Motor News

Hyundai has released pricing for the 2022 Ioniq 5 electric car.It starts at $40,925 for the Standard Range model and goes up to $55,725 for a loaded Limited model with the more powerful dual-motor AWD setup.SE, SEL, and Limited models go on sale this month and the SE-only Standard Range arrives in the spring.We now have the final piece of the information puzzle for Hyundai’s new Ioniq 5 EV: the price. It starts at $40,925 for the base SE Standard Range model that promises 220 miles of range according to the EPA. This version, which has a 58.0-kWh battery, will arrive later than the more powerful and longer-range configurations with a 77.4-kWh battery and up to 303 miles of EPA-rated range that are set to go on sale this month. The SE with the bigger battery costs $44,875, while the SEL costs $47,125 and the Limited $51,825.

The SE Standard Range has just 168 horsepower from a single electric motor that powers the rear wheels. Upgrading to the bigger battery brings on a more powerful 225-hp motor and increases estimated range to 303 miles. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive configuration is available only with the bigger battery and costs $3500 extra for SE and SEL models and $3900 extra for the top Limited model. With front and rear electric motors, the Ioniq 5 produces a total of 320 horsepower but has a shorter range estimate of 256 miles.We don’t yet have a price for the closely related Kia EV6, but the Ioniq 5’s price range compares favorably to other similar EVs on the market. The 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E starts at $43,995 and goes up to $61,095 for the performance-oriented GT model, while the Volkswagen ID.4 costs between $41,190 and $49,370.We’ll be sharing our full driving impressions on the Ioniq 5 soon, so stay tuned to learn more about what it’s like from behind the wheel. Hyundai says that this EV will be only be sold in certain states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
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News Channel 5 Nashville via Facebook

Chevrolet announced it has paused production of its Corvette sports car for the week of December 13 to repair damages caused by a fire that broke out at its Bowling Green, Kentucky, assembly plant on Saturday. The fire was caused by one of several tornadoes that swept through six states in the U.S. South and Midwest over the weekend. The storms have been responsible for killing over 90 people and in some cases, leveling entire towns. The fire “has caused damage to the facility, including the roof and an employee entrance,” GM said in a statement to Automotive News. “The small number of employees that were onsite are all safe. Maintaining a safe work environment for plant employees is our top priority.”
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A flyover of the facility performed by Channel 5 News Nashville and published to Facebook on Saturday shows what looks to be significant damage to NCM Motorsports Park, the road course adjacent to the assembly plant. In one instance we can see what looks to be a storage facility for newly built C8s that’s had its roof entirely ripped off.

The plant will be idled the entire week, with first and second shifts canceled so teams can bring the facility back up to standard. Production is expected to restart on December 20, though GM has yet to confirm whether that’s actually the case. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen C8 production stopped. The factory has paused several times in the past due to COVID-19-related concerns and supply shortages.

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A new model called Everglades is set to join the 2022 Ford Bronco lineup.It will include a winch and a snorkel, along with some trim differences.Ford says the Bronco Everglades will be available starting in summer 2022.The ever-expanding Bronco lineup will soon include a new model called Everglades. Ford confirmed this new package previously on its website and now we have the first photos thanks to Bronco Nation, which show the 2022 Bronco Everglades in camouflage with its add-ons that include a winch and a snorkel.

