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The Dirty Dozen is complete.

To cap its 85^th anniversary year, Jeep introduced the 2027 Wrangler Switchback on Monday, Oct. 12 — the last of twelve unique builds of the brand’s iconic dirt-kicker. While previous “Twelve 4 Twelve” designs were throwbacks to Wrangler heritage encompassing military vehicles, off-road adventure and retro design, the finale looks forward with Switchback drawing inspiration from modern gaming and digital culture.

Trimmed with eye-burning Gecko accents on the grille, hood, tailgate decal and bead-lock wheel rings, Switchback boasts contrasting hood-and-door colors for a uniquely dissonant take. Like its 11 predecessors, Wrangler Switchback can be ordered through authorized dealers for a limited time. The $2,870 Switchback trim is available in two and four-door versions of the Rubicon X model.

“Twelve 4 Twelve unleashed creativity across the Jeep brand, bringing teams together to reimagine an icon through different perspectives while staying true to what has always defined Wrangler,” said Jeep brand CEO Branden Coté. “Switchback is the perfect finale. It takes Wrangler’s inherent spirit of personalization somewhere unexpected, pairing bold contrasts and interchangeable elements with the legendary 4×4 capability at the heart of every Wrangler.”

The Switchback name echoes modern gaming successes like the Nintendo Switch.

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

“We’ve helped the Pink Fund by doing an open house here for 13 years,” said Lingenfelter, 73, in an interview. “The Pink Fund was established to help patients who have gotten breast cancer cover their expenses while being treated. I lost my sister to breast cancer and watched her go through all the things that she needed to do, so this is near and dear to my heart.”

The Detroit News got a sneak peak of the collection to whet your appetite.

Ferraris, EVs, ‘Vette appetizers

Pink is the only color missing from the rainbow of liveries in the sprawling collection. Purchase a pink sweatshirt from Lingenfelter’s merchandise shop in Bay No. 1 to benefit cancer victims, then jump into the collection. A blood-red 1990 Ferrari Testarossa welcomes you, a shrieking V12 engine asleep amidships.

It is flanked by a 1972 Chevy El Camino converted to electric power (Lingenfelter Engineering has an exclusive contract with GM to convert old vehicles) and wife Kristen Lingenfelter’s wicked, flat-back, 670-horsepower Corvette Z06 SCCA autocross car. Speed runs in the family.

Along the bay’s left wall is a summation of the progress that Covette has made in just one generation between the front-engine C7 and mid-engine C8 Corvette supercar. Both models are top-shelf, rear-wheel-drive, track-focused ZR1s with white skins, black rear wings like scorpion tails, and sticky Michelin tires.

Read full article here.

Ford, Ford

Ford Motor Co. has made it all the way back in Formula One.

Twenty-three years after it last won an F1 race, the Blue Oval was on the top step of the podium in Sepang, Malaysia, on Oct. 4 with its partner, Red Bull. The winningest F1 engine maker of all time with the famed Cosworth DFV from 1967-84, Ford faded from the world’s biggest motorsport in the early 2000s.

The win — with “The Flying Dutchman” Max Verstappen at the wheel — energized Ford’s Dearborn headquarters on Oct. 5, with race highlights playing on video screens and Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, CEO Jim Farley and COO Kumar Galhotra holding a conference call with Ford Racing division employees.

“What a weekend!” wrote Bill Ford on LinkedIn. “Building an entirely new power unit from scratch to compete at the pinnacle of motorsport was an extraordinary challenge. So many talented people worked tirelessly to deliver this result. I hope you all enjoy this moment.”

Read full article here.

Waymo

If you see Chinese cars rolling on Detroit roads without anyone behind the wheel, don’t freak out. It’s a Waymo.

Waymo LLC’s rideshare service began full autonomous testing in Detroit this week without a human specialist at the wheel as the rideshare company inches closer to public service. The Alphabet Inc.-owned company has been a fixture in Metro Detroit since last November with its Chinese-made Zeekr Ojai vehicles plying the roads. Waymo also uses white Jaguar iPace models.

Waymo Product Communications Manager Chris Bonelli said there is still no timeline for the so-called Waymo Driver service deployment in Detroit. But Waymo is testing in the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, including Corktown, Midtown, Hamtramck and Indian Village, with plans to expand. It will publish a map of its service area before it opens rides to the public via its phone app (similar to the Uber app).

Waymo operates in cities from San Francisco to Atlanta. Detroit, along with Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago and Montreal, is one of the first northern cities that Waymo is exploring as it seeks to expand its service to states with variable climates.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Huntsville, Alabama –— The second-generation, 2027 Volkswagen Atlas is big. How big? My 6-foot-5-inch frame and 6-foot-7-inch Atlas Product Manager Jim Burch both fit easily in the third row.

Together.

We make things big in America. Big people, big attractions, big cars. For years, Volkswagen sent too-small, too-expensive German-made vehicles like the Touareg to the U.S. In 2018, VW finally got the memo and produced the Made-in-America, three-row Atlas large SUV. Not just any large SUV, but one of the biggest in class. Big proportions, big interior, big V-6, big value. It sold big, instantly becoming the second-best-selling V-dub in the lineup after — you guessed it — another roomy SUV, the Tiguan.

