The latest in auto news
In this week’s news roundup, Hyundai prices the all-new Elantra, Ford lets you build your Bronco, Nissan adds more Safety Shield 360, there’s a refreshed small Genesis, and GM’s Cruise is ready to go driver-free with its autonomous vehicle testing.
Hyundai has already shown the all-new Elantra sedan, and now, as the sharply-styled and surprisingly well-equipped model nears dealership arrival, the automaker has revealed the pricing for the new car too. And while this is all-new inside and out, the price is nearly the same starting from $17,899. An increase of less than $1,000. Equipment that’s new to the Elantra for 2021 includes available ventilated front seats, a class exclusive feature. It also adds wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Hyundai’s rear-seat occupant alert, and Safe Exit Warning, which works to stop you from opening your door into a passing car or cyclist. Highway Driving Assist keeps you centered in-lane and keeps your speed and distance from other traffic, and now will slow down automatically for tighter highway curves.
A first-ever hybrid model, expected to manage 4.7 L/100 km combined will start from $24,699, while the turbocharged, 201 hp Elantra N Line is another new addition to the lineup that like the outgoing Elantra Sport adds performance suspension tuning, interior tweaks, and exterior styling changes.
If you’ve been eagerly awaiting Ford’s Bronco and Bronco Sport crossovers, you can now get a better look at exactly how you’d configure your dream model, letting you pick options, trims, colours, and everything else including some of the planned extensive line of accessories. The Build and Price feature for both is now live on the Ford Canada website, with all the options and trims added in. Bronco Sport pricing will range from $32,199 for the Base through $40,199 for Badlands, while the larger Bronco SUV starts from $40,999 for a base two-door, and runs through $59,994 for a four-door Wildlands before options. Ford has also just revealed a new concept with outdoor outfitters Filson to benefit the US National Forest Foundation. While the accessories aren’t likely to see production, the Forest Service Green paint job is one we wish Ford had on the options list.
Nissan is expanding availability of its Safety Shield 360 suite of advanced driver assistance features and it will be standard on 11 models for 2021. The six main features of the suite are forward collision detection with automatic braking and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, automatic high beams, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, and rear automatic braking, and these are already included on Sentra, Leaf, Maxima, Qashqai, and Titan. For 2021, the features will be added to Kicks, Rogue, Pathfinder, Armada, Murano, and Altima. While some of those vehicles offer the features already on certain trims, or certain options on certain models, the 2021 change will make it much easier for buyers. They all get all of them.
Genesis has revealed a refreshed version of its compact luxury sedan, the G70. That starts with the new Genesis corporate nose: a larger grille flanked by quad bar driving lights up front and matching taillights in the rear. Genesis calls it their “athletic elegance” design philosophy. On the inside is a new 10.25-inch touchscreen moved to be easier to reach. It has a new Genesis-specific interface and there is a new and larger instrument cluster to be easier to read. Engines are carryover from last year, a 2.0L turbo-four and a 3.3L twin-turbo V6, both with standard all-wheel drive. New for 2021, the V6 gets a new variable exhaust valve system for more tailpipe noise, and the new Dynamic AWD system comes with a built-in drift mode.
Lastly, General Motors autonomous driving arm Cruise has announced that it will be testing its autonomous vehicles without a safety driver behind the wheel. The company said last week that it had a permit from the California DMV to remove the backup driver, adding that it was not the first to get such a permit, but the first to put it to use on the streets of a major US city. It’s a big step toward the driverless car, and Cruise says that they will have driver-free electric vehicles on the road in San Francisco by end of year. The tech company has also filed for an exemption that would let them build the Origin autonomous EV without any driver controls.