Tech advocates tell us driverless cars will be safer than human drivers and that even today’s more primitive driver assist tech prevents accidents. But the first few weeks of 2025 have delivered multiple news stories reminding us why almost all of the currently available systems still need a driver overseeing them by law.

The latest of those concerns Chevy’s Equinox EV, whose adaptive cruise control might not activate the brakes when the SUV is confronted with a hazard, the NHTSA says. The report indicates that the EV has no problem sensing the need to slow down, but an incorrect software calibration means the brakes might not get the message.

Related: US Escalates Ford BlueCruise Probe After Fatal Mach-E Crashes

Around 2,890 all-wheel drive models not fitted with GM’s fancy Super Cruise system will need to drop by their local dealership to have the software updated, though strangely unsold cars will be updated remotely.

Front-wheel drive versions of the electric SUV and all-wheel drive ones whose owners did pony up for Super Cruise aren’t included in the recall. All new examples of the Equinox built since early December were produced with the new software included.

But what about those other drive-assist stories I alluded to at the top of this post? First, we heard the NHTSA was looking into Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon remote parking feature after receiving reports of EVs not noticing posts and parked cars while driving unoccupied. And this week the agency escalated its probe into Ford’s BlueCruise system in the wake of two fatal accidents involving Mustang Mach-Es being driven at night.

The Equinox – which was recalled more than once during 2024 – isn’t the only Chevy EV making recall headlines this week. The automaker’s electric Silverado truck and its GMC Sierra twin have also come under the NHTSA spotlight. Five examples of the 2024 pickups might not have had a rear seatbelt securing bolt tightened and will need to be checked out at a service center.

Volvo is dusting off its Cross Country badge to add some overlanding appeal to its little EX30. These new spy shots show a gnarlier-looking version of the junior electric SUV testing in the snow ahead of a launch in the first half of this year.

The Cross Country badge first appeared in the mid-1990s, when a pre-SUV Volvo applied it to a V70 wagon with a suspension lift and some tougher-looking body trim. Although the name has been used on and off since then on cars like the V60 wagon, Volvo doesn’t currently sell any Cross Country SUV models.

Related: New Volvo EX30 Getting The Cross Country Treatment For 2025

As with previous cars wearing the badge, the EX30 Cross Country will offer a little more off-road ability, but its true mission is to simply look like it’s a heap more capable in off-highway situations.

These images show a small increase in ground clearance compared with the 171 mm (6.7 inches) offered by the existing EX30, black plastic trim on the nose, arches, and tail, a roof rack, and a new set of 18-inch alloys.

Look familiar? If it does that’s because Volvo previewed the Cross Country in June 2023, revealing images of an EX30 dressed exactly like this. It said at the time that 18-inch rims wrapped in off-road tires would be optional, while buyers not ticking that box would get 19s and road-biased rubber. Volvo also promised skid plates to protect the EV’s battery and motor.

Back in ’23, Volvo said the Cross Country would be available to buy in MY25 trim during the 2024 calendar year, but it was a definite no-show during the last 12 months, meaning a debut must be imminent. The introduction of all EXs to the US was pushed back a year to 2025 so that Volvo could relocate production from China to Belgium to avoid tariffs.

There’s no indication from the automaker regarding how much the EX XC will cost or which powertrains it will be mated with. But to be true to the off-road theme Volvo might restrict it to the 422 hp (428 PS) bi-motor, all-wheel drive setup from the EX30 Twin Motor Performance that starts at $44,900. A single-motor EX is also available in other markets and comes to the US later, sending its 268 hp (272 PS) to just one axle.

Images in the gallery below were released by Volvo in June 2023.

Images: SH Proshots

Citroen is resurrecting its most famous car as an EV. A new report claims Citroen is at the early stages of bringing back the iconic 2CV as a charming, low-cost electric vehicle to battle models like the Dacia Spring, and the result could launch in 2028 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the original.

More than 3.8 million units of the 2CV, nicknamed the tin snail for its shape and slothful performance, were built between 1948 and 1990. It’s universally recognized and much loved, but somehow the model missed out on being rebooted during the same late 1990s, early 2000s retro boom that gave us cars like the New Beetle Mini, Fiat 500 and Dodge Challenger. And in 2019 Citroen said it wasn’t interested in making a new 2CV.

Related: Citroen Partners With Caselani To Turn Berlingo Into A Modern 2CV Van

But Autocar claims a senior Citroen source confirmed the project is happening, although it’s at the early stages. The report also says Citroen has been moved to act after watching rival Renault score a bullseye with the new 5.

The EV-only 5’s retro charm and temptingly low price has made it a hit with buyers, who have snapped up far more of them in the car’s native France than they have of Citroen’s own new, small EV, the e-C3. And to rub salt in the wound, the 5 was recently crowned Europe’s Car Of The Year, relegating the C3/e-C3 to third place in the process.

Now imagine a reskinned e-C3, an EV using the same Stellantis Smart Car platform also found on models like the Fiat Grande Punto, but displaying some classic 2CV styling cues like bug-eye headlights, a curving roofline and maybe even covered rear wheels. It’s easy to see the appeal, both to Citroen and to buyers. And since the original 2CV was also available as a van, there’s potential to attract commercial customers, too, with some rear bodywork mods.

What other classics would you you like to see automakers resurrect as EVs? How about a BMW 02, Fiat X1/9, Jeep Grand Wagoneer or Citroen Mehari? Leave a comment and let us know.

