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The Rise of the Soft-Roader The recipe is straightforward, and it works. Start with a regular crossover, give it a small lift, fit chunkier tires, and add some tougher styling cues. Suddenly, it looks ready for more than just city errands. Buyers, especially in North America and Australia, have responded. Soft-roaders now fill the gap between daily comfort and occasional adventure, and they’ve been quite popular with customers. The Subaru Forester Wilderness and Hyundai Tucson XRT show there’s r

A lot has been said and written about the GM EV1, the first modern, purpose-built mass-production electric vehicle from a major automaker. Thirty years ago, the teardrop-shaped subcompact coupe showed the world that a fully electric vehicle was not a distant dream, but very much a tangible reality. Sure, the driving range wasn’t great, and the car wasn’t very practical. But for all intents and purposes, the GM EV1 was a functional EV that could have evolved into something really capable, potenti

First prototypes of the first-generation Tesla Roadster were officially unveiled in 2006, and the first deliveries happened in 2008. But for the second-generation Tesla Roadster, the story has been bold promises and constant delays, and we've just received more of the latter. Most recently, Tesla promised a demonstration of the new electric sports car would take place on April 1, but yesterday, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X to say, "New Roadster unveil [will] probably [be]

Volkswagen Rethinks Strategy as Tariffs Upend the Playbook For decades, Volkswagen Group’s North American strategy was built on a clear cost advantage: manufacturing vehicles in Mexico and exporting them to the United States. That model is now under serious pressure. According to a report from Automotive News Europe, with U.S. tariffs on Mexican-built vehicles reaching as high as 27.5%, the economics that once justified cross-border production are rapidly eroding. Volkswagen exports roughly 70%

A Longtime Rivalry For over 40 years, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been butting heads in the compact executive sedan space. At first, it was 3 Series versus 190E, but the last 30-odd years have been 3 Series versus C-Class. Whether it's with entry-level models or all-out performance versions, those two cars are always bound to rub fenders. In today's more electrified era, the two cars are still locked in a rivalry. BMW has drawn first blood with the i3, but Mercedes-Benz will soon reveal its hand

Toyota has announced a safety recall for three popular Lexus crossovers in the United States. These are certain model years of the compact NX, midsize RX, and three-row midsize TX. The issue is linked to a backup camera display that could go blank when shifting into reverse, a situation that contravenes federal safety standards. This isn’t the first time certain Lexus models have been involved in a recall for faulty backup cameras, so here’s a closer look at what’s happening. Related: Toyota Rec

The Price Of Uniqueness What's interesting about the U.S. car market is that it represents a benchmark for major automotive manufacturers. It is also, however, its own ecosystem that makes it different from the rest of the world. Because of America's preferences and market demands, some models aren't available stateside, but these missing models could actually be best sellers in the U.S. One model, the Jeep Meridian, has received an update that might be a good buy for Americans if it ever gets

The Kia Telluride is hardly the first vehicle that comes to mind when considering a capable off-roader, but it's actually better at one thing than some serious off-road machinery: wading through deep water. Motor1 crunched the numbers on the spec sheet of the new 2027 X-Pro model and then confirmed them with Kia to make sure, and the Telluride has a wading depth of 38.6 inches. That's mighty impressive, and more so when you consider that some SUVs with a reputation for going off the beaten path

From Parts Supplier to Performance Identity It may not be widely known, but Dodge didn’t start out as a muscle car icon. Back in the early 1900s, it operated as the Dodge Brothers Company, building engines and chassis for early players like Ford and Oldsmobile. The brothers earned a reputation for precision manufacturing long before they ever put their own badge on a car. Over the last hundred years, Dodge has reinvented itself more than once. It jumped on the muscle car comeback, went all-in on

A U.S. State Is Tightening Its Licensing Rules Driver licensing in the U.S. has never been one-size-fits-all. Each state sets its own framework, balancing accessibility with safety, and in recent years, the pendulum has swung toward stricter requirements. More jurisdictions are mandating formal driver’s education, not just for teens but for young adults who previously could bypass structured training altogether. Minnesota is now the latest state considering that shift, signaling a broader nation

Electric vehicles are already cutting global oil demand at a scale that would have seemed unrealistic a few years ago. According to BloombergNEF, EVs avoided 2.3 million barrels of oil consumption per day in 2025. To put that in perspective, the figure nearly matches the 2.4 million barrels exported daily by Iran. Other estimates are slightly lower at 1.7 million barrels a day, with the difference coming down to conservative assumptions about how often plug-in hybrids actually run on fossil fuel

BMW’s all-new i3 was unveiled earlier this week after months of anticipation. It sets the tone for the gas-powered 3 Series to follow, and will also become one of the company’s smallest EVs when it goes on sale; most BMW EVs are larger sedans and SUVs. To make room for the i3, another model will be discontinued, that being the i4. The coupe-style i4’s smaller size and lighter weight make for one of the more enjoyable EV drives in BMW’s lineup, but the big step up in technology and design in the

