Photo: The Bushranger / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
In today's issue:
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. has become the last real profit engine for the world's automakers, and GM's finance chief worries about the underused factories that could follow
Hyundai's three-row Ioniq 9 leases for an effective $557 a month, about $7 more than a comparable Ioniq 5 lease
Honda named its next electric SUV the Alpha, with a Dec. 2 debut in India, which will be the model's global production base
Filtered from 2,492 items published across 241 sources in the last 24 hours.
THE LAST PROFIT POOL
The U.S. is now "the last true profit engine for the world's carmakers," The Wall Street Journal reported, because Americans buy high-margin pickups and SUVs and keep paying near-record prices: new cars hover around $50,000, and roughly one in five new-vehicle buyers has a monthly payment over $1,000. China, long the path to scale, has sales down more than 20% through September, and Europe, Japan and the Middle East are also sputtering, per the Journal.
Everyone is building for the same buyer. "My top three priorities are: U.S.A.," Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said, per the Journal. Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa wants U.S. share at about 7%, up from below 6%, which the Journal puts at more than 160,000 extra sales a year. Volkswagen executives said last month the company will look at building trucks in the U.S., and Volkswagen said it is in talks with Ford over a possible joint venture, per the Journal, which carries no comment from Ford. It would be a run at a segment where, the Journal notes, only Toyota's Tacoma sells in meaningful numbers against Ford, GM and Ram.
The risk is capacity. Sam Fiorani of AutoForecast Solutions estimates planned plants will add enough room for more than 1 million more vehicles a year in the U.S. by 2030, and GM CFO Paul Jacobson told the Journal he worries about underused factories and that GM must resist adding capacity itself. Americans are also keeping cars longer: the average car on U.S. roads is about 13 years old, a record, per the Journal.
The Journal calls the U.S. market "already stagnant," and federal data backs it: U.S. light-vehicle sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.0 million in October, down from 16.4 million in September and 17.0 million in August, per FRED. By our arithmetic, 1 million vehicles of new capacity is about 6% of October's pace, and none of it is in place yet.
The Journal's case is that tariffs, looser emissions rules and a ban on Chinese tech have made the U.S. the one market where foreign brands and Detroit alike can still earn their margins. Read the Journal's full story.
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Also worth knowing
Hyundai's Ioniq 9 Costs $24,000 More Than an Ioniq 5 but Leases for About $7 a Month More: The advertised Ioniq 5 deal is $359 a month for 24 months with $4,999 due at signing, an effective $567 a month, per Electrek. The Ioniq 9 is $419 a month for 36 months with the same $4,999 down, an effective $557, and Electrek's run of Hyundai's own calculator puts a 36-month Ioniq 5 SE at an effective $550, about $7 less. The Ioniq 9 starts at $58,955, nearly $24,000 above the $35,250 Ioniq 5 SE, and carries an EPA-estimated 335 miles against 245 for the standard-range Ioniq 5. #market
Photo: HJUdall / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Harbinger Raised Another $240 Million After a 2,000-Truck FedEx Order: The medium-duty electric truck maker's Series D was co-led by Tiger Global, the Capricorn Technology Impact Fund and Ridgeline, and brings its total raised since 2021 to more than $650 million, per Electrek. It follows a $300 million FedEx order for 2,000 delivery trucks, which Electrek calls one of the largest binding orders for electric medium- or heavy-duty trucks. Harbinger says the money goes to building more trucks and to energy storage, power generation, autonomy software and defense work. #analyst
Owners Say a Tesla Update Stops Australian Model Ys From Powering Their Homes: Since software from Tesla's 2026.38 branch began rolling out in October, owners using third-party bidirectional chargers from EleJoy, Tlyard and Sigenergy report discharge cutting out after about three minutes, or after 15 to 20 minutes, per Mark Purcell, a Model Y owner writing for The Driven. Tesla's release notes mention only "security improvements." The same software branch brought Tesla's own Powershare home backup, which works with its Powerwall, to the U.S. and Canada, while in Australia Powershare is limited to vehicle-to-load. Purcell has filed a complaint with Australia's consumer regulator; The Driven reports no reply from Tesla. #news
Reveals & culture
Honda's Next Electric SUV Is the Alpha, and India Will Be Its Global Production Base: Honda Cars India confirmed the name, a global debut in India on Dec. 2, and that India will be the model's global production base, per Motor1. It grew out of a concept Honda showed at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show and is the first retail Honda to carry the redesigned "H" badge for its EVs, per Autoblog. Specs, price and plans for other markets have not been announced.
