Author: kirklandc008@gmail.com

Hyundai introduced the concept of simulated “shifting” in EVs. The riotous Ioniq 5 N simulates the soundtrack and shifting of the seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission version of the Elantra N. It sounds hare-brained, but it works. I love it. Ferrari, though, can’t just copy Hyundai. With its first EV, the upcoming Elettrica, it’s gotta move the ball forward. When I spoke to the company’s head of product development, he was clear about how the company was going to do that: With power levels, its own take on faux EV shifting. But it won’t be fake, and it won’t involve “gears.”  Hyundai’s…

Samsung is back with another event this fall, which it has dubbed Worlds Wide Open. The company said that it will use this opportunity to officially unveil its Android XR headset, internally known as Project Moohan. The livestreamed event will take place on Tuesday, October 21 at 10PM ET and you can watch either on Samsung’s website or on its YouTube channel. It’s possible that Samsung always anticipated having an event next week, but it’s also possible that the company’s hand was forced after a big leak last week disclosed several notable details about Project Moohan. According to the leaks, the…

Spyker, the long-troubled Dutch sports car company, has been saved from bankruptcy. Again. The company’s founder, Victor Muller, has secured the brand’s intellectual property rights and will now “focus on producing hand-built super sports cars,” according to a social media post.    Spyker was originally revived in 1999 by Muller, but a botched Saab acquisition over a decade later would force the company to financially restructure in late 2014. Operations would resume by the end of 2015, with the C8 Preliator revealed a year later at the Geneva Motor Show.    But things wouldn’t last. By 2021, investment from investors…

Inside, it’s all very bZ4X. If you’re being charitable, you’d say it feels robust. The dashboard and door cards are composed of Toyota’s trademark blend of 11 textures of grey rubber, which doesn’t feel cheap but is far from upmarket. The centre console ticks all the practicality boxes, including the lack of fingerprint-prone surfaces, but goodness it’s dull.Not to sound ungrateful, but the area in which Toyota has tried to be a bit zany hasn’t really worked. Like on the bZ4X, it does the Peugeot-style thing of having a high-set instrument cluster with a small steering wheel. While I didn’t…