Back in 2010, if you wanted to be seen as an eco-conscious consumer who was on the cutting edge of forward-thinking tech, you drove a Toyota Prius. Heck, even George Clooney drove one to the Oscars – and Clooney is cooler than you (or me, anyway). The Prius was such a hot seller that Toyota reportedly looked into the possibility of spinning it off into its own brand.

That, as they say, was then. Today, Toyota has fallen significantly behind market leader Tesla in the race to bring EVs to the mainstream. There are many reasons for that, of course – but big bets on stillborn hydrogen fuel cell technology and more than a little bit of overconfidence in the size of its market lead certainly played a part.

It didn’t have to be that way – and, in fact, Tesla’s trillion-dollar story could have gone very, very differently for Toyota. All they needed was a little bit of money, and a lot of cynicism.

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Rare Rides has featured three of Saleen’s sporty creations in past: A one-off Thunderbird styling exercise, a hot hatchback, and the company’s full-on supercar. Today’s Rare Ride is probably more familiar than those other three, as it’s Saleen’s most basic take on the SN-95 Mustang.

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Automakers love a good teaser campaign, despite their propensity for giving away some of the good secrets like a movie trailer that drags on too long. Subaru has jumped on this marketing bandwagon for their upcoming Solterra, which is both an all-electric compact crossover and the company’s first EV.

Playing a riveting game of I Spy with this teaser photo, it’s safe to say the Solterra will fit in Subaru showrooms quite comfortably.

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Mazda has announced that the 2023 CX-50 will debut on November 15th, foreshadowing its production launch in January of 2022 at the Alabama plant it shares with Toyota. That means odds are good that the model will share more than a few components with the Toyota Corolla Cross. But Mazda has been adamant that CX-50 is a unique vehicle riding on its very own platform.

Unique is a relative term, however, when the upcoming model represents another “lifestyle vehicle” designed to convince consumers that a jack-of-all-trades crossover is ready and willing to drag them up the side of a mountain. Officially, Mazda is claiming this one caters to adults with particularly active lifestyles and has surrounded it with nature-themed marketing materials. That presumably has something to do with the CX-50 boasting “enhanced all-wheel-drive capabilities.” Read More >

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced it is making its first ever whistleblower award. The U.S. regulatory body has decided to give over $24 million to a whistleblower providing information related to Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America. While not named by the NHTSA, it’s undoubtedly talking about Kim Gwang-ho — a South Korean engineer who flew to Washington in 2016 to squeal that his employer had been skirting safety regulations.

Armed with an internal report from Hyundai’s quality control team, Kim told the NHTSA the company was not taking sufficient action to address a presumed engine defect that increased the risk of crashes. It looks like the decision paid off for him, too. Hyundai Motor Group was struck with sizable regulatory penalties and Kim is now getting a huge payout from U.S. regulators right before the Department of Transportation proposes updated regulations pertaining to the automotive whistleblower program Congress created in 2015.  Read More >

If you’re a Volkswagen Golf GTI fan, you were probably worried that Volkswagen would screw it up as they refreshed it for 2022.

Here’s the good news – the company (mostly) didn’t do that. Especially when it comes to the most important part of GTI ownership – on-road driving performance.

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Subaru of America will be canceling Starlink telematics subscriptions on all new 2022 vehicles sold in Massachusetts thanks to the state having an amended right-to-repair law that’s wildly unpopular with global automakers. If you’ve been following our coverage, Massachusetts has become ground zero for consumer advocacy groups, independent repair shops, and car buyers that have grown concerned with the industry’s increased interest in data hoarding.

The argument is that the automakers are now building vehicles that violate customer privacy — by wirelessly transmitting information back to manufacturer data farms — while also setting them up to make independent repairs nearly impossible. This resulted in an extended legal battle where the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) went to bat to ensure the industry retained this lucrative venture. But it was stymied by the grassroots campaign launched against it. Massachusetts’ updated law currently requires all vehicles sold within the state (from the 2022 model year onward) using telematics systems to be equipped with a standardized, open-access data platform that would allow customers and unaffiliated mechanics to gain access.  Read More >

Cadillac is expected to have lost one-third of its U.S. dealerships this year — going from nearly 900 physical locations at the start of 2021 to an estimated 560 by year’s end.

But there’s allegedly no need to worry about the brand because this is part of a planned electric offensive. Last year, Cadillac asked dealers to spend the capital necessary to install charging stations, update their service centers, and retrain staff to better tackle EVs or take a buyout before the automaker’s first battery-driven car (the Lyric crossover) hits the market early in 2022. It would seem that a meaningful portion of the whole decided to bow out, which Cadillac seems totally fine with.  Read More >

It’ll surprise exactly zero percent of our readers that automakers have gone all-in on electric SUVs and crossovers. That news continues apace, with Kia showing a ghostly image of its upcoming EV9. Set to fully appear as a concept car within the next month, there’s a strong possibility it’ll share much with its corporate cousin Hyundai Ioniq 7.

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Most of the time I am a genial fellow. Laidback. Not particularly quick to anger. Polite towards my fellow man.

Except, on occasion, when behind the wheel.

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If you have only been towing a trailer with your truck or SUV for a short time, you may not have ever experienced the drama of a severe trailer sway situation. This is especially true if you only tow a small trailer which is dramatically lighter than your truck or SUV, but if you pull anything larger – such as a car trailer, a horse trailer or a large boat – you may be familiar with the dangers of pulling heavier loads. When you pull a trailer that is closer to the weight of your tow vehicle, you can run into issues with both braking and steering, as well as the dreaded trailer sway when driving in a straight line Fortunately, all of these troublesome situations can be avoided with any of the best weight distribution hitch choices on the market today.

The best weight distribution hitches help to keep the trailer lined up with your truck or SUV, which improves the level of driver control in just about every driving situation. These relatively simple hitch assemblies help to keep the trailer more stable when steering or braking, while also preventing trailer sway at higher speeds.

Really, if you pull a larger trailer with any frequency, there is simply no reason to not have a weight distribution hitch, as they only make the towing experience safer for everyone on the road. The hard part may be picking the right hitch for your applications, so to help out, we have put together a list of the 10 best weight distribution hitch options on sale today.

Lead photo by Mino Surkala/Shutterstock.com

Winter is coming, and if you’re the sort that likes to stay active on the slopes during the cold months, you’re going to want to check out the best ski and snowboard racks for your car, pronto.

Even if your SUV or hatchback is ready and willing to accept all your ski gear and you’ve made do with it so far, a ski and snowboard rack holds a number of benefits. For one thing, securing your slush-covered skis and snowboards on top of your ride means you don’t have to worry about puddles of melted snow and bits of dirt sinking into your vehicle’s carpeting, helping to keep it clean and dry no matter how messy things get on the mountain. And for another, while tucking your skis or snowboard into the trunk may have worked out fine for you so far, that all changes as soon as you get a few passengers in the back, and can no longer fold down the rear seats for extra cargo space.

Thankfully, there’s a huge assortment of ski and snowboard racks available today, with a range of sizes and an array of different reputable manufacturers. Here, we’ve listed some of the best ski and snowboard racks available, so you can start this winter off right.

Ford introduced the high-performance version of the Taurus sedan— the SHO— in the 1989 model year, and enthusiasts rejoiced over the cheap new factory hot rod that blew away far more expensive European sedans. I’ve documented quite a few discarded SHOs during my junkyard travels, but this is the first ’92 I’ve photographed. Why is 1992 special for the SHO? Simple: It’s the final year for the mandatory five-speed manual transmission. Here’s one of those rare cars in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard. Read More >

Start-up EV automaker Rivian has been accused by a former employee of having a “boys club” atmosphere while she worked there.

Laura Schwab, who was in charge of sales and marketing, claims the company has a “toxic bro culture” that led to mistakes being made, and when she pointed it out, she was fired.

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On Thursday, Uber Technologies reported its first profitable quarter since the company launched in San Francisco way back in 2009. This represents a huge achievement for the company, which has been investing heavily to expand the business in the hopes that it will eventually become the world’s favored ride-hailing, courier, and food-delivery service.

But here’s the rub. Uber is technically only profitable on an adjusted basis that takes a pretty narrow view of its finances. Despite this, it’s still a step in the right direction and may foreshadow the reliable earnings the company has been seeking for ages.  Read More >