Here are the car news stories you might have missed this week.
Now that we’re more than a week into February, love is in the air with Valentine’s drawing nigh, so you might want to check out our guide on the most and least romantic vehicles here. In the meantime, this week’s underground stories mostly show the EV market remains tumultuous, big trucks are winning in Australia, and BMW notched a huge victory in Germany.
Ram sells 20,000 vehicles Down Under.
The 20,000th Ram-branded vehicle converted from left- to right-hand-drive for the Australian-New Zealand market was recently celebrated, marking a major milestone for the American truck company. That 20,000th example was a beautiful Ram 1500 TRX in Hydro Blue. Full-size truck sales are surging Down Under, something that’s perplexing certain Aussies.
Read more about it here.
Rivian expands its lineup.
When we heard Rivian was expanding its vehicle lineup, we thought maybe the EV automaker was releasing a rival to the Tesla Model 3. Instead, a new report indicates the new vehicle will be an electric bicycle. For some weird reasons, a lot of environmentalists think e-bikes are the way to solve all transportation woes, favoring them heavily while decrying any type of motorcycle, even electric models. So it seems Rivian is trying to play up to them, but just how many of these things will it be able to sell and just how expensive will they be?
Read the report here.
BMW wins climate lawsuit.
Environmentalists filed a lawsuit in Germany to stop BMW from selling vehicles using combustion engines by 2030, but the court rejected the lawsuit. The argument made by the environmental group was that ICE vehicles pose a threat to the right of property, health, and life. Had this group been successful, it would likely have been used as a template to go after other automakers.
Read more about the case here.
Mercedes-Benz’s new electric van is coming to America.
That’s right, the new eSprinter van will be made in the US to get around trade regulations. The Germans are spinning this move as a way to give customers a locally grown electric van for personal or business use. Expect to see a launch sometime after June of this year.
Learn more about this new model here.
The European manufacturing drain continues.
Starting last year, journalists began chronicling the flow of manufacturing from Europe to other parts of the world, especially the United States. That might sound surprising but lately the US has been offering some attractive incentives, particularly for assembling cars. Now it’s come out Volvo is looking at uprooting its manufacturing facilities in Europe, transplanting them here if the EU doesn’t do something in response to its energy crisis, although some are trying to spin this into something happening solely because of new “green” laws here. Bizarre? Yes, but this is the reality we’re living in now.
Find out more here.
Image via Ram
