Carmakers


Ford SYNC3 Launching This Summer on Fiesta and Escape

The SYNC 3 home screen features three zones, Navigation, Audio and Phone, as well as a quick access function tray along the bottom making for a more straight-forward user experience.

The SYNC 3 home screen features three zones, Navigation, Audio and Phone, as well as a quick access function tray along the bottom making for a more straight-forward user experience.

In 2007, Ford changed the way we connect our mobile devices to our cars with the introduction of SYNC on the Escape. In 2011, Ford almost overnight destroyed the goodwill toward SYNC with the introduction of the hugely troubled MyFord Touch which was known internally as SYNC V2. While Ford made MFT much better over the last couple of years with software updates, it also began work on a complete reboot. The result of those efforts debuts this summer as SYNC 3 and the Fiesta and Escape will be the first vehicles to get this all-new connectivity and infotainment system.

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BMW i3 REX – Carbon Fiber EV at an Almost Affordable Price

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In November 2008, I sat with a group of journalists on a hotel terrace in Beverly Hills to learn about BMW’s Project i which had the aim of a building a 21st century megacity car. In the middle of the terrace sat a fairly conventional-looking grey MINI hatchback that frankly didn’t look all that advanced. However, the lessons learned from that car and the other 500 examples just like it, led directly to the BMW’s first true, next-generation automobile, the i3.

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2016 Chevrolet Camaro – Game On!

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Long before there was iPhone vs Android or Mac vs Windows, there was Mustang vs Camaro. Nearly 50 years after it began, the battle of the pony cars rages on in Detroit. The all-new sixth-generation Ford Mustang debuted in December 2013 and went on sale last four. In response, Chevrolet has just revealed its own sixth-generation, rear-drive, 2+2 sports coupe at a rainy special event at Detroit’s Belle Isle park.

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The Design of the 2017 Ford GT

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When the all-new third-generation Ford GT hits the streets in 2016, it will in many ways be the most radical departure in the more than 50 year history of the brand. But that doesn’t mean this new edition has completely broken with its DNA. Enough hints of its heritage remain visible to connect this 21st century supercar to its ancestors while bringing it up to most modern technical and design standards. Ford recently invited us down into the secret basement room under its design studio to talk about how this car came to be.

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2015 Ford Shelby GT350 – Built From the Wheels Up

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2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Shelby-badged Ford Mustang, the 1965 GT350. With an all-new Mustang having hit the streets last fall, 50 years after the original, the first true GT350 since the 1960s is now in the final stages of development and it promises to be truer to the spirit of that first model than any of the cars to wear that badge since.

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2015 GMC Canyon SLT 4WD

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My first vehicle that I ever bought with my own money and had registered in my name was the direct progenitor of the most recent vehicle I’ve had a chance to drive. Just shy of 30 years ago as I entered the second half of my freshman year at was then GMI Engineering & Management Institute (since renamed to Kettering University) I bought an 18-month-old 1984 GMC S15 pickup. All these years later, the most compact pickup you can buy from GMC is now called the Canyon and frankly it’s not so compact anymore. Does this midsize pickup make sense anymore?

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2015 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel – Exceptional Real World Efficiency

2015 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel - 7 of 26In the early-1980s, General Motors almost single-handedly poisoned the American market for diesel-engined passenger cars for more than a generation. Aside from the most hardcore Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz fans, most American drivers were so put off by the failures of the Oldsmobile diesel V8 that they wouldn’t even consider a diesel in anything but a heavy-duty truck for nearly three decades. Thus it was fitting that GM should be the first Detroit-based automaker to reintroduce a diesel-powered car with the 2013 debut of the Chevrolet Cruze diesel.

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How Far Will the Cadillac CT6 PHEV Go On A Charge? Probably 32-34 Miles

cq5dam.web.1280.1280Since Sunday’s announcement in Shanghai of the Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid, there has been some interesting discussion and speculation about how far the car will go on a full charge of its battery and what sort of energy efficiency it will achieve. Cadillac and GM officials have declined to get specific about technical details beyond the limited information in the U.S. press release. However, the release on GM’s Chinese media site lists 37 miles.  Let’s take a look at where the EPA estimate will likely end up.

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Cadillac Announces the CT6 Plug-in Hybrid in Shanghai

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As we saw so clearly at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, any brand that wants to stay competitive in the premium vehicle segments needs to aggressively adopt electrified powertrains. At the Shanghai Motor Show today, Cadillac joined the crowd that already includes Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. GM’s top brand already revealed the full-size CT6 luxury sedan with conventional gasoline powertrains a few weeks ago at its new hometown show in New York. In China, Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen is highlighting a new plug-in hybrid powertrain that will in all likelihood find a home throughout most of the brand’s lineup.

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2015 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn EcoDiesel – You Can Have Power and Efficiency

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Even in our increasingly globalized automotive landscape, one segment has remained most uniquely American – the full-size pickup truck. For decades, the big pickup remained hidebound, devoid of technical or design innovation. In the absence of notable competition, Ford’s F-series led the way in sales, followed by GM with Dodge in a far distant third. But then 20 years ago, tired of being the third-wheel to its cross-town rivals, Chrysler under the leadership of one Bob Lutz, decided to shake things up and the truck market has never been the same. Trucks like the 2015 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn EcoDiesel are a prime example of the goodness that can come from real competitive pressure.

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