The Drivecast

The devices you carry will enable law enforcement and the government to track your every move. Scary thought. Time to break out the tin-foil hats. A new kind of license-plate reading camera is said to be far more than its name. It will be able to scrape the smart devices you take with you and wrap all that data in a nice little bow for law enforcement and government agencies. The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder and Senior Editor Adam Ismail are joined by security expert Matt Hurewitz, who is currently the CISO at Ent.AI, to sort fact from fiction and dissect what's really going on here. Stories mentioned in today's episode: License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets Want To Stop Your New Car From Transmitting Your Personal Data? It’s Possible Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People 00:00 Intro 04:14 License plate cameras are about to track you 07:42 Should you be concerned? 13:56 The danger that lurks 16:42 Slippery slope 18:40 Cars are incredibly complicated and connected now 20:37 What can people do? 23:04 Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rivian, by many accounts, has become the darling of the automotive industry. It’s a hot topic despite its current volume and scale. To date, it’s not a mainstream brand with a mass-market offering. But that changed yesterday with the launch of the R2, which costs between $45,000 and $60,000 while hitting at the absolute heart of the compact crossover SUV market at 186 inches long, which is the size of the Toyota RAV4 and Tesla Model Y. The former is one of the best selling vehicles period while the latter is one of the best-selling EVs by the widest of margins it’s not even funny. Now it’s Rivian’s turn to step into the arena and aim for the masses. This is the moment RJ Scaringe and his team has been building towards for years. Everything is riding on this. This week, The Drive's Director of Content and Product, Joel Feder, is joined by Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe to dissect how we got here, missteps, where the company is today, and what's about to happen in both the immediate and longer-term future. So, today, it’s behind-the-scenes on Rivian going into the mass market arena, what that looks like, how it plays out, and addressing how the automaker aims to tackle it all. Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2027 Rivian R2 First Drive Review: The Perfect Car for So Many PeopleSomehow, Rivian’s Cheaper R2 Is Its Most Refined Vehicle The Rivian R2 Needed a Rear Wiper That Didn’t Exist. So Rivian Invented One 2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough Rivian Is Going RAD. But Can It Stick the Landing? Rivian Won’t Talk About the Missing R2 Tri-Motor. The Reason Why Is Big Rivian Sidesteps Apple CarPlay With Built-In Texting 00:00 Intro 04:05 R2 profitability 07:43 R2 launch 10:49 Service 16:54 Rivian Adventure Network 20:03 RAD 25:47 R3X 26:25 R2T? 29:13 R4 29:31 Patents and a winch for R1 30:57 Repairability 35:32 Buttons, knobs, and the Halo wheels 37:43 Voice controls 39:07 RJ's final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stellantis has been rocked. The automaker built its current foundation upon loud noises and fast times at the drag strip all while making loud boom boom noises thanks to the Hemi and a legendary Hellcat V8 powertrain. Then the party ended. It was late to the electric game, many of its EVs didn’t even launch and were just DOA from the get go, SRT was mothballed, and things just looked bleak, again. Stellantis says there’s hope, and even a plan. This week, The Drive's Director of Content and Product, Joel Feder, is joined by The Father of the Hellcats, but his official titles include Ram CEO, Head of American Brands for Stellantis, and Head of SRT, Tim Kuniskis. From Cooperhead and Scrambler to the the return of the Rumble Bee with a Hellcat powertrain and the Ramcharger nameplate, Kuniskis dissects it all with Feder. So, today, it’s behind-the-scenes on Stellantis' turnaround plan and what comes next. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Stellantis Announces Huge Turnaround Plan, 60 new Vehicles and 50 Refreshes by 2030 2027 Ram SRT Rumble Bee Revealed as a Shorty Street Truck With 777-HP V8 Dodge Has a New Completely Unhinged Halo Car Coming and It’s Not Called the Viper Jeep Is Building a Wrangler Scrambler SRT With Removable Roof, Backward-Facing Rear Seats and Probably a V8 Stellantis Promises Dodge Dealers New Small SUV, Refreshed Durango, and More SRT Can Chrysler Be More Than a Minivan Brand? It’s Betting Three New SUVs Under $40,000 Can Prove It Ram Is Bringing Back the Dakota and a New Compact Truck Both Under $40,000 Stellantis Is Launching 9 New Vehicles Under $40,000 Ramcharger SUV Name ‘A Pretty Obvious Guess’ Says Ram CEO The New Dodge Charger SRT Has a Wing Straight Out of the Superbird Era and It Looks Ready to Fly 00:00 Intro 04:59 Copperhead 09:21 Viper 11:57 Scrambler 16:13 Jeep 22:33 Recon 23:49 Ramcharger 26:52 SRT 30:37 GLH/Hornet 33:01 Chrysler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Believe it or not but one automaker is about to copy another’s idea—and neither are who you’d expect. Porsche is an unquestioned leader in the world of performance cars, and its careful treatment of the 911, Cayman, and Boxster is often imitated, never duplicated. But now? It’s about to steal a controversial move from an unlikely source— Hyundai—as it tries to figure out the magic formula for a fun-to-drive electric car. What a world. So today, it’s The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha and Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder discussing fun versus electric cars: how a company like Porsche ends up copying Hyundai, what the various tricks automakers are trying means for the next generation of EVs, and why this all matters more than you’d think. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Porsche Is Adding Fake Gear Shifts to Its EVs, 2027 Taycan Will Be First: Exclusive Future Porsche EVs in frame for Hyundai-like simulated gearboxes Porsche Says It ‘Learned a Lot’ From the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N: TDS 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Review: A Racing Sim You Can Drive on the Road 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N Preview Drive: More Fun Than Most Sports Cars Fake Gears, Real Fun: A Pro Driver Makes the Case for EV Gimmicks 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V First Drive Review: Succeeding Where Mercedes Failed 2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough Rivian’s RAD Tuner Is Like An Equalizer For Your EV’s Powertrain 00:00 Intro 06:49 Porsche is about to copy Hyundai's fake gear shifts in EVs 08:47 What is a virtual transmission for an EV? 17:06 The Dodge Charger Daytona 22:28 Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz 24:12 A limit to the efficacy of these systems 25:02 Hyundai Ioniq 6 n 27:23 Maserati 30:54 Rivian 32:32 Lucid 35:26 Legacy vs. startup automakers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nissan's in trouble, but the automaker's not going down without a fight. After laying out a massive turnaround plan it's clear Nissan's not just on the ropes, but about to swing for the fences and really try and cater to both the masses and enthusiasts, again, as it refocuses. This week, The Drive's Director of Content and Product, Joel Feder, is joined by Senior Vice President and Chief Planning Officer for Nissan North America, Ponz Pandikuthira, in an exclusive one-on-one chat taking place in Japan discussing what's coming from both Nissan and Infiniti. From a family of U.S.-made body-on-frame vehicles to special edition Zs, the timeline for the next GT-R, backdate kits, restomod and classic parts, to a 600-plus-horsepower QX80, Pandikuthira spills the goods about how Nissan and Infiniti intends to win back the hearts, and wallets, of buyers ranging from millionaires to enthusiasts on a budget and everyone in-between. So, today, it’s behind-the-scenes on Nissan’s turnaround plan and what comes next. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Nissan Announces Huge Turnaround Plan To Cut Models and Keep the Good Stuff Nissan’s Next GT-R Will Be a Hybrid, Keep the VR38 Block, and Arrive by 2030 The Nissan Z Is Thriving Thanks to an Unlikely Hero: Your Parents The Next-Gen Nissan Xterra Is Real, and Here’s Your First Look Nissan Confirms New Xterra Will Offer Hybrid and Non-Hybrid V6 Options Nissan Is Looking at Doing a Sports Car Lineup Again, Exec Says 00:00 Intro 03:27 Next-gen GT-R 07:46 What's next for the Z? 09:44 Summarization of the upcoming products 10:39 Infiniti's "high-horsepower" sedan (the Skyline) 11:26 The future of Infiniti 15:37 A performance version of the Infiniti QX80 16:43 A Skyline JDM kit for Q50? 19:17 Bringing back and providing heritage parts 22:44 Hotter QX80s and what could come next 25:20 Special projects? 26:44 Xterra is coming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Toyota Prius is an icon, a statement, and possibly a moment in time as the nameplate approaches its 30th anniversary. Sales of what was once a cultural icon are spiraling. The Prius arguably hasn't been the "it car" that it was once upon a time with EVs taking the mantle for an eco-friendly statement, countless hybrid entries now flooding the market in every conceivable shape and size, and time itself marching on. Even Toyota's own showroom is filled with hybrids. The latest Prius is a winner in terms of eye-catching design, but its a loser in terms of sales. It's not a new issue, but it's a continuing one with the numbers becoming grimmer as the months and years go by. The Prius has had a rough decade. It's likely not one single issue at hand, but multiple factors all colliding at once. Senior Editor Adam Ismail and Director of Content and Product Joel Feder dive into what Toyota said in terms of Prius sales plunging, take a look at all the outside factors, and discuss whether the outlook is dire for the Prius or if the icon will live on. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Prius Sales Are Tanking So Far in 2026. We Asked Toyota Why 2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade Review: The Practical Car Goes Peacocking I Drove a Yellow Toyota Prius and My Whole Town Fell in Love 00:00 Intro 04:38 Prius sales are tanking 09:30 The Prius vs the Camry 11:53 Sedan sales can still be healthy 13:11 Various factors affecting Prius sales 14:04 The Prius was a household name 16:22 Does the Prius matter anymore? 