Year: 2021

BYD’s promised premium sub-brand has launched its first vehicle, the Yangwang U8, a rugged-looking SUV in the mould of the Land Rover Defender – but with four electric motors.

Reports from the launch in China today show an upright design with a blingy grille, headlights rather like a Nissan Patrol, squared-off wheel arches with sheet metal blistering, aerodynamic flush door handles, and a chunky D-pillar ahead of the tailgate-mounted spare wheel.

But rather than being mechanically like a Defender it’s more akin to the upcoming all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQG, though at a reported 5300mm it’s longer even than a GLS.

The new Yangwang U8 will reportedly use an in-house four-motor EV system, using four (IP68 sealed) electric motors to drive each wheel directly and a central control unit.

Such a system theoretically gives you much quicker and more precise torque allocation, and even the ability to pull off a 360-degree

JPJ has announced that BRG and DER are the next number plate series to go up for bidding on its online auction platform, JPJ eBid.

Selangor’s latest running number series is ‘BRG’, and it was opened for tender yesterday, January 4. The bidding period on JPJeBid is five days, ending 10pm this Sunday, January 8. As usual, the results will be out the following day. The whole process is online now, as it has been for some time, and bidders will get the good (or bad) news via email.

Available soon on JPJ eBid is the Kelantan series ‘DER’. The bidding period starts on January 8 and will close at 10pm on January 12. Results will be out the day after the auction closes.

New car coming soon and want a nice number plate for the new ride? Why not DIY and skip the reseller’s markup and runner fees? If

The LiDAR market is rapidly maturing as developers improve functionality and cut costs. The remote sensing technology is a key enabler of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles (AVs), and several suppliers are competing for a slice of the market. It’s a growing field; a projected CAGR of 19.27% puts its potential value at US$6.93bn by 2030. That’s a big prize for those developers that manage to secure a solid foothold. Israeli start-up Innoviz believes that by the end of 2023, almost all vehicle manufacturers will have made their decision on which LiDAR to use in future highly automated vehicles.

“Because the automotive industry operates on notoriously long timelines, the decisions made in 2023 will impact the way cars are designed and built for the next decade,” says Innoviz Chief Executive Omer Keilaf. As a result, the market for automotive LiDAR will thin out substantially. Innoviz works directly

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) have been a force to help bridge a gap as we approach a future full of full-on electric vehicles (EVs). Such vehicles have proven to be quite efficient and the perfect commuter vehicle for those who take full advantage of its plug-in charging capabilities. In the scheme of having an affordable PHEV SUV, Mitsubishi has stepped into the game to bring us an all-new Outlander PHEV. After spending a week with the Outlander PHEV, I was enamored to welcome such a vehicle into my lifestyle with wide open arms from a brand that hasn’t been on my radar screen in a long time.

For my generation, born in the late 70s, Mitsubishi was a fun brand in the 90s and even in the early 2000s. I can remember good friends of mine having some of the wildest sport compact vehicles around that touted the Mitsubishi

BMW answers why the top-of-the-line model in 1977 was called the 745i, despite displacing only 3.2-liters

Electric vehicles (EVs) have fewer moving parts than gas-powered cars. That mechanical simplicity, advocates say, should lead to fewer part failures — and more reliable vehicles — over time.

The logic behind the argument is sound. But the numbers aren’t yet proving it true, according to Consumer Reports.

CR comes by its data differently than most reliability studies.

The magazine doesn’t test every car on the market. Instead, it asks its readers to report problems they’ve had in the last 12 months, then compiles the results for vehicles built since 2000. As a result, its data set is limited to the cars CR subscribers own.

RELATED — Consumer Reports: Toyota, Lexus Make the Most Reliable Cars; Mercedes the Least

That data collection method skews the outcome. The subscriber to a magazine that ranks vacuums for price effectiveness may have different preferences than the average shopper.

Its 2022 data, CR says,