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In 2019 when Elon Musk, revealed the Cybertruck, it immediately grabbed the attention of the Tesla fans. It unique design and body structure stood out to make truck enthusiasts.  While the company is continuing testing of the Cybertruck, we continue to learn new things about this unique ride. Latest is the ability to remove the truck's side mirrors. This is definitely very interesting as side mirrors are required by law.  Many automakers like Jeep, provide the owners the ability to remove body parts, such as the doors and the roof panels of their popular Jeep Wrangler. But no automaker had given the ability to remove the side mirrors before.  While this sounds very exciting, it would be nice to see how practical it would be and how this would affect the current laws related to side mirrors. 

Acura Integra was once an iconoic japanese luxury sports coupe. It delivered style, luxury and sportines in an affordable package. However it was discontinued in the early 2000's.  But we have great news from Acura as they have announced their plans to bring back the Integra for the 2023 model year This is exciting news for sports coupe enthusiasts.  Based on the initial information shared, the Integra will share components with the new Honda Civic. However Integra will have it own unique styling. Excited to see more details from Acura.

Today, Lexus unveiled their latest SUV Lexus LX600. The LX model has been part of the Lexus line up for several years and although it has not been one of their top selling models, it always maintained image of a luxury three-row SUV. The latest LX600 continues that image with an bold and elegant design coupled with a luxurious and comfortable cabin.  In some part of the world the LX is known as the Toyota Landcruiser, which is considered a benchmark for luxury SUVs. Although the Landcruiser nameplate is no longer available in the U.S, the new LX600 delivers the same level of luxury as the Landcruiser.  Starting at $90K this is targeting the premium buyers. The new LX600 will pose a real challenge to the BMW X7 and the Mercedes-Benz GLS.

Mazda just announced that their latest Mazda SUV is going to be built in Huntsville, Alabama at the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing Co. This is going to be the first American made Mazda SUV.  This is a whole new SUV for Mazda called the CX50. The question is whether the CX50 is going to replace their most popular vehicle the CX5 or is it going to add to their existing SUV line up. Mazda is yet to provide any information on this, so we could only speculate.  But there is one this we know for sure, like any other Mazda it's going to be one sporty ride with top notch handling. 

Lucid Motors has been making news lately, with their stunning car designs. Today we learned that the EPA has rated their Lucid Air Dream Edition with a driving range of 520 miles. That is by far the longest range EPA has rated any pure electric vehicle.  Lucid Motors is a california based company with their factory located in Arizona.  Lucid Motors plans to revolutionize the EV industry with their Lucid Air model which they believe would be like Ford's Model T, a mainstream automobile.  Hope Lucid will be able to accomplish their goal of making EVs more accessible to all. 

As you all know, the chip shortage has been affecting auto manufacturers for several months and the industry isn't expected to recover until at least 2023.  So some auto manufacturers are getting creative to minimize the number of chips used in each vehicle. Several chevy trucks are being shipped without the fuel management system that shows data on fuel consumption. Elon Musk recently announced that some Tesla's will loose lumbar support function. Some auto manufacturers are shipping cars without the blind Spot monitoring system.  While some of these are features that cosumers can live without, removing useful safety features is alarming. But these are expected to be short term solutions.  The current administration is working with U.S chip manufacturers to scale up their production. While this may take some time, this is a step in the right direction. In the meantime we may have to let go a few car features that we have come to enjoy. 

Today marks a milestone for the Mazda Toyota partnership as their joint venture factory in Huntsville, Alabama released the first production model of the Toyota Corolla Cross. The Corolla Cross is an entirely new model for Toyota as they try to figure out their place in the Compact Utility Vehicle, CUV, segment.  Mazda Toyota factory is a state of the art autombile manufacturing facility, which was opened last year. In addition to the Toyota Corolla Cross, this facility will be producing several other toyota SUVs as well as Mazda SUVs in the future. For Mazda this is a giant leap as this will be their first own production facility in the U.S.  In the late 90s and early 2000's Mazda partnered with Ford to scale up their production. The Mazda 3 which was first introduced as part of this partnership became a huge success. However this partnership also brought in many of the reliability issues often associated with Ford. Finally in 2010 Mazda ended the partnership with Ford and re...