The resistance to the Andretti Cadillac team came despite F1’s acceptance of the U.S.-based Haas team, with fewer resources and experience in motorsport, in 2016. Haas has used Ferrari as its engine supplier and has had mediocre results to date, finishing at the bottom of the manufacturer’s championship last year.

Andretti had also intended to use a third-party engine maker, Renault, for the 2025-27 seasons as a bridge to the 2028 Cadillac hybrid unit — and in in order to gain racing experience.

“I was shocked by the length of the F1 statement; it felt like they were trying very hard to find reasons not to let Andretti Cadillac join the club,” said Bradley. “Even the comment about ‘our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around’ — it makes you wonder exactly who they asked.”

While the FOM statement opens the door to an Andretti Cadillac team in 2028, it will test GM’s commitment to F1 given the costs it is already incurring to electrify its business. Market conditions have forced the company to do a U-turn on hybrid powertrains at a time when the General had committed to only gas and EV powertrains.

Andretti Autosport competes in multiple race series including IndyCar, IMSA (with Acura), Formula E, Extreme E (electric off-racing) and Australian Supercar.

“It would be a lot harder for F1 to say no to a team with the might of GM actually building an engine in 2028. In fact, you could read this rejection as leverage to forcing its hand, to compel it to join the roster of power unit manufacturers,” concluded Bradley. “Whether Andretti’s plans can survive for that long is a question. What if another race team like McLaren, Haas or Williams offers to partner up in the meantime? To steal a GM engine deal could be huge.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne

Payne: Analog Nissan Leaf EV is the anti-Tesla

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 2, 2024

Auburn Hills — The Tesla Model 3 and Y dominate the electric vehicle market. They are the standard by which all other EVs are judged. But as numerous Hertz customers have communicated to me, not everyone is comfortable in a Tesla. If you haven’t been in a Tesla before, the experience can be bewildering.

Where’s the instrument screen?How do I operate the mirrors?Why doesn’t it have any %#*!@ knobs?

Some folks just want a normal car. For those folks, there is the electric Nissan Leaf.

Small and nimble, the 2024 Nissan Leaf is fun in the twisties. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Leaf hit the U.S. market looong before the Model 3/Y in 2011 and — rather than tear up the blueprints and re-invent the automobile as Tesla did — Nissan’s intent was to create a good ol’ Nissan with an electric motor where the engine usually is found.

Getting acclimated to a Leaf is as easy as learning your way around a Nissan Sentra or Toyota Corolla or any of your typical gas-powered cars. I have a Tesla Model 3 and Subaru Impreza in my garage, and the Leaf has a lot more in common with the ‘Ru.

Hatchback. Similar interior space. Simple digital instrument and dashboard displays. Console choked with more buttons than an airline cockpit. I selected Drive from the console-mounted shifter (won’t find that on a Tesla) and I was off.

I adjusted my seat heater with a dash button. My mirrors with a door button. My temperature with a dash button. My AM radio station and favorite Sirius XM stations with a button. Heck, Tesla doesn’t even offer AM or Sirius XM stations.

Through the twisties of Oakland County back roads, my front-wheel-drive, top-trim SV Plus Leaf was as playful as our family FWD Impreza. With its short wheelbase and rigid chassis, the Nissan is eager to be thrown around, and I toggled e-Pedal for single-pedal driving using motor regen as a brake. Stomp on the gas pedal and you’re reminded this is an EV — instant, silent electric torque at the ready — even spinning the front wheels on slick winter roads out of stoplights.

Credit a 62 kWh battery in the SV Plus, which nearly triples in size over the OG 2011 model and its mere 24 kWh lithium-ion pack. It’s also a step up from the 40 kWh standard battery.

“Range aside, the Leaf seems like a normal car,” wrote our friends over at Car and Driver magazine back in 2010 of the new Leaf.

Oh, yes. Range.

The Leaf has certainly improved over the years from the OG’s 73-mile range when it debuted in 2010. With its bigger battery, the second-gen Leaf has not only gained better acceleration but better range as well. The $29K base S boasts 149 miles of range, and my range-topping SV Plus says it can go 212 miles in Normal mode.

But with more battery comes a lot more price (see the GMC Hummer EV at $100K-plus with a 210 kWh battery) and the SV Plus sticker jumps to $38K. That’s Tesla Model 3’s entry-level price with 240 miles of range and a proprietary charging network for when you want to hit the road. What’s more, the Leaf is no shoo-in for the capricious federal tax credit of $7,500 even though it is Made in the USA. Seems its battery sourcing is not to the liking of federal bureaucrats that spoon out the sugar. Dealers have been urging buyers to lease EVs since the $7,500 is easier to get that way.

I drove the Leaf locally during my week-long test — charging it back to full on my home-installed 240-volt garage charger. The Leaf pioneered CHAdeMO charging in the U.S. among mainstream autos, but that standard has fallen behind the CCS standard (favored by other manufacturers) and the fast-emerging de facto North American Charging Standard favored by Tesla.

My Leaf tester has both CHAdeMO and J-1772 plugs, which made it easy to charge at home on my Level 2, 240-volt garage unit (especially since the closet CHAdeMO to me was 15 miles away in Farmington Hills).

Had I hit the road, plugging into the CHAdeMO would have been a lot more effort than Tesla’s proprietary network and even growing CCS infrastructure. Bark your destination to the Tesla and it maps your route — including when-and-where to charge, nearby restaurants to wait out the charge, and so on. Leaf will only find chargers in the immediate vicinity (as well as gas stations, since it shares software with gas models), but it won’t map a route for you to the third-party chargers that pepper the landscape. Best to download a Better Route Planner app on your phone. Time to Charlevoix from Detroit compared to a gas model? Ninety minutes longer due to two looong charging stops.

More problematic: EV range doesn’t hold up in Michigan’s cold winter climates. Chart a course up north, for example, and you need to be cognizant that some fast chargers are 100 miles apart, which can get tricky for low-range 212-mile models like Leaf.

It’s typical for my Tesla Model 3 (and other EVs) to get just 60% of range traveling at 75 mph in 30-degree weather. That means 127 miles of range in a fully charged Leaf, so you might want to back off the accelerator pedal to 65-70 (which ain’t easy for your lead foot reporter). Expect to sit at the chargers for awhile, too. The Leaf can only charge up to 50 kW compared to 250 kW for Teslas.

The Leaf’s natural competitor, the Bolt, gets more range at 258, but I’ve seen Bolts crawling into chargers on I-75 on the way north with little range left. Speaking of natural competitors, the Toyota Prius hybrid starts to sound juicy with its 588 miles of range. Remember when Prius was the trendy choice?

Given their small size, Leaf and Bolt are best relied on as local cars where you can charge at work — or have a charger at home. If you eschew road trips for air travel, Leaf is in your wheelhouse. From its geeky roots, the nerdy Leaf’s wardrobe has been upgraded to fit in with other Nissans — though its center hood-mounted charge port is as convenient as ever.

The interior of the 2024 Nissan Leaf. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

The mantle of Top EV has been handed off to the Ariya SUV and its fashionable interior. Ariya gets the latest self-driving software (sorry, Leaf), fancy bronze paint options (sorry, Leaf) and better, 130 kWh, CCS fast charging (sorry, Leaf). But Ariya also gets fancy haptic touch controls with no knobs.

Oh. No knobs?

Check out the good ol’ analog Leaf across the showroom.

2024 Nissan Leaf

Vehicle type: Battery-powered, front-wheel drive five-passenger hatchback

Price: $29,280, including $1,095 destination ($38,210 SV Plus as tested)

Powerplant: 40 kWh or 60 kWh lithium-ion battery mated to electric motor

Power: 147 horsepower, 236 pound-feet of torque (40 kWh battery); 215 horsepower, 251 pound-feet of torque (60 kWh)

Transmission: Single-speed direct drive

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.8 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 106 mph

Weight: 3,831 (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA est. range, 149 miles (40 kWh battery); 212 miles (60 kWh battery as tested)

Report card

Highs: One pedal driving; easy-to-use controls

Lows: Lacks range; lacks charger navigation system

Overall: 2 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

Ford vs. Everyone: Automaker opens new chapter at Daytona with Mustang GT3/GTD supercar

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 2, 2024

Daytona Beach — Standing in front of the lean, mean Mustang GT3 racing machine in the Ford Motor Co. garage at Daytona International Raceway, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. recounted his ah-ha moment when he realized Mustang could take on the world.

“I was in Dubai in November 2014 as part of our international tour announcing that we were taking the sixth-generation Mustang global,” Ford said over the cacophony of race mechanics preparing the GT3 for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. “After our announcement, I was swarmed by passionate Mustang owners wearing Mustang jackets and shorts from Eastern Europe and the Middle East — countries that we didn’t even sell in it yet! That’s what Mustang is about. We want to re-ignite people’s love affair with cars.”

It was hard to understate the size of Ford’s ambition at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, the launch of the international sportscar racing season.

Bill Ford Jr. (left) with Mustang GT3 driver Dirk Müller inside the Ford garage at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Müller and his teammates would take the Mustang to first place in class in its race debut before mechanical problems se them back.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

If 1966 was Ford v Ferrari, then 2024 is Ford v Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin Mercedes, Acura, Corvette McLaren. To borrow a Detroit mantra, Ford vs. Everybody.

Ford’s big guns were all here. Its executive chairman was in the pits (shades of Henry the Deuce at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour) and working the crowd at the Ford infield display; its ground-shaking V8-powered race car was pounding around the track, and its 800-plus horsepower, bi-wing, $300,000 Mustang GTD supercar was the most outrageous car in an infield midway that showcased everything from BMWs to ‘Vettes to the Lamborghini Revuelto.

