It’s forbidden fruit in America, but Lexus is working on a more extreme version of the already-racy LBX Morizo RR. New spy shots gathered by the Autoblog spies have captured a pre-production LBX Morizo RR prototype testing at the Nürburgring in Germany, and while camouflage is meant to throw us off the scent, it’s the camouflage that draws our attention to a new addition. Besides the bumpers, rocker panels, and roof spoiler, this development mule has also had vinyl applied to its roof. The covering isn’t hiding a panoramic glass roof, as engineers tend to leave these exposed to measure cabin temperatures and UV levels. Instead, the LBX Morizo RR seems to be hiding a lightweight carbon fiber roof.

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The existing Lexus LBX Morizo RR takes its name from Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, who raced under the pseudonym ‘Morizo,’ and he was instrumental in creating the Toyota GR Yaris and GR Corolla from which this hot Lexus crossover draws. Under the hood is a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder making 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft, figures familiar to the GR Corolla. And now, like the Gazoo Racing hot hatches, it appears that the LBX Morizo RR is gaining access to a lighter roof, but Lexus isn’t stopping there. Our spies report that the bumper has been spotted with a small piece of vinyl camo missing, revealing a carbon fiber finish underneath, specifically around the license plate area. That suggests that the entire rear bumper, including its vented diffuser panel, will be made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, just like the roof and, presumably, its spoiler. Since the front end is also concealed, we can only assume the composite material may be used on both ends, and possibly even the other camouflaged areas. It seems Lexus is preparing a more lightweight, extreme version of the LBX, and if so, suspension, steering, and braking tweaks may also be in development.

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This Lexus LBX sighting doesn’t matter much to Americans because the crossover isn’t sold here in any form, but it’s important for the Lexus brand. The marque is currently working on a Morizo RR version of the RX SUV, which is sold in the U.S. and other markets, and increasing the number of performance-oriented Lexus models on offer helps each market the other. Toyota has been developing exciting new engines that would suit both this LBX and the GR Corolla, as well as bigger units with the grunt needed for a larger performance SUV, a mid-engine sports car, and more. As this performance portfolio expands, so will Lexus’ opportunities to keep growing.

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One-off Bugatti Veyrons don’t usually end up sitting in showrooms with no buyers in sight, but this one did. Built by Oakley Design, and tuned to 1,200 horsepower, with a lighter carbon body, and a very loud paint job, this was a well-documented one-off Veyron that no one wanted — for good reason. It was in the back of a Dubai showroom with a non-start fault and a gearbox that would only work occasionally. And while nobody local would touch it, Armstrong had seen this exact problem before, on his own Veyron, so he flew out, poked around for twenty minutes, and bought it anyway. Total spend, roughly $1.3 million once shipping and import duty were added in. Confidence is a currency too, and Mat Armstrong has plenty.

Before the car even left Dubai, the company tasked with prepping it for the flight recognised the Bugatti from Mat Armstrong‘s own YouTube channel, where he’d previously diagnosed the exact same fuel hose failure on his first Veyron. They swapped the hoses themselves, for free, based purely on a video. That is the right to repair working exactly as it should, information moving where the manufacturer refused to. 

Mat Armstrong/YouTube

Unfortunately their fix used the wrong hose clamps, so the car died again within minutes of arriving in the UK. Armstrong redid the job properly this time, using submersible fuel hose he had lying around from a previous fix. The individual fixes were almost comically cheap by Bugatti standards: an $14 ignition switch from a Volkswagen Transporter, hood struts from a Tiguan, a $4 resistor and a handful of other inexpensive parts brought his repair spend to roughly $54.

With the electronics sorted and the original wheels refitted, Armstrong drove the Veyron to luxury and exotic car dealer Tom Hartley for a reality check. Hartley knew the car’s history going back to 2006 and confirmed there was no accident record hiding underneath the drama. Hartley’s valuation came in at £1.5 million, or roughly $2 million, inline with Classic.com values for the Veyron, giving Armstrong a theoretical margin of around $600,000 over his all-in investment. 

