Autos

Kicking off Volkswagen’s renewed electric vehicle offensive in the United States is the ID 4, a small crossover that will sit on a new dedicated EV platform. And it’ll be here before you know it, with the first U.S. deliveries scheduled to begin before the end of the year. Ahead of its arrival, VW is revealing a few more details on the ordering process. Following in the footsteps of other electric vehicles, the Volkswagen ID 4 will be available for pre-order. Interested buyers will be able to make a fully refundable $100 deposit to get the process started. This reservation holds your spot in line to order one of these EVs. Another $400 deposit locks in your configuration with your preferred dealership, although this is ultimately refundable as well. You’ll be able to trac...

See all 4 photos We’ve sat in lots of cars that have valet parked themselves. Most have leaned on sensors, software, and computing power onboard the vehicle to perform this task. You drive into a structure, exit the vehicle, call up the car’s smart-phone app or press a button on the key remote, and the vehicle senses its surroundings, drives at low speed through the structure, finds an open parking space, and pulls into it. When you hail its return, it reverses the procedure. This is a lot like level-five autonomy—with the hardware and software costs that portends—but in a confined space at ultra-low speeds, which lowers the liability concerns considerably. Bosch aims to accelerate adoption of such automated parking by pulling that sensing and communicating power out of the veh...

Many automakers have tried—and some have already abandoned—car subscription services. But Porsche has always operated in more rarified air. Convinced of the strong demand for its performance vehicles, if even for only a day or a few weeks, the German sports-car maker is introducing a new monthly single-vehicle subscription program in four American cities starting September 25, while also expanding its other subscription programs. To recap, Porsche introduced a pilot subscription program in Atlanta in 2017 where members pay a monthly fee and can swap between models from the mainstream Porsche lineup. So far 325 members have taken advantage of Porsche subscription services, most of them staying in the program for four months and swapping their vehicle choice every two weeks, said Klaus Zellm...

Rich Rebuilds is the sort of YouTube car dude that we all know and watch, buying suspiciously cheap and definitely not pristine vehicles and then documenting the inevitable rollercoaster ride of, well, rebuilding them. Hence his handle. He’s turned around a hurricane-inundated Model S, a wrecked Model 3, some sketchy Audis . . . you get the idea. There’s a strong Tesla fascination, and the guy co-founded an independent Tesla mechanic outfit, but there are some exceptions to the rule on his channel. Electric rat rod? Sure. How about a Tesla Cyberquad ATV tribute build? Sounds interesting. See all 42 photos And it is. You see, the Cyberquad only exists in the most minimalistic way. It exists—we saw it in the back of the Cybertruck when it rolled onto the stage in that famous debu...

Though it continues to dominate truck sales, the Ford F-150 has fallen behind in the trick tailgate game. Its full-size competitors from GMC and Ram both offer fancy multi-way tailgates, with the former blazing a trail with its MultiPro tailgate and the latter recently introducing the barn door-style Multifunction tailgate. Not to be outdone, Ford is reportedly working on a complex tailgate gimmick of its own. According to Ford Authority, Ford is considering several prototype tailgate designs for development. Sources close to the project say a barn door setup like Ram’s is a top contender. The Ram 1500’s available Multifunction tailgate opens two ways: It can drop down like a traditional tailgate or swing open thanks to side-hinged 60/40 split barn doors. Those barn doors make ...

We are all ears whenever Jeep announces it’s doing something to the Wrangler. The rugged SUV is the bedrock of Jeep and the brand is the price of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). Our enamor with the current Wrangler is no secret. In fact, we named our 2019 SUV of the Year. And we have known for some time that a plug-in hybrid version was due for a 2020 launch. FCA is great about releasing five-year plans that get us all excited, but the automaker also is more crisis-prone than most automakers. As such, we have learned virtually all the company’s plans are subject to change on a whim. See all 72 photos So we were heartened to learn during FCA’s 2020 annual shareholder meeting that the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is still on track for a 202...