Analysis · EVs
Ford's $30,000 Fathom Is Really a Home Battery That Happens to Be a Truck
Ford's new home backup hardware only matches Tesla's price. The bargain is the $29,945 truck attached to it, the cheapest home battery on wheels in America.
Section
Analysis
Signed columns on the day's biggest car-industry stories: what happened, why it matters and what to watch next.
Analysis · Pricing
The Canada Tariff Is Really a Tax on RAV4 and CR-V Buyers
If a 50% tariff on Canadian cars arrives January 1, the bill lands on America's best-selling crossovers, and the RAV4 buyer is first in line.
Analysis · Industry
GM Wants to Be a Tech Stock. Its Real Bet Is on Hybrids
GM is pitching itself to Nasdaq as a technology company. The same day, it put $1.25 billion into hybrids at Lansing. Only one of those tells you where it's headed.
Analysis · Safety
JLR's Real Recall Problem Isn't the Range Rover Camera. It's Recalling Before the Fix
Land Rover's 93,997-vehicle camera recall is minor. What isn't: half the vehicles JLR recalled in the U.S. this year came with a warning letter instead of a repair.
Analysis · Pricing
Mazda Froze the CX-5's $29,990 Price. Everything Above It Went Up
The base CX-5 still costs $29,990, but every trim people buy got pricier, and Mazda's own price sheet points to the US-built CX-50 Hybrid.
Analysis · Industry
Audi's First U.S. Plant Can Build More SUVs Than Audi Sells in America
Audi's first U.S. plant can build more SUVs than Audi sells in America. That makes it a growth bet, not a tariff fix, and sales point the wrong way.
Analysis · Safety
One Rating Keeps the 2026 RAV4 From IIHS's Top Award: The Back Seat
The 2026 RAV4 lost IIHS's top award on rear seat belts, not its body. Hyundai and Nissan fixed the same problem with running changes. Toyota hasn't said whether it will.
Analysis · Policy
Cyan Lights Are the Distraction. NHTSA Is Rewriting the Rules for Cars With No Wheel
The optional cyan lamps get the headlines. The same proposal is NHTSA's sixth rewrite this year for cars without wheels or pedals, easing them out of a capped exemption.
Analysis · Tesla
Tesla Is Running the Cybertruck for Margin, Not Volume. Australia Paid First
Right-hand drive is the excuse. Raising prices into falling US demand while refunding seven-year-old deposits says Tesla now manages the Cybertruck for cash, not growth.
Analysis · Pricing
America's New-Car Market Now Runs on Stock Portfolios, Not Paychecks
A Fed hike barely moves a car payment. The buyers holding new-car prices near a record pay from portfolios, which makes Wall Street, not interest rates, the market's real risk.
Analysis · Volvo
Volvo Lost China on Price. Washington Took Apart Its American Plan
China cost Volvo its sales. Washington cost it the plan: a CAFE credit write-down, lost EV incentives, tariffs and an underused US plant that now has to carry the fix.
Analysis · Pricing
GM Promises an Affordable C9 Corvette. The C8 Already Delivered One
Adjusted for inflation, the 2027 Stingray costs about 7% less than the C8 did in 2020. GM's real C9 promise is to keep that floor while the ladder climbs.
Analysis · EVs
Ferrari's First EV Isn't $80,000 Cheaper. It's a Test of What the Badge Is Worth
The $80,000 "discount" is Italian VAT, and the US premium is mostly tariffs. The real story is an electric Ferrari priced $122,190 above the V12 Purosangue.
Analysis · Pricing
The 2027 Subaru Outback Got Cheaper. Here's the Uncomfortable Reason Why
Subaru isn't defying inflation. It is refunding part of a 2026 price hike buyers refused, and the cuts land exactly where the new SUV-shaped Outback lost them.
Analysis · Safety
Every Land Cruiser Hybrid Toyota Sold Is Recalled, and Owners Saw It Coming
The fix for 105,794 Land Cruisers is a clamp. The worrying part is that owners reported the failure in January and NHTSA's defect office shaped the recall.
Analysis · EVs
Rivian Is America's No. 2 EV Brand. Delivery Vans Did Most of the Work
Rivian's jump to second place is a fleet story: vans supplied 97% of its growth, while sales of its consumer models rose just 2%.
Analysis · Tesla
Tesla's Q3 Numbers Are the Real Case for a SpaceX Merger
Tesla's cars won back their margin in the third quarter. The company spent it on AI, and the merger vote Musk described counts his own shares.
Analysis · Safety
Ford's F-Series Speedometer Recall Took 20 Months. The Fix Takes Two More.
The first complaint about stuck F-Series speedometers reached Ford in January 2025. The recall came 20 months later, and the fix won't arrive before December.
Analysis · Pricing
Lexus and Kia Didn't Raise Prices. They Removed the Cheap Seats
Both brands sold their 2027 changes as electrification. The real story is that the cheapest version of each car is gone, a price increase by subtraction.
Analysis · Industry
GM's Profit More Than Doubled. Look Closer: Truck Buyers Are Paying
GM's third-quarter profit jump is mostly a missing EV write-off. The real growth came from pickup margins, and the 2027 Silverado's higher prices are what the $20 billion buyback rests on.
