Nearly a third fewer vehicles qualified for awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety this year, compared to 2024. This reflects toughening crash test guidelines meant to protect rear-seat occupants. Headlight.News looks at which vehicles took IIHS’s coveted Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards this time around.
Toyota may be one of the top-selling brands in the U.S. but its first serious foray into the battery-electric vehicle market hasn’t done much to charge up U.S. EV buyers. The automaker is hoping more of them will plug in with the launch of a mid-cycle update, the 2026 Toyota bZ4X getting a boost to both range and performance while cutting charging times. Here’s a first look.
Many Americans are becoming accustomed to the sight of Amazon drivers running around town in all-electric delivery vans produced by Rivian. Well, now if you’re looking for some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, hunt down a Rivian. Find out more at Headlight.News.
Electric vehicle owners expressed a rise in overall satisfaction with their ownership experience, just the opposite of what they told J.D. Power last year for the 2025 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study. The results appear to mirror the rise in EV sales in 2024. Find out more at Headlight.News.
The 1500 REV, the all-electric version of the Ram half-ton pickup, is again on hold, the truck brand’s CEO now saying it won’t arrive until “late 2026” at the earliest due to slowing demand in the battery pickup segment. But production appears to be staying on track to bring the extended-range Ramcharger to market during the second half of this year. Headlight.News has more.
Whether you’re a major operator, like Amazon, or simply operate a single vehicle for a local business, EV maker Rivan is opening up sales of its commercial van to all fleet buyers. The move comes as Rivian ends its exclusive deal with Amazon – and resolves a component shortage that had limited its ability to produce the battery-electric vans.
Despite efforts by automakers to improve their relationships with President Donald Trump prior to and immediately after he took office last month, they can’t seem to escape the impact of his trade policies, the latest being a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. Find out what’s happening at Headlight.News.
Pres. Donald Trump’s administration ordered a halt to a Biden-era program meant to provide $5 billion in funding for a nationwide network of EV charging stations. It’s the latest step by the White House to curtail EV adoption. But this program could hurt one of the most powerful men in Trump’s inner circle, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also runs the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Jeep is making one of the riskiest moves in its storied history, rolling out its first global EV, the Wagoneer S. It will be followed by a flood of new models this coming year, part of a push by the off-road marque to “grow the brand back” after several unexpectedly disappointing years. Headlight.News looks at what Jeep has coming and how it will face its ongoing challenges.
Once one of the most important auto shows in North America, if not the world, the annual Motor City event returned to its original January schedule after a brief summer run. But what has been renamed the Detroit Auto Show is a mere fraction of the size of what it was during its glory days. Headlight.News looks at what has happened — and why.
Americans have been paying less and less at the pump since gas reached $5 a gallon during the tail-end of the pandemic in 2022. While the national average isn’t quite what it was prior to 2020, it has declined each of the last three years. Will it drop below $3 a gallon in 2025? Find out at Headlight.News.
The U.S. Department of Energy finalized a $9.63 billion loan for Ford Motor Co. and South Korea’s SK On to help finance the construction of three new EV battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. Get the final details at Headlight.News.