Author: EVAI

Among mainstream, gasoline-fueled vehicles, with only a few exceptions, our advice to most shoppers has become simple: If there’s a hybrid, get the hybrid. There’s now a hybrid in the Alabama-built Mazda CX-50 lineup. And after spending a couple of days with it, yes, that advice holds—with a few caveats. The most important piece…

• A Porsche Taycan 4 and revised GTS model join the 2025 lineup
• The Porsche Taycan is now available in 13 different versions
• When they arrive in 2025 the Taycan 4 will cost $105,295 while the GTS will cost $149,895

The 2025 Porsche Taycan received an engineering-focused refresh that improved range and efficiency, the benefits of which are now being spread across more models.

Porsche on Tuesday confirmed new versions of the Taycan 4 and Taycan GTS, the latter available in both the standard sedan and the Sport Turismo wagon body styles. They grow a lineup that already includes several grades ranging from the base Taycan to the record-setting Turbo GT performance variant, as well as a third Cross Turismo body style, adding up to 13 different versions.

The Taycan 4 sedan is priced from $105,295 with the mandatory $1,995 destination fee. The GTS costs $149,895 in sedan form, while the Sport Turismo wagon costs $151,795. All three are available to order now, with deliveries scheduled to start late in the first quarter of 2025.

2025 Porsche Taycan GTS

Slotting between the base Taycan and the Taycan 4S, the Taycan 4 sedan joins the existing Taycan 4 Cross Turismo in offering a dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain rated at 402 hp, or 429 hp when launch control is engaged. That’s the same as the base rear-wheel-drive Taycan, but the 4 will accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, or 0.1 second quicker, according to Porsche.

The Taycan 4 is available with both the standard “Performance” battery, which grew to 83.6 kwh usable (89 kwh gross) for the 2025 model year, or the “Performance Battery Plus,” which saw a roughly 15% increase in capacity to 97 kwh usable (105 kwh gross) for 2025.

Taycan GTS models now boast up to 690 hp with launch control—100 hp more than the previous versions. A push-to-pass function, part of the standard Sport Chrono Package, adds up to 93 hp for 10 seconds at a time. Both the sedan and Sport Turismo models will accelerate from 0-60 mph in a Porsche-estimated 3.1 seconds—0.4 second quicker than their respective predecessors. The sedan will also run the quarter-mile in 11.1 seconds—0.7 second quicker than before.

2025 Porsche Taycan GTS

GTS models also feature chassis upgrades, including available rear-wheel steering, adaptive air suspension, torque vectoring, and an active anti-roll system. That should further enhance performance, although in a first drive back in April we found the real benefit of this refresh is that it pairs performance with greater efficiency.

EPA range ratings will be available closer to launch, but the additional models will likely fall between the current high of 318 miles and low of 266 miles for the slipperier sedan body style. They’ll also benefit from a charge curve that’s been lifted and broadened, with its peak of 320 kw (or 270 kw for the base battery) now taking better advantage of 350-kw Combined Charging Standard (CCS) connectors.

• The Cadillac Vistiq will serve as the electric XT6 three-row SUV replacement
• Cadillac Vistiqs are expected to have about 300 miles of EPA-rated range
• The Vistiq will cost $78,790 when it arrives in 2025.

Cadillac on Tuesday confirmed additional details of the Vistiq three-row electric SUV, which remains on track for a launch next year as a 2026 model.

Production is scheduled to start in early 2025 at General Motors’ Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory (which also builds the Lyriq), with deliveries later in the year. Pricing starts at $78,790 (with a mandatory $1,395 destination charge) for the initial Platinum grade. Lower-priced Luxury, Sport, and Premium Luxury grades will arrive later.

Revealed 11 months ago, the Vistiq fits between the two-row Cadillac Lyriq and the plus-sized, three-row Escalade IQ. At 205.5 inches long, 86.7 inches long, and 71.0 inches tall, it’s longer and taller than the Lyriq, but nearly identical in width and shares a 121.8-inch wheelbase.

2026 Cadillac Vistiq

A standard dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain is rated at 615 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque, which will get the Vistiq from 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds with the Velocity Max launch-control mode, according to Cadillac.

