The BEST And WORST Trucks At The 2026 Detroit Auto Show! | Ep. 314

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Welcome to Detroit. This is the 2026 Detroit auto show international auto show right.

I don't know if they actually call it international anymore because it's pretty it's pretty

Detroit centric right. Pretty much yeah. None of the European automakers are here.

Most of the Japanese and Asians aren't here. This is really almost like true Michigan show.

It's about as true. It's about as Michigan as it gets. Yeah.

So thanks for joining us on this episode of TFL Talking Trucks Podcast. With me on this episode

is my friend Sam Abel Semed. You have your own podcast. You have your own. I mean you do many

things in the automotive industry. My own little empire. A little empire. And you've been in the

industry for about four decades right. Yeah. Yeah. Actually last year was my 40th year since I started

as an engineering co-op student working in the auto industry. There you go. So you understand

this industry quite well. So what I want to do, this is our best of Detroit. So we want to walk

around and I can actually kind of show what's here and maybe get some insight especially from you

about what you know state of the industry a little bit. What trucks and big SUVs are here.

So we're starting here in the Ram booth at Stalantis because they actually have a lot going on.

Yeah. Today. Yeah. Yeah. They do. And right here we've got the Ram 1500 Rev. Yes. Which

eventually might even go on sale. Yeah. That's the last most recent I've heard. Second half of

this year. Yeah. But this is the range extended electric Ram. So we can show the badge actually.

So actually this looks almost like a production model. Right. Yeah. I actually saw one on the

road driving here this morning. And apparently there's about there's about 200 of these now

that are out being driven around by Stalantis employees. Yeah. So I have a little bit of

inside information because about an hour ago I spoke with Tim Kaniscus, the CEO of Ram.

And I asked him on the due date on the Rev and he said kind of TBD. So he said they had a lot

going on. You know they're launching the TRX and several other things. And so so stay tuned.

Yeah. I mean they still have vehicles that don't have how cats and hammies in them yet that they

have to that they still have to deliver. So but this is quite interesting. This truck let's look

inside of this truck because I've seen some prototypes before but this seems to be almost

finished. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. Well the thing you got to keep in mind is that you know

this is the cab is basically standard Ram 1500. So there's you know unlike a lot of the prototypes

that we see where you know you'll see surfaces that don't have all the proper draining on them and

everything. You know this is just this is stock 1500s like any other 1500. It's what's underneath

that makes the difference. Exactly. And what's underneath is electric motors one in the front

one in the rear. So it's all wheel drive four wheel drive. And we have a Pentastar under the hood.

Yeah. Yeah. So you're the generator right. Yeah. So you got about 650 horsepower from the two motors

that are driving the vehicle. Yeah. You got a 92 kilowatt hour battery pack and a 27 gallon fuel

tank that is fueling the the Pentastar V6 that is not connected to the wheels in any way.

All it's doing is is driving a generator that as your battery depletes that generator is producing

electricity to keep the battery charged. So that when you're towing you can

unlike with a lightning or other electric. Even Silverado. Yeah. You just keep on going.

Yeah. Exactly. And also the capability of the towing rating on this is 14,000 pounds. Yeah.

And it's got heavy duty hubs. Yeah. I mean if you look at the hubs on this thing is eight lugs.

I mean so this should be quite interesting. But right now for Ram it's a lot about internal

combustion. Right. Yeah. So let's walk over a little bit further because we don't have pricing

on this yet. Right. Although Ram says Ram actually told me that the rev range extender

will be cheaper than all electric. Yeah. Yeah. So you got the plug right here. And it's not

max. Yeah. It's still CCS. But you know who knows. I mean they keep delaying this by the time they

actually build it. It may have max. It might cut a max for it. Exactly. But yeah. But do you agree

with that. Yeah. That the range extender could be more affordable than an all electric truck.

Yeah. Because when you look at the cost of the battery you know what they what they originally

announced with the BEV version of this they the standard BEV version was going to be 160

hour 160 kilowatt hour battery. Yeah. And this is 92. So if you're taking out about 70 kilowatt

hours of battery almost having that you're taking you're taking out about about not somewhere between

nine and ten thousand dollars of cost just from that battery. And then to add the range extender

back in and the fuel system and the exhaust and everything probably somewhere in the neighborhood

of four to five thousand dollars. So theoretically this thing cost at least cost I don't know how

they're going to price it but at least from a cost perspective it's probably going to be about

four to five thousand dollars cheaper for Stalantis to build that than for the standard range

BEV that they were going to do. Makes sense. Yeah. Now we're standing next to a truck that's

the opposite of the one we just looked at. Yeah. This is a 5.7 liter Hemi that's super

charged with a Whipple. It's about 650 because this is called the 650. Right. Which is basically

identical horsepower level as that electric range extender. Right. I think it'll be interesting

when you guys get a chance to hopefully drag race these back to back because this one is probably

lighter in weight. It's probably lighter. Yes. But I'll bet you that one might still be quicker

because of all the electric torque. That instant electric torque and all wheel drive. Is this all

wheel drive or it should be or rear wheel drive. I mean I hope it's all drive to because otherwise

even if it's all wheel drive the power delivery is not going to be the same as what you're going

to get out of the electric motor. So I want to see you guys take these two to the airstrip.

Yeah. But what do you think about this? My e-torque this supercharged Ram 1500 here.

By the way it's coming with the direct connection. Right. It's the electric dealer. Yes. Yeah. And

so the the 57 Hemi has the e-torque on there is standard and I think to simplify the installation

and keep keep things as you know to minimize the complexity it's easier to leave that on there

because otherwise you would if you take that off you're going to have to put on an alternator

and set up the electrical system for that alternator. Yeah. So this this is taking the

place of the alternator on a traditional engine. Yeah. And there's a small battery. Yeah. On in

the system as well. Yeah. Not humongous one. That's about a half kilowatt hour. Yeah. Very very

tiny. Yeah. By comparison but essentially because this looks like complexity but it's a little bit

counterintuitive that this would be easier to do. It actually simplifies because that also

takes the place of your starter motor. Yes. So there's no there's no traditional starter motor.

