The Rivian R2, MotorTrend's 2027 SUV of the Year. Photo: Rivian
In today's issue:
Rivian's R2 beat Porsche and Mercedes to MotorTrend's 2027 SUV of the Year, which the magazine says makes Rivian the first startup to win two of its Of The Year titles
The average new car sold for a record $51,109 in October, as midsize SUVs passed compact ones as the biggest segment
Nissan cut its global sales forecast for the second time this year and called China its biggest challenge
Filtered from 4,382 items published across 322 sources in the last 24 hours.
SECOND ACT
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.
It is Rivian's second win. The R1T was MotorTrend's 2022 Truck of the Year, and the magazine said a day before the result that "Never in our nearly 80 years of awards judging has a startup automaker won more than one Of The Year title," per MotorTrend's R2 review. MotorTrend calls the R1S "a variant of the same underlying vehicle" and the R2 "a clean-sheet design."
The R2 starts at $46,485 once the Standard trim adds rear-wheel drive and a smaller battery next year, and a top R2 Performance stays under $65,000, per MotorTrend. Adding the big battery and all-wheel drive "drops you right back at the average new vehicle transaction price," the magazine wrote, which Kelley Blue Book put at a record $51,109 in October (below).
The judges had complaints. MotorTrend called its efficiency, EPA range and real-world road-trip range "closer to average than class-leading," said it looks like a shrunken R1S, faulted its screen-controlled air vents, noted it still lacks Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and noted that neither NHTSA nor IIHS had crash-tested it yet.
In its first full quarter on sale, Cox Automotive estimated 3,456 R2s sold, behind Rivian's commercial vans and the R1S, per Autoblog, though Rivian's CEO called the R2 its best-seller by volume that quarter, and the $46,485 version does not arrive until next year. CEO RJ Scaringe told CNBC that 2027 will be an "inflection year" as Rivian scales the R2. Read MotorTrend's full story.
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Also worth knowing
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. #market
Tesla Sold Just 8,817 Cars to Chinese Buyers in October, Its Fewest Since July 2022: Tesla's Shanghai plant wholesaled 67,829 cars, up 10.3%, but 59,012 of them were exports, per China Passenger Car Association data reported by Electrek; domestic sales fell 66% from a year earlier. China's whole electric market shrank, with retail sales of new-energy vehicles down 10% to 1.148 million as Beijing phases out trade-in subsidies. #market
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. #analyst
The Best Time to Find a Used-Car Deal Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, iSeeCars Says: iSeeCars, a used-car listings site, analyzed more than 42 million used-car sales and counted a deal as a listing at least 10% below estimated market value, per Motor1. On an average day the chance of finding one is 11.5%; MLK Day offers 52.7% more deals than average, New Year's Eve and Day 48.9% more, and December 46.2% more. June is the worst month. #market
Reveals & culture
Chevy's 2027 Silverado HD Finally Gets Rack-and-Pinion Steering, and The Drive Says It Matters as Much as the New Duramax: Chevy switched the heavy-duty trucks from recirculating-ball steering to rack-and-pinion, about a quarter of a century after the light-duty Silverado did, and added electronic power steering and brakes, which The Drive says makes "just as much of a difference" as the engine in its first drive, per The Drive. Following up on the 8.3-liter Duramax's specs GM released in September, the diesel V8 gives the 3500 HD a 38,000-pound maximum tow rating, double the gas V8's.
Genesis Opened Orders for the GV90 in Korea at About $104,000: The seven-seat GV90 Standard starts at 139.5 million won, and the four-seat Neolun Executive Suite, with coach doors and no B-pillar, at 239.5 million won, about $178,500, per Electrek. It is the same GV90 Genesis revealed in August with its coach doors.
The Genesis GV90 with its coach doors open. Photo: Genesis
Acura Is Adding a Limited Blacked-Out Urban Spec Trim to the Integra, ADX and MDX: Each gets Urban Gray paint, gloss-black trim and badges, bigger wheels and an Ebony interior, with no mechanical changes, per Motor1. Acura is targeting about $1,500 over each model's entry price.
The 2027 Acura MDX Urban Spec. Photo: Acura
Recalls & legal action
Honda Is Recalling 635,808 Pilots, MDXs and TLXs Whose Power Steering Can Shut Off: Supplier-written software in the driver-attention monitor can attempt a division by zero, and the power steering is set to respond by switching off its assist, per Motor1, citing Honda's NHTSA filing. The recall covers 2023-2025 Pilots, 2022-2024 MDXs and 2021-2025 TLXs. The wheel still turns, but it takes much more effort. Dealers will reprogram the steering control unit with corrected software, and Honda plans to start mailing owner letters Dec. 14, per the same report; the NHTSA recall number is 26V721.
