News

Car and Driver · Jan 9
News
Mugen Already Crafted a Sharp Body Kit for the 2026 Honda Prelude

Mugen's Already Hunting the 2026 Prelude—Carbon Splitter, Forged Wheels, the Usual Suspects

Mugen didn't wait for anyone to take delivery before dropping a body kit for Honda's resurrected Prelude. We're talking carbon-fiber splitter, forged aluminum wheels, and the kind of bolt-on upgrades that turn a good platform into something worth building on. The tuner knows the Prelude faithful will be here day one.

Mugen moving this fast means Honda actually built something that matters. The bean counters at HQ are probably already calculating how many kits they can sell before the hype cools.

by Joel Feder · The Drive · Jan 9
News
How Long Will the Resurrected Ram TRX Stick Around? ‘Call Washington,’ Ram CEO Says

Ram TRX's Hellcat Future Hinges on Washington—Not Performance

Ram's resurrected TRX brings back the 6.2L supercharged V8, but the CEO's non-answer about longevity tells you everything. Regulatory headwinds make this window finite, and they know it. If you're thinking about one, the clock is ticking in ways that have nothing to do with depreciation.

The TRX is a regulatory exemption with an engine bolted to it—enjoy it while EPA policy stays lenient, because this iteration doesn't have a decade in it.

by Matt Nelson · CarBuzz · Jan 9
News
The Twin-Turbocharged V6 Mitsubishi Sport Wagon Was Forbidden Fruit, But Not Anymore

The Lancer Evolution Wagon Was Japan's Middle Finger to Regulations—Now You Can Actually Own One

Mitsubishi's twin-turbo V6 sport wagon never made it stateside, but 25-year import rules have finally cracked the door open. These aren't theoretical anymore—clean examples are filtering into the market, and values are still stupid cheap compared to what they'll be in three years. The real question isn't whether you can import one. It's whether you can find one that hasn't been thrashed.

Japan spent decades building the cars America banned, and now that we can finally have them, we're pretending they don't exist. Classic.

by Brad Anderson · Carscoops · Jan 9
News
Mercedes Gave China’s GLC A Little Extra, And It Shows

Mercedes stretched the GLC for China. Dual motors, longer wheelbase, more range.

Mercedes isn't shy about market-specific variants anymore. The GLC 350 L adds a significant wheelbase stretch and dual-motor setup for the Chinese market, with an extended-range battery that pushes claimed range into the 500+ km territory. It's the kind of pragmatic engineering that happens when you actually care about what a region wants instead of shipping the same car everywhere.

Mercedes figured out what Chinese buyers actually value—rear legroom and EV range—before the marketing team could make it a whole thing.

by Justin Hughes · Jalopnik · Jan 9
News
Subaru Gives Us World Rally Blue Balls With Yet Another Half-Baked STI Revival

Subaru's STI Sport# is just the WRX tS with extra marketing

Subaru's refusing to bring the new WRX STI Sport# to the U.S. market, but enthusiasts shouldn't lose sleep—we're already getting functionally the same car as the WRX tS. It's the same story every generation: Subaru teases something, then settles for a half-measure that leaves everyone wondering what could've been.

Subaru's regional segmentation theater doesn't hide the fact that the STI nameplate has become a trim package, not a philosophy.

by Andrew P. Collins · The Drive · Jan 9
News
The Acura NSX Is Back From the Dead With an Official, Ultra-Limited Redesign

Italdesign's NSX Continuation Is a Nostalgia Play Disguised as Innovation

Italdesign—the coachbuilder behind the second-gen NSX's design—is building a handful of bespoke continuation cars that cherry-pick the best of the 2016-2022 platform. It's officially sanctioned by Acura, but positioning ultra-limited restomod culture as a redesign feels like marketing leverage over substance.

Calling a continuation car a 'redesign' is the kind of bean-counter language that tells you everything: Acura knows the new NSX lost the plot, so they're selling the old one back to you at continuation prices.

Road & Track · Jan 9
News
Honda Prelude Mugen Spec.III Is a Sports Coupe for the True Mugen Fans

Mugen Spec.III Prelude: When the Tuner Knew Better Than the Factory

Mugen's third-generation Prelude kit arrived when Honda was already phoning it in—aggressive aero, forged internals, and suspension geometry that made the BB1/BB2 chassis actually handle like engineers intended. This isn't nostalgia bait; it's what the car should've been from the factory.

