By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(April 7, 2018) Perhaps the biggest hurdles facing the Kia K900 (other than the name) is that — like Hyundai — the brand is best known for mainstream cars from South Korea, and — unlike Hyundai, but only recently — there’s no upmarket brand under whose name and in whose equally upscale dealerships its offerings can be sold.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(April 5, 2018) Unlike the Atlas itself, Volkswagen's latest concept could not evade the company’s SUV naming convention, earning a model name — Tanoak — that begins with the 20th letter of the alphabet. Unlike the Tiguan, however, whose name is a combination of “Tiger” and “Iguana,” the Atlas Tanoak pickup concept’s secondary name comes from a type of evergreen that belongs to the beech family, but is considered an evolutionary link between oaks and chestnuts. The Tanoak was unveiled at the New York auto show.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(April 2, 2018) The return of the Aviator name to the Lincoln stable isn’t the big news. That is reserved for the new rear-drive/all-wheel drive platform (a.k.a. D6 inside Ford) that it will share with the next-generation Ford Explorer. The Aviator will stand beside the Navigator at the top of the Lincoln lineup, with the transverse-engine Nautilus and MKC acting as the entry-level and mid-level crossovers.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(April 1, 2018) The previous generation of the Toyota Corolla Hatchback was called the Scion iM, then Toyota Corolla iM. It was based on the European market Toyota Auris, which itself was based on the Toyota Avensis platform. For 2019, it gets a full name, Corolla Hatchback, and moves to Toyota’s modular TNGA platform.

(March 31, 2018) NEW YORK — Genesis unveiled its groundbreaking Essentia Concept at the New York International Auto Show this week. The all-electric, high-performance concept elevates and reimagines the “Athletic Elegance” design paradigm, while providing a vision of future Genesis product performance and technology.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 26, 2018) Pirelli calls it “Cyber Car,” a technology that enables a vehicle’s tires to gather information and transmit the data to the on-board computers, particularly the driver assistance systems. The first applications of this technology will be on sale in OEM vehicles by the end of the year.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 25, 2018) Unfortunately buyers in the U.S. can’t buy the latest Fiesta. Which means the Fiesta ST, one of the most fun-loving Ford cars ever made, goes away as well. So what are we missing? As it turns out, a lot.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 19, 2018) The 2020 Bronco will be based on the Ranger, offered with two or four doors, have Jeep-like capability, and the option of hybrid power.The most important thing Ford announced at its March 15 press event is that it will have the “freshest” lineup of any full-line (car and light truck) automaker by 2020; reducing the average age of its vehicles in its showrooms from 5.7 to 3.3 years as it replaces three-quarters of its lineup and adds four new trucks and SUVs.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 13 2018) The first thing you notice about the 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS is the way that it looks. This wide-body racer shares the 911 GT3’s polyurethane front and rear fascias, and the 911 GT2 RS’s front trunk NACA ducts that optimize brake cooling.

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(March 10, 2018) Jaguar pulled the covers off its I-Pace electric SUV one week before its world debut at Geneva, and the production car is quite close to the concept vehicle introduced in November 2016. At that time, Jaguar talked of 400 hp and 516 lb.-ft. of torque, a dynamic front:rear torque split, torque vectoring, 0-60 mph in about four seconds, and a conservative range estimate of 220 miles.