Motor News

BMW introduces the latest version of its iDrive infotainment system, called iDrive 8.
The new interface includes a huge curved display, enhanced voice-recognition software, and diverse interaction options.
Later this year, iDrive 8 will debut on the new all-electric iX SUV and i4 sedan.
BMW’s latest infotainment system–called iDrive 8–aims to offer an even better user experience than iDrive 7, with enhanced voice-recognition software, a massive touchscreen, and myriad new features. And, yes, it still has a rotary controller.

BMW Reveals 500-HP iX Electric Crossover

BMW Readies i4, Its Answer to Tesla

While iDrive 8 will eventually proliferate throughout the rest of BMW’s portfolio, it will initially debut later this year on the new electric iX SUV and i4 sedan. In these applications, the interface will be sourced through a massive curved display on the dashboard. There, a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument panel seamlessly converges with an enormous 14.9-inch central touchscreen.

BMW

More and more automakers are beginning to ditch physical switchgear for touch controls, so it’s notable that BMW’s newest iDrive system will continue to offer its defining feature, a center-console-mounted rotary controller. Although iDrive 8 has about half as many buttons and switches as its predecessor, users can pick their preference between physical controls, touch inputs, and voice commands.
BMW puts a stronger emphasis on dialogue-based interaction and natural voice recognition with iDrive 8. The system’s artificial intelligence–called BMW Intelligent Assistant–can effectively visualize itself on the displays and even distinguish which passenger is talking to it.
The AI, which can be given a name of the user’s choosing (we like Clarence, for example), can also handle an assortment of vehicle functions, including the HVAC system. So, if we say, “My feet are cold,” it can increase the temperature in the footwell. Thanks, Clarence!

BMW

Other noteworthy additions to iDrive 8 include increased personalization options through the new BMW ID and My Modes. The former feature allows users to create a profile and save various vehicle settings, essentially replacing the current BMW ConnectedDrive. Eventually, through the magic of over-the-air updates, the company says BMW ID will have the capability to be transferred between different vehicles.
My Modes is a similarly new feature of iDrive 8 that’s set to replace Driving Experience Control on future BMW models. The initial version that’s available on the iX and i4 allows up to 10 customizable and preset settings that not only apply to the color of the interior ambient lighting and the design of the dashboard displays, among other things, but also drive-mode characteristics such as steering feel and throttle response.
Every iDrive 8 system also features popular content such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, and it’s compatible with 5G mobile technology. BMW says additional third-party apps for communication and music streaming are now integrated within the system, too.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Shelby has long provided a seemingly endless supply of high-performance and special-edition Mustangs, and 2021 is no exception.
Four new Mustang-based cars are out for 2021, in a limited run of 98 each to commemorate the late Carroll Shelby’s 98th birthday and collectively marketed as a “bundle of snakes.”
At the top of the line is the 825-hp Shelby Super Snake, which also comes in a sleek Speedster version.

2021 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Adds Flashy Colors

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s $10K Stripes Explained

2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 at Lightning Lap 20

Shelby American, founded by the late great Carroll Shelby, has long been providing Ford Mustang and F-150 truck owners with special editions and performance packages for their vehicles. To commemorate the 98th anniversary of Carroll Shelby’s birth, a just-announced set of Mustang-based Shelbys will have a limited run of 98 units. They include the Shelby GT, Shelby GT500SE, and the Shelby Super Snake and Super Snake Speedster.

Shelby

The most exciting of the new batch of Shelbys is the 825-hp Super Snake ($133,785) and its Speedster variant (at a $4995 upcharge), featuring a hard tonneau cover where the top stows that runs up to the back of both headrests. The Super Snake will come with a 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 with a sizable Whipple supercharger nestled in its valley. It will also receive upgraded half-shafts, a Shelby-exclusive extreme cooling package and Borla exhaust, a short-throw shifter and one-piece driveshaft on manual models, and transmission cooling on automatic models.

Shelby

It also gets the Ford Performance track handling pack, 20-inch forged aluminum wheels, and Shelby-specific Brembo brakes with a proprietary Shelby cooling system. Shelby claims that the Super Snake will accelerate to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. At $133,785 for the manual-equipped Snake, you’ll either hope you speak Parseltongue or really want to fork over the big bucks if you want one in your driveway.

