2026 Lexus TX 550h+ Plug-In Hybrid: 404 HP Luxury Meets 33-Mile Electric Range

This is America on the Road named Best Radio Show by the International Automotive Media

Conference and now in its 33rd year on the air.

Thanks for being with us as we bring you the latest automotive information from around

the world.

I'm Jack Neerad.

With me is co-host Chris Teague back with us after a snowstorm postponed him joining us

last week.

Are you getting a chance to travel soon, Chris?

Yes.

I will.

I'm going actually to Vermont, which really isn't that big of a travel for me, but I'll

be going there next month and then may make an appearance at the New York Auto Show.

Not sure yet.

Wow.

All the way to Vermont.

Incredible.

It's further away from here than you think.

Yeah, okay.

Plenty of automotive news to talk about this week and it may not be the best time to be

a global automotive CEO.

Nine major automakers have replaced their chief executives in just over a year.

The industry is grappling with tariffs, Chinese competition and EV write downs among other

things.

So we'll have details on that coming up.

The long-awaited scout brand that I'm looking forward to could be hitting a speed bump.

Reports suggest that Scout Motors plan 2027 US launch may slip to 2028.

There are software and powertrain challenges among other things.

We'll have our thoughts on that in a few minutes.

Canada is opening the door to China-built EVs under a new trade agreement.

Up to 49,000 vehicles could enter Canada at sharply reduced tariffs.

This should reshape pricing strategies and all kinds of things in the Great White North.

Perhaps the tip of the iceberg up there, so we'll talk about that.

And NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has closed its long-running

probe into Stellantis vehicles without ordering a recall.

So we'll talk about that.

Chris, do you have a reaction to all the CEO changes?

I think we're in a new age.

We've been in a new age for a while and I think that demands a new age CEO.

Yeah, true enough.

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Chris, what is your test vehicle this week?

I spent the week driving the 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid Trail Sport.

I can't wait to tell you all about it.

I look forward to that.

My vehicle is the 2026 Lexus TX550H Plus.

It's a plug-in hybrid.

We'll talk about that.

Our special guest is Greg Migliore.

He's auto guide's editorial director, so we'll be talking to him.

So stay with us for all that, and we'll be right back right here on America on the Road.

Welcome back to America on the Road with Chris Teague, Jackney Radback with you.

We're so glad you're with us.

We do appreciate it.

We'd like to double our listenership this year.

So please pass our show along to somebody you think might like it.

We'd appreciate that.

It's so great to have Chris back with us after Snowstorm prevented him from being

with us last week.

Let's talk about the news here, Chris.

It's kind of a bad time to be a car company CEO.

Nine major car companies have put in new chief executive officers in just over a year.

There's a lot that have brought this along.

Certainly Chinese competition, what's going on with EVs.

Toyota, BMW, Porsche, Nissan, Stellantis, Volvo, Renault, and Jaguar Land Rover,

and Hyundai are all companies that have changed CEOs recently.

What's your reaction to this?

Well, I think the Jaguar Land Rover situation might be a little different than the other

ones given their situation.

But look, not just electric vehicles in China, we're in a new world of technology here.

AI is playing a big role in not only just the consumer facing electronics that we see

in vehicles, but also in the development of vehicles and software behind the scenes.

And I think a lot of automakers are realizing that they need a leader who can get behind

these things, understand them, and can kind of see the next two or three steps down the road.

And some of these old school guys, as well as they've done, might not have that skill

sense, so to speak.

Yeah, I'm wondering if anybody can second guess the industry now.

I mean, it changes so rapidly.

Among other things, we've seen $50 billion billion with a B in EV related write down.

So that's essentially losses that companies are writing down.

That's probably low, actually.

That would be my guess.

And I don't know that too many CEOs could have foreseen what has happened just in the

United States, a lot less around the world.

I mean, kind of frightening to be CEO.

I mean, it's nice while you're doing it, but difficult as you're doing it, right?

Yeah, and unfortunately, a lot of these factors are out of their control, right?

I mean, they can lobby politicians and make their opinions known, but they ultimately

can't control the outcome of trade negotiations and tariffs and things like that.

So I think there are a lot of things that are out of their control, unfortunately,

for them, but I think they've at least been compensated well, as you said.

Yeah, yeah, it's fun while you're doing it, I think.

Well, we have anticipated the launch of Scout, the relaunch of Scout.

I think I've talked about my connection with that.