Note: the images at the top of this page and in the gallery below are by Dejan Hristov and are neither related to nor endorsed by Citroën. You can read more about his hypothetical 2CV reboot by clicking here.

Even before Polestar confirmed last week that it was working on a compact premium SUV to rival the Porsche Macan, a flurry of reports suggested this new Polestar 7 would indirectly replace the ageing 2 crossover. But the automaker’s CEO has clarified that in fact the 7 and 2 badges will live side by side.

The Swedish brand’s boss, Michael Lohnscheller, told Autocar today’s Polestar 2 would get its own direct replacement “towards the end” of the decade. The new crossover will arrive shortly after the 7, which appears not to be on the cards until at least 2028. When we suggested a 2027 date based on our earlier reports, Polestar asked us to avoid references to the date, without offering any concrete timeline.

Related: Polestar Pins Turnaround Hopes On Porsche Macan-Sized 7 SUV

Since Lohnscheller told Autocar the 7 gets priority, the 2 surely can’t arrive until 2028 or 2029. So today’s 2 crossover – which dates to 2020 – will have to soldier on for at least another three years. Lohnscheller, seemed unconcerned, told the UK mag the model had “years to go” following a MY25 update and explained that it’s his favorite of the brand’s cars.

Both the 7 and the second-generation 2 will ride on a new (probably Geely) platform, and Polestar has already confirmed the SUV will be built in Europe, rather than Asia or the US. Their arrival will boost the brand’s lineup to six cars, and make life complicated for buyers trying to work out where each fits in the hierarchy, the 7 being smaller than the 3 SUV. The other models are the 4 sedan (already here), 5 four-door coupe and 6 sports car (both coming this year).

Lohnscheller also told Autocar he had tasked new design chief Philipp Römers with putting more emphasis on Polestar models’ performance when he starts sketching the next wave of EVs.

“What we’ve achieved so far is really good,” he told the magazine’s Steve Cropley, “but I’m asking Philipp to highlight the performance of our cars a little more. I don’t believe they look quite as capable as they actually are. They should look a little more confident; they are maybe bit too modest.”

And maybe still too Volvo-like, we’d suggest. But where do you think Polestar should look for design inspiration? Leave a comment below and give us your thoughts.

EV sales dropped by 5.9 percent in the European Union in 2024, and even PHEVs were down 6.8 percent in a year when total sales edged up by 0.8 percent, new data shows. But let’s hear it for hybrids! Sales of non-pluggable, electrically assisted cars jumped 20.9 percent, giving them the second biggest market share by powertrain type, only just behind petrols.

Hybrids ended the year with a 30.9 percent slice of the sales pie, compared with 33.3 percent for petrol vehicles, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Petrol sales actually dropped 4.8 percent, so it’s easy to imagine hybrids accelerating into first place by this time next year.

Related: Hybrid Sales Boom In Europe While EVs And PHEVs Lose Market Share

But the story is a bit more complicated than that because ACEA’s hybrid figures don’t distinguish between mild-hybrid and full-hybrid cars, despite separating plug-ins into a different column on the spreadsheet. 

To remind you, mild hybrids usually consist of nothing more than an ordinary combustion engine fitted with a starter-generator that can add a tiny power boost (normally up to 20 hp / 20 PS), giving almost no opportunity to drive under electric power alone and not making a night and day difference to real-world economy figures, though you might achieve a small saving.

We’re not saying the tech lacks merit, but it’s far less sophisticated than a full hybrid system. And while buyers might actively search out a full hybrid model, so many cars now come with mild-hybrid engines that buyers aren’t necessarily choosing to buy one over a non-hybrid car. They might just like the vehicle and take it as it comes. They might not even know it’s a hybrid.

European Union Sales 2024

But here’s one thing we took away from ACEA’s figures: Europeans overwhelmingly prefer buying cars that feel much like conventional cars, or cars they’re familiar with. Hybrids and mild hybrids don’t need plugging in, and they still need to fill up with gas as all petrol cars do. They just use less of it.

Together, petrol and hybrid vehicles account for over 64 percent of the car market. And, yeah, we could even throw diesel into that mix – its sales dropped 15 percent but it still commands an 11.9 percent market share. That’s getting on for 76 percent of buyers still not wanting the hassle (or expense) of a plug.

Source: ACEA

Even a facelift couldn’t stop sales of Tesla’s Model 3 sliding in 2024, and life for the electric sedan is only going to get tougher. Within two years BMW, Audi and Mercedes will all be armed with brand new electric sedans, and these fresh spy shots show Benz’s contender testing.

It’s not the first time spy photographers have snapped prototypes of the 2027 electric C-Class – we’ve previously seen it in both regular and AMG guises. But this is the first time we’ve seen a prototype with this style of front-end design.

Related: 2026 Mercedes C-Class Keeps Gas Power Alive With A Facelift

Compared with older test cars, this one has a new hood line that’s cut back at its leading edge, suggesting Mercedes has had a rethink and decided to make the grille bigger in time for production. The company has form here: in 2024 we noticed the exact same thing had happened to prototypes of the GLC.

And when you think about what has happened to Mercedes EQ cars already on sale, it’s entirely believable that Mercedes might have opted for a pre-launch facelift. Sales of EQ electric cars like the EQS have been far lower than expected, and that can’t all be blamed on an EV market that hasn’t matured the way automakers hoped.

EQ models have been criticized for their boring bar-of-soap styling, and last year Mercedes facelifted the EQS to give it a more traditional Benz grille in an effort to boost its appeal. Is that’s what’s happened to this C-Class?

