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Mercedes-Benz staged what it’s calling the first public crash test of two electric vehicles, and you can watch it in the video below.The test featured Mercedes’s heaviest EV, the EQS SUV, versus its lightest, the Europe-market EQA.Mercedes emphasized that the point of the test was to show that the battery and electrical components are protected as well as the occupants in the event of a crash.We’re standing in the upstairs gallery in the cavernous Mercedes-Benz crash-test center in Stuttgart, wearing earplugs as suggested. The safety-yellow EQS SUV and the similarly painted Europe-market EQA face each other at the far opposite ends of a long corridor, roughly 140 yards apart, ready to meet their fate. Each of these two EVs is connected to a cable set into a groove in the floor. It will pull them toward each other at 35 mph, the EQS half into the EQA’s lane. Ultra-bright lights (100,000 lumens) flick on, illuminating the impact zone, which has a glass floor below which cameras stand ready to record the carnage. “Don’t follow either car or you’ll miss the crash,” we’re advised. The house lights go down, and as the engineers make their final checks, a gasoline engine fires up. What? These are both EVs. The engine is that of the giant-size forklift that stands ready. Should either car catch fire, it will swoop in, scoop it up, and carry it out of the building, and dump it into a pool of water. (An occasion that’s never happened, we’re told.) This content is imported from youTube. 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.There’s a warning signal, and then the cars are in motion. Under the bright lights, they meet with a tremendous bang that spins both cars sideways and rocks the smaller one backward. It’s the first public crash test between two EVs.Mercedes-Benz AG – Communications & MarketingImmediately, there’s an electrical smell, and firefighters approach the vehicles to measure for heat development. Shattered pieces of both cars litter the floor. Given the all-clear, other workers drop mats to absorb pink battery coolant leaking from both cars. Post-crash, the hazard lights illuminate, the door handles pop out, and the doors unlock. (The automatic emergency call system has been reprogrammed ahead of time to dial a different number so that emergency crews don’t respond.) Engineers check to see that the high-voltage battery system has automatically disconnected, and they begin to collect their data.Mercedes-Benz AG – Communications & MarketingThe EQS SUV is the largest Mercedes-Benz EV, and the EQA the smallest, and their weight difference is some 1700 pounds. The 35-mph impact speed is greater than that of any government-mandated crash test (the next-closest being the Euro NCAP offset frontal crash at 31 mph).The cars are largely destroyed: Besides the obvious deformation, the EQA’s windshield has been shattered by the rear edge of the hood, and its left front wheel has broken off.In both cars, the crash-test dummy in the driver’s seat is a fifth-percentile female (106 pounds, four feet 10 inches). The EQA has a similar dummy riding shotgun; in the EQS, the front passenger dummy is a 50th-percentile male (172 pounds, five feet 10 inches). According to the 150 measuring devices on each dummy, none has suffered major injuries.Related StoriesThe Battery Needs ProtectingProtecting the integrity of the passenger compartment has long been a goal of safety engineers. With EVs comes a second goal. “We need another survival space, for the high-voltage battery,” says Marcel Brodbeck, passive safety engineer at Mercedes-Benz. The batteries are located below the floor between the axles, an area that is least likely to be deformed, and a stout doorsill structure of extruded aluminum protects the pack from side impacts. In the event of a crash, “the high-voltage system will shut down and disconnect from the battery,” explains Julia Hinners, another passive-safety engineer. “We also build in a manual shutdown”—a cable on the driver’s side below the A-pillar that serves as a manual deactivation option for emergency response personnel.By making this EV-versus-EV crash test public, Mercedes-Benz surely is wanting to deliver a message about the crash safety of its electric vehicles. But watching the violence of that impact in real life also drove home a second message: You really don’t want to be in a car crash. Deputy Editor, Reviews and FeaturesJoe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar. More

