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New auto metal, circa 2026: The golden age of muscle revisited
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 18, 2026
The new year promises an array of new vehicles, beginning with the 2026 Detroit Auto Show that opens Wednesday at Huntington Place with a roar.
Literally.
Unshackled by government carbon dioxide regulations, expect the roar of new gas-powered V-8 engines to shake Motown asphalt. Ram’s reborn earth-pawing, 777-horsepower Ram 1500 TRX supertruck debuted on Jan. 1 and is expected at the show, while Ford might take the wraps off a successor to the 700-horsepower Mustang Shelby GT500.
Stellantis, © 2025 Stellantis
Bronco Raptor country: Spills, thrills ‘n’ crazy drivers across the Arabian Desert
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 18, 2026
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — At over 400,000 square miles, the Empty Quarter in the Arabian desert is the world’s biggest continuous sand ecosystem. It’s the natural habitat of the Detroit-born Ford Bronco Raptor, where the off-road beast can really flex its V-6 muscle, all-terrain tires and sophisticated suspension.
And its state-of-the-art safety systems.
I got a behind-the-wheel taste of the Raptor’s sand-storming capabilities here — including a mouthful of air bag when I miscalculated a dune. I have raced cars all my adult life and hammered off-road vehicles across extreme off-road environments from the Rubicon Trail in California to Utah’s Moab rock to Holly Oaks ORV Park, but the desert is unique for its high speeds, disorienting landscape and extreme temperatures.
The Ford Bronco Raptor takes on the Empty Quarter dunes in Saudi Arabia. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Payne: At light speed in the Lucid Gravity — call it CyberVan
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 18, 2026
Troy — Mrs. Payne and I recently enjoyed “Tron: Ares,” an action-packed sci-fi movie featuring lightning-quick light bikes and glowing digital displays.
Then we climbed into our own Tron-mobile.
As I approached the 2025 Lucid Gravity SUV tester with key in pocket, the electric SUV awoke. Door handles popped out to meet us and LED lights wrapped the front and rear ends (what, no Tron-like LEDs ringing the wheels?). We slipped into the interior and big digital screens glowing to life at the touch of the brake pedal.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Ford v The World: Raptor battles for Dakar Rally title in Saudi desert
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 18, 2026
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — In 1966, France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans put Ford on the map as one of the world’s premier sports car manufacturers. Sixty years later, Ford is determined to make its mark again — this time as one of the world’s premier off-road makers by taking on the world at the 14-day, 2026 Dakar Rally in the desert of Saudi Arabia.
Ford v Ferrari meets Ford v Toyota.
The Japanese manufacturer, builder of the internationally-ubiquitous Hilux trucks, has dominated this race in recent years, just as Ferrari dominated Le Mans in the early 1960s.
Payne: Wintry 4Cast? No problem in 4Wheelin’ Toyota 4Runner
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 1, 2026
Detroit — With roads under four inches of snow one morning this winter, traffic stopped on hilly Franklin Road as a front-wheel-drive Nissan Altima struggled to climb an icy slope in front of me. The driver finally gave up, turning around in search of a different route. I kept on truckin’.
On Gilbert Lake Road, an all-wheel-drive Lexus NX crawled along at 12 mph in the white stuff before pulling into a driveway. I kept on truckin’.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Waiting to enter Telegraph Road at a red light, I was joined on the right shoulder by a Volvo SUV that had obnoxiously jumped the line behind me to be first onto Telegraph — and first into the far-left Telegraph lane to make the Michigan turn south. Some people. The light turned, the Volvo driver nailed the throttle, the Volvo’s tires spun in place while I … kept on truckin’.
It’s good to be behind the wheel of a 2025 Toyota 4Runner.
While not officially a truck, the $43K 4Runner is one of three SUVs that Toyota makes based on its rugged, midsized Mexican-made Tacoma pickup. Like the Taco, 4Runner gives you the confidence to go just about anywhere.
With 8.8-10.1 inches of ground clearance and 18-33 inches of approach angle (depending on trim; my posh Limited tester clocked in at 8.8/18 inches), 4Runner has similar capabilities to the Tacoma so I could take on:
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
1) Michigan winter
2) Detroit potholes
3) Holly Oaks ORV Park, or
4) Towing a 6,000-pound boat
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Same goes for the $66K Lexus GX (which I attacked Holly Oaks with last year) and the $58K Toyota Land Cruiser (which I flogged all across northern Michigan). That’s an impressive toybox aimed at adventure-focused Detroit SUV icons like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.
Curiously, it’s a market that General Motors Co. has missed as it focused on going electric with its Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. So Toyota has flooded the zone with plenty of Jeep/Ford competitors. GX is a premium off-roader. Land Cruiser a Land Rover Defender with a Japanese accent.
But the butch 4Runner is legend.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
With its grizzled looks, climb-Mount-Rushmore attitude and bulletproof reputation, 4Runner’s built a cult following — from the Holly Oaks ORV Park-assaulting Michigan 4Runner Group to my 55-year old friend John, who still carries a torch for 4Runner since he put 150,000 miles on one as a young college grad.
John was eager to check out the all-new, sixth-generation 4Runner in my driveway. Boy, has it changed.
Like the new Tacoma pickup, the 2025 4Runner has matured into more than just a reliable Toyota tool. This ute has style.
The exterior maintains its macho looks with signature truck-like elements like bold presence, bulging fenders and bulldog grille. It looks like a grownup’s LEGO toy.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
But the interior has been transformed. It echoes the exterior’s LEGO theme with a chunky, horizontal dash, climate/volume knobs the size of your fist, and a giant “Oh, crap!” handle for Mrs. Payne to hold onto when her husband takes a detour to Holly Oaks.
Plugged into this LEGO landscape are a modern digital instrument display and eight- or 14-inch tablet touchscreens. Toyota has lagged digital leaders Ford and Hyundai, but it makes up a lot of ground with its new pickup-based utes.
“Tune to 950 AM,” I barked during the snowstorm to get the latest weather report. Whereas previous Toyotas had worse hearing than a 90-year old uncle, 4Runner understood and instantly brought up the AM station.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Most of the time, however, I used Android Auto, which Toyota has finally embraced (along with Apple CarPlay). I navigated effortlessly to Detroit Metro Airport on Google Maps, my Android phone docked on the wireless charger to maintain juice.
John loved it.
“It really carries the pickup’s macho look,” said the ex-football player. He was also happy to see signature elements like the roll-down tailgate window (for easy cargo access) had carried over to the latest gen. Thanks to 4Runner’s deep exhaust growl, he didn’t notice the Toyota had ditched the old nail, V-6 engine for a sippier, 278-horsepower, turbocharged 4-cyinder. GRRRRR!!!
4Runner options a 326-horse, hybrid 4-banger with similar fuel economy. But even macho males want a smooth ride, and John marveled at the sixth gen’s other big leap: drivability.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Truck-based SUVs are prone to handling like, well, trucks. But Toyota has done extensive suspension work for the 4Runner, and it sauntered smoothly around town. Like Bronco, its independent front suspension makes for good road manners while not sacrificing off-road capability.
My Limited tester was loaded to the gills with features including sunroof, automatic side steps (thank you, said wee Mrs. Payne), memory seats, third-row seats and automatic AWD with two-speed transfer case that sensed travel conditions. You don’t need to spend $62K to get a fully capable 4Runner, thanks to Toyota’s generous suite of Toyota Safety Sense features.
Purchase a base SR5 4Runner and you get blind-spot assist, adaptive cruse control, auto high-beams, blackout package and a refrigerator (kidding about the last one). Opt for AWD ($2,000) and my favorite Ice Cap white paint job ($0) and you’ll look like a battle-ready Star Wars stormtrooper.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
For my money, I’d opt for the $57,265 TRD Off-Road Premium model to add all-terrain tires to the mix as well as a spare tire and faux-leather seats for long drives. But a base $46,495 SR5 gets you plenty (and a set of aftermarket all-terrain tires is just $1,200).
Speaking of long drives, a pickup-based SUV has its drawbacks. Most noticeably in the hind quarters.
With a solid rear axle, the 4Runner’s third-row seats have no leg well, so only your tiniest family members will find them habitable. Second-row seats, too, are compromised and less roomy than in the unibody-based Toyota RAV4.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
For all its interior advances, Toyota still lags in driver ergonomics compared to Detroit makers like Chevrolet and its steering wheel of ACC and volume rocker buttons — plus radio controls on the back of the wheel. Clever. Thanks to the meaty 4Runner knob, however, my fingers could tune the radio in the dark and ACC gets a rocker button.
Elsewhere, attention to detail is commendable — for example, the three cupholders in the door.
Four inches of snow? 4Cheers 4The 4Runner.
2025 Toyota 4Runner
Vehicle type: Gas and gas-electric hybrid-powered, rear- and four-wheel-drive, five-passenger SUV
Price: $42,765, including $1,495 destination charge ($62,875 Limited model as tested)
Powerplant: 2.4-liter, turbocharged inline 4-cylinder; 2.4-liter, turbocharged inline 4-cylinder paired with electric motor (hybrid)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 278 horsepower, 317 pound-feet torque; 326 horsepower, 465 pound-feet torque (hybrid)
Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.5 sec. (Car and Driver); towing, 6,000 pounds
Weight: 4,970 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA est. 20 city/24 highway/21 combined (4WD turbo-4); 23 city/24 highway/23 combined (4WD turbo-4 hybrid); range, 456 miles (4WD turbo-4)
Report card
Highs: 4WD toughness; stylish, LEGO-block interior
Lows: Ergonomics still lag class leaders; tight second row
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: What I want for Christmas, Porsche 911T manual
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 25, 2025
Braselton, Georgia — The bad news is the manual transmission is an endangered species these days as emissions regulations and electric vehicles have shrunk the options for American enthusiasts. The good news? Americans looooove to row the gearbox compared to their foreign peers (40% of VW GTI sales have been manual, just 5% in Europe), and so performance manufacturers continue to feed our addiction. For the 2025 holiday shopping season, there are 24 manual models available.
I reviewed the best entry-level manual sportscar, the Mazda MX-5 Miata, to open the summer. For Christmas, I present to you the King of the Manuals at the opposite end of the market: the Porsche 911T.
I climbed into the 911T at Lake Lanier to drive to Road Atlanta Raceway for the IMSA Weathertech Series season finale which I was covering for The News. The drive should have required 30 minutes.
It lasted two hours. I took the long way.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
I blew by EXIT 8 on I-985 that would have taken me to Road Atlanta and headed north for the Route 52 twisties.
GRRRRRRR! I exited the freeway and immediately dialed the DRIVE MODE selector on the steering wheel to SPORT PLUS, deepening the growl from the 388 horses behind me.
VROOOM! I reached for the walnut shifter knob and downshifted from third to second gear — a loud rev match helping seamless cog swap.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
WAAAUUUURGH! I buried the throttle and disappeared into the Blue Ridge Mountains. I flicked off shifts at the 7,500 RPM redline — THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH — the rampaging German beast controlled by precise shifts and steering inputs.
I have driven and raced multiple manuals over the years, and few are as precise as a 911. The 911T benefits from the track-focused 911 GT3 RS (with which it shares a gearbox linkage) and I never missed a shift. Shift throws are short, the shift gates predictable, the execution always direct, never rubbery. Assisting this exactitude is a move back to a six-speed gearbox from last generation’s seven-speed experiment. Too many shift gates. The six-speed is killer.
Porsche offers steering-mounted paddle shifters on its entry-level Carrera models, but the stick is the most direct driver’s experience in the business. The $141k 911T is Porsche’s entry-level manual drug with the $160k GT3 the top of the mountain.
Pause, take a deep breath. This is rare air. It’s more than 100 grand above the Miata manual Grand Touring I tested last summer – and more than double that of the OG, modest, $55k (inflation adjusted), 1970 911T my uncle once owned. “Today’s 911 T only knows Modesty as the name of a yacht off the coast of Croatia,” snarks Car and Driver.
This, Enthusiast Nation, is the summit of the manual landscape. No other supercar manufacturer makes a stick shift above it.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
If they did, they would be hard-pressed to make a more scintillating experience than the 911T.
Old school the manual may be, it is not immune to the advance of modern electronics. The digital tachometer comes with shift lights so that when I was really rowing the box, I could watch the lights for redline shifts without taking my eyes off the road.
The rev-match feature negates the need for double-clutching (aka, heel-and-toe) — always a fraught experience depending on pedal placement, shoe type and whether you have double-wide, size 15 water skis like me for feet.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The rev match feature makes downshifts more precise, though still not as quick as a paddle-shift car. If it’s raw speed you’re looking for, Porsche’s paddle-driven automatic PDK is your track tool. PDK will do insane, launch-controlled 0-60 mph times. Faster downshifts on corner entry. Quicker acceleration out of apexes.
But if it’s visceral thrills you want, the stick is sublime.
The manual box’s benefits aren’t just in the shifting experience. It tips the scales at 3,316 pounds — a significant 275-pounds less than the 911 GTS T-Hybrid I also tested this year. Weight matters, and the T’s fit physique made it more nimble across the Route 52 switchbacks — maximizing the extraordinary suspension. (Opting for the convertible 911T Cabriolet adds 189 pounds.)
