Tesla Motors has reportedly halted Model S production at its Fremont plant, enabling technicians to reconfigure the facility to build the upcoming Model X.

The two-week retooling project is part of a $100 million expansion plan that involves 25 additional robots, helping to boost overall production by 25 percent. Aside from the Model X, the company also expects to boost its Model S weekly production by nearly 50 percent — to 1,000 units weekly — by the end of the year.

“This represents the single biggest investment in the plant since we really started operations and enables us for higher volumes,” spokesman Simon Sproule told Bloomberg.

Notably, the extra robots will be configured to build the Model X on the same line as the Model S.

The company currently assembles the battery packs for the Model S at its California factory, however some of the processes will eventually be handled at a much bigger ‘Gigafactory’ plant dedicated to battery production.

The latest announcement suggests Tesla is on track to begin shipping its Model X to customers early next year. The company is also expected to reveal its mass-market Model III, though availability for the car will likely have to wait until battery prices continue to slide into 2016 or later.

A group of disgruntled Subaru owners is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit claiming the Japanese automaker’s vehicles burn more engine oil than they should.

Filed last week in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, the suit alleges that some Subaru vehicles “prematurely burn off and/or consume abnormal and excessive amounts of engine oil.” The lawsuit also claims that Subaru is aware of the issue and is sticking owners with costly repair bills.

The plaintiffs are hoping to achieve class-action status for owners of 2011-14 Forester crossovers, 2013 Legacy sedans and 2013 Outback wagons equipped with Subaru’s 2.5L boxer engine. The lawsuit also includes 2012-13 Impreza and 2013 Crosstrek models equipped with the automaker’s 2.0L boxer-four.

The suit, filed on behalf of Subaru owners Keith Yaeger and Michael Schuler, claims that Subaru was aware of the problem and even issued a technical service bulletin due to some of its vehicles “experiencing abnormally high levels of engine oil consumption that warranted an intricate repair process to properly remedy,” and identified “unanticipated wear of the oil control piston rings as the root cause of the oil consumption defect.”

The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount for damages, but claims that some Subaru owners have spent as much as $8,000 on engine repairs related to the oil burning issues.

For its part, Subaru says its vehicles don’t suffer from excessive oil consumption.

“While we believe the oil consumption of our vehicles to be within acceptable levels, we continually work to reduce the amount of consumable goods, such as oil, that our vehicles require to operate,” company spokesman Michael McHale told USA Today.

General Motors’ Opel division is reportedly planning to pick up the slack in Europe as Chevrolet exits the continent.

The parent company has announced that GM Europe will now be labeled Opel Group, hinting at the growing importance of the German brand in GM’s European strategy.

Alongside the announcement, Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has confirmed that his brand is considering an attack on the entry-level segment that Chevrolet failed to engage. The company’s primary competition in the low-end of the market will be Renault’s Dacia brand.

“[GM] is definitely not Dacia, but this whole budget and entry-level market segment is very interesting,” the executive told The Financial Times. “They can be admired. We are definitely looking at the segment.”

Neumann admits that Chevrolet was attempting to target the entry-level market, however the bow-tie marque was not a proper fit for the segment. The previous strategy would have caused overlap if Opel had made a similar attempt, however Chevrolet’s departure provides room for the German brand to expand downmarket.

Recent reports suggest Open will launch 27 new or redesigned models by the end of 2018, restructuring the lineup in an attempt to establish profitability after years in the red. Entry-level models could help the company achieve its goal of unseating Ford atop the European market in terms of sales volume.

Ford has announced finalized output specs for its new 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine for the redesigned 2015 F-150.

The comparatively small V6 mill promises 325 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque, approaching the power figures of the 2014 F-150′s 5.0-liter V8. Thanks to the new pickup’s aluminum body and other weight-saving components, the turbocharged six brings a 15-percent higher power-to-weight ratio compared to the V8.

The entry-level F-150 will be outfitted with a naturally-aspirated 3.5-liter V6 engine, delivering 283 ponies and 255 lb-ft of torque. Raw output is lower than the outgoing 3.7-liter V6, however the overall power-to-weight ratio is slightly better for the new configuration.

The turbocharged engine enables drivers to stack payloads up to 2,250 pounds, or tow up to 8,500 pounds, while the larger V6 provides 1,910 pounds of payload and a 7,600-pound tow rating.

“Advanced technology, power and efficiency combine to create an engine for F-150 that boasts more than twice the horsepower, torque and towing capability of the Toyota Tacoma midsize pickup truck with identical displacement 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine,” the company says. “Ford testing shows the 2.7-liter EcoBoost also outperforming Ram 1500 3.0-liter V6 EcoDiesel and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 5.3-liter V8 while towing a 7,000-pound enclosed trailer up Davis Dam in Arizona.”

The new F-150′s lightweight construction and lower-displacement engines presumably helps reduce fuel consumption, but Ford has not yet announced official EPA estimates for the 2015 model year.

A team from Edmunds.com has set a new speed record for traveling across the United States in an electric vehicle.

Just 67 hours and 21 minutes after setting off from Redondo Beach, California, in a Tesla Model S, the driving team, made up of Edmunds.com Director of Vehicle Testing Dan Edmunds and Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr, arrived in New York City, some 3,300 miles away. The record-breaking drive shattered the previous EV cross-country record of 76 hours and 5 minutes set by a team of Tesla employees.

The cross-country trek was made possible by Tesla’s nationwide Supercharger infrastructure, which lets Tesla owners charge up for free.