EPA ratings are out for the 2024 Kia EV9 three-row electric SUV.We also tested an EV9 GT-Line on our real-world 75-mph highway range test.The EV9 achieved a real-world result of 240 miles, just shy of its 270 mile EPA rating.The EPA has just released official range numbers for the new 2024 Kia EV9, and we also have our own test results to provide more context for how far you can expect to go on a charge in the new three-row electric SUV in the real world. The government says that the EV9 can travel between 230 miles and 304 miles, depending on the configuration, and our result for the dual-motor GT-Line trim level with the larger battery pack compares pretty favorably to the EPA rating for that model.We achieved a result of 240 miles in our loaded GT-Line test car, which comes with a dual-motor setup providing 379 horsepower and a 99.8-kWh battery pack. The EPA rating for this model is 270 miles—keep in mind that this is a combined figure, while our test is for highway driving at 75 mph—meaning that the EV9 achieved 88 percent of its EPA estimate.More Range TestingThat’s a better percentage than the real-world results for several other EV SUVs we’ve tested, such as the Rivian R1S and Cadillac Lyriq (both 72 percent of EPA estimate) and Nissan Ariya (82 percent of EPA estimate). However, some EVs—mostly from German brands—have outperformed their EPA ratings in our testing, so the EV9 isn’t quite on that level. Still, it’s an impressive result given how big and boxy the EV9 is, as it would be reasonable to assume that such a large vehicle would do worse relative to EPA figures at higher speeds.If you want more range from your EV9, opt for the rear-wheel-drive Light model with the bigger battery pack, which is EPA-rated to deliver 304 miles. The AWD Wind and Land trims are rated at 280 miles, while the base RWD Light model with the smaller, 76.1-kWh battery pack is rated at 230 miles. We look forward to testing these other versions and seeing what kind of real-world range results they deliver.More on Kia EVsSenior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

The 2024 Rolls-Royce Ghost Ékleipsis celebrates the natural majesty of the solar eclipse with special copper paint and Mandarin orange accents. The cabin is decked out with an elaborate dashboard artwork and a bejeweled timepiece, as well as a unique Starlight headliner that mimics the sequence of an eclipse. Only 25 examples are being built, and they are all already sold.On Saturday, October 14, large swaths of the Western Hemisphere will experience a partial solar eclipse, with the moon expected to block up to 80 percent of the sun in places like Dallas, Texas, during the natural phenomenon. To honor the event, Rolls-Royce created a special version of the Ghost, a Black Badge model called the Ékleipsis Private Collection. Just 25 examples are being crafted, and they are all already spoken for. Rolls-RoyceThe Ékleipsis is painted in Lyrical Copper, lending the Ghost a moody aura in dark settings but sparkling under brighter lighting. A bright orange hue called Mandarin appears on the front bumper and brake calipers, “recalling the intense pulses of sunlight witnessed as the eclipse progresses,” Rolls-Royce says. A delicate, hand-painted Mandarin coachline also runs along the Ghost’s shoulder line, with a dotted motif meant to represent the “transition from sunlight to darkness.”Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce is well-known for its Starlight headliner, with hundreds of tiny lights embedded into the car’s ceiling to emulate the night sky. The Ékleipsis has a unique setup, with an animation that plays when the doors close and engine is started that displays a circle of 940 “stars” representing the corona of light that peeks around the moon during the eclipse, surrounded by 192 other LEDs that act as the stars that suddenly become visible during daytime when a total eclipse occurs. The animation lasts seven minutes and 31 seconds, the maximum duration of a total solar eclipse, after which all of the LED stars illuminate. Rolls-Royce says this animation took a full year to develop. Rolls-RoyceOn the dashboard sits an intricate artwork consisting of 1846 laser-etched “stars,” with the dazzling display taking a singular technician 100 hours to create. To the left sits a unique timepiece with a 0.5-carat diamond integrated into the clock’s bezel, inspired by the “diamond ring” effect that sees a single point of light become visible right before and after the moon moves in front of the sun. The two-tone seats have over 200,000 perforations in a unique pattern, exposing Mandarin accents under the black leather. Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce fitted a few other neat touches: the door sill plates are illuminated and the umbrella hidden in the doors—a Rolls-Royce staple—wears Mandarin piping. The Ghost Ékleipsis also comes with a unique indoor car cover. Rolls-Royce says all 25 examples have been claimed, and while no price was revealed, we bet those customers paid a pretty penny more than the Ghost’s $351,000 starting price.More on Rolls-RoyceThis content is imported from poll. 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.Associate News EditorCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan. More