We’re still at least a year away from officially seeing the electric C-Class in finished form, so this car still wears plenty of disguise and placeholder lights – expect star-motif LEDs front and back. But there are still details we can take away from this image set, including that while the shape of the tail suggests a liftback configuration, the trunk shutlines look like those of a formal notchback sedan.

Mercedes is keeping the tech spec under its hat for now, but we do know that the electric C- and GLC-Class models will ride on the bigger MB.EA platform and not the MMA one that forms the base of this year’s CLA, the C-Class’s little brother. But Mercedes has promised 800-volt tech and an electric range of 466 miles (750 km) for the small car, and we’d expect the C-Class to match and get close to those numbers respectively.

A couple of year ago we might have expected this car to be called the EQC, but Mercedes has tweaked its EV naming strategy recently, and we now predict it’ll be badged C-Class with EQ Technology, following the lead of the electric G-Class. Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius confirmed last year the C-Class EV would debut in 2026, so a MY27 arrival looks likely.

Images: SH Proshots

Bentley pushed back its electrification plans last year, delaying its transformation into an EV-only brand from 2030 to 2035. But that doesn’t mean we’ll have to wait a decade to see our first zero-emissions Bentley. The British luxury brand has promised to debut its first EV in 2026, describing it as a ‘luxury urban SUV,’ and though it might not look like it, we think we’ve caught it testing.

Yes, this black SUV appears to be a prototype for the Porsche Cayenne Electric that’s due to launch next year, an EV we’ve seen several times over the past 12 months. But Porsche never registers its prototypes on British license plates and we know Porsche’s sister brand Bentley is the only VW Group company that does, so this must be a Bentley, right?

Related: Bentley’s Baby Electric SUV Is Coming In 2026, What If It Looks Like This?

Actually we can do better than guess and assume, because a quick check on the UK’s DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency) website pulls up a digital confirmation that a black car with the plates ‘DC24EKA’ was first registered in July 2024, and gives the manufacturer as Bentley. The fact sheet also lists the CO2 emissions output as 0g/km, though we could have guessed that from the rear shots which show a smooth lower bumper with no visible exhaust tailpipes.

Just as the Bentayga shares its platform with the Porsche Cayenne, the automaker’s first EV uses the same architecture as the upcoming Cayenne Electric. The platform is the PPE hardware already being used by the Macan Electric, Audi Q6 e-tron, and A6 e-tron, though it will be stretched for use on the Bentley and Cayenne.

But not stretched by as much as you might think. Bentley says it will be less than 5 m (197 inches) long, making it more maneuverable in cities than the brand’s other vehicles. The Bentayga, for example, measures 5.1 m (202 inches) in standard form and 5.3 m (210 inches) in stretched EWB guise.

Bentley says its EV won’t replace any of its three existing models (Bentayga, Continental, Flying Spur), but will complement them. Revealing its re-jigged Beyond100+ electrification strategy in November, CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser described the EV as the “first true Luxury Urban SUV,” claiming it will create an entirely new segment in the car market.

Powertrain details are vague at this point, but for reference, the most powerful Macan Electric – which measures 188.3 inches (4.78 m) – comes with a 100 kWh battery and a dual-motor setup generating 630 hp (639 PS / 470 kW). Bentley will unveil the EV in late 2026, but it won’t go on sale until 2027, so it could end up being a 2028MY SUV.

Images: SH Proshots

Cold, winter weather can decimate EV range numbers, seriously hampering practicality in northern regions of Europe and North America. But some electric cars are affected much less than others, as a new test from icy Norway reminds us. And some, like the Polestar 3, are barely affected at all.

Twice a year, in summer and winter, the NAF (Norwegian Automobile Association) and the country’s Motor website get together to put EVs though their paces in real world conditions to check the range of electric cars available to car buyers in Norway, where EVs accounted for a whopping 89 percent of the market in 2024.

Many Promised At Least 300 Miles, But Only 4 Actually Delivered

Running each car’s battery down not quite to zero, but to between 10-15 percent, which is as low as most people would realistically risk going in normal use, especially when it’s snowy outside, the teams recorded a true range figure for each car. Twenty of the 24 cars had a claimed WLTP range of at least 300 miles (483 km), some of them promising almost half as much again. But only four achieved more than 300 miles during the test.

Related: Six EVs Were Driven Till They Died, Guess Which One Came Last

Some of the cars came with bigger batteries than others, of course, so there was always going to be variance in the distance achieved on a single charge. But where the real interest lies is in how close each of the car’s came to its claimed range.

Hitting the WLTP figures is a big ask for an EV, because Europe’s official range numbers tend to be more optimistic than those from America’s EPA for the same car. Throw in the harsh weather, the bigger rolling resistance of winter tires and temperatures that ranged between -3 and 7 degrees C (23-45 F), so aren’t ideal for an EV’s battery, and you’d expect to see none of the cars get anywhere near what the brochure claims.

Tesla’s Model 3 Did Really Good – Or Did It?

And in some cases, you’d be right. The Tesla Model 3’s 330-mile (531 km) effort looks pretty good – until you realize Tesla claims 436 miles (702 km). Peugeot’s E-3008 delivered 101 miles (163 km) below the claimed figure of 317 miles (510 km) and various other EVs underperformed by at least 81 miles (130 km).

