2021 VOLKSWAGEN ID.
Price: $39,995 | ETA: Out nowVolkswagen’s first purpose-built electric car
has a striking design—at once sleek and perhaps
a little toy-like, but absolutely attractive. The
crossover profile rises toward the rear, lending
the car an athletic posture. And its electric chops
should help win over consumers who might have
passed on other affordable EVs. While the magic
number for range nowadays is 300 miles, the
ID.4’s estimated 250 miles meets most people’s
daily driving needs. And federal incentives put its
starting price down to $32,495—within reach of
most buyers. To sweeten the pot, it comes with
three years of free DC fast-charging at Electrify
America stations. Under the right conditions, the
car can pull a practical 60 miles of driving range
in 10 minutes.2021 HYUNDAI SANTA CRUZ
Price: $25,000 (est.) |
ETA: UnknownTucked deep inside the midsized
pickup category sits a subset of
truck built via unibody construction,
rather than body-on-frame. Most
pickups use the latter because it
enhances body strength and assists
with towing and scrambling over
rocky terrain. The former integrates
the chassis and body into a sin-
gle interwoven unit, which benefits
efficiency, weight, and crash safety.
The Honda Ridgeline and, soon, the
Santa Cruz are the only pickups touse this strategy. That means Hyun-
dai is aiming the Santa Cruz not at
the traditional pickup crowd, but at
buyers who are interested in utility
rather than raw power. It will also
likely share the Ridgeline’s towing
limit of about 5,000 pounds, which
will be fine for most, if they tow at
all. The truck will likely include a 2.0-
liter, turbocharged four-cylinder
delivering 235 horsepower, or a
beefier 3.8-liter V6 cranking out
291 horses. Hyundai’s original 2015
concept had a lot of cool tricks,
including an extendable cargo bed
and a retractable tonneau cover. We
hope that at least some of those will
survive to production.RIVIAN R1T
Price: $67,500 | ETA: June 2021This is going to be a killer ride, with four-motor all-
wheel-drive, three feet of wading capability, and a
startling zero-to-60 time of 3 seconds. Rivian says
it will get 300 miles of (unverified, as yet) range,
and semi-autonomous drive capability thanks to
11 cameras, five radars, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.
One of the big questions with electric trucks is
how badly cold weather and towing compromises
range, but regardless of those numbers, specs like
14 inches of ground clearance and 11,000-pound
towing capacity will earn the attention of pickup
fans. It’s a promising alternative to Tesla’s wedge-
shaped, stainless steel–clad Cybertruck.March/April 2021 11CO
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