Cadillac also estimates around 300 miles of range from the Vistiq’s 102-kwh battery pack, but official EPA ratings won’t be available until closer to launch. The Vistiq comes standard with 21-inch wheels but will be available with 22-inch and 23-inch wheels, which could impact range.

An optional 19.2-kw onboard charger will be able to add up to 46.7 miles of range per hour of charging, Cadillac estimates. Like other new GM EVs, the Vistiq also features bidirectional charging, enabling vehicle-to-home (V2H) functionality that allows it to serve as a home backup power source with GM-supplied hardware.

2026 Cadillac Vistiq

DC fast charging can replenish 79 miles of range in a claimed 10 minutes. Cadillac did not specify whether the Vistiq would launch with a Combined Charging Standard (CCS) port, requiring owners to use an adapter to access Tesla Supercharger stations, or whether it would arrive after the point in 2025 when GM previously said it would start building EVs with the Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) port.

Adaptive air suspension and rear-wheel steering are available, but the latter won’t offer the Arrival Mode diagonal driving mode (itself a rebranded version of the GMC CrabWalk mode), as in the Escalade IQ. An available road noise cancellation system should help quiet any tire roar, at least.

2026 Cadillac Vistiq

Inside, the Vistiq has a 33-inch dashboard display similar to the Lyriq, along with an available 23-speaker AKG audio system. A fabric material made from 100% recycled content will also be available on some models.

Cadillac Vistiq revealed as brand’s “globally sized” electric three-row SUV Vistiq comes standard with 615 hp and 102 kwh Pricing starts at $77,395, before destination charges Cadillac’s expansion of its electric vehicle lineup continues with the arrival of the 2026 Vistiq, a midsize SUV with third-row seats designed to fill the gap…

Toyota on Friday gave the first indication of a renewed pushback against California’s ability to set stricter emissions standards and wind down sales of gasoline cars.

“At this point, it looks impossible,” Toyota North America COO Jack Hollis said in a virtual roundtable with CNBC and other media, regarding California rules that call for 35% of 2026-model-year vehicles in those voluntary California-compliant states to be electric, on the way to ending sales of most new vehicles with internal-combustion engines by 2035.

2024 Lexus RZ

According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which sets the state’s emissions standards, 12 other states as well as the District of Columbia have signed on for the stricter rules. But Hollis argues that there isn’t enough demand to support these targets, and that they are already leading to “unnatural acts” in which automakers ship a disproportionate amount of electrified vehicles to states that follow the California rules.

These comments are mainly significant for their timing. After fighting California’s ability to set its own, stricter emissions standards, Toyota essentially agreed to a truce with CARB in 2022. For passenger cars and trucks, little in CARB’s top-level emissions rules has changed in the interim, and signs of EV demand look higher than six to 12 months ago. But now that Donald Trump has won a second term Toyota appears to once again be emboldened to resume the pushback.

2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid

Toyota had tried, with the previous Trump administration—along with GM, Stellantis’ previous corporate entity, and several other foreign automakers—to take away California’s authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards. Ford, Honda, BMW, VW, and Volvo were among the companies that didn’t try to topple California’s ability to combat emissions on its own terms—allying with the state instead on a deal.

While Toyota has been pushing toward hybrid volume, not EV volume, all along, GM’s moves have remained the most puzzling. It continued to attempt to derail California rules behind the scenes—while pushing toward an all-EV, non-hybrid future, while being criticized by Trump for a plan that wouldn’t work. 

The 2025 Kia Niro EV receives a few more standard features, but costs the same as the 2024 model.

That means prices still start at $40,975—including a $1,375 destination fee—for the Niro EV Wind base model. For 2025, the Wind receives a larger 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster and switches to a rotary shifter.

2025 Kia Niro EV

The higher-level Wave grade costs $45,975 with destination. For 2025, it adds blind-spot monitors, a 10-way power front-passenger seat, and head-up display as standard equipment. A rear parking-collision avoidance system and Smart Park Assist semi-automated parking are new additions to the option list.

The Niro EV still offers an EPA-rated 253 miles of range from a 64.8-kwh battery pack. An 11-kw onboard charger allows for a full charge in around seven hours from a Level 2 AC source. DC fast charging, with a maximum power rate of 85 kw, can accomplish a 10%-80% charge in around 45 minutes.

