It’s a temporary foray in a wholly new direction, but Ford’s new line of products is picking up steam — with one new item ready to enter production on Tuesday.

Place the cynical, always suspicious side of your brain on pause for a moment and see what the Blue Oval is doing for your health.  (Read More…)

Powerful tornadoes ripped through the U.S. South and Southeast late Sunday and into the early morning hours of Monday, leaving behind a toll in human lives and property damage that’s still being assessed.

As the country — and world — suffers through the many disruptions borne of the coronavirus pandemic, one can’t forget that more conventional natural disasters, in all their power and fickleness, are capable of wreaking havoc on industries and supply chains, too. (Read More…)

Much earlier this year, Ford had the unpleasant task of presenting investors and analysts with an earnings report that reflected two serious headaches. The botched launch (and expensive repair effort) of the 2020 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator weighed heavily on the automaker’s balance sheet in the final quarter of 2019, and a flurry of sizable recalls didn’t help things, either.

Today, Ford’s most pressing issue has nothing to do with quality. In a pre-earnings announcement Monday, the automaker told investors to expect a pretty unpleasant report at the end of the month. (Read More…)

South Korea is often held up as an example of how to manage the coronavirus the right way. However, the country’s success in limiting the spread of COVID-19 hasn’t allowed it to escape the economic realities of the pandemic sweeping the world beyond its borders.

As countries around the globe close up shop, demand for the country’s vehicles has fallen precipitously. Kia Motors has a choice to make. (Read More…)

The lesser of two utility vehicles lined up to carry the Bronco name has reportedly been delayed for reasons that should surprise no one.

Production of Ford’s Bronco Sport, the retro-styled Escape sibling scheduled for a reveal at the New York International Auto Show, should, like the show itself, be pushed back by a matter of months. It’s looking like the original debut venue might get some use. (Read More…)

Looking for an added dose of bad news, recently laid-off, pandemic-sheltering readers? Gas prices should be heading northward before long, now that Russia and OPEC member countries have reached a pact to curtail oil production, thus inflating the near-worthless value of a barrel of crude.

That means prices at the pumps won’t be quite as enjoyable in the coming weeks. Maybe it’s time to brave the outside world tonight and fill up that tank — and any other safe, sealable vessel you can get your hands on. (Read More…)

It’s big and it sells very well, but the upcoming Chevrolet Traverse is having something of an identity issue. Unveiled in top-trim form last month, the refreshed version of the second-generation Traverse was expected to go on sale late this year as a 2021 model.

Fast-forward a few weeks and that plan’s off the table. (Read More…)

Being in dire financial straights as it is, no one expected Nissan’s revised restructuring plan, due out next month, to call for Global Domination In All Fields. Ghosn is ghone. Regardless, after the rapid expansion and sudden contraction seen over the past decade, it’s still a bit jarring to hear that Nissan’s plan reportedly calls for a significant cut to its sales volume and manufacturing capacity.

More so than previously planned, it seems. (Read More…)

Rivian, the future builder of powerful electric pickups and SUVs (and secret parent to an upcoming Lincoln), hoped to have the first of its production models in buyers’ hands before the end of the year. Both the R1T pickup and R1S SUV were on track to roll out of the fledgling automaker’s Normal, Illinois assembly plant in the second half of 2020, reaching consumers just before New Year’s Eve (R1T) and not long after (R1S).

Well, that schedule’s seen a bit of tweaking. Care to hazard a guess why? (Read More…)

By “you,” we mean those of you not living in China. In that country, however, customers will soon have access to a Tesla Model 3 variant with more range than what’s available in North America.

As Tesla’s Shanghai assembly plant ramps up production and adds more variation to its offerings, Tesla is in a good position to dominate the country’s “new energy vehicle” market. It also frees itself from import tariffs that suppressed sales via higher sticker prices. (Read More…)

If you’re as paranoid as this writer, chances are your formerly daily driver has long since sailed past its last regularly scheduled fill-up date. The last time any fresh gasoline hit the innards of your author’s high-end motorcar was three and a half weeks ago. The needle’s now resting just north of a quarter tank.

*Gulp*

Frankly, it’s cause for concern, as adding useless miles to the odometer has typically served as a mental tonic for yours truly. At the same time, who wants to encounter people or things they’ve touched? That friendly neighborhood gas pump is no longer the welcoming monument it once was (with Doritos, no less). Wouldn’t it be great to drive past it without a care? (Read More…)

It’s hard to peruse local headlines these days without stumbling across a post or two detailing recent speeding infractions, with the ticketed drivers apparently taking advantage of traffic-free roads and bargain basement gas to see what dad’s Accord can really do.

It makes sense that some drivers would see a pandemic as an opportunity. Generally, vastly fewer vehicles on the roads leads to fewer deaths on those roads, but that’s definitely not true everywhere. (Read More…)

Rarely are week-to-week sales a useful yardstick of industry (or brand) performance, but the past month’s upheaval has changed that view just a bit.

We told you last week how, despite the U.S. car buyers staying away from dealerships in droves, pickups fared significantly better in late March than any other segment. The drop in sales for these must-have machines, while still steep, paled in comparison to other types of vehicles.

Not surprisingly, that decline continued in the past week. Still, with loyalty among domestic buyers sitting at a two-decade high, Detroit’s grip on what’s left of the market remains secure for now. (Read More…)

If you’re a greenie who loves hauling your compostable tote to the grocery store in search of climate-conscious vegan food, Volkswagen’s U.S. lineup likely leaves a lot to be desired. For now, anyway. The automaker’s domestic offerings are pretty heavily skewed in favor of larger, gas-powered utility vehicles, with the promised lineup of electrics has yet to materialize.

Overseas, VW product news would have this hypothetical buyer up at night, unable to sleep due to all of the cortisol rushing through their bloodstream. Knowing the jump to EVs might be too wide a gap for some, the automaker is readying a range of performance plug-in hybrids to placate the nervous and sell them on the idea of electricity. (Read More…)

As assembly plants turned out the lights across North America in late March, automakers were quick to call upon new credit lines to ensure fiscal stability in the coming months. No one’s really sure by just how much the coronavirus pandemic will hamper sales and profits.

While Nissan, cash-strapped as it is (and facing a new crisis after tackling too many in recent times), has already furloughed its U.S. workforce, that doesn’t seem to be enough to satisfy company bean counters. The automaker is reportedly on the hunt for available cash. (Read More…)