It’s nice to write about a vehicle with an honest-to-goodness name, especially one that replaces a vehicle with an alphanumeric name. As it slowly relegates past three-letter combinations to the dustbin of history, Lincoln Motor Company is busy putting the finishing touches on the next product in its utility vehicle offensive: the Corsair, formerly the MKC.

The smallest vehicle in Lincoln’s renewed stable, the Corsair debuts for the 2020 model year. While the model’s new name is meant to conjure up images of a small sailing boat, most will associate it with a brawny WWII American warbird. This, if it needs to be said, is not a bad thing.

A 2020 model year VIN decoder document sent from Ford to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spells out your powertrain options. Interested in a plug-in hybrid? (Read More…)

Ford Motor Company announced a recall of 1.48 million F-150 pickups Wednesday, the latest callback related to a six-speed automatic transmission that can suddenly crash-dive to first gear.  (Read More…)

Rivian Automotive made a big splash at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show with its fully electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV, and General Motors apparently liked what it saw.

According to sources who spoke to Reuters and Bloomberg, GM is interested in acquiring a piece of Rivian’s action. The Detroit automaker, which recently expressed interest in building an electric pickup of its own, is reportedly in talks to invest in the Plymouth, Michigan-based company. (Read More…)

Unlike other Questions of the Day, in which we tap your collective brain for the purposes of solving the world’s most pressing problems, today we focus all of that energy to benefit one man: your author — and by extension, the father of his godsons.

It’s advice time, and your subject is a quirky, low-volume SUV. (Read More…)

Will the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause soon keep you safe from sticky-fingered state governments or local law enforcement? Right now, it doesn’t, but one man’s desire to get his hands on a seized SUV might change that.

If it rules in favor of an Indiana man seeking the return of his 2012 Land Rover LR2, the U.S. Supreme Court will extend this section of the amendment to the state level. Civil asset forfeiture could cease being as serious an issue as it is today. (Read More…)

Feast your eyes on the 2020 version of the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, the compact crossover that attracts more American and Canadian customers than any other vehicle in Mitsu’s relatively sparse lineup. Looks more like a new Mitsubishi, doesn’t it? Sure does. The model’s updated “Dynamic Shield” front end styling now resembles that of its bigger Outlander brother and the newer Eclipse Cross.

It is not, however, a new vehicle, as this 2020 makeover is just the latest in a series of refreshes bestowed on the CUV since the current generation bowed in 2010. (Read More…)

Amid the hoopla surrounding last week’s Chicago Auto Show and its many new and refreshed trucks and crossovers, Mazda teased a butt shot of a mysterious new crossover bound for a Geneva reveal next month.

Mazda’s crossovers, especially the CX-5, garner more enthusiast attention than, say, a Hyundai or Toyota CUV, due to the zoom-zoom brand’s focus on driving dynamics and attention to style. The model seen last week will one day appear in U.S. Mazda dealerships, the company’s North American CEO claims. (Read More…)

Were it not for his Canadian place of birth, Cadillac President Steve Carlisle might make an ideal centrist presidential candidate. On paper, anyway. Mild-mannered and cautiously optimistic, not prone to exaggerated doomsaying, Carlisle would either be triumphantly swept into power, or creamed like a bushel of Iowa corn.

Well, he’s not running, though he is couching the importance of his brand’s product turnaround in less apocalyptic terms. Unlike, say, GM President Mark Reuss. (Read More…)

As Land Rover sails along, happily supported by the popularity of its utility-only lineup, corporate sibling Jaguar isn’t flying high. Neither is the automaker as a whole, financially speaking. Despite fielding its own crossovers, Jag finds itself suffering from the public’s abandonment of passenger cars and a rapidly evolving European marketplace.

On the lower end of the model ladder, sales of the entry level XE and midsize XF aren’t doing well, leading many to speculate about their eventual demise. According to Autocar, Jaguar’s mulling a “radical” solution to the XE/XF problem. (Read More…)

The police seem convinced a “confused” Autopilot system caused a single-vehicle Tesla crash on a New Jersey highway Sunday, but one has to wonder about the driver’s attention level. (Read More…)

Audi plans to make a green new deal with premium-minded buyers of limited means. With the brand’s Volkswagen Group parent going all-in on electric vehicles, Audi has access to whatever it needs from mama’s parts bin. This will come in handy.

It seems a cheaper, smaller EV is Audi’s next big reveal, with the Golf-sized I.D. Neo hatch serving as a starting point for a new entry-level electric. (Read More…)

The Cadillac XT5, which happens to be a perfect all-weather urban vehicle, is a major breadwinner for the upscale brand. By far the best-selling vehicle in the Caddy stable, the XT5 midsize crossover out-volumes the bigger and pricier Escalade by a factor of two to one.

Unfortunately, it’s no longer the freshest face at the party. Cadillac’s smaller XT4 bowed last year and the larger XT6 dropped its towel in Detroit. Hoping to return some interest back to its midsize crossover (and have something to reveal in Chicago), Caddy gave the XT5 an emo makeover, launching the 2019 XT5 Sport package. It’s a “limited edition” package, Caddy claims, without offering a specific number. Could it be that it’s limited to the number of Sport packages GM can sell in 2019? Could be. (Read More…)

No, it’s not a Fiat of any size or description — it’s the Alfa Romeo 4C. Specifically, a limited edition of an already scarce product, one that will only see 15 examples sent to the U.S. from the brand’s Modena, Italy factory.

Through this product intro, Fiat Chrysler revealed the 4C will linger on for the 2020 model year. While the 4C Spider Italia, priced five grand above a regular 4C Spider, doesn’t add a whole lot to the plate, it does give us an opportunity to look at Alfa’s sales health. (Read More…)

While former Renault CEO (and ex-Nissan chairman) Carlos Ghosn is no longer living the high life, this wasn’t always the case. After performing an audit in the wake of Ghosn’s Nov. 19 arrest, Renault stumbled upon an improper use of a very exclusive venue, paid for with company sponsorship funds.

The event was Ghosn’s 2016 wedding, and the venue was France’s Chateau de Versailles — an opulent 2,300-room palace once home to kings and Napoleon. (Read More…)

Between last month’s Detroit show and the ongoing Chicago vehicle extravaganza, pickups trucks currently occupy about 93.7 percent of the average American’s mind. While your author can easily visualize himself in a 2020 Subaru Legacy, that AWD sedan is certainly not the buzz generator in anyone’s social circle.

Mike Manley knows trucks, as his company owes its profitability to the vehicle type. Speaking this week during a fourth-quarter earnings call, the Fiat Chrysler CEO said his team learned its lesson on how to launch the things, with the botched roll-out of the 2019 Ram 1500 providing a valuable lesson on what not to do with the 2019 Ram HD.

Manley had plenty to say about those lessons, as well as the upcoming Jeep Gladiator and a yet-unrealized vehicle he’s pushing to build. (Read More…)