Luxury Cars
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Auto-industry CEOs virtually never admit that the new product that could make or break the company is "in production hell," but that's now obviously the case for the Tesla Model 3. Deliveries last months totaled just 220 units, far below Tesla CEO Elon Musk's July projection of 1,500 during September. Reports have emerged saying every Model 3 delivered to date was essentially hand-assembled, and other car companies are even quizzing reporters to find out what they may know. DON'T MISS: Tesla: Model 3 production problems prompt electric Semi delay The Tesla Model 3 is the last product in the...
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Tesla axes hundreds of employees for 'performance' with Model 3 lagging: reportWith the early months of Tesla Model 3 sales remaining at numbers lower than those promised by CEO Elon Musk, owners and advocates eagerly consume any news about electric-car maker Tesla to figure out what's happening. Musk reaffirmed that the Model 3 is in the predicted "production hell" these...
John Voelcker -
2019 Land Rover Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid revealed, on sale in US next yearFollowing the debut of the smaller Land Rover Range Rover Sport P400e plug-in hybrid, the luxury SUV maker revealed its larger sibling: the 2019 Land Rover Range Rover P400e. The Land Rover Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid is the larger of the two, but the SUV boasts an identical electrified...
Sean Szymkowski -
Electrified cars start down the pay-per-month roadA few taps at a smartphone will soon cue up white-gloved same-day delivery of a shiny, new Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid—if you happen to be in Atlanta. The Netflix of cars is finally here, although it's a bit more than than $11 you'll pay to binge watch "Entourage." MORE: 2017 Porsche Cayenne S...
Andrew Ganz -
2019 Range Rover Sport P400e plug-in hybrid on sale in US in summer 2018: technical detailsSix years after Land Rover confirmed it would introduce a Range Rover plug-in hybrid, the luxury-SUV brand has now provided an official on-sale date. A 2019 Land Rover Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid model will both go on sale in the United States in the summer of 2018, likely followed by a...
John Voelcker -
Which (non-Tesla) maker will sell most electric luxury cars by 2020? Poll resultsYes, yes, yes, we know: our readers and Twitter followers are largely very strong supporters of, and believers in, Tesla and its electric cars. Our challenge for last week's Twitter poll was that we get very, very few characters to post questions and a choice of four responses. So in asking which...
John Voelcker -
The quarterly delivery and production figures from Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla are eagerly followed when they emerge a few days after the end of a quarter. On Monday, Tesla said it had delivered 26,150 electric cars, its best quarterly total yet and 4.5 percent higher than the third quarter of 2016, its previous best quarter. Of those, 14,065 were the Model S hatchback sedan, 11,865 were the Model X crossover utility, and a mere 220 were the new and lower-priced Model 3 sedan. DON'T MISS: Tesla's Q2 2017 deliveries fall slightly due to 100-kwh battery shortage It appears that CEO...
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Will Tesla steamroller German luxury makers? Perhaps notIt has become an article of faith among some Tesla fans and owners that the company will inevitably rise to compete with and ultimately defeat the titans of the global auto industry. This belief is especially prevalent for the luxury sector, where three German carmakers dominate the global market...
John Voelcker -
BMW, Mercedes to offer wireless-charging options for plug-in hybrids next yearEvery one of the modern electric cars on the market for almost seven years requires plugging in a cord to recharge the battery using grid electricity. Inserting the cord into the socket takes just a few seconds, and most cars today are charged overnight. But soon there will be another option...
John Voelcker -
How Tesla Model S alters car ownership: a buyer's one-year notesIn late July, we published an article describing one electric-car driver's experience in adding solar panels to his home to help with charging his family's five electric cars. That reader, who'd like to be known just as Shiva, has now owned a 2016 Tesla Model S for a year. He recently outlined for...
John Voelcker -
Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV has already accumulated 25,000 orders: CEOIn the rarified but still high-volume world of global luxury auto brands, Jaguar is still a tiny player. The British brand sold fewer than 150,000 cars globally last year, one-third of the number of Land Rover and Range Rover SUVs from its sister brands within Jaguar Land Rover. Audi sold 1.9...
John Voelcker -
Volkswagen to show flagship all-electric ID sedan in Geneva: Phaeton successor?The long, strange, sad saga of the now-defunct Volkswagen Phaeton will likely go down as an asterisk in VW's long history. The pet project of now-departed VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piech, a member of the Porsche family that controls the carmaker, it was a $70,000-and-up luxury sedan from the...