“Of course, we’re racing in the international GT3 class. We’re the world’s best-selling sportscar,” smiled Mustang marketing guru Jim Owens when asked why Mustang was mixing it up with six-figure, luxury brand cars like Porsche 911, McLaren 720S and Aston Martin Vantage.

But the GTD betrays Ford’s larger goal: it wants to prove it can make cars every bit as capable as European supercars even as it sells in much greater volume in 144 countries worldwide.

The GTD is based on the GT3 race car, but doesn’t have to conform to IMSA racing regulations that regulate horsepower and suspension technology in order to maintain a balance of performance between competitors, encourage close competition, and keep costs down. Whereas the GT3 race car is limited to 495 horsepower, the GTD’s supercharged V-8 pumps out a healthy 880 horses while also boasting active suspension and aerodynamic tricks outlawed in endurance racing.

“It’ll turn similar lap times as the Mustang GT3 race car,” said Larry Holt, chief technical officer for Multimatic that builds both the GTD and the race car.

The GTD is aimed squarely at the Porsche 911 GT3 RS’s 6:44.8-minute lap around the Nürburgring race track in Germany. Thirteen miles long with 154 turns, the high-speed Nürburgring is the world’s most formidable race track and the benchmark for production car performance.

“We’re aiming for a sub-seven minute lap,” said Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance chief, of the lap time few production missiles have ever achieved.

That’s impressed Dr. Brett Rosenberg, 49, of Jupiter Florida, who circled the GTD at the Ford display. Rosenberg owns a garage-full of Porsche sportscars including a 2019 GT3 RS and is well aware that that GTD is going to Nürburgring to challenge Porsche. Orders for the limited edition GTD will soon open and Rosenberg may apply.

“The Mustang GT3 looks cool and it’s American. I want to support American brands,” he said. “The Porsches are good because they are fast and they don’t break. They race the same engine that they put in their production cars. You have to have that.”

Mustang owners and race fans Kevin Clabert, 44, of New Orleans (right) and Rick Jeffrey, 63, from San Francisco (left) pose with the new Ford Mustang GT3 race car at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Kevin Clabert, 44, of New Orleans also came to the busy Ford display to ogle the GTD. A Ford collector, he owns everything from a 1926 Model T to a 1965 Shelby Mustang to a mid-engine 2020 Ford GT. He’s impressed with the GTD.

“Henry Ford could never have imagined cars like this,” said Clabert. “But if were alive today, he would love it because he was a visionary.”

The $300,000 GTD is a far cry from the $43,305, V8-powered Mustang that sells in dealerships. But Rick Jeffrey, 63, of San Francisco still sees it as a logical extension of the brand.

“Mustang has raced since its founding in 1965,” said Jeffrey, who met up with Clabert and other car pals from around the country for the Rolex 24. “They were successful in Trans Am, and this shows they can compete with the world’s best.”

That the Blue Oval can sell a Mustang to such a broad demographic pf customer — from blue bloods to blue collars — is a rare feat in autodom. It was reinforced by the hundreds of people who jammed the Ford booth, from moms and dads pushing baby strollers to successful, gray-haired businessmen. In the middle of the scrum was Bill Ford Jr..

His great grandfather, Henry Ford, first attracted investors by winning the 1901 Sweepstakes race in Gross Pointe. Sixty-five years later, Ford beat Ferrari on the world’s biggest sportscar stage, the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour. Now, another 58 years on, Ford’s third act is elevating its Mustang icon to take on the world’s greatest GT race cars.

The result has been a re-igniting of Mustang performance. Call it Ford Racing 3.0.

“Maybe the GTD is the car that inspires you to buy your first Mustang,” said Mustang GTD product manager Greg Goodall. “Mustang is a family. This car is part of that story and expands the family.”

Out on track, the Mustang GT3 ace car thundered down the straightaways, its distinctive V-8 soundtrack bouncing off Daytona high backings. After qualifying deep in the grid, the Ford Performance factory cars charged into the top five after four hours of racing.

When Ford Performance boss Mark Rushbrook took over in 2014, the division was a company backwater with eight employees largely devoted to marketing. But CEO Jim Farley and Executive Chairman Ford had a a plan.

“They said: ‘we want to win Le Mans,’” said Rushbrook of the famed 24-hour French race. “That’s all they needed to say.”

In the the last decade, he has expanded Ford Performance to 100 employees. Initially, the goal was winning Le Mans to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Ford’s historic win over Ferrari. But that was only the beginning, as Ford Performance is now integrated into the company — dedicated to producing Mustang and Bronco racing machines to sell to customers in track and off-road racing.

That has also meant a big expansion of its relationship with Toronto-based Multimatic — one of the world’s premier race shops that also builds the Porsche Penske 963 that won the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year. That partnership has churned out 60 GT4 racing Mustangs in recent years and now Multimatic’s Charlotte race shop has the capacity to make 40 GT3 racers a year for racing as diverse as the WEC in Europe, Bathurst in Australia, and IMSA in North America.

The crowing jewel is the GTD monster.

“This proves to customers what Ford is capable of,” said Ford’s Owens, who spent the weekend shuffling between the Ford garage, display, Mustang Club corral, and grid walks ahead of the Rolex 24.

Fans mobbed Ford’s Mustangs on the grid. IMSA says that its 62^nd running of the Rolex 24 attracted recod attendance. Credit that, in part, to the siren song of the Detroit V-8.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne

Detroit at Daytona: Penske wins, Cadillac second, Ford vs. Vette, Pitt films

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 29, 2024

Daytona Beach — Roger Penske won his second Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on Sunday, leading a Motor City onslaught on the Super Bowl of American sportscar racing.

Team Penske’s #7 Porsche 963 GTP racer beat the #31 Whelan Cadillac GTP of Ganassi Racing to the line by just two seconds after 24 hours of nail-biting racing, with the two top dogs swapping the lead multiple times.

2024 Rolex 24 Horus of Daytona had it all from 11 automakers, Mustang vs. Corvette battle, a record nine female drivers and 15 IndyCar drivers; even Brad Pitt was there in a racing suit shooting a movie.

Victory: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium. Courtesy of IMSA. Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images

The Rolex 24 set an attendance record, with the biggest crowd in its 62-year history. Here are the highlights:

Penske leads the D in the D. The last time “The Captain,” 86, won a Daytona 24-Hour race was in 1969 when he was just 32 years old.

Emotional after the race, he was nonetheless typically understated. “This was a good win for us, now we have to go win Le Mans.” Le Mans, in the heart of France, is the world’s most prestigious endurance race and one of the rare baubles not in Penske’s trophy case.

For Porsche, it was the 19^th time they’ve been atop the Role 24 podium, a record. That number equals the number of wins Penske has at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden, the IndyCar ace who won his first Indy 500 last year for Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske, was on the four-man team that won the Daytona 24 Hour. Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasir rounded out the lineup, with the latter bringing the red-and-white Porsche across the finish line after a sterling duel with Cadillac driver Tom Blomqvist, who won the race a year ago for Acura.

“To see Roger in tears, this means a lot. It’s very special, and congratulations to Porsche, it was a team effort,” said Newgarden, one of 15 IndyCar drivers in the highly competitive 59-car field.

The Porsche Penske win was hard-earned over the #31 Cadillac that Pipo Derani had put on the pole, smashing the track record by two seconds. Porsche entered four GTP prototype cars in the contest — two from Team Penske — but it was the #7 that kept up with the Caddy’s torrid pace from the start. The two hybrid-V8-powered machines never ran into serious reliability problems — even as their BMW and Acura competitors struggled with bugs.

Ford vs. Corvette. Detroit’s two most famous muscle cars squared off in the GT class for the first time with all-new GT3 cars that the brands now offer for sale to customer racing teams across the globe. Corvette fielded two factory-backed teams managed by New Hudson’s Pratt & Miller, plus two private entries from AWA. Mustang fielded two factory Ford Performance teams and one private entry from Proton Competition.

In anticipation of the Detroit face-off, the Rolex 24’s official T-shirt featured the Mustang and Corvette.

The Mustangs qualified well down in the field, but it didn’t take long for them to find race pace with the #65 car at the hands of veteran Joey Hand spearing through the field of Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris early on. Four hours into the race at sunset, the GT competition was a Detroit shootout with the #65 Mustang running first and the Pratt & Miller Corvettes just seconds behind in third and fourth.

Alas, the night would not be kind to the Motown muscle entrants. One of the Corvettes punted the sister #64 Ford Performance Mustang while under caution, sending it careening into the Proton Mustang, forcing the latter to retire with heavy damage. The #64 soldiered on, but many laps down. Before noon on Sunday, mechanical issues had befallen all of the Detroit GT competitors, with the #65 Mustang and both AWA Corvettes joining the Proton Mustang behind the wall.

The #3 Corvette finished fifth in class, the #64 Mustang sixth and the #3 Corvette eighth.

Brad Pitt. The American heartthrob has been a fixture in Daytona Beach for the last two weeks, shooting scenes for his new racing movie, tentatively titled “Apex.” On Saturday night, he was in pit lane, filming footage. Pitt’s character is reportedly a veteran sportscar racer coaching an up-and-coming Formula One driver. Pitt attracted plenty of attention along pit lane, but so did Patrick Long (the legendary, ex-Penske Porsche racer who won Daytona in 2009 and is featured in the film) and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has produced classics like “Top Gun, “Flashdance” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

The movie crew also had cameras in the #120 Porsche GT entry and a paddock garage full of movie cars in similar livery.

