Automotive News

The Fall of the Ford Ranger

The Ford Ranger never sold as well in the United States as the automaker would have hoped. Because of lackluster sales, the tiny truck was removed from the Blue Oval’s mainland line-up. In retrospect, it is not hard to see why the Detroit automaker decided to give the aging little truck the axe. All small truck sales, were dropping across the board. In 1994 small trucks were about 8 percent of a

Tesla Motors Sues over Falon-Wing Door Failure

On January 19, 2016, Tesla Motors Inc. filed legal paperwork officially commencing a lawsuit against their German parts supplier, Hoerbiger Automotive Comfort Systems. Tesla Motors claims that the supplier misrepresented their design and build abilities that were to be used on the long-awaited signature falcon-wing doors. According to Tesla Motors, Hoerbiger Automotive Comfort Systems, a subsidiar

Driverless Cars Facing Bumps in the Road

Driverless car technologies have been in the works for several years now. Over the next few years, we will likely see the dream become a reality. The race is on to see which auto maker or technology firm will be the first to the finish line with a self-driving car. However, the race has hit an unexpected bump in the road in the form of bicyclists. Auto maker Renault-Nissan recently revealed that

Autonomous Uber Vehicles: A Threat to the Personal Vehicle?

Car makers have recently felt some new pressure and the threat of competition with the announcement that Uber, an extremely valuable start-up company, was in the process of developing autonomous vehicles. This means that, potentially, drivers could use a simple app to order up their own driverless taxi to go anywhere they need to go, as opposed to owning and driving their own car. Uber is in the p

The 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid

The Toyota RAV4 has a history dating back to 1994. It was this year that began the ever-popular C-SUV craze. Toyota sold more than 6.5 million of its RAV4s that year. Fast forward to 2016, and there are over 20 competitors to this vehicle. To find an edge in this competitive market and capitalize on their success, Toyota introduced a gas-electric hybrid RAV4. In fact, 20 percent of Toyota’s total

BMW Invests in its Electric Car

After dipping its toe into the electric car market, BMW must have decided that it was worth the effort because the car company recently announced plans to expand the range of its electric car by almost half. BMW introduced the i3 electric car in 2014. It was well received since it offered a pleasant driving experience combined with environmentally friendly construction. Sales for the luxury carmak

Volvo's Rise

Volvo walked away from the North American International Auto Show with their heads rising higher than they were after CES. The Swedish Company walked right into the biggest Auto Show in North America and proceeded to steal the show. The timing could not be better for the foreign auto manufacturer; still reeling from internal restructuring issues. Ford sold Volvo to Chinese investors in 2010. Despi

GM Maven Finds Safe Haven on College Campuses

Car-sharing services have exploded in popularity worldwide over the past several years and it’s not hard to understand why. Companies like Uber capitalized on the popularity of smartphone apps to make it easier than ever for users to order their vehicles. The true genius of the car-sharing business model is that it allowed Uber and others to target demographics that aren’t traditional car owners,

2016 Ford Focus (RS) on Speed

While the Ford Focus has a litany of impressive pluses, speed cannot be added to that list of goodies. As mentioned before, downshifting in a manual is a quick relative fix for the most part. If buying one used (2012-2013 era) be wary of the PowerShift technology, a thrust bearing within PowerShift transmissions common Ford Foci has a tendency to over-eagerly expire. Even if it has not expired p

GM Ignition Switch Case Dismissed in Federal Court

In May 2014, Robert Scheuer got into an auto accident while driving his 2003 Saturn Ion and crashed into a tree (pictured). According to Scheuer, the driver-side airbag in his Saturn Ion failed to deploy during his accident due to a defective GM ignition switch. As a result, he’s suffered from significant neck and back pain that has negatively impacted the quality of his daily life. Scheuer filed