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The announcement has come from the Hoonigans Instagram feed that Ken Block, 55, has died as a result of a snowmobiling accident today. His personal Instagram account had featured photos in the snow from Park City, Utah, over the weekend.The mastermind of Hoonigan and the Gymkhana video series most recently posted a drifting video on his YouTube channel featuring an Audi S1 Hoonitron on the Las Vegas Strip.Block had a longtime partnership with Ford Performance before moving to Audi in 2021.In a post shared to rally driver Ken Block’s Hoonigans Instagram account tonight, the organization wrote: “It’s with our deepest regrets that we can confirm that Ken Block passed away in a snowmobile accident today. Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and husband. He will be incredibly missed.Please respect the family’s privacy at this time while they grieve.”Block in a 2016 Ford Focus ST in Gymkhana 9.FordThis is a developing story. We will add details as they become available.This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More

Oregon formally adopts Clean Cars II, setting a target date of 2035 to phase out sales of new gas- and diesel-engine cars, light trucks, and SUVs, with interim targets until 2035.California and Washington have already cemented plans to phase out sales of new internal-combustion-engine cars, light trucks, and SUVs, with Washington being the earliest with a 2030 target year.Several other U.S. states have now adopted California’s Clean Cars II framework but face a number of challenges in expanding EV infrastructure.Earlier this month the state of Oregon adopted rules that will make it the third West Coast state to require that all new cars, SUVs, and light trucks be zero-emissions by 2035, joining Washington and California. The Environmental Quality Commission, which is the administrative rulemaking board for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, became yet another state to adopt the Clean Cars II rules, also recently enacted by the state of New York.Other Moves around the U.S.Like a number of other states, Oregon is now taking steps to solidify these plans via administrative rulemaking, rather than legislation or a governor’s executive order. By comparison, the state of Washington has adopted the most ambitious agenda of the three West Coast states, setting the goal at the year 2030 and doing so earlier this year via legislation signed into law Governor Jay Inslee.”With today’s adoption of the ACC II Rule, all those living in Oregon will benefit from the cleaner air and improved public health outcomes achieved by reducing pollution from transportation,” Leah Feldon, the Department of Environmental Quality’s interim director, said earlier this month. “This is especially true for low-income and underrepresented communities across the state who live closest to roadways and have been most often impacted by poor air quality.”Like a number of other states, Oregon faces several hurdles in advancing toward the 2035 goal, ranging from current EV infrastructure in cities and outside cities, to power grid adequacy. But it’s also setting interim targets: The first compliance step for automakers is just around the corner in 2026, with Oregon (and other Clean Cars II states) requiring that 35% of an automaker’s offerings be battery-electric, PHEV, or hydrogen fuel cell by January 1 of that year. States that plan to phase out gas and diesel cars and trucks still face a number of challenges, including sparse EV infrastructure.FREDERIC J. BROWN|Getty ImagesThis means automakers will have just over three years to reach that target for sales in Oregon—a taller order for some if not for others. The admission of PHEVs into this mix, of course, gives some automakers a lifeline.”Oregon continues to see the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions across the state—with extreme heat, more severe wildfires, winter storms and flooding and prolonged drought—and I am committed to addressing the climate crisis with urgency,” said Oregon Governor Kate Brown.The state will take a number of other interim steps to achieve the 2035 goal, including investments in EV infrastructure and grid reliability. Oregon will invest some $100 million to build more EV charging stations along the state’s major highways, as well as expand their presence in rural areas of the state, which is perhaps where the greatest challenge lies for Oregon and for other states.If there is a major loophole to be seen at the moment, it is the fact that under these rules sales of plug-in hybrids will be permitted past the 2035 date if they offer a range of 50 miles or more. This doesn’t make a vehicle a zero-emission vehicle, as many critics note, so gas stations won’t disappear overnight and automakers will be able to produce fairly large and heavy PHEVs well past 2035. EVs, on the other hand, will have to offer a range of 150 miles under Oregon rules in addition to DC fast-charging capability, which by 2035 (if not today) seems quite easily accomplished. We don’t expect to see too many new EVs even past 2025 that won’t be able to do at least 150 miles on a single charge. This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More