The snorkel, which can be seen on the A-pillar, is likely to increase the Bronco’s fording depth, while the winch will be a factory-installed unit. We can also see in the photos that the Everglades has different wheels and 35-inch Goodyear Territory MT tires, along with some minor trim tweaks such as different fender flares. The SUV pictured here is also finished in the Bronco’s Eruption Green exterior paint color that’s new for 2022.We’re not sure yet if the Everglades will be a standalone trim level or a package that can be added onto other models similar to the Sasquatch option. It also remains to be seen whether it’s available for two-door and four-door models, or just for the four-door model like the vehicle pictured here. The upcoming Bronco Raptor, also slated to launch in 2022, is likely to be four-door-only.Stay tuned for more information to come on the 2022 Bronco Everglades, which should be released within the next few months before it begins arriving at dealerships in summer 2022.
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Time Magazine has named Elon Musk its 2021 Person of the Year.The title is given to the most influential person over the previous year, and is not necessarily considered an award.Musk is not the first automotive executive to be named Person of the Year—the title was given to Walter Chrysler in 1928 and GM president Harlow Curtice in 1955.Time Magazine announced today that Elon Musk is the publication’s Person of the Year. The title is not necessarily an award, but rather is given to the person or persons who have had an outsize impact on the world and influence on the news over the previous year. Musk’s prominent role as the head of Tesla, his venture into space travel with SpaceX, and his current position as the world’s wealthiest person, has made him both a household name and a controversial presence in the automotive world and beyond.This year, Tesla became a trillion-dollar company and continued its reign over the growing electric-vehicle market. Musk’s SpaceX venture also had a monumental year, launching the first space mission with an all-civilian crew in September. But the Time article points out not only Musk’s business acumen, but also his outspoken personality, describing him as “a madcap hybrid of Thomas Edison, P.T. Barnum, Andrew Carnegie, and Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan.” From his comical, snarky tweets—which can border on Internet trolling—to his appearance on Saturday Night Live in May, Musk manages almost always to find a way into the daily news cycle.The magazine also describes how Musk’s prominence “coincides with broader trends of which he and his fellow technology magnates are part cause and part effect.” Time points to the replacement of traditional institutions by influential individuals, the shifting of power from government to private corporations, and the growing divide between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of the population. There’s also space travel, previously the domain of powerful nations and now being undertaken by companies including Musk’s SpaceX.

Musk is not the first person in the automotive sector to be named Person of the Year. The second ever Person (then Man) of the Year was Walter Chrysler, founder of the eponymous automaker, named in 1928 as the company merged with Dodge and began construction of the Chrysler Building in New York City. The title was also given to Harlow Curtice, president of General Motors, in 1955 when GM sold five million vehicles and became the first corporation to earn $1 billion in a single year. And while Musk, Chrsyler, and Curtice were all accomplished businessmen, Musk has become a cultural force unlike any automotive executive before him. “Many people are described as larger than life, but few deserve it,” Time noted.
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Vehicles from both Tesla and Mercedes currently allow some video games to be played on the main touchscreen while the car is moving. But the way the companies are reacting shows a world of difference.Mercedes says it made a mistake in allowing the in-motion games—which happens in only a couple hundred vehicles—and has issued a voluntary recall to fix the problem.Tesla, which allowed the moving games through an over-the-air update this summer, has not taken any public steps to fix the problem, but NHTSA said this week it is aware of the situation.Tesla runs counter to the traditional auto industry in a lot of ways, from the tweets of CEO Elon Musk to starting as an all-electric automaker in the early 2000s. The latest example of Tesla’s different approach is the way it and Daimler have each responded to recent questions of safety and in-car entertainment. Specifically, both Tesla and Mercedes have permitted people to play video games on the car’s touchscreen while the vehicle is in motion, although Mercedes considers it a mistake and is recalling vehicles to remedy the problem, while Tesla has not yet done that. In the case of Tesla, the Associated Press video clip below shows that the driver can easily play while driving.
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Minimizing distracted driving has been at the forefront of the agenda for U.S. safety regulators for years now, even as cars get more connected and in-cabin screens multiply and continue to grow larger. The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee, for example, can have two rear-seat infotainment screens as well as a screen in the dashboard for the front-seat passenger to be able to interact with the navigation system the driver sees as well as do things like watch streaming Amazon Fire TV content. What’s important to know is that this screen was designed so that you can’t see a single lit-up pixel from the driver’s position.As for Mercedes, the German automaker issued a recall for four models—the 2021 S580 and the 2022 EQS450, EQS 580, and S500—when it discovered that some of those vehicles on the road had been programmed with an “incorrect configuration” on Mercedes-Benz’s back-end server and potentially on the MBUX infotainment system in these vehicles. The error allows “vehicle occupants to activate those functions [including TV and digital owner’s manual, as well as the games] while the vehicle is driving.” The problem covers only 227 vehicles, but Mercedes issued the recall for them because “if an occupant were to actively select the function or application while the vehicle is driving, then driver distraction might result which could increase the risk of a crash,” the company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). No crashes or accidents have been reported since the problem was discovered in mid-November and Mercedes has since updated its network server to fix the problem, according to The Hill.Tesla, on the other hand, has allowed video games to be played in some of its vehicles for years. That’s fine when the car is parked, but this summer, an over-the-air software update allowed three video games to be played even while the car was in motion. Tesla’s Autopilot system, which is not a full self-driving technology, does not have the driver-monitoring capability to tell Tesla whether it’s the front-seat passenger or the driver who’s playing those games.