Funky trunk. Racing programs are key to technology transfer as production vehicles learn from the abuse race cars take over 24 hours of motor racing at the limit. But the Mustang GT3 could learn from the production Mustang on keeping its trunk shut.

Both Ford Mustang Performance factory cars had to take early pit stops after their rear bonnets shredded. Faulty rear pins were to blame.

Cadillac thunder. “I’m an audio geek,” said General Motors Co.’s director of performance and racing propulsion, Russell O’Blenes, and the Cadillac GTP car was proof. The 5.0-liter overhead-cam 670-horsepower beast could be heard all around the Daytona tri-oval, and that’s by design. Even as it revved to 8,800 rpm like a Ferrari, the big bopper had the low baritone of a classic GM V-8.

“We want the race car to have as close a correlation to the customer as possible,” he said as the Caddy thundered by on Daytona’s high banking. “And the customer passion for V-8s is incredible.”

“He doesn’t sleep.” So said Porsche Motorsport chief Urs Kuratle of the ageless Roger Penske when Porsche Penske first partnered last year at Daytona. The 86-year-old is renowned in the IMSA paddock for being awake for the entire 24-hour race in the team’s paddock command center. “The man is a national treasure,” smiled veteran AP racing correspondent Jenna Fryer.

The Super Bowl (of racing). Daytona International Speedway’s mile-long main grandstand and stadium would make the NFL proud. Built in 1958 for $15 million, the 10-story, 100,000-seat structure was renovated 10 years ago for $400 million with state-of-the-art corporate suites and tech.

On the seventh floor, a massive data system crunches nine terabytes of data during the Rolex 24, monitoring everything from the 59-car entry’s tire pressures to engine torque to make sure the racing is fair.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

The D at the D: Daytona 24 Hours attracts Detroit’s top race teams from Ford to GM to Penske

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 29, 2024

Daytona Beach, Florida — The Detroit Lions have their eye on winning a Super Bowl. Detroit’s biggest automotive names have their eyes on winning the Super Bowl of American sportscar racing.

Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford and Penske are in Daytona Beach this weekend for the 62^nd running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona — the first race on the highly-competitive IMSA Weathertech Sportscar calendar. The series has become a must for international performance brands putting their thoroughbreds against the best in the world — while testing their equipment over 24 hours at over 200 mph on Daytona’s icon roval (road course combined with NASCAR oval).

Like the football Super Bowl, the epic Rolex 24 attracts a who’s who of drivers from IndyCar, Formula One, and even celebrity Brad Pitt, who will be capturing footage for his new racing movie.

Proton is the first private entry of the Ford Mustang GT3 at Daytona. Wes Duenkel

Cadillac’s GTP hybrid prototypes swept the front row of qualifying last weekend and will be carrying the American flag against foreign rivals from Acura, BMW and Porsche. The latter is partnered with Roger “The Captain” Penske, the Bloomfield Hills-based team owner seeking his second Daytona 24 win to go with his chart-topping 19 Indy 500 victories. Team Penske partners with Chevrolet in IndyCar, but for international sportscar racing, it has teamed with the most successful sportscar team in motorsport. Porsche’s 23 Daytona wins is unmatched.

But for all the firepower at the front of the grid, the rivalry that many in the Motor City will be watching is in the GT class as Corvette and Mustang go head-to-head for the first time in the GT class.

Both brands have embraced new rules by the North American IMSA series and international World Endurance Championship that have standardized GT3 racing qualifications across the world. Manufacturers can sell their race cars to private teams in multiple international series.

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Mustang GT3 will debut for the first time in Daytona. They will not only be racing each other but also GT3 entries from a who’s who of manufacturers including Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, and Acura.

Corvette Racing at Daytona 24 Hour. Richard Prince Richard@rprincephoto.com

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley — who once famously trash-talked General Motors Co. saying “I’m going to beat Chevrolet on the head with a bat, and I’m going to enjoy it” — downplayed the matchup. “Of course we want to beat them, but it really is chalk and cheese,” he said in an interview of the production sportscars aimed at different demographics.

Ford sells its Mustang production car in 144 countries and the GT3 program is an avenue to appeal to consumers as well as make money on race program by selling the $800,000 beasts to customer teams. As the industry homogenizes under single-powertrain, electric vehicle mandates, racing V8-fired cyborgs like the Mustang and Corvette helps maintain brand identity.

Under IMSA’s Balance of Performance rules, the two race cars — only required to share a chassis with production cars — will be evenly matched on track and will each feature thundering, crowd-pleasing V-8s.

The Mustang GT3, built by Multimatic’s race shop in Charlotte, brings to the dogfight a ferocious-looking machine with a rear wing the size of a Boeing 737. The factory team will field two cars featuring veteran drivers like Joey Hand and Dirk Müller — who teamed on a historic victory for the mid-engine Ford GT at the 2016 Le Mans on the 50^th anniversary of the marque’s first Le Mans win. A customer car entered by Proton Competition will also be on the grid.

“We are the underdogs against the Ferrari and Porsche teams that have a lot of experience in IMSA racing,” said Farley. “But we want to sustain this for decades and we have a real chance to challenge the European elite. We have a chance to be one of the great brands.”

For its part, Corvette will bring four new Corvette Z06 GT3.R race cars to the dance — two fielded by the factory-backed, Pratt Miller Motorsports team out of New Hudson — and two from privateer AWA.

A total of 36 GT cars will roll of the grid at 1:40 p.m. Saturday for the grueling overnight race.

Leading the field will be defending champion Action Express Racing’s #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R GTP hybrid, whose ace driver Pipo Derani smashed the track record by two seconds in qualifying.

“The change in the past year is massive. The development has been tremendous,” said Derani, who won the first championship of the hybrid era last year. The hybrid prototype cars have allowed manufacturers to race with trendy electric motors favored by governments while still pleasing fans with high horsepower V-8s.

To bring home the connection between racing and production, the new 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing sedan will pace the field the the green flag — its 668-horsepower V-8 putting out the same power as the prototype hellions behind it.

Auto races have become major consumer competition for events like the Detroit auto show, with manufacturers at Daytona mirroring their GT race cars with displays of production cars on the infield midway. GM, for example will have Cadillac and Corvette displays.

Team Penske’s partnership nearly bore fruit last year, with the Porsche Penske 963 in contention with Cadillac for the season title right down to the season finale at Road Atlanta.

“Our main focus will be on reliability, which was a problem for us last year,” Urs Kuratle, Porsche director of factory GTP racing, said in an interview.

Porsche will bring four 963 prototypes to the the grid — two Porsche Penske factory entries and two with private teams, JDC Miller and Proton. The #7 Porsche Penske 963 will lead the way, qualifying third behind an all-Cadillac front row with Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, and Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden behind the wheel.

Newgarden’s presence is testament to the star power that Daytona brings as the world’s best drivers — from every motorsport — convene to add the classic to their trophy case.

In addition to Newgarden, resigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou, IndyCar racer and 2023 GTP winner Tom Blomqvist, and six-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon will be behind the wheel of Cadillac GTP cars.

Other IndyCar divers in the field include Colton Herta (Acura GTP), Alexander Rossi (McLaren GT), Romain Grosjean (Lamborghini GT), Katherine Legge (Acura GT), Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist in LMP2 prototype cars (less powerful than the GTPs), and Marcus Ericsson — winner of the 2022 Indy 500 — will be at the wheel of the Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Acura GTP. Also racing are Ex-Formula One stars Jenson Button (Acura GTP), Felipe Massa (LMP2) and Eddie Cheever (Lamborghini GT).

“I’m very excited to return to Daytona after competing with the team in 2022. I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the new hybrid,” said Spaniard Palou.

If that’s not enough star power, then keep an eye out for Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt, who is filming a Formula One-themed movie (rumored to be titled “Apex”). The plot line involves Pitt as an aging Rolex 24 driver who mentors an F1 rookie. The #120 Wright Motorsport Porsche GT will have a camera on board shooting footage.

A total of 10 GTP cars will line up at the tip of the spear Saturday. Thirteen more LMP2 cars will follow along with the huge GT field for total entry of 59 cars, making for a very busy 24 hours as prototypes make their way through the slower GT field.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona goes green at 1:40 p.m. Saturday with race broadcast partners NBC, USA Network and Peacock sharing airtime across the 24-hour Super Bowl of racing.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Mustang at 60: The last muscle car standing doubles down on racing

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 29, 2024

As Ford Motor Co.’s Mustang stands as the last traditional American muscle car, the automaker is hoping to be among the last standing and first to cross the finish line this weekend at the International Motor Sports Association’s Rolex 24 race at Daytona in Florida.

For the first time since 2019, the storied nameplate returns to the 24-hour race on Saturday with its first Mustang GT3 going up against the world’s best from the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and Corvette. It kicks off a major year for the automaker in racing as it seeks to grow the vehicle’s notoriety and international appeal. Plus, it’s the 60th anniversary of the first pony car.

It all comes after General Motors Co. ended production of the Chevrolet Camaro and Stellantis NV ended production of the Dodge Charger and Challenger last month with greenhouse-gas emission and fuel-economy regulations pushing automakers to adopt cleaner vehicles. With the Chevrolet Corvette mainly a sports car, that leaves Mustang as the last in the traditional muscle-car segment, and Ford is betting on capitalizing off that.

“You’re going to attract that person who wants that American V-8, that muscle car, and we’ll welcome them with open arms and make them part of the family,” said Joe Bellino, Mustang brand manager. “But then it’s tricky, right? Because you’ll have people who really love other brands and might not want to come over here, so that’s what we are focusing on this year: How do we attract a different buyer.”

