Canoo

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Walmart looks to the future, buys 4,500 Canoo vans

Walmart, the country’s largest retail began with founder Sam Walton driving often a 1979 Ford F-150 pickup truck loaded with merchandise, has taken a giant leap of automotive faith. It has purchased 4,500 Canoo electronic Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDV). The futuristic-looking van debuted as a concept vehicle in 2019 at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be used for delivery of the company’s online orders. Walmart First Canoo Fleet Buyer Walmart bought the vehicles, announced in 2021 with a starting price of $34,750, as part of its goal to eliminate emissions from its operations by 2040. The Canoo is on track to start production in late 2022 and will be delivered to the first customers, including Walmart, in 2023.

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Concept cars: back to the future again — maybe

Concept cars, also called prototypes, are showcased at auto shows to test media and public interest. The idea began in 1938 with the Buick Y-Job, a specialty vehicle presented as a vision of how future cars might look in 20 years. The idea of forecasting the automotive future stuck. Nearly 85 years later the practice remains, including during the LA Auto Show. Its 10-day run, the show’s first edition since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ends today at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Themes presented in concepts change. Sometimes a one-off creation is so bizarre its only job is to attract attention. Sometimes, concepts are nearly identical to the production vehicle about to debut. Will they be made? Overridingly,

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#207, Live at the LA Auto Show: Back to the Future, Maybe

The LA Auto Show advanced to the second and final media day Thursday and The Weekly Driver Podcast was back in the vehicle showcase halls at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was a day for a visit back to the future, maybe. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia visited with representatives from a variety of concept vehicles, some from established manufacturers, others from new carmakers. As in previous years, concept cars showcased at the LA Auto Show are tentative at best. None of the concept vehicles we viewed and discussed are predicted to be publicly available until at least the fall of 2022. Some of the vehicles are not expected until as late as 2025. Other EVs, like the

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It’s not a canoe. It’s a Canoo, a new electric pickup truck

There’s another new electric truck on the horizon, the oddly named Canoo. formerly known as Evelozcity, Canoo is an American manufacturer headquartered in Torrance, California. While specs and pricing weren’t announced, the start-up announced it will debut its trucks in 2023. The trucks will be offered with single-motor and dual-motor all-wheel-drive options. The latter version is touted to produce 600 horsepower and 550 foot-pounds of torque. Canoo said its trucks will have 1,800-pound payload capacitors and a 200-mile range. The Canoo will be built on the same modular platform as Canoo’s other vehicles. The company announced last December a lineup of delivery vans. Its new dual-motor truck will deliver up to 600 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque. The Canoo

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