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Mercedes-Benz's new U.S. CEO, Dimitris Psillakis, talks about the German luxury automaker's plans for the all-electric EQ subbrand, starting with the launch of the EQS sedan this fall.

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Car configurators have been a standard sales tool for automakers for some time now. Whether they’re customizing a new purchase in the dealership or testing out different looks online, customers expect to be able to explore different options before putting their money down. 

Leading brands such as Pagani, Audi, BMW, McLaren, and Mercedes have turned this aspect of the sales process into an art form, harnessing powerful rendering techniques like ray tracing to create configurators that are ever more photorealistic and interactive.

So how are these interactive digital showrooms built? Well, Epic Games has just released a new sample project that enables anyone to find out for themselves.

The Automotive Configurator is a free real-time configurator sample, built in 3D creation tool Unreal Engine. The project shows off a completely interactive Audi A5 convertible model provided by Audi Business Innovation, set in an all-new immersive salt flat environmen…

The Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition kicked off on Monday in China’s financial hub, a multiday event aimed at showcasing the best and brightest car innovations in the world’s biggest vehicle market.

Electric cars and intelligent-driving technology were a major theme, with everyone from startups to the most venerable automakers -- and a new cabal of tech players, including Chinese telco giant Huawei Technologies Co. -- plowing money into cleaner transport.

In a day full of highlights perhaps two stood out. The moment when Nio Inc. CEO William Li and Xpeng Inc. CEO He Xiaopeng, two leading lights of China’s EV onslaught, staged a very public walk around of each other’s booths, attracting scores of onlookers who whipped out their mobile phones to record the moment.

At one point, Li crouched down on his haunches to check out the undercarriage of Xpeng’s P5 sedan, which is coming out later this year. Li also listened carefully to He’s in…

SHANGHAI -- Jaguar Land Rover expects premium car sales to continue to grow this year in China, the automaker's chief finance officer for the country said.

Tim Howard was speaking to reporters at the 2021 Shanghai auto show.

Jaguar Land Rover will start making its first plug-in hybrid vehicles in China this year.

Overall auto sales in China surged in March for a 12th straight month, as the world's biggest car market leads the sector's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

TURIN -- Spanish executive Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos will be Alfa Romeo's new design chief, sources said, as the troubled brand heads for a turnaround under its new owner, Stellantis.

Mesonero will join Alfa's design team based in Turin in July, people familiar with the matter told Automotive News Europe.

Mesonero, 53, will replace Daniele Calonaci, who will continue to lead Jeep design for Stellantis in Europe.

Stellantis was formed in January by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group.

Mesonero quit as design boss at Renault's Dacia budget brand earlier this month after just six months in the post. He had been recruited to Renault by CEO Luca de Meo. He had worked under de Meo at Seat, Volkswagen Group's Spanish brand.

Mesonero's appointment to Alfa was first reported by Auto & Design magazine.

A Stellantis spokesman declined to comment on the appointment to ANE.

Mesonero strengthens the top management t…

Volvo has signed an agreement to provide cars to the autonomous driving technology unit of China's top ride-hailing firm, Didi Chuxing, for its self-driving test fleet.

Volvo will provide XC90 crossovers equipped with backup steering and braking systems that DiDi Autonomous Driving will integrate with DiDi Gemini, its new self-driving hardware platform, the automaker said in a statement on Monday.

Didi is currently working toward an initial public offering with a valuation of at least $100 billion.

Last week self-driving startup Cruise, which is backed by General Motors, said it had raised $2.75 billion in its latest funding round from investors including retail giant Walmart, taking its valuation to more than $30 billion.

Volvo, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding, will initially provide Didi with hundreds of vehicles, with the aim of adding more as the self-driving test fleet expands, head of strategy Alexander Petrofski told Reuter…

A 6-foot-5 "mountain of a man" who turned down a college basketball scholarship for the chance to study engineering.

