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Sunday Drive: Taking a gaze into the automotive crystal ball

Mankind has long been fascinated by the future. So it makes sense that this past week's top stories were all about cars, trucks, and SUVs that won't be hitting the market until the 2019 model year. And right at the top of the list is the Ram 1500. We've come to know Ram as the truck maker that styles its pickups with cues cribbed from big rigs, but that look has slowly evolved over time into something uniquely its own. The next Ram 1500 continues this trend, with a newly refined look that we can't wait to see in person. Up next is the 2019 Chevy Silverado. Pickup trucks have been, continue to be, and will remain the best-selling vehicles in America. And General Motors is a leader in the field, with two distinct offerings with which to entice buyers, one from the bread-and-butter Chevrolet brand and one wearing the slightly more upscale GMC badge. The Chevy looks to get LED lighting elements for 2019, which ought to keep the truck from looking dated when compared to the Ford F-150 and the previously mentioned Ram 1500. From there we move past pickup trucks and into SUVs and sedans. The 2019 Jeep Cherokee looks to get toned down a bit with its next refresh, and the '19 BMW 3 Series continues its slow evolutionary journey at the top of its aspirational sales pedestal. Finally, spy shots give way to official production reveals for the 2019 Audi A7 and Polestar 1. This pair of European luxury cars won't compete with one another – one is a rakish hatchback and the other a sports coupe – any further than for the eyeballs of our readers, but both proved popular enough to merit inclusion in our weekly roundup. As always, tune in to Autoblog next week for a front-row seat to all the happenings worth following in the automotive industry. 2019 Ram 1500 spotted without the classic crosshairs 2019 Chevy Silverado spied with new LED accents 2019 Jeep Cherokee reveals a much more normal face 2019 BMW 3 Series spy shots reveal production lights, new interior details 2019 Audi A7 revealed: More torque, refined styling Polestar 1 First Look | The 600 horsepower hybrid Scandinavian Green Audi BMW Chevrolet Jeep RAM Volvo Truck Hatchback SUV Future Vehicles Hybrid Luxury Performance Sedan sunday drive polestar 1

A conversation with GM's Mark Reuss on MPG, aluminum and Corvettes

There was plenty to talk about when General Motors hosted its annual mid-December holiday media reception a few months ago. GM had just decided to pull its global Chevrolet brand out of major European markets, where Chevys have competed directly with GM Europe Opel and Vauxhall vehicles, and the US government had sold its last remaining shares of GM stock. But most important was the company's just-reshuffled leadership. Post-bankruptcy CEO Dan Akerson had announced that he would step aside and that 52-year-old Mary Barra would replace him on January 15. Not only would she be the first woman to lead a major automaker, she would also be GM's first engineer CEO since Bob Stempel in the early 1990s. "I look at 2013 and 2014, as the retooling of General Motors" - Mark Reuss Replacing her as executive VP for global product development (and purchasing and supply chain) would be 49-year-old Mark Reuss, who had served a stellar four years as North American president, and elevated to corporate president (from executive VP and CFO) would be 42-year-old Dan Amman. All three are relatively young auto enthusiasts who are liked and respected inside and outside the company, and their collective talents and experience are highly complementary. I've interviewed Barra and found her smart, personable and knowledgeable, though she carefully walks the corporate line in speaking and answering questions. I met and chatted with Ammann for the first time at that holiday reception, and he made a good first impression. But I've known Reuss for some time as a genuinely good guy and a highly capable and inspiring leader, and I believe he is exactly the right person for the global product responsibility once famously held by the outspoken, oft-controversial Bob Lutz. So I jumped at an opportunity to join a group interview of Reuss (with mostly business reporters) at the Detroit Auto Show in January. It was an interesting session of mostly good questions, which he answered with refreshing candor and humor. "I look at 2013 and 2014, as the retooling of General Motors," Reuss said. "We've taken down almost every plant in North America, converted and turned it this last year, and to do that with award-winning vehicles and pretty flawless launches is key. We have to keep the train rolling on great product, because the rest won't happen without the best product, period." A reporter asked whether GM was pushing big trucks, SUVs and Corvettes again because gas is cheap. "No," Reuss said.

Sunday Drive: Spying an automotive future of performance

I spy, with my little eye ... the future of the automotive world here in the United States. That pretty much sums up this week's Sunday Drive, in which we pull out the most popular stories on Autoblog of the previous week and try to draw some sort of conclusion as to what binds them all together. This week, it's spy shots, starting with one of the biggest and baddest muscle cars the world has ever seen: the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. The Hellish coupe gets a new hood for 2019 with dual scoops, but that's about the only meaningful change for the new model year. No matter. As long as it's packing 700-plus horsepower under those two hood scoops, all will be right with the world. Moving on, we take keep the performance angle but move it from the street to the dirt with a new version of the Chevy Colorado ZR2 that we think is probably called the Bison. We think it'll keep the high-tech suspension bits of the regular ZR2, but add expedition gear that may include a snorkel and a winch. Which, if true, is pretty dang cool. Keeping the truck theme is the 2019 GMC Sierra. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the trim level in which the truck was spied, and that's what makes this specific example interesting. Base-model trucks almost never get much attention, but they sell in droves to workers who need an honest-to-goodness truck for work or play and don't care about bells, whistles, or massive chrome badges. And finally we have the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, which is on fire on the sales floor right now. But those are all V6-powered Wranglers flying off the showroom floor. Soon, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine option will become available, and now we know that it will return up to 23 miles per gallon in the city and 25 on the highway. That makes it the most fuel efficient Wrangler that Jeep has ever sold. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog this week for all the automotive news that's fit to publish. 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat with twin-scoop hood spied with no camouflage Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison caught testing 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 spied in base trim level 2018 Jeep Wrangler four-cylinder fuel economy revealed Spy Photos Chevrolet Dodge GMC Jeep Truck Coupe SUV Off-Road Vehicles Performance dodge challenger srt hellcat sunday drive