Luxury Cars
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Last week, while the press and Tesla owners were entranced by the introduction of the dual-motor Tesla Model S P85D with all-wheel drive, Tesla quietly changed the listed horsepower ratings for all three single-motor versions of its Model S electric sport sedan. Since their introduction in 2012, the 60-kWh, 85-kWh, and P85 performance versions of the Model S have been listed as having 302, 362, and 416 horsepower (225, 270, and 310 kilowatts) respectively. DON'T MISS: Tesla Reveals 'D' All-Wheel-Drive Model S, 'Autopilot' Feature But when Tesla's website configurator was revamped last week to...
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Tesla Model S Dual-Motor Is Quicker, Has Higher Range Too: How Do They Do That? (UPDATED)How can you add all-wheel drive to an electric car, making it hundreds of pounds heavier--and still increase its efficiency and range? Amid all of last week's hoopla over the blazing performance of the all-wheel-drive Tesla Model S P85D--0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, 155-mph top speed--what really...
David Noland -
Cadillac To Offer All-Electric Car As Well As Plug-In Hybrid, ELR SuccessorWhile General Motors' plug-in electric cars are in a bit of a sales lull this fall, the company has an expanding number of plug-in products planned for years to come. The latest to be uncovered--at least in the planning stages--is an all-electric Cadillac sedan. DON'T MISS: 2016 Cadillac CT6 Large...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Sets Up Shop In Japan, Sells First Electric CarsWhile Tesla Motors now sells electric cars in North America, parts of Europe, and--perhaps most importantly--China, it continues to expand its sales footprint. The most recent addition is Japan, a notoriously closed market where only one of the three largest makers has any interest at all in...
John Voelcker -
Used Tesla Electric Cars: Certified Previously Owned (CPO) Program Coming, Company ConfirmsHistorically, auto dealerships have made as much or more money selling used cars as new ones. Since electric-car maker Tesla Motors doesn't have dealerships, but sells cars online directly to buyers, that has left the supply of used Teslas solely to individual owners who may want to sell. Now...
John Voelcker -
2016 Cadillac CT6 Large Luxury Car To Offer Plug-In Hybrid OptionCadillac continues on its decade-long quest to build and sell cars that will be viewed as equivalent to the best of the German prestige brands. To that end, it will introduce a new and larger rear-wheel-drive sedan next year, to be called the CT6. Now the company has confirmed that the CT6 range...
John Voelcker -
Tesla adds two safety systems to the Model S electric car.
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Mysterious Tesla Model S 'D' Photo Appears: What Could It Be?The Internets exploded yesterday following a photo tweeted by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". Feverish speculation over what it meant took up terabytes of server space. Then, yesterday afternoon, a photo surfaced that purports to show a...
John Voelcker -
2017 Jaguar XE Diesel To Face Off Against BMW 328d (3-Series Diesel)The 2017 Jaguar XE diesel will be the automaker's most fuel-efficient production car ever.
Stephen Edelstein -
Elon Musk Tweets Tesla To Unveil 'D' On Oct 9th: Our GuessesDo you ever get the sense that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has fun in his job? Last night, at 6:31 pm Pacific time, he tweeted a photo with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". The photo showed a roller door with the letter "D" on it, the shadowy front end of what appeared...
John Voelcker -
Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Hybrid Concept Unveiled At Paris Motor ShowInfiniti has made little secret of its desire to launch a new flagship that would finally fill the void left by the departure of its largest sedan, the Q45. Today, at the 2014 Paris Motor Show, we now have our first solid look at the automaker’s progress--in the form of the stunning Q80...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla Model S China Sales 'Robust', Electric Car Waiting List Long: AnalystTesla Motors sales in China are "robust," and the company may have as many as 4,000 reservations for its Model S--which it only started selling in China five months ago. The upbeat assessment came from Patrick Archambault, a Goldman Sachs analyst who has followed Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] since its...