Ice and snow racing events just make me smile, but probably not for the reason you think. As awesome as these events are, and as cool as the race cars and trucks can be, it’s the people that are racing in the snow and ice all winter that really set these events apart. If you asked the average sand drags or traditional drag racing competitor if they would change a few things on their ride and then go race it on the ice or in the snow, most are going to say NO. But when you live in the ice and sno

Japanese Brands – American Hands Japanese-branded, American-made – three U.S.-made Toyotas are headed to the East, which include the Toyota Camry midsize sedan, Highlander SUV, and Tundra full-size truck. The Camry and the Highlander are models aiming to make a comeback in the Japanese market. The Camry was last seen for sale in Japan in 2023, while the Highlander (known as the Kluger for the Japanese market) made its last appearance in Toyota dealerships in 2007 – almost two decades ago. It's

Firefighters know exactly what they’re up against with an internal combustion vehicle fire. Kill the flames and cool the metal so what remains of the vehicle can be towed away. With an EV, though, the fire can come back hours after the fire is seemingly suppressed. When a lithium-ion battery pack enters thermal runaway, a self-sustaining chemical reaction, cells continue to overheat from the inside and vent (accompanied by a popping sound) long after the fire appears to be out. This reaction cre

The Porsche Cayenne range offers something for everyone (as long as they have at least 90 grand), and telling them apart can be quite a challenge, but thanks to new spy shots showing two upcoming Cayenne Coupe facelifts in convoy, we can see some of the subtle differences coming to the luxury SUV for the 2027 model year. The two models in question are the Cayenne Coupe and the Cayenne Turbo GT, which is only offered with the sloping roofline, and the main changes are coming to the front ends. Le

BMW Dials It Back A report from BMW Blog confirms that the facelifted 7 Series will drop its SAE Level 3 self-driving system, known as Personal Pilot L3. The decision is cost-related, as the technology did not meet BMW’s commercial expectations. The U.S. market had little to do with that, since the system was never sold stateside anyway. Still, this report puts an end to any hopes prospective buyers may have had of experiencing Personal Pilot L3 in the new 7 Series in the near future. BMW R&

The dispute between Ferrari and Mazda regarding the ownership of the 'Luce' name is heating up, as the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer insists that it holds the right to use the name, which it intends to use on its first-ever fully electric car. That is despite the fact that Mazda trademarked the Luce name in Japan roughly three weeks after Ferrari announced details of its upcoming Luce electric car. The Japanese automaker first used the Luce name in 1966 on a series of high-end sedans th

Efficiency by Design When the electric vehicle market began to grow significantly at the start of this decade, discussions around aerodynamics became more prominent. That’s largely because a more streamlined shape reduces drag, helping improve driving range. EVs such as the Lucid Air and the Mercedes-Benz EQS stand out with drag coefficients (Cd) of 0.197 and 0.20, respectively. By the early 1980s, however, Ford, in collaboration with Italian design house Ghia, developed two concept cars as part

Keeping Things In the Family One benefit of having multiple brands under one corporate ownership is that each brand can share components with the others. Doing parts sharing reduces cost and boosts production efficiency, helping keep costs in check and expanding products across related brands. This practice isn't only used by affordable mass-market automakers; some higher-tier brands also share parts among themselves. Notable examples can be found everywhere, but there are times when sharing par

The Battery Gap Widens With little to no surprise, most electric vehicle batteries produced last year came from China. According to Nikkei Asia, Chinese EV battery makers accounted for around 70 percent of the global market in 2025 – a sharp increase from less than 50 percent in 2021. China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) – which has supplied batteries for Ford EVs like the Mustang Mach-E – remained the industry leader and reported a record net profit of 72.2 billion yuan (abou

With changing legislation and many automakers suffering enormous losses from the EV pullback, Audi's new electric sports car seemed in doubt not long ago, but the company's CEO, Gernot Döllner, has confirmed that Porsche is still helping develop the new arrival, expected to be a design landmark in the same way that the TT was. A few weeks ago, he said that the production version of the Concept C would arrive within the next two years, comprehensively denying rumors that the electric sports car h

Pivoting to Energy Storage Here's some good news. In a Reutersreport, General Motors and LG Energy Solution announced that their Tennessee Ultium Cells plant will be repurposed for lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery production for energy storage products. This represents a significant shift from their previous strategy of focusing solely on electric vehicle battery production. This comes at a time when both companies face slowing demand for their products, resulting in excess battery productio

The Price Of Omission The automotive industry is littered with cautionary tales about corporate mistakes. The most common issues usually pertain to safety concerns, recalls, or, worse, to concerted efforts to keep certain things from the public. All corporate entities that sell products are held to a high standard for transparency, especially those that make and sell cars. Vehicle purchases rank among the biggest investments an individual will make in their lifetime, so when certain details abou

A Legacy Wagon, But Taller The idea of a wagon on stilts isn't exactly new. One just has to look at the AMG Eagle 4x4 Wagon to see where it all began. Still, Subaru was inspired by that, hence why it built the Outback. It made its home market debut in 1994, around the same time as the RAV4. The rest of the world followed in 1996. The formula was simple: take a Legacy Wagon, add a couple more inches of ground clearance, and give it more rugged styling. For the next six generations, Subaru didn't