Motor News

Toyota revealed a concept for an electric pickup truck with a four-door crew cab setup and a what appears to be a fairly short bed.Toyota didn’t provide many details on the truck, but it appears to be in between the mid-size Tacoma and full-size Tundra in terms of dimensions. With several electric trucks due to hit the market soon, we expect the Toyota EV truck to be revealed within the next year or so. Toyota has stated previously that it plans to eventually build an electric pickup truck, and now we have further proof that this model could soon become reality. This concept car, revealed during Toyota’s presentation about its future EV plans, looks remarkably close to production and is exactly what you would imagine a Toyota EV truck to look like.

Toyota

While we have very little information at this point—Toyota has not stated a name or any specifications for this truck—its appearance alone gives us a fair amount of information. It’s a four-door crew-cab configuration with what looks like a short bed, and it has chunky off-road tires that suggest it could be some sort of TRD Pro model. The styling is similar to what we’ve seen on the new Tundra, except for the blocked-off grille that is typical of EV front ends.

It’s also difficult to tell the size of this truck from these images, but it may fit in between the mid-size Tacoma and full-size Tundra in the lineup. That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if this truck is actually a preview of the next Tacoma, albeit in EV form. We’ll have to wait and see when Toyota decides to release more info on this future model, which could be within the next year or so.
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Genesis has released lots more information about the new 2023 G90 flagship sedan.It will be powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 and will use an eight-speed automatic transmission.Available features will include an air suspension, massaging seats, and a fingerprint scanner.Genesis made a splash when it first revealed the bold look of the redesigned 2023 G90 sedan, and now we’re learning a lot more about this new flagship. The luxury brand has shared details about the G90’s powertrain, suspension, interior, and the many available niceties that will be offered when this new model arrives in the U.S. in 2022.

The G90’s sole engine option will be a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 with an eight-speed automatic transmission. We expect this engine to make around the same 375 horsepower and 391 pound-feet of torque as it does in the G80 sedan, and it will likely offer either rear- or all-wheel drive. An EV version. which could be called Electrified G90, may join the lineup later on but Genesis hasn’t confirmed that model’s existence yet.An available air suspension will be able to lower the car at higher speeds for better aerodynamics or raise the car for rough terrain. The G90 will also offer a rear-wheel steering system that can turn the rear wheels up to four degrees for better maneuverability. There will be adjustable settings for the brake tuning, which Genesis calls “Chauffeur” that we assume will make the brake pedal either more or less sensitive.
This also marks the first time we’ve seen the G90’s interior, and it looks sumptuous. A large display screen—Genesis doesn’t say exactly how big—dominates the dashboard and two rotary knobs, one for the transmission and one for the infotainment, sit on the center console. All the hedonistic pleasures you’d expect from a luxury sedan will be on offer, including a fragrance system, massaging seats, and a 23-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system. The G90 will also be capable of downloading over-the-air updates, and drivers will be able to set up a fingerprint scanner to grant access to the car instead of a key.All this makes us think that the new G90 is likely to be significantly more expensive than the outgoing model, which starts at $74,995. But it will still surely cost several thousand dollars less than the German competition including the Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series. We’ll learn more about this new Genesis model soon enough, as it’s expected to reach U.S. dealerships sometime in 2022.
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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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