Consumer Reports isn't giving all-electric cars and climate change a lot of attention

-
Image
Honda will be the next automaker to market an all-electric car as Toyota continues to sit on the sidelines. -- HACKENSACK, N.J. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Consumer Reports seems to have a blind spot for all-electric cars. The magazine's annual Auto Issue, just out, picks the 10 best new cars for 2017, but all of them use gasoline. For a full report, see: Consumer Reports smells (of gasoline)
Post a Comment

Tesla freshens front of Model S hatchback so it looks more like Model X and Model 3

-
A Tesla Model S with a freshened front bumper and grille, giving it a family resemblance to the new Model X. The image appears on Tesla.com, the company Web site.
The front bumper and oval grille on a 2015 Model S.

The Model X is billed as the safest SUV on the road.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiling his $35,000 Model 3 on March 31 in California. This smaller Tesla could use the same slit grille as Model X and the freshened Model S.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If you think a Tesla is 'expensive,' check out bloated MSRPs of luxury competitors

-
Image
The MSRP of the all-electric Tesla Model S ranges from $69,900 to $104,500. Some competing luxury models from major automakers cost far more. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Consumer Reports gave the Tesla Model S its highest rating -- 99 out of 100 -- and a survey showed a higher percentage of owners say they would buy the all-electric luxury car again. But writers and blogger never fail to point out a Tesla Model S is "expensive." The MSRP of a Model S ranges from $69,900 for the 60, which has a range of 208 miles on a full charge, to $104,500 for the P85D, an all-wheel-drive performance model that may be the fastest production car in the world. Is 208 miles enough? How many of you can drive that far without stopping to go to the bathroom? Lexus and Mercedes Compare that to the $120,440 Lexus is asking for its LS 600h L, a gas-electric hybrid with a long wheelbase and roomier back seat. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class luxury sedans range from $94,400 for a V-8 powered S550 to an astro...
Read more

Did Tesla's Elon Musk pull strings to get The Times to fold Automobiles section?

-
Image
The all-electric Tesla Model S is a large, heavy and luxurious four-door hatchback, as seen in this image from a company gallery in Westfield Garden State Plaza, a shopping center in Paramus. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR When automobile writers get together for lunch once a month in Manhattan, you never know what you might hear. I arrived on the ninth floor of the 3 West Club just before 12:30 on Tuesday to find the room full of members and guests of the International Motor Press Association. I saw Norman Mayersohn, deputy Automobiles editor at The New York Times, speaking to an older man I didn't know, and the latter wished Mayersohn all the best. When I asked what happened, I was told The Times is folding its 20-year-old Automobiles section, ostensibly for economic reasons. The older man claimed Elon Musk, CEO of California-based Tesla, reacted angrily when the Automobiles section published favorable articles in October about BMW's new iBrand, a plug-in hybrid sports car and an...
Read more

Just when you thought TV ads couldn't get any more bizarre: The Chevro-Benz SUV

-
Image
Does this look like the interior of a Mercedes-Benz? By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR When you own a Tesla Model S, the inane TV commercials other manufacturers run can drive you crazy. Tesla Motors doesn't spend tens of millions of dollars to advertise on TV or in newspapers and magazines, which may be at the root of the media's hostility toward the all-electric luxury car and the genius behind it, Elon Musk. But just about every other manufacturers does, and the cost of those ads boosts the MSRP of the vehicle you buy.  And now ... the Chevro-Benz In northern New Jersey, where I live, I've seen a TV commercial showing prospective SUV buyers sitting in a Chevrolet and enthusing over how the interior looks like one in a far more expensive vehicle. In turn, different people say they think they are in a Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, BMW and even a Mercedes-Benz. What were they smoking? They are shown in several gas-guzzling Chevy SUVs, including the enormous Suburban. When I was working f...
Read more