Contrast those figures with those of the Polestar 3, whose true 330-mile (530 km) range figure exactly matched the Tesla’s, but the Polestar came within 18 miles (29 km) of its WLTP claim. Considering the weather, that’s an incredible achievement. Which is more than you can say for the feeble 214 miles (344 km) the Voyah Dream achieved with its huge 108.5 kWh battery.

As for the other two that managed to get over 300 miles of true range in those conditions, they were the Porsche Taycan (310 miles), which fell sort 58 miles of WLTP’s numbers, and the Kia EV3, which also achieved 310 miles, down 57 on official numbers. The EV3’s range was praised during our review a couple of weeks ago and shows that a) Kia is mastering the art of EVs, and b) in the electric world, bigger isn’t always better.

WINTER EV RANGE TEST

Polestar has a logical solution to its current run of poor sales. It’s jumping into the premium compact SUV market with an EV rival to the likes of the Porsche Macan Electric that will be on sale before the end of the decade.

Less logical is the name of this new Macan fighter. It’s going to be called the Polestar 7, which could be kind of confusing given that it will be smaller than the Polestar 3 seen in the picture at the top of this page. Previous intel suggested the 7 will replace today’s 2 crossover, but Polestar tells us that is not the case.

Related: Radical Polestar 7 SUV Will Arrive Before 2030

Not confusing at all is Polestar’s decision to follow up the sedan-shaped 2 crossover with something more overtly SUV-shaped, given that’s what buyers currently crave.

“Polestar is known for its progressive design, with each car standing out and creating its own buzz – so too will Polestar 7,” said Philipp Römers, Head of Design at Polestar.

“It is incredibly exciting to bring Polestar’s design ethos to a new segment. Polestar 7 will be everything our customers expect from us, both in terms of design and performance.”

Will it have a back window?

The company’s 4 crossover attracted plenty of attention and criticism when it debuted with a body-colored panel where the rear window is normally sited. Polestar reasons that there’s no need for glass when you have cameras. It’s not clear whether the 7 will follow suit, but we can be sure it’ll be no wallflower.

Polestar will build the 7 in Europe to avoid import tariffs placed on cars coming to the continent from China, where European-market 2s are built. Romers didn’t specify what platform the 7 would use, but the Geely SEA architecture found under the Smart #3 and Polestar 4 seems like a safe bet.

Polestar needs the 7 now

The Swedish automaker revealed plans for the 7 in 2022 but re-confirmed them this week to help put a positive spin on the company’s state of the union address, in which it had to face up to some worrying results during 2024. Full-year figures haven’t been revealed yet but demand for the new 3 SUV and 4 crossover was lower than expected and sales and revenue fell 8 and 10 percent respectively in Q3. Sales did pick up in the fourth quarter, Polestar claimed, however, and the company is forecasting growth of over 30 percent in the next three years, Bloomberg reports.

Other positive news out of Polestar’s strategy update includes a planned increase in the number of retail outlets from 106 to 187, the potential to make triple-digit-million dollar amounts from selling CO2 credits to dirtier automakers, and the impending arrival of the Polestar 5 sports car later this year.

If you’ve driven an EV on a long trip on unfamiliar roads you’ll know that range anxiety is all too real. That 350-mile (563 km) official range the salesman promised you often turns out to be 270 miles (435) in real conditions, and much less in winter. But in a recent test VW’s ID.7 didn’t just match the 350-mile range of a petrol car, it came close to the bladder-busting range of a diesel.

In a controlled event at Porsche’s Nardo test facility in southern Italy, an ID.7 Pro S managed 585 miles (941 km) on a single charge. That’s a third more than the WLTP claimed range of 441 miles (709 km), which is already impressive by EV standards, though WLTP figures are notoriously optimistic.

Related: VW ID.7 Pro S Beats Range Anxiety, Does 493 Miles On Single Charge

You can, of course, extract crazy numbers from any EV if you fit it with a monster battery, strip out the interior to save weight and add special tires and make aerodynamic enhancements. But the ID.7 on test was a entirely standard, right down to its 86 kWh battery, and anyway, the slippery sedan already has a drag coefficient of just 0.23 Cd.

The Pro S version of the ID.7 is equipped with a single 282 hp (286 PS / 210 kW) electric motor that drives the rear wheels. It can accelerate from zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) in 6.6 seconds and has a top speed of 112 mph (180 kmh), though VW’s drivers won’t have exploited either of those capabilities during the test in which the EV achieved efficiency figures of 9.2 kWh/100km (6.9 miles per kWh or 149 Wh/mile). Ambient temperatures ranged from 41-59 F (5-15 C).

Is the ID.7 a continent-crushing EV to make diesel lovers go electric? Maybe not. VW used Nardo’s Low-Speed Ring, which runs just inside the famous 7.8-mile (12.5 km) high-speed bowl and allows automakers to simulate real-world traffic conditions. The ID.7 averaged only 18 mph (29 kmh) which VW says reflects typical rush-hour speeds in European cities.

So the test is better seen as showing that you could commute to work for a couple of weeks in an ID.7 without needing to go near a charger, rather than proving you could drive from San Francisco to Tijuana at motorway speeds without plugging in along the way. But it’s impressive all the same.

The EV market in America might not be growing as fast as some automakers predicted, but it’s definitely still growing. New figures published this week show sales of electric vehicles in the US hit 1.3 million last year, up 7.3 percent versus 2023 when 1.21 million were registered.