AP via YouTube

Following media reports about Tesla’s drivable gaming setup, NHTSA released a statement about the situation this week: “We are aware of driver concerns and are discussing the feature with the manufacturer. The Vehicle Safety Act prohibits manufacturers from selling vehicles with design defects posing unreasonable risks to safety,” the statement said, according to Bloomberg. Tesla, for its part, is being characteristically silent.
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We might need a word to describe looking at excellent classic cars on auction sites during a pandemic. Something like doomscrolling, but without the negative connotation. (Or maybe: Window Shopping.)For example, how about this 1972 BMW 3.0CS that was originally sold in Germany and was imported to the U.S. in the ’80s? Sure, it’s been repainted, and who knows how many miles are actually on it. But it looks good and appears to be in excellent shape.The current bid is $50,000, and the auction ends Friday.Scrolling through classic car auction sites has become more popular than ever during the pandemic, if the prices of many recent auctions tell us anything. Our friends at Bring a Trailer continue to provide social media with plenty of “Can you believe this?” listings as final bids for these classics mimic the higher prices we’re seeing across the board for new and used cars. Today, we’ve got our eye on a 1972 BMW 3.0CS, listed for auction on BaT, with a 3.0-liter M30 straight-six engine and a four-speed manual transmission. This elegant example of an E9 series was purchased new in Germany and imported to the U.S. in 1984.

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As with any car that has this many years behind it, there are some quirks to be found. The seller, who regularly lists vehicles on the site and bought this vehicle in late 2021, says that the windows and gauges are functioning, but not the clock. The second owner repainted it in Metallic Green sometime after 2015, covering the original Taiga metallic green paint. The interior, with its beige cloth upholstery, is all original. The brake pads, calipers, springs, struts, exhaust, water pump, and fan clutch have all been replaced at some point since 2015, the owner says. Lowering springs and Bilstein struts were installed in April 2019.

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The 16-inch wheels are “Alpina style” and not original. The odometer shows around 10,000 miles, but the true mileage is unknown. Service records for the car, going back to the 1970s, are included, as are the owner’s manuals, importation documents, and a clean Connecticut title. The Panasonic AM/FM–cassette stereo knows nothing about your smartphone. The vehicle is located in North Salem, New York, and anyone in the area can schedule an appointment to see the car on December 17.