But even Route 52 can’t contain the 911T. So capable is the T that I ran out of road long before I reached the supercar’s envelope. Ya’ gotta’ take it to a track — and, happily for owners, there are plenty of track day opportunities in Michigan at Gingerman Raceway, Grattan, M1 Concourse. Or, if you make occasional trips to Atlanta and don’t want to abuse your own 911T, then sign up for the Porsche Experience (conveniently right next to Atlanta International Airport) and add a half-day to your stay in the Peachtree State.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
In addition to racetracks, Atlanta is also renowned for grisly Los Angeles-like traffic, and the 911T proved remarkably well-suited for a two-hour commute from ATL to Breselton. Just be sure not to option the hard-back race seats in my $162,895 test mule which are uncomfortable, incapable of flipping forward, and paired with deleted rear seats. Choose the standard seats, and the 911T is not only comfy, but utilitarian.
A parking attendant rolled his eyes at me when I told him I could get my carry-on, wife’s carry-on, giant tennis bag, laptop case and two shopping bags into the two-door sportscar.
No sweat.
The frunk alone (rear-engine Porsches innovated this neat feature long before Tesla electric vehicles) swallowed my suitcase and the two shopping bags. Then (despite those hardback race seats) I shoved the rest of our luggage aft of the front thrones — the back shelf alone taking on the broad tennis bag. Mrs. Payne and I then managed stop-and-go Atlanta traffic even as the Porsche lacks adaptive cruise control.
So good is the manual, it shifted like butter in traffic.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Porsche interior ergonomics have come a long way from the days when Americans complained about the German’s lack of cupholders. I’m still complaining. The 911 rudely locates its console cupholder right in front of the manual shifter, which makes for awkward shifts when carrying a drink. Fortunately, the doors are equipped with cupholders so I could bypass the console.
My favorite ergonomic feature is the steering wheel scroll wheel (why don’t all manufacturers have these?) so I could scroll numerous features on the digital instrument display — even change it from the classic five Porsche instruments to my preferred, less-cluttered threesome.
Otherwise, interior buttons felt natural. Just like the walnut manual gearshift in my hand. Please, Santa.
Next week: 2026 Toyota 4Runner
2025 Porsche 911T
Vehicle type: Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger sportscar
Price: $140,795, including $1,995 destination fee ($162,895 as tested)
Powerplant: 3.0-liter flat-6 cylinder
Power: 388 horsepower, 331 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.3 seconds (mfr.); top speed, 183 mph
Weight: 3,316 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA, 17 mpg city/25 highway/20 combined
Report card
Highs: Manual shifter from the gods; lightweight athlete
Lows: Console cupholder obstructs shifter; manual, but price out of reach to many
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Dashin’ dozen: The best auto features of 2025
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 23, 2025
Automobiles are rolling department stores containing everything from electronics to music to tires to wardrobe fashion. Wardrobe fashion? Check out the stylish blue leather seats in the Cadillac Optiq.
This year brought more cool features to keep the shoppers coming.
One feature I didn’t care for? The warning gong — BEEP BEEP BEEP — in English start-up automaker Ineos’ Grenadier SUV that went off every time you breached the speed limit. It’s a European Union mandate that migrated like a barnacle on the Ineos when it crossed the pond. A dealer software update scrubbed it.
Here are the dashin’ dozen features ‘n’ trends that stood out in 2025:
1. Fancy fascias: The front fascia has always been a vehicle’s defining differentiator. Big grilles, multiple headlights, just look at those 1950s mugs. But with the recent electric vehicle trend, you could have been concerned that vehicle welcome mats were disappearing. Look at the grille-less front ends of the Tesla Model 3 and Y. Or the Kia EV6 and Chevy Equinox EV. Oh, dear.
2026 Acura Integra body-color front fascia. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Elsewhere, however, 2025 brought marvelous creativity. Check out the light show of the Cadillac Optiq when you approach it with a key fob (ending with the clever illumination of the Caddy crest inside the cockpit). For resurgent gas-powered cars, check out the body color grille of the Acura Integra (yeah, body color grilles have been a truck thing for a long time), and the subtle cross-hatch graphic of the BMW X3.
2. See-thru hood: The digital age has brought a world of safety wonders courtesy of small cameras: back-up cameras, blind-spot cameras, 360-degree bird’s-eye-view cameras. For 2026, Nissan introduced a clever feature on its Murano and Armada models that utilizes eight cameras for multiple views around the vehicle — including the ability to see virtually through your hood.
The visual trick allows perfect placement of your tires in, for example, a curbside parking spot. Or to avoid potholes.
2026 Nissan Armada see-through front hood. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
3. Windowless rear: Cadillac innovated the camera mirror last decade and its IMSA prototype race cars instantly adopted it because, well, they didn’t have rear windows. Now production cars are following.
The Polestar 4 ditched its rear window this year in order to increase rear passenger headroom — and the panoramic roof. The driver uses a standard camera mirror to see out back. So, too, the Cybertruck (when its automatic bed tonneau cover blocks the rear window).
Look ma, no rear window. The 2026 Polestar 4. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
4. Console cornucopias: Electronic transmissions have transformed the center console. Without a mechanical attachment to your gearbox, shifters are now located anywhere from the steering column (Hyundais) to the dash (Chrysler Pacifica). That means more room between the front seats for cupholders, wireless chargers, cargo storage. Check out the rear console drawers on the Pacifica, Hyundai Ioniq 9, and VW ID.Buzz microbus.
The center console of the 2025 VW ID-Buzz can be moved to the second row. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Then ID.Buzz goes one step further. You can uproot the whole center console and anchor it between the second-row seats for rear passengers to use.
5. Steering wheel buttons: The digital age has also transformed the steering wheel. Today’s wheels have more features than a toy Fisher-Price Laugh ‘n’ Learn Steering Wheel.
There are buttons for adaptive cruise control, volume, radio station tuning, voice commands, and instrument display adjustment. My favorite examples of the genre are Chevy and Dodge vehicles that place volume/radio controls on the back of the wheel so your fingers never have to leave the wheel. Performance vehicles get more options like Porsche’s Sport Response Button and Hyundai N Grin Shift. Press them and the drivetrain instantly optimizes for 20 seconds of performance bliss.
6. Square steering wheel: Square is cool. The eighth-gen Corvette made the square wheel trendy in 2020 to allow for better visibility of its wide, digital instrument display. Other brands have followed suit.
The Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition feature square steering wheels so you can better see their digital screen at the base of the windshield. So, too, the Subaru Solterra, which has also moved its instrument display forward from the traditional dash position. Typical of Teslas, the Cybertruck has no instrument display, but features a square steering wheel for its unique variable-steer wheel with just 340 degrees of motion (compared to the traditional 900-1,080 degrees).
The 2025 Tesla Cybertruck features a square steering wheel. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
7. Jokes: With Google connectivity, cars are rolling smartphones that can entertain on long journeys.
Hey, Google, tell me a joke.
“How do trees access the Internet? They log in.”
Tell me another.
“What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.”
8. Wireless phone chargers: Telling jokes, playing music, navigating. All that extra work for your car means your phone runs out of juice faster. So in 2025, wireless charging pads proliferated like dandelions in spring.
They are essential in vehicles like Hondas that have replaced their navi systems entirely with Goole Maps.
9. Frunk meets freat: Electric vehicles made frunks (front trunks) trendy by filling in the hole left by gas engines with storage space (see Tesla, Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Silverado EV). The 2026 Lucid Gravity EV puts a seat in its frunk for forward tailgating. Call it a freat (front seat).
2026 Lucid Gravity front seat. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
10. Four-wheel-steer: The Honda Prelude innovated four-wheel-steer waaaay back in 1988. Now the gimmick is mainstream and available on a variety of luxury cars (a second steering-wheel rack costs money), including the Porsche 911, BMW 5/7 Series, Mercedes S-Class, GMC Hummer EV, Tesla Cybertruck, and more.
It’s especially useful in trucks for reducing the turning radius in tight spots.
11. Underseat storage: Hulking, full-size pickup trucks have long used underseat storage to complement their exposed beds. Now the feature has trickled down to the $30k segment. Trucklets like the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick now offer the convenient feature.
12. Dolby Atmos: Dolby’s innovative speaker systems have made movie theaters an immersive sensory experience. In 2025, that experience debuted in automobiles with the Cadillac Optiq.
2026 Cadillac Optiq Dolby Atmos. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
With speakers strategically placed around the cabin, Optiq puts you in the middle of an orchestra.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Ho ho horsepower! Durango SRT Hellcat V-8 coming to all 50 states
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 22, 2025
There might be a Hellcat in your stocking this Christmas.
Thanks to an easing regulatory landscape, Dodge has opened delivery for its iconic, fire-breathing, supercharged, 710-horsepower, three-row Durango SRT Hellcat SUV to all 50 states just in time for the holidays. Etched with signature twin stripes over its scooped hood, the Hellcat (and Hellcat Jailbreak) models add a V8-powered performance option to the Durango, which offers a V-6 as its base engine.
Dodge launched the sales campaign with a wild new video on its social channels featuring Santa Claus making a jail break, then taking to the skies in his supercharged Hellcat sleigh.
The Durango is the latest move by corporate parent Stellantis to lean into its Dodge and Ram muscle brands as government regulations have been dialed back. Ram has rearmed its 1500 pickup with a V-8 and the Dodge Challenger is now powered by a turbo-6 cylinder (after a detour down Electric Alley) with a V-8 expected soon.
The Durango SRT Hellcat’s availability had been limited due to strict regulations by the California Air Resources Board and other states, but federal legislation has throttled back those threats. Dodge said it updated its ordering availability (initially limited to 33 states) to account for the changing landscape.
“There’s no stopping the momentum the Dodge Durango is experiencing, including 14 straight months of sales growth, and now that the Durango SRT Hellcat is uncaged and running free in all 50 states, that momentum is going to keep growing,” said Dodge CEO Matt McAlear.
2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak options 10 million different feature combos. Stellantis, 2025 Stellantis
The 5,550-pound rhino in tennis shoes is the most powerful three-row SUV on the planet — and the fifth most-powerful, gas-powered SUV period, trailing only the 715-horsepower Ferrari Purosangue, 717-horsepower Aston Martin DBX S, 729-horsepower Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid and 789-horse Lamborghini Urus SE exotics.
Starting at $82,585 — about double the $41,990 standard, all-wheel-drive, V6-powered Durango — but one-third the price of the $240K Lamborghini, the Durango will hit 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds (quicker than a Porsche Boxster T sports car) on its way to a 180 mph top speed.
2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and Hellcat Jailbreak are now offered in all 50 states thanks to regulatory rollbacks. Stellantis, 2025 Stellantis
New for ‘26, the Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak edition offers Dodge’s signature Triple Nickel exterior color and carbon-fiber stripes — unlocking more than 10 million customization combinations. Other options include paint colors (Destroyer Gray, Diamond Black, Green Machine, Octane Red, Vapor Gray, B5 Blue, White Knuckle), six wheels, six exterior badge colors, five seat colors, six dual-stripe colors, four brake caliper colors, Alcantara steering wheel, sunroof, and a partridge in a pear tree.
“The Dodge Durango stands alone as the only three-row muscle SUV on the market, delivering unmatched performance, best-in-class towing, and available Hemi V-8 power — the perfect supercharged sleigh to help Santa on his mission,” McAlear said.
In the jailbreak video, Santa busts from jail (incarcerated for breaking and entering, naturally) with Mrs. Claus and takes the reins of his Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak sleigh:
They fired up the Durango, Hemi engine aglowAnd the guards stood there frozen, too stunned by the showWith a burst through the gates and thunderous crackHe shouted “This Christmas season the Jailbreak is back!”
Dodge has been at odds with tightening federal carbon dioxide emissions regulations as its Hellcat-powered Charger and Challenger lineup pumped out 592 grams of CO2 per mile, ranking the cars at 2 on the EPA’s 1-10 emissions scale. Despite being the most popular muscle cars in the U.S. market — outselling even the iconic Ford Mustang — the Challenger/Charger helped earn Stellantis whopping government fines of $711 million in 2022, nearly the cost of a new car program.
The cars were discontinued after the 2023 model year, but the Durango SRT Hellcat lived on.
“Federal emissions laws have arcane rules for cars, SUVs, and trucks, and they are biased towards big SUVs like the Durango,” said auto analyst and investor Anton Wahlman of SeekingAlpha.com. “Bottom line, Dodge was able to continue producing the Durango V-8.”
In addition to gob-smacking power, the 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak is an AWD, three-row daily driver. Stellantis, 2025 Stellantis
Yet, another layer of state laws led by California prohibited the Durango Hellcat’s sale in 17 states. That changed this year when Congress passed laws rolling back federal emissions fines and nixing exemptions allowing states to set their own emissions rules.
“On top of the EPA fines, California threw another wrench in the works,” said Wahlman, noting that states are counter-suing Congress. “Now that those rules have been repealed, Stellantis is taking the position that they have the green light to make what their customers want.”
In pursuit of “a lineup that delivers unrivaled performance in each of its segments,” Dodge said the Durango joins an all-new, gas-fired, twin-turbo inline-6-engine-powered, sedan/coupe Charger lineup that includes the $56,990, 550-horsepower Dodge Charger Scat Pack and $51,990, 420-horsepower R/T.