No alternator. You just have that one unit. Bam. And it's driven by the serpentine belt.

Yes. So it's right there. Okay. Let's keep moving. Now there's also the TRX. We've done many

stories already about the TRX. It's coming back and they're saying kind of middle of this year.

Yeah. Like summertime. And are you excited by this? What do you what do you think?

You know, yes and no. Okay. You know, I always love hearing the sound of a Hellcat of Super

Charged V8. But you know the reality is driving it having having driven the the RHO and the

first generation TRX. You know, the RHO was just as much fun to drive. Yeah. It didn't have quite the

sound. Maybe not quite as quick ultimately. But you know, I'm sure there there will absolutely

be an audience to this truck. There will be people that want the the most that they can

possibly get out of it. And the 777 horsepower now. Triple sevens. Yeah. I keep thinking about Las

Vegas for some reason. You know, pulling that pulling that handle and seeing triple seven.

Sure. It's just a complete coincidence that they tuned it to exactly 777 horsepower. It

couldn't be 776, right? No, no, no. Or 778. Yeah. Triple seven. That would just not work.

Yeah. Okay. No. So I was actually at my local dealer near Denver, Colorado. And the orders for

these are not open yet. Right. 2027. This is a 2027 model. But my dealer said they have a like a

list, a spreadsheet of 30 people waiting for this new TRX. Yeah. Already. You know, it's cheaper

than the Raptor R. Well, it's cheaper than the Raptor R. Yeah. It's also cheaper than the final

edition of the old TRX. Which is a little sad. Yeah. Although it is significantly more expensive

than the TRX was when it launched, which is the one you guys own. Because it started in 2021 model

year at $72,000. Yeah. And the one we purchased had a couple of options, several things at $77,000.

This is $102,000. Right. Including the $2,595 destination charge now. Which is the humongous

charge. And you and I on our podcast, we talk about this because it's $2,600 almost. Yeah.

It's pretty crazy. All right. Let's keep moving. I noticed a really cool gladiator. Can we go through

the gladiator? Yeah. Let's go through the gladiator. So Ram, Solantis has a big presence at this show

this year. I mean, their booth is pretty tremendous. And they have Camp Jeep area as well. Camp Jeep. So

that people can, as when the consumers come in, they can go try out the Jeeps on, you know, even

if they never actually, if they buy a Jeep and never take it off road, they can still kind of get a

little bit of that experience right here on the show floor. Yeah. And we're walking by several

vehicles. So if you want to learn more about the Recon or maybe the Cherokee, come back to our

car podcast, right? We're focused on pickup trucks in this particular area. Dude, what do you think

about the look of this? I love the military look. Yeah. I like this look. I like nice, nice clean,

kind of not a little more subtle, but the matching wheels and the olive drab paint on the bodywork.

I think it looks really neat. It's reminds of the original wheelies, you know, Jeeps. Yeah.

Let's look at the front a little bit. But I want to bring up a point,

since we're looking at this gladiator and talking about Jeep, is that recently, basically it was

confirmed that their plug-in hybrid 4xE technology, not the entire 4xE nameplate, right? Right.

4xE is applying to everything that they build with a plug. Yes. But plug-in technology is going

away, at least for now. Yeah. So the plug-in hybrids that they have on the Wrangler, the Grand Cherokee,

and that they were planning for the gladiator, as well as the Pacifica plug-in hybrid,

all those are being discontinued. Oh, have you heard about the Hornet at all?

I haven't heard anything on the Hornet. I'll have to ask. Because it has a plug-in version

as well. That's a completely different system that they have on there.

But these, all four of these vehicles, or three of them that were actually in production,

Stalanz has had a lot of issues with recalls on those. They've had some problems with fires on them,

and so they've gone through a long stretch of recalls. That's so unfortunate. Yeah. I think,

given that they, with the rollback and emission standards, they don't need to have these in the

lineup anymore now, and the problems they've had with it trying to get those sorted out,

they decided it's better to just cut their losses on that. Do you think it'll come back

in a short order, like one or two years down the line? Do you think it might return?

I think it's more likely, you know, it's probably more like three to four years.

So not that quick? Probably be a next-generation system, maybe based on some new battery technology,

some different suppliers. But at some point, I think they'll probably bring it back.

So it's not as quick as some people might think, right? And what we might actually see is,

you know, depending on the success of that ram rev and the grand wagon here,

our e-rev over here. Let's take a look at this. Yeah. We might actually see them go the e-rev route

with these instead of the traditional plug-in hybrid. That might be actually very interesting,

right? So you could do an e-rev Wrangler or Grand Cherokee. Or Gladiator, for example. Yeah. And

instead of the Pentastar, maybe put the four-cylinder in there, the two-liter four-cylinder.

So let's just show this grand wagon here. This is basically the cousin to that ram rev

that we were looking at, right? Also the plug. Still a CCS, but... Okay. Yeah. It's basically,

it's the same powertrain that's in that ram rev, but with a smaller fuel tank, because this has a

shorter wheelbase. So it's only a 20-gallon fuel tank. Versus what, 27? 27. Over there.

But it's got a fresh face, right? Yeah. They just redid the face on the grand wagon here.

And look at this. Look what it says. It has a Jeep badge. What? You don't have to go looking inside

the headlamp cluster for the little tiny Jeep. So what we're referring to is when the grand wagon

here and the wagon here launched, it was like a sub-brand, right, for Jeep. And it had no Jeep

badges whatsoever, and it didn't make sense to a lot of us. Yeah. So it just had a big wagon here

across the front and across the tailgate. But I think now it's proper, right? It's part of...

