Editorial archive

July 2013

Winners announced in the 2013 Concept Vehicle of the Year award

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(July 4, 2013) CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The winners of the 12th annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards have been announced. The awards recognize those vehicles most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry.

Winners in three categories were the BMW i8, the Ford Atlas and the Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis (pictured below).

Kelley Blue Book highlights Fourth of July new-car deals

(July 3, 2013) IRVINE, Calif. — Holidays are historically an ideal time for new-car shopping, and the experts from Kelley Blue Book have identified great financing, cash incentive and lease deals available nationwide from a variety of auto manufacturers over the upcoming long Fourth of July weekend.

Industry new-car transaction prices up nearly 1 percent from last year

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(July 2, 2013) IRVINE, Calif. — The estimated average transaction price for light vehicles in the United States was $31,663 in May 2013, up $370 (1.2 percent) from last month and up $269 (0.9 percent) year-over-year, according to Kelley Blue Book kbb.com.

Japanese brands top Edmunds's 4th of July list of top 'American' cars

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(July 2, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Patriotic shoppers looking to buy American-made cars over the 4th of July holiday might be surprised to learn that Japanese brands Toyota and Honda produce some of the "most American" vehicles on the market.

In fact, says Edmunds.com the "most American" vehicle in four of eight vehicle segments is made by one of the two Japanese brands.

Car insurance premiums can double with a teenage driver

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(July 1, 2013) SAN FRANCISCO — Nationally, a married couple pays an average of 84 percent more for car insurance after adding a teenage driver to their policy, according to a new report from InsuranceQuotes.com. Male teenagers cause significantly higher increases than females (96 percent versus 72 percent, on average).

Ford's newest sport truck didn't start out that way

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By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(July 1, 2013) We’ll call the engineer in the front passenger’s seat “Steve.” We’re at Ford’s Dearborn test track about to take an F-150 over the short off-road course that’s been set up. It’s not the Rubicon, but it’s enough to show what this truck can do. It’s when the ride comes to an end that Steve drops a bomb. “The F-150 Tremor didn’t start out as a sport truck. I was looking for better fuel economy.”