I had the hero of one of my novels, so I drive a Scout because I thought it was cool and kind

of represented him, and I'd love to see the Scout brand come back, but it looks as if that's going

to be a tough one based on the fact that, well, the US EV market and Scout was going to be all EV

all the time has kind of fallen on hard times, to say the least.

It looks as if Scout, which was going to launch maybe this year as a 20 to 27 model,

will be put off at least a year, maybe longer.

There are problems with software, apparently, a powertrain, particularly powertrain with

range extended vehicles when they were expected to be all electric all the time.

I'd love to hear your comments on this, Chris.

If you look at it from the economic standpoint, I guess it's not all that surprising, given how

EV sales and the market around them has evolved here.

I think it is surprising to me from the software and the development standpoint,

Volkswagen had had many issues with its software division, causing delays at Porsche over the years

for their electric vehicles, but they put a big stake in Rivian to hopefully get around

some of these things. Now, hearing that it's struggling a little bit is a little surprising,

but also the range extended thing is probably a new platform for Volkswagen.

I mean, they've done EVs to death at this point, but I don't know if I've seen a range

extended Volkswagen, so this might be a new frontier for them.

Yeah, I think they were talking about range extended Volkswagen's 10, 12 years ago, 15 years ago.

I think I might have even driven one back in the day over there in Germany, but

then they have switched to all electric all the time, and that's probably a no-go for the U.S.

market, at least in the short term, so there are big delays there.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Scout totally go away.

I mean, it has created legal challenges for Volkswagen in the United States.

Some VW dealers are up in arms that Scout is going to be sole director,

was going to be sole director. A lot of issues with it, so it might be something where

they're kicking the can down the road here, but we'll see what happens going forward.

It would be a shame. I was actually excited to drive one, or both of the models that they had.

They look cool. The name certainly resonates, but who knows?

Yeah, well, we shall see. Well, let's talk about Canada and what's going on up there.

I think I kind of thumbing their nose at the United States.

They have decided to let in China-built electric vehicles under a new trade agreement they have

made with the Chinese. They are going to let in 49, up to 49,000 China-made electric vehicles over

the next 12 months. That's with a much lower tariff. The tariff has now reduced to 6.1%.

It had been 106.1% before, so that's a pretty big change. What do you think? Do you think this is

Canada saying, well, screw you, United States, so we're going to deal more with China these days?

I do, and I can't say that I blame them in some regards, given the developments we've seen.

Look, I think there's still some data security issues that need to be resolved with Chinese

electric vehicles. I don't know how cheap they're going to be when they arrive,

although 100% reduction in the tariff is definitely a good thing for their pricing.

More power to them. I would love to see some Chinese EVs here,

given that if we can resolve some of these issues with security. I can't see any reason

why they would be blamed. I can't see any reason to blame them for doing that.

Yeah, interesting. Tesla, Polestar, and Volvo might be among the brands that bring in Chinese

built vehicles into Canada, and then they might open the door for Chinese brands like BYD, which

is, I think, the largest builder of electric vehicles worldwide these days, competing with Tesla

for that title. I have a little bit of a different take than you on the whole thing though,

because I think if we open the door to the Chinese here in the United States,

they might eat the market, which I don't think would be great for the United States overall.

I can see that. Yeah, something up for discussion anyway. One thing that's not

up for discussion anymore is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation

into Stellantis. This was a long running investigation into millions of vehicles.

I think there were jeeps involved in this. I'll get through my notes here to indicate the vehicles

that were covered. It goes dates back to the Chrysler 200. Do you remember the Chrysler 300,

Chris? The Chrysler Town and Country, the Dodge Caravan, the Dodge Journey, and Durango. So some

vehicles that are not even in production anymore, and then the Jeep Compass Patriot, again a long

gone vehicle in the Grand Cherokee, these were head restraint issues. Maybe not. They couldn't

confirm any serious injuries from this, but they looked into 8,500 incidents. I mean, it's

kind of went on for a long, long time. What do you think about that?

I'm actually surprised that they didn't issue a recall. I mean, I think we see recalls for

other problems that didn't have any reports of injuries or crashes at all.

They said that there were 750 reports of injuries, but the ones that they looked at,

they couldn't verify that there wasn't a pre-existing medical condition or something.

