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Monday, February 17, 2020

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

Feb 17, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Kia Sorento officially revealed with crisp new duds

Following an unofficial reveal in spy shots , the 2021 Kia Sorento crossover has just been shown officially by the automaker. The company released images of its chiseled exterior and rugged but upscale interior. On the outside, the Sorento picks up m…

Ford tells dealers the Bronco is weeks away from its global debut

Ford allegedly confirmed it will step out of the auto show circuit to introduce the long-awaited 2021 Bronco. The off-roader will make its debut during a standalone event scheduled for March, about a month before its smaller sibling — which is tentat…

Toyota planning hot hatch for the American market

The 268-horsepower Toyota GR Yaris joined the list of forbidden fruits we can't get in the United States when it made its global debut at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon. The online petition to bring the car here didn't change the company's mind, but produ…

These cars barely lose any value in their first year of ownership

All cars start depreciating as soon as you drive them off the lot. But some cars lose value much more rapidly than others. Here are the vehicles that retain the most value after one year of ownership.

2019 Subaru Forester Long-Term Update | A (mostly) trouble-free 12,000 miles

Our long-term 2019 Subaru Forester has been a real workhorse in our fleet from the time we took delivery late last year. We've managed to rack up over 12,000 miles in the first five months — it's been east and west of Michigan so far, but nowhere fur…

Tesla Model S range estimate upped to 390 miles, Model X to 351 miles

A few weeks ago on the Q4 2019 earnings call , Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked another company exec if the Model S' range was around 380 miles before returning to the call to declare, "We're rapidly approaching a 400-mile range for Model S." The company has…

2021 Kia Seltos First Drive | The Soul-ful CUV

To understand the 2021 Kia Seltos, you first have to consider its soul, the Kia Soul . Between the fun-and-funky styling and the compact, practical body style with tons of cargo room, the car that has defied traditional segment labels for a decade (an…

2021 Porsche 718 GTS 4.0 First Drive Review | Speed meets sauve

ESTORIL, Portugal — Estoril's front straight is over half a mile long, and by the start/finish line the 2021 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 is begging for fifth gear. At 7,800 rpm, its rev limiter interrupts the howl of its 4.0-liter flat-six. At 145 mph…

GM kills Holden

In 2016, GM ceased local manufacturing in Australia. Two months ago, after dismal sales in 2019, GM announced it would kill the Opel-based Holden Commodore and Astra to focus on Holden-badged trucks and SUVs. And now, Australians are forced to confro…

Tesla ordered by German court to stop clearing trees for Gigafactory

BERLIN — A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists. The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last No…

Friday, February 14, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for February 14, 2020

Feb 14, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

The next 992 Porsche 911 GTS spied in spectacular green paint

At this point, we've seen a whole lot of different 992 generation Porsche 911s. However, we're still missing all the extra spicy versions. One of those is the 911 GTS, which, to keep the metaphor rolling, is a medium spice level Porsche 911. Porsche …

The $5M track-focused Pagani Imola isn't supposed to be elegant

The Pagani Imola , a track-focused version of the Pagani Huayra, first broke cover in September, 2019, at an event, but official information was nowhere to be found. It took a few months, but today, Pagani released the first batch of real images and g…

This nearly new 1990 Nissan 300ZX Twin-Turbo is going up for auction

The current Nissan 370Z has been on life support for a while now, but interest in classic Z cars remains strong. Witness the mind-bending price recently achieved for a pristine 1971 240Z that sold last month on Bring a Trailer. After the first-genera…

Rimac will help Kia turn the Imagine concept into a high-performance flagship

The segment-bending Imagine concept Kia unveiled at the 2019 Geneva auto show will spawn a high-performance flagship in 2021. Rimac, which Kia and Hyundai jointly invested in , will help bring it to the market. "This car will have a significant effec…

2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country Luggage Test | Why yes, a wagon can hold more

As scheduling would have it, the 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country ended up overlapping for a day with the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 that was previously featured here on Luggage Test Friday. It provided a perfect opportunity to test a common perception a…

Hyundai Prophecy concept for Geneva foretells company's next design language

The star of Hyundai's display at the 2020 Geneva Motor Show will be a stylish electric concept named Prophecy. The swoopy, low-slung sedan will preview the direction the firm's design language will take in the coming years. While the Prophecy remain…

Volvo Trucks VNR Electric First Drive Review | Hauling goods goes green

Climbing up into the big rig and settling in behind its massive steering wheel dials up childhood fantasies fueled by Hollywood. Just for a moment it's the 1970s and we're hauling a load of Coors from Texarkana to Atlanta. A black Trans Am running bl…

Kanye West's Russian ATVs invade Chicago to deliver new shoe to kids

Welcome to 2020, where famous musicians make shoes and deliver them to kids with giant Russian off-road vehicles. Yes, you read all that correctly. As you can see in the photo above, posted to Twitter by Kanye West's shoe brand's official account , gi…

2020 Chicago Auto Show and more | Autoblog Podcast #614

In this week's Autoblog Podcast , Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by News Editor Joel Stocksdale and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. The big event they're discussing this week is the 2020 Chicago Auto Show. They run down the big reveals and inter…

