Motor News

Hertz intends to add 65,000 Polestar electric vehicles to its global rental fleet within the next five years.The Polestar 2 will be the first model available, starting first in Europe and later expanding to Australia and North America.Hertz previously said it wants to make EVs 20 percent of its fleet.Teslas won’t be the only EVs available to rent through Hertz, as the company now says it plans to order 65,000 electric vehicles from Polestar within the next five years. The Polestar 2 hatchback will be the first model added to the fleet, starting this spring in Europe and reaching North America near the end of 2022. This is in addition to the order for 100,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles that Hertz says it has already begun adding to its U.S. rental fleet in select cities.

This order will likely make up a significant portion of Polestar’s production over the next few years, as the company only sold 29,000 vehicles globally in 2021 and intends to hit a target of 290,000 vehicles produced in 2025. Hertz has not yet released details on the cost or availability of the rentals, but, like with the Tesla Model 3, we expect the vehicles to be priced similarly to other premium or luxury rental rates and available only in certain locations at first. Hertz also says the Polestar vehicles will eventually be available for ride-share drivers.Hertz has previously said it is investing in electric-vehicle charging infrastructure across its global facilities, as it is aiming to install both Level 2 and DC fast-charging stations. There will also be an EV-specific booking function on the company’s smartphone app. Hertz will be paying sticker price for the Tesla Model 3 vehicles it ordered in a $4.2 billion deal, but it’s unclear if it worked out a different financial package with Polestar.
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Honda has revealed the first photos of the redesigned 2023 HR-V.The new model is larger than before, with a longer wheelbase. It now shares its platform with the Civic.More info will be coming soon and the new HR-V is scheduled to arrive at U.S. dealerships over the summer.Honda’s smallest SUV is entering its second generation, and there are some notable changes in store for the new 2023 HR-V. These are the first official photos of the redesigned model that’s headed to the U.S., which is larger than before and distinct from the smaller, hybrid-only Europe-market model revealed last year.

Honda

While the HR-V previously used the same platform as the now-discontinued Fit hatchback, Honda says that the new subcompact SUV rides on the same platform as the Civic. It has a longer wheelbase than before and now features an independent rear suspension.

All Honda claims about the powertrain is that it will be powered by a “more responsive engine,” and we’d guess that the Civic’s 180-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four will be under the hood to replace the old HR-V’s 141-hp 1.8-liter inline-four. The naturally aspirated 158-hp 2.0-liter inline-four from the Civic’s lower trim levels may also be offered as the HR-V’s base engine. Front-wheel drive will likely be standard, with all-wheel drive optional, and a CVT automatic should be the only transmission choice. An HR-V hybrid is likely to join the lineup, too, although it may launch later than the gas-only version.

Honda

Honda has yet to release photos or information about the HR-V’s interior, and we’re wondering what the new platform will mean for the packaging. The previous HR-V, like the Fit, featured a remarkably low cargo floor thanks to its fuel tank being mounted under the front seats. So we’re not sure if the old HR-V’s highly configurable rear seat that could fold in multiple configurations will carry over to the new model.
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The current model’s LX, Sport, EX, and EX-L trim levels are likely to carry over, and Honda released a video showing the new HR-V in several colors including red, grey, silver, black, and white. Expect pricing to rise slightly from the current HR-V’s $23,095 starting price, with loaded AWD models costing over $30,000. More information will be coming within the next few months before the 2023 HR-V goes on sale in the summer.

Honda

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Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

• This 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagon is a pitch-perfect example of GM’s once-ubiquitous A-body family of cars.• Its exquisite banality stopped us in our tracks as we scrolled through listings of supercars and other mega-priced exotica.• This highly original wagon is for sale right now on Bring a Trailer, and the auction ends on April 6.In the 1980s and well into the 1990s, GM disgorged onto the marketplace hundreds of thousands of copies of its A-body line of front-wheel-drive intermediate two-door and four-door sedans and station wagons—sold variously as the Chevrolet Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and Buick Century. Most have long since been crushed into a cube, but the later models’ popularity with the senior set (particularly the Buick and Oldsmobile versions), means you occasionally run across a well-kept, low-mileage example. That appears to be exactly what we have here in this 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser that has turned up on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—and we couldn’t help but linger over it.This Cutlass Cruiser has racked up just 54,000 miles. Included documentation shows that it was sold new in San Francisco, and it appears to be a lifelong California car. Critically, the selling dealer has included paint meter readings, so you know that the Light Adriatic Blue finish is original, as sprayed by the UAW’s finest.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