Yeah, exactly. It's just surprising to me, given how, like I said, how many other recalls we've

seen that felt less serious than this. Yeah. Well, Stellantis will provide, it says it will

provide a 10-year extended warranty on the vehicles. These are vehicles that were built

between 2010 and 2020 are those model years. The good news is there weren't any deaths reported

from this or even serious injuries that they could tie to this kind of thing, but it just

shows you that this continues and continues and continues. Kind of interesting. Well,

remind us of the vehicle you will be testing this week.

I drove the 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid Trail Sport. It's the more off-road-oriented version of their

CR-V Hybrid, which is I prefer to the gas model, but we'll talk about how off-road-y it actually

is at the end of the day. Yeah. A lot of those coming out that at least look like off-roaders,

and they're supposed to give you the essence of off-roading. I was testing a plug-in Lexus

built in the United States, which is kind of interesting. That's the Lexus TX550H Plus,

a three-row luxury SUV from Lexus. And my wife and I, Sandy and I drove out to the

desert in and back. We did a lot of extensive driving in this. So not only will you hear my

opinion, but you will also hear hers about this vehicle when we come back. So stay with us for

that, and we'll be right back right here on America on the Road. We're so glad you're with us,

and stay with us. We'll be right back. Welcome back to America on the Road with

Chris Teague. Welcome back with you for Road Test Time. And Chris, you are driving one of those vehicles

that seems to be a trend in the industry of vehicles that at least look like off-roaders

among the SUVs out there. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but tell us what you think.

Yeah, maybe they are, maybe they aren't. That's kind of how I felt after I ended up driving this

vehicle for a little bit over a week. This is the Trail Sport version of the CR-V Hybrid,

and the CR-V Hybrid is very similar to the gas model, but you get standard all-wheel drive and

two electric motors for improved fuel economy. But taking a step back, you can get into the

base Sport Hybrid model for around $36,000. My Trail Sport Hybrid is only one step up from

that, and it was around $39,000. But you can go up to around $43,000, $44,000 at the top of the range.

Jack, before I go too far, have you driven the 2026 or a recent CR-V Hybrid?

I have. I liked it. Again, I'm not sure. I don't want to pimp your ride here, but

I'm not sure how off-road it actually is, but you'll tell us about that.

Yeah, I will. So this vehicle comes with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric

motors. You get a combined 204 horsepower, 247 pound-feet of torque, and a continuously

variable transmission. And I know we've said that as being a bad word for years and years now, but

Honda does a pretty good job. I will say there's a little bit more whining and wailing under heavy

throttle with this vehicle than you would experience in something like the Toyota Prius or

the RAV4 Hybrid. But it's reasonably smooth. It's surprisingly refined. There's not a lot of

goings-on under the hood when you're switching between electric and gas power. And it's reasonably

quick. I won't call it fast, but it's a little bit shy of eight seconds to 60 miles an hour,

which is okay for a compact SUV. This vehicle accelerates well in traffic. I think that the

big benefit with a Hybrid is you get the power of the electric motors off the line. So if you're

pulling out of a stop sign or a parking spot or off of a red light or out of a red light,

you feel it feels livelier than 204 horsepower would probably feel just from a gas engine.

And again, there's a good reasonable amount of refinement there between the two. The thing

I really liked about this vehicle is that it has a good smooth ride. You know, I've mentioned that

living here in Maine, we have our roads that get torn up by the plows pretty regularly,

even more so this year than last. And this vehicle is very much capable, very refined. I keep using

that word, but competent is the word I'm looking for when the pavement is broken and you're looking

for a smooth ride over over bumpy broken terrain. The other thing is that it handles reasonably

well. I will say that turning at speed, especially in the snow, you're going to notice some under

steer snow is a different animal altogether. But this vehicle feels like it is a little hesitant

to turn at times. But once you're in the turn or in the curve, it remains pretty flat. You get some

of the weight from the electric motors and things, not too much that help it remain flat. There's not

a lot of body lean and roll here. Jack, what do you think of Honda's hybrid system and how it

works in everyday life? I think it works reasonably well. I think many of these hybrid systems,

of course, use a continuously variable transmission. That seems like part of the program. There are a

few that use a regular geared transmission. But I think in that kind of instance, this is a CVT

that works quite well versus CVTs with a conventional engine, not so much. Yeah, the interesting thing

with the CVT is that when you're going to pass someone on the highway, instead of a simple

downshift with an automatic transmission, you get the jump in RPMs and it stays there until

you pass. So whoever you're passing, it sounds like you're driving a go kart pass them down the road.