For its gen-two sequel, Atlas goes even bigger. Complementing its proportions, it gains a bucket-list of tech, premium appointments and standard features.

This thing has every standard feature in the book.

Twin wireless chargers? Check.

Magnets to hold phones in place? Check.

Adaptive cruise control? Check.

Blind-spot assist? Check.

Wood trim? Check.

Read full article here.

GM

Braselton, Georgia — Detroit brands dominated the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar series Petit Le Mans finale over the weekend.

Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske stood atop the podium with its Porsche partner at the end of a wild, crash-marred, 10-hour race. But it was General Motors Co.’s Cadillac GTP and Corvette GTD Pro teams that brought home the manufacturer’s championships in their respective categories.

For Cadillac, the win marked its 11th IMSA title and fifth since its entered the top prototype class in 2017. Cadillac made it a GTP class trifecta by winning the driver’s (Jack Aitken) and team (the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) titles as well.

Pratt Miller Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Catsburg narrowly missed out on the driver’s title, but the manufacturer’s honor marked the 16th time Chevy has taken home the season trophy since the genesis of the Corvette Racing factory program in 1999.

In a Motown showdown, Corvette also defeated Mustang, which entered Petit Le Mans with a shot at the GTD Pro team title.

Read full article here.

LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA, AFP Via Getty Images

Braselton, Georgia — Red Bull Ford Powertrains won its first Formula One race Sunday, Oct. 4, in Sepang, Malaysia, just 16 races into their technical partnership. At Silverstone in England, the Ford Hypercar completed its second track test as the team aims to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since GT40s dominated the French circuit 60 years ago.

And here at Petit Le Mans on Saturday, Oct. 3, two Mustang GT3 race cars (dressed in a special commemorative 1901 tribute livery to 125 years of Ford racing) battled for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar series championship. But that’s still not enough to satisfy Ford’s global racing ambitions.

The Dearborn-based automaker declared over the weekend that it will enter the World Rally Championship for the first time since 2012. The bombshell announcement came as Ford plans to coordinate the WRC car with the launch of five new production models for Europe by 2026.

Read full article here.

Ford

Atlanta — The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar series roars into its season finale at Road Atlanta this weekend featuring the most-compelling mixed-class racing on the planet.

Detroit brands dominate the story lines.

It will be Cadillac vs. Porsche Penske for the title in the premier GTP prototype class. In the production-based GTD Pro class, Motown muscle-car rivals Mustang and Corvette square off for all the marbles. Mustang has unveiled a special livery for the event to celebrate both the 125^th anniversary of Ford racing and the 250^th birthday of the United States. To add to the North American drama, eyes will also be on the Meyer Chank Racing Acura GTP team as Los Angeles-based Honda Racing Corp. shoots for one last win before it exits the series.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA — Before it ditched cars for a lineup of engaging SUVs and trucks like F-150 Raptors, Bronco Sport Sasquatches and Maverick Lobos, Ford made affordable hellions like the Focus RS that you could take big game-hunting with 300-plus turbo-4 horsepower, nimble handling, and drift mode. The Focus RS exited the market in 2018.

It’s been reincarnated in the 2027 Ford Mustang RTR.

Delivered by Formula Drift Racing legend Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his Ready to Rock team, Mustang RTR is the love child of the Focus RS and a Mustang GT. It is a tantalizing, teething, tempestuous, tail-wagging terror.

Over the heaving, 2.0-mile twists-and-turns of Thunderhill West race track (a desert version of Grattan Raceway near Grand Rapids), RTR was, to use Gittin’s favorite term, a fun-haver. In TRACK mode, I crested blind Turn 6 at 90 mph — managing throttle while the turbo stayed spooled up using anti-lag technology from the Ford GT (yeah, that 2016 GT). I stomped the Brembo brakes and flung RTR into Turn 7, a hard, 30-degree hairpin.

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Napa Valley, California — On twisty, tight Sage Canyon Road, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC (for supercharged) is a revelation. With a 795-horsepower, supercharged-V8 boat anchor up front hauling over two tons of mass, my tester should be a heaving, understeering mess turning my hair white.

Instead, I am defying physics.

With magnetic shocks mapping the road, the beast stuck like glue through a series of ess turns. The Predator V-8 devoured straight stretches before massive, 16-inch rotors brought the Ford back to earth, its quad exhaust pipes spitting fire as the cat-quick seven-speed, dual-clutch gearbox downshifted from 4^th to 2^nd. Back to throttle. Remarkable.

Merriam Webster’s defines “dark horse” as a “usually little known contender (such as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing.”

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Watkins Glen, New York — Atop the hills overlooking Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen International Raceway is one of America’s greatest racetracks with a history of hosting everything from Formula One to endurance sportscar to NASCAR races.

But before the dedicated, 3.5-mile track opened in 1956, sportscars raced on an epic, 6.6-mile road course crafted from local public roads. The road course is now a historic landmark — its byways still traversed by daily commuters. Anyone can take laps in their vehicle, which I did on a recent road trip from Detroit.

In a 2026 Mazda CX-70 SUV.

Read full article here.