Bellino says the automaker thinks it has the solution in its seventh-generation coupe. More tech savvy than ever, the vehicle features an electronic parking drift brake, a driver-centric cockpit with tilted screens, greater customization, video game-style animations for changing drive modes and the ability to switch exhaust modes.

“You might think the segment’s dying,” Bellino said, “but it’s really expanding for us, and we can take advantage of this of this opportunity.”

Mustang burst to the scene in 1964, with Ford delivering more than 400,000 that first year. The 1 millionth Mustang was sold within the first two years. After debuting the seventh-generation at the 2022 Detroit auto show, Mustang’s U.S. sales rose 2.2% last year to less than 50,000 vehicles.

Still, there’s arguably no other nameplate more ubiquitous with the Blue Oval, and CEO Jim Farley said earlier this month there’s no plans to pull in the reins.

“Sixty years, and it’s changed over time,” he said at a Ford Performance event earlier this month. “We have EcoBoost, we have the Dark Horse now, and we’re going to continue to invest, and if we’re the only one on the planet making a V-8 affordable sports car for everyone in the world, so be it.”

That’s sure to make Mustang’s 8.2 million Facebook followers and more than 500 car clubs globally happy.

Kyle Markland, 23, was raised in Long Island, New York, and is a third-generation Ford owner after his father and grandfather, with each getting a little bit faster. His grandfather owned a Galaxie 500, his father a Mustang GT convertible and Kyle’s first ‘Stang is a fire-breathing 2020 GT tricked out with Performance Package and aftermarket Roush exhaust, grille and RTR wheels.

“I’m a V-8 guy,” said Markland, who moved to Detroit to work in the auto industry, where he’s gotten a front seat to how integrated Mustang is with the Dearborn automaker’s identity. “I like the sound and power. You get a lot of performance for not a lot of money.”

It’s not just Mustang owners who feel love for the brand. Its status as an icon has been cemented in popular culture in music and films like “Bullitt” and “Ford v Ferrari,” which tells the story of the Shelby Mustang.

Mustang licensed merchandise is the second most popular for Ford behind the blue oval, attracting collaborations like the one launched in December with Spanish multinational retailer Zara. The brand represents 25% of the automaker’s merchandise sales even as they have risen 23% year-over-year and 56% since 2019.

The Mustang Lego set is the most popular item, followed by pieces like the red Mustang hoodie and the tribar vintage T-shirt. There are even Mustang-branded barstools available.

“There’s just that authenticity to it, but also connection to family members,” said Maria Turner, Ford’s senior manager of global brand licensing and merchandising. “You have a lot of 18-to-20-year-old sons who are in the garage with a grandpa working on the Mustang. It’s that really deep, visceral connection that they have with the brand, because it’s been passed down from generation to generation.

“And it’s just a cultural icon, so they see it in movies, they see it in video games, they see it on the racetrack, and they really connect with that brand because it’s been in their life.”

A majority of car buyers have turned to larger SUVs and trucks for their transportation needs. There, however, remains a market for muscle cars, especially if there’s one player, said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at auto information website iSeeCars.com.

“In the face of shrinking demand, only the strong will survive,” he said. “If Ford can take what is a very unique position in the car’s heritage and recognition and the level of icon it represents in the automotive world, it’s going from being a super iconic, historic vehicle to a super iconic, historic, unique vehicle.”

Ford, Brauer added, sees the value of that, even if it’s not something that fits nicely into a spreadsheet.

Transforming industry

As standards for carbon emissions become stricter and noncompliance leads to larger financial penalties, that becomes a tougher sell. Dodge is going the electric route: In the fall, it will begin production of an all-electric Charger “muscle car,” though its STLA Large platform can support multiple kinds of powertrains. The Charger will join the likes of the Tesla Model S Plaid.

Ford has said it will be carbon neutral by 2050 and signed a commitment to be all-electric by 2040. The manual 5-liter, eight-cylinder Mustang Dark Horse performance variant with a combined 17 combined miles per gallon produces 535 grams of greenhouse-gas tailpipe emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That’s compared to 341 grams per miles and 26 miles-per-gallon fuel economy on the 2.3-liter, four-cylinder Mustang with an Ecoboost engine. Ecoboost represents just under half of sales.

“We’ve made that very capable while still keeping the fuel-efficient part of it,” Bellino said. Still, with the Dark Horse delivering 500 horsepower, and the Ecoboost Fastback 315 horsepower: “It’s not just a economy play for us. It’s a strategic partner lineup.”

Ford hasn’t said when it could introduce an electrified Mustang coupe. It sought to build off its reputation when it introduced the all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV in 2019, garnering enthusiasm as well as some criticism from coupe-committed fans. U.S. sales of the electric variant rose 3.3% last year to almost 41,000.

The vehicle shows Ford has the technology for performance-focused EVs, though the auto industry is recalibrating EV sales expectations in recent months. Ford cut $12 billion in planned investment for electrification, stating demand was missing expectations even as it was growing. So, just because Mustang may not be first to market with an all-electric muscle car doesn’t mean it’s necessarily at a disadvantage, Brauer said.

“Ford can easily move from electric back to internal combustion and move Mustang onto electric in two years or 15 years from now,” he said. “They still have that option. When they have the market and demand, whenever that happens, they can still do that.”

Racing reputation

The gas powertrain for now is allowing Ford to extend its commitment to motorsports this year. In 2024 alone, Mustang will race on five continents from NASCAR to Formula One. There isn’t an African series on the docket for now. As for Antarctica, “We’re working on it,” said Mark Rushbrook, director of Ford Performance.

The GT3 was built at the Mustang plant in Flat Rock and has been upgraded to be a racecar, including being boosted to a 5.4-liter engine. Its first test will be one of its toughest with the 24-hour race at Daytona, Rushbrook said, emphasizing the need for consistent laps. He’s expecting a 1-minute, 46-second lap time. Qualifying had an average lap speed of about 120 mph.

“We race to win,” he said. “We know that it’s going to really test the car, it’s really going to test the team, and we’re just looking forward to a good competitive race against some of the best manufacturers in the world.”

That’s important since Mustang sales went global in 2015, and as the old adage goes, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” That doesn’t apply just to the muscle cars either: NASCAR races famously attract parking lots of Ford’s cash-cow F-150 pickup trucks.

“It engages them,” Rushbrook said, “and brings them into the brand and lets them see what Ford is as a company, our products, our people and more broadly than just the Mustang that they see racing on the track.”

Racing in professional series down through grassroots races, drag racing to drifting and more, Mustang also shows its versatility, Rushbrook added.

Ford does compete in the World Rally Championship with a hybrid Puma crossover, and it’s working with Oracle Red Bull Racing in preparation for F1’s move to hybrids in 2026. It’s partaken in individual races for electric vehicles, though not a series at this point.

“Those were great for us, because we’re learning we can build exactly what we want,” Rushbrook said. “We can learn exactly what we want. We’re not limited by rules or regulations, and then we can create whatever within reason, we can create any spectacle that we want to tell a story and connect people to, whether it was a Mach-E or a Mach-E 1400 or an electric Transit van.”

Ford also is encouraging Mustang owners in the motorsports action. In June in Ohio, it’ll start its Mustang Challenge to pit Dark Horse R racers against each other. Prizes include a $100,000 scholarship toward racing in Mustang GT3 or GT4 to identify new talent.

Sportscar nuts like Chris Sadek, 56, of Bloomfield Hills, think Mustang’s commitment to racing has helped its longevity.

“That Ford is committed to motorsport is something I think about as a buyer,” he said. “It’s the original pony car and they have dominated with Shelby models. Back when I was in high school, everybody had to have the 1980s Fox body V-8 Mustang.”

Sadek himself has owned European jewels like the 2004 BMW M3, 1986 BMW 635 CSI and 1978 Mercedes SLC. But when the 2015 Mustang GT350 arrived with a Ferrari-like, flat-plane crank V-8 making 526 horsepower and track-focused Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, he had to have it.

“I bought the GT350 because I wanted to track it,” said Sadek, who will be watching the Rolex 24 this weekend. “It’s a great car and I like the direction of models like the BMW M3, Porsche 911 and Mustang to making all-around sportscars.”

Breana Noble  Henry Payne

Payne: Furniture shopping in the giant Lexus TX500h

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 25, 2024

Sterling Heights — Three-row SUVs are pickups with hatchbacks, so Mrs. Payne and I took my 2024 Lexus TX 500h Direct 4 to Gardner White to complete our month-long search for a big, stuffed sofa chair.

Ahead of our chair pickup, we called the GW furniture department to make certain the mega-chair would fit.

Salesman: What’s a Lexus TX?

Me: It’s like a Chevy Traverse.

Salesman: Oh yeah, you should be fine.

The Paynes load a sofa chair into the 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport at Gardner White’s loading dock.. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

We measured, he was right. The chair was 25” tall x 38” deep, which fit (sideways) through the rear hatch. The chair’s biggest dimension was width at 52” but the interior easily swallowed that with the rear two rows of seats flattened. Heck, with 85” of room from the back of the front seat to the hatch, we could have fit our living room sofa in there. TX for Texas-sized.

For all their utility, three-row mid-sized SUVs are a varied lot depending on brand. A BMW X7 has more technology than the space shuttle (and probably horsepower, too). The Dodge Durango Hellcat is also a rocket ship on wheels — and, like a Charger Hellcat, offers cinema-size rear seats so the whole family can enjoy the theatrics. The Mazda CX-90? Honey, I blew up the Miata.