That’s a great margin for a car even the dealer didn’t want to sell in case it ruined his reputation. Armstrong hasn’t decided whether to keep the Veyron, sell it or simply sit on it as the market moves. But with a garage that now includes two Bugattis that were bought and fixed on the cheap, he’s a winner either way. 

The XC40 is technically not Volvo’s cheapest model in the US — the EX30 undercuts it by roughly $1,000 — but it remains the brand’s most affordable gas-powered SUV and its third-best-selling nameplate here, a track record stretching back to 2018. A refresh for 2027 was overdue, and Volvo has delivered a fairly conservative one rather than a full redesign.

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Exterior updates on Volvo’s XC40 center on new “Thor’s Hammer” LED headlight graphics that now stretch from the fascia’s edges into the grille, a resculpted tailgate with more pronounced horizontal creases, and a tweaked brake light graphic. Inside, the infotainment screen grows from 9 to 11.2 inches and now protrudes from the dash rather than sitting flush within it, still running Google-based software with Gemini added for better natural-language requests. The bigger news is on the safety side: Volvo overhauled the XC40’s entire sensor suite to match the rest of its lineup, replacing the front and rear radars, front camera, and parking cameras, while adding 12 new ultrasonic sensors — enough new hardware to enable a Door Opening Alert feature, a proper 3D 360-degree camera view, and a Pilot Assist system now capable of handling lane changes on its own.

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Volvo’s press release covering all of this never once mentions the EX40, the all-electric version of the XC40 formerly sold as the XC40 Recharge. That omission lines up with an Automotive News report claiming the EX40 won’t return, and Autoblog’s own reporting confirms why: Volvo’s already planning a replacement, the EX50, arriving in fall 2027 and built on the newer SPA3 platform shared with the EX60 rather than the aging CMA platform underpinning both the current EX40 and gas XC40.

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The EX50 is expected to price in the high-$40,000 range, undercutting the current EX40’s $56,545 starting point by a wide margin, while likely beating its 296-mile maximum range thanks to the SPA3 platform’s 800-volt electrical architecture. It’s a sensible move for a brand that’s posted steep US sales declines this year and is leaning hard on newer, more efficient platforms to turn that around. Volvo hasn’t announced 2027 XC40 pricing yet — the outgoing 2026 model starts at $41,295 delivered — with the refreshed version reaching customers in early 2027, powered by the same 2.0-liter mild hybrid turbo-four making 197 hp in front-drive form or 247 hp with all-wheel drive.

Hyundai’s relatively recent Crater and Boulder concepts indicate that the brand wants to look, feel, and be tougher in the SUV space, and redesigns to create boxier vehicles are already being spied on the road. But there’s much more still to come, reports Australian publication Drive, which spoke with Hyundai’s general manager of product planning in the Oceanic country, Jonathan Lam. According to him, Hyundai is working towards making rugged XRT variants so ubiquitous that the three-letter badge becomes a sub-brand of its own. In other words, more XRT and XRT Pro models are in the pipeline.

Hyundai

“We’re considering factory-built XRT Pros or XRTs across basically any model across a range,” said Lam. “Whilst we can’t confirm what will be available globally from factory, we’re going to take a very close look at it.” Obviously, the aforementioned concepts preview the long-term direction that rugged XRT models could take, becoming more extreme than ever before, but Hyundai will also be happy to increase XRT brand awareness through more subtle means, as evidenced by the 2027 Tucson XRT, which looks more refined than the off-road-biased badge indicates. We’ve also already seen XRT variants of the Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, and Ioniq 5, the latter of which is an EV, so Hyundai isn’t too precious about where the badge goes, as long as it’s accompanied by a certain level of off-road substance. Adding body cladding, raised suspension, and all-terrain tires, plus maybe some new drive modes, isn’t too resource-intensive a play. This gives Hyundai more data from which to draw in its market evaluations, teaching the brand what buyers worldwide, including in the U.S., expect when they step into a slightly more capable crossover or SUV.

