Cars

Cars

Car tech is frustrating right now. Chances are if you hop in a new vehicle, you're going to be greeted by a confounding array of touch screens, capacitive buttons and submenus. Some of it is amazing, and some of it is confusing. It is easynatural, evento opt out. To skip all the nonsense, plug in your phone, and channel everything through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. But if car companies actually want to give buyers a good experience, I'm more

A modern twist from the automobile's interior designer, David Stingl, the 2+2 seating setup in the cabin makes the space inside flexible. The front seats can merge and become a bench, so there's nothing hindering between the driver and the front passenger, while the riders at the back can feel as if they were in a theater with the cinema-style tip-up chairs.

Toyota reveals mobi during Japan Mobility Show 2025, an electric bubble car for kids that takes them anywhere on its own and without adult supervision on board. On view at the event between October 30th and November 9th, the prototype forms part of the company's Mobility for All project, which aims to create vehicles that can transport anyone, regardless of age or ability.

Let's put aside the Tesla vs. Waymo debate and talk about Wayve. The UK-based startup, founded in 2017, is yet another company that has autonomous-driving technology ambitions, but it's not building a robotaxi platform like Waymo. Nor is it a car or robotics manufacturer like Tesla. Wayve's goal is to develop a highly capable Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that it can license to other automakers. Think a flexible version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) that can be plugged into any automaker's cars.

"Cars ruin everything." That's the bold opening line of Life After Cars, the new book by celebrated transportation media figures Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon, and Aaron Naparstek. The writers make a case for that initial assertion, detailing the various ways cars-or, more specifically, car culture as we currently know it-ruin childhoods, destroy wildlife, perpetuate societal injustices, and kill people, to name a few particularly negative effects.

Drawing influences from the 1968 race car prototype named the Mantis XP, the concept car is built as a futuristic track vehicle, not made for roads but for testing ideas about shape and movement, with its expressive and pointed forms. The designer, always looking at the Mantis XP's structure, has revamped its proportions to modernize the vintage experimental racing car and fit the new systems and rules of modern track racing.

A South Australian Tesla driver is thanking his Model Y's Full Self-Driving system after a mysterious object, possibly a meteorite, slammed into his car's windshield while it had FSD engaged. The impact sent hot glass fragments flying through the cabin as the vehicle continued driving without human input through the darkness. Experts have noted that if confirmed, this could be the world's first recorded meteorite collision involving a Tesla.

Most of Scout Motors' reservation holders opted for the range extender option. That's over 100,000 people who would still prefer a gasoline engine. In Scout's upcoming vehicles, the combustion engine only acts as a generator for the battery and electric motors. When Stellantis killed the all-electric Ram 1500 truck to focus on the extended-range version, we weren't exactly surprised. All-electric pickup sales have so far been anything but stellar,

EV sports car upstart Longbow wants to "add lightness" with its first two-seater launching next year. The first model is the Speedster, of which only 50 units will be made, followed by the more affordable Roadster. The company states that the first year of production has already been allocated, but it has yet to confirm when deliveries will start. Earlier this year, Longbow, a startup founded by former Tesla and Lucid executives, announced plans to develop small electric sports cars. This week it unveiled its first working prototype for the vehicle that it wants to start manufacturing next year.

The Denali badge has been an incredible cash cow for GMC, giving it a sub-brand sponge to soak up dollars from luxury-seeking SUV and pickup shoppers willing to pay extra for power, style and features. The numbers vary from year to year, but it's not unusual for the company to move more Denali units than several leading European premium marques combined, generating billions of dollars in the process.

The highlight of the design is the vertical frame, which allows Isuzu's modular delivery truck to attach and detach modules in both vertical and horizontal directions. For example, a cargo box can be lifted and replaced with another one, or a passenger cabin can be mounted instead. It is this flexibility that makes it possible for the vehicle to use the same base for multiple purposes during the ride or delivery so there's no need to use other cars or transport systems.

Aurora also shared details on next-generation hardware, which is made by Fabrinet and is being integrated with the Volvo VNL Autonomous trucks. Aurora plans to build 100s of trucks with its next-gen hardware in 2026. It says the hardware is more durable and has better performance, yet it is half the overall cost. The company's new generation of lidar detects objects 1,000 meters away, which is twice the distance of its current generation.

MINI PAUL SMITH EDITION debuts at japan mobility show 2025 and Sir Paul Smith unbox production-ready at the Japan Mobility Show 2025 in Tokyo. Following the minimalist MINI (2021) and the electrified MINI Recharged (2022), the MINI Paul Smith Edition infuses the celebrated British designer's world-famous aesthetic - 'classic with a twist' - into the new MINI family. Available for all MINI Cooper 3-door, 5-door, and convertible models, the new edition masterfully blends shared heritage with a playful, optimistic, and independent spirit.

The Slate truck will be able to charge at Tesla Superchargers, the startup announced on Tuesday. And, since it comes from the factory with the Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, owners will be able to plug in without a dongle. What's more, the Slate's NACS port is situated at the driver's side rear of the truckjust like in a Teslaso drivers will be able to park normally.

Lexus is retiring the LS sedan after 2026, marking more than three decades of trust and user convenience. The Japanese luxury brand has not, however, given up on the LS moniker as it debuts a trio of concepts at the Tokyo auto show that includes a six-wheeled van, a self-driving three-wheeled robotaxi concept for cities, a larger-than-life catamaran, and a more conventional coupe.

At the 2025 Japan Mobility Show, Lexus actually envisioned several possible forms a future LS flagship could take someday, some more realistic than others. One was a six-wheeled luxury van; another was a one-seat vehicle with three wheels. But I'd say one of them is much more plausible, and that's the LS Coupe Concept. It's not an actual coupe, though, but rather a big SUV with a sporty coupe-like roofline and a dramatic fastback rear end.

Volkswagen has signalled that its annual profit targets are at risk without sufficient computer chips, in the latest sign that an expected shortage of semiconductors from China could hit carmakers across Europe. The struggling German automotive firm said a series of cost cuts and new model launches were helping to offset a slump in Chinese demand, but it added that forecasts were based on the adequate availability of semiconductors.

When the new Chevy Bolt arrives early next year, it will start at $29,995, making it one of the most affordable new EVs in the U.S. It's thousands of dollars cheaper than Tesla's "affordable" new versions of its Model 3 and Model Y. It's also significantly less expensive than the average gas car, and like other EVs, it's cheaper to operate.

In the middle of October, Stellantis revealed plans for a substantial investment in the U.S., to the tune of a $13 billion investment over the course of four years with an impact on plants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. At the time, one of the upcoming vehicles Stellantis teased was a midsize truck, slated to be manufactured at the automaker's Toledo, Ohio-based facility. Earlier this week, Stellantis provided some more information on what to expect as part of its third quarter earnings call.

Among dealers and car manufacturers, the terms are "day to turn." "days on lot," or "supply of inventory." It is the number of cars available on dealer lots. At the start of October, the figure across the United States was 2.87 million. According to Cox Automotive, the average day's supply across all brands was 84. It added, "At 84 days, the supply measure is now at the highest point since Q1."