“The key to breaking the record wasn’t to drive fast; we had to drive smart,” said Dan Edmunds. “Fast, aggressive driving will only succeed in sucking down an EV’s battery. We had to drive responsibly to make sure we had enough juice to get from one charging station to the next. And we saved time by charging only a little more than what we figured was necessary to get to the next Supercharger.”

The driving duo spent a total of 14 hours and 40 minutes plugged into the Supercharger network, consuming 1.06 Megawatt-hours of electricity. Each stopped averaged a quick 38.3 minutes.

The team returned back to California in the Model S, but the return loop was a little more leisurely. The entire road trip was completed in just under seven days.

The Department of Transportation has declined to punish any staffers over apparent mishandling of the General Motors ignition-switch recall, though Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx promises to continue an internal investigation.

As the backlash against GM begins to wane, legislators and safety advocates have increasingly turned their attention to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s actions, or lack thereof, that allowed the death tally to grow for a decade.

At least one staff member voiced concerns over several fatal crashes that appeared to be related to disabled airbags, however management decided against pursuing a formal inquiry.

“We and I are willing to check our own math here,” Foxx said during a Monday appearance, as quoted by The Detroit News. “I’ve asked our inspector general to go through and do an after-action on this GM situation to see if there is anything we didn’t do that we should have done. We will learn from that report, and until that time we have our team intact.”

GM fired more than a dozen employees that were deemed partially responsible for the debacle, though the recall delays were blamed on incompetence rather than a willful coverup. Critics have called for higher-level executives, particularly in the legal department, to be removed from their positions as the company attempts to reshape its corporate culture.

Foxx argues that GM is solely responsible for the fiasco, as the company never provided a “timely heads-up.”

Safety advocates have pointed out that the NHTSA’s responsibilities include spotting problems that manufacturers do not see or fail to report. Foxx has countered by claiming the agency staff were reviewing complaints, however the data did not point to a safety defect at the time.

“I don’t agree that NHTSA just took the answers for granted,” he said. “They were looking for data to suggest that there was a problem.”

DoT and NHTSA leadership will face their own round of House and Senate grilling after committees have completed their hearings focused on GM. The agencies have not announced a specific time-frame for completing their internal inquiry.

It’s finally happened – someone has raced a Tesla Model S sedan around Germany’s famed Nurburgring.

The stunt wasn’t a marketing ploy by Tesla Motors, but rather an earlier R&D exercise by Nissan GT-R tuner Iain Litchfield. Although Litchfield is best-known for modifying GT-Rs, he hopes to one day apply his go-fast knowledge to electric vehicle.

For the test lap, Litchfield handed over the keys to professional racing drive Robb Holland. Holland recounted his Nurburgring lap in the Model S on Jalopnik. A video of the lap was also posted.

The Model S scored poorly in Holland’s eyes for it 4,700 pound curb weight, lack of mechanical grip and numb steering, but that’s not to say the car was a total let down. Holland came away impressed that a new company like Tesla could develop such a competent car, especially when considering the technology behind the Model S didn’t really exist 10-years ago.

Moreover, the electrically-powered Model S was dead silent during its lap and even managed to keep pace with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS at one point.

The ride turned sour about 3 minutes in, however, with the Model S going into a reduced power mode. Holland surmised that an overheated battery was to blame.

Because of that snafu the Model S required about 10 minutes to get around the Green Hell, but Holland estimates that the car is capable of a sub-9 minute lap. That time is surely to drop even further once Litchfield finishes his tuning.

It’s finally happened – someone has raced a Tesla Model S sedan around Germany’s famed Nurburgring.

The stunt wasn’t a marketing ploy by Tesla Motors, but rather an earlier R&D exercise by Nissan GT-R tuner Iain Litchfield. Although Litchfield is best-known for modifying GT-Rs, he hopes to one day apply his go-fast knowledge to electric vehicle.

For the test lap, Litchfield handed over the keys to professional racing drive Robb Holland. Holland recounted his Nurburgring lap in the Model S on Jalopnik. A video of the lap was also posted.

The Model S scored poorly in Holland’s eyes for it 4,700 pound curb weight, lack of mechanical grip and numb steering, but that’s not to say the car was a total let down. Holland came away impressed that a new company like Tesla could develop such a competent car, especially when considering the technology behind the Model S didn’t really exist 10-years ago.

Moreover, the electrically-powered Model S was dead silent during its lap and even managed to keep pace with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS at one point.

The ride turned sour about 3 minutes in, however, with the Model S going into a reduced power mode. Holland surmised that an overheated battery was to blame.

Because of that snafu the Model S required about 10 minutes to get around the Green Hell, but Holland estimates that the car is capable of a sub-9 minute lap. That time is surely to drop even further once Litchfield finishes his tuning.

The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat might sell out just as fast as it can run the quarter mile. A new report indicates Dodge is planning to cap Hellcat sales at just 1,200 units.

Dodge hasn’t officially announced sales targets for the new Challenger Hellcat, but a company insider revealed to Edmunds that the final figure will be 1,200 units. If true, the Hellcat’s $60,990 MSRP would be in serious jeopardy as dealers will undoubtedly demand a premium for the limited-edition model.

For its part, Dodge says it is still determining the right mix for the Hellcat.

“We are working on allocation formulas right now and scenarios on how we will allocate it,” Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said. “I can’t tell you exactly what we will do. Will we allocate based on past Challenger sales? Will we base it on Challenger V8 sales? On SRT and V8 (combined)?”

Kuniskis added: “Whatever it ends up being somewhere in that group of possibilities it will then be opened up to anybody who is a Dodge dealer.”

Dodge had about 2,400 dealers in the United States.

Dodge delivered 51,500 Challengers last year, which means the Hellcat should account for between 2-3 percent of total sales.