The completely color-matched interior presents nicely. With a split-bench front seat and a vestigial, rear-facing third seat (!), this wagon boasted seating for eight (people were smaller then). It’s well-equipped for the era, with power windows, power door locks, air conditioning, and a tilt steering wheel. The display for the Delco AM/FM stereo has seen better days, so maybe just play your mix tapes.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

GM’s corporate L82 3.1-liter V-6 sits sideways under the hood and spins out 160 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of fury, channeled to the front wheels via a column-shifted four-speed automatic with overdrive. Impressively, the car passes California emissions. It also benefits from relatively recent new valve cover gaskets and a new serpentine belt and tensioner. Per the commenters, the new owner might want to preemptively replace the intake manifold gasket. It was round about this era when Oldsmobile, desperate to shake off its old-man image, fielded the ad campaign “Not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Even then, the A-body Cutlass—which lingered in showrooms for more than a dozen years—was exactly the model that undermined the attempted image overhaul. If you’re of a certain age, it likely was your father’s Oldsmobile. In my case, it was my father-in-law’s, and he swore by his “Olds sport wagon”—he had two of them—until he ultimately had to switch to a Silhouette minivan. I think maybe it’s time he cruised in one again.

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Artist Barbara Kruger’s work is heavily type based and expresses a strong point of view, as does the wrapped Hyundai Ioniq 5 shown here.The car is part of an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that is part of an ongoing museum sponsorship by Hyundai.After running through July 17, the Kruger exhibition will later travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.Barbara Kruger is one of the most influential living artists, having developed an intentionally didactic and cuttingly acute linguistic, graphic, and visual style that has been endlessly copied and commodified. (Shepard Fairey’s Obama HOPE posters and skate/streetwear brand Supreme’s logos would not exist without her.) Her type-based work has a strong cultural critique, founded in feminism, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, and anti-homophobia (among other things), and remains resonant to this day.

LA County Museum of Art

Kruger is currently the subject of a compelling survey at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You, which will travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York Museum of Modern Art in the coming years. Don’t worry, there’s a car angle. Hyundai is a major corporate sponsor of this show (and the museum itself). For the event, Kruger created a new work, Untitled (Car), wrapping a Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric hatchback in text, all in her signature style. As it turns out, this isn’t out of character. “Since the late 1990s, Kruger has wrapped city and school buses in New York, Los Angeles, and Cologne, Germany, with vinyl text works that address celebrity culture, art education, and power structures,” said Rebecca Morse, the co-curator of the exhibition and curator of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at LACMA. “This car wrap refers directly to the LACMA exhibition with the use of Kruger’s black and green title graphic Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.”

Public Art Fund/Marian Harders

The car will appear, as it did on the day we visited the exhibit, in front of a vintage Airstream food truck in the museum’s courtyard, as well as in the museum’s parking garage. It will also drive throughout LA during the run of the exhibition. The core goal of this is to publicize the exhibit, and to simultaneously provide some visibility for the Ioniq 5, which we don’t mind at all since it happens to be one of our favorite new EVs. (Watch for it on the streets, Angelenos.) Kruger often surprises people with the locus of her work, so this mobility is aligned with her challenging and delightfully insidious practice. “From billboards to bus shelters, construction fences, and vehicles, Kruger often addresses the public in outdoor spaces,” Morse said. “By adopting sites that are used predominantly for advertising, Kruger challenges the viewer’s expectations and creates a powerful art experience.”Unlike her contemporary Jenny Holzer—whose work also uses aphoristic-style type as cultural critique—Kruger has not made a BMW Art Car. But can such a thing be far behind? We can only hope. Though as Barbara would say, Whose Hopes? Whose Fears? Whose Values? Whose Justice?The Kruger exhibition opened March 20 at LACMA and runs through July 17, 2022.

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Lancia is a storied Italian marque with more than 100 years of history, and the company’s Fulvia coupe was a frequent rally champion in its day, thanks to nimble handling and a reputation for reliability.This example has performed faithfully on long-distance classic-car tours and is a unique alternative to a contemporary Alfa Romeo.It’s up for auction right now on the Bring a Trailer auction site, with bidding set to end on Wednesday, April 6.Modern-day Lancia is a shadow of its former self, having been reduced to selling only a five-door hatchback that resembles a less-pretty Fiat 500. Before that were mostly Chrysler products rebadged for the Italian market, including the 300 (as the Lancia Theta) and the Voyager minivan. But wind the clock back far enough and you find cars packed with elegance and sophisticated engineering. And this 1972 Lancia Fulvia HF is one such rare machine. It’s currently up for auction at the Bring a Trailer auction site, which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos. With just five days to go, the top bid currently sits at $26,000.