But the Trail Sport Trem adds all-terrain tires and that's really it from a performance

standpoint over the regular Honda CR-V hybrid. You do get some plastic body molding and it comes

in interesting colors. Mine had an olive green sort of drab color to it that everybody likes. But

the tires are really the big upgrade here and they help in the snow. They help absorb some of the

shocks and the bangs from the bumpy road. But I wouldn't expect this to be anything near like a

Toyota 4Runner or anything like that in the off-road capability department, which is probably fine

for 99% of the people who buy this vehicle. Inside, since this is a lower trim level, you get cloth

seating, you get some nice orange stitching, which I appreciate. Cloth is nice in the winter,

it doesn't get too cold, not too hot in the summer. This vehicle had heated front seats and a heated

steering wheel, which I appreciated and they were easily some of the hottest and fastest warming

heated seats I've seen or experienced in recent times. And then as Honda is known to do the

vehicle, the interior is very ergonomic and functional, but it's not that fancy from a visual

standpoint. You also get a nine-inch touchscreen in this vehicle, which is an upgrade from years

past. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The Trail Sport model did not have an upgraded

stereo, but some you can get a Bose sound system in. And I would say it sounds just fine. I wouldn't

worry about the upgraded sound system there. And you get a 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster,

which isn't all that configurable, but it does display a lot of information and it's easy to see

when you're driving. This vehicle also has a good amount of safety equipment, blind spot monitoring,

rear cross-traffic alerts, adaptive cruise control, Ford collision warnings. Jack, I would say for

the price, if I were going for this vehicle, if you didn't need a sunroof, I would go down and maybe

get the Sport Hybrid. Save a few thousand dollars and you don't have to worry about replacing all

terrain tires when the time comes. But for around $40,000 after destination, I can't say it's a

terrible deal and the CR-V is one of my favorite compacts as it is. Anyway, so overall very positive

experience. Yeah, I mean, the fact is, I think we both remember when CR-V was more like $25,000

than $40,000 and it wasn't that long ago. So it's hard to wrap my brain around this thing. And I think

a lot of this stuff is purely cosmetic. I think most people are never going to take this off-road.

So the all-terrain tires, as you say, when you have to replace them, they're going to be expensive.

They're also maybe a little bit noisier on the road, although I didn't notice that so much when I

was driving the vehicle. It seemed perfectly fine. It seemed like a nice CR-V. It just seemed like a

very expensive one to me. Yes. Which is not a bad thing, I guess. I wish things were cheaper, but

there you go. I was not driving a vehicle that was all that cheap either. It was essentially the

top of the Lexus TX lineup. It is the TX550H Plus with all-wheel drive, and this is a plug-in hybrid.

It's kind of trying to make the case for the plug-in hybrid, and we'll offer our opinion on that.

I'm going to collect Chris's opinion on that as well. This offers three rows of seating. In this

configuration, seating for just six, I'd rather see a seven-seater, but that's me if I'm going to

have a vehicle this large. 404 horsepower, that's good. Standard all-wheel drive. The EPA estimate

for electric only driving is 33 miles of electric only driving range, so it sounds like a reasonable

checklist. We'll go down that checklist. This is a thoughtful, comfortable, and quietly quick SUV.

Not super quick, but quick enough. No pretension to sport, just serenity. Just kind of quiet and

does that. This is the more powerful of the two available hybrid systems. Of course,

this is the plug-in. Well, let's talk about price right off the top. Base price of $79,510 for the

550H Plus, and then with the stuff that I had on it and the delivery charge, the price as tested

was $85,000, almost $86,000. I would say there are other TXs that are much better bargains,

like the base that is about $57,000, $58,000. Even if you get the F-sport performance luxury

all-wheel drive, it's $10,000 less. Just a word to the Ys there. I'm not so sure that the TX550H

competes very well with the plug-in hybrids from BMW, Mercedes, Benz, Volvo, and Porsche. I think

those are kind of different animals than this. What's your take on that, Chris?

Yeah, the European brands tend to lean into performance a little bit more than Lexus does,

and I think people appreciate that. Also, you have to ask yourself, it's going to take a really

long time to make that money back on a plug-in hybrid. Yeah, exactly true. Talk about powertrain.

