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Camaro RIP: Six generations of Chevy’s iconic muscle car
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 15, 2023
As the Chevy Camaro rides into the sunset this month, here’s a look back at six generations of the iconic sports car from its 1960s roots to its first retirement in 2002 to its triumphant return in 2010 as America’s best-selling muscle car.
The 1960s made the reputation of a number of performance car brands and nameplates: Porsche (911), Jaguar (E-Type), Corvette (Sting Ray), Ford (Mustang). So, too, the Camaro.
Camaro was Chevy’s response to Ford’s wildly popular Mustang coupe. Affordably priced but with the looks of a more expensive European sports car, Ford’s rear-wheel-drive “pony car” sold a staggering 680,995 units in its first, 1965 model year.
Reports of a Chevy competitor surfaced in 1965, codenamed Panther. Legend has it the name Camaro was loosely based on the French word camarade (comrade in English). With a base price of $2,466, Camaro was unveiled in September 1966 as a 1967 model.
First generation: 1967-69
Built on the rear-drive, F-body platform, Camaro boasted a base three-speed automatic gearbox (or manual) paired with a V-6 engine. The model lineup featured a Rally Sport (RS) appearance package, Super Sport (SS) performance package stuffed with either a 5.7 or 6.2-liter V-8 engine, and a track-ready Z28 trim.
Camaro was the pace car for the Indianapolis 500 that year (and again in 1969, 1982, 1993, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016). Camaro sales in year one? Over 220,000.
For its sophomore year, Camaro received subtle styling updates and an optional, 350-horse, 6.5-liter V-8 for the SS. Roger Penske campaigned a blue-and-yellow Camaro in SCCA Trans Am racing, winning the title in 1968 and 1969. On the production side, the ’69 ‘Maro got new sheet metal — and the convertible option was axed, not to return until 1987.
Second generation: 1970-82
For its second act, the Camaro was redesigned longer, lower and wider, with the grille and headlights separated and four Corvette-inspired taillights. Taking learnings from track racing, the suspension was upgraded. Under the hood, engine options ran from the standard 4.1-liter V-6 to the 6.5-liter V-8 in the SS. The move to unleaded gas in 1970 brought less horsepower, with the V-8 falling from 350 horses to 300. Government regs also added a full chrome front bumper.
A 1972 labor strike pinched sales to under 70,000 units and V-8 horsepower numbers declined to 240 horsepower under federal regulations, leading to the discontinuation of the SS. Competitors suffered even more. As the ’70s wore on, Mustang downsized to a Pinto platform and 4-banger engine, while Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda and AMC Javelin all exited the market. As a result, Camaro (and sibling Pontiac Firebird) saw sales soar to over 150,000.
Camaro sales hit a record 282,571 record in 1979 even as the 5.7-liter V-8 was choked to just 185 ponies. The Z28 led the lineup and the coupe sported advances like intermittent windshield wipers, rear windshield defroster, and a T-Top. The decade closed with a shrinking economy and even a shrinking speedometer as the feds mandated an 85 mph limit.
Third generation: 1982-92
With its new chassis, Camaro went on a diet, losing 500 pounds while gaining a sippier, four-cylinder engine to meet federal rules and complement the V-6 and V-8 engines. The front was remade with scalloped headlights — the rear got a hatchback. Model year 1983 brought upgrades like a digital speedo. In 1985, Camaro became the official race car of the International Race of Champions competition featuring pro drivers from different series — and customers got a production IROC-Z variant. In 1986, Camaro kicked the 4-banger to the curb, and the convertible returned for 1987. Still sales lagged.
Fourth generation, 1993-2002
Resisting the industry trend to front-wheel drive models to save fuel, the fourth-gen Camaro debuted on the familiar, solid-rear axle F-body platform with a more streamlined body shape. Production moved out of the United States to Quebec. By 1996, horsepower numbers were back on the rise with the V-6 engine making 200 horsepower and the V-8 a healthy 330 horses. The SS badge returned and was offered as a 30th anniversary model with orange stripes on a white body. Price? 38 grand.
Despite a new front fascia in 1998 with flush, rounded headlights, sales continued to sag to under 30,000 in 2001 and the handwriting was on the wall. In 2002, Chevy pulled the plug on the on Camaro — the last model, a Z28, auctioned off for $70,500.
Fifth generation, 2010-15
A determined team within GM kept the Camaro flame alive after 2002 with convertible concepts teased at the 2006 and 2007 Detroit Auto Shows. The flame became a bonfire in 2007 when the hit movie “Transformers” featured a robot transforming into a classic 1997 Camaro and then the 2007 concept.
Fueled by Hollywood marketing, Camaro was the most searched car online in 2009. The production model hit dealerships for the 2010 model year, rocketing to No. 1 in muscle car sales over Mustang, which had never abandoned its pony car.
Built on the all-new Zeta platform and in LS, LT, and SS trims, Camaro featured a modern, independent rear suspension to counter the ‘Stang’s antiquated solid rear axle. The V-6 engine returned with 312 horsepower, the SS’s 6.2-liter V-8 pumped out 425. In the escalating arms race with Mustang, Camaro launched the 580-horse ZL1, its most powerful model yet.
Sixth generation, 2016-24
Countering Mustang’s Extreme Makeover in 2015, Camaro answered with a nimble, angular sports car with the same Alpha chassis as the Cadillac ATS.
Despite raves from enthusiasts — and a 455-horse V-8 in the SS — sales suffered as customers complained of poor visibility from the narrow greenhouse. Performance trims 1LE and ZL1 continued to raise the bar, with the latter gaining a 650-horse engine and sophisticated magnetic shocks. The 2019 model evolved with an updated fascia and turbo-4, but sales continued to slip behind the Mustang and resurgent Dodge Challenger. With a surge of emissions rules beginning in 2020 — reminiscent of the 1970s — GM decided to sunset its V-8 pony car for the second time to focus on Corvette.
To commemorate its final year of production, Chevrolet released the 2024 Collector’s Edition for all Camaro trims featuring signature Panther Black Metallic paint (a reference to the original 1965 project codename), exterior stripes, black front grille and unique panther badging on the steering wheel and exterior.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Chevrolet says goodbye to Camaro — for now
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 15, 2023
The Chevrolet Camaro will take its last trip down the assembly line this week, but General Motors Co. isn’t dropping the iconic nameplate forever — even though its sales haven’t always been high-powered.
With Chevy’s dive into electrification, it’s expected the next Camaro will have a battery-powered option, especially since Dodge is ending its gas-powered muscle monsters, the Challenger and Charger. GM and other automakers are trying to figure out what to do with their gas-powered muscle and sports cars in the transition to electric vehicles to meet tightening emissions regulations.
Chevrolet has been mum on what’s next for the sports car, but when the brand declared its demise in March, Scott Bell, Chevy’s vice president, said: “While we are not announcing an immediate successor today, rest assured, this is not the end of Camaro’s story.”
The Detroit News requested interviews with brand leaders about the Camaro’s future but received emailed responses instead. Brad Franz, director of Chevrolet car and crossover marketing, said in a statement this week to The News, “As we’ve said, we’re not announcing an immediate successor at this time. But performance remains an important part of Chevrolet’s DNA.”
Franz added that “at the conclusion of model year 2024, the sixth generation Camaro will have completed a strong nine-year lifecycle. Chevrolet made the decision now as a part of continuously evaluating our portfolio offerings for progress toward our EV future and sales demand.”
Chevrolet is offering the Corvette E-Ray hybrid but still has the gas version of the two-seater sports car it’s produced continuously for 70 years. As Dodge wraps production of the gas-powered Charger and Challenger, the Stellantis muscle-car brand plans to roll out a battery-powered Charger in mid-2024.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. is sticking with its gas-powered Mustang, revealing the seventh generation in 2022, though it also sells the all-electric Mustang Mach-E.
For Camaro to go electric may not be easy “with the skepticism around electrification,” said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds Inc., a vehicle information website.
But the performance levels of EVs, which offer instant, seamless torque, could be enough for enthusiasts who just want to drive fast.
“There’s so much compromise of owning a sports car that if all you care about is zero-to-60, just buy yourself an EV,” Drury said. “I don’t care what it is. It’ll be fast enough.”
Whatever the powertrain, Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iseecars.com, an automotive research website, is hoping Camaro’s second comeback is better than its first. Chevy halted production of the fourth-generation Camaro after 2002 and brought it back for a fifth generation in 2010.
“I would love to see them do what they should have done the first time around, which is break from the past,” by making a car that just has some subtle references to the previous generations, he said. “Of course, it will be electrified … but styling-wise and drivetrain-wise, there should be no limitations. It should be as new and cutting edge as possible.”
A ‘passion product’ with challenges
The first cancellation of the Camaro came after 35 years of production, beginning with the 1967 model year. When GM announced in 2001 that it was axing the Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, the automaker said sports car sales had fallen 53% from 1990 to 2000, CNN reported then.
When it came back, Camaro skated to success on the back of its stardom as Bumblebee in “Transformers.” The Camaro performed well in the early 2010s. In 2011, Camaro had a 31% share of the muscle car segment, according to data from Edmunds.
To Franz, the “Camaro is a passion product.”
“It has developed a fan base across the world and has brought people into Chevrolet dealerships for generations,” he said. “The sixth generation specifically represented athleticism and composure — exuding confidence on the road and dominance on the track.”
But Brauer remembers seeing the Camaro’s revived, 2010 version for the first time and feeling disappointed.
“When it first arrived, I wasn’t a fan,” he said. “It looked like a wrong version, or a messed-up version, of a ‘69 Camaro.”
The car also had problems, including visibility issues, an uncomfortable steering wheel and “terrible ergonomics,” Brauer said.
“It was just these little things. There wasn’t any big train-wreck issue,” Brauer said. “If you just kind of looked at it or dealt with it for a long time, it was like, ‘I’m not really a fan.’”
Brauer felt better about the car after its mid-cycle refresh, but he still “didn’t like it.”
“In my mind, it never felt as well-executed as its competitors,” Brauer said. “Mustang and Challenger were just better.”
Sales data from Edmunds show the Camaro’s struggles. Even if it was a shape-shifting star in Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movies, the Camaro consistently failed to surpass its crosstown rivals.
The Camaro has 13% of the market, placing last in the muscle-car segment, which includes the Corvette, Charger, Challenger and Mustang, according to Edmunds’ data. The Charger leads the segment with 33%, followed by Mustang at 20%, Challenger at 19% and Corvette at 14%.
The Camaro’s current market share is better than 2022’s 10% and 2021’s 9% but far from the 20.7% it had in 2017 and the 24.8% share in 2013.
“Camaro production has been closely managed in recent years to maintain healthy demand and has been one of our fastest-turning products,” Frantz said. “The decision to end production of Camaro comes as a result of balancing several business decisions.”
In a filing to the state on Thursday, GM said 369 employees at the Lansing Grand River plant would be laid off because of the loss of the Camaro, which is built there alongside the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans.
The company did say it “anticipates having job opportunities for all impacted team members.”
Under the new United Auto Workers-GM contract ratified in November, the Lansing plant will receive a $1.25 billion investment for future EVs. Details on those EVs have not been released.
Enthusiasts send off an icon
Former Camaro Marketing Manager Scott Settlemire, 69, is known as the “Godfather of the Camaro” for his tireless efforts promoting the muscle car — and then bringing it back to life after its first retirement in 2002.
To GM insiders, he’s known as the “F-bodfather,” since he presided over the last generation of Camaro built on the F-body chassis from 1993 until production halted in 2002.
“It was like losing a member of the family,” recalls Settlemire. But he didn’t give up, helping lead an internal team of Camaro advocates that brought the pony back from the grave in 2010. The fifth-generation model was met with wide acclaim, topping the muscle car sales charts from 2010-14.
Now that the Camaro has been nixed again, Settlemire feels “a similar void.”
“In the current regulatory environment, GM can’t make both a V-8 Corvette and Camaro,” Settlemire, who hung up his GM hat in 2016, said of government rules forcing an end to internal combustion engines by 2035. “I like to say the car is on hiatus. I hope that someone is fighting to keep the Camaro alive inside GM.”
Settlemire, who lives in Mars, Pennsylvania, still owns three Camaros: a red 2010 RS that his mother once drove; a yellow 2008 SS RS manual that was part of the pre-production, fifth-gen test fleet; and a silver 2002 SS Brickyard Festival model in pace car livery.
The license plate on the 2002 SS reads “F-BODFATHER.”
“We’ve lived through this before, and we saw club participation slightly decline,” said Paul Denski, 68, of Plymouth, who is president of the Eastern Michigan Camaro Club. “But when it came back, Chevy hit a home run.”
Like a lot of Camaro faithful, Denski fears it will return as an electric vehicle because of government emissions rules.
“Camaro is a car for America’s back roads. And I don’t see electric chargers coming to the bottom of Tail of the Dragon anytime soon,” said Denski, who has taken frequent trips to Florida in a Camaro — including along the famed, rural, 11-mile section of U.S. 129 through North Carolina. “I don’t like government saying we all have to go EV. I don’t have a choice.”
Denski said the Camaro club will stay healthy “because it’s all about the people you meet. We don’t have a lot of trailer queens — we do a lot of road trips together.” Save for his 2018 COPO Camaro dragster (“I’m too old for that stuff”), he regularly drives his 1967 RS/SS, 2010 2SS, and 2017 ZL1 convertible.
Road trips demand Camaro coupes, and Denski says the value of Camaros all the way back to the first generation remain strong. “There are still 2015 Z28s out there for sale if you want to do the Dragon,” he said of the fire-breathing performance model.
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Payne: Here is the 2023 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 14, 2023
I tested over 60 new cars this year. The most common question I’m asked: which was the best?
The 2024 McLaren Artura, no doubt.
If I were to take you for a ride, you’d be talking about it for the rest of the week (maybe longer, judging by my friends). Scissor doors, body like Megan Fox, carbon-fiber chassis that grips like black on asphalt, twin-turbo engine from the gods. But at $289,175, most of us would have to sell our house to afford it.