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Similar early-1970s BMW 3.0 CS models currently for sale over on Hemmings, in wildly different conditions, range from around $16,000 to over $100,000, which admittedly tells us little about what to expect for the final price here. The current bid is $50,000 and the auction ends Friday, December 17.
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The city of Milwaukee is experiencing a big uptick in car thefts, and Hyundai and Kia vehicles are the majority of vehicles stolen.To address the problem, Hyundai and Kia say they are working with the local police department, which is distributing free steering-wheel locks to Milwaukee Hyundai and Kia owners through the end of the year.Starting with the 2022 model year, Kia said, it will make immobilizers standard on all trim levels of all models, a spokesperson said. Hyundai told C/D that all its new vehicles at every trim level have the immobilizers now. These have a transponder in the key fob to prevent a vehicle from being started by someone without the right key.According to city police in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, car theft is an increasing problem during pandemic times—and it’s especially dangerous to own a Hyundai or Kia. Vehicles of these brands, in fact, represent two out of every three vehicles stolen during the first half of 2021 in Milwaukee. City officials, faced with police cuts and a record wave of violent crime, have called on the automakers to fix what they perceive as defects and have threatened to sue them.According to police and WISN-12, while total year-to-date car thefts have risen nearly 2.5 times since 2020, the number of stolen Hyundai and Kia models was 25 times higher in just the first six months. Milwaukee police reported nearly 10,000 motor vehicle thefts so far this year, compared to 4509 last year and 3487 in 2019. Fox 6 Milwaukee says it’s the highest in 11 years. When thieves successfully break into a car and start the engine without a key, the targeted vehicles are usually older, don’t have anti-theft devices, and have physical ignition cylinders that can be mechanically bypassed. But age apparently hasn’t been a factor in Milwaukee, where police say that thieves—many of them minors—are jacking late-model or brand-new Hyundai and Kia vehicles, and many are posting about it on social media.One car-repair facility owner was quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explaining that “Kia thieves know they can break the back window without setting off an alarm, unlock the door, quickly peel back the steering column, and either use a screwdriver or a USB port to crank the car and go.”City council members are blaming the automakers for allegedly not installing anti-theft devices such as engine immobilizers in their cars. Alderman Khalif Rainey said the automakers are “directly responsible” for the uptick in crime and that “it’s time to fix the problem they created.” In separate letters to the U.S. divisions of both automakers, Rainey alleged that their cars “can be stolen with nothing more than a USB cable.” The city “revealed it’s considering suing Kia and Hyundai under public nuisance laws,” according to WISN-12. No lawsuit has been filed. Spokespeople for Hyundai and Kia said in June that the companies were investigating and cooperating with police.

Hyundai and Kia spokespeople told Car and Driver that the company is currently “working closely with the Milwaukee Police Department and other local officials and departments.” The police are providing anti-theft steering-wheel locks to owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles that don’t have an engine immobilizer, a transponder in the ignition key that communicates with electronic devices inside the vehicle to prevent theft. Hyundai said it is directly supplying the Milwaukee Police Department with these locks.Spokespeople for Hyundai and Kia told C/D that every new Hyundai now has standard engine immobilizers, and that all 2022 Kias across the lineup will also have the engine immobilizer fitted as standard equipment. The Kia spokesperson also said, “While we have seen the same public statements about the potential for a lawsuit to address a crime wave in Milwaukee, we are not aware of the basis for any legal claims against Kia America.”It’s not just Milwaukee and it’s not just Hyundai/Kia products, of course. Nationwide, more cars were stolen in 2020 than any year in the past decade, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the lead data source for vehicle thefts reported to insurance companies. A total of 880,595 vehicles were reported stolen, which was an 11 percent increase from 2019. Theft increases were reported in 41 states. Interestingly, no Hyundai or Kia model made the NICB’s top 10 most-stolen vehicles list for 2020.
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A Wall Street Journal report today, citing “people familiar with the matter,” says General Motors is planning to spend about $3 billion and add some 2700 jobs to produce EVs and batteries in Michigan.The paper noted that Ford and Toyota both announced big expenditures on EV and battery production recently, both in the southern U.S. rather than in Michigan.We have reached out to GM for details and will update this story when we know more.General Motors will reportedly invest around $3 billion to produce electric vehicles and batteries in Michigan, according to a report today by the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources. The automaker is set to update the Orion Assembly plant, which currently produces the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, to serve as a production facility for its electric pickups.

Additionally, GM is preparing to build a battery production facility in Lansing. This project will supposedly be done in partnership with LG Energy Solutions. Each project is estimated to cost approximately $2 billion, with the latter battery plant’s cost split evenly between GM and LG. The two investments are set to create more than 2700 jobs, with more than half of those new jobs reportedly earmarked for the updated Orion Assembly plant, according to the WSJ. We’ve reached out to GM for comment and will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Ford announced earlier this year that it will make batteries for the upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup at a new plant under construction in Georgia. The automaker will also produce EVs and batteries in Tennessee and Kentucky and will develop batteries at the newly announced Ion Park in southeastern Michigan. Stellantis, parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, will produce battery cells for future vehicles in North America but has not yet said where. Toyota is opening an EV battery production “megasite” in North Carolina that will open in 2025.
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