Motor News

EV startup Canoo has made an agreement with Walmart to provide 4500 of its electric commercial vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. Walmart will be the first to receive a special model called the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), which has been specifically modified for short-range delivery purposes.The announcement saw Canoo’s stock open Tuesday at nearly double the value it closed at on Monday. Walmart will row its boat for the final leg of online-order deliveries with 4500 Canoos. As part of its initiative to achieve zero emissions by 2040, the superstore chain said today that it has signed a “definitive agreement” with Canoo, an U.S. EV startup, to purchase 4500 of its electric vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. It will also have the option to purchase up to 10,000 more later.

Canoo announced the agreement Tuesday, which involves the brand’s specialty Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDVs), which Walmart will become the first entity to receive. The LDV is a modified version of Canoo’s pod-shaped Lifestyle Vehicle (LV), an all-electric consumer utility vehicle with up to seven seats in a unique limousine-esque U-shape. The Delivery version, however, forgoes rear seats for cargo space and boasts 250 miles of range via an 80.0-kWh battery. Canoo also claims a 1464-pound payload capacity.

Lineup of Canoo LV models.
Canoo

Walmart will use the LDVs for last-mile delivery, which is the final step in an online-order package’s delivery. Basically, the Canoos will take your package from a local transportation hub to your front door. In the release, Canoo claims that the vehicles should hit the road for Walmart in 2023, but that LDVs will begin limited use in the coming weeks around the Dallas/Fort Worth area so Walmart can fine-tune the vehicle’s configuration. Car and Driver recently reported financial troubles for the up-and-coming EV startup, but Tuesday’s announcement saw Canoo’s stock open at $4.65 a share, nearly double its Monday closing value of $2.37. The company went public in December 2020, opening at $22.75 a share, but it has since steadily declined, though it’s important to note that other EV startups to have recently gone public—Rivian, Lightning eMotors, and others—have been following the same trajectory.
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The Walmart deal comes after another big Canoo announcement regarding fleet-use of the LV. The spunky pods were recently commissioned by NASA for use as transport vehicles in the upcoming Artemis moon-landing missions. All in all, things may be looking up for Canoo.
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Lynk & Co is an EV brand from Chinese automaker Geely Group that was once a strong contender to cross into the U.S. market.Its first model was the 01 crossover (pictured above), which went on sale in China in late 2017.At the time, we were told sales in the U.S. would start in 2020.When we last checked in with Lynk & Co, the Chinese carmaker—part of Geely Group’s automotive empire—was planning to expand its operations from China and Europe into America with the intention of opening an outpost in San Francisco by 2020. That was a couple of years ago, and it obviously has not happened—but that’s not because the company has lost interest.

CEO Alain Visser remains focused on bringing his EVs here. “My ambition, without a concrete plan, is to go to the U.S.,” he told Car and Driver, speaking with us at Lynk & Co headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. “I’m convinced there’s a market for our offering. Not everywhere, but in California, New York, and some other places.”Lynk’s structure is unusual. For a flat fee of around $500 per month, users acquire the use of a car, including all insurance and maintenance fees. There’s no commitment, so they can keep the car for one month or any other number of months. If they keep it for a year, it gets replaced with a new model. And with the touch of a button on their infotainment screen, users can offer up their car to share with anyone who is a member of the Lynk & Co app, for any duration—hour, day, week, month—at whatever price the market will bear. So, it’s like Airbnb for cars, but Lynk doesn’t even take a cut.Currently, Lynk & Co. operates in seven countries in Europe with 120,000 users on the app there and more than 17,000 cars on the road. In China, the company claims to be selling 150,000 cars per year.Plan B: Texas, Not California In keeping with the company’s offbeat nature, Visser now hopes to open the first Lynk USA brand experience center—”club,” in Lynk parlance—not on the coasts, but in Texas. “If I could do it now, I would open a club in Austin, without a car,” Visser said, though he admits he’s never visited the city. “I would just build the brand, the experience, talk about what it is we stand for, build the activities that we do in the clubs here in Europe. And then a year later, maybe add a car.”So what has prevented the company from doing just that? Well, the brand’s unique selling proposition wasn’t operational in 2020. “The sharing functionality wasn’t ready then,” he said. “We would have had just the concept of you use a car for a month, you pay the flat fee. And we wanted to wait because we think that the sharing is really what makes the business model sustainable.”

