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Ford-sponsored survey says a third of Brits have snapped a 'selfie' while driving [w/videos]

Talking on the phone while driving isn't advisable, and texting while driving is downright dangerous. Considering those truths, the fact that we even need to point this out this is incredibly disturbing: taking "selfies" while behind the wheel is exceptionally stupid. But, it's a thing that a third of 18- to 24-year-old British drivers have copped to doing, according to a new study from Ford.
Ford, through its Driving Skills for Life program, surveyed 7,000 smartphone owners from across Europe, all aged between 18 and 24, and found that young British drivers were more likely to snap a selfie while behind the wheel than their counterparts in Germany, France, Romania, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
According to the study, the average selfie takes 14 seconds, which, while traveling at 60 miles per hour, is long enough to travel over the length of nearly four football fields (the Ford study uses soccer fields, but we translated it to football, because, you know, America). That's an extremely dangerous distance to not be focused on the road.

J Mays retiring from Ford design, succeeded by Moray Callum

Ford's highly influential head of design, J Mays, has announced that he'll be retiring from his position after 33 years in the industry, 16 of which were at the Dearborn, MI-based company. Upon departure, he'll be succeeded as group vice president of design by Moray Callum. If that last name sounds familiar, yes, he's the brother of Jaguar's Ian Callum.
It's difficult to explain just how big of a role Mays had on not just Ford's design over the years, but on the entire industry. Before heading to Dearborn, Mays worked for Audi, BMW and then Volkswagen, where he was involved in concept cars that paved the way for design icons like the first-generation Audi TT and the Volkswagen New Beetle. As for his Ford resume, it's extensive.
Mays joined the company in 1997 as design director for Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Mazda, as well as the Premier Automotive Group (Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin). He was heavily involved in the Ford Fusion, Focus, Fiesta, Taurus, F-150 and Mustang, while also contributing to concept cars like the Atlas, Evos, 427, Forty-Nine, Shelby GR-1, Lincoln MKZ and the MKC.

GM hard at work on Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra PHEV pickups

Autoweek heard from sources at General Motors and Ford about how each automaker is addressing the dip in EV enthusiasm and sales. At General Motors, AW reports, "plug-in hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are headed to market, in a hurry." The sources gave no timeline for when the trucks might appear. GM CEO Mary Barra told analysts during GM's Q4 2023 earnings call, "Let me be clear, GM remains committed to eliminating tailpipe emissions from our light-duty vehicles by 2035, but in the interim, deploying plug-in technology in strategic segments will deliver some of the environmental benefits of EVs as the nation continues to build its charging infrastructure."  It's too soon to predict how the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV will fare on the market, the Silverado EV Work Truck still the only one available to customers. It might be better for GM if they're not too popular at first, the automaker's cautious EV production ramp-up and recent software setbacks responsible for some still-healthy reservation rolls. Barra said the company plans to build between 200,000 and 300,000 EVs, this year, which would clear that backlog. Heading into the end of February, with the Chevy Bolt out of the picture and additional EV pickup production pushed to 2025, our Spidey senses feel those are optimistic numbers. The Chevy Bolt was the third-best-selling EV in the U.S. last year, at 62,044 units. GM didn't have another vehicle in the top ten. Furthermore, the combined sales of every EV in the top ten after the Bolt — seven models from six manufacturers — is only just over 200,000 units. The Blazer EV and Equinox EV could make it happen, but there's no way Chevy wants to rush those, the Blazer EV still in software purgatory.   The report speaks of collateral damage, GM said to have canceled an electric pickup sized below the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. Automotive News said it saw the truck in January 2023, describing it as a futuristic two-door with a low roof and a 4.5-foot cargo bed. A new full-size van program supposedly got the axe as well, eliminating the plan to put a new Chevy Express and GMC Savana on a Brightdrop EV chassis. Over at Ford, AW says its sources mentioned another canceled midsizer; Ford's apparently stopped working on an EV pickup sized a bit below the Nissan Frontier.