Cars

Cars

Need to lend your neighbor your car? The newest version of the digital key specification allows vehicle owners to text a copy of the key to other people. Last month, over a dozen automobile and smartphone manufacturers gathered in Palo Alto, California, for the 16th annual "Plugfest," hosted by the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) to test out the latest in digital key technology.

Climbing onto the Honda Fastport eQuad is, quite literally, just like getting on a bicycle, except easier. With four wheels and broad diamond-plate running boards on either side, ingress and egress is as simple as swinging my leg over and stepping on and off the pedals, no kickstands involved. This makes sense, as the e-bike-based mini box-truck has been custom designed and constructed by the Japanese transportation company for the constant stop-and-go of urban e-commerce package delivery.

Volkswagen offer a 'round the clock' mobility guarantee, but in this case it appears not to apply if left stranded on a bank holiday weekend...

While mainstream vehicles usually get comprehensive updates every few years, low-volume exotics tend evolve more gradually. Supercar platforms often remain unchanged for a decade or more, with manufacturers instead focusing on what can be tuned, massaged, added, or subtracted to keep their lineups fresh. Every once in a while, though, a performance car debuts that truly earns the label "all-new," and the Lamborghini Temerario is one of them.

On Thursday, CEO Jim Farley gave a brief update on the project's progress on social media. That included a bit more on how exactly the company plans to radically simplify manufacturing and reduce the number of parts needed to build a car. More On Ford's 'Skunkworks' EV Project "Ford will use large unicastings for the first time on the Universal EV Platform," he said. "The radically simplified aluminum unicastings condense over 146 parts into two, and enable the assembly tree method at the Louisville Assembly Plant." Ford has mentioned the use of large castings before. But the specifics of condensing well over 100 parts into two seem to be new.

For years, car dealerships had a terrible reputation. Pushy sales tactics, confusing pricing, and long hours spent negotiating made the entire experience feel more like a battle than a purchase. Like many buyers, I assumed that avoiding dealerships altogether was the smartest way to buy a car, especially as online platforms and direct-to-consumer models gained popularity. Over time, however, my perspective began to shift.

The CPCA estimated that China's passenger new energy vehicle wholesale volume reached about 900,000 units in January, up 1% year-on-year but down 42% from December. Demand has been pressured by the start-of-year slow season, a 5% additional purchase tax cost, and uncertainty around the transition of vehicle trade-in subsidies, as noted in a report from CNEV Post. Market leader BYD sold 210,051 NEVs in January, down 30.11% year-over-year and 50.04% month-on-month, as per data released on February 1.

"A lot of cars have been called "singular" over the years, but the DeLorean DMC-12 is one example of the description fitting perfectly well. DeLoreans have cropped up in plenty of pop culture places over the decades, from beloved blockbuster films to indie rock videos. More recently, several efforts have been made to revive the name and aesthetic - though, as with most things DeLorean-related, that hasn't been without some controversy."

The newly unveiled car is ultra-agile thanks to the weight reduction achieved by shaving off components like the skid-control, torque-vectoring, or automatic brake-assist. It doesn't even have power steering, and gives buyers the option to skip the air conditioning unit for weight reduction, making it the ideal fit for raw purists who want to feel every little change happening in the driving dynamics.

When shopping for a vehicle, most buyers are looking for more than just a good deal. A vehicle purchase isn't worth it to them without peace of mind. While style, technology, and performance all play a role, affordability and reliability consistently rise to the top of the priority list. A car that's reasonably priced but frequently in the shop quickly becomes an expensive headache. Drivers know that long-term dependability is just as important as the sticker price.

Kia was one of the first legacy automakers to launch great EVs, with the EV6 and EV9 arriving to critical acclaim. But both posted huge sales declines last month, in part due to an industry-wide EV slowdown. That's not the whole story, though, as the mechanically identical Hyundai Ioniq 5 is selling far better than the EV6. Here's what's going on.

That's because the e-Hijet's electric architecture has vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) functionality baked in. On the V2H front, the tiny EV's front-mounted CHAdeMO fast charging port can be used to keep the lights on, but additional hardware is needed. On the V2L front, however, things are much simpler. There's a 100-volt household outlet right on the center console, which can output a maximum of 1,500 watts, according to Daihatsu and Toyota.

Costco's Auto Program should be as popular as its $5 rotisserie chicken - but I've learned not too many of its members actually know it exists. I discovered the program this past summer during a Costco grocery run when a pamphlet caught my eye as I was leaving. At the time, I was in the market for a car but putting it off because I didn't want to deal with persistent salespeople or lose a day haggling at a dealership.

The 2026 Nissan Leaf has an EPA-estimated range between 259 and 303 miles. The lowest range rating is for the most expensive version, the Platinum+, which comes with all the bells and whistles. On a chilly winter day, the lowest-range Leaf tackled the 70 mph highway range test, where it did better than expected. The 2026 Nissan Leaf is one of the most important new electric cars in America right now.

Chevrolet's Super Sport badge has long been associated with go-faster, scream-louder versions of regular production models. Whether it's a 1961 Impala SS, a 2013 SS performance sedan or the flurry of muscle cars and SUVs in betweenthe idea was always to make cars fun-to-drive with more horsepower, tighter handling and louder exhaust pipes, similar to Mercedes AMG or BMW M cars. With the 2026 Chevy Blazer EV SS, the automaker is bringing the historic badge into the electric era.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that's pretty demonstrably false. It's a good reminder that consumer sentiment often lags the reality on the ground. Americans don't have a damned clue who makes good EVs. That's what I took away from the January, 2026 edition of the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report, which measures consumer sentiment toward EV brands. Surveyed consumer sentiment toward EV brands seems to be based on vibes and internal-combustion car experience, not anything resembling reality.