Tesla Leads, But Its Grip Is Slipping

Tesla once again dominated the market, though its sales fell 5.6 percent to 633,800, dropping its market share from 48.7 to 44.4 percent. Ford came home in second place, and was up 8 percent (to 97,900), while Rivian (up 3.8 percent to 51,600) was the third biggest EV player. At the other end of the table Mercedes, VW and Volvo all struggled, each brand’s sales dropping by at least 40 percent.

Related: Porsche Buyers Snap Up Gas-Powered 718s Like It’s 1999 As Taycan Sales Tank

New arrivals that helped bump up the overall sales figures include the Chevrolet Equinox and its Honda Prologue brother, which notched up 61,900 sales between them, the Chevy Blazer (23,100), Tesla Cybertruck (39,000) and Kia EV9 (22,000), according to Cox Automotive.

Amusingly, the Prologue turned out to be GM’s best-selling EV, with 33,017 deliveries—easily outpacing the Cadillac Lyriq (28,402) and Chevy Blazer (23,115).

But some old timers enjoyed a resurgence, including the Subaru Solterra (+ 40 percent), Nissan Leaf (+57 percent) and Ariya (+47 percent), facelifted Hyundai Ioniq 5 (+31 percent), Ford Mustang Mach-E (+27 percent) and F-150 Lightning (+39 percent).

EV SALES USA 2024: BRANDS

Big Swings for Specific Brands

Toyota bZ4X’s also enjoyed a massive 99 percent upswing (no doubt thanks to heavy incentives), helping it overtake VW’s ID.4, which had a terrible year, registrations tanking by 55 percent to 17,000. The arrival of the much funkier, if pricier, ID.Buzz – 2025 NACTOY utility of the year – and a forced stop to production due to faulty door handles can’t have helped, and Ford ended the year having shifted three times as many Mach-Es as VW did ID.4s.

Sales of GM’s humongous Hummer mushroomed 331 percent from 3,200 to 14,000 and after a slow start Cadillac’s Lyriq also seems to have hit its stride. Lyriq sales climbed 210 percent to 28,400 ensuring it outsold its BMW iX rival by a factor of almost two to one.

Model Y Stays on Top, Despite a Dip

To no one’s surprise the Telsa’s Model Y remained top dog, even though its sales declined over the last 12 months. The egg-shaped SUV was purchased 372,600 times in 2024 but that figure was down 6.6 percent from 2023 when sales came within a hair of touching 400k.

Perhaps the just-announced facelift for the Model Y can help reverse the downward trend, though last year’s overhaul didn’t do the Model 3 much good. Its sales fell 17 percent from 230,000 to 189,900 despite a mid-year refresh.

EV SALES USA 2024: MODELS

Tesla’s decade of sales growth came to an end in 2024, but the American automaker still managed to claim at least one big scalp. Despite the downturn in its fortunes, Tesla sold more cars than premium rival Audi.

VW’s posh brand registered 1.67 million cars in 2024, that number representing a 12 percent slide compared with the previous year. Tesla’s sales also fell, but only by 1.1 percent to 1.79 million units, putting it ahead of the German automaker, as reported by Bloomberg.

Tesla’s Four Models Beat Audi’s Vast Arsenal

Tesla’s achievement is remarkable for several reasons. One is that it only sells electric vehicles, but managed to move more of them than Audi did electric, hybrid and combustion models combined. Another is that Tesla has only four model lines (five if you include the Cybertruck, but that’s currently available solely in the US and Canada), and none of its global offerings are new, although the Model 3 did at least get a facelift in time to impact the 2024 sales numbers. Audi, in contrast, has dozens of different combinations of model lines and body styles.

Related: 2025 Tesla Model Y Debuts With Cybercab Looks And Turn Signal Stalks

Audi bosses will be particularly disappointed at the news given the success it enjoyed a year prior. In 2023 Audi sold 1.9 vehicles, its best result since 2017, and one that helped it reverse three consecutive years of falling sales. Tesla, on the other hand, has been steadily growing all the way through the late 2010s and early 2020s, culminating in an incredible 2023 when its Model Y SUV was the best-selling car on the planet.

Audi vs Tesla Sales

Bloomberg notes that Audi’s sales dropped in large markets like Germany, China and North America. In general, German luxury brands have been hit by a double whammy of sharpy declining demand in China due to increasingly strong local competition and the withdrawal of EV subsidies in key European countries. But since Audi’s EV sales only fell 8 percent and its overall registrations dropped by 12 percent, it’s not fair to place all of the blame on its electric lineup.

Will Fresh Cars (And China’s AUDI) Help In 2025?

Perhaps the arrival of some new metal will make 2025 a more successful year. The elderly combustion A4 has now been replaced (by the A5), and an electric counterpart (which gets the A4 name) is on the way. Audi has also launched the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron electric sedans, wagons and SUVs.

The introduction of the new AUDI brand in China (all in capitals and without the four-ring logo) is also designed to help it in the world’s largest car market. A joint venture with SAIC, starting in mid-2025 it intends to launch three EVs in the mid- and full-size segments that were previewed by the E concept last November.

It’s been a long wait but Genesis’s GV60 line finally gets a dedicated performance model this fall. That’s when Genesis starts building the GV60 Magma, a production version of a hot EV shown in concept form at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Magma is Genesis’s equivalent to BMW’s M and Hyundai’s N brands, and we can expect the badge to find its way to several of the automaker’s models. But the GV60 is first in line and is expected to justify its position at the top of the trim tree by transplanting the 641 hp (650 PS / 478  kW), bi-motor powertrain from the GV’s sister car, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

Related: Genesis Refreshes GV60, Includes New 27-Inch Display

Genesis hasn’t confirmed how much power the Magma will make or whether it’ll also get the 5 N’s simulated manual transmission, a feature that was recently added to the Kia EV6 GT, another electric crossover closely related to the GV60.

