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Five years after Hyundai introduced a concept version of its first pickup, the Santa Cruz, a camouflaged model has been spotted undergoing tests on a frozen lake in the Lapland region of Finland.

The crew-cab truck appears to be larger than the concept. However, it appears to retain many elements of the concept's funky design, including the front fascia and rounded bodywork.

In November, the Korean automaker said it would invest $410 million to expand its Alabama assembly plant to build the Santa Cruz, with output starting in 2021. 

Hyundai has yet to reveal the production version of the Santa Cruz, first shown in concept form at the 2015 Detroit auto show. The "lifestyle vehicle" will target city-dwelling millennials who can't fit full-size pickups into tighter parking spots.

In December, a single photo of what appears to be a disguised Santa Cruz was posted to Korean site autospy.net.

General Motors officials have never publicly said why they decided not to invest in Rivian, the Plymouth, Mich., startup brand that plans to market the stylish electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV this year.

Could it be that while GM and Rivian were talking last spring about how the two companies might work together, GM officials realized they already had a brand that would be perfect for high-performance EVs?

Less than a year later, GM made it official that the Hummer name is returning on an electric super-truck packing 1,000 hp and 11,500 pound-feet of torque. During Sunday's Super Bowl, GM aired three teaser spots showing a futuristic new version of the Hummer's trademark slotted grille.

Although the business case for an electric pickup is shaky at best — and I have been a vocal critic of electric trucks — using the Hummer name not only makes perfect sense, it's a very smart and shrewd move that has many interesting angles.

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Nissan became the first Japanese automaker to win the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race, on Feb. 2, 1992.

Endurance racing at Florida's Daytona International Speedway began shortly after the track opened in April 1959, starting with a six-hour sports car race.

Following a series of expansions to the race, the first 24 Hours of Daytona was staged in 1966 and was won by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby behind a Ford GT40 Mk II.

The race would go on to be dominated by American and European cars. By 1992, when the race had became known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a recession and tight economic times had whittled the field to 49 cars.

Nissan had used British racing chassis until 1990 and its own engines, but the prototype R91CP used at Daytona was 100 percent Japan-built, with a full-carbon composite body.

Kunihiko Kakimoto led planning and engineering for the race.

Nissan Motorsports International, kn…

LONDON -- The U.K. government’s decision to bring forward a ban on sale of internal combustion engine cars to 2035 has been sharply criticized by the country’s automakers association, the SMMT.

Britain will ban the sale of new gasoline, diesel and hybrid cars five years earlier than planned, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said as he announced details of a U.N. climate summit called  COP26 due to take place in Glasgow in November.

"We have to deal with our CO2 emissions," Johnson said at a launch event for COP26 at London's Science Museum on Tuesday. "As a country and as a society, as a planet, as a species, we must now act."

The ban, which had been slated for 2040, will include plug-in hybrids, the BBC reported.

The SMMT expressed anger that the government is announcing the change without including additional government support to help the U.K.’s auto industry, which is still reeling from the effects of more than three years of uncertainty foll…

Joining the electric vehicle field this year is the Mini Cooper SE. The EV has a 32.6-kWh battery that delivers an EPA-estimated range of about 110 miles. The SE's electric motor delivers 181 hp and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds. The Cooper SE will start at $30,750, including shipping, when it lands in March. State and federal EV tax credits would knock the price down to as low as $18,750, depending on where the vehicle is sold. We've rounded up and highlighted some Cooper SE reviews from the automotive media.

"Steer the Cooper SE onto an on-ramp, and it hangs on ferociously. It wouldn't be a surprise if, in terms of sheer grip, this is the most capable Mini. The small, 12-module battery means that its quoted curb weight stays at a reasonably svelte 3,153 pounds, and the T-shaped pack's mounting position (between the front seats and under the rear seats) works wonders for both its center of gravity and weight balance."

— Ezra Dyer, Car and Dri…

Jeep’s nostalgic commercial for its Gladiator pickup truck won USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter, which asks the public to rate ads online with a score from 1 to 10.

In the automaker’s 60-second “Groundhog Day” spot, Bill Murray reprises his role as meteorologist Phil Connors from the 1993 comedy classic of the same name. Stephen Tobolowsky also makes a cameo as insurance salesman Ned Ryerson, and Brian Doyle-Murray appears as the top hat-wearing Groundhog Day master of ceremonies.  

