In today's issue:

Filtered from 4,151 items published across 313 sources in the last 24 hours.

GM spent years betting its fuel-efficient future on electric cars while Toyota, Honda and Hyundai sold hybrids. It has now picked the plant and, by Automotive News' and Reuters' reporting, the models; the date, GM says, comes "closer to launch." Read Automotive News' full story.

Stellantis Made Money in North America Again, and Still Burned €4 Billion in Cash: Third-quarter adjusted operating income rose to €256 million from €90 million, and North America swung to a €64 million profit from a €475 million loss a year earlier on new models such as the Ram 1500 Hemi and Jeep Cherokee hybrid, per Automotive News. U.S. sales of the Ram 1500 rose 73% in the quarter from a year earlier, per Stellantis. Europe was the only region to lose money, €311 million, and industrial free cash flow was negative €4.0 billion, €0.3 billion better than a year earlier. U.S. dealer inventory stood at 368,000 vehicles at the end of September, 84 days of supply, and Stellantis expects 320,000 to 350,000 by year end. It kept its target of positive cash flow in 2027 and will present a new plan for Maserati on Dec. 10. #analyst

VW Will Take Its China-Developed Tech to South America, While a Report Says Its Brand Chief Wants It in Europe Too: VW said Oct. 28 that a compact platform carrying the electronic architecture its Hefei R&D center built with Chinese partners will underpin next-generation models for markets such as South America, starting by the end of the decade, and that it would ship more China-built Volkswagen and Jetta cars to South America and Africa, per Automotive News, which says VW has ruled out Europe and North America for now. A day earlier, Manager Magazin reported that VW brand chief Thomas Schäfer wants the same architecture, co-developed with Xpeng, in much of VW's European lineup, possibly in place of technology planned with Rivian, saving €4 billion to €5 billion, per Motor1. An hour of development work at the Rivian joint venture in Palo Alto reportedly costs about four times as much as in Hefei. #analyst

Car Buyers Are Putting Less Down and Borrowing More: The average new-vehicle down payment fell 7.8% in the third quarter to $5,554 while the average new-car loan rose 4.5% to $44,664, per Edmunds, as reported by Automotive News. The average payment and rate match the Edmunds figures we reported Oct. 14. Cox Automotive data in the same report put the share of buyers borrowing more than their vehicle's value at 57%, up 5 points. "It's looking real bleak if you're a car shopper these days," said Edmunds' Joseph Yoon. #market

Lexus Raises 2027 RZ Prices by as Much as $375 After Sales Nearly Doubled: The electric SUV now starts at $47,495 with delivery for the 350e, $100 more than the 2026, and three trims rise $375, per Autoblog. Lexus sold 10,214 RZs through the first three quarters, up from 5,340 a year earlier. The 2027 reaches dealers early next year. #market

Aston Martin's Valhalla Spider Keeps the Coupe's 217-MPH Top Speed With the Roof Off: The open Valhalla is mechanically identical to the coupe, with a twin-turbo V8 and three electric motors making 1,064 hp, and Aston expects about one in four of the 999 Valhallas to be Spiders, costing about 40% more than the roughly $1 million coupe, per MotorTrend. A taller engine snorkel and a clip-in wind deflector let it reach 217 mph roofless; with the fabric roof fitted it is limited to 124 mph, per Motoring Research; U.S. cars get a carbon-fiber hardtop as standard, per MotorTrend. It debuts this weekend at the Concours at Wynn Las Vegas, with U.S. deliveries from the third quarter of 2027.

Nissan Built a 300-HP Sentra Spec-V Concept With a Manual for SEMA: A turbocharger and upgraded internals take the Sentra's 2.0-liter four from 149 hp to 300, and the build borrows a six-speed manual from the Juke NISMO RS, Brembo brakes and a rear wing from the R35 GT-R and wheels from the Z NISMO, per Car and Driver. It shows at SEMA in Las Vegas Nov. 3 to 6 next to two Z builds. Nissan has not said it will sell one.

Jeep Drops the Base Gladiator, Raising Its Starting Price $4,075, and Adds Factory 35-Inch Tires: The 2027 Gladiator now starts with the Sport S at $45,890, and a 35-inch Tire Launch Edition on the Willys, Rubicon and Rubicon X raises ground clearance to 12.9 inches on BFGoodrich KO2 tires, per Car and Driver. The Sahara falls $805 and the Mojave X rises $2,985.

