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Avenir combines options buyers pick piecemeal into one big package.(Photo: Vanderkaay) Buick is doing most things right these days. It is quietly but prolifically making not-ugly SUVs that come with the trappings of luxury but maintain a slender waistline when it comes to pricing. Where General Motors Co.’s Cadillac brand has been very vocal about its moves in the worlds of fashion and art, and its attempt to court downtown…

On any given day, Alphabet’s Waymo runs its driverless minivans through dozens of staged situations on an old Air Force base in Atwater, Calif., more than 100 miles outside the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The company is preparing its cars for the real world. So, a man might jump into the lane, a cyclist might pop a wheelie, a human driver might cut the robot car off. The car figures…

Beautiful cars matter. Weird and wild ones do too. The iconic and the ironic, the outrageous and the fabulous—bring ’em all on. The world needs more interesting cars. I once got out of a Maserati GranTurismo S, a gorgeous sheath of metal from 2008, and an older gentleman hissed at me, “Show off.” He then got into a silver Lexus LS 600h, a luxury sedan that was emblematic of the…

Hyundai Motor Co. has recruited another BMW engineer, this time to lead vehicle architecture development at the Genesis luxury brand as the upstart marque begins to expand its lineup and target international rivals from Germany. Fayez Abdul Rahman was appointed vice president of Genesis architecture development to set vehicle specifications on everything from electronic systems to user experience from the early stages of product planning, the company said…

Ford Automakers will report October US sales on Wednesday. The monthly sales pace is expected to be better than last year’s final record total of 17.55 million. Profitable pickups and SUVs continue to drive the market. This was supposed to be the year that the US auto sales boom finally ran out of gas. After consecutive record-breaking years, with 17.5 million vehicles sold in 2015 and 17.55 million in 2016,…

On any given day, Alphabet’s Waymo runs its driverless minivans through dozens of staged situations on an old Air Force base in Atwater, Calif., more than 100 miles outside the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The company is preparing its cars for the real world. So, a man might jump into the lane, a cyclist might pop a wheelie, a human driver might cut the robot car off. The car figures…

On any given day, Alphabet’s Waymo runs its driverless minivans through dozens of staged situations on an old Air Force base in Atwater, Calif., more than 100 miles outside the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The company is preparing its cars for the real world. So, a man might jump into the lane, a cyclist might pop a wheelie, a human driver might cut the robot car off. The car figures…

The BMW M3 first made its way to America in 1987, and since then it’s terrorized both the street and race tracks. To celebrate the model’s 30th anniversary in the US, BMW has built a special one-of-a-kind M3 30 Years American Edition, which makes its world debut at SEMA in Las Vegas. A 2018 M3 equipped with a six-speed manual transmission and competition package serves as the foundation for the…

On any given day, Alphabet’s Waymo runs its driverless minivans through dozens of staged situations on an old Air Force base in Atwater, Calif., more than 100 miles outside the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The company is preparing its cars for the real world. So, a man might jump into the lane, a cyclist might pop a wheelie, a human driver might cut the robot car off. The car figures…

Every morning, as the sun rises over the Great Lakes, dozens of 18-wheelers queue up on both sides of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Over the course of the day, hundreds more will pay their tolls, cross the 90-year-old span and clear Customs, the majority of them carrying automotive parts and accessories, as well as fully assembled vehicles. The scene repeats itself at a number of other…

Aston Martin The V8-powered Aston Martin DB11 starts at $198,995. Aston Martin’s Second Century plan – an ambitious undertaking that will see the bespoke British automaker build seven new models in seven years – kicked off last year with the V12-powered DB11 coupe, the first new Aston Martin introduced in a decade. The company is now launching a second version of the DB11, this one powered by a Mercedes-AMG-developed, 4.0-liter…

reader comments 40 Waymo has long had a sizable lead in self-driving technology, and recent reports indicate that Larry Page, CEO of Waymo parent company Alphabet, is determined not to let it slip away. According to The Information’s Amir Efrati, Waymo CEO John Krafcik is under pressure to launch a commercial service in the Phoenix metro area as soon as this fall. But at a Monday event with reporters at Waymo’s Castle…

Life is a complex problem. Consider the simple act of moving from point A to point B. Solving for that equation requires synthesizing numerous variables, like speed and obstacles. What if you make it more complicated? Like putting an unpredictable human in charge of a one-ton vehicle traveling at ever-changing speeds. Throw in some jaywalking pedestrians, rule-bending cyclists, and, the most erratic variable of all—other drivers. Drivers who are potentially…

General Motors and some of its competitors are keeping an eye on an oversupply of unsold inventory – especially cars, since U.S. consumers have turned so sharply to trucks. “The actions we’ve taken will allow us to end the year with dealer inventory down compared to the end of 2016,” said GM CFO Chuck Stevens, in a conference call last week. Those actions include periods of downtime at selected plants….

<!– –> VISIT CNBC.COM Home Entrepreneurs Leadership Careers Money Specials PRIMETIME Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs 48 Mins AgoCNBC.com You can own the same BMW Z8 convertible the late, iconic entrepreneur and Apple CEO Steve Jobs owned. It will come at a price, though. Jobs’ wheels are expected to go for between $300,000 and $400,000. The BMW will go up for auction on Dec. 6 in New York City. The sale will be…

Toyota is very invested in love. The automaker has a central philosophy of making vehicles that inspire ‘Aisha,’ a concept that literally means “beloved car” in Japanese. But the nature of ‘Aisha’ is changing, necessarily, just at the nature of automobiles themselves are fundamentally changing as we usher in automated and semi-autonomous driving. The key to making ‘Aisha’ work in this new era, Toyota believes, lies in using artificial intelligence…

Toyota is very invested in love. The automaker has a central philosophy of making vehicles that inspire ‘Aisha,’ a concept that literally means “beloved car” in Japanese. But the nature of ‘Aisha’ is changing, necessarily, just at the nature of automobiles themselves are fundamentally changing as we usher in automated and semi-autonomous driving. The key to making ‘Aisha’ work in this new era, Toyota believes, lies in using artificial intelligence…

October auto sales are expected to be down a couple of percentage points from October 2016. That’s in line with U.S. auto sales so far this year. Year to date through September, U.S. auto sales were about 12.9 million, down 1.8 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Autodata Corporation, based in Mahwah, N.J. According to a forecast developed jointly by J.D. Power and LMC Automotive, October…

Photo by Peter Lyon. The Honda EV Sports concept injects some style back the carmaker’s lineup. The Toyota Motor Show is known in international circles as a show that introduces new technologies, the odd sports car and wacky, offbeat anime-inspired concept cars. In fact, some of my overseas colleagues come to Tokyo just to see those manga-like concept cars. As is happening at every other motor show so far this…

Self-driving cars are no longer confined to controlled test tracks or even to placid suburban streets—they’re tackling real traffic in US cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. They’re honing their skills amidst humans in Europe, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan. They’re preparing for the day they can purify our chaotic streets with their robotic perfection. Learning how to drive in places like unruly Boston, a land of…