It’s no secret that Ford has a compact, unibody pickup coming down the product pipeline, what with well-camouflaged prototypes seen by photographers and the admission from the company that a small trucklet is something it feels is worthwhile pursuing.

A small truck based on the same platform underpinning the Escape and Euro-market Focus might well prove a valuable addition to the company’s crowded utility lineup, but we now have a fairly solid piece of evidence that this product will resurrect a bit of the past. (Read More…)

A legal dispute between South Korean battery manufacturers could force Volkswagen Group and Ford Motor Co. to deal with surprise supply shortages, according to documents filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

The industrial duo had hoped to see SK Innovation produce batteries at a planned factory site in Georgia to supply the deluge of electric vehicles both have planned. However, courtroom drama between SK Innovation and LG Chem has complicated the matter.

The South Korean battery firms are currently involved in a bitter legal battle. SKI is being sued by LG over claims of industrial espionage in the United States, with the plaintiff demanding SK Innovation not be allowed to manufacturer equipment there. This isn’t the first time the duo have butted heads, either. They seem to really hate each other, and each appears willing to do whatever it takes to gain an advantage over the other. Ford and VW have warned that the situation puts them both at risk of supply shortages during a period where reliable battery supplies are already difficult to come by.  (Read More…)

“How bad is it? And how bad is it going to be?”

Those were our questions five months ago when describing the American minivan category’s paltry 408,982 sales in calendar year 2019. At that time, the rate of decline experienced by the segment suggested that, “America won’t even acquire 300,000 minivans next year.”

Enter novel coronavirus and, consequently, a second-quarter in which auto sales in the United States tumbled by a third. For perspective, that’s 1.5 million fewer sales between April and June of 2020 than during the equivalent period one year earlier.

Meanwhile, as quarantines and lockdowns and isolations and shutdowns caused new vehicle demand to shrink, the previously beloved minivan segment saw its share of the U.S. market absolutely crater. (Read More…)

It’s a big maybe, but it’s something GM Defense — General Motors’ military arm — would like to see happen.

We’re talking about the looming GMC Hummer EV pickup, a massive, un-Nissan Leaf-like electric vehicle originally scheduled for a May 20th debut. While the launch is postponed to a hazy future date, the model’s future applications remain, for now, unlimited. (Read More…)

Is there a U.S. assembly plant that’s not currently producing a utility vehicle that doesn’t need one? Perhaps, but that doesn’t describe Volvo Cars’ Ridgeville, South Carolina facility, which builds the new-for-2019 S60 sedan.

A still-shiny plant situated near Charleston’s busy harbor that only opened a year prior to the S60’s launch, the facility shuttered itself in late March as the coronavirus swept into North America, reopening in early May before going idle again a month later. Volvo Cars’ boss aims to get production underway again soon, but there’s a problem. (Read More…)

When you think of the rapidly dwindling handful of vehicles still available with a manual transmission, you probably didn’t list the Jeep Compass among those remaining holdouts. And yet the compact crossover does offer such a setup, ever since the current-generation model went on sale for 2017.

Well, Jeep offered, but not many buyers took them up on it. Actually, it seems Jeep could barely find any takers — which is why, for 2021, the Compass will carry only an autobox. (Read More…)

The setting: a dimly lit bar, which is the best kind of bar, and one that seems to have stepped out of another time. Old, overly varnished wood mingling with red faux leather on the chairs and booths, a stained glass lamp hanging over each corner nook, and a complete absence of daylight or identifiable exit. Are you even above ground? You can’t tell.

A din registering somewhere between pleasant background murmur and raucous cacophony ensures reasonable privacy from the introvert population of this half-filled saloon. The drinks adorning tables and bartop are not mango mojitos, but brown liquors. Some with ice, most without. This is a place where long-lasting, healthy relationships are not kindled, but where more than a few businessmen have stopped in for a last drink before jumping off that overpass or going home to clean dad’s rifle. Maybe Deep Throat drank here. Maybe, somewhere out there in the brightly lit streets that may as well be a million miles away, three-piece suits and sideburns are back in vogue, and every car has an ashtray.

