Auto Industry News: Overlanders Enjoy Oregon, New Ford Raptor R Roars With V8, and GM’s Cruise Lands In Hot Water

The new Overland Expo Pacific Northwest seems to be a hit, with plenty of adventure enthusiasts showing their support – and GMC unwrapping another new Sierra for attendees. Ford made its own debut last week, showing the world its new TRX killer, the F-150 Raptor R. With 700-hp and a six-figure price tag, it boasts the kind of power and performance that has us echoing Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should…”

Speaking of coulds-and-shoulds, GM’s self-driving company, Cruise, is learning that Silicon Valley’s infamously cloudy levels of transparency don’t exactly foster faith – or goodwill. After a string of embarrassing “technical issues,” the company is now facing a NHTSA special crash investigation and as-yet-unverified whistleblower allegations of a “chaotic” safety culture.

Plus, domestic automakers plan to keep AM radio – for a little while at least. And online used car retailers Carvana and Vroom are back under the microscope for some shady dealings.

Pacific Northwest Success

The numbers are in on Overland Expo’s newest addition – and it’s safe to say folks are still stoked about adventure travel. The inaugural Pacific Northwest event drew in 16,000 attendees from all over the country, along with hundreds of exhibitors, presenters, trainers, and VIPs. The event – which ran July 8-10 in beautiful Redmond, Oregon – enjoyed perfect temperatures and stunning mountain vistas for its official kick off.

Overland Expo staff highlighted some of their favorite rigs at the show, as well as the best new gear that caught their eye. Check out some of their top picks below.

A highlight of any expo is the new gear on display. Overland Expo Pacific Northwest had several exciting new products including a few all-in-one items. This portable camping kitchen from Craft Autoworks is a true kitchen in a box – down to the running water and a removable sink! And the Power Pack 2 from National Luna is equally cool in its ability to conserve space. Packaging a dual battery setup in one convenient portable box, it’s ideal for 4×4 vehicles or trailers that don’t have space for a second battery. Bluetooth-capable, it’s also great as a stand-alone in a campsite to power a fridge and lights.

A New Sierra

Designed with a little help from AEV, GMC followed up its Overland Expo West vehicle debut with another adventure-ready version Sierra pickup. This GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X AEV Edition, features an impressive amount of factory-fresh overlanding kit, including:

• AEV-stamped steel powder-coated and e-coated front and rear bumpers with heavy-duty cast recovery points and front winch capability
• 32.5-degree front approach angle, 23.4-degree departure angle
• Factory-installed 2″ suspension lift
• Five hot-stamped boron steel skid plates that are more than 3.5x stronger than equivalent cold-stamped steel
• 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT tires
• AEV racing-inspired Salta wheels with 12-spoke design and recessed valve stems
• Redesigned front fascia and grille with gloss black upper and dark nickel inserts
• Exclusive AEV badging throughout the vehicle’s exterior and interior

Ford Introduces 2023 F-150 Raptor R

New trucks seem to be on the menu this month, with Ford dropping its new F-150 Raptor R. The Blue Oval promises this model is the fastest and most powerful high-performance off-road desert Raptor yet – and a worthy contender to the RAM TRX.

The biggest improvement over the regular ol’ Raptor (an impressive beast in its own right) is the V8 engine under the hood. However, Ford didn’t stick just any V8 in there – it took the 5.2-liter supercharged V8 from the Mustang Shelby GT500 (a.k.a. the “Predator”), recalibrated the supercharger and tossed on a new pulley. The fire-breathing result serves up 700 hp and 640 lb-ft. of torque in a package designed to tackle extreme off-road scenarios worthy of a Michael Bay film. (Indeed, those engine tweaks ensure torque delivery comes at the low and middle sections of the rev range.)

To further bump up the “whoa” factor, Ford also upgraded the engine’s exhaust manifolds to a cast stainless steel design, added a new oil cooler and filter, a deeper oil pan, and a wider air intake with higher-efficiency and flow air filter that increases air intake volume by 66%.

The unique dual exhaust system features a true pass-through muffler and active valve system. In addition to providing user-selectable modes for Normal, Sport, Quiet and Baja, these changes ensure the Raptor R’s V8 growl is enough to rattle the neighbors’ windows, and perhaps even their eardrums.

Other updated features on the Raptor R include:

• Newly-calibrated 10-speed automatic transmission
• New front axle with stronger carrier casing
• Aluminum-ribbed structural cover to manage the powertrain’s added torque
• Larger-diameter aluminum driveshaft
• Massive 37-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires
• Specially tuned advanced FOX Live Valve shocks and 5% stiffer front springs
• Taller power dome on the hood
• Special Raptor R badging

All that extra power and performance demands a significantly higher price tag. The new F-150 Raptor R starts at $109,145 – about $30k more than the TRX it takes aim at.

Did you know…?

Speaking of high-powered fun… NASCAR plans to host its first-ever Cup Series race on a temporary street course in Summer 2023. The top division will run on 2.2 miles of Chicago city streets, including Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Racers will zip by several landmarks too, including Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain and the edge of Soldier Field.

Analog Listening in a Digital World

AM radio might be an aging technology struggling to compete in a digital world, but it’s certainly not dead. As of 2015, there were still about 4,700 AM radio stations still operating in the U.S., with the majority of listeners tuning in from – you guessed it – their cars and trucks. However, the cheap, simple, and reliable form of broadcasting faces a new threat: electric vehicles.

According to a recent report from The Drive, several automakers already eliminated AM receivers from their EVs and hybrids, including Audi, BMW, Porsche, Tesla, and Volvo. Their reasoning? Electromagnetic interference from the EVs’ drivetrains causes too many audio quality problems to justify keeping the aging tech on board.

