2012 Dodge Charger on 2040-cars

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BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.

Stellantis invests more than $100 million in California lithium project

Stellantis said it would invest more than $100 million in California's Controlled Thermal Resources, its latest bet on the direct lithium extraction (DLE) sector amid the global hunt for new sources of the electric vehicle battery metal. The investment by the Chrysler and Jeep parent announced on Thursday comes as the green energy transition and U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have fueled concerns that supplies of lithium and other materials may fall short of strong demand forecasts. DLE technologies vary, but each aims to mechanically filter lithium from salty brine deposits and thus avoid the need for open pit mines or large evaporation ponds, the two most common but environmentally challenging ways to extract the battery metal. Stellantis, which has said half of its fleet will be electric by 2030, also agreed to nearly triple the amount of lithium it will buy from Controlled Thermal, boosting a previous order to 65,000 metric tons annually for at least 10 years, starting in 2027. "This is a significant investment and goes a long way toward developing this key project," Controlled Thermal CEO Rod Colwell said in an interview. The company plans to spend more than $1 billion to separate lithium from superhot geothermal brines extracted from beneath California's Salton Sea after flashing steam off those brines to spin turbines that will produce electricity starting next year. That renewable power is expected to cut the amount of carbon emitted during lithium production. Rival Berkshire Hathaway has struggled to produce lithium from the same area given large concentrations of silica in the brine that can form glass when cooled, clogging pipes. Colwell said a $65 million facility recently installed by Controlled Thermal can remove that silica and other unwanted metals. DLE equipment licensed from Koch Industries would then remove the lithium. "We're very happy with the equipment," he said. "We're going to deliver. There's just no doubt about it." Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares called the Controlled Thermal partnership "an important step in our care for our customers and our planet as we work to provide clean, safe and affordable mobility." Both companies declined to provide the specific investment amount. Controlled Thermal aims to obtain final permits by October and start construction of a commercial lithium plant soon thereafter, Colwell said. Goldman Sachs is leading the search for additional debt and equity financing, he added.

Dodge Challenger ACR rumored finally on its way using Viper ACR as benchmark

In 1995, Dodge released the ACR Neon, an unlikely combination of cheap, compact American sedan and high-performance parts and engineering marked by initials standing for American Club Racer. Dodge sold a heap of them, so the automaker flexed the ACR brand's potential with the first ACR Viper in 1999. The racy coupes made huge noise for Dodge and the Viper. After the fourth-gen Viper ended production in 2010, Dodge took a Challenger ACR concept to SEMA in 2011. But instead of carrying the coupe to production, Dodge resurrected the Viper for 2013 and got one more Viper ACR model out during the last Viper's final years. With the Viper gone again, it appears Dodge is sorting out that Challenger ACR concept for real. Last October, Mopar Insiders reported the automaker was trying to get a Challenger ACR prepared for the model's 50th anniversary this year. The timing looks highly unlikely, but an Allpar source says the track-happy coupe is still coming, and with bonkers expectations and gear. We're talking about a big-boi widebody Challenger tuned to do hard laps, fast, around twisty circuits, all day long. An Allpar insider known as "Muther," a code name to tug at John le Carre's heart, said Dodge is considering two engines. Because the point of the car is to be raced and some series don't accept forced induction, one trim would fit the naturally aspirated 392 Hemi from the R/T Scat Pack. There's no telling if that motor would get a power bump, but the Challenger ACR concept upped its output slightly with measures like a cat-back exhaust. The other trim, naturally, would fit the 6.2-liter Hellcat Redeye V8.     Muther told Allpar that if engineers can get the car under 4,000 pounds, the math points to being within two seconds of the time set by the Viper ACR-E at Road America. That "E" represents the Extreme Aero Package, with addenda like a deeper front splitter, dive planes, and an adjustable, dual-element rear wing that helped the Viper ring up 14 lap records on U.S. tracks. The fastest time we know of for a Viper at Road America is from 2011, factory race driver Kuno Wittmer doing 2:20 even in a Gen IV Viper ACR. Wittmer's ride weighed 3,408-pounds. Dodge boffins want to get the Challenger ACR under 4,000 pounds. Achieving the weight goal would mean cutting at least 387 pounds from a standard R/T Scat Pack Widebody, and 512 pounds from the Hellcat Redeye Widebody if that trim has the same target.