Tesla has officially launched their long-awaited “Supercharging” network last night to a star-studded crowd in Southern California. (We assume it was star-studded since our invitation got lost in the mail.) The EV network promises to enable Model S and Model X owners to charge 150 miles of range in 30 minutes. What about your Roadster? Sorry, you aren’t invited to this charging party. Have a Tesla and a LEAF? You’ll have to be satisfied with separate but equal charging facilities as the Tesla proprietary charging connector restricts access to Tesla shoppers only. Is this class warfare or do we parallel the computer industry where connectors come and go with the seasons?

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The Segway was supposed to be the future of urban transportation, but here’s a better idea:

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So far, German car companies Volkswagen and Daimler had been unaffected by the severe downdraft in Europe and brought in record profits. Now, the Teflon seems to be flaking off. (Read More…)

Subaru has never taken many liberties with the design of their small SUV – while the B9 Tribeca’s design arguably cemented this site’s reputation as the auto media’s demon side, the Forester stuck to a very consistent formula. And that’s not changing any time soon.

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Long-time TTAC readers know of my sentimental fondness for Crain Communication’s Jamie LaReau. Now the first lady of automotive journalism has uncovered some interesting news about Lincoln’s continuing attempts to, like, do crazy stuff, man.

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With negotiations between the CAW moving as quick as a French bureaucrat, Ford is offering eligible workers a new car and a $50,000 buyout as an early retirement gift, while Chrysler is offering the CAW nothing in the way of new jobs.

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“What he invests on research and development in a year is not enough for us to even make part of a mudguard. He should stop bugging us,”

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne responds to the unsolicited advice of Tod’s founder Diego Della Valle. It’s been a busy week for Sergio, whose homecoming in Italy was met with endless chirping from various corners of society.

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Even when stacked up against other Lexus models, the front-drive ES has long been considered boring. Yet the Camry-based sedan has been a best-seller for Lexus and in its segment. For this reason, it has become a benchmark; just as every compact sport sedan targets the BMW 3-Series, every upper-midsize near-luxury sedan targets the ES. Well […]

Mahindra has launched the Quanto compact SUV in the Indian market. Based on the larger Xylo, Mahindra chopped the rear off to get it under 4-meters in length. The company has given the car a new 1.5-litre diesel engine as well. In India, vehicles which are less than 4-meters in length and have an engine capacity less than 1.5-litres (diesel) or 1.2-litres (gasoline), benefit from a lower excise duty of 12% against 27%.

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Damn near everyone in the Industrial Design department at CCS said my engineering/gearhead/history buff background was killing my potential Car Design career. In hindsight they had a point, but most were complete jerks about it.  With three art history courses at three different colleges in mind, automotive brands/models/trim levels do indeed nod to something more than PR-hyped styling takeaways: perhaps a vintage automobile, a vague reference to a sub-culture not normally associated with a large corporation, or an entire genre of fine art. But the Scion FR-S isn’t retro… (Read More…)

A few months ago, Nissan’s Infiniti premium division moved out of the office building in Yokohama and out from the shadow of its parent company. Infiniti set up its new world headquarters in Hong Kong. Nissan also snagged Audi’s America-chief Johan de Nysschen as Infiniti’s new boss. Last Friday, after work, we sat down with de Nysschen in his new office on the 35^th floor of the Citibank Tower in Hong Kong’s downtown, to talk about his and Infiniti’s plans for the future. This is a two-part interview. The second part will appear tomorrow.

De Nysschen’s office is spacious, but subdued in comparison to the workplaces of other leaders of industry. No armed guards, no sometimes more dangerous personal assistants bar the entry. He sits at a working man’s desk: Three computers of various sizes, a printer. A glass door provides limited privacy from otherwise open floor offices with space for maybe 100 people when Infiniti’s World Headquarters are fully staffed. So how does the new CEO like the new office in the new city? (Read More…)

Today, the Subaru XV crossover was finally and officially debuted in Tokyo, where the much-discussed trucklet will go on sale on October 5. After the car was shown at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in orange, appeared in Consumer Reports, in orange, and even appeared at lesser venues, in orange, it finally arrived in Tokyo. In orange, of course. (Read More…)

True Miles Unknown. For some folks these three words conjure up the fear of a car with more miles on it than the Grateful Dead. Others simply head on off to Carfax and try to approximate the mileage figure.

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Whenever we post about a Volkswagen, comments about reliability (or, more specifically, the lack of it) inevitably follow. So few will be surprised that, with the latest update to TrueDelta’s car reliability stats, the 2012 Passat again received subpar marks. Though the big sedan’s score is better than earlier, it remains considerably worse than most other 2012s. Digging through the repair reports, a common cause emerges. Ignition coils aren’t failing. Nor are window regulators. Instead, the most common problem for these cars happens to be rattles.

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The latest from USA Today suggests now is a good time to buy a Chevy Volt, if that’s what you really want.  I checked in with former(?) TTAC scribe Captain Mike Solo, currently helping someone lease a Volt, and he says about the same: lease for $270 a month, with $1500 down.  Which includes the government tax credit built into the residual…probably. So what does this all mean? (Read More…)