They say it's a limited edition, but the real question is "could they build more if they had to?" Everybody but Tesla is struggling to procure enough batteries for their EVs, so they release low-volume halo models (Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes), or sub-compacts with a relatively short range (dozens of Chinese manufacturers, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Smart, GM, BMW). 6,000 units may seem substantial, but Tesla builds more than that every week. It seems obvious now that you can't build EVs without batteries. The problem is, the only way to get batteries today is to invest in battery manufacturing 6 or 7 years ago.

I guess this means that there's very little value in lease-return i3's. Probably because it has a tiny range. That's too bad, the i3 is BMW's only interesting/innovative design of the past decade. They should refurbish them using modern batteries. The carbon fiber structure is probably as good as new, so it's a shame to send these cars to the crusher because of an obsolete (but replaceable) battery.

I suspect that Toyota hasn't yet figured-out how to make/buy enough batteries for a full EV. That's where Tesla has a real market advantage. I'll repeat what I said about the last new Prius, and the one before that: there's barely any gains left to be made with hybrid technology. Fuel consumption is more-or-less the same as it was 15 years ago. I know that a lot of people here love to speculate that the next Prius will get "100mpg", but they are in the 50-60 range, just like every Prius since the second generation.

E-P, FYI, the problem is not "while the storage tank is being filled and air is being pushed out." In most jurisdictions, the air that is pushed-out is sent to the tanker to replace the equal volume of fuel that is pushed-in.

E-P, I think you are confusing the marketing with real life. It says Jeep on the front, but this is their small urban crossover. The target markets are families, and empty-nesters who can't get into low cars anymore. These people appreciate the space efficiency of the wagon shape. They will not be crossing the Darién Gap. As far as fuel efficiency is concerned, it's not much different from competing choices, which is to say that it is much better than almost anything available 20 years ago.

What is the real-world range if it spends all day parked with the air conditioning on?

One important question is "how many can they make?" It looks like Tesla is the only company that can produce 100,000+ battery packs per year. All the other electrics are limited to 10 or 20% of that volume. In a way, Tesla has no "real" competition yet. A 700kg, 2.28 meter battery pack... wow! No wonder they released a giant SUV, that monster pack won't fit in anything else.

Not sure it's a long-term trend. Add 8 years to the bump in the 2009 data and you get a corresponding bump in 2017. The years before the 2009 recession were characterized by easy credit, which fueled car sales. What the graph shows is that many of those cars are still on the road (and presumably paid-off!). There's a dip in the 2017 chart (around 5-8 years) that corresponds to the 2009+ sales collapse. Makes perfect sense: there aren't as many 2009-2012 cars on the road, because fewer were made/sold in the first place.

It's actually funny that the "Tesla-beater" Bolt sells as much in a quarter as the Model 3 does in a week. I wonder how many of those sales are made to people who don't want to wait for the Model 3 backlog to be filled.

The pipeline isn't for American pickups, it's for China and the rest of Asia.

What about recycling. Steel and Al are easy to recycle, but composites usually aren't.

E-P, one of the pictures on Volvo's site clearly shows a turbocharger.

The "new engines, plug-in hybrid versions" from the title did not make it into the article. Nothing against fragrancing options and massage seats, but GCC is usually more about the running gear.

Look on the bright side: these Ford/Lincoln barges are more efficient than GM, Nissan and Toyota large SUVs. Especially Toyota, the Sequoia gets 14MPG on gasoline, and 10 (TEN!) MPG on E85.

How is this different from having everybody in a neighborhood running maximum A/C and cooking dinner at the same time? Electric cars are less of an issue because they can be programmed to charge overnight.

Cheeseater, Bolt sales are lower than Tesla, and they always will be. LG Chem has (inadvertently) stated that they are only contracted to build up-to 30,000 Bolt battery packs per year. Bolt sales aren't high enough to reach that target, even if you take their highest sales month and multiply by 12 (ignoring seasonal variations).

It's still a net savings, and definitely better than buying 2 SUVs.

mahonj, 75 miles is a lot in London. This isn't the California Highway Patrol.

Let us hope that this fixes the Sprinter's rust problem.

Lad, It makes perfect sense. Like it or not, there's a market for performance cars, especially "hot hatches" that regular people can afford, and that offer a good amount of practicality. This small car offers some driving pleasure, and it uses less fuel than the previous ST. Why is that a problem? Do you really believe that no cars should be fun, just because you don't like driving? Or perhaps your argument is that only rich people who can spend $100,000 on a Tesla should have fun?

"7 times the current usage rate should be possible" How's that? The kids are at school all day, parents are at work. Sure, you could haul packages around, but there's already a super-efficient fleet of private (UPS, FedEx) and public companies that do that. The reason why there is a "rush hour" in the first place is that everybody needs to be somewhere at the same time. It's the same concept as "peak demand" for electricity. Unfortunately, transportation infrastructure has do meet peak demand, not average demand.

The obvious advantage of this system is that it's a lot cheaper to produce. Clutches require much less precision machine work than differentials. It won't last as long, but that's just acknowledging the fact that cars don't need all-wheel-drive. It looks good on the brochure, but it's almost completely unnecessary. Let's hope that Opel has done the right thing and programmed this system to disconnect the rear axle at all times. They can turn it on for the first few meters on icy roads, but other than that it's just dead weight.

Henrik, I think you misunderstand the issue. All the kids in the neighborhood get to school around the same time. Workplaces are similar. So now everybody needs an autonomous Tesla because there are none available at the time we want. That's how we got into this mess in the first place!

Henrik, I am not going to get my kids to school at 2:00 AM in order to improve your ROI. I am convinced that the vast majority of humans feel the same. If that's your business plan, then you need to revise it.