Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Detroit — Exotic and practical, progressive and conservative, modern and traditional. The all-new 2026 Lexus ES has a dual personality: it’s offered in electric and gas models while sporting flashy design for customers shy on the latest tech.

Rolling into Supino’s Pizzeria in Eastern Market to satisfy my appetite for the best Brooklyn pie in town, my electric ES 350e turned heads.

If Lexus has been known for its expressive Spindle grilles, the electric ES’s design (and its hybrid ES 350h doppelganger) is inspired by the Lexus LF concept. Goodbye gaping mouth, hello dark sideburns. It’s a striking evolution from the last-gen Darth Vader fascia, and more pleasant to my eye.

Read full article here.

Leonard Kraud, The Detroit News

Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi rideshare service to include Florida, Texas, and California as it competes with Alphabet’s Waymo, Amazon’s Zoox, and other autonomous rideshare services. But consumers are already buying retail Teslas to self-drive them in cities across the United States.

Senior citizens most notably.

Determined to maintain their individual transportation independence, they are using Tesla’s hands-free Full Self Driving system as a driver assist. Though by no means exclusive to seniors in its ability to add another set of eyes to the road, FSD helps elderly drivers maintain a cocoon around their car as their confidence in reflexes and eyesight naturally deteriorate.

“It’s as good a driver as I am,” said Dick Amacher, 78, a retired General Motors engineer from Rochester Hills who drives his Model Y and Model 3 on FSD 98% of the time. “Here’s the thing: It will not go through a red light. It will not go through a stop sign. Every once in a while, I’ve driven through neighborhoods where stop signs were partially obscured by low-hanging branches, for example … and (the Tesla) sees them before I do.”

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

FOOM! An all-wheel-drive, 1,250-horsepower, hybrid V-8/electric Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X, the most powerful American sportscar ever produced, exploded past the presidential viewing stand, defeating its mere supercar sibling, the rear-wheel-drive, 1,064-horsepower ZR1, by two car lengths in a drag race.

“I hit about 115 (mph) at the viewing stand,” said GM engineer and ZR1X driver Stefan Frick afterwards. “Then backed out of it at about 120.”

If he had kept going past the 1/8-mile makeshift dragway set up on Black Lake, the 67-acre asphalt skid pad at the north end of the Proving Ground’s 4,400 acres, the ZR1X would have hit 233 mph.

“That’s the largest piece of asphalt I’ve ever seen,” said Trump, a car buff with his own large collection, at a rally afterwards. Black Lake has been an engineering test ground for countless performance vehicles.

Ford, Ford

It’s the third stop of four on a U.S. tour that kicked off with a wild, airborne demonstration on San Francisco’s hills last winter. On February 21st at the intersection of Broadway and Divisadero, American off-road racer Mitch Guthrie Jr. raced up Broadway’s 11-degree incline and launched the Raptor T1 at 45 mph off a 5-degree ramp — soaring over the Red Bull F1 car that was performing smokey donuts on Divisadero.

Don’t expect similar jumps in the flat Dearborn terrain off Hubbard Road north of Ford headquarters. But Baja racer Chris Polvoorde ― who takes Guthrie’s seat in the T1+ this weekend ― promises it will still be wild.

“Really excited. Just went and ran (the course) the first time, and it’s really cool,” said the 2025 Baja 1000 overall race winner. “It’s got a mix of super-big areas, high-speed areas, and then some really tight areas that will be good for the crowd. A little nerve-wracking for the drivers … but I think it’s gonna’ be awesome.”

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Memphis ― Is candy food? Is the 2026 Toyota GR Corolla transportation?

Inspired by Toyota’s Gazoo Racing division, the hell-raising hot hatch is a daily sugar high. WAUUUURGH! I nailed the throttle out of my cul-de-sac into the twisties. WAUUUURGH! I nailed it onto the I-75 on-ramp north to Auburn Hills. WAUUUURGH! I stomped on it out of a stoplight onto Telegraph Road. WAUUUURGH! I stomped it out of a turn on M1 Concourse test track.

With an outrageous 100 horsepower per cylinder, the 300-horse GR (that’s pronounced GRRR) is one of the most entertaining cars in the market. All-wheel drive for drifting, front-rear limited-slip differentials, stiff track suspension, stick-shift from the gods.

It’s a go-kart with a license plate. But at nearly $50,000, does my Premium Plus model make any sense as a daily driver?

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit New

Hell — ZOT! Like a greased jellybean, my Mercedes CLA 350 sedan shot onto I-75. Past a line of traffic. Headed to the moon.

Quiet as a mouse.

Nine years after the Tesla Model 3 sedan became an overnight sensation and ushered in a new age of performance electric vehicles, it’s, well … playing second fiddle to the Model Y. Model 3’s SUV doppelganger, introduced in 2019, now outsells the sedan by three-fold in a country ga-ga for utes. From the rugged Rivian R2 to the flashy Mustang Mach-E to the sculpted Hyundai Ioniq 5, automakers are drafting electric Model Y rivals en masse.

The CLA EV (which shares the CLA-Class model lineup with gas/hybrid variants) is one of the few sedans that has dared take on the Model 3.

It does so with trademark luxury, comfort, straight-line speed, style and convenience. Asterisks on style and convenience. Walk up to my $67K, all-wheel-drive CLA (the rear-wheel-drive CLA 250 starts at $48.5K) and you might mistake it for a Hyundai Ioniq 6 — another Model 3 competitor shelved this year (only the coming, estimated-$70K track-focused Ioniq 6 N will remain). Jellybean shape, horizontal rear taillight, ducktail, flush door handles.

Mercedes only comes into focus with its giant star logo planted on a black, plastic grille under a Hyundai Sonta-like monobrow. It’s busy … un-Mercedes like.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Buchanan — World Cup fans are in awe of America’s retail cornucopia: Buc-ee’s, Walmart, Costco, Waffle House, Cheesecake Factory.

Wait until they get a load of the 777-horsepower, 6’ 9” tall 2027 Ram 1500 TRX SRT pickup with 35-inch all-terrain tires, 14-inch suspension travel and 36 inches of digital displays. TRX for T-Rex.

On a rural road in Berrien County, I punched the dash button to initiate Launch Control. Floor the brake pedal. Floor the accelerator pedal. Wait for the tachometer to steady at 3500 RPM. Release the brake.

Release the Kraken.

EERAWRRGGH! The beast exploded down the road, blowing through 60 mph in 3.5 seconds on the way to (speed withheld to preserve my license). Its four paws clawed at the pavement to put down the power of the shrieking, roaring 6.2-liter V-8 under the hood. The sound will send shivers up your spine.

Read full article here.