3.5-liter V6 paired with electric motors. As I mentioned, 404 combined horsepower. It has a

lithium-ion battery pack, onboard charger that supports level 2 charging. So if you want to

plug this in each night or whenever you feel like plugging in, you may, and you're going to get that

33 miles of range. Fairly quick, I guess. 5.2 seconds, 0 to 60. This is an SUV that weighs

5,400 pounds. So no lightweight, and it doesn't feel like a lightweight when you're driving. It is

pleasant to drive, but it certainly is not anything you really choose to go through the

twisty sections. It's pretty compliant suspension. That means it's comfortable when you're going

kind of off-road, though. You get a little bumps. And here's something that I was surprised, Chris,

and I wonder if you have experiences. When I kind of got on the gas, or I guess I should say the

accelerator, kind of hard, I got some rude noises coming out of this thing. And that's very

uncharacteristic, I think, for Toyota and Lexus hybrids that are, I think, better sorted out than

others. I think if you want something smoother, you might want to pick a non-hybrid. What's your

take on that? I agree. As quiet as Lexus tends to be, some of the powertrain dynamics with the plug

in hybrid and the hybrid can be a little intrusive at times. Yeah. 33 miles of electric only ranges,

I mentioned. That essentially is kind of like having an extra two gallons of gas, you know,

a gallon and a half or something like that. So I don't know that that's all that useful. It

seemed like it was gone in a flash when I was driving this thing, but you know, that's me.

Another thing about this vehicle, and this is something my wife pointed out, it just doesn't

seem all that luxurious. It doesn't seem as differentiated from the Toyota Grand Highlander

as maybe it should be. I mean, she pointed this out to me two or three times. It's like,

is this really a Lexus? This doesn't really look all that snazzy. I don't think she used the term

snazzy. That's a more jackney red term. But what do you think about that? Yeah, I think it's getting

harder to justify the price upgrade over a Grand Highlander at this point. The Toyota is very nice.

Yeah. So, you know, good room, especially in the first two rows, reasonable room in the third row,

but kids are going to find themselves there. You do have 20 cubic feet behind the third row,

so that's good. Good infotainment system. I'm liking what Lexus and Toyota are delivering

that way. So, that seems pretty good. A lot of technology and certainly a lot of safety,

and a lot of ADAS, as they say in the business. So, I think there's a lot to like about this.

It's just, in this particular instance, $85,000 seems like a lot of money for this particular

vehicle. I agree. I think there are other TXs that are probably better bargains, or you might want

to look at the Toyota Grand Highlander. And when we come back, we will have a terrific guest,

and his name is Greg Migliore, and so we will be speaking to him,

autojournalist, when we come back. Stay with us.

I received a letter from a reader this week, and I thought I'd share it with you. Here's what he

wrote. I just got around to reading Dance in the Dark and wanted to say how much I enjoyed it.

I'm a compulsive reader, and this one was right up my alley, an unlikely hero. A lot of twists and

turns, some adult content, and humor that rose naturally from the action. Keep on writing,

and I'll keep on reading. Of course, that's just the kind of letter any author would love to get.

I hope that others get the same enjoyment from reading Dance in the Dark, and my newest crime

novel, Only One Thing Stays the Same. Both are available exclusively at Amazon.com. That's Dance

in the Dark, and Only One Thing Stays the Same, both written by me, Jack Arnie Red. Thanks for

looking for them today. Welcome back, everybody, to America on the Road, Jack Arnie Redback with

you. We've got a terrific guest for you, and first time on the show, Greg Migliore is with us,

and I'm so glad to have you on the show. We're colleagues, autojournalists. You've been doing

this quite a while. Certainly, I've been doing it maybe even a little longer. We're both colleagues

on North American Car of the Year. What have you been up to most recently? Tell me about that before

we go any farther. Hey, Jack, thanks for having me. I'm working at AutoGuide, where you can check

out all our new car reviews and test drives and things like that. Enjoying just covering the car

industry that is. I think it's going to be another very interesting year. I think it's the most

interesting part of the economy to cover, although maybe I'm a little biased on that front, but

every day is different. Yeah, I think it is. I mean, people get emotionally attached to this

product. I mean, it is a business, but at the same time, people love their cars in a way that

they don't love their appliances or their furniture, stuff like that. I think it's

a fun industry to cover. We try to cover that and try to help people make good buying decisions,

which I think probably what you're all about, right? Absolutely. We want people to walk into

the dealership and be as informed about their purchases as they can be. Hopefully, our test

drives give them that insight and you figure out what's going on in the world through our news

coverage because there's so much going on right now. The electrified, just like the pivot that

that's become, everything Elon Musk does, it seems like the car industry keeps getting more

interesting. Every day is more exciting. Absolutely. Absolutely. So much to cover,

so much to talk about, so much controversy. The only thing I kind of regret about it is it's

become very politicized as well. I mean, you can almost tell what people's political stripes are

by the vehicle they drive and stuff like that, which I don't know is necessarily a good thing,

but maybe I'm old school on that. I was going to say, let's talk about North American Car of the

Year a little bit. I feel kind of vindicated here and I was three for three in my picks this year.