Shelby

In more reasonable territory is the 480-hp Shelby GT, starting at $62,310 (when equipped with the six-speed manual transmission) but still not exactly what we’d call cheap at nearly $25,000 more than a base, manual-equipped Mustang GT. It does sport some nice additions over the production GT, including Shelby-embroidered Katzkin leather seats, custom 20-inch wheels, a unique hood scoop, and a Borla exhaust that Shelby says is responsible for the bump in horsepower to 480. If all that still isn’t enough, buyers can opt for a 700-plus-hp Ford Performance supercharger kit to spice things up.
Also new for 2021 is the GT500SE, short for Signature Edition, which offers a heady 800-plus horsepower and is priced at $104,900, a handsome upcharge of $29,995 over the GT500. That gets you upgraded leather seats featuring Carroll Shelby’s signature and a placard with the vehicle’s run number on the dashboard and engine cover. However, this package isn’t really about looks—the GT500 already comes from the factory well adorned. To make that big horsepower number, the SE receives a smaller supercharger pulley that will allow for more boost; to handle the extra stresses of that power and the heat that comes with it, there are beefier half-shafts, a high-flow intercooler and high-flow heat exchanger for the supercharger, a recalibrated suspension with new springs and anti-roll bars, lightweight forged aluminum wheels, and a new carbon-fiber hood that reduces weight by 30 pounds.
The Super Snake is being sold at select Ford dealers starting in April, while the other cars come directly from Shelby American.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

While the contract that was recently awarded to Oshkosh Defense came at the end of a five-year search, it still might not be the end of the road.
Two Democrats from Ohio and one from California want to investigate how Oshkosh was chosen and why only 10 percent of the new mail trucks might be electric.
The USPS said it would like to increase that 10 percent number, but it needs more money from Congress to make that happen.
The five-year search for a new, electric U.S. Postal Service van might not be completely over just yet. While the USPS made a decision last month to award a $482 million contract to Oshkosh Defense for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV), questions about the way the company was selected as well as about how the new vehicles will fit into the federal government’s push for all-electric vehicles in its fleet leave a few questions unanswered.

So Much for Looking Cool While Delivering the Mail

USPS Chooses Oshkosh to Replace Grumman LLVs

The two items are connected, but let’s start with the Oshkosh question. The $482 million is just the next crucial step towards designing a NGDV in what could end up being a $6 billion contract over 10 years as Oshkosh delivers somewhere between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles. That’s a fair amount of money, but Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently told Congress that the USPS might only ask for 10 percent of the NGDVs to be all-electric models. The remaining NGDVs would be gas-powered, like the majority of today’s postal vehicles, but the new models would have low-emission powertrains.
The 10 percent number EV was enough for two Congressional representatives from Ohio, Marcy Kaptur and Tim Ryan, and Jared Huffman from California (all Democrats) to put forward a resolution that calls on Congress to investigate how the Oshkosh contract was awarded. In part, it “urges the United States Postal Service to freeze the recently awarded contract to purchase 165,000 new vehicles until an expedited review is conducted to determine there was no inappropriate political influence” and to ensure the contract is in line with the Paris Climate Accord and President Biden’s climate-crisis executive order.

