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Rivian R1T faces first competitive test in Rebelle Rally

Not long ago, the Rivian R1T electric pickup engaged in a very public bit of development testing as a support vehicle for "Long Way Up" — the trip Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman took on Harley Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Los Angeles. Next month, the R1T enters the realm of competition testing by competing in the Rebelle Rally, the all-female navigation rally held over 10 days and 1,243 miles in the sandy, rocky hinterlands of California and Nevada. The team behind the wheel will be pilot Emme Hall and navigator Rebecca Donaghe, who won last year's Rebelle Rally driving the then-new Rolls-Royce Cullinan. This is the first year in the Rebelle's five-year history that there will be a pure electric vehicle. A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will be the only other entrant flying the electrified flag. To welcome the battery-electric pickup and any other electrified runner that wants to join in the future, rally organizers have arranged a battery-powered mobile charging system to be deployed along the course. It's not clear which battery and motors the Rivian will house, but the top spec would provide a 180-kWh pack, up to 750 horsepower, and a range of more than 400 miles in normal conditions. The race will help Rivian hone the pickup's off-road credentials, the brand's creative director saying, "Adventures like the Rebelle Rally are what Rivian vehicles are made for." The Rebelle isn't a timed rally, so the point isn't to beat up the R1T with marathon stints on the throttle. As a navigation rally, competitors aim acquire points by hitting certain checkpoints, making strategy key. The ability to clamber over and through whatever's in the way won't hurt, either, a technique aided by the R1T's height-adjustable suspension that provides 14 inches of ground clearance on its tiptoes. The ability to do tank turns might also come in handy. The Rivian will prove itself by placing, or teach important lessons by falling out. All of this is a necessary step for a manufacturer selling "electric adventure vehicles." There are only two classes in the Rebelle Rally, Crossover and 4x4. Crossovers can be two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and can have unibody construction but no low-speed transfer case. The 4x4 class is traditional off-roaders with a low-speed transfer case, ranging from the Jeep Wrangler to the Range Rover.

Is Ram bringing a trick tailgate to the Chicago Auto Show?

Last week featured running jokes and mirth on truck Twitter. It started when the GMC account played off the Super Bowl, posting a short video that started with the caption, "The Rams already lost." Then came a picture of a current Ram tailgate, followed by a short pictorial demonstration of the six-function MultiPro tailgate available on the GMC Sierra (pictured). Ram responded with a pigskin play of its own, calling GMC out for a false start and requesting everyone "Check back with us on 2/7/19." That is the first media day of the Chicago Auto Show. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The easy inference is that Ram has plans to reveal a clever tailgate of its own. The easy question is, will it be the split tailgate we first saw in a patent application in 2014, then in spy photos in 2017? That patent application detailed a gate split down the middle, with a traditional handle on the left-side door. The entire unit could open like a standard tailgate, or, each half could fold down like a tailgate as well as swing out like a door. The Honda Ridgeline has a similar option, but not being split, the Ridgeline's whole tailgate swings out like a door. Another novel feature of the Ram patent application was that the doors could be operated with a touchpad. When spy photographers caught a 2020 Ram prototype in Detroit with a split tailgate, the split was no longer 50/50, but about 65/35. After snapping the silver truck that day, the split tailgate was never seen again. Thursday in Chicago might be the day that changes, since it's fair to expect Ram to show something that will get the 1500 current with proliferating tailgate trickery. GMC and Ram weren't finished, though. The Ram 1500 won the Motor Trend Truck of the Year award at the Detroit Auto Show, and two hours after GMC's first tweet, GMC got around to sending this bit of congratulations: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

YouTube tallies votes for this year's top five Super Bowl spots [w/video]

When we asked you to tell us which of this year's 16 car-themed Super Bowl commercials you liked best, you chose the Farmer commercial from Chrysler Group, advertising the Ram trucks, over Audi's Prom commercial in second place. Turns out the voters in YouTube's Ad Blitz poll agreed, voting the same commercial to the number one spot from among the field commercials in every category.
From there, however, they went in a totally different direction. Budweiser's The Clydesdales spot came second, Samsung's The Next Big Thing took third. The Jeep Whole Again ad scored fourth in the YouTube poll, fifth in our poll of auto commercials, and the Hyundai Team spot got fifth from the YouTubers, but ninth in our poll.
The voting results don't match up with the viewing numbers, though - while Farmer has more than 13 million views, The Next Big Thing is well beyond 21 million. You can read the press release below and see all five spots, lined up for you, one more time.