Today, MasterCraft has announced it is adding CarPlay to some of its upcoming pontoon boats.
For those keeping score:
✅ Most new cars, at all sorts of price points
✅ Boats
❌ Rivian
Category: Cars
The Honda Element Set to Return ⇢
Jack Fitzgerald, with some very exciting news at Car and Driver:
The Honda Element could make a comeback, at least according to a new report by Automotive News. Honda killed the once-popular SUV in 2011 after years of sliding sales, but a resurgence in off-road-capable vehicles and a dearth of affordable models are spurring the boxy Element’s revival.
Car and Driver reached out to Honda for comment, and a spokesperson shared this statement: The Honda Element has maintained a cult following since it was discontinued in 2011, and hopes for its possible return continue to circulate online. We sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm for the Element, but we are not going to engage in speculation about our future product plans.
The Ferrari Luce ⇢
Ferrari has unveiled its new four-door EV, designed by Jony Ive. It’s a quad-motor monster, clocking in at 1,035 horsepower, a mere 757 more than my used Toyota Tacoma.
I like some things about the exterior design, even if the profile has huge Magic Mouse energy. There are little nods to Ferraris past in the design, but there’s no doubt its a big change from its predecessors. Even the interior is wildly new. This car has seen a lot of hate online, but I don’t think it is as bad as most folks do, it seems.
Jony Ive Designed a Car Interior
It’s not every day that supercar news makes it onto the page of tech-centric websites, but the Ferrari Luce has done just that. The upcoming EV has made huge waves due to its interior design:
Of course, this cockpit is designed by Jony Ive and his collaborators at LoveFrom. Here’s how Ferrari describes it:
Ferrari has always been ready to innovate. The Ferrari Luce project with Jony Ive, Marc Newson and LoveFrom began with a mutual interest in learning, in understanding the future – and a deep understanding of and appreciation for Ferrari heritage. This work is motivated by excellence, and by creating something extraordinary.
Ford Has Steered Its Former EV Truck and Plant Plans in to a Ditch
Back in 2021, Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning, an all-electric version of its venerable pickup. A single $100 payment would get your name on the truck’s waiting list, and production was expected to begin in 2022.
Despite being a twice-over Toyota Tacoma fanboy, I was excited about this announcement. The F-150 has been America’s best-selling truck for like 400 years, and making it electric seemed like a great way to get EVs into garages that would otherwise never see one. I even sent Ford $100.
A Modern Back to the Future Truck ⇢
As a huge Back to The Future fan and Toyota truck aficionado, Colin Furze’s new video was aimed squarely at me.
Mr. Musk Goes to Nashville ⇢
Another Elon Musk company is doing things in another Tennessee city, as Hannah McDonald reports:
Aerial footage from Sky 5 shows a freshly dug pit near the base of the State Capitol, a visible sign of progress on The Boring Company’s controversial underground transportation project in Tennessee.
The 10-foot-deep, 20-by-20-foot test pit was dug this week to study the rock beneath downtown. It’s part of the company’s plan to eventually shuttle passengers between the airport and downtown in Teslas through twin tunnels, aiming for a nine-minute trip by 2027.
Slate Auto Unveils Its EV Truck ⇢
There’s a new EV truck on the scene, and it’s not even a pointy stainless steel triangle! Sean O’Kane has details at TechCrunch:
It’s affordable, deeply customizable, and very analog. It has manual windows and it doesn’t come with a main infotainment screen. Heck, it isn’t even painted. It can also transform from a two-seater pickup to a five-seater SUV.
The three-year-old startup revealed its vehicle during an event Thursday night in Long Beach, California, and promised the first trucks would be available to customers for under $20,000 with the federal EV tax credit by the end of 2026.
$130K Electric Escalade IQ Won’t Have CarPlay ⇢
Michael Potuck, writing for 9to5 Mac:
Earlier this year, GM announced that it would be ditching CarPlay and Android Auto for all of its future EVs starting in 2024 in favor of a proprietary system. Now the all-new Cadillac Escalade IQ EV has been unveiled with a massive 55-inch LED display that could offer an amazing CarPlay experience. So will the company’s popular luxury SUV turned EV get an exception? GM says nope.
Umar Shakir at The Verge:
Just Give the People What They Want ⇢
My new truck comes with a range of connected services from Toyota. Of course it has its own mapping and data connection for streaming music, but it comes with a lot more than that. All of that stuff is free for the first year (or longer), but after that, I’ll need to decide if there’s any of it that I want to pay for beyond that.
That’s a problem for future Stephen, but I already find it all a bit annoying. I really just want to use CarPlay 99% of the time. Turns out, I am not alone, as Andrew Hawkins writes:
More on Ford and Tesla ⇢
Tim Stevens, writing on his very excellent Substack:
That’s my favorite joke from my software engineering days, one that I’m sure is older than me by decades and probably predates the invention of digital computers. The sad part is, it’s a joke I’ve been able to use again even long after I left that career behind.
Today, I get to dust it off for the rather disheartening news that Ford is, seemingly, abandoning the single biggest global charging standard for its EVs, the standard that already defeated another major charging standard, the standard that finally, after years of confusion, aligned every major global EV manufacturer — well, except for one.
Ford to Add Support for Tesla Superchargers ⇢
Ford PR has some good news for its customers:
- Starting early next year, Ford EV customers will have access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, in addition to the over 10,000 DC fast-chargers that are already part of the BlueOval Charge Network. This will give Ford EV customers unprecedented access to fast-charging.
- Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit customers will be able to access the Superchargers via an adapter and software integration along with activation and payment via FordPass or Ford Pro Intelligence.
- In 2025, Ford will offer next-generation electric vehicles with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector built-in, eliminating the need for an adapter to access Tesla Superchargers.
- The reliable Tesla Supercharger network has already established charging corridors across the U.S. and Canada.
I’ll leave the merits of the NACS connector to others, but from a consumer stand point, this seems like great news.1 Tesla has a ton of chargers, and with Ford continuing to build out their own network, drivers will have even more locations where they can charge quickly.