The Detroit News crowned the Charger its 2025 Vehicle of the Year earlier this month.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Honda Accord updated for a dying sedan market
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 22, 2025
For 2026, the Ohio-made Honda Accord gets mid-cycle updates after its 11th generation introduction in 2023. Those updates are minor compared to previous generations because the Accord — the second best-selling non-pickup truck in America just 11 years ago — has seen sales plummet by nearly 60% in a dying mid-size sedan market.
Accord is a touchstone for the dramatic trends that have roiled the U.S. industry.
The first Japanese car to be assembled in the United States in 1982 under threat of protectionist U.S. trade policies, it rode a wave of consumer demand for reliable, fuel-efficient Japanese cars to become America’s #1 car in 1990 at 417,179 units. Since recording 388,435 unit sales in 2014 (second only to the Toyota Camry), Accord sales have been pirated by America’s newfound love affair with the SUV. With its 2026 update, the gas-electric hybrid Accord is a bridge to Honda’s all-electric future as it moves production to Indiana to make way for Honda’s 0 Series electric vehicles in Marysville.
“Midsize and large sedans were family vehicles,” said Stephanie Brinley, auto analyst with S&P Global. “Then along came compact and midsize SUVs that gave you more utility, easier ingress/egress and cargo space that’s easier to use. They don’t have a huge fuel economy hit, and you sit up a little bit higher. It’s all about how that functions within the family.”
Since 2014 — the year Taylor Swift’s hit “Shake it Off” climbed the charts — Accord sales have fallen 42% to just 162,723 in annual volume. Accord is not alone. Hyundai Sonata sedan sales in 2024 (61,701) are just 28% of what they were a decade ago. The Nissan Altima? Just 34% (113,896). Only the perennially best-selling midsize Camry at 309,875 (72% of its 428,606 in 2014 sales) has maintained respectable numbers.
This despite significant models like the Ford Fusion (306,860 sales in 2014), Chrysler 200 (117,363 units), and Volkswagen Passat (96,649 sold) having exited the market. The customer has fled to SUVs.
Honda EV Hub – Gas and Hybrid Accord, Acura TLX, and Acura Integra currently roll out of Marysville. EVs will be added to the line soon and the Accord moved to Indiana assembly. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Honda, for example, introduced the subcompact HR-V SUV in 2015 and then accelerated to 151,468 sales last year. And the compact CR-V SUV (the compact SUV class is comparable in vehicle footprint to the midsize sedan) — which trailed the Accord at 338,581in sales in 2014, Matthew Stafford’s fifth year as Lions’ QB — is now the brand’s best-seller with over 400,000 units sold (402,791), an increase of 15% in 10 years.
No wonder, then, that the ‘26 Accord — in contrast to previous generations — will get minor updates.
Where previous model mid-cycle refreshes got new front/rear fascias and interior features, the 2026 Accord (available in six trims) will look the same — its Sport model gaining some black trim bits and the SE model adding 19-inch wheels. Other updates standardize features already available like a 9-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto compatibility, and wireless phone charger.
The 2026 Honda Accord has received raves for its handling – but the market prefers higher-riding SUVs. Honda, Honda
“It’s a way to refresh the sedan without spending as much money,” Brinley said. “Is a little bit more body work going to have a big impact on sales? Maybe not. Is updating the infotainment system going to make customers happier? Probably. Accord’s probably got a smaller budget to work with.”
The electronic updates continue another major auto trend toward large tablet screens since Tesla wowed the market in 2017 with a 15-inch screen anchoring the interior.
Accord is also pivoting to a sportier, more high-tech model than its halcyon family-sedan days.
Honda showed off the O-Series SUV at the Japan Mobility Show, but it is for the U.S. market. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“The 11th-generation Accord continues to resonate with a diverse range of buyers,” said Jessika Laudermilk, assistant vice president of Honda Auto Sales. “For the 2026 model, we’re raising the bar even higher, offering a vehicle that . . . delivers advanced tech features, sporty styling and premium driving experience.”
That driver-centric vibe has thrilled enthusiast media outlets that have praised the roomy Accord’s recent sleek styling as well as its nimble handling compared to taller, boxier SUVs.
“The Accord drives with an effortless cohesion,” thrilled Car and Driver this month in naming the sedan to its 2026 10Best list. “Its ride is supple enough to lull to sleep those buckled into the spacious three-across rear seat during long highway slogs. At the same time, it retains the handling dynamics that make flogging this unassuming sedan down twisting tarmac an absolute joy.”
Despite its sales swoon, the $29,590 Accord is an American icon in part because Honda has had an uncanny read on U.S. consumer tastes. In 1982, Accord was the first Japanese car assembled here as the company sought to build closer to its customers as well as avoid a protectionist wave in Washington threatening import quotas.
Accord’s U.S. assembly led a revolution in non-union, transplant U.S. manufacturing, and today nearly half of U.S. autoworkers are employed by foreign bands.
The 2026 Honda Accord SE model gets 19-inch wheels. Honda, Honda
Accord is part of another trend that Honda hopes will transform the industry.
Along with siblings Civic sedan and CR-V SUV, Accord is pushing gas-electric hybrid powertrains in its 11th-gen model, part of a transition to all-electric cars by 2040 that Honda calls its Second Founding.
“More than 50% of Accord sales are hybrid-electric trims which is a key part of the Honda electrification strategy,” said Honda in its 2026 Accord press release.
Accord is vacating the Marysville plant where it has been built for 43 years to make way for a new generation of Honda EVs. Accord will share a production line in Indiana with the CR-V and compact Civic sedan. In its place, Honda has built a flexible Marysville assembly line capable of making everything from the gas-powered Acura Integra to the automaker’s new, battery-powered 0 Series SUV and Saloon models.
“Electrification now is a little bit different from what we were expecting before,” CEO Toshihiro Mibe told The Detroit News in Tokyo last month of Honda’s plan to end gas-engine sales by 2040. “Maybe (we’ll see a) five-year delay as compared to our first expectations. And probably that means from 2040 on, the electrification will have to go faster. But as long as humankind has not abandoned efforts for global warming innovation, we have to keep up with our responsibility.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: On the town in the sci-fi, low-mi Hyundai Ioniq 9 EV
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 18, 2025
Detroit — The striking, three-row Hyundai Ioniq 9 is an avatar for the electric niche.
I flogged the Ioniq 9 all over Metro Detroit — the 300-mile, natural radius of an EV — as I helped chaperone a racquets tournament and performed daily chores. From its sci-fi, “Blade Runner” exterior to its posh white interior, the Ioniq is dressed to, well, the nines with a serene elegance that is a match for an $80K Lincoln Aviator.
But with real-world range of only 249 miles (80% charge at a fast charger), it cannot match the dexterity of its $50K, gas-powered, 418-mile-range, three-row Hyundai Palisade peer that is a finalist for 2026 North American Utility of the Year. Use your vehicle locally and fly for business/family trips? Are you retired and enjoy relaxed road trips? Wowed by Hyundai’s new, sci-fi image? The Ioniq 9 is a luxury vehicle for you.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
If you need a more versatile family vehicle, buy a gas-fired Palisade or Aviator.
I tested a $79,540 Ioniq 9 Performance Calligraphy model a week after completing a 15-hour, four-day round trip to Watkins Glen, New York, in a 418-mile-range, gas-powered, $51,110 Palisade XRT Pro. Palisade made the trip with one five-minute drink of fuel. Had I been driving the Ioniq 9, I would have required more than an hour over three charging stops — not to mention more time in the charger-starved Finger Lakes, where neither my hotel nor my destination — Watkins Glen International Raceway — were equipped with 220-volt overnight chargers.
The layouts of the Palisade and Ioniq 9 are the same with roomy, three-row interiors studded with gorgeous dual-screen dashes, comfortable seats, high-tech features and USB-C ports everywhere. Ergonomically thoughtful controls are expertly placed on the steering wheel for ease of use. The shifter alone is a masterpiece that frees up console space by harboring both START button and gear selector.
Then Ioniq 9 adds another $30K of sweets.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Think white leather that wraps the interior like icing on a wedding cake. White steering wheel, white seats, white console. The duo-tone interior is trimmed with gray bits: for example, seatbacks split by a line up the middle. Silver bezels and door handles are tastefully placed ‘round the cabin for added decoration. The interior reminded me of a Lincoln Aviator I piloted in 2020, which boasted similar interior appointments from a brand synonymous with quiet luxury.
“This is niiiice,” said a visiting racquets player slipping into the Ioniq 9’s second row. My third-row passenger was not as impressed, especially when I fumbled the controls.
“I’m getting crushed!” he said as I mistakenly pressed the automatic rear seat button to fold the rear seat (with him in it) into the floor. Sometimes a simple pull-loop in the seatback works better. And quicker.
Once their chauffeur (me) had figured out the controls, five passengers arrived at Adaline Restaurant on Woodward in quiet luxury. Ioniq 9’s electric drivetrain is a treat in stop-and-go urban environment.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Heading down Jefferson Avenue, my 5,900-pound chariot squirted ahead of traffic to make a Michigan Turn. “IndyCars go 180 mph down these west-bound Jefferson lanes at the Detroit Grand Prix,” I informed my guests.
Ioniq 9 won’t go that quick, but its 4.4-second vault to 60 mph is impressive for a three-ton ute. Better yet, the power it delivered was linear, quiet, mannered. No gear shifts, no downshift hiccups from a multi-speed transmission. The Hyundai does have steering wheel paddles — but they are to adjust electric motor regenerative braking, not gear shifts. I preferred Level 4 regen (to the harsher MAX setting), which allowed the SUV to slow to a stop without me ever touching the brake.
“That was a smooth ride,” commented a passenger, emerging to take a slow walk around the car curbside.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
I first saw the Ioniq 9 at the famed Goldstein House overlooking Beverly Hills at its November 2024 Los Angeles Auto Show debut. A distinctive architecture for a distinctive car. The Ioniq 9 is no less a standout in downtown Detroit traffic. That “Blade Runner” rear is its signature, but the fascia is memorable for its wraparound headlights punctuated by pixel LED blocks and vertical, pixel-block headlights.
Sitting on big, 21-inch, low-profile wheels, it’s more space age than the handsome, rugged design of its sister Palisade XRT Pro, which drives on high-profile, all-terrain tires.
Ioniq 9 is a Concorde, the Palisade a Boeing 737 airliner. And not just because Ioniq is more posh.
Yes, it’s spectacularly outfitted with luxuries like self-park assist, automatic panoramic roof, head-up display and programmable massaging seats. But it’s also oddly fragile due to the limits of EVs.
I have two chargers in my garage: a NACS charger for Tesla and a Juicebox J1772 connector for everything else. The NACS-equipped Hyundai should be able to charge on both (a J1772 connector is in the trunk). The Ioniq 9 worked on the Juicebox with the adapter, but not the Tesla charger, because it wasn’t a current-generation NACS.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Unlike just a few years ago, there are chargers everywhere in Oakland County. But the charger world has a language all its own.
When I searched for a nearby charger in the Ioniq 9’s screen, a blizzard of options came up from 350 kW to 150 kW to 50 kW at multiple locations. With a packed schedule, I didn’t have time to wait at an occupied charger (unlike a gas pump where customers cycle through in minutes). Helpfully, Ioniq 9’s software showed me the number of charging stalls at each location. I picked the one with the most (four, at a BP gas station in Southfield) — compared to a closer, smaller charger at a Ford dealer.
Upon arrival, I discovered the BP actually had eight charging stalls. Only one was occupied, and I plugged in for 25 minutes to go from 22% of charge to 80%. That is 63 miles to 277 miles — a top-up that would take three minutes in a gas car.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
I used the 25 minutes to shop for a newspaper, buy Snapple and check email.
The cost for this inconvenience was 49 cents per kWh, which is about the same cost for 214 miles ($35) of regular gas at $3.10 a gallon. But it takes five times longer. That inconvenience multiplies on road trips.
The trip to Watkins Glen? It would take 1.25 hours longer than a gas-powered Palisade (or comparably priced Lincoln Aviator). Not to mention anxiety upon arrival about where to charge or how weather conditions might affect range.
No wonder Lincoln has scaled back its plans to go all-electric and instead is making the three-row, V6-powered, 480-mile-range, instant-fill-up Aviator.
The Korean automaker, on the other hand, is determined to change its image. Gas-powered Palisade or luxe Ioniq 9 EV?
Next week: All I want for Christmas is a manual Porsche 911
2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, rear or all-wheel-drive, six-or-seven-passenger SUV
Price: $60,555, including $1,600 destination fee ($79,540 Sport 3 AWD as tested)
Powerplant: 110.3 kWh lithium-ion battery with single rear or dual electric-motor drive
Power: 215-422 horsepower, 258-516 pound-feet torque (422 horsepower, 516 torque as tested)
Transmission: Single-speed direct drive
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.4 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 129 mph; towing, up to 5,000 pounds
Weight: 6,034 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA MPGe 85-92; range, 311 (AWD) to 335 (RWD) miles
Report card
Highs: Sci-fi design, acceleration, Tesla-like NACS charging port
Lows: ICE peer sports similar tech, better range; NACS doesn’t work on all Tesla chargers
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Toyota joins GM, Ford with big investments in F1, endurance racing
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 12, 2025
General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are making historic investments in motorsports as the two Detroit-based companies take on the world’s premier global performance brands in Formula One, Le Mans prototype racing and international GT sports car racing.
