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Around 8:31 a.m. on Saturday, August 22, 2026, a Tesla was heading south on Route 55 in Vineland, in Cumberland County, near milepost 34.6. The driver lost control, ran off the left side of the road, crossed the grass median, struck a tree, and continued into the northbound lanes, where the car hit a northbound Chevrolet SUV, according to the New Jersey State Police.

The SUV’s driver, Phillip “Phil” Eastman, 68, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, was killed. The Tesla’s driver and a passenger in the Chevrolet were hurt and taken to a hospital with moderate injuries.

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Volkswagen is planning to send out an over-the-air update to 22,524 ID.4 customers that would limit the maximum charge of their vehicle to 80 percent, recall documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show. According to the documents, the batteries in the associated vehicles could catch fire if certain charging conditions are met while the vehicle is at over 80 percent state of charge.

This isn’t the first recall related to battery fires that Volkswagen has issued for the ID.4 this year. That came back in January and covered nearly 44,000 models stretching from the 2023 to 2025 model years.

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A new electric vehicle platform that could underpin its next generation of battery-powered models, including high-performance vehicles capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in under four seconds.

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The Japanese manufacturer has unveiled an experimental electric vehicle featuring a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system producing more than 380kW of power, which is significantly more than any of its current electric models.

The prototype in question features a 150kW electric motor at the front and a more powerful 230kW unit at the rear, giving it a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system. The electric motors themselves are have been developed with Aisin, and are claimed to deliver efficiency improvements of around 30 per cent. The platform itself weighs around 100kg less than the current Subaru EVs and a newly-developed battery pack could bring further weight savings.

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We don’t yet know the size of the battery, but it’s been developed in partnership with Panasonic Energy and it uses approximately 4000 cylindrical cells. The battery is claimed to be 25 per cent lighter than the current Subaru EV batteries, with energy density around 20 per cent higher than the industry average.

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The Swedish truckmaker will manufacture battery-powered vehicles at its plant in Rugao, China, as soon as it receives a licence, chief executive officer Christian Levin said in an interview in Södertälje. Levin expects electric trucks to account for half of China’s market by the start of 2027.

“It is happening quickly and that’s incredibly fascinating,” Levin said. “It means they have found a way to expand charging infrastructure and the power grid, which is the biggest challenge we have in many countries around the world, including Europe.”

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German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron want to weaken the EU’s CO₂ fleet emissions limits. Under their joint proposal, presented Oct. 16, manufacturers would have to cut fleet emissions by only 90% instead of 100% starting in 2035. The approach remains “technology-neutral”: manufacturers and importers can decide for themselves how they want to meet the limit. For now, battery-electric powertrains are the cheapest option. Without economies of scale, brands that sell small numbers of vehicles have the hardest time offsetting their share of combustion-engine models.

Subaru is one such small brand, and it plans to stop selling new cars with combustion engines in Europe by the end of 2027 at the latest. Subaru Germany confirmed this in response to an inquiry, according to a media report. That would leave only three models from the Japanese brand’s lineup in Europe: the Solterra, the Uncharted, and the electric E-Outback wagon. For European buyers of new cars, that would end the era of the boxer engine, which, paired with sophisticated all-wheel-drive mechanics, has been part of Subaru’s identity for decades.

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The Japanese automaker will offer three trims: A, G, and X. Above the entry-level A, the G and X trims will retail at 2.39 million yen (€13,500) and 2.79 million yen (€15,750), respectively. The company says it will build the A trim to order, while the G and X trims will be regular production configurations.

The e Sky is based on a newly developed, dedicated EV platform called ‘Heartect-e’. Suzuki also developed the car’s eAxle itself, combining the motor, inverter, and reduction gears into a single component weighing approximately 47 kg. The motor is an AC synchronous unit, internally designated ‘BB8A’, and produces 47 kW and 133 Nm of torque.

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The company will also offer a host of safety and driver-assistance features, including a 360-degree camera system, six airbags, Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Vehicle Sway Warning, Driver Drowsiness Warning, and Adaptive Cruise Control.

