For its last model year, the Cadillac ATS boasted rear-wheel drive, a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, and an MSRP of $35,495 plus destination. Two years later, the newest and smallest addition to the Cadillac range keeps the recipe more or less the same, only the starting price of the 2020 CT4 rings in a couple grand lower.

Less power, less price, but perhaps more buyers? (Read More…)

While not the core focus of this website, we’ve often chronicled Harley-Davidson’s missteps as a way of predicting issues that might crop up for manufacturers specializing in four-wheeled transportation.

You see, the iconically American motorcycle brand has painted itself into a corner. By leveraging its established fan base, sales swelled through the 1990s. Unfortunately, the United States’ interest in motorcycles plummeted once the Great Recession hit. H-D was not exempt, enduring the worst of it as its stock price declined 42 percent over the last five years.

As the recessional dust cleared, rival manufactures panicked and shifted away from larger bikes aimed at experienced riders with more money to spend. Japanese companies began furnishing smaller, inexpensive models they hoped would encourage new riders. Harley Davidson waited longer to do this, launching two competitively priced, entry-level models that were still larger than seemed prudent.

Despite the industry seeing slightly improved volumes in the years following 2010, the last two have seen negative growth and annual sales totalling less than half of their pre-recession peak. Hoping to find new riders somewhere, H-D again shifted tactics by building child-sized scooters and the all-electric LiveWire.  (Read More…)

No longer the gaudy marque seen in countless hip hop videos in the early 2000s, Maybach is now joined at the hip to Mercedes-Benz, offering lux-ified variants of the S-Class sedan under the Mercedes-Maybach sub-brand. Soon, that super sedan will have a higher-riding sibling, as even fabulously wealthy people sometimes need venture off the beaten track.

Fact is, those buyers have more choice than ever in choosing a more capable steed. Maserati has the Levante, Bentley has the Bentayga, and Rolls-Royce now has the Cullinan (truly a diamond in the rough). It’s time for a Mercedes-Maybach GLS. (Read More…)

After taking a look around the loftiest of automotive landscapes and reading a few tea leaves, Lamborghini seems close to signing off on a model that won’t have reviewers searching for exhaust note adjectives. There won’t be any use for them.

As European luxury marques — especially those under the Volkswagen Group umbrella — tiptoe tentatively into the EV realm, Lambo is poised to make its next introduction an eco warrior. This, of course, after the recent introduction of the Urus SUV. (Read More…)

Appearing midway through 2014 as a 2015 model, the Chevrolet Colorado and its GMC twin, the Canyon, are growing long in the tooth, which isn’t too big a concern in a segment that hosts the Nissan Frontier. However, consumers like alterations that show their truck is newer than other trucks.

As such, there’s a 2021 model-year refresh on the way for General Motors’ midsize pair. Just don’t expect wild changes. (Read More…)

Volvo’s relationship with its Chinese parent is about to grow even closer. The Swedish car maker and its parent company, Geely, proposes to put an end to separate engine development, with engineering teams from both companies tasked with building common powerplants for all marques in Geely’s broad orbit.

For Volvo, the move to a new standalone business for its internal combustion engines would be beneficial, given its plan for the brand’s future. (Read More…)

Compared to the original BMC Mini from back in the Sixties, the modern Mini launched at the dawn of the 21st century was a portly affair, expanded in all directions to accommodate modern people with modern lives. And, compared to that first “new” Mini, the most recent generation of the three-door hatch looks positively ginormous. Somewhere along the way, Mini became not all that small.

Mini wants to correct the bloat, but only to a degree. (Read More…)

Lincoln’s MKC was a solid effort for the brand’s first foray into the compact premium crossover market, but certain gripes stood out. For this not-broad-of-beam writer, the relatively narrow front chairs didn’t usher in that sense of coddling a buyer demands of a high-end vehicle. In base spec, the 2.0-liter Ecoboost four-cylinder felt slightly labored, and that push-button transmission, with the selector keys mounted high on the center stack, isn’t something a driver grows used to in a hurry.

It looked above-par for its class, however. Kudos to Lincoln’s designers.