As you ponder your surroundings, puzzled, disoriented, and more than a little intrigued, a figure moves towards your table. (Read More…)

German wheel manufacturer BBS is, once again, confronting bankruptcy. However, it’s likely to come out on the other side intact if its own history is anything to go by. During its quest for global dominance, BBS found itself out of money in 2007. Decades of expansion crippled the company’s finances, but not before it became one of the most recognizable wheel brands on the tarmac. In fact, few vehicles from the the tail end of the 20th century suffer from having a set wrapped in rubber.

What would Subaru even be without its World Rally Blue paint and gold BBS wheels? How many racing video games bother to launch without the brand having its best styles represented in the customization menu? Who dares claim the BBS RS isn’t the most iconic mesh wheel in the history of tuning culture?  (Read More…)

Fame and notoriety in the automotive world isn’t achieved solely by power and price alone; sometimes a vehicle enters the public consciousness for reasons unrelated to exclusivity or motoring panache.

Which is why nearly everyone knows of the existence of a particular white, 102-horsepower Mercedes-Benz. The automaker certainly hasn’t forgotten, taking time recently to reminisce about that SUV’s development some 40 years ago this summer. (Read More…)

When I was a young lad, I had a box set of the goofball quiz show You Bet Your Life. Hosted by deceased comedy legend Groucho Marx, the program aired on both television and radio just as they were beginning to swap roles in terms of market dominance in the mid-20th century.

After ribbing guests, Marx would pause to acknowledge the sponsor. More often than not, they were Chrysler products — especially the now defunct DeSoto brand. While I had no idea if Groucho actually cared about the cars beyond the paycheck they offered, something about the format of having someone you actually liked pushing the product stuck with me. I’ve been a fan of DeSoto for years, despite having been born decades after it stopped existing as a brand.

It seems things might be coming full circle. With television now losing prominence to the internet, advertisers, in search of new avenues for income, and have stopped at podcasts. A recent Nielsen study estimated that roughly half of would-be vehicle shoppers visited a website for more information if they heard about it via an audio-focused medium with a strong personality behind it.  (Read More…)

Uber Technologies Inc. has kicked off a new service that provides public health officials immediate access to data on drivers and riders who may have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19. Weirdly, the company decided against announcing the sharing of your whereabouts with the government with any fanfare. Perhaps they thought average people wouldn’t be interested, or maybe that broadcasting their own participatory role in crafting a nightmare dystopia could be bad for business.

Then again, maybe this is exactly the kind of mass surveillance we need to flatten the curve, stop the spread, or whatever slogan is currently the trendiest. Worried? Don’t be. Uber said this service will be offered free of charge, meaning you don’t even have to spend any additional money to have your information shared.

What a sweet deal!  (Read More…)

Sadly for Fiat Chryler’s Italian luxury brand, the buzz last week surrounded the newly unveiled Ford Bronco, not the upcoming Ghibli Hybrid.

A model and brand TTAC’s readership can’t get enough of, the Maserati Ghibli appears for 2021 with an optional 48-volt mild hybrid powertrain that mates a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with electric “e-Booster” supercharger to an eight-speed automatic. It’s the automaker’s first electrified vehicle. (Read More…)

Though North Americans were offered a few car-turned-truck vehicles like the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino between the 1950s and 1980s, domestic appetites for ute-type vehicles never approached that of Australia. Down Under, interest in such vehicles persisted for over 80 years.

Let’s take a look at one of the most popular types, the Ford Falcon.

(Read More…)

Shortly after his high-flying escape from Japanese semi-captivity in late 2018, former Renault-Nissan Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn got catty, marveling at what became of those two automakers after they dropped him from the phone directory.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic sinking profits and sales across the globe, Ghosn is pretty sure he knows what’s really to blame for Nissan’s current misfortunes. (Read More…)

Despite urging buyers to venture far from the beaten path with its new Bronco, Ford knows the bulk of its customers will want to keep their tires planted firmly on blacktop, and chances are they’d like the car to handle some of the responsibilities, too.

With that in mind, Ford reached a deal with Mobileye to develop and provide a key element of the brand’s driver-assist hardware. Note that we’re not calling it semi-autonomous, and with good reason. (Read More…)