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As the battery-related recall expands to include every Bolt EV and Bolt EUV Chevrolet has sold in the U.S., the automaker and NHTSA have offered updated suggestions to Bolt owners to minimize the risk of fires. One temporary remedy for the defective battery is that Bolt EVs should not be charged indoors, overnight, or to more than a 90 percent state of charge. They should also not be driven so that the battery shows less than 70 miles left in the pack. But Recurrent, which can monitor battery usage from its subscribers, says that up to 30 percent of Bolt drivers are not following these rules.The already large Chevy Bolt EV recall grew this week to include every unit that Chevrolet has sold in the U.S., even the new Bolt EUVs that use the same battery pack. The problem, as we’ve known since General Motors announced the initial recall in the fall of 2020, is that in rare circumstances the battery could ignite due to “defective battery modules.” The recall now involves 110,000 EVs, and their owners have been given specific guidance about how to take care of their vehicle while waiting for a full replacement to happen. The problem, according to battery-monitoring service Recurrent: about 30 percent of Bolt drivers aren’t following that guidance correctly.

Chevrolet

As we’ve noted, GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have offered different fixes for this problem since it first announced a recall for 2017-2019 model year Chevrolet Bolt EVs in November 2020. At the time, GM said Bolt owners should not park indoors and also limit charging to at most 90 percent full (the setting can be adjusted using the Bolt’s Hilltop Reserve mode in 2017–2018 vehicles and Target Charge Level mode in later models). Then, in July, owners were told not to recharge their EVs overnight and to not drive so much on one charge that the battery drops to below 70 miles of remaining range. This month, the recall was expanded to include 2019 model Bolt EV and all 2020–2022 Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models. The total cost to GM is now estimated to be $1.8 billion.

The overall number of Bolt EV fires suspected to be caused by this defect is quite low. NHTSA started investigating the issue due to three fires and later said it was aware of four fires that started despite drivers following the suggested remedies. However, despite the potential seriousness of the problem, it appears not all Bolt drivers are listening to the company or NHTSA. This insight comes to us from Recurrent, which monitors battery information from electric=vehicle drivers who subscribe to the service in order to analyze battery health. Recurrent has been watching 1000 Chevy Bolt subscribers since early August, and this week said its real-world numbers show that up to 30 percent of these Bolt owners are not following GM’s new charging guidelines to keep the pack below 90 percent full and above 70 miles of remaining range, which the NHTSA calls “deep discharge mode.””Our data is showing that a lot of Chevy Bolt owners are going to have to change their behavior,” said Recurrent CEO Scott Case in a statement. “For some, this could be a hardship if they have long commutes and require more range than the new guidelines allow, especially during the summer when hot temperatures and extra A/C usage affect battery performance.”

Recurrent says its subscribers represent “highly engaged and attentive owners,” and that, in general, they did respond to the new charge level guidance from GM, but there are still people who either don’t know about the safety suggestions or have decided not to follow them. The recall’s expansion to include 2019–2022 Bolt vehicles means it’s likely it will take even longer for GM to provide permanent fixes. “Newer Chevy Bolt owners need to pay attention to this recall now,” Case said. “One hundred thousand batteries can’t get replaced overnight given supply-chain woes and high demand for new EVs so this will take some time.”
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For a variety of reasons, from emissions to safety to cost, carmakers don’t bother bringing certain vehicles stateside. While many of these cars are pretty undesirable, some are reportedly amazing. So a viewer asked us what forbidden fruit we would import if we had a shady car-smuggling friend who could bring over anything from the world beyond our borders. If you’re worried about how we might register such a vehicle, this friend also has the connections and ability to make it street legal. We set a budget of $50,000, set Google to translate, and started searching foreign websites.To answer the Window Shop challenge, we asked deputy testing director K.C. Colwell, senior editor Joey Capparella, contributor Jonathon Ramsey, deputy editor Tony Quiroga, and, of course, Road & Track senior editor John Pearley Huffman to scour the internet for contenders. Most of the crew makes smart choices. Two of the contestants pick hot performance cars from Down Under, another selects a very special Toyota Yaris that deserves to be imported, someone else champions a Renault that breaks the budget, and Pearley presents a car that he could legally import and register in the U.S. today, no shady friend necessary. (If you’ve watched this show before, you already know that Pearley isn’t a careful reader of the challenges.)There are plenty of laughs, a few Britishisms, some valuable information, a couple of trivialities, and of course a winner—sort of.

