Toyota New i-Road concept Review, Price
Now that green design is entering the mainstream, we’re beginning to see the design community tackle larger, more ambitious projects using eco-friendly techniques. Case in point: This week, San Francisco transformed the Bay Bridge into the world’s largest light sculpture by outfitting it with 25,000 LED lights. Because the lights are so energy-efficient, it will cost just $15 per night to run the installation. Continue reading »
2013 Tesla Model X Car Review
2013 Tesla Model X Car Review
Tesla subtly announced in its recent annual report that its Model X won’t be arriving any time this year. Our sister site, AutoBlog Green, confirmed that the SUV model has been pushed back to a late 2014 release, citing a focus on its S model for now. Continue reading »
2013 Tesla Model S Car Price, Review
2013 Tesla Model S Car Price, Review
That’s not the case with the Tesla Model S. It comes not long after the retirement of the Tesla Roadster, a car we thoroughly enjoyed but found a bit too raw, a bit too rough around the edges for general consumption. The Model S is so much more refined, so much more polished that you can hardly compare the two. Yet they come from the same company and have one similar, defining characteristic: neither burns a drop of fuel. Join us after the break for an exploration of what makes Tesla’s latest EV such an amazing ride — and where the company must improve if it truly wants to compete with the BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes of the world.
2013 Tesla Model X SUV Price, Review
Tesla Model X SUV Price
We’ve seen the Model X in the flesh before, at its showy unveiling last February at which Tesla CEO Elon Musk turned up to show off the “Falcon Wing” rear doors and the rather… compact seating arrangement that makes room for three full rows of short-legged human beings. Here in Detroit at NAIAS the 2014 model year car is making another appearance, doors open and interior fully-functional. We couldn’t resist hopping in there to check out the 17-inch multi-function touch panel. Largely the same as that in the Model S, the panel lets you manage climate control, navigation and, yes, do a little web surfing too.
Latest VL Destino 639hp V8-powered Fisker Karma 2013 Price
Latest VL Destino 639hp V8-powered Fisker Karma 2013 Price
People have gushed about the handling of the Fisker Karma, it’s low, long and wide chassis said to provide amazing handling. But, the powertrain has certainly caused some… problems. So, VL Automotive (a small auto manufacturer backed by Bob Lutz, among others) did what felt right: kept that luscious body and chassis and ripped out the guts. In exchange for the series hybrid get-up that drives the Karma, the Destino received a supercharged V8 — more specifically, the LS9 that powers the Corvette ZR1. Under the see-through hood of the ‘Vette that motor puts down 639hp, a figure that’s said to be maintained here, but with the four-door practicality the Chevrolet lacks. Pricing is said to be around $180,000 for the bespoke four-door supercar (a huge premium over the $102,000 Karma), but its designers hope that this could be the fastest four-door sedan on the planet when it goes on sale later this year.
2013 Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis concept Price, Review
2013 Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis concept Price, Review
At NAIAS 2013 Hyundai has given an indication of where its “premium vehicles” are headed with its HCD-14 Genesis concept. Sporting a sharp-edged style and suicide doors, the sedan gets even better inside, with a control layout that foregoes the traditional knobs and buttons. According to Hyundai (it wasn’t demonstrated) it includes eye tracking and 3D hand gesture recognition accurate enough to control navigation, infotainment, audio, HVAC, and one’s phone.
2013 VIA Motors V-TRUX Electric Trucks, Vans, SUVs Price, Review
2013 VIA Motors V-TRUX Electric Trucks, Vans, SUVs Price, Review
If you’re launching a line of extended-range electric vehicles, ala the Chevy Volt, it’s hard to imagine a better person to help you with the launch than Bob Lutz, the driving force behind that very car. Now he’s working with VIA Motors, which today introduced a line of electric vehicles of a rather different scale. The V-TRUX line of big boy toys includes modified GMC trucks, SUVs and vans, customized to include a Volt-like powertrain that enables up to 40 miles of electricity-only driving before switching over to the onboard 4.8 liter V8. More details after the break.
While some automakers are diversifying, others are consolidating. Like Peugeot, for example, which is preparing to replace both the 407 and 607 with an all-new 508. The big sedan is set to debut in a couple of months at the biennial Paris Motor Show, but after spy shots found their way to our desks a couple of weeks ago, this first batch of official-looking images have already leaked their way out and are circulating the interwebs as you read these words.
Previewed by the 5 by Peugeot concept at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show and based on sister-companyCitroën’s C5 sedan, the new 508 has appeared in both sedan and wagon formats. Full details will undoubtedly be released sometime in the next couple of months as the Paris salon approaches, but in the meantime Francophiles can check out the images in the gallery below for a closer look.
We’ve watched with a sense of awe as Hyundai has gone from a discount also-ran brand into a genuine industry powerhouse in startlingly short order. But we’ve also long suspected that its vehicles have gained so much ground by being among the best values in their respective segments – not because they’ve necessarily been the best vehicles to drive. The addition of the Genesis Coupe may have served notice that Hyundai isn’t content to just be the industry’s value leader (see Battle of the Sixes), but the keystone draw of most of the brand’s offerings has remained their affordability. Which is not to suggest this is a bad thing – Hyundai’s steroidal growth speaks to the inherent soundness of its strategy. But as enthusiasts, we’ve been waiting for the company to not only out-value, but to categorically outsmart and outplay its rivals. With introduction of the 2011 Sonata, Hyundai appears to have done exactly that.
We admit that we weren’t sure whether the Sonata’s outré styling would play in that most milquetoast of markets: the family sedan segment. When the sheet was pulled on the 2011 model, it was as if Hyundai had strolled into a Sunday morning prayer breakfast with Kathy Griffin on its arm – we didn’t know exactly what was going to come of it, but we knew it was going to be fun to watch. Thankfully, the Sonata has proven to be far more than just a styling stunt. Packing big space, a rock-solid chassis, accomplished handling and unmatched power and fuel economy from its 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, the Sonata has gained widespread acceptance and acclaim in a historically conservative slice of the market.
The recently-crowned king of the United Auto Workers, President Bob King, has a monumental task before him: reverse the decades-long decline in UAW membership. To do that the UAW will likely need to make inroads at transplant automaker plants, and to accomplish this goal King promises to be more active in staging demonstrations than in the past, and an early target is Toyota and California. Automotive Newsreports that the UAW is organizing protests in front of several Toyota dealerships in the Golden State to draw attention to the recently closed NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA.
The facility, which was making the Toyota Corolla and Matrix until it was shuttered in April, was the only unionized facility producing Toyotas in North America. The closing of NUMMI, which happened in part because General Motors pulled out of its agreement with Toyota during its bankruptcy in 2009, left thousands of UAW workers without a job. Toyota has since sold the NUMMI facility to Tesla Motors, who will utilize only a portion of the plant and hire around 1,000 workers. Toyota did spring for a considerable severance packageof nearly $300 million for the laid-off workers when the plant closed.
Of course the group most upset about the upcoming protests is the American International Automobile Dealers Association. AIADA president Cody Lusk claims that the protests will only hurt small businesses that supply plenty of American jobs, adding
“An assault on America’s auto retail industry will only serve to highlight the disconnect between the UAW and reality.”