Technology continues to play an increased role in the daily operation of our cars. For some, the shift has been welcome: stuffing modern technology into our cars has drastically increased available creature comforts during our daily commutes. For others, the addition of all this newfangled tech does nothing but add cost and complication. Not only has technology increased the price of new cars, but every new gadget bolted to your vehicle becomes one more thing to break, further increasing your costs. Then there’s the issue of getting the tech you actually want in your car. Want leather seats? You’re going to have to step up a trim level. Oh, you wanted a manual gearbox? That’s only available in the base trim. Want a reverse automated emergency braking warning to keep your teenager out of trouble? That’s fine, so long as you don’t mind also buying four completely unrelated features. Perhaps automakers signed up for “Stuffing Riders into Congressional Bills 101” during college and decided they should make car buying just as painful. Some automakers have been toying with the idea of shifting the buying process. Rather than buying the features and packages you want when buying your new car, the automaker would grant access to the features on a subscription program. Instead of spending thousands on a cold weather package, you could pay for things like heated seats only during the cold months you need them. Cue alarm bells. Indulging for a moment in the slippery-slope logical fallacy, what next? Could companies lock horsepower behind a subscription paywall? What about safety features? Could a company turn off some features the way some tech companies stop supporting old software?Joe Lorio|Car and DriverWe were recently playing in the menus of a 2023 BMW X1 when we came across a group of screens offering exactly that sort of subscription. BMW TeleService and Remote Software Upgrade showed a message that read Activated, while BMW Drive Recorder had options to subscribe for one month, one year, three years, or “Unlimited.” Reactions from the Car and Driver staff were swift and emotional. One staff member responded to the menus with a vomiting emoji, while another likened the concept to a video-game battle pass. We reached out to BMW to ask about the menus we found and to learn more about its plan for future subscriptions. The company replied that it doesn’t post a comprehensive list of prices online because of variability in what each car can receive. “Upgrade availability depends on factors such as model year, equipment level, and software version, so this keeps things more digestible for consumers,” explained one BMW representative. Our X1 for example, has an optional $25-per-year charge for traffic camera alerts, but that option isn’t available to cars without BMW Live Cockpit. Instead of listing all the available options online, owners can see which subscriptions are available for their car either in the menus of the vehicle itself or from a companion app.Related StoriesBMW USA may not want to confuse its customers by listing all its options in one place, but BMW Australia has no such reservations. In the land down under, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are available in a month-to-month format, as is BMW’s parking assistant technology. In contrast, BMW USA released a statement in July saying that if a U.S.-market vehicle is ordered with heated seats from the factory, that option will remain functional throughout the life of the vehicle. The jury is still out on the merits of technology-based-subscriptions in cars. Certainly, allowing customers the freedom to purchase the things they want and need, instead of forcing them to buy entire packages, is not a bad thing. But are endless subscriptions really the best solution for consumers? In 2019, BMW announced it would charge customers $80 per year for wireless Apple CarPlay. After considerable public backlash, BMW walked back the decision and instead offered the technology for free. BMW is wading into mostly uncharted waters here. The court of public opinion forced BMW to reverse a subscription in the past. If people decide these newer subscriptions are as egregious as the old ones, will they force BMW back again? Or will they instead stick to automakers who sell features outright?This 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.This 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. More