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Hyundai will host “Hydrogen Wave,” a virtual event where the company will discuss its plans for hydrogen fuel cells and show off some new hydrogen-powered vehicles.A teaser video shows a hydrogen-powered sports sedan speeding around a racetrack, but Hyundai did not provide any more details on this potential new model.Another teaser shows a long-distance freight truck, with a design that shares some similarities with the HDC-6 Neptune concept from 2019.Most automakers have been pledging to convert their lineups to battery-powered electric vehicles, touting gains in charging times and range, but a few companies have continued developing hydrogen fuel-cell technology, which promises sustainability and quick five-minute refills. Hyundai was one of these companies. It has offered the Nexo, a hydrogen-powered crossover, in California since 2019. While the Nexo is a niche vehicle finding only a couple hundred buyers each year, Hyundai is doubling down on hydrogen technology, announcing yesterday that it will host a virtual forum called “Hydrogen Wave,” during which the Korean automaker will reveal its vision for a hydrogen-fuel-cell future.
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Along with outlining its plans for hydrogen fuel-cell development, Hyundai says that it will unveil “state-of-the-art future fuel-cell electric vehicles” at the event, although it did not specify how many or what they might be. However, a few short teaser videos provide some hints. In the first video, we catch a few glimpses of a hydrogen-powered sedan decked out in blue, black, and white camouflage as it tears up a racetrack. The vehicle appears to be an athletic sports sedan, and Hyundai has said before that its N performance subbrand will include hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles as well as traditional EVs. The vehicle looks roughly similar in size to the Sonata, but it’s not yet clear whether Hyundai’s first performance hydrogen car will be based on an existing model or new from the ground up.

In one of the other videos, we get a brief look at a hydrogen-fuel-cell truck as the camera pans along the side of a vehicle with HTWO logos, Hyundai’s nascent hydrogen fuel cell sub-brand. Although it’s not a perfect match, some of the vehicle we see looks similar to the design of the HDC-6 Neptune semi-truck concept Hyundai showed off in 2019. The virtual forum will take place on September 7 on the Hyundai Motor Group Youtube channel before the company hosts a physical exhibition, presumably of the new vehicles, in Goyang, South Korea, from September 8 to 11.
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The GMC Canyon AT4 Ovrlandx concept takes the company’s mid-size pickup truck to the extreme, fitting a bed cap, tent, and rear awning for those seeking to live off the grid.The Ovrlandx gains a lift kit, Multimatic dampers, and 33-inch BFGoodrich KM3 Mud-Terrain tires, as well as custom bumpers front and rear and unique extended wheel arches.The bed cap comes with an integrated kitchenette and cooler, as well as jerry cans for extra water or gas should you run out while out exploring nature.Overlanding, a mashup of off-roading and camping, has seen a surge of popularity in the U.S. recently. Along with custom builds from creative off-road enthusiasts, automakers themselves have jumped on the trend. Last year both Toyota and Ford showed vehicles prepped for overlanding duty, and now GMC is joining the party with the Canyon AT4 Ovrlandx concept, revealed today at the Overland Expo Mountain West 2021 in Loveland, Colorado.
Starting with a Canyon AT4, GMC added a heavy-duty front bumper with a winch and recovery points, an AEV rear bumper, increased underbody protection, and rocker-panel protectors. A lift kit and 33-inch BFGoodrich KM3 Mud-Terrain tires on 17-inch AEV Crestone wheels provide 10 inches of ground clearance and a 27.7-degree approach angle. The snorkel helps the Ovrlandx travel through up to 32.1 inches of water and guy lines running between the roof and hooks on the front fenders shield the windshield from branches along the trail.

