In today's issue:

Dodge got to 600 hp the oldest way there is, with bigger turbos and more boost. The electric compressor SRT showed the same week is not in this car; it sits in a Grand Cherokee prototype with no production date attached. What six cylinders buy you is a Charger that beats a 707-hp Hellcat to 60 and still loses the quarter mile by 0.8 seconds.

VW's majority owner says the company is at a "historic crossroads": Porsche SE, which holds 31.9% of Volkswagen, is pushing management to move faster on costs and excess capacity, per Automotive News and Just Auto. The holding company booked a 2.22 billion euro ($2.6 billion) after-tax loss for the first half, driven by 3 billion euros of non-cash impairments on its VW stake. VW Group itself posted 5.93 billion euros in first-half operating profit, down 11.6%, and is weighing a 500,000-unit capacity cut across Europe. #analyst

Zoox starts charging for robotaxi rides in Las Vegas next week: Paid trips begin next week and Zoox says fares will land close to an Uber Comfort ride, per Motor1 and Carscoops, which undercuts the cheaper-than-a-taxi pitch robotaxis usually lead with. The NHTSA exemption behind it, covering two years and 2,500 vehicles, cleared in late July. #news

Senate Republicans file to repeal California's EV mandate rules: Four Republican senators filed Congressional Review Act resolutions targeting the EPA waivers behind California's emissions standards, including Advanced Clean Cars II, per CBT News. The CRA route needs only a simple majority, and Republicans used it last year to rescind three Biden-era waivers. These four still have to clear the full Senate. #news

July's average new-car payment hit a record $808: July's sales pace came in at a 16.3 million SAAR, down 1.4% year over year, with the year-to-date pace running at 16.0 million, per NADA via CBT News. Incentives climbed 8.1% to $3,451 a vehicle while financing eased only to 6.54%, so the record payment is being set against heavier discounting, not cheaper money. #market

A hydrogen land speed racer just broke a 16-year-old class record: JCB's Hydromax, running two hydrogen combustion engines derived from its construction loaders, averaged 368.347 mph across two runs at Bonneville with Andy Green driving, per The Autopian. That beats the 348.342 mph class mark the Spectre Streamliner set in 2010 and JCB's own 350.092 mph Dieselmax record from 2006. Hydrogen combustion, not fuel cells, and the FIA hydrogen world record attempt is still to come. #enthusiast

A Land Cruiser owner stopped at 999,999 km and sent it to auction: Gary Driscoll bought the 2009 200 Series new in April 2010 and averaged more than 180 km a day on rural Victorian roads for 16 years, retiring it one kilometre short of seven digits, per Carscoops. It still runs its original 4.5-litre V8 biturbo diesel and gearbox, with 100 service stamps to prove the schedule. #enthusiast

Porsche hid "See ya later mate" under the rear wing of a one-off 911: The Land Down Under 911 Turbo S marks 75 years of Porsche in Australia, with two bespoke Chromaflair colours applied by hand across seven layers over more than 300 hours, fading from Terra Australis Red at the sills to Southern Cross Blue above the shoulderline, per Porsche Newsroom and CarExpert. The headliner is embroidered with the night sky over Uluru as it looked in 1951, the year Porsche first reached Australia. #enthusiast

Toyota recalls 508,000 US Camrys over displays that go blank: The 2025-2026 Camry's 7-inch combination meter can go blank at startup, which also deactivates the turn signals, hazard lights and several warning chimes, per Autoblog. Only the LE, SE and Nightshade trims use the smaller display; XLE and XSE get the 12.3-inch unit and are not affected. Counting Canada the total runs to about 519,000, per CarComplaints. → If you own one: Toyota notifies owners by early October and the fix is a free software update. The recall had not yet posted to NHTSA.gov at publication, so run your VIN through toyota.com/recall instead, or call Toyota's Customer Experience Center on 1-800-331-4331.

Honda's Q1 operating profit more than doubled: Operating profit rose 117.4% to ¥530.76 billion ($3.36 billion) because last year's ¥122 billion in EV-related losses did not repeat, per Just Auto. Honda lifted its full-year forecast to ¥650 billion but says that upgrade comes entirely from a weaker yen assumption, not from operations.

Maserati says a V8 return is technically feasible: Engineering chief Davide Danesin told CarSales the brand has already studied fitting a compact V8 into current sports cars and SUVs and that customer demand is there, though nothing is green-lit, per Autoblog.

Edmunds put the 656-hp Rivian R2 on the test track: The R2 Launch Edition arrives as a direct Model Y Performance rival, and its unibody platform makes it far easier to launch hard than the body-on-frame R1S, per Edmunds.

Yesterday's picks

Ford's $30,000 electric pickup gets a name: Fathom: Ford's first sub-$30K EV pickup finally has a name and price, but the base trim's range and features raise real-world value questions.

Lucid targets $1.4B in cash savings as CEO launches turnaround plan: New CEO Silvio Napoli launches an operational reset after a $1B Q2 loss, targeting $1.4B in savings and delaying the Cosmos crossover.

Honda adds $3.21B in EV-related write-downs: Honda now expects $3.21 billion in additional restructuring charges this fiscal year as EV demand misses forecasts, signaling deeper electrification trouble.

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