Production on the Chevrolet Volt will cease for four weeks in the early summer, as General Motors deals with slow sales of the existing model and prepares to transition to the next iteration of Chevy’s relatively popular hybrid.

According to GM, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that hosts manufacture of five models, including the Volt, will most likely be open in the summer, even with production halting in June and July for four weeks.  This facility is also prepping for the manufacture of Cadillac’s new flagship car, the CT6, aside from the 2016 Chevy Volt.

Though the Volt has been quite well-loved in the green car market, cheap gasoline prices have taken their toll on electric and hybrid car sales.  Gas prices are now at $2.40 per gallon as of today, down 35 percent from the 2014 high of $3.70.  Volt sales have suffered accordingly, as Chevrolet has sold just 1,874 Volts, a 48 percent decrease from March 2014’s year-to-date tally.  Right now, dealers have supply of Volts for 210 days, which is far more than the 60-day supply considered ideal in the automotive market.

Pricing on the Chevrolet Volt is at $34,170, excluding a government credit of $7,500.  Mileage figures are at 38 miles per charge on battery power alone.  As for the new Volt, reports suggest this figure will go up to about 50 mpg, while the car’s design may undergo a sportier transformation, with additional room inside the vehicle for occupants.  On a similar note, Chevy also has a second green car, the all-electric Bolt, which is set to arrive for the 2017 model year with an electric range of 200 miles.

After close to five years of disappointing sales, the Honda Crosstour will be discontinued, as the automaker also announced several major changes that would allow for more efficiency in its North American plants.

The Crosstour’s troubles arguably stem from its being a “tweener” – not quite crossover, not quite conventional car, not quite a station wagon.  And in 2014, the vehicle sold only 11,800 units, a 30 percent drop-off from 2013’s sales figures.  However, it wasn’t just the Crosstour that got discontinued among these types of vehicles, as Toyota previously killed off the Venza due to similar reasons – poor sales figures.

“The Crosstour was always a bit of an oddball that fit somewhere in between a number of niche categories,” opined Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Alec Gutierrez, stressing that the vehicle was indeed hard to categorize. “While well-intended, it missed the mark for most consumers, so it is no surprise to see Honda parting ways with its CUV/Wagon/Accord-based offering.”

With the Crosstour’s eventual demise, that allows Honda to free up manufacturing capacity for some of its other vehicles, including the Ridgeline pickup, the Pilot utility vehicle, and the Odyssey minivan.  A new CR-V compact crossover may also benefit from this, same with the 2016 HR-V subcompact crossover.  According to American Honda Motor EVP John Mendel, the move allows for the “fortification of (Honda’s) light truck lineup.”

It’s been six years since the Ford Taurus last got a significant refresh, and with other carmakers with full-size sedans catching up and showing off their new iterations, it looks like Ford does have some plans to refresh the Taurus.

According to Ford, it will be unveiling the new Taurus at the Shanghai Auto Show, which runs from April 20 through 29, 2015.  The timing of the reveal is significant, as the Taurus is one of several vehicles Ford plans to market mainly to Chinese consumers by the end of 2015, as it continues its push in one of the more interesting and lucrative foreign markets.  The last time the Ford Taurus got refreshed was in 2013, though the current generation made its debut for the 2010 model year.  The current Taurus is offered with a 3.5-liter V6 engine that makes 288 horsepower as the base engine, with a 240-horsepower turbo four and a 365-horsepower 3.5-liter SHO V6 as optional.

The new Taurus hopes to continue Ford’s success in the full-size segment, and will be competing against the Nissan Maxima and Hyundai Azera.  But while Ford has done well against most of the Asian competition, it still lags behind the Chevrolet Impala and the Toyota Avalon.

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler announced Tuesday that it will continue its partnership with Nissan as the two companies work on a midsize, Mercedes-branded pickup truck.

According to a statement jointly prepared by the two automakers, the Mercedes pickup will be marketed to commercial customers and regular consumers, and will partly be based on the new Nissan NP300.  This joint endeavor, said Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, would be instrumental as the German company hopes to make further inroads in the international market.  “Entering the rapidly growing segment of midsize pickups is an important step in continuing our global growth path,” he said.  “Thanks to our well-established partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, we are able to drastically reduce the time and cost to enter this key segment.”

Reports of a midsized Mercedes pickup had started circulating late in March, as the company was said to be releasing this pickup for customers outside of North America.  The truck will be manufactured by Nissan in the Japanese company’s Cordoba, Argentina facility for the Latin American market, and will also be built in Nissan’s Barcelona plant for other markets outside of North America; also to be manufactured in the aforementioned plants are the NP300 and a Renault truck.

c/o Autoblog

Speaking to Autoblog, General Motors product head Mark Reuss had some interesting thoughts on the 2016 Cadillac CT6, which we saw debut last week at the New York Auto Show.  And since many were wondering if the CT6 will be offered as a hybrid, it sure does look that way, if Reuss’ comments are any suggestion.

“We’ve really got to wait until we finish rounding out the portfolio,” said Reuss. “The Shanghai show is where you should look for all of it. So stay tuned.”  Cadillac itself tried to play it coy, though a spokesman told Autoblog that the automaker “will add variants.”  Confirmed at New York were two V6 engine options and a turbo four, and aside from the possible addition of a hybrid for the Shanghai auto show, Reuss also teased the possibility of a high-performance V-Series CT6.  For now, however, Cadillac wants to prioritize the release of the four-cylinder CT6 and the two V6-powered variants.

“The architecture is certainly capable of doing it,” Reuss added. “The question is who’s going to buy the CT6? What kind of person? And do we need a V-Series off of that is the question we haven’t answered yet. It’s certainly capable of doing it … we’ve certainly thought about it.”