Our spy photographers first caught the Magma testing last summer, prior to the Goodwood reveal. But this latest prototype wears far more camouflage because it’s fitted with the finished car’s grille and wheel-arch extensions – parts that weren’t present last time out.

The plastic arch lips don’t have the aggressive-looking slots shown in the concept, but they’re noticeably flared, unlike the stock’s GV’s flush arches. There’s even a hint of Porsche 911 GT3 RS about the lower portion of the front wheel arch just ahead of the door, and it’s not the only similarity.

Instead of the full-length roof rails seen on regular GV60s, the Magma has short versions on the rear half of the roof, a bit like the ones on a 911 GT3. But there’s no sign of the concept’s rear spoiler on this prototype or its gorgeous motorsport-inspired alloy wheels. Hopefully, both will find their way onto later prototypes before the global debut later this year.

We don’t have any interior shots of the Magma, but since Genesis revealed a facelifted GV60 lineup earlier this week, we know that all models will soon feature a huge 27-inch dashboard display combining a digital instrument cluster and touchscreen.

Images: Baldauf

Dodge’s Charger Daytona is one of the most interesting performance cars in America right now. It’s got plenty of power, it’s got the ’68-inspired retro styling, and its got the muscle credibility that comes with the Charger badge. And as the first ever electric muscle car, it’s certainly generated plenty of attention. But instead of charging way over MSRP to hoards of buyers hungry to get into one, Dodge dealers are actually offering huge discounts.

A look at dealer ads online shows some retailers are offering almost $21k off one of the new EVs. Lia Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Schenectady, NY, says you can take its Scat Pack (mis-labelled as an R/T Scat Pack) home for $61,740 even though it has an $82,175 MSRP. That’s a $20,435 saving. And Gresham Dodge in Oregon is offering $13k off an $83k Scat Pack but claims it will match any other dealership.

Related: First Dodge Charger Daytona EVs Land At Dealers

The deals aren’t restricted to the 670 hp (679 PS / 500 kW) Scat Pack, either. They’re available on the less expensive 456 hp (462 PS / 340 kW) R/T, too, which offers a more useful 308 miles (496 km) of electric range to the Scat Pack’s feeble 241 miles (388 km).

Dick Scott Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Plymouth, MI, is asking $59,652 for a Bright White R/T with an MSRP of $70,175, while Clay Cooley Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Irving, TX, has a Diamond Black R/T with the same MSRP that it’ll sell you for $17k less than list.

And these are not isolated cases. Check out this cars.com link and you’ll find many more discounted Daytona being advertised well below MSRP. While it’s great to see that dealers aren’t trying to bleed buyers dry the way they were doing a few years ago when new car supply was limited, it does suggest demand for the new electric muscle car is less than stellar.

You might argue that’s because the MSRPs are extremely high, reviews have been mixed, and the four-door version isn’t out yet. But the main reason has to be that although plenty of people are curious about the first electric Charger, most would rather have a gas version, even if doesn’t accelerate quite as fast.

Last year we reported that Dodge was pulling the debut of the ICE version of the Charger – which gets a couple of Hurricane inline six options but no V8s – forward because that’s the model fans are clamoring for. Maybe the discounts on that won’t be so impressive when they arrive later this year.

Thinking of buying a new Tesla Model 3? If you’re based in Europe, you might want to hold off until the end of this year because Mazda’s new electric 6e looks like it might be worthy of your attention.

A European version of the Chinese EZ-6 that debuted last year, the 6e is a good looking sedan whose liftback rear end gives it a practical advantage over the Model 3. Moving on Mazda’s Kodo design language, the 6e features an LED framed grille whose lights flutter to indicate battery state while charging.

Related: New Mazda EZ-6 Is China’s Electric Mazda6 Sedan

Frameless door glass, a low roofline and an active rear spoiler give the 6e a sporty look, and the rear-wheel drive chassis layout means the driving experience might well live up to that promise.

Not that the 6e is exactly blisteringly fast in either of its available forms. Mazda will offer the EV with two batteries. The smallest a 68.8 kWh unit that delivers up to 300 miles (483 km) of electric range, can charge at 200 kW and go from 10-80 percent in 22 minutes, or add 145 miles (233) of range in 15 minutes. A bigger, 80 kWh battery stretches the range to 345 miles (555 km) but needs 45 minutes to top up from 10-80 percent.

Go for the smaller battery and your 6e comes with 255 hp (258 PS) and can get you from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 7.6 seconds. Choosing the bigger pack drops the output to 241 hp (244 PS) and adds two tenths to the 62 time. Both look like mild performers next to a Model 3, even the most basic of which clocks 62 mph in 5.8 seconds.

The cabin looks more inviting and less spartan than a Model 3’s, but places a similar focus on digital displays. A 10.2-inch unit handles instrument duties ahead of the driver along with a head-up display, and most vehicle functions are handled via a central 14.6-inch touchscreen.

The 6e goes on sale in mainland Europe in the second half of 2025, with UK sales starting early the following year.

Mercedes drivers are about to get a whole lot more choice when it comes to juicing up their EVs. From February 2025, the number of charge points open to them will balloon when access to Tesla’s Supercharger network is granted.