Now along comes Lexus with its first mature three-row unibody ute, and it’s got all of the Toyota family DNA: Hybrid power, Lexus RX interior, Papa Prius quirkiness.

What big utes are for. The 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport swallows a sofa chair at Gardner White. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Being a descendent of Prius used to mean geeky design and interior features in weird places (think shifters on the dash). But for ‘24, Prius has cleaned up its act with a handsome, minimalist design. So, too, Lexus TX. Circling the TX in the Gardner White parking lot, I was struck by how much my tester looked like … well, a Chevy Traverse parked nearby.

Clean lines, boxy shape, slab sides, square jaw. Made in Indiana, which may explain the Midwest accent. “That’s really nice looking,” said my wife’s gal pal Jameson.

Where was the Darth Vader maw (“Spindle Grille” in Lexus speak) that I had just tested on the Lexus UX 250h? Where were the deeply scalloped side flanks? Zany rear hatchback design? The TX is spare, purposeful — dare I say conservative? The front fascia could pass for the simple Shake Shack logo.

I pressed the key fob’s unlock button just to make sure I had the right vehicle. Like GM’s three-row products — Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia — the Lexus is built for travel. German SUVs are built for vroom, TX for room.

It’s not just the chair-swallowing rear cargo hold. With all three rows of seats upright, the Lexus will carry a men’s basketball lineup and its sixth man. At 6’5”, I could sit behind myself in the third row. Lexus engineers were thoughtful enough to add space under the second row for my size-15 shoes as well. Access to the third row is easy: push the button on top of the seatback or yank the handle on the seat bottom, and the captain’s chair will collapse forward.

Careful exiting, though. After collapsing the seat forward, I tried to exit the third row facing forward. Bad idea. My foot slipped on the slick door rail and — YAAAHHH! — I sprawled forward, my right knee buckling under the middle seat. Note to self: Exit backward, like climbing down from a ladder.

The roomy theme pervaded the cabin, including a console that can charge phones and square cupholders that accommodate a variety of bottles. Even the name is big: TX500h F SPORT Performance Direct 4. Allow me to translate:

TX tops an (out of order) alphanumeric SUV lineup that includes the subcompact UX, compact NX, midsize RX, rugged GX and full-size LX. The number 500 is the top trim model and h = Hybrid. F SPORT designates a performance trim with standard Direct 4 all-wheel drive with four-wheel steer.

The 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport features a 360-degree camera which helps back the big ute into tight sports.. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

It all gels for a surprisingly peppy driving experience anchored by a hybrid 4-cylinder drivetrain that debuted in the geeky Pious — er, Prius — 25 years ago.

That’s right. Behind that Shake Shack grille is a Prius-like gas-hybrid powertrain made up of a nickel-hydride metal battery, electric motors and a 2.4-liter turbocharged 4-banger. No Bimmer-like V-6 or Durango-like V-8. Just a good ol’ Toyota hybrid that somehow pumps out 366 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. The same turbo-4 is available in the standard TX 350, or you can move up to hybrid V-6 in the 550h plug-in to creep silently around town for 33 miles on electrons.

My F SPORT dressed in Incognito (clay gray) is the sweet spot. Without a giant sofa chair in the cargo bay, I nailed the throttle onto I-75 and the 4,949-pound land yacht merged with authority.

From geek to chic, Prius’s hybrid powertrain is so mainstream it powers a three-row family luxury SUV. Lexus also indulges its inner geek in operation. The space-saving monostable shifter is right out of the Prius and helps save console room. Happily, Lexus has abandoned its unworkable console touchpad for a proper, 14-inch touchscreen. With fat temperature dials, TX’s system echoes the best-selling RX.

The Paynes unload their sofa chair from the 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport in their garage. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

The TX’s haptic adaptive cruise control steering wheel controls are more problematic. GM products do this best with raised switches, roller and buttons that allow you to adjust speed and volume without taking your eyes off the road.

The Lexus attempts that same feat with a steering touchpad that controls info in the head-up display. On I-75, my eyes never left the road, but the touchpad was cumbersome to operate. That head-up display comes with a pricey $2,380 Technology package that includes two essentials in a three-row this size: auto park and panoramic camera.

The latter came in handy as I backed into the Gardner White loading dock to load our chair (and again when I unloaded the chair in our garage). Between the cameras, collapsing side mirrors and the constant beeping of sensors, I was able to back right up to the GW dock where the chair awaited.

Gardner White dock operator: I love Lexus. My 2005 E350 sedan has 350,000 miles on it and runs like a top.

Me: That’s the Lexus secret sauce.

Plus, this one will carry a sofa chair.

Next week: 2024 Nissan Leaf

2024 Lexus TX

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel-drive six- or seven-passenger SUV

Price: $55,050, including $1,350 destination fee ($77,159 TX500h F Sport as tested)

Powerplant: 2.4-liter turbocharged inline 4-cylinder (TX350); Hybrid 2.4-liter turbocharged inline 4-cylinder with 1.4 kWh nickel metal hydride battery and two electric motors (TX500h)

Power: 275 horsepower, 317 pound-feet of torque (turbo-4); 366 horsepower, 406 pound-feet of torque (hybrid)

Transmissions: 8-speed automatic (TX350); 6-speed automatic/direct drive (TX550h)

Performance: 0-60 mph (5.7 seconds, Car and Driver); towing capacity, 5,000 pounds

Weight: 4,949 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA, 27 mpg city/28 highway/27 combined

Report card

Highs: Simple styling; roomy interior

Lows: Bland interior by luxe standards; finicky head-up display

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Updated 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing will pace Daytona 24-hour field

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Team Penske’s Newgarden and Penske receive their Baby Borg Indy 500 trophies

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Greenfield Village — On Memorial Day weekend last year, Josef Newgarden won the Indy 500 for Team Penske. On Tuesday night, Newgarden and team Roger Penske came to Detroit to accept their “Baby Borg” trophies to commemorate the triumph.

For Newgarden it was his first, for Penske — his 19th.

“To be at the Indy 500 and win the race For Roger is something I will cherish for the rest of my life,” said Newgarden, cradling the trophy in his hands at The Henry Ford Museum. “It took me 12 attempts to win, which is a lesson of never give up. You have to work as a team — you have to run the perfect race.”

With the museum’s “Driven to Win” exhibit — which includes such iconic Indy 500-winning cars as Jim Clark’s 1965 Lotus — as the backdrop, Newgarden and Penske celebrated the moment with sponsors, including engine supplier Chevrolet and Borg Warner (the turbocharger manufacturer). General Motors President Mark Reuss and Motorsports Chief Jim Campbell were among those in the audience.

“Think of the history in this museum going back to the start of the automobile,” said Penske when it was his turn at the podium. “Josef, I know how badly you wanted to win this. Indianapolis is not an easy place to commit to.”

Reigning Indianapolis 500 Champion driver Josef Newgarden buffs out a smudge after receiving his Baby BorgWarner Trophy at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan on January 23, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News

Along with the Stanley Cup, the Borg Warner is one of the most famous trophies in sport. The massive, sterling silver trophy stands just over 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. Commissioned for the 1936 race, the trophy bears small busts of every driver to win the 500 (including retroactively to the 1911 winner). Only one non-race winner’s face is affixed to the trophy: Anton “Tony” Hulman, the owner of the International Motor Speedway from 1945 to 1977.

Newgarden sat for his likeness on the trophy shortly after his in last year with sculptor William Behrends in North Carolina. His likeness is fixed to the base of he trophy with the last Team Penske winner — Will Power in 2018 — nearby. Former Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves has won the 500 four times — and has four tiny busts on the trophy. The current trophy has space available for the race winners through 2033 at which time the base will likely be expanded.

Reigning Indianapolis 500 Champion driver Josef Newgarden’s face sculpted into the BorgWarner Trophy at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan on January 23, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News

Borg Warner CEO Fred Lissalde presented the inscribed, so-called Baby Borg trophies to the Team Penske duo. While the Borg Warner trophy resides at the Indy 500 museum, the smaller replicas are for the winners to keep in their trophy cases.

“I was with Josef the evening before the race,” Lissalde smiled. “I saw a strong-minded Josef.”

Newgarden’s win would be the fourth-closest Indy 500 finish in history, as he passed defending champ Marcus Ericsson going into the last lap and held him off at the finish line after a furious 500 miles and three hours of racing at average speeds of 220 mph.

Newgarden would finish the 2023 fifth in the points standings with wins at Indy, Texas, and Iowa. The 2024 season starts on March 10 in St. Petersburg, Fla. with the Indy 500 124 days away in May. The Detroit Grand Prix immediately follows Indy.

“I’m ready to win No. 2 at Indy and Roger his 20th,” smiled Newgarden, telling the crowd this was his first visit to The Henry Ford.

“Josef, I want to win No. 20 as bad as you do,” Penske replied.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

GM reveals next-generation Equinox inspired by its trucks with more standard safety tech

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Chevrolet has taken the wraps off the compact 2025 Equinox, the fourth generation of the mainstream brand’s best-selling SUV. The new Equinox faces formidable competition in the industry’s largest-volume segment and steps up its game with new connectivity, standard safety technology, and tough design inspired by the bowtie brand’s trucks.

The 2025 model marks 20 years since the Equinox was introduced, over which time it has sold about 3 million units. Expect it to hit dealerships in mid-2024 with pricing released close to arrival. While Equinox has traditionally eschewed hybrid engine upgrades and $40K high performance models compared to competitors, it has made its mark with an affordable machine in the $28K-$33K price range. The current model is manufactured in Mexico, which is where the next-generation Equinox will also be produced.