The Canyon AT4 Ovrlandx also gains Multimatic DSSV dampers, front and rear electronic locking differentials, and cast-iron control arms. Visual changes include black wheel flares with integrated lighting units, custom grille and headlight finishes, unique AT4 badges, a special leather interior, and a spare tire on a swivel mount. Most importantly for overlanding enthusiasts, there is a stainless steel bed cap with a tent perched on top and an awning that extend outwards to provide shade while you cook on the built-in kitchenette. The bed cap also includes plenty of storage, traction boards for if you get stuck, an off-road jack, and jerry cans for gas and water.GMC said the truck still uses the 3.6-liter V-6 engine and eight-speed automatic from the stock AT4. The Canyon AT4 Ovrlandx is simply a concept for now, but the company did say it is “exploring GMC’s vision for its growing lineup of premium yet capable trucks and SUVs,” suggesting that a more hard-core Canyon could potentially be in the cards.
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Earlier this month, we all got to watch as racer and professional hooligan Ken Block pit his Subaru WRX STI rally car against his Baja-bound trophy truck. The unlikely competitors duked it out on a timed rally stage, with a predictable victory ensuing for the Subaru. Not satisfied with this single bout of automotive shenanigans, Block is back with another video in which his Ford Escort RS “Cossie V2” and his wife’s Ford Fiesta R2 join to compete in a 2000-hp shootout. Block and his crew decided to make things simpler this time around. Instead of sending all four cars down a rally stage, a basic out and back course was devised. All four vehicles would start from a dead stop in a box of cones before accelerating to a marked hairpin. After completing the turn, the driver simply would to accelerate back down the straightaway and get stopped in the box. Fastest time wins.
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Like the Subaru WRX STI featured in the last clip, the Cossie V2 is a serious rally-prepped machine. The Ford features a 2.0-liter Escort WRC engine, which produces around 375 hp. That is about 45 more than Subaru, but the Cossie V2 is also slightly heavier at around 3400 pounds. Both cars utilize a six-speed sequential gearbox and all-wheel drive, so the two appear evenly matched on paper. The same can’t be said for Lucy Block’s Fiesta R2, which only makes 197 hp from its 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder. The R2 is a lightweight, tipping the scales at just 2240 pounds. That’s three times lighter than the 6450-pound Geiser Bros G6 Trophy Truck, but the truck packs 1100 hp under the hood. Each vehicle brings its own set of strengths to the competition, which proved closer than one might think. Block drove his trophy truck and the WRX STI, while Jax Redline was tasked with piloting the Cossie V2. Despite taking a two year hiatus from the driver’s seat, Lucy Block was responsible for taking her R2 through the course. Less of a controlled test than last time, but perhaps even more fun as a result.

Unsurprisingly, Ken and his Subaru dominated the show, dropping a 13.7 second run through the course. The Escort RS secured second place with a best time of 14.9 seconds. The trophy truck struggled to do any better than a 15.7 second pass, rearing the front end the whole time. The plucky little R2 had significantly worse road conditions to deal with than the others, and as such a slight time deduction was made in the name of fairness. The R2’s best adjusted time was 18 seconds. While we’re not sure that this test proves anything, it does make one wonder how to get their hands on four rally-ready machines. This sort of challenge seems like it would be great fun among friends, regardless of which vehicle you’re stuck with.

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M.Vision X concept from Hyundai Mobis envisions autonomous travel of the future with touchless controls.Controlled by voice and gestures, the concept features windows designed to transform into video screens.The Munich Auto Show, or IAA Mobility, opens in September and will be focused on future transportation tech, with emphasis on EVs and autonomy.Hyundai Mobis, which is the South Korean industrial giant’s automotive supplier arm, is headed to the IAA in Munich next month with the M.Vision X concept that promises to fit right in with the Mobility theme of the new show. Designed as an autonomous vehicle meant for four passengers, the M.Vision X concept features windows that can transform into displays for the benefit of the passengers, perfect for watching videos. In fact, just about every horizontal surface is a screen, with the vehicle permitting passengers to constantly be entertained by something, offering 360 degrees of viewing surfaces.

