In today's issue:

The electric i3 50 xDrive lists for less than the gas M350.

GM's Revived Bolt Is on Pace for 35,000 Units, Not 150,000: The plant that builds the Bolt is on pace to make about 35,000 before production ends in the first quarter of next year, UAW local president Dontay Wilson told Reuters. He said it had been on track for around 150,000, which Reuters calls a cut of about 75% and which is 77% by our math. His estimate comes from daily production at the plant, not from GM, and GM declined to comment on production, saying only "We continuously evaluate market dynamics and customer demand." GM sold 4,224 Bolts through August, per Reuters, and 62,000 in 2023 alone, per InsideEVs, so the whole run would be about 56% of that one year by our math. #news

Canada's Vancouver Port Hits a Record as Japanese Imports Replace U.S. Builds: The Annacis Auto Terminal landed 264,284 vehicles in the first half of 2026, up 10% and a record, per Automotive News. Japan drove most of the gain, up 18% to 141,183 as Subaru and Nissan moved Canadian supply off U.S. plants, and sales of U.S.-made vehicles in Canada fell 20%, per J.D. Power Canada. China's shipments nearly tripled to 4,579, and Canada's new quota allows 49,000 China-made EVs in its first year. For the wider tariff picture, see our tariff tracker. #market

CarMax Gave Up $111 a Car and Sold 13.8% More: CarMax sold 227,391 retail used cars in the quarter to Aug. 31, against 199,729 a year earlier, while gross profit per car fell $111 to $2,105 and the average selling price rose 6.3% to $27,623, per GoodCarBadCar. The year-ago quarter was weak, with retail units down 5.4%. EPS rose to $1.16 from $0.64, and revenue rose 19.5% to $7.9 billion, per CBT News. Gross profit from used sales grew for the first time in five quarters, per Transport Topics. #analyst

Nissan Plans a Mostly Hybrid North American Lineup by 2030: Most of the lineup will be hybrid by 2030, with the e-Power 2027 Rogue first, per Car and Driver, which cites Automotive News. Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier says hybrids could grab 30 to 40 percent of the country's C-segment mid-size sales quickly once the Rogue arrives, per Motor1. #analyst

Following up on the 2031 fuel economy cut: DOT's own numbers show $1,600 more in fuel per driver against $1,289 in claimed savings: The Department of Transportation says the rollback saves buyers $1,289 per vehicle by 2031 (rounded to $1,300 in Monday's issue) while costing the typical driver about $1,600 more in fuel, per Autoblog, whose own math puts the fuel cost as high as $7,000 depending on gas prices. NHTSA's analysis also projects 524 premature deaths by 2050, plus 733 acute bronchitis cases and 140 cardiovascular hospital admissions, per InsideEVs. #news

Range Rover Sport Electric Gets the Big Range Rover's 542 HP From £109,810: It shares the Range Rover Electric's 118.5-kWh, 800-volt battery and quotes up to 609 km (about 378 miles) on the WLTP cycle, per Motor1 and InsideEVs. UK prices start at £109,810, per Autocar, and CarExpert says Australian deliveries start in March 2027.

Chinese Vehicle Bill Sponsor Says Mercedes Won't Be Banned, as Talks Continue: Sen. Bernie Moreno, a sponsor, said the bill will not "ban Mercedes-Benz vehicles in America," and that talks continue to make sure of it, per Reuters. He said Aston Martin (17% Geely) and Lotus could still be barred, and that talks also cover keeping Volvo on sale. Moreno hopes to win fast-track approval this week, before the Senate adjourns until November.

Tesla Semi First Drive: MotorTrend drove the 500-mile electric Class 8 tractor and toured its new Nevada factory.

Lamborghini Tests a Revuelto Facelift: A prototype without fixed wings suggests a base-model update with about 20 more hp, to roughly 1,021 hp, per Carscoops.

Edmunds Sees Q3 Sales Slipping 0.7%, With a 16M September Pace: Edmunds forecasts 4,080,755 new-vehicle sales in the third quarter, down 0.7% from the third quarter of 2025 and 3.6% from the second quarter, even as it calls for a 16 million September SAAR, per Edmunds' release.

Lexus TZ Starts at $64,050 With Delivery, Up to 315 Miles EPA: Lexus's first three-row EV offers 253 or 315 EPA-estimated miles and 308 hp, below the 402 hp Lexus first quoted, and the price includes a $1,550 delivery fee, per Electrek.

Porsche Brings CarPlay to 2009-2016 911s, Caymans and Boxsters: The dealer-installed PCCM Plus unit adds a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and reaches dealers in early 2027, per Car and Driver.

Yesterday's picks

US Cuts 2031 Fuel Economy Target From 50.4 MPG to 34.9: NHTSA finalized the standards Sept. 28, projecting a fleet average of 34.9 mpg for model year 2031, a bit above the 34.5 mpg it proposed in December, per the Department of Transportation and AutoGuide. The Biden-era rules projected roughly 50.4 mpg, per CBT News.

VW Gives Chinese Battery Maker Gotion a Stake in Three Battery Ventures: Volkswagen, PowerCo and Gotion agreed to battery joint ventures worth a combined €3.22bn ($3.65bn); Gotion puts in about €1.59bn across all three, and €1.1bn of that buys 49% of PowerCo's already-under-construction Sagunto, Spain cell plant, the largest of the three, per Just Auto and Automotive News Europe. VW is already Gotion's largest shareholder, holding 24% of the company, though it has also agreed to sell a 5.3% stake worth $373 million to an unnamed buyer, trimming its equity even as it deepens the battery tie-up, per Reuters. The goal is cheaper cells: InsideEVs says VW wants a "unified" LFP cell across VWs and Porsches. Ford's China battery deal drew a formal "deeply alarmed" from DOT.

Geely Buys 30% of Rival Nio's Battery-Swap Unit: Geely will pay 640 million yuan cash plus its own commercial-vehicle swap business for a 30% stake in Nio Power, valuing the unit at about $2.4 billion, per Automotive News Europe and Just Auto.

The week in attention

How many separate outlets ran a headline naming each company over the last 7 days, across the 560+ sources we monitor. Press releases and Reddit are excluded, so this counts what got written about, not what got announced.

Bosch: 16 outlets this week, about 3 in a median week. Most of it: "Bosch sticks to outlook despite autos output drop and EV drain".

Nio: 20 outlets this week, about 4 in a median week. Most of it: "Geely Invests in NIO Energy, Expanding Cooperation in Charging and Battery Swapping".

Renault Group: 48 outlets this week, about 25 in a median week. Most of it: "Renault 8 Gordini Concept Is Fully Electric, Has 270 Horsepower and Gorgeous Retro-Modern Looks".

Lucid: 12 outlets this week, about 7 in a median week. Most of it: "Lucid Overhauled The Air's Infotainment. You Might Need $950 Hardware To Get It".

Quieter than usual: Aston Martin (17 outlets against about 28), JLR (24 outlets against about 38).

Most covered overall: Volkswagen Group, Toyota Motor, General Motors.

Worth a listen

One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.

2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid: More Power, Way Less Drama (Talking Cars with Consumer Reports, also at YouTube): The hosts say the first Telluride Hybrid mostly cures the regular model's low-speed lag, and quote EPA ratings of 31 mpg combined against 20 for the regular all-wheel-drive Telluride.

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