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Chevrolet’s full-size SUVs, the Tahoe and Suburban, are getting significantly more space for cargo and rear-seat passengers as part of a major redesign for the 2021 model year. The changes include 10 inches of added legroom in the third row of the Tahoe. “We’ve taken what people love about these pioneering SUVs and made them

HANOI – The billionaire behind six-month-old Vietnamese auto startup VinFast plans a feat even Toyota Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. couldn’t pull off during their early days: sell a car in the U.S. Pham Nhat Vuong, the Southeast Asian country’s richest man and now in charge of the new automaker, is so intent on exporting

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — At a two-day gathering for Honda’s suppliers in March, CEO Takahiro Hachigo sounded the alarm. At the Hotel Higashinihon in Utsunomiya, Hachigo told them the Japanese automaker was facing a crisis after a string of costly recalls and other quality blunders and it needed to plot a new course, according to two

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration and House Democrats are on the verge of announcing a handshake deal on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, according to people familiar with the negotiations, paving the way for approval of the deal as early as this month while Democrats gear up for an impeachment vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reviewing

The invitation was cryptic. Hyundai public relations offered “an ultra-performance prototype drive for a select group of media,” at its California Proving Ground just outside of Mojave. Gosh, would that be the Veloster N-based racing midship RM19 prototype that our tame racing driver, Randy Pobst, drove at the Nürburgring? He loved the car despite a

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group know how to rebound from adversity. Fiat, then led by Sergio Marchionne, swooped in to take over a reeling Chrysler in 2009 and shepherded the company back to stability behind its Ram and Jeep brands. PSA, on the other hand, has undergone a turnaround in recent years

Mercedes has for years owned the performance wagon segment in the U.S. Mind you, it’s a vanishingly small piece of the market. Between the demise of the achingly quixotic Cadillac CTS-V wagon in 2014—556-hp supercharged V-8 under the hood, and 514 of them built with a six-speed manual transmission—and this year’s launch of the Audi

DETROIT — The UAW’s proposed contract with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brings labor costs among the Detroit 3 more into balance, narrowing an advantage General Motors says FCA gained over the past decade by bribing union officials. If the deal is ratified this week, it also would conclude one of the most chaotic and contentious rounds

The auto industry has always been cyclical, but in recent years, a whole new industry cycle has emerged. Call it the pessimism cycle — the annual belief, usually expressed very early in the calendar year, that auto sales will have fallen off by several hundred thousand vehicles by year end. Then that pessimism fades away

The 2021 Kia Seltos premiered at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show looking muscular and rugged. Slotting below the Sportage, the Seltos is aimed at buyers who want something more city-friendly. When you look closer, there are more differences between the Seltos and Sportage beyond the obvious size discrepancy. Here are eight ways the Kia

Sajjad Khan heads up Mercedes-Benz’s future technology development, grouped under the name CASE, short for connected, autonomous, shared and electric. He recently spoke to Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner about the challenges slowing the debut of self-driving cars. You plan to test Level 4 cars together with Robert Bosch in San Jose, California, by

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan prefers to keep things simple. Even though McKagan could buy any car, he calls himself a “basic guy,” and Ford has been his go-to brand for years. Even his flashiest ride is decidedly understated, yet it’s surprisingly powerful. 2018 Ford Explorer Sport McKagan splits his time between Los Angeles

It’s not enough that the new mid-engine C8 Corvette had to be a driving and engineering accomplishment; it had to do so at a price that befits the Chevrolet brand. The base price will increase for the 2021 model year. But don’t expect a $20,000 jump. When you wear the Bow Tie, there are expectations

Doomsayers are bemoaning a spike in seven-year car loans, predicting dire consequences for lenders and the national economy from trapping consumers in auto debt for so long. A recent Wall Street Journal article gave added prominence to those fears. But while 84-month loans have risen from a small base in the aggregate, they are not

Since its introduction in 2015, the current-generation Mustang has moved Ford‘s nameplate upmarket in terms of performance—culminating in the latest, greatest 2020 Shelby GT500. In MotorTrend testing, we’ve found that the S550 platform has evolved from mere pony car to comparing favorably with premium GT offerings from foreign nameplates. However, we’ve also learned that, on

