iForce Max is a system Toyota uses to make cars that run on both gasoline and electric power. It lets different car models share the same hybrid technology.
An emission scandal happens when a car company tricks tests to show it’s cleaner than it really is. It caused big fines and trust issues.
LIVE
The centennial of automotive news comes once, and with it, a book worthy of the milestone. Produced in a premium hardcover format, this limited edition volume, is designed to be a lasting presence in the offices, boardrooms, and zoom backgrounds of leaders across the country. It's a celebration of the innovation, influence, and endurance that defined automotive news as first 100 years, and a marker for the road ahead. Alongside historic moments, it offers
fresh reflections from today's leaders on the forces reshaping the business, including an essay from Kathleen Ligaki, the highest-ranking female executive in the global auto industry during the late 1990s and early 2000s about the rise of Mary Barra at GM.
When I look at someone like Mary, continue to have impacted her level, it inspires me to continue to have impact at mine.
The book will ship in late December. Copies are limited. You can pre-order now until Friday, November 21st at autonews.com.
This podcast is brought to you by Proton dealership IT experts in dealership cybersecurity and IT management,
interested in a free cybersecurity compliance or IT consultation, visit ProtonTex.com. That's PRO-T-O-N-T-E-C-H-S.com.
Welcome to this weekend drive edition of Daily Drive for the Fourth Week in November 2025.
I'm Kellan Walker in Los Angeles at the LA Auto Show. We're breaking down some of the biggest stories
in the auto industry from the past week and looking forward to what's in store in the days ahead.
Joining me today are Jerry Hirsch senior editor of Tech and Innovation here at Automotive News,
who's here with me in LA. Jerry, welcome to Weekend Drive. Glad to be here. And Larry Velliquette,
who covers Toyota and Subaru for us at Automotive News, joins us from his home office in Southeast
Michigan, Larry Legend, as always. Welcome back to the show, sir. Great to be on Weekend Drive, Kellan.
Before we get into this week's news, Jerry, what's sticking out to you here at the LA Auto Show and what are
your general impressions? So there's a couple of interesting things at the Auto Show this year.
It's really the Kia and Hyundai show. Kia unveiled the new, what is calling the 2027, not 2026.
Tell your ride, 3-row crossover SUV. It's a really nice vehicle. I'm sure it's going to sell pretty
well. The current model is going to do about 120,000 units this year. So we'll see how they can
prove upon it. Obviously, it depends on the economy and pricing and a lot of other external factors.
But it's a really nice vehicle. It's also going to have a hybrid powertrain. What's the capability on
this? It's a sibling to the Hyundai Palisade. They're the same platform, same powertrain, etc.
Each puts its own flavor in design and styling. And I would say the Kia one is probably a little
bit more rugged looking at this point. Hyundai unveiled a crater off-road concept, which is a bit
like a Jeep on steroids. What's interesting about this is that Hyundai has not played in the off-road
realm before. And it'll be curious to see if they really go far with something like this.
Another big question is will this be a body on frame, which obviously optimizes off-road capabilities
or is this going to be a unibody product if they move forward? Still to be determined. I think
they just wanted to show some capabilities and what they're thinking about over there at Hyundai.
How important is the tell-you-ride for Kia? And what do you guys think about Hyundai and other
automakers really leaning into hybrids for large SUVs? So the interesting thing about hybrids,
we're going to take that question first, is that it does improve fuel economy. But one of the
things that automakers are now doing with hybrid technology is using that electric motor as a power
boost. So they're improving performance, they're improving acceleration and other aspects of the car,
other driving dynamics by applying electric motors and a larger battery and that type of technology.
So what they're really looking at this is, yeah, good fuel economy, but this new iteration,
where wow, we can provide more performance and more interesting vehicles and consumers with this
technology. Gotcha. Larry, what are your thoughts? Well, we've had this debate within our Toyota
product mix for a while. They have this iForce Max hybrid powertrain, which they put in the
Tundra and now in the Tacoma and their body on frame vehicles. And I got to tell you, as a hybrid,
you know, yeah, you get extra power. But if I'm buying a hybrid, man, that mileage is disappointing.
And it is really disappointing. If I'm used to a hybrid, you know, we got the Prius,
the Camry, these all hybrid powertrains that are getting 50 plus miles a gallon.
And I go into the iForce Max body on frame hybrid, you know, tune for more power, which they
did purposely. But, you know, the, the mileage just stinks. For what it, you know,
the thing, though, that, well, yeah, but, you know, Jerry, it is their technology, right?
These, the hybrids came from Toyota. When you tune hybrids for additional power, you give up
the extra, the fuel economy that you might gain, right? It's just a, it's a choice. It's a product
planning choice. I get it in choice. But I think it's not quite cut and dry. And, and let's not
see the whole hybrid market to Toyota, just because they've done the most with it in terms of
volume. Other automakers are developing this technology and, and advancing it. So the Hyundai
Palisade three row SUV. It's a very big vehicle. And you can get into the 30 miles per gallon on it.
