Author: EVAI

Gordon Murray Group has added Gordon Murray Special Vehicles to its portfolio of businesses Gordon Murray Special Vehicles (GMSV) will offer one-off and low-volume cars, as well as personalization services The new business will also offer continuation models of earlier Gordon Murray designs The Gordon Murray Group, founded by McLaren F1 designer…

Mercedes-Benz has said up until now that its future vans would be based on a dedicated electric architecture, but on Thursday it confirmed plans for a new internal-combustion van architecture as well.

Electric vans based on the new Van.EA platform will still debut in 2026, as previously discussed. They’ll now be joined by other fuel-burning models based on a “second variant of the architecture” called Van.CA, for Combustion Architecture, Mercedes said in a press release.

Mercedes-Benz van architectures

Combustion and electric vans will share 70% of parts, according to Mercedes, and will be produced on the same assembly lines. That commonality will help the automaker achieve economies of scale and allow more flexibility as demand for a given powertrain type ebbs and flows. Currently, Mercedes offers both gasoline and diesel vans in the U.S., as well as in Europe and other markets.

Just a few months ago, Mercedes was saying that all of its future medium and large vans would be based on the Van.EA basis. That leaves out smaller vans, but there was no mention in the release of the Van.CA being specific to a given vehicle size. And the emphasis on parts commonality implies similar vans, with only the powertrains being different.

Teaser for Mercedes-Benz Van.EA concept

This wouldn’t be the first time that Mercedes has made has changed course on electric vans. It once had a deal with Rivian to make electric vans for Europe, but is now relying solely on the in-house Van.EA platform. A concept vehicle based on that platform will debut this spring, heralding production models that will arrive next year.

Meanwhile, the current Mercedes-Benz eSprinter is built on the same chassis as combustion vans. And looking ahead Mercedes appears to be committing to lots of tailpipes and fuel tanks rather than a future of all-electric vans.

Volvo is close to revealing an ES90 electric midsize sedan The ES90 will be Volvo’s first with dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin chips The ES90 is one of five new or updated Volvos arriving in 2025 The next model in Volvo’s EV offensive will be the ES90, a midsize sedan designed as an electric alternative to the current S90. Volvo plans to unveil the…

• ES90 electric sedan will debut the most powerful computing capacity ever in a Volvo
• EX90 electric SUV will gain the same processing upgrade, be upgraded to it as a retrofit
• Will support AI-based features, more efficient battery management

Volvo’s next electric vehicle will build on the automaker’s recently-introduced tech stack with even more powerful computing hardware, the company revealed Wednesday.

The Volvo ES90 sedan was first teased last fall and will be fully revealed Mar. 5. Ahead of that reveal, it’s provided some detail on the ES90’s underlying tech, which the automaker promises will be a step up from what’s already installed in current models.

The ES90 will feature Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin computing platform, with a capability of around 508 trillion TOPS that will give the sedan the most powerful core computing capacity of any Volvo to date. Volvo claims this computing power is needed to support AI-based features, more sophisticated safety tech, onboard sensors, and a more efficient battery management system.

This new computing hardware will augment Volvo’s Superset tech stack, which was introduced on the EX90 electric SUV—although, as Volvo confirmed to Green Car Reports, the EX90 will also be retrofitted with it, under a timeline and details yet to be confirmed. This streamlined collection of hardware and software is Volvo’s attempt to realize the future of the software-defined vehicle, enabling more software-based features pushed through quicker over-the-air (OTA) updates.

2025 Volvo EX90

The ES90 will also share Volvo’s SPA2 platform with the EX90 and Polestar 3, rather than the next-generation SPA3 scalable architecture arriving in 2026 on an electric alternative to the current Volvo XC60. But the automaker claims to be more interested in software, which it said “now replaces hardware as the primary driver of innovation and value creation for our customers.”

In keeping with Volvo’s traditional emphasis on safety, the ES90 will feature a sensor array consisting of one lidar unit, five radar units, eight cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors looking out, as well as “an advanced driver understanding system” looking inward. These will enable driver-assist and safety features to be detailed later.

Volvo’s pivot to software-defined vehicles did not start strongly. After delays due to that all-important software, the EX90 entered production last June, but the first customer cars arrived with a battery drain issue and without some promised features. Volvo also didn’t have a ready use for the EX90’s lidar unit, but perhaps it will find one by the time the ES90 arrives sporting the same sensor.

Rivian on Wednesday unveiled new limited editions of its R1T electric pickup truck and R1S electric SUV inspired by California’s desert dunes.

Available on Tri-motor versions of the 2025 R1T and R1S, the California Dune Edition treatment cloaks the updated electric vehicles in a Desert Storm color palette and adds off-road accessories. Production will be capped at a certain number of each model, but Rivian didn’t have specific numbers available at press time.

2025 Rivian R1S California Dune Edition

2025 Rivian R1S California Dune Edition

A new paint color, also called California Dune, is contrasted with the darkened badging from the Darkout Package that’s standard on Tri-motor models. The interior features a two-tone arrangement of Sandstone and Black Mountain, with floor material that Rivian promises is easy to clean after a day in the dunes.

California Dune Editions also include the All-Terrain Package, which encompasses reinforced underbody shielding and 20-inch wheels that can either be painted in the same California Dune finish as the rest of the exterior or a dark finish. Off-road recovery boards with mounts, dark-finished cross bars, and a power bed tonneau for the R1T are included as well.