So the “Best Car I’ve Driven” and “The Detroit News Vehicle of the Year” are often two different things. Our focus is on cars that possess affordability (only vehicles under $100,000 are eligible), utility, fun, personality — and that secret sauce that makes them special. Past winners include gems like the Chevy Corvette C8, Chrysler Pacifica, Ford Maverick and Tesla Model 3.
In 2023, automotive fashion was clear: the industry (with a shove from the government) is going all-electric and (not coincidentally) vehicles are getting really expensive. I’ve tested plenty of worthy EVs, from the handsome Hyundai Ioniq 6 to the efficient Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck. But EVs are a niche product (at least until gas cars are banned), and customers have never had such a cornucopia of gas, diesel, EV and hybrid choices. There are midsize pickup trucks like the Toyota Tacoma and Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon twins, hybrid sedans like the Honda Accord and ugly-duckling-turned-swan Toyota Prius, and impressive SUV debuts from the Dodge Hornet and Mazda CX-90.
Oh, man, I could fill a shopping cart in a hurry. But we narrowed the choices to three finalists: Chevy Trax/Buick Envista, Ford Mustang and Subaru Impreza. The envelope, please:
Third place: Chevy Trax/Buick Envista
The Chevrolet brand’s halo Corvette wowed this year with the sensational Z06 and all-wheel-drive E-Ray variants that, for $110K, are the performance equal of the McLaren but for, ahem, less than half the price. Value is at the core of Chevy’s DNA, whether supercars or compact cars, and the all-new Trax SUV came at just the right time.
Auto prices have accelerated beyond the reach of working-class Americans with the average new price at $48K — nearly 30% higher than five years ago, according to Cox Automotive. Most concerning is the lack of entry-level, $20K chariots — much less sub-$20k vehicles, which have virtually ceased to exist.
One of my favorite entry-level SUVs, the frisky Jeep Renegade, debuted at $19K in 2015 and is bowing out with a sticker price at over $28K! Ouch.
Happily, Trax bucked the trend with a stylish ute that is easy on the wallet yet better than the first-gen Trax in every way: more performance, more rear leg room, more digital screens, more wireless smartphone goodies.
I took a base, $21K Trax up the Chimney Rock hill climb in North Carolina 50 years after my father set the course record there in a Porsche 904. The American may not have the German’s speed, but it has amenities the sportscar could only dream about. Wireless Android Auto guided me to Chimney Rock while a wireless pad charged the phone. And though it won’t set any track records, the well-engineered Trax is still fun to drive while carrying four people in its roomy cabin.
If you have a few more dollars in your pocket, Buick offers its $28K Envista on the same platform as Trax but with the styling of a luxury vehicle costing twice that. At a staggering $15K less than a comparable BMW X1, Envista is a steal.
Runner-up: Subaru Impreza
“What car should my kid get?” is another common question I hear. The Impreza is one of my perennial recommendations with its affordable, sub-$25K sticker price, standard all-wheel-drive and low-center-of-gravity Boxer engine. Yeah, yeah, SUVs are all the rage — and the Impreza has a Crosstrek SUV twin — but the hatchback Impreza is not only cheaper but has better handling for when, say, your kid suddenly finds themselves on an icy road.
For 2024, that hatchback utility now comes standard to complement Subie’s signature AWD. The Trax/Envista’s one shortcoming is the lack of an AWD option for Michigan’s wintry climate (the Payne family speaks from experience, where Imprezas made it up our hilly driveway when our front/rear-wheel-drive cars have struggled).
Like its fellow Boxer-engine mate, Porsche, Subaru makes evolutionary changes from generation to generation, but the sixth-gen car makes an important leap: a huge, 11.6-inch Tesla-like console screen now anchors the console, putting infotainment, climate and feature settings at your fingertips. This is a thoroughly modern Subie with Android Auto/Apple CarPlay for just $24,085.
Winner: Ford Mustang
I’m a fan of EVs, but there is a sameness to their quiet motors and slippery shapes that maximize battery range.
No one will confuse the boisterous 2024 Ford Mustang for anything else.
This American icon is all-new for its seventh generation with a 5.0-liter V-8 engine that you can hear coming from Kansas. WAUUUUURGH! I am just as bullish on the pony’s standard turbo-4 engine which — despite half the cylinders — still exhibits a lovely growl, and the ‘Stang with that powerplant is more tossable in the twisties thanks to its lighter weight.
While Mustang’s Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro classmates bowed out this year under assault from the emissions nannies, Ford shrewdly kept its pony car in production as part of a larger-brand electrification strategy. The badass engines are complemented by a badass design that is modern while evoking the coupe’s classic, 1960s, coke-bottle shape. But the real revelation here is the modern interior with twin digital screens designed by game-maker Unreal Engine. The graphics are unreal.
Mustang is one of the most accessible sports cars in the world thanks to not just to its sticker price, but to its ubiquitous presence in rental fleets. So run, don’t walk, to the Hertz Mustang aisle to experience it.
If Mustang is a breath of fresh air in these conformist EV times, its sticker price is not the bargain it used to be. The base price soars over $30K to $32,515 — a whopping $3,370 over the last gen. Want the Dark Horse performance model and its wailing, eat-your-heart-out-EVs, 166-mph-top-speed, 500-horsepower V-8? You’ll have to pay Corvette money at over 60 grand.
Ouch. It’s the price we pay for Mustang’s secret sauce. Long live the V-8.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Chevy Blazer EV is a $60k smartphone on wheels
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 14, 2023
San Diego — Tesla Inc. may dominate headlines with its sci-fi Cybertruck, (purportedly) self-driving cars and stratospheric stock valuations, but among legacy automakers, General Motors Co. is no less radical. The General has staked its future as an all-electric technology company under the banner, “Zero. Zero. Zero.” Zero emission, zero crashes, zero congestion.
The 2024 Chevy Blazer EV is the first real glimpse of that future.
It is the latest model built with GM’s common Ultium electric architecture, but — unlike the niche-focused GMC Hummer EV moon-shot, bling-tastic Cadillac Lyriq, or Chevy Silverado EV pickup work tool — Blazer EV is a mainstream, volume family vehicle planned to replace its gas peer.
Compared to its small, competitive electric set — Tesla Model X, BMW iX, Kia EV6, Vinfast VF8 — the midsize Blazer EV is a compelling vehicle. Compared to the internal combustion engine Blazer, it is Exhibit A in how jarring a government-forced transition to EVs will be.
First, the competitive set.
Like the Tesla Model X, a smartphone on wheels I first drove in 2017, Blazer EV is more device than automobile. Keyless operation, column shifter, regenerative braking for one-pedal driving. Unlike Tesla, it accomplishes its task without gull-wing doors, yoke steering wheel and mono-screen. Blazer EV takes a more familiar route for our smartphone-run, autonomous future. If Tesla is Apple, think of Chevy as Android.
Tesla has pursued a vertical, proprietary business model from building its own, Linux-based operating system (buying Google data for navigation) to building its own charger network. Like Android, GM is more horizontal — buying its OS from Google (Google Built-In) and relying on third-party chargers. The result is a device — er, automobile — that became an extension of my Android phone.
With the key fob in my pocket, Blazer unlocked as I approached and locked when I walked away. Inside, I woke the twin, 11-inch instrument and 17.7-inch dash screens with a touch of the brake pedal.
“The screens are very icon-based — like smartphones,” said Blazer product marketing manager Chris Boman at our media test in sunny SoCal. “They are easy to use, which is one of the benefits of Google Built-In.”
“Hey, Google, navigate to Las Vegas,” I commanded, and the screen methodically charted my course, complete with charging details. GM admits the shortcomings of third-party chargers (like ensuring they, um, work) compared with Tesla. But Chevy adds helpful details like ensuring the SUV reaches its destination with 30% of range so you’re not stranded upon arrival. In keeping with that common-sense approach, Blazer EV eschews Tesla’s Spaceballs obsession with performance — Insane, Ludicrous, Plaid mode, take your pick — for a more serene ride.
On long drives, Blazer EV’s semi-autonomous Super Cruise system (available on all models) beats Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD) as a true hands-free system.
“The Blazer EV contributes to our zero, zero, zero future as an EV with zero tailpipe emissions,” said Boman. “It aspires to zero crashes with its standard, comprehensive, safety-assist system. And it aims for zero congestion with our automated Super Cruise system.”
GM’s zero, zero, zero vision ultimately lies with the pod-like, driverless Cruise Origin. Sit in the hushed, spacious, passenger-focused back seat of Blazer EV and that dream feels much closer than the tight back seat of Cruise’s Chevy Bolt that I autonomously rode through Frisco a year ago.
But judged against the broader auto marketplace, my $60,215, all-wheel-drive Blazer EV RS has tough competition from the comparable $47,465 all-wheel-drive Blazer ICE RS across the showroom.
At 564 miles, the Blazer ICE has double the range of Blazer EV. To achieve its 279-mile range figure, EV AWD’s 85 kWh battery lards on 900 more pounds (a longer range, 324-mile, 102 kWh battery is also available) compared to its 4,313-pound gas stablemate.
The resulting 5,235-pound, battery-powered behemoth — about the weight of a V8-powered Chevy Silverado Trail Boss pickup — requires an attitude adjustment. Whether the Blazer or Camaro sports car or compact Trax ute, ICE Chevys have always been fun to toss through the twisties. But the girth of Blazer EV robs it of corner-carving aspirations.
Bury my right foot in SPORT mode and Blazer EV’s 0-60 mph acceleration is a smooth-but-hardly-urgent 6.0 seconds — on par with its V6-powered ICE sibling. Despite losing its front engine and gaining nine inches of wheelbase, the EV matches the interior volume of its 112.7-inch-wheelbase ICE sibling.
Front occupants gain three inches of legroom (44 inches compared to 41 for the ICE model) but the rear seat is smaller (38.9 inches vs. 39.6) and cargo shrinks from 30.5 cubic feet to 25.5. Drop the second-row seats and cargo space is 59.1 cubic feet for EV, 64.2 for ICE. OG FTW.
Despite the substantial price hike from EV to ICE, I was disappointed Blazer EV hadn’t caught Silverado EV’s frunk fever. Similar Tesla Model Y and Ford Mustang Mach-E skateboard chassis boast front trunks, but Blazer EV punts.
Frunks require extensive engineering and Blazer EV wants to keep it simple. It’s available as a $57,710, all-wheel-drive LT model (a sub-$50k FWD LT should come in a year), $61k rear-wheel-drive RS or my $60k, AWD RS. The interior shares Blazer ICE’s fondness for Camaro-like rotary vents, but the dual, digital dash screens are common to Silverado EV and the upcoming Equinox EV. Its U.S.-sourced battery pack will likely gain approval for the coveted $7,500 federal tax subsidy, but manufacturing is in Mexico to avoid soaring UAW labor costs.
“By manufacturing everything with the same Ultium drivetrain, we get economies of scale and everything becomes easier to manage,” Boman said of a future where Ultium replaces an assortment of V-8, V-6 and I-4 engines. “We’ll only have to do the engineering once for all our vehicles.”
Curiously, then, the Blazer EV is priced right on top of the similarly-contented, $57k, RWD Cadillac Lyriq — despite the Caddy’s unique, 33-inch mono-screen, jeweled interior and front grille light show. That’s well above the $40k average transaction price of a gas-powered Blazer.
The Caddy is a bargain compared to the $80k Tesla Model X. What to call my $60k Chevy EV RS?
With its horizontal front LED strip, raccoon-eyed headlights and chiseled bod, Blazer fits in with its new EV family. Like smartphones, except for their increasing size. EVs are unlike smartphones in one crucial respect, however: convenience.
Blazer EV will add 69 miles in 10 minutes at a fast charger, ICE Blazer will add 500 in three at the pump. Because of government regulations pushing the industry toward EVs, consumers will have to adjust to life with the cord.
As governments nix new Blazer ICE sales over the next few years, Chevy customers may embrace Blazer EV’s technology. Or will they walk across the dealer lot and buy a pre-owned, Blazer ICE’s convenience?
GM’s EV future won’t come with zero compromise.
2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, front, rear, and all-wheel drive, five-passenger SUV
Price: $57,710 including $1,395 destination ($60,215 EV RS AWD as tested)
Powerplant: 85 kWh or 102 kWh lithium-ion battery mated to electric motor(s)
Power: 288 horsepower, 333 pound-feet of torque (Blazer EV LT AWD and RS AWD); 340 horsepower, 325 pound-feet of torque (Blazer EV RS RWD)
Transmission: single-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.0 seconds (Motor Trend); towing, 1,500 pounds
Weight: 5,000-5,500 pounds (5,235 pounds as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA est. range, 279 miles (AWD, 85 kWh battery); 324 (RWD, 102 kWh battery)
Report card
Highs: Tech-tastic Google Built-In; superior size compared to EV competitors
Lows: Heavy handling; lacks Blazer ICE’s road-trip convenience
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Detroit Grand Prix gears up for 2024 with new pavement, more racecars
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 14, 2023
It’s December in the Motor City, but June’s Detroit Grand Prix is already warming up.
Asphalt paving machines have laid down a new Turn 3 braking zone at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street, tailgating spots have been added, and — just in time for the holidays — tickets are on sale for the May 31-June 2 event, the sixth race on the 2024 NTT IndyCar calendar.
After a successful return to downtown streets last summer, the 2024 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear expands to include the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, featuring wicked-quick prototypes from Detroit icons Penske-Porsche and Cadillac and an angry herd of GT racers including Corvette, Mustang and Porsche. Like IMSA, IndyCar is going hybrid in 2024 — but don’t expect the IndyCar hybrid machines to be ready in time for the Detroit GP (or IndyCar’s signature event, the Indy 500, the weekend before).
“We’ll have a lot more on-track action this year,” said Bud Denker, chairman of the GP, in an interview. “We’ve added the IMSA series with the Porsches racing against the Cadillacs, Acuras and BMWs on Saturday. Then the IndyCars are the stars on Sunday.”