For 2020, the MKC nameplate mercifully bites the dust, replaced by an all-new vehicle with an honest-to-goodness name and an extra helping of style. (Read More…)

The badge you don’t see in the photo is the no-longer-Ram-associated Dodge badge, the one we’ll be discussing today. In a post the other day, yours truly waxed on and on, probably to your great annoyance, about the brand’s attempt to stimulate interest in its future via its past. What name would you like to see return, the brand’s Twitter account asked.

Some readers considered the tweet a possible sign of a returning Viper — the low-volume supercar that bowed out Dodge’s lineup not all that long ago. A month before his death, former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne poured cold water over the idea, claiming the Viper could only stage a profitable return if it shared a platform with something from FCA’s European collection, and in doing so wouldn’t be able to handle a giant, honking, torque-laden American engine necessary for a Viper to be a real Viper.

Maybe it’s still a good idea to some, though others might feel a Ford GT-like one-off model punted to a Canadian specialty manufacturer and offered at a stratospheric sticker price is a better way to go. (Read More…)

With the Audi RS 6 Avant confirmed for America and the manufacturer teasing wagons via social media throughout the summer, we figured Germany would soon send another wagen our way. And while nothing has been confirmed through official channels, Audi executives are already saying it’s to be the A6 Allroad.

Rumors stated that the model would make its way to the United States ever since the updated A6 premiered at the New York Auto Show in the spring. Audi managed to encourage these rumors without issuing any confirmation — at least until Oliver Hoffmann, managing director of Audi Sport, chimed in earlier this week.  (Read More…)

If you’re a regular on these digital pages, you probably read how the revamped-for-2019 Mazda 3 is a very different beast depending on which side of the border one resides. The Canada-U.S. border, that is. Eager to keep cheapskates entry-level car lovers in a certain province satisfied, Mazda Canada saw fit to offer buyers greater choice than Americans enjoy down south, coupled with a very non-premium starting price.

Good stuff, in this writer’s books.

However, despite both countries having access to sedan and five-door variants, both offered with Mazda’s weather-conquering i-Activ all-wheel drive system, the Mazda 3’s Canadian sales trajectory doesn’t differ from that of its U.S. counterpart. (Read More…)

Despite delivering what could be considered a desirable premium EV with the I-Pace, Jaguar Land Rover admits it’s not entirely sold on the idea of electric sport utility vehicles. Due to their size, SUVs and crossovers are inherently heavier than traditional sedans — placing them at odds with the goal of maximizing efficiency.

More mass means diminished range. While this can be offset by a manufacturer installing larger battery packs, that increases costs and ultimately adds more heft to the single heaviest component in an EV. Large electrics bring other issues to the engineering table, too.

“The larger the vehicle the larger the aero challenge. If you’re not careful you end up with such big batteries and you make the vehicles so heavy that as you race down the autobahn the range disappears,” Nick Rogers, JLR’s head of engineering, told media at the company’s revamped engineering and design center in Gaydon, England. (Read More…)

If you were hoping that a refresh bestowed upon Toyota’s funky subcompact crossover would yield the extra oomph and all-wheel drive desired by many since the model’s debut, well, re-read that headline.

For 2020, C-HR buyers will continue to get by with front-drive and a 144-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder; they’ll just gain some appearance and content changes. Truth be told, FWD and a tepid four is probably fine for the majority of subcompact crossover buyers. However, take a trip overseas and you’ll find there’s suddenly extra power on offer. (Read More…)

The Hyundai Venue, a bottom-rung, A-segment crossover of such a diminutive size that you’d be forgiven for thinking it showed up in the wrong market by accident, has undergone testing by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Stretching one inch less than a Kia Rio hatch when measured stem to stern, the Venue is part of Hyundai’s effort to eliminate white space in its U.S. lineup while providing young car buyers with an attainable place to start climbing the Hyundai product ladder. These buyers, the EPA confirms, will not have to worry about lofty fuel bills. (Read More…)

Chevrolet’s Blazer, a resurrected midsize crossover many claim fails to uphold the prior Blazer’s memory, will gain a new powerplant for 2020, but naysayers could easily find a problem in GM’s decision-making here, too.

Thanks to order guides, we now know what you’ll pay to get behind the wheel of a 2020 Blazer outfitted with the tweener turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. (Read More…)