According to a report from Nikkei, Suzuki could launch the e Sky in Europe as early as 2027. The company is considering the UK and Italy as the primary export markets in the region. Another report from the Japanese publication has hinted at BYD also planning an entry in this emerging segment in Europe with a model that features a battery pack with a space-saving layout similar to that of the Racco. Honda has already launched an adapted version of its electric kei car, the N-One e, as the Super-N in the UK.

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Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese manufacturer known as Foxconn, has agreed to buy 50% of Mitsubishi Electric’s automotive equipment unit for 115 billion yen ($727.8 million),

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The agreement values the business at an enterprise value of 320 billion yen ($2.03 billion) and an equity value of 230 billion yen ($1.46 billion), and the 115 billion yen price corresponds to half of that equity value.

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The companies said the joint operation would combine Mitsubishi Electric Mobility’s capabilities “particularly in electric powertrains, software and vehicle control” with Hon Hai’s “speed, scale and other strengths in market deployment.”

By providing high-quality electric vehicle platforms “developed in Japan,” they said they expected to contribute to the wider adoption of next-generation mobility.

“Over the medium to long term, the companies aim to expand Japanese technology and quality to global markets as well as further enhance the value of ‘Made in/by Japan,'” they said.

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The two companies set a goal of lifting Mitsubishi Electric Mobility’s revenue to 1 trillion yen ($6.33 billion) in the fiscal year starting April 2030, at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday.

That would be 22% above the 820 billion yen ($5.19 billion) the unit expects for the current fiscal year.

“The most attractive thing is the electronic control technology, and its software technology is also abundant,” said Jun Seki, Chief Strategy Officer of Hon Hai’s electric vehicle business, who attended alongside Mitsubishi Electric Mobility President Kazunori Tanaka.

“We want to make Mitsubishi Electric our anchor in Japan and team up with other parts makers and automakers,” Seki said.

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I see a couple of i3s in buy&sell sites in my city. They're usually 2016-2018 models selling from $9k to $15k and mileage ranging from 40k to 80k. Some of them are pure EVs and others have the range extender (~80 miles of gas range). Some have upgraded infotainment that supports wireless Apple carplay, and some have only like 80 miles of range left.

Just from the visual POV, it looks like a fun little car to use for general city driving (work, groceries, errands, etc.). An EV for less than $15k that isn't an older generation Nissan Leaf is pretty rare to find too. Are these models any good?

One potential candidate is the new ID Unyx 09, an electric saloon co-developed with VW's Chinese partner Xpeng, while the 4.8-metre-long ID Aura T6 SUV could sit above the smaller ID Tiguan in Europe, giving Volkswagen a Volvo EX60 rival.

In August, EVs made up 13% of all new vehicles sold, a 47% increase over the same month the previous year

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Toyota Motor’s latest compact crossover will roll out of a plant in Ontario starting in December, a sign of the Japanese automaker’s commitment to making cars in Canada.

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The updated, hybrid-only Lexus NX is one of three models made at Toyota’s 38-year-old factory complex in Cambridge, Ontario, along with the Toyota RAV4 crossover and Lexus RX SUV. While some of those are sold locally, about 85% are earmarked for export — mostly to the much larger and more lucrative U.S. market.

It also builds the RAV4 at another Ontario facility located about 48 kilometers away. The plants produced a combined 537,518 vehicles last year, making Toyota the largest vehicle manufacturer in Canada.

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Toyota invested $1.1 billion in its Canadian operations for the latest RAV4 model, which began production in January, and hundreds of millions of dollars more for the newest NX. With all of the carmaker’s factories running at or close to full capacity, **Toyota sees Canada as a vital cog in its global manufacturing network **and key to its four-decade localization efforts.

“We’re fully committed to making cars in Canada for the long term,” Scott MacKenzie, director of corporate affairs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, said in an interview, noting its local factories run two full shifts plus regular overtime. “We continue to invest here and think Canada is a great place to make cars.”

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The commitment to Canada by Toyota and fellow Japanese automaker Honda Motor comes at a time when competition is being stoked by the entry of Chinese-made cars. While the number of permitted imports from China remains relatively small — about 50,000 vehicles a year — that allotment will steadily grow under a deal Ottawa reached earlier this year with Beijing.

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