Tag Archives: Reports

Florida Could Suspend Carvana’s Dealer License For Not Submitting Title Applications

December 23, 2021 admin

Florida could suspend Carvana’s dealer license after it has failed to transfer the titles of some vehicles sold.

Carvana was reportedly notified of the issues in an email sent by Florida authorities last week. This email is said to have included a spreadsheet that showed 300 Carvana vehicle sales dating back to 2019 that had not had their titles transferred. More than 100 of these vehicle sales occurred in Florida.

State law in Florida requires retailers to apply for a title within 30 days of completing a sale. Speaking with Auto News, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Carvana has until January 31 to submit title applications for all the vehicles it sold in 2021 before December 1.

“The department has been proactively working with Carvana to identify and assist Florida customers who have not received their title in a timely manner, and in accordance with state law,” the spokesperson added. “Florida law allows for the suspension of the dealer’s license if they fail to apply for a transfer of title in a timely manner.”

This isn’t the first time Carvana has been scrutinized for not delivering titles in time. Earlier this year it settled with Florida regulators and agreed to pay $500 each to 12 customers who had to wait three to eight months to receive titles on vehicles they purchased. In August, Carvana had its dealer license suspended for 180 days in Wake County, North Carolina for not producing titles fast enough, among other issues.

Carvana sold 244,111 vehicles in the U.S. last year, making it the country’s second-largest retailer of used vehicles. A spokeswoman from the company says Carvana has applied for around 23,500 titles in Florida over the past 12 months.

BMW M Rumored To Be Readying Special M4 For 50th Ann. With Manual Gearbox

December 23, 2021 admin

Next year is gearing up to be a special one for BMW’s M division. BMW M GmbH will mark its 50th anniversary in May, 2022, and new rumors suggest that there’s a special, limited production M4 on the horizon.

The lead comes from an alleged BMW insider on g80.bimmerpost. The user, who apparently has a good track record for new car info, suggests that the unnamed M4 special will be “configured like the CSL, but with a manual transmission.”

The forum member goes on to say that several options will be deleted, including comfort access, parking sensors, and electric seats. The absence of such would result in an M4 that’s even lighter than the already lightweight CSL, provided this special model is based on the upcoming CSL in the first place.

Although the production M4 CSL hasn’t yet been revealed to the public, our spies have spotted prototypes undergoing testing. These cars feature revised air intakes and grilles, as well as lightweight wheels, a more prominent lip spoiler, and a new diffuser.

Read: BMW Teases Next-Generation M4 GT4 Customer Race Car

A BMW M4 CSL prototype caught testing at the Nurburgring

As yet, powertrain details for the CSL have not been confirmed, although there have been reports that BMW may not offer a manual transmission. If that were the case, a limited, manual-equipped take on the CSL could prove to be the holy grail of BMW’s M4 line-up. The source also remarks that the new variant will be only produced for a few months, starting in November 2022, implying that production numbers will be kept low.

We already know that BMW M GmbH has big plans on the horizon for the upcoming year. Their 750hp plug-in hybrid SUV, the XM, is set to be in production before the end of 2022, and from January, customers will be able to order their cars with a roundel that harks back to the Motorsport division’s classic logo. If that weren’t enough, the new BMW M3 Touring would finally fulfill our M wagon dreams, and a series of 50 new M paint finishes will be made available. A special, ultra-limited edition of the M4 could just be the icing on the cake.

Buick Trademarks The Electra Name, Does It Hint At Upcoming Electric Crossover?

December 23, 2021 admin

Buick’s range in North America comprises exclusively of SUVs including the Envision, Encore and Enclave, but none of them is fully electric. This could change in the near future as the automaker filed a trademark for the Electra name in Canada, a move that could hint at a production version of last years’ fully electric crossover concept bearing the iconic name.

General Motor’s trademark filing from December 20 for the Buick Electra name was posted at the Rivian Owners Forum. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Buick will use the Electra name on a production vehicle, nor that this will be a fully electric crossover, however both of those assumptions sound plausible given the timing.

The pictured Buick Electra concept was unveiled last year in Shangai. The prototype brought back an iconic name used in full-size luxury sedans from 1959 to 1990. Unlike its predecessors, the new Electra adopted a sleek crossover-style silhouette previewing Buick’s future design language.