You buy them at the same dealership, right? You're not going to a Wagoneer dealership.

Right. Exactly. And I like this new front-end look on here, the new lighting and everything.

Yeah. I think it's... I mean, it wasn't the complete redesign, obviously, because the vehicle is

mostly the same. They just changed the headlamps and kind of the face of it, right? Yeah. And they

took a lot from the design of the Wagoneer S, the EV, you know, added this light strip in here.

And I think it's a good look. It makes it look a little sleeker.

Yeah. So the Gladiator soldiers on... Do you know anything? Can you share anything?

Because the Gladiator is getting long on the tooth. I mean, it came out as a 2020 model.

Have you heard anything about, like, redesigning it or anything like that? Yeah. I think 2028

timeframe is when... 27 or probably late 27 or early 28 is when we'll see a next generation.

And I think this is going to share a platform with the RAM midsize truck, the Dakota.

So recently, they had an event and Tim confirmed that the midsize RAM truck is going to be called

Dakota. And that's a Toledo, correct? That's going to be built in Toledo, yeah. Which is where these

are built, right? Yup. And the Wrangler, too. So we'll probably see them share an architecture

all based off of variation of the Stella Frame architecture. So we'll probably see an update

of both this and the Wrangler around the similar timeframe.

That would be exciting because I heard a lot of rumors and a lot of forums talking about

that this was a one generation vehicle that was going to go away in a one and done type of thing.

But I was hoping it wouldn't be true. Yeah. We'll see. And it seems like it's not quite...

I mean, plans are changing all the time. So it's entirely possible that they might decide

not to continue with this. They might decide that the Dakota is a better way to go for a

midsize. Or they might keep this around. I'm hoping they keep this. And by the way, if they're

using the same platform, why not? It's relatively... And you've got a lot of the same sheet metal from

the Wrangler. It wouldn't be that crazy expensive to do both. I hope they go that way. Speaking of

changes, I mean, we see a lot of quick changes in the industry these days, right?

Constantly, yeah. I mean, you've been around, like you said, in history for 40 years plus.

It used to take a lot longer, isn't it, to just make adjustments? Or is it true?

It was as much... I think the time it takes to develop a new vehicle has gotten a little bit

faster. But it's still three to four years to develop a new vehicle from scratch. But what

has been changing a lot is the product plans. So they'll start down the path of developing something

and decide, nope, that's the wrong direction. We need to drop this and do something different.

And so that's something that we haven't really seen so much of before.

Yeah, just kind of readjustment of the timelines, I guess.

Yeah, adjusting timelines and adjusting what products they're doing based on market conditions.

You got changing regulations, changing consumer demand. They have to adapt to that.

So we just walked into the Ford space. Ford obviously also has a gigantic presence at the show,

a very large booth. We kind of walked by past a couple of Broncos and did it on purpose because

it's a whole different kind of show. But in the truck space, they're still...

Actually, they dropped a couple of hints. Were you at the event last night?

No, not that one, but I was at a backgrounder on Monday.

So check this out, because one of the Ford executives was up there yesterday and I was there.

He said, oh, by the way, the Ranger tremor will be returning. So that was a nugget that I kind of

caught in that presentation. And also a special Carhartt version of the Super Duty was going to

come and they teased it with a wheel. They showed a wheel that kind of looked like...

They said it was inspired by a Detroit manhole cover that you see on the street.

Yeah, they've got some really interesting manhole covers in this town, especially cast

with some intricate designs on them. And so it would make sense to have a badge that takes

inspiration from that. Yeah, so obviously they haven't updated their Super Duty in a while.

I mean, 2023 was kind of the year where they kind of changed the face of it, the front end.

They did some engine updates. Yeah, they did a lot of upgrades for 23.

And they considered it a generational upgrade. And those were some pretty substantial changes done

at that time. So there are also a lot of rumors. We live in a day and age where you see a lot of

like AI based imagery or video and somebody told me that. But you guys would never create anything

like that. No, no, but I want to differentiate what I'm doing is because I'm not saying a

caterpillar pickup truck is going to be here tomorrow. That's not what I'm doing. I've done

something before where I have an idea in my head like a lower TRX and I use AI just to create

that image. But we're very clear this is my rendering. This is my thoughts. Not, oh look,

it's coming tomorrow. Yeah, that type of thing. If you look at my YouTube feed, you'll see all

kinds of nonsense popping up on there. The reason why I mentioned this is because somebody said

at Detroit in 2026, we're going to see an eight liter power stroke diesel that's coming tomorrow.

Yeah. Well, there's no engine news here. So so and also somebody said there's going to be a new

Duramax V8 8.3 liter. That's also not here. We'll show the GM in a second. So Ford has the

entire lineup here. The Ranger Raptor is here, which we actually used to own a TFL truck.

Yeah, that's still my favorite of the off-road midsize trucks.

Above all of them. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with you. I would agree with you. I would agree with you.

It's just it seems like the right size, the right power. That's a nice balance. Yeah, it's

like, you know, the ATV, the Canyon AT4X AEV edition, you know, it's awesome. But, you know,

it's also really high up. You have to jump into it. It's funny. When I had one last summer,

I was looking at the payload sticker and I had a payload of 850 pounds. My next door neighbors

have a 2022 Maverick hybrid, just the base, the one they used to sell for 20 grand,

which has a 1,500 pound payload capacity. Almost twice. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's really interesting.

And these Rangers actually have decent payload. In fact, if we check this one,

I'll bet you it'll be around 1,400 probably. Probably, yeah. Which is actually,

you know, I'm a big dude, 1,340. Okay. So we're not far off. That's still respectable. Yeah,

we're not far off because, you know, I'm not going to say exactly how much I weigh, but if you put

four adults, four adult men into a Canyon, well, in this thing, you're still going to have

several hundred pounds left. A little bit left. In that Canyon. You're going to be near the top.

