Volkswagen Kicks Off The 2025 EV Price Wars With $149 A Month Lease On An ID4 Sales of electric vehicles reached record numbers in 2024, and the momentum looks to carry over into 2025. Even with the federal tax credits in jeopardy with the new administration, automakers are likely to continue to offer competitive programs to move their EV units. Volkswagen fired the first shot of the new year… Read more…

Defending Dakar Champ Carlos Sainz Bent His Ford Too Badly To Continue About 327 kilometers into the 2025 Dakar rally, defending champion Carlos Sainz rolled his shiny new Ford Raptor down a dune on stage 2. While he and co-driver Lucas Cruz were able to get righted again, thanks to a yank from Ford teammate Mitch Guthrie, and continue on to the finish of the stage without a windscreen… Read more…

What’s The Next Car You Have Your Eye On In 2025? As many of you know, I recently bought a cheap 2015 Fiat 500e because I wanted something that would get me around town for as little money as possible. It’s tiny, gets terrible range when it’s cold out, and yet, I love it. It does what it advertises, and so far, I haven’t had any real problems. It’s fun to drive, the… Read more…

‘It Definitely Bothers Him’: Trump Privately Complains That Elon Musk Won’t Go Home Good morning! It’s Tuesday, January 7, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. Read more…

Here’s How To Clean That Nasty Haze On Your Car Windows Picture it; you met a Tinder date at a restaurant and it went well enough that you want to take things to the next level. You suggest extending the night by taking a trip to paradise, aka Dairy Queen, but all they see when they hop into your passenger seat is a hazy windshield. You were waiting to expose your poor… Read more…

Chinese Supercars Can Jump Over Potholes On Awful Roads Chinese automakers are leaving every other brand for dust right now. They’re dominating in terms of electric vehicle capabilities, are catching up with legacy automakers in sales and now are jumping ahead with the kind of tech they’re packing into their latest models. Nowhere is this more true than in the Yangwang U9,… Read more…

These Are The Cars You Think Deserve To Die In 2025 There are a lot of exciting new cars set to hit the highway in 2025, which could mean that it’s time to start trimming the dead wood on America’s dealerships. But are there any cars that we need to kill off to make space for modern marvels like the electric Dodge Charger or the impending Porsche Boxster EV? Read more…

New Orleans Knew For Years French Quarter Was Vulnerable To Vehicular Attacks In the early hours of January 1, while partiers were busy celebrating the new year, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a rented Ford F-150 Lightning down New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring at least 35 before dying in a shootout with police. It was a horrifying attack that stunned the nation, but as it… Read more…

Pontiac GTO Name Explained: The Faux Racing Branding That Led To Its Unexpected Success The Pontiac GTO was the prototypical muscle car. The iconic three-letter initialism today is more associated with Pontiac than the racing category it usurped. Back in the 1960s, the GM division’s management wanted to appeal to young drivers and tie its brand to performance despite a self-imposed company ban on factory… Read more…

At $9,800, Does This 2013 Smart ForTwo Brabus Measure Up? Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Smart represents an audacious move by Daimler-Benz to not only sell a city car in a country full of SUV lovers but to make it upscale as well. Let’s see if this iconic, but sadly never successful, small car comes with a price that will make us finally appreciate it. Read more…

Traffic Jams: Wet Nuns – ‘No Death’ Happy Tuesday, I think I’ve decided that the second day of the week is actually the worst one, because you always expect Monday to be rough and you realize you’ve not even made it to half way through the week just yet. Increasingly, the remedy for this Tuesday slump has come with the kind of angsty, grungy music that… Read more…

Jan. 6 and the right’s contingent support for democracy (RNS) — As we celebrate today’s peaceful transfer of power, we shouldn’t be so naive as to believe that the extreme right has embraced democratic norms and institutions. The post Jan. 6 and the right’s contingent support for democracy appeared first on RNS.

Trump Bible gets new ‘Inauguration Day Edition’ just in time for Jan. 6 (RNS) — A new ad urges supporters to buy a Bible commemorating Trump’s return to the White House. The new edition of the God Bless the USA Bible features Trump’s name on the cover and will be on sale until Jan. 19. The post Trump Bible gets new ‘Inauguration Day Edition’ just in time for Jan. 6 appeared first on RNS.

Freedom from Religion Foundation dissolves honorary board in spat over trans issues (RNS) — The nation’s largest freethought organization published, then removed, an article by honorary board member Jerry Coyne who argued that transgender women are more sexually predatory than other women. The post Freedom from Religion Foundation dissolves honorary board in spat over trans issues appeared first on RNS.

In ‘A Complete Unknown,’ I met my younger self (RNS) — I saw the movie for the music and the story. As I watched it, I felt my youth returning. The post In ‘A Complete Unknown,’ I met my younger self appeared first on RNS.

Congrats, Stellantis! Not Even Your Dealers Trust You Stellantis is not having a good time right now. The Transatlantic automaker just posed a 15 percent overall U.S. sales drop in 2024 in comparison to 2023, and now it seems its dealers don’t even trust the direction it is heading in. A new dealership sentiment survey from Kerrigan Advisors, a dealership consulting… Read more…

Man Nearly Misses Flight After Waymo Taxi Wouldn’t Stop Circling A Parking Lot Now that GM’s Cruise is gone, it seems that Alphabet’s Waymo is starting to have more and more issues of its own. The latest issue with its driverless cars affected a man in Los Angeles who almost missed his flight because his Waymo wouldn’t stop circling a parking lot. Read more…

Cardinal Robert McElroy appointed to lead Archdiocese of Washington WASHINGTON (RNS) — Having led of the San Diego diocese since 2015, McElroy, 70, has experience with the immigration, both as a political issue and a reality in his diocesan churches. The post Cardinal Robert McElroy appointed to lead Archdiocese of Washington appeared first on RNS.

Buy This Cadillac Limo Built For Bill Clinton And Become The First To Own A Presidential Ride Once upon a time, the President of the United States didn’t roll down Pennsylvania Avenue in an armored personnel carrier disguised as a state limousine. They rode in regular, plain Jane, heavily armored limos, and now you can too. The last presidential limo built on a car chassis is going up for auction this Saturday… Read more…

Grilles And Driving Lights Make My Little German Hybrid Look Like A Rally Icon Once again I’ve listened to the little worm in my brain that tells me to fiddle with my already-nearly-perfect daily driver. It’s a very persuasive worm. This time it told me that my Audi A3 E-Tron needed a black honeycomb grille to replace the be-chromed factory fitment, as well as a pair of matching brake ducts and… Read more…