Some members of the automotive press were bamboozled by a Toyota press release and accompanying conference last week. The story was that, in order to promote the company’s electrified offerings, Toyota had released an AI companion named Electra — an AI that immediately went off the rails and began talking about Toyota’s hesitancy to embrace … Read more
Photo: Mazda It’s been more than a decade since the last Mazda RX-8 rolled off the production line. The RX-8 didn’t make a massive amount of power, but it sure could corner, and most importantly, it had a rotary engine. Since then, rumor after rumor has continued to pop up, tricking us into thinking that … Read more
Toyota closed its São Bernardo Plant in November 2023, marking the end of its first overseas production facility. The closure caps off a period of continuous car production in São Paolo, Brazil, lasting over 60 years. The plant was home to a Komatsu 700-ton press that predates Toyota’s carmaking business itself. And now that the … Read more
Happy Friday! It’s January 12, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, all in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. Jalopinions | The Best Type is Jaguar’s E-Type 1st Gear: Hertz Is Selling A Third Of Its … Read more
Image: Lexus Toyota was lucky enough to give U.S. buyers the GR Corolla. It’s the textbook definition of a hot hatch, and we love it. Unfortunately, there are still some fun products that we don’t get, like the GR Yaris itself, and some stuff that some would rather stay off our shores, like the recently … Read more
Happy Thursday! It’s January 11, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, all in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. Jalopinions | The Best Type is Jaguar’s E-Type 1st Gear: Student Loans Are Getting In The Way … Read more
Last week we reported on Daihatsu halting sales and shipments of all of its cars amid a probe into the Toyota subsidiary rigging safety tests of 64 different models, and now the situation has gotten even worse. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Daihatsu has now stopped production at all four of its Japanese factories, with … Read more
Matt is helping his eighteen-year-old niece search for the right set of wheels before she goes off to college. She is currently driving an old Prius that is no longer reliable and is looking for something reliable, and fuel-efficient for under fifteen grand. What car should she buy? The 2023 Dodge Challenger Swinger Edition Was … Read more
This butt plug, sorry, “pear-shaped boiling flask” contains the solid-state electrolyte that Toyota claims will give us 900-mile EVsPhoto: Toyota Toyota is still moving forward with its plan to produce solid-state batteries that it says will give future electric vehicles a range of more than 900 miles. And while production won’t exactly start tomorrow, the … Read more