The 2025 Ram 1500 TRX is losing its signature V-8, but it won’t cease to exist. Our video of a prototype TRX suggests the off-road pickup will live on with a new six-cylinder engine.The facelifted TRX will likely have a Hurricane twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, which could be good for up to 550 horsepower. The 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX that we know and love will go extinct after the 2024 model year, which was confirmed with the limited-production Final Edition. Thankfully, it appears that fans of the widebody off-road pickup can pocket their handkerchiefs and save their tears. We now have video evidence that suggests the wildest half-ton Ram could return as early as next year—just don’t expect it to sound the same.A Six-Cylinder TRXOur spy photographer has captured video that shows a prototype TRX roaming around southeast Michigan. After sedately driving through an intersection and down a straight road, the truck reaches another stop light before turning left and giving our man on the street a little show.KGP Photography|Car and DriverHaving spent 40,000 miles with our long-term TRX, we’re quite familiar with the sound of its supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V-8. Even still, anyone with two working ears will recognize that the test mule we caught in action definitely isn’t running the same engine. With a much more demure roar and no detectable supercharger whine, the partially camouflaged TRX has a six-cylinder soundtrack, which almost certainly emanates from a version of Stellantis’s new Hurricane twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six.Refreshed Ram TRXWith the 2025 Ram 1500 set to get a facelift and adopt the Hurricane engines, it makes sense the TRX variant will follow suit. Our spy photos show changes to the taillights as well as tease a new front-end design. More importantly, the question on everyone’s mind (including ours) is how much horsepower will the mightiest half-ton Ram have? Currently, the highest-output Hurricane engine is found under the hood of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, and it’s good for 510 horses.KGP Photography|Car and DriverThat’s nearly 200 fewer than the 702 ponies produced by the outgoing TRX. While we think the refreshed model’s engine will top out around 550 horses, that’s still notably short of its predecessor. Then again, that’s 100 horsepower more than the V-6-powered Ford F-150 Raptor. Regardless of the Ram’s probable power deficit, we think a big-bodied, high-flyin’ TRX without a V-8 is better than a world without a TRX.Ram 1500 and TRX NewsThis content is imported from poll. 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.Senior EditorEric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si. More

The Kia Concept EV4 debuted in Korea at Kia’s EV Day event.Call it a sedan, call it a hatchback, just don’t call it late for dinner.We’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that the EV4 will make its way to the U.S.When is a sedan not a sedan? When it’s the Kia Concept EV4. Yes, this electric concept has four doors and the proportions we expect from a sedan—and don’t get us wrong, we’re glad to see this body style remain relevant for longer—but Kia claims it’s an entirely new kind of sedan. Either way, hey, it’s not a crossover!The Kia Concept EV4 is part of the automaker’s strategy to release a series of electric vehicles across a greater swath of the vehicular kingdom. Alongside the Concept EV3 that also debuted at Kia’s EV Day event in Korea, the EV4 promises to break into smaller segments, now that the automaker has unveiled larger battery-electrics including the EV5, EV6, and EV9. And while nearly the entire portfolio consists of crossovers, the EV4 toes the line between sedan and hatchback in the hope of reconverting some utility-vehicle owners who still want to maximize spaciousness.Andrew Krok|Car and DriverWhile the EV4’s silhouette is unlike anything we’ve seen, there are a few influences we can see making their way down from the EV6, which itself rides that fine line between hatchback and crossover. That long, sloping nose (yes, complete with a frunk) and heavily raked windshield should cut through the air quite nicely, but it’s the rear end that really gets weird. Looking like the love child of an EV6 and a Cadillac CT4, the rear glass starts its downward progression at the rear wheel and continues on through three zip codes, finally terminating at a familiarly shaped integrated spoiler. There are some design elements that the Concept EV4 shares with its more diminutive sibling, the blocky Concept EV3. The trim around the wheel wells contains all sorts of interesting angles. That rugged-looking gray stuff also creeps its way upward on both bumpers, adding variety to some otherwise clean body