BMW is the only carmaker to charge for Apple CarPlay integration for its vehicles. It's understandable why BMW does this (more money), but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Yet BMW is one-upping itself with plans to turn the one-time fee for CarPlay into a yearly subscription service. The German carmaker announced the move during the Detroit Auto Show, and it's bound to piss off...
We’ve been hearing rumblings for a few weeks now, and the BMW X2, a crossover sub-compact SUV, is now official. Unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the X2 continues to expand BMW’s ever-growing X-line. Last year, BMW showed off a concept for the X2 that gave us the first glimpse at the crossover. The official version keeps that design for the most part, but a few details were configured...
The Dodge Ram 1500 truck has always been a rugged vehicle meant to deliver maximum performance. The automaker’s latest incarnation delivers on those staples, and throws in a few unexpected forward-looking features that make 2019 Ram 1500 an unexpected revelation. First, lets talk about the number one selling point for the Ram 1500: overall power and usability. The 2019 version sheds...
Toyota this week unveiled the 2019 Avalon at the the Detroit Auto Show, and the centered 9-inch screen will display a feature that has long been missing from Toyota cars: Apple CarPlay. Over the past few years, Toyota has been stubborn in adopting support for CarPlay, instead opting to use its in-house proprietary solutions. But the delay was much ado about nothing as Toyota has...
In 2011, Hyundai introduced the unique hatchback Veloster with an oddball three-door design that stood out amid a sea of two and four-door cars. Seven years later, the design that once stood out hasn’t aged particularly well. Cue the 2019 Hyundai Veloster redesign, announced at the Detroit Auto Show, which upgrades everything from the exterior to the interior. The original spirit of...
Ford is dramatically shifting its focus to EVs over the next four years with a planned $11 billion investment in developing 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles by 2022. The news was shared by Chairman Bill Ford at the Detroit Auto Show. Originally, Ford was targeting an investment of $4.5 billion into alternative fuel cars by 2020. The huge shift highlights the pressure Ford is under...
Back in 2012, Henry Fisker launched the Fisker Karma—a luxury sedan meant to revolutionize the way people think of EVs. It failed spectacularly, and the fate of Fisker was left up in the air for five longs years before we got an answer. The company, now named Fisker Inc, managed to stick around and is back with a gaudy electric sports car called the EMotion. Fisker debuted the EMotion...
General Motors is ready to take the plunge into the self-driving future. The company announced it’s taking the next step toward autonomous driving, and if things pan out, the first GM car without a steering will hit the road by 2019. The car in question is the fourth-generation self-driving Cruise AV, a driverless version of the Chevy Bolt. It will feature level 4 autonomous driving to...
The new fad in the EV market is for hot-shot start-ups to present a concept that egregiously overpromises out-of-this-world features that will be enough to take down the mighty Tesla. Many have tried and most have failed, but the latest entry, Byton, says that it is different. Byton is a Chinese company that unveiled a dashing SUV EV concept that promises a lot. Led by an executive...
Tesla is launching a new web-based service with Supercharger pitstops included. The planning feature was already available to Tesla customers through the navigation system inside its cars, but now the feature will be available to everybody through a new web version. Using Google Maps, the service maps out Supercharger pit stops along a trip to make sure you reach your destination...