[VIDEO] Czinger preparing 21C hybrid hypercar for Geneva debut

Kevin Czinger — with a silent C — has spent the past 11 years that we know of trying out various automotive concepts in Southern California. The Yale Law School graduate who built hot rods as a youth in Cleveland co-founded Coda Automotive in 2009, w…

Thursday, February 13, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for February 13, 2020

Feb 13, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Latest IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards: Here's the list of winners

Automakers love to trumpet the accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but the agency keeps making its best grades harder to achieve. For 2020, it is raising the bar again, requiring a better score in the passenger-side small-overl…

1988 Italdesign Aztec is bizarre in all kinds of ways, street legal and for sale

We've featured split-cockpit concept cars for sale on our site before , but nothing has been quite as insane as this 1988 Italdesign Aztec that's up for auction on BringATrailer.com right now. It's one of a handful of production versions of the Giugia…

Dodge Viper-based 2010 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale Zagato rarity could be yours

It has been a decade since it was launched, but the 2010 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale Zagato is just as bizarre and beautiful as the day it was revealed. It's what you get when you have Italian design house Zagato give a Dodge Viper an Alfa Romeo body. An…

2021 Ford F-150 flashes its grilles in new spy shots

A new Ford F-150 is scheduled to arrive at some point this year, and while the prototypes were buzzing about like flies in 2019 , our spy shooters haven't seen many new developments since the new year. That changed today, as we now have photos of the …

Jeep Gladiator spied in Sand Runner configuration

We learned this week that some of the new-car exuberance has dimmed a bit for the Jeep Gladiator, which is now being offered with up to $9,000 in incentives to offset the high prices that have meant lackluster sales. Jeep also seems eager to diversif…

Next-generation VW Golf R spotted undisguised in the snow

The next-generation Volkswagen Golf R has been spotted undergoing winter testing without a coat, giving us a detailed look at what to expect from the range-topping hot hatch. A few cues here expose this prototype for what it is. We can start in the…

Volkswagen ID.4 spy shots show a nearly production-ready electric crossover

An official debut of the Volkswagen ID.4 is, according to the internet rumormill, coming in April at the New York Auto Show . If true, that means VW's electrified crossover, which is destined for sales here in the United States, ought to be very close…

Kia teases handsome 2021 Sorento interior with design sketches

True, we've seen the fourth-gen, 2021 Kia Sorento uncovered on a commercial shoot, answering the biggest question we had about one of Kia's bestsellers. On top of that, an Instagram post revealed a couple of low-res interior shots. Kia's carried on w…

What should the Volkswagen ID.Buzz be called when it reaches production?

Volkswagen's electric car offensive will include a production version of the ID.Buzz concept unveiled at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. The heritage-laced van is nearing production, but one key aspect is still missing: its name. Johan de Nysschen, Volk…

Lexus ES 300h gets optional side-view cameras and monitors in Europe

In select European markets, Lexus is expanding the availability of one of its newest and most futuristic features. Starting in March, 2020, the ES 300h will have an option for digital side-view cameras and monitors. Lexus first introduced its side…

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for February 12, 2020

Feb 12, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2020 Ford Explorer ST Drivers' Notes Review | A new age of ST

Ford may have started the transition of its ST sub brand with the Edge ST , but the 2020 Ford Explorer ST completes that transition from spunky hot hatches to performance crossovers. The 2019 model year was the last for the Fiesta ST , so we bid adieu …

Hyundai 45 EV production hatchback spied for the first time

Last fall, Hyundai celebrated the 45th anniversary of its original concept car with another concept, the Hyundai 45 EV. It blended the angular Giugiaro-penned lines of that Pony Coupe concept with the company's early Pony hatchback production car . Th…

Aston Martin Vantage Roadster goes fast, and so does its roof

Two years after the hardtop Aston Martin Vantage redefined the Vantage nameplate yet again, the coupe has dropped its top. Below the shoulder the Vantage Roadster holds true to nearly everything that compelled us to label the coupe "a significant mil…

Refreshed 2021 Hyundai Elantra GT, also known as i30, coming to Geneva

The current-generation Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback only arrived in the U.S. for the 2018 model year, but it seems Hyundai has seen fit to give it a refresh. The company released a teaser image of the updated car in i30 form, the name it carries in E…

Man killed in Tesla crash had complained about Autopilot

DETROIT — An Apple engineer who died when his Tesla Model X hit a concrete barrier on a Silicon Valley freeway had complained before his death that the SUV's Autopilot system would malfunction in the area where the crash happened. The complaints wer…

Watch the 2020 Technology of the Year presentation to Kia

CHICAGO — Kia's Blind Spot System won the 2020 Autoblog Technology of the Year Award . Watch the presentation at the 2020 Chicago Auto Show as Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore hands the trophy to Kia Corporate Communications Director James Bell, followed…

Genesis topples Lexus in its first J.D. Power dependability survey

J.D. Power is out with its annual U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study for 2020, which looks at problems experienced by owners of three-year-old vehicles. The big takeaways are continued improvement in overall vehicle dependability, with the brands Genes…