Crossover

The Toyota Yaris Cross, basically a high-riding hatchback with crossover ambitions, is one of Toyota’s newest vehicles and the company’s only subcompact crossover. Now, it looks like Toyota is going to share that love with Lexus, however, this news might not be a big deal if you live in the United States. The Tiny Lexus will share market designations with the Yaris Cross, which is currently only available in Europe, Japan, and Australia. According to the report, the Lexus crossover will be powered by the same 1.5-liter, hybrid, three-cylinder that powers the Yaris Cross. In that model, it’s good for anywhere between 90 and 118 horsepower with the electric motor – either 3.9 kW or 59 kW – adding from 5.2 to 79 horsepower into the mix.

It’s not likely that Lexus will simply rebadge the Yaris Cross, so expect the typical Lexus front end, nice interior materials, and – perhaps – a small increase in power output, at least for the higher trim levels. For the record, it would slot below the Lexus UX, which means that the trademark filing for “LBX” and “Lexus LBX” could have been hinting at its name. That said, the LBX is largely considered to be a concept, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens with that. Another rumor claims the sub-UX crossover would be called the Lexus BX, it would arrive in 2023, and would sit somewhere below the $30,000 mark. That sounds a little more like it to us, but we’ll have to see what happens.

Plug-in and full hybrid vehicles are mostly viewed as a transition between internal combustion engines and EVs. In 2019, just two percent of light vehicles, sold in the US, were hybrids and for 2020, things have remained about the same. In the EU only one percent of vehicles are plug-in hybrids. However, with the recent talk about hydrogen, Hyperion Motors takes the opportunity to change the fate of hybrid vehicles. Their XP-1 hypercar took eight years to develop and now, the first prototype has finally taken shape. It certainly promises a lot, but can it deliver?

Volvo announced the C40 Recharge for the U.S. market back in March this year. It is essentially a crossover version of the XC40. The U.S. market is known to welcome crossover coupes with arms wide open and Volvo accepted the invitation. For the 2022 XC40, Volvo introduced two new trims – Plus and Ultimate. But, the C40 will be offered only in the top-spec Ultimate spec. Aside from the looks, it comes with a premium cabin and a ton of creature comforts. The downside, however, is the range. The C40 Recharge is offered with a range of 210 miles, which isn’t too impressive for a vehicle that costs close to $60,000.

EVs have slowly been rising in popularity and have proven to be an alternative to the internal combustion engine, at least to an extent. The introduction of solid-state batteries is expected to bring EVs to the next level, although they are far from mass production. However, the Chinese carmaker GAC could get ahead of the game with their latest Aion LX. While many EVs currently on sale struggle to do 350 miles on a single charge, the new Aion LX promises over 620 miles (1,000 km) of emissions-free driving.

The Porsche Macan has been on the market since 2014. Following a revamp in 2018, Porsche has reworked the Macan once again to make it ready for life alongside an all-new electric model that will shortly join it. With its second facelift, the combustion engine model is buying more time. The upcoming Electric Macan will be the first vehicle to be constructed on the Audi and Porsche PPE (premium electric platform).

The Sportage is one of the longest-running nameplates in Kia’s history. It has been around since 1993 and is entering its fifth generation as it nears its three-decade anniversary. The new Sportage comes with a plethora of changes. It looks a lot smarter than the current model, is underpinned on a new architecture, and will be offered with hybrid and plug-in hybrid options. Kia will also add a new trim on the fifth-gen Sportage. At this point, not a lot of detail is revealed, but we should hear more of it when it arrives in late 2021 or early 2022.

Here is yet another drag race by CarWow: an Audi RS6 vs a Tesla Model X. Can the American-made EV hold it’s own against the Audi RS6? Let’s take a look and see what happens.

Lexus has come up with the next-gen 2022 NX crossover. The NX has been in the market for over three decades now and is still one of the most important products for the automaker. In fact, it is the second-best-selling Lexus model after the RX. For the 2022 model, the NX comes with an updated exterior and interior, and also a plug-in hybrid engine in a new top-of-the-line trim. The NX will arrive by the end of the year and could start at around $40,000.

The Toyota bZ4x electric crossover concept made its global debut a couple of months back. Now the automaker has revealed it in the U.S. The bZ4x is roughly the size of the RAV4 and will be launched in the production form later this year. The company hasn’t revealed a whole lot of details about it yet, but did mention that it will come with an all-wheel-drive configuration, which means it could have a dual-motor setup. The all-electric crossover will go on sale from early 2022.

Things escalated quickly between 2019 and 2020 over at Porsche, with the former bring news that the 2021 Porsche Macan will only be offered with an all-electric drivetrain. Of course, 2021 is here, and guess what? The electric Macan doesn’t even exist outside of Porsche’s walls. That’s because in early 2020, we learned that Porsche was thinking about a “double Macan” strategy in which it will update the current-gen Macan to sell alongside the next-gen electric Macan. It’s good news for those that don’t want to make the transition to electric go juice, but it also means the next-gen Macan had to be delayed. Now we’ve learned something new, and it seems that the Macan EV might not be a Macan at all. Wait… what?

