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Friday, December 18, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for December 18, 2020

Dec 18, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Mazda3 Turbo vs. VW GTI | How the hot(ish) hatches compare

For the first time since 2013, Mazda is offering a hopped-up version of its compact hatchback and sedan, the Mazda3. But instead of the rip-snorting "wild child" of yore , this new 2021 Mazda3 Turbo is designed to provide impressive performance while …

Class ring found 50 years ago in a Chevrolet Corvair reunited with its owner

In the late 1960s, the owner of a 1960 Chevrolet Corvair poked around the driver-side footwell to investigate a sticking pedal. Much to his surprise, the issue wasn't due to a linkage-related problem; it was a class ring that a previous owner or a pr…

Toyota boss: Don't ban internal combustion engines

Toyota is on track to introduce an electric prototype powered by state-of-the-art battery technology in 2021, but its chief executive warned that banning the internal combustion engine too quickly is a short-sighted decision. He explained that blanke…

2021 Acura TLX nabs Top Safety Pick+ honor from the IIHS

The Acura TLX is all-new for 2021. It's built on a new architecture that we're told is the brand's most rigid other than the NSX. In our first-drive review , we called it "a true enthusiast's sedan." Now, we know that another benefit of the car's redo…

Bentley starts testing the sold-out, 200-mph Bacalar roadster

Bentley took the limited-edition Bacalar from a sketch to a 200-plus-mph roadster in nine months , a shockingly short amount of time. Its engineers are now putting the first car through its paces at the same break-neck speed. Although the Bacalar is …

2021 Chevrolet Tahoe Luggage Test | Big cargo gains for a big SUV

Prior to the 2015 model year, the Chevrolet Tahoe used to be criticized for its third-row seats, which had to be physically hoisted out of the SUV rather than folding into the floor as those of other SUVs did. Most notably, the Ford Expedition. Now, …

The world's most popular car color is white for the 10th year in a row

It's less of a drum roll and more of a sad trombone. Data for most popular car color in the entire world has been crunched and the winner is, once again, white. Not only that, but it's the 10th consecutive year that white has topped the global list. …

Mazda expands heritage parts program to include the iconic RX-7

Mazda has added two more cars to its heritage parts program. Joining the first-generation MX-5 Miata will be the second- and third-generation Mazda RX-7. It's something fans of Mazda's rotary sports car have demanded for years, and now Mazda is makin…

Tesla shares rise in busy trade ahead of S&P 500 debut

Shares of Tesla gained on Friday in a busy day for the electric car maker's stock ahead of its much-anticipated grand entrance into the benchmark S&P 500 index. Elon Musk's Tesla on Monday will become the most valuable company ever admitted to W…

Next-generation Kia Niro spy photos reveal HabaNiro concept cues

At last year's New York Auto Show, Kia showed us the HabaNiro concept , a meaner, bolder, spicier take on the comparatively mellow Niro hybrid crossover . The company said that it was a hint at things to come, and that seems to be the case based on the…

Thursday, December 17, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for December 17, 2020

Dec 17, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition First Drive | Yellow but definitely not mellow

It seems like only yesterday that the Honda Civic Type R arrived with great fanfare to U.S. shores in 2017. That's probably because we had waited so long – 20 years since the original Civic Type R's introduction in 1997 – for the hi-po Honda to come …

Ho, Ho, Bronco! Santa checks out the Ford Bronco. Again.

More so than just about any other new car this year, the Ford Bronco has captured the public's attention, and that apparently includes the attention of Santa Claus. It seems Saint Nick has a history with Ford's seminal SUV. The black-and-white pic…

2021 Audi Q5 First Drive | Mid-cycle retrofit

Audi's volume seller hasn't been playing with a full deck. You see, the Q5 was redesigned before Audi introduced its latest MIB 3 infotainment system and updated design language that features angrier grilles differentiated by model and accented in ma…

Pagani Huayra Tricolore celebrates Italian Air Force aerobatic team with aeronautic features

The Italian Air Force's aerobatic team, known as the Frecce Tricolori, is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year. To celebrate, Pagani has created the Huayra Tricolore, a very limited-edition variant of the open-top Huayra supercar. Only three wi…

2021 Nissan Armada First Drive | Getting with the times

The 2021 Nissan Armada is the first product in the United States to wear the Nissan brand's new badge . It's a modern and sleek-looking logo, and it's well-suited to the properly sorted and genuinely impressive new vehicles Nissan recently launched. T…

Ram begins building 2021 1500 TRX, saves the first truck for charity auction

Ram has launched series production of the 1500 TRX in its Sterling Heights, Michigan, factory. The first 702 trucks off the line will be Launch Edition models, and they're all spoken for, but VIN #001 is headed for auction. Introduced earlier in 202…

Mercedes-Benz prices new 2021 S-Class, splits range into three lines

Mercedes-Benz released pricing details for the new 2021 S-Class unveiled earlier in 2020 . It's jam-packed with comfort and luxury features, which partially explains why it's comfortably more expensive than its predecessor. For the first time, buyers…

2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia get revamped trims and pricing

After a major interior and infotainment update last year, the 2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia get a more mild update consisting of a smaller trim lineup and a couple of extra features for some trims. The update also includes small price increases …

Chevy adds Equinox RS trim and a pair of Traverse special editions to lineup

Chevrolet is continuing its dive into special edition appearance packages with some new offerings for the 2022 Chevy Equinox and 2021 Chevy Traverse. The motivation? Sales. Customers are buying the trims that look sportier, even if they aren't any sp…

Jennifer Granholm, Biden's expected Energy Department pick, could lead charge on electric cars

WASHINGTON/DETROIT — When Jennifer Granholm was governor of auto-manufacturing Michigan, she led a charge that secured a whopping $1.35 billion in federal funding for companies to make electric cars and batteries in her state. As President-elect Joe…