If this sounds like a preview of our entertainment-obsessed future, where even windows become screens for our entertainment, then what is even the point of autonomous cars, one would say, if not to allow ourselves to watch cat videos on YouTube instead of driving?That future looks contact-free as well—perhaps previewing a permanent pandemic state—judging by the concept’s use of gesture and voice controls.”The core solution of M.Vision X is the vertical cockpit in the center of the interior, which looks like a square pillar,” the company notes. “On each of the four sides of the integrated center cockpit is a 28-inch display. This integrated center cockpit communicates with passengers in a contact-free fashion using the gesture recognition functions. As a result, passengers can control all driving-related functions, e.g. the autonomous driving mode, AI speakers and infotainment. There is also a sterilization function that uses UV lighting to automatically sterilize the vehicle once the passengers get out of the car. This new technology is also a feature of M.Vision X.”
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The M.Vision X can seem either utopian or dystopian, depending on your view of pandemic-friendly touchless controls for everything. It also echoes the countless lounge-like vehicle concepts we’ve seen from South Korean and Japanese automakers, dating back maybe 20 years—long before any semi-autonomous vehicles were even in prototype stage. In that sense, the M.Vision X concept may prove to be more tangible and easy to picture than ever before, especially given that prototypes with Level 4 autonomy have been around for a few years now; we’ve even gone for a spin in a handful of them. With Level 4 autonomy being carefully rolled out on a small scale, perhaps we’re approaching the point where autonomous, geofenced shuttles like this one are a couple of years away from seeing limited, but very real, use, with custom-designed bodies meant to serve as autonomous taxis. The M.Vision X concept certainly looks like a robotaxi that could be deployed soon on a wider scale, even as prototypes now approach limited use in some cities.”We worked hard to sublimate the changes in life people have had to cope with in the post-Covid 19 era with new mobility technologies,” said Vice President Cheon Jae-Seung, head of the Fundamental and Advanced Lab of Hyundai Mobis. “The new mobility platform, as presented by Hyundai Mobis, contains the spirit of technical exploration, which also enables people to share their thoughts and feel the joy of everyday life.”

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Jeep has added a new Tuscadero exterior color to the 2021 Wrangler’s options, and it’s a bright pink. It joins Gecko, Hellayella, and Snazzberry on the list of flashy color options for the off-road SUV. The new pink costs $395 and is available through November, Jeep says. Jeep is adding a vibrant new pink exterior color choice for the 2021 Wrangler shortly after Ford added a few new colors to the Bronco’s palette for its second model year, which included Eruption Green and Hot Pepper Red.

The Wrangler’s new color choice is called Tuscadero, and it’s available on all Wranglers from the Sport model to the 470-hp Rubicon 392 and new plug-in hybrid 4xe. This includes both two- and four-door configurations with either a hard or soft top. Jeep says it’s only available on the Wrangler for now and didn’t comment on the color’s availability on the Gladiator mid-size pickup although it recently added the limited Gecko color to the Wrangler-based pickup. Tuscadero will cost $395 and is available to order now. Customers can do so through November. The option joins other exciting colors including Gecko, Hellayella, and Snazzberry. Pricing for the 2021 Wrangler starts at $30,565 and can reach up to $75,890 for the V-8–powered Rubicon 392.
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Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers tells Car and Driver that future plug-in supercars will switch to AMG V-8s, made by the company he once headed. A high-performance DBX and a plug-in hybrid are under development. Valkyrie deliveries will start this year, and an even more extreme track-only version is planned.UPDATE 8/25/21: In an interview with Motor Trend, Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers confirmed that a different DBX variant will debut this year before the high-performance version arrives in 2022. This new DBX model is expected to use the same supercharged 3.0-liter inline-six with a 48-volt hybrid system that is found in the Mercedes-AMG 53 models. When Tobias Moers became Aston Martin’s CEO last August, there was no doubt the former boss of AMG would make radical changes to the crisis-hit sports-car maker. The first part of this was stabilizing Aston’s position, cutting unsold inventory, and streamlining its production process. The second, now underway, involves some radical alterations to the English manufacturer’s future model strategy.

