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Automotive News is reporting that a new voluntary program will encourage Ford dealers to create stand-alone Bronco stores that have room for at least three vehicles inside, a display wall for accessories, and a fire pit.By building out Bronco stores, dealers will get more vehicles to sell from Ford and greater access to Bronco accessories, which drive up profits. With Bronco sales about to start, we can look to the 23,356 Bronco Sport SUVs sold in the first quarter—and the fact that Ford said 60 percent of these were conquests from non-Ford brands—to see that this is likely a way to print money.We don’t need to tell you that Ford’s new Jeep fighter, the revived Bronco, has garnered a fair bit of attention. There’s the official, company-sponsored “fan” website, Bronco Nation, as well as many actual fan-run pages. The First Edition model with a VIN ending in 001 sold for over a million dollars at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction last month. And now Ford dealers are gearing up to launch stand-alone Bronco stores to encourage buyers to check out the new SUVs as well as get more vehicles to sell from Ford.

Automotive News is reporting that around 100 U.S. Ford dealers will be building separate Bronco stores, basically creating a third brand for the automaker, alongside Ford and Lincoln. While the publication said this idea came from the dealers themselves, who worked with Ford to come up with ideas for what these stores might look like, Ford has been pushing its dealers to spend money promoting the Bronco brand.In January, Ford Authority reported that dealers who invested cold, hard cash into their Bronco showrooms would be allocated more Broncos to sell. The website said that an investment of at least $12,500 would get a dealer one more Bronco to sell and there was a sliding scale up to six more vehicles for investments over $75,000. Automotive News says that Ford now expects around 100 dealers across the country will build one of these Bronco-specific stores.Aside from more vehicles allotted, a separate Bronco store would also allow the dealers to display and sell more Bronco accessories, which are a prime way to increase profits. The automaker’s renderings that it shared with dealers last fall show a modern showroom with room for three vehicles, a display wall for the accessories, and an outdoor fire pit.”It looks so cool, and that type of owner is an enthusiast,” Jim Moshier, general manager at Ricart Ford in Groveport, Ohio, told Automotive News. “Jeep people are in love with their Jeeps. Ford thinks they’ll breed that same enthusiasm with the Bronco. And if you have that facility, they think people will want to go there to see all the accessories.”

Example of a stand-alone Jeep showroom.
Stellantis Facilities

Of course, other branded sub-model stores have been tried and shuttered over the years, ranging from GMC’s Hummer to Ford’s own—and now retired—Mercury. But by pushing accessories, Ford’s stand-alone Bronco stores are taking a page from Stellantis’s encouragement of stand-alone Jeep stores. Last year, a dealer told Automotive News that the feeling in the Jeep-only store just seemed different than when the brand was mixed in with other Stellantis models. “This Jeep lifestyle is different,” he said. “In the stand-alone store, these people are fun, they wear blue jeans, they wear T-shirts, they are definitely in the upper-income model. It is amazing what people will do and what they spend personalizing these vehicles. You would almost say it’s insane.”There have been rumors of an expansion of the Bronco family to include a pickup, but for now, Ford offers two Bronco models, the Bronco and the smaller Bronco Sport. The Bronco won’t start deliveries until May, but the Bronco Sport sold 23,356 units in the first quarter and Ford said these sales are bringing new people into the Ford family. “Based on preliminary data, Bronco Sport is conquesting over 60 percent of its sales from outside of Ford,” the company said in a statement, and the strong Bronco Sport sales “helped power Ford Brand SUVs to their best start in 20 years,” according to a statement from Andrew Frick, vice-president of Ford Sales U.S. and Canada.
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Lexus modified an NX SUV so that the windshield could suddenly blank out without any warning to the driver, making it impossible to see.The company didn’t do this just to torture people who thought they were going to be simply test driving a new car; it did it to point out how dangerous it is to check your phone messages while driving.People think it only takes a second or two, but the average is closer to five seconds. And more than 3000 people died in crashes that involved distracted drivers in 2019, so it’s not a harmless issue.Too many of us check our phones while we’re driving. Full stop. But simply knowing that we do this isn’t enough to get us to change our habits, apparently. This is where dramatic consumer education videos can come in handy, like the new “Driving Disrupted” clip (shown above) that Lexus released this week just in time for the start of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

