Motor News

Volvo is boosting the range of its electric small SUV, the XC40 Recharge.The 2022 model now goes 223 miles on a charge, according to the EPA, up from 208 miles.Volvo also says that a software update will soon be available for existing 2021 models that will provide the same boost.Volvo has made some updates to the XC40 Recharge’s powertrain for 2022 that result in an extra 15 miles of EPA-rated range. The electric SUV is now estimated to deliver 223 miles on a single charge, and existing owners of 2021 XC40 Recharge models will also be able to get the extra range via a forthcoming software update. The EPA combined efficiency figure also rises from 79 MPGe to 85 MPGe.

The updates are not to the physical battery pack itself but rather entail a number of small software changes focused on energy management and thermal management, a Volvo spokesperson told C/D. These updates helped the 2022 XC40 Recharge perform better when the EPA retested it for the new model year. The EPA has not yet rated the XC40’s sibling, the C40 Recharge, but we expect it to achieve a similar estimate as the 2022 model.We’re curious to see how the range improvement plays out in the real world, and we’ll update this article with test results for a 2022 model as soon as we are able to complete our 75-mph real-world highway range test. In that test, a 2021 model achieved a real-world range of 180 miles.The 2022 XC40 Recharge starts at $56,395 for the standard model and $59,245 for the Ultimate model. That’s a $1310 increase in base price compared with the 2021 model. 2022 models are at dealerships now, and Volvo says it will release information soon about the software updates for existing 2021 models.
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Ford is adding two new appearance packages to the 2022 Mustang lineup.The Stealth Edition is available for the EcoBoost Premium model and features clear taillights and black trim.The California Special returns for the GT and features special badges, stripes, and suede interior bits.With all the hubbub surrounding the electric Mustang Mach-E, Ford is attempting to bring some more attention back to the classic pony car with a few new appearance options. The 2022 Mustang will offer a new Stealth Edition option for the base four-cylinder EcoBoost model, while the V-8–powered GT features an updated version of the classic California Special variant.

The Stealth Edition’s most noticeable changes are the clear taillights shared with the previously revealed Ice White Edition and the black trim for the badges and side mirrors. It also has 19-inch wheels and a rear spoiler, plus a badge in the instrument cluster. Ford has yet to reveal a price for the Stealth Edition, but it will be an option package available on the EcoBoost Premium model and is offered with blue, grey, silver, or black exterior colors.

GT California Special
Ford

The California Special, a familiar nameplate to anyone who has followed the Mustang’s history, is available for either the GT coupe or convertible. The latest version of the GT/CS features a black grille, stripes, badges, and a scoop on the rear fender. There’s a strut tower brace under the hood, while the coupe features a spoiler and the convertible comes standard with a spoiler delete. Suede trim is found inside, and the California Special can now be combined with the GT Performance Package that features upgraded brakes, suspension tweaks, a limited-slip differential, and a staggered 19-inch wheel and tire setup with Pirelli summer tires.Ford says that orders open for the 2022 Mustang lineup later this year, with cars arriving at dealerships in the first quarter of next year.
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Chevrolet’s mass recall of the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV could cost GM almost $2 billion, which is why, as Inside EVs reported, some dealers are predicting a big buyback instead of widespread battery replacements.But GM reconfirmed to Car and Driver that the previously announced plan to replace the defective battery modules remains in place, adding that buybacks might be considered on a case-by-case basis.GM’s battery partner, LG, has started manufacturing replacement models for the Bolt batteries, and the first ones should be installed starting later this month.The ongoing cost of the recall that affects every single Chevrolet Bolt EV ever made is, according to some reports, around $1.8 billion. The main driver for the eye-popping number is the fact that GM’s solution to the recall is to replace at least some battery modules in all 110,000 Bolts that were sold in the U.S. The scale of this program has led some Chevy dealers to assume the automaker will implement a buyback program for the faulty EVs rather than pony up to replace the batteries.

“[GM is] already going to pay half the value of the car with the new battery. Buybacks will be way cheaper for them,” an anonymous dealer told InsideEVs. There are other signs that the recall isn’t dampening the value of these electric vehicles, which are still under temporary safety suggestions from GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) not to overcharge or overdischarge the battery. Manheim Auctions, InsideEVs notes, is forecasting that a 2021 Chevy Bolt will only lose around $100 in value over the next 12 months. The result? Dealers are buying up lots and lots of Bolt EVs from customers looking to sell.But a buyback—a massive buyback, at least—is not in the official plans.”We haven’t changed our plan, which is to replace all battery modules in the 2017–2019 model year vehicle population and replace defective modules in the 2020–2022 model years,” a GM spokesperson told Car and Driver. “We continue to consider buyback requests on a case-by-case basis.”