I don't know how you feel about what got named Car of the Year,

Import Car, I'm sorry, Car of the Year, Utility of the Year and Truck of the Year, but what were

your takes on what happened this year? So, two out of the three I was pretty much not surprised

about. I was, I would say, a strong supporter of the Charger. I thought the whole multi-energy

platform was a good idea. I think it was fun to drive. It's a good way to sort of reinterpret

what the Charger is. Again, it was a lot of fun to drive that at the Nactoy Drive in the fall.

I thought the Prelude might give it a run for its money just because Honda's historically have

done quite well in the awards, but if you dig into that kind of press release, it actually

really wasn't that close. I thought it was fairly like a runaway winner. I think it definitely gives,

brings the Charger to a new generation of people. It's not just people from the 60s who are like,

oh, the Charger. It's like, hey, now it's electric and it has that great Hurricane 6.

So the Charger, to me, no surprise, I was a little surprised about the Maverick Lobo,

not because there's anything wrong with it, but just because it was so wide open. We had the

Ram Hemi. We had the Ram 2500. We're in the finalists. I almost could have thrown a dart and

seen any one of them to win based on the significance. I did vote for the Lobo. I think at this point,

we could tell everybody our votes. I drove it a few times. I really liked it. I think it really

brings that whole street truck vibe again to a new generation. So I guess what's old is new again,

right? And Palisade, I kind of thought was going to be a walk-off. I was not surprised. I drove that

and I thought, based on what it was up against, the leaf, I would argue, wasn't even really a

crossover. Yeah, we've talked about that on the show. I have the same feeling, yeah.

So yeah, as my takeaway is, I think it was two of the three I wasn't surprised, but I think it

was a good field this year. It was a tough field. There were a lot of different things in there with

different missions for different types of consumers, a lot of edgy new products, which I think is

always invigorating, different approaches to things like infotainment, powertrain. Pricing is

really, I haven't been on the jury as long as you have. I've been on it, I guess, since 2020.

But pricing even six years ago seemed a lot more sane. And now it's trying to position

these vehicles and benchmark them. To me, that's the toughest part, because you're like, well,

what consumer can pay $70,000 for this? Or average price is, what, $49 as of today and going up?

So that's what I think the biggest challenge, too, with voting is trying to figure out how do

you balance the cost sort of benefit analysis to the different consumers that these OEMs

are certainly trying to reach. Right. And I kind of call it, you're looking at apples, oranges,

and rutabegas is the way I've described it a few times, because there's so many different

aspects of so many different types of cars just in within car, within truck, maybe a little more

narrow. But in SUV, of course, we've got even more variants, I think, than cars these days. And

it's hard to compare across segment, but you have to do it. And one of the ways I look at it is,

is the vehicle a leader in its segment? Is it, would it be a the leader in its segment? And if

it's not that, then I really kind of question whether it could be car of the year, or it could

be truck of the year or whatever, because if it can't even win its segment, how does it deserve

to be an of the year? So that's one of the ways I look at it. But it's a difficult process, I think.

It definitely is. It's a fun process, that's for sure. And I think it's actually tougher

with the final, the final rounds, because there's so much like riding put intended on each vote,

you know, the long list we all get is, it's a really long list, like you look at it,

and it's almost hilarious, like, well, okay, you know, how do I even narrow this down? And most

of them keep crossing through until it's like mid September, I think, when we really get a smaller

field. It's a fun process. Yeah, it is a fun process. And it's a year round process, too. We're

kind of in the midst of looking at what's going to be 2027, I guess, or starting out that way.

Are you doing a lot of traveling? Are you out on the road a lot these days?