Even though General Motors Co. is pushing forward to have all-electric offerings, Chevy has continued to update its internal combustion engine lineup over the last 18 months. It’s unclear if this Equinox is the last gas-powered version of the top-selling SUV since GM is also launching this year an electrified version of the Equinox after pushing it back by a few months.

In 2023, the gas-powered Equinox’s market share in the segment was 7.3%, while the Honda CR-V led with 12.4%, followed by the Nissan Rogue with 9% and the Toyota RAV4 with 8.5%, according to data from Edmunds.com Inc., a vehicle information website.

“What you’re seeing for us is we’re elevating our game across the board with our SUVs, so now that we’ve had an opportunity to refresh the entire portfolio over the last 18 months, you’ll see every vehicle is notching up their game. … Equinox will be the same,” said Brad Franz, director of Chevrolet car and crossover marketing.

“We’re very aware that we are dealing with everyone’s top seller, so it’s incredibly important for us to be bringing a new Equinox to the market at this point. … We don’t see this segment slowing down.”

Whether or not Chevrolet develops another generation of the gas-powered Equinox will depend on what the customer wants.

“We are reacting to the market and the market needs,” Franz said.

New trim, new design

The new Equinox has strong body lines to align with the Chevy truck lineup and the 2024 Traverse large SUV. “Compared to the last generation of Equinox, it’s just a little tougher, more-capable looking,” said Sam Bell, Chevrolet’s lead designer. “Our goal was to really push it towards the strength side of our portfolio.”

The design aligns with industry trends as SUVs and trucks dominate sales, and customers express an interest in the outdoors. The Toyota RAV4 also toughened up its wardrobe to echo its Tacoma pickup trick.

The Equinox loses its base LS trim for the 2025 model, which means the SUV will likely start at just over $30,000 as an LT model rather then the current $27,995. The lineup gains an all-new trim with the 2025 Equinox called Activ — following Activ trims for Chevy’s entry-level Trax and Trailblazer models — that comes with a unique front fascia and style designed for an off-road look with 17-inch machine-faced aluminum wheels. The Activ trim has all-terrain tires and is available with a white roof.

The Equinox has aluminum wheel choices ranging from the standard 17-inch to available 20-inch wheels on RS, which is a first for the SUV.

Following Chevy siblings from Trax to Blazer to Silverado, Equinox gains a broad dash display that includes an 11-inch-diagonal configurable driver information center and 11.3-inch-diagonal infotainment screen, which is 30% larger than the previous generation. The infotainment system will run on Google Built-In, an intuitive system that operates like a smartphone.

“We’ve really come leaps and bounds over the last generation,” Bell said.

The 175-horsepower, 1.5-liter turbo-4 cylinder engine carries over from the previous generation ute — but, to increase fuel economy, its ditches the six-speed automatic for a continuously variable transmission in front-wheel-drive configurations, and ads an eight-speed automatic transmission with available all-wheel drive.

For the first time, Equinox offers RS and Activ customers driver-selectable modes through a rotator on the center console where the driver can select between “normal” and “snow” on a front-wheel-drive equipped vehicle.

New safety features

Chevrolet had been light on standard safety features on previous models, but takes a big step up with the 2025 Equinox. The SUV now comes with a laundry list of popular safety tech, including:

∎ Chevy Safety Assist bundles automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, following distance indicator, lane keep assist with departure warning and IntelliBeam, a lighting technology that will turn the high beams on and of as needed. Additonal standard goo-gaws include side bicyclist alert, rear vision camera, lane change alert with side blind zone alert, enhanced automatic emergency braking, rear cross traffic alert with braking, rear seat reminder, adaptive cruise control, rear park assist, and enhanced lane keep assist.

∎ Teen Driver, which provides an in-vehicle report card and has customizable settings, like preventing shifting from park if the driver’s seat belt isn’t fastened.

∎ Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking, which provides alerts and can automatically use hard emergency braking or enhance the driver’s hard braking.

“They’re following the competitors in making those features standard,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal e-mobility analyst at market research firm Guidehouse Inc. “Toyota was the first to go down that pathway with making things like adaptive cruise and a lot of the other features standard. … GM is finally starting to do that now with their mainstream models like the Equinox.”

But, Abuelsamid noted, Chevrolet hasn’t yet revealed the price of the new Equinox and “they’re certainly not going to be giving us those features for free. It’ll probably be a noticeable price increase on the new generation.”

khall@detroitnews.com

@bykaleahall

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Q&A: Ryan Blaney on winning his first NASCAR title and working with Ford, Penske

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Dearborn — Ryan Blaney won his first career NASCAR championship in November by passing contender Kyle Larson in the final laps at Phoenix Raceway to finish second, giving Team Penske back-to-back Cup titles.

Blaney, an Ohio native whose father is former Cup driver Dave Blaney, followed teammate Joey Logano in winning two straight titles for businessman and racing legend Roger Penske. Blaney won two of the final six playoff races in a big boost for Ford Performance. Blaney, who turned 30 on Dec. 31, sat down recently with Detroit News Auto Critic Henry Payne to talk about his championship season, his relationships with Penske and Ford, and what he drives off-track.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity.

Question: I am at Ford headquarters with Ryan Blaney, your new NASCAR 2023 champion. Ryan, a tremendous season, obviously, for you. (Detroit) is a big baseball, basketball town. They have long seasons — 100-plus games in baseball, and then a playoff season. You guys do something similar in NASCAR. NASCAR is the longest, most brutal season in motor racing, but then you’ve got a playoff at the end. How do you plan for a season? Do you have to be consistent through the whole season? Or do you have to peak for the playoffs?

Answer: It’s a little bit of both, right? You try to run well every week but yeah, obviously, the most important time is in the playoffs. You have to perform well through the year to get in the playoffs . . . that’s honestly what we did. We had a decent year, decent regular season. But when the playoffs came around, we just found great speed and stepped up our game and executed perfectly and were able to come away with a championship. So it’s a balancing act between the two.

Q: You’re like the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball — you’re good enough. You kind of hang around and then you peaked at the right time this year. You race for Roger Penske, for Penske Racing. Penske is a legend around here, It’s fun as the Detroit Grand Prix comes into this town – we spend a lot of time with (Penske drivers) like Josef Newgarden and some of his past drivers like Helio Castroneves. They’re impressive individuals. What do you think separates a Penske driver from the rest of the field? For folks who just saw your speech at the (NASCAR banquet), very eloquent speech, you guys seem like different cats.

A: Oh, I don’t know. I guess everyone’s different in their own way. I feel like when you drive for Roger, you act a certain way, right? You want to act like the atmosphere that you’re around, right? You become like the people around you, and you’re surrounded by good people. It rubs off on you for sure, especially when you’re a young kid getting in there, right? I was 19 when I came into the organization, and you kind of mold yourself after that. You want to be like those people, and be like RP. That’s the reason why . . . all the drivers are a little bit different and kind of all act like mini-Mr. Penskes of some kind – just because you want to be like that guy because he’s a special person . . . and a role model that you look up to.

Q: You also have a very special relationship with your father. You look across sports . . . Michael Jordan talks a lot about his father. Coco Gauff talks a lot about her family. Lewis Hamilton talks a lot about his father. How important was that relationship with your family growing up and becoming the racer you are today?

A: I think it’s huge. You know, I think family makes you. Growing up at the racetrack — seeing Dad race for a long time — I just wanted to be like that and do what he did. He taught me everything I know, (and I) trusted him because he’s been through the wringer, right? (He) was easily accessible for me to ask him about these things — or him to tell me about these things, no matter what it was. My mother and two sisters were amazing, supporting me growing up and lucky to have a good relationship with them to this very day.

Q: You have a very good relationship with Ford. We’re in the spectacular Ford headquarters — an iconic place for those of us who live in Detroit. It has to be special for you to be here and celebrate your (championship) What does that mean to represent a brand like Ford on a stage like NASCAR?

A: Well, it’s been fantastic. We’ve been with Ford for 10 years now, pretty much my whole professional life. (People) talk about the Ford family — they’re not joking, you know. You’re part of their family and I’ve been able to have lunch with Mr. Farley in the morning. Who gets to have breakfast with the head of your manufacturer company? It shows what what kind of a great group this is, what a great person Mr. Farley is to his racers. It’s not just me, it’s me and Cole Custer, Ben Rhodes, the off-road champions. It’s just amazing to know his passion — and really, all of Ford’s passion for racing and building cars. You understand the history behind Ford, right? You know what you’re racing for — who you’re representing — and you want to do well for them.

Q: Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. You’ve been in motorsports for a long time. Ford is one of those companies that really defines itself by motorsports, going all the way back to Le Mans in the 1960s. Now, Ford is going to Formula One. As you go out and talk to regular folks — which you do a lot in the course of a racing season — do you feel like that performance on track translates to the showroom?

A: I think it does. I think people . . . are very passionate about the brand of vehicle that they drive. That matters. There’s so many people who I meet who say: ‘I’ve been a Ford fan ever since I was so-and-so years old watching my favorite driver grow up driving a Ford. I’ll never root for another manufacturer.’ The hate for other manufacturers is huge (chuckles). Everybody’s like, ‘I can’t stand Toyotas’ or ‘I can’t stand Chevys, I’m a Ford guy my whole life.’ Meeting people like that (is) hilarious to me, and it just shows how passionate they are about motorsports. Whether it’s NASCAR, IndyCar, F1, they’re very, very protective of their manufacturer. I think it resonates like you said: ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.'”

Q: You also walk the walk. You own Fords, you own a Ford Mustang. Talk about that experience: what’s a Ford like on road when you’re not racing cars?

