Photo: BMWBlog
In today's issue:
The first drives of BMW's electric 3 Series are in: an estimated 450-plus miles of range from $61,500, and almost nothing shared with the gas car
Reported tariff relief for automakers would likely require starting a U.S. plant before the end of next year, and Audi may be the first to get it
Cars priced $20,000 to $29,999 are selling 20% faster than at the start of the year, even as compact sales fall
Filtered from 3,307 items published across 273 sources in the last 24 hours.
SAME BADGE, DIFFERENT CAR
The 2027 BMW i3 50 xDrive starts at $61,500, makes 463 hp and 476 lb-ft from two motors, and has a 108.7-kWh usable battery, with BMW estimating up to 468 miles of EPA range, per Road & Track. Car and Driver says the EPA has yet to rate it and puts its own estimate at 450 miles.
It looks like the new gas 3 Series, covered in yesterday's gas 3 Series first drives, but the two share little beyond the grille and headlights, per BMWBlog. The gas cars stay on an updated version of BMW's current platform and are built in Dingolfing, while the i3 rides on the Neue Klasse architecture of the iX3 SUV and is built in Munich, with a wheelbase 1.5 inches longer, per Car and Driver.
That is the opposite of the i4 it replaces, which was converted from a gas car and had to make do with a smaller 84-kWh battery, per Car and Driver. The i3's 800-volt system charges at up to 400 kW, per the same test.
BMWBlog timed the i3 at 4.1 seconds to 60 mph and lists the U.S.-spec car at 4,950 lb, against BMW's claimed 4.5 seconds.
The shared complaint is the steering. Car and Driver said it lacks the feel of the M350, and BMWBlog found Comfort mode light with a dead zone on center. Road & Track called the i3 "not, intrinsically, an exciting car" next to the M350, then praised its refinement and its blending of regenerative and friction braking.
More versions are coming: an i3 M60 with the iX3 M60's powertrain and more than 600 hp, and later a fully electric M3, per the same test.
The i3 shares a name with the gas 3 Series but sits on a different architecture. It starts at $61,500, roughly $10,000 more than the $51,250 gas 330 in BMW's gas 3 Series and i3 pricing, and its official EPA range is still pending. Read Road & Track's full test.
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Also worth knowing
Audi's Tariff Relief Would Require Starting a U.S. Plant by the End of Next Year, WSJ Reports: Following up on yesterday's report on Audi's tariff cut, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Commerce Department program expected to cover automakers that invest in U.S. production would likely give exemptions or offsets on imported vehicles or parts, but only to those that start building a factory before the end of next year, per Road & Track. The program would likely be modeled on a Commerce program for polysilicon, where companies submit plans to move production and win exemptions on certain products. Audi's Georgia plant does not start production until the early 2030s. #analyst
Cars Priced $20,000 to $29,999 Are Selling 20% Faster Than at the Start of the Year, Even as Compact Sales Fall: Days to sell a $20,000 to $29,999 vehicle fell 20% from the first quarter to the third, the biggest drop of any price band, per Edmunds data reported by CNBC. Every segment over $50,000 took more than 60 days to sell. At the same time, Cox Automotive counts compact car sales down about 4% this year and compact SUVs down nearly 8%, which analysts put down to supply: the RAV4 has been short as Toyota moves production to Kentucky, and the Ford Escape is gone. #market
Magna Cut Its Sales Forecast on Weaker Production in China: The supplier now expects 2026 revenue of $41.2 billion to $42 billion, down from $41.3 billion to $42.5 billion, and estimates China will build 30.4 million vehicles this year, about 800,000 fewer than it expected, per Automotive News. Third-quarter adjusted earnings still rose 11% to $683 million on $10.1 billion in revenue, helped by recovering tariff costs from customers. Magna left its North American and European production forecasts unchanged. #market
Hyundai Is Putting About $450 Million Into Its Alabama Plant for the New Tucson and a Hybrid and Extended-Range Engine Line: Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama announced the investment on Oct. 28, per Hyundai; the release headline says nearly $500 million, and its text says approximately $450 million. It covers new engine production, support for extended-range electric (EREV) technology, and preparation for the refreshed Santa Fe and the all-new Tucson. Hyundai counts it toward the $26 billion U.S. investment it committed to for 2025 through 2028, and says its total in the Montgomery plant has reached nearly $2.2 billion since 2005. #analyst
Reveals & culture
Toyota Lifted a Sienna, a Crown Signia and an Electric bZ for SEMA: Five Woodland concepts, built on the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid, Grand Highlander, Sienna, bZ and Crown Signia, get lift kits, over-fenders, all-terrain tires and Horizon Blue paint taken from Toyota's 1960s palette, per Toyota. It is Toyota's third SEMA batch this week, after the Snowhunter snow-track trucks and the lowered Crown Signia.