The Fiat Chrysler brand shot the ad, which was created by Chicago-based agency Highdive, in Woodstock, Ill., last week -- the same town outside Chicago where the movie was filmed -- making Jeep one of the last advertisers to announce a Super Bowl appearance this year. (Not to be lost on the audience is the fact that Super Bowl Sunday and Groundhog Day both fell on Feb. 2 this year).

Scoring a 7.01 out of 10, the fourth-quarter commercial marks Jeep’s first Ad Meter w…

A prolonged outbreak of the coronavirus that has forced automakers to extend plant shutdowns could reduce first-quarter light-vehicle output in China by 1.7 million, or 32 percent, IHS Markit said.

If the outbreak forces automakers to idle plants through mid-March, the potential impact of the virus on output would be on top of a 10 percent decline in first-quarter production IHS predicted before the crisis, the consultancy noted. 

The forecast was made after Chinese provinces and municipalities extended the country’s Lunar New Year holiday by a week to help contain the spread of the virus. 

As of Friday, 11 of 31 Chinese provinces and many municipalities, most of which are in coastal and central China, had decided to prolong the holiday by an extra week, to Sunday, Feb. 9. 

The 11 provinces and municipalities account for more than two-thirds of vehicle production in China, according to IHS Markit.

The country’s remaining 20 p…

Chinese supplier Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co. inked a deal to purchase U.S. auto seat maker Adient’s 30 percent stake in their interiors joint venture.  The $379 million (2.7 billion yuan) deal will allow Yanfeng to turn the joint venture into a wholly-owned subsidiary while unprofitable Adient receives much-needed cash. 

The two companies also agreed to extend the terms of their 50-50 seat partnership through the end of 2038, Yanfeng said on Sunday. 

In addition, the seat joint venture, as part of global expansion plans, will spend $20 million to purchase Adient’s intellectual property rights for mechanical business patents such as tracks, recliners, locks and adjusters. 

The transactions are expected to be completed this year. 

Adient said it will use proceeds from the transactions to reduce debt and meet general corporate expenses. 

In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Adient’s adjusted earnings before …

Jiangling Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co.’s truck partnership, is experiencing a spike in orders for ambulances based on the Ford Transit van as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. 

The joint venture obtained orders for more than 1,900 ambulances adapted from the van through Saturday, up from some 1,300 orders as of Monday last week, according to Ford Motor Co. and Jiangling Motors. 

To help the central China city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, Jiangling Motors on Saturday shipped two of 10 Transit vans it will donate to hospitals in Wuhan. 

Ford builds the Transit, as well as the Everest SUV, the Tourneo multipurpose vehicle and the Territory crossover, at Jiangling Motors. The U.S. company also assembles sedans and crossovers at its car joint venture with Changan Automobile Co.

Two state-owned Chinese automakers, Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motor Corp. and Beijing-based Beiqi Foton Motor Co., said last week that they have…

SHANGHAI -- China's top electric vehicle battery maker signed an agreement to supply Tesla Inc. with EV batteries starting in July.

Tesla will determine the number of batteries to be supplied between July 2020 and June 2022, CATL said in a stock exchange filing, adding the agreement does not impose restrictions on Tesla orders.

Tesla, which has a long-standing battery supply agreement with Japan's Panasonic Corp., said during a fourth-quarter earnings call last week that its pact with LG Chem and CATL was at a smaller scale.

Tesla is building the Model 3 at a new $2 billion Shanghai factory, which started delivering cars last year, and has said it would diversify battery supplies for the plant. 

When will BEVs reach the tipping point and overtake the internal combustion engine as the power source of choice? This is already agreed by most as the defining question of the modern Automotive era.

Some industry analysts claim that retail price parity will mark such a tipping point. However, this is just one factor required for there to be a mass change in consumer behavior in favor of BEVs. 

Perhaps the question we should be asking is: 'When will the four key elements that make up the entire market framework achieve parity, driving consumers to choose BEVs over ICEs?' Each of the four key driving forces is affected by a number of variables, often highly regionalized, and a complex matrix in which vehicle price is only one part of the equation. Charging infrastructure and regulatory frameworks will have to align. Total cost of ownership, reliability, and convenience models will have to improve along with regulatory and legislative change, before any tip…