Honda's teaser for the 2028 CR-V. Photo: Honda
In today's issue:
Honda's CR-V, which Honda calls America's best-selling SUV, will come only as a hybrid when the new generation arrives next year
Global EV sales grew 8% in October, though the U.S. gain is measured against the month after the tax credit ended
Volkswagen dropped the factory overhaul meant to build its electric Golf the way Tesla builds cars
Filtered from 4,351 items published across 313 sources in the last 24 hours. Watch the filtering live at Suspension Today.
HYBRID BY DEFAULT
Honda said Nov. 12 that the 2028 CR-V, arriving next year, will be sold only with a new two-motor hybrid on an all-new platform, per Honda. It is the first of the 15 models getting Honda's next hybrid system by March 2030, most of them for North America. Honda is aiming for more than 10% better fuel efficiency and has not given power or price; today's CR-V hybrid makes 205 hp and is rated up to 38 mpg combined, per Car and Driver.
The CR-V is what Honda calls "America's best-selling SUV," on pace for a third straight year above 400,000, and hybrids are "over 50%" of its sales, per the same release. That means nearly half of CR-V buyers still choose the gas version that is going away.
Toyota made the same move with the RAV4, which now comes only as a hybrid or plug-in hybrid, and there were not enough new RAV4s to go around for most of the year, the gap Nissan's $1,500 offer to RAV4 owners went after. It sold 293,552 RAV4s through October, down more than 26% from a year earlier, per Autoblog. October was its first monthly gain of the year, and it outsold the CR-V that month, 39,888 to just over 34,000.
Honda's answer is hybrid capacity. Its Ohio transmission plant is being retooled to build the new hybrid system, with capacity up 250% "in the coming years," and its Anna, Ohio, engine plant is retooling a line for the new four-cylinder, per the same release. The CR-V stays in three plants: East Liberty, Ohio; Indiana; and Alliston, Ontario.
Dealers saw the car on Nov. 11 in Las Vegas and described an upright, boxy front with headlights about 1.5 inches tall, a full-width taillight and a 15.4-inch screen on upper trims, per Automotive News, which spoke to dealers who asked not to be named. Honda expects more than 400,000 U.S. sales in the new CR-V's first year and is targeting 1.6 million U.S. sales by early next decade, against about 1.37 million this year, helped by Honda's $3 billion Ohio plant opening in 2029.
The meeting had a second headline: Honda confirmed the Element is coming back, according to a dealer who attended, showing a silhouette with the original's boxy shape and rear-hinged doors but no date. Automotive News reported in June that production is expected to start in the second quarter of 2029. Dealers also saw a sharper Accord for the second half of 2027, a new Pilot and a rugged Ridgeline concept for 2028. Read Automotive News' full story.
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Also worth knowing
Global EV Sales Grew 8% in October, but North America's Gain Comes Off the First Month Without the U.S. Tax Credit: Buyers worldwide took 2.09 million electric and plug-in hybrid cars, per Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data reported by Electrek. Europe grew fastest, with fully electric sales up 49% and Germany's share for electric and plug-in hybrid cars together above 45%. North America rose 24% to 130,000, its first year-over-year gain of 2026, but October 2025 was the first month after the federal tax credit ended. "The US market has stabilized at a lower level rather than recovered," said Benchmark's Charles Lester. By Benchmark's count, China's EV sales fell 12% to 1.14 million while its exports set another monthly record, near 600,000. #market
Volkswagen Dropped Its Tesla-Style 'Gamechanger' Factory Plan for the Electric Golf: The plan would have brought gigacasting and other new production methods to Wolfsburg for the electric Golf and T-Roc; both will now be built conventionally, per Automotive News Europe. It follows VW pausing work on the electric Golf two weeks ago, when the works council said the pause would not delay the launch. VW cited a review of investment spending after its latest planning round exceeded available funding. The cars, expected to total about 500,000 a year, stay on schedule. Works council chief Daniela Cavallo called the decision a "flagrant breach" of a December 2024 agreement. #analyst
Dealers Added 100,000 New Cars in October, Led by Cheaper Models: U.S. inventory started November at 3.1 million, an 84-day supply, with fresh Toyota Corollas and Nissan Sentras driving a sharp rise in cars priced under $35,000, per Catalyst IQ figures reported by Automotive News. That is up from 3.0 million and the same 84-day supply at the start of October. Hybrids turned fastest for the seventh straight month, at 64 days' supply; EVs sat at 82. #market
Reveals & culture
Only 182 of Audi's 499 Nuvolaris Will Come to the U.S., and Deliveries Wait Until 2028: Audi set the U.S. price at $700,000 before a destination fee it has not disclosed, for Audi's hybrid R8 successor, which pairs the Lamborghini Temerario's twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors for 987 hp, per Car and Driver.