A: I have a bunch of different Ford vehicles. I have a new Bronco. I have a Raptor R, I’m getting a Ranger Raptor, which I’m really excited about. I love those trucks, I have a Mustang, I have an ’85 Bronco. I had an ’88 F 150 for a while, that I finally had to sell. It was a junker.

Q: We need to get you off road with Loren Healy (Baja 1000 class winner) and do some truck racing. What kind of Mustang do you have and what do you like about it?

A: I have a GT350 R and I do love it. Ford’s always coming up with new and exciting things with any vehicle, right? But all the Mustang stuff they have going on right now is spectacular for me to see personally. That GT 350 R is a spectacular machine, and I don’t drive very often just because I don’t want to ruin it. It’s probably got 10,000 miles on it. It’s like a mini racecar. I need to take (it) on a track day, to see what it will do. I’m sure it’ll set some records.

Q: With you behind the wheel, I think it’d be great. There’s nothing like a flat-plane crank V-8 on a racetrack. Ryan, congratulations on a great year. And thanks for joining us.

‘We race to perfect the machine.’ How Ford is embedding motorsports in its core business

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Charlotte, N.C. — The stars were out at the Ford Performance Season Launch in Charlotte this week. Fifty racing luminaries from Red Bull Formula One driver Sergio Perez to NASCAR champ Ryan Blaney to off-road wizard Vaughn Gittin Jr. to Funny Car drag racer Bob Tasca III showed off the breadth of the Blue Oval’s international racing ambitions as it embarks on the 2024 racing season.

On the doorstep of the racing world’s epic season openers at Daytona — the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on Jan. 27 and NASCAR’s Daytona 500 on Feb. 18 — the event was an opportunity to digest the historic announcements Ford Motor Co. made over the last year as it embeds motorsports into its core, production business model in ways that performance icons like Porsche and Ferrari have done.

Leading the parade is the thundering, V-8-powered Mustang, the world’s best-selling sportscar, and an icon as important to Ford’s future as the screaming, flat-6 cylinder Porsche 911 is to the German automaker.

Mustang flies the Ford flag in multiple race series: International Motor Sports Association, FIA World Endurance Challenge, NASCAR, Xfinity, NHRA drag racing, Mustang Challenge, Australian Supercar, GT4 and Formula Drift. This year, the Mustang GT3 race car will debut at IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Racing’s Rolex 24, taking on Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, McLaren, Lamborghini, BMW, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Lexus and Acura in the world’s most watched sportscar series.

Sold as a customer racing car, the GT3 program is a break from Ford’s past as a factory-only team that won Le Mans in 1966 and 2016 (with, respectively, the Ford GT40 and GT).

“Why do we race? To perfect the machine. We want to move our racing beyond a marketing expense and shift from a factory orientation to a customer orientation,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley at a media tour at Mutimatic, the race shop building GT3 race cars for Ford in Charlotte. “We have shrink-wrapped our company around iconic models like the Mustang. From Aussie Supercar to drift racing to WEC to IMSA, Mustang is at every race track in every corner of the world. What other nameplate does that?”

Racing is in Ford’s blood going back to its founding when Henry Ford secured investors by winning a 1901 race in his Sweepstakes racer. That DNA has been passed on to his great grandson, Ford executive chair Bill Ford Jr. — a passionate race fan who attended the Charlotte celebration — as well as Farley, an accomplished sportscar racer who has competed in his 1968 GT40 at the vintage Le Mans classic in France.

At a time when government regulations are forcing automakers to make electric vehicles, Ford sees racing as a way to separate itself from the homogenization of the industry around self-driving, battery-powered models.

Ford Performance Season Launch – F1 driver Sergio Perez and Farley. Wes Duenkel, Ford

“We don’t make commoditized vehicles!” said Farley before extolling the virtues of the Mustang’s V-8. “If we are the only ones on the planet making a V-8, then so be it. We will continue to invest.”

The comment brought a roar from the hundreds of Ford enthusiasts and employees at the Season Launch event.

NASCAR star Blaney followed Farley on stage to underscore the point. Motorsports put a premium on high-horsepower gas engines that can withstand long, open-throttle runs, complete efficient pit stops, and entertain fans. Blaney drove a 5.7-liter, 670-horsepower Team Penske Mustang V-8 to his first title in 2023.

“There aren’t a lot of people making V-8s anymore, but at Ford that’s what we’re all about,” he said to more huzzahs.

The event’s other big cheer came for F1 Red Bull star Perez. Ford and Red Bull, the premier team in the world’s premier motorsport, have partnered for the 2026 F1 season when the sport goes to a 50-50 gas-electric hybrid powertrain. Ford will supply the battery technology for the powerplant in the early stages of development at Red Bull’s headquarters in England.

Multimatic engineers outfit the Mustang tub with a rollbar. Bob Chapman, Ford

Unlike the global Mustang GT3 and GT4 customer cars that will ring Ford’s cash register, the F1 partnership has a traditional, marketing-and-technology-transfer focus.

“Formula One has blown up across the U.S.,” said Farley, standing next to the Mexican driver, in reference to the unprecedented three U.S. Grand Prix events now on the F1 calendar. “We can offer battery technology to them, and we get aerodynamic and digital telemetry learning from them.”

At Multimatic’s state-of-the-art race shop in Charlotte’s Mooresville suburb, Farley elaborated on the Red Bull-Ford team’s impact on Ford’s nascent EV product lines.

“Going Formula One racing with Red Bull is a very specific bet. It’s a technology transfer,” said the 61-year old CEO. “We get aerodynamic technology from the partnership, and we need the best aero people in the world to shrink the battery size of EVs. This is old-school tech transfer.”

Farley’s motorsports vision is also self-aware — a way to “executive-proof” racing from the personal whims of changing leadership. “We don’t want racing to be a particular avocation of our executives,” said Farley, who plans to race a GT4 Mustang in the SRO series this year. “We want motorsports to be self-sustaining, not episodic. Porsche has done that. That means on- and off-road racing, driver’s schools, merchandise. We want to do this for a long time.”

Off-road racing is the fourth leg of the performance table along with open-wheel, sportscar, and drag racing and has big potential given the production market’s shift to SUV and truck products.

“We want to dominate off-road,” Farley said.

Ford won the Baja 1000 stock classes last year with Bronco and F-150 Raptors as well as the King of the Hammers 4600 class in a Bronco. In 2024, it expands that effort to the Dakar Rally, a brutal, two-week event through Saudi Arabian desert.

Hammers 4600 class champ Gittin (who also won the Formula Drift championship in a busy year) took the Season Launch stage to celebrate another Ford off-road endeavor: its first, trail-focused F-150 Lightning Switchgear EV pickup.

“This is the most capable EV on the planet,” Gittin said of the 580-horspower, four-wheel-drive beast developed by his race shop, RTR Vehicles, for Ford. “We are super pumped about the ultimate fun-haver machine.”

Gittin and teammate Loren Healy were also super pumped about the upcoming Hammers season opener in Johnson Valley, California, from Jan. 28-Feb. 3. With an eye on off-road customer racing, Ford has made 50 Bronco DR racers for the Baja/Hammers series.

But all eyes that weekend will be on the East Coast when Ford’s long-awaited Mustang GT3 goes for Daytona endurance glory in the competitive GTD class.

The Ford flag will wave over three entries — two factory cars from Ford Multimatic Motorsports and one from privateer Proton Competition.

Multimatic Chief Technical Officer Larry Holt is the mad genius behind the firm’s ascension to the pinnacle of motorsports development, where it crafts race cars for Porsche as well as Ford. He gave media a tour of the Mustang GT3 production process, from the raw, steel chassis made at Ford’s Flat Rock plant to the winged cyborg that will compete at the Daytona 24-hour.

At a cost of $700,000-$800,000 per car, GT3 production can spit out 40 cars a year for global customers, said Holt. The carbon-fiber skinned monster develops an impressive 2,600 pounds of downforce (about 50% of an IndyCar) and has gone through rigorous endurance testing ahead of its Rolex 24 debut.

At its core, of course is a bored-out, 5.4-liter, normally-aspirated V-8 — a close cousin of the production 5.0-liter V-8 Mustang GT.

“We’re really excited about the race,” said Ford Performacne chief Mark Rushbrook. “We think we’ve done all our homework but the ultimate test is when we get on track. We’re looking forward to competing against the best in the world.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Watch Ford CEO Jim Farley pilot the 2,000-horsepower electric SuperVan: ‘Crazy, isn’t it?

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Charlotte, N.C. — Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley has a need for speed. He races a 1965 Shelby Cobra, 1978 Lola T298 sports racer, Mustang GT4 in the 2024 SRO Series, and has even competed at Le Mans in his historic 1968 GT40.

But perhaps the fastest car he has driven is a Ford Transit van.

Not just any Transit van, but a heavily modified, 2,000-horsepower, four-motor, all-wheel-drive electric hellion developed by the Ford Performance division called the SuperVan 4.0.

Ford CEO Jim Farley and his new toy, the Ford SuperVan 4.0. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

“Crazy isn’t it?!” grinned Farley through his helmet visor after he had just destroyed the 1.5-mile infield track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the SuperVan with your humble scribe riding shotgun. “This thing really shows what electric power can do.”

The SuperVan 4.0 is part of stable-full of electric Ford Demonstrator projects designed to explore the envelope of electric performance as the Blue Oval invests big bucks in electric vehicles. Demonstrator toys include the 1,400-horsepower, seven-motor Mustang Mach-E 1400, the CobraJet 14000 dragster, and F-150 Lightning SwitchGear off-road beast. But the SuperVan may be the most jaw-dropping of the lot.