USPS

The resolution notes that the USPS currently uses a civilian fleet of more than 200,000 delivery vehicles and that almost 140,000 of them are the classic Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLVs) that were put into service between 1987 and 1994. People might like the look of these LLVs, but the resolution makes clear they are “aging, fuel inefficient, and carbon emitting.” They were designed to last just 24 years and all are over their limit by now, causing some to catch fire along with other mechanical issues. Since they all need to be replaced, making just 10 percent of the NGDVs electric is not in line with President Biden’s push to electrify the federal vehicle fleet, the representatives said. Workhorse, an electric vehicle startup that was also in the running for the USPS contract, is located in Ohio and could benefit if there’s a shift to more EVs.
The USPS said that it would like to procure more EV delivery trucks, but that it needs more money from Congress to make that happen.
“The challenge remains the Postal Service’s billions in annual operating losses, which is why we welcome and are interested in any support from Congress that advances the goal of a Postal Service vehicle fleet with zero emissions, and the necessary infrastructure required to operate it,” the USPS told Trucks.com. “With the right level of support, the majority of the Postal Service’s fleet can be electric by the end of the decade.”
Whatever their powertrains, Oshkosh’s first NGDVs could start delivering mail in 2023.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Volkswagen announced its plan to build six battery factories in Europe, each with a capacity of 40 gigawatt-hours, at its livestreamed “Power Day” event.
All of the factories will be in operation by 2030, with the first one up and running by 2023. They’re part of Volkswagen’s plan to gain more control of its EV supply chain.
VW also outlined plans to make batteries cheaper, reducing EVs’ costs by 30 percent or more, and to recycle 95 percent of components in its batteries.
Volkswagen has been clear about its goal of leading in electrification, and at a livestreamed Power Day event earlier today, the automaker revealed the latest part of its plan to do so: building six new battery factories across Europe. The plants, VW says, will all be in operation by 2030 and will each have a capacity of 40 gigawatt-hours. For comparison, Tesla claims that its Nevada Gigafactory 1 has an annualized 35-GWh rate. VW also said it is developing a way to recycle nearly all of its battery components and to cut the price of electric vehicles by 30 to 50 percent.

VW to Build a ‘High Range’ EV for 2026

Honda, VW Making Wildly Different Bets on EVs

Volkswagen Wants to Sell Three Million EVs a Year

At the event, VW also said that it plans to invest in its charging networks around the world, including building another 3500 Electrify America fast chargers in North America in 2021 along with increasing the number of charging stations from 560 to 800. In Europe, VW said, it is going to increase the number of chargers in operates by five times, to 18,000 total chargers. It also plans a major expansion in China.
The building of battery factories is part of VW’s plan to gain more control over its supply chain. The first VW gigafactory to reach the 40-GWh capacity is in Sweden and will be operated alongside Northvolt, a battery developer. The second will be in Germany and operated by Volkswagen itself; the automaker is looking for partners for the other four factories, including one to be located in Eastern Europe and one in France or Spain.
The factories will help VW achieve its goal of producing one million electric vehicles a year by 2023 and 1.5 million a year by 2025. By 2030, the German automaker aims for fully electric vehicles to reach 50 percent of its sales in North America.
Tesla currently operates a battery factory in Nevada with its partner Panasonic, and General Motors is building a battery factory in Ohio alongside LG Chem. Tesla’s Nevada plant has a capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours, and GM’s plant is slated to have a capacity of 30 gigawatt-hours.

GM, LG Announce EV Battery Factory Plans in Ohio

Tesla Gigafactory 4 Will Be In Berlin

At the Power Day event, Volkswagen laid out plans for a new battery cell it calls a unified cell. The new design, VW says, will allow it to reduce costs for entry-level electric vehicles by 50 percent and for its mainstream vehicles up to 30 percent. Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, said in a statement that the cost of the batteries will be brought down below about $119 per kilowatt-hour.
VW also outlined plans beyond the battery production during the event, showing off its method of recycling batteries—in a process that VW claims reuses 95 percent of the battery—as well as its bidirectional charging capabilities. VW said that its vehicles will be ready for bidirectional charging, or using your car’s battery to power electronics in your home, by 2022 using a bidirectional wall box. VW outlined such plans in 2020, but the timeline for the rollout wasn’t clear.
The automaker did not announce any new vehicles at the event.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Kia has unveiled the design of the upcoming 2022 EV6 electric vehicle. the first of 11 EVs promised by the automaker by 2026.
It will be the first Kia built exclusively to be an electric vehicle using the Hyundai Motor Group’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP).
Kia will share more details about the EV6 during an online event later this month.
Kia is in the middle of a design transformation, and the first vehicle to emerge from its fresh “Opposites United” philosophy is the EV6, which is also the automaker’s first dedicated EV. Based on the Hyundai Motor Group’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), the electric compact SUV will get a more thorough unveiling event with more details about the vehicle’s specs later in March.

