Future Cars
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With the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV on the market since December and Tesla Model 3 deliveries said to start within a few months, the upcoming 2018 Nissan Leaf is in danger of getting lost in the noise level. The second generation of Nissan's pioneering electric car will likely be unveiled within the next three months. But what happens after that? DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: first teaser photo (headlights!) emerges So far all we've seen is a photo of a 2018 Leaf headlight, released last month, and a few spy shots. If past practice holds, the company will trickle out another teaser...
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Will VW Group's electric cars "leapfrog" Tesla by 2025? Poll results
Looking back from the 2020s or 2030s, it's entirely likely that the unexpected arrival of Tesla Motors was a major force—along with legislation, perhaps the major force—in getting legacy automakers to produce electric cars. Competition has always spurred innovation, and German makers in...
John Voelcker -
If BMW i5 is canceled, what does that mean for its electric cars?
When it launched in 2013, the BMW i3 electric car was arguably the most futuristic automobile in mass production anywhere in the world. Its all-electric powertrain could be ordered with an optional range-extending engine, and it rode on an aluminum chassis topped with a strong but lightweight body...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 acceleration found in chart on Model S advantages
Electric-car maker Tesla doesn't announce models in the usual fashion. It trickles out bits and pieces of information, often in the form of tweets from CEO Elon Musk, punctuated by occasional large flashy debut events for owners and investors at which a vehicle is revealed. That's the pattern...
John Voelcker -
Subaru plans for all-electric versions of existing model lines
It's now clear that every automaker, no matter how large or small, will have to develop and sell battery-electric vehicles by 2020 to 2025. Companies like GM and Volkswagen, which each make 10 million cars a year, can afford the breathtaking costs of developing expertise and engineering cars with...
John Voelcker -
Volvo's current diesels may be its last: CEO
Diesel has had an increasing rough ride during the current decade—scandals, emission crackdowns, a push for electric vehicles—and it's becoming clear that some automakers are reaching their limits. That includes Volvo, whose chief executive officer has declared its newest generation of...
Sean Szymkowski -
Sometime within the next few months, the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will be unveiled to the world's media. The second generation of a pioneering plug-in vehicle that launched affordable all-electric cars on the global market. It's been a long time coming. DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf: more spy shots of electric car's second generation The first-generation Leaf had a traditional seven-year model cycle, from 2011 through 2017, with some running updates in 2013 and a battery with 25 percent more capacity in 2016. That contrasts to the five-year cycle for the first-generation Chevrolet Volt...
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Shift to electric cars will cost money, may lack excitement: Toyota CEO
Every automaker is now working on one or many electric cars, but some are at the head of the pack and others lag behind. General Motors already sells the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV, and Volkswagen has firm plans for multiple electric cars by 2020 and as many as 30 by 2025. That leaves Toyota, the...
John Voelcker -
British magazine gets ride in all-electric Mercedes EQ Concept
Mercedes-Benz has big plans for electric vehicles in the future, but its main nod to what those plans will bring thus far is the EQ Concept. Shown at the Paris Motor Show last year, the vehicle represents a conceptual version of the first of many electric vehicles to come from the Germany luxury...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mercedes denies CEO said it will turn away from hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (updated)
Large global automakers customarily pursue research into multiple types of technologies and future powertrains at the same time. Sometimes they pan out, sometimes they don't. German automakers have only really come around to devoting their efforts to plug-in electric cars in the last five or six...
John Voelcker -
Acura CDX could migrate from China as luxury subcompact crossover
Acura today has a thin lineup that has as many passenger sedans as crossover utility vehicles. With only the TLX, RDX, MDX, RLX, and NSX to work with, Honda's premium line doesn't compete in a number of important markets. The most glaring absence is in the raging hot subcompact crossover realm...
Brandon Turkus -
Volkswagen T-Roc video teases new small SUV five months early (updated)
Sales of crossover utility vehicles—the ones that look like tough, capable, high-riding SUVs but actually sit on passenger-car underpinnings—continue to surge all over the world. Carmakers are meeting the demand by adding new varieties (four-door coupe utility vehicle, anyone?) and...