Audi Nuvolari. Photo: Audi
Rimac Will End Nevera Production This Year, at 71 Cars: Mate Rimac had already said only 71 of a planned 150 Neveras had sold; now the last 10 Nevera Rs will reach customers by the end of the year, he said in an Instagram video, per Motor1. He called it "the most sold electric hypercar in the world" and said without it there would be no Bugatti Tourbillon.
Rimac Nevera. Photo: Mr.choppers / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ford Built a One-Off Overlanding Expedition Tremor to See Whether Buyers Want One: Project Overland, built with Fox Factory Vehicles, adds a 2-inch lift, F-150 Raptor R wheels, a hidden winch and a rooftop tent, per Motor1. Ford says it has no plans to sell it; Tremor and Raptor models make up about a quarter of its U.S. sales, and the truck goes to the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month.
Ford Expedition Tremor: Project Overland. Photo: Ford
Quick links
A Dutch Court Ordered Land Rover to Destroy the Files It Seized From BYD, While Britain's EV Mandate Is Still Undecided: Following up on yesterday's note on the three pending decisions, a court in The Hague ruled Nov. 11 that Land Rover must destroy or return the files it seized from BYD's Dutch offices within 24 hours, because they were not needed to argue that BYD's Ti7 copies the Defender; that design claim is still being argued, per Motor1. In Britain, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said "no decision has been made at this point" on the EV sales mandate, per Motor Trader. We found no announcement yet from the EU ambassadors' meeting on the 2035 combustion ban.
Jeep's Manual Gladiator Isn't Coming Back for 2027, Leaving the Tacoma as the Last Manual Pickup: Jeep's head of off-road told CarBuzz in the spring that a Wrangler-like Jeep was getting its manual back, but the 2027 Gladiator's online configurator has none, per Autoblog, citing CarBuzz. That leaves the Tacoma's six-speed, a no-cost option on SR, TRD Sport and TRD Off-Road Double Cab 4x4s. Every manual still on sale, and the Gladiator's 2025 exit, are in our Manual Transmission Registry.
Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport. Photo: Deathpallie325 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Tesla Will Build the Cybertruck Through the End of Summer 2027, About Two Months Longer: Following up on last week's wind-down, Elon Musk said the extension is to work through more of the order backlog and called it "not the smartest move from a profit-maximizing standpoint," per InsideEVs; since that issue, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Premium and raised the Cyberbeast $7,500 to $109,990, leaving it the only version on sale, per Autoblog.
The EU Is Reportedly Preparing to Delay a 10% Tariff on U.K.-Built EVs Due in January: Without a delay, local-content rules would put the tariff on 70% of electric and plug-in hybrid models the U.K. exports to the EU, per Automotive News Europe, citing the Financial Times.
Google's Gemini Assistant Now Runs on Apple CarPlay: iPhone users start it by tapping the app on the car's screen, not by voice, and it can read Gmail and Google Calendar if allowed, per InsideEVs.
Yesterday's picks
Rivian's R2 Beat Porsche and Mercedes to MotorTrend's SUV of the Year: MotorTrend named the R2 its 2027 SUV of the Year on Nov. 11, per MotorTrend. It beat seven other finalists, including the Porsche Cayenne Electric, the electric Mercedes GLC, the Volvo EX60 and the Nissan Rogue Hybrid; six of the eight were full EVs, per MotorTrend's finalist list. Each judge filed a ballot with a top three, and the panel included two guest judges: former GM chief engineer Al Oppenheiser and former Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener.
Nissan Cut Its Sales Forecast Again and Called China Its Biggest Challenge: Nissan now expects 2.97 million to 3 million global sales, its second cut this year, down from 3.15 million last year, and CEO Ivan Espinosa said "China remains our biggest challenge," per Automotive News. Its China sales fell 62% in September while its U.S. sales rose 10%, per Autoblog, a split we ran in our item on Nissan's China slump.
The Average New Car Sold for a Record $51,109 in October as Buyers Moved Up to Midsize SUVs: That is $649 more than September, which Kelley Blue Book revised down to $50,460 from the $50,562 September average we reported Oct. 15, per Cox Automotive, and 2.1% more than a year earlier. It beats the $50,614 record set in December 2025 and is the first average above $51,000, per Kelley Blue Book. Midsize SUVs passed compact SUVs as the highest-volume segment, at an average $50,570, while full-size pickups averaged $67,912. EVs moved the other way: their average of $56,220 was 2.7% lower than a year earlier, with incentives at 11.3% of the price against 6.8% for the industry.
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.
759: Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter’s Land Cruiser (Snail Trail 4x4 Offroad Podcast, also at snailtrail4x4.com): On a California road trip, Tyler and Jimmy stop in Stockton to see Steve Irwin's right-hand-drive, V8-diesel Land Cruiser, now owned by the off-road parts maker Terrain Tamer.
Snail Trail 4x4 Offroad Podcast
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