Lynk & Co

But now that that works—we saw on the Lynk App that there are hundreds of thousands of members throughout seven European countries looking to loan or borrow a car—what’s the holdup? Part of it is the U.S. insistence on an independent, franchise-based dealer network, which Lynk eschews—it does 99 percent of its business online. Visser, however, believes there might be a workaround. “We would almost be registered in the U.S. as a rental car company more than a car-selling enterprise,” he said. “We won’t have dealerships. But if Tesla had problems as an American company in the U.S., it would be definitely difficult for us.”If creating interest within the world’s second-largest automobile market for a completely unknown, garishly styled compact crossover made in China and sold with a wholly unfamiliar ownership model sounds like a challenge, Visser seems up for it.”We launched our first ever club in Amsterdam (pictured above), which is the most car-hating city in Europe,” he said. “And we said, let’s go there because it’s a clear signal that we go against the grain of the car industry. And I think I see Austin a bit like that. It’s in Texas, it’s the pickup state. So we start there.” We shall see.
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The Challenger is on its way out the door. After an incredible 15-year production run, Dodge finally plans to retire the retro muscle car we know and love in 2024. But if these latest rumors are to be believed, the Challenger is going out on a 909-hp high note. (Shown above, the Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock.)Mopar Insiders, citing an unnamed source close to the project, claims Dodge is planning a new Challenger SRT Hellcat model that’s able to run on E85 fuel. E85—sometimes called flex fuel—is a mixture of ethanol and gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol versus your average gasoline mixture. It’s a popular fuel source for tuners looking to make more power, as it provides more thermal efficiency and, in some cases, improved fuel consumption.If Dodge wants to send the Challenger off on a high note, it likely wants to do so with as much power as possible. And since E85 is an easy way to make more power, the rumor makes sense. Mopar Insiders’ source claims this Challenger variant will make 909 hp—69 more horses than the Challenger SRT Demon makes running on race gas. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a high-powered production car that runs on E85 from the factory. The Koenigsegg Jesko uses E85, along with a set of other tricks, to help it pass emissions while making 1600 hp. This Challenger rumor is far from official news, of course, so take it with a grain of salt. We’ll likely know more by the end of the year.

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• This second-generation K5 Blazer was a wildly capable alternative to the Ford Bronco and Dodge Ramcharger of the 1970s and ’80s. • This K5 Blazer has been recently restored with new bits and pieces ranging from fresh door seals to a completely new 350-cubic-inch V-8 engine. • Bidding is currently at $8500, and the auction ends on July 15.Something circulating in my blood makes me attracted to old-school heavy Chevys. Maybe it’s a natural reaction to the typical blue fog of pushrod perfume that follows most small-block V-8s. It could also be getting things muddy is the nucleus of my love for four-wheel-drive things. Either way, it’s tough to look away from this Florida-owned 1978 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Cheyenne that’s currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos.

BRING A TRAILER

This example was originally purchased in Miami before it eventually ended up in Colombia and then later returned stateside where it underwent some serious restoration. Everything that’s been rotting since the 1970s has been renewed: brakes, power steering, exhaust, instrument cluster, door seals, window felts, and even a replacement carbureted 350-cubic-inch V-8. Its three-speed automatic transmission and dual-range transfer case are reported to be in working order. The steel frame has been blasted and repainted in gloss black, and the hubs have been fitted with black 15-inch steel wheels wrapped in 33-inch Nitto Trail Grappler mud-terrain tires.

