No, this isn’t the grille-heavy Concept 4 BMW released last year — it’s the Concept i4, a preview of the electric sedan slated for production next year. That other concept heralded the next-generation 4 Series.

Sporting four doors and a front-end design BMW adamantly believes will attract more buyers than it repels, the Concept i4 closely parallels the production model. Clearly, Tesla will have the faceless car market all to itself. (Read More…)

An electric crossover that will eventually find a home in Tennessee rolled into the online spotlight Tuesday. With the Geneva Motor Show scrapped over fears of the growing coronavirus epidemic, VW opted to show off the ID.4’s near-production sheet metal on the web.

The vehicle that began life as the shadowy and annoyingly named ID Crozz has finally embraced its new name. So, what can VW offer with its upcoming compact CUV? (Read More…)

Society loves an oddball. In our increasingly polarized existence, as the push for ever narrower avenues of accepted thought by our blue checkmark overlords continues apace, the non-conforming outsider remains a valued character.

Hollywood films would be lost without this person. Sometimes, the first indicator that this individual marches to the beat of a very different drum is the vehicle they’ve chosen as their daily steed. (Read More…)

Ahead of a product reveal that was pushed into the online realm after last Friday’s cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show, 150 German BMW employees were told to stay in their homes after an R&D employee tested positive for the coronavirus.

The employees work at the research and development center in BMW’s home base of Munich. As viral outbreaks grow in western Europe, spurred by a recent outbreak in northern Italy, this story will surely be repeated across the industry — and the globe. (Read More…)

Volvo’s not whispering in anyone’s ear, but Volvo dealers surely are. That’s how we’ve learned that Volvo Cars plans to insert two new vehicles at the top and near the bottom of its current lineup.

According to dealers, a range-topping XC100 will soon take its place atop the model ladder, with a coupe-like crossover slotted well below. How else is Volvo supposed to keep its sales momentum? (Read More…)

An outbreak of novel coronavirus that leapt from China to South Korea last month sent auto sales tumbling in February.

While the South Korean outbreak originated in a tight-knit religious sect, it soon entered the surrounding community. The country’s government moved quickly to curtail the virus’ spread, declaring an extreme threat on February 23rd. It didn’t, however, lock down down its third-largest city, Daugu, in a China-style containment effort. Coronavirus cases in South Korea now top 4,200.

As the disease forces South Koreans to change their habits, one side effect has been the avoidance of new car dealers. (Read More…)

In a report that harkens back to the grim days of World War 2-era Germany, several automakers are accused of benefiting from forced labor.

An Australian think tank claims upwards of 80,000 Uighurs, a persecuted ethnic minority in northwest China, have been transported from state-run re-education and internment camps to the factories of Chinese suppliers. Among the companies said to benefit from the forced labor are Apple, Sony, Nike, Volkswagen, BMW, and General Motors. (Read More…)

General Motors has no interest in continuing a production presence in the Motherland, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t see the Russian market as ripe for new product.

As sales fall in the tricky market, the automaker believes the new Cadillac Escalade, joined by a trio of crossovers, is just the thing to reclaim lost ground.  (Read More…)

Given the disparity between the U.S. and Canadian auto industries, it’s not surprising that Friday started with news of a shift dropped at Fiat Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario minivan plant and ends with two more added at General Motors facilities just across the border.

GM said today that a shift each will be added to its two Lansing, Michigan assembly plants; one to support a brace of new sedans (this could be the last time anyone writes such a statement), the other to support — what else? — crossover production. (Read More…)

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for lovers of the traditional domestic full-size sedan — a rapidly vanishing breed. The last Chevrolet Impala rolled out of Detroit-Hamtramck, and with it the last General Motors big car.

Chapter closed.

It’s a sign of the times. By the end of this year, Buick’s lineup won’t even play host to a single car, let alone a big, four-door one. Cadillac dropped its CT6 in January. But if you’re thinking that the Impala’s discontinuation will lead to immediate, juicy discounts, think again. (Read More…)

Given the size and modest specs of Citroën’s Ami city car, you’d think post-war rationing was still a thing in France.

The Ami, revealed Thursday, is a production version of the Ami One concept PSA Group debuted at last year’s Geneva Motor Show. It’s small, short, looks the same coming as it does going, and doesn’t require a driver’s license. It could be a ticket to freedom for a 14-year-old, but first they’ll have to get used to living life at no more than 28 mph. (Read More…)

The Swiss city of Geneva will not see crowds of international visitors descend on the continent’s premier auto show next week. Instead, ticket holders will stay home, waiting for a refund, while automakers swallow their losses.

Blame lies on the country’s government, which on Friday banned gatherings of 1,000 people or more in the face of a growing viral epidemic. (Read More…)

It’s not unexpected, but it still comes as a blow. The impending loss of the Dodge Grand Caravan stands to sadden lovers of the industry’s longest running, most inflation-resistant minivan, but it’s a truly bitter pill for workers at Fiat Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant.

As reported yesterday by Canada’s Financial Post, the Grand Caravan — darling of Lee Iacocca, chariot to young soccer players for decades — will cease production at the end of May. (Read More…)

Mark this date on your calendar or, should you be so inclined, in your diary. Today — February 27th, 2020 — marks the end of the Chevrolet Impala.

Some 62 years after its launch, the last Impala sedan will roll off the line Thursday at General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, The Detroit News reports. A very different future awaits both the factory and the industry, and it seems cars like the Impala have no role to play in it.

It’s been a long time coming. (Read More…)

The growing spectre of coronavirus, an illness currently knocking on every country’s door (and waltzing past the threshold of many), has led Moody’s Investor Service to take an axe to global car sales projections.

On Wednesday the firm erased earlier predictions of a mild cool-off in 2020, replacing it with a steeper volume loss. Given recent reports of automakers scrambling to circumvent supply chain disruptions, idling plants, and a near-total drop in new vehicle sales in China, the prediction has legs. (Read More…)