Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. This week: Honda updates the Odyssey to help you remember if you have kids or not, GMC shows us more of the Hummer EV, Mercedes-Benz is reportedly going to trim its coupe and convertible lineup, Acura confirms TLX Type S specs, and your automotive news for the week.
2021 Honda Odyssey
The Honda Odyssey is getting a hefty refresh this year with some new styling tweaks with upgraded tech and safety features. It’s about as much as they could have done without making an entirely new van, but it didn’t really need all that much to stay competitive. It’s been America’s best-selling minivan in the retail market for 10 years for a good reason. The Odyssey has been consistently competitive in its market and has been one of the more innovative offerings. They hope to continue that streak with the updated 2021 model.
Some of the more noticeable exterior updates are on its face. There’s a restyled blackout grille with a chrome strip accent, a new front bumper with redesigned fog light housings, plus revised LED headlights. The remaining updates include a black trim piece under the rear window with its own chrome accent plus new 19″ wheel designs. Interior updates consist of various materials and trim updates that vary depending on the trim. But every Odyssey regardless of trim will benefit from the same updates to the second row seating which allows it to fold nearly flat now and make it easier to remove.
The comprehensive suite of safety systems on board receive updated versions on the new model, but it also adds Traffic Sign Recognition and Rear Seat Reminder. When the van is turned off, a chime sounds and a message is displayed on the instrument panel to remind people that they have children. Odysseys that have the CabinWatch rear-seat camera system will also have that camera switched on automatically when they park, just to drive that point home. The goal is to prevent tragic deaths associated with people forgetting they have children and leaving them in the car. Honda is adding this feature to every model in the lineup by 2025 and expects to have it in most by 2022.
MSRP for the base model will start at $31,790 and go up to $47,820 for the Elite model. It goes on sale August 3rd.
[Source: Honda]
GMC Hummer will be revealed this fall
GMC wanted to remind us that the Hummer EV is still a thing that’s happening and will be revealed sometime this fall. They posted a teaser video featuring a basketball man, a motorcycle, the cosmos, and crabs. But crucially they gave us a timeline of its release window and the clearest glimpse we’ve gotten of it yet. We get a full silhouette and some clay model goodness that shows a good amount of detail. But watch the teaser all the way through and we get a bit of a bombshell…. the Hummer EV will be more than just a pickup.
It’ll be shown sometime in the next couple months, reservations will likely open simultaneously or soon thereafter, and production begins in fall 2021. Soon we’ll be living in a world where you can buy a new Hummer, Bronco, Supra, Ranger, Blazer (sorta counts), and a Mach 1. The 90s and 00s are back.
[Source: Hummer]
Report: Mercedes-Benz will kill off multiple coupes and convertibles
Time for another “crossovers are killing cars” post. This time though it may actually be for the right reasons. Automotive News is reporting that Mercedes-Benz is starting to re-evaluate their lineup, at least for the US market. It’s no secret that Mercedes has taken the old “same sausage, different lengths” philosophy to the extreme lately. Many of their cars are hard to distinguish from one another unless you can compare their length side by side. With American buyer preferences continuing to shift away from that sort of stuff, it’s a no brainer to trim some of the fat. The report from AN reads:
The luxury automaker plans to jettison seven car models from the U.S. market, Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Nicholas Speeks told dealers during a webinar in late June. Speeks did not identify the models or offer a timeline, according to retailers who heard the presentation.
But according to a source familiar with the plans, there could be more than seven models. Those under consideration are the coupe and convertible versions of the S-, C- and E-Class nameplates, as well as the CLS coupe and one of the brand’s GT models, according to the source.
We’ve seen plenty of cars and coupes killed off for seemingly no good reason, like Ford deciding that hundreds of thousands of Focus and Fiesta sales per year were no longer worth it. This doesn’t seem like that kind of scenario. The Mercedes lineup is kind of a mess and has been for as long as I’ve been covering the industry. The shifting market was finally just too much of a factor to ignore.
[Source: Automotive News via Jalopnik]
Acura TLX Type S Specs Revealed
In a press release that was showing off their arsenal for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Acura casually snuck in some long-awaited TLX Type S specs. Our guy William did a whole writeup on the race cars over here, but the big news is what’s going into the Type S, which will be used that weekend as a pace car.
The Type S gets Acura’s newest 3.0-liter V6 Turbo engine which is expected to produce a very healthy 355 horsepower and 354 lb.-ft. of torque. That puts it a bit behind BMW’s 6-cylinder M340i but ahead of the Audi S4. They may not win on power but can still win on dynamics. Acura’s brilliant SH-AWD system will certainly give it the kind of edge that BMW lost years ago. So once again, the TLX Type S looks like a winner and we can’t wait to try it out.
[Source: Acura]
What’s your automotive news?
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
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