Nothing. Yes. Can't take anything else with you. Speaking of Mavericks, there is a couple of Mavericks

here. Can you tell me a little bit about Nactoy? Yeah. What happened there? So in the

the North American car truck and utility of the year, the truck of the year

was won by the Maverick Lobo. Oh, this one. Yeah. This one. Okay. This was the winner.

Oh, there it is. It even has a plaque on it. Of course. Yes. They have all that stuff prepared

in advance, you know, just in case they win. Okay. So that was announced today. That was announced,

yeah, about three hours ago. Fresh off the presses, so to speak. So Lobo is a new trim level,

really. But it's also kind of a signal, at least in my mind. And I want to see if you agree

that kind of the street, slightly lowered truck are making the resurgence. Yeah. I mean,

with trucks being so popular, manufacturers are looking for any way to potentially expand the

market. And so, you know, the regular, you know, standard Mavericks and Rangers and so on, already

very popular. You know, what other niches can they find, you know, based on the existing platforms

they've got. And so this, you know, based on the Maverick, there's already the F-150 Lobo.

Yeah, it's actually... I would be surprised if we don't see a Ranger Lobo at some point. Oh,

it's over here. Let's take a look. You know, for the F-150 Lobo, they didn't lower it as much as

they did with the Maverick. Yeah, that's my kind of a comment. So they made it level. So if you

take a wide view, sorry about that, if you take a wide view, they lowered it in the back about

two inches. Right. So it looks level, which I like. Yeah. But there's still space. There's still a

lot of space between the wheel and the fender. Yeah. So I kind of wanted it to look much lower.

Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if they do that at some point, you know. If it's popular, right?

Yeah. If it's popular, if they think that there's a market for it, they will certainly build it.

And you mentioned something else, like you mentioned possibility of a Ranger Lobo.

Yeah, I wouldn't rule out that possibility. Ford hasn't said anything about this. No,

they've not said anything. But if these two sell well, it would make sense for them to do a Ranger.

And they're doing tremors across the board. Exactly. So, you know, Lobos across the lineup

as well would make sense. That would make sense. Because they announced the Tremor Ranger coming

back. Yeah. So that's really interesting. Well, there's a lightning there. Yeah. But it's been

discontinued. Yeah. But they still have a bunch left to sell. Okay. And since this is, you know,

mainly a consumer show, you know, people from around Southeast Michigan, Northeast, Northwest,

Ohio are going to be coming here over the next week and a half to check out the new vehicles as

they get ready to buy. Yeah. This is something that they want to sell off. So Ford says in

a couple of years, the lightning will return. Yep. Right. But as a Ranger standard, right,

very similar to the Ram. Yes. So instead of a front here, you will have some sort of some kind

of engine and a generator, which is kind of a shame because I like this covered weather-protected

space that's in the front. Yeah. You know, you know, I think Ford did a lot right with this

truck when they built it. They got it to market quickly. It's rides really nice. Yeah. It's a

great truck. The only thing that it's not good at is towing long distances. Exactly. Everything

else, it's arguably the best F-150. I agree. Everything except long-distance towing. I agree.

And it's a shame that they're not going to have the bad version around. I would love to see them

keep that and offer the e-rev as well. But, you know, given the market realities, the e-rev is

probably the right choice for them to be making for this larger truck. I think so. And then as the

technology matures, right, the batteries may get cheaper and cheaper. Yeah. As you start to get the

LMR batteries that they've talked about, or, you know, structural battery packs. Different

chemistries, right? Get solid state, get higher energy density, and bring the cost to those batteries

down, then maybe come back and revisit the electric truck. Have you heard anything, any rumblings of,

remember the Model T moment? Yes. But they talked about the mid-size-ish, small-ish electric truck.

A Maverick-sized truck. Something like this. Have you heard anything else? Are we going to see a

concept or something else? Yeah. We will start to see some stuff from Ford over the next several

months. Okay. So that would be exciting. It's scheduled to go into production around the end of

the year. This in 2026? The end of 2026. Go on sale in 2027. Probably first half of 2027. Okay.

Production towards the end of the year. And they will start showing us more details on that truck

this year. I did get one interesting detail last week. I was at a dinner, while I was at CES,

I was at a dinner with some Ford executives. And, you know, if you follow the EV space,

you know, one of the things that a lot of manufacturers have had issues with is 12-volt

batteries dying. Yeah. And when you guys bought a Cybertruck last year, that one had no 12-volt

battery in it. No, it was 48 volt. Yeah. That's what's going to be in the Universal Electric

vehicle platform as well. The Ford... Very interesting. So... Are you for that? Are you

pretty excited by that? Yeah. You know, we've had 48-volt technology around for things like

mild hybrids like that e-torque system on the RAM for quite some time. Yeah. But the problem is,

there's still a lot of other systems in the vehicles that are designed to run at 12 volts.

All the lights, all the switches. Yeah. All the, you know, all the ventilation fans. Computers.

Everything. Yeah. Designed to run at 12 volts. And so that's why, you know, you had this mix of

12 and 48 volt architectures on vehicles. Well, what's happened in the last few years is a lot

of the suppliers that build those components have started to actually redesign those things

to run at 48 volts. So you think it was a little bit... Catalyst was a Cybertruck maybe? That was

probably one of the catalysts. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You know, and just in general, I think, you know,

there's interest from the industry broadly to go to 48 volts because 48 higher voltage,

you can make the wires thinner, you can reduce the amount of copper, you can reduce some of the costs,

simplify things. And so you're going to see more 48 volt systems in the coming years.

It's exciting. Yeah. But that Ford electric truck is going to be one of the first from a

legacy automaker. From Ford. Yeah. I'm actually really happy to hear that because I've studied

the Cybertruck system, you know, I was looking and listening and studying that system and just

the amount of power and also, like you said, weight reduction, cost reduction potentials,

and also the heat pump. Yeah. Like how it integrates with those climate control systems.