Spectators and a national television audience were treated to a thrilling, 100-lap shootout in ’23, but drivers still saw room for improvement.
Turn 3, the hairpin at the end of the long back straight, was judged difficult to pass by drivers due to the rough braking zone. So organizers have paved the full 750-foot patch leading into the brake zone for better grip.
“The real metric of a competitive track is how many passes did you have? We had 189 in last year’s Sunday race,” said Denker. “The feedback we got back from drivers was: can you do more paving on Jefferson Avenue into the braking zone? They’re going from about 185 mph there to about 30 mph.”
A big change coming to IndyCar next season is a switch to Chevrolet and Honda hybrid engines with an electric motor and battery paired with a twin-turbo, 2.2-liter V-6 engine for an expected 850 horsepower — 100 more than last year.
“Look at the manufacturers and what’s important for them: electrification,” said Denker. “We will introduce hybrid tech sometime after the Indy 500. We need more testing and units — we want to make sure that, when we go racing, the technology is bulletproof.”
He noted that IndyCar is the first race series to run 100% renewable fuel — a biomass-derived formula that debuted last year and is rated as carbon neutral by the U.S. Department of Energy — a key metric for manufacturers like Chevrolet and Honda that are the backbone of the series. The international Formula One series follows in IndyCar footsteps with a synthetic fuel in 2026.
Don’t expect IndyCar’s hybrid engine to debut in Detroit. IMSA’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on Saturday, June 1, will feature hybrid prototypes that debuted in 2023. Typically a part of the Detroit event, IMSA missed last year due to a scheduling conflict with France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indy 500 of the international sportscar world.
The 2024 IMSA race will pit Detroit icons Penske and Cadillac against one another. Penske manages the Porsche 963 race team, while Cadillac’s fleet of GTP racers will be looking to win in GM’s backyard.
“I’ll be a little bifurcated,” laughed Denker, who is also president of Penske Corporation. “If it wasn’t for General Motors, Chevy, and Cadillac we wouldn’t have the event downtown.”
Penske Corp also owns IndyCar, and the series benefited from a six-episode TV series, “100 Days to Indy,” that debuted in 2023 on The CW network and tracked IndyCar stars through the 500 — the last episode airing just before the Detroit GP. The series drew a healthy 4 million viewers, and Denker expects its renewal in 2024.
Also new to IndyCar last year was the dual pit lane — a Detroit GP innovation with a total of 28 pit stalls to house the different series on tap. Surrounded by downtown buildings, the pit lane is a beehive of action where races can be won or lost. Event organizers have expanded fan viewing of the area with new-for-2024 Tailgating ticket packages.
“We weren’t sure how (the dual pit lane) was going to work out, but it worked well,” smiled Denker. “Parking decks were loaded with fans — seven decks full watching the action — so this year we’re going to put a party deck on top of those rooftops plus a tailgate area. Bring your car, SUV, and we’ll give you the space.”
Just like a UM football game, fans will be able to purchase a tailgate pass for the event. Unlike Michigan football, tailgaters can back their vehicles right up to the action in Franklin Garage, overlooking the pit lane and main straight.
Those rooftop locations have been expanded as well. In 2023 rooftop views were offered atop the Renaissance Center Garage along the Detroit Riverfront, overlooking Turns 5-7. This year, Franklin Street Garage gets a rooftop deck as does the Port Atwater Garage for expansive views of the Detroit skyline as well as track action.
The circuit’s seven grandstands were sold out on Sunday last year, yet fans still had free access across half of the venue, bringing weekend attendance to an estimated 150,000. Free areas include Hart Plaza, Spirit Plaza, Detroit Riverwalk and the Jefferson Avenue straightaway. Organizers credit the free access and steady stream of live music for the biggest 25 to 30-year old-demographics in the event’s history.
Motown is Corvette town and owners can purchase tickets to a Corvette Corral that includes on-track parade laps. Other pay-for-view options include a Turn 3 Hospitality Club and Pit Lane Suites. In addition to IndyCar and IMSA, fans will get a look at open-wheel racing’s future stars in the INDY NXT series.
Sunday’s IndyCar feature will be televised by USA Network. Tickets are available online at www.DetroitGP.com/Tickets or through the event’s Ticket Hotline at 866-464-PRIX (7749).
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Family Thanksgiving in the 3-row Acura MDX Type S
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 7, 2023
Detroit — Dinner in Motown, Wings game, paddle tennis, shopping, Bocce ball, dinner, snow, snow and let it snow. Just your typical jam-packed Thanksgiving weekend for the Payne family six-pack of mom, dad, two boys and their wives.
Good thing we had a three-row, six-seat SUV to negotiate it all.
This week’s test mule was a 2024 Acura MDX SH-AWD Type S, the halo model in the brand’s lineup now that the NSX supercar has been retired. Gone but not forgotten. Though the second-generation hybrid NSX didn’t achieve the critical (or sales) acclaim of the original 1989 NSX (blessed by the legendary F1 star Ayrton Senna himself), it inspired a new generation of Acura interiors.
The NSX’s unique trigger shifter ‘n’ Drive Mode dial is replicated in the MDX, and I rotated the dial to SPORT mode as we entered an S-turn in Oakland County. The V6-fired MDX has also inherited the NSX’s sporty DNA, and the mid-size ute is surprisingly nimble through the twisties. I flicked the MDX left then right, followed by generous throttle on exit onto an uphill straightaway.
“VRRROOM!” growled the 355 horses up front.
“HEEEEYY!” came the cry from the third row.
“Yes, yes. Just having a little fun!” I protested. “Not bad for a three-row family SUV, yes?” With that I got universal agreement, and I settled back into my primary duties: chauffeuring the family to a downtown Red Wings game.
The MDX’s red leather interior — available on all Acura models — not only matched our Wings-colored shirts and sweaters, but drew high praise from the family. Especially my son, Henry, who owns a similarly equipped Mazda3 Turbo. Red is rad and Acura makes good use of it throughout its lineup.
Picking straws for who got to sit in the third row was less popular. Competitors Mazda CX-90, Jeep Grand Cherokee L and Infiniti QX60 boast three rows that are so roomy that, at 6’5”, I can sit behind myself sitting behind myself in the last row. Impressive. Not so the MDX, where I would have to remove my legs to sit in the back. In the MDX, the third row requires planning on who sits there.
Be sure to put your smallest passenger in the back — in our case, my 5’5” wife and daughter-in-law Erica. Once seated, they felt a bit claustrophobic — which is where the MDX’s ambidextrous second-row middle seat comes to the rescue.
Honda brands have always been creative with seats (see the ridiculously capable Magic Seat in the late Honda Fit), and the MDX is no different. Check out the cool middle seat. If we had seven in our party — say a grandchild — then we would have utilized it. But with just two in the middle row, we folded the middle seat back down — exposing twin cupholders for use between the occupants. Or you can just remove the middle seat entirely with a pull on the strap poking out from the base, creating a middle aisle for the third-row passengers.
Our crew opted for the cupholder option — which also opened a sightline for the third-row gals. Together with the panoramic roof, it kept claustrophobia at bay.
The Type S is stuffed like a turkey with the latest equipment — blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control, head-up display — all of which I used liberally on our Lodge commute to the game.
Some would say overstuffed.
In addition to the trigger shifter and fat Drive Mode knob, Acura also decided to innovate a console mousepad on the MDX, complete with hand-rest to steady your fingers during operation. The effect is inefficient console space once you include a phone charger (which sits below the mouse hand-rest) and cupholders. The MDX would be better off with a good ol’ touchscreen.
Or, for those who prefer BMW-like remotely-operated screens, the latest Mazda CX-90’s rotary dial is more intuitive. Indeed, the MDX’s luxury play — Bimmer X5-like nimble-handling but for $15K less — has been eclipsed by the larger, lovelier Mazda’s even more ambitious premium proposition: BMW-like, inline-6 cylinder wrapped in an athletic chassis and lush interior for 10 grand less than the Acura. Zoom zoom.
Truck-based three-row cruise ships like the Cadillac Escalads and Lincoln Navigator may have more interior room than the MDX, but I didn’t envy them parking downtown in tight lots for the game. We entered a jammed surface lot adjacent to Little Caesars Arena, parked effortlessly and were on our way to dinner.
The arena doesn’t allow purses inside (what th-?) and Mrs. Payne was thankful for the MDX’s clever sub-storage under the rear cargo floor, where she stowed her bag.
That cargo space is also big enough to pick up four people at the airport with four carry-on bags (fold one of the third-row seats down, seat three people in the second row), or pack with gifts after a big day at the mall.
For all their interior room, three-row utes can often be intimidating to drive given their size and ample blind spots. But on the way back from a spirited game of Bocce ball in Auburn Hills, my daughter-in-law Amanda warmed quickly to the Acura’s tight handling and spirited engine.
She merged with authority onto I-75, was impressed by the big ute’s tight chassis, then set adaptive cruise control to 80 mph to create a cocoon around her. Her review didn’t include snow, but after the family had taken to the friendly skies Saturday to return to Seattle and New Jersey, the heavens buried us with snowflakes on Sunday.
MDX comes standard with front-wheel-drive, but the Type S puts the power down efficiently (zero-60 in 5.5 seconds, or, ahem, the same time as Senna’s old NSX) with torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive that throws the power to the wheel that’s needed – including accelerating the outside rear wheel for good corner rotation. That same torque-vectoring aids traction in slippery conditions, and I spent Sunday running errands.
A pity Acura has left some tech at the curb. MDX doesn’t follow Ford, Mercedes and Tesla in offering a self-park feature. Acura also ditched its NSX-inspired, hybrid, AWD system in 2022 — complete with rear electric motor just like the supercar. Such tech would have impressed younger generation tech-savvy Paynes.
I suspect the hybrid bit the dust because of its towing limitations — Acura didn’t even recommend a tow number. In its stead is the Type S with a 5,000-pound tow rating and compelling acceleration.
With its wide stance and angular features, the MDX has an aggressive design to match its Type S aggression. Just give the third-row passengers warning before you start carving apexes.
Next week: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year
2024 Acura MDX
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger SUV
Price: $51,045 including $1,195 destination fee ($75,296 Type S Advance model as tested)
Powerplant: 3.5-liter V-6; 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6
Power: 290 horsepower, 267 pound-feet torque (V-6); 355 horsepower, 354 pound-feet torque (turbo V-6)
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Weight: 4,741 pounds (Type S as tested)
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.5 seconds (Car and Driver); 5,000 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg: 19 city/25 highway/21 combined (AWD V-6); 17 city/21 highway/19 combined (AWD turbo-V6)
Report card
Highs: Nimble handling for a big SUV; easy third-row access
Lows: Crowded console; tight third row
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
The new Motor City? California is home to the 21st century auto startup boom
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 4, 2023
Los Angeles — On a sunny afternoon this fall, automotive engineers and marketers with Mullen Automotive welcomed new customers to check out a fleet of brands, including SUVs, utility trucks and a sports car. The customers got test rides with experts and a look at future products.
But the startup automaker isn’t located in Motor City, Michigan. It’s in Los Angeles.
The auto industry is experiencing a bloom of startups not seen since the early 20th century. But where Metro Detroit and its deep resources of human, entrepreneurial talent were at the center of the 20th-century auto revolution — a sort of automotive Silicon Valley — that startup synergy has shifted today to California.
Startup automakers like Mullen, Canoo Inc., Lucid Motors, Tesla Inc., Faraday Future, Fisker Inc. and others draw on extensive automotive — and software — talent needed to make a new generation of electric vehicles. While automakers of all varieties — startups, legacy, foreign transplants — still rely on Detroit’s extensive expertise, the EV gold rush, electronics revolution and non-union manufacturing have democratized the auto industry away from Michigan towards California and southern auto plants.
Even companies like Rivian Automotive Inc. and Bollinger Motors, which opened their first offices in Metro Detroit, lean heavily on California for talent and capital.
Mullen now owns a 60% stake in Oak Park-based Bollinger, a rare EV startup headquartered in Michigan. While Bollinger’s Oak Park operation is focused on heavy-duty, heavily-government-subsidized Class 4 and 5 commercial trucks, Mullen wants to manufacture the brand’s consumer-focused B1 SUV and B2 pickup truck.
“We plan to produce the Bollinger models along with the rest of our product portfolio: the Mullen 5 SUV, GT sportscar, and Class 1 and 3 vehicles,” said Mullen sales director Robert Sanseverino as he stood in front of the Bollinger B2 pickup in Mullen’s sprawling consumer display in Pasadena’s Santa Anita Park.
Sanseverino, a retired, 30-year Ford marketing veteran, is an example of California’s sprawling, human infrastructure essential to startups like Mullen. Sanseverino’s vice president for commercial sales is Don Borthwick, another Ford veteran.
“We started producing the Mullen Three at our assembly plant in Tunica, Mississippi, this summer,” said Borthwick of the company’s Class 3 EV truck — rebadged from a vehicle sold in China by SAIC Motor, China’s largest automaker. Mullen Three production will be followed by the Mullen One — a rebadged EV cargo van created by China’s Wuling Motors.
“These commercial vehicles get us on an early revenue path, then we can move to the retail market in 2025 and our Bollinger, Mullen 5 and GT models,” said Borthwick.
Part of California’s attraction to startups is its healthy EV market — Tesla’s Model Y and 3 are the best-selling models here — that accounts for over 40% of U.S. EV sales. Battery-powered vehicles are as fashionable as Lululemon and Nike clothing in the country’s biggest state economy.
“I was attracted to the styling of the Mullen 5 when I saw it at the LA Auto Show in 2021,” said Tom Aylesbury, 60, of Pasadena, while ogling a Mullen 5. “I like the Bollinger, too, but I’m looking for a small SUV, and I find the Tesla hard to operate.”
Not only does California’s government subsidize EV sales, it’s also requiring companies to buy EVs for their commercial fleets — a target of Mullen’s Class 1-3 models.