The Prelude Mugen kits are finally getting recognized as the real deal—values climbing because people realize Honda's own performance division understood the platform better than the suits ever did.

by Sean Tucker · Kelley Blue Book · Jan 9
News
GMC Recalls Canyon AT4X AEV Over Airbag Problem

GMC Canyon AT4X AEV Airbag Recall: 1,120 Units Affected

GMC is recalling 1,120 Canyon AT4X AEV pickups over airbags that could deploy with excessive force—a safety issue that affects the off-road focused variant. The recall covers a specific production window and requires dealer service to recalibrate or replace affected units. If you own one of these, check your VIN against the NHTSA database.

Recalls happen, but the AT4X AEV was supposed to be the truck that sweats the details. This one stings a little.

by Stephen Rivers · Carscoops · Jan 9
News
Family Wants Cybertruck Off The Roads After Teen Killed In Hit-and-Run

Cybertruck's Design Under Fire After Fatal Hit-and-Run—Safety Questions Resurface

A Connecticut family is calling for design accountability following a teen's death in a Cybertruck collision, reigniting debate over the vehicle's angular steel exoskeleton and visibility limitations. The incident adds weight to EU safety concerns that already restrict the truck's sale in Europe. Whether this sparks genuine regulatory scrutiny or becomes another flash-point in EV culture wars remains unclear.

The Cybertruck's design choices—angular panels, minimal overhang visibility, exoskeleton construction—were always a tradeoff between form and function. Tragedy doesn't retroactively make the engineering wrong, but it does expose Tesla's willingness to push safety boundaries for aesthetics.

Road & Track · Jan 9
News
The Toyota GR Yaris Morizo RR Is an Auto-Only Special Edition Hot Hatch

Toyota GR Yaris Morizo RR: 1 of 100 with suspension work and a wing, still no manual

The Morizo RR gets exclusive KW coilovers, a carbon fiber wing, and a tuned AWD system calibration—basically Toyota's attempt to justify a limited run. Problem is, it's automatic-only in a segment where manual matters, and only 100 exist. Values will climb, but it's hard to get excited about a hot hatch that won't let you row your own gears.

Toyota built a 1-of-100 special edition to flex on tuners, then removed the one thing that would've made it actually special.

by Gilbert Smith · CarBuzz · Jan 9
News
The Lincoln Corsair Is The Cheapest, Most Reliable American Luxury Car From 2021 To Own

Lincoln Corsair: The Accountant's American Luxury Play

Lincoln finally got something right—the 2021+ Corsair costs less to own and fix than its German competition. The Corsair uses proven Ford modular architecture (CD5 platform) and simpler, more accessible drivetrains. In a market where luxury depreciation is brutal, this thing actually holds value because it doesn't pretend to be something it isn't.

Lincoln stopped chasing BMW and just built a reliable luxury crossover. That's the move everyone else forgot—which is exactly why it works.

by Brad Anderson · Carscoops · Jan 9
News
VW Built A Bigger ID SUV Than The X7 And You Can’t Have It

VW's Era 9X EREV Makes X7 Look Small—China Only, So That's That

Volkswagen just dropped a 600-mile extended-range EV in China that dwarfs the BMW X7, but Western markets won't see it. The dual-motor EREV setup is clever engineering, but it's a reminder that EV strategy is still geography-locked despite all the talk of global platforms.

VW builds the bigger, more practical EV and keeps it hostage in one market. This is why the ID.Buzz feels like a compromise—bean counters won.

Road & Track · Jan 9
News
This Suzuki Twin 'Pocket Bunny' Widebody Kit Turns the Kei Car Into a Bite-Sized R32 GT-R

Pandem Rocket Bunny Turns Suzuki Twin into R32 GT-R Homage—Widebody Kei Car Done Right

Takahashi Ju and Pandem Rocket Bunny took a Suzuki Twin and wrapped it in a full widebody kit that reads like a shrunken, turbo-hungry R32 GT-R. The setup includes a genuine aero package with functional ducting, not the usual mall-crawler bolt-ons. This is what happens when builders respect scale and proportion instead of just bolting parts on.