“But it’s hard to take them at their word when EVs are built with AM radios and in no small numbers,” writes The Drive’s James Gilboy. It’s true that Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E offer AM radio, as do GM’s Cadillac Lyriq, Chevrolet Bolt, and GMC Hummer EV, and Stellantis’s Fiat 500e (remember that little guy?!). Moreover, their owners seem to report no issues of audio interference.

Gilboy concludes it’s more likely that European carmakers are excluding the technology since AM radio stations are all but gone in Europe. “In the U.S., on the other hand,” he says, “radio remains a must for car buyers, with 89% of responders in a 2021 survey stating radio should be standard in new cars. That makes radio even more important to U.S. car buyers than USB ports, which only 84% said were necessary.”

So, for now at least, AM radio is hanging on in domestic EVs.

Did you know…?

GM CEO Mary Barra predicts her company’s EV program will outsell Tesla in the U.S. by 2025. Bank of America’s leading analyst John Murphy made a similar claim in his recent Car Wars study, saying GM could possibly hold twice as much market share as the small EV maker by mid-decade. The trick? Targeting that $30,000 to $35,000 price range, notes Barra. Whether or not that will be possible amid sky-rocketing new vehicle prices is just one of many factors affecting this potential future scenario.

Cruise Under Fire

Not long after it became the first company allowed to charge for self-driving car rides in San Francisco, GM’s self-driving tech company Cruise finds itself in hot water. From a car crash that drew NHTSA attention to a whistleblower report alleging chaos at the company, Cruise is facing a stack of PR problems.

In early June, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved Cruise’s permit to charge for autonomous taxi rides with no human safety driver present. They did this despite city officials’ objections. Detractors cited a number of concerning incidents, including one where a Cruise vehicle seemingly slinked away from police during a traffic stop, and another in which a Cruise AV blocked a firetruck on its way to a three-alarm emergency.

Now, it appears the commission might also have moved forward despite a Cruise employee’s objection.

Ruh Roh.

On July 14, the Wall Street Journal reported that California regulators were looking into concerns raised in an anonymous letter from a person claiming to be a Cruise employee. In the letter, the potential whistleblower – who describes himself as a father – stresses major safety concerns. He writes that Cruise’s vehicles were regularly stalling at intersections (both individually and in clusters), blocking lanes of traffic. He also says these vehicles often needed to be towed because their fallback systems, which allowed for remote take-over, failed.

“My subjective opinion from experiencing this and speaking with others at the company is that employees generally do not believe we are ready to launch to the public,” the letter writer states.

He also insinuates some serious ethical violations, noting that at least one documented safety concern went unaddressed for six months and that traffic crash information was hidden from employees who worked on critical safety systems.

The kicker? The California Public Utilities Commission said it received the letter in mid-May – weeks before it granted Cruise’s permit approval… which begs the question: Were the officials made aware of the letter before their ruling? And if so, why did it take until now for them to investigate?

Tough Look

Also damning for the commission is the fact that merely one day after granting permit approval in early June, one of Cruise’s robotaxis crashed with a Prius (because, San Francisco) which resulted in minor injuries.

Cruise alleges the crash was not its fault, stating that the driver of the oncoming Prius was not only speeding, but also drove straight through the intersection while in a turning lane. According to Automotive News, however, these details could not be independently verified. It appears the San Francisco Police Department did not generate its own incident report.

With only one side of the story, it’s impossible to conclude who was at fault. (Who knows? Maybe the Prius driver did plan on turning, but saw a driverless vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection and panicked.)

The June 3 crash only became widespread news in early July, when NHTSA announced it was opening a special investigation. It’s worth noting that NHTSA special crash investigations are not the same as defect probes (like in the case of Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assist). According to Reuters, the agency “has had conversions with Cruise officials regarding the incident.”

Carvana & Vroom Under Scrutiny… Again.

It appears online used vehicle retailers Carvana and Vroom continue to struggle with following state rules around titling and registration.

As we reported back in May, Carvana temporarily lost its license to sell vehicles in Illinois after about 90 consumer complaints alleged the company failed to properly transfer titles for sold vehicles and incorrectly issued out-of-state temporary registration permits. (This was after the company had similar issues in both North Carolina and Florida.)

While Carvana managed to secure a “stay” on the Illinois selling ban by late May, it’s back in the hot seat this month.

According to Automotive News, the company very clearly violated the strict rules set by the Secretary of State’s office. “The state says the online seller has been issuing car buyers temporary registration permits from outside Illinois, not using a licensed third-party to transfer titles, and not processing the registration paperwork through the Secretary of State’s office,” summarized the publication.

As interest rates soar and consumer confidence falls, Carvana and other online car sellers, like Vroom, have been under pressure to cut costs. In May, Carvana axed 12% of its workforce, or roughly 2,500 workers. Whether or not this is to blame for the company returning to its dishonest habits in Illinois is unknown, but it certainly complicates that upcoming Q2 earnings call with investors.

Common Practice?

Vroom is not innocent of these questionable titling practices, either, it seems. The company just agreed to pony up $87,000 to settle a complaint with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles regarding its own failure to transfer vehicle titles to consumers within 30 days of the date of sale.

A review of Vroom’s title records revealed that the company missed the 30-day deadline (sometimes by several months) in 87 instances. As part of the settlement, Vroom will pay $1,000 for each count of delayed paperwork, hence the $87,000 total. Vroom blamed the violation on “challenges raised by [its] rapid growth.”

The Engine Block is your one-stop source for any and all auto industry news. Keep an eye on our weekly round-up of enthusiast coverage, product reviews, vehicle spotlights, auto show/expo features, and more. Be sure to check back Friday for the next Competition Corner, full of must-see August auto events.