Built on the same chassis as Ford’s commercial, electric Transit van, SuperVan looks like a breadbox on wheels. Under the breadbox’s Ford Performance logos, SuperVan is packed with some serious meat. A 50 kWh battery feeds juice to four high performance motors developed by STARD, an Austrian-base motorsports shop.

Where cargo would normally be housed, the van is crisscrossed with a tabular frame for chassis stiffening. Up front are race seats and five-point seatbelts to hold passengers in place through excruciating corner g-force loads. And the whole package is slammed to the ground for maximum downforce on 12.8-inch-wide, slick racing tires.

Put the CEO of one of the world’s largest automakers behind the wheel, and it’s a treat.

“Hold on!” Farley says and then jammed the gas — er throttle — pedal to the floor. SuperVan laid rubber down CMS’s pit lane, leaving a cloud of black dust in its wake. Tires dust, not exhaust dust. The acceleration crushed our spines into the seatbacks, the electric motors screaming under duress like an overgrown slot car.

Zero-60 mph went by in a blistering 1.8 seconds — on par with a Formula One car — before Farley hauled the 4,000-pound van back to earth for a lefthander onto the infield course. A skilled race driver who has competed on some of the world’s greatest tracks, Farley attacked the nine-turn course with gusto in the flying shoebox.

“It definitely pushes into the corners because of the weight,” Farley said afterwards of the SuperVan which sports a 186 mph top speed, “but it has good weight transfer so you can really go deep on the brakes. Then you can rotate the car on throttle.”

Over the infield course’s diabolical Turn 6 — a fast, uphill, blind, off-camber corner — Farley used quick hands to keep the SueprVan on line, then — ZOT! — exploded off the exit into the long, 180-degree Turn 7.

Back into pit lane at the end of the run, Farley yanked the “Hoon stick” parking brake and the van did an instant, 180-degre U-turn into the pit box. Every 10 laps, Farley would return to the infield paddock garage for a fast charge of the battery and a change of tires. The ferocious acceleration and g-loads from the two-ton van are hell on tire wear.

How does Ford top the SuperVan 4,0? Well, with the SuperVan 4.2, of course. With a bespoke chassis and giant rear wing out back like Superman’s cape, the 4.2 model generates an IndyCar-like 4,000 pounds of downforce with an eye on setting track records. Look for it at the famed Pike’s Peak, Colorado, hill climb event in June.

Maybe you’ll find Ford’s CEO behind the wheel.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Payne: To Hell and back in the Acura TLX Type S

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 24, 2024

Hell — At a time when electric vehicle mandates are forcing a commoditization of auto products, the Type S dynamic duo of the Acura Integra and TLX are welcome rebels.

I fell hard for the Integra Type S when it debuted last year, and now the TLX Type S gets a healthy mid-cycle update for 2024. Dressed in Urban Grey Peal, body stampings you could slice paper with and quad tailpipes the size of ship cannons, the TLX Type S isn’t shy.

I took it out on Hell’s asphalt dance floor this January to tango. When I turned the fat DRIVE MODE knob to SPORT+, the Acura suspension noticeably stiffened. The 10-speed transmission dropped a gear. The engine growled. We danced across Hadley Road, the big sedan’s turbo V-6 delivering effortless power while the neutral chassis rotated beautifully through corners.

With a 355 horses and a liquid-smooth, 10-speed transmission, the 2024 Acura TLX Type S was a joy in Hell’s winding roads. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Born in 2020, TLX is still cursed by inherent flaws of a mouse pad-controlled console screen and cramped rear seats in a brutally competitive luxury muscle space. Those flaws were corrected on its Integra stablemate.

The pair make for an intriguing choice. But first, let’s hear it for muscle.

Performance auto fans are blue as the auto industry struggles with a government-forced transition to electrics. Mandating battery-powered drivetrains is inevitably breeding homogeneity: quiet, smooth soap bars focused on maximizing range.

That’s the opposite of highly individualized, multi-cylinder hellions aimed at enthusiasts. Recent years have seen low-volume standouts of the breed — Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Kia Stinger, Hyundai Veloster, Audi TT, Ford Focus/Fiesta ST, Alfa Romeo 4C — sacrificed for low-volume EVs aimed at meeting government regs.

Increasingly enthusiasts must seek refuge — not in bespoke models like Camaro and Challenger, but in performance sub-brands of existing models like Cadillac CT5-V, BMW M340i, Audi S5. Type S is Acura’s sub-brand that endows TLX with a special 355-horsepower six that immediately got me thinking of Hell.

Hell, Michigan, that is, where the roads are curved and people scarce — a playground for Type S, which is aimed at enthusiasts, but not track rats. For the hardcore motorhead, there are steroid-fed 500-plus-horsepower cyborgs like the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, BMW M3 and Audi RS5. The Type S is a middle ground between beauty and beast — a sedan upgraded to thrill without a supercar bill (my favorite CT5-V Blackwing, for example, rings the register at $100K).

My $58K TLX Type S tester, meanwhile, boasts a sticker not far from some of our dearly departed favorites: the $53K Dodge Charger Scat Pack and $53K Kia Stinger GT2, for example. It does this while providing luxurious red leather confines, rad styling handed down from the NSX supercar and an array of standard safety features, including blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control and Brembo brakes.

For the new model year, Acura also gifted TLX standard jewelry like a fashionable, frameless front grille, new wheel designs, digital instrument cluster, 12.3-inch dash screen, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 360-degree camera and 10.5-inch head-up display. That’s a lotta goodies under the Christmas tree.

The ergonomics complementing these tech goodies are typically excellent for a Honda product, including NSX supercar hand-me-downs like a compact trigger shifter and meaty Drive Mode knob. Notably, the head-up display is operated by a button on the left dash so 5’5” Mrs. Payne and her 6’5” husband don’t have to fish around in the infotainment screen every time we swap seats.

So it’s a surprise the Type S’s two big negatives are ergonomic: remote-controlled screen and small back seat. Even Lexus has abandoned its mouse-pad screen controller — joining Bimmer, Audi, Mercedes and Cadillac with touchscreens (ooooh, check out the 2025 CT5’s new Lyriq-like 33-inch screen).

It’s a smartphone world, and touchscreens rule. The TLX rear seats? Too small for a sedan this size.

Walk across the Acura showroom and TLX’s new little brother, Integra Type S, gets it. Indeed, little brother has a significant 2.5 more inches of legroom in back, courtesy of its shared Civic chassis. Also shared with Civic is a touchscreen with similar standard goodies as TLX: wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, HUD, adaptive cruise control, blind spot-assist, digital instrument display and those comfy red-leather thrones.

Integra’s touchscreen is a major improvement and also opens up console space. My Gen X son is a hot-hatch fan and loves his Mazda3 Turbo but wishes it had a touchscreen. Were he to enter Acura’s showroom, he would run to the Integra Type S.

The rear seats of the 2024 Acura TLX Type S are cramped for six-footers despite its status as a mid-size sedan. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

At $5K less than big brother, the $52K 320-horse, turbo-4-powered Integra Type S also gains a hatchback for better utility and loses a whopping 1,000 pounds over TLX. As fun as the TLX Type S is in Hell’s twisties, the lighter Integra is even sharper. The Integra Type S even gains Dodge Widebody-style blistered fenders for added visual menace.

No wonder I wrote “the Integra Type S is as good as it gets” last year after shredding California Route 150. No wonder Car and Driver elevated Integra Type S to its coveted “10 Best List.”

And yet.

Before you turn your back on the TLX and write that Integra check, consider the white powder that buried my driveway as I returned from Hell. The TLX’s all-wheel-drive system drove up my steep driveway like snow wasn’t even there.

It’s an asset Acura didn’t bestow on Integra Type S — unlike its $50,000 AWD competitive set of Audi S3, BMW M235i XDrive and Mercedes CLA AMG 35. Also unlike those beasts, Integra Type S is only available in a stick. Whoooooaaaa! My son just stopped in his tracks.

As much as we motorheads like manual shifters, they can be a turn-off for daily driving — and distasteful to other members of the family who don’t share our passion. As modern as Integra Type S is for a new generation of buyer, the stick shift is a throwback.

Especially when you consider TLX Type S’s delicious 10-speed manual. As I stomped on the gas through Hell, the tranny was smooth as silk, swapping gears like a pro. No jerks, no confusion. To satisfy my Neanderthal manual-mode needs, I used the steering column paddles. They are as crisp as any I’ve driven. Through Hadley Road’s undulating sweepers, I flicked easily between 4^th, 5^th and 6^th gears — the gearbox, engine and AWD system dancing as one.

Quad pipes like ship cannons. You’ll know the 2024 Acura TLX Type S by its four exhaust pipes out back. . Henry Payne, The Detroit News

So rejoice that Acura offers not one — but two — compact mid-sized performance cars: TLX and Integra Type S. Do you like a manual and touchscreen? Or automatic and all-wheel drive?

The choice is yours.

Next week: 2024 Lexus TX

2024 Acura TLX Type S

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger sports sedan

Price: $53,325, including $1,025 destination fee ($58,825 as tested)

Powerplant: 3.0-liter turbocharged 6-cylinder

Power: 355 horsepower, 354 pound-feet of torque

Transmissions: 10-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph (4.9 seconds, Car and Driver); top speed, 155 mph

Weight: 4,221 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA 19 mpg city/25 highway/21 combined

Report card

Highs: Distinctive styling inside and out; smooth 10-speed auto transmission

Lows: Maddening touchpad; small back seat

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.