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Hyundai appears to be pacing its off-road ambitions, exploring which models that have not yet been made more capable should be considered for inclusion in the XRT lineup, but it’s easy to tell what’s already been approved; spy shots from Korea indicate the Kona will be the next to benefit. That’s the smallest crossover in Hyundai’s U.S. lineup after the Venue, which may be too small for XRT upgrades. At the opposite end of the lineup, the all-electric Ioniq 9 three-row SUV also hasn’t received an XRT trim yet, but we’ve seen development mules. These will pave the way for the future of XRT, which, if successful, may someday get standalone off-road models inspired by those concepts we mentioned earlier and aimed directly at the likes of the Jeep Wrangler.

For days after I returned home from Texas, I could still hear the roar of the hypercars whenever I closed my eyes. From Genesis Magma Racing’s hospitality loft above the pit lane at Circuit of the Americas, each pass down the front straight sent the sound of a field full of high-strung engines through the floor, into my stomach, and seemingly straight through my soul. Long after the six-hour race ended, those sounds continued to play in my head on repeat. A certain number stuck with me, too: seven.

Seventh place doesn’t sound like all that much to get excited about. There’s no sparkling trophy, no spray of champagne, nor a permanent spot in a manufacturer’s highlight reel. But for Genesis Magma Racing, finishing seventh at this year’s Lone Star Le Mans represented something considerably more meaningful. It was the young team’s best FIA World Endurance Championship result yet, achieved in its first North American race and in Genesis’s most important market outside South Korea. The result provided the clearest evidence so far that Genesis has moved beyond simply talking about its motorsport ambitions—it’s finally beginning to earn them.

Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography

The No. 17 GMR-001 Hypercar, driven by Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert, and André Lotterer, began the weekend with phenomenal pace. Both Genesis entries reached Hyperpole for the first time under WEC’s regular qualifying format, and Lotterer moved from eighth to fifth during the opening lap of the race. But his charge didn’t remain tidy for long. An attempted move for third ended in contact with Ferrari and a spin, dropping the No. 17 to the back of the Hypercar field and adding a five-second penalty. What could have been an otherwise forgettable and horrendously humid afternoon instead became a display of measured recovery amid changing conditions, heavy traffic, and suffocating Texas heat. Pipo Derani himself described the car as “the sauna.”

A mid-race safety car helped restore the team’s chances, while a later virtual safety car gave Genesis an opportunity to gamble on changing only the left-side tires. Jaubert took over for the final stint and fought more experienced rivals, eventually moving into eighth before a penalty for the No. 12 Cadillac elevated Genesis to seventh. Ferrari ultimately won, followed by Cadillac and Alpine. Genesis finished behind Toyota but ahead of BMW, a second Cadillac, and Peugeot. Its No. 19 sister car placed 15th, but both GMR-001s completed the race on the lead lap without suffering a mechanical problem during any session of the weekend.

Cole Attisha

Genesis is racing against manufacturers that have accumulated decades of endurance experience, institutional knowledge, and championship hardware. Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, Alpine, Peugeot, and Aston Martin didn’t show up in this arena needing a tutorial. Even their newest race cars are supported by organizations that already know how to survive six, 12, or 24 hours of competition. Genesis Magma Racing, on the other hand, began with a blank slate. The operation comprises roughly 75 people representing 16 nationalities, working between its race base in Le Castellet, France, and Hyundai Motorsport facilities in Germany. Its first competitive WEC weekend took place at Imola in April 2026. Just one race later, the No. 17 scored the team’s first points by finishing eighth at Spa-Francorchamps.

COTA improved that benchmark by one position, but the more important progress was less obvious. Both cars made Hyperpole, both ran without mechanical trouble, and both finished on the lead lap. Those were explicit targets for the program before the season began, and Genesis achieved all of them at the same event. This doesn’t mean the team is ready to declare victory—it still committed the kinds of errors that turn podium pace into a recovery drive, and team members were candid about the discipline required to compete at this level. What impressed me in the garage was how comfortably its people balanced confidence with humility. From the outside, I would never have guessed how recently the team had been assembled. Inside, nobody behaved as though they hadn’t fully comprehended the challenges that lie ahead of them.