Yeah, that's not 50 gallons of a Prius. But you're not driving a Prius. You're driving them much more
capable, much more comfortable, much quieter vehicle. So I think, I think that it's, you have to
compare it to what would you get for Chevy Tahoe with something like that? The Palisade is unibody
in that body and frame, right? Yes, it's unibody, right? Yeah. Okay. So I mean, I'm talking about
large body and frame vehicles, pickup trucks, large SUVs, not crossovers. I think when, if you're
in a unibody's discussion, the Palisade, the, the Highlander, et cetera, the Grand Highlander,
yeah, you can get, you can get into the 30s, but you don't have the off-road capability,
the towing capacity generally that you do with a body and frame vehicle. Interesting stuff, guys.
Well, before we break, we should talk about who is not here, who's standing out to you the most
Okay. So I'm looking at the West Hall, the, the LA Auto Show is dividing into two halls,
one of them is the West Hall, the other is the South Hall. In, in the West Hall, there are three
automakers only. Kia, Rivian, and Ford, Rivian has a very small stand. Honda is there, but that's a
dealer stand. Outside of the West Hall, Porsche is there, but that's a dealer stand. So what we're
seeing is a lot of the automakers just are no longer participating in auto shows.
There's really missing from LA, and there used to be a stand by Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar
Loan Land Rover, Audi. We had Rolls Royce here coming regularly back a decade ago and more.
This is the luxury brands have just abandoned the LA show, which is really interesting because LA
is a huge luxury market. So that's, that's the thing that stands out to me this year. The other
thing is it's just there aren't a, there's not a lot of activity. I mean, it shows how auto shows
are dying and they're going to probably morph into very, as they are, supposed to be consumer-facing
shows, with a lot of the local dealer groups, the brand of dealer groups taking responsibility
for the displays, with maybe some support from the automaker, so maybe none.
And Larry, is this something that we've been seeing, I guess, coming for a long time, especially since
coming out of COVID, when it comes to the auto shows? Yeah, it actually, just to be fair,
it started before COVID. And it is not limited to US shows, it is shows around the world.
Really, what's happening is you're, we've gone through the last decade of automakers having
to spend money on electrification, ADAS, automated driving. Those are giant, giant projects.
Giant engineering projects. They cost money. And then, to top it all off, this year we get tariffs,
right? Which is just an open tap on their profits, and the profits of every automaker.
So budgets are being constrained across the industry. That's having an impact on marketing budgets.
So if I'm running an automaker, and I'm thinking, okay, do I want to spend several million
dollars to have a press conference at an auto show that may or may not have a return on it,
or keeps some people employed and try and engineer my way out of this mess.
It's pretty clear cut to me anyway. And those are the choices that automakers are making.
That's why auto shows are having such a hard time. It's one of the reasons auto shows are having
such a hard time. There's also another interesting aspect of it. It's how you reach consumers these days.
So in the old days, you know, a decade ago, two decades ago, auto shows would come,
the automakers would come to auto shows. They have big splashy displays and big press conferences
and big events. Now they're redirecting a lot of that money, not only to the stuff that Larry
Sutton which is badly needed, very heavy spending and capital expenditures in those areas,
but also they're having standalone events, and they're not so focused on the traditional media,
the traditional auto media. They're inviting influencers, the YouTube generation, the Instagram
generation, the TikTokers, because that's the way consumers are experiencing and getting impressions,
and they just think that's probably a better spend for them. They're going to surface their
vehicles, their news, their marketing messages in front of many more people that way,
than spending a million dollars on the big booth at the LA Auto Show.
And to be fair, if I can jump in, and to be fair, they get to control the message then.
Correct. What journalists write.
Coming up, we'll talk about Nissan's big hybrid plans for next year,
and we'll talk about Akio Toyota, gleefully donning Donald Trump merch and driving a Ford F-150
in Japan. That's next on Weekend Drive.
Educating consumers about EVs can be a big lift for dealers. Michael Barrabe is a former
Department of Energy official and the new CEO of CalStart. He joins us this week on the Automotive
News Shift podcast to talk about how CalStart is helping retailers reach more customers
and move EVs off their lots. As technology been evolving, it's been more about the technology.
Now it's just we've got to be how do you make it simple for consumers.
I'm Molly Boygon, and I'm Hannah Lens. Barrabe also talks about how private companies can work with
the public sector to get more stability around clean energy policies. And as always, we bring you
the latest news from the world of automotive technology and innovation.
That's available Sunday morning on shift wherever you get your podcasts.
While you provide top-notch support to your team and customers every day,
is anyone taking the time to ensure your sensitive data remains secure?
Just one click on a malicious link can place your entire dealership in danger.
In fact, the average cost of a data breach served past four million last year.
Stay one step ahead by understanding the threats and minimizing your risk.
Proton dealership by T works around the clock to provide you support 24-7-365.