Add the third member of America’s Big Three, Toyota Motor Corp.
GM, Toyota and Ford are the new Big Three of U.S. sales with 18%, 15% and 14% market share, respectively (Stellantis is a distant sixth at 9%). And Tokyo-based Toyota is matching its competitors stride-for-stride in motorsports investment as well. With its announcement this month as title sponsor of the American-based MoneyGram Haas Formula One team, Toyota will compete in coming years with GM and Ford in F1, NASCAR and Le Mans endurance Hypercar and GT racing.
Toyota, Toyota
GM will compete in F1 with its Cadillac brand beginning in 2026, and Ford will partner with Red Bull. In NASCAR, Ford and GM’s Chevrolet brand compete. And in endurance racing, Cadillac (Hypercar) and Chevy Corvette (GT) carry the GM flag while Ford is entering Hypercar in 2027 and competes with the Mustang GT3 in GT racing.
Like GM and Ford, Toyota’s moves are intended to enhance its standing as a global performance brand as well as accelerate technology transfer between its racing and production vehicles. Toyota’s aggressive investment also reflects the influence of Toyota chairman and racing enthusiast Akio Toyoda, who — like GM President Mark Reuss and Ford CEO Jim Farley — is a skilled driver himself with a racing license.
“This is a historic commitment by these automakers on a global basis,” said veteran motorsports writer Steven Cole Smith. “The current management teams are committed to performance, and all boats are rising with the tide. The more money, more personalities and more competitiveness in the sports car and F1 market, the more it encourages brands to spend money.”
Toyota
Toyota has history in motorsports dating back 60 years and its current motorsports division, Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR), has been a frontrunner in NASCAR (six Cup Series titles since 2015) and international FIA World Rally and Endurance Championships.
This month, however, it took big steps to expand its footprint in production-based GT3 racing and in the world’s premier open-wheel motorsport, Formula One.
Under the new multi-year agreement with the MoneyGram Haas team, Toyota will bring its formidable technical expertise to a mid-pack team that has struggled for resources against F1 giants like Red Bull-Ford, Mercedes and Ferrari. Toyota will replace MoneyGram, which has been title sponsor since 2023, and the team will be renamed TGR Haas F1.
“I’m hugely excited that MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Toyota Gazoo Racing have come together to enter into this technical partnership,” said Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu. “The ability to tap into the resources and knowledge base available at Toyota Gazoo Racing, while benefiting from their technical and manufacturing processes, will increase our competitiveness in Formula 1. In return, we offer a platform for Toyota to fully utilize and subsequently advance their in-house engineering capabilities.”
Toyota
He said in a media video call that Haas F1 has been “lacking certain resources and hardware capabilities to understand certain things” and is “looking for someone to give us more resource and (who) also have the hardware and know-how of that hardware”.
TGR will join forces with Ferrari, which supplies Haas’s hybrid powertrain, and Italian chassis-maker Dallara, which have been with the team since its inception in 2016.
“By bringing Toyota onboard, (Haas now has a partner) who already has the hardware to build a simulator, and the expertise and people to run it,” reports F1.com correspondent Lawrence Barretto of the sims that major race teams/driers use for race prep.
Toyota said it has no plans to build a full F1 powertrain like Cadillac envisions for its F1 effort by 2029. “However, by doing a deal with such major scope,” said Barretto, “it’s clear Toyota have an interest in potentially expanding their footprint in Formula 1 in the future.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing
In addition to engineering, the Haas collaboration allows Toyota to create a driver development for young Japanese drivers, engineers, and mechanics to gain experience in F1’s highly-competitive environment. Similarly, Cadillac is bringing along IndyCar star Colton Herta in its F1 program.
“The time has come for the next generation to take their first steps toward the world stage,” said Chairman Toyoda. “Together with . . . everyone at TGR Haas F1 Team, we will build both a culture and a team for the future. Toyota is now truly on the move.”
The motorsports moves advance Toyota’s performance profile against brands like Ford, Porsche, Chevrolet, Mercedes and others at a time when Chairman Toyoda is determined to establish the Japanese brand as more than a maker of reliable hybrids, and as a maker of high-performance models from its on-road GR and TRD (off-road Toyota Racing Development) sub-brands.
Toyota
“I think Toyota has always gone for the publicity aspect,” said Cole Smith, who noted that Toyota’s last foray into F1 came in 2002-09. “They like to learn things on a racetrack that they can use in production vehicles. But they also like the fact that they show up in video games as one of the featured cars.”
Publicity in the North American market is also a reason, said Cole Smith, for Toyota’s second big motorsport announcement this month: a new, high-horsepower GR GT production brand halo that will spin off a production-based GT3 race car for sale to customers in the IMSA Weathertech sports car/World Endurance Championship that will go head-to-head against the Chevy Corvette GT3 and Ford Mustang GT3. Toyota already competes in the WEC Hypercar class with its successful GR010 Hybrid.
Indeed, the new GR GT3 car will be based, like Ford’s Mustang GT3 racer, on a $300,000-plus front-engine , V8-powered supercar called the GR GT. Its specs closely track that of Ford’s halo supercar, the $327,960 Mustang GTD.
The 2025 Ford Mustang GTD lifts a wheel into a Nürburgring left-hander. The production car’s racing counterpart competes in international GT3 racing. Giles Jenkyn, Ford
Chairman Toyoda himself (who races under the pseudonym Morizo) was involved in the GR GT’s development along with professional Toyota team drivers. The GR GT3 racer will replace the Lexus RC F GT3 racer which has compete in IMSA since 2017.
“Toyota likes to race what they sell locally,” said Cole Smith. “Chevrolet has successfully done that with Corvette for years.”
Like the mind-engine Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Toyota’s GR GT3 will be based on the aluminum chassis of a road car, in this case the GR GT. True to Toyota’s commitment to gas-electric hybrids in its production vehicles, the GR GT is stuffed with a gas-electric 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 engine and a single electric motor. Toyota estimates an output of 650 horsepower. Due to weight and race rule considerations, the GR GT3 will likely drop the hybrid in race trim.
“The GR GT was conceptualized and developed as a road-legal race car,” Toyota said in a press release.
Alastair Staley / Drew Gibson Photography, Cadillac
Expect the GR GT and its GT3 motorsports sibling to debut stateside in IMSA in 2027 as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside its Hypercar effort. The GR010 Hybrid has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s premier endurance race, six times since 2018.
Ford is also committed to racing Le Mans in Hypercar and GT3 classes in 2027. Cadillac made history in 2025 as the first U.S. brand to sweep the Le Mans front row in qualifying since Ford in 1967.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
2025 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 11, 2025
Car shoppers had plenty of choices in 2025 as auto grocery shelves were teeming with goodies. If the food market has ice cream, beverage, fruit, and meat aisles, then auto stores offer trucks, SUVs, small cars and EVs.
There’s something for everyone at every price point (well, unless you wanted sub-$20K subcompacts).
We here at The Detroit News are biased toward value, style, innovation and performance. And we choose our Vehicle of the Year accordingly. As The News auto critic, I tested 59 new cars this year, running the spectrum from the compact $23,645 Nissan Sentra gas-sipper to the posh $81,550 Lucid Gravity electron-guzzler.
Stellantis, © 2025 Stellantis
True to industry trends, 60% of the vehicles were utes, including an English startup (Ineo Grenadier), all-new electric vehicles (Hyundai Ioniq 9, Volvo XC30, Polestar 4) and fresh riffs on old nameplates like the VW Tiguan and Honda Passport. Only three of my testers had sticks, as manuals have become a niche performance feature.
Speaking of niches, EV sales stalled even before federal incentives dried up — their appeal aimed at upscale buyers with multi-car garages. Nevertheless, it was a good year for EV buyers as The News’ 2018 VOY, the Tesla Model 3 (and sister Tesla Model Y), received their first major upgrades, and Cadillac introduced its entry-level Optiq EV. Don’t look now, America, but the leading premium EV brands are Made in the USA.
It was a quiet year for trucks (the return of the growly V8-powered Ram 1500 aside), but dang if the Ford Maverick (VOY 2021 and 2022) wasn’t on my short list again with its new, rowdy Lobo variant. Maverick is the gift that keeps on giving.
Here are our three favorites for 2025 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year, saving the tastiest for last.
Second runner-up: Mazda CX-30 Turbo. In a year when the average price of a new car crested $50K, the CX-30 was a welcome example of how a $27,470, entry-level subcompact SUV can still be stylish, high-tech, affordable.
It’s this year’s best all-around player.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
With its sporty looks and crisp handling, CX-30 (introduced in 2020) was already a mainstream SUV rivaling the BMW X2 luxe-benchmark in performance for half the price while offering similar standard features: AWD, blind-spot-assist, adaptive cruise control and rear cross traffic alert. With its 2025 refresh, CX-30 made crucial updates to its infotainment system. Like the stick shift, the remote rotary-controlled screen is headed out the door as smartphones take over cars, so Mazda adapted by upgrading to a 10.25-inch touchscreen and improved voice commands when using Android Auto/Apple CarPlay.
With this crucial detail fixed — “Hey, Google, navigate to Hell, Michigan!” — customers can focus on the joy of driving. CX-30 is that rare SUV that makes driving fun, embodying the brand’s Miata-inspired ZOOM ZOOM spirit.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Choose the $35K Turbo Carbon model with an impressive 310 pound-feet of torque, and the Mazda is a match for Michigan snowstorms — and that Bimmer next to you at a stoplight.
Runner-up: Chevy Corvette ZR1. The best vehicle I drove this year was the McLaren 750S, a carbon-chassis, twin-turbo-V8-powered exotic.
But for half of the McLaren’s $320K sticker, you can have the Corvette ZR1.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The ZR1 is the ultimate expression of Corvette’s affordable supercar mantra. Its numbers alone are VOY-worthy: 1,063 horsepower, 0-60 mpg in (hold on!) 2.2 seconds, top speed of 233 mph, the fastest American car ever made. On the back straight at Formula One’s circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas, I hit 176 mph — 30 mph quicker than the standard 495-horse C8. Good gravy.
Is it as good as the McLaren? No, because McMoney buys you an IndyCar-like carbon-fiber chassis. The ‘Vette relies on a more pedestrian aluminum frame, but ZR1 is much more than a track-shredder. Its state-of-the-art digital technology and cargo significantly outpace the 750S (or Porsche Turbo or Lamborghini Aventador) in usability. Like the Mazda CX-30, ZR1 also has fixed interior foibles for a more enjoyable ergonomic experience.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
One more number? ZR1 is the fastest American sportscar to ever lap the Nürburgring — its time trailing only exotics like the $2.7 million Mercedes AMG One and the $500K Porsche GT2 RS MR.
First place: Dodge Charger Sixpack. Happy days are here again. It’s been a tough few years at the Dream Cruise, deprived of new Chargers and Challengers. The demise of the V8-powered muscle cars after 2022 was the poster child of fun-sucking federal rules forcing the industry to one-size-fits-all electrification.
For 2026, the Charger Sixpack symbolizes the rebirth of drivetrain choice.
Stellantis, © 2025 Stellantis
Thank a flexible architecture that can host electric motors in the Charger Daytona EV, ICE engines like the Sixpack’s inline-6 cylinder, and surely a future V-8. The Charger is not only gorgeous (channeling the 1968 Charger OG) but utilitarian. Its hatchback design adds big cargo capability out back to complement big horsepower up front. AWD translates 553 ponies to the ground in the high-output Scat Pack, while the standard R/T gets 420. Where the previous-gen RWD Charger was an unsteady foal on snow, the new all-wheel driver is an all-season champ.
Fun, utility, interior room. Say hello to the world’s biggest hot hatch.
Waiting for my affordability spiel? Scat Pack debuts at a hefty $52K, but it goes spec-for-spec against a BMW M530i that costs 10 grand more. I’d take the Dodge in a heartbeat.
Stellantis, © 2025 Stellantis
Beneath the retro-style skin is a modern interior anchored by twin digital screens loaded with tech surrounded by menacing details: pistol-grip shifter, tall seats, fire-red ambient lighting.
Expect more affordable two- and four-door models to come. And a V-8 return to complete the muscle car’s resurrection after being buried just three years ago. Who knows, maybe a Charger Eightpack could be next year’s VOY toy?