Cole Attisha

The weekend at COTA felt like the next chapter of a story I had first encountered last November. At Genesis’s 10th-anniversary celebration near Marseille, the brand presented the production GV60 Magma, a fleet of spectacular concepts, and a mid-engine Magma GT intended to support future GT3 ambitions. I left France convinced that Genesis was serious about becoming more emotional and performance-focused, but I also acknowledged that revealing ambitious cars is easier than establishing a motorsport pedigree.

At Paul Ricard, I experienced what Magma feels like from the passenger seat of a GV60, driven at full attack by Derani. In Austin, I watched Derani, Lotterer, and Jaubert turn that promise into championship points in a racing car developed from scratch. A manufacturer can control nearly every element of a concept-car reveal, from lighting and music to timing and temperature, but motorsport is not such a neatly cooperative setting. Competitors interfere, rain clouds appear, drivers make mistakes, components fail, and strategies unravel in public. That unpredictability is precisely what makes racing useful to a young luxury brand: credibility can’t be choreographed.

Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography

South Korea remains Genesis’s largest market, but the United States has become its largest and most strategically important market outside its home country. Genesis Motor America delivered a record 82,331 vehicles in 2025, up 10% year over year, after several consecutive years of growth. It then recorded its strongest American first half in 2026 with 39,088 sales, led primarily by the GV70 and GV80 SUVs.

Genesis is backing that growth with an unusually aggressive North American plan. The brand intends to launch 22 new or substantially updated vehicles in the U.S. and Canada between 2026 and 2030, encompassing new models, powertrains, and derivatives. The recently unveiled GV90 will establish a new flagship, while the GV60 Magma will soon give North American buyers their first production taste of Genesis’s high-performance sub-brand. Hyundai Motor’s 2025 results demonstrate why this region is so critical.

That all meant COTA was more than just another stop on the WEC calendar. It was a public demonstration of Genesis’s newest identity before executives, investors, journalists, and American racing fans. The company is also evaluating the possibility of competing in IMSA, although no updated commitment or timetable was confirmed during the weekend. An American sports-car program would bring the GMR-001—or a successor—to more North American circuits and place the Magma name in front of the people Genesis most wants to reach.

Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography

Genesis executives resist assigning one narrow objective to racing. The program is not presented solely as a laboratory for road-car technology, a marketing exercise, or an attempt to collect trophies. Instead, motorsport is supposed to help define the brand through its three central pillars: design, technology, and hospitality.

Design is represented by “Athletic Elegance,” translated into the GMR-001’s unmistakable Two-Line lighting, low-slung bodywork, and Korean visual identity. Technology is supposed to feel effortless, even when the engineering behind it is anything but. Hospitality draws from the Korean concept of Son-Nim, treating each customer as an honored guest. I saw all three at COTA. The Hypercar was among the most attractive machines on the grid. Its mechanics and engineers made an enormously complex operation appear calm and controlled. Above the garage, the hospitality team maintained the same attentiveness that Genesis brings to its showrooms and cultural spaces.

The strategy extends well beyond racing. Genesis has spent years building awareness through the Genesis Invitational golf tournament, its TGL partnership, and Genesis House in New York. Magma Racing, Genesis Design California, and the new GV90 represent a more ambitious phase: the brand is no longer introducing itself so much as defining what it wants to become.

Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography

Immediately after the race, Lotterer and Derani came upstairs to the hospitality loft to be fitted for their very own Stetson hats, and the scene captured the team’s mood better than any formal debrief could. Everyone understood that seventh was not the ultimate objective, but nobody pretended it was insignificant. The smiles were genuine because progress in a first season must be measured before it can be celebrated with trophies.

