481-HP Silverado ZR2, $23K Tokyo Model Y, Knockoff 911
PLUS: Army Defender, 260-Mile Ioniq 5, Cracking Corvette
Releases & Reviews
2027 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Really Wants To Be a Baja-Bashing Cadillac
The 2027 ZR2 starts at about $80,000, roughly $5,000 more than the outgoing truck, with standard Super Cruise, massaging seats and 60 inches of screens. The 3.0-liter Duramax diesel is the base engine, and the new 481-hp 6.6-liter V8 is optional. Multimatic DSSV dampers return with a new Baja mode.
Mitsuoka LA1 Is a Miata-Based Miniature C1 Corvette You Can Drive
The Japanese coachbuilder has previewed the LA1, which appears to put a first-generation Corvette-style body with quad headlights and chrome bumpers on a current Mazda Miata. Specs and pricing are due November 26. Mitsuoka previously built the Rock Star, a Miata-based take on the C2 Corvette.
Technology, Market Data & Analysis
How Tesla Can Afford To Sell The Model Y For Under $23,000 In Tokyo
National and Tokyo subsidies cut the Model Y to 3.6 million yen (about $23K) for Tokyo buyers, under its roughly $39K price in China. Matt Hardigree credits the weak yen and Tesla's unchanged yen pricing. Tesla's first-half Japan sales of about 12,000 already top its 2025 total.
Gas Prices Are Up, And So Are EV Sales
Cox Automotive counts nearly 79,000 new EVs sold in August, up slightly from July. Used EV sales rose over 25% in the month to about 44,000 as off-lease cars reached the market, at an average listing price of about $37,000. Tesla took roughly half of new sales.
Car Culture
Go Fast for Less: 5 Cars to Get You to 150 MPH for Under $50K
Hagerty picks the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, 996-generation Porsche 911, C5 Corvette Z06, Bentley Continental GT and 2004–06 Pontiac GTO, each under $50,000 in excellent condition. The 170-mph Z06 starts at about $33K. Hagerty warns that the 198-mph Bentley, from about $28,000, is costly to maintain.
There Was Once An Indonesian Knockoff Porsche 911 With A Tiny Mazda Engine Up Front
Indomobil's kit-car arm Marvia molded fiberglass panels from a real 911 and mounted them on a tube chassis with a 70-hp, 1.4-liter Mazda 323 drivetrain. It sold for under a tenth of a real 911's price in early-1990s Indonesia. About 50 were built before riots in 1998 destroyed the factory.
Miscellaneous
Watch a Trucker Pump $1,000 in Diesel Fuel Without Filling the Tank
The video from Fort Pierce, Florida, shows the pump passing $1,000 at just over 155 gallons, with diesel at $6.49 a gallon. The same fill would cost nearly $1,300 at California's average price. Commercial pumps skip the per-transaction caps that retail pumps impose.
Why Are Brake Lights Red, But Turn Signals Aren't Always?
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 requires red brake lamps and amber front turn signals, and lets automakers choose red or amber at the rear. NHTSA says its research found only a very slight detection benefit for amber, too small to mandate it. European-market rules generally require amber.
Quick Links
China Will Dominate US Car Market Like Europe’s Unless Restricted, Hyundai CEO Says: TDS
Jose Muñoz said Thursday that Chinese brands now hold the top-seller spots in the UK because it has no trade barriers, and that the US could follow without safeguards.
You’d Never Expect Land Rover’s Luxe New Defender To Pull Off Military-Spec This Well
The Defender Wolf Series II debuted at the UK's DVD2026 defense show in cage-door and single-cab pickup forms on the civilian D7x monocoque, with JLR's new military division targeting NATO buyers.
Is the Hyundai Ioniq 5’s Bigger Battery Better? We Tested It
Car and Driver's all-wheel-drive Limited with the larger pack covered 260 miles on its 75-mph highway test, 50 more than the old battery managed, and also charged faster.
Lucid to Build a 25,000-Vehicle Robotaxi Fleet
European ride-hailing firm Bolt will own and operate the fleet, built on Lucid's upcoming midsize EV platform with Nvidia's Hyperion self-driving hardware, as a first step toward 100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2035.
Chevy's New V8s Ditch The Dipstick And Go Digital To 'Simplify The Ownership Experience'
An on-screen oil-level readout replaces the dipstick on the new 5.7-liter and 6.6-liter V8s, which GM says can also warn of a leak while driving, and the four-cylinder and diesel engines keep theirs.
2026 VW Tiguan R Line | More Flavor Than RAV4 and CRV
Savagegeese tests the 268-hp, roughly $45,000 Turbo trim, praising its massaging seats and conventional automatic, and notes it placed third against the CR-V and RAV4 for lacking a hybrid.
My Corvette Is Cracking And I Feel Like GM Should Have Seen This Coming
Griffin Riley reports that the composite door of his C6 Corvette cracked around its mounting points, a failure he says also affects earlier generations, and the fix required a replacement door and new hinges.