Lexus wanted to highlight two truths about distracted driving with the video. First, most people think checking a text message while driving takes just a second or two. Also, the actual average time this takes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is 4.6 seconds. In consumer-facing parts of its website, NHTSA rounds that up to five seconds, or “the length of an entire football field” if you’re driving 55 mph, but however long it actually takes you to check your phone, the point here is that you’re not as fast as you think you are.To set up the video, Lexus took a new Lexus NX—for this purpose, renamed the NX 4.6—and turned it into a not-for-sale SUV that was modified with special electrochromic film on the windshield and windows so they can instantly turn opaque and then stay that way for 4.6 seconds. Lexus then recruited people to take a test drive, conveniently omitting any mention about how the windows might blank out. This, as you might suspect, created some dramatic moments when these unwarned young people suddenly found themselves unable to see the road ahead. You can also probably guess that the many styrofoam pedestrian and bicyclist obstacles Lexus conveniently placed near the track did not survive.9 PercentWhich is the whole point of this experiment, of course. People—including you—might think they can handle checking a text message while driving, but official statistics prove we really can’t. In 2019, for example, a total of 3142 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers, according to NHTSA. The approximate cumulative death toll in the U.S. from 2012 and through 2019 is over 26,000 people. NHTSA also said that 9 percent of all fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2019 involved distracted drivers.In Lexus’s trickster’s test drive, the subjects all said they’re now for real finished with checking their phones from behind the wheel. It’s a powerful message, but it’s also one we’ve heard before in other, at times way more dramatic, video messages. We won’t be surprised if there will be many more before everyone thinks twice before grabbing their phone while driving.
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The Window Shop crew went to work this week searching for used cars we’d be willing to commit to until 2026. For some of us, five years is a long time to hold on to the same car—even hypothetically. So we set the budget a little higher than usual, at $50,000, to allow for more choice. First up, contributor John Pearley Huffman presents the last body-on-frame car from GM: a 1996 Chevy Impala SS. The rest of us don’t understand why he has a soft spot for this whale of a car. Pearley claims it’ll hold its value and that he’d happily drive it every morning to Handlebar Coffee Roasters in downtown Santa Barbara, but we doubt he could ever part with his beloved Toyota Tundra. Senior editor Joey Capparella shows his true normcore colors in this challenge. He selects a third-generation Lexus LS that’s so beige and under budget that we all come around to the idea, especially after he reveals that the LS430 is a comparison-test winner. While Capparella’s choice might be a bit boring, there’d never be a dull moment in contributor Jonathon Ramsey’s 90K-mile Bentley Continental GT. The car packs a sleek 551-hp twin-turbo W-12 and comes in under budget. Ramsey assures us that the leftover $15K could be used to maintain and repair his Bentley in the coming years. (Watch our eyes roll when he claims that nothing really ever goes wrong on Continental GTs.)Deputy testing director K.C. Colwell makes a wise choice: a one-owner 15K-mile 2005 Porsche 911 (997) with a six-speed manual. His Porsche might be only $5 shy of $50,000, but it appears its owner took meticulous care of it. In the wake of that excellent Porsche, host Tony Quiroga seems less enthusiastic about his 464-hp sports sedan. Nevertheless, he manages to sell the merits of his five-year plan and rebut complaints about the engine having roots in a Chevy Impala V-6.

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Sabine Schmitz, the racing driver and TV personality known across the world as the “Queen of the Nürburgring,” died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. She was 51.Schmitz was born in 1969 and raised at the edge of the Nürburgring. Her family ran a local hotel with a bar and restaurant beloved by ‘Ring aficionados, the Pistenklause, festooned from floor to ceiling in racing memorabilia. It was an auspicious start: Schmitz and her sisters all began racing at a young age. Soon, Sabine began racing, becoming the first woman to win at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 1996, driving a BMW M3.She was also a ‘Ring Taxi driver, taking passengers for full-speed laps of the 13-mile track during “tourist” lapping sessions. It was this job, where she logged an estimated 1200 laps of the track per year, that helped launch Schmitz to international fame. In December 2004, Schmitz had her first appearance on BBC’s Top Gear, tutoring host Jeremy Clarkson on how to set a fast lap at the Green Hell. Under her guidance, Clarkson lapped the track in 9 minutes and 59 seconds. Schmitz, with classic bubbly boastfulness, told Clarkson, “I could do that lap time in a van.” It became one of the most famous moments in Top Gear history, one of the first automotive videos to go viral.
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Schmitz was a natural television personality. Charming and bright, she had an effervescent and playful sense of humor and a deep, thorough knowledge of cars and racing. After her first Top Gear appearance made her famous, Schmitz went on to be a regular guest on the show and became a full-time co-host in 2016 alongside Chris Harris and Matt LeBlanc. Schmitz was active in numerous forms of racing, having competed in several 24 Hours of Nürburgring races with Frikadelli Racing, the team she ran with her husband, Klaus Abellen. But she always maintained her connection with the Nürburgring, where she always seemed to be embarrassing other drivers with her otherworldly mastery of the track. Upon news of Schmitz’s death, tributes poured in on social media from the world of racing and from her television colleagues. Dale Lomas, another ‘Ring expert, wrote on his website, Bridge to Gantry: “She was bullshit-free, cold beers in a smokey Pistenklause after a hard day driving the Ring-Taxi sideways through Brünnchen. She was Eifel-Blitz at 2 a.m. on a rainy Sunday morning, she was Frikadelli Porsche carving through the pack after a pitlane start.”
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The next episode of BBC’s Top Gear, which airs in England on Sunday, will be dedicated to Schmitz. Clare Pizey, Top Gear executive producer, said in a statement: “Sabine was a beloved member of the Top Gear family and presenting team since 2016, having first appeared on the show in 2004, and everyone who had the pleasure of working with her on the team is in shock at this news. Sabine radiated positivity, always wore her cheeky smile no matter how hard things got—and was a force of nature for women drivers in the motoring world. Like everyone else who knew her, we will truly miss her—Sabine really was one of a kind. Our thoughts are with her partner, Klaus, who was always by her side and who we welcomed to Dunsfold many times, and her family in Germany.”