To catch you up on the Bolt recall situation, which also affects the Bolt EUV, the main problem is that there is a risk of the high-voltage battery pack catching fire. It has only happened around a dozen times, but the risk was large enough that GM and NHTSA made an initial recall announcement in November 2020. The problem stems from two rare manufacturing defects—a torn anode and a folded separator—that both need to be present in the same battery cell that supplier LG made for GM for a fire to potentially start. The two companies are now working together to find a solution. In late September, GM said it and LG had “identified the simultaneous presence of two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs.”Identifying that root cause allowed LG to resume battery and module production with an updated manufacturing process last month. Module replacements are supposed to start in mid-October, with the first batch going to Bolt EV and EUV customers “whose batteries were manufactured during specific build time frames where GM believes battery defects appear to be clustered,” GM said.Before the end of the year, GM will also release new diagnostic software that has been designed to “detect specific abnormalities that might indicate a damaged battery in Bolt EVs and EUVs.” GM said that with this new software and other fixes, Bolt EV and EUV owners should be able to use their cars as they did before.
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The Lotus Emira mid-engine sports car will start at $77,100 and is set to go on sale in the U.S. at the end of 2022. That base price is for the four-cylinder model that’s powered by an AMG-sourced 360-hp turbocharged four-cylinder.A First Edition model, powered by a 400-hp supercharged V-6, will be available first, entering production in the fall of next year, and it will cost $96,100. CORRECTION 10/04/21: This story has been updated to correctly state the four-cylinder engine’s horsepower.Lotus’ newest mid-engine sports car, the Emira, will enter production at the end of next year and initially be sold as a loaded First Edition model. That version will cost $96,100 in the United States and a base model will arrive in 2023 with a starting price of $77,100. For reference, you can get a Chevy Corvette or Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman S for less coin.
The Emira First Edition is powered by a 400-hp supercharged 3.5-liter V-6 with a standard six-speed manual gearbox, though a six-speed automatic is optional for $2150. Lotus says the quickest version of the Emira will reach 62 mph in less than 4.5 seconds and have a 180-mph top speed. A turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 360 horsepower will also be available in the Emira, though it is only available with a dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Six color choices are available on the First Edition models: Seneca Blue (pictured), Magma Red, Hethel Yellow, Dark Verdant, Shadow Grey, and Nimbus Grey. First Edition cars also have additional black exterior trim (you can get even more black trim for $1400), 20-inch wheels, and brake calipers with a Lotus emblem. First Edition customers can choose from either a tour suspension setup with Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport tires or a sport setup that comes with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Interior choices include red, black, grey, or tan leather along with an Alcantara option with either red, yellow, or gray stitching. Lotus says that the Emira First Edition will start production in the fall of next year, and there will be a four-cylinder First Edition model that will join the lineup shortly after. The base model with its $77,100 starting price won’t be available until 2023, and we’ll have additional pricing details closer to its on-sale date.
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Cadillac joins several other automakers by redesigning its logo with a minimalist look to signify the transition to becoming an electric-vehicle manufacturer.The new logo retains the wider, wreathless style introduced in 2014 but is now black and white, and will be illuminated in some cases, such as on the front end of the upcoming Lyriq SUV.The monochromatic version of the badge will appear on all new electric Cadillacs, while the color crest will continue on the gas-powered models until they are replaced by EVs.

Cadillac

As automakers transition their lineups to become electric only, several brands have sought to reinvent themselves by redesigning their iconic logos. Within the past two years, Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, and General Motors have also given their emblems a similar refresh, keeping the same basic shapes but opting for a more simplified, minimalist style. Now Cadillac is joining the party, with Fox News Autos reporting that Cadillac will transition to a new monochromatic version of its logo for its upcoming arsenal of electric vehicles.

Cadillac

The new black-and-white version of the logo was first seen when Cadillac debuted the Lyriq SUV as a concept in late 2020, where it was illuminated in the grille. Now the monochromatic version of the Cadillac badge—which continues with the wider, wreathless look introduced in 2014—has appeared on Cadillac’s website and social-media platforms, signaling the brand’s shift towards EVs. A Cadillac spokesperson told Car and Driver that “as Cadillac begins its next chapter to an all-electric future” with the Lyriq, Cadillac is “refreshing our brand look and feel” with “a bold and modern interpretation of the Cadillac crest.” The spokesperson also said that while the monochromatic crest will become more common, “Cadillac will continue to use the current crest as well.”