More impressively, the restoration process hasn’t gone too far. This K5 Blazer appears to be using OE-style glass three-prong sealed-beam headlights up front and drum brakes at the rear. It’s free of obnoxious aftermarket fender flares or a dorky roof-mounted LED light bar. The most modern piece of tech is a RetroSound stereo intended to mimic the chrome-knobbed style of the K5 Blazer’s original radio.This specific example isn’t showroom perfect and is kept alive thanks to fresh paint, new floor panels, and a little welding. That makes it a great candidate for a buy-to-drive, rather than a win and park.

BRING A TRAILER

It’s easy to imagine bouncing down a forest trail road en route to an area that’s Wi-Fi- and ad-free. Even Car and Driver’s own legendary David E. Davis, Jr. called the K5 Blazer a “steel and fiberglass Paul Bunyan” back in 1979. Today, a K5 is now the nomenclature given to Kia’s family sedan, and the current Blazer is more Paul Mitchell than ax wielder.Bidding is currently at $8500 with four days left in the auction. The K5 Blazer David E. drove had similar options including an electric tailgate window, a rear roll bar, and a $39 “heavy-duty Freedom battery,” for $10,478.70. Adjusted for inflation, that’s slightly more than $42,000, or roughly the price of a four-door Ford Bronco Outer Banks. Last year a similar K5 Blazer sold for $61,111 on Bring a Trailer but was in arguably better condition with the larger V-8 engine. There was also a 1976 K5 Blazer Cheyenne painted in beautiful Grecian Bronze and white two-tone that sold for $67,000 in January. Bidding on this one ends on Friday, July 15.

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It’s a sign of the times we live in: A crowdsourced website called Markups.org invites users to report upcharges they’ve spotted on specific vehicles at specific dealerships, as first reported by Jalopnik.In addition to listing markups, the site also shows some dealerships that are selling new cars for list price with no markup.Currently, the highest markup is $200,000 on a GMC Hummer EV Edition 1.The auto industry has had more than its share of trouble because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so has anyone who wants to buy a new vehicle right now. Factory shutdowns and chip shortages have led to another unpleasant situation, that of dealers marking up prices on new vehicles. It’s not surprising, then, that there is now a crowdsourced website for that. The site, Markups.org, catalogs the upcharges to keep the buying populace informed.

Here are some of our favorites as of this writing, in order from smallest to biggest markup. However, these are not the highest or lowest markups you can find on Markups.org right now. We chose them because, although they aren’t necessarily the most sought-after in the market right now, they’re still seeing serious price bumps. It goes without saying that things change quickly in sales, so they don’t reflect what you might find on the website tomorrow or next month.2022 Kia Sorento SXAsking Price $51,965 (MSRP $41,965, Markup $10,000)

Kia Sorento from O’Brien Kia Norwood’s website.
O’Brien Kia

This Sorento is listed at Dan O’Brien Kia Norwood in Massachusetts. The markup is shown directly on the listing as a “Market Adjustment.”2022 Toyota Sienna XLE AWDAsking Price $63,060 (MSRP $43,065, Markup $19,995)This Sienna is for sale at Roseville Toyota in California. The markup is shown on the listing as “Dealer Added Mark Up.”2022 Volkswagen ID.4 AWD Pro SAsking Price $72,580 (MSRP $52,585, Markup $19,995)

VW ID.4 from Ourisman VW’s website.
Ourisman Volkswagen

This ID.4 is for sale at Ourisman Volkswagen of Rockville in Maryland. The markup on this car is shown on the listing as “Adjusted Dealer Markup.”Used 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid with 2000 milesAsking Price $47,987 (MSRP $27,295, Markup $20,692)This Maverick (pictured at top) is available at Newberg Ford in Oregon.2022 Ford F-150 LightningAsking Price $142,895 (MSRP $69,554, Markup $73,341)

Ford F-150 Lightning on the Stearns Ford website.
Stearns Ford

This Ford electric pickup is being sold by Stearns Ford in North Carolina. To help you recover a bit from the shock of these prices, we should point out that the website also lists some dealerships that are forgoing markups. Santa Cruz Subaru in California is one, and they proudly display that message at the top of their website. Ron Anderson Chevrolet in Florida is another, and a dealership employee confirmed to Car and Driver that they are not putting markups on any new vehicles. Finally, remember that any dealer’s asking price is just that: an ask. You can always offer less.
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Greg Pajo, Michael Simari, and the Manufactuer

