The UAZ Hunter SUVs have begun to be equipped with ZMZ Pro (ZMZ-409051) engines, which were previously only available on the older Patriot, Pickup and Profi models. In recent years, Hunters have only been equipped with simpler ZMZ-40911 engines with a capacity of 112 hp (torque 198 Nm), while the new engine, with the same 2.7 liter capacity, produces 150 hp and 235 Nm, plus it meets Euro-5 emission standards. Surprisingly, the performance characteristics declared by the plant have not changed with the engine change: for example, the maximum speed is the same 130 km/h as before. The surcharge for a powerful engine is 20 thousand rubles: the basic Hunter now costs 1.53 million rubles, and the expedition version (in the photo) – 1.84 million.
A farewell special version of the Suzuki Jimny SUV has been prepared for the Italian market. It is called Jimny Mata and differs from the “pan-European” version of the Jimny Horizon, which was shown in the summer. Its features include a two-tone matte body paint, a different radiator grille, silver trim on the bumpers and sills. 150 SUVs in the Mata version will be produced, and this will be the last batch of gasoline Jimny in Italy. However, Jimny may return as soon as it gets a hybrid version.
Ford Announces Suspension of Electric Pickup Truck Production F-150 Lightning. The separate Rouge Electric Vehicle Center plant in Michigan will be idle from November 15 to January 6, 2025, that is, almost two months! The reasons were weak demand for electric pickups and overstocking of warehouses. In the first nine months of this year, only 22,807 F-150 Lightning pickups were sold in the United States. And although almost twice as many as in the same period of 2023, Ford's expectations were much higher. Moreover, the F-series family has remained an absolute bestseller on the US market for many years: over 550 thousand cars were sold in the same nine months.
A video taken by the on-board camera of a Tesla electric car has appeared online., who hit a deer on the road. It is reported that the car was moving at high speed under the control of the FSD (Full Self-Driving) autopilot and the electronics completely ignored the animal on the road. Even after the collision, Tesla continued moving with a broken front end. Experts explain this behavior of FSD by the lack of radars and lidars in the arsenal, Tesla's autopilot relies only on images from cameras, and this was a fundamental decision by Elon Musk's team.
Before the start of production of electric vehicles ScoutThere are still three years left, but the American dealers of the parent brand Volkswagen and their association have already filed a lawsuit against the newly formed company Scout. They have already threatened to sue Scout, and now they have moved from words to deeds. Dealers are not happy that the Scout brand intends to work according to the Tesla scheme and sell cars directly to customers, bypassing traditional car dealerships. Incidentally, Tesla itself also faced similar threats at one time, but managed to wriggle out of it, since it had never worked with dealers before and was not part of the association of automakers. Scout probably won't be able to do that, since it has the long-standing Volkswagen Group behind it.
Geely Okavango crossover trim levels have been revisedfor the Russian market. There are still two of them, but the basic Luxury is supplemented with electric heating of the entire surface of the windshield (previously only the resting zone of the windshield wipers was heated). The top version of Flagship acquired a set of modern safety systems, including automatic high beam control and adaptive cruise control. Prices, of course, have increased. The Luxury version has gone up in price from 3.45 million to 3.53 million rubles, and the Flagship will set you back 3.8 million rubles instead of the previous 3.6 million rubles.
The Nizhny Novgorod company Promtech, known for producing add-ons for commercial vehicles and cargo versions of Lada cars, has shown its new products – frame pickups and trucks under the new brand Kapitan. These are renamed Chinese Huanghai N2 cars, the assembly of which is to begin in Nizhny Novgorod from imported vehicle kits. The captains are equipped with a 2.5 turbodiesel (129 hp) and a six-speed manual transmission. Prices and production start dates are still unclear. Interestingly, almost twenty years ago, the Russian Derways plant already tried to produce Huanghai frame SUVs and pickups under its own brand, but the project failed.
Today we also talked about experimental Toyota SUVs, the anniversary BMW X5, the Tumlber Batmobile, and China's response to European duties.