Street News

A thick wall of wildfire smoke has turned skies over the eastern half of the country a milky orange, and it is now a driving hazard as much as a health one. Smoke from dozens of out-of-control fires in western Ontario and a cluster of intensifying blazes in northern Minnesota has flooded the Great Lakes and slammed into the Interstate 95 corridor, dropping air quality to hazardous levels from the Upper Midwest to New England. Officials are urging drivers to expect hazy, low-contrast conditions o

Talking to your Honda just got easier For a younger, tech-savvy generation of drivers, talking to your vehicle has become the norm. In some cases, it’s almost a necessity if you don’t want to go digging through a maze of menus on a touchscreen. Honda has given seven of its most popular models a welcome tech boost with the addition of Google Gemini, a smart AI assistant that enhances the hands-free voice experience. The assistant can handle many nuanced requests, but there’s a catch: It’s only av

Hyundai Brings Its Performance EV Closer to More Buyers The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has earned a reputation as one of the most fun-to-drive electric performance cars you can buy. The catch? It’s been priced out of reach for many, with a sticker that soared past $65,000. For 2027, Hyundai is finally making the Ioniq 5 N experience a little less exclusive. The new starting price is $59,900 before the usual $1,600 destination fee. That’s a hefty $6,300 drop from last year.

Late last year, Volvo announced the discontinuation of the V60 Cross Country, with production ending in April of this year, and ever since its last U.S. wagon left the production line, the Swedish automaker has been hinting at bringing it back; though no timelines were set, Volvo's CEO said he expected the range to grow beyond only crossovers and SUVs in five years. But now an anonymous source has told Automotive News that Volvo is considering launching new midsize cars in both longroof station

Ferrari is making history with its first EV, just not in the way anyone expected. Ferrari's first production electric car will not begin life in a billionaire's garage. Instead, the very first example of the Ferrari Luce, officially designated Chassis 0, is heading directly to Monterey Car Week, where RM Sotheby's will auction it for charity before regular customer deliveries begin, with an estimated value in excess of $1.1 million, nearly double the Luce's starting price. That is an unusually s

BYD Vice President Stella Li officially announced at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that the company will attempt to break the 311-mph barrier this November. The high-speed project aims to push the track-ready flagship hypercar past its own prior benchmarks, establishing an absolute speed record for production electric vehicles. The announcement signals a direct challenge to elite legacy brands as the automaker shifts its engineering focus toward capturing the ultimate velocity crown. The upcomi

An Oddball Flagship The 16th-generation Toyota Crown has always been a bit of an oddball. When it landed in North America over three years ago (or at least one of its many body types), it essentially replaced the Avalon, but with a twist. Instead of rolling out another big sedan, Toyota gave us a jacked-up fastback with crossover vibes. It’s called the Crown Crossover in Japan, but here it’s just the Crown, straddling the line between comfy sedan and high-riding SUV, and not really fitting into

The Autoblog spy photographers have captured our first images of the upcoming BMW i3 Touring, or station wagon, and as expected, it looks a lot like the i3 sedan revealed earlier this year. Normally, news of a new German wagon means nothing to America, but on this occasion, we might actually get BMW's newest wagon, which was teased back in March and is expected to enter production later this year, with arrival at dealers set for early 2027. Let's take a look at the styling and then discuss what

Street Trucks Are Back, and Shelby Wants In Ford kicked things off with the F-150 Lobo, bringing street trucks back into the spotlight. Ram fired back with the wild 777-horsepower 1500 Rumble Bee SRT. Now, the tuners want in, and Shelby American is crashing the party with its own limited-run F-150 Super Snake SuperCrew. Shelby will only build 400 of these beasts in Indiana, making it a rare sight compared to the usual factory hot rods. And unlike Shelby’s 1,000-hp F-150 Raptor R, this pickup is

A few weeks ago, Slate Auto confirmed the base MSRP of its barebones electric pickup, but it held back an important piece of information: the mandatory destination and delivery charge. That information has now come to light thanks to InsideEVs, which says that Slate's head of public relations and communications, Jeff Jablansky, confirmed that the freight charge has been set at $1,450, which is the lowest destination fee of any pickup on sale in the U.S. Combined with the $24,950 starting price,

Fighting for Relevance When Infiniti debuted in late 1989, it seemed that Japanese luxury had well and truly threatened the European establishment thanks to it, Acura, and Lexus. Fast forward to today, and only Lexus seems to be sticking to the original plot, while Acura has remained mostly steady, and Infiniti is practically fighting for relevance. The last couple of years haven't been easy for Nissan's luxury division, either. From its peak in 2017, when it sold 153,415 vehicles, the company s

Not a Flash in the Pan Who would've thought that off-roading sports and supercars would become a hot niche? First, there was the 911 Dakar that paid tribute to the mighty 959 Dakar winner from the '80s, then came Lamborghini with the Huracan Sterrato. These days, we're also seeing more aftermarket companies having a go at it, and there are more than enough wealthy clients interested in them. The Huracan Sterrato was a genuine surprise that defied all logic, given that Lamborghini already had the

In December last year, Nissan surprisingly announced that the Altima would live on for the 2026 model year, but now it and the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid are both being put to pasture to make space in the lineup for new models like the hotly anticipated Xterra. Ponz Pandikuthira, Nissan's senior vice president and chief product & planning officer for North America, told WardsAuto that the $28,825 Altima is being discontinued after three decades to prevent competition with the new Sentra. With this

