Another brick in the wall: Lego kit is latest clue to new Land Rover Defender

We know a new Land Rover Defender's coming. We've seen it in spy shots, we've seen it as a hybrid in spy shots, we've seen it in official JLR spy shots while road-testing in exotic places, we know where it will be built, we know it's coming to North America, and we know when it will be revealed — although it was sorta-kinda just revealed, at least in Lego form.

One big bump in the road: Truck hits nearly 500-pound alligator

Alligator trapper Broderick Vaughan was called to the scene of an accident between an alligator and a semi-truck around midnight June 3. Vaughan has been trapping gators — steady work in Florida, which has 1.3 million of them — for a decade, and this was the biggest he'd ever handled, he told CNN. Vaughan got it off the road and — somehow — and into his truck, but the animal was badly injured and Vaughan put it down.

If Mexico tariffs happen, here's a list of the hardest-hit cars

President Donald Trump last week announced tariffs on goods imported from Mexico, starting June 10, unless Mexico takes significant steps to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and Central Americans seeking refugee status in the United States.

2019 Nissan Leaf Plus Second Drive Review | Riding the extended range

An electric vehicle has an appeal you can only understand once you've owned one. Before purchasing a 2013 Nissan Leaf to serve my 35-mile daily commute, I had never imagined how satisfying it would be to whoosh past the pumps. After a year or two, I sold that Leaf, a casualty of a cross-country move involving one too many cars.

Watch the screaming VW ID. R testing at the Nurburgring

Our trusty spy photographers sent photos this afternoon of the Volkswagen ID. R testing at the Nürburgring in advance of its planned run for the EV record — maybe even the overall record. Which made us think to check YouTube, and sure enough a German outlet has a brief video.

Nissan GT-R 50th Anniversary Edition celebrates, well, you know

The other combinations are Pearl White with red stripes and Super Silver with white stripes, each with color accents on the wheels. Nissan promises other refinements to the transmission, electronically controlled suspension and steering (improved steering up to 300 km/h, Nissan's release notes). Beyond the 50th Anniversary Edition, the 2020 Nissan GT-R will come in three trim levels: GT-R Premium, GT-R Track Edition and GT-R Nismo.

Why the manual transmission can save us from the machines

Not long after purchasing my first car with parking sensors, after a few delighted first days marveling at how they helped me park in the tightest of spots, I found myself in some situation where they were beeping incessantly, so I turned them off.

Flipping off a traffic cop is protected free speech, a court rules

It sounds like something Florida Man would do, but instead it was an act of protest and defiance from a Michigan woman: Debra Cruise-Gulyas had been pulled over for speeding. The officer, Matthew Minard, wrote her a ticket for a lesser, non-moving offense. After accepting the citation, Cruise-Gulyas, of Taylor, Mich., was driving away from the traffic stop when, "apparently ungrateful for the reduction, she made an all-too-familiar gesture at Minard with her hand and without four of her fingers showing," read an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

We've told you Detroit-area streets are car-eaters

A Honda Accord got swallowed up by a street in Hamtramck, Mich., so, ouch. Then Momo Alyafi posted the photos on Facebook, and zoom, it went viral, approaching 7,000 shares and cropping up in lots of other places. It was an active construction site that been barricaded by utility workers, said Hamtramck police Chief Anne Moise.

Historic bridge at Detroit Packard plant collapses

It was a bridge that once was so cool, it was part of a vehicle assembly line — a symbol of an era when Detroit could build or do just about anything. It crashed down onto East Grand Boulevard around 3 p.m. Wednesday. It was old and decrepit, sure, but officials also think that weather and temperature extremes took their toll.

Nooses and racial hate at GM Toledo plant described in CNN report

Allegations detailed in a CNN report today should disturb any right-minded American, indicating that we've either lost ground as a civil nation, or in some pockets of society we've never advanced. Some of these allegations first came to light months ago regarding working conditions at GM's Toledo, Ohio, powertrain plant (and also at Tesla).

