Good morning, and welcome to Cold Start, your regular recap of all the biggest news stories. Over the weekend, we've learned how fuel efficient the 2023 Toyota Sequoia is, we've uncovered Volkswagen's plans for the American pickup truck market, and we've seen how Ford is making advances in automatic EV charging systems. However, our focus for today's recap lies elsewhere.
For a start, there's fresh info surrounding the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck. We then take a closer look at the all-new Cadillac Celestiq concept before discussing a much-needed fix for Volkswagen's infotainment systems. In closing, we examine the woes of Carvana and get a first look at the new Nissan Z on American soil.
Tesla Cybertruck Launch Imminent?
Tesla recently filed new trademarks for the term "Cyber Roundup," and based on the fact that its last major event was called the Cyber Rodeo, it's not a stretch to imagine that the new trademark applications pertain to another massive party for the EV manufacturer. At the Cyber Rodeo event, Tesla gave a few small updates on the Cybertruck. In a recent interview, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the Cybertruck could be ready by the middle of this year. Putting two and two together, it looks like the Cyber Roundup event will be the perfect platform for Musk to finally unveil the production specs of the Cybertruck, along with an official launch date. Fingers crossed.
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Cadillac Reveals Spectacular Celestiq Show Car
After a number of teasers, Cadillac has finally seen fit to show us the full picture of the Celestiq. The new EV looks like it will be worth every cent of its predicted $300,000 asking price, but we can't get too excited just yet. For a start, this is only a design concept and not an accurate preview of exactly what the production Celestiq will be like. Then again, the Cadillac Lyriq looks very much like the concept did, so it's very possible that the final Celestiq will be as impressive as we're hoping. Whatever the final product is like, you can count on massive screens, clever tech, and stunning design.
Volkswagen Will Finally Fix Its Irritating Infotainment
On new cars like the Volkswagen Gold GTI and ID.4, Volkswagen elected to eschew physical controls for the most part, instead relying on a touchscreen interface to handle most functions of the infotainment system. While this seems like a good idea in theory, it's highly impractical in practice and has proven to be an ergonomic irritation. Fortunately, CarBuzz has learned that VW will listen to the people. The automaker says it is "trying to find ways and means, particularly in some of [its] future launches, to try and introduce a button or two to control volume and potentially AC." Sometimes, the old ways are best.
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Carvana Is Facing More Big Headaches
Used car buying site company Carvana has been in the news for a number of reasons in recent years, and very few of them have been positive. Unfortunately, that streak of bad news is continuing. Its dealer license has now been suspended in the state of Illinois because of missing registration paperwork for the cars its sells, causing months of delays for buyers. This comes as Carvana has been forced to cut down on its workforce, laying off 2,500 employees recently. In addition, the company's share price is less than 10% of what it was a year ago. Things don't look good.
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Nissan Z Arrives On American Soil
Thanks to recent images posted to the New Nissan Z forums, we know that the Japanese sports car has officially arrived in numbers on American soil. The images show at least 24 cars have touched down, with the vast majority finished in Ikazuchi Yellow, the special color reserved for the limited-edition Proto Spec Z. Sadly, we do not know where these cars are going, and we recently learned that the dealer allocation for Nissan Z orders will be determined based on sales of the Z's predecessor, the 370Z. Hopefully, we won't see too much price gouging, but we wouldn't bet against it.
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