The CEO of Hertz Global Holdings, has handed in his key to the executive washroom. He’s stepping down after a disastrous move that saw the daily rental company add 100,000 Teslas to its fleet. The EVs didn’t prove as popular as expected with customers – but they did wind up experience far more repairs than anticipated. Adding insult to injury, Tesla’s big price cuts meant massive losses for Hertz when it tried to sell the vehicles off.
Headlight News for the Week of 3-18-24 – Automakers Spying on Drivers – Hyundai Rethinks EV Plans – New Porsche Taycan – The Greenest Cars You Can Buy – and This Week in Automotive History.
During the transition to electric vehicles, the concerns of potential buyers have shifted from how far can an EV go before charging to where can we charge it? A new survey shows that EV buyers are already reliant on DC fast chargers and that demand is only going to rise. Find out more at Headlight.News.
Looking for an environmentally friendly vehicle? You have more options than ever before. That includes a flood of new battery-electric vehicles, as you might expect, but if you’re still reluctant to go with an EV you still have plenty to choose from. In fact, the top-ranked model in the 2024 GreenerCars list is a plug-in hybrid, and even some products running solely on gasoline do well in the annual study. Better yet, there are plenty of affordable options. But there also are some surprises, as Headlight.News reports.
The sudden shift in prominence of hybrids hasn’t stopped automakers from continuing to work on electric vehicles. However, it seems more and more automakers are looking to partner up, as Nissan and Honda just agreed to do. Find out more at Headlight.News.
Danish automotive designer and entrepreneur Henrik Fisker may be heading for a second bankruptcy. Shares of Fisker went into freefall Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported the executive’s latest car company is seeking the help of restructuring experts in preparation for a possible bankruptcy. Earlier this month, Fisker advised analysts and investors the startup is facing going-concern risks due to slow sales and weak revenues. It is unclear whether a potential tie-up with Nissan will be enough to overcome a fast-worsening cash crunch.
As EV sales growth slows, automakers are rethinking prior plans, in some cases delaying, even canceling battery-electric vehicle projects. That includes Hyundai Motor Group, the Korean automaker previously announcing one of the industry’s more aggressive EV launch programs. But, in an exclusive report Headlight.News reveals Hyundai is not only studying whether to slow the rollout of new EVs, but also whether to make major changes to the $5.54 billion EV plant in Georgia currently set to start production in October. That would allow the facility to meet production targets by assembling more than just EVs, Hyundai officials revealed.
Once one of America’s most exclusive automotive brands, Lincoln has been little more than an also-ran in recent years. But Ford Motor Co.’s upscale marque is on a mission to rebuild itself — and not just by becoming a clone of luxury market leaders like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW or crosstown rival Cadillac. And the complete makeover of the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus gives a good sense of what’s in store, as Headlight.News discovered during a day behind the wheel of the midsize crossover in Palm Springs. Here’s our review.
Cadillac prepares to shift its EV ambitions into high gear with first tease of the Opulent Velocity concept. The mysterious show car promises to rewrite EV performance but leaves more questions unanswered. Get details at Headlight.News.
The average transaction price for new vehicles dropped again in February, falling a little less than 1% compared to January prices. Rising inventories and increased incentives keep pushing the prices paid for new vehicles down. Get the details at Headlight.News.
When the new Lincoln Nautilus goes on sale this spring it will mark a significant development for parent Ford Motor Co., the first time it imports a vehicle to the U.S. from China. The move will help keep the U.S. automaker’s factories there running as demand for its products has tumbled sharply in the Asian nation. But Ford is not alone. Detroit automakers – along with other foreign brands – have seen their Chinese sales – and earnings – plunge as consumers by the millions shift to domestic competitors. Could the Chinese now turn the tables on the U.S. at home? Find out at Headlight.News.
When Elon Musk handed over the keys to the first Cybertruck last November he boasted that the electric pickup featured “the finest in apocalypse technology.” The Tesla CEO even played a video showing bullets bouncing off the truck’s stainless steel skin. But a series of recent social media posts raise serious questions about the truck’s actual capabilities — or at least the skills of its early owners who’ve gotten stuck in sand and snow and even driven into a wall at the Beverly Hills Hotel, knocking off a wheel in the process. Read all about it at Headlight.News.