Yeah. So, you know, when they did the lightning, you know, they used a lot of off the shelf stuff

from Standard F-150. Yeah. A lot of the heating and ventilation

elements and that added to the costs. And so with this new vehicle, it's being designed

really from the ground up as an EV and really being optimized for that. And I think that's going to,

you know, that's that smaller truck, I think will be a much better application for most people

for that are interested in going electric and want to pick up truck rather than the full size.

All right. So now we've traveled and we're standing in the GMC booth. So this is a general

motors area. There's also Chevrolet. So let's do a quick, quick run, run down. So in the GMC

space, we had the heavy duty truck, light duty, and also you could see prominently a couple of

electric CRs, right? Yep. And don't forget the Corvette ZR1X. Yes. Maybe we can get a glance at that.

But I think that's interesting that GM is actually expanding their lineup of electric

trucks because we have an 84 kind of an off-road model. We have a little bit more basic

LT model as well. Yeah, they've kind of shifted like with the Silverado and Sierra EVs, they've

kind of shifted the model lineups a little bit because when they launched Silverado EV,

you had the work truck and you had this high end RST model. And they've gotten rid of that.

Yeah. And they're letting GMC handle that luxury truck with the Denali. Yeah. And so they've got

now you've got the work truck and with the LT, I think, or LTZ, and then the Trail Boss. Trail Boss,

yeah. And then GMC, they've also got an 84 and the Denali. Well, you can see it here.

They also have the elevation. The elevation. That's GMC language for kind of a base. Yeah. So now

you've got a little bit less overlap. They're filling in the gaps in there. And the pricing

coming down, right? So with smaller batteries, a little bit simpler equipment, right? You're

starting with about 65 grand, maybe with destinations going to be more, because destinations, like we

said, are growing and growing. Well, one important thing to keep in mind with General Motors is that

Oh, they include it. They, in the prices that they advertise, they include the destination charge.

So that's out the door. Thank you, General Motors, because I've noticed Toyota doesn't do that,

some others don't do that. Very, almost no one does. Ford doesn't do that. Nobody else does it.

That's really cool that these prices are actually true. Yeah. Yes. So that's great.

There's this 84X EV edition that you mentioned, but it's very tall. Tall, but if you want an

off-roader, an off-road version, an off-road GM midsize truck, this is the top of the line.

So I was talking to Case, my colleague about this, and we really call this guy the rock crawler.

Yeah. I know these trucks, any truck, will do everything. This is as close as you get to a

Wrangler from General Motors. Exactly. Exactly. Because it's sitting higher, it's using 35 inch

tall tires from the factory. It's got the suspension and the locking differentials to back it up.

And because of the 35s, that means they can't mount the spare tire underneath the bed,

so you have to use up a big chunk of your bed. Yeah. That tire is heavy. Yes. Because when I had

this thing, I had to haul some brush to the township compost site. Okay. And so I took that

thing out of there and tried to lift that thing back in to put it back. I think you're talking

what, about 60, 70 pounds maybe? Yeah, at least that. Yeah, at least that. And also visibility.

Yes. Oh yeah. You basically have no visibility on the back. Because the rear of your mirror

is coming through. And they don't have the digital camera mirror on the canyon. So

basically you don't see anything out the back. Because between the spare tire and then the

headrest on the other side there, it basically blocks off the entire rear view. So you kind of

have to use your side mirrors. Yeah. Kind of like a, I don't know, commercial truck. Or just, you know,

drive like a typical Michigan driver that doesn't use the mirrors anyway. Okay, we won't talk about

that. I live here, so I can say. Well, yeah, yeah. Let's swing around the Corvette CX,

because that's a gorgeous thing. And we could check, we could check into Chevy, what Chevy is up to.

But like you said, so Detroit Auto Show, it's in January, right? It was, I mean, it switched to

the summer for a couple of years, right? Yeah. But truly it's like the first show of the season.

Yes. Of the year. And it used to have all the manufacturers here, right? Yeah. It used to be

everybody from around the world was here. Yeah. You know, when Chinese automakers first started

coming to North America, this is where they displayed in like 2007, 2008. And now it's just

really focused on Detroit, really, really Michigan. Well, we're here, that Corvette ZR1X, they just

released a video yesterday. I saw that. Quarter mile, 8.67 seconds. Yes. At 159 miles an hour.

And a 0 to 60 of 1.6 something. Yeah. 1.6 and then change. Yeah. I didn't,

it's all wheel drive, right? So that's helping. Yeah. So they combined the Twin Turbo LT5 with

the hybrid system from the E-Ray on the front axle. Yeah. So 1250 horsepower. And really,

that's 1.6 something time. Yeah. It's faster than any Tesla Plaid. Yeah. Technically speaking.

Yeah. So combust. Theoretically, if they ever build the next Tesla Roadster, it's supposed to be

faster than that. Sure. Using rocket boosters, right? Yeah. But you know, never just don't ever

actually build that. Well, they announced that Tesla Roadster, what, years, seven years ago?

2017. Okay. Almost nine years ago? Yeah. Okay. So I actually used to own the Colorado Trail Boss.

Yeah, I remember. So mine was an interesting color. I actually like that color. Oh,

I appreciate it. Because a lot of people make fun of me for that color. But I'm a fan of bold colors.

I think there's way too many silver and black and white and monochrome shades. You know,

Ford booth had some color. Yeah, they did. When those Mavericks. But this is an interesting

addition. This is a two celebrating America USA with 1776, kind of a 250th anniversary of the

country. So it's got a couple of, you know, the sports bar rack. It's not supposed to be...

More for mounting your lights on it. It's not supposed to be a roll bar. So please don't roll

your vehicles. Okay. I mean, you don't want to roll your vehicle anyway, regardless. Yes. Yes.

