AD #2320 – Toyota Introduces New RAV4, Waymo Places Big Jaguar Order, Audi Expands RS Lineup

On today’s show…Waymo is going to turn Jaguar I-Paces into autonomous cars…Toyota starts selling fuel cell buses in Japan…and we’ve got a ton of new reveals from the New York Auto Show to show you. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

MEET THE LINCOLN AVIATOR
The New York Auto Show is in full swing and we have a slew of shiny, new models to show you. Lincoln continues to slap its new front end design on every new model and drop the MK-whatever jumble of names it was using. Meet the Aviator, which is Lincoln’s version of the Ford Explorer. It’s still a year away from production, so Lincoln is not giving out many details, except to mention that the powertrain will feature a twin turbo engine, probably a V6, and there will be a plug-in hybrid version.

CADILLAC REVEALS THE XT4
Meanwhile, Cadillac is sticking with its letters and numbers names. Here’s the XT4, its smallest crossover yet. And it’s the first Cadillac to introduce its new lineup of trim levels. The base model is called Luxury, followed by what they call Premium Luxury and then a Sport model. That’s it, three trim levels. Interestingly, it will only be available with a turbo-4, mated to a 9-speed automatic. It starts at just under $36,000, and customer’s car pre-order it right now.

VW UNVEILS ATLAS CROSS CONCEPT
Volkswagen showed off this five-passenger version of the Atlas called the Atlas Cross Concept. It’s 7.5 inches shorter than the regular Atlas but it still has the same wheelbase. It’s equipped with a plug-in hybrid system, that uses the same 3.6L V6 in the Atlas, along with two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery. It has an estimated all-electric range of 26 miles and cranks out 355 horsepower. A mild hybrid version combines the same engine and electric motors but uses a smaller battery. The production version will be built at the company’s Tennessee plant starting next year.

Audi and Toyota also unveiled brand new models in New York and we’ll show them to you right after this.

AUDI EXPANDS RS LINEUP
Audi’s performance family of RS vehicles just got a little bigger. The RS 5 Sportback joins the stable with a 444-horsepower twin-turbo 2.9L V6 engine mated to quattro all-wheel drive. The turbos are mounted in the “V” of the engine, which improves responsiveness and helps propel the RS 5 Sportback from 0 to 60 miles-per-hour in under 4-seconds. Other highlights include standard RS sport suspension, Audi’s Virtual Cockpit and a number of driver assist systems. The all-new RS 5 Sportback goes on sale in the second half of this year.

TOYOTA INTRODUCES NEW RAV4
And with the introduction of Toyota’s all-new RAV4 comes much more rugged styling. The front end has taken on a number of design cues from the Tacoma pickup, while the sides feature more squared-off wheel arches and at the rear you’ll notice a shark fin C-pillar with sharp-line taillights that wrap around the side. A 2.5L 4-cylinder engine can be found under the hood for both gasoline and hybrid models. Gas models get mated to an 8-speed auto, while hybrids get a CVT. There are 3 all-wheel drive systems to choose from, which gives the RAV4 a little more off-road prowess. Moving to the interior, a large touchscreen is mounted high on the dash, which features Toyota’s Entune 3.0 audio system with the controls mounted below the screen. The gas models go on sale late this year, with the hybrids to follow early in 2019.

WAYMO PLACES BIG JAGUAR ORDER
In late January, Waymo signed up for thousands of hybrid Chrysler Pacifica’s to expand its autonomous ride-hailing fleet and now it just announced a big order from Jaguar. Waymo will buy 20,000 electric I-Paces from Jaguar over the next two years and turn them into Level 4 autonomous vehicles. They will go into service this year as Waymo expands its ride sharing service to more cities across the United States.

Don’t forget to join us for Autoline After Hours tomorrow afternoon, live at 3 pm eastern time. Join John and Gary for a behind-the-scenes look at what’s really going on in the automotive industry.

Despite all the investment going into batteries for electric cars, automakers have not given up on fuel cells. We’ll show you the latest coming up next.

TOYOTA BEGINS SELLING FUEL CELL BUS
While most automakers are investing heavily in battery electrics, Toyota is still bullish on fuel cell technology. It just started selling a fuel cell bus in Japan called the Sora. It’s an acronym for Sky Ocean River Air, which is meant to represent the earth’s water cycle. The bus is powered by a modified version of the fuel cell system used in the Mirai. Toyota expects 100 buses to be in operation by 2020, mainly in and around Tokyo.

HYUNDAI INTRODUCES NEXO IN KOREA
Hyundai keeps pushing development of fuel cells, too. It just introduced the NEXO in Korea. It did not release many details of the hydrogen-fueled crossover, except to say that in South Korea the price ranges from $64,000 to $67,000. But with subsidies from the central and local governments the price drops to about $32,000. It also comes with a 10-year 100,000-mile warranty. Hyundai will begin exporting the NEXO to other markets in the near future.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.