Tag Archives: vehicles

News

Tesla Cybertruck Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+, But Europe Remains a Challenge

Tesla’s Cybertruck continues to defy expectations, adding another accolade to its growing list: the prestigious IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award—the highest honor the U.S. insurance safety body can bestow. The recognition comes after a series of structural upgrades to the vehicle, including a redesigned chassis and improved legroom, which have clearly paid off in the latest safety evaluations.

For Tesla, each award is an opportunity to silence skeptics. This time, the company can point to solid proof that the Cybertruck is more than just futuristic design and marketing hype—it can deliver serious crash protection. Models produced after April of this year underwent IIHS small-overlap frontal crash tests on both the driver and passenger sides, earning Good ratings across the board. Frontal impacts with moderate overlap were also rated Good, with only one Acceptable rating for rear-seat passenger chest protection.

Side-impact performance, updated in 2024 to account for larger vehicles, was equally impressive, and the Cybertruck’s LED headlights, pedestrian collision prevention systems, and child seat anchorage performance all earned Good ratings. Critics who questioned the pickup’s crumple zones and energy absorption were proven wrong, with Tesla even taking to social media to poke fun at doubters like Matt Farah.

But while the Cybertruck’s American safety credentials are now indisputable, the next frontier—Europe—presents an entirely different challenge. American testing focuses primarily on passenger safety, reflecting the U.S.’s SUV and pickup-heavy market. European standards, enforced by Euro NCAP and UNECE, place a greater emphasis on pedestrian and cyclist protection, external impact mitigation, and urban compatibility.

This is where the Cybertruck may struggle. Its angular stainless-steel body panels and rigid geometry clash with European pedestrian protection rules, which demand deformable fronts and energy-absorbing surfaces to reduce injury in vehicle-to-person collisions. Tesla’s Grünheide plant director, André Thierig, has all but confirmed the difficulty of a European rollout, noting that he doesn’t expect the Cybertruck to appear in significant numbers on European roads. Although one Cybertruck has been registered in Germany under special permit, it required modifications—and no new imports are anticipated.

So, how do U.S. and European safety standards compare? In some ways, Europe excels at protecting vulnerable road users, while the U.S. system better reflects the dynamics of large vehicles in crashes. The Cybertruck, in its current form, has proven itself a fortress for occupants but would require substantial redesign to meet Europe’s more stringent external-safety requirements.

For now, Tesla’s latest achievement is a triumph for American safety standards. European fans may have to wait, but the Cybertruck’s reputation as a rugged, yet protective, vehicle remains firmly intact—proof that Tesla is capable of turning even the boldest designs into real-world winners.

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

News

Volkswagen Puts Autonomous Gen.Urban on Public Roads in Wolfsburg

Volkswagen has quietly crossed an important threshold in its autonomous driving research, moving its Gen.Urban prototype out of controlled environments and onto public roads in Wolfsburg, Germany. Unlike most experimental vehicles still relying on a safety driver or conventional controls, the Gen.Urban operates without a steering wheel or pedals, navigating real traffic as a fully autonomous research platform.

The boxy, shuttle-like Gen.Urban is not a preview of a future production model, nor a concept designed to tease showroom ambitions. Instead, Volkswagen is positioning it as a rolling laboratory—one built specifically to observe how autonomous systems behave in genuine urban conditions and, just as importantly, how people react when the act of driving is completely removed from the experience.

Testing is being conducted by Volkswagen Group innovation teams, who are monitoring both vehicle behavior and passenger interaction in everyday scenarios such as intersections, city streets and mixed traffic flows. The goal is data: not simulated inputs or closed-track results, but insights gathered from the unpredictability of real-world traffic.

According to Nikolai Ardey, Head of Group Innovation at Volkswagen, the project is less about technical bravado and more about human factors. “Technology for autonomous driving is advancing rapidly,” Ardey said. “With our Gen.Urban research vehicle, we want to understand exactly how passengers experience autonomous driving.” Trust, comfort and intuitive interaction, he explained, are central to creating a positive user experience in a world where the driver becomes a passenger.