Genesis has already demonstrated pace. It has scored points twice, survived the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and completed its American debut with both cars on the lead lap. What comes next will be even more challenging: eliminating the penalties, procedural errors, and small lapses that established teams punish without mercy. Seventh place doesn’t make Genesis Magma Racing a dominant force. But it does establish that the program has earned its place in the fiery crucible of endurance motorsport. At the brand’s first race in its most important overseas market, that was a result worth hearing—and one whose sound has stayed with me ever since.

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Petroleum futures soared this week as the Iran War appeared to be escalating again. The benchmark Brent Crude surged past $100 a barrel which, in turn, pushed up prices at U.S. pumps – with still more increases set to follow.

The typical American motorist is now paying $4.2245 for a gallon of self-serve regular, according to GasBuddy.com, compared with $4.1203 a week ago. And Pres. Donald Trump, getting ready to head to Texas for the Republican midterm convention, warned that “it’s going to take longer than the midterm” before prices start to drop.

Drivers can expect to spend hundreds of dollars more this year on gasoline, but the real concern is what’s happening with another fuel. Diesel prices set a new record last week, at $5.8500, reported AAA, jumping to $5.9424 by Wednesday evening. While relatively few U.S. motorists today require diesel, the fuel is used to move 76% of American freight, powering everything from semi-trucks to diesel locomotives, ocean freighters to river barges. And, according to the experts, we can expect “an inflationary pulse” to course through the entire economy in the weeks and months ahead.

Crude oil prices have soared since the bombs started falling on Tehran on February 28, climbing from $70.73 to a Wednesday close of $101.21 per barrel. But “Global prices of all main refined products have increased more than crude prices,” according to a research note from Goldman Sachs. Gas cost $2.98 a gallon on February 27, diesel coming in at $3.72 a gallon, according to AAA data. That’s a far cry from the promise made by the president during a “Meet the Press” interview on May 24, 2025. Trump, during the 2024 campaign, and again during the early months of his second term, said he’d bringgas down below $2,

Diesel prices have surged even faster than gasoline, reflecting a variety of factors including high demand, low inventories and the added costs of producing low-sulfur versions of the fuel. Whatever the reason, diesel is, at $5.9424 a gallon, now at its highest figure ever. That’s up from $3.72 on February 27, according to the monthly statistics report from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation. And it tops the prior record high of $5.81 per gallon set on June 17, 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Those who track the energy industry have been warning that ever-higher prices could be the norm for the near to midterm. Now, Trump appears to be ready to accept that reality. “Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” he said, before sounding a more pessimistic note a momentum later, cautioning that, “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”

Why should motorists be more worried about the price of diesel than what they’re paying for gas? Because it impacts virtually everything in the economy. That delivery from Amazon Prime? Chances are whatever you bought spent at least part of its journey in a diesel-powered vehicle. Nowhere is the impact more significant than when it comes to the food you put on your table. According to the Independent Grocers Alliance, fuel costs account for anywhere from 15 to 30% of the price of your groceries.

Take the burger likely grilled over the Labor Day holiday. The food chain began in a farm field plowed by a diesel tractor, the feed grain harvested by a diesel combine and then shipped to a ranch in a rail car hauled by a diesel locomotive. Diesel trucks likely then took fattened cattle to the slaughterhouse and, eventually, ground beef and steaks to your local grocery.

Sure, an 18-wheeler can haul a lot of cargo but, at an average of just 6.5 to 7.5 miles per gallon of diesel, according to an analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation, a trucker’s fuel bill adds up quickly. The average semi clocks 1,800 to 2,400 miles per trip, based on the Federal Highway Administration’s highway statistics survey. That means burning through somewhere between 257 to 343 gallons per trip. At the current price for diesel, that translates into as much as $2,650 a run.

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The run-up in fuel costs isn’t something trucking companies – or anyone else along the supply chain – will readily absorb. This could quickly trigger an inflationary pulse” coursing through the entire economy. John Kilduff, Founding Partner at Again Capital and an observer of global energy markets, said in a recent interview on CNBC,

With even the president starting to sound pessimistic, there are other reasons to worry. Even before the Iran War, roughly 70% of American farmers said they were struggling to purchase all the – largely petroleum-based – fertilizer they needed this year, according to a report by the American Farm Bureau Federation’s nationwide survey released on April 14, 2026. Cattle ranchers, meanwhile, were thinning herds. They’re now facing even more financial pressure. Then there are the trucking fleets. Some carriers already have become more selective about which loads they take, meaning businesses relying on spot capacity find it harder to cover loads when they need it most, according to the American Trucking Association. This could have an impact on availability of some goods.

If that’s not enough, the U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which serves as a buffer when prices climb too high or too fast, has plunged to its lowest levels since December 1982, when it was initially being filled. The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has put tremendous strain on global petroleum supplies. That’s compounded by the war in Ukraine, the Kyiv government’s escalating drone and missile attacks targeting Russia’s petro infrastructure. Now, add the trade war between Canada and the U.S. The Northern neighbor could create havoc if it chose since 24% of its petroleum distillate exports go to the U.S., according to the Canada Energy Regulator.

Worldwide, “Shrinking inventories could prolong the crisis for months, driving higher diesel prices and intensifying inflation risks worldwide, particularly as winter approaches,” warned a report by tracking site Oilprice.com.  If anything, the situation could “get ugly” before it gets better, Eugene Lindell, head of refined products at consultancy FGE NexantECA, warned in an interview with Bloomberg.

Porsche introduced the all-electric Cayenne EV late last year, with up to 1,139 horsepower on tap. A more hardcore version of the EV is in development, but Stuttgart isn’t neglecting the combustion-powered Cayenne, as new spy shots captured on the Nürburgring confirm. In them, we see the revised Cayenne Turbo GT with what appear to be Weissach Pack upgrades, including a substantial rear wing. In fact, the entire SUV seems to be just about ready for production, with only parts of the lighting units semi-camouflaged and the bumpers left exposed.

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The Cayenne Turbo GT is not the most powerful iteration in the SUV’s range – that honor goes to the 729-horsepower Turbo E-Hybrid – but it is the most performance-focused, with no hybrid battery and only a single body style option (so-called coupe). Of course, that could change for the refreshed model, but if that were the case, we’d see triangular yellow decals on each windshield to let safety personnel at the Nürburgring and on surrounding roads know to beware of the high-voltage battery. Thus, it’s safe to assume that the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 will carry over, likely with minimal changes. We don’t expect power to necessarily increase over the current model’s 650 hp, but for Europe, new filtration, purification, and efficiency methods will likely be introduced to keep the hot SUV legal when Euro 7 emissions rules take effect in a couple of months.

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And outside, just as is the case with every new Porsche derivative or model year, telling the cosmetic changes apart is tricky. There’s still a full-width LED light bar, a centrally mounted pair of exhaust tips, an integrated lip spoiler, and a chunky roof spoiler, but at the front, the keen-eyed will notice that the horizontal indicator lights are straighter than the dog-bone-shaped units on the current model, while the rear has tape on vents just behind the wheels. Presumably, the black tape between the taillights hints at a change in graphics, but it could just be a means of hiding the model designation. Either way, the headlights seem to be getting some mild revisions. This prototype has a roll cage, indicating high-speed testing is taking place, but whether the engineers are focusing on the powertrain or the chassis is unknown.

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The current, third-generation E3 YB Cayenne Coupe has been on the market since 2017 and received a significant overhaul in 2023 that Porsche said was almost as extensive as introducing a new model. With very subtle changes occurring to the bodywork, this updated Cayenne Turbo GT for the 2027 model may herald a similarly extensive refresh or an all-new generation and platform, but the former seems more likely. We should have more information soon, as a reveal is expected before 2026 comes to a close, though early next year is also a possibility. Either way, Porsche needs new products to be popular, as times are tough for all Volkswagen Group brands right now.

