News: 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Enters New York—New Looks, More Power
One look at the all-new 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid confirms the company took it to heart when president Akio Toyoda gave a mandate against making boring cars.
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News: SF Motors Enters Electric Car Market
SF Motors unveiled an upscale crossover electric vehicle and showed off some of the company’s technology. While the car itself may be a bit of a me-too (high-power, connected, autonomous-capable in a conventional SUV coupe-like shape), the back story of the technology this well-funded formerly stealth start-up has developed tells a much more interesting story.
News: 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric Coming with BIG Battery
At this week’s New York Auto Show, the Korean automaker presented the U.S. production model of the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric with an estimated 250-mile driving range on EPA test cycle.
Flash Drive: 2018 Nissan Leaf
I sampled two new LEAFs at the annual Western Automotive Journalists Media Days event. I grabbed it for the first drive of the day, 23+ miles that included some freeway, some in-town, and some open road travel, including the climbing the winding Laureles Grade in Monterey County.
News: Nissan IMx Electric CUV One of Eight New EVs
Nissan pledged to maintain its leadership in electric vehicles as the automaker outlined plans to launch eight new EVs and hit annual sales of 1 million electrified vehicles by March 31, 2023. The eight new EVs will come on top of Nissan’s current offerings, the Leaf and eNV200 van. One will be the all-electric crossover based on the Nissan IMx concept, while four of the new EVs will be directed to China.
News: 2019 Ford Fusion Energi Gains EV Range And Safety Tech
The 2019 Ford Fusion Energi doesn’t receive any mehcanical updates, but the plug-in hybrid gets a battery capacity boost that gives it a longer electric-only driving range of a projected EPA rating of 25 miles.
News: Ford Does the Electric Slide
Ford Future was on show this week—its cars and trucks are getting electrified. The subtext was: Ford is not going to be left behind, but the company is also not going to step away from its cash cow pickups and SUVs.
Flash Drive/Event: 2018 Jeep Wrangler and 2019 Jeep Cherokee
Jeep invited the media to the Santa Monica Mountains in early March to drive the all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler and the new 2019 Cherokee. Our off-road driving reinforced the long tradition of Jeep being sure-footed off the pavement—and impressively so.
News: Audi e-Tron Swarms the Streets of Geneva
The e-Tron Quattro electric SUV should be available in Europe later this year, debuting on August 13th at the Audi Summit in Brussels, the site of the factory where it will be assembled.
News: Lexus UX Subcompact Crossover Debuts
The 2019 Lexus UX will come in two versions when it arrives at the end of 2018. The UX 200 employs a new 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine with 168 horsepower running through a new Direct-Shift continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).