It was actually two weeks back when the first reports regarding the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu’s Teen Driver feature emerged.  But now we’re here to remind you of that feature once again, as the new Malibu made its debut at this week’s New York International Auto Show with Teen Drive highlighted as a main selling point.

Teen Drive is, to summarize it in a few words, an automotive version of those “net nanny” programs that shield young users from age-inappropriate material, or police their hours of Internet usage.  This time around, the Malibu’s Teen Drive feature is there not only to track a teenage driver’s habits on the road.  It will also tell on their parents if a teen has been driving irresponsibly or recklessly, and while we can’t deny the safety advantages of such a feature, it’s safe to say a lot of 2016 Malibu owners will be grounding their kids if they decide to drive like the average teen.

Parents can make use of the feature by programming one of the Malibu’s key fobs so that it’s designated as the teen’s key.  As the teen drives, the 2016 Malibu will pick up all sorts of driving data, and when they return back home, that’s when parents can review the information Teen Drive had collected.  This info includes maximum speed, distance driven, and even the number of times the teen had activated safety features.  In addition, Teen Drive lets parents set a maximum volume on the car stereo, and will prevent the stereo from turning on (if the teen is driving) if the front seatbelts aren’t placed properly.

Despite all the hype surrounding Teen Drive, the 2016 Malibu isn’t the only car to come with such a feature.  Ford’s MyKey device, for instance, limits certain features when a teen is driving with a designated key.  It doesn’t, however, provide blow-by-blow details on the teen’s driving like the Malibu does.

Tesla had a very productive first quarter of the calendar year, as the automaker announced Friday that it delivered a record 10,030 vehicles between January and March 2015, marking a quarterly record and a 55 percent year-over-year increase over Q1 2014’s deliveries.

This also made it the first time Tesla announced delivery figures within three days of the previous quarter’s end, and the company plans to continue doing things this way going forward.  “We have decided to take this approach, because inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries,” said Tesla in a statement.  Typically, automakers announce vehicle sales per month, as opposed to quarterly.

Analysts were mostly pleased with Tesla’s move toward greater transparency, as its previous figures tended to be as inconsistent as the company’s practices were different from those of other auto manufacturers.  “They try so hard to practice different norms than the rest of the auto industry,” said Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell. “I think it’s one sign, at least, of conforming.”  She added that prior to this new announcement, getting numbers from the Department of Motor Vehicles was the most accurate way of doing so.

Other analysts pointed out that Tesla’s record quarter, while impressive by company standards, won’t be enough to achieve CEO Elon Musk’s goal of 55,000 deliveries this year if figures were annualized.  “He still needs to get the rate of production and sales improved to a pretty good chunk between now and the end of the year,” said Kelley Blue Book’s Karl Brauer.

As of now, Tesla is selling only one vehicle, the Model S electric sedan that recently got the much-vaunted “range anxiety” update.  The Model X crossover, on the other hand, is due for a summer release.

The 2016 Hyundai Tucson is nothing new if you’ve been paying attention to international auto shows, as it was first unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show.  U.S. customers, however, got their first glimpse at the U.S.-spec 2016 Tucson this week, as Hyundai unveiled the new crossover at the ongoing New York International Auto Show.

The new Tucson does come with its share of design changes and additional features, but Hyundai is trying to sell it mainly through its 1.6-liter turbo four engine that produces 175 horsepower and 195 lb/ft. of torque and is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.  Available trims include Eco, Sport, and Limited, while fuel economy, per Hyundai, is estimated at 25 mpg city and 30 mpg highway with front wheel drive on the Sport and Limited trims.  Optional all-wheel drive carries EPA estimates of 24 mpg city and 28 mpg highway.  It’s the Eco trim, however, that has the best mileage, at 26/33 mpg for front-drive and 25/30 mpg for all-wheel drive.

Regarding the option (Tucson SE) with 2.0-liter naturally-aspirated I4 engine, that version makes 164 horsepower and 151 lb/ft.  Fuel economy is estimated by the EPA at 23 mpg city and 31 mpg highway for the front-drive configuration and 22 mpg city and 26 mpg highway for AWD.

As we said earlier, the new Hyundai Tucson has a new look for the 2016 model year, with a larger grille, wider headlights, and more sculpted fenders on the sides.  The Limited trim has its own unique design elements, namely full LED headlights.  The inside of the 2016 Tucson has a stitched dashboard and infotainment system with 8-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth support, and a rearview camera.  Safety features include a blind spot monitor, automatic emergency braking, and Lane Change Assist.

c/o CNET

Honda wasn’t expected to be launching a new 2016 Civic at the New York International Auto Show, and it didn’t.  But it still unveiled a concept version of the upcoming Civic, and by all indications, it should be a sportier compact than what we are used to.

The 2016 Honda Civic, according to Honda U.S. EVP for sales John Mendel, will be offered in sedan, coupe, and hatchback form.  And with younger consumers favoring other cars, including others in the compact class, the concept hints at Honda’s attempts to recapture this part of the market, following an uninspiring 2014 where Honda sold only 325,981 Civics in America, down 3 percent year-over-year.

“I don’t think we were as sporty in this last generation as we once were,” Mendel remarked, talking about Honda losing its grip on younger buyers. “I still think we have a strong focus on performance and dynamics across our lineup. But what the market is telling us is, particularly millennials and gen Y, is that they want dynamics. They want sporty.”

The Civic concept comes with more youthful, aggressive styling, as opposed to the outgoing Civic, which looks a bit too conservative for the Generation Y and Millennial demographic Mendel was referring to.  Mendel added that the concept represents a “dramatic departure,” and an attempt on Honda’s part to “up the ante” in the compact class.  And while details on the car’s technical specifications is limited, Mendel confirmed that the Civic will be powered by a VTEC turbo four once the 2016 model launches.