WATCH: Defender Octa v Ariel Nomad v Mustang Mach-E Rally - what's fastest off-road?
We wanted to do a simple test – of all the most extreme off-roading vehicles you can buy, the new Land Rover Defender Octa, the Ariel Nomad and Mustang Mach-E Rally really are the cars to beat.
But of these, which is the fastest of them all? All are very different vehicles. The Defender Octa is the top-of-the-range off-road biased version of a traditional luxury SUV. The Nomad is a totally different kettle of fish – it's a totally uncompromising off-road dragster. And the Mustang Rally? Well, it's electric for one thing…
In our video (above), we gathered all three at some of Autocar's favourite off-road locations to find out which is the King of the Hill – enjoy.
]]>
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is Ford's Model e Business Dragging Down its Overall Results?
US Legacy automaker Ford Motor Company F operates a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) segment, Model e, to focus and strategize its efforts toward EVs. The company's Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning EVs have been received well by customers. The segment, however, has failed to generate profits for the company despite continued improvements. After having incurred losses of $4.7 billion in its EV business in 2023, Ford's loss from Model e widened to $5.07 billion in 2024, exacerbated by ongoing pricing pressure and increased investments in next-generation EVs. The segment incurred losses of $849 million in the first quarter of 2025, owing to stiff competition, pricing pressure and significant costs associated with new-generation EV development. The company is expected to incur huge losses in its EV business this year as well. The persisting pricing pressures caused by stiff competition in the industry are significantly ailing margins. China's markets, led by BYD, have been slashing prices, forcing others to follow. The industry also remains prone to supply-chain disruptions. To keep up with the contemporary developments in the industry, Ford has to consistently invest ample amounts. Although the investments are weighing down cash flows, these remain indispensable. Ford is working to improve charging infrastructure throughthe Ford Power Promise campaign, the success of which has already provided customers with a home charger in standard installation. Further plans to drive volumes in the upcoming quarters with recent launches are in place. Toyota Motor Corporation TM, a Japanese auto giant, also remains cautious in its approach toward fully electric vehicles. Toyota's EVs did not constitute more than 1% of its sales globally in fiscal 2025. This has led Toyota to plan on cutting down its EV production target by 20%, reducing from 1.5 million to 1 million units by 2026. However, the company has started to unveil several new EVs. In China, Toyota launched its most affordable EV, the bZ3X, in March, starting at just over $15,000, to regain the market. Honda HMC, TM's closest peer, is also cutting down its EV production as global demand remains stunted. Honda rather seems to shift its focus toward hybrid cars, aiming to launch 13 new hybrid models globally between 2027 and 2030. With rising pressure in China and loosened emission targets in the United States, Honda is expecting a rise in hybrids' popularity, leading to a 30% lowered investment target in EVs. Shares of Ford have lost around 10% year to date against the industry's growth of 11%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, F trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 0.25, below the industry average. It carries a Value Score of A. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Take a look at how Ford's EPS estimates have been revised over the past 30 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Ford stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Carmakers use stealth price hikes to cope with Trump's tariffs
Car buyers racing to get ahead of President Trump's tariffs face an uncomfortable truth — the trade war is already boosting US auto prices, often in ways nearly invisible to consumers. The sticker price on a particular make and model may not have changed, at least not yet. But automakers have been quietly cutting rebates and limiting cheap financing deals, adding hundreds of dollars to buyers' monthly payments even as the companies say they're holding the line on pricing. Several have boosted delivery charges — a fee everyone must pay when buying a new vehicle — by $40 to $400 dollars, according to automotive researcher Inc. Some dealers, meanwhile, have decided to charge more for the cars already on their lots, knowing it will cost more to replace them. These stealth increases could help automakers cope with Trump's 25% levies on imported vehicles without risking his wrath, particularly once cars that landed in American ports after the tariffs were imposed finally start reaching showrooms this month. They'd all like to avoid the social-media fury he unleashed on Walmart Inc. after the retail giant said the trade war had forced it to raise prices. But the auto industry's subtle price hikes are already having an effect. The average sale price for a new car jumped 2.5% in April, the steepest monthly increase in five years, according to the Kelley Blue Book car buying guide. The average reached $48,699, almost a record. Incentives, which once knocked 10% off the price, fell to 6.7%. Zero-percent financing deals — a key come-on in this age of high interest rates — dropped in April to their lowest rate since 2019, according to researcher Cox Automotive. And at some point, car buyers may balk. 'On the consumer side, they're seeing several thousand dollars of actual-experience price increase, whereas the factory is saying, 'No man, we didn't raise prices at all,'' said Morris Smith III, a Ford dealer in Kansas. 