But California is also attractive to startups because EVs — whose simpler, electric-motor drivetrains don’t depend on Detroit’s vast internal combustion engine expertise — are the cutting edge of a fundamental shift in the industry toward digitization. From electronic suspension and navigation systems to electric motors, vehicles today require extensive computer coding to run.
The center of the coding universe is California.
“The core of automobiles now — especially the EVs that all these startups are making — is software,” said veteran iSeeCars.com auto analyst Karl Brauer, who lives in Orange County south of LA. “And the most fertile soil in the world for programmers is the West Coast. There are massive numbers of coders here. They are young, they like California sunshine and they are in demand.”
Brauer points to Irvine-based Rivian and CEO RJ Scaringe, who initially located in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth “where he got industry cred for hiring veterans who knew how to screw a car together.”
“Ultimately, Scaringe moved company headquarters here, which is where Tesla and Lucid and Fisker and these other EV companies are and where the coding talent is. And, honestly, where the weather is perfect, and you don’t have to put up with long winters in the Michigan Rust Belt,” Brauer said.
These inherent California advantages are buttressed by an auto infrastructure that mirrors Michigan in many ways. Los Angeles has been home to cutting-edge auto design for years, courtesy of Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design. It’s produced luminaries such as Tesla design boss Franz Von Holzhausen, Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker, Lucid exterior design manager Jiyeon Jenny Ha, and Acura brand manager Jon Ikeda.
Major automakers have maintained design shops here to take advantage of the ArtCenter’s pipeline of talent. The state’s racing and performance-car culture has attracted engineering talent found in LA-based Honda Performance Development and the Toyota Research and Development center. Tesla built its first factory on the bones of NUMMI manufacturing, a former joint GM-Toyota operation in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
Even as Toyota pulled up stakes in LA and moved its North American headquarters to Texas, many of its employees stayed behind and were gobbled up by EV startups.
Employees like Raul Garcia, 40, of Costa Mesa, a skilled testing technician who went to work for EV startup Faraday rather than move out of state.
“I worked for Faraday for eight years as a technician testing drivability, range and powertrains,” said Garcia. “In startups, you’re all over the place, doing different things, and I liked that.”
Mullen Engineering Build Manager Mitchell Dyche got his mechanical engineering degree from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona in 2010 and did stints with motorsports programs and performance carmaker Saleen before Mullen signed him up. He showed off the Mullen 5 RS (the 5’s performance variant) with neck-snapping, Tesla Plaid-like acceleration.
Will California’s EV startup boom bring the same sustained auto employment that the Motor City has enjoyed for a century?
Tesla’s trillion-dollar valuation is the model, but most startups don’t know where their next capital meal is coming from.
“There are a lot of startups offering work in LA like Canoo, Rivian and Mullen — but there is a lot of fluctuation depending on funding,” said Garcia, now a Toyota associate auto technician in LA. “I went back to work at Toyota TRD in their fuel cell program. TRD has a start-up feel to it, and we have rich parents (in Toyota), which gives more security.”
Nearly 300 startups tried to make a go of it in the early 1900s, but you can count the number of viable 21st-century startups on two hands. They are competing against a mature industry and customer base comfortable with ICEs. Mullen, for example, his picked niche EV segments — Class 1 and 3 utility vehicles — that legacy automakers ignore. As it gets into volume segments like pickups and SUVs with its Bollinger and Mullen models, capital requirements will skyrocket.
Analyst Brauer predicts a shakeout: “There has been a lot of government money supporting these companies, and — while the traditional automakers have taken a while to get into the EV space — they are there now. There is a culling coming.”
California is also a difficult place to do business with high taxes and regulations that helped drive Toyota, Nissan — even its golden child, Tesla — out of state. Both Michigan and California have lost manufacturing to right-to-work, low-energy-cost states. Mullen, Rivian, Fisker, Lucid and Tesla have all located manufacturing outside California in plants where they can move quickly, unencumbered by union rules.
“With modern production methods continuing to move to computer-assisted design and more software, developers can be anywhere,” Brauer said. “From design to engineering to production, automakers have multiple locations to choose from.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Toyota Taco’s tasty new recipe
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 30, 2023
Los Angeles — Like LeBron James in the National Basketball Association, the Toyota Tacoma has been the premier player in its arena — the mid-size pickup segment — for the last two decades. Whether in sport or autos, that’s a long time in a ferociously competitive environment. James has competed against champions like Tayshaun Prince, Paul Pierce, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant. Tacoma has outsold the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier.
But you don’t stay on top by sitting on your laurels.
For 2024, the Taco is all-new with major upgrades to keep up with the competition while maintaining its core off-road and reliability talents. The changes are immediately apparent on road. With good off-road instincts courtesy of high approach angle, detachable front sway-bar and tough ladder frame — Tacoma first topped the sales charts in 2005. But it was less sure-footed on-road.
Sitting on an aging 2009 chassis, the Toyota was loud ‘n’ loose on asphalt in contrast to the remade GM twins and Frontier. For ‘24, Taco has risen to the challenge by adopting a multi-link, coil-over-shock rear suspension on up-trim TRD models — a trick inspired by big brother Tundra (and the OG Ram 1500).
I flogged a Tacoma TRD Sport over north LA’s twisted Mulholland Drive — behavior that would have sent me flying into the Pacific Ocean on the last-gen truck. I missed the bass of Taco’s ol’ V-6 engine — a casualty of emissions regulations forcing automakers toward electric vehicles. Toyota’s answer is not electric (a liability in affordable trucks tasked with towing and off-roading) but a 2.4-liter turbo-4 with three power variants to choose from, belting out between 228 and 278 horsepower with an electronically-enhanced bark.
“Customers like the authority of V-8s and V-6s, but as we reduce cylinder size, it gets tougher to do with four cylinders,” smiled engineer Sheldon Brown, Taco’s chief chef.
The growl works, and my right foot kept mashing the pedal for more. Taco has also upgraded its automatic transmission from six to eight speeds for better fuel economy and added a front apron for better aerodynamics. Multi-speed boxes can annoy by hunting for gears, but — even as I repeatedly gave it the gas — the Taco responded with crisp, authoritative shifts. As for the skirt, take it off to take advantage of the truck’s 34.4-degree off-road approach angle.
The turbo-4’s macho voice is only available in sporty TRD models like the $40,000-plus TRD XtraCab PreRunner and Double Cab that I test drove. It’s worth the cash if you have it. So is the smaller two-door XtraCab. Indeed, despite deep-sixing the V-6, Taco is LeBron-like in its dexterity — preserving customer choice by offering two cabs, two bed options (5-foot and 6-foot), rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, and automatic/manual transmissions.
“We wanted to aggressively defend our entry point,” said Brown.
Most Tacos will sell as Double Cabs, but the two-door has features the four-door can’t match. The front passenger seat folds flat (shades of the defunct Honda Fit and 2013 Chevy Trax/Buick Encore) so that you can easily access the cargo space in back that includes … a tool pegboard. Dude.
It’s hidden behind a key-locked, mid-gate entry door (to keep tools from flopping about), that folds down. The flattened front seat, of course, makes it easy to bring along a dog, bag, toolbox, etc.
The Double Cab offers more conventional seating and mid-gate (there’s a cubby behind the rear seats), and every truck comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which includes adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection and auto high beams.
Want more standard stuff? Twin front digital screens with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Only blind-spot assist is missing from my list of standard must-haves.
To complement the tech, engineers tilted the front console so you can more easily see your phone screen. The pad secures your phone so it doesn’t fly out whenever the driver, um, gets aggressive. Modern Taco at your service.
Front quarters are comfortable for bony-legged giants like me — but put LeBron in the back seat and he’ll be cramped. I could barely sit behind myself at 6’5”. I don’t get it.
Lack of rear seat room is a malady that plagues most mid-size pickups, yet trucks are often purchased by big, burly people (tool guys like those referenced earlier). There has to be a happy medium between the palatial rear couches of full-size trucks and mid-size pickups’ tight squeeze.
Naturally, all this tech means the base price of the Taco climbs to $33K, a leap from $28K just two years ago. I miss sub-$30K vehicles (much less $20K). Seems like room for a Corolla-based, Ford Maverick-fighting $20K entry-level pickup to me. Hint hint.
Tacoma offers plenty of choice above $30K with eight trims, including the SR5 Double Cab with extended six-foot bed that I drove at length in LA.
Like all Tacos it comes with new sheet metal and interior that gives it a bold, Tonka truck-like presence. Toyota debuted this chunky design on Tundra pickups in 2022, and they still turn my head. So will the Tacoma. The grille is familiar, but the truck’s flanks are more muscular with bold fender flares, chiseled doors and vertical taillights.
The Alpha Male of the lineup is the TRD Pro which looks like Dwayne Johnson emerging from the ocean surf. I’ll get a chance to drive it (and its hybrid powertrain) early next year, but for now the TRD model offers plenty of beefcake.
The interior is just as muscular with a shifter the size of Thor’s Hammer (we truck guys are just big kids) and added cubby space in the doors and dash.
Crawling over dirty off-road trails, ditches and rocky beds, the TRD proved the new multi-link suspension hasn’t made Taco go soft. Just beware of the lower-hanging connection point for the multi-link suspension (shared with traditional leaf springs on lower trims) just ahead of the rear tire.
As the terrain grew more pleasant, I electronically disconnected the front sway bar (shades of Ford Bronco) with the touch of a console button. The Tacoma happily grunted along on grippy Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tires as I alternatively toggled the fat MODE button between LOW and HIGH gears.
Like LeBron, Tacoma’s home has moved around over the years from California to Mexican assembly plants. Sitting on a tougher “boxed” TNGA-F frame, the Taco should please the faithful with its old-school reliability while impressing new-gen technoids.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Next week: 2024 Acura MDX
2024 Toyota Tacoma
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- and four-wheel-drive, two- and four-door pickup
Price: $32,895, including $1,495 destination charge ($44,000 SR5, $41,000 TRD PreRunner, and $42,500 TRD Sport, $43,500 TRD Off Road — est. as tested)
Powerplant: 2.4-liter turbocharged, inline-4 cylinder
Power: 228 horsepower, 243 pound-feet-torque; 278 horsepower, 317 pound-feet-torque; 270 horsepower, 310 pound-feet-torque (manual)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic; six-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.5-8 seconds (Car and Driver est.); payload, 1,405-1,705 pounds; towing, 6,500 pounds
Weight: 4,145-4,720 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 21 city/26 highway/23 combined (SR5); 21 city/26 highway/23 combined (SR5); 20 city/24 highway/22 combined (TRD PreRunner); 20 city/24 highway/22 combined (TRD Sport); 18 city/23 highway/20 combined (TRD Off-Road, manual)
Report card
Highs: Looks great inside and out; on-road manners to match off-road capability
Lows: Tight backseat; big price jump
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Chevy Tahoe/Suburban: More tech, more screen, more engine choices
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 30, 2023
Warren — For its 12th generation in 2021, the Chevy Suburban (and sister Tahoe) mega-SUV went to the gym. In a complete body makeover, the pickup truck-based twins shed 300 pounds, gained 10 inches of length, an off-road Z71 model, and acres of interior room thanks to a space-saving independent rear suspension.
For their mid-product cycle update for 2025, the buff SUVs have loaded up on tech.
Slip into the Suburban/Tahoe and the driver’s cabin has been transformed with big, double instrument and infotainment screens stretching across the dash similar to their Silverado and Silverado EV stablemates. The infotainment screen is angled towards the driver (shades of the mid-engine Corvette) for better access to Google Built-In, an elegant interface similar to your smartphone. Icons can be moved around the screen, and the navigation app is familiar to anyone with a phone.
The longest-running badge in the industry (since 1935), the Suburban — along with shorter-wheelbase Tahoe — has long dominated the large-ute segment along with its GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade siblings. But this decade has brought competition beyond its traditional Ford Expedition rival. The Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer cannonballed into the SUV pool in 2023 and Toyota has also upgraded its Sequoia offering based on an all-new Tundra pickup foundation.
Despite those new entries, Tahoe/Suburban own 40% of segment sales, but the pressure to maintain that lead — especially in a profit-rich segment at a time when electric vehicle investment is sucking cash — is urgent.
Thanks to its sheer size and crucial 2021 IRS update, Suburban’s cargo space is massive, with a 20-cubic-foot advantage over the Wagoneer with their third rows folded. But the Chevy interior upgrades will address criticism that the models lagged behind. “The interior styling and materials are ho-hum,” shrugged Car and Driver of the outgoing Tahoe/Suburban. No more.
The tech-tastic Suburban-Tahoe upgrades also shore up the SUVs’ standard safety systems, long a soft spot in GM’s lineup. Where the last-gen mega-utes didn’t make adaptive cruise control standard until its top-rung High Country model, ACC and blind-spot assist are now part of a suite of standard safety offerings including emergency braking, interior occupant detection and rear camera alert. Optional goodies include a 15-inch head-up display and auto, hands-free power liftgate that activates when you round the rear corner.
With the increased standard features, expect the starting price of the $56k Tahoe and $59k Suburban to rise for ‘25. Pricing will be announced when they hit dealerships late next year.
GM has been a leader in semi-autonomous transit with its hands-free Super Cruise driver-assist feature. The 2025 Tahoe and Suburban option it beginning with the LT trim so you can relax during long trips on divided highways.
New electronic goodies include a Connected Camera feature so you can monitor the vehicle for security breaches and an internal radar that tracks if anyone has been left in the car. Some three-row vehicles like Hyundai’s Palisade connect their third row to the front passengers with a microphone, but the Chevy twins do not offer that feature.
Ergonomically, Chevrolets receive high marks and third-row access is easy with collapsing second-row seats. The middle row also benefits from a sliding center console that brings, say, cupholders closer to rear-seat passengers.
The 2025 refresh also gains from Chevy’s experience with its off-road Z71 trim, which — following market trends — outdoors-focused consumers snapped up in large numbers.
