2005 Chevy Silverado K2500hd Four Wheel Drive Long Bed Crew Cab on 2040-cars

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Sunday Drive: Tracking Tokyo's top performers

The big news of the week mostly came from Tokyo. All of Japan's biggest automakers made waves at the Motor Show, but the winner of the event has to be Mazda. The big Vision Coupe and little Kai Concept stole the show, won our hearts, and earned a ton of attention for the automaker. We can't wait to see how these two concepts impact the design, engineering, and technology of future production models. Take a look at our mega image gallery post below to see everything in high-resolution glory. Interestingly, the single biggest click-magnet of the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show was the BMW X2. We shouldn't be surprised. Crossovers of all shapes and sizes dominate the American marketplace, and the X2 is clearly the most attractive of BMW's even-numbered, coupe-influenced X models. Plus, it's headed for production, with sales starting in the spring of 2018. Moving past the Tokyo Motor Show, Autoblog readers are apparently very interested in the 2019 Chevy Camaro. Spy shots of just about every iteration of Chevy's muscle car lit up the 'net last week, leaving us very interested in seeing what's hiding behind all that camouflage. As always, tune in to Autoblog next week for a front-row seat to all the happenings worth following in the automotive industry. 2017 Tokyo Motor Show | Mega Gallery Mazda Vision Coupe | Tokyo Motor Show's big, sensuous 4-door Mazda Kai concept hints at a more muscular, refined Mazda3 2018 BMW X2 crossover revealed, adorned in gold and silver 2019 Chevrolet Camaro: 1LT, SS, ZL1 all spied with updated styling

GM diesel pickups first to undergo extra EPA, CARB testing

The effects of Volkswagen's long-running diesel emissions evasion are starting to spill over to other automakers, but General Motors is taking things in stride. The 2.8-liter, four-cylinder Duramax in the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon is the first engine to get extra scrutiny by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, Automotive News reports. Rather than just the usual in-lab test, it's also being checked on the road. However, the extra evaluation shouldn't have any impact on when the trucks with his mill hit dealers later this fall. "We're in our final stages of the EPA certification, and our launch is on track," Chevy spokesperson Otie McKinley tells Autoblog. The four-cylinder diesel in the trucks makes 181 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, and the automaker is touting low NOx production. In the announcement for the Colorado's specs, the company calls it "the cleanest diesel truck engine ever produced by General Motors." The tech includes exhaust gas recirculation to lower combustion temperatures and improve emissions. There's also a urea tank like on the bigger diesels for full-size trucks, and it gets refilled in time with oil changes. An indication on the instrument panel lets drivers know when that's needed, too. Even with the more demanding testing, the company doesn't seem too worried about the four-cylinder passing. "Part of our development process is on-road and off-road [laboratory] testing," Scott Yackley, Chevy Trucks assistant chief engineer, said to Automotive News. In the wake of the VW scandal, the EPA has pledged more rigorous testing. Before, on-road emissions evaluations were largely limited to heavy-duty vehicles, but the agency has decided to apply the checks more often to other models. There's also now greater cooperation with Canadian authorities.

Toyota tops Kelley Blue Book's Resale Value Awards

Kelley Blue Book announced its annual Best Resale Value Award winners, and we weren't too surprised to see the list dominated by Japanese automakers - mainly Toyota and Honda. KBB hands out the awards based on the projected residual value of mostly all 2013 model year vehicles, and Toyota skated home with a number of awards including 10 of the 22 overall categories and having five of its products in the top 10 for models with best resale value. KBB's Best Resale Value Awards were announced in the same week as the ALG Residual Value Awards, and there were many similarities between both lists, especially when it came to Toyota.
To come up with its winners, KBB measures depreciation over the first five years of ownership, and looks for the cars it expects to hold its value the best after this time; on average, the report says the 2013 model year vehicles will lose 61.8 percent of its value in five years. Of the 22 categories, 15 slots were filled by Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, while the Camaro and Porsche (Cayenne and Panamera) each took home a pair of awards. If Toyota has anything to be upset about in this list of cars, it's that categories for Hybrid/Alternative Energy Car and Electric Vehicle went to the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Volt, respectively.
The overall top 10 models for the best resale value in 2013 are, in alphabetical order: