#FutureCars

Outside of the Bronco, Ford’s Maverick has gotten a lot of attention recently. And Hyundai’s Santa Cruz is upcoming — media drives are set for August.

This got me thinking — if we’re on the cusp of a return to truly “compact” trucks (well, relatively compact), which other brands should be getting in on the action, and soon?

Leaked Honda marketing materials seem to show when the Honda Civic hatchback and hopped-up Si trim will go on sale.

Honda has sent us a teaser pic of the 2022 Honda Civic hatchback, seen above, but buried in a press release that’s mostly filled with the usual P.R. spin is this nugget: “An available, fun-to-drive 6-speed manual transmission.”

Yep, the stick ain’t totally dead yet.

Are you ready? Are you excited? Or do you just not care?

I speak, of course, about the Ford Maverick — which was teased yesterday and will be unveiled in full next week.

Toyota is on a product blitz today.

Our man Chris is in Texas today, learning more about what the automaker has planned, and while he eats all the shrimp talks to brand folks about it, I’ll give you the newsier skinny.

Lightning does strike twice, apparently, but perhaps not in quite the same way each time.

The Ford F-150 Lightning was once a hi-po street rod with power coming from a V8 engine. Now, however, the truck is all-electric.

New York City’s Times Square might be one of the most electrified places on the planet.

The place is festooned with electronic billboards and advertisements that run pretty much 24/7/365.

What better place for the unveiling of the 2022 Kia EV6?

We’re hearing that the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV will offer 300 miles of range in the U.S. ahead of the May 24 date in which Hyundai will make that number official.

Well, OK, we’re hearing it via a report in Carscoops.

Leaked photos show the pricing for the upcoming 2022 Honda Civic.

Oh, and the on-sale date, too.

The Volkswagen Tiguan isn’t about to take a back seat to the Taos.

While the latter is going to make a lot of news as a new small crossover in the brand’s lineup — indeed, I will have my first sampling next week, with a review later in May when the embargo lifts — the already-existing Tiguan isn’t going anywhere. And VW is using a refresh to remind us of that fact.

Here’s your first official look at the 2022 Honda Civic.

And like a kid getting to open one Christmas present a little early, that’s it, that’s all you get. You’ll have to wait two whole weeks to get the rest.

GMC is using the Final Four to take the wraps off of the next part of the all-electric Hummer lineup — the Hummer EV SUV.

It is auto-show season.

Or at least, it would be in a “normal” year.

Normally, we’d be in New York, bringing you all the concepts from the New York International Auto Show, usually held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s west side.

This year, with the world still mostly on pause, we’re at home, missing the sights and sounds.

It’s no secret that we here at TTAC don’t agree on everything when it comes to cars, culture, or politics (Or sports. Using memes to troll staffers who cheer for rival teams is a favorite pastime in our Slack channel).

We don’t speak as one editorial voice, nor do we practice neutral news reporting — we allow for editorializing, analysis, and commentary/opinion, as long as we’re fair, factually accurate, honest, and upfront about any potential biases. It’s one thing I love about working here — I can, if appropriate, put a little commentary into a news post. Overall, I try to allow everyone to be free to express themselves.

Yet, for all our various viewpoints, sometimes we agree on something. And I was right there with Matt yesterday when he fumed about Volkswagen becoming Voltswagen. The change is official, by the way — VW confirmed it.

Kia is planning on launching the EV6 sometime this month, and as a tease, the brand dropped some images to go along with a bunch of marketing speak about design philosophy.

The company is using the phrase “Opposites United” to describe its overarching design philosophy, and for the EV6, it will use five “pillars” called “bold for nature”, “joy for reason”, “power to progress”, “technology for life”, and “tension for serenity.”