Not a ton of traveling. I try to pick my spots. I might do this. There is a hurricane sort of

snow drive for the Charger in Vermont. I might, you know, I guess I'm not getting enough snow

in Michigan that I might try to make it out to that. Because I'm really intrigued to see how

that would, would handle the snow. I actually drove last generation Charger all wheel drive

in the same spot up in the Northeast on the snow. So I think I'm going to try to do that. And

New York auto show is coming up, too. I tend to really still enjoy auto shows,

not going to make the Chicago one, which is seemed like it wasn't quite as newsy this year.

It was just at the Detroit auto show. And that was, it was almost like a politics show. You

know, there were more like elected officials than there really was news surrounding it. So

that was, I think it's a, it's an evolving time for auto shows. You know, they're trying to figure

out what they're going to be in Detroit kind of, you know, embody that. Yeah. And I think Chicago,

too. I mean, I'm a Chicago and I love to get to Chicago, but I decided not to go to the Chicago

show this year because it just didn't seem there was enough there to justify me spending a couple

of days to go to Chicago. So I decided not to do that. And I love auto shows. I mean, I,

I fell in love with the car business at the Chicago auto show a long, long time ago. So,

you know, I hope they come back and I hope we see more, more good stuff going forward.

I think automakers, I think it would be in their best interests too. Like right now,

I think it's a full on retreat for most auto shows. Like you see New York and LA still have some

sort of vigor, but like the Midwest ones from a press perspective, I think have really fallen off.

Although Detroit, if you actually look at it from front to back, the whole week was fairly newsy.

Like Ford had some news, General Motors is doing their like sort of state of the union with their

CEO now at the start of the week. It's just, there's nothing on press days. And I think it

would be in their best interest to like do something at the auto show just to give those

shows just a little bit more buzz, a little bit more pop. Sort of like what we're seeing like

Hyundai Motorco doing and sometimes it's, sometimes it's LA. We've seen like, you know,

other brands do it in the Northeast and the New York auto show. And it's good for us because we

get to like cover stuff, you know, what a concept. And you get access to executives who are there.

I mean, it might not even be the basis of the show or what they're trying to deliver in terms

of information at the show. But if the executive's there, well, then there's a reason to talk to him

and him or her and you go on from there. So I think that's a good thing. And, you know,

I love that personal interaction we get at auto shows that we rarely get when we're doing stuff

like this, right? You see like executives as humans. And I think that's a good thing. Yeah.

They're largely human, I think, most of them. Mostly. Yeah, most of them.

What do you think 2026 is going to be like? I mean, a lot of people have talked through the past

this part of the decade, the beginning of this decade, about electric vehicles being inevitable,

right? That we're going to move there. I talked to a car company exactly fairly recently. It was

nice enough to take me to lunch and was saying maybe we're at the place where we went from the

horse and buggy to the gasoline car in 1880 or 1890, something like that, 1895 and 1900.

I disagreed. I don't think that's where we are. But I'm kind of curious as to where you think we

are. Do we think, do you think EVs are inevitable or do you think, where do you stand on all of that?

Yeah, that's interesting. So I really enjoy EVs. I think, you know, many of them are remarkable,

technological advancements. I think they look amazing. They're fun to drive. I don't necessarily

think they're inevitable, given the current climate for a number of reasons, from geopolitical

headwinds to just consumer preference. I know, frankly, people of all stripes who you might think

might be really hardcore electric car buyers and they're like, I don't know about that. Sometimes

on the other side of it, you'll hear somebody who you might think, well, there, you'll pencil

them in for a Hemi V8 and they're like, well, doing a hybrid. So I think it's, I think you're

going to kind of see the next few years, like the political side of it will probably settle. And I

think you're going to see some of the pricing kind of level off as well or at least settle to a point

where people know, you know, what they are, like that whole $7,500 tax credit, which I think dates

way back like the first Bush administration, just as a way to kind of have like, you know, consumers

adopt to the vehicles without paying the, you know, General Motors' development costs, so to

speak. Yeah. Well, it's supposed to jumpstart things. I think jumpstart doesn't probably

shouldn't take 15 years, right? Yeah. I think that's fair. I think probably around 2030,

maybe we'll see another kind of like upward curve. I think they're going to level off this year to

kind of like where they'll be for the next few years, like sales 6, 7, 8% of the market somewhere

in there. I think some of it will be product driven. Like if somebody comes out with a real just

home run, like, I think the Chevy Equinox is a great example of a EV that was really good and

kind of moved the market. And I think it got a lot of people in the Midwest just because it's a GM