lines. The concept’s matte-gold paint is pretty slick, too.The emphasis on width makes its way inside, where a relatively clean cabin layout keeps things feeling nice and spacious. A single binnacle rises from the dashboard, but most other elements are tucked away—in this case literally, as the climate controls retract when they aren’t needed. The pin-style air vents, which are also found on the EV3, are a unique take on an oft-ignored part of the car, using individual jets to change how the air flows. If you’re wondering how much ambient lighting there is in here, the answer is “plenty.”This being a concept, Kia didn’t bring any sort of powertrain specs along for the ride, but we don’t expect the EV4 to stay in the conceptual realm for long, even though the automaker has yet to confirm whether or not this slick electric sedan will come to the U.S. With the EV9, the EV5, and both the Concept EV3 and Concept EV4, Kia has a whole lot of interesting stuff coming down the pipeline before the end of the decade.More Kia EVsSenior EditorCars are Andrew Krok’s jam, along with boysenberry. After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew cut his teeth writing freelance magazine features, and now he has a decade of full-time review experience under his belt. A Chicagoan by birth, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe one day he’ll do something about that half-finished engineering degree. More

Kia has released specs for the Korean and Chinese versions of the upcoming EV5 electric SUV.This boxy little number will come in three variants: single-motor short range, single-motor long range, and dual-motor long range.A peppier EV5 GT is coming, but details remain scant.Kia first unveiled the upcoming EV5 electric SUV in August, but the Korean automaker left us hanging by only showing off its styling, choosing not to release any specifications at that time. Now, at Kia’s EV Day event, Kia has decided to throw us some bones—sort of.In addition to introducing the smaller EV3 and EV4 concepts, Kia’s EV Day event brings us some greater clarity on what to expect from the EV5, the third model in Kia’s electric family, following the EV6 and EV9. Since the vehicles will be built in China and Korea, and because these two markets will be the first to receive the car, most of the specs discussed here are relevant to China and Korea. The EV5 rides on the same E-GMP platform that underpins the EV6 and EV9. In China, the EV5 will come in three variations: a short-range front-driver, a long-range front-driver, and a long-range model with all-wheel-drive. The base spec carries a battery with 64.0 kWh of capacity, and power is delivered to the front wheels through a 215-hp motor. Kia estimates a range of 329 miles by China’s wildly optimistic CLTC standard. The EV5’s single-motor long-range model bumps battery capacity up to 88.0 kWh, while retaining the same 215-hp electric motor on the front axle; here, range balloons to 447 miles by CLTC standards. The long-range AWD variant slaps a second, less powerful motor at the rear, boosting total output to 308 hp. With the same battery as the single-motor long-range model, CLTC-estimated range is pegged at 404 miles. Korean-market EV5s will be offered in the same variations, but with slightly smaller batteries and slightly lower outputs. We also know a bit more about what features the EV5 will contain. A heat pump will be offered, in addition to three-zone climate control. On the dashboard, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster combines with a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, while climate duties are relegated to a separate 5.0-inch display. Other than on the steering wheel, Kia promises as few physical buttons as possible in the cabin.KiaThe interior has some other clever tricks up its sleeve. While Kia touts a bench seat in the front row, it’s not so much a proper three-person bench as it is a driver’s seat and a passenger seat wide enough to replace a traditional center console—in China, at least; other markets will get a traditional armrest-style center console. Seating surfaces can be made from recycled PET plastic or plant-based leather. Massaging seats will be available, too. But when it’s time to camp out under the stars, that’s when the interior gets interesting. The second row can fold completely flat, turning the rear half of the vehicle into what Kia calls a bedroom (albeit one that’s a little tight, we wager). Roughing it doesn’t sound so rough, thanks to niceties like a combination refrigerator-warmer and a luggage divider that does double duty as a table. Kia also confirmed that a hopped-up EV5 GT is in the works, but declined to say anything beyond that. Patience is a virtue, we suppose.Now, in terms of the U.S. market, things get a little murky. At Kia’s on-the-record EV Day press conference on October 10, President and CEO Ho