John Voelcker -
Caveat emptor. Or, for those less conversant in Latin, buyer beware. That's the lesson that should always be applied when buying a used car. Especially one with obvious damage. Especially a used electric car that's been so badly damaged that it's been declared a total writeoff by an insurance company, meaning that it's now designated a "salvage vehicle." DON'T MISS: Iowa Dealers Shut Down Tesla Test Drives As Rep Humiliates Them Nonetheless, Peter Rutman of San Diego paid $50,000 for a wrecked 2012 Tesla Model S Signature Series--one of the first 1,000 all-electric luxury cars built--at a...
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Iowa Dealers Shut Down Tesla Test Drives As Rep Humiliates ThemSometimes you almost have to feel sorry for car dealers--or, more specifically, their ineptness at the public-relations end of their fight against electric-car maker Tesla Motors and its direct Internet sales to car buyers. Consider Bruce Anderson, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers...
John Voelcker -
Updated 2016 Cadillac ELR Electric Coupe For LA Auto ShowWhile much of the electric-car world is anticipating the next Chevy Volt, which will launch in January, GM's other range-extended electric car will be getting some changes before then. According to Edmunds, an updated 2016 Cadillac ELR will debut in November at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. DON'T...
John Voelcker -
Tesla A 'Fringe Brand': Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz (Video)When an unknown automotive startup from Silicon Valley unveiled an all-electric sports car with supercar performance back in 2006, the shock was enough to make industry giant GM sit up and pay attention. That, plus the desire to gain some of the green halo seized by Toyota's Prius hybrid, led GM's...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 Lease Deals Appear: $369/Month For Electric CarIt's a pretty standard part of the car-launch cycle: The earliest buyers pay sticker price or more, and then the discounting starts to set in. Accordingly, with the BMW i3 electric car on the market for five months now, we're starting to see more aggressive marketing on the part of dealers. One...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Karma Will Be Relaunched With 2012 Design, UpdatesThe future of the Fisker Karma range-extended luxury electric sedan has been in the hands of new owner Wanxiang America for many months, with little known about its relaunch plans or timing. Now, however, a Reuters article says that the company plans to relaunch the existing vehicle--last sold as...
John Voelcker -
Have we just seen the first crack in the facade of auto-dealer opposition to Tesla Motors selling cars directly to retail buyers? An opinion piece in auto-industry trade journal Ward's Auto concludes with the following remarkable sentences: We can keep Tesla busy defending what are basically nuisance suits. But it will prevail in all states one at a time. Or there will be some sort of sweeping federal action in its favor. ALSO SEE: Tesla Wins Dealer Battle In MA: Direct Sales, Stores Are Legal With the feisty title of "Who's Afraid of Elon Musk?", the piece is written by regular Ward's...
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Tesla Wins Dealer Battle In MA: Direct Sales, Stores Are LegalMassachusetts' highest court affirms the legality of Tesla's company-owned stores.
Stephen Edelstein -
2014 Mercedes CLA: Smallest Benz Sees Sky-High DemandMercedes-Benz is adding production capacity to keep up with CLA demand.
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla Battery Cost: New Report Suggests Model 3 To Cost $50K Or MoreIt's likely the biggest question for the future of electric cars: How low can battery cost go, and how fast? Tesla Motors is thought to have the lowest cost-per-kilowatt-hour in the electric-car business, with some estimates suggesting the company is already approaching the crucial $200/kWh level...
John Voelcker -
2016 Mercedes-Benz S550 Plug-In Hybrid: First DriveThe 2016 Mercedes-Benz S550 Plug-In Hybrid luxury sedan will arrive in the U.S. next spring. We've now driven a prototype of the U.S.-spec car, which is quiet, luxurious, and likely to carry a six-figure price tag. And it will be followed within a year by two more plug-in hybrids using the same...
John Voelcker -
2015 Lexus ES 300h Hybrid Gets New Infotainment FeaturesThe 2015 Lexus ES 300h hits showrooms with minor changes.
Stephen Edelstein