For those of us over 40, James Bond was one of the smoothest characters on the big screen when we were young. The guy had it all – the looks, the moves, the pizzazz, the intelligence, the gadgets, and the best yet, the car. Over the years Bond could be seen in everything from a Jaguar CX-75 to an Aston Martin DBS, a Mercedes-Benz 600 or the classic Rolls-Royce Phantom III. His cars were his calling card, and there were millions worldwide who would have given their first-born to be Bond for a day.

So if this was the case, and all Bond cars were cutting-edge, cool and slick, why are the cars of the future looking more and more boxy, and less and less sexy? The eBussy, otherwise known as electric bus system, is a German electric car brand. It’s been praised the next big thing in electric vehicles (EVs), but [...]

Picture this – you hop into your car, ready for the daily morning drive. But last night you didn’t sleep nearly as soundly as normal. You’re groggy, sporting puffy eyes, and your normal radiant smile is nowhere to be found. As you enter your car, your car’s “affective computing” program analyzes your face and immediately knows how you’re feeling. This registers in the system and the car is now on a higher safety alert as your response time to potential obstructions might be compromised. Oh, and your car puts on soothing music and injects lavender into the air as well.

You’re likely thinking, “my 2010 Accord can do this?” No, your 2010 Accord can’t, but researchers are close to making this a reality in those models that choose to adopt it very soon. Scenarios like this are all part of artificial intelligence (AI) and our car’s ability to get to know us [...]

Pandemics aren’t good. They destroy lives, livelihoods, can cause irreparable damage and don’t discriminate. COVID-19 is imparting this lesson as we type, and while the negative effects of the virus rightly continue to make headlines, we want to take a moment to add some positivity to the discussion.

Prior to COVID-19 electric vehicle (EV) car sales were coming along, but not nearly as quickly as many desired. Subsidies had played a significant role in previous years, but for some manufacturers those have been phased out. Yet, a new report from Deloitte has some bright news for EV fans during this historic downturn. According to their analysts, thanks in large part to COVID-19 and a plummeting of sales, the sales that have been affected the most are traditional petrol and diesel cars, and not EVs.

Consider this – in Europe, petrol and diesel sales fell 32% and 31% respectively from June 2019 [...]

Like we saw in the IQS study, mass-market brand cars are narrowing the gap here as well, with owners highly satisfied with mass-market cars and only 23-points between those of luxury market models. This is the narrowest this gap has even been in the 25 years APEAL has been taking place.

As we mentioned earlier, Dodge was part of the IQS cohort that scored above average, and it was also the top-ranked mass-market brand in the APEAL study as well. This makes Dodge the first American brand to rank in the upper echelon of both the IQS and APEAL in the same year. Hyundai achieved that feat in previous years (within the mass market segment), and Porsche, Lexus and Genesis accomplished the same in the luxury segment.

But without a doubt, the oddest result from both of these studies in 2020 belonged to Tesla. The electric manufacturer scored extremely low [...]

If you’re reading this blog we don’t need to convince you as to how renowned J.D. Power is in the auto world. They are persuasive, and when J.D. talks, most auto pundits listen. The company puts out a range of studies each year, and the first of the two studies we’re going to discuss in this two-part series is the Initial Quality Study (IQS) study. Considered by many to be the benchmark for new-vehicle quality, the IQS is going on its 34th year and looks at problems that owners face over the first 3 months (90 days) of owning a new car. The results are tabulated from the responses of 87,282 purchasers as well as lessees of new, 2020 vehicles. They were surveyed as soon as the first 90 days had expired and the results, as always, are revealing.