Second runner-up: 2025 Mazda CX-30 Turbo
Vehicle type: All-wheel-drive, five-passenger subcompact SUV
Price: Base $27,470, including $1,420 destination charge ($34,935 Carbon Turbo as tested)
Powerplant: 2.5-liter, inline-4 cylinder; 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-4
Power: 191 horsepower, 186 pound-feet torque (2.5L); 227 horsepower, 310 pound-feet torque (turbo)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.2 seconds (turbo, Car and Driver); towing, 1,500 pounds
Weight: 3,444 pounds (as tested)
Range: EPA est. mpg 22 mpg city/30 highway/25 combined (Carbon Turbo as tested)
Report card
Highs: Hot-hatch SUV; updated touchscreen on top trims
Lows: Small back seat for class
Runner-up: 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger supercar
Price: $174,995 base, including $1,395 destination ($189,680 LT1 coupe and $200,180 convertible models with ZTK Package as tested)
Power plant: 5.5-liter, twin-turbo V-8
Power: 1,064 horsepower, 828 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.2 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 233 mph
Curb weight: 3,831 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 12 mpg city/18 highway/14 combined
Report card
Highs: Ballistic acceleration; state-of-the-art interior
Lows: Will drink the Permian Basin oil field dry for a track day
Winner: 2026 Dodge Charger
Vehicle type: All-wheel-drive, five-passenger coupe and sedan
Price: Base $51,990, including $1,995 destination charge. Sedan an extra $2,000 ($67,360 Scat Plus coupe with Customer Preferred Package as tested)
Powerplant: 3.0-liter, twin-turbo inline-6 cylinder
Power: 420 horsepower, 468 pound-feet torque (R/T); 550 horsepower, 531 pound-feet torque (Scat Pack)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.9 seconds (Scat Pack, mfr.); top speed, 177 mph (Scat Pack)
Weight: 4,815 pounds
Range: EPA est. mpg 16 city/26 highway/20 combined (Scat Pack); 91 octane fuel required
Report card
Highs: Sleek hot hatch; AWD/head-up display/hatchback goodies
Lows: Waiting on the V-8, four-door models
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Toys for tots (and truckers): Lingenfelter revs holiday cheer
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 5, 2025
For the Lingenfelter Holiday Toy Drive and Open House, Kristen Lingenfelter collects a Corvette-full of toys.
Henry Payne, Detroit News
The Lingenfelter Collection will unlock its doors to the public for its sixth annual Holiday Toy Drive and Open House from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday in Brighton. Bring a toy for a needy tot and see Santa Claus, the Grinch and Ken Lingenfelter’s famed assortment of 160-plus collector cars — including a room-full of historic Corvettes.
It’s a collection built on Lingenfelter Performance Engineering’s mod shop down the road in Wixom, which for decades has slaked muscle-car enthusiasts’ thirst for higher horsepower General Motors Co. products like Chevrolet Corvettes, Camaros, and Cadillac V-Series monsters.
It’s a thirst that is increasingly shared by the market’s biggest segment: truck customers.
GM pumps out 30,000 Corvettes a year from its Kentucky factory, but that pales next to over 1.2 million in ladder-framed-based trucks and SUVs. Badges include the Silverado, Sierra, Yukon, Escalade, Suburban, Tahoe, Colorado and Canyon. Many of those customers want more muscle from their trucks too. The same goes for aftermarket mod shops for Ford (Roush, Saleen) and Ram trucks (Hennessey).
Truck mods now make up a healthy 20% of Lingenfelter’s business.
“We’re having a blast with our truck development, and there’s a lot of fun involved with that, too,” Lingenfelter said in an interview. “We supercharge the majority of them, but there’s lots of levels of horsepower. You can get some accessories that go with it, (and) business is great.”
Ken Lingenfelter in the Corvette room, which visitors will be able to peruse Saturday at the Lingenfelter Holiday Toy Drive and Open House. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
A visit to the Lingenfelter.com website reveals a Chevy Silverado pickup and full-size Chevy Tahoe SUV sharing equal billing with a mid-engine Corvette C8 on the home page.
Accessories for the truck/large SUV models include such toys as superchargers for 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V-8 engines making 545 and 650 horsepower, respectively. Customers can also outfit their trucks with, say, Borla S-Type Classic Racing Howl exhaust to wake your neighbors in the morning.
“Superchargers have always been, from my perspective, the best way to go forward with trucks,” said Lingenfelter, who has run the mod shop since 2008. “We had to get through some encryption in the engine management system just like the Corvette C8, but we’ve got some good engineers.”
Lingenfelter Engineering has made a history of modifying Corvettes and Camaros. But 20% of its business is now GM truck mods. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Those engineers, to Lingenfelter’s delight, have also figured out how to stuff a 7.0-liter, 427-cubic inch V-8 behind the driver’s ear in the eighth-generation Corvette C8.
“I couldn’t resist — 427 and Corvette just go together,” Lingenfelter said of the legendary engine metric that has graced everything from previous-generation ‘Vettes to AC Cobras to the 1966 Ford GT40. “Our development guys put together a 427 as a result. We’ve had it on the chassis dynamometer and it makes about 1,200 horsepower.”
A Lingenfelter 427 Corvette C8 prototype will be on display Saturday at the Collection — and a lot more horsepower besides.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“Our main product has alway,s been Corvette. The center hall of the collection is all Corvettes, and there’s some really unique cars in there,” said Lingenfelter who sits on the board of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Corvette toys include the first V8-powered ‘Vette, the 1954 so-called “Duntov Mule.” The nickname comes from Zora Arkus-Duntov, the engineer who first made the sports car legend. You’ll know it by its open cockpit and rear-mounted shark fin for stability at speeds over 160 mph. There’s also a 1963 Corvette split-window and a 215-mph Greenwood Corvette GTO race car.
Shi Lessner 2020, Lingenfelter Engineering
The 40,000 square-foot space contains three bays and a shop full of swag like T-shirts, hats and other wearables. Other notable models in the collection include Ferraris, Camaros a two-door Chevy Nomad wagon, a V8-powered 1974 AMC Gremlin (dressed in Levi’s jeans interior), nitrous-fed 2007 NHRA Nationals-winning Dodge Charger Funny Car dragster, and the 2006 Pontiac Solstice sports car that played the character “Jazz” in the 2007 sci-fi movie “Transformers.”
Organized by a group of retired Marines, the Toys for Tots charity is dedicated to collecting goodies at Christmas time and distributing them to needy families.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“We just asked our guests to bring an unwrapped toy or a donation at the door in any amount, and then we open up the collection for them to come and take a look around,” Lingenfelter said.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Heartland America: After the Collapse of Democrat’s EV Socialism, Bipartisan Protectionism Emerges
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 4, 2025
AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File
DETROIT – In response to the Trump Administration’s tariffs aimed at reshoring American manufacturing, Stellantis this fall announced $13 billion in new investment in U.S. operations. Spread across Midwest plants in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, the investment – the largest in company history – is estimated to create over 5,000 jobs across all four of the transatlantic manufacturer’s American brands (Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler) plus an additional 20,000 jobs at Stellantis suppliers.
“I’m extremely ecstatic about it. Without these tariffs, this probably wouldn’t have happened,” said Eric Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 140 representing workers at Michigan’s Warren Truck, which stands to gain two new vehicles, hundreds of jobs, and $100 million in retooling after suffering significant layoffs last year.
The Administration’s dubious use of a trade deficit emergency to swiftly implement tariffs on international trade is facing strong legal headwinds. But on the political front, tariff policy is emblematic of the dramatic shift in working-class support to the Republican Party in America’s heartland. While the national Democratic Party has veered far to the climate left to embrace Communist China’s socialist industrial policy, President Donald Trump has adopted the protectionist industrial policy of 1980s Rust Belt Democrats like John Dingell (D-MI) and Dick Gephardt (D-MO), with Midwest Democrats scrambling to get on board.
Whatever the legal fate of Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act, manufacturing protectionism has emerged as a bipartisan issue in a divided country.
Frequent Trump critic and Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker hailed Stellantis’ plan that will jump-start Illinois’ idle Belvidere assembly with Jeep production. The investment, said Pritzker, will “anchor long-term economic growth, support local communities, and provide opportunities for workers and families who have historically been left behind.”
Echoed Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters: “(The Stellantis commitment) is a welcome investment in Michigan autoworkers and the future of our auto industry.”
“We win by putting American workers first,” said Michigan Republican Congressman John James.
Said Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, whose state will benefit from $400 million in new Ram truck investment in Toledo, creating 900 jobs: the announcement would “never have been possible without President Trump’s America First tariffs.”
Most significantly, Stellantis’ commitment – along with General Motors’ moving of $4 billion in vehicle production back to the U.S. from Mexico and Toyota’s commitment to $10 billion in U.S. manufacturing – backs up Trump’s 2024 campaign promise to working-class voters in key battleground states.
Voters like Charlotte Hayden, a 27-year employee at Ford’s Kentucky Truck plant, who told The Detroit News: “As a consumer, I’m worried about tariffs but not as an autoworker. It employs a lot of people. That’s important.”
Blue-collar voters enthusiastically backed a Republican president whose words have echoed those of 1980s Midwest Democratic leaders who compelled the Reagan Administration to impose import quotas on Japanese automakers – hurdles that led foreign automakers, including Toyota, Honda, and Subaru, to locate production stateside.
Meanwhile, Democratic leadership in the 21st century shifted to green, coastal states. Working-class voters recoiled as a climate crisis-obsessed Biden Administration copied China’s EV central planning.
“I actually went to China to see what they were doing,” Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at a 2024 conference in Washington, D.C. “To see. . . what their industrial strategy was like to bring jobs there, particularly in the energy sector.”
Granholm recounted how her conversations with Chinese officials inspired the Biden Administration “to get a national industrial strategy for clean energy.” Reckless federal EV mandates (greased with federal Inflation Reduction Act subsidies) followed.
“EVs were probably the number #1 issue to autoworkers in Michigan,” said Autoworkers for Trump founder Brian Pannebecker, who introduced (along with other auto workers) Trump in the Rose Garden on “Liberation Day.”
“If EV mandates were allowed to go forward, it would be the end of the domestic auto industry. Over 50 percent of all EV batteries are made in China, and they control rare earth minerals that go into those batteries.”
The Biden Administration’s socialism died on dealer lots.
EV sales hit a wall last year at about 8 percent market share. High-profile electrics like the Dodge Charger Daytona and Ford Lightning struggled, while other models were canceled altogether. GM laid off over 3,400 workers at its EV facilities this fall. According to a Detroit News analysis, over $28 billion in taxpayer-fed battery plant subsidies are at risk.
Most of Stellantis’ $13 billion investment is focused on gas-powered vehicles, leaning into U.S. strength as the world’s largest oil producer.
“A year ago, Stellantis was on a fast track to moving their U.S. operations out of the country,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Their decision. . . proves that targeted auto tariffs can, in fact, bring back thousands of good union jobs.”
Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over trade deficits invites copycat Democratic abuses of executive power, like, for example, declaring a national climate crisis emergency to mandate EVs.
But even if the Administration’s emergency act is struck down by the courts, bipartisan tariffs to encourage U.S. manufacturing of everything from autos to computer chips are likely here to stay.
“It’s not as if there’s going to be a lot of demand for our vehicles in other countries,” said Pannebecker, who estimates 60 percent of autoworker votes went to Trump. “The main effort here is to get U.S. auto companies to bring their production facilities back, the ones they’ve moved to Mexico and elsewhere.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News, 910AM-Detroit reporter, and cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndicate. Find him at hPayne13hp@gmail.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: Hot EV match-up, Cadillac Lyriq-V vs. Tesla Model 3 Performance
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 4, 2025
Gaylord — The midsize Cadillac Lyriq SUV and compact Tesla Model 3 sedan are brand icons. The Lyriq redefined Caddy as an EV maker, the Model 3 made Tesla a best-seller.
Their performance trims — the 2026, $80K Lyriq-V and 2025, $56K Model 3 Performance — represent the state-of-the-art of two U.S. brands that are on the industry’s bleeding edge of modern digital electric tech.
You read that right: the bleeding edge.
The 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V (left) and 2025 Tesla Model Performance are icons of their respective brands. The Lyriq is Caddy’s first EV; the Model 3, the market’s first EV best-seller. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
After decades of playing catch-up to European luxury brands, America boasts two models at the forefront of the premium market’s electric, autonomous trends. The Yanks come at the equation from different perspectives, but, as road trips from Oakland County to Charlevoix indicate, they arrive at the destination in a very similar manner. Here’s how they compare.
Hands-free driving
Tesla has been the lead stagecoach on the Wild West frontier of autonomous driving, and it continues to push the envelope. The Model 3 would have happily driven itself (its camera trained on me to make sure I was a good chaperone) from door to door on my 250-mile journey.
“Navigate to Charlevoix, Michigan,” I barked, and we were off. The Tesla exited my cul-de-sac, navigated a Telegraph Road Michigan turn, then accelerated up to speed onto I-75 North.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Since Full Self-Driving (FSD) became widely available to Tesla customers in 2022, it’s impressive how far the software has come in a short time. I used to put a “STUDENT DRIVER” sticker on the back of my car, so inconsistent was its habits. Like a 16-year-old novice, it would ghost brake on four lanes, edge out into traffic at Michigan turns, sometimes miss a red light.
No more. FSD has become more predictable. It has adapted sophisticated, human-like driving habits like: 1) slowing down in sight of slowed traffic rather than running up on it, and 2) executing right-on-red turns.
Cadillac’s Super Cruise actually beat Tesla to hands-free driving (both now go hands-free with camera surveillance) but has generally been more conservative, emphasizing passenger comfort. The Lyriq waited until I was on I-75 to go hands-free, then displayed a green light at the top of the steering wheel so I knew it was engaged. A blinking red light — complemented by a buzz to the seat — indicated when it was concerned my attention had wandered from the road (the Tesla’s self-driving avatar is a small blue steering wheel in the screen).
