Author: EVAI

The 2024 Hyundai Sonata got a futuristic design update Sonata Hybrids have EPA-rated fuel economy ratings of 47 mpg combined Starting price is $32,150 for 2025 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid The Sonata Hybrid arrived on the scene for 2024 with an injection of style, but not at the expense of fuel economy. As Toyota’s moved the Camry to an all-hybrid…

Genesis’ LMDh race car currently only exists as a half-scale model To speed up development, Genesis will build a V-8 from two 4-cylinder engines from Hyundai’s World Rally Championship program Six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx is serving as an advisor for the program Genesis in December launched its own motorsports division, Genesis Magma Racing…

Aston Martin’s Valkyrie AMR-LMH race car may swap out its mufflers for a straight-pipe setup for competition in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, Racer has learned. The Valkyrie AMR-LMH is being developed in time for the 2025 motorsports season and is set to be fielded by Aston Martin in partnership with Heart of Racing in both the FIA World…

Hyundai is continuing work on in-wheel hub motors for electric vehicles, two recent patent filings indicate.

One filing, published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 14, 2024, after being submitted by Hyundai’s affiliated technology supplier, Hyundai Mobis, earlier in the year, covers a drive mechanism that would allow a hub-mounted electric motor to spin a wheel. This would consist of a wheel bearing, outer race, and a speed reducer incorporating a ring gear couple to the bearing.

Hyundai in-wheel drive unit patent image

The second document, published by the USPTO Oct. 29, 2024, and originally filed by Hyundai Mobis Feb. 13, 2022, is for an “in-wheel working device.” This is essentially a setup for incorporating a gearshift mechanism into the rotor of a hub-mounted motor.

While not all patented ideas make it to production, these two patents indicate Hyundai is at least still developing in-wheel motors, having teased some similar concepts in the past, including the e-Corner modular steering and propulsion system. It packaged in-wheel motors along with steering and braking hardware into modules that could be installed at all corners of a vehicle, allowing more packaging freedom and the ability to rotate wheels up to 90 degrees.

Hyundai in-wheel working device patent image

Hyundai and Kia in 2023 also unveiled an alternative design that split the difference between conventional motors and in-wheel motors. Called the Universal Drive System—or Uni Wheel—it moved motors closer to the wheels, but not into them.

Other automakers, such as Ferrari and Toyota, have patented in-wheel motor designs. China’s Dongfeng claims to be the first to use in-wheel motors in a production passenger car, although the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck also used them before its production stalled. Aptera also plans to use in-wheel motors for its three-wheeler, but that vehicle will be an autocycle, not a car.

The updated 2025 Kia Sorento PHEV is already being recalled, due to possible fuel leaks that present a fire risk. The recall of 1,385 plug-in hybrid crossovers aims to address the potential for the steering rack to damage fuel lines in a crash, according to the NHTSA. This can occur during certain frontal collisions due to the front subframe being…

Redesigned three-row SUV looks like the Yukon A new 2.5-liter turbo-4 and 8-speed automatic could use a recalibration The lovely Denali trim has a not-so-lovely price of $64,000 The redesigned GMC Acadia three-row SUV grows larger, looks more truck-like, and now employs a 2.5-liter turbo-4 with an 8-speed automatic transmission. There are some…

• The 2025 Subaru Solterra costs $39,915
• Subaru cut the EV’s base price by $6,500 compared to the 2024 model
• Subaru works the $7,500 tax credit toward lower lease numbers
  

Like its Toyota cousin, the bZ4X, the 2025 Subaru Solterra receives significant price cuts for the new model year, plus a new dark-themed appearance package.

Subaru confirmed 2025-model-year pricing Friday, including a new base price of $39,915 for the entry-level Premium grade, with destination. That price is $6,500 less than the 2024 model, although some of that is countered by an increase of the destination charge from $1,345 to $1,420.

The Solterra Limited grade also receives a $6,500 price cut, bringing its MSRP to $43,415 with destination. This grade adds features like 20-inch wheels, power-adjustable front seats, a power tailgate, an 11-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen, compared to the Premium’s 8.0-inch screen.

2025 Subaru Solterra

2025 Subaru Solterra

2025 Subaru Solterra

Touring models now start at $46,415—$7,000 less than the 2024 model year. They get additional convince features, including a moonroof, a digital rearview mirror and ventilated front seats (heating is standard on all models).

