Industry News

Chevrolet is here with a versatile tailgate of its own called the Multi-Flex tailgate. As expected, it is carried over as it is from the GMC trucks and given a new name. These tailgates certainly have an extra advantage over the simple ones that don’t offer any other function except for opening and closing. However, the Multi-Flex tailgate wasn’t the only news here; the 2021 models will come with some new standard features and better tow ratings.

The much-hyped and anticipated Tesla Battery Day is now done and dusted, but it brought some news on Tesla’s advancements in the battery tech department. It started with the Annual Shareholders Meeting and then moved on to the Battery Day event.

The event was witnessed by 240 shareholders, each sitting in a Model 3, while the rest of the world watched the live stream on the website. As expected, Tesla announced a cheaper battery, but it is still some time away. There were a few other announcements apart from this, and here’s a rundown of the event:

After what was a rather dumb move on Ford’s part, the company has officially confirmed that it will be offering the seven-speed manual gearbox with the Sasquatch Package. When the company announced this off-road package, it checked all the boxes and made even the lower trims off-road worthy. But, the only thing missing was the manual gearbox, and it didn’t go down well with potential customers. Fortunately, Ford heard them and decided to offer it before it was too late. We’re happy now.

First, it was the war of who’s got the biggest grille. Now the focus has shifted to tailgates. The main unique selling points of pickup trucks are cargo beds. While there isn’t much you can do in that aspect apart from offering different types of Tonneau covers, or illumination, or different material for the base. Ram and GMC changed the game when they launch tailgates that can be used more efficiently. These tailgates became the talk of the town, but surprisingly, the other players in the market, Ford and Chevrolet, didn’t make a move. Although we’re yet to see the former do something about it, Chevrolet has made its move.

The automaker has announced a “MultiFlex” tailgate that will be available for the 2021 Silverado. There isn’t a lot known yet, but Chevy will drop more details about it on September 21.

Revived in 1987 by Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli, Bugatti was acquired by the Volkswagen Group in 1998. Under German ownership, the French brand introduced the Veyron and the Chiron, as well as a handful of one-off supercars, all powered by massive W-16 engines with more than 1,000 horsepower. Come 2020 and Bugatti could be sold off, and rumor has it the French company may end up with Rimac Automobili, the Croatian firm that produces electric supercars, drivetrains, and battery systems.

Maserati introduced the MC20 supercar with a twin-turbo V-6 engine called Nettuno. The company claims that this engine is new and "100% Maserati," but the mill actually shares parts with powerplants found in Ferrari and Alfa Romeo models. As speculated long before Maserati unveiled the car, the Nettuno engine is derived from a Ferrari V-8 and is similar to a V-6 that Alfa Romeo offers in high-performance versions of the Giulia and Stelvio.

Volkswagen and Tesla have been having some sort camaraderie for quite some time now that seems a little more than just healthy, mutual respect. Recently, Elon Musk test drove the Volkswagen ID.3, and now, VW’s CEO, Herbert Diess, took a drive in the Tesla Model Y. This leads to speculations if Tesla and Volkswagen are joining forces, but the German automaker’s CEO put an end to the rumors saying there is no deal between the two companies. But, could the two giants tag-team EVs in the future?

Batteries in electric cars have come a long way. The Tesla Model S, for example, has broken the 400-mile barrier while the upcoming Lucid Air and its 113 kWh battery back will offer as much as 4.58 miles per kWh or more than 500 miles of range With that in mind, it looks like the Lucid Air’s claim to fame might be short-lived as a new battery tech has been developed and it could offer up more than double the driving range and enable fast charging to more than 80-percent in just five minutes. But, there’s a catch (as there always is), and you might not like it.

Until battery technology gets fuss-free and people stop having range anxiety, we’ll have to look at alternatives to extract the maximum EV range possible. A concept that’s been discussed for a long time is having solar panels on EVs so that they help aid the range. However, we haven’t seen anything materialize in production form yet.

Now, a company called WorkSport has come up with a tonneau cover that helps with this. But, it’s not limited to just EVs. It can also be used on fuel-powered trucks for portable on-demand power. That’s a pretty creative idea.

We know that you saw the reports that the Ferrari Purosangue would remain in production beyond the five years it’s been on the market. As the most user-friendly and, arguably family friendly Ferrari on the road, it seemed like a wise move to keep it around for a while, but now Ferrari has confirmed that, despite contradicting reports, the GTC4Lusso and GTC4Lusso T have been sent to car heaven.

The Hyundai Palisade is so popular that the Korean company is struggling to keep up with demand. But this may soon change as many owners are complaining that the SUV’s interior smells like... garlic. The Palisade Forum contains numerous reports on the matter, with at least four threads touching this issue and numerous owners complaining about foul odours.

The Ram Rebel TRX was probably the most important – or at the very least most memorable – concept of the last decade. A Ram 1500 with a 500-horsepower Hellcat engine and all the off-road goods to put Jeep to shame – it was a recipe that blended desire with hope. That hope, by the way, was reinforced by the fact that the Rebel TRX Concept looked like it was ready to hit the production line. And, it really was ready, but Ram decided to hold back, and we didn’t get the production model – which we now know as the Ram 1500 TRX – for five years. Now we know why Ram waited to introduce the production model, and we’re damn glad it did.