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Two former Toyota employees conspired with an auto body contractor to exploit a support program designed to help customers and fix vehicle paint problems. The dealer involved is Toyota of Watertown in Boston. The lawsuit says two former dealership service employees and a former body shop contractor exploited Toyota’s support system and submitted more than $2.1 million in fraudulent claims for vehicles that were not eligible for reimbursement.

The lawsuit named Rodney Dukes, former Fixed Operations Director of Watertown Toyota; Paul Nguyen, former Service Adviser of Watertown Toyota; and Autobody Quad of Malden, Massachusetts, and its former owner, Fabio Gomes. The mentioned parties are the defendants in this case.

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Watertown Toyota has a manufacturer-powered program that helps its consumers deal with peeling paint. Dubbed the Customer Support Program ZKG, it aims to right manufacturing wrongs by fixing paint issues through third-party contractors. Launched in 2019, the program reimburses dealerships and authorized contractors to fix peeling paint caused by defective primer, Automotive News reports.

However, instead of doing their due diligence and supporting the program, according to the lawsuit, Autobody Squad saw it as an opportunity for unwarranted enrichment. To facilitate this, the two former Toyota employees, Dukes and Nguyen, received under-the-table payments and gifts to keep processing fraudulent peeling-paint claims.

At the start, the scheme produced a “modest” number of claims, each valued between $3,000 and $6,000. At some point, Autobody Squad became Toyota Watertown’s exclusive partner in 2021, after which the shop started charging between $7,000 and $10,000 for each claim. Furthermore, the lawsuit also states that the number of claims increased during this period.

Now, management fired the two ex-Toyota employees, Dukes and Nguyen, after suspecting them of wrongdoing. Autobody Squad, under Gomes, would photograph the vehicles and load them into the system using the dealership’s credentials. From there, they could secure the program’s approval code, then send it to Nguyen for further processing. After that, Nguyen would start the repair and purchase orders on the claims, which would then be submitted to Toyota for reimbursement, according to the complaint. Furthermore, Senior managers at the dealership were not aware that an Autobody Squad employee was given access to and trained on the ZKG program portal in 2022 to facilitate the scheme.

The suit accuses Dukes of breach of fiduciary duty, while Nguyen and Autobody Squad were charged with aiding and abetting that breach. Meanwhile, all four defendants were accused of civil conspiracy.

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Toyota Watertown questioned Gomes about the increased number of peeling-paint cases but trusted his efficiency and expertise on the matter, the suit claims. However, 223 claims did not meet the qualifying signs of peeling paint, yet the program accepted them.

An audit found that between March 2025 and February 2026, Toyota of Watertown took in an average of 30 paint claims per month. Meanwhile, other Toyota dealerships had 10 or fewer cases per month. The investigation also revealed that up to 80% of the claims (178 vehicles) showed no signs of peeling. The other 20% had peeling on some panels.

For a claim to come through, dealership technicians were supposed to test whether a car was eligible for the program. The investigation revealed that Autobody Squad allegedly used a dealership technician’s ID number on repair orders without conducting a proper inspection.

The total damage in this case is a chargeback of more than $2.1 million to Toyota, and even after the audit, Autobody Squad allegedly continued to solicit, manipulate, and process paperwork.

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The Trump administration has formally criticized Ford Motor Company regarding its business partnerships with Chinese automotive firms. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley on Tuesday, expressing profound concern over the automaker’s relationships with CATL, Geely, and BYD. The transportation department is explicitly urging the Detroit automaker to immediately sever these international ties.

This regulatory pressure arrives shortly before President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While policymakers in Washington are aggressively pushing to tighten restrictions on foreign vehicles entering the domestic market, Ford executives admit that permanently blocking global competitors may be unrealistic in the long term.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

According to a Reuters report, Duffy’s letter highlighted deep alarm over Ford’s reliance on CATL-licensed technology for its upcoming battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. The transportation secretary pointed out that the battery manufacturer currently sits on a Pentagon list of companies accused of having military ties. Duffy also sharply criticized the corporate decision to continue manufacturing the Lincoln Nautilus in China until at least 2030.

