Yesterday’s attempt by Mitsubishi to generate excitement and anticipation among brand loyalists (are there any?) got your author thinking.

Thinking, as a movie character once said, is a thing a man should never do, but it happened just the same. These thoughts revolved around brands, loyalty, passion… and hate. (Read More…)

As both the United States and the country to its south grapple with the challenge of returning to normal amid a pandemic, Ford Motor Company faces another problem resulting from punting production over the Rio Grande.

Just as local laws aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus can stem the flow of essential engines, local protests can cut off the flow of everything. (Read More…)

Everything was moving in Tesla’s favor Wednesday night, with the electric automaker reporting an unexpected quarterly profit — its fourth in a row — for Q2 2020. This positive financial news, made possible by other automakers’ hunger for regulatory credits, sent the company’s already elevated (overvalued?) stock closer to the face of God.

At the same time, CEO Elon Musk announced something long suspected: That Tesla’s next domestic assembly plant will set up shop in Austin, Texas. (Read More…)

Thanks to a reveal schedule compressed by the pandemic lockdown, the revamped Ford F-150 didn’t soak up a typical amount of limelight before a more exciting new vehicle came along. Luckily for Ford, that model also wore a Blue Oval badge.

By far the brand’s most important product the F-150 enters 2021 with a raft of changes, though the most significant addition is the model’s optional PowerBoost hybrid drivetrain. A first in the pickup world, the package delivers a potent punch with a side of efficiency. Ahead of the model’s arrival in showrooms, the latest F-150’s pricing secrets are starting to be revealed. (Read More…)

What if you had to pay a toll to drive anywhere? It’s entirely possible that such a proposal would spark a backlash in the road-hungry United States, but the idea hasn’t won over everyone in eco-conscious Europe, either.

In addition to existing steep fuel taxes, Germany wants to see a blanket road toll go into effect across the continent. (Read More…)

No, there’s no new Mitsubishi model on the way — just “richer” versions of what we already have. That’s a term the automaker applied to the refreshed 2021 Mirage, by the way.

In announcing across-the-board changes to its North American lineup Wednesday, Mitsubishi seemed to suggest that a brand pull-out in this region won’t occur overnight, if ever. Or maybe this is just the brand’s last consumer salvo. (Read More…)

Putting aside your author’s own predilection for traditional sedans (a kink shared by many a TTAC resident, but fewer and fewer buyers), one can understand why General Motors canned its Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze, Volt, and Impala, and why Buick stands to become a utility-only brand come 2021.

Less understandable, especially after last week, is why one newish model arrived in its present form. And it seems some people at GM are wondering that, too. (Read More…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)