In today's issue:

Filtered from 4,435 items published across 316 sources in the last 24 hours.

For the outside shareholders, who hold the roughly 27% the buyers do not, the offer is a premium of under 9% to Wednesday's close, and the majority-of-the-unaffiliated vote is the one step where they, rather than the Penske and Mitsui camp, decide whether that price is enough. If it passes, the No. 2 U.S. dealer group's shares leave the New York Stock Exchange in 2027.

New-Car Prices Sit $52 Below Their Record as Buyers Trade Down: The average new vehicle sold for $50,562 in September, just $52 below the $50,614 record set in December 2025, per Kelley Blue Book. The year-over-year rise was only 0.7%, against the 2% to 4% that is normal for September, and KBB said next-model-year cars are reaching dealers well behind historic norms, per CBT News. "Affordability pressures are pushing more buyers toward lower-priced vehicles and segments, which tempers the industrywide number even as prices for individual vehicles rise," said Cox Automotive's Erin Keating. Compact cars rose 3.2% to $27,977 and compact SUVs slipped 0.4% to $37,614, while incentives fell to 6.6% of the price from 7.3% a year earlier. The average EV sold for $55,879, down 3%. #market

China Cuts the Export Tax Rebate on Its EVs to 9% From 13%: China's Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration announced on Oct. 12 that the export VAT rebate on new energy vehicles drops to 9% on April 1, 2027, per ChinaEVHome. Just Auto says the cut is described locally as a way to keep China's domestic price war from spilling into overseas markets, as automakers face dumping accusations abroad. China's September vehicle exports were worth $20.8 billion, up 62% from a year earlier, and Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, expects full-year vehicle exports to top $200 billion, per ChinaEVHome. He called the cut relatively moderate and said it is meant to push automakers toward brand building and local operations while curbing destructive price competition abroad. #analyst

Britain Won't Tariff Chinese Cars Just Because Brussels Asks, Its Business Secretary Says: Following up on the UK weighing tariffs on Chinese EVs, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told The Guardian that "when we make any trade decision in terms of trade defence tariffs in relation to the EU, that’s based on the UK interest – it’s not based on any other country asking for that." He did not rule tariffs out: he said the government looked at the issue in 2024 and will "keep it under review depending on what the needs of industry are," and The Guardian reports he conceded they remain an option in the future. Reynolds called the British car industry "an export-led sector" and has previously cited the risk of Chinese retaliation against companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, per the same report, while the EU has imposed tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese electric cars. #analyst

Lincoln Heads Below 300 U.S. Stores, Down From 797 in 2019: Lincoln expects fewer than 300 U.S. dealers by the end of 2027, down from 387 today and 797 at the end of 2019, when it had more stores than any other luxury brand, per Automotive News. Lincoln says throughput at the remaining stores has doubled and its standalone stores are on track for their third-most-profitable year in 2026, even as Lincoln's sales fell 12% in the first nine months after the U.S.-built Corsair was discontinued in late 2025. The 2027 Corsair will be imported from China next year, joining the China-built Nautilus. "We're not going to force anything," said Shawn McDermott, director of the U.S. Lincoln retail network. #market

Porsche Unveils Its Mid-Engined Mission S in New York Today: Porsche's latest teaser promised "a special premiere - tomorrow in New York," per Paul Tan, and CEO Michael Leiters confirmed the Oct. 15 New York unveiling, per evo. The concept previews what Porsche said on Oct. 7 is "a mid-engined super sports car platform that will enable a model line that sits above the iconic 911." Its teasers have shown an 8,000-rpm tachometer and, under a fitted cover, what looks like a roof scoop.

Chevy Brings Back the Colorado ZR2 Desert Boss for 2027: The 2027 Colorado order guide lists the Desert Boss as a dealer-installed ZR2 package with Multimatic jounce control dampers, an off-road front bumper and off-road lighting, per Motor1 and autoevolution. It sits on top of the 350-hp, 455-lb-ft 2.7-liter turbo four that every 2027 Colorado gets, and Motor1 says 2027 production starts Oct. 19.

Renault Has Orders for More Than Half of Its 1,980 5 Turbo 3Es, From €160,000: The rear-drive electric hot hatch's product leader told PistonHeads that orders cover more than 50% of the planned run, per Motor1, and fully customized cars are expected to pass €350,000. The full personalization program opens in mid-2027 and first deliveries are scheduled for 2028.

Peugeot's CEO Says the E-T16 Hyperhatch Could Be Built "Next Year": Following up on the E-T16 concept, CEO Alain Favey told Autocar the car is "technically feasible" because it rides on Stellantis's STLA One platform and shares many parts with the next e-208: "We can make this car next year. Let's see." Autocar expects any production version to be a low-volume halo car like the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, and Favey did not discuss pricing. The RCZ Vision coupe is further off because it needs solid-state batteries that are not ready yet, and Favey said that "even if it's five years or six years, that's what we need one day."