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Both Caddy and Tesla changed lanes to pass cars — but Lyriq was much less likely to be a left-lane hog, courteously returning to the right lane after completing a pass. Off divided highways, Super Cruise is increasingly available on secondary roads. On M-31 heading into Petoskey, for example, the Cadillac remained hands-free until giving up at intersections like the light at Bay Harbor resort.
The Tesla, by contrast, continued confidently on its way.
Driving dynamics
Hands-free driving is sci-fi stuff, but I still love to drive.
Twisted, two-lane M-32 between I-75 and Charlevoix is one of the best driver’s roads in Michigan, and I put the hammer down in both EVs. ZOT!
At just 4,054 pounds, the Tesla came off corners like a rocket ship, delivering 100% of its 554 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels. At a porky 5,980 pounds, the Lyriq’s girth is evident (as with its compact 5,192-pound Optiq stablemate). But so is Cadillac’s competition-bred performance engineering.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Downhill into a group of M-32 esses, the Model 3’s Brembo brakes seem ill-equipped to stop the rocket, unlike the Caddy’s firmer shoes. Even more noticeable is the Lyriq’s confidence on corner turn-in. The Model 3 feels less certain, like a doe trying out its new legs. Tesla has work to do.
Charging
Tesla’s integrated charging network is the brand’s secret sauce, and it continues to impress.
Navigation not only charted my course to Charlevoix, but told me I would need to charge in Gaylord for five minutes to arrive with 7% of charge. Just 7% of charge?
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“Set arrival energy,” read the Tesla display so I could target whatever percentage I wanted (I like 25%) so I have enough juice to do stuff when I arrive at my destination rather than hunting for another charger. Dependent on a third-party charging network, the Cadillac can’t offer this feature, nor can it guarantee charger destinations will, um, work.
The Lyriq-V initially charted my course to Charlevoix with zero charging stops — but once on the road adjusted that prediction and routed me to Bay City’s Electrify America charger. Right next to the Tesla chargers. Both chargers were busy, and with eight stalls — twice the EA number — Teslas didn’t have to wait as long.
GM has access to Tesla chargers, but not to the rival’s older, so-called, V2 chargers found in Bay City. Cost? The Tesla chargers averaged 36-39 cents per kWh — the EA chargers 56 cents.
On multiple trips, Model 3 — likely due to its improved drag coefficient of 0.22 (the Lyriq is still an impressive 0.28) — also seemed more efficient at high speeds. At 80 mph, the Tesla only lost 5% of range. The Caddy? About 35%.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
For perspective, Tesla energy cost is comparable to a BMW M340i X-Drive at $4 a gallon premium gas, while Lyriq would cost about 25% more.
Design
It’s remarkable that the Lyriq-V’s drag coefficient is as good as it is. The brand has leaned into its storied design history with its boldest looks since the 1960s. The Lyriq (and other Caddy EVs) have swagger.
If the Tesla is a soap bar built for speed, the Caddy is a rolling Fox marquee sign built to get noticed.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
That premium look extends to the interior, where the Lyriq is lathered in luxury, including 33-inch screen that sprawls across a dashboard peppered with jewel-like air vents and a center console anchored by a bling-tastic rotary screen controller. The Tesla? It’s so smartphone simple that everything is run through the center 15.4-inch screen. Even the air vents. A rotary controller? Fuhgettaboutit.
So luxurious is the Lyriq’s wardrobe (and those of (and sister Optiq, Vistiq and Escalade IQ) that Cadillac doesn’t consider Tesla a competitor and claims it is the best-selling premium EV brand. That’s silly given Tesla’s similar price points and market share.
But it does speak to how differently these two brands have approached the EV space. For Tesla, the Model 3 ushered in a complete reimagining of the auto industry from performance to autonomy to design. Its owners aren’t just drivers, they are guinea pigs in the experiment.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
For Cadillac, on the other hand, EVs are a chance to recast itself as luxury leader. Just as Cadillac defined luxury in the early 20th century, so does Lyriq & Co. intend to establish a new standard of the world in autonomy and interior comfort.
Are you a pioneer with a taste for adventure or an arbiter of fine things? The difference may decide whether you drive Tesla or Cadillac.
Next week: 2025 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year
2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V
Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger SUV
Price: $80,090, including $1,395 destination fee ($85,785 Premium as tested)
Powerplant: 102 kWh lithium-ion battery with single rear or dual electric-motor drive
Power: 615 horsepower, 650 pound-feet torque
Transmission: Single-speed direct drive
Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.3 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 131 mph; towing, 3,500 pounds
Weight: 5,980 pounds
Range: 285 miles on full charge
Report card
Highs: Cadillac presence; confident handling
Lows: Porky; third-party charger dependency
Overall: 3 stars
2025 Tesla Model 3 Performance
Vehicle type: All-wheel drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: Base $56,630, including $1,390 destination charge ($64,630 as tested)
Powerplant: Lithium-ion battery pack mated to dual electric motors
Power: 510 horsepower, 554 pound-feet torque
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.8 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 155 mph
Weight: 4,054 pounds
Range: 298 miles on full charge
Report card
Highs: Autonomy leader; confident charging experience
Lows: Numb handling; questionable steering wheel ergonomics
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Nissan Sentra serves some sizzle in the simple sedan
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 30, 2025
Phoenix — Nissan’s luxury brand, Infiniti, no longer offers the Q50 compact sedan. But no worries, the Nissan Sentra SR will do the trick.
Twin 12.5-inch digital instrument and infotainment displays in a 15-inch hoodless screen. Chromed climate vents. Wireless Android Auto and charging pad. Eighteen-inch machined wheels. Stitched leather steering wheel. Fashionable black front fascia and rear diffuser.
I pulled into a service station in my Bluestone Pearl Nissan and a local pulled me aside as I rounded the pumps.
JAMES LIPMAN, James Lipman
“Excuse me, but what is that you’re driving?”
“The new 2026 Nissan Sentra.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s $26,000.”
“Even better.”
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
If you’ve been on Mars for the last 10 years, you would have missed the tech ‘n’ design transformation of the compact car class into the best bargain segment in the industry. Not just the hot hatches that readers of this column know I adore, but sub-$30,000 bargains with technology and design that once was exclusive to luxury cars like Infiniti, BMW, Audi.
Cars like the Hyundai Elantra, Kia K4, Mazda3, Subaru Impreza and Honda Civic. Sadly, Motown badges like Focus and Cruze long ago left the playing field. In SUV Nation, small sedans have separated themselves from the average ute box with eye-catching design. Add Sentra to that list.
Always a bargain buy, the wallflower Sentra has upped its game for 2026 with a premium wardrobe makeover.
James Lipman
Styling is subjective and my design tastes lean iPhone simple — Mazda3, Tesla Model 3, Porsche 911. My Sentra SR’s signature blacked-out grille lean in the other direction like the Hyundai Elantra N. The Sentra comes at you with attitude — the expressive design sweeps rearward with a McLaren-like (yes, McLaren) blacked-out greenhouse, distinct shoulder line, horizonal taillights and black diffuser. That’s a lot of makeup.
The Sentra saves simplicity for its powertrain. HRRRRRRGGGHHHH!
I flattened the throttle pedal and the ol’ nail, 2.0-liter four-cylinder awoke and we merged into afternoon traffic on the Arizona-101. No turbos here. Or even a higher-output 2.5-liter, 181-horse option like Subie Impreza offers.
You shall have 149 horsepower and 146 torque and you shall like it. That’s half the power of a luxury offering like the discontinued Infiniti Q50. In the digital era, powertrains are the biggest difference between mainstream and premium models.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Even in its mainstream class, Sentra’s four-banger is a reminder that Nissan is about value. While competitors like Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Toyota and Volkswagen offer multiple engine options, transmission choices and performance models with racy badges like N, Type R, GTI, GR and Turbo, Nissan sticks to its bread ‘n’ butter.
Nissan’s NISMO badge (see the Z) is there for the taking, but Sentra stays in its affordability lane. Nissan says its broad, 25-54 year-old 50% female/50% male customer wants a tireless gerbil wheel rather than a weekend track beast.
Not that the Sentra is somnolent.
Compact sedans are inherently athletic with their low center of gravity and lightweight chassis. Nissan engineers complemented the 3,153-pound bantamweight with independent front-and-rear suspension and increased chassis rigidity. I flogged Sentra over north Phoenix’s state Route 202, where it proved a playful companion.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Even the continuously variable transmission was smooth. CVTs are the bane of enthusiasts, their sound the auto equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. DROOOOONE! But, like so many things, electronics has made them bearable — like the Sentra with its subtle upshifts. Paired with cabin sound-proofing, the CVT is OK IMO.
Oddly, my sporty Sentra SR Sport didn’t sport shift paddles to add to the fun. But the interior is otherwise thoughtfully engineered with a row of climate vents and healthy console room. Steering-wheel ergonomics are a personal obsession, and Sentra features thoughtful, if not class-leading, tools. Driver aids are raised buttons so I could find them with my fingers without diverting my eyes from the road — consider the right-spoke scroll wheel for navigating the instrument display or left-spoke toggle for adjusting adaptive cruise control.
Speaking of ACC, Nissan’s value-mobile is generous with standard features.
JAMES LIPMAN, James Lipman
No matter which trim you get — starter $23,645 S, volume SV, SR, premium SL — you’re guaranteed ACC and blind-spot assist — two safety essentials often charged a la carte in luxury vehicles. Climb further up the trim tree and Sentra offers premium features like Bose audio, 360-degree camera, blind-spot intervention and leather seating.
I’d recommend the SR model for its aforementioned wardrobe — plus standard goodies like wireless charging and wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay.
The latter made it easy to navigate Arizona’s tangle of highways and surface streets on a busy workday. As much as I’d like an earth-pawing, high-horsepower Elantra-challenging Sentra NISMO, technology is what makes 9-to-5 commutes comfortable.
That comfort is augmented by one of the roomiest interiors in class. The compact class traditionally offers compact rear legroom (Corolla, Mazda3, VW Golf), but recent-gen models like Civic and Elantra have grown legroom to rival midsize cars.
JAMES LIPMAN, James Lipman
Sentra has class-leading front legroom as well as rear comfort for six-footers. I folded my giraffe frame into the back seat and sat behind myself with knee-room to spare. In back, the trunk opening has been enlarged and now offers best-in-class low lift height. Good for hauling in, for example, Mrs. Payne’s giant suitcases.
Here again, Sentra cedes territory to competitors by not offering a hatchback version. Buyers will want to divert to the Kia K4 hatchback and Impreza hatch for that option. Neither does Sentra offer an all-wheel-drive variant (Subaru), stick shift (Mazda3), or sippy hybrid (Civic).
Sentra is a meat and potatoes recipe. Now, for 2026, plated with premium presentation.
Next week: Tesla vs Cadillac
2026 Nissan Sentra
Vehicle type: Front-wheel drive, five-passenger compact sedan
Price: Base $23,645, including $1,245 destination charge ($31,945 with Premium Package as tested)
Powerplant: 2.0-liter inline-4 cylinder
Power: 149 horsepower, 146 pound-feet torque
Transmission: Continuously variable automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.2 seconds (Car and Driver est.); top speed, 125 mph
Weight: 3,153 pounds
Range: EPA est. mpg, 30 city/38 highway/33 combined; range, 471 miles
Report card
Highs: Affordably upscale; standard features galore
Lows: Polarizing fascia; lack of drivetrain/performance options
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: How Baja-beginner RJ Zanon, Bronco tackled daunting desert race
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 30, 2025
America loves sports underdog stories: basketball’s Muggsy Bogues, Notre Dame wannabe Rudy Ruettiger, high-school football-player Michael Oher.
Welcome off-road racer RJ Zanon.
The California Army Reserve helicopter pilot entered his own Ford Bronco in North America’s most grueling professional off-road race, the SCORE Baja 1000, this November, and — against all odds — crossed the finish line. He did it with a cast of 25 buddies called the Pew Pew Cachoo Racing team, including navigators Ken Brown and Austin Gillis he met at Bronco off-road events around the country.
RJ Zanon, RJ Zanon
Inspired by the SUV’s capabilities, Zanon pulled a totaled Bronco out of a junkyard in June, then raced against time to make it legal to compete in Baja’s 4Wheel Class 3. Even more improbably, he drove the entire 36-hour race — completing an “Iron Man” effort rarely achieved outside Baja legends like three-time winner Ivan Stewart — over 854 miles, three flat tires, and some of the most challenging weather conditions in memory.
“It is the longest point-to-point race in the world, and we were all a bunch of beginners,” said Zanon, 35, in an interview. “Nobody goes from no race experience to racing the Baja 1000. I’m one of the first to ever do this, and maybe the first to go from zero race experience to (driving) solo.”
Meanwhile, the Ford factory race team dominated the stock classes. The F-150 Raptor piloted by six-time class winner (three-times overall) Brad Lovell and teammates Austin Robison and Jason Scherer captured the Stock Full-Size class win in 25 hours, while the Bronco Raptor driven by seasoned pros Loren Healy, Vaughn Gittin Jr., and Bailey Campbell took the win in the Stock Mid-Size class in 30:34 hours.
But the day belonged to the underdog.
