Thanks to U.S. federal fuel efficiency rules and California’s zero-emission vehicle mandates, auto manufacturers are building an   ever-increasing variety of electric and hybrid vehicles these…

Fiat CEO tells potential customers not to buy the 500e

Thanks to U.S. federal fuel efficiency rules and California's zero-emission vehicle mandates, auto manufacturers are building an ever-increasing variety of electric and hybrid vehicles these days. But that doesn't necessarily make all such vehicles profitable.

In the case of Fiat's electric-powered Fiat 500e, the company loses $14,000 on each car it sells, prompting company CEO Sergio Marchionne to issue a request to potential U.S. purchasers: Please don't buy it.

At a recent conference Marchionne decried the U.S. federal and state mandates that push manufacturers to build electric cars, saying that Tesla Motors was the only company making money on electric cars thanks to the higher price of its Model S sedan.

He said he hoped to sell the minimum number of 500e cars possible, and not one more. "I hope you don't buy it because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000," he told the audience at the Brookings Institution. "I'm honest enough to tell you that." Read Full Story
If the phrase “large and in charge” ever applied to any particular automobile, the Lexus LX 570 can definitely wear the T-shirt.   Interestingly though, despite its size, the largest…

2014 Lexus LX 570 Road Test Review

If the phrase "large and in charge" ever applied to any particular automobile, the Lexus LX 570 can definitely wear the T-shirt. Interestingly though, despite its size, the largest Lexus model doesn't come across as gaudy or ostentatious. While the look of the Lexus does command respect (one glance and you know it's definitely an expensive ride), the LX 570 doesn't assault your sensibilities with an overt display of bling-glitz-ity the way something like say, the Cadillac Escalade does. Instead, the size of the LX 570 implies purpose.

Given it's one of the last of the full-size body-on frame luxury SUVs, the LX 570 can rightfully challenge the best of the best in terms of its capability off-road. Of course, along with all of the robust capability comes considerable weight, and as we all know, weight is detrimental to both performance and fuel economy.

The Lexus overcomes the performance issue with a 5.7-litre V8, capable of producing 383 horsepower and 404 ft-lbs of Read Full Story
How does one make the extraordinary even more exceptional? This is a question many competing automotive manufacturers   ask every time a new BMW M5 is offered. This question is doubtlessly accompanied…

2014 BMW M5 Competition Package Road Test Review

How does one make the extraordinary even more exceptional? This is a question many competing automotive manufacturers ask every time a new BMW M5 is offered. This question is doubtlessly accompanied by a great deal of handwringing, because every M5 ever offered has been the most exciting car in its class, and every new M5 is more brilliant than the last.  

When it comes to providing Herculean performance in a Walter Mitty-esque package, BMW has the formula down pat. Once again, for the 2014 model year, BMW has taken the outstanding and transformed it into absolutely stupefying with the M5 Competition Package. Elevating the already astounding road manners of the M5 into the realm of the positively unbelievable, the 2014 BMW M5 Competition Package extracts more grunt, more grip, and more grins from the venerable model.

This is accomplished with a freer-breathing exhaust system for more speed, and special 20-inch wheels with very sticky tires to improve handling. The Read Full Story
The last time we saw seatbelt interlocks, way back in 1974, they were a much-hated regulatory requirement foisted upon the   car-buying public by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).…

Seatbelt interlocks make a comeback with GM

The last time we saw seatbelt interlocks, way back in 1974, they were a much-hated regulatory requirement foisted upon the car-buying public by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Those early seatbelt interlocks weren't always reliable (they'd sometimes prevent the car from starting even when all occupants were buckled up), and the outcry against them was so loud that the NHTSA was quickly forced to lift its mandate, abandoning the technology in favour of airbags.

Now GM is quietly bringing the seatbelt interlock back as an option for a select number of models. There's no government mandate this time. Instead, the system is being marketed as a "Belt Assurance System" that, in addition to increasing occupant safety, can help prevent drivers from getting violation tickets for failure to wear seatbelts.