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Hyundai unveiled the 2022 Tucson plug-in hybrid with 32 miles of electric-only range. This Tucson will compete with the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime in the plug-in corner of the compact-SUV segment. The 2022 Tucson PHEV will be available this summer.In addition to U.S. specs on the upcoming 2022 Tucson N Line, today Hyundai also released details on the 2022 Tucson plug-in hybrid (PHEV). These vehicles will join the regular gas-powered and hybrid models of the Tucson and bring the variant count to four. The plug-in version of the compact SUV will take on Toyota’s surprisingly quick RAV4 Prime PHEV and be available this summer.

Hyundai says the 2022 Tucson PHEV will offer up 32 miles of electric-only range from a full charge with its 13.8-kWh battery pack. Hyundai estimates fuel economy will be in the 70-MPGe range. To keep the pack topped up, the vehicle supports up Level 2 charging up to 7.2 kW and, like most PHEVs, is engineered more for at-home overnight charging instead of being hooked up to charging stations in the wild.Powering the Tucson PHEV will be a 261-hp 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine connected to Hyundai’s six-speed automatic transmission. The vehicle has a tow rating of 2000 pounds and like the rest of the Tucson lineup, and it’s available with all-wheel drive with a dedicated Snow mode.Its natural PHEV rival is the Toyota RAV4 Prime. The Toyota appears to best the Tucson in electric-only range with an EPA-rated 42 miles. Hyundai hasn’t yet released pricing information, but we estimate the Tucson PHEV will start at approximately $35,000 making it roughly $4000 cheaper than the more expensive RAV4 Prime, which starts at $39,220. The 2022 Tucson plug-in hybrid will be available in showrooms this summer.

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Ford has shown off the new 2021 F-150 Police Responder ahead of the spring government bid cycle.According to Ford, the new police truck has a higher top speed of 120 mph, up from 105 mph, and it comes with specially designed all-terrain tires for on- and off-pavement performance.The F-150 Police Responder comes standard with the F-150’s twin-turbocharged V-6 engine with 400 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque.Ford unveiled the 2021 F-150 Police Responder today, based on the new F-150 but built to the needs of police officers. The F-150 Police Responder is pursuit rated and can reach 120 mph, up from the previous limit of 105 mph. It rides on specially developed Goodyear Wrangler Enforcer all-terrain tires so it can go from pavement to dirt without hesitation.

The F-150 Police Responder has a new torque-on-demand transfer case with a 4-Auto mode. On pavement, the system automatically switches to rear-wheel drive to allow the pickup to corner better, Ford says, and on slippery or gravel road surfaces, it goes into four-wheel drive. The pickup’s off-road ability is enhanced by skid plates and an electronically locking rear differential, both found in the standard FX4 Off-Road package.

Ford

This pickup comes standard with Ford’s 400-hp twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 with 500 pound-feet of torque, and that power is routed through a 10-speed automatic transmission. The Police Responder is offered with “Police Idle,” which allows an officer to get out of the truck and remove the key while leaving the engine running. The engine can then power lights and sirens without depleting the battery.