So, and then over there, there's some color. Over there, there's a Trail Boss. Yeah,

Silverado EB. Silverado EB. But once again, there is no Duramax news. No. Right. No news at all

from GM here this week. But I think they're also showing, and I'll do a separate video about this,

they're showing their 2027 Bolt. So the bolt is coming back. Yeah. So there's one right there.

Nice bright orange. Oh, hey, there's some color. Yeah. There's a bunch of color here. It's great.

All right. All right. So now we got a transition. Toyota. Toyota. Yes. We have to go to Toyota,

because we'll mention, you know, all of the big three, but Toyota is a humongous many others

make most in the world. They are the largest automaker in the world. Yes. They sell about 10

million vehicles a year. So that's not necessarily true. They're not the biggest in the US.

By vehicle count. No. I think they're second or second. They're up there. Yeah. They're up there.

Also not tremendous news, right? Yeah. No, no, no news that I'm aware of from Toyota,

but they have their Tundras and their Tacomas here. I want to mention some news as far as sales

numbers are concerned. You know, I love numbers, right? So as we're looking at some of the trucks

here, there are Tacoma. Where is the Tacoma? Right there. The sales were going through the

roof. Yeah. Did you notice that? Yeah, I saw that. What was it? Was it $278,000 last year? Yes.

I think that was the best year ever for Tacoma in the US. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's been the best

selling midsize pickup in North America for a long time and, you know, for a lot of good reasons.

You know, it's generally been very reliable. You know, I mean, there's some things that some

of the competitors do better, certainly in terms of cabin space. And maybe payload and towing.

Some of them have higher numbers. Yeah. But overall, you know, they cover a lot of ground

with this truck. And it's also one of the few or one of the only ones that's still available

with a choice of crew cab or just a regular extended cab. And I think you can still get

the SR5 single cab, right? Yeah. Yeah. But it has no, it doesn't have the rear doors,

but it's still an extended cab. Okay. Yes. But still, it's an option you can't get from

the Detroit automakers anymore. No. They only do crew cab now. In the mid-sizes. Yeah. And also,

the only new truck available with the manual. Yes. Yeah. Because they dropped the frontier

manual, right? Frontier manual is dropped when they're upgraded to the engine, the 3.8. And the

Gladiator manual transmission is also discontinued. Okay. So if you wanted to row your own gears,

the Tacoma for 2026 is the only game in town. And I wanted to ask you about this,

because Tacoma has been around, well, they used to be called the pickup, right? But the Tacoma

name continuously has been around. Ford kind of walked away from the Ranger market for many years.

What was your perspective on that? You know, I think Ford had some interesting rationale for

discontinuing the Ranger in North America in like 2010 and 2011 when they did. Yes. Which was that,

you know, the cost differential to build a Ranger versus an F-150 was pretty small.

And the Ranger wasn't really getting better fuel economy than an F-150 at the time.

So, you know, it didn't, you know, for a lot of customers, it didn't necessarily make sense to

buy a Ranger over an F-150. But as the price of F-150s kept climbing, climbing, climbing through

the 2010s, then they had to rethink that and say, okay, we need a more affordable offering. And so

they brought back the Ranger to North America. Plus, you know, there was obviously some demand.

Toyota was selling a ton of these. Nissan was selling a ton of frontiers. GM had brought back

the Canyon in Colorado and were doing well. So Ford brought back the Ranger, you know, to give

a price point below where F-150 was. As F-150, you know, climbed into the 50,000s and up price range,

then Ranger fit into that mid-30s to $50,000 range. And then they brought in the Maverick at the

bottom end of the range. Yeah. But isn't it true? Because I started really, I mean, I was always

an enthusiast, but I entered the industry in about 2011. The Ranger was the best seller

what in the 90s and early 2000s. I mean, it sold, outsold Tacomas, right? Yeah.

And that was kind of a bummer in my mind for Ford. Yeah. Well, Ford didn't update it for a long time.

And then they decided... It kind of got stale. It got stale. And then as the market shifted from the

more compact to the mid-size trucks, they didn't really update the Ranger to fit that market.

And so eventually they just discontinued it entirely. And then, you know, but they kept,

they discontinued it in North America. They kept it globally. The rest of the world got a new generation

mid-size Ranger, which eventually we got here as well. I know. Yeah. Yeah. But I want to mention,

you mentioned, you know, the overall size of the vehicle. I'm not sure how big your garage here

is in Michigan. My Colorado garage at my house is about 19 feet long. So an F-150 usually doesn't

fit lengthwise. Yeah. And sometimes height... And that's another consideration for customers.

It's a challenge too. Yeah. If they want to park their trucks inside the garage,

buying a full size, in most places, you can't do that. And the heavy duty, forget about it.

That Colorado over there is towering over most things. Yeah. Well, my garage, you know, I can fit

a mid-size truck in there, but my garage door is only seven feet high. Yeah. And so I cannot

put one of those in there. Even if it was long enough, it's too tall to fit. So this Tacoma has

a rack here. By the way, it says Toyota on it. So they're kind of expending their accessories.

This is not quite seven feet, but this is getting close to what some of the heights

requirements are. Or maybe even garages, right? Yeah. Parking garages around the city. Yeah.

Absolutely. So I think that's why I was looking at the sales data for mid-sizers. They're growing,

the entire market. I think they grew 20% year over year for all of the mid-sizers combined.

Yeah. And like I said, as the full size trucks get more and more expensive,

consumers are looking at what can they afford and what, you know, can these trucks actually

deliver what they need, what they want in a truck. And for what most people are using a truck for,

you know, going out and going to their big box store and buying 15 or 20 bags of mulch,

you can put those in the back of a Tacoma or other mid-size trucks. Or a Maverick.

Yeah. Or a Maverick for that matter. Maverick or even a Hyundai Santa Cruz.