Some 20% of Tahoe/Suburban buyers opt for the Z71 package with its standard all-wheel-drive, rugged looks, raises height, 33-inch all-terrain tires, and underbody skidplates. Chevy rewards those customers with another engine option for 2025 in addition to the 6.2-liter V-8 — a stump-pulling, 3.0-liter, inline-6 cylinder diesel with 460 pound-feet of torque and a sippy 24 mpg to assist buyers who want to load 8,000-plus pounds of, say, all-terrain vehicles on a trailer.
The diesel is part of a robust lineup of gas engines that carries over from 2024 models and includes a base 5.3-liter V-8 making 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque and the aforementioned 6.2-liter boasting 420 horsepower/460 torque. All engines are operated via a 10-speed automatic transmission.
High Country models come with more blingtastic options like 24-inch wheels, air-suspension (so that the big elephant will kneel to help you gain entry) and magnetic ride shocks. The latter trickles down to the RST and ZR71 models.
You’ll know the new Tahoe/Suburban by its mid-fascia-mounted headlights, a design detail increasingly common in the industry. The new headlight position allows for less glare when the elephant stomps into the rear-view mirror of a smaller car — but also more flexibility for designers on surrounding LED running lights. All six Tahoe/Suburban trims — LS, LT, RST, Z71, Premier and High Country — get their own unique fascia.
The mega-utes are built at GM’s Arlington Assembly plant in Texas.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Hammer down in the Chinese-made, all-electric Mullen GT sportscar
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 27, 2023
Pasadena, Calif. — The electric Qiantu K50 lives.
In the parking lot of Santa Anita Park horse track. On an autocross course. On a Tuesday afternoon. Like a thoroughbred from a starting gate, I exploded out from under a pop-up tent into a tunnel of pylons. ZOT! I was in top of the first turn in an instant.
Boy, wish I had this kind of torque when I autocrossed go-karts in West Virginia parking lots as an 11-year-old.
The last time I saw the Qiantu (pronounced Shan-too) was in the lobby of the 2019 New York Auto Show. Heady times. The electric supercar was one of a wave of Chinese autos that were due to the U.S. market in 2020, including the BYD shown at that year’s Detroit auto show and the Byton M-Byte displayed at the Los Angeles show. None of them made it.
But the Qiantu was striking, turning heads in the Big Apple with its sleek lines, unique black lamb chops, and low nose. Mullen Automotive, the car’s U.S. distributor, still believes and has rebadged it the Mullen GT — a halo car for its electric stable of EVs that includes the Bollinger B1 pickup and B2 pickup, Mullen One (rebadged Class One cargo van made by China’s Wuling Motors), Mullen Three (rebadged Class 3 vehicle made by China’s largest automaker, SAIC Motor), and the home-brewed Mullen 5 and 5RS SUVs. Think of Mullen as the Island of Misfit Electric Toys.
Gathering the explosive GT up like a wild stallion, I pulled the reins back (the steering wheel still bears the Qiantu dragonfly logo) and brushed the brakes into a looong carousel turn on the makeshift parking lot course. At around 180 degrees in radius, carousels are half-skid pads that are wonderful tests of a car’s balance. The Mullen pushed off the entry to the turn, but a brief lift transferred weight to the front and brought the rear end around. Back on throttle, I felt the all-wheel-drive system’s tenacious grip as I exited the corner and immediately entered a long right hander.
Oh, man, this sports car is heavy.
The quick change in direction challenged the supercar’s balance and exposed the biggest issue facing electric performance cars: battery mass. EVs like the Mullen GT are rocket ships in a straight line — a Tesla P90 briefly made me dizzy the first time I tested it 2.3-second 0-60 mph hole shot — but the same battery mass that spins electric motors to crazy torque numbers is the enemy at high g-loads.
It’s why Formula E has struggled to match the dynamism of gas-powered series like IndyCar and why race series owners like Roger Penske have written off electrics as feasible race series (not to mention the other battery bug-a-boo of range-sucking speed).
Even with an aluminum chassis and carbon-fiber skin, the AWD Mullen GT tips the scales at 4,300 pounds — or a bit more than my Tesla Model 3 Performance sedan. Oof. It’s also why few established supercar manufacturers have gone all-electric, choosing hybrid formats instead where smaller battery packs complement the gas engine with low-end torque like a supercharger. Think the Corvette E-Ray.
While rumors exist of a Chevy Corvette EV, the $150,000 Mullen EV’s peers are largely exotic, multimillion-dollar machines like the $2.1 million, 258-mph Rimac Revera or $2.5 million, 1.7-second 0-60 (ow, my brain hurts) Pininfarina Battista.
The GT initially promised numbers to rival those cyborgs — sub-2 second 0-60 mph time, 200-mph top speed — but Mullen has backed off those ambitious numbers. Now its claimed 4.2-seconds 0-60 and 125-mph top speed are nowhere near the top of the class, but neither is its sticker price.
The world of technology is moving fast and the Qiantu — er Mullen — now trails the sleek, four-door, 2023 Kia EV6 GT which runs to 60 mph nearly a second faster and costs less than half as much. It’ll run rings around the Kia, though.
After a quick right-left chicane, I was back on the throttle downhill and under a bridge (Santa Anita has a BIG parking lot) into a hairpin turn where the brakes gripped like a Rottweiler on a postman’s keg. Impressive. Especially as the Mullen doesn’t appear to make much use of its regenerative braking.
Mullen’s interior design is four years old, but the cockpit is still a modern place to be with its twin digital screens — the dash display a big, 15.6-inch, Model S-like vertical design. There’s also an integrated, roof-top solar panel that powers the 12-volt battery. But for 150 grand, the GT’s graphics are dated and it lacks features like a camera mirror (which would be nice since it has rear blind-spots the size of Rhode Island).
Throttle to the floor, I drifted beautifully with my electric dance partners across a wide, 90-degree lefthander on my way back to the makeshift paddock. The Pirelli P Zero rubber can’t quite stick the Mullen’s 4,300 pounds, but the T-shaped, lithium-ion battery is anchored low in the chassis for good center-of-gravity.
Taking over from Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Huaguan (some 1,000 have been built in China), Mullen planned in 2020 to build the car in a California plant that hasn’t materialized. Mullen has production plants in Indiana and Mississippi. If the GT gets the green light for production in 2025-26 (Mullen is asking for a $1,000 deposit upon ordering) it’s a nice flip on the usual script of an American-made product being produced in China.
As I rolled to a stop back at the tented paddock, I popped open the GT’s twin charging ports — like Mickey Mouse ears — located aft of the B-pillars. The left port for a 240-volt home charger, the right for a Level 3 DC fast charger. Range is estimated at 230 miles on a single charge with a sticker price to match the now-defunct BMW i8 plugin hybrid sports car.
White space sales opportunity — except the electric Porsche 718 sports car is due on the same 2025 timeline.
Next week: 2024 Toyota Tacoma
Mullen GT prototype
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive, two-passenger supercar
Price: $150,000
Powerplant: 78-kWh lithium-ion battery with twin electric motors
Power: 430 horsepower
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.2 seconds (mfr.); top speed, 125 mph
Weight: 4,300 pounds (est.)
Fuel economy: EPA est. NA; range, 230 miles
Report card
Highs: Unique looks; rare, all-electric sports car
Lows: Uncompetitive performance specs; due at same time as 2025 Porsche 718 EV
Overall: 2 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Catch his “Car Radio” reports on 910 AM Superstation.
Off-road Hell: Ford dominates grueling Baja 1000 in Raptor R, Bronco, Raptor Trophy Truck
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 27, 2023
Ford Motor Co. put an exclamation point on its “Built Ford Tough” truck tagline last week, winning three classes at the grueling, 56th running of the Baja 100 off-road race.
A factory-sponsored, Ford Performance V-8 powered F-150 Raptor R took Stock Full class honors and a factory Ford Bronco Raptor won the Stock Mid-Size division. To complete the hat trick, a heavily modified, 1,000-horsepower, private-entry Ford Raptor won overall in the Trophy Truck class on a typically tortuous course made more difficult by torrential rain conditions on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.
The SCORE Baja 1000 Presented by K&N has long been a manufacturer proving-ground for off-road performance, and Ford’s history runs back to 1969 when a Bronco (piloted by off-road legend Rod Hall) won overall — the only production truck to win the whole enchilada in a multi-class race that includes motorcycles and purpose-built trucks. The win helped make Bronco a legend — a feat that continues to buoy the badge today as it takes on showroom competitors like the Jeep Wrangler and Toyota 4Runner which also have Baja 1000 history.
The Bronco Raptor’s win this year in the mid-size class followed a factory-team Ranger Raptor pickup’s class win in 2022. The race vehicles were stock builds but for safety additions like roll cages and light bars. The F-150 and Bronco Raptors are on sale in U.S. showrooms, while the Ranger Raptor is due for the 2025 model year. Bronco Raptor even outpaced big brother Raptor R, crossing the finish line an hour ahead after more than 40 hours in the desert.
“Ford is a family company with not only a goal to win, but to also further develop our street Raptors for customers around the world to enjoy,” said Ford Performance Motorsports chief Mark Rushbrook. “The Baja 1000 not only served as a testament to all the hard work from people on the ground and in Dearborn, but this event also emphasizes our continued global commitment to the sport and making better products for our customers.”
As part of its icons marketing strategy which features the F-150, Bronco and Mustang models, Ford is leaning hard into motorsports with its Ford Performance division and a significant commitment to win high profile races. In addition to NASCAR and NHRA drag racing, Ford has also targeted endurance race series.
On track the Blue Oval is focused next year on winning the world’s most prestigious endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a GT-class Mustang GT3 Dark Horse.
Baja is the jewel of the off-road endurance world, the crowning race in the four-race SCORE series. This year’s win was significant for Ford as it has gone all-in on performance halo off-roaders across a model lineup that includes the Maverick, Ranger, and F-Series pickups as well as the Bronco SUV.
Endurance racing is an integral part of performance manufacturers’ production development. Running flat out in harsh conditions not only puts drivetrains, suspensions, and tires to the ultimate test, but attracts top-drawer engineers to company programs. Ford has made endurance racing a particular focus with factory-backed teams competing in major races.
“The Baja 1000 is the ultimate test of manufacturers’ machinery,” said Tom Zielinski, CEO of Detroit 4Fest, Michigan’s premier off-road event in Holly. “It’s also a great marketing tool. ‘Ironman’ Ivan Stewart proved Toyota capability in pickups by running Baja. Trucks are the profit center for brands today and Baja is how you prove credibility.”
Beyond factory team efforts, vehicles and parts from Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Jeep, and other brands are entered by private teams in multiple 4×4 classes. In Baja history, Ford engines have produced 15 overall winners, with Chevy, 12, VW, 12; and Toyota, two. Ford also leads the way in chassis winners with 19 overall trophies followed by Chevy with 12.
Underlining its commitment to the sport, Ford expanded to a two-truck program this year which — despite the Baja 1000 title — actually ran a 1,200-mile course from La Paz to Ensenada. Wearing BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires and off-road Fox shocks, the Raptors navigated everything from sandy Pacific coastlines to thick silt beds and rugged rock sections.
The Bronco Raptor was powered by its stock, 418-horsepower, 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6 engine, while the Raptor R was stuffed with its standard, 700-plus horsepower, 5.2-liter, supercharged V-8. The Bronco Raptor finishing with an unofficial time of 40:37:47 hours and the F-150 Raptor R 41:44:46 hours.
By comparison the overall-winning, purpose-built Red Bull Ford Raptor SCORE Trophy Truck covered the course in a staggering 22.35.33 hours at an average speed of 58 mpg. With tough frames, 25 to 36 inches of suspension travel, and 1,000 horsepower from their mighty V-8 engines they are kings of a race that saw heavy attrition from the 335-entry field from 20 countries in classes covering cars, trucks, UTVs and motorcycles.
Just 178 entries finished due to a rash of accidents, broken parts and mechanical failures
“We are so proud to be able to get these trucks across the finish line,” said Brian Novak, Ford Performance off-road racing supervisor. “Baja is one of the most difficult races in the world, and that is why we use it as a proving ground for our technology. The team is proud to show again this year how capable the Raptors really are.”
Driver Loren Healy, one of off-road racing’s top names, brought home the F-150 Raptor R to victory.
“Winning the Baja 1000 in the Raptor R will go down as one of my favorite victories in my racing career,” Healy said. “The amount of work that went into the race efforts for both the truck and the Bronco Raptor are absolutely mind blowing. Somewhere around 100 people came together as a family and made magic, getting both these stock production vehicles to win their classes in the second longest Baja 1000 ever. It truly is an honor to be a small part of this epic, history-making team.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Catch his “Car Radio” reports on 910 AM Superstation.
Payne: Truck tailgates are the rage. A brief history
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 21, 2023
Trucks are Swiss Army Knives on wheels, with a variety of tools for every occasion. Four-wheel-drive, towing, bed storage. The tailgate tool has been a particular focus of late as manufacturers have debuted soft-drop tailgates, remote-drop tailgates, tailgates with steps, and multi-purpose tailgates.
Jaws dropped (literally, the theme of an ad campaign) as General Motors Co. debuted the six-way GMC MultiPro Tailgate and Chevy Multi-Flex tailgates. Stellantis NV’s Ram took a different approach with the Multi Function Tailgate that opened as 60-40 split cabinet doors. Even the midsize Honda Ridgeline gets into the act with a side-hinged tailgate that can both drop down — or open like door.
Ford Motor Co., a pickup maker before pickups were cool, brings the newest entrant to the pickup party with its Pro Access Tailgate on the 2024 Ford F-150. The Pro Access allows owners to access the bed via a swinging door within the tailgate.
All this technology, of course, is meant to compliment long, grueling hours on the work site where pickup trucks are expected to do everything from tow heavy objects, haul lumber, haul electric generators, even be stand-up desks for architects.
But the tailgate also is also synonymous with recreation in the United States. Pickups — and their SUV brethren — are expected to house picnics, big screen televisions, and barbecue grills.
