Automotive News Magazine

Ford’s BlueCruise Technology Transforms Hands-Free Driving Experience for 2024

Ford is making some changes to the way it will provide its customers with the BlueCruise technology that enables hands-free driving.

BlueCruise was something you had to choose right away when you ordered a vehicle with the capability of hands-free driving, for example, the 2023 Ford F-150, Ford F-150 Lightning, Ford Expedition, or Ford Mustang Mach-E.

However, it’s no longer the case today, as the car will come with the hardware already installed and customers can decide when to use it. All four of the Ford cars mentioned above will be affected by this change for the 2024 model year.

All 2024 models of Lincoln Navigator and Lincoln Nautilus and some trims of Lincoln Corsair that have recently got BlueCruise in a refresh will also come with the hardware pre-installed.

You can enjoy the benefits of BlueCruise functionality for three years when you buy a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle, and you can pay the $2,100 fee as part of the financing instead of upfront. To help you decide if you enjoy it, BlueCruise lets you use it at no cost for 90 days.

Once the trial is over, customers can either subscribe to the service on a monthly basis (which costs $75 per month) or on an annual basis (which is priced at $800 per year). This feature gives more freedom to owners who only use their car for short trips most of the time.

They can enroll in hands-free driving for one month when they want to take a trip, and then quit the next month without wasting money on a yearly subscription.

There are currently 225,000 Ford cars on the road that have BlueCruise installed, and the company plans to increase this number by 500,000 more cars for the 2024 model year.

So far, those vehicles have clocked up 1.4 million hours and 100 million miles of hands-free driving, and the numbers keep growing.

Ford has given BlueCruise a new update, version 1.2, and is planning to launch version 1.3 for the Mustang Mach-E soon.

Bugatti W16 Mistral Can’t Be Cooler Than This

Mechanical similarities with the Chiron don’t make the Bugatti W16 Mistral less unique. In fact, it boasts its own distinctive characteristics and expressive moniker.

The name Mistral is inspired by a cold, fast, northwesterly wind that covers the Mediterranean Sea and blows from the Rhone River toward the Côte d’Azur and the Gulf of Lion in the southern France. It indicates that the hypercar is an absolutely fast runner.

It’s also not a coincidence that Bugatti’s ongoing tour with the W16 Mistral recently included the French Riviera’s foothills as one of its destinations. That’s indeed a perfect place to take pictures of the hypercar. Bugatti will sell at least one copy of it in the area, as a W16 Mistral has been ordered there.

Continued its journey, the hypercar then headed to Marina Bay Waterfront, Singapore for a photo-shoot. It made its last stop at a private customer event at the Bugatti Singapore Showroom.

Dubbed as the “the ultimate roadster”, the Bugatti W16 Mistral runs the path of the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. It takes the Chiron’s DNA but doesn’t simply adopt a convertible form of it. You can see that it boasts totally bespoke bodywork, with some resemblance to the 2008 Veyron Barchetta Concept.

Its rear looks fascinating due to the presence of unique LED taillights that no other Bugatti has. There are also a bumper, rear fascia and diffuser laden made of high-quality carbon fiber. The engine cover feature humps to make it more exceptional. Observing the front, we’re welcomed by a massive horseshoe grille with a black finishing touch and a couple of large air intake bordering it.

Power-wise, the Mistral can draw as much as 1,578 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque from its 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine. There’s no word on how fast it reaches 62 mph, but Bugatti says it can max out at 261 mph.

Price is as high as you might expect, which is from $5 million each. As always, though, that doesn’t stop the wealthy from buying all 99 copies. Yes, the whole units have already sold out.

Newest Toyota Corolla Commercial is UK-only hybrid

The 2023 Corolla Commercial or better known as the Corolla “van” has arrived with Toyota’s 5th-gen hybrid powertrain.

If you run a small business, this van is a perfect vehicle for you. Unless you live in the UK, though, you won’t be able to buy it.

Built based on the Corolla Touring Sports, the van has 1,326 liters of load space at its rear. It packs a rubber boot liner, full-height metal bulkhead with a grille upper, a 12-volt power outlet, and interior light. It’s capable of carrying 936 pounds of load.

The new powertrain takes the DNA of the Wale’s 1.8-L engine. As for its electric component, it’s equipped with a novel power control unit, transaxle design, and calibration that helps enhance driving experience through extra responsiveness. The process is backed by a new lithium-ion battery that’s lighter and more compact provides a superior output.

The results are 138 hp and an efficiency of 64 mpg fuel economy on the EU’s WLTP. That will translate to roughly 43.2 mpg on the EPA. The Corolla Commercial emits 100g of CO2/km.

The van also features Predictive Efficient Drive that gathers data on daily driving and uses it as a guidance to take full advantage of energy regeneration from the hybrid system.

To make it more complete, there’s the latest Toyota Safety Sense upgrades that takes the detection capability of the Pre-Collision System (PCS) to the next level, in addition to a more responsive Full Range Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC).

Skoda Enyaq iV vRS is a Record-Breaking Ice Drifter

Being an attractive brand in Europe, Skoda still has no interest in entering the North American market. When you look at a Skoda, you will instantly notice its simplicity. That’s how the exterior looks. Deep inside, however, it’s actually a well engineered machine.