More than 10,000 Hyundai Ioniq hybrids and plug-in hybrids from the 2017 and 2018 model years are subject to a recall over danger of back-seat fire.In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Hyundai says the problem is with the power relay assembly located beneath the rear seat. In affected vehicles, it is susceptible to overheating.The automaker had already issued a recall for the issue, but after receiving several reports of fires in vehicles that had already received the fix, it has called for a second round of recalls.If the news about a Hyundai Ioniq recall for danger of fire sounds familiar, It should. In new filings with NHTSA, Hyundai reports that previously recalled Ioniq hybrid and plug-in-hybrid vehicles are being called back again. The problem, Hyundai says, is a defect in the power relay assembly of 10,575 Ioniqs. This could cause the assembly to overheat, leading to risk of heat damage and fire where the assembly is located under the rear seats. The same set of vehicles was recalled in October 2018 for the same issue. At that time, Hyundai’s remedy was to replace the main relay or the entire assembly, depending on the extent of the damage. The original filings claimed no accidents or injuries were reported. Post-recall, four fires have been reported in the past year, according to the chronology of events. In addition, Hyundai has identified five “vehicles that were improperly repaired” in a survey of 11 previously recalled Ioniq vehicles. The automaker estimates only about 1 percent of the 10,575 vehicles will be found to have a problem.Dealers and owners will be notified by August 26, and owners should have their vehicle inspected by the dealer. Affected vehicles will have their main relay or PRA replaced free of charge regardless of warranty status, with the component provided by a different supplier than the defective components. Until then, illumination of the HEV warning light or an inability to start could indicate a problem with the vehicle. You can check if your vehicle is affected on the NHTSA recalls website.

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More than 50,000 catalytic converters were stolen off parked vehicles in the U.S. last year, a massive increase from 2020 (around 14,500) and 2019 (3400).The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is tracking more than 150 pieces of legislation that have either been enacted or are in some stage of consideration in state houses across the country.A federal bill, the bipartisan Preventing Auto Recycling Theft Act, or PART Act, is also working its way through Congress.Across the country, state governments are trying to do something about the rising number of catalytic converter thefts. The responses often center on redefining the status of a converter in legal terminology—for example, including converters in the list of “major component parts” in Indiana—or placing additional rules on people who might be buying or selling converters. For such a simple act of thievery, the reaction is most certainly scattershot, but national legislators in Washington, D.C., are also talking about solutions.

Just under 3400 catalytic converters were stolen from cars in the U.S. in 2019, but that number jumped by a factor of four in 2020, when almost 14,500 were stolen. In 2021, more than 50,000 converters were stolen, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). As we recently reported, converters from the popular Ford F-series trucks and Honda Accord sedans were the most common targets for catalytic theft.The increase in the number of stolen converters comes as the price to replace them went from $1000 to around $3000 in recent years, NICB president and CEO David Glawe told NBC News.”Crime’s a business, and business is really good in this space,” he said. “There’s a lot of money to be made. And there’s very little deterrent.”One Solution: Putting the VIN on ItThat could be about to change, if you take seriously all the related legislation in NCIB’s database that is under consideration for 2022. Aside from the 152 different pieces of state legislation NCIB is tracking on its website, there’s also a bipartisan bill currently under discussion in Congress. Called the Preventing Auto Recycling Theft (PART) Act, this bill would codify the federal penalties for anyone convicted of stealing a converter. It would also set some federal rules on making catalytic converters trackable by stamping VINs onto them in new cars. The bill would also require that people who buy and sell converters keep records of these transactions.