Much like the Jeep Wrangler, the 2021 Ford Bronco is designed with customization in mind. The company is even offering more than 200 accessories for the Bronco when it hits showrooms, but powertrain upgrades might not be possible via aftermarket means. According to Ford, the ECU is very complicated, and, essentially, nobody should be playing around with ECU calibration. That means aftermarket companies might find the new Bronco to be untunable.

Dieselgate has, for the most part, come and gone, but now it looks like there might be another scandal on the horizon – this time involving the gasoline-powered engines found in the 2008-2013 Porsche 911 and Panamera. As of now, Porsche won’t say for sure, but it has launched an internal investigation and alerted the proper authorities.

Back in January, we told you that thefour-cylinder Toyota Supra was coming for 2021, and it’s definitely the car you want. While the four-cylinder Supra will offer significantly less power – 255 horsepower vs. 382 horsepower – it will have better weight distribution (50-50), less weight (about 170 pounds less), and will have a more affordable price. In short, it’s good on its own or a perfect base for those that start to wrench and modify the second a new sports car is delivered. We haven’t had the chance to get our hands on a new four-cylinder Supra, but our friends over at Car & Driver did. As it turns out, we were definitely right – the 2020 Toyota Supra is as impressive as expected and maybe even better than expected.

At a time when automakers are focused on making electric cars more efficient and working towards eliminating range anxiety, Elon Musk is thinking on a whole different level. The electric czar is thinking about electric airplanes, something that could be viable in half-a-decade. Tesla’s battery research partner, Jeff Dahn, said that the new battery-cell technology offers a tremendous improvement in energy density and could enable ‘electrified urban aviation’.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie comes off as a world-class hypercar, but it hasn’t been without its problems either. The race-going version, for example, was postponed a while back because the of class merges happening within the World Endurance Championship. And, while Aston claimed that development of the road car was still ongoing, a global pandemic struck and Ex-CEO Andy Palmer was replaced with the Ex-CEO of Mercedes-AMG, Tobias Moers. The company did get a huge influx of cash when Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll invested $657 million, but Aston Martin has still be struggling – even with the DBX finally going into production. Now, it looks like the Aston Martin Valkyrie is in a lot of trouble, and things aren’t looking very good. A tough decision needs to be made.

There’s no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a rather massive monkey wrench into the engine that is the auto industry. It’s been so bad that every time we turn around, we hear about another automaker that’s drastically down on sales. Now, a new study from German website Handelsblatt, paints a crystal clear picture of how automakers are weathering the COVID storm, and I can tell you know, it’s not pretty. In fact, some German brands are really taking up the tailpipe.

There’s no denying that the United States is in a tough place right now. There’s racism running rampant, riots (not the peaceful protests), and a huge divide amongst the American people. Some will blame political figures for this big divide, others blame the police, but perhaps it starts much lower. Just recently, Trump suggested that the American people should boycott Goodyear tires after a shot of the company’s employee attire policy went viral for banning MAGA attire along with a few other things.

It’s crystal clear that Ram had off-road in mind when it built the Ram 1500 TRX. In fact, it’s a bold and director competitor to the Ford F-150 with considerably more power. At this point, one could even argue that FCA is just amused by putting ridiculous amounts of power into the hands of drivers. In recent news we learned that the TRX will be the most expensive half-ton pickup ever, and that the TRX will be sold in Europe. There’s even potential for a less-powerful “entry” model of sorts to arrive sometime after launch. There’s now officially one thing there won’t be, however - A Hellcat-powered street truck akin to that of the old-school Dodge Ram SRT10.

Back on July 10, 2020, we told you about the C8 Corvette’s frunk problem – you know; the one where the front hood opens as you’re driving for no reason? Well, it took 5 days for GM to issue a statement, and in that statement, it blames drivers for the Funk opening on its own. Now, just over two months later, Chevy and GM are issuing a recall that apparently affects more than 6,000 2020 model year C8 Corvettes, however, you apparently still don’t know how to properly latch the front hood.

As the only real alternative to the Ford F-150 Raptor, perceiving the Ram 1500 TRX’s relationship to the T-Rex dinosaur makes sense on several levels. First off, the T-Rex was an adversary of the Raptor, and two, it really kind of sticks it to the Ford Raptor. When the live unveiling for the TRX happened, it was even kicked off with a cutscene from Jurassic Park that included – you guessed it – the T-Rex. As it turns out, however, that’s not where Ram was originally going with the name and, while it makes sense now, it boils down to happenstance.

For a while now, Toyota has been collecting some data via its “Mobility Services Platform” which the company claims helps it develop and deploy future data-driven mobility services in regard to safety, security, comfort, and convenience. This happens through the Data Communication Module on newer cars, and Toyota has now announced that it’s looking to expand that even more thanks to an increased collaboration with Amazon Web Services. There sounds like there could be some added benefits here, but it also immediately raises the privacy flag. Let me explain…