While the Cadillac representative did not specify to Car and Driver when the current, color crest would be used, Fox News Autos reports that a Cadillac spokesperson said that the color version of the logo would continue to appear on internal-combustion-engine models and will be phased out as those models are replaced with EVs. With the reveal of the Lyriq, Cadillac had announced it would not be releasing any more new gas-powered models, at least in North America, implying that the color crest will continue on the CT4, CT5, XT4, XT5, XT6, and Escalade until their electric successors arrive. Cadillac’s first EV, the Lyriq, is set to go on sale in the first half of 2022 for $59,990.
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Honda has shared the first official photos of the next-generation Civic Type R.The new model will arrive in 2022 and is based on the eleventh-generation Civic hatchback.It has similar add-ons as the current model but looks more attractive to our eye due to the new Civic’s less tortured lines.We have our first official glimpse of the new Civic Type R courtesy of these photos Honda shared of a prototype model covered in a bit of camouflage. It’s a pretty revealing look at the latest hot hatchback, which looks far better than its predecessor but maintains its aggressive stance with a body kit, a big wing on the back, and a serious wheel and tire package.Again based on the Civic’s four-door hatchback body style, we can see that the new Type R is wearing Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires wrapped around some nice-looking ten-spoke black wheels. Red Brembo brake calipers are visible, too. A big rear wing and three exhaust tips dominate the rear view.

Honda

Honda isn’t sharing many technical details at this point, but we expect the new model to use the same turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four as the outgoing car, likely tuned to produce a bit more than the current 306 hp and 295 pound-feet. Honda has already confirmed that a six-speed manual transmission will be offered, although an optional dual-clutch automatic transmission may join the lineup.More details should be coming soon, as Honda says that the Type R will be revealed in full sometime next year. It’ll go on sale in the U.S. later in 2022, likely with a starting price just under $40,000.
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Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe announced a new fund called Forever that will put money from the young electric-vehicle company into “high-impact climate initiatives” to protect wilderness.Scaringe said Rivian will invest 1 percent of its equity (not profits) in this fund to move away from the “massive industrial complex” that our current lifestyles rely on.Rivian could end up being valued at $50 billion or even $80 billion in its upcoming IPO, according to various analysts. That would mean a lot of money being spent on Forever.Rivian has been embracing a curious word in its marketing for the past year or two: forever. What started as the “Adventurous Forever” tagline in a series of videos in 2020 about the all-electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV became a new philanthropic mission this week with the announcement of, well, “Forever.”Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe published a note on the Rivian website yesterday about his company’s new Forever mission. The headline detail is that Scaringe promised that he will put 1 percent of Rivian’s equity into Forever, a philanthropic-focused fund that he said would address “our planet’s climate crisis and preserving the critical biodiversity needed for our planet’s long-term survival.”
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Scaringe correctly notes that automakers (and the rest of us) cannot continue to build and consume products as we have been for the past century. The “massive industrial complex” that humans have created, he writes, is “rapidly changing the composition of our atmosphere while simultaneously destroying the interlinked natural ecosystems critical for life on the planet. Our current way of life has been enabled by hundreds of millions of years of accumulated plant- and animal-based carbon in the form of fossil fuels. On our current path, we will fully exhaust this stored energy in only a few more generations and, in the process, carbonize our atmosphere, and damage natural ecosystems to such a degree that life as we know it will not be possible.”

One important detail in Scaringe’s announcement is that Rivian isn’t going to invest some portion of its profits into environmental causes. That would be the very definition of greenwashing, since Rivian is gearing up for an IPO and in some of the paperwork it filed to go public said that it lost $2 billion since the beginning of 2021 and over a billion in 2020. In fact, Rivian will spend around $8 billion building up its facilities and other manufacturing infrastructure through the end of 2023, the New York Times reported. In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Rivian specifically said possible investors should not be looking for profits anytime soon: “We do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future as we invest in our business, build capacity, and ramp up operations, and we cannot assure you that we will ever achieve or be able to maintain profitability in the future.”

