Photo: Land Rover
In today's issue:
Land Rover's first electric flagship costs $138,000 and is built to look exactly like the gas version.
Washington is about to cut fuel economy targets by nearly a third, and NHTSA's own math says drivers pay it back at the pump.
Kia just posted the best US sales month in its history, on hybrids that nearly doubled.
STEALTH ELECTRIFICATION
It makes 542 hp and 627 lb-ft, rated at 333 miles EPA range, per Car and Driver, or 372 miles on the looser WLTP cycle, per Carscoops, a 39-mile gap depending which regulator you ask.
Carscoops says the EV costs $25,000 more than the gas Range Rover and tows a ton less. Motoring Research puts the UK premium over a similarly-specced V8 Autobiography at just £6,390, a far smaller gap.
It shares its basic architecture with the gas, mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid models and is built on the same Solihull production line, per Motor1, which says JLR retrained 9,000 workers at the plant for electrification.
The Autopian argues the sameness is the pitch: buyers paying six figures don't want a spaceship, they want a Range Rover that happens to be electric.
Land Rover spent five years building an EV that refuses to look like one, betting conservative luxury buyers want stealth over spectacle. The math on the premium depends entirely on which spec sheet you trust, and neither outlet is technically wrong.
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Also worth knowing
Washington is about to cut fuel economy rules, and its own math says you pay it back at the pump: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday an announcement is coming soon, and the expected standard tracks NHTSA's December proposal: a fleetwide average of 34.5 mpg by 2031, down from the 50.4 mpg targeted under the Biden administration, per Autoblog. NHTSA's own estimate is that the change makes a new car $930 cheaper while raising fuel consumption by roughly 100 billion gallons through 2050 and fuel spending by $185 billion. Duffy called it "a common-sense fuel economy standard," per Reuters, and Ford Authority and Jalopnik both report the rollback as imminent. #analyst
A dealer priced its public charger to keep the public away, and it worked: A Michigan driver who charged a rented Chevrolet Bolt for 44 minutes at a Hyundai dealership in Macomb Township was billed $418, at $5 per kWh plus $5 per minute, per The Drive. The dealership said the rates were deliberate, set to discourage anyone but its own customers from using the charger, per Autoblog. AAA puts the national average for public charging at 42 cents per kWh, per AAA, which makes the dealer's rate close to twelve times it. The charger was listed in the EVgo app under a roaming agreement with ChargePoint, and EVgo later refunded $405 as a goodwill gesture. #news
Kia's best US month ever came from hybrids, not EVs: Kia America sold 83,793 vehicles in August, a 1% gain that was enough for an all-time monthly record, with year-to-date sales of 590,377 also an all-time high, per CBT News. Hybrid sales rose 99% year over year and six nameplates set August records, led by the redesigned Seltos at +65%, per Autoblog and Carscoops. The month was mixed across the industry: Honda and Subaru also edged up while Toyota, Ford and Mazda slipped, per Automotive News. #market
Photo: Kia
Mazda promises its biggest product overhaul ever, after sales keep sliding: Mazda will update the exterior, interior and powertrain of its CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 lineup "on a scale never seen before," per CarExpert, after the brand's larger SUVs missed sales projections. #analyst
Photo: Mazda
Toyota can't build RAV4 Hybrids fast enough to meet demand: Toyota's overall August deliveries fell 4.4% and RAV4 sales specifically dropped 19%, but the cause is supply, not demand: Toyota is hamstrung by a RAV4 shortage as it retools several plants to build the redesigned 2026 model, per Automotive News. Toyota's electrified deliveries rose 20% to 124,112 over the same month. #market
Reveals & culture
The Polestar 4 SUV brings back the rear window everyone complained about: The new SUV variant swaps the coupe's windowless tailgate for an upright rear end and a conventional rear-view mirror, per Motoring Research. It's built in Busan, South Korea, with deliveries set to begin in the fourth quarter, per Paul Tan. #news
Photo: Polestar
Porsche built 100 manual GT3s for the Alps, and none for America: The 911 GT3 Bergsport is a market edition limited to 100 cars and sold only in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, with the Lightweight Package and a six-speed manual as the only gearbox, per Porsche. It is based on the wingless GT3 Touring and debuts a Paint to Sample Plus colour called Valleygreenmetallic, a nod to the Alpine hill climbs Porsche cut its teeth on. It premieres at Arosa ClassicCar on Sept. 3, and American buyers are not on the list, per Autoblog. Another entry for the manual transmission registry. #enthusiast
Photo: Porsche
The world's only Aston Martin Lagonda Shooting Brake is heading to auction: A one-off wagon conversion of Aston's already-rare Lagonda saloon, built for a client who apparently needed more cargo room than a six-figure GT usually offers, per Autoblog. #enthusiast
Recalls & legal action
Tesla settles the Autopilot fire truck death rather than face a jury: Tesla has settled a wrongful death suit over a 2023 crash in which a Model S on Autopilot hit a parked fire truck at roughly 70 mph on Interstate 680, killing the driver and seriously injuring his brother, per Electrek. The settlement is confidential and was filed in California federal court, so the case will not be tried.