Kei car modding has gone from joke to craft—when Rocket Bunny touches something, the execution matters more than the engine size.

by Hank O'Hop · HotCars · Jan 9
News
10 Sports Cars That Are More Reliable Than You've Been Led To Believe

The Reliability Reputation Trap: 10 Sports Cars Unfairly Blacklisted

Certain chassis have taken undeserved reputation hits—often from one viral failure or marketing narrative that stuck. A 997 Turbo isn't the IMS bearing timebomb people think. A clean example with service records is arguably more solid than the internet would have you believe.

Internet consensus on sports car reliability is usually written by people who read forums instead of turning a wrench.

by Henry Cesari · MotorBiscuit · Jan 9
News
Florida Dealership Charged $29,730 for Jeep It Didn’t Actually Own

Florida Dealer Sold a Grand Cherokee SRT It Didn't Own—Buyer Left Holding the Loan

A dealership in Florida pulled off the kind of hustle that should've died with Craigslist scams: sold a Grand Cherokee SRT, pocketed nearly $30K, then demanded the car back when the actual owner showed up. The buyer's stuck with a loan on a vehicle they can't legally keep—a masterclass in why you verify title before signing anything.

This is what happens when someone figures out the dealership sales process has more gaps than a 20-year-old Jeep's rust spots.

by Sean Tucker · Kelley Blue Book · Jan 9
News
Chrysler, Jeep Parent Cancels All Plug-in Hybrids

Stellantis Kills the PHEV—Extended-Range EVs Are the Play Now

Chrysler and Jeep are ditching plug-in hybrids entirely. Stellantis sees the writing on the wall: PHEVs were a hedge bet, and the market's moving to purpose-built electric architecture instead. Extended-range EVs—think serial hybrid powertrains—are coming to fill the gap for buyers who need range without the complexity.

PHEVs were always a compromise car for people who couldn't commit. Turns out nobody wants the worst of both worlds when EVs are finally getting real range.

by Christopher Bruce · CarBuzz · Jan 9
News
Refreshed 2027 Nissan Z Debuts With New Nose At Tokyo Auto Salon

2027 Nissan Z Nismo Gets GT-R Brakes, Suspension Tweaks—Still Chasing Relevance

Nissan's refreshing the Z again, this time bolting GT-R stoppers and revised suspension geometry onto the Nismo variant. It's the kind of mid-cycle shuffle that signals a platform running out of evolutionary tricks. Whether cosmetic nose work and borrowed performance hardware moves the needle on a car that's already lost momentum is the real question.

When you're borrowing brake packages from your halo car, you're admitting the original platform doesn't cut it anymore.

Road & Track · Jan 9
News
The ARTA GT FL5 Is a Honda Civic Type R By Autobacs

ARTA's FL5 Type R Kit: When Autobacs Decides to Build Your Civic

ARTA, Autobacs' in-house tuning arm, is dropping 20 FL5 Type R kits at Tokyo Auto Salon—full aero, suspension work, and engine tweaks. This is what happens when a parts empire gets tired of selling bolt-ons and actually engineers something. It's the kind of move that matters in Japan but barely registers stateside.

Twenty units of purpose-built Type R work from a tuner that actually knows what they're doing. That's not a kit launch—that's a flex for people who know the difference between Autobacs as a parts store and Autobacs as an engineering shop.

by Allison Barfield · MotorBiscuit · Jan 9
News
Discontinued: Stellantis Pulls Plug on EVERY 4xe Model

Stellantis Kills Every 4xe in America—Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, Everything

Stellantis just yanked the plug on its entire PHEV lineup stateside, which means no more Wrangler 4xe or Grand Cherokee 4xe. The move signals either a strategic pivot or admission that the 4xe formula wasn't moving the needle against battery costs and consumer skepticism. Market context: used 4xe values just got complicated.

When a manufacturer discontinues an entire drivetrain family instead of iterating it, that's not a product cycle—that's a white flag on electrification strategy.

by Allison Barfield · Motor Biscuit · Jan 9
News
Discontinued: Stellantis Pulls Plug on EVERY 4xe Model

Stellantis Kills the 4xe Lineup in America—PHEVs Dead on Arrival

Every plug-in hybrid from Stellantis—Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Grand Cherokee 4xe, and the rest—is getting axed stateside. The company's betting the house on full EVs instead, which means anyone holding out for a 4xe just lost their chance. Turns out the PHEV experiment was always the bridge nobody wanted to cross.

The 4xe was Stellantis' hedge bet, and it lost. They're abandoning the middle ground because it doesn't move the needle on their EV targets or margin sheets.

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