Toyota's next-generation 2.0-liter turbo four. Photo: Toyota
In today's issue:
Toyota expects to sell about $1.7 billion a year of its next engines and hybrid systems to other automakers by 2032, but Mazda and Subaru are building their own
Japan will cut its top EV purchase subsidy by 40% from January because demand drained the fund early
Geely will reveal its first car built for Europe next year, plus a Defender rival
Filtered from 2,459 items published across 266 sources in the last 24 hours.
ENGINES FOR HIRE
Toyota projects €500 million ($561.8 million) in outside orders for its powertrains in 2026, climbing to around €1.5 billion ($1.68 billion) in 2032, figures Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima gave investors at an Oct. 9 technology workshop in Europe, per Automotive News. It is the same workshop where Nakajima laid out Toyota's plan to run its Arene software in 50 models, which we covered Oct. 17.
The sales would draw on the downsized engines Toyota previewed in 2024, expected on the market as early as 2027: a 1.5-liter four-cylinder in naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions, and a 2.0-liter turbo four, all built to pair with standard and plug-in hybrid systems and timed to Euro 7 emissions rules. Toyota's twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 is not part of the outside sales plan, per the same report.
Toyota did not name customers. It already supplies the hybrid powertrains in the Mazda CX-50 and the Mazda2 for Europe and electrical parts for Subaru's strong hybrid, and Suzuki uses numerous Toyota engine systems, per Automotive News.
One of the new engines is already racing, in two forms. The G20E is a family of 2.0-liter fours: at Japan's Super Taikyu round at Okayama this weekend, Gazoo Racing ran a GR86 Future FR Concept with a naturally aspirated version making around 220 hp, per Motor1. The mid-engine GR Yaris M prototype we covered Saturday ran the turbocharged version in the same race. Toyota is targeting more than 400 hp from that engine in a road car. Toyota has not said what will power the next production GR86.
For scale, €1.5 billion a year is small next to Toyota's ¥50.68 trillion ($320.81 billion) in revenue for the fiscal year that ended March 31, per Automotive News.
Mazda and Subaru, the two partners Automotive News singles out as possible buyers, are heading the other way. Mazda will put its own hybrid system, built around its next-generation Skyactiv-Z four-cylinder, in a hybrid version of the CX-5 in 2027, per Autoblog, separate from the non-hybrid 2027 CX-5 priced this week. At an Oct. 18 technical briefing, Subaru said it would keep developing its own combustion engines, targeting 50% thermal efficiency, per Automotive News. The same week, Subaru showed its first in-house EV platform, built to need Toyota less. Neither Mazda nor Subaru answered Automotive News' questions about buying Toyota's new engines. Read Automotive News' full story.
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Also worth knowing
Japan Will Cut Its Top EV Subsidy by 40% Because the Money Is Running Out: From Jan. 1, 2027, the maximum purchase subsidy for a battery-electric car falls from 1.25 million yen to 750,000 yen, for a plug-in hybrid from 800,000 yen to 480,000 yen, and for a kei EV from 550,000 yen to 440,000 yen, per Electrive, citing NHK. Demand ran ahead of plan after Japan raised the subsidies in January 2026, and the cut is meant to stretch what is left of the fund. Japan's EV sales rose 88.6% from a year earlier to 16,074 in September, per the same report. #news
The 2027 Mazda CX-5 Holds Its $29,990 Base Price While Every Other Trim Goes Up: The 2.5 S stays at $29,990, while the other four trims rise $150 to $550, topping out at $39,440 for the Premium Plus, per Autoblog. Destination falls $100 to $1,495, and Google's Gemini assistant replaces Google Assistant, per Carscoops. The hardware is unchanged after last year's redesign, including the 187-hp 2.5-liter four and standard all-wheel drive. #market
Photo: Mazda
China Clears VW and Xpeng to Test Self-Driving Cars on Public Roads, Months After Freezing Robotaxi Licenses: VW's China unit started Level 3 testing in Hefei, and Xpeng's robotaxi business got approval for Level 4 trials across Guangzhou, offered by invitation code at first, per Automotive News. China suspended new robotaxi licenses in April after an incident involving Baidu self-driving cars in Wuhan and opened an industrywide safety review. Bloomberg reported in July that approvals had resumed, but few companies have announced one since. VW's is a road-test permit, not approval to sell: only two models in China, the Deepal SL03 and Arcfox Alpha S, have Level 3 market access, and VW's first Level 3 system could reach customers in the second half of 2027 at the earliest, per ChinaEVHome. #analyst
Reveals & culture
Geely's First Car Built for Europe Is Coming Next Year, Plus a Defender Rival: Geely will reveal its first model developed specifically for Europe next year, and will add a localized version of its Galaxy Cruiser off-roader, codenamed Project KO11, with an 800mm wading depth and the underpinnings of the coming Lotus Eletre plug-in hybrid, per Autocar. Product director Dennis Weinel said Geely is also reworking its driver-assistance chimes, which owners and reviewers have criticized.