'Stealth is a good word for it.' While the steps have helped car companies avoid outright price hikes until now, those are coming. Ford Motor Co. told dealers it will raise sticker prices as much as $2,000 on three models it builds in Mexico — the Maverick pickup, the Bronco Sport and the electric Mustang Mach-E. Japan's Subaru Corp. is boosting prices $1,000 to $2,000 to help offset tariff costs, according to people familiar with the matter. Hyundai Motor Co. is considering a 1% increase to the suggested retail price of every model in its lineup, a hike of at least several hundred dollars, Bloomberg reported last week. The Korean company also is likely to jack up shipping charges and fees for options such as floor mats and roof rails, which could turn off some inflation-weary consumers. Other automakers are hiking prices on their new 2026 models coming this summer and fall, but attributing the increases to the model-year changeover rather than tariffs. 'With a new product, having a higher price is not 'raising price' in the game of semantics,' said John Murphy, an analyst with Bank of America Corp., at an event in Detroit Wednesday. 'So they don't really enrage certain folks that might come down on them for raising price.' All of these changes — the sticker price increases, reduced incentives and higher fees — will become more visible to car shoppers in the coming weeks. Since the 25% levies went into effect on April 3, dealers have been selling from a shrinking stockpile of pre-tariff cars. (There's an exemption for cars that comply with the terms of the US, Mexico and Canada free trade agreement, which only face an import tax on their non-American content.) That process is nearly done, and by late June, dealers will face the new reality of lots filled with cars that cost more to bring into the country. 'There's nothing they can do to prevent this from having an impact,' said Sean Tucker, editor of Kelley Blue Book. 'There's not a single cliff, but the date they run out of those pre-tariff cars, that's when you're going to see the most dramatic change.' Sales may suffer as a result. A recent survey from found that 65% of new car buyers would walk away if monthly payments rose just 5% in a market where car prices are already near historic highs. An Edmunds survey released Thursday found three-quarters of car buyers said tariffs would be a factor in their purchasing decisions. Shoppers are already not getting the deals that were commonplace just months ago. Take the Ford F-150 pickup, America's top-selling vehicle. Earlier this year, an F-150 could be had with a 1.9% interest rate on a 6-year loan, Smith, the Kansas dealer, said. Then, Ford only offered that rate for certain, higher-priced trim levels of the truck. Now, 1.9% financing is offered only on three-year loans, which are rare. 'The dealers I'm talking to have every expectation that in the next 90 days to six months, there will be pretty significant price increases across the board,' Smith said, 'assuming something doesn't happen with the tariffs.' Some dealers are preparing for that day of reckoning by making as much money off their pre-tariff inventory as they can, charging over the sticker price. 'Dealers set final prices, and they're dealing with the knowledge that for every car they sell, it's going to cost them more to replace it than it used to,' Tucker said. Automakers might not just raise prices on the cars they import. They may choose to increase the costs of their more expensive, US-made models so the full weight of the tariffs doesn't fall on some of the cheaper vehicles they make overseas. General Motors Co., for example, imports more than 400,000 cars each year from its factories in South Korea, including the $20,500 Chevrolet Trax. 'GM doesn't necessarily have to raise the price of the Chevy Trax by 25% in order to pay a 25% tariff on the Chevy Trax, because those buyers are the most price-sensitive,' Tucker said. 'So maybe instead, you bump up the price of the Silverado pickup in order to pay the tariff on the Trax. But GM isn't going to put that on a window sticker.' Automakers may also drop the most affordable trims of their vehicles. Stellantis NV decided to pause making the entry-level version of its electric muscle car, the Charger Daytona R/T, because of tariff risks, the company confirmed in May. The R/T, built at an assembly plant in Windsor, Canada, currently starts at $59,595, while the more powerful Scat Pack trim starts at $73,190. Cox forecasts tariffs could raise the price on imported cars by 10% to 15%, further exacerbating an affordability crisis. But those increases aren't likely to come in big chunks, instead phasing in slowly and quietly so as not to scare off customers, said Erin Keating, Cox's senior director of economics and industry insights. Still, some potential buyers will walk away. Domestic sales could fall from 16 million in 2024 to 15.6 million this year, according to Cox. The outlook from consumer analysis company J.D. Power is even bleaker, with tariffs predicted to cut US auto sales by about 1.1 million vehicles annually, or roughly 8%. Automakers are scaling back production in anticipation. More than a half-million fewer cars will be built in North America this year than in 2024, according to researcher AutoForecast Solutions. 'By enacting tariffs on Canadian and Mexican parts and vehicles, it slows the whole workings of this North American machine making vehicles,' said Sam Fiorani, AutoForecast's vice president of global vehicle forecasting. 'The vehicles that are being built will cost more, raising the price of vehicles and lowering the demand for them. It's all interconnected.' Naughton and Coppola write for Bloomberg
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
WATCH: Defender Octa v Ariel Nomad v Mustang Mach-E Rally - what's fastest off-road?
We wanted to do a simple test – of all the most extreme off-roading vehicles you can buy, the new Land Rover Defender Octa, the Ariel Nomad and Mustang Mach-E Rally really are the cars to beat. But of these, which is the fastest of them all? All are very different vehicles. The Defender Octa is the top-of-the-range off-road biased version of a traditional luxury SUV. The Nomad is a totally different kettle of fish – it's a totally uncompromising off-road dragster. And the Mustang Rally? Well, it's electric for one thing… In our video (above), we gathered all three at some of Autocar's favourite off-road locations to find out which is the King of the Hill – enjoy. ]]>