One example of Skoda worthy of your admiration is the all-electric Skoda Enyaq iV vRS, which has recently broken the record for the ‘Longest Continuous Vehicle Drift on Ice’. It scored the achievement by drifting around a course on a frozen lake in Sweden.

The crossover slid continuously on a 1.2-mile ice circuit for almost 16 minutes, thus covering 4.568 miles. Since it’s an electric car, it also smashes the record for the longest ice drift for an EV.

Going from 20 to 30 mph, the Enyaq iV vRS wasn’t really fast when doing its record-setting run. After all, what Skoda wanted to achieve was the longest ice drift in an EV instead of the fastest one.

The keys to the Enyaq iV vRS’s success in holding such a long drift were none other than its Däckprofssen studded tires. Behind the wheel, there was EVO magazine journalist Richard Meaden who helped the EV complete the run.

Arnold Clark Struck By Cyberattack

One of the unspoken risks of having modern cars is that hackers could break into the vehicles without warning. Surprisingly, even car retailers actually run the same risk, as proven by what happened to Arnold Clark Automobiles, a big UK motor dealership.

Arnold Clark has over 200 dealerships in England and Scotland, with vehicles from more than 25 automakers on sale. On December 23, 2022. The company was struck by a cyberattack in which the hackers may have obtained its customers’ personal details.

If it’s true, then the hackers will know data such as names, dates of birth, contact and car information, passports or driver’s licenses, bank account details, and national insurance numbers.

This case is still under investigation, with Arnold Clark trying to find out the exact scope and characteristics of the stolen information. Nonetheless, affected customers are already being offered free web and credit monitoring services for two years via Experian.

The Play ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on its dark web site. At least, 31 archive files of roughly 15GB have been published by the hackers. They threatened to release more if Arnold Clark doesn’t pay up.

Play claims to have extracted “private and personal data”, including financial documents, passport and ID copies, leasing contracts, agreements, and confidential contracts.

2023 Toyota RAV4 VS Highlander – Efficiency Comparison

Toyota’s SUV are proven to be highly successful. Good examples are the small RAV4 and the medium-sized Highlander. While the latter is superior in some ways, the former still has a strong key point that attracts many SUV lovers.

That one advantage that makes the RAV4 better than the Highlander is its more efficient fuel consumption. There’s no doubt that gasoline usage contributes to most expenses related to vehicle ownership, and SUVs are known to offer poor fuel efficiency.

Luckily, it’s not the case for the 2023 Toyota RAV4, which comes with a high-mpg ride. Even the latest Highlander is still more efficient than other SUVs in the same class. However, it loses when compared to the RAV4.

The gas variant of the RAV4 packs a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with an estimated fuel economy of up to 30 combined mpg. On the other hand, the Highlander is motivated by a turbo 2.4-liter inline-four engine and has a 25 combined mpg rating.

In a hybrid comparison, the RAV4 gets around 40 combined mpg, compared to 36 combined mpg for the Highlander. And we still didn’t talk about the RAV4 Prime, which is unrivalled here.

The 2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime is equipped with a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) system which allows it to go in pure electric mode as far as 42 miles with a fuel economy rating of about 94 combined MPGe. In hybrid mode, meanwhile, it can get 38 combined mpg.

The RAV4 Prime is also a good choice for those who are worried about range anxiety with EVs. When it runs out of electricity, the internal combustion engine will be active to keep the car running.

This is where the 2023 Toyota Highlander is clearly beaten, as it doesn’t offer a plug-in hybrid option to match the RAV4 Prime.

Toyota RAV4 is Japan’s Car of the Year

All around the globe, there are a few associations of car writers that hold their own rendition of COTY (Car of the Year) grants, however Japan’s – unquestionably is one of the most perceived.

As of late, the choice panel of Japan Car of the Year made out of the nation’s top car columnists reported the conclusive outcomes of their count, and have granted the fifth-age Toyota RAV4 as their top car.

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APT32 Hackers Strike Hyundai and BMW

A risk bunch accepted to have connections to the legislature of Vietnam is likely be behind the hacking of systems having a place with two vehicle makers: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, otherwise called BMW, and Hyundai Motor Co.

As indicated by a report in German media Dec. 5, the assaults are accepted to have occurred at some point in spring and purportedly included the APT32 gathering, otherwise called “Sea Lotus.” Active since 2014, the gathering is thought to have recently focused on private area ventures just as outside governments, protesters and writers, with a solid spotlight on Southeast Asian nations.

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Ex-BCG Ally Now General Secretary of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance

Lebanese-French double national Hadi Zablit has been raised to the job of general secretary for auto-union Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. Zablit recently went through seventeen years with BCG.

As it keeps on enduring especially extreme economic situations and the drop out from the Ghosn undertaking, harried automaker-coalition Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has delegated Lebanese-French double national Hadi Zablit as its new General Secretary – with an order to quicken business efficiencies over the three organizations. Zablit joined Renault Digital in 2017, preceding which he went through near two decades at BCG.

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Volvo Polestar 1 is a 600-Horsepower Electric Machine

There’s another hot vehicle on the square: a module half breed electric with 600 torque and ravishing looks from… Volvo? Indeed, kind of. Polestar Cars is a joint-adventure by Volvo and Geely, Volvo’s parent organization.

Given Volvo’s notoriety for being the producer of square shaped yet great autos, you’d be excused in the event that you thought they just fabricated A-to-B transportation. In any case, that is missing to such an extent.

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