Inside the Gen.Urban, researchers are studying how occupants behave in a vehicle that drives itself entirely. Seating positions, movement patterns, interaction with digital interfaces and overall comfort are all under scrutiny. These observations will help shape future development work across the Volkswagen Group, even if the Gen.Urban itself never evolves into a production vehicle.

Technically, the vehicle has already proven its ability to operate autonomously in controlled settings. The current phase of public-road testing is intended to validate that capability under everyday conditions, ensuring it can independently follow city routes while complying with traffic regulations.

Volkswagen remains cautious about what comes next. No timelines have been announced for commercial deployment, and the company has not confirmed whether the technology tested on Gen.Urban will directly feed into future production models. For now, the Wolfsburg trials represent one strand of a broader research effort, running parallel to the Group’s ongoing work on advanced driver assistance systems and long-term mobility concepts.

In an industry often eager to promise imminent autonomy, Volkswagen’s Gen.Urban program feels deliberately restrained. Rather than showcasing a near-future product, it reflects a more measured approach—one that acknowledges that the success of autonomous driving will depend as much on human trust and comfort as on software and sensors.

Source: Volkswagen

News

Morgan and BMW: A Quarter Century of an Unlikely but Enduring Alliance

In an era increasingly defined by electrification, mass production, and digital interfaces, Morgan remains a rare constant—hand-built, tradition-led, and unapologetically mechanical. This year, the legendary British marque is celebrating one of the most significant chapters in its modern history: 25 years of engine collaboration with BMW. To mark the milestone, Morgan curated a special exhibition featuring 14 BMW-powered models that tell the story of an alliance few could have predicted, yet one that has proven remarkably durable.

Founded in 1910 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, the Malvern-based manufacturer has always operated outside conventional automotive norms. That spirit of independence, however, did not prevent Morgan from seeking a technically sophisticated partner at the turn of the millennium. In 2000, the British company unveiled what was then its most radical creation—the Aero 8—at the Geneva Motor Show. Beneath its aluminum chassis sat BMW’s 4.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 (M62), marking the beginning of a partnership that would redefine Morgan’s performance credentials.

The Aero 8 would go on to become the cornerstone of this collaboration. Produced across five distinct series until 2019, the model later adopted 4.6- and 4.8-liter evolutions of the BMW V8. The 4.6-liter version was notable not only for its output but also for its pedigree, having powered several models from renowned German tuner Alpina. BMW’s V8 muscle also extended into motorsport-inspired territory, forming the heart of the striking Aero Supersports GT3.

Among the exhibition’s highlights was one of just nine examples of the Plus 8 GTR—a rare, aggressive interpretation of the classic Morgan formula, directly inspired by the GT3 race car. It stands as a testament to how far the traditionally styled manufacturer was willing to push its boundaries with BMW power under the bonnet.

As the partnership evolved, so did the engines. BMW later supplied Morgan with its three-liter inline-six, followed by a two-liter four-cylinder unit. A major turning point arrived in 2019 with the debut of the Plus Six, the first Morgan to feature a turbocharged engine—the BMW B58 six-cylinder. One year later, the Plus Four adopted BMW’s B48 four-cylinder engine, combining modern efficiency with Morgan’s unmistakable design language.

Over the past 25 years, BMW has delivered nearly 5,000 engines to Morgan. For the British manufacturer, which employs just 220 people, the numbers underline the scale and importance of the relationship. For BMW, Morgan represents its longest-standing engine supply partnership—an unusual but mutually beneficial alliance built on trust, engineering excellence, and shared respect for driving purity.

As both brands look ahead, the continuation of this cooperation suggests that even in a rapidly changing automotive world, there is still room for partnerships rooted in character, craftsmanship, and mechanical authenticity. For Morgan and BMW, 25 years on, the formula still works.

Source: BMW