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Wednesday, January 8, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for January 8, 2020

Jan 08, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Carlos Ghosn defiantly accuses Nissan and Japan: 'The charges against me are baseless'

Carlos Ghosn held a press conference in Lebanon early Wednesday to clear his name in the year-long scandal that has stripped him of his leadership roles at Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and irrevocably tainted an otherwise well-regarded career as a…

We try on these Honda Xcelerator exoskeletons that may eventually steal your job

LAS VEGAS — On Tuesday at the synergistic automotive/technology juggernaut that is CES, Honda's Silicon Valley-headquartered tech incubator, Honda Xcelerator, unveiled a quartet of new products that it is helping to hatch. Two in particular caught my…

Is this 1983 Fiat Spider EV conversion worth Porsche 911 GTS money?

$140,000 can buy a lot of car. Nothing about Fiat Spiders built in the 1980s would be described as "a lot," unless you're referring to the quantity of maintenance that is sometimes required just to keep them on the road. In that context, this eBay fi…

2020 Mini Convertible Sidewalk Edition hits the pavement again

In 2007, the Mini Convertible Sidewalk dropped its top in bitter winter during the Detroit Auto Show to show off its exclusive appearance package. The cosmetic suite makes a return for 2020, again as the Mini Convertible Sidewalk, with more color and…

2020 Volkswagen Tiguan Review & Buying Guide | Eye of the Iguana

It's big, it's powerful, it's packed with features, and its name comes from putting the words "tiger" and "iguana" together. Yes, that's actually true. Thankfully, the 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan isn't anywhere as zany as its name would suggest. It's actu…

The Sony Vision-S Concept car will hit 60 mph in 4.8 seconds

The Sony Concept car caught us all by surprise at CES last night, but we didn't know much about it. Now, Sony has released a short spec sheet that details some of the important bits.

Aston Martin V12 Speedster will ditch roof and windshield

If your hunger for supercars with no windshields wasn't satiated with the McLaren Elva , we have good news. Aston Martin has one of its own to be revealed later this year. It's simply called the Aston Martin V12 Speedster, and sounds like it will be e…

eBay Find: 2006 Honda Insight offers Prius fuel economy with a manual transmission

A simple fact when it comes to modern-day hybrids is that they don't come with manual transmissions. Usually they're coupled to a CVT, a dual-clutch transmission in the case of the Ioniq and Niro, or basically no transmission at all, with the motor d…

Suzuki Jimny transforms into an adorable tiny Ford Bronco

The Suzuki Jimny may be impossibly cute as-is, but there's also something about the baby SUV that begs to be dressed up to look like other vehicles. Suzuki has decked out the Jimny in Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen kit, a theme the aftermarket did one better,…

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbodiesel Wagon

The Mercedes-Benz W123 diesels may have been the longest-lasting cars ever sold in North America, with the credit for that longevity equally split among the amazingly good build quality, the overkill-grade toughness of those immortal Stuttgart diesel…

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for January 7, 2020

Jan 07, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Zombie cars: 9 discontinued vehicles that aren't dead yet

Even after cars are discontinued, new, unsold ones still show up in monthly sales reports. We look at the worst-selling cars that are already dead.

2019 Honda Civic Type R Drivers' Notes | Have fun, bring paper bag

If the VW Golf R is for people who'd rather have their go-fast car stay stealthy and fly under the radar, the Honda Civic Type R is basically a squadron of Lancaster bombers blaring ZZ Top. It's basically impossible to miss it. There's the huge wing.…

Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR takes inspiration from the creatures of 'Avatar'

It seems like movie tie-ins are becoming more common for concept cars. First Porsche designed a spaceship for "Star Wars," and now Mercedes has created a concept car inspired by and named after the "Avatar" film series from James Cameron. It's called…

Sony built a car — a concept to show off company's sensors, infotainment

The car industry has loads of electronics suppliers that create everything from screens to sensors. And it's a sector that's becoming bigger and more important in today's age of sophisticated driver assists and infotainment systems. One of those supp…

Toyota plans to build 175-acre 'Woven City' of the future housing 2,000 people

Every year, automotive manufacturers release ideas, sketches, and renderings of and for their visions of the future. The fantastical presentations and proposals capture imaginations and theorize how these near-future communities would change society …

Rolls-Royce posts 25% jump in sales thanks to Cullinan demand

Luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday it recorded a 25% jump in sales in 2019, underpinned by solid demand for its first-ever SUV, Cullinan, just a year after the launch. The 116-year-old British company said it sold a record 5,152 cars in 201…

Ford still sold 226,193 endangered Fusions and Fiestas in 2019

Ford closed out 2019 with a 3% drop in full-year U.S. sales as the continued phase-out of models including the Focus and Taurus helped offset strong performance from its F-Series trucks , Transit vans and Lincoln luxury SUVs . But combing through its y…

Trucks helped carry the market in 2019 to 17.1 million vehicles sold

With the December reports tallied, the U.S. auto industry ended 2019 with 17.1 million vehicles sold, falling short of the post-recession boom years as buying habits continue to swing in favor of profitable trucks and SUVs. Thanks to a slow 4th quart…

Audi AI:Me Concept First Ride | Pointing the way forward

Introduced at the 2019 Shanghai auto show, the Audi AI:Me is a one-off concept that's difficult to put a price on. Its value lies deep in seven-digit territory; it's likely worth more than Bugatti's $3 million Chiron . And yet, I didn't think twice ab…

Elon Musk unleashes dance moves at Tesla Model Y launch in China

SHANGHAI — Elon Musk showed off his dance moves at the launch of Tesla's Model Y electric sports utility vehicle program at its new Shanghai factory on Tuesday, where the company delivered its first cars built outside the United States to the public.…