This episode of the Autoblog Podcast features Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They talk about cars they've been driving, including the 2022 Honda Civic Si, 2022 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring plug-in hybrid and 2022 Subaru Ascent. After that, they spend someone's money. The subject specifically is whether a Ford Maverick is right for the person, or if they should maybe get something else.
Infiniti upped prices on the 2022 QX50, but at least some of the MSRP increase goes toward new features. Nissan's luxury arm made ProPilot Assist standard for all five trims, the driver assistance suite includes tech like steering assist, intelligent cruise control, speed limit assist, and distance control assist. Apple CarPlay is another included item for next year's model, as well as an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and more soft-touch luxuries for the rear quarters with keyless entry able to be activated by the rear doors now, LED welcome lights in the rear door handles, and a USB-C port for the aft chairs.
The first four grades are front-drivers; adding all-wheel drive adds $2,000 to the tab. For 2022, top front-wheel drive Autograph bows out, making AWD the de facto standard. The trims and their pricing after the $1,025 destination fee, plus their differences from the 2021 model, are:
The Infiniti QX50 is getting an equipment makeover for 2022 as the crossover gains wireless Apple CarPlay and a newly standard driver assistance system.
Toyota has spread its hybrid technology across its core range over the past few years — buyers can select anything from a Corolla to a Tundra with a gasoline-electric system — and this policy risks making the Prius a moot point. While some rumors claim the current-generation model will retire without a successor, a recent report suggests that the hybrid segment's poster child will return for a fifth generation.
"It has to keep a role, and we have to make sure it will always be a front-runner with that kind of technology. Although I can't disclose much, we don't want to waste our icon, even for the future," said a company spokesperson in an interview with British magazine Autocar.
Like the rest of the company's CX crossovers and SUVs, the three-row 2022 Mazda CX-9 is getting standard all-wheel drive. It also gets a new midlevel trim line. And of course, pricing gets some tweaks with the feature reshuffling. The 2022 models will reach dealers this winter.
Without front-wheel-drive models, the starting price for the CX-9 is higher than it used to be. It now starts at $36,505 for the base Sport trim, destination fee included. However, that's actually $455 less than last year's Sport with then-optional all-wheel-drive. The $38,655 Touring model is also slightly cheaper than last year's all-wheel-drive equivalent, though only by $95. From there, the CX-9 models have become a bit more expensive. Full pricing is found at the below.
TOKYO — Toyota on Tuesday said it is happy to use scratched or blemished parts from suppliers as the world's biggest car producer tries to trim costs amid a production-curbing global chip shortage and rising material costs.
Toyota's acceptance of good enough by using parts it would have thrown away in the past marks a significant change both for a company renowned for stringent quality control and for Japanese manufacturing practices that often prioritized perfection over speed to market.
Good morning and welcome to our daily digest of automotive news from around the globe, starting with…
The recent launch of the resurrected Integra nameplate is just part of a larger shift in mission at Acura. Its leaders have repeatedly said they want Acura to be the performance brand of Honda, where driving fun and dynamics come first. However, in a new report, Acura says it plans to go big on fully electric vehicles, at even greater speed than its parent company, by skipping the hybrid step altogether.
According to Acura assistant VP of sales Emile Korkor, the Integra was a capstone to the internal combustion era at Acura. It marked a sort of homecoming to the marque's performance pedigree, and once Integra is launched, the brand will move forward with electrifying its lineup. The company's plans were revealed in an Automotive News interview, where Korkor said, "We're going to bypass hybrids altogether. So our shift is going very rapidly into BEV. That's our main focus."
The Prius is rumored to get an all-new fifth-generation in 2022 and while the Japanese automaker is coy on details, a high-ranked official confirmed that it will keep its role as the core hybrid in Toyota’s range.
It's the kind of news that should have Subaru jumping for joy. Customers in the U.S. are liking what they're seeing in dealer showrooms, getting out their wallets, then heading home to wait for delivery.
Toyota has selected a site for its proposed $1.29 billion U.S. battery manufacturing facility. On Monday, the automaker said it would build the plant on the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, a tract of land located in Randolph County in central North Carolina. When the facility is complete sometime in 2025, it will consist of four production lines, each capable of producing batteries for 200,000 vehicles per year. Toyota plans to eventually expand the facility to produce enough power cells to support up to 1.2 million cars annually.
The plant is part of a broader $3.4 billion investment the automaker has earmarked to expand its battery production capabilities in the U.S. When Toyota first announced the $1.29 billion facility, it said it would create approximately 1,750 jobs. The company notes it picked Greensboro-Randolph Megasite for a handful of reasons. One of the more notable is that it's a location with access to renewable energy. Toyota says it's "committed" to using 100 percent clean energy to produce batteries at the facility.
In the spring of 2021, Honda announced plans to go fully electric in North America by 2040.
The current-generation Nissan GT-R isn't ready to retire quite yet, but it will hang up its racing helmet in Japan's Super GT series at the end of the 2021 season. It will be replaced by a track-only evolution of the new Z that will compete against the Acura NSX and the Toyota Supra.
Built to GT500 specifications, the race-bound Z looks low, wide, and mean. Styling cues like the lights on both ends and the shape of the roofline create a visual link between the race car and the coupe that's headed to showrooms, but Nismo added an aggressive-looking body kit that includes canards on the front bumper, a wide air diffuser, and a massive wing out back. It looks like many of the add-ons are built with carbon fiber in order to keep weight in check, and the Z GT500 rides on center-locking wheels wrapped by Michelin Pilot Sport tires.
Pricing for the refreshed 2022 Honda Passport is out, and the two-row SUV is getting more expensive this year.
Honda fully deleted the base Sport trim, meaning the Passport now begins with the better-equipped EX-L trim. That effectively raises the base price by $5,080, all the way up to $39,095, including the $1,225 destination charge. However, even the EX-L price is up this year compared to the 2021 EX-L model, as Honda bumped it up by $1,060. If you want all-wheel drive on the EX-L, you can spend an extra $2,100 for a final price of $41,195.