John Voelcker -
It has taken several years for European luxury makers to sort out what to do about the unexpected arrival of Tesla and its electric cars into a market they've dominated for decades. Sure, Lexus and a host of lesser Asian makes have competitive products somewhere between premium and luxury, but they're now a known quantity. The Tesla Model S, launched in mid-2012 and now in its sixth model year, was something different—and had to be taken seriously DON'T MISS: 2018 Porsche Mission E: 600-HP Electric Sport Sedan Concept Targets Tesla Several factors combined for force traditional luxury...
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Car subscription services to take 1 of 5 sales by 2023, Volvo CEO saysThe 2019 Volvo XC40 not only represents the Swedish brand's first compact crossover to be sold in the U.S. but its first shot at a new model for drivers to obtain cars: a subscription service. During the XC40 launch, Volvo revealed it would introduce Care by Volvo, a subscription service giving...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla Model 3 interior details, features emerge from pair of videosWhile the 2017 Tesla Model 3 electric car is now being delivered in small numbers to company friends and employees, not all the specifications, features, and details for the electric car are available. Now more information has emerged, in the form of a pair of videos—one by a detailer and...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes to invest $1 billion to build electric SUVs, batteries in AlabamaDaimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, announced that it will invest up to $1 billion to build electric SUVs and batteries in and around its assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The plans, first reported reported Thursday in The Wall Street Journal (paywalled), represent a major expansion...
John Voelcker -
Porsche Mission E electric sport sedan: 200-mile recharge in 15 minutesWhile there have been lots of concept cars and production announcements, the first serious German competitor to the Tesla Model S and Model X won't arrive for at least another year. And what could prove the most potent of them all—the production version of the stunning Porsche Mission E...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes EQC electric SUV reservations open in Norway, for 2019 deliveryThe country of Norway has been among the most ardent in urging drivers to buy zero-emission vehicles, offering a friendly market in which automakers can launch new electric cars. In fact, Norway was the first nation to announce a ban on the sale of new vehicles powered by fossil fuels; it's due to...
Sean Szymkowski -
The Porsche Cayenne is the second best-selling vehicle in the German sports-car maker's North American lineup, as SUV sales swamp those of passenger cars at luxury brands. A considerable number of the pricey SUV models sold here have been the Cayenne S E-Hybrid plug-in hybrid variant: 1,316 out of 8,802 through August, for example. We put 300 miles on the plug-in hybrid Cayenne recently, and simply liked it better than competitors in the segment from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. DON'T MISS: What's the best Porsche Panamera? It's a plug-in hybrid now We should note that the current Cayenne is about...
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Audi's self-driving e-tron electric concepts: Aicon (Level 5) and Elaine (Level 4) at FrankfurtThe 2017 Frankfurt Motor Showed offered a very specific ethos this year: electric and self-driving cars. Many automakers used the bright lights and gleaming stands to reveal their interpretation of a future with all-electric and driverless vehicles. Audi was not absent from the theme. DON'T MISS...
Sean Szymkowski -
Life with Tesla Model S: assessing my new 100D vs old 2013 electric carAbout two years ago, under the influence of an eager Tesla representative, I briefly considered trading in my trusty 2013 Tesla Model S 85 for a new Model S 90D. But after a 24-hour test drive, the advantages of the 90D—40 miles more range, all-wheel drive, and Autopilot...
David Noland -
Fatal Tesla Autopilot crash: 'system safeguards lacking,' says NTSBThe Florida crash that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while that car was operating under Autopilot software reverberated far and wide in global media. While human drivers are imperfect, with reaction times limited by millions of years of evolution, they at least provide a focus for blame if...
John Voelcker -
Formula E races to add Jaguar I-Pace electric-car race seriesMedia days at this week's Frankfurt motor show seemed to be all about electric cars and concepts, from mass-market brands like Volkswagen to luxury makers like Mercedes. Jaguar Land Rover, however, was able to get its own share of press by announcing that its upcoming electric car would go racing...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power plug-in hydrogen crossover launches at FrankfurtIt's a plug-in hybrid crossover, but it doesn't have an engine. It's a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV, but it has a feature no other hydrogen-powered car offers. It's the Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power, launched Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show. DON'T MISS: Mercedes-Benz GLC to offer world's first...
John Voelcker