product, more interested in it than they might have been. It's hard to tell what Tesla is doing

because at the moment, they don't seem very interested in making cars. I think if they were

to come out with a new like a crossover, I think that would grow market share. So I think a lot

of it is going to be, you know, again, pricing and product base. And then, you know, we'll see what

consumers want. I mean, right now it's hybrids really seem to be getting more momentum. You know,

you talk about like a little bit back to the future. Companies are like seem to be pitching

them as almost this like, like passive technology, like your car has. You don't have to know anything

much, right? Exactly. It's there. Don't worry about it. You know, so I guess we'll see. And I also

think use car prices are probably going to be kind of wonky for the next couple of years as people

try to figure out what do they want, you know, because everything is so expensive.

You have that like cost benefit analysis is what do I really want to pay for here? Do I want to

get a use car? Well, mentally, use cars supposed to be 20,000 or 30,000. You're telling me a two

year old Honda is like 45. Well, I don't know. Maybe I go new. So it really feels like the market

is just this kind of like, you know, mixed green salad of, you know, uneven conditions. And I think

that's kind of what OEMs are going to have to plan for for the next few years is plan for the

uncertainty. Yeah, well, it's going to be fun for us to report on it. And it'll be interesting for

the consumer out there. We'll be, we can sort that out for them going forward. Well, Greg,

Migliore, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. This time has gone very,

very fast. We got to do this again. Thanks, Jack. It was a pleasure. And stay with us,

everybody. We'll be right back right here on America on the Road.

Welcome back to America on the Road with Chris P. Jack Nerad back with you. It is listener

question time. We love to answer your questions based on our long experience providing car advice.

Send your questions to editordrivingtoday.com. That's editordrivingtoday.com. Here's a great

question. I think it's a great question anyway from Lemuel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Love to hear you take on this, Chris. Will bigger wheels really mess up my ride and mileage?

Well, on the mileage front, I will say I think it depends on the vehicle and maybe hybrids,

electrics and plug-in hybrids would struggle with it a little bit more, especially if the wheels are

wider than they were to begin with. In terms of the ride quality, any time you're removing

rubber in favor of aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, no matter what the wheel construction is,

you're removing a layer of padding and I think that can impact your ride quality.

That being said, some of the newer SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade, the Defender Octa that I tested

a few weeks ago, managed like 22-inch wheels with reasonably sized tires now. If you can afford

those tires, I think I'd be envious of you, but I think anytime you're cutting rubber thickness

and to gain wheel size, you're going to see an accompanying decrease in your ride quality.

Not universal, not the rule, but I think that is a good rule of thumb to think up.

Yeah, I agree with you. I think the vehicles that have air suspensions or adjustable suspensions

deal fairly well with larger wheels and narrower sidewall, but a lot of vehicles don't so much.

It's also interesting with electric vehicles, you go to an inch larger wheel and your range drops

10% or something like that. It's some large numbers, so that's interesting as well.

Yeah, you also lose access to the low rolling resistance tires and things that are not usually

made in the larger sizes, so it's just something to think about.

All right, well that wraps up our show for this week. I'd like to remind you that my crime novel,

only one thing stays the same, is available in e-book and paperback at Amazon, so look for that.

If you like our show, please pass it on. Listen on this radio station each week and let your

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to you for listening. Please join us again next time for another edition of America on the Road.

Hi, I'm Jack Arnie Redd, and I'd like to tell you about my newest crime novel,

Only One Thing Stays the Same. In a style reminiscent of James M. Cain and Jim Thompson,

two of my writing idols, the book chronicles of blue-collar workers up and down love affairs

with two modern Southern California women who continue to surprise, shock, and ultimately

confound him. As the story unfolds, an unemployed aeronautics worker named Bill McCurdy becomes

disillusioned with his wife and slips into an illicit affair with a teenager from down the street.

Before long, he begins to think of doing the unthinkable. But despite his desperate attempts

to make things work, almost nothing goes as planned. His misguided quest for simple love

doesn't turn out to be simple at all. And before the roller coaster ride stops,

he learns quite personally and very finely that Only One Thing Stays the Same.

Only One Thing Stays the Same is available in Kindle e-book and paperback form

exclusively at Amazon.com. I'd appreciate it if you'd look for it today.

2026 Lexus TX 550h+ Plug-In Hybrid: 404 HP Luxury Meets 33-Mile Electric Range

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