NICB’s map of catalytic converter bills in the works. Darker = more legislation.
National Insurance Crime Bureau

Of the 152 pieces of state legislation, only 26 have been enacted. Most of the others are in the early “introduced or prefiled” category, while some are being seriously discussed in various committees. Some of the states that recently enacted laws regarding converter theft include Connecticut and Mississippi.In Connecticut, it is now illegal for vehicle recyclers to acquire a converter that’s not connected to a car, and recyclers now need to keep written records of any transactions involving converters. Mississippi’s new law increases fines for anyone caught stealing a converter and requires sellers to provide their personal ID and the VIN of the vehicle that the converter came from in order to sell it. Buyers also need to pay by check.Hawaii with 16, Minnesota (14), and California (11) are the three states considering the most pieces of converter theft legislation. Many of the rest are considering between one and a half-dozen. According to the NICB, 13 states are not considering any type of legislation regarding catalytic converter thefts. They are Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming.
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An environmentalist group called the Tyre Extinguishers has tips on how to deflate—not slash—the tires on SUVs in crowded city areas as a way to convince people not to drive the behemoths there.After starting in the U.K. earlier this year, the group has reported its first actions in the U.S., with SUVs in New York, Chicago, and the Bay Area all targeted.The decentralized Tyre Extinguishers (who claim no leader) say that large vehicles used by the handicapped or groups should not be hit, but that electric vehicles and hybrids are valid targets.Anti-SUV protests are nothing new, and have existed pretty much ever since the large vehicles—too large, to some—became increasingly popular in the 1990s and early 2000s. Those of us who were there remember the Hummer salute, for example. Calls for a ban on SUVs have surfaced now and again over the years. In 2019, anti-SUV activists protested at the Frankfurt auto show, calling out the “SUV-ization” of the industry. These protesters were glad to make their claims in public, where they were certain to be not only noticed but also apprehended.

Now, a new wave of attacks on SUVs is taking place way, way out of sight. Or, at least, that’s the idea. As first reported by The Drive, a decentralized group called the Tyre Extinguishers (the spelling hints at the group’s U.K. origins) is promoting the idea of deflating the tires of as many SUVs as possible to help make it “impossible to own a huge polluting 4×4 in the world’s urban areas.” By deflating enough tires on these “massive, unnecessary vehicles,” the group hopes to cause enough “inconvenience and expense for their owners” that people just stop driving big vehicles in crowded areas.
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The group said in March that supporters had deflated the tires of around 100 SUVs in cities across England, and that was just the start. The group now offers flyers in 10 languages and, earlier this month, celebrated the first actions in the U.S., claiming that dozens of SUVs in “several major cities, including New York, Chicago, and the Bay Area” had been targeted.

From the Tyre Extinguishers’ leaflet.
Tyre Extinguishers

The group’s reasoning and politics are abundantly clear. Large vehicles like SUVs are “a disaster for our health, our public safety and our climate,” the group says on its website. “Bigger and bigger cars are dominating our towns and cities, and all so a privileged few can flaunt their wealth. Because governments and politicians have failed to protect us from this danger, we must protect ourselves.”Before we go any further, let us point out that letting the air out of a stranger’s tires has got to be at least a misdemeanor, right? In 2006, a member of the Houston Police Department wrote in the Houston Chronicle that anyone letting air out of another person’s tire “would be breaking the law whether you damaged the tire or not. Simply letting the air out would be a violation of the law for the inconvenience caused the owner. You would also be responsible for any amount the person paid for towing or tire service.” State laws against “tampering with a motor vehicle” are likely to be enforceable, but of course, first the person would have to be caught in the act of letting the air out of the tires.The Tyre Extinguishers’ website gives specific instructions on how to deflate an SUV’s tire in less than 10 seconds without doing any permanent damage, and it makes clear that the mission here isn’t simply to make someone late for work. The group recommends targeting SUVs in posh or middle-class areas and then leaving a leaflet on the windshield explaining why their SUV now has a flat tire. The Tyre Extinguishers also declare their limits, saying that cars clearly used by people with disabilities, commercial vehicles, minibuses and “normal-sized cars” should all be left alone. The group does not care about a vehicle’s powertrain, either, proclaiming that hybrids and electric cars are fair game. “We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis—there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone’s car and the mining of these metals causes suffering,” they write.
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