AutoGuide Hot Takes: Porsche Embarrassed, Nissan Desperate, Civic Wins

February is off to a wild start in the car world, and AutoGuide is here for it. We don’t always cover every piece of news but that doesn’t mean we don’t have thoughts and opinions—many of them. 

Managing Editor Mike Schlee, Road Test Editor Kyle Patrick, Site Coordinator Michael Accardi, and Editorial Director Greg Migliore weigh in on the hot topics of the week. If you disagree, please get in the comments and tell us why we’re wrong.

1) It’s the Daytona 500 this Sunday. Lately, the 500 has become the only NASCAR race worth watching live from start to finish—except for the road course races, obviously. Admittedly, NASCAR’s switch to a spec car hampered by aero has dulled much of the enjoyment, including when the big house-built, tube frame cars were tasked with turning right. 

2) This year’s pace car for the 500 will be a Chevrolet Blazer EV— much like Ford’s Mach-E NASCAR Concept, the Blazer EV is out of place at a NASCAR race and fundamentally misunderstands everything NASCAR fans hold near and dear.

3) Dodge is apparently deeply discussing adding a Hemi V8 to the new Charger’s powertrain matrix. Dodge CEO Matt McAleer said that V8s are no longer a dirty word at the company since former Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares was removed from office. Dodge built a brand identity around V8s, it never made sense to throw that away as the list of manufacturers willing to service that audience has shrunk to almost nonexistent. To be frank, this is how you end up in a world with $325,000 Mustangs.  

4) The updated 2025 Honda Passport went on sale this week, ready to face off against the newly launched Toyota 4Runner. The Honda’s atmospheric V6 could tempt many of the 4Runner's traditional buyers—Honda is quick to point out that the Passport has the best conquest rate of any SUV in its fleet. 

5) The mid-size off-road segment could get even more crowded in the coming years with rumors persisting that Chevrolet could spin the soon-to-be discontinued Blazer into a 4Runner rivaling SUV with increased adventure performance. But who knows Chevrolet is seemingly moving away from niche enthusiast products outside of the Corvette brand and Cadillac's V-Series sedans.

6) Speaking of the Corvette team, they just slaughtered a slew of lap records at legendary American race tracks, leaving the zombie corpses of Porsche’s and McLaren’s in the ZR1’s 1,064 horsepower wake. In many ways the Corvette’s performance is far more impressive than the Mustang GTD’s Nurburgring run, especially c onsidering the ZR1 undercuts the GTD on price. 

7) Porsche is expected to pour $800 million into its next generation of combustion engines as the company pivots to a multi-energy strategy. This shouldn’t be viewed as an undue expense, but a reinvestment into a brand identity that’s made the company what it is today. With The Corvette ZR1 and Ford Mustang making moves towards the 911’s sports-car supremacy, Porsche better do something quick.  

8) Porsche is also reportedly planning a 992.2 version of the 911 Dakar. The low-volume model will use a version of the new T-Hybrid system from the 911 GTS. A similar version of the hybrid system is expected to make its way to the 992.2 911 Turbo as well. 

9) Rumors of the EV collapse have been greatly exaggerated: last week the California New Car Dealers Association (CADA) put out data that shows the only big loser is Tesla—which of course still makes up the lion’s share of EV sales in the state. Per CADA, Tesla saw an 11.6-percent decrease while the rest of the EV market had 1.4 percent more registrations versus the same time last year. Just about one in four new vehicles sold in the state last