Mitsubishi recalls 67,146 Outlanders over a screen bug that kills the backup camera: The recall covers Outlander and Outlander PHEV crossovers from the 2025 and 2026 model years, where improper software programming in the Alliance In-Vehicle Infotainment system can make the screen freeze, restart or black out, taking the reversing camera with it and putting the car out of compliance with the federal rear-visibility standard, per Autoblog. Autoblog notes this follows similar recalls at Ford, GM, Stellantis, Volkswagen and Honda, and that every one of those except Ford sources its camera hardware from Bosch, as Mitsubishi does. Mitsubishi has logged 39 US warranty claims and estimates only about 1% of the recalled cars are actually defective. We counted the 21 million US vehicles already pulled into backup-camera recalls last month, and most of those failures traced to software rather than dead hardware too. → If you own one: The fix is a software update at the dealer, free. Cars built after July 28 already have it. Dealers are briefed Sept. 9, which is also when affected VINs become searchable under NHTSA campaign 26V549, and owner letters go out from Sept. 24.
Quick links
Volvo's sales keep falling, and China is still the reason: Volvo sold 148,239 cars from June through August, down 7.4% year over year and steeper than the 4% drop it reported through July, on China's downturn and softer US demand for electrified models, per CBT News. It has now declined in every rolling three-month period since February.
The executive who built Ford Energy is retiring: Dave Carroll, previously CEO of ENGIE North America, took over as president of Ford Energy on Aug. 31, succeeding Lisa Drake, who retires at year-end after 32 years at Ford, per CBT News. The unit is targeting 20 GWh of annual battery storage deployment from late 2027.
Ford opens a store that sells everything except cars: Ford's first public-facing retail store, at its new Dearborn headquarters across from the Henry Ford Museum, sells T-shirts, hats, mugs and Lego sets of Ford models, per Automotive News. It is the only part of the new headquarters regularly open to the public.
Yesterday's picks
BYD Wants Stellantis's Idled Ontario Plant: BYD approached Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown about six months ago to ask about making buses at Stellantis's idled Brampton Assembly Plant, Brown said, per Automotive News and Transport Topics. Stellantis said it has nothing to announce and that its "focus remains on finding a sustainable manufacturing solution for Brampton Assembly."
Ford recalls 149,000 Mustangs over a wiring fault that can kill drive power: Engine-compartment wiring harness ground connections on 2024-2026 Mustangs may fracture, causing a loss of drive power or knocking out the headlights, windshield washer, air conditioning and engine cooling fan. NHTSA logged it as campaign 26V547000 on Aug. 25, citing non-compliance with the federal standards covering lamps and windshield washing, per NHTSA and Ford Authority. → If you own one: The repair is free but is not expected until March 2027, so until then treat the symptoms as the warning. A headlight, washer, air conditioning or cooling-fan failure on a 2024-2026 Mustang is the ground terminal announcing itself, and it means a dealer visit now, not a wait for the letter. Check your VIN at NHTSA.gov under 26V547000; Ford's number is 26C40.
Hyundai's hybrids set a record while its total slips: Hybrid sales rose 33% to an August record and now make up 29% of Hyundai's mix, even as total US sales fell 2% to 86,977, per Hyundai. Honda deliveries rose 1% to 133,996 over the same month, per Automotive 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.
168: Gas Prices Are Up. EV Sales Aren't. Why? (Batteries Included): The hosts reveal that gas prices only sway people already considering EVs, not the broader car-buying public, exposing why the conventional wisdom about fuel costs driving EV adoption misses the mark.
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