The option to charge at 20,000 Superchargers across North America – while still retaining Mercedes’ no-hassle Plug & Charge functionality – brings the total number of Mercedes me Charge points to more than 110,000 across the region.

Related: Tesla Dragging Its Feet Over Rolling Out Supercharger Access To Other Brands

But while US Mercedes drivers will be able to plug in at Supercharger sites in only a few weeks’ time, those in Canada have to wait until “later” in 2025. And neither group of drivers can take advantage of the Tesla-Mercedes tie-up until they’ve purchased a certain piece of hardware from their dealers.

Existing Owners Need A $185 Adapter – And A Visit To The Dealer

Like many other automakers, Mercedes has promised to fit its new North American-market EVs with Tesla-style NACS (North American Charging Standard) sockets during 2025. But anyone who already owns an EQ-badged Benz, or buys one between now and the switchover, will need to pay $185 for a CCS to NACS adapter.

Granted, that’s not a huge amount for the convenience it offers, especially if you’re a Merc owner, but the likes of Ford and Hyundai, who will also adapt the same standard, are offering existing EV owners the adapter for free.

Cars will also need a free software update at their dealers (what, no OTA fix?) to allow them to use the Supercharger network. But once that’s completed, the chargers will be included in the list of sites visible on the dash display and integrated into Mercedes’ “Navigation with Electric Intelligence” feature that directs drivers to the most appropriate charging location.

“Magic Port” Rapid Charging Is Scarce

Tesla has come under fire for being slow to roll out Supercharger access to other brands, having first announced the plan in 2023. The automaker gave those brands the opportunity to switch to its NACS port and said it would fit a “Magic Dock” to its chargers, enabling an electric vehicle from the likes of Ford, GM, or Hyundai to enjoy rapid charging alongside Tesla models.

More: Tesla Wants Automakers To Adopt Its New 48V Charge Connector The Way They Did With NACS

But by the end of 2024, only around 100 of Tesla’s circa 2,500 Supercharger stations in the US were outfitted with the Magic Dock, an investigation by Bloomberg Green discovered.

Audi, BMW, Fisker, Ford, Genesis, GM, Honda, Lucid, Mazda, Porsche, VW and others have committed to switch to the NACS port, while Hyundai’s facelifted Ioniq 5 already has one. Most brands are also working on, or have, such adapters.

Kia definitely isn’t getting cold feet about electric vehicles, and it’s not just SUVs the Korean automaker thinks need the EV treatment. These spy shots show the company’s PV5 van being developed to give models like the VW’s ID.Buzz Cargo a hard time.

Built around Kia’s e-CCPM (Electric Complete Chassis Platform Module) architecture, the PV5 is a production LCV version of an electric van concept shown 12 months ago. Like VW’s ID.Buzz, it’ll be available in both passenger van and commercial forms, but the PV5 will offer far more configurations than its VW rival.

Related: Everything We Know About The Kia PV5 Electric Van

And we don’t just mean in terms of motor and battery options, which Kia hasn’t revealed much about yet, incidentally. No, we’re talking about modular body sections that enable the PV5 to be configured with low- and high-roof body styles and potentially even as a truck.

When it revealed the concept, Kia said the body units were attached by mechanical couplings and electromagnetic fixture points, allowing owners to customize the PV5s, though looking at these spy shots suggests it might not be a DIY swap and the versatility is experienced at the point of ordering.

Only the brief glimpse of painted metal below the roof behind the sliding door helped us tell this LCV apart from the passenger-carrying minivan we saw last September, and which had a glass panel in the same location. That and the simple steel wheels that replace the alloys seen on the previous prototype.

Both versions feature the same dropped waistline at the front door to improve visibility, have tough, black plastic wheel-arch spats, and are bundled up in a mountain of camo that keeps much of the design details a secret. But we can see the DRLs tracking the line of the frunk and real headlights stashed in the bumper below.

A couple of frames even give us a taste of the inside of the PV5, one showing a large grab handle on the A-pillar and a huge rectangular touchscreen that’s much taller than the ones Kia uses on its current EVs, including the range-topping EV9 SUV.

The PV5 launches later this year and will be joined by a smaller PV1 and PV7. We’re also hoping the off-road PV5 Kia showed at SEMA also makes it to production. Would you take one over a VW ID.Buzz Cargo?

Note: the gallery below also contains shots of the concept and also a Carscoops rendering of how the PV5 could look.

Images: Baldauf, Kia, Josh Byrnes

Technology is great when it works, but when it fails the results don’t only leave us frustrated. Sometimes tech breakdowns can induce sheer terror, as one Ford Mustang Mach-E owner discovered when a battery failure left his child trapped inside the EV.

In a post on Reddit, user @r3d_ra1n explained how all seemed well when his wife parked the 2021 Mach-E up with the battery showing a 25 percent charge. She exited the EV and closed her door before moving around to the other side of the Mustang to open another door to get her infant son, which is when the panic set in.

Related: Ford’s Electric Mustang Mach-E Outsold The Gas Mustang For The First Time Ever

The Mach-E doesn’t have conventional door handles, just a touch-sensitive switch on the pillar, and on this occasion, neither the owner’s wife’s keyfob nor the Ford app on phones belonging to the wife or the poster would unlock and open the door. Not ideal when a helpless baby is inside and it’s a toasty 80 degrees (27 C) outside.

