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Jeep went a decade without an SUV with a legitimate third row after the demise of the Commander in 2010. But that changed with the arrival of the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L and later with the revival of the flagship Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer nameplates for 2022.

Jeep has added some frosting to the big SUV recipe with the stretched Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L. They are designed to rival the Cadillac Escalade ESV, GMC Yukon XL, Chevrolet Suburban and Lincoln Navigator.

The 2023 Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L measure 12 inches longer than the standard wheelbase models.

All of the luxury, technology and safety gear on the standard models remain, but there is more storage in back. The long-wheelbase models offer up to 44.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row, 15.8 cubic feet more than the shorter models.

The L models feature a 130-inch wheelbase, a 7-inch increase from the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

The third row in the L va…

Spy photographers have finally caught the U.S. version of Toyota's extended three-row crossover, the Toyota Grand Highlander, at the company's research center in Michigan.

The upsized version of the Japanese brand's popular large crossover — which will be built at Toyota's plant in Princeton, Ind., and go on sale in 2023 — is designed to address a primary complaint about the standard Highlander: The third-row seating is too cramped.

The spy shots show a higher rear roofline and extended overall length compared with the Highlander. The Grand Highlander will be joined about six months later by a Lexus version, the Lexus TX.

Toyota divulged some details about the future models last year when it announced an $803 million plant investment at Princeton. The automaker said the two vehicles would feature "a semi-automated driving system — which will allow for hands-free driving in certain conditions — a remote parking system allowing the driver to park and un…

A major blaze in South Korea that knocked out a wide range of key digital services for days — snarling banking, ride-sharing and online deliveries — is reigniting safety concerns in a nation that's a key global supplier of lithium-ion cells used in electric vehicles.

The days-long outage followed a fire Oct. 15 at a data center in Pangyo, engulfing batteries used in backup power systems and impacting key local tech firms including Kakao Corp., South Korea's almost ubiquitous social media giant and provider of the country's most popular instant messaging service.

Kakao users were left unable to hail a taxi, pay for groceries or chat with family members, disruptions which prompted the company's co-chief executive officer to resign and led lawmakers to question the risks of concentrating too much digital power in a single entity.

Even with SK C&C, the operator of the data center, still investigating the cause of the fire, the incident has stoked a new b…

Hyundai’s profit margin was squeezed in the third quarter as recall costs offset growing sales. Toyota scrambles for an EV reboot. Tesla looks for a factory site in Mexico and cuts prices in China. Plus, Energy Innovation’s Sara Baldwin provides a primer on the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on electrification.

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Mullen Automotive has tapped former General Motors executive John Schwegman to be the electric vehicle maker's chief commercial officer.

Schwegman spent 35 years at GM in a variety of marketing-related roles, most recently senior director of global Chevrolet product marketing, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mullen, of Brea, Calif., said Schwegman will primarily focus on growing the electric Class 1 through Class 6 light- and medium-duty truck segment, including the Class 1 and Class 2 Mullen One, which are yet to be released.

Schwegman's experience in fleet vehicle sales, particularly when he was GM's commercial product director in the 2010s, provides ample background for the task. Schwegman was a key player in GM's bid to compete with Ford in the commercial fleet market.

"John has tremendous experience in commercial automotive sales, and this makes him a highly strategic addition to Mullen," David Michery, CEO of Mul…

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk's appearance over the weekend in the northern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon has sparked local speculation that Mexico could be a candidate for future Tesla investment.

Musk wants the automaker to scale "to extreme size," and new factory announcements are possible by the end of the year.

The Milenio newspaper, which published a photo of Musk standing on an outside patio with Nuevo Leon first lady Mariana Rodriguez, reported Sunday that the tech billionaire met with Gov. Samuel Garcia and local economic development officials "to analyze the possibility of installing a Tesla plant."

Milenio, citing anonymous sources, said the officials are proposing a manufacturing facility in the municipality of Santa Catarina, near the state capital of Monterrey.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mexican media said state officials did not comment on the meeting.

Other Mexican media suggested the talks with loca…

Airstream stores could be the start of a diversification wave for Lithia Motors

For the last few years, Lithia Motors has been on a dealership acquisition spree across the country, buying single stores and swallowing large groups whole.

But earlier this month, the fast-growing auto retailer made an acquisition that looked different from all the others: It bought six Airstream stores in the Pacific Northwest from Airstream Adventures.

"[It's a] very small focus for the company relative to what we're doing and no real initiative to grow that business other than to really get a feel for what some of these other mobility verticals could look like," said Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer on the company's third-quarter earnings call last week.

This is not the only example of the company stretching beyond automobile retail. Last year, following its entrance into Canada, Lithia bought a Harley-Davidson store in Toronto. On the company's earnings call for the thir…

The electrification director at nonprofit thinktank Energy Innovation charts the path forward for understanding how the far-reaching IRA affects electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, raw material production and U.S. power grid.

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An armed robbery of a U.S. postal carrier helped police begin to unravel a crime ring that has stolen numerous muscle cars and other expensive vehicles from auto plants and dealerships in the Detroit area.

When officers caught the man suspected of robbing the postal worker outside Cleveland, they found three high-priced stolen vehicles at his home — a Ram 1500 TRX, a Land Rover Range Rover and a Dodge with a Hellcat engine, The Associated Press reported last week.

That led to federal indictments in June against four Ohio men on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen vehicles.

One of the men told the FBI that he and another defendant communicated through Instagram with people in the Detroit area about obtaining stolen vehicles, prosecutors said. They said thieves also sold the vehicles, originally worth $50,000 to $100,000, for $3,500 to $15,000 to buyers in Chicago, Indianapolis and cities near East Coast shipping ports.

Investig…