2025 Rivian R1S California Dune Edition

As before, Rivian’s Tri-motor powertrain consists of a single front motor and two rear motors, which together generate 850 hp and 1,103 lb-ft of torque. That will get either the R1T or the R1S from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds, according to Rivian.

While the California Dune Edition can only be had with the Tri-motor powertrain, Rivian also offers two- and four-motor configurations—all using the automaker’s in-house designed motor systems and inverter tech for 2025. This headlined a number of changes for the 2025 model year—significant enough that Rivian considers these to be second-generation models—that helped the R1S earn a spot as a Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2025 Finalist.

The 2025 Rivian R1T and R1S California Dune Editions are available to order now. Pricing starts at $101,700 for the R1T and $107,700 for the R1S, in both cases with the mandatory $1,800 destination charge included.

Toyota plans to shift a $1.5 billion order to an LG Energy Solution battery factory in Michigan to help keep it afloat after General Motors backed out of the project, Automotive News reported Wednesday.

Located in the state capital of Lansing, the plant started out as a joint venture between GM and LG. But in December GM said it was selling its stake to the battery maker. That left LG scrambling to find new customers, according to the report, which cites anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Rendering of planned General Motors Ultium Cells Lansing battery plant

Toyota has now agreed to transfer an existing order from another LG plant in Michigan when LG fully acquires the Lansing factory, which is expected to happen this spring, per the report. The batteries purchased by Toyota under this deal could reportedly be used in hybrids or electric vehicles, and LG is also seeking some energy-storage business for the Lansing factory as well.

The factory was said to cost $2.5 billion when first reported in 2022, with GM and LG splitting that amount. The two companies were also granted $480 million in government incentives for the project, according to Automotive News, which reports that GM is working with the State of Michigan and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to fully transfer those incentives to LG.

2025 Toyota bZ4X

Toyota said in September of last year that it would ramp up EV production to at least one million units, on a global scale, in 2026. That’s lower than a 1.5-million-unit target the automaker previously discussed, but still represents a nearly tenfold boost from 2023 levels.

In the U.S., Toyota will soon open its own battery factory in North Carolina to boost supply for future hybrids and EVs. But an October 2024 report said a key new all-electric model—a three-row SUV to be assembled in Kentucky—might get delayed from 2025 to 2026. The same report said Toyota canceled plans to manufacture Lexus electric SUVs in the U.S., and that those vehicles would continue to be imported from Japan.

2026 Honda Passport and 2026 Honda Prelude lead Honda forward in uncertain times Honda’s hybrid versions of the CR-V and Accord become the most popular engine options for those models 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid hatchback arrives with 48 mpg combined Honda enters the 2025 calendar year with much greater uncertainty than the 2025 model year. Merger…

• More than 50% of U.S. sales in 2025 are likely to be “electrified” (hybrids, PHEVs, and EVs)
• Same exec previously suggested 2025 sales topping 50% from hybrids alone
• North Caroline battery sourcing may help in the electrified push

While it’s still struggling with sales of all-electric vehicles, Toyota has seen substantial growth in hybrids and plug-in hybrids that’s further displacing sales of pure internal-combustion models.

Sales of what Toyota calls “electrified vehicles”—including EVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles—accounted for 43% of the automaker’s U.S. sales volume in 2024, according to Toyota’s annual sales roundup released last month.That’s up from 29% in 2023, according to Toyota sales figures.

That gets even closer to what Toyota’s been expecting: more than 50% hybrid sales in its U.S. lineup. Toyota is expected to top 50% electrified sales (including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs, and hydrogen fuel-cell models) in 2025, as David Crist, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager for North America, recently pointed out to Automotive News.

Crist has made an even more impressive claim in previous interviews from recent months—including to Reuters last August: that hybrids alone will top 50% of its sales. 

Toyota Greensboro-Randolph Megasite (North Carolina) – under construction

And as Toyota has emphasized for a couple of years, the ratio of hybrids will keep climbing as a new North Carolina battery plant comes online, easing the supply chain.

Toyota announced the North Carolina plant in 2021, saying at the time that it would be ready to build battery cells for hybrids and EVs starting this year. In 2022, still during early days of work on the factory, Toyota announced a $2.5 billion expansion to add EV battery manufacturing capacity. That will help pave the way for more U.S.-market EVs from Toyota, which currently sells only the bZ4X and its luxury-branded Lexus RZ sibling in this market.

2025 Toyota bZ4X

The North Carolina factory is also expected to supply batteries for a Kentucky-made three-row electric SUV starting in 2026, and Toyota has even debated ending sales of pure internal-combustion cars in the U.S., but hybrids and plug-in hybrids will likely continue to make up the bulk of its “electrified vehicle” sales for the time being.

Nearly every model in Toyota’s U.S. lineup now offers a hybrid powertrain option, and the bread and butter Camry midsize sedan is now sold exclusively as a hybrid. Toyota also sells plug-in hybrid versions of the Prius and RAV4, as well as the Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. But sales of that sedan are limited to California, and slow sales forced Toyota to slash its price to around $17,000 in January.

XRT increases Ioniq 5’s ground clearance and rides on all-terrain tires Dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain makes 320 hp Ioniq 5 XRT gets more cladding, no skid plates Driving on a silty, sandy, rocky trail at Metate Ranch in Indio, Calif., I really want to treat this like a rally stage, but I’m worried the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT…

Ferrari has revealed the SF-25 as its contender for the 2025 Formula 1 season The SF-25 will be piloted by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in the new season The first race will be the Australian Grand Prix, taking place on March 16 Ferrari’s new Formula 1 race car for the 2025 World Championship has been fully revealed following its debut late…