3+ hour, 46+ min ago (944+ words) Hybrid system: A 2.0 liter Atkinson cycle 4 cylinder gas engine paired with electric motors delivers a combined output of 204 horsepower and 247 lb-ft of torque. Drivetrain: The TrailSport comes standard with AWD for traction control and has enhanced traction management at low speeds. Transmission: A direct drive system with 2 electric motors replaces a traditional transmission with an option for the gas engine to directly power the drive wheels. All terrain tires: The TrailSport Edition is equipped with all terrain tires for improved grip and performance on any and all paved, off road and trail surfaces. Unique styling: TrailSport features unique exterior styling, including a special front grille and new 18" inch alloy wheels. Enhanced traction management: This system gains enhanced traction management at speeds below 9 mph for better traction control when navigating obstacles. Spacious and practical: The cabin offers ample passenger space and…...

3+ day, 8+ hour ago (483+ words) OAKLAND " Within just one hour, the same group of thieves pulled up in a stolen black Dodge Durango to two different stores here, smashed through the front, and unloaded thousands of dollars in cash, lottery tickets, cigar wraps and other merchandise before making a getaway. By November, police had identified and arrested just one of the four masked suspects in the September break-ins. But when they raided his Fremont home, they found evidence of more crimes: Dodge key fobs and a simple key reprogrammer kit that is the primary tool of the trade for car thieves across the state, according to court records. Key reprogrammers can be hooked into plugs behind panels of modern cars" from the expensive and stylish to clunkers " and are used to aid owners who've lost their keys. But the technology is ripe for misuse, according…...

6+ day, 22+ hour ago (449+ words) The Hyundai Santa Cruz, introduced in 2021 for the 2022 model year, is a small crew-cab pickup with a unique personality. It handles like a car but retains pickup flexibility without the usual bulk. The Santa Cruz offers two engine choices and is available in SE, SEL, XRT and Limited trims. SE and SEL models have a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with 191 horsepower, an eight-speed transmission, and front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is a $1,500 option. XRT and Limited trims feature a turbocharged 2.5-liter engine with 281 horsepower, an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and standard all-wheel drive. The Santa Cruz tows 3,500 pounds with the base engine or 5,000 pounds with all-wheel drive. As the Santa Cruz enters its fourth year, Hyundai has refreshed the vehicle inside and out. The exterior now appears more rugged, featuring a grille and front bumper echoing the 2025 Hyundai Tucson SUV. The XRT trim…...

2+ week, 1+ hour ago (78+ words) A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives on Highway 101 during a demonstration on Nov. 7, 2025, in South San Francisco, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) "Freeway driving is one of those things that is very easy to learn but very hard to master." " Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov on the Mountain View autonomous-vehicle company's announcement that its robo-taxis that have been carrying passengers on city streets will be taking to the higher-speed freeways....

2+ week, 3+ hour ago (682+ words) The 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV competes primarily with compact crossovers like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Subaru Forester and the Mazda CX-50. This is a pretty large field of SUV's to choose from and the VW Tiguan has a clear advantage over all of them. There are five good reasons the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan is a strong compact SUV to buy: Upscale and spacious interior: The cabin features high quality materials with soft touch surfaces and a refined design that has a more premium feel than many competitors. It also offers one of the roomiest cabins in its class, with generous second row legroom and lots of flexible rear cargo space for all your stuff and gear. Refined driving experience: The Tiguan's turbocharged engine is tuned for a smoother and more responsive feel, delivering a composed and confident ride. The…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (386+ words) (Bloomberg/Monica Raymunt) " Volkswagen AG and Rivian Automotive Inc. have ambitions of selling the electric vehicle technology they're developing together to other carmakers in the future. The two companies' joint venture, known as RV Tech, said it has made solid progress on delivering the EV electrical and software platform that Volkswagen needs to compete with Tesla and Chinese rivals. The JV is focused on delivering models for Rivian and VW but is keeping communication open with third parties about the scalability of its platforms. "We're solving a problem for the larger automotive industry," Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's software chief and RV Tech co-chair, told journalists at an event in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. "That could become an opportunity" for others as well, he said. The platform is designed to be scalable across vehicle sizes and segments in Western markets. The…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (529+ words) OAKLAND " On a recent Friday, a task force of local police officers converged on the 5200 block of International Boulevard, searching through piles of car parts, vehicles, and trailer, seizing guns, blank money orders, and two allegedly stolen motorcycles, according to court records. The CHP estimated last year that it recovered 84.59 percent of all reported stolen cars, and that only around 6 percent were stripped for parts. The more common fate of cars not used in crimes and destroyed is to be re-sold as used vehicles through online peer-to-peer marketplaces, often after the vehicle identification numbers are switched out. Police say at least a half-dozen more suspicious VIN car registrations were found to be connected to the business, as well as 15 suspicious Harley Davidson motorcycles. Several of the stolen cars were recovered only after an unsuspecting victim bought them through Facebook Marketplace....

2+ week, 6+ day ago (240+ words) Teslas owners can charge up, order hamburgers and hot dogs and watch movies all at the same time at the Tesla Diner in West Hollywood. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) A Tesla Diner location could be coming to Palo Alto, as suggested in a recent post on X from Elon Musk. The company's global engineering headquarters, whose opening was announced in 2023, is located at the old Hewlett Packard Enterprise campus at the corner of Page Mill Road and Hanover Street. The first Tesla Diner location opened in Hollywood in July, featuring a retro-futuristic aesthetic combining Tesla charging stations with a drive-in movie theater and a 24/7 vintage American diner with robots. The restaurant, described as a "Jetsons spaceship of a drive-in," according to one Bloomberg visitor, serves items like smashburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, chili cheese fries and…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago (220+ words) (Bloomberg/Stefan Nicola) " Tesla Inc.s head of the Cybertruck program is leaving the company, adding to a series of high-level departures this year as the electric-vehicle maker struggles with uneven sales. Siddhant Awasthi, who oversaw the development and ramp-up of the divisive pickup truck, is departing Tesla after three years in that role, he said in a post on LinkedIn. "This decision wasnt easy, especially with so much exciting growth on the horizon," Awasthi wrote. He didnt specify what hell do next. His decision follows a string of executive exits at Tesla, which has grappled with lukewarm consumer demand and the loss of key US incentives while pursuing new business lines around robotaxis and humanoid robots. David Lau, Teslas vice president of software engineering, this year left for OpenAI after almost 13 years. Awasthi joined Tesla as an intern in…...

3+ week, 3+ hour ago (607+ words) Perhaps only equaled by the onslaught of statistics in sports, the automotive industry is largely driven by data. The rate at which a car or truck accelerates is typically expressed in tenths of seconds. Navigation screen sizes are listed in quarters of inches. Do drag coefficient fractions listed in thousands of a second have relevance in consumer vehicles? The overridingly most important automotive statistic remains price. A recent number proved the point. According to Kelley Blue Book, the vehicle valuation and automotive research company headquartered in Irvine, the average price for a new car has surpassed $50,000. Consumers paid an average of $50,080 for a new vehicle in September. It was the first time in automotive history the $50,000 plateau had been surpassed. Kelley Blue Book detailed reasons for the increase are multifold, including auto tariffs, an increased mix of luxury vehicles and…...