23:33 Do we need a sporty Prius? 24:14 Will Toyota kill the Prius in the U.S.? Will the nameplate live on? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The secret is out: Toyota is planning to build a crazy Baja-blasting version of the Tundra pickup. Does it stand a chance against the Ford F-150 Raptor? And why are we so obsessed with uber off-road trucks in America anyways? We've been on top of this story since 2022, when a source tipped us off that the model was in development. Things went quiet for a while, but earlier this month we uncovered a trademark filing from Toyota for the name "TRD Hammer," and another source confirmed the name would be used for a high-speed, desert-runner pickup to compete with the Ford Raptor and the Ram TRX, plus a few more key specs. This week, Kyle and Joel are spilling the details our reporting uncovered, explaining how we tracked the story over four years, and breaking down the complex reasons why factory off-road pickups and SUVs have become more outrageous—and more popular—than ever before. Plus, what it means for the multibillion-dollar aftermarket industry that's seeing automakers take a bite out of their business. Stories mentioned in today's episode: A Raptor-Fighting Toyota Tundra Desert Truck Is In Development: Source Looks Like the Toyota Tundra Raptor Rival Has a Name: TRD Hammer Toyota’s Tundra TRD Hammer Targets V6 F-150 Raptor With Hybrid Power and 37-inch tires Why a simple new truck has to cost over $70,000 in 2025 (YouTube) 2026 Ford Mustang Raptor Rumor Sounds Too Crazy To Be True … or Is It? 00:00 Intro 02:10 The battle heats up 05:19 How Ford made the market 08:23 Toyota's secret revealed 25:55 Why GM is MIA 30:25 Why the off-road business is booming 45:17 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

General Motors just did something unprecedented. It brought a car back from the dead—with the promise of killing it again. Today, we're diving into the life, death, and temporary revival of the $29,000 Chevrolet Bolt—the cheapest EV you can buy in America—and how its saga represents a lot that's gone wrong in the new car market is today. The Bolt was GM's first modern electric car when it was launched in 2017, beating the Tesla Model 3 to production. For a time was the only EV under $50,000 with over 200 miles of range, and owners adored their little oddball hatchbacks. But in 2023, GM announced it was killing the Bolt to focus on building full-size electric pickups and SUVs, part of a massive plan to make an all-EV lineup by 2035. People were furious . The media (hi) was incredulous. Why would GM just kill a popular, affordable EV with sales at an all-time high? After a few months of heavy criticism, GM reversed course and promised it would find a way to put the Bolt back into production. It was an unprecedented move, but three years and a lot of work later, the car is back, basically the same price, better than ever. Trouble is, it's a completely different world now. EV sales have plateaued, no one is buying those expensive electric pickups, the federal tax credit is gone, and the Bolt is now the cheapest electric car you can buy in this country. Other automakers are prepping their own affordable EVs to compete. And yet, GM is getting ready to kill the Bolt again in just 18 months. What is going on here? Joel and Kyle get into it all after Kyle spent a day test-driving the new-old Chevy Bolt and pressing the car's engineering team for answers. [Thanks to the National Corvette Museum for sponsoring today's episode! Enter here (https://bit.ly/4uBefxU) for your chance to win a '65 Corvette. Entries close April 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM CT. This is your shot – don’t let it pass.] Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2027 Chevrolet Bolt First Drive Review: Back from the Dead and Better Than Ever 00:00 Intro 04:07 Bolt's rise and fall 12:11 Who killed the Bolt? 24:30 The resurrection 30:16 The new Bolt's promise 43:44 Uncertain future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeep is in trouble. The rugged American icon finds itself struggling to dig out from mountain of problems: plummeting quality, skyrocketing prices, and confusing strategic shifts that alienated its most loyal fans. Now, with a new CEO in town, Jeep is trying to smash the reset button. This week, Kyle and Joel are joined by The Drive’s senior editor and resident truck expert Caleb Jacobs to explain how a company known for trail-rated trucks got lost in the wilderness, whether it can recapture its old-school magic in today’s challenging environment, and if its move to bring back the Jeep Cherokee SUV as Toyota-fighting hybrid crossover is a step in the right direction, or too little too late. Building and selling new cars at a price that makes sense for consumers is hard enough right now, but Jeep faces an even bigger obstacle: its parent company Stellantis, the multinational conglomerate with 14 brands across multiple continents under its umbrella. Many of Jeep’s biggest stumbles—spending billions to launch a half-finished electric SUV, an ambitious plug-in hybrid push that ended in a rash of battery fires and recalls, raising MSRPs to reposition itself as a luxury brand, and relentless cost cutting to pay for all of that—came from Stellantis’ European focus and top-down decision-making structure. To get back on track, Jeep needs to get back to basics, and new CEO Bob Broderdorf is promising a new golden era for the brand that starts with listening to what American buyers actually want from it. Jeep knows mistakes were made. The big question is whether it’s actually capable of doing what’s necessary to correct them. Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2026 Jeep Cherokee First Drive Review: Is This the Anti-XJ? 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee First Drive Review: The Four-Cylinder Is Punchy But Imperfect All Jeep and Chrysler Plug-In Hybrid Models Are Officially Dead: Exclusive Jeep Teases V8 Grand Cherokee Return: ‘Stay Tuned’ Jeep VP Says ‘You Can Imagine What Is Coming’ About SRT Trackhawk Return What Happened to All the Off-Road Grand Cherokees? Jeep’s Sales VP Explains 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Review: Unfortunately Unfinished 00:00 Intro 3:08 How Jeep lost the trail 17:48 New look Cherokee? 26:18 Grand plans 39:50 Lineup cleanup 57:49 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ferrari's first electric car is a massive gamble for a company steeped in heritage. So is tapping the designer of the iPhone to create a revolutionary new interior and make a statement about the place of screens in cars today. This week, the automaker revealed the cabin of the Ferrari Luce designed by LoveFrom, the firm founded by Jony Ive, the former head of design at Apple, and his partner Marc Newson. It's a retro-modern centerpiece that's very much Ferrari meets the Apple Car: restrained simplicity, aluminum and glass everywhere, lots of squircles, and clever touches like a pivoting center screen that looks like a giant Apple Watch. Critically, there's also an emphasis on physical controls like buttons and toggles for all key functions. Ive and Newson have never worked on a production car before, so it tracks that the Luce's interior is like nothing else we've seen before. That's by design, because Ferrari can't act like its first EV is just business as usual. There's a lot on the line, and not just for Ferrari. Ive is very open about how he thinks the auto industry learned the wrong lesson from his work at Apple. Giant screens in cars might feel like "the future," but they aren't the answer to designing a functional interior; in fact, routing critical controls through a screen you can't operate by feel while driving is dangerous. The unintended consequences of his creations are one of the reasons why Ive left Apple in 2019, and why he and Newson felt compelled to take on the Luce project. So can two legendary designers and automotive outsiders show the car industry the error of its ways? Electric Ferrari Luce’s Interior Revealed: When Apple Meets Ferrari Why ‘Luce’ Is the Perfect Name for the First Electric Ferrari iPhone Creator Jony Ive Slams Tesla-Style Touchscreens: ‘Easy and Lazy’ Here’s Why the Ferrari Luce’s Interior Has No Carbon Fiber 00:00 Intro 02:49 The Apple Ferrari? 13:08 Steering wheel 19:05 Gauge cluster 24:52 Center screen 28:16 Why glass and aluminum? 33:31 Lessons for the industry 40:12 Ive's regrets about screens 46:11 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our very first episode, we're taking a hard look at Volvo. The Swedish company once known for quirky wagons and safety innovations is in trouble after dumping billions of dollars into an early, all-in bet on electric vehicles five years ago that led to a mess of software issues and production problems, tanking reliability and dragging its global sales to dangerous lows. Last year, then-CEO Jim Rowan warned of "turbulent" times ahead for Volvo as tariffs scrambled its manufacturing plans—shortly before Volvo's Chinese parent company Geely replaced him with Hakan Samuelsson, who led the company through the boom years of the 2010s before retiring in 2022. Classic move to bring back the old guy. Samuelsson knows he has to nail this turnaround, and the first car launching under his watch is the Volvo EX60, a midsize electric SUV that represents everything Volvo is trying to get right—new platform, new motor+battery combo, new software stack, new everything. And Joel was on the ground in Sweden for the reveal event last week, where he grilled Samuelsson and the rest of the executive team to find out if Volvo's really learned from its mistakes, or if the company is doomed to repeat them. Check out all our exclusive stories mentioned in this episode: 2027 Volvo EX60 Feels Like a No-Brainer for EV Newbs With 400-Mile Range and Reasonable Price Tag Volvo CEO Says, ‘Good Luck, the Rest of You’ Legacy Automakers Volvo EX60 Debuting Next-Gen Infotainment System With Google Gemini AI Assistant Volvo Is Updating Five-Year-Old Cars With AI Volvo Keeping Apple CarPlay, Refuses to ‘Force You To Something’ Volvo Proposes 100-Mile Plug-in Hybrids as a ‘Bridge’ for Drivers with EV Range Anxiety Volvo Is Not Done With Wagons After All Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices