“Please have at least 125 miles of range left when we pick it up.” That request from the people who look after the Cadillac press cars wasn’t going to be hard to honor. The electric Escalade IQ arrived with an indicated range of 440 miles (708 km), and with a full week of work to squeeze in, getting anywhere close to needing to recharge it seemed unlikely. With more than 200 kWh of lithium-ion battery between its axles, range is one thing the big electric Caddy needn’t worry about.

Designed and debuted during a time of greater EV optimism, the Escalade is Cadillac’s statement that swapping out a V8 for a pair of powerful electric motors is no compromise to its ambitions, even if the brand’s future will now include a mix of electric and combustion cars beyond 2030. It shares a battery pack and much else with other full-size GM EVs we’ve tested: the Chevrolet Silverado EV, the GMC Sierra EV, and of course the divisive Hummer EVs. And like those trucks and SUVs, the Escalade is large and heavy—just small enough to fit into a standard parking space, with a curb weight sufficient to push it into the Class 3 truck category.

So, the side mirrors are flat, and there’s no formal EPA range—Cadillac says it achieves 460 miles (740 km) on the EPA test cycle—but there are plenty of airbags, even though the 9,046 lb (4,103 kg) curb weight does not require them. Yes, you did read that right, it does weigh 4 tons. And yes, the electric Escalade does weigh a third more than the last gas-powered one we tested.

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This morning, Ford revealed that buyers of the forthcoming Fathom—the company's sub-$30,000 electric pickup truck due next year—will get more than just a truck. Until now, vehicle-to-home technology—like the setup Ford developed for the now-discontinued F-150 Lightning—takes DC power from the electric vehicle and runs it through an inverter built into the wallbox to turn it into AC the house can use. But with the Fathom, that inverter is built into the truck from the start. So every Fathom will be able to act as a backup battery for your home.

It’s typical: You wait a decade for a cheap electric truck, and then two come along almost at once. And they’re two radically different products from two radically different automakers that I think will reveal a few preferences from the EV-buying public. One is the Blank Slate, from a brand new startup offering a bare-bones two-door that capitalizes on features the Internet says it wants, like no onboard modem, no touchscreens, and no infotainment system.

The other is the result of one of Detroit’s big three taking a long, hard look at Chinese EVs and asking itself, “How do we make a car that cheap?” Although the Ford Fathom will cost $5,000 more than a Slate, that money does buy an extra pair of doors, modern conveniences like an infotainment system, CarPlay, electric windows, and a vast dealership network to service the car. That may be helpful given how many recalls Ford issues each year.

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AUSTIN, Texas—Formula 1 returned to US shores this weekend with its annual visit to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Once in danger of falling off the calendar due to lack of interest, it’s now one of the most popular tracks on the calendar and, of the US’s three races, it's the one the real fans mostly attend.

Unlike Miami or Las Vegas, which race on temporary street circuits, COTA is a permanent race track with plenty of run-off areas instead of concrete walls. Designed by motorcycle racer Kevin Schwanz—Herman Tilke’s company did only the buildings and infrastructure, contrary to popular belief—the track combines a mix of corner speeds with challenging turn sequences, a few heavy braking zones, and plenty of elevation changes.

It’s a place Ars knows rather intimately by now. We’ve driven it in everything from an Audi TT-S to a Corvette ZR1 to a bicycle, and that’s just in the real world. Over the years, we’ve been there for F1 to learn about how the sport puts together its broadcasts, how Pirelli designs its tires, and how various tech partners help teams manage their data and strategies. We even saw the race through a neophyte’s eyes. And that’s just F1—we’ve logged many hours there with the World Endurance Championship and IMSA for the Lone Star Le Mans races in sweaty September.

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When we first drove BMW’s first Neue Klasse model, the iX3, it quickly revealed that BMW knows how to make a good electric vehicle. A clean-sheet design, it featured the automaker’s sixth-generation electric powertrain, a completely reimagined dashboard, and powerful computers to run the whole show. Now, much of that technology is being ported over to the larger X5 line.

But BMW knows not all its customers are ready to go electric, especially in the US, so it’s sticking with its powertrain-agnostic CLAR platform, as used in cars as diverse as the large 7 Series and the new gasoline 3 Series. Which means in addition to the all-electric iX5, there are also mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid X5s available, and in time, even a hydrogen-powered option. For now, as I’ll explain, I think the EV is the pick of the bunch.

Pick your power

The most conventional option is the X5 40 xDrive, powered by a 3.0 L turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine that generates 394 hp (294 kW) and 428 lb-ft (580 Nm). The 48 V mild hybrid system can contribute a decent slug of torque (148 lb-ft/200 Nm) if necessary, and the engine operates under the Miller cycle for better efficiency, as well as featuring the usual BMW engine technology, like variable valve timing. Expect around 26 mpg (9 L/100 km) from this powertrain and a full-to-empty range of 569 miles (915 km).

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Tesla published its third-quarter 2026 financial results this afternoon. Earlier in October, it reported its sales and deliveries for the three-month period, selling fewer cars than in the same quarter in 2025, yet it still beat analyst projections. Now we can see how those sales translate to the bottom line. Tesla brought in $28 billion in revenue in Q3, almost the same as in 2025.

Automotive revenues were $20.6 billion, a 3 percent decrease year over year. Perhaps more troubling is the decline in revenue from solar panels and storage batteries—this line of business had been growing, but for Q3 revenue fell 16 percent year over year to $2.9 billion. Services and other revenues, though, which include parts and Supercharger use, grew by a third to $4.6 billion.

But the company—like the rest of us—has seen its expenses go up. Operating expenses rose by 39 percent to $4.8 billion, dropping the company’s operating margin to just 2.6 percent; in Q3 2025, Tesla’s margin was 5.8 percent. Net profit fell to $787 million, down 43 percent year over year. What’s more, capital expenditures were up by 110 percent to $4.7 billion, and free cash flow was down 62 percent to $1.5 billion.

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The human desire to go fast is old, dating back at least as far as the first time some adventurous Yamnaya saw a horse on the Pontic-Caspian steppe and thought, “I bet if I jumped on that thing’s back, it would be faster than walking.”

A thousand years later, someone else invented the wheel—and the chariot—and humanity was ready to roll. Now, about five millennia since that first horseback ride, equestrianism is mostly a leisure activity, and we drive cars, propelled by motors with more power than an entire herd of beasts could muster.

Acceleration, top speed, and lap times are the usual ways we quantify that performance, and performance electric vehicles are currently in an arms race to see which one can hit 60 mph in the least amount of time. But measuring a car’s performance is easy—all you need is a stopwatch and a track. How about measuring the effect of car performance on the driver? That’s a question Polestar is trying to answer with researchers at the University of Oxford.

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Nine years after first trying to resurrect the Roadster, Tesla is apparently trying again. CEO Elon Musk might have relocated its HQ to Texas, but yet again he has returned to California’s showbiz industry to hawk his wares; last time it was a Hollywood back lot for the remote-controlled Cybercab demo, last night it was decades-old stunt technology to make a show car do tricks in the air.

The new Roadster, we’re told, will be unlike anything else, although the angular, wedge-shaped styling owes more than a little to Giorgetto Giugiaro’s original Lotus Esprit—Musk is known to own a James Bond prop car—as well as the more recent Lamborghini Gallardo. At the rear are four giant exhaust pipes; these do not signal Tesla’s sudden embrace of hydrocarbons beyond those emitted by private aviation.

Rather, it’s where 100,000 psi jets of compressed nitrogen shoot out. It’s early in the morning and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Statutes are dense reading, so I am yet to find the section where it explains how and when it’s legal to use such a thing on the road.

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Porsche showed us a preview of a new model this afternoon as it unveiled the Mission S concept in New York. It’s a mid-engined sports car that will slot into the Porsche range above the 911. But this won’t be a limited-run car like the Carrera GT or 918 Spyder—instead it will be a regular production model, part of Porsche’s plan to dig itself out of a financial hole by 2035.

Things have been tough for the German automaker of late. Just three years ago its profit margin was the envy of the industry at 18 percent; last year it collapsed to just 1 percent. It has recovered a little since then, and Porsche’s board has a plan to get back to double-digit margins by 2035, called “Sportwagenschmiede '35,” which involves prioritizing “value over volume,” with greater individualization for customers—and the associated higher selling prices that come with it.

Note the quad exhausts—will this be powered by a flat-8? Credit: Porsche

“We are pursuing a clear plan with our strategy Sportwagenschmiede '35. The ultimate goal is to further strengthen our unique sports car brand–across all model lines and with new, highly desirable models in particularly high-margin segments,” said Porsche Chairman Michael Leiters.

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The rising tide that has been the Drive to Survive effect has lifted more boats in motorsport than simply Formula 1’s. Sportscar racing is enjoying its own surge in popularity internationally at races like Le Mans in France, but also in North America in IMSA’s WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. For one thing, multi-hour, multi-class racing lends itself better to the age of streaming and second screens than it did linear broadcast TV, and fans are taking advantage of that: IMSA’s audience grew by more than a third domestically and almost a quarter internationally last year.

Having some of the coolest-looking cars racing today certainly helps, whether that’s the (mostly) hybrid prototypes or the GTs, racing versions of road-going cars from Porsche, Ferrari, and others. And it definitely helps that fan access at the races is virtually unmatched, with open paddocks and grid walks that now see huge crowds get up close to the cars just before the start of each race.

“I think we're just scratching the surface,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “I think besides the people that are here on the ground, the people watching, people engaging with us on social media, I'm seeing the passion come out more. Just on the grid walk, these fans coming up and being so excited to be here.” The series has certainly been making an effort, among other things getting local high school students exposed to the industry and starting a partnership to train more mechanics with ASE.

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Perhaps the days when auto shows debuted new models aren’t entirely over. The big trade shows for cars were a gateway drug for many, expos where you could see the newest models of today and the concepts of tomorrow. But automakers increasingly got tired of sharing the spotlight with each other. New reveals moved offsite to events the night or even the week before the show itself. One by one, brands pulled out of auto show after auto show until there was little left to see. And then the pandemic hit.

But the news out of Paris, where its auto show held media day yesterday, seems like we stepped back into a time when automakers would debut new cars aplenty. That retro vibe extends to the cars themselves, with plenty of familiar nameplates reimagined.

France’s Renault has a long and glorious history of delightful concept cars, and more on what it brought to Paris later. But the star of the show was arguably Stellantis, with strong work from Citroen, Peugeot, and Fiat, to name but three. But this article is meant to irritate you, because I’m pretty sure none of the stuff you’re seeing here will come to the United States. And it’s doubly irritating considering what Stellantis’ brands do offer us over here, doubling down on the same malign trends I saw back in 2020: did you know they’re about to relaunch a V8 Hellcat-powered Charger?

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Formula 1’s lengthy 2026 season is entering its final stretch. The sport took to the floodlit streets of Singapore on Sunday night, but Saturday saw action, too; this Grand Prix weekend was also the final of six sprints this year. The night race might be one of modern F1’s greatest spectacles. From overhead shots, the track becomes a bright, illuminated ribbon among the looming darkness of the city-state’s overpasses and skyscrapers. At ground level, the cars shower glittering sparks from their titanium skid blocks as the drivers flirt with how close they can get to the walls. As tracks go, the 90-degree turns and concrete barrier-lined streets were a world away from the abrasive tarmac and ample runoff of Malaysia last time out. But the tropical heat and humidity were a constant given both locations’ proximity to the equator.

Showers for the sprint

In Malaysia (which was still technically the Bahrain GP), a pre-race downpour disrupted things mightily. On Saturday morning in Singapore, shortly before the start of the sprint, it seemed history was about to rhyme when the skies opened. With standing water in places on the track, the sprint was delayed by 30 minutes. The sprint format, where a short extra race replaces a practice session a day before the main event, is unloved by the drivers and teams. For one thing, there’s little prestige in winning Saturday’s sprint. And with qualifying just a few hours later, risk-taking is discouraged lest one wreck the car and ruin Sunday’s race a day early.

Oh no, not again! Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

And in Singapore, like most street circuits, the proximity of the unyielding barriers that line the track means there are real, punishing consequences for getting it even a little wrong.

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