When it was introduced in 1965, almost everything about the Fulvia was revolutionary. It was a front-wheel-drive car with a canted narrow-angle V-4 under the hood, and it came with disc brakes at all four corners. The sedan was a bit of a shoebox, but the delicate coupe version was sufficiently winsome that it eventually captured the heart of none other than Car and Driver’s own editor-in-chief, Tony Quiroga.

Bring a Trailer

This particular example is a later S2 model with the larger 1.6L V-4 and a five-speed manual transmission. The HF designation is for “High Fidelity,” the appellation provided to the most sporting Lancias. In the same year this car was built, a Fulvia HF won the Monte Carlo Rally. It’s a tiny car, but it left big shoes to fill: Lancia’s follow-up act was the mighty Stratos.

Bring a Trailer

The characteristics that made the Fulvia a solid contender on rally special stages make for a classic car that stands up to regular usage. The owner of this one notes some recent servicing including replacement of the rear main seal, clutch, and engine and transmission mounts, but a bigger part of the story is the mileage. Far from being some garage-bound prima donna, this Fulvia has seen 12,000 miles added to its odometer over roughly five years of ownership. It’s a sorted example, ready for motoring con brio.Despite being only slightly longer than a first-generation Mazda Miata, the little Lancia is very stable at highway speeds. Handling in corners is deft and predictable, and the brakes are excellent. The V-4 puts out an unusual but satisfying soundtrack, and the upright driving position makes for clear sightlines. Reviewing a pair of Fulvias in 1967, Road & Track summed up, “The Rallye coupe is a car for anyone who wants a precision motorcar and engineering tour de force for less than $4000.”

Bring a Trailer

Adjusted for inflation, that figure will today land you a current Volkswagen GTI. That’s a perfectly sensible, modern choice for a front-wheel-drive machine with a dash of performance, but wouldn’t you prefer something with a touch more style? A little rally heritage? A small cup of espresso con Lancia?

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For the first time, the Chevy Silverado 1500 is available as a pursuit-rated pickup truck for police departments.Known as the Silverado PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle), it has huge 16.0-inch front rotors, a rear locker, and a 2.0-inch-lift option.Chevy’s police truck features a 355-hp 5.7-liter V-8 paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.Johnny Law is getting a new chase vehicle courtesy of Chevrolet that’s capable of pursuit on public roads, through the back woods, and everywhere in between. Enter the 2023 Silverado PPV. It’s the first time Chevy has built a pursuit-rated pickup truck, and it joins the Tahoe PPV that’s been a trusty steed to police departments since it debuted in 1997.PPV versions of the Tahoe and the Silverado share a lot of components, including a powertrain and other equipment. Both use a 355-hp 5.7-liter V-8 linked to a 10-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. They also share black 20-inch rims mounted on Goodyear all-terrain tires and massive 16.0-inch iron front rotors clamped by Brembo six-piston calipers. For comparison, the Silverado’s standard front discs are three inches smaller, measuring 13.0 inches in diameter.

Chevrolet

Every 2023 Chevy Silverado PPV is configured with a crew cab and the short five-foot-eight-inch cargo box. The truck’s tow rating maxes out at 9300 pounds, and that’s 1100 pounds more than the Tahoe PPV can pull. Unlike its SUV counterpart, the Silverado is available with a 2.0-inch suspension lift. This raises its ground clearance and approach angle to 11.4 inches and 25.9 degrees, respectively, so lawbreakers will have a harder time using treacherous terrain to hide.Even without the lifted ride height, the Silverado PPV comes equipped with some notable off-road hardware. There’s a skid plate for extra underbody protection, a set of Rancho shocks from the regular truck’s Z71 package, and a locking rear differential. The cops can also opt for a hard tri-folding tonneau cover for the bed or Chevy’s multifunctional tailgate.