2025 Kia Niro EV

A single permanent-magnet motor sends 201 hp and 188 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels. Kia says this will get the Niro EV from 0-62 mph in 7.8 seconds. In a test drive review of the current-generation Niro EV, we found this front-wheel-drive vehicle was a bit traction-limited at freeway merging speeds, but quick and quiet in other conditions.

Kia continues to offer hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Niro, which cost $28,365 and $35,865 for the 2025 model year, respectively. All three Niro variants serve as the entry points in the Kia lineup for their respective powertrains, with the Niro EV slotted below the Kia EV6 and EV9 crossovers. But a report earlier this year claimed that the Kia EV3 will be built in Mexico to a hit a $30,000 price point, undercutting the Niro.

Ferrari F40 rumored as inspiration for next Icona series car New car would follow Monza SP1/SP2 and Daytona SP3 Icona cars New car’s launch might tie in with Ferrari’s 80th anniversary in 2027 When it comes to iconic Ferraris, the F40, the last Prancing Horse signed off by Enzo himself, is right up there with the very best. It was launched in 1987…

Mazda continues to hint strongly at a production version of the Iconic SP concept Concept debuted at the 2023 Tokyo auto show Power comes from electric drive system with rotary engine serving as generator Mazda’s Iconic SP sports car concept unveiled at the 2023 Tokyo auto show may have a bigger role than the typical glitzy show car rolled out to…

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Mercedes-Benz EQS? What does it compare to? The EQS is Mercedes-Benz’s top electric luxury car. Compare it to the EQS SUV, plus the BMW i7 and Tesla Model S. Is the 2025 Mercedes-Benz EQS a good car? It is an appealing enough choice overall, but one that doesn’t have the bank-vault solidty and myriad…

• Hyundai is slowly backing away from the all-screen approach to interior design.
• Hyundai Design North America Vice President Ha Hak-soo said that people “get stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”

Screens inside new cars are better than ever. They’re huge, they have great resolution and the software behind them is usually snappy and well thought out. But after years of shoving what are essentially TVs on dashboards, it turns out that people don’t really like dealing with them, especially if accessing often-used features like climate control or volume settings means digging through menus on a screen while driving.

That’s dangerous, but it’s also very annoying, as Hyundai Design North America (HDNA) found out through the magic of focus groups. That’s why the Korean automaker is looking to bring back old-fashioned buttons in upcoming cars. The facelifted Ioniq 5 already has a redesigned HVAC control panel, but more are in the pipeline.

“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” said HDNA Vice President Ha Hak-soo in a recent interview with Korea JoongAng Daily. 

The reason why Hyundai–like other automakers–went down the all-touchscreen path was initially due to the “wow” factor of Telsa’s large multimedia systems. The Korean automaker even went as far as putting two touchscreens on the steering wheel of a concept back in 2019. Ultimately, though, Hyundai changed its mind and is now slowly reversing course.

“When we tested with our focus group, we realized that people get stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so,” Ha said.

For a good number of years, car journalists, enthusiasts and industry experts have sounded the alarm for automakers to stop with the touchscreen controls. More recently, The European New Car Assesment Progamme, better known as Euro NCAP, which performs crash testing and issues a star-based safety rating, entered the discussion with a more serious tone. in simple terms, the organization said that beginning in 2026, automakers will have to fit physical buttons for certain functions if they want to get a five-star rating, the highest possible.  That’s in addition to the usual active and passive safety features like airbags and automatic emergency braking.

It’s cool having a big screen–or even several screens–inside a car. It’s even a pretty well-disguised cost-cutting measure, despite few automakers admitting it. But it’s really distracting to have to go through a menu or a slide-out bar to change the temperature or skip the current song. With a simple physical button or knob–and no, those shiny haptic surfaces aren’t the same thing–you can just reach out and do what you want without even looking.

At the same time, we do know Hyundai is working on more advanced displays that span the entire windshield of the car and operate largely on voice controls. The automaker said we might even see a mass-production model with that technology as early as 2027. But perhaps there’s room for both: buttons, but also more displays right in the driver’s line of sight rather than a screen that turns them away from the road.

That, or Hyundai’s just hedging its bets here. Either way, the next few years will be quite interesting when it comes to the in-car user experience.