Ford

Inside the new truck, there’s a dashboard tray that lets police departments easily install aftermarket lights, radar equipment, radios, and other tools of the cop trade. The F-150 Police Responder also comes with Ford’s fleet management system, Ford Telematics, which can inform a fleet operator of driver behavior and also to help the operator perform upkeep and reduce costs.Ford released the F-150 Police Responder prior to the spring government bid cycle.

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The EPA has released fuel-economy estimates for the 2022 Genesis GV70 equipped with the car’s more powerful twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6: 19 mpg in the city, 25 mpg on the highway, and 21 mpg combined.
The twin-turbo V-6 makes 375 horsepower, while the standard engine is a 300-hp turbo 2.5-liter four-cylinder. The EPA has not yet released estimates for the base engine.
The GV70 will go on sale in the U.S. later this year and will slot below the GV80 in the Genesis lineup.
The 2022 Genesis GV70 will arrive in the U.S. this year as the smaller SUV in the Korean luxury brand’s lineup. Just as the larger GV80, the brand’s first SUV, is based on the G80 sedan, the GV70 shares its underpinnings with the G70 sedan. Both SUVs use the same engines: a standard 300-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder and an optional 375-hp twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6. The EPA’s numbers reveal that the GV70 will only be slightly more fuel efficient than the GV80 when both are equipped with the six.

Genesis

So far, the EPA has only released estimates for GV70s equipped with the Sport model’s (pictured above) twin-turbocharged V-6 and all-wheel drive. It’s estimated at 19 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway with a combined rating of 21 mpg. That’s just 1 mpg more in the city than the GV80 and 2 more on the highway. However, these estimates do make the GV70 slightly more efficient than the more expensive Audi SQ5 with its 349-hp twin-turbo V-6, which is rated at 18/24 mpg and 20 mpg combined.

EPA

The GV70’s standard engine is a 300-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four, and it’s likely to be only slightly more efficient than the GV80 2.5T’s 23-mpg rating (22 mpg with all-wheel drive). Both engines are paired with eight-speed automatic transmissions. In our testing, the more powerful twin-turbo six-cylinder engine launched the GV80 to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds, and the smaller GV70 should be slightly quicker to that mark.
With all-wheel drive and the optional V-6, the 2022 GV70 is just slightly more fuel efficient than the 2021 GV80. The entry-level turbo four-cylinder’s estimate has yet to be announced.

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France’s Scarabée armored car can lock its front and rear axles to move sideways across a battlefield.
The vehicle is designed to serve as an air-droppable scout car, collecting battlefield intel.
Scarabée also features a hybrid electric drive system that reduces its infrared signature.
France’s Arquus has released new details on its Scarabée light armored vehicle. The car, designed to act as a scout on the battlefield, can get itself out of tight spots by locking its front and rear axles, allowing it to move diagonally like a crab.
This ability lets the vehicle move forward to an observation position without exposing its flanks or rear, where armor is the lightest. The Scarabée also has a tight turning radius of just 36 feet, according to Defense News.

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The eight-ton Scarabée carries a crew of one driver and three passengers and features a 4×4 wheel layout. It can climb a 60-degree gradient, cross a 2.9-foot-wide ditch, and ford water obstacles almost three feet deep. The vehicle can be embarked in a C-130J Super Hercules, an A-400M Atlas transport, or a larger military transport aircraft.
Arquus, originally Renault Trucks Defense, built the Scarabée as the first hybrid electric drive military vehicle in France, NATO, and perhaps even the world. The vehicle is powered by both a V-6 engine providing 300 horsepower and an electric motor with a 70-kilowatt output. While these features provide extra electricity to power sensors and weapons, they also give the Scarabée more low-key capabilities.

Arquus

Scarabée is designed to complete its mission using stealth—but not the radar kind. The low-slung vehicle can also run off a built-in electric motor. This reduces the vehicle’s acoustic and infrared signatures, making it quieter and difficult to pick up with imaging infrared sensors.
While Arquus is marketing the Scarabée unarmed, future buyers will almost certainly load it up with weapons and sensors, like the U.S. Army’s Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station (CROWS) or mast-mounted electro-optical sensors and radar. An image on Arquus’s website seems to depict Scarabée with a 30-millimeter chain gun, such as the M320LF.
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Traditionally, reconnaissance and scouting teams on the battlefield have been divided into two camps: “fighting reconnaissance,” made up of heavily armed teams capable of probing enemy defenses, and “sneak and peek reconnaissance,” which quietly monitors enemy forces. The Scarabée, with its infrared masking capability and low acoustic signature, is firmly in the “sneak and peek” category.

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