Tailgating is synonymous with football, but the practice pre-dates the pigskin, historian Tonya Williams Bradford, a University of California Irvine marketing professor, told Popular Mechanics: “Tailgating. . . didn’t necessarily start with sports. If you go all the way back to the Civil War when people knew where skirmishes would be, they’d pack up food and sit on the sidelines and watch.”
At the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, nearby residents got word of a battle, loaded up their horse and carts with pies and other goodies, then trotted out to the Virginia countryside to watch. Fast forward to the post-war era in 1869 and the first college football game between Rutgers and Princeton universities. New Jersey newspapers reported on spectators tailgating.
By the 1920s, football stadiums were growing across the country, their crush of fans overwhelming the ability of local restaurants’ ability to feed them. Tailgating became a tradition that has only become more elaborate — and more demanding of vehicles — over time.
In celebration of a century of Ford pickups, here’s a look back at the Blue Oval’s tailgate evolution from station wagons to SUVs to trucks.
1925
Beginning in late 1924 Ford introduced the first factory-assembled pickup, the 1925 model Model TT, featuring a cargo box and (natch) adjustable tailgate.
1929
The first station wagon — and no, National Lampoon Vacation fans, it wasn’t called the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. The Model A debuted Ford’s first family wagon showcasing a tailgate and, um, no rear window.
1948
The first F-Series pickup marked a divergence of Ford car and truck design, with the latter developed specifically for tough truck use. The F-Series introduced a tapered, tooled-edge tailgate with anti-rattle drop chains holding the tailgate flush with floor.
1959
With safer night-time operation in mind, a reflector was added to the right side of the F-Series tailgate.
1960
Back to the car side of the business and the Falcon wagon became the first Ford with a single-piece, drop-down tailgate and retractable rear window
1961-69
The ‘60s were a golden age of automobile innovation from race cars to station wagons to pickup trucks. Steel chains disappeared from Ford tailgates, replaced by instant-lock latches. Ford marketed the innovation as “grain-tight,” and the tailgate also grew by a whopping 13 inches.
In 1964, the pickup grew to 128-inches long — longer than most luxury cars — with a tailgate that could hold 2,000 pounds. The tailgate also featured support straps made of steel that folded into tailgate. The so-called Magic Doorgate took a bow in 1966 on Ford, Fairlane, and Falcon wagons. It opened like a tailgate or like a door. Come ‘69, it could be opened as a door with the window up or down.
1980
What if you didn’t want a tailgate at all? Ford debuted a removable tailgate that was offered on both the F-Series and smaller Ranger trucks.
1997
A standard locking tailgate debuted on F-150. The tailgate could be unlocked using the same key as on the cab doors.
2003
Innovation really accelerated with the turn of the century. Luxurious Lincoln Navigator SUVs offered an optional power liftgate. Come 2004, Ford built a torsion bar into the tailgate to bear much of the tailgate’s weight for easier operation. The Excursion ute in 2006 got fancy with a Tri-Panel door system with rear cargo door and a lower French doors for cargo access.
A 2007 Ford concept introduced a tailgate elevator that would drop the entire tailgate to the ground for a lift up. Alas, it wasn’t produced. In ‘06 Ford brought to market a mid-gate step that dropped down for easy bed access (complete with a pole so you could haul yourself up).
2011
The compact Escape SUV got in on the electronics revolution with the Hands-Free Liftgate that opened with a kick of the foot under the bumper. Multiple brands copied the idea.
2021
The F-150 offered construction workers a power tailgate complete with a multi-function work surface. The tailgate included tie-down hooks that doubled as bottle openers.
2023
To take on Ram and GM trucks, the Pro Access tailgate innovated a door within the tailgate. Opening from the driver side, its especially useful for bed access when towing — complete with mid-bumper step so you can jump through the door. Of, course, the tailgate also comes with the usual drop-down functionality.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Best of the 2023 LA Auto Show
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Los Angeles — Nowhere are the auto industry’s various transformations more apparent than in California.
Automakers are transitioning to electric vehicles under government pressure, autos are becoming smartphones on wheels, and car shows are shrinking in importance. The Golden State may be the United States’ biggest market, but brands have fled the Los Angeles Auto Show, just as they have Detroit, New York and Chicago. The LA Convention Center this year is empty of crowd pleasers like Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar and Audi — as well as the entire Stellantis stable due to the UAW strike. Big auto displays have been replaced by acres of EV test tracks.
Where the LA Show was once packed with two days of automaker news conferences, this year there were just five. Still, shows have the ability to wow as Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson’s impassioned, packed introduction of the Lucid Gravity showed.
Here are the coolest vehicles of the 2024 LA Auto Show.
Lucid Gravity
Car of show. Lucid’s much-anticipated SUV sequel to the stunning Air sedan (arguably the most beautiful vehicle in autodom) did not disappoint. CEO Rawlinson has a flair for the dramatic and he rolled out the electric ute proclaiming it an “unprecedented combination of the impossible,” slamming competitor EVs for their “dumb range” and sitting in the front trunk of his SUV “just for the frunk of it.” With its efficient electric motors and battery, the Lucid defies gravity with 112 cubic feet of storage space (with rear seats flattened), glass console, seating for seven, 440-mile range, 800 horsepower, 3.6 second 0-60 mph shot, 6,000-pound towing, and a curved, 34-inch OLED screen. Starting price? Under $80k to grab that federal $7,500 EV tax credit.
Honda Prelude Concept
Surprise, the Prelude is back! Honda snuck its famous performance badge into the show as a fetching, two-door concept. A favorite of Honda enthusiasts, Prelude hasn’t been seen on U.S. shores since 2001. Expect a quick coupe (filling a void where the Civic Si coupe use to be) built on the Civic platform powered by a hybrid powerplant.
Hyundai Santa Fe
Hyundai opened with news that it will be the first brand available to buy on Amazon’s new online auto store (one of the few products left that can’t be bought there already). Then it made more news by making the Korean brand’s staid, three-row family crossover a fashion plate. The Made-in-‘Bama SUV gets striking, bold, LEGO-block styling with the Hyundai “H” providing inspiration for lighting and interior dash details. Packed inside this shoebox are twin gloveboxes, twin wireless phone chargers, and a double-hinged center console accessible to rear passengers as well as those up front. An off-road-focused XRT model gets a chassis lift and 30-inch all-terrain tires.
Hyunda Ioniq 5 N
Hyundai’s electric hot hatch. Like BMW’s M division and Ford’s ST, N means fun for Hyundai enthusiasts. The brand takes its electric Ioniq 5 hatchback and turns it into a fire-breathing track monster with supercar-like 641 horsepower (nearly double that of the regular Ioniq 5) from twin electric motors. Like its sibling, gas-fired Elantra N, the 5 N dons a black face mask and aggressive rear spoiler. Other goodies include massive, 15.8-inch brakes and “e-shift” that simulates the feel of an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission in a gas vehicle — complete with angry engine sounds.
Subaru Forester
Amidst the blizzard of expensive electric toys, Subaru introduced its latest, affordable, $29k compact SUV. A companion compact ute to the chunky, tennis-show-design-inspired Crosstrek, Forster is much more conservative with its upright grille and tidy lines. If you want some spice in your white bread, opt for the Sport edition and its 19-inch gold wheels. Inside, Forester adopts the big, 11.6-inch touchscreen found on other ‘Rus. All-wheel-drive, IIHS Top Safety Pick, best-in-class residuals come standard. A hybrid model will follow in a year.
Toyota Camry
Americas’ best-selling sedan gets a new wardrobe, adopting the brand’s signature hammerhead fascia (see the handsome Prius) and better driver visibility out of its expanded greenhouse. Under the skin, the Camry will now be available only as a hybrid to satisfy government nannies, while offering all-wheel-drive on all model trims to help with traction in Michigan winters.
Ford wheelchair
The Bronco of wheelchairs. In the middle of a Ford display packed with greyhounds like the Mustang GTD and blue-trimmed California Special sits a beast for the mobility impaired. Thanks to a portion of Bronco SUV sales going to the Bronco Wild Fund, 18 state parks around the country will harbor a wheelchair equipped with tank tracks so those with mobility issues can hit the trails in style. The wheelchairs are powered by twin 12-volt batteries, and the driver gets four cupholders. Participating parks near Michigan include Indiana’s Potato Creek State Park, Buckhorn State Park in Wisconsin, and Pipestem Resort State Park in West Virginia.
Dodge Challenger ‘Bane’
A Ferrari 812 Competizione sits in the middle of popular comedian Kevin Hart’s car collection at the LA Show. But the revelation is that the “Jumanji” star has a taste for modified, V8-powerd Detroit muscle and movie bad guys. So he has given his creations names like the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner “Michael Myers,” and 1970 Dodge Charger “Hellraiser.” My favorite is a sinister, black 1970 Dodge Challenger “Bane” — named after Batman’s nemesis — stuffed with a 7.0-liter, supercharged V-8 Hellephant Hemi making 1,000 horsepower.
Long live the V-8.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
NACTOY finalists: EVs dominate nominees, Detroit makers shut out except for trucks Henry Payne The Detroit News
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Los Angeles, California — And then there were nine.
The Los Angeles Auto Show opened Thursday with The North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year awards announcing their finalists for the 2024 prize. The finalists track industry trends as five of the finalists are all-electric and two are gas-electric hybrids. Governments led by California are ratcheting up fines on automakers beginning in 2026 to produce only EVs by 2035.
Detroit brands dominated the truck category but were shut out of the car and SUV nominees with only one EV, the Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck, making the list.
The NACTOY awards are one of the industry’s most prestigious, with an independent jury of 50 journalists from North America judging the results. “We come from diverse media backgrounds, and we come together to establish a consensus. That is the strength of this award,” said NACTOY President Jeff Gilbert of WWJ radio (950 AM) in Detroit.
Electric SUVs headlined the utility finalists: the $68,000 Genesis Electrified GV70, $56k Kia EV9 and $35k Volvo EX 30. As an affordable, luxury EV priced under $40,000, the Volvo will be the favorite.
Notable vehicles that did not make the cut were the affordable, gas-powered SUVs like the Dodge Hornet and three-row Mazda CX-90 and Hyundai Kona. Gas-powered vehicles make up over 90% of consumer sales, but jurors were keen to showcase the wave of EVs coming to showrooms as automakers phase out petrol-powered options.
At a starting price north of $70,000, the Chevy Silverado V Work Truck is nearly twice the price of a comparable gas WT, and it is only available to fleet customers unlike other finalists. But its driving dynamics and tech impressed jurors. The more affordable, turbo-4 cylinder Chevy Colorado mid-size truck may be the favorite here, with the Ford F-250 Super Duty also in the running.
One of the year’s most anticipated trucks, the Tesla Cybertruck, did not make the cut since the Texas-based company has not made the pickup available for media testing. Two midsize trucks that might have given the Colorado a run for its money — the 2024 Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger were not available for juror testing and will be contestants for the 2025 award.
“Ford is a perpetual favorite for truck of the year given their trucks’ market popularity,” said Gilbert. “It’s a shame we had to park the Ranger and Tacoma for this year since they are strong pickups.”
A couple of hybrids, the Honda Accord and Toyota Prius, lead the car category. Both have won NACTOY honors in the past. But the beautiful, upstart Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV may steal their thunder. Car demand has diminished in recent years as Americans have embraced SUVs, but sedans and sports cars remain the industry style leaders.
In a surprise, the seventh-generation Ford Mustang did not make the final cut despite being the last muscle car left standing in the U.S. as the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger were sacrificed to satisfy emissions regulations. The Chevy Corvette E-Ray, the first electrified, all-wheel-drive ‘Vette, also was passed over for higher-volume sedans.
Expect the Prius to be a favorite in class as the original, ugly-duckling hybrid has been transformed into a swan — without sacrificing fuel economy.
Over the last 30 years, NACTOY has honored automakers who have made substantial innovations in design, performance, technology, driver satisfaction and value. Winners will be announced in January in Detroit.
NACTOY finalists
Car of the YearHonda AccordToyota Prius/Prius PrimeHyundai Ioniq 6
Truck of the YearElectric Chevy SilveradoChevy ColoradoFord Super Duty
Utility of the YearGenesis Electrified GV70Kia EV9Volvo EX 30
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: The End. Muscular, V8-powered, 2024 F-Type is the last gas-fed Jaguar
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Oakland County — The V-8 roar of the industry’s big cats are being silenced as brands transition to an uncertain, all-electric future. Dodge Challenger/Charger Hellcats, Cadillac CT5 Blackwing, Audi R8, Chevy Camaro SS.
And then there is the most famous cat of them all, Jaguar.
ROOOOOOAAAR! I buried the throttle in the 575-horsepower 2024 F-Type R75 coupe through the Huntington Place tunnel. ROOOOOOAAR! The sound of the big cat’s quad pipes echoed off the Lodge Freeway’s walls as we shot out of the tunnel onto M-10 like an uncaged, well, Jaguar. ROOOOOAAR! The beast’s fury enveloped my open, convertible cockpit as I clicked off shifts at the 7,000 RPM redline. Oh, joy.
And oy vey as the Jaguar V-8 has become an endangered species, threatened by government nannies. Like the big cats on an expensive African safari, Jaguar sportscars have always been a fascination of enthusiasts with financial means. The looooong-nosed E-Type of the 1960s is automotive legend and coveted by collectors. Now its F-Type offspring is ending its run, and customers will want to run, not walk, to their local dealer to snap up this final edition.
While it doesn’t possess the ‘60s classic E-Type’s majestic snout (the victim of more nanny edicts), F-Type is still achingly gorgeous. “I want it,” said my entrepreneur friend Mike — the owner of an XKE sportscar among other Jags — in a typical, Pavlovian response. Some gotta have a Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette C8, a Jaguar. It’s an emotional thing, I get it. I see an Alfa 4C and my heart skips a beat.
Purists will be most attracted to the F-Type coupe with its sweeping roof line nestling like a Jaguar’s spine between giant rear haunches. But riding the Jag topless ain’t bad, either.
