Author: kirklandc008@gmail.com

The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday. A job like this one offers no shortage of memorable encounters. A few years back, on an Easter Jeep Safari junket in Moab, I managed to scam some time behind the wheel of Jeep’s all-electric Magneto concept with then-boss Jim Morrison riding shotgun. The Magneto was essentially a Wrangler body sitting on top of a battery pack, a pair of motors, a Hellcat’s six-speed manual gearbox and 40″ tires. Reaching a clearing, I turned to him and…

How do AI detectors work? Ah, so you want to understand how machines try to tell machine writing from human writing.

The Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit tax credit under Section 45W of the IRS tax code may be gone, but it’s not forgotten! A number of states and utilities are stepping up with their own programs – and Oregon is the latest, offering rebates of up to $120,000 per vehicle for fleets looking to electrify their operations. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently launched the Zero-Emissions Rebates for Oregon Fleets Program which helps business- and public-sector fleets looking to electrify their operations overcome the initial cost difference of BEVs compared to diesels. “We’ve priced the rebates to bring those…

A team of researchers in China has just pulled the curtain back on a new sodium-sulfur battery design that could fundamentally change the math on energy storage. By leaning into the very chemistry that has historically made sulfur a headache for engineers, they have managed to build a cell that is incredibly cheap to make but still packs a massive energy punch. The design, which is currently being tested in the lab, uses dirt-cheap ingredients: sulfur, sodium, aluminum, and a chlorine-based electrolyte. In early trials, the battery hit energy densities over 2,000 watt-hours per kilogram – a figure that blows…

The gearbox is fine, too: you don’t have to think about it. Less tangibly, the thing has a sense of occasion – something, say, a BMW X5 will never match. Equally, the economy wasn’t terrible (for the entire trip, the brim-to-brim figure was 30.3mpg), and the 81-litre fuel tank means you can make plenty of uninterrupted progress when needed. As for proper off-roading in Spain, in the end the Wrangler played a supporting role. You need a permit to access the really horrible tracks that take you up into the wildest valleys in León, so this task was undertaken by…

It’s been two years, 32 months, 975 days, nearly 25-thousand hours — or simply far too long — since I’ve written anything for Stance Is Everything. Considering how often I used to create in this space, admitting it’s been so long feels more than a little embarrassing. If there’s any saving grace to be had, it’s that in that time I never dropped my digital pen or stopped going to events. My passion for automotive culture is still here, and as healthy as ever. While gone, I lent my literary and photography talents — along with endless pop culture references…

WITH electric vehicles (EVs) increasingly gaining popularity, automotive companies face the challenge of meeting demand while ensuring the sustainable growth of conventional cars with internal combustion engines (ICEs).Posing this real-life challenge as a case study question, national automotive company Proton invited tertiary students to consider how it can lead Malaysia’s transition from ICE to EV while remaining competitive across both segments.The Proton Business Case Study Challenge 2025 culminated with Team WOLC from Universiti Utara Malaysia being crowned champions on Dec 13, beating 41 other teams from 25 public and private universities representing six regions in Malaysia.Team ANOVA from Universiti Malaysia…

In 2023, what was then still called Twitter, open-sourced at least portions of the code that decided what it served up in your feed. But that GitHub repository is hopelessly out of date, with the vast majority of the files appearing to be from the initial upload three years ago. Elon Musk says that in seven days, he will open-source X’s new algorithm and finally give people a peek behind the curtain and possibly a technical explanation as to why your feed is 90 percent rage bait.Elon has always made promises to open-source parts of X, and has followed through…

Car buying habits in the UK are often misunderstood. While most adults have access to a vehicle, only a relatively small percentage of the population actually buys a car in any given year. Understanding how population size, ownership levels, and buying behaviour interact helps explain why used cars dominate the market and why car purchases are usually planned events rather than frequent decisions. This article explains UK car buying habits in clear terms using population data and ownership trends. UK Adult Population Overview The UK population continues to grow steadily and is projected to reach around 70 million by 2026.…

For a long time, the Porsche Cayenne has been the default benchmark in the performance-SUV world. Across its various high-performance trims, the Cayenne has long defined the segment’s balance benchmark. It’s the car that other brands measure themselves against, the safe answer when someone asks which fast SUV does it all best. Balanced, beautifully engineered, and backed by Porsche’s motorsport pedigree, the Cayenne earned its reputation the hard way. But benchmarks only stay benchmarks until someone comes along and challenges them. Quietly — and without the same level of fanfare — Audi has done precisely that. And the vehicle doing…