A "brilliant mind" who brimmed with enthusiasm and held ingenious ideas on engineering the EV1, the first auto of the modern age designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle.

A "true gentleman" who loved extravagant dinners, bold wine selections and big expense reports.

Byron McCormick heard all about Jon Bereisa, his new General Motors colleague. As he slunk into a corner booth at a Disney World-area restaurant during a GM executive retreat, finally getting a chance to meet Bereisa, he wondered whether the man would match his companywide legend. The ensuing conversation between two leading engineers did not disappoint.

"All of a sudden, we were just going back and forth, and the faster I'd go, the faster he'd go," McCormick said. "There was stuff flying every which way. I went, 'Oh, my God, every…

A Tesla Inc. electric car that “no one” was driving crashed late Saturday in Texas, killing the two passengers, according to local media reports.

One of the victims was in the front passenger seat and the other was in the rear, according to KPRC 2, an NBC affiliate in Houston. The car ran into a tree and burst into flames in the Carlton Woods subdivision near The Woodlands after traveling at high speed and failing to navigate a turn, the television station reported.

“No one was driving,” Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman told the station, which didn’t report whether the Autopilot feature was engaged.

Authorities said it took 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire because the car’s batteries kept reigniting, according to the TV station. Tesla and representatives for Harris County Precinct 4 didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

Federal officials have criticized Tesla for fire risks related to the battery pa…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ 10 things you (maybe) didn't know about GM's EV1

This spring marks 25 years since General Motors built its first EV1. In a 13-page section in Monday's issue, we'll put a spotlight on the groundbreaking electric car and its role in shaping the automaker's charge into an all-electric future. Here are 10 things you may not have known about the short-lived two-seater:

1. The lead-acid battery pack in the early EV1 accounted for nearly 40 percent of the car's weight.

2. About 40 engineers on the original EV1 team still work for GM.

3. Not all the cars ended up crushed or in museums. GM has a functional EV1 at its Global Technical Center in Warren, Mich. There's even a dedicated engineer who keeps the car running.

4. Some early planning took place in the basement of a church near the Tech Center. Team members referred to their gatherings as "come-to-Jesus meetings."

5. The concept that preceded the EV1, the Im…

Mercedes-Benz is adopting the boxy styling of its rugged G-Class off-roader with its latest battery-powered vehicle, the EQB.

The compact utility will offer seating for up to seven people and is targeted at families who want a greener alternative to the GLB combustion engine model on which it's based.

The EQB's driving range is 478 km (260 miles) under Europe's WLTP testing regime, Daimler said in a statement Sunday, ahead of the crossover's unveiling at the Shanghai auto show.

"With the all new EQB we have created an iconic electric SUV that takes the heritage of our boxy off-road vehicles and transforms this into the future," Daimler's design chief, Gorden Wagener, said in the statement.

The EQB is positioned between the EQA and EQC in Mercedes' expanding range of full-electric vehicles. It will be a rival to models such as the Audi Q4 e-tron and VW ID4. Neither of those competitors offers seating for seven. The larger VW ID6, which is also de…

The company's chief commercial officer discusses the rebirth and future of supersonic air travel and a partnership-minded approach to creating a “global mobility network.”

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After years of cleaning up the recall crisis over faulty Takata airbag inflators, the company that now owns the former supplier's factories is taking that cleanup to its core.

Joyson Safety Systems, the airbag producer owned by China's Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. but globally headquartered in suburban Detroit, is introducing a strict new operating system at its more than 50 plants, requiring local managers to adopt standardized quality and reporting practices and waste- reduction programs.

It is a long-term rollout of a new rulebook that began last year under the direction of Detroit supplier veteran Silvano Restiotto, vice president of the Global Joyson Production System. With a small team of administrators, Restiotto is moving plant by plant, from Brazil to Hungary to China to Mexico to the U.S., to convert all of the company's plants — and possibly its 12 global engineering centers — to the new system.

"When we bought Takata…