Car FYI

Photo Credit: Mack Trucks In 1900, brothers Augustus and John Mack would set up a company that would immortalize their name as the generic slang for a heavy truck. One of the oldest-running brands in the commercial truck industry in North America, Mack’s popularity has been based around the production of gasoline and diesel vehicles that were instrumental in supporting our everyday lives. While Mack Trucks have served an integral role in working class life, the brand is also defined for its participation in vital yet unsung jobs including the chore of waste collection. The coldest truth is that many of us may not truly appreciate the mechanics of a machine used for the purposes of removing refuse. However, Mack’s latest LR Electric model may give us reason to admire the vehicle we ineloquently refer to as a garbage truck.  With pre-production models currently being demonstrated in New York City and by North Carolina-based Republic Services, the Mack LR Electric is a battery-powered ref

Photo Credit: Tesla Inc. Having already achieved fame for inspiring the modern fully electric vehicle renaissance this century with passenger cars, Tesla Motors has set sights on converting their success into the commercial vehicle industry. First introduced in 2017, the Tesla Semi’s bold design and ingenuity makes the truck more than just a fully electrified transporter.   Being offered in versions with a range of 475 kilometers or 800 kilometers, the Tesla Semi boasts the credentials for being a one of the smartest, safest and comfortable Class 8 commercial trucks on the road. With the four electric motors mounted at the two rear axles of the vehicle, the Semi’s lack of the traditional engine compartment ahead of the driver helped Tesla conceive a front design resembling a cab over truck layout or a modern passenger train. With a 0.36 drag coefficient, the battery electric hauler’s unique shape is aided by an imaginative cabin layout.  Photo Credit: Tesla Inc. Placing the truck opera

Photo Credit: Volvo Trucks North America Since 1999, Volvo Group and its passenger car brand that operated under the same name and logo have functioned as separate entities. While the Volvo car brand (now owned by China’s Geely auto company) has made a recent pledge to shift towards a fully electric lineup by 2030, their former Swedish parent has concocted their own electrified plans for the heavy truck market.  An extension of Volvo’s VNR lineup developed for the North American market, a fully electric version of the Class 8 transport truck. Retaining the modern, purposeful appearance of existing diesel-powered machines, the Volvo VNR Electric model range is created as short range hauler. For Canada, the truck is available in three configurations consisting of a 4x2 straight truck, 4x2 Tractor and 6x2 Tractor.  Paired with a two-speed I-Shift automated transmission, a potent electric drive system is installed in the VNR Electric line generating 455 horsepower and 4,051 lb-ft of maximu

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar 2021 NTT IndyCar Series Drivers and Teams 2 Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske Chevrolet A two-time IndyCar champion, 30-year-old Tennessee driver Josef Newgarden enters his fifth season with Team Penske after a strong 2020 run. Newgarden is once-again considered a contender once more for the year's title. Winning a total of 18 IndyCar events since starting his career in the series in 2012, the pilot of the #2 Team Penske race car has keen sights on capturing this year's Indianapolis 500. 3 Scott McLaughlin New Zealand Team Penske Chevrolet After securing three consecutive driver titles in the Supercars Championship in a Ford Mustang co-owned by Roger Penske, Scott McLaughlin has been promoted to run his full first season in the NTT IndyCar Series competition with the prestigious group. Though he sp

Photo Credit: McLaren Automotive For a supercar driver, the greatest sensation is travelling forward at a speed unreachable by a typical passenger car. The McLaren Artura, the latest high-velocity, road-going creation from the British auto racing team that expanded into exotic performance car builder is set to become another desirable machine for those with the style, courage and money to explore the wider boundaries of automobile performance.   Touting acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour (96.56 kilometers per hour) in just 3 seconds and a top speed of 205 miles per hour, McLaren’s Artura supercar muscle goes with the sophistication expected for a vehicle in the third decade of the 21st century. Momentum for the Artura is supplied by a new hybrid electric/gasoline powertrain combining a lightweight, twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine generating 671 brake horsepower with a 94-horsepower E-Motor that produces 165 lb-ft of torque. Equipped with a 7.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion bat

Photo Credit: GMC/General Motors untitled   The announcement and unveiling of the GMC HUMMER EV last year sparked a great deal of curiosity towards how a macho electric truck will be embraced going against the grain of the traditional fuel-burning vehicles. A muscular style revisiting the military-derived aesthetic of the original Hummer models and marketing performance numbers such as 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 lb-ft of torque seems to have successfully drawn attention to the upcoming vehicle’s capacities. Ahead of the release of GMC HUMMER EV Supertruck with early models arriving in the United States later this year, a companion model with a sport utility body style is announced for early 2023. Boasting the same athleticism and tough design as the previously-unveiled truck variant, the 2024 GMC HUMMER EV SUV’s inclusion of an enclosed cargo compartment will provide owners access to as much as 81.8 cubic feet of cargo space. Integrated load floor storage and side

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada Theme of the Show: Beyond Expectations For an event that featured the Canadian debut and/or exhibition of several high-performance vehicles, the opening ceremonies were a particularly high-octane affair. The late Sergio Marchionne, than-CEO of Fiat Group and later Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), took to the stage for the company’s press conference followed by a Q&A in an act that could be viewed as brave or foolish. Just ahead of the auto show, his automaker had been reportedly asking for $700 million in government assistance to upgrade their Canadian manufacturing short of five years after the company accepted nearly $3 billion in loans from the Ontario provincial and Canadian federal governments in order to restructure Chrysler Group. Despite the allegations there was some serious hardball being played by the auto company, Marchionne’s speech and tone attempted to divert any hostilities drawing heavily on his personal Canadian conne

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada untitled As February passed this year Toronto’s auto show, a mainstay of the winter entertainment calendar, was one of many events forced into cancellation as we deal with our fight to conquer COVID-19. Missing out on occasions and interactions we have almost taken for granted has hopefully presented the thoughts to us all realizing just how precious those moments are. Reflecting on the past of the Canadian International AutoShow drove me to the event’s deepest origin. Though the current iteration of the exhibition dates back to 1974, the show that first acquainted Canada with the automobile in a large scale occurred 115 years ago.   In 1906, Toronto was growing rapidly on numerous fronts. The population in the direct city area exploded from 208,000 in 1901 to 376,500 by 1911. In addition to newcomers calling Toronto home in that first decade of the 20 th century, city limits expanded through several annexations since 1883. As a