Are you surprised? I've had 15 bags of mulch in the back of a Santa Cruz.

Yes. Yes. Are you surprised that like Toyota and many other manufacturers are not competing with

the Maverick? I am. You know, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more movement in that

smaller compact space. Toyota is working on the stout, although from what I'm hearing that

program got pushed back a couple of years. So it may be closer to 2030 before we see it.

But yeah, I do expect to see at some point over the next several years at least one or two more

compact trucks. Well, there's a lot of expertise in this area because every manufacturer has,

I mean, there is a Corolla Cross, right? Yeah. I mean, they all have small vehicle

carriages. Yeah. The Maverick and the Santa Cruz are both based on compact crossover platforms.

And so you got Corolla Cross, you got RAV4. Either of those could potentially be, you know,

a Maverick. A candidate for that. And then you have Honda with a lot of strength in that area,

too, and many others, right? Yeah. So, you know, Honda could do something below the ridgeline.

Yeah. You know, based on the CR-V or HR-V. I'm actually really hoping, and I think,

I don't know if you, I was listening to your podcast, Wheel Bearings podcast,

I'm really hoping that, because the pilot has been refreshed, I'm really hoping they do that

refresh to the ridgeline. And also there's the EREV plug-in hybrid tech, right? Not EREV,

but plug-in hybrid tech coming to Honda, right? Yes. So I was in Japan in October, late October,

for the Japan Mobility Show with Honda, and they took us to the Tachigi Proving Grounds,

and they showed us their next generation hybrid and their larger vehicle platforms.

And so we, you know, there will be, you know, a next generation of the pilot

and the ridgeline and the Odyssey coming off of this platform, and actually probably the new

RDX that Honda just announced, you know, next generation RDX that's coming in the next couple

of years. And so that will probably be on that same architecture. And so, you know, I definitely

expect an all-new ridgeline based off that platform, and perhaps even something smaller.

Yeah, that would be really exciting because people, a lot of people forget that the ridgeline

is there, but it's continued since 2006, right? I mean, it's almost 20 years.

Yeah, it's been around a long time. It's almost 20 years of ridgeline, and I think it's-

Yeah, it doesn't sell on the kind of numbers of the domestic trucks, but then again, because it's

based on that same architecture with the Odyssey and the pilot, you know, and they're built on

the same assembly lines, the incremental cost for Honda is not enormous, so it makes sense for

them to continue building it if they're selling 35,000, 40,000 a year, which is what they've been

doing. Yeah, we keep an eye on the local use car auction, and Roman recently found and grabbed and

bought a 2008 ridgeline. Yeah, I saw it. What, about 200,000 miles on it? Almost, 195,000-ish,

and I just drove it, we have a video about it, and it's really solid after 195 miles.

Do you want one of these? That's not a truck. No. That's a Cadillac Formula 1 truck. But it'll haul.

It will haul something. Yes. Not mulch. Yeah, no. It won't haul mulch, but this will. Yeah.

A Hummer EV will haul some mulch. It will, it will absolutely will. Somebody in my neighborhood

last fall or last summer, actually, they had a Tesla Model Y and they got rid of it and got one

of these instead. And this is what we're looking at here is the Hummer EV pickup truck 3X is a

3-motor system, which is their most powerful. And this is a carbon addition because you need to

lightweight the Hummer, right? Yeah, I mean, when I had, when I first had one, I took it to the

Wayscales, it was 9,200 pounds. Yeah. And I think you guys, because you had, you put the larger

tires on there. We put 37s, like 9,300 pounds or maybe a little bit more. Yeah. So I'm making a

little bit of a joke of this, but there is carbon fiber actual genuine pieces on this.

Absolutely. I mean, you know, that's, that's what you need in a 9,000-pound off-road truck, right?

But also the wheels. So I was talking to some engineers, you could, you could take maybe a

close at the wheels. The wheels is actually kind of makes sense because you're removing

unsprung mass. And also they were telling me a side effect that they found was the carbon wheel

makes a little bit less noise as it goes over large events like potholes or something like that.

So which is important in an electric vehicle because you don't want to hear the noises

coming from other components. On the other hand, you know, if you're going off-road and you hit some

rocks with those wheels and scratch it, yeah, that's going to get very expensive. I don't even

know how much one of these would be cost, but I don't want to find out. Those are probably about

six or seven thousand dollars each. That's what you think? Yeah. I, well, if you can afford a

hundred and twenty thousand dollars as a truck, yeah, maybe you could tolerate replacing a wheel.

I mean, hopefully. I hope so. But it's not for you and I. No, no. It's a little out of my price range.

All right. So there's also- You guys don't pay me enough to help with these videos, so.

I don't think we're paying you anything. My point exactly. So as we wrap up, there's a lot of indoor

driving here. Yeah. There's actually combustion engines running around here too. Yes. So not just

electric. So don't bring it too hard. So you could check out, I mean, there's good ventilation.

No, yeah. I mean, it's a big, it's a big. Yeah, I'm not worried about that, but we have different

brand new vehicles that you couldn't take rides in. And also, there is an overland area. Did you

check out the overland area? I did not. You see that? It's in the corner. Oh, okay. As we're kind

of heading back. So Ford also had some news with RTR. Yes. RTR. And I want to ask you about this.

If that's also not a trend. So we talked about kind of lowered vehicles, lowered pickup trucks

becoming a little bit of a trend. Also, a trend of taking an aftermarket company like RTR,

that you see here with the Mustangs and the Broncos, and actually folding it into the factory.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, this is actually a trend that goes back to at least

the 1960s. When Ford first teamed up with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s on the Mustang,

the first few years, the original GT350s were built at Shelby American facility, California.

They would ship cars from the Ford assembly plant to Shelby pre-title. They would do the

modifications, turn them into a GT350 and later GT500 and then send them to the dealers. And this,

and then eventually Ford started building those in their own, right on their own assembly lines.