Like the Cadillac Lyric that was unveiled in production form earlier this year, the Buick Electra concept was based on GM’s Ultium architecture with a fully electric powertrain. In the concept, the dual electric motors produced 583 hp (435 kW / 589 PS), while the Ultium battery allowed a range of more than 410 miles (660 km). The production version could use the Lyriq’s 100 kWh lithium-ion battery pack which is good for a more down-to-earth 300 mile (483 km) electric range.

A Buick Electra SUV could be a competitor for the rumored Chrysler Airflow and the Ford Mustang Mach-E, or move upmarket to rival more premium electric SUV proposals from BMW (iX), Audi (e-tron), and Mercedes-Benz (EQE). In any case, the design of the concept would have to be toned down for production, including a more conventional design for the greenhouse and the doors while retaining elements like the overall crossover shape, the Matrix LED lighting units, and the large-diameter wheels.

Buick hasn’t made any announcements for the future product strategy so we don’t know if and when they are planning to introduce their first fully electric SUV. Outside North America, the automaker is steadily increasing its sales in China, where it is also offering a wide range of sedans, SUVs, and luxury MPVs.

China’s Geely Reportedly Forming New JV With Renault, Could Allow Duty-Free Cars Into The U.S.

December 22, 2021 admin

Geely and Renault are rumored to be on the verge of announcing a new partnership. The two companies are reported to have been working on a joint venture since the beginning of the year, with the details finalized and an announcement imminent.

The venture will help create a new plug-in hybrid-focused automotive brand, reports Reuters. Chinese automaker, Geely, is expected to provide their CMA architecture that both Geely and Volvo currently use. Renault will focus its attention on design and marketing, focusing on the world’s largest car market — China.

A Chinese Re-entry For Renault, South Korean Lynk & Co For Geely

The deal will allow Renault to re-enter China, which it exited a year ago when a JV with Dongfeng was dissolved. It may also be a way for the French company to expand its presence throughout Asia, with particular attention paid to its South Korean assembly plant that has manufactured vehicles under Renault Samsung Motors. Renault has held an 80% stake in Samsung Motors since 2000 and is South Korea’s third-largest automaker.

Geely may be able to gain access to any number of Renault’s production facilities, but it’s thought that the Busan plant in southeastern South Korea is of particular interest. According to the report’s unnamed sources, Lynk & Co, a brand under Geely, may produce its 01 SUV locally, with other hybrid offerings from the brand being considered. These could be sold under the Renault Samsung name.

Geely’s Ticket To The U.S.

In addition to propping up Renault Samsung (whose sales have been waning) and gaining access to the Korean market, there’s another significant benefit for Geely.

By producing vehicles in South Korea, the Chinese company could very well gain a form of duty-free “backdoor entry” into the U.S. market. Sino-U.S. tensions have hurt trade for Chinese automakers trying to break into the second-biggest car market in the world. But the deal with Renault could open up the possibility of utilizing South Korea’s free-trade agreement with the United States to export its Lynk & Co vehicles.

As of yet, there is no solid indication of a time frame for an announcement. It also isn’t quite clear where this arrangement will fit in with the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Mary Barra Says GM Can Catch Tesla In EV Sales By 2025

October 28, 2021 admin

General Motors chief executive Mary Barra says the car manufacturer can catch Tesla in U.S. sales of electric vehicles by 2025.

GM intends on launching no less than 30 electric vehicles by 2025 and while recently speaking during CNBC’s Squawk Box, Barra expressed confidence in her belief that the company will establish itself as the EV leader.

“I am very comfortable, because when people get into these vehicles, they are just wowed,” she said. “So we will be rolling them out and we’re going to just keep working until we have No. 1 market share in EVs.”

Tesla currently dominates the electric vehicle space in the United States. In fact, the automaker accounted for 79 percent of all EVs sold in the U.S. throughout 2020. However, research and forecasting company HIS Markit says Tesla’s U.S. share of EV sales will drop to 56 percent throughout 2021 and fall to approximately 20 percent in 2025.

Speaking with CNBC, LMC Automotive added that sales of EVs, including plug-in hybrids, will account for less than 4 percent of vehicle sales across the country this year. The research firm suggests that EVs will make up 34.2 percent of new U.S. vehicle sales by 2030, with 4.1 percent of those sales being for plug-in hybrids.

A key pillar in GM’s EV expansion goals is their plans to install up to 40,000 Level 2 EV chargers across the United States and Canada as part of a $750 million investment.