DETROIT — The UAW is eliminating its largest geographical region as part of its cleanup from the fallout of a federal investigation that exposed a lengthy pattern of corruption within the region’s past leadership. Region 5, which covers 17 states in the western and southwestern U.S., will be merged into the adjacent regions 4 and

Sometime recently—it was likely the first week of October, 2019—a Chrysler Pacifica minivan slowed on a street somewhere in Phoenix to stop and picked up a passenger who’d requested a ride. Unlike a normal car with an Uber or Lyft sticker on it, nobody was behind this one’s wheel to greet them. Just an empty

LOS ANGELES — The British cave explorer suing Elon Musk for calling him a “pedo guy” on Twitter testified on Thursday that his criticism of the Tesla Inc. billionaire CEO that led to the tweet was not a personal attack. In the defamation trial’s third day, Vernon Unsworth also refused to apologize for a July

The patent describes a method of integrating batteries into a body-on-frame platform. It’s similar to a skateboard chassis that’s become common for all-electric vehicles, in which batteries are mounted low in the floor. In Ford’s application, crossmembers are mounted between the left and right frame rails. Those crossmembers provide distinct battery housings, and are additionally

Automakers, ride-hailing and technology companies plowing money into the development of electric, self-driving and shared car services will find more enthusiastic consumers in China than in Europe and the United States, according to a survey released on Thursday. Consumers in some Western countries appear unconvinced as automakers overhaul their factories and supply chains to produce

Forget any American cousin you may have seen, the Stig has landed in California to film the MotorTrend exclusive series Top Gear America alongside hosts Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry, and Jethro Bovingdon (meet the hosts here). We cornered the reclusive racing driver and TV personality during a promotional photo shoot in hopes of gaining some

As Nissan North America continues to stumble, its chairman is taking steps to cut costs across the company, slashing employee travel expenses and putting the entire U.S. organization on two days of unpaid furlough next month. “While we’ve made some positive progress, Nissan’s performance has fallen short of our expectations,” Nissan North America Chairman Jose

General Motors will begin retooling its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant for electric vehicle production in February, resulting in the temporary loss of more than 800 jobs, the automaker said in a filing with the State of Michigan. The plant’s 753 UAW-represented hourly workers will be offered transfers, likely to locations in Michigan and Ohio, GM said

After an exhaustive search, we’re proud to announce the hosts of Top Gear America, coming exclusively to the MotorTrend app in spring 2020: Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry, and Jethro Bovingdon. Or, as they tell it: two comedians, a guy who’s actually British … and the Stig. “If we’re ever given a script, I promise the

DETROIT — New tips about corruption within the UAW have come in to federal authorities in recent days, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said Tuesday. Schneider also said the UAW has not adequately cooperated with the yearslong federal investigation of the union, citing new evidence of wrongdoing by former President Gary Jones divulged by the union

Few cars can top the sonorous engine note of the Jaguar F-Type R. For the new model year, the sports car is about to get even more aggressive with an extra dose of power. Along with a revised supercharged V-8 engine, the 2021 Jaguar F-Type receives a light nip-tuck and new interior technologies. Jaguar has

FRANKFURT — German public prosecutors raided the Wolfsburg headquarters of Volkswagen on Tuesday in the latest investigation into the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal. Prosecutors said investigators aimed to confiscate documents. Volkswagen, which admitted in 2015 to cheating U.S. emissions tests on diesel engines, said it was fully cooperating with the authorities, but viewed the investigation

There’s no doubt Infiniti has seen better days. The brand is struggling with sales in the U.S., it recently pulled out of Europe and other key markets, and it just cancelled the QX30. It also moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to Japan but has shifted its focus to China and the U.S., where it

FRANKFURT — Daimler is testing autonomous taxis in the U.S. despite new CEO Ola Kallenius saying that the automaker will “rightsize” its spending level on self-driving technologies. Daimler’s autonomous-driving technology will more likely be apply to commercial vehicles for freight companies on long haul routes than taxis, Kallenius told journalists at the company’s investor day

UAW Secretary-Treasurer Ray Curry on Monday unveiled a series of financial reforms in a further attempt to clean up an organization rocked by a years-long corruption scandal and stave off potential government oversight. The union said it would hire four additional auditors, continue an internal financial-controls audit started earlier this year by Deloitte, retain a