AAA was alerted but failed to open the car by applying a jump pack to the 12-volt battery in the frunk, which was unlocked via the emergency access door below the headlight. Ford Roadside Assistance was also called out, but before that second crew arrived – which was 90 minutes after the baby first became trapped – the owner had taken matters into his own hands and smashed a window to gain access.

With the window busted the owner was able to open the door using the internal emergency release. That manual release is intended to prevent occupants getting trapped inside but it’s obviously no good if the occupant is a lone baby, so it’s worrying that Ford didn’t think to fit an emergency key slot on the outside of the car, as most other automakers do. The 2021 Mach-E came with the same key fob as other Fords and included a physical emergency key hidden inside, but the blank is uncut because there’s no lock.

In a first update to his Reddit post the owner says the car was towed to a dealer, who noted various failure codes but put the problem down to a faulty 12-volt battery, which is a consumable item and therefore not covered by the car’s warranty. But having then gained a ton of attention on social media he says was contacted by Ford HQ who told him they were working on his case.

H/t to Road & Track

Road, good. Train track, bad. That’s something most car drivers are able to get their heads around. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, on the other hand, is still getting to grips with the concept. A video picking up plenty of attention on social media shows a Tesla driving itself onto train lines, and it’s not the first time one of Elon’s cars has ended up on the wrong kind of track.

The incident took place in California where a Tesla owner was driving his EV through traffic in Santa Monica. Or, to be more precise, the owner was being driven by the car, which had its Full Self-Driving assistance tech engaged and its onboard cameras recording every move.

Related: Tesla Driver Reportedly On FSD Dodges Train By Taking Control At The Last Second

Pulling onto Colorado Avenue from an intersection, the Tesla turned too sharply and ended up driving down LA’s Metro E Line track which runs parallel to the road, the footage shows. The driver, Jesse Lyu, founder of AI company Rabbit, makes no attempt to correct the maneuver, which has you wondering if he was paying attention, even though Tesla expressly says FSD does not make its EVs autonomous.

To be fair, the train line we’re talking about here is a typical city type that looks just like a regular road lane, and because the rails are flush with the ground, it can be driven over by a car. But unfortunately for the owner, a fence on the left and concrete curb on the right makes it harder to get off the train track when he realizes his mistake – and spots a train bearing down on him from behind.

hi @elonmusk – FSD v13.2.2 just drove me to a train line here in Santa Monica. sending this video clips and hopefully you guys can fix it fast. (i was shaking and i had to ran a red light to save my life). pic.twitter.com/GOERJSEcTq

— Jesse Lyu (@jessechenglyu) January 2, 2025

And he’s unable to move forward to safety at the next stoplight because there are buses and pedestrians crossing in front of him. As soon as the pedestrians are clear he runs the red light to get out of the way, but says he was left shaken by the experience.

“I’ve got nowhere to go, the train is right behind me,” Lyu says in commentary provided of the video he posted to X. “This is crazy, I could get killed because of this. I had to run the red light to save my life.”

hi @elonmusk – FSD v13.2.2 just drove me to a train line here in Santa Monica. sending this video clips and hopefully you guys can fix it fast. (i was shaking and i had to ran a red light to save my life). pic.twitter.com/GOERJSEcTq

— Jesse Lyu (@jessechenglyu) January 2, 2025

H/t to SFGate

Is your street or route to work blighted by potholes? Or are you a professional getaway driver currently doing a five-stretch after a strip of police spikes thwarted your escape from that last bank job? Then China’s YangWang U9, which can leap into the air like a skateboard pro, has your name all over it.

You’ve probably seen the 1.68 million yuan ($230,00 USD) YangWang U9 before, and maybe even watched a video of it driving on three wheels or jigging about in a kind of dance with the help of its Disus X suspension. But now a new video released by the Chinese carmaker showing what the suspension can do has been released and its expanded skillset is equally weird – simultaneously amazing and completely pointless.

Related: YangWang U9 Hits 244 MPH Top Speed, But Can’t Beat The Taycan At The Nurburgring

The 100-second promo places a 1,287-hp (1,305 PS / 960 kW) quad-motor U9, complete with its McLaren Senna-style rear spoiler, on a test track, where it accelerates hard from a standing start up to 120 km/h (75 mph) before leaping over a water-filled crater in the ground. The front wheels pop-up first to help get the U9 airborne, then the rears follow. Though the gap is only 8 ft (2.5 m), text on the screen tells us the U9 actually jumped 20 ft (6 m) in total.

Next up there’s a 13-ft (4 m) stretch of tire-shredding metal spikes, each measuring 1.4 inches (35 mm) tall, the kind of thing James Bond used to throw out of his car to send the bad guys spinning into the weeds. And then there’s a same-sized patch of four brightly colored dust strips. The U9 clears them both, and it does it all without a driver onboard, relying purely on its autonomous tech.

But why? Who needs a bunny-hopping 1,300-hp EV that doesn’t even need you? Unless I’m missing something, it’s just another desperate gimmick, like the dancing. You’re never seriously going to be leaping over potholes in the road, and it doesn’t seem to jump high enough to clear any obstacles you might encounter, like roadkill. Or even police road spikes. No use to getaway drivers, then…

Perhaps YangWang should come up with a third video showing how the Disus X suspension does something that’s useful and desirable, like, oh, go round corners really, really well. But since the U9 has already failed to beat the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT and Xiaomi SU7 Ultra at the Nürburgring, maybe gimmicks (and a 244 mph top speed) is all it’s got.