Audi Thinks You Need To Be Making $120k To Afford A 2022 A3

October 20, 2021 admin

Many of us are happy to accept that we’ll never be able to afford a fancy European supercar. It’s why posts about mid-engined exotics can often generate less reaction than ones on cars like the BMW M3 and Audi RS3, which might seem almost as unattainable today, but could well be a realistic ownership proposition at some point in the future.

And while you’re waiting for the financial stars to align so you can buy that RS3, you can always make steps down that road by buying an S3 or a regular A3. I mean, the A3’s just a slightly nicer VW Golf, so you wouldn’t need to be that wealthy to afford one, right?

Wrong, at least according to data Audi released for the North American launch of the 2022 A3, S3 and RS3. The company provided sample customer profiles for the three versions of its compact that included gender, age, and marital status, but the thing that really stood out to us was the median household income (HHI) for each vehicle.

Audi expects even customers buying the regular A3 to have an HHI of $120,000, which rises to $150,000 for the sporty S3. And if you want the Nürburgring-monstering RS3 and its fancy new drift mode, you better be bringing in a serious $200k a year or you’re not on Audi’s radar and the salesmen may well redirect you to the nearest Kia showroom.

Driven: The 2022 Audi S3 And A3 Are Your Fast And Sensible Baby Executive Sedans

For context, the median HHI across the U.S. was $67,521 in 2020. Which means you need to be making about twice the national average just to get yourself into a 2.0-liter front-wheel-drive sedan with four rings on the nose by Audi’s calculations, and more than three times the average to take an RS3 home.

The 2022 A3 starts at $33,900 for a basic FWD car, but prices rise to $43,200 for the Prestige with Quattro transmission. From there it’s only a small jump to the $44,900 S3, whose Quattro system is tested by a more powerful 306 hp 2.0-liter motor, while the 401 hp (394 hp in Europe), five-cylinder RS3 is likely to cost around $60,000.

Still want to be able to stick that Audi fob on the bar but can barely afford a drink let alone make enough bread to hit Audi’s outrageous $120k HHI target? We got you covered with this Copart find. A 2006 2.0 Premium located in Des Moines, IA, it’s currently bid to just $500 and looks fine…apart from the zombie ice pick dents in the hood.

Cupra’s Small EV To Cost €5k More Than Volkswagen’s Own Model

September 26, 2021 admin

The Volkswagen Group is readying a trio of fully electric small models wearing the VW, Cupra, and Skoda badges. It turns out that Cupra’s offering will be the most expensive of the three, with a starting price of €25,000 when it arrives in 2025.

The Cupra UrbanRebel Concept that premiered in Munich a few weeks ago previewed for the upcoming production model. In a similar fashion, Volkswagen previewed their own offering with the ID.LIFE Concept that will spawn a production car by 2025. Both models, together with the rumored Skoda Elroq, will be based on a shortened version of the MEB platform.

Cupra’s EV city car will start at around €25,000 which makes it more expensive compared to its Volkswagen sibling, starting at €20,000. We don’t have information about the Skoda, but given the budget-oriented nature of the brand, we guess that it will be slightly cheaper.

Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths admitted that their EV city car will be priced higher, as they want it “to be positioned between the mass and the premium segment”. He added that the production version will retain the bold design language of the concept car, with the exception of the massive aero components: “You take the fin off the back and the spoiler off the front, and then you get very very close to what we want to do with the car we want to launch in 2025”.

As reported by Automotive News Europe, the production version will be fitted with a single electric motor producing 228 hp (170 kW / 231 PS) and feature a 55 kWh battery pack allowing for a 248-mile (400 km) range. Like its VW sibling, the Cupra will accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 6.9 seconds, while Griffiths claims that the compact dimensions and the low weight will make the car quite sporty.

Cupra’s new small EV will join the upcoming Born C-Segment hatchback and the Tavascan SUV in the growing range of fully electric models. All small EVs of the VW Group will be produced in Spain with a capacity of up to 500,000 cars per year, utilizing both Seat’s Martorell and VW’s Pamplona factories.

PHOTO GALLERY

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Live photo credits Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink for CarScoops

The Revived Moke Will Be Produced In The UK Instead Of France

September 23, 2021 admin

Remember the New Moke that was launched two years ago by a company called Moke International? Well, the reinvented Mini-based buggy is still alive and it will now be entirely produced in the UK thanks to a new agreement with Fablink.