John Voelcker -
The low, sleek Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid luxury sedan had a stunning design but numerous problems, and Tesla mopped the floor with it. Now designer Henrik Fisker is ready for a rematch, this time with an all-electric sedan promising 400 miles of range (and unusual doors). The Fisker EMotion is slated for an August 17 debut, when its curvaceous exterior is to be shown for the first time in the metal. DON'T MISS: Fisker EMotion 400-mile luxury electric car: new teaser photo released Observant readers will note the reveal date falls during Monterey Car Week, meaning Fisker could use the...
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Future Volvo electric car to be built in China
Finally joining the bandwagon, Swedish manufacturer Volvo has confirmed that it will introduce its first all-electric vehicle to the market in 2019. The announcement was made last week at the 2017 Shanghai auto show. That proved to be an appropriate stage, as the Chinese-owned maker plans on having...
Green Car Reports -
Genesis to offer high-end electric luxury coupe; so long, V-8
Tesla has made an unexpected success out of its pioneering luxury electric vehicles, which offer a healthy dose of performance for good measure. Hyundai's Genesis luxury brand, while taking a couple pages from Lexus for its launch strategy, may be following a similar path to Tesla for a future...
Sean Szymkowski -
Jeep Yuntu Concept for Shanghai may have plug-in hybrid powertrain
The Jeep Yunto Concept made its debut Wednesday at the Shanghai auto show, and it appears to be a plug-in hybrid. The automaker has been tight-lipped about the concept's drivetrain, but the vehicle on display in China clearly shows "PHEV" badges on the front doors. No surprise there, as the Chinese...
Zach Bowman -
Most Fords will be hybrid or electric by 2025 ... in China
Ford has aggressive electrification plans for China. In a recent announcement, the U.S. automaker said that 70 percent of the vehicles it sells in the country by 2025 will be hybrids—either plug-in or conventional—or fully electric. Ford builds vehicles in China through a joint venture...
Zach Bowman -
Volkswagen ID Crozz concept for all-electric crossover debuts at Shanghai auto show
The Chinese government wants more plug-in electric cars sold in the country—and quickly. The Shanghai auto show this week demonstrates that multiple global automakers are stepping up to the plate, both with production cars and concepts. The Volkswagen ID Crozz Concept shows what a future...
John Voelcker -
Relative few companies regularly make major announcements via their CEO's Twitter account, but electric-car maker Tesla is different. From software updates to dates for new product lines, tweets from Tesla's CEO Elon Musk routinely make news. And so it was this week, when Musk announced the months in which the company plans to reveal designs for two new products, more or less. Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September. Team has done an amazing job. Seriously next level. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2017 @NoahMagel Pickup truck unveil in 18 to 24 months — Elon Musk (@elonmusk)...
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Volkswagen teases electric crossover for Shanghai auto show
Volkswagen appears to be quite clearly committed to an ambitious program of electric cars following its diesel emission scandal. But aside from two adapted models launched a few years ago—the VW e-Golf and e-Up hatchbacks—and a few low-range plug-in hybrids, it doesn't yet have much to...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 caught on video during daylight testing
The emergence of spy photos, and more recently video, has always been one of the standard indicators of a car nearing production. With production still said to start this July, pre-production versions of the Tesla Model 3 electric car should have been popping up in spy photos by now. Two weeks ago...
John Voelcker -
Riding in prototype autonomous Nissan Leaf electric car: what it's like (video)
It's been a vision of the future for decades now: self-driving cars that let you get in, specify your destination, and then curl up for a bit more sleep, waking when you arrive. That kind of anywhere-any-time autonomy remains some years in the future, most engineers suggest. Automakers are already...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz electric cars to arrive sooner as urgency increases
Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler is speeding up its shift towards electrification. The auto-maker remains on track to bolster its portfolio with 10 electric vehicles, but they’ll arrive three full years sooner than expected. The battery-powered cars are now scheduled to debut by 2022...
Green Car Reports -
Elon Musk as stern daddy: no central Model 3 speedo, head-up display for you!
Never let it be said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn't a man of strong opinions. His tweets are the stuff of legend, his dismissals of hydrogen fuel-cell cars as "fool cells" have been consistent for many years, and if you get his attention, he will definitely tell you what he thinks. Perhaps U.K...
John Voelcker