Mercedes Wants to Depend Less on China After Sales There Fell 31%: Mercedes' sales in China fell 31% in the third quarter, per Automotive News. A day after cutting its outlook, Mercedes reported core car earnings more than halved to €560 million, a 2.5% margin, down from 4.8%, while sales outside China grew 5% in Europe and 6% in the U.S., per Mercedes-Benz. CFO Harald Wilhelm said the plan is "to be less dependent on profit pools from China," and the next E-Class it launches there in 2027 will be a dedicated electric model built with almost all of its parts sourced in China, per Automotive News.

China's Car Retail Sales Fell 26% From a Year Earlier in the First 25 Days of October: Retail sales were 1.145 million cars from Oct. 1 to 25, per China Passenger Car Association data, as reported by ChinaEVHome. Electric and plug-in cars fell 13% and took 65.7% of retail sales, and production of gasoline-only cars was down 52%.

Toyota Recalls 228,367 Sienna Hybrids Whose Second-Row Seatbacks May Unlatch in a Crash: The 2022 to 2026 seven-seat minivans have second-row belts with pretensioners whose firing can rotate a cam in the seat recliner and release the seatback in a frontal crash, per AutoGuide. Toyota found it in its own sled tests and knows of no field reports. Most vans get an airbag-computer software update; about 200 will get new seatbacks. Owner letters go out starting Dec. 7.

Koenigsegg Recalled Every CC850 in America, All Seven of Them: With the engine running and reverse engaged, the electronic parking brake stays on only while the driver holds the button, and one CC850 rolled away on Oct. 12 after its driver got out, per Road & Track. No one was hurt. The fix is an over-the-air software update.

Yesterday's picks

Mazda Is Killing the CX-70 After Two Model Years, and a Two-Row Mazda Now Starts $4,130 Higher: Mazda will end CX-70 production after the 2026 model year and sell two-row versions of the refreshed 2027 CX-90 instead, per Automotive News. The cheapest two-row CX-90 costs $48,525 with destination, per Car and Driver. The 2026 CX-70 started at $44,395 with delivery, per Automotive News, so the entry price for a two-row Mazda rises $4,130.

Mercedes Now Expects Its Car Business to Earn 2% to 3% on Sales, Down From as Much as 5%: Mercedes cut its guidance on Oct. 27, citing a tougher market in China and higher fourth-quarter costs, partly for materials, and now expects group earnings before interest and tax to be roughly flat from a year earlier instead of up significantly, per Automotive News. Core car sales fell 8% in the third quarter. Automotive News puts it after outlook cuts at Volkswagen Group, which led our Sept. 19 issue, and BMW, and says the squeeze strikes at a strategy built on selling fewer, more expensive cars such as the S-Class, Maybach and G-Class. Full third-quarter results come Oct. 28.

Kia Keeps the 2027 EV6 at $37,900 and Takes $10,000 Off Leftover 2026 EV9s: The carryover EV6 holds every price from the 2026 model, which Kia cut by $5,000 a few months ago, with the base standard-range car rated at 237 miles, per Electrek. To clear inventory Kia is offering $10,000 customer cash on the 2026 EV9, $5,000 on the 2026 EV6 and $1,500 on the 2027 EV3, which starts at $29,890.

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.

Omoda: 19 outlets this week, about 4 in a median week. Most of it: "2026 Toyota RAV4 hybrid put on notice as Chery reveals Omoda X concept that will spawn tough looking SUV".

Brabus: 17 outlets this week, about 4 in a median week. Most of it: "Brabus P 900 Rocket Edition Pickup Truck".

Pirelli: 13 outlets this week, about 4 in a median week. Most of it: "Pirelli and BKT Sign Agreement for Production in India of 800,000 Pirelli Branded Premium Car Tyres by 2030".

Rimac: 13 outlets this week, about 5 in a median week. Most of it: "Volkswagen Wanted An Electric Bugatti Tourbillon, But Mate Rimac Pushed For A V16 Engine".

Quieter than usual: Nissan Motor (25 outlets against about 46).

Most covered overall: Volkswagen Group, General Motors, Tesla.

Worth a listen

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

Mercedes-AMG GT SUV, Need Dealer Service, Eye Of Sauron | Episode 1,068 (Everyday Driver Car Debate, also at everydaydriver.com): The hosts argue over the styling of Mercedes-AMG's 1,153-hp electric GT SUV (one calls it "bulbous and wrong"), dig into the simulated V8 sound and gear changes, and answer listeners on track-day insurance and towing to the track.

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