On a crisp October day, I rolled out of a Southfield parking lot and held down the console roof tab. The cloth top retreated into the trunk behind me in a mere 12 seconds as long as I kept my speed under 30 mph. Another toggle switch on the console selected DYNAMIC mode and I cleared the cat’s throat with a quick stab of the throttle onto Telegraph Road — ROOOOOAR!
Try that in a Hellcat or CT5-V and you’ll have a moment as the rear end tries to swap places with front, but F-Type R models come standard with all-wheel-drive and the grip from the wide Pirelli P-Zero tires was tenacious despite Telegraph’s chilly concrete surface. A standard, rear-wheel-drive, so-called P450 model is also offered with the same supercharged V-8 mill — just detuned to 448 ponies.
Despite the open air, the cabin wasn’t chilly thanks to the big, fat climate knobs that I’ve cranked up to HIGH to keep warm air circulating. I could crank up the radio, too, but I preferred the V-8’s roar. The cabin’s appointments are typically lush in an understated British way. No huge screens or gaudy light shows, just lovely leather and lines.
The sportscar has nicely integrated the latest tech like wireless Android Auto and digital screens — though it could make use of a head-up display like other vehicles in its class.
Put the top up and the convertible also has a useful trunk for weekend travel. The cargo space swallowed a carry-on bag and small duffel bag — and I fit in my fat laptop briefcase in the sub-floor storage bay. It’s not as roomy as a 911’s rear seat/frunk combo (or Corvette’s rear cargo area), but it’s a fair shade better than the cargo-starved Alfa 4C.
When you have $110K in spare change in your packet, there are a lot of choices, and Jag faces formidable sportscar competition.
The Porsche 911 S is simply the best-handling sportscar on the planet. Imbued with a telepathic sense for apexes, it sets the standard for precision and flat-six-cylinder performance. The Audi R8 (in its last year of production) and Mercedes GT AMG are also rocket ships with the latest cabin tech. Over at the Chevy shop, Corvette has not one, but two, V-8-powered, $110K hellions in the track-focused Z06 and all-season, all-wheel-drive E-Ray.
It’s remarkable how brands can evoke emotion from sheet metal, and the F-Type separates itself from the crowd the old-fashioned way: looks and power.
Porsche’s familiar shape is timeless, but the Jag is gorgeous. At my doctor’s office, my athletic club — even service stations — the F-Type stopped people in their tracks. “I’ll trade you rides,” smiled an Audi driver at the next pump.
Interestingly, F-Type’s appeal is more muscular than its famous forebear, the E-Type of the 1960s and ’70s. E’s famously elegant nose is no longer repeatable as government nannies now regulate front-end length. The F-Type is more compact, defined by powerful hips and a menacing fascia. Jaguar, indeed.
It’s leaner than its Mercedes peer, and a different aesthetic from Corvette with its angular, deep body stampings. Jaguar is feline, Corvette techno.
Both feature ballistic V-8s, but the 5.0-liter eight in the F-Type has a fat torque band thanks to its supercharger and the 516-pound feet of torque coming on strong at 2,500 RPM. The screaming, normally-aspirated, 5.5-liter ‘Vette Z06, by contrast, doesn’t hit peak torque until 6,300 RPM, where the bird really starts to sing. The AWD E-Ray, meanwhile, uses its electric motor as “torque fill” to complement its pushrod V-8 engine.
All encourage different driving habits. All will give you goosebumps. Long live the V-8.
Which begs the question of how Jaguar lives on after the F-Type. The big cat’s identity — its voice — is historically synonymous with throaty engines. Notably, the last gas-powered Jags are only equipped with V-8 engines and not the turbo-4 and supercharged V-6 options of previous years.
An all-electric Jaguar sports car would seem a different animal, and the poor sales of the electric i-Pace SUV are concerning. A new chapter awaits, but the last gas-fueled beast gives us plenty to sink our teeth into.
Next week: 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe
2024 Jaguar F-Type
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- and all-wheel drive, two-passenger sportscar
Price: $79,175 including $1,275 destination ($119,875 R75 as tested)
Powerplant: 5.0-liter supercharged V-8
Power: 448 horsepower, 428 pound-feet of torque RWD (P450 model); 575 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque AWD (R P575 model as tested)
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.5 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 186 mph
Weight: NA
Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/24 highway/19 combined (P450); 16 mpg city/24 highway/18 combined (R575)
Report card
Highs: Jaguar swagger; V-8 music
Lows: Not as quick as competitive set
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
LA Auto Show: Toyota debuts stylish, hybrid-only Camry sedan and Crown Signia SUV
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Los Angeles — Toyota is bringing something old, something new, something borrowed and something green to the LA Auto Show this year.
Japan’s biggest auto manufacturer is also California’s biggest selling automaker and it is one of a handful of automakers making a splash with vehicle debuts this year. Ahead of Media Day on Thursday, Toyota unveiled the latest version of an old favorite, the 2025 Camry sedan, while also introducing the all-new 2025 Crown Signia SUV.
Though the sedan and SUV are dramatically different in overall design, they both borrow the so-called Hammerhead fascia design made popular by the 2024 Toyota Prius. Camry and Crown SUV also will be powered exclusively by hybrid engines in a nod to green fashion in California and harsh mandates in Sacramento and Washington, DC.
America’s perennially best-selling sedan, the Camry for its ninth generation shares the TNGA platform of other Toyota models, making for roomy interior and firm handling. The sedan’s dimensions are similar to the outgoing model, but Toyota’s California design team penned a more conservative look this go ‘round with sleeker, simpler design cues. Chief among those is a simplified facia similar to the Prius (and Crown models).
Significantly, Camry bucks the trend of narrow greenhouses, opening up window space for better driver visibility. The mirrors are located on the doors and the glass around the A-pillar curves down — think Ford F-150 — for better outward visibility.
In a nod to green fashion, the Camry ditches its V-6 engine and options only a gas-electric hybrid powered by a 2.5-liter four-banger that promises a whopping 50-plus mpg. The drivetrain can be had in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive in all trims.
Following the exterior’s lead, the interior eschews the Z-shaped console of the eighth-generation model for a simpler, more linear design — though customers can jazz it up with red leather. The 12.3-inch digital display (shared with Signia) contains the latest wireless charging and smartphone connectivity, and the Toyota is loaded with standard features like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist and auto high beams.
The Crown Signia joins the Crown sedan as a stylish Toyota sub-brand in the United States. Crown is an iconic model in Japan that finally made its way to the U.S. to replace the Venza crossover and add an upscale look to the mainstream brand. It comes with luxury options like a panoramic roof and rear camera mirror made popular by Cadillac. Given Americans’ obsession with SUVs, it’s hard to see a path where Crown SUV doesn’t steal sales from Crown sedan’s already modest numbers.
The Crown Signia has useful SUV features like a 6.5-foot-long cargo bed with the rear seats folded, elevated ride height, and standard AWD.
The two-row Crown SUV appears to go after more premium mainstream vehicles like the Nissan Murano and Ford Edge as well as more upscale models like the Acura RDX. Its interior is sumptuous with plenty of legroom for passengers.
While Crown customers will welcome the SUV entry, Toyota is determined to continue its sedan offerings. Though its sales have declined, the Camry provides a stylish alternative to upright SUVs and dominates a market segment with other Asian brands that Detroit automakers have largely abandoned in the U.S.
The Camry is also the brand’s official entry in NASCAR. The made-in-the-USA Camry goes on sale in the spring of 2024 with the Japan-sourced Crown Signia coming later in the year.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
LA Auto Show preview: EVs, Asian debuts, and celebs
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Los Angeles — As automakers in the new media age have staged exclusive vehicle premieres and remote media launches, auto shows have taken a back seat. From New York to Detroit to Los Angeles, shows are focusing on their core, regional audiences and ramping up the non-automaker entertainment.
For this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, that means a focus on electric cars and celebrities.
Set in America’s biggest auto market with California regulators mandating EV sales over the next decade (with federal mandates not far behind), the state’s biggest show is also the most significant on the U.S. automotive calendar. This year’s auto-palooza kicks off with Thursday’s Media Day before opening to the public Nov. 17-26. Attendees will have the chance to test over a dozen EVs, and the show will — for the first time — feature an EV on the stand of every automaker.
To plug consumers in to the growing list of EVs on offer, both April’s New York International Auto Show and Detroit’s event in September dedicated significant floor space to EV rides. LA’s Electric Avenue boasts the show circuit’s biggest EV track — and, unlike its peers, will allow consumers to get behind the wheel.
“This is the country’s volume electric vehicle market,” said David Fortin, vice president of marketing for the LA show, which is put on by Ansa Productions. “California is the state leading the way with regulations pushing an electric future.”
The EV push comes as consumer interest has lagged and even the California market — home to 40% of America’s EV sales — has been resistant to battery-powered vehicles not named Tesla.
“The LA auto show has historically served as fertile ground for electrified vehicle introductions, but this year’s show comes at a complex time for EVs,” said Edmunds’ auto analyst Jessica Caldwell. “While all-electric market share has risen from 6.0% to 7.5% year-over-year, it has remained relatively stagnant for the past five months due to high interest rates, high prices and lagging interest from consumers.”
Just as the Detroit show has tried to fill the void where glitzy brand sets used to be with flying airplanes and truck towing, the LA show wants to add a dose of celebrity. “We understand that we can bring uniqueness to the LA Show by adding some Hollywood flavor,” said Fortin
There will be Robert Downey Jr. — aka, Tony Stark in the hit Marvel movie franchise “Iron Man” — and his eco-modified RDJ Dream Cars collection, six classic cars that have been converted to alternative fuels and battery power that will be on exhibit in the South Hall. The cars’ transformations were documented on a MAX TV series and each will be given away as part of a public sweepstakes. The models include a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette, 1966 Buick Riviera, 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, 1972 Chevrolet K10 pickup, 1972 Volkswagen Bus and 1985 Chevy El Camino.
Popular comedian Kevin Hart will showcase nine custom-built cars from his collection, including a ‘59 Corvette “Mint Condition,” 1969 Chevy Camaro “Bad News,” 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner “Michael Myers,” 1970 Dodge Charger “Hellraiser” and 2023 Ferrari 812 Competizione. Other attractions include the Galpin Hall of Customs featuring customer supercars from Lamborghinis to Ford Raptors, and a promotion for the movie “Ferrari,” coming this Christmas to theaters.
Hart’s collection will fill the West Hall space where Porsche has traditionally set up in the sprawling, 1-million-square-foot LA Convention Center. Porsche did not commit to the show this year — citing its huge Rennsport reunion that took place in Monterey this fall — joining other luxury European makes like Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Alfa Romeo on the sidelines.
The West Hall vacancy is a victim of Stellantis’s late pullout due to the prolonged UAW contract negotiations. That has left a big hole in the West Hall — where Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler traditionally display — that Fortin said the show has been creative in filling. Part of that Jeep experience will be plugged by the Overland Outpost, presented by enthusiast magazine OVR, which will showcase over 30 off-road vehicles.
Two of Detroit’s other major brands, Chevrolet and Ford, will have a large floor presence, including Ford’s Off-Rodeo display where consumers can take Bronco rides. Ford is also expected to show off the 2024 Mustang GT California Special for the first time in public.
Both Chevy (#5) and Ford (#3) are in the Top Ten best-selling brands in the Golden State, but six of the top sellers are Asian brands and they will make the bulk of the product news here (Tesla and Mercedes are ranked #2 and #7, respectively in California sales, but neither do auto shows any more).
Toyota is expected to make a big splash with a new Camry sedan and Crown SUV. The Crown sedan debuted in the U.S. market for the 2023 model year, and the SUV broadens the sub-brand’s portfolio.
Other notables to look for include Hyundai’s radically-redesigned Santa Fe SUV — the latest in a series of head-turning vehicles from the ambitious Korean brand — and a redesigned Subaru and Nissan Rogue.Ironically, all these debuts are gas-powered in a show that will otherwise be green-focused. Lucid is expected to carry the EV headlines with the introduction of its Gravity SUV, the second vehicle in the brand’s portfolio after the sleek Air sedan. There will also be debuts from non-traditional manufacturers like hydrogen fuel cell truck-maker Nikola, electric superbike builder Verge and Pebble EV travel trailers.
In addition to EVs on stands, the convention center’s lots will be transformed into the mile-long Electric Avenue loops circling the center’s South Hall.
Combine the inside activations and the test track outside, and electric models available for rides include the Chevy Blazer EV, Chevy Silverado EV pickup, Kia EV6, Ford F-150 Lightning, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Mazda MX-30, Polestar 2, Volkswagen ID.4, Volvo XC40 Recharge, Porsche Taycan, Lucid Air and Cadillac Lyriq.
“The biggest barrier to entry in electric vehicles is experience behind the wheel,” sad Fortin. Complementing the rides, Fortin and his team have constructed the EV Discovery Center, where bilingual EV ambassadors are on hand to educate consumers.
“We understand where the passions of our California customers are,” said Fortin “Their passions are in green tech, off-road, on the beaches, and on the race track.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: GM’s billion-dollar Vegas bet on Formula One power unit
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
General Motors Co.’s announcement Tuesday that it has registered with Formula One racing to develop a gas-electric hybrid powerplant for its Andretti Cadillac F1 team by 2028 marks a major commitment by the Detroit automaker to the world’s biggest motorsport — and to a battery-powered future.
The commitment puts GM in elite company with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Ford at the top of the sport in developing a “power unit” (F1 speak for a hybrid drivetrain) and comes as Andretti Cadillac enters a critical period in convincing the Formula One Management group to allow them entry into the sport. GM’s top brass and Michael Andretti, CEO of Andretti Motorsports, are expected to be at the Las Vegas Formula One race this weekend to make their case.
By making its commitment as the seventh company to develop an F1 power unit, GM hopes approval is now irresistible. Call it the General’s billion-dollar Vegas bet.
“Getting a place on the Formula 1 grid has been a box-ticking exercise for Andretti Cadillac, and every time they think they’ve checked the final one — another pops up,” said Charles Bradley, editor-in-chief of Motosport.com, the globe’s largest racing site. “One of the major criticisms, aired by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, was that Andretti has to have GM-Cadillac as more than a name to put on its car — but a manufacturer that would build an engine. So it’s vital that the project checks this box.”
