Industry
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Dutch sports car marque Spyker announced in March 2017 that it will start using V-8 engines for its flagship C8 line sourced from Sweden's Koenigsegg, instead of the aging Audi units that have powered the C8 since the nameplate's launch in 2000. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to have been any progress beyond the original announcement, which was made by Spyker CEO Victor Muller and Koenigsegg CEO and founder Christian von Koenigsegg at the 2017 Geneva auto show. The exact reasons are unclear but Koenigsegg spokesman Steven Wade shed some light when he told Autovisie in an interview...
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Dyson reveals plans for electric car test trackIt's been a year since vacuum giant Dyson announced plans to build an electric car, something founder and chief engineer James Dyson has been hinting at since 2008. The company on Thursday gave an update on the plans, confirming that the former Hullavington air force base in southern England it...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nio launches IPO, shares to start trading mid-SeptemberChinese electric car startup Nio on Tuesday launched an initial public offering, with its filing revealing the company intends to sell 160 million shares priced between $6.25 and $8.25. Hitting a share price in the upper range would raise $1.3 billion for the company's coffers and see it valued at...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Aston Martin announces intention to launch IPOReports of Aston Martin launching an initial public offering (IPO) date back as far as the brand’s sale by Ford to a consortium led by Prodrive founder David Richards in 2008. Now it appears that the IPO is close to happening. The automaker announced Wednesday its intention to potentially...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Faraday Future's first pre-production FF91 rolls off line at Californian plantElectric car startup Faraday Future appears to be back on track with development of its first model, the FF91, following a rough couple of years resulting from cash shortages and a senior executive exodus. The Chinese-backed, U.S-based company reached a major milestone Tuesday with the completion...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota invests $500M in Uber, will add self-driving Siennas to ride-hailing fleetToyota is deepening its ties with Uber. The Japanese auto giant announced Monday it will invest $500 million in Uber, which follows an undisclosed investment made in 2016. Toyota also said Monday it will integrate Uber's self-driving technology together with its own Toyota Guardian active safety...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The Volkswagen Group looks to be a bit behind in the mobility and self-driving car segments compared to some rivals as the automaker is on the hunt to scoop up experts on the subject. It appears Aurora Innovation, a self-driving car startup based in California, was one of the firms VW approached. VW approached Aurora and offered to purchase the company for an undisclosed amount, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. According to sources close to the discussions, Aurora declined the offer to maintain its independence and retain its ability to work with multiple automakers. VW and Aurora are already...
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Ford outlines steps to ensure safety of its self-driving carsFord has promised to deliver a self-driving car by 2021. The automaker is targeting Level 4 self-driving capability, meaning the car will drive on its own but be limited on where it can go and in which whether conditions it can handle. A more capable Level 5 car that can completely replace a human...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
GAC confirms European expansion, new A10 for 2018 Paris auto showGAC Motor is on track to be the first major Chinese automaker to launch in the United States. The state-owned company said in 2017 that it plans to start selling its cars in the U.S. in 2019, with the mid-size GS8 SUV confirmed as one of the first models. The automaker has already been showing its...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Jaguar Land Rover building classic car department in USAfter consolidating its various operations under a single banner in 2016, Jaguar Land Rover's classic car division is set to reach the United States. The company announced last week that Savannah, Georgia will be home to the first Jaguar Land Rover Classic base outside of Europe. It will join two...
Sean Szymkowski -
Here's how Ford trains high-performance test driversBeing a test driver sounds like a pretty cool job. Automakers need people to log miles at every level of vehicle produced. Of course, this means that some test drivers have a lot more fun than others, such as Ford's tier-four drivers that get to pilot vehicles like the Mustang Shelby GT350-based...
Jeff Glucker -
Opinion: It's time for Tesla's Elon Musk to step asideIt’s hard to overstate Elon Musk’s contributions to the 21st century. As one of PayPal’s founders, Musk cemented his fortune. As the dreamer behind SpaceX, he cemented his vision for humanity’s future. As Tesla’s CEO, he’s created an automaker that not only...
