Hyundai has announced that its US Tucson Fuel Cell fleet has reached nearly a half million miles in the first year of availability.
The hydrogen-powered crossovers are available exclusively in California, where just 70 examples can be found on the road. State residents have accumulated 475,000 miles, equating to an average of around 6,800 miles per FCV.

“Over the past year, Hyundai’s Tucson Fuel Cell owners are showing the world today that this technology represents the next generation of zero-emissions transportation,” said Hyundai Motor America product-planning VP Mike O’Brien.

The crossovers are only available via lease, fetching $499 per month for 36 months with $2,999 down. The program is likely being subsidized by the company, as the price of fuel-cell technology is still believed to be too high to make a profit from vehicles with price tags close to that of their gasoline-powered counterparts.

The Tucson’s fuel cell delivers enough electricity to power an electric motor with 134 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque. The company promises owners can drive for 265 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, though a European-market variant achieved a record 435 miles without refueling.

Hyundai has not yet outlined wider launch plans for the Tucson Fuel Cell.

General Motors is making good progress on the restoration of the 1 millionth Corvette ever made, which was one of eight historical Corvettes damaged when a sinkhole formed beneath the floor of the National Corvette Museum.
The millionth Corvette is the second of two Corvettes GM is restoring, following the restoration of a 2009 ZR1 prototype known as “Blue Devil” that was completed last fall. A third Corvette, a 1962 model, is being restored by the National Corvette Museum.

The white-over-red Corvette convertible was badly damaged when it fell into the sinkhole nearly 16 months ago, but the crew at GM’s Mechanical Assembly group at the Design Center (where prototypes and concept vehicles are typically built) has managed to salvage many of the car’s original parts. The car’s frame was straightened and its interior is being refurbished to like-new condition.

No timeframe has been given for the completion of the restoration, but the 1 millionth Corvette should be road-ready in the not-too-distant future.

The other five Corvettes involved int he sinkhole incident were deemed too badly damaged to be repaired. They include a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 1993 40th Anniversary, 2001 “Mallett Hammer” Z06 and the 2009 1.5 millionth Corvette.

General Motors has quietly confirmed plans to begin selling the Cadillac XT5 sometime in 2016.
The company disclosed the XT5′s arrival timing as part of its CarPlay announcement, noting that the SRX will be the only Cadillac model that won’t get Apple’s smartphone integration system later this year.

“When we transition into all new product lines, we will evolve the naming convention to suit the new classification we have announced. So SRX becomes XT5 next year,” Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell confirmed in a statement to Autoblog.

At least one XT5 prototype has already been spotted in the wild. Spy photos suggest it will retain the same overall size as the SRX, but with a streamlined profile featuring a sloping hatch. It will also likely borrow a few styling cues from the CT6 flagship sedan.

Speculation points to a turbocharged four-cylinder engine for the entry-level XT5, with two different V6 powerplants available for higher trim levels. A nine-speed automatic transmission is presumed to come standard.

Rumors place the XT5 debut in Los Angeles later this year, with arrival in showrooms expected by mid-2016.

Mitsubishi is already working on in-house development of the next-generation Lancer.
The company has voiced preference for finding a partner to share development costs, however the search for a collaborator has yet to bear fruit.

“We are talking with a potential partner at this time, (but) at the same time we’re doing an internal design of the vehicle,” Mitsubishi Motors North America executive VP Don Swearingen told WardsAuto. “We’re running parallel because we cannot wait any longer to see if a partnership will work out.”

COO Tetsuro Aikawa earlier this year dismissed sedans as a low priority for the company. He claimed that a next-generation Lancer would not arrive under his watch, as the automaker shifts its focus to SUVs, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles.

The Renault-Nissan alliance was once named as a potential partner, but Mitsubishi declined to proceed with the initiative due to an unfavorable business case. The latest report suggests Mitsubishi had declined an agreement just with Renault, but is still in talks with Nissan.

Swearingen suggests in-house development will likely delay the redesigned Lancer by a year or more. The executive also cautions that the Lancer Evo’s spiritual successor, which is expected to arrive as a hybrid crossover, “is a little further off than people would imagine.”

Volkswagen’s next-generation Tiguan SUV has been spotted for the first time undergoing shakedown testing on European roads. The all-new Tiguan is expected to debut for the 2017 model year.
Set to ride on VW’s MQB modular architecture, the next Tiguan will be offered in three different flavors — the standard model seen here, a long-wheelbase variant aimed at the Chinese market and a sleek CC model that will emulate the BMW X4.

The U.S. market will likely receive the standard and CC variations of the Tiguan. Although the long-wheelbase version might skip our shores, even the standard Tiguan is expected to be 10-inches longer than the model currently on sale here. The 2017 Tiguan will also be available with a third row of seating.

Look for the next Tiguan to be powered by a 1.8L turbocharged gas engine as well as a 2.0 TDI turbodiesel. A seven-speed DSG gearbox will likely be the only transmission on offer. The 2017 Tiguan will ship standard with front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive will be available as an optional extra.

The 2017 VW Tiguan, which will be built in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will make its debut in either late 2016 or early 2017.