RJ Zanon, RJ Zanon
Zanon’s feat is rare in Baja history where the globe’s best teams enter formidable race cars across multiple classes to take on the desert’s unpredictable conditions. From the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Baja, Ford races its production vehicles in the world’s premier endurance races to enhance its engineering and product marketing, while offering customers access to, for example, the Mustang Driving Experience or Bronco Off-Roadeo to give them a taste of their capabilities.
Zanon’s stirring story spotlights a customer that got his feet wet at Bronco Off-Roadeo, then jumped into Baja’s deep end in his own SUV.
“What RJ, Ken and team accomplished is so fantastic,” said Global Director Ford Racing Mark Rushbrook, who oversees the brand’s ambitious racing programs. “Seeing a grassroots team compete in the Baja 1000 with a Bronco that started its life at a Ford dealership is incredibly rewarding and further proof of why we race — to make great vehicles for our customers.”
Zanon’s tenacity ranks with Bronco legend Rod Hall who won Baja in 1968 in his own production Bronco. But Hall was an experienced race driver who’d conquered events like the 1967 Mexican 1000. Zanon would enter the Super Bowl of desert motorsport as the first race of his life.
“RJ is a hero, he is as authentic as it gets,” said Detroit 4fest CEO Tom Zielinski, a veteran off-road auto and motorbike racer who designed the Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park in Holly. “He is the epitome of grassroots motorsports. This was not an easy year at Baja with extreme weather.”
RJ Zanon
For Zanon it all started as a 10-year-old growing up at his aunt’s house in Ensenada on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula where he watched the four-wheeled desert warriors.
“You see a Trophy Truck (Baja’s top class), and you’re like: ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,’” he said. As he aged, movies like the classic Baja documentary, “Dust to Glory,” kept the fire burning inside.
RJ Zanon
Ultimately, the Blackhawk pilot bought a two-door Ford Bronco in 2022 — a Badlands model armed with off-road weapons like all-terrain tires and sway-bar disconnect. He traveled to Ford’s Bronco Off-Roadeo in Moab, Utah, one of five Off-Roadeos Ford has developed to give off-road training to owners. The playgrounds are a gateway to a Bronco Nation community that make regular pilgrimages to sandboxes like Johnson Valley, California and Holly Oaks.
Zanon became an off-road regular, posting his 4-wheel exploits to social media.
“The big one that got me involved was Bronco Super Celebration West in Colorado,” said Zanon of the annual gathering in Buena Vista he attended from 2023-2025. “Almost every person that worked the Baja pit crew were friends from the Bronco community events.” He went off-road in Nashville, Nevada, and the famed King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley where he chased competitors — learning to drive at high speeds in the process.
“I was out there just chasing the race, getting to different spots to watch,” he said, marveling at the production Bronco’s capabilities. “We’re out there on the trails, going pretty quick.”
While assembling his crew, Zanon also had to assemble a car. Pro teams invade Baja backed by sponsors and big budgets. Zanon was a self-funded Army soldier planning to race his daily driver.
“My friends were like: ‘Are you crazy?!’” chuckled Zanon. “But I couldn’t afford to buy another Bronco just to turn into a race car. I had mentally accepted that I’d take (my Bronco) to Mexico and never bring it back.”
Then, in June, he found a totaled, 2023 Bronco Black Diamond on Facebook with 17,000 miles for just $14k.
RJ Zanon
“I gave this Bronco a second chance at life and turned it into a race vehicle,” said Zanon of his rollover rescue. “The only mechanical damage was the rear differential was bent, but we were planning to replace it with a Dana 60 anyway.”
Southwest Performance mod shop in Ramona, California, outfitted the Bronco to modified Class 3 rules including a roll cage, upgraded differential, 40-gallon fuel cell, suspension, and 37-inch tires. As payment Zanon wrapped the Bronco in Southwest’s logo.
He barely made it to Baja.
While most teams get to the Baja 1000 (the last of four races in the annual SCORE World Desert Championship) weeks ahead and take preliminary runs at the treacherous course, Zanon’s steed was still in the shop.
“We ran out of time, so I went into this with zero pre-running,” said Zanon who had helped wrench in Southwest’s shop since September. Of his two navigators, Ken Brown had racing experience while the other, Austin Gillis, “got a 30-minute class of how to use the GPS equipment the night before the race.”
RJ Zanon
Zanon’s motley Pew Pew Cachoo crew left Long Beach on Monday night, Nov. 10 and arrived at Ensenada in time for tech inspection before the Nov. 14 start. Some of the crew slept at his aunt’s house.
Come race day, the red #301 Ford got the green flag along with 168 other teams from 36 U.S. states, 20 countries, and 38 classes including dirt bikes, VW-powered buggies, stock trucks, and Trophy Trucks. The latter are the kings of the Baja jungle — bespoke desert cyborgs with 30-inch suspension travel that skim along the dunes at over 100 mph, completing the 854-mile lap in less than 16 hours. They left the line first.
“I can’t imagine not doing a pre-run of Baja,” said Zielinski, shaking his head. “What Zanon did is genuinely exceptional.”
The race was typically brutal.
RJ Zanon
Baja’s desert is vast and barbed with blind hazards like silt beds, low washes, and rocks that come out of nowhere at high speed.
“I’ve heard rumors about the silt beds in Mexico. They literally swallow entire vehicles,” marveled Zanon. “We got stuck in silt once because we were making good pace, and then — boom! — in front of us a vehicle’s stuck, so we end up getting stuck. I remember looking out … and seeing silt was halfway up the door.”
While Zanon’s team navigated the desert, the rest of the crew positioned themselves for fuel stops at 200-mile intervals. It’s easy to get lost, buried in silt, or worse. Zanon suffered three tire blowouts, one when he collided with a Trophy Truck coming through backmarkers after a setback.
The last stretch was 100 miles of Hell.
RJ Zanon
“I could spend two hours talking to you about the last 100 miles,” said Zanon of monsoon conditions in 50-degree temps. “People were talking about how that was the most brutal end of a Baja 1000 in years. I’d been up for almost 40 hours (and) I was struggling to stay awake. Me and my navigator were hypothermic there was so much water on us. My arms and wrists were seizing up. I couldn’t feel my fingertips; our visors were fogging up; we had mud on our visors, and every towel was full of mud.”
Driving blind, #301 suffered its third blowout. But with just three miles to go, they kept rolling on the flat. They crossed the finish first in Class 3 — but over the 36-hour cutoff — so everyone in class was disqualified. In the confusion, SCORE still gave Zanon a trophy that is on his mantlepiece today.
“What we did shouldn’t have happened,” reflected Zanon. “Ford knew we were there, and the support we got from them is pretty cool. We got the nickname ‘The Bronco Team.’”
RJ Zanon
What’s next for Pew Pew Cachoo Racing?
“My 100% focus is on the 2026 SCORE,” said the dogged underdog. “I want that championship. I’m already planning for the next race.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
David Malukas arrives: Team Penske’s new phenom on ovals, legends, Lithuania
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 24, 2025
David Malukas on track at World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
Southfield – IndyCar driver David Malukas has been living with legends. Now it’s time to make his own.
The 24-year-old racing phenom has been on a meteoric rise through the open-wheel-racing ranks. Last year, his fourth in IndyCar, he raced with Indy legend AJ Foyt’s team, finishing second in the Indy 500. For 2026, he will fill the big shoes of two-time IndyCar champion Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for America’s most famous motorsports owner, Bloomfield Hills-based Roger Penske.
“Growing up as a kid, Team Penske has been the dream for me,” he said here on his first Motown media tour wearing the iconic Team Penske black jacket. “I want to have a lot of success with them, and it’s very special that I’m also in that No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. This is writing my own story, the David Malukas story.”
It’s a worthy story already.
A first-generation Lithuanian-American, Malukas is the son of immigrant truck drivers who fled to Chicago with nothing in 1991 as the Soviet Union crumbled. He spoke Lithuanian until he was 5 and got behind the wheel of his first go-kart in Indiana at the age of 6. At 15, he raced an open-wheel Formula 4 race car in the United Arab Emirates before he was old enough to own a driver’s license in the United States.
Growing up as a kid, Team Penske has been the dream for me,” David Malukas says. Justin Casterline, Getty Images
He raced F4 in Germany, then crossed the pond back to the U.S. in 2017 and entered the so-called Road to Indy series. Living the American Dream, his parents had by then built the multi-million-dollar HMD Trucking company, and in 2019 they invested in an Indy NXT team so their young son could pursue his dream. He finished second in the series in 2021 – winning seven races – and earned an IndyCar seat with Dale Coyne Racing for 2022.
“I’m lucky in the fact that (my parents) went through all that, and still decided to put it all into me,” Malukas told IndyCar.com in 2022. “Without them, I wouldn’t be anywhere near this goal.”
He joins a Team Penske Dream Team including future Hall of Famers Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin at a time when interest in American open-wheel racing is at its zenith – boosted by IndyCar’s exposure on the Fox broadcast network and the notoriety of the world’s premier motorsport series, Formula One.
“With all the success that Formula One has created here in America, they got it started during COVID,” he said of the international series that has five of its 24 events in North America. “With (the mega-hit Netflix series) ‘Drive to Survive,’ they really brought in that younger audience – my audience. That show helped motorsports overall. For my generation, motorsport numbers (were) dropping, and after that show, they’ve blown up.”
For Malukas, it’s always been about IndyCar and Team Penske.
David Malukas visited Metro Detroit for his first media interviews as driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“There are key differences between IndyCar and F1, for sure. Drivers have their favorites, and IndyCars has always been mine,” he said.
IndyCar is ferociously competitive. On any given day anyone in the 27-car field could win a race. Where F1 is dominated by a few teams, IndyCar’s margins are razor thin. Details – like a Team Penske – can make the difference between 10th place and first place.
“I think a lot has to do with Roger himself,” said Malukas of Team Penske’s secret sauce that has won an unmatched 20 Indy 500s. “There’s this environment that Roger has created that works to make sure that we can compete and be the best of the best. The dynamic of the team is so competitive, so performative. Everything has meaning, there’s purpose to all of it.”
David Malukas with his parents (Henry, left, and Daiva, right) at Belle Isle after David finished in top five in the 2021 Indy NXT series. Gavin Baker
Like those impossibly clean, formidable Team Penske trailers in the paddock.
“Their trailers have this style, this chrome-like reflective look,” he marveled. “I always thought: I wonder what’s going on inside there. Now, being inside, and seeing what’s going on, it’s just really good chemistry.”
His teammates, Nashville native Newgarden, 34, and New Zealander McLaughlin, 32, are already superstars. Newgarden is a two-time Indy 500 and series champion and McLaughlin a three-time Australian supercar champ who has twice finished third in the IndyCar championship. Malukas feels at home with them.
“Team Penske has figured out a perfect unification of two different sides: You’re competitive, but at the same time, you’re family-oriented and can still have a very good time. It’s a really good mix,” he said.
David Malukas rolls out onto World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
Newgarden and McLaughlin had Malukas on their “Bus Bros” YouTube Channel his rookie season and they’ve been close since. Plus, Malukas’ father, Henry, is a Newgarden fan.
“My dad’s always said Josef’s his favorite,” David laughed. “So now, maybe me and Joseph are his favorites. He’s like, ‘If you’re not going to do it, then Joseph’s got to do it.’ It’s good relationship with all of them.”
Malukas fills the seat of Power, 44, who Team Penske did not re-sign for 2026 despite his illustrious career including the all-time IndyCar pole winner (71). In typical, disciplined Penske fashion, it was time to turn over No. 12 to the next generation.
Power has hardly been put out to pasture. He immediately landed a job with Andretti Global for the 2026 season.
“Will Power is a legend, and I watched him at Team Penske as a kid through the TV screen,” said Malukas. “I remember going on my little Razor scooter inside the house, and my mom was very upset. I was racing against Will Power. Fast forward, I get to race side-by-side with him in real life. I know he’s going to do fantastic things (at Andretti).”
Malukas has done fantastic things in his brief IndyCar career. The series demands mastery of road courses, street courses and ovals. It’s a shock to many athletes who grew up on a single, road-course diet like Malukas.
“When I first came into the series, I really didn’t like ovals. (They’re) pretty terrifying,” he admitted of the extremely high-speed, low-downforce racing inches from concrete walls. “But I knew IndyCar was my dream, so I put my head down and said: I have to learn ovals.”
David Malukas in the pits at World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
In his breakout 2021 season in Indy Lights (now renamed Indy NXT), he won twice at World Wide Technology Raceway’s 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis. He finished second at WWTR in his 2022 IndyCar rookie year – challenging Newgarden for the win. In 2025 he nearly won the Super Bowl of ovals, the Indy 500.
“(Oval racing) is something I’ve fallen in love with. It’s my preferred track,” said Malukas. “It’s like this big chess game – a mental game between all the drivers. Am I going to attack? Am I going to defend? What does he think I’m going to do? I love it.”
He’s not too shabby on street courses either. Last summer, he qualified on the front row for the Detroit Grand Prix.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or X @HenryEPayne.
‘Best of the best’: 2026 North American Car, Truck and Utility of Year finalists announced
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 24, 2025
And then there were nine.