Honda's teaser for the Alpha. Image: Honda Cars India
Ford Is Reportedly Building a Shelby GT350 Successor, With a Naturally Aspirated V8 and a Manual: Insiders told Ford Authority that a track-focused Mustang will slot between the 500-hp Dark Horse and the 795-hp supercharged Dark Horse SC, reportedly with the SC's wide body, a naturally aspirated V8 (Ford Authority believes 5.2 or 5.4 liters), a Tremec manual, more cooling, bigger brakes and an upgraded suspension. It would reportedly be coupe-only and reach dealers as a 2027 model. The name, output and price are unknown, and the report carries no comment from Ford.
Two Ferrari Daytona SP3s Sold on the Same Day, About $7.6 Million Apart: On Oct. 31, Broad Arrow sold a green SP3 in Las Vegas for $18.54 million, at the same $92.8 million sale where the 106-mile Ferrari F50 we covered Tuesday brought $18.7 million, while RM Sotheby's sold a yellow one in London for about $10.9 million, per Hagerty. Hagerty's explanation: the Vegas car had one owner, 81 miles and a bespoke Verde Francesca paint, while the London car was a development and press car driven by Top Gear, Car and Driver and others, with 2,948 miles. Ferrari built 600 SP3s; the Vegas car's window sticker read $2,334,048. Hagerty, whose price guide puts a best-in-the-world SP3 at $16 million, says it will raise that value.
The $18.54 million car. Photo: Broad Arrow
Buick Is Adding a Fifth Sedan in China, Six Years After Its Last One Left the U.S.: Filings with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show the Electra GS, a fastback plug-in hybrid based on last year's Electra GS concept, per Autoblog. Buick already sells the Verano, Regal, Electra L7 and LaCrosse sedans in China, its largest market, while its U.S. lineup has been crossovers only since the Regal was discontinued in 2020.
Photo: MIIT filing, via Autoblog
Quick links
Workhorse Signed Its First Canadian Dealer for Its W56 Electric Trucks: Tristan Fleet Management will sell and service the Class 5 and 6 trucks from seven locations in Québec and Ontario, per Electrek. Workhorse has sold trucks in Canada since 2021 through Purolator.
Toyota Patented a Roof Extension That Slides Out to Cut Drag: A patent published in China describes a panel tucked where the roof meets the rear of the car that moves backward to lengthen the roofline, a fix for the airflow-versus-cargo-space trade that gives the Prius its chopped tail, per Autoblog.
The Car Curious Weekly: The Man Who Kept Paul Walker's Cars Running: Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, recaps 304 episodes across 208 podcasts from Nov. 1 to 7, including Shawn Davis on his own show, Autotopia LA, who drove Walker's cars one at a time for more than a year after his 2013 death so they would not sit, and found Walker's passport in the center console of one.
Yesterday's picks
Nissan Will Pay $1,500 to RAV4 Owners Who Switch to Its New Rogue Hybrid: CarsDirect reported, citing a Nissan bulletin to dealers, that anyone trading in a 2021-or-newer Toyota RAV4 gets up to $1,500 toward buying or leasing a 2027 Rogue Hybrid. The offer started Nov. 3, runs through Jan. 4, can be used by anyone in the same household, and stacks with Nissan's 4.9% financing for 60 months. Neither CarsDirect nor the outlets that followed it carried a comment from Nissan.
Tennessee Denied Scout a License to Sell Direct, and a California Judge Kept VW Dealers' Lawsuit Alive: Fourteen of the 16 members of the Tennessee Motor Vehicle Commission voted against Scout's dealer license on Oct. 27, and many of them are franchised dealers or dealership employees, per Automotive News. Scout argued it is a separate brand that happens to be 100% funded by Volkswagen AG; a lawyer for Tennessee VW dealers said that if it works, "Every legacy OEM with dealers would feel emboldened to create a subsidiary to cut dealers out." In California, a federal judge denied VW and Scout's second attempt to end the state dealers' association lawsuit and sent it into discovery, per The Auto Wire, which notes Scout says full production starts at the end of 2027. Scout says it expects the Tennessee decision to be overturned.
Electric Cars Took a Record 34% of New-Car Sales in 12 Big European Markets in October: Battery-electric sales rose 57% across 12 major markets, up from a 22.4% share a year earlier, per an Automotive News Europe analysis. Germany hit a record 37%, as we noted Thursday in Europe's EV resale story, helped by renewed purchase incentives, and France ran at 41.5%, while Italy sat at 6%. Automakers have warned that electric margins are below those of gas cars, per the same report.
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.
Does An Affordable Used Car Exist? (Ron Ananian The Car Doctor, also at cardoctorshow.com): Ron Ananian takes callers' cheap used cars, from a $2,000 Buick Rendezvous that probably needs an engine to a Lincoln facing a $3,000 to $5,000 timing repair, and works out when fixing still beats replacing.
Ron Ananian The Car Doctor
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