Based on the designs and everything from Shelby. That's pretty much what's happening right now

with RTR. They started off having RTR taking pre-title cars and Mustangs and Broncos from

Ford. And of course, you know, Celine has done that for decades. Oh yeah. There's Roush. I mean,

there's a many number of companies. And so, but the cost of doing that is much higher than

building it in the factory. So, you know, RTR is still offering their spec series Broncos and

Mustangs. So if you want something really specific, you can go to RTR and they will get,

they will order the factory, order the vehicle from the factory, they will modify it,

upfit it with their stuff and then send it to your dealer for you to purchase.

But now, for the Bronco for 2027, they're doing the RTR versions right in the Michigan Assembly

plant, not far from here, but 10 miles from here. Speaking of which, this is a great Segway. I

haven't planned that Segway. Those are the best kind of Segways. But the Segway, the Segway is that

AEV, American Expedition Vehicle, is a separate company. And yes, they're doing a Ford. But this

Bison, that what underpins this heavy duty Silverado and this Colorado, that's done at the GM

factory. Oh, so they're doing it in the factory on the assembly lines now? Yeah, so the bumpers,

the bumpers, the skid plates, some of the other components get shipped to the GM factory and they

get put on actually at the factory for the GM trucks. That's not happening with Ram or Ford.

But now they also have the Ford FXL package on only 40s. Yeah, of course. Would it be

worth it to do it with anything less? No, no. But actually, it doesn't look, it looks proportional

actually. Yeah, well, I'm going to have to show this to my neighbor because my neighbor has been

building his own overlanding rig. A couple years ago, he bought an F550 chassis cab and he got a

camper here as well. Yeah, and he installed a liquid spring suspension in it. And he puts some

35s on it. It's a, you know, it's a duly. Oh, cute. Yeah, very cute. Yeah, they look so cute.

But he, you know, he was he was concerned about going bigger than that, just because of the clearance,

you know, because then he would have to start cutting up the front fenders. Yeah. But clearly,

it's possible to put 40s on that truck. So I'll show it to Mark and you know, he may want to do

all there is a Dave Heraton, CEO of American Expedition Vehicles is right there. I actually

had an interview with him. So we have a different, a separate video on tieraltiefall.com. And

he walked me through every inch of this for it. Did they have to cut up the fenders to fit them?

Not a lot. Oh, okay. According to him, they did build, they did build special, very, very strong

fender flares. Okay. You could, you could knock it actually, it's actually built like a tube. Oh,

like a shape tube. So it has some strength in it. Oh, right. But this truck does sit,

it has a four inch suspension lift. And the tire, because it's such a big tire,

adds another about three inches. So we're talking about seven inches of additional height. And I'm

not a small dude. Yeah. And I'm standing next to this truck. So, but he said not a lot of cutting

was involved. Okay. So it's almost like Ford has actually enough space in there. Yeah. Well,

I think I think one of the things that also kept my neighbor using it, using 35s instead of going

larger than that was the height when he puts the camper on. Because with the camper, it's

almost 13 feet tall. And so when he first went to get it, he had some, he was concerned about

a flatbed on it too. Yeah. Because he was concerned about going under some of the overpasses.

Yeah. But, but not just overpasses, but also to get in and out of it. Yeah. Because the camper,

if it's sitting, I don't know, five feet off the ground, you have to have like a staircase.

Yeah. Just like this one right here. Yeah. You have to. So this is a,

this is a truck house. That's, that's the name of the, the body builder for the camper. And you

could see there is a four step staircase and there's a little bit of space even below it.

Yeah. Mark's, I think has two or three steps to get up into it. So, yes. So that's, and now kind of

AEV, they're having a lot better integration. They're partnering with truck house. Basically.

Yeah. Basically, they're partnering together. So the integration is a lot more close. Okay. So

you can actually buy this camper. So maybe AEV tunes the suspension and everything to

accommodate the weight of the camper and the capability. And you can see even the,

the protection underneath. So it's all tied in together. So that's quite interesting.

Well, we, I think we most walked most of it. Yeah. I mean, there's more than I actually

thought when we first walked in here this morning. Yeah. Because I hadn't even noticed all this back

here. Oh, and also don't tell anybody. There's also US Army in the corner here. And they have a

couple of light vehicles. Okay. That you can check out too. And I heard the rumor, I think,

I don't know if you heard about this tomorrow, that there's a new concept Abrams tank. Have you

heard of this? I've heard, I've heard that they were going to be showing something. Yeah. So I

heard a rumor that there might be a tank coming out at the show as well. Not on this floor because

I think I don't know how the floor can support a 60 ton tank. I think this floor would crumble.

Yeah. But what doesn't crumble is when you have a light tactical vehicle like this. Yeah. Which

is actually a Colorado. Yeah. It's a Chevy Colorado. That's built by GM Defense. Yeah.

Yeah. So, so if you want to see some of these vehicles, just here's a little glimpse.

Look how simple it is. Yeah. What else do you need for this use case? Yeah. And what I noticed,

Sam? The seats heated and the steering wheel and everything. But what are the gauges?

Good question. I don't think you need to know. Yeah.

If you need to know. If you're driving over desert terrain, it's probably not that important. No,

no. It's all about, I'm not a member of the military, but I think it's just as slow as

necessary or as fast as necessary, right? Depends what you're running from or running to. Exactly.

So we could interview some of the specialists here, but I'm guessing you don't need to know a lot.

More seats in the back too. So we got eight seats all together.

Yeah. Actually, five. Five plus four. Nine. Nine. Yeah. This is like a minivan. Yeah.

A better than a minivan. Yeah. A minivan's all he holds up.

All right, Sam. I really appreciate it. Oh, it's getting spent time with you. I'll buy you lunch,

okay? Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time.

The BEST And WORST Trucks At The 2026 Detroit Auto Show! | Ep. 314

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