As with the 2024 model, Subaru claims that the 2025 Solterra “will qualify for applicable tax credits of up to $7,500 for some consumers.” Despite not being assembled in the U.S., and not qualifying for the purchase credit, Solterra leases are indeed subsidized by the so-called “leasing loophole” that allows captive credit companies to claim imported EVs to be leased as commercial fleet vehicles. Automakers and their credit firms offering the lease are under no obligation to pass the full credit along to consumers. Meanwhile, the EV tax credit in its various forms is reportedly being targeted by the incoming Trump Administration.

For an additional $500, the new-for-2025 Onyx Edition gives the Touring grade black wheels and exterior trim and two-tone color options. This makes it similar to the Nightshade Edition that joins the Toyota bZ4X lineup for 2025. The Toyota has also gotten less expensive, with price cuts of up to $6,000.

2025 Subaru Solterra

While the bZ4X is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, in keeping with the Subaru ethos, the Solterra is available with dual-motor all-wheel drive only. Subaru lists output as 215 hp and 249 lb-ft of torque, with power supplied by a 72.8-kwh battery pack as in the bZ4X. EPA range is unchanged, at 227 miles for Premium models and 222 miles for other grades, which have larger 20-inch wheels.

Subaru launched the Solterra as a 2023 model and made a number of changes for 2024, including an improved battery conditioning system that allows for faster charging. DC fast charging from 10% to 80% takes about 35 minutes, Subaru estimates. That still makes the Solterra one of the slower-charging electric crossovers. In a test drive of the 2024 Subaru Solterra, we found that while charging remains at a crawl, it’s now in the same efficiency ballpark as the rival Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Volkswagen ID.4.

• VW bypassed conventional dealerships for selling upcoming Scout electric trucks
• Dealer interests in California say this is in violation of franchise laws
• Existing automakers sell vehicles via franchise or direct model, but not both

California has the most EV-friendly policies of any state, but that warm-and-welcoming attitude isn’t shared by the state’s franchised dealerships.

A group of those dealerships has threatened legal actions against the Volkswagen Group’s new Scout Motors EV brand, if it doesn’t stop taking reservations for its electric Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV due in 2027.

Scout has said that it will rely on a direct-sales model—similar to that of other all-electric brands like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid.

In a December 20 letter to Scout Motors general counsel Neil Sitron and VW Group of America general counsel Antony Klapper, first spotted by Automotive News, the California New Car Dealers Association said the direct-sales plan “wrongfully cuts new and existing VW dealers out of an opportunity” and allegedly violates California’s franchise laws.

Scout Traveler concept

“California law states that manufacturers may not compete with their own franchisees by using affiliates to directly sell or service vehicles, which is precisely what VW and Scout intend to do,” the letter said.

Dealers have been grumbling about direct sales since Tesla rolled out its sales infrastructure over a decade ago. At the time Tesla indicated that it didn’t feel its electric vehicles would get a fair chance being sold at franchised dealerships alongside gasoline vehicles. Dealers responded with lobbying campaigns at the state level to protect franchise laws, something Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has called “as close as you can get to corruption.”

But while automakers like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid all rely partly on company-owned showrooms, they’ve also never used franchised dealerships. Scout, on the other hand, is still part of the VW Group, so the argument seems to be that VW can have dealerships or it can have direct sales, but it can’t have both—even if the different sales models were siloed by brand.

Scout Terra concept

Volvo found the right balance with Polestar, which has been allowed by the states as a direct-sales model, but with some level of customer service—and the service-and-repair operation itself, in many cases—connected to Volvo dealerships.

An approach like that might have helped to cool tempers here. U.S. dealerships had been asking VW for pickups for years, and VW didn’t keep dealerships in the loop at all about the Scout brand. It came as a complete surprise.

Meanwhile, VW recently took a $5.8 billion stake in Rivian, which happens to already make trucks that are very close to the same format as Scout previewed in concept form earlier this fall, still more than two years away from production. And, in Rivian’s case, its network of company-owned showrooms are already in place.

Mid-2025 arrival of Forester Hybrid now pegs it for 2025 model year, not 2026 Signs aren’t pointing to a charge port for this Subaru AWD hybrid Hybrid system was developed with Toyota, plus yet-to-be-detailed Subaru bits Subaru has adjusted the timeline for its upcoming Forester Hybrid, which marks the first time a hybrid powertrain has been…

A Subaru Forester Hybrid will be available starting mid-2025 The electrified compact crossover’s hybrid system was likely developed with Toyota A redesigned Subaru Outback is also arriving soon Subaru will look to take advantage of renewed interest in hybrid vehicles with the launch of the 2025 Forester Hybrid next year. Subaru’s website already…