Aaron Cole -
Yet another Chinese electric car startup has announced its intentions, only this one doesn't have a flashy concept to show us just yet. The new company goes by the name Gyon, and its launch took place on August 8 in Los Angeles, California. Present at the event was Tom LaSorda, a former Chrysler CEO and a board member of Fisker before it went under in 2013. It isn't clear what connection he has with with the new Gyon. While Gyon didn't have a concept to show us at its launch, the company is planning to unveil one in 2019. A teaser shot unveiled in July showed a sedan with coupe-like...
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Ford to spend $740M to turn Detroit train station into tech HQFord recently made news when it purchased the defunct Michigan Central Station. Closed in 1988, the former Amtrak hub is now going to be turned into a tech center for the Blue Oval brand. Now Ford has revealed it will shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to get the old building into shape...
Jeff Glucker -
SEC subpoenas, board surprised, investor lawsuits: Tesla woes mounting?A reported subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission may add to the long list of growing worries for Tesla and its embattled CEO Elon Musk that now includes potential investor lawsuits, federal inquiries, and reports that the automaker's board of directors may not have been fully briefed...
Joel Feder -
All SRT products undergo 24 hours of racetrack endurance testingPerformance cars need to perform, and that means withstanding the rigors of track duty and the heat buildup it causes. We've seen that Chevrolet tests every Camaro SS and above (plus 1LE models) on a racetrack for 24 hours and that Audi Sport models do almost 5,000 miles on the Nürburgring...
Kirk Bell -
Lincoln asking top dealers to create stand-alone showroomsLincoln has been on a slow churn toward restoring long-lost former glory. Ford Motor Company's luxury brand is aiming for greatness, and the plan will either work or the company will fall back as a luxury also-ran. In an effort to nudge the ship in the right direction, Lincoln is looking for a few...
Jeff Glucker -
Road to 2030: A map we can followEditor’s note: This is the first in a 6-part series examining where the collector car hobby is headed in the next decade and beyond. Mark Gessler is president of the Historic Vehicle Association and National Historic Vehicle Register, a public/private partnership with the U.S. Department of...
ClassicCars.com -
Alan Mulally helped steer Ford through the previous decade's global financial crisis by moving the automaker's global lineup onto a core set of platforms under a strategy known as One Ford. It saw Ford go from 30 platforms prior to Mulally joining as CEO in 2006 down to nine in 2015, a year after Mulally passed the reins on to Mark Fields. Current Ford CEO Jim Hackett sees the opportunity to trim further fat by dropping the platform count to just five for both the Ford and Lincoln brands. The information was revealed Wednesday by Ford's man in charge of product development and purchasing, Hau...
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Geely could invest almost $2B to turn Lotus into a Porsche rivalChina's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is prepared to invest the necessary funds to make Lotus into a world-beating luxury and sports car brand. If Geely has its way, Lotus will be England's Porsche. And the Chinese automaker could dump as much as $2 billion into the brand to begin the process...
Sean Szymkowski -
Ferrari makes $80K profit per car; reportedly beats entire industryFerrari hears the sweet ring of the cash register with every new car sold. The Italian company banks a profit of $80,000 per car sold and tops the industry, per a study from German economics professor Ferdinand Dudenhoffer. Motor1 translated the study's findings to show Ferrari's well-off margins...
Sean Szymkowski -
You'll soon be able to compare safety of electronic driver aids across vehiclesMost major automakers offer electronic driver aids these days, some of which like Tesla's Autopilot can control the steering of a car. However, the performance levels of driver aids vary across brands and road conditions, in some cases dramatically. Currently, there's no independent body that...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Elon Musk isn't kidding, Tesla board confirms TSLA could go privateElon Musk disrupted multiple industries on Tuesday when the Tesla CEO [NASDAQ: TSLA] took to Twitter to float the idea of taking the Silicon Valley automaker private. Musk mused Tesla could be bought back at $420 per share. On Wednesday morning, multiple members of Tesla's board of directors signed...
Joel Feder -
Updated: Elon Musk considering taking Tesla private, TSLA stock trading haltedUpdate: 3:53 pm EST: Tesla stock is now trading again. It opened today at $341.99 and is up 10.61 percent at $378.26 currently. ------------------------------------------ Update 3:44 pm EST: Tesla released a statement that was emailed to employees earlier today laying out the potential of taking...
Joel Feder