Chevrolet

The Silverado PPV’s interior takes a no-nonsense approach that we dig. From its tried-and-true column shifter to its power-adjustable cloth seats and vinyl flooring options, there are few creature comforts. The front jump seat can even be removed by request, freeing up space for whatever else cops might want to put there.While we certainly don’t want to see a Silverado PPV in our rearview mirror, we’d love to see one in our driveway. In fact, the more we thought about the truck’s off-road chops, bare-bones interior, and all the other neat features, it made us wish the bow-tie brand would offer one to regular law-abiding citizens. After all, it’d be a fitting rival to the recently revealed Ford F-150 Rattler, which exists as an entry-level off-roader.Chevy hasn’t said how much the 2023 Silverado PPV will cost, but the company did say it’ll be available in the U.S. and Canada sometime later this summer.
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At the reveal of the 2023 Toyota GR Corolla, we grabbed a few minutes with Toyota’s chief engineer on the project, Naoyuki Sakamoto, to dig into some of the challenges in developing the car, and what he thinks makes it so capable on track. C/D: Everyone here in the States was so jealous of the Yaris GR. How soon after Yaris did the team start the GR Corolla?NS: Actually, we started to develop the GR Corolla in 2018. So before Yaris, we were working on it. I’d say almost the same time we are developing both cars. The GR Corolla uses a three-cylinder engine. Was that designed for Yaris and adapted, or planned for Corolla originally? The Corolla is using the Yaris engine, but to bring it to the U.S. market we thought we’d need more power, so we started modifications to make that possible. Americans demand power. We are like that. If horsepower was a goal, why stick with the three-cylinder? Wouldn’t it have been easier to turbocharge a four cylinder?Actually, the compact engine is right for a sports car. The more you can keep heavy parts close to the center of gravity, the better it handles, so a lighter engine is better. A lighter car is better.What does the Circuit Edition weigh?3200 pounds.

Toyota

So to make more power, what did you do? You didn’t bore or stroke it, it’s the same size as the Yaris’s engine, but what, 30 more horses? And a three-cylinder needs a balance shaft, right? And this is twin-cam?Yeah, 300, up from 268 hp. We increased the boost, and to do that, we needed to reduce the backpressure. We needed to move more fuel in, more exhaust gas out, and it creates a high backpressure. And yes, a balance shaft, and twin-cam, of course.How do you keep everything cool? We did so much testing on track, in summer, in winter. We opened up the grille, you can see, it’s huge compared to a stock Corolla. Vents to direct air through. Even the intake, we have a thin intake for slow speed, to move air through quickly, and another duct below that opens at higher rpm, to bring more air into the engine. Is the whole chassis and body different than a stock Corolla?

The chassis is reinforced, 349 more welds and 2.7 meters more sealant, more glue. The floor is different in the back from stock, to make room for the differential. We also moved the battery from front to back for better weight distribution. The front fenders are one piece, the back extensions are bolt-on. The carbon roof is only for GR. The doors are the same as a stock car. The suspension geometry for the front uses a new connecting point, 15 mm higher to make the roll center higher, and we made it stiffer but also lighter, just in the design. And the GR-Four, the AWD, is that a performance version of what a customer would get in say, a RAV4?[NS laughs and brings over the AWD specialist, who also laughs]. It’s the GR system that is unique to this vehicle here in the States. It’s developed through racing, from our rally series. It’s going to offer a lot of acceleration control in different conditions. Was the choice to use forged carbon fiber for the roof rather than a woven carbon because it keeps the price down, or because it’s stylish and new?Both! You tired of talking about this car yet?No! I’m excited about it. We built it with a lot of passion.

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New vehicles sold in the U.S. must average 49 mpg fleet-wide by 2026, according to new federal fuel-economy standards announced today.The Department of Transportation said the new requirements are intended to improve fuel efficiency, cut down on fuel costs, and reduce emissions. People who buy new in 2029 will save about $1400 total on fuel costs over the vehicle’s lifetime, but the average new-vehicle price will also rise by about $1100.Every automaker will now need its fleet of light-duty vehicles sold in the U.S. to average 49 mpg by 2026. This new federal requirement is part of changes made to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which were announced today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (It’s important to note that these mpg numbers are unadjusted figures that don’t represent what individual cars can be expected to achieve. You can anticipate that 49 mpg unadjusted will yield a figure somewhere in the mid-30s on an average window sticker. For a thorough explanation of CAFE regulations and what they mean to actual fuel economy in your vehicle, see our earlier story on the subject.)

With better MPG comes less money spent on gas—about $1387 less over the lifetime of a vehicle bought new in the 2029 model year. However, the agency also acknowledged that requiring automakers to make vehicles more fuel-efficient will mean the cost of new vehicles will go up—by about $1087 on average, NHTSA said. The new CAFE standards take effect in 2024 and will require automakers to increase fuel efficiency by 8 percent annually for the 2024 and 2025 model years. By 2026, that figure will rise to 10 percent. Compared with the 2021 model year, the new standards are also expected to improve the industry’s fleet-wide average by about 10 miles per gallon for 2026 models. Right now, as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in remarks today, the average fuel economy of the U.S. 2021 vehicle fleet is 36 mpg, and the new standard will increase that by 33 percent by 2026. NHTSA’s press release claims that updating the requirements for 2024 through 2026 models will decrease fuel consumption by over 200 billion gallons through 2050 versus if the old standards stayed in place, as well as cut greenhouse-gas emissions and dependence on foreign oil.
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