Aston had already begun to develop two entirely new mid-engine supercars, the Valhalla and Vanquish, which were set to use a hybridized V-6 powerplant the company was to engineer itself. That new engine has now been canceled, with Moers telling C/D he arrived to find that development on it had hardly begun. “If that engine had been ready to go, I would have been happy to go with it,” he said, when we interviewed him in Aston’s Gaydon, England, HQ this week, “but it was not here, unfortunately—it was only at a concept stage.”

Aston Martin Valhalla.
Aston Martin

Instead, Moers confirmed, both Valhalla and Vanquish will use AMG-sourced V-8 engines, although these will be substantially different from the customer-spec motors the company currently uses in the Vantage, DB11, and DBX, and will effectively be built around the company’s requirements. “We are going to create a bespoke engine for the Valhalla out of the V-8 toolbox of AMG, and the Vanquish will get another,” Moers said. “We will be able to make substantial changes, much more than before—you cannot just take a Black Series engine for example [that’s the one with the flat-plane crank] and put it into a mid-engine car. You need to change it. And we will do that ourselves.”The V-8 engines will be integrated with a plug-in-hybrid system that Aston will design and engineer itself, and which won’t come from Mercedes, according to Moers. “An electric-drive front axle will be standard in that segment by then, so we will have to create that ourselves,” Moers said, “also a gearbox which is capable of electrification.”Adding electrical assistance to both ends of the car suggests a layout similar to that of the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and one more advanced than that of the McLaren Artura, albeit some way behind it to market.Before coming to Aston Martin, Moers was largely responsible for the forthcoming AMG Project One, the car that features a detuned Formula 1 powerplant. As the only person in the world to have driven prototype versions of both cars, he is uniquely placed to compare them.

Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Aston Martin

“They are not rivals, they are totally different cars,” he said. “The Valkyrie is, from a car perspective, not really a car; it’s a two-seat Formula 1 experience. The Project One is much closer to a normal, standard vehicle, but one with a powertrain that is very bespoke.”Moers said he has committed more Aston Martin engineering resources into delivering the Valkyrie, which will be reaching customers this year. Production of the hypercar has also been moved to Aston’s Gaydon factory as part of a dramatic simplification of the company’s manufacturing activities. The previous plan had been to build it in a different facility. Company insiders say that the proposed AMR Pro track-only version is also being redesigned and made even more extreme. Moers admitted to also be considering other possibilities for the Valkyrie’s Cosworth-built naturally aspirated V-12 engine. “It is a huge investment [for one car]. I try to be creative about what else we could do with that.”

As for Aston’s existing sports-car lineup—the Vantage, DB11, and DBS Superleggera—Moers said these will be freshened with heavy facelifts. Expect these in early 2023. However, these will not include hybrid powerplants, he clarified. Instead they will continue with pure combustion power until they are replaced, with the company’s existing twin-turbocharged V-12 likely to retire due to tougher European emissions standards by 2027. Beyond that, Moers confirmed that Aston’s next-generation sports-car platform will be EV.More attention will be paid to the DBX range, delivering on the promise of range expansion made by Aston executive chairman Lawrence Stroll. The first variant will be a higher-performance derivative, due next year, with Moers saying this is targeted at offering more competition to the Lamborghini Urus: “Its life at the top is a bit too comfortable at the moment.” Beyond that, a plug-in-hybrid version will follow in 2023, and it’s set to use the same AMG V-8 plug-in architecture, which will carry “73 AMG” branding when fitted to Mercedes models. Plans to relaunch the long-dormant Lagonda brand were put on ice before Moers’s arrival, and the new CEO says it is likely to stay there for some time longer. “We just have to focus fully on Aston,” he said. “I like the idea of doing a Lagonda, but we have to keep it to one side at the moment.”This story was originally published May 11, 2021.
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