Operating out of a cutting-edge security operation center located in the USA,
Proton continuously monitors, detects and responds to your potential network issues or cyber threats.
You've got a lot on your plate. Keep your focus on where it matters most.
Your customers learn more about our comprehensive services at protontex.com.
That's p-r-o-t-o-n-t-e-c-h-s.com
Welcome back to Weekend Drive. I'm Kellan Walker with Larry Veliquette and Jerry Hirsch.
We ran an exclusive interview this week on Daily Drive from our own Hans Grimel
with Nissan CEO Ivan Espinoza. He's working through some big turnaround plans that include
an onslaught of new products next year. Larry, I'm curious of what you think about what
Espinoza said and your thoughts on his apparent confidence that Infinity could take on Mercedes
and BMW. I tell you what I take away was that is a tough challenge. It's a tough challenge just
to try and write the Nissan ship. Let alone those are ambitious goals that we're going to take on.
We're going to push Infinity, which is to this point, been a rounding error in the luxury space
and put it up against BMW and Mercedes and Lexus, and it would have been Tesla. It's not
Tesla anymore. Those are big plans. Audi has tried for how long to crack that. Made a dent
and withdrew because of the emission scandal. It's a big lift. I think, I wish him well,
I don't know how he's going to pull it off. If he does, that'll be the miracle of 2026 for sure.
Jerry, what are your thoughts? One and a half companies have challenged Mercedes and BMW,
Lexus of course. I think Genesis might be on the way, not even Cadillac or Lincoln.
Which have been the victims of Mercedes and BMW. Just nobody else has been able to crack into
that hole, which is now probably a threesome. You have to put Lexus there without a doubt,
but I don't see a second label for Nissan doing that.
Finally, Larry, we've got to talk about Akyo Toyota. Speaking of Hans, he got a picture this week
in Japan, which has gone viral of Akyo Toyota, wearing a MAGA hat and a Donald Trump t-shirt.
What's the gist? What are your thoughts? Yeah, our good colleague Hans Grimal never missing anything
over there in Japan. Got a video and some photos of Toyota, German Akyo Toyota putting on a
Trump Vance 2024 t-shirt and make America great again hat at a celebration at Fuji Speedway
for it was supposed to be a celebration of American culture and it went viral for sure.
There are a lot of things that I don't understand why this happened.
Mostly, primarily because it abandoned decades of careful, cautious,
presentation by Toyota, by both Toyota and Toyota, the Toyota family, to be apolitical.
This is what was really disconcerting because it was partisan and it was built as a celebration
of American culture and yet it was this partisan outfit, very partisan outfit.
I don't know why. As the editorial board poured it out, of course,
Japan does not turn on every quarter screw of our American culture wars, so it's possible this
was just kind of tone death but there's no reason for an automaker to anger unnecessarily half
of your audience when there's really no benefit. This is a small event in Japan,
not meant for international consumption. Akyo Don's this is a very partisan outfit.
I hope it was just tone deafness and that we can put it off to being in Japan and this was
an event for domestic consumption. It makes you wonder why you would, given what we went through
with Elon Musk earlier this year, right? And what that did to Tesla's sales? It makes you wonder
why the chairman would purposely make a choice to jump into this cultural war at first for whatever
reason. Jerry, do you think this could mess with Akyo's legacy? I don't think so. I think at the end
of the day, it's going to have no effect on Toyota sales. Yeah, maybe you'll be seen by some
as a misstep or a wonder. But I don't think people in California are going to stop buying Toyota's
because most won't even know about this. Those who might be politically on the other side of this
culture war and I think some of the mag crowd will find out about it and that might
make them think twice about maybe they should look at a tundra or Tacoma instead of that F-150
or Ram or Silverado. So I think at the end it nuts out with with no effect. I think it's just a
notable event that some groups are going to kind of glum on. But a month from now, we'll be
forgotten. Gotcha. Larry, Jerry, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks, Kyle.
Thank you. That's all for this weekend drive edition of Daily Drive. I'm Kellen Walker. Thanks
to automotive news executive producer Jake Nier for his help on today's podcast. You can get the
latest news on the LA Auto Show, manufacturing, and everything happening in the auto industry at
autonews.com. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the show on the topics
we covered today. Send us an email at DailyDrive at autonews.com or leave us a voice mail at 313-444-2774.
If you enjoy the podcast, remember to like, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss an
episode.
About this episode
The LA Auto Show takes center stage as hosts Kellan Walker, Jerry Hirsch, and Larry Velliquette discuss key unveilings, including Kia's new Telluride and Hyundai's off-road concept. The conversation shifts to the evolving hybrid market, with debates on performance versus fuel economy. Notably, the absence of luxury brands at the show raises questions about the future of auto exhibitions. The episode also touches on Nissan's ambitious plans and Akio Toyoda's controversial MAGA appearance, exploring the potential impact on Toyota's image and sales.
