Henry Payne, The Detroit News

TUCSON, ARIZONA — The Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson look like something out of a Coyote vs. Road Runner episode: orange colors, giant boulders parched on rock spires, twisted roads. Beep, beep!

I stomped on the throttle of my ride with my size 15s and the V-8 roared. Hard into a downhill S-turn, the adaptive dampers stiffened to reduce body roll. I flicked my steed left, then right, then went hard on the brakes before exiting the turn on full throttle. Exiting the state park into Tucson’s suburbs, I engaged hands-free driving and let my leather-lathered chariot drive me through thickening weekday traffic.

“Hey, Gemini, change driver temperature to 70 degrees,” I barked to the 16-inch digital display.

Was I driving a Mercedes? Cadillac? Tesla Model S?

Nope. I was behind the wheel of the 2027 Chevy Silverado 1500 truck, the new standard for American luxury.

With up to 60 inches of digital displays in front, tasteful interior materials, and more rear-seat room than a limousine, pickup trucks like Silverado have been slowly encroaching on the traditional luxury market for years.

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Southfield — The autonomous rideshare wars are heating up just in time for the cold Michigan winter.

A fleet of gold, butterfly-door Tesla Cybercabs has joined Waymo driverless vehicles in Detroit, expanding the competitive playing field from Austin, Texas, to Michigan’s more complicated, multi-season environment. Two dozen Cybercabs are operating out of Tesla Inc.’s Southfield collision repair facility on 12 Mile and have been seen on major roads, including I-696, M-10, Telegraph and Eight Mile.

The distinctive, electric Cybercabs have test drivers using temporary steering wheels. The two-seat Cybercab is designed to have no steering wheel once the service becomes fully operational.

Cybercab is part of Tesla’s larger Robotaxi ridesharing service that also uses Model Y electric vehicles. Cybercab is currently only accessible to the public in Austin; the Robotaxi service operates with Model Ys in Tampa and Miami in Florida and Austin, Dallas and Houston in Texas, with plans to expand. Cybercabs have been spotted at Miami International Airport and outside Philadelphia, according to teslarati.com.

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Richmond, Michigan — America’s’ most versatile, three-row vehicle finally has an exterior to match its interior talents.

The 2027 Chrysler Pacifica minivan has a new face, and it’s a looker.

Designed by Tajikistan immigrant Irina Zavatski, the original 2017 Pacifica redefined the dowdy minivan segment. Then the minivan took an unfortunate detour to boring in 2021 with an ill-advised nose job. For ‘27, Chrysler is back on the cutting edge.

Behold its embrace of modern lighting tech with headlights moved mid-fascia — freeing designers to frame the front end with a dazzling LED signature that would make a Caddy proud. The rear end? Stylish as ever with a sci-fi rear window (now underlined by a red, horizontal taillight) right out of a Blade Runner movie.

Gone for the 2027 model year is the entry-level Voyager minivan (with throwback 2017 design and only offered in front-wheel-drive), now rebadged as a Pacifica LX staring at $43,590. Confusing, I know. The remade Pacifica is offered in Select, Limited and Pinnacle trims starting at $45,460 and my Select, black-trimmed, red all-wheel-drive model (wrapped in patriotic 250^th American birthday stars) is the one to have.

Pacifica, strut your stuff.

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

At the end of the third quarter, the 2026 Auto Sales Super Bowl is full of story lines.

Entering the fourth, sales are off 2% from a year ago but Cox Automotive sees strength and predicts 2026 will come out ahead 2%, to 16.1 million units. This despite devastation in the electric-vehicle market, which is off 30% from a year ago.

Average gas prices are up 40%, but that couldn’t overcome the absence of $7,500 federal EV subsidies and California sales mandates. EV sales now account for just 6.4% of new vehicle sales versus a record 10% a year ago as buyers rushed to buy EVs before the government gravy ended. The beneficiary of high gas prices appears to be gas-electric hybrid vehicles, with sales up 23% year over year. As in 2008, when gas prices first crested $4 a gallon (inflation-adjusted $6.40 today) buyers are looking to fuel-efficient rides.

On a macro level, that means General Motors Co. — which bet on EVs — lost 0.7 percentage points of U.S. market share. That put Toyota — which bet on hybrids — within 129,194 units of becoming America’s sales champ.

Enough of the macro, on to the micro. Here are our Top 10 highlights of Q3 winners and losers:

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Richmond, Virginia — Before Tesla made the flying Roadster or autonomous Robotaxi or sci-fi Cybertruck, there was the three-row Model X.

With Falcon (gull-wing) doors, self-driving software, Model Xmas dance feature, and Ludicrous Mode acceleration, Tesla’s first SUV was a fun, innovative sensation.

And then it was gone.

As Tesla retools to build Optimus robots in its Fremont, California, factory, the OG Model X and sister Model S sedan have handed in their brand halos to the rad Roadster and gold Robotaxi. But X is still X-traordinary.

And cheap. Really cheap. At $145K new in 2017, my top-trim P100D Turo tester has 92,000 miles and can be found on used car sites for just $25K-35K. With a red key fob in my pocket, I walked up to the red Tesla at Richmond International Airport, and the driver’s door swung open to greet me.

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Tesla, Via REUTERS

After the introduction of the second-generation Tesla Roadster prototype in 2017, the world had to wait nine years for the production version.

Tesla didn’t disappoint.

In a typically wild, nerdy stage show, Elon Musk introduced Roadster 2.0 hypercar Thursday night, Oct. 15, showing off signature features including rocket-propelled flight, sub-1.0-second 0-60 mph acceleration, and stick-to-the-wall downforce.

“You’re going to see some crazy stuff tonight,” said Musk before a cheering live audience. “We need an audience to prove that it’s not AI or SI, so you guys can tell people you saw it with your eyes. What you see with your eyes you will not believe. This is the culmination of incredible work by Tesla and SpaceX engineers working closely together to make something that you haven’t seen in any movie. (It’s) better than any James Bond car.”

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Henry Payne, The Detroit News

HELL — Destroying Hell’s twisted roads then cruising topless through Ann Arbor to pick up lunch. Blitzing the back straight at M1 Concourse at 130 mph. Schlepping to the airport on adaptive cruise control in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Just a typical 24 hours in the King of Supercars, the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S.

But it’s not easy being king.

Setting the engineering standard for decades, the 911 model lineup is now under siege from competitors and governments alike. Half-the-price Motown missiles like the mid-engine Corvette C8 and Ford Mustang Dark Horse — armored with lightning-quick transmissions and eyeball-flattening launch control that the 911 made famous — are now playing in the six-figure supercar space along with international makes McLaren 750S, Aston Martin Vantage and Mercedes GT.

On the left flank is the European Union mandating electric vehicles by 2035 with a steady tightening of electrified regulations. The wailing, gas-drinking, flat-6-cylinder 911 engine can’t hide (even as it prays to the Archangel of Synthetic Fuels for rescue).

To beat back this horde of invaders, King Porsche has called on Stuttgart palace engineers to conjure the latest in electronic sorcery.

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Stellantis, © 2026 Stellantis

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.

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