Photo: Toyota
KTM Will Sell 30 X-Bows in America, Starting Around $490,000: The road-legal X-Bow GT-XA, federalized by KTM partner Carbon Yard, is the first X-Bow offered in the U.S. in almost 20 years, per Carscoops. It is expected to follow the European GT-XR, which uses Audi's turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder at 592 hp. Orders take a $50,000 deposit, with deliveries next year if approval comes quickly.
Photo: KTM
Mazda Is Dropping Its Diesel-Like Skyactiv-X Engine From the European Mazda3: The 2.0-liter, which used spark-controlled compression ignition, goes for the 2027 model year, leaving the 2.5-liter as the hatchback's only engine there, per Autoblog, citing Auto Express. It was never sold in the U.S.
Mazda3 hatchback. Photo: Autoblog
Recalls & legal action
Ford Transit Trail Owners May Get $6,000 Over Tires That Rub: Ford settled a class action alleging the camper-ready van's 30.5-inch all-terrain tires rub the fender liners when turning, braking or loaded, per Autoblog. Original owners and lessees who bought before June 1, 2024 can claim $6,000 per van by January 15, 2027, ahead of a final approval hearing on March 16. The Trail package cost $12,500.
Ford Transit Trail. Photo: Autoblog
Quick links
Waymo Robotaxis Are Crowding Public Fast Chargers in San Diego: Some EV drivers say they have waited up to an hour behind robotaxis, per InsideEVs, citing the Los Angeles Times. Waymo said it prioritizes its own depots, which take time to build in new markets.
Tesla Referrals Now Pay in Self-Driving Software and No Longer Reward Buying a Car: A referred owner gets a free month of FSD (Supervised), and Tesla's terms no longer list any vehicle purchase as earning a reward, per Electrek.
Yesterday's picks
Rivian Says the R2 Was Its Best-Seller Last Quarter. Cox Automotive's Estimates Put It Third.: "We had great results with R2 becoming our best selling vehicle by volume in the third quarter," CEO RJ Scaringe said as Rivian raised the bottom of its 2026 delivery forecast to 67,000 to 70,000, per just-auto. Cox Automotive's estimates, reported by Autoblog, have 3,456 R2s sold from July through September, behind 8,469 commercial vans and 5,582 R1Ss, the same figures behind Rivian passing every U.S. EV brand but Tesla on Oct. 21. Rivian delivered 19,248 vehicles in all, and Cox's four model estimates add up to within nine of that, so the two counts differ on the mix, not the total. Revenue rose 38% to $2.16 billion and the net loss narrowed to $913 million from $1.17 billion.
Toyota Will Build Waymo Robotaxis on Its Own Assembly Line, With Testing in Japan Next Year: Toyota will build modified bZ4X electric crossovers and install Waymo's self-driving hardware at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, with testing in Japan starting in 2027 and the U.K. and other markets to follow, per Automotive News. "It will be the platform for right-hand-drive in Japan, in U.K., and beyond," Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said.
Every car, as the shows see it: cars.suspension.news
Worth a listen
One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.
Porsche Mission S: Dickie's conspiracy & what actually is it? | Episode 69 (The evo podcast, also at evo.co.uk): evo's editors ask why Porsche showed the Mission S without confirming a platform or powertrain, and make the case for a stripped-back, analog car above the 911.
The evo podcast
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