Volkswagen recently announced the ID.4 GTX. With it, the German brand announced the beginning of its sporty EV lineup. What’s more important, however, is that during that same presentation, the new ID.5 was shown for the first time and with it, an ID.5 GTX was confirmed. This is the latest vehicle to utilize VW’s MEB platform for EVs. Moreover, the ID.5 will be a sleeker version of the ID.4. Think of it as an ID.4 Coupe.

In case you haven’t noticed, outside of a few entry-level cars like the Hyundai Kona EV and Chevy Bolt, for example, electric cars are pretty fast. And the cost to make even an entry-level EV fast isn’t all that high. EVs are opening the door for automakers to expand their performance lineups exponentially, and Volkswagen will be one of the first as the GTX badge be slapped onto an entire fleet of high-performance EVs. So, which model will we see next?

Volkswagen has decided to step on the gas (pun unintended) and launch a new range of performance EVs with the ‘GTX’ badge. The automaker has introduced its first car under this series based on the ID.4 called the ID.4 GTX. The EV comes with significant performance upgrades over the standard model and also comes with some aesthetic changes. An additional motor, enhanced power outputs, and new headlight detailing are some of the differences here. The performance, however, comes at the cost of the range since Volkswagen has made use of the same battery pack as the standard ID.4. What is more important to you?

The Chinese automotive industry has been steadily gathering momentum and they are now offering some viable alternatives, especially in the more affordable price range. Not long ago, Geely’s upscale brand, Lync & Co introduced its newest model – the 06. Regardless of the name, this is actually the smallest and also fifth model of the luxury brand. The Lynk & Co is a compact SUV, aimed at younger buyers.

Let’s face it, Performance vehicles as we know them like the BMW M4, Hyundai Veloster, – and by that, I mean cars with raw internal combustion power – aren’t exactly staring down the barrel of a bright future. By 2030 or 2040 at the latest, there’s a good chance that you’ll only be able to buy electric vehicles and, while they can offer some great performance as we’ve learned from cars like the Porsche Taycan, the basis behind performance vehicles is changing. That’s probably why automakers are offering so many performance vehicles that, well, probably shouldn’t even exist.

The Hyundai Kona N, as cool as it is, is one such model. The world doesn’t need a high-performance Kona, but here we are with one. Other automakers are doing the same thing, and it’s only because we’re willing to snatch them up as quickly as they can produce them simply based on the fact that this is probably our last chance. And that’s probably a big reason as to why Hyundai has just promised a whole bunch of N Performance models….

Lamborghini Squadra Corse, the division that handles Lamborghini’s motorsport efforts is teasing what looks to be a new hardcore race car via a short video that leaves us wanting for more. Especially since it’s hard to pinpoint what this car is and where and if it will race.

The “hot SUV” market might be slowly but continually growing with more and more manufactuers starting to offer performance SUVs, but most of them fall outside the affordable category. The Mercedes-AMG GLA 45, for example, starts at $54,500 while something larger like the BMW X6 M commands six-figures. And, that’s where the Hyundai Kona N comes into play – you can have decent performance, sporty styling, and a price tag that probably won’t go much higher than the $35,000 mark. So what does the Kona N bring to the table?

Mercedes arrived at the 2021 Shanghai Auto with a new EV called the EQB. The company revealed the EQB less than a week after it took the wraps off another EV, the EQS. The EQS drew some polarizing opinions for its looks, but there’s no denying that it is a strong, competent product. Now, the automaker has unveiled this crossover that will hit the Chinese markets first and will then be launched in Europe later this year. It will arrive Stateside sometime in 2022.

Toyota has revealed the bZ4X electric crossover concept. Kicking off the new ‘Beyond Zero’ series for the Japanese automaker, this concept looks to be a spiritual successor to the RAV4. More than the product itself, this reveal was all about the bZ series of vehicles, a prefix that will be used on the company’s upcoming electric vehicles. The bZ4X is based on a BEV platform that Toyota has co-developed with Subaru, and it will feature an all-wheel-drive system.

Back in February this year, Nissan unveiled the third-gen of the Qashqai compact crossover. It has been quite a seller in Europe, with over three million examples sold so far since its inception 14 years back. The third-gen Qashqai rides on a new platform, features changes inside out, and comes with hybrid engine options only. There has been a lot of weight-saving measures, too, which will result in the crossover being more efficient than before. All these changes come at a cost, which results in the 2021 Qashqai being significantly more expensive than the outgoing model.

There is no secret that the X1 is getting a bit long in the tooth just like there is no secret that BMW is already working on the crossover’s replacement. Test mules have been spotted recently doing pre-production runs and with a debut slated for 2022, it is time to reassess what we know about the incoming BMW X1.