Formula One is at the peak of the world’s automotive development in chassis, suspension, tire and drivetrain technology. As global governments from China to the United States to Europe force automakers to go all-electric, the global Formula One circus has made a commitment to go all-electric as well — beginning with its 2026-2030 power unit regulations that prescribe engines be powered 50/50 by batteries and V-6 engines gassed with synthetic fuel.
“We are thrilled that our new Andretti Cadillac F1 entry will be powered by a GM power unit,” said GM President Mark Reuss, a passionate voice for motorsports within the company. “With our deep engineering and racing expertise, we’re confident we’ll develop a successful power unit for the series, and position Andretti Cadillac as a true works team.”
Formula One power units are a billion-dollar development commitment, with each engine costing upwards of $10 million. While that is a rich number for even mega-manufacturers like GM, it is part of a multi-billion company strategy to go all-electric by 2035, with the automaker already investing billions in its Ultium battery platform and plants. The company sees motorsport as an opportunity, not just to market its technological prowess, but to accelerate technology transfer between racing and production applications in batteries, fuels, engines, and software system
“The initial outlay on a new Formula 1 engine is likely a nine-figure sum, which will be offset by GM already having a highly-developed R&D powertrain team that will be familiar with the demands of electrical hybrids,” said Bradley.
Ford has also made a commitment to F1, partnering with Red Bull — which has dominated the sport this year behind ace driver Max Verstappen — to set up a delicious Motown rivalry at the top of global racing. Ford’s financial commitment, however, is not nearly as expansive as GM’s, as the Blue Oval will supply battery expertise while Red Bull engineers the full drivetrain.
“The power unit is at the forefront of technological innovation, making the future of Formula 1 more sustainable while maintaining the spectacular racing,” FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said.
In addition to Red Bull Ford, Ferrari and Mercedes, other manufacturers that have committed to F1’s 2026 power unit are Alpine Racing, Audi and Honda.
GM’s global Cadillac luxury brand has taken the lead in GM’s transformation and is a natural fit for Formula One with its massive, 450-million global television audience and suites and paddocks filled with upper-class customers who have been the most willing to buy electric cars.
“What GM needs is specialist Formula 1 knowledge, and that will be thin on the ground with all the other F1 manufacturers geared up for the new 2026 power units,” said Bradley. “If GM is in F1 for the long haul, then the development and manufacturing costs could top $1 billion. (That’s) a significant outlay, and it can’t afford to undercook this.”
GM said that development and testing of its F1 power unit is already underway. But Andretti Cadillac is also committed to getting its feet wet in the sport ahead of 2028 with a 2025 entry using the sport’s existing hybrid tech. Alpine is rumored to be its choice of engine partner if Andretti Cadillac gets the green light as the 11th team on the F1 grid.
That green light is hardly assured despite the high profile that the Andretti and Cadillac names bring in the United States, F1’s fastest-growing market with three grand prix in ‘23.
FOM is made up of the sport’s racing teams and they have been resistant to sharing the sport’s wealth with another team. Ferrari, for example, ahs been downright dismissive of the idea, but the FIA’s approval in October of Andretti Cadillac was seen as a crucial push to get a deal done. Michael Andretti has rubbed some FOM members the wrong way with his blunt manner, but Reuss has been steadfast that Cadillac’s involvement is contingent on Andretti managing the team.
England-based Williams F1 team boss James Vowles recently weighed in in support of GM and the value it would bring as a major production-car manufacturer. Insiders also say that an American team backed by an American manufacturer (Andretti also promises American drivers) is crucial for the sport’s long-term U.S. health — not to mention the huge sums a battery-powered sport will require.
Cadillac and Ford have long played in motorsport from sportscars (Cadillac won the North American IMSA championship this year) to NASCAR (2023 champ Ryan Blaney drove a Ford) to IndyCar (2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden was Chevy-powered). But those tightly regulated series pale in comparison to the financial commitment — and global reach — of F1. Beyond the 10-figure cost of drivetrain development, F1 teams typically burn a half a billion dollars annually.
As GM makes a historic transition to battery power, F1 is a powerful statement of that commitment.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Charging ahead: China’s Geely targets US with upcoming, upscale Polestar EVs
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 17, 2023
Santa Monica, California — Riding into electric vehicle sales headwinds, EV startup Polestar announced its full model lineup for the U.S. market on Polestar Day here. The Gothenburg, Sweden-based brand is one of a handful of startups who see a generational opportunity to bring EVs to market, joining other startups like Rivian Automotive Inc., Lucid Motors and Fisker Inc. in trying to replicate the success of Tesla Inc.
The premium luxury brand also signals a milestone for Chinese auto conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Polestar is the Geely group’s luxury performance brand in the United States, a major development as China takes advantage of global government EV mandates to gain a foothold in foreign markets.
Like French-based Stellantis NV and Germany’s Volkswagen Group, Geely’s portfolio is global, including brands like Swedish-based Polestar and Volvo, England’s Lotus, and China-based Geely Auto and Zeekr. Zeekr is planning an initial public offering in the U.S. with a target of $1 billion.
Like Maserati and Alfa Romeo under the Stellantis umbrella — or Porsche and Audi in the VW portfolios — Polestar is a premium brand positioned above the more family-focused Volvo luxury badge. While Volvo is transitioning to an all-EV lineup, Polestar’s lineup is exclusively battery-powered to go head-to-head against other EV brands like Tesla, Cadillac, and Jaguar.
“Today is a glimpse into our future, the near future,” said Polestar CEO Tomas Ingenlath inside the historic Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport, where Hollywood celebrities have been known to keep private planes. “Our customers have big expectations of our cars and their performance. They combine the thrill of driving, technology and sustainability.”
Polestar began as a Volvo racing team before being bought by the Swedish automaker and its name integrated into the company as a performance badge. It launched as a stand-alone, performance-focused electric brand in the Geely family in 2021. Like its sister Gothenburg company, Volvo, Polestar is design-focused (CEO Ingenlath came from the design side of the business) with a Scandinavian focus on simple lines and environmentally-fashionable materials.
Like Volvo, it is leveraging Geely financing, platforms and battery production — in addition to signature Scandinavian style — to give it resiliency in an uncertain U.S. market. Polestar entered the American market in 2020 with the 2 sedan, a Tesla Model 3 rival. Sales have been modest as the brand harnessed resources for its full model lineup announced last week at Polestar Day.
Its aggressive strategy includes four new models by 2026.
True to its racing origins, Polestar’s presentation was heavy on performance with the sleek 5 sedan promising a whopping 884 horsepower from its twin motors and a Lotus-derived aluminum chassis in 2025. But Polestar’s presentation also filled the cathedral-sized hangar with a political message about creating “a sense of urgency to act on the climate crisis.” Volvo has long been a socially-conscious and Polestar is aimed at an upscale, green demographic.
Polestar Day attracted customers like Gray Uhl, 70, and his wife, Arlene, 69, from San Diego who were smitten by the vehicles’ design — in particular the two-door Polestar 6 Roadster due in 2026.
“You can tell how much design drives this company,” said Gray Uhl, himself a home products designer. “We want a convertible EV and this is the only one made with good interior room and a back seat.”
Arlene Gray also had an eye on California’s regulatory future. “Our next car is an EV. In California it has to be because they are eliminating gas cars,” she said referring to the state’s ban on gas car sales that takes effect 2035.
For all the power and panache of the 5 and 6, Polestar’s flagships are the volume-focused 3 SUV and its sister 4 SUV coupe. The 3 is a mid-size, two-row ute that will be built alongside the three-row Volvo EX-90 electric SUV in South Carolina beginning next summer on Volvo’s dedicated SPA2 electric architecture. Ingenlath said the plant employs non-union labor.
The Polestars enter the EV market at a time when consumer enthusiasm has cooled and electrics are sitting on vehicle lots on average for twice as long as gas cars. Valuations for EV startups like Rivian and Lucid have plummeted, with the latter losing $227,802 on each car it builds. While Tesla still dominates the market, it has slashed prices and 50% of non-Tesla buyers are trading their EVs for ICEs according to S&P Global.
Polestar is one more brand in a crowded, niche EV market. However, the Swedish brand sees that market expanding as governments like California 1) force EV sales over the next few years with fines, and 2) as EV-only brands benefit from legacy gas-powered manufacturers paying them with EV credits to avoid those fines. Upscale buyers are Polestar’s core customer and Experian’s Automotive Consumer Trends Report finds 85% of EV consumers own another, gas-powered car.
Volvo and Polestar have also benefited by leveraging parent company Geely’s multiple electric platforms. The Polestar 4, for example, shares its SEA electric platform with Zeekr, a Chinese brand that has made inroads in the Chinese and European markets. The Polestar 2 shares its gas-electric CMA platform with the Volvo XC40, and Geely is developing future Lotus and Polestars on the aforementioned, lightweight SEA architecture.
Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid of Guidhouse Insights said Geely has also benefited from its European brand acquisitions. “Geely has really learned how to engineer and design first-rate vehicles like the Volvos and Polestars,” he said at Barker Hangar. “The Chinese just didn’t have that kind of product sophistication before.”
In a media drive around Santa Monica Airport, pre-production versions of the Polestar 3 and 4 were as easy to ride in as they were on the eyes. The cabins were quiet, and the twin tablet screens — one on the dash, the other behind the steering wheel — were complemented by handsome materials. The Polestar 3 joins the 2 sedan in the U.S. lineup next year, and it will initially carry Chinese-made CATL batteries in its belly. Upon its manufacture in South Carolina, it will adopt U.S.-assembled Korean batteries and will become eligible for a federal $7,500 tax subsidy when purchased.
You’ll know the Polestar family members by their distinctive, twin-blade headlights — and by their unusual design innovations. The 3, or example, boasts an aerodynamic blade poised over the front fascia to reduce drag.
The 4 eliminated its rear window to accentuate its long, coupe-like roof line. Instead of a rear window, a long, panoramic roof extends beyond the rear seats to provide better lighting for those sitting in the back. How does the driver see out back? With a camera mirror.
Future innovations include a partnership with Mobileye and lidar-maker Luminar to bring hands-free driving to the Polestar 4. And Polestar is partnering with StoreDot on a so-called “silicon battery” that accelerates fast-charging to add 100 miles of range in five minutes — quicker than today’s market-leading, 800-volt Hyundai/Kia models at 100 miles in 10 minutes.
“Charging and range anxiety are the greatest barriers to EV adoption,” said Engenlath.
For all of the challenges batteries bring to operation, electric architecture is an inspiration to designers. “It allowed us to start with a completely clean sheet of paper,” designer Nahum Escobedo said with a smile as he walked past his new creations. “And the Polestar brand means we are free to create something different.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
California dreamin’: Ford drops Mustang California Special
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 9, 2023
Ford has added another ground-pawing pony to its seventh-generation Mustang stable.
The Mustang California Special pays homage to the 1968 OG that became a hot property more than 50 years ago as the Mustang craze swept America (over 317,000 units were sold in that year alone) and privateers customized their steeds.
Like the ’68 car, the 2024 model bears striking exterior accents like Rave Blue grille nostrils, Rave Blue wheels, and side stripes. Unlike its forebear, the CS does not share Shelby GT500-inspired performance mods like a big engine and fiberglass panels since, well, there isn’t a Shelby GT500 version of the seventh-gen Mustang yet.
Neither will the California Special feature the performance upgrades of the track-focused, 2024 Mustang Dark Horse which also debuted this year alongside Ecoboost and GT models. The California Special will be available as a $1,995 upgrade on the Mustang GT Premium — available as a coupe (starting at $47,015) or convertible ($52,515) and with 6-speed manual or 10-speed automatic transmissions.
“The original California Special package was geared toward California’s optimistic and carefree driving culture,” said Mustang Brand Manager Joe Bellino in a statement. “We’re refocusing on those elements for the 2024 Mustang GT California Special, which brings vibrant style that looks as at home on Colorado Boulevard as it does on the Pacific Coast Highway.”
In the pony car’s early days, some 20% of sales were in the Golden State alone. Owners’ clubs coveted the latest mods and regional dealers created their own personalized designs to stand out from the herd. The ’68 California Special was inspired by the Carroll Shelby-modified, 1967 Shelby GT notchback coupe prototype and would be coveted by collectors.
Subsequent generations of the CS — 2007, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2023 (for Europe) — paid homage to the original. The OG featured a blacked-out grille, fog lights, side racing stripes, and rear spoiler. Most were powered by 4.7-liter (289 cubic inch) V-8 engines with the most desirable sporting big block 6.4-liter (390 cube) and 7-liter (428) V-8 earth-shakers.
For the 2024 edition, the California Special will be stuffed with the same rib-rattling, 480-horse, 5.0-liter (305 cubic inch) V-8 found in the GT.
You’ll know by its striking appearance.
At the end of the Mustang’s long, menacing hood, Rave Blue nostrils bracket the horizontal-slat grille. Headlights are surrounded by black bezels and California Special graphics in Rave Blue and black are emblazoned on the side rocker panels.
The 19-inch wheels also stand out in Rave Blue with either a CS logo on Carbonized Gray wheels or a Performance Pack wheel with bright Rave Blue pockets. A GT/CS badge in the grille is also finished in Rave Blue.
Mustang’s modern, digital interior is trimmed with more blue accents including Navy Pier upholstery and Ebony Black leather seats. Raptor Blue and Metal Gray contrast stitching extends to the dash and doors.
“Mustang has a rich well of special edition models to draw from, and we’ll continue to reinvent them for a new audience,” Bellino said, referring to Mustang archives that include legendary badges like Bullitt and Mach 1. “The new Mustang GT California Special is a perfect example of our drive to build a Mustang for every customer.”
The ‘24 Mustang GT California Special will make its public debut at the LA Auto Show Nov. 16. It’s available for order now at Ford.com.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.