Sung Song told journalists that the EV5 would be coming Stateside—a sentiment that was reinforced with additional confirmation from a second high-level Kia employee during a separate roundtable that same day. However, on October 11, Kia appeared to walk back these confirmations, saying in a statement that the automaker “is considering to export the EV5 to North America starting from 2025. There is no plan to produce the EV5 in North America.” A source with knowledge of Kia’s plans told C/D that the EV5 will skip over the U.S. entirely and instead head to Canada and possibly Mexico, due to the manufacturing-related intricacies of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which altered how EVs sold in the U.S. are incentivized. It’s possible that plans could change between now and the estimated “North American” arrival of mid-2025, but we wouldn’t hold our breath.More on the EV5Senior EditorCars are Andrew Krok’s jam, along with boysenberry. After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew cut his teeth writing freelance magazine features, and now he has a decade of full-time review experience under his belt. A Chicagoan by birth, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe one day he’ll do something about that half-finished engineering degree. More

The Kia Concept EV3 makes its debut as part of Kia’s EV Day event.Its squarish good looks borrow more than a hint of influence from the larger EV5 and EV9.Kia will likely confirm the EV3 for the U.S., but nothing has been set in stone just yet.The Kia Concept EV3, along with the Concept EV4 sedan debuting simultaneously, marks the next step in the automaker’s plan to introduce electric vehicles across a wide variety of segments and prices. Most of what we’ve seen thus far has occupied the loftier side of the window-sticker spectrum, so here is what Kia has in mind as it begins to shrink those dimensions down.And when we say “shrink those dimensions down,” we mean it. The EV3 borrows a whole lot of style from the EV5, which itself took a good deal of its styling from the larger EV9. Usually, this kind of generational self-pollination can lead to the whole design language feeling a little hackneyed, but a general softening of the 5’s and 7’s harder edges helps mitigate that. The EV5 picks up some clever twists that separate it from the EV9, and the EV3 does that, as well—and we’re not just talking about those slick four-spoke wheels, but those are boss, too.Andrew Krok|Car and DriverKia clearly believes it has a design hit on its hands with this new generation of robust-looking EVs. Despite its compact size, Kia found all sorts of room to throw interesting design elements. The squared-off trim around the wheel wells provide a bit of angularity, and it plays well with some equally beefy body panels. Around back, the “floating” C-pillar treatment drags your eyes toward the taillights, which follow the shape of the body practically back to the wheels. The tailgate’s rising bumper trim keeps that rough-and-tumble vibe going.All this seems pretty tame by concept-car standards—and it should, as the EV3 shouldn’t take too long to transition from concept to production—but thankfully, the interior brings some of that traditional pie-in-the-sky thinking back into the fray. Sort of like the old Honda Fit’s Magic Seat, the bench in the back folds upwards, allowing a bike or scooter to fit inside. And thanks to Kia’s vehicle-to-load charging tech, said bike or scooter can pick up some juice as you go along. Between the front seats lies a console table made of mycelium, a fungus-based material that’s growing in interior-study popularity with automakers seeking more eco-friendly materials. The rest of the cabin keeps things pretty light and airy, with slim seats and a pair of screens rising from the dashboard. Like the Concept EV4, the EV3 has the strangest climate system known to man, which replaces traditional vents with a number of small jets that move individually to adjust airflow. And yes, the whole lower half of the cabin lights up, because why wouldn’t it?Since it’s a concept, Kia didn’t divulge any sort of powertrain specs. Considering how production-ready its styling looks, and how determined Kia is to grow its EV market share rapidly between now and the end of the decade, we can’t imagine we’ll have to wait too long. Soon enough we’ll likely find out what will provide the EV3’s motive force, and whether or not it’ll end up coming to the U.S.More Kia EVsSenior EditorCars are Andrew Krok’s jam, along with boysenberry. After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew cut his teeth writing freelance magazine features, and now he has a decade of full-time review experience under his belt. A Chicagoan by birth, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe one day he’ll do something about that half-finished engineering degree. More