DeLorean Will Race Electric Flying Cars Starting in November: DeLorean becomes the first American constructor in the Airspeeder International Series, debuting when the 2026-27 season opens in November and flying the standard Mk3C aircraft in DeLorean styling in its first season, per Car and Driver. From the 2027-28 season it plans to develop race aircraft with engineering students from UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech. "People have pictured a DeLorean in the sky for 40 years," said chief brand officer Cameron Wynne. "We decided it was time to stop picturing it."

VW Brand CEO Says the Next ID.Buzz Will Come to the U.S. and Cost Less: Thomas Schäfer told Auto Express at the Paris show that a second-generation van on VW Group's Scalable Systems Platform, possibly with cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, should cost less than today's, which started at $61,545 for 2025, per Car and Driver. U.S. sales are paused for the 2026 and 2027 model years.

The 2027 Nissan Altima Survives Another Year, Starting at $27,790: Prices rise $210 across the board and the lineup shrinks to SV and SR, with all-wheel drive now only on the SR, per Autoblog. The 188-hp 2.5-liter four and CVT carry over, before a $1,275 destination fee.

Tesla's Supercharger Prices for Non-Members Are Up 15% in a Year: Non-members now pay an average of $0.569 per kilowatt-hour, up 15% from a year earlier and above the roughly $0.533 average at other fast chargers, which has held for five straight quarters, according to Paren data reported by InsideEVs. Members pay $0.396, up about 9%. Tesla added 1,287 ports last quarter, more than any other operator, but its share of the U.S. fast-charging market fell to 49.3% from 54.3% over the year.

BMW M's Boss Says a Future Manual Is "Not Off the Table," but Promises Nothing: Frank van Meel told BMW Blog that 48-volt mild-hybrid systems make keeping manuals "really difficult" and that "I cannot promise anything," per Motor1. He said the manual stays in the M2, which about half of U.S. buyers order with one, for at least a couple more years.

Honda Recalls 4,804 Already-Repaired Accord and CR-V Hybrids for the Same Tire-Kit Defect: The supplier, Tek Corporation, mixed old sealant bottles in with the redesigned ones and shipped them as remedy parts, so cars fixed under the earlier recall of more than a million vehicles may carry the same bottle cap that can blow off under pressure, per Road & Track. The recall, NHTSA 26V663, covers 2,745 CR-V Hybrids, 2,058 Accord Hybrids and one CR-V Fuel Cell, and Honda estimates 1% carry the defect, per Autoblog. Owner letters go out Nov. 16.

Yesterday's picks

Volvo's EX60 Is Building About a Tenth of Its Target, and U.S. Dealers May Wait Until Late 2027: Following up on Volvo scrapping its 2026 outlook, Automotive News reports the EX60, built in Torslanda, Sweden since late April, is running at about a tenth of its roughly 2,000-a-week target, per a person with knowledge of the situation. That source says Volvo is putting Europe first, leaving no more U.S. allocations this year and no significant volume until the second half of 2027, while a Volvo spokesperson says "a significant number" of already allocated cars should reach U.S. retailers early next year. Dealers had expected about 7,000 EX60s in the U.S. this year, and Volvo's late-September dealer memo said the delays are "not related to vehicle quality, safety, or product performance." The problems are fitting the battery pack into the body and building the electric motors, on Volvo's first model with megacasting and cell-to-body construction.

BMW's Deliveries Fall 6.3% as China Drops 24.8%: BMW Group delivered 551,072 vehicles in the third quarter, with China-region deliveries down 24.8% to 114,355, per Just Auto. Europe rose 2.7% to 235,628 and the U.S. rose 2.5% to 106,741, and electric deliveries rose 7.2% to 110,257, with Europe's up 37.5%. GM's China sales fell 24% in the same quarter, a fourth straight quarterly decline, per Automotive News, though GM's own release called the quarter "solid." BMW CEO Milan Nedeljković, in China for the first time since taking office, said BMW targets local production of more than 95% of the cars it sells there by 2030, per ChinaEVHome, citing Beijing Business Today.

Tesla's Roadster Reveal Is Tonight, With a Livestream on X: The event is at 7:55 p.m. Central and limited to reservation holders with tickets, per Business Insider, after Tesla postponed the original Oct. 1 date for weather. Tesla first showed the Roadster in 2017, targeted 2020 production and has given no production or delivery date.

Worth a listen

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

Turbine Cars (Auto Obscura, also at autobscura.com): Hosts Alan Galbraith and John Ficarra trace jet-turbine cars from Rover's 1950 Jet One to turbine Indy racers and GM's Firebird concepts, and explain why a turbine's slow throttle spin-up suited Le Mans better than stop-and-go driving.

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