Driving

Although four-wheel drive was popularized by the explosive sales of sport utility vehicles, its passenger-car use was limited until more recently.

It’s not a stop-the-presses kind of thing, but the launch of a new-generation Jeep Wrangler is worthy of celebration.

If you belong to that segment of the market that flies business class — or takes your own jet — the 2018 Lincoln Navigator might be the perfect Earth-bound equivalent.

The Volkswagen Beetle was designed as a utilitarian little sedan with a shape dictated by aerodynamics and practicality, not esthetics. No one ever accused it of being beautiful — cute perhaps, in a reverse snobbery kind of way, but not beautiful.

I bet there are more than a few anxious manufacturers these days as the 2018 Hyundai Kona hits the streets with funky styling, competitive pricing and a riot of colours.

Mazda’s next-generation SkyActiv internal-combustion engine will be clean-burning and efficient enough to compete with electric motors, in terms of environmental impact, the company’s officer in charge of powertrains said.

The Sleuth is more than a little impressed with the design of the next-generation Santa Fe utility wagon that launches this summer as a 2019 model.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles such as the Honda Clarity are likely to play an increasingly significant role in the majority of automobiles we’ll be driving in the near future.

GENEVA — The Volvo XC40, a compact SUV billed by the automaker as “built for city life,” has been named Car of the Year by dozens of European motoring journalists.

BREDA, Netherlands — Robert Dingemanse has heard the comparisons many, many times. The Jetsons, Harry Potter, James Bond.