But equity? Equity is another story. It’s difficult to know exactly what Rivian’s valuation or equity will be, but over the summer sources told Reuters that Rivian could be looking for a valuation somewhere in the $50-to-$80-billion range in its IPO. Institutional investors including Amazon and Ford have already plowed billions into Rivian, but the stock market has not yet had its say. To cite one obvious comparison, Tesla took years to make a profit, but the company was valued at around $700 billion earlier this year, way more than other automakers. Shareholder equity, which can be calculated by figuring out a company’s total assets and then subtracting its total liabilities, isn’t the same as valuation, but the two are connected. However much money Rivian ends up putting into Forever, the fund’s focus will be on what Scaringe called “high-impact climate initiatives” that emphasize “preserving and restoring wildlands, waterways and oceans.” These areas shouldn’t just be protected so they can offer exciting backdrops for drone shots of an R1T off-roading, but because these are exactly the parts of our planet that act as “powerful carbon sinks that pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing carbon in soil, grasses, trees, shrubs, coral reefs and ocean floor sediments,” Scaringe wrote, and the more valuable Rivian becomes, the more money will be spent on protecting these area. “By putting 1% of Rivian’s equity into Forever, the natural world will become a shareholder in our success,” he wrote. “As our company’s value grows by transitioning our customers to sustainable transportation solutions, so will the value of our impact and philanthropic giving, creating a virtuous cycle of impact.”
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A new Bond-movie car exhibit, Bond in Motion, has opened at the Petersen Automotive Museum and will run until October 2022.There are 30 cars from 60 years of Bond films.The exhibit features submarines, motorcycles, a Tuk Tuk taxi, and something called a Wet Bike, too.When the very first Bond movie was filmed in 1962, the whole production had a budget of just one million English pounds, or about what the catering budget would be for a modern Bond film. And since Dr. No was shot on the island of Jamaica in the days before carmakers fought—and often paid—to have their cars featured in movies, the Dr. No crew had to rely on the largesse of the local Jamaicans for cars. Thus, Bond’s first-ever chase scene shows Sean Connery piloting an 80-hp Sunbeam Alpine borrowed from a local resident, who happened to own one of the few sports cars on the island.As you’ll no doubt recall from that movie, Bond had to outrun a hearseful of Dr. No’s murderous henchmen, who were driving a LaSalle hearse from the 1930s. Remarkably, the hearse was able to keep up with the Sunbeam Alpine, maybe because the Sunbeam only had a 1.6-liter engine, but only until Bond snuck under the boom of a parked crane, sending the hearse off a cliff to a flaming fireball of death.”Where were they going?” the crane operator asked.”I think they were on their way to a funeral,” said Bond, in the first of what would be hundreds of clever quips delivered over vanquished foes.

The chase scene that started them all: Dr. No.
MGM

Since that first chase scene, the cars of the Bond franchise have advanced to the point where they are almost as famous as the stars. Since the Sunbeam, 007 has now driven everything from Lotuses, Jaguars, and BMWs, to the coming crop of Aston Martins that will be seen in the 3oth installment, No Time To Die, opening October 8 in the U.S. To celebrate all these wheeled wonders, the Petersen Automotive Museum in the heart of Hollywood has opened an exhibit called Bond In Motion that will run until October 30, 2022. So while there’s no immediate rush, you may want to see it before the latest movie premieres.

“The Petersen Automotive Museum will present a new exhibit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise through a highly diverse selection of iconic screen-used vehicles,” the museum stated. “Bond in Motion will be the largest official Bond vehicle display to date in the US, and will feature more than 30 cars, motorcycles, boats, submarines, helicopters and even scale filming models of aircraft from an array of both classic and contemporary Bond films.”
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Among the cars, boats and subs will be some of your favorites: the 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 Submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), 1985 Aston Martin V8 from The Living Daylights (1987), 1999 BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough (1999), and the 2019 Aston Martin DB10 from Spectre (2015).The iconic 1964 Aston Martin DB5 from several different Bond films will be there, along with the DBS from 2008’s Quantum of Solace and the Deux Chevaux camera car that was hooked up to a trailer hitch to shoot For Your Eyes Only in 1981. And, of course, the Lotus Esprit submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me will share floorspace with the Bath-O-Sub Escape Pod from the same movie.”James Bond is an international pop culture icon and the vehicles he drives are an integral part of his character,” said Petersen Automotive Museum executive director Terry L. Karges. “The Petersen is excited to showcase so many of the series’ most well-known vehicles. We are sure that there will be something to satisfy every generation of Bond fan.”If you’re a Bond fan, or even if you’re not, you should check it out. Wonder when they’ll do a Cars of the Fast and Furious Franchise?

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