Industry News

The ride-hailing industry is witnessing a lot of changes lately. Moving from car services to cycles, to pressing autonomous cars into service, etc., this industry is seeing a lot of things happening rapidly. Now, two giants, Uber and Lyft have decided to go public. Both companies have already filed the necessary S-1 paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming their intent to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

The 2019 Santa Fe created quite a furor when it was announced for the U.S. market. The reason behind it being that it was going to be the South Korean’s first model to feature a diesel engine. However, the automaker has now said that the Sante Fe diesel won’t be coming to the States after all.

A Brink’s armored truck traveling on Route 3 West in East Rutherford, New Jersey caused a bit of a commotion when its rear door malfunctioned and spilled money onto the highway. The unbelievable episode caused a number of motorists to stop their vehicles in the middle of the highway to snatch as much cash as they could. It’s a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie, but this actually happened right smack in the middle of the morning rush hour. There’s no word yet on how much cash is missing at this point, but an investigation on how the Brink’s truck’s door malfunctioned is underway.

Now that the car industry is tightening emission rules, and the world is moving towards electrification and adopting the technology wholeheartedly, we enthusiasts are close to losing our minds. No doubt, electric cars are good, but they do not offer the same spiritual experience that a car with an internal combustion engine does. A German startup says it has developed a technology that uses microwaves to help counter emissions output to a certain extent.

The way things are going, Volkswagen should be renamed as Volkscandal. Instead of focusing on rebuilding the “Volks’" trust after the Dieselgate fiasco, the German automaker continues to roll on the same saga. This time, the company has sold Pre-production prototypes that didn’t meet regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe. Dear VW, why would you want to continue working unethically despite being one of the world’s largest carmakers?

If you think that you only really need winter tires on the driven axle of your vehicle, since it does all the pulling or pushing, then think again. Doing something like that can pose a serious safety hazard. Different grip levels for the front and rear can result in a very unsafe handling experience on snow, and the vehicle can go into a snap oversteer maneuver, careening into oncoming traffic.

Unlike Prince Akeem, the new BMW 3 Series Sports Wagon is not coming to America. That’s the word from BMW itself after a spokesperson from BMW North America confirmed that the next-generation 3 Series Sports Wagon is not headed to the U.S. market. Simmer’s decision to skip on selling the 3 Series Sports Wagon in the U.S. ends the model’s 20-year run in America. BMW has sold the 3er wagon in the U.S. since the E46 generation, which lasted from 1998 to 2006 before making way for the E90 and F30 generations of the popular nameplate. But now that BMW has switched over to the all-new, G20 generation, the list of models available here in the U.S. will miss one staple. You can still buy a 3 Series Sport Wagon, but you’ll have to settle for the current-generation F30 model.

If you’ve ever found having to reach all the way back into the cargo area of your SUV way too hard and a bit of a stretch, Ford may provide alleviation with a new system it’s just patented. The patent drawings show and detail electrically-operated conveyor belts in the floor of the trunk itself that you can move via some conveniently placed switches.

Faraday Future is being ripped apart piece by piece as it dies a slow, agonizing death. After running short on funds in October this year, Faraday’s downfall began as it announced a number of layoffs and financial setbacks. After living under the rock for a month, when it was assumed that Faraday may come back with some sort of positivity, the company decided to play the blame-game and lay-off more employees.

Finally, Volkswagen has made the announcement. After investing billions of dollars into electrification already, the German automaker said that the next generation of its cars will be the last with internal combustion engines, which will be phased out completely by 2026.

Looking for a house? May we suggest the Mansions at Acqualina in Florida? It exudes royalty and luxuriousness, and the realtor will give you a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce for ‘free’ when you buy this penthouse. No, there is no catch to it. Just that the penthouse costs slightly above-average; it is priced at $38 million.

2018 has been a big sales year for automakers in the U.S. From January to October 2018, car sales in the U.S. have reached 14,262,604 sold units. That represents a 0.2 percent increase in total sales compared to the first ten months of 2017. If you take it from that perspective, Americans are buying more vehicles this year than they did last year. But there are a lot of pieces involve in this numbers, too. These pieces paint a more accurate picture of the automotive landscape in the U.S. in 2018. Sales of light trucks — these include SUVs and pickups are up 8.3 percent compared to their sales numbers from January to October 2017.

On the other hand, sales of passenger vehicles, including sedans, are down 13.3 percent in the same period. This tells us that more and more American buyers are buying SUVs and pickups compared to sedans. It’s no surprise, then, that when we compiled the top 10 list of best-selling vehicles in the U.S. in the first ten months of the year, the upper half of that list was dominated by, you guessed it, pickups and SUVs.

Aston Martin announced that it was selling the design and tooling for its Vanquish model, but it didn’t specify who it was sold to for £20-million or around $26-million. Now, a new report indicates that the buyer was, in fact, low volume car manufacturer Morgan. Morgan has since announced new models. The math seems pretty simple here, right?

Tesla’s "people’s car." the Model 3, was thought to be harder to crack into than the Model S and Model X that proved to be a field day for hackers. However, we’re now seeing a Model 3 owner on Reddit showcase his ability to run YouTube and Ubuntu on his car.

This is not the first instance of a Model 3 getting hacked into. Earlier this year, an owner, who goes by the name of ’Ingineerix’ online, was able to crack open Tesla’s ’Factory Mode’ to reveal interesting information about the car’s full battery pack capacity, information that Tesla only offered as a range figure.

Have you watched The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift? Well, this parade looked exactly like that; the sole difference being that there were only Lamborghinis dominating the roads. Lamborghini recently unveiled the Aventador SVJ in the Asia-Pacific region, and what followed it could make any enthusiast go weak in the knees.

General Motors is in the midst of major restructuring, which it confirmed by announcing that five of its North American plants will be shut down, including the plant in Ohio that manufactured the Cruze and the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that was once part of an epic neighborhood battle. This also marks the end of the Chevrolet Volt Hybrid. However, the biggest announcement was that around 14,000 employees have been given pink slips.

BMW said that it will launch its own ride-hailing service in China next month. According to Reuters, BMW is the first foreign car manufacturer that has been granted a license to operate a ride-hailing service in China. The license has been obtained in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province in southwest China.

The little town known as Acquetico in Italy recorded a mind-boggling 58,568 speeding violations in just two weeks! After residents, largely comprising of senior citizens, complained about speeding vehicles on a certain stretch of road, the Mayor decided to install speed cameras that may now become permanent fixtures thanks to the results.

Less than a week since we were talking about the trials and tribulations experienced by Tesla Model 3 owners as wintery weather hit the northern hemisphere, Tesla released a so-called fix that should act as a temporary solution to the problem of freezing windows, door handles, and charge ports. The fix, though, seems to be the cause of further problems.

Tesla’s compact Model 3 sedan is experiencing its first full winter since being introduced late last year. While the bigger Model S didn’t seem to be troubled by colder temperatures, the cheaper Model 3 is a bit on the sensitive side. Many customers have reported finding their door handles frozen as well as their windows which meant they couldn’t access their vehicles - even after pre-heating them for 10 or 15 minutes straight. Now, Tesla pushed through a new system update that’s meant to make things right again, but, apparently, it’s barely a knee-jerk reaction to a more complex issue.

An interesting study has concluded that self-driving cars will lead to passengers having more sex in the car, and could eventually turn out to be the go-to option for ‘sex for hire’ as well. Although it sounds a little hysterical for now, this could affect urban tourism a lot more than you might think.