Why are Consumer Reports and electric-car maker Tesla Motors at odds over Autopilot?
And, how badly did the California Air Resources Board smack Volkswagen's rejected plan for updating its V-6 diesels?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, July 15, 2016.
Friday, we noted that Consumer Reports had slammed Tesla Motors for calling its driver-assistance aids "Autopilot" and recommended that automatic steering be turned off.
Reader reaction to the respected publication was largely negative, reflecting a strong degree of faith in seemingly any action Tesla may take.
We also updated our story on a July 1 Model X crash in which the owner claimed Autopilot was involved. Tesla said its logs showed the system had turned itself off.
2014 Audi Q5 TDI, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2013
On Thursday, we covered California regulators' rejection of a VW plan to modify 85,000 V-6 diesel luxury cars from Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen.
A letter issued by the state's powerful Air Resources Board said VW's descriptions of the proposed updates were "incomplete, substantially deficient, and fall far short of meeting the legal requirements to return these vehicles to the claimed certified configuration."
Ouch.
Wednesday, we covered the latest and least expensive version of the Tesla Model X, now offered with a 60-kilowatt-hour battery pack.
The 2016 Tesla Model X 60D will start at $75,200, and offer a range of 200 miles or more.
2016 BMW X5 xDrive 40e, Hudson Valley, NY, Dec 2015
On Tuesday, we followed up our June electric-car sales report with a look at which makers are selling the highest percentages of electric cars.
Once again, BMW leads stalwarts Nissan and Chevrolet, with 3.5 percent of its U.S. sales represented by cars with plugs—including a lot of X5 plug-in hybrid SUVs.
We kicked off the week on Monday with a first-drive report on the 2016 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid.
It's got 22 miles of rated electric range, and it's a much stronger all-electric car than its 2012-2015 Prius Plug-In Hybrid predecessor, even if it's nowhere near the Chevrolet Volt's 53 miles of rated range.
Over the weekend, we covered the opening of a road in Sweden outfitted with overhead catenary wires for all-electric big trucks.
Sweden's new e-way electrified highway
Finally, new-car introductions usually come with publicity and promotion.
Not so the arrival of the 2016 Nissan Murano Hybrid, which slipped quietly into the lineup with almost no one noticing.
Nissan said it only expects to sell 600 or 650 of the mild-hybrid crossover utility vehicle, and wouldn't comment on whether it will have a second model year.
Those were our main stories this week; we'll see you again next week. Until then, this has been the Green Car Reports Week in Reverse update.
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