EV6 Will Be First of 11 New Kia Electric Cars

Hyundai Unveils EV Platform, Says 23 EVs Coming

2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Kicks Off EV Lineup

The new design direction is bold, to say the least. The EV6’s sleek roofline and pronounced haunches give the vehicle a sporty and aggressive feel when combined with what Kia calls its Digital Tiger Face front. The rear window slopes down to a spoiler that houses a light bar that extends across the entirety of the back of the vehicle. It might not bode well for cargo space, but it does set the vehicle apart visually.
The automaker notes that its design is meant to realize “ultimate aerodynamic performance.” How that plays out in the wind tunnel is yet to be seen. Hopefully, Kia will share a drag coefficient number during a more robust online reveal later this month.
The EV6’s interior is more traditional but with bold angles and lines, especially in the center console, where the start button breaks up the path of a 45-degree angle piece of trim along the center stack. Unlike Hyundai’s 2022 Ioniq 5, the EV6 will not have a center console that slides back and forth or available footrests for the driver to use while waiting for the vehicle to charge.

View Photos

Kia

When asked about any concerns about straying too far from mainstream automotive design for the EV6, Karim Habib, senior VP and head of global design for Kia, told Car and Driver, “This is an opportunity that we have right now to redefine transportation and mobility.” He continued, “I think our designs need to show that. I think our designs need to be quite confident about their orientation toward the future.”
While we don’t have specifics about the vehicle ahead of its larger launch, based on what we know about the Ioniq 5 that’s built on the same E-GMP architecture, we expect the EV6 to make close to 215 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. On the battery front, we anticipate a 77.4-kWh-capacity battery pack with a target range between 258 and 290 miles. Also like the Ioniq 5, pricing will likely start in the $45,000 range.
Kia’s new Opposites United design philosophy will inform all future vehicles from the automaker. Whether all those new Kias will have a design as bold as the EV6’s is unknown, but the company has said it intends to bring 11 EVs to market by 2026.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

The 2021 Nissan Rogue will gain a new engine, a turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder.
Nissan says it’s part of a “small pilot program” to evaluate new technology.
According to the EPA, the new engine is significantly more efficient than the Rogue’s 2.5-liter inline-four.
The 2021 Nissan Rogue will soon add a small-displacement turbo engine, according to the EPA website. FuelEconomy.gov lists official ratings for a 2021 Rogue with a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-three gasoline engine that provides a boost of between 2–4 mpg over the current naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four. Nissan told C/D that this new engine is part of a “small pilot program” to evaluate this potential new powertrain, and we think it will eventually become part of the lineup for good.

Tested: 2021 Rogue Ratchets Up Its Visual Appeal

Nissan Retrofits 2021 Rogues to Boost Crash Rating

Nissan Sending RAV4s to Dealers for Test Drives

The 1.5L engine in the front-wheel-drive Rogue is rated at up to 30 mpg in the city, 33 mpg combined, and 37 mpg on the highway. With all-wheel drive, the highway number drops by 1 mpg. The EPA also lists a separate, slightly lower rating for the three-cylinder Rogue in SL and Platinum trims, as it does for the 2.5L model. The three-cylinder is listed as having a continuously variable automatic transmission.
We don’t yet have any power or torque specifications for the new 1.5-liter engine and it’s the first we’ve heard of this new powertrain from Nissan. A spokesperson said that the company is planning a pilot program for this engine but did not share any more specifics on how it would be rolled out.
Look for more information to come in the near future about this new engine, which may eventually be found in other Nissan models as well.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

A discussion about massive data collection by cameras that can automatically read vehicle license plates (LPRs) has been going on for years, but the Wall Street Journal reports that this is one issue that politicians and the public are not talking about enough.
There are some laws about LPRs, but they’re often relegated to questions about how long law enforcement can keep the data, not if they should be vacuuming up all the information in the first place.
Both the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have been calling on the public to speak out against the practice, saying it can be used to determine much more than when a particular vehicle was in a particular place.
When you’re driving on a public road, your license plate is public information. You could legally sit on your front porch and write down the plate numbers of every car that drives by, then put all of that information into a spreadsheet and track when people leave for work and who gets pizza delivered every Tuesday. One question that isn’t being asked loudly enough, according to the Wall Street Journal, is whether it’s a good idea for the government to automate being such a nosy neighbor.