McLaren 600LT Spider revealed: Top-down performance

McLaren's Longtail models are modern classics, and the bespoke sports car maker has just minted its fifth Longtail, the 600LT Spider. McLaren promises the droptop has all the track-flavored performance of the 600LT coupe, with the "added exhilaration of open-air driving." With a top-down top speed of 196 mph, that's a lot of added exhilaration. McLaren says it managed to limit the weight gain in the Spider to 110 pounds over the coupe, and cites a dry weight of 2,859 pounds.

12 affordable watches for gearheads | Autoblog gift guide

CHP officers outsmart Tesla going 70 mph with driver asleep at the wheel

Two California Highway Patrol troopers in Redwood City spotted a drunken-driving suspect in a Tesla Model S around 3:30 a.m. Friday — then realized the driver was asleep. The car was doing 70 mph on Highway 101, and the driver showed no response to their lights and sirens. After 7 miles, and assuming the car was on Autopilot or at least on adaptive cruise control, the troopers came up with a strategy: With another CHP cruiser bringing up the rear to keep other motorists from approaching in case something went wrong, the troopers passed the car to position themselves in front of it, then they gradually slowed down — and the Tesla dutifully slowed with them, until it came to a stop.

2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE pricing is out: Here's what it takes to get into one

Last week, we shared with you our first-drive review of the all-new 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE crossover, which we liked quite a lot. Now MBUSA has released pricing details, and it can be had for a bit less than the outgoing model. A GLE 350 (shown in the photo gallery above) has a starting MSRP of $54,695 including destination fee.

Jeep pickup truck apparently will be named Jeep Gladiator

For months we — we, meaning the automotive world in general — have been operating under the assumption that the Jeep pickup truck would be named Scrambler. For those of us who always thought that sounded like a breakfast at Denny's, vindication: According to Jeep Scrambler Forum — yes, they were so sure, they named themselves that — the truck will carry a different name: Jeep Gladiator. Could this still be a mistake, and Scrambler will stick?

Why does this Cadillac fob seem to be for a mid-engine roadster?

Is GM bringing back its Caddied-up Corvette sibling, the Cadillac XLR — only this time based on the mid-engine Corvette? Except that Cadillac's way back from the failures of its sedan-centric lineup was thought to be through SUVs such as the new XT4 compact crossover, the XT5 and the somewhere-in-testing three-row XT6. Plus, the XLR, which was produced between 2003 and 2009, hit its sales peak in 2005 of just 3,730 cars, or about one-tenth the sales volume of the Corvette.

After week of tragedies in 5 states, a reminder about school bus safety

Normally at Autoblog, we don't report vehicular crashes — they are, unfortunately, a fact of daily life. But on this Friday, after what has been a terrible week on the streets of America, we're compelled to remind you about the sanctity of something none of us should ever take for granted: the safety zone surrounding school buses, school bus stops, and school zones.

Florida woman cheats death in latest unsecured-load accident

A woman driving on Interstate 95 near Rockledge, Fla., on Friday escaped death when a sheet of plywood flew out of the bed of a truck and slashed through the windshield of her Honda — at neck height. Florida Today says Rebecca Burgman, 35, of Melbourne, Fla., had only minor injuries. The saving grace was the plywood was wider than the windshield, so the car's A-pillars stopped it from decapitating her.

This McLaren 600LT is bespoke for Pebble Beach from roof scoop to road

It's track-ready but road-legal, comes with track driving instruction, and its price begins at $240,000, but if all that doesn't make the McLaren 600LT special enough for you, then perhaps you'll be interested in the "McLaren 600LT in Stealth Grey by MSO," to be revealed on the Pebble Beach Concept Lawn this Sunday, Aug. 26. MSO, of course, is McLaren Special Operations, the bespoke tailors of the McLaren brand. The MSO crew has crafted this 600LT with a lot more carbon fiber — especially a fully functional roof scoop on this Longtail that's inspired by the McLaren F1 Longtail.