of the East African Safari Rally.Porsche1971: Zasada/Bień The first package, which bears the number 19, recalls the 911 piloted by Polish drivers Sobiesław Zasada and Marian Bień to fifth place over 3100 miles of Kenyan wilderness in the 1971 rally. Mimicking the original race car, the Rallye 1971 wrap adds a black hood, black fender flares, and a few other period-accurate graphics for $5260.Porsche1974: Waldegård/Thorszelius The Rallye 1974 decal set also goes for $5260. It is a tribute to the 911 Carrera 2.7 RS that Swedish rally champion Björn Waldegård and co-driver Hans Thorszelius brought home in second place, after leading most of the 1255-mile 1974 trek that saw only 16 of the 99 starters finish. This package brings a pair of blue stripes along the beltline of the car, along with other motorsports-inspired decals.PorscheMore on Off-Road 911s1978: Waldegård Is BackThe last decal set honors the 1978 running, which saw Waldegård return to Kenya in a 911 SC Group 4 car, although the driver had to settle for fourth place while two South Africans, Vic Preston, Jr., and John Lyall, took another 911 to second place. The Rallye 1978 wrap features the iconic look seen on the original race cars, with red and blue waves cascading over the bodywork and the number 14 emblazoned on the doors. This package will cost 911 Dakar owners $7510, and all of the decal sets will be available from the factory via the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur program. 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 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. More