As reported by Autocar, the deal was enabled by a UK government grand. Recently, the EU and UK signed an agreement on tariff-free trade, making UK-based car production viable for small automakers who intend to export in the European Union. Moke International wanted to bring the Moke in the US market in 2021, but plans were delayed supposedly due to the pandemic.

Moke International acquired the trademark and distribution rights of the car before initiating limited production in 2020 with a starting price of £20,000. This means that the new Moke has nothing to do with BMW Group’s MINI, besides being a part of its heritage.

Looking identical to the original 1964 Mini Moke that was sharing its underpinnings with the Alex Issigonis-designed Mini, the new Moke is said to be slightly larger to provide more cabin space. The FWD buggy is fitted with an updated 1.1-liter four-cylinder petrol engine producing 67 hp (50 kW / 68 PS), allowing a top speed of 68 mph (109 km/h). It also features upgrades on the suspension, brakes, and chassis.

Since 2020, the Moke was engineered and sub-assembled in Britain’s Midlands region before being shipped to Cerizay, France for the final assembly. Thanks to the new agreement with Fablink – a manufacturing firm based in Northamptonshire – the whole process will now take place in UK facilities. Fablink currently has six factories in the UK, employing a total of 700 people, and has undertaken manufacturing and engineering work for companies like Land Rover and Morgan.

PHOTO GALLERY

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Used Car Prices Fall In August But Are Still Up 32% From A Year Ago

September 20, 2021 admin

Used cars prices dropped in August for the first time in seven months after seven months in which they skyrocketed compared to 2020.

Figures from the Labor Department reveal that prices slipped by 1.4 per cent last month, posting the first decline since January. However, used car prices are still up 31.9 per cent from 12 months ago and as the global chip shortage continues to wreak havoc on the production of new vehicles resulting in supply not keeping up with demand in many cases, may remain high for quite some time.

Fox Business notes that used car prices were also supported by the flight from city centers to the suburbs and multiple rounds of stimulus checks. In addition, rental car companies have begun to restock their fleets after selling them off during the early stages of the pandemic.

“Used car prices started to see a negative payback after the record-smashing rally over the past year,” noted Bank of America economist Alexander Lin.

The Federal Reserve added that the surge in used car prices serves as evidence that inflation is transitory and that prices will recede once supply chain disruptions are resolved.

3M chief financial officer Monish Patolawala says new vehicle production will decline 6 per cent year-over-year in the second half of this year due to the chip shortage. However, some analysts expect used car prices to remain relatively stable in the coming months.

If you happen to have a vehicle sitting around that you could do without, now could be the time to sell it. However, if you’re in the market for a used car, waiting for the chip shortage to end could be a wise move.

Elon Musk Praises Chinese Automakers As He Attempts To Restore Tesla’s Image In The Country

September 18, 2021 admin

Elon Musk was in a complimentary mood during his appearance at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress. In his message, he praised Chinese automakers, who he opined were “the most competitive in the world.”

Bloomberg reports that Musk’s comments during his pre-recorded appearance can be seen as an attempt at repairing Tesla’s image in China. “I have a great deal of respect for the many Chinese automakers,” said Musk, adding that the country’s carmakers are particularly strong on software. “Public sentiment and support for electric vehicles is at a never before seen inflection point because they know it is the future,” he noted.

Tesla has faced a difficult few months in China following a largely positive welcome. China is a crucial market for the California-based carmaker as it’s the world’s largest EV market, with the added jeopardy of having plenty of home-grown EV competition.

In May, Tesla’s sales halved in the wake of public and government criticism. Accusations of poor aftersales service spurred negative opinions of the brand, with a local paper saying that the company’s “arrogant and overbearing stance” was “repugnant and unacceptable.”

Read: China Is Developing Tech That Can Track Automotive Data Sent Abroad

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Meanwhile, Chinese authorities grew suspicious of Tesla and how it handled the storage of customer data. Staff at some important Chinese government facilities were told not to park their Tesla vehicles inside government compounds due to security concerns related to their exterior cameras.

Musk spoke about data security, reiterating that the company was working with national authorities to ensure the security of data gathered by their vehicles. Tesla has complied with a request from the Chinese government to store data gathered by its locally-used cars within the nation.

China has gone on to develop advanced machines that will be able to track data sent overseas by cars driven on its streets. The system, which analyzes the path of data transmission, is currently being tested on vehicles from foreign automakers, including Tesla.