The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards unveiled the 2026 model year finalists Thursday with three contenders in each category. Finalists for Car of the Year are the Dodge Charger, Honda Prelude and Nissan Sentra. The Ford Maverick Lobo, Ram 1500 Hemi and Ram 2500 will fight it out for Truck of the Year. And for Utility of the Year — by far the largest category of new vehicles hitting the market — jurors will consider the Hyundai Palisade, Lucid Gravity and Nissan Leaf.
Finalists were announced at the opening of the 2026 Los Angeles Auto Show, and the winners will be crowned at the Detroit Auto Show on Jan. 14.
Fifty jurors (including the author of this article) from U.S. and Canadian media outlets selected the finalists after testing 30 nominees across all categories, 19 of them SUVs. Of the nine finalists, two are electric. Nominee average price is $46,248 with the $96.5k Gravity the most expensive model and the $23.4k Sentra the cheapest.
“These finalists show the wide range of choices that consumers have in the marketplace,” said Jeff Gilbert, president of NACTOY and automotive reporter at WWJ Radio (950 AM). “Our jury of distinguished auto reporters has come up with a great selection of fantastic vehicles that truly reflect the best of the best.”
Count the Sentra, Ram 1500 and Leaf as front runners.
New for 2026, the $23k Nissan Sentra maintains its affordable price, while upgrading interior and exterior design. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
In the car category, the Charger and Prelude mark the return of sexy, legendary badges. Detroit’s sentimental favorite will be the $51,990 Charger, reborn for ‘26 after the previous, V8-powered generation exited the market in 2023 chased by federal emissions regulations. The Charger Daytona EV replacement has been a misfit with muscle car buyers, so the new, gas-fired Charger (dubbed Sixpack after its high-horsepower, twin-turbo inline-6 cylinder engine) is well-timed for hungry customers and a change in Washington management. Dressed in a sleek, retro-‘60s, Coke-bottle wardrobe, Charger Sixpack also boasts a more refined chassis, interior and utilitarian hatchback.
For the first time since 2001, Prelude is back with a different mission. As its badge implies, the sporty, $43,195 coupe is a prelude to Honda’s future. The Japanese automaker is leaning into gas-electric hybrids and hatchback Prelude is a hybrid halo showcasing good looks, peppy drivetrain and an S+ Shift tech feature that simulates a gearbox in an e-motor-driven car that doesn’t have one.
The 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpack is built on the same, flexible STLA Large platform as the electric Charger Daytona. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Cool, but count Sentra the jury favorite. At a time when the average price for a new vehicle is over 50 grand, the $23,645 compact sedan is affordable without being cheap. While its 149-horse 4-banger won’t wow, its sleek looks and high-tech interior will. Twin, hoodless digital screens and wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay indicate Sentra punches above its weight.
The 2026 Honda Prelude is a stylish GT that is comfortable to cruise, drive on track, or just to look at. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The Truck Wars are dominated by Detroit brands with Ram securing two spots with its refreshed, light-duty 1500 and heavy-duty 2500 pickups.
Ram 1500 is the front-runner. Like sister Stellantis brand Dodge, Ram spiked its Hemi V-8 — the choice of most buyers — for the ‘25 model year, which led to a swoon in sales. The eight-holer (officially the eTorque V-8) is back for ’26 with a rebel’s yell.
Ram is bringing back the Hemi V-8 engine in its 1500 pickups. They are expected to reach dealers this summer. Stellantis
Ram has stamped every V-8 model’s fender with the “Symbol of Protest” badge featuring a ram’s head atop a Hemi engine. Available in a dizzying array of trims, from work truck Tradesman to off-road Rebel to refined Longhorn, the Ram boasts one of the most refined interiors — and rides — in the truck biz. The Heavy Duty never lost its V-8 or diesel engines (spared by separate federal emissions rules) and brings Ram refinement to the big truck space.
The $37,625 Lobo adds a street performance trim to the Maverick’s XL, XLT, Lariat and Tremor lineup. Flexing a lowered chassis, stiffer springs and a torque-vectoring, rear twin-clutch, the all-wheel-drive Lobo is down to clown.
The SUV category should be a down-to-the-wire horse race between the three-row Hyundai Palisade and wee Nissan Leaf EV.
The electric Lucid Gravity is a mesmerizing first SUV from the creators of the Air sedan — perhaps the prettiest car on the market today. The three-row ute is a mix between supercar acceleration, minivan utility and Porsche Taycan interior style. Not to mention a frunk so big it sits two.
The Lucid Gravity boasts supercar acceleration, minivan utility and Porsche Taycan interior style. Lucid
Gravity is also a nearly $100k luxury chariot. At half the price of Gravity, the Hyundai comes with major upgrades for 2026, including head-turning style and hoodless, digital display not unlike Lucid. It also gains an XRT Pro off-road trim so you can take the family beyond the asphalt.
The Nissan Leaf buries its nerdy reputation with a stylish, all-new model. Think the transformation of the nerd-to-swan Toyota Prius hybrid, which won the 2024 Car of the Year award. With a healthy 303 miles of range, Leaf is still affordably priced at $29,990. Leaning into the jury’s preference for affordability, the Nissan is the only EV available for under $30k — an important metric at a time when the $7,500 federal subsidy has disappeared.
The third generation of Nissan’s Leaf EV gets a facelift. Nissan
Along with the $23k, 500-mile-range gas Sentra, Nissan could grab two NACTOY trophies this January.
Awarded by a geographically diverse, independent jury of automotive journalists (not a single publication), NACTOY is recognized as one of the industry’s most prestigious baubles. Vehicles are judged as benchmarks for their segments based on factors including innovation, design, handling, user experience and value.
Link here for more information about NACTOY: http://northamericancaroftheyear.org.
2026 NACTOY finalists
Car of the Year
Dodge ChargerHonda PreludeNissan Sentra
Truck of the Year
Ford Maverick LoboRam 1500 HemiRam 2500
Utility Vehicle of the Year
Hyundai PalisadeLucid GravityNissan Leaf
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
Payne: Charger unplugged! Dodge Sixpack muscle car is large and in charge
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 20, 2025
Ann Arbor — In the early morning light, I rotated my gorgeous red 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpack Scat Pack onto empty Huron River Drive. I floored the throttle and awakened the beast. WAAUUUUUGHH! All four paws translated 531 pounds of torque to the asphalt and I exploded toward the twisties — my fingers rifling through the gears with steering-mounting paddle shifters. WHAP! WHAP!
The Dodge Charger is back, unplugged and untethered.
After three dark years in the government woodshed, Dodge has restocked its stable with an earth-pawing, gas-fed pony car next to the electric Charger Daytona. The Daytona was an answer to a question customers weren’t asking: what if we made the best-selling V-8 muscle car electric? Dodge sales fell off a cliff.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
If the four-cylinder Ford Mustang II was the symbol of 1970s “Malaise Era” regulatory excess, then the charged Charger is the symbol of the 2020s’ forced electric-vehicle push. It makes artificial V-8 sounds. It’s heavier than the Titanic. It jumped the shark.
But in reducing Stellantis NV’s exposure to government emissions fines, it served its purpose and helped rebirth the gas-powered Charger. The legendary Hemi V-8 is coming, but first: the 3.0-liter, 550-horse twin-turbocharged inline-6 cylinder Hurricane Sixpack. Sixpack as in the gateway drug to the hard stuff.
It ain’t too shabby.
Stellantis, © 2025 Stellantis
I hammered the Charger Sixpack and Daytona EV Scat Packs across Washtenaw County’s rural roads. Based on a flexible chassis that can house gas and electric powertrains, the hatchback (more on that feature later) Chargers are beautiful to look at with their throwback, 1968-era fascias, Coke-bottle bods and digital interiors.
The Sixpack is six times better. The driving experience is more visceral, more alive, more genuine. Push the START button next to the naughty pistol-grip shifter and Sixpack growls menacingly. Start the Daytona EV and it roars to life. An electric roar? The sound is synthetic and its obnoxious volume only calls more attention to the forgery.
There’s nothing fake about the Daytona’s electric power, though. With a stump-pulling 623-pound feet of torque, the e-Charger slammed me into the back of the seat as I nailed it onto I-94. BRAWWWWWRRH! went the fake V-8 sound as I eclipsed (number withheld to preserve my license) mph.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
But at 4,815 pounds, Sixpack weighs 20% less than Daytona, making it a lot more playful around the cloverleaf that prefaces the rocket launch into the four-lane. That lesser girth also means that, despite giving up 120 ponies to the 670-horse Charger Daytona, the Sixpack sports the same 1:8.7 power-to-weight ratio.
With 100% of torque available at launch, Daytona out-drags the Sixpack to 60 mph (3.3 seconds to 3.9), but the gas-guzzler is more fun everywhere else.
On an empty Huron Drive, I initiated launch control in the Sixpack by burying the brake pedal, then the accelerator. RPMs spiked to 3,000 and held — RRRRRGGGH — as I kept both feet in it.
Release the brake. Release the Kraken.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Like the EV, Sixpack comes standard with all-wheel drive to better harness the enormous power coming through its driveshafts. The Charger slewed right briefly on the cold morning asphalt before all four tires hooked up, launching me into fall splendor.
Sixpack offers $4,995 Customer Preferred Pack 22B, which includes goodies like wireless charging pad, ambient lighting, head-up display, auto windshield wipers, eight-way power seats, 360-degree camera, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Get it for the head-up display. It’s awesome.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
I pulled the downshift paddle and automatically engaged the eight-speed tranny’s MANUAL mode. WHAP! In fourth gear, I entered a tricky right-left uphill complex. The horizontal tachometer in the head-up display was in my direct line of sight. 3,000 RPM. WHAP! I pulled the paddle again into 3rd gear and the engine screamed at 5,000 RPM.
I tore though the twisties, then upshifted to 4th at 6,000 RPM — the gear indicator right there in the head-up display — on my way to the moon.
That’s visceral fun the EV can’t provide. Good as the Sixpack was, I still dreamed of what the new Charger would feel like with a good ol’ Scat Pack V-8 at the other end of my lead foot.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“Have you looked at the new Charger Sixpack?” I asked a friend who owns a V8-powered, 2022 Charger Scat Pack.
“Yeah, it’s good looking,” he replied.
“Going to get one?”
“I’ll wait for the V-8.”
I get it. And when the V-8 comes, it will benefit from the same major chassis upgrades that make Sixpack a joy. When last-gen Charger (and its Challenger coupe stablemate) exited the market in 2023, they took with them an aging, rear-wheel-drive platform that could barely contain its Godzilla drivetrains.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Three years on and the new, all-wheel-drive STLA Large Platform is 25% stiffer. This is still a big car — gaining six inches in length and two inches of width over last gen. Add AWD, hatchback and more legroom and SixPack is a significant 500 pounds heavier than its predecessor. And that’s BEFORE you put a V-8 boat anchor up front.
The upgrades are all worth it.
I’ve touched on the benefits of a stiffer platform and AWD to keep this rocket on the road. But when you’re not setting fire to asphalt like a 4,800-pound Road Runner cartoon, you’ll find the car’s new-found utility commendable.
Readers of this column know I’m a missionary for hot hatches like the VW Golf GTI, Golf R, Mazda3 Turbo and Honda Civic Type R as the market’s best all-around value: fun, utilitarian, affordable. The Charger Sixpack is the world’s biggest hot hatch.
And relatively affordable. At $56,990, my tester was $10K cheaper than a comparably-equipped, inline-6-powered, $67K BMW 540i xDrive (not to mention the $64K Charger Daytona EV) while offering better looks, utility, rear legroom and speed.
Open the rear deck and Charger will swallow a cart-full of luggage. Flatten the rear seats and add bicycles to your cargo. It’s a taaaall hatch but Dodge has thoughtfully put the automatic OPEN/CLOSE button on the left rear of the trunk for easy access.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The four-door model will be preferred by most Charger customers, but the rear seats of the coupe model I tested are plenty big too — unlike, say, Mustang rear seats that require removal of your legs. Rear passengers will also benefit from the $995 panoramic roof option.
Cockpit ergonomics are typically superb for a Dodge product, with raised buttons on the steering wheel for adaptive cruise control, buttons on the back for volume/station changes. Drive modes hang below the left spoke so your hands never need leave the wheel.
So when you come up on a 375-horse BMW 540i on a cloverleaf, you can toggle SPORT mode and drag him off the exit.
As you blow by, be sure and shout: “The Charger is back, baby!”
Next week: 2026 Nissan Sentra
2026 Dodge Charger
Vehicle type: All-wheel-drive, five-passenger coupe and sedan
Price: Base $51,990, including $1,995 destination charge. Sedan an extra $2,000. $67,360 Scat Plus coupe with Customer Preferred Package as tested
Powerplant: 3.0-liter, twin-turbo inline-6 cylinder
Power: 420 horsepower, 468 pound-feet torque (R/T); 550 horsepower, 531 pound-feet torque (Scat Pack)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.9 seconds (Scat Pack, mfr.); top speed, 177 mph (Scat Pack)
Weight: 4,815 pounds
Range: EPA est. mpg, 16 city/26 highway/20 combined (Scat Pack); 91 octane fuel required
Report card
Highs: Gorgeous hot hatch; AWD/head-up display/hatchback goodies
Lows: Gets pricey; no V-8 yet
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.