Rather than preventing the car from starting until front-seat occupants are buckled up, as the original seatbelt interlocks did, GM's Read Full Story
Here’s something to ponder for a moment. The cute little 2014 Scion iQ offers a luxury very few other cars can match. Let’s say   you live in a larger city like Montreal, Toronto, or…

2014 Scion iQ Road Test Review

Here's something to ponder for a moment. The cute little 2014 Scion iQ offers a luxury very few other cars can match. Let's say you live in a larger city like Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver; finding someplace to park once your destination is reached can be a challenge. Large cars are at a definite disadvantage in this regard.

But, the diminutive Scion offers the potential for exploiting spaces most cars have to pass right on by, and herein lays one of the model's primary strengths-convenience. Sized in between the Smart ForTwo and the Mini Cooper, the Scion readily fits into places even the Mini can't. Further, it's billed as being capable of seating four people where the Smart car will only accommodate two people-as its name implies.

Of course, anybody accustomed to the significant proportions of the cars typically calling the roads of North America their native habitat will take one look at the Scion and ask; "Is that thing safe?" You best believe we did too. Soothing Read Full Story
At the heart of any hybrid or electrical vehicle is a PCU (power control unit) that’s responsible for channeling energy from the 2014 Toyota Prius (Photo: Toyota) batteries to the electric drive…

Toyota pushes technology barriers to boost efficiency

At the heart of any hybrid or electrical vehicle is a PCU (power control unit) that's responsible for channeling energy from the batteries to the electric drive motor during acceleration, and directing energy recaptured during coasting or braking back into the battery.

Until now, PCUs have been made using traditional silicone semiconductors. Silicone is a reliable material for semiconductors, and has been around since the days of the very first transistor. But it's not terribly efficient: silicone-based PCUs can lose as much as 25 percent of the energy they are required to handle, which in a power-intensive device like a car adds up to a whole lot of wasted electricity.

To reduce these internal power losses, Toyota and partner Denso Corp. have been working to develop a more efficient semiconductor with less internal resistance. The companies now say they've found a candidate in silicone carbide, a material that's nearly as hard as diamonds and has traditionally been Read Full Story
As part of its ambitious five-year product plan, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently announced that it intends to steer Dodge in   a more performance-oriented direction, which means axing the popular…

Dodge unleashes Challenger SRT Hellcat

As part of its ambitious five-year product plan, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently announced that it intends to steer Dodge in a more performance-oriented direction, which means axing the popular Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and the mid-size Avenger sedan.

Dodge loyalists fretted that this was the beginning of the end for Dodge, but to balance the ledger Dodge has now revealed the 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat, a new range-topping Challenger model that gives substance to the brand's performance promise with a 600-plus horsepower supercharged V8.

While the final numbers have yet to be officially established, SRT powertrain director Chris Cowland remarked that the Challenger SRT Hellcat will be "bloody fast," with a minimum of 600 horsepower and something in the order of 575 lb-ft of torque. That makes the car's 6.2-litre Hemi engine the most powerful V8 ever offered by any of Chrysler's brands.

The Hellcat shares many of the same basic components with the already Read Full Story
The first book of the Bible is called Genesis. Most people know that. Similarly, the first true Hyundai luxury car was also called   Genesis. And no, this wasn’t a coincidence. When Hyundai…

2015 Hyundai Genesis Road Test Review

The first book of the Bible is called Genesis. Most people know that. Similarly, the first true Hyundai luxury car was also called Genesis. And no, this wasn't a coincidence. When Hyundai released that car back in 2008, the company's management team was well aware of the model's potential to be the beginning of a whole new story for the company.
And so it came to pass.

In fact, the Genesis was so successful that Hyundai's executive team was encouraged to go even farther up market. Thus, it can be said Genesis begat Equus, and Equus begat a whole new level of respect for the Korean automaker from all around the auto industry. In other words, just like in the Bible, Hyundai's Genesis also represented a new beginning.

Now, with the mostly-new 2015 Hyundai Genesis, a new chapter in the story of the value-conscious luxury car begins. If our recent road test of the new car is any indicator, it looks as if Hyundai is going to find itself sitting rather nicely with this Read Full Story