Less than two months ago, Mercedes-AMG unveiled its new AMG GT 4-Door, and instead of being a twin-turbocharged V8 monster, it's become an all-electric performance EV with a four-figure horsepower rating. Sadly, the styling is getting even more negativity online than the powertrain, but Mercedes is leaning into its zany side with a new, even more hardcore AMG GT that was just spied on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Sprouting new vents and a large wing, this seems to be AMG's version of the Porsch

Passing With An Asterisk Failing a driver’s license test can be frustrating, especially since some applicants must wait at least a week before retaking it. That inconvenience may help explain why some people allegedly cheat their way into obtaining a license – an issue the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is currently dealing with. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the DMV found discrepancies suggesting that some motorists may have cheated. As a result, about 11,000 Californ

One of the Last Cars Under $25,000 Finding a genuinely affordable new car these days is like spotting a unicorn in rush hour traffic. Prices keep creeping up, and most wallet-friendly models have quietly exited stage left. The Toyota Corolla Hatchback is one of the last survivors, though it’s inching dangerously close to that $25,000 cliff. For 2027, Toyota nudged the Corolla Hatchback’s base price up by at least $200, but not enough to break the bank – or that magic $25,000 barrier. The entry-l

It's not often that an automaker admits a mistake, but Infiniti is humble enough to concede that the plans it had to take on the likes of Mercedes-AMG and BMW M with a high-performance Red Sport version of the QX80 were not laid out well enough. Automotive News reports that Infiniti is delaying its hot QX80 by roughly a year to develop a more comprehensive overhaul that does more than just increase horsepower, with the Japanese marque understanding that buyers in America and Europe want more tha

Trouble At The Stoplight Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into approximately 2.88 million Teslas equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) after reports of traffic violations, including running red lights and entering opposing lanes. Newly published dashcam footage appears to show a similar incident: a Tesla Model 3 ran a red light and struck a Chevrolet C7 Corvette. In a Reddit post by CaptainShiryu, the Model 3 can be seen approaching an interse

Mazda appears to be laying the groundwork for a new sports car, with newly discovered patent filings offering the clearest indication yet of what's to come. While the documents never mention the MX-5 by name, the illustrations and technical descriptions point to a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive roadster that could either replace the current MX-5 Miata or join it as a separate sports car Butterfly Doors on Mazda's Next Sports Car

GMC is using the Hummer nameplate's 25th anniversary to do more than release a commemorative paint job. While the limited-run ICON | 25 supplies the emotional hook, the bigger story for most buyers is the round of charging, color, and capability updates rolling out across the entire 2027 Hummer EV lineup, touching both the Pickup and the SUV rather than a single headline trim. GMC

Form and Function Hyundai has reinvented itself as a brand that prioritizes not just how cars move today, but also trailblazing new, out-of-this-world car designs. Globally, Hyundai has done well to raise its profile by offering a healthy mix of electrified models, including award-winning designs such as the Ioniq EVs. Most recently, Hyundai debuted the latest Elantra (Avante in South Korea) at the 2026 Busan Mobility Show, sparking much debate over its design. Not many people have seen the new

Make or Break Model Tesla's automotive journey has been an interesting one to watch, coming out of nowhere to dominate and bring the spotlight to everyday electric-vehicle mobility. While the story began with the short-lived Roadster, it was the more mainstream models that cemented Tesla as an EV powerhouse. For the longest time, the Tesla Model S (along with the Model X) has stood as the brand's best-selling model. Just this year, the Model S was finally discontinued, but before it went out of

Arrivederci, Tonale Alfa Romeo might not be at the top of Stellantis' priority list at the moment, but the Italian automaker is at least getting some attention. Its parent company is still keen on refreshing the entire lineup before the end of the decade, though it will come at the cost of discontinuing a nameplate. Up on the chopping block is the Tonale, Alfa's competitor for the usual Germans, namely the Audi Q3, BMW X1, and Mercedes-Benz GLA. It eventually spawned the Dodge Hornet as a lower-

Toyota has spent decades competing with Japan's biggest automakers, but the company's new Chief Industry Officer, Koji Sato, believes the industry's future depends on knowing when not to compete. In a recent interview with Automotive News, Sato outlined a vision where Japan's carmakers work together on core technologies and manufacturing standards, freeing each brand to focus on the innovations that truly set its products apart. Less Duplication, More Innovation

NHTSA Takes A Closer Look Following the recall of more than 325,000 Honda Odysseys for a rearview-camera defect, the minivan is back on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) radar. This time, however, it is only a defect-petition review for now, covering 806,963 units from the 2011–2017 model years – essentially spanning the fourth-generation iteration, codenamed RL5. According to the NHTSA review opened on July 13, the vehicles could experience inadvertent airbag deployme

Audi is having a strong safety year, and it just got stronger. Audi of America announced that the all-new 2026 A6 sedan has earned a 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick+, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's highest award, becoming the seventh Audi model to claim that designation this year. Reaching seven puts the brand ahead of every luxury rival for the 2026 top awards. Audi More

BMW hit by more engine starter problems BMW has recalled almost 30,000 plug-in hybrid luxury cars due to a fire risk linked to the engine starter. All models affected are sedans, from the compact 3 Series to the full-size 7 Series. Several field incidents, including one involving a 3 Series earlier this year, ultimately led BMW to issue a voluntary recall. As part of this recall, BMW has advised owners of affected models to park outside until their vehicle can be inspected and repaired. It's not