The administration further scrutinized Farley’s pitch at the Detroit auto show earlier this year to facilitate joint ventures on American soil. This political scrutiny highlights a complex industry dynamic, especially since a major automaker lobbying alliance recently urged Congress to ban Chinese connected vehicles entirely and deny any waivers for competitors.

Ford quickly issued a statement pushing back against the regulatory letter, describing it as a wrongheaded attempt to generate political headlines. The automaker defended its long-term strategy by emphasizing that it completely owns the Michigan facility, controls the operations, and employs an American workforce. Furthermore, Ford pointed out that it is actively investing in domestic battery production while competitors still rely on imported technology.

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The political rhetoric surrounding these corporate partnerships often ignores the harsh realities of global automotive manufacturing. Establishing a completely independent domestic supply chain takes years of development and immense capital investment. As Toyota recently acknowledged, matching the efficiency and technological pace of overseas manufacturing is now essential for corporate survival. Legacy brands are under immense pressure to adapt to a rapidly evolving industry without falling behind on innovation.

Automakers must constantly navigate a challenging middle ground between strict government mandates and global market viability. For instance, Ford partnered overseas with Geely because such collaborations offer necessary economies of scale that simply cannot be ignored. While lawmakers view these strategic dependencies as national security risks, manufacturers view them as necessary bridges until domestic infrastructure can fully support the automotive transition.

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Honda has never been shy about styling the Passport TrailSport as a trail-ready SUV. For 2027, though, the whole look comes with actual hardware behind it. The midsize SUV gets a comprehensively reworked suspension that raises ground clearance to 9.65 inches, up 1.38 inches from last year. Honda says that number now edges out the Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road. For a unibody crossover to sit taller than a body-on-frame off-roader on paper is proof that Honda is trying to close the capability gap without abandoning the Passport’s crossover-friendly road manners.

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This isn’t a set of taller springs bolted on and called a day. Honda says nearly 70 percent of the suspension’s major components were redesigned, including springs, dampers, control arms, stabilizer bars and knuckles. The front driveshafts and subframe were also reworked to accommodate the extra ride height and wheel travel. Add it all up and 28 suspension and chassis parts are new or reengineered for 2027.

Honda

The payoff shows up in the geometry that actually matters off pavement. Approach and departure angles climb to 25 degrees each, up two degrees, while breakover angle improves by three degrees to 23. Translation: fewer scraped bumpers and skid plates on rutted trails, and a bit more confidence cresting steep approaches. Honda also claims improved steering feel on the road, which suggests the engineers didn’t sacrifice everyday drivability chasing trail cred. That’s the harder trick, frankly. Lifting a vehicle usually makes it feel vague and floaty; keeping it planted while adding nearly an inch and a half of height is where the real engineering effort goes.

Honda is also making the TrailSport easier to place on a trail. TrailWatch, previously reserved for the TrailSport Elite, is now standard across the lineup, giving drivers front, rear, side and 360-degree views with tire-placement graphics. That’s a much more meaningful upgrade than the tougher-looking grille and new hood lights because it addresses one of the Passport’s biggest limitations off-road: visibility around obstacles. A heated steering wheel also trickles down to the whole TrailSport lineup. Styling gets tougher too, with more pronounced fender flares, a resculpted front fascia, and amber hood scoop lights that echo the Passport’s signature amber DRLs. The Blackout Package adds black fascias and new black lower skid garnishes.

Honda

TrailSport trims already account for more than 80 percent of Passport sales as of mid-2026, so Honda is clearly leaning into what’s working rather than chasing a niche. The question is whether those buyers will actually use the extra capability. My guess is that most won’t come close to really testing the new suspension’s potential. But, then again, they don’t have to. For many buyers, knowing their SUV can handle a rough trail is all of the appeal, and then some.