It’s hard to believe that once not so long ago—at least, within the span of my own decrepit memory—Britain was the world’s second-largest maker of automobiles. Dozens of brands thrived and went forth, even after having the bejeezus pummeled out of their factories during the Second World War. While the once sprawling British empire’s authority as a global superpower stood much diminished after the war, its car plants were hot and busy in the 1950s and 1960s, spreading the glory of its manufacturing titans to the far corners of the globe.Much More on the U.K. TodayBefore many more years passed, however, a crippling combination of shaky management, insufficient investment, desperate consolidation, and antiquated facilities—coupled with near constant labor unrest—came home to roost. By the last quarter of the 20th century, there was little of Britain’s homegrown industry left standing. And then, more recently, things got worse. Today, 18 countries, including Canada and Slovakia, make more cars than Britain. And in other bad news for the island nation’s home team, car sales have gone down the loo, and for 2022 are on target to hit their lowest level in 40 years.Charlie Magee|Car and DriverModern JaguarsJaguar Land Rover, like many of the companies we talk about in our related story on the U.K. industry, has benefited enormously from foreign investment (India’s Tata having come to its rescue), but hard times, overly conservative design, and rum luck have diminished its once glorious luxury brand, Jaguar. The XF sedan is in what is likely its final model year, and the F-type is set to follow it off stage a year later, leaving Jaguar with a three-SUV lineup (E-Pace, F-Pace, and I-Pace). Thank goodness for Land Rover’s relative success, which has for now allowed it to carry Jaguar into the future, like a drunk partygoer getting hoisted over her burly boyfriend’s shoulder and delivered home. We’ll see how she feels in the morning. Meanwhile upscale sports-car makers Aston Martin and McLaren, no strangers to foreign investment, still make appealing automobiles but find themselves forced to scrabble for additional cash, often in most unfortunate and undignified ways. British Pride in ActionLower down the status totem pole, Ford stopped building cars in Britain in 2002 and trucks in 2016 and only recently announced that it would stop selling the Fiesta. (Ironically, the Fiesta bounced back in October to become the country’s number-one-selling vehicle.) In 2021, Honda closed its factory in Swindon.General Motors baled on British stalwart Vauxhall—maker (elsewhere) of what is today Britain’s number-two-selling machine, the Vauxhall Corsa—selling it to PSA way back in 2017. But the brand’s new owner, Stellantis, still builds Vauxhall vans in Luton, along with Peugeots and Fiats, and plans to build electric cars and trucks on old GM real estate in Ellesmere Port. Japan’s Toyota operates two factories in the U.K., while over in Sunderland, Nissan builds several models, including the Qashqai and Juke, and has recently retooled to expand electric vehicle capacity. Electrics in EnglandSpeaking of EVs, fully one-third of new car sales in Britain were electrified in October, a statistic that might sound more encouraging if the month’s overall sales weren’t even worse than last year’s dismal figures. Analysts blame the pandemic, inflation, and supply-chain difficulties. The latter might be alleviated if BritishVolt, which is on the precipice of receivership as of this writing, could get funding for its proposed giant $4.5 billion battery gigafactory in Teeside that would supply the country’s carmakers with the heavy (read expensive to ship) batteries they all say they’ll need. Englishman Andy Palmer, former Nissan executive and, more recently, chairman of Aston Martin where he led a less than stellar IPO before being run out of town, is leading the efforts of a Slovakian company, InoBat, to take the project over, but that might see factory sited instead in Spain, where government incentives are assured. Go Ahead, Blame BrexitOf course, no discussion of the British car industry’s dire predicament is complete without a mention of Brexit, the nation’s kneejerk decision to leave the European Union which has subjected its carmakers to all manner of costs, delays, and uncertainty. On our tour of several U.K. carmakers, none failed to mention it, and while they spoke somewhat reservedly and often in hushed tones, given its political volatility, the sad and disgruntled looks on their faces—with a touch of “we told you so” in their words—were yet another demonstration that the decision once narrowly approved by the British public (and now considerably less popular) appears to have hurt not only that public but also the companies who supply their cars.After the nuclear winter, it has been said, bright shoots will arise from the rubble. As the accompanying feature illustrates, the U.K.’s cottage carmakers remain resourceful and vital, as has its long-dominant network of race-car builders and suppliers. I remain hopeful that volume manufacture will continue here and that overall car sales will regain their luster. Because while the sun may never set on the British Empire, when it comes to building automobiles, one of our favorite—and, once upon a time, most consequential—distant stars has been occluded for too long. Call me an optimist. But I just know the glass is 1/8 full. This content is imported from OpenWeb. 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. More