They’re known as license-plate readers, or LPRs, and it’s not like this technology has been flying completely under the radar. In fact, automatic LPRs have been a subject of contention for about a decade now, ranging from police in Washington, D.C. holding on to automatically collected license plate data in 2011 to the FBI wondering if such data collection was legal in 2012. The Post’s story noted that as long as 10 years ago, one private vendor of the scanners, Vigilant Solutions, already had a database of 450 million plate scans and was adding 35 million new plates per month.
Law enforcement, unsurprisingly, is generally in favor of automatic LPRs. Chicago police said in 2020 that LPRs could help them solve more expressway shootings. In 2018, a Florida sheriff’s office said it used LPRs to recover stolen cars and a person wanted for sex crimes in another state. In a more recent case, the Journal noted, LPRs were used to arrest “a number of suspected rioters” who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Cameras used as LPRs can be mounted on stationary infrastructure like traffic lights or on things that move, like police cars or garbage trucks. In 2019, we noted that most states do not have any explicit regulation on LPRs, which means their use was fairly wide open. Things haven’t changed much since then, but the National Conference of State Legislatures has collected a list of state-based laws regarding LPRs. What limits exist usually set maximum length on how long law enforcement agencies can keep LPR data, but not on the original collection. In 2012, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked for, and obtained, thousands of documents from local and state police departments related to how this technology is used around the country.
“The documents paint a startling picture of a technology deployed with too few rules that is becoming a tool for mass routine location tracking and surveillance,” the ACLU said on its website. “As the technology spreads, the ACLU calls for the adoption of legislation and law enforcement agency policies adhering to strict privacy principles to prevent the government from tracking our movements on a massive scale.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) takes a similar view, noting that drivers don’t have a choice here. The government requires vehicles to have license plates, and the government is now using that public information to track people.
“Taken in the aggregate, ALPR data can paint an intimate portrait of a driver’s life and even chill First Amendment protected activity,” the EFF said on its website. “ALPR technology can be used to target drivers who visit sensitive places such as health centers, immigration clinics, gun shops, union halls, protests, or centers of religious worship.”
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Putnam Leasing is offering a trio of Porsches in a lease deal that includes some highly revered models from the 1950s, 1970s, and 2010s.
The leasing company is located in one of America’s richest per-capita areas: Greenwich, Connecticut.
Why not just buy these cars? Two words: sales tax.
Putnam Leasing, a private loan company in Connecticut’s Fairfield County, bankrolls the new exotics and vintage icons that original manufacturers won’t finance. So, instead of forking over nearly a million for a Porsche 918 Spyder—and paying sales tax, unlike lots of rich car collectors who “live” in Montana—Putnam will lease one for $7925 per month for 60 months and $175,000 down. If that sounds just as expensive as buying a 918 outright, that’s because it is.
But think about it. At car meets, Porsches are like potting soil. They’re such an essential base to any sports car enthusiast’s garage that resale values continue to climb year after year—to the point where dirt-cheap throwaway 911s from the ’70s are now quarter-million-dollar investments. Suppose you’ve got play money and don’t know which classic models will get the most attention at the next Cars and Coffee. How about hedging your bets by getting three, on a lease?

Leasing a Pagani Is Nearly as Expensive as Buying

Best Lease Deals: $199/Month and More

Compare this extreme lease to the average person’s car loan. Even if you can afford to buy something outright, it’s often smarter to make partial payments at low interest and invest the remainder elsewhere. Say you’d only like the 918 for a year. Putnam will make that happen—and you’ll pay a fraction of the tax and total cost of ownership. With a Democratic-controlled Congress eager to overturn the previous administration’s tax cuts, there may be no better time to add one or three of these cars as a monthly expense.
The dream lease also includes a 1958 356 Speedster ($3750/month and $67,000 down) and a 1973 911 2.7 RS ($5869/month and $110,000 down). Putnam says many of its customers buy the cars outright once their leases end, but the whole point of a lease is being noncommittal. All told with sales and property taxes, you’ll be easily spending 20 grand a month for three used cars after plopping down more than $350K at signing. To some wealthy car nut who’s fallen behind on the collector scene, this have-it-all lease might be like Mom making catch-up contributions to her IRA. No one wants to be left behind.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More