Bugatti's Boss Says "You Bet" to a Manual V16: Asked by Top Gear whether Bugatti might offer a manual transmission, Mate Rimac said "Absolutely. You bet," and described the Tourbillon as a platform for future derivatives, per Motor1. Nothing is confirmed. The Tourbillon's naturally aspirated 8.3-liter V16 makes 986 hp on its own and revs to 9,000 rpm. On Saturday we reported that Rimac talked VW out of an electric Bugatti and into the V16.
Photo: Bugatti
BYD's Revamped Denza N8 SUV Claims 1,003 km of Electric Range: Denza opened reservations in China for the updated N8, rated at up to 1,003 km (623 miles) of range on China's CLTC cycle, which runs well above EPA figures, with 1,193 hp and BYD's flash charging, per CarNewsChina.
Photo: Denza
Quick links
Tesla Is Offering Turo Hosts a Free Month of FSD: Eligible hosts on the car-sharing platform get a one-month free trial of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), per TechCrunch.
Svolt, Spun Out of Great Wall, Starts Building a Semi-Solid Pack It Says Adds 311 Miles in 12 Minutes: Svolt rolled its first 100-kWh semi-solid packs off the line in Changzhou, China. The 900-volt pack supports 6C charging, and Svolt says it adds 500 km (311 miles) of range in 12 minutes, a company claim with no test conditions given. It says several automakers have picked the pack for upcoming models but has not named them, per ChinaEVHome.
Recalls & legal action
Lexus Recalls 68,356 NX Crossovers Whose Gauges Can Go Blank: An initialization error on the 2022 to 2024 NX's seven-inch digital meter can blank parts of the display at startup, hiding warnings such as oil pressure and coolant temperature, per Autoblog. Dealers will update the software, and owner letters go out from Dec. 7.
Yesterday's picks
Audi Will Build Its Big SUVs in Georgia, but Not Until the Early 2030s: Audi plans to invest about $4 billion in its first U.S. production site, at the Middle Georgia Mega Site, with about 4,500 jobs and capacity for up to 200,000 vehicles a year. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with production starting in the early 2030s, per Audi. The plant does nothing for Audi's tariff bill before the 2030s. Until Georgia opens, at least five years from now, the new Q7 and Q9 will be shipped from Audi's plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, per Motor1.
NHTSA Would Let Self-Driving Cars Show Cyan Lights When Nobody Is Driving: A draft rule released Friday would let automated vehicles carry cyan marker lamps that switch on only while the car is driving itself and switch off when a driver is expected to watch the road, per Electrek. The lamps would be optional, not required. Mercedes proposed the color alongside its Level 3 Drive Pilot system and trialed the lights in California, per the same report. China's version, proposed days earlier, uses turquoise, is also optional on Level 3 and higher systems, and would take effect Jan. 1, 2028, per CnEVPost.
Ford Cut GM's Full-Size Pickup Lead by a Third in the Third Quarter: GM sold 233,229 Silverado and Sierra pickups in the quarter to Ford's 204,007 F-Series, a gap of 29,222 trucks, down from 44,524 in the first quarter and 44,503 in the second, per Autoblog. That is 15,281 fewer than in the second quarter, or 34% of the lead gone in a single quarter. The Sierra did most of the slipping, at 86,590 sales, 9% fewer than in the second quarter, while the Silverado rose 4.4% from a year earlier to 144,984. Ford's Super Duty output reached 110,275, its highest quarter in 19 years, and F-Series production has recovered from last year's fire at Novelis' aluminum plant. GM's redesigned Silverado and Sierra reach dealers before the end of the year, which may have some buyers waiting.
Worth a listen
One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.
Confessions of a Car Spy with Brenda Priddy (Backseat Driver, also at YouTube): Spy photographer Brenda Priddy tells host Mark Stone how a 1992 shot of a camouflaged 1994 Mustang landed on a magazine cover and started 20 years of chasing prototypes, from predicting test routes in Death Valley to keeping six cameras in her car.
Backseat Driver
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