Lincoln Is Recalling 36,994 Navigators Whose Front Passenger Seat Can Move on Its Own: Residue on the rear touchscreen that controls the 2025-2027 Navigator's Chauffeur Seat Feature can move the seat, per Car and Driver. Dealers will switch the feature off.
Quick links
Britain's EV Mandate, the EU's 2035 Ban and Land Rover's Case Against BYD Are Still Pending: Britain's decision on its 2030 EV sales mandate, the EU ambassadors' meeting on the 2035 combustion ban and a Dutch court's preliminary ruling on Land Rover's claim that BYD copied the Defender were all due today, as Monday's issue on Britain, the EU and BYD set out. None had been announced when this issue went out.
Ram's CEO Says the Range-Extended 1500 REV Reaches the Market in Mid-2027: "The program has never stopped or put on hold. It was a timing change," Ram CEO Matt VanDyke told Mopar Insiders, adding that Ram will "get it to market in the middle of next year." He said the team under his predecessor, Tim Kuniskis, chose to prioritize the TRX and Rumble Bee first. A supplier memo in September put production at mid-April 2027, per Automotive News, as Jeep and Ram's range-extended trucks slipped nine months.
The range-extended Ram 1500, shown when it was called the Ramcharger. Photo: Ram
Stellantis Offered to Repay Canada for Brampton's Retooling: Stellantis would not say how much it would pay back after agreeing to sell the plant to Roshel; Ottawa committed C$529 million in 2022 to retooling in Brampton and Windsor, though only part was transferred, per Automotive News Canada.
BYD Apologized for Fitting Some Great Tang SUVs' Wheels Front-to-Back: A supplier's coding error put the wider rear rims on the front axle of some of the electric SUVs sold in China; BYD says handling was not compromised and will replace them and restart the warranty, per Automotive News Europe.
Ford Hired Marissa West, Briefly GM's North America President, to Run Its Vehicle Programs: Ford named her vice president of vehicle programs, per Ford. She spent more than two decades at GM, the last eight months there as president of GM North America before leaving in August 2024, and starts Nov. 16 as Ford prepares a run of new and updated models, per Automotive News.
Yesterday's picks
Honda Is Building a $3 Billion Ohio Plant Because It Can't Build Enough Pilots, Passports and MDXs: Honda will spend $3 billion on a fourth Ohio assembly plant, between its East Liberty and Marysville factories, to build large hybrids from 2029, per Motor1. That is more money, and a year sooner, than the up to $2.5 billion Honda hybrid plant reported in September, which was to open in 2030. The plant adds about 240,000 vehicles a year and lifts Honda's U.S. capacity to about 1.3 million. Ohio officials put the full package at $3.38 billion and 2,390 jobs, counting upgrades at Honda's Anna engine and Ohio transmission plants. In Canada, Honda said Nov. 9 it will put C$867 million into its Alliston plants, including restarting an engine plant idle since 2024, per Automotive News Canada.
Ford's Five-Year-Old Mustang Mach-Es Kept 92% of Their Battery Capacity on Average: Ford pulled battery-health data from about 36,000 2021 Mach-Es sold in the U.S. and Canada and says that after an average of 5.2 years and 55,000 miles they kept 92% of their usable capacity, per InsideEVs. By InsideEVs' math, a 2021 Mach-E rated at 305 miles would be good for about 280 today. The more than 2,000 cars past 100,000 miles kept more than 91%. All had nickel-cobalt-manganese packs.
Stellantis Confirmed It Sold Its Idled Brampton Plant to Armored-Vehicle Maker Roshel: The undisclosed sale is expected to close by the end of 2026, per Automotive News Canada, days after Unifor said it believed the plant had been sold. Stellantis first lined up Roshel as a buyer in September. "Stellantis has betrayed our members with an underhanded deal to sell the plant and walk away from its commitments to our members," Unifor President Lana Payne said. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly wants Stellantis, Unifor and Ontario at the table this week.
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.
Fuel Prices, EV Reality, And What Wins Car Of The Year (In Wheel Time Podcast, also at inwheeltimepodcast.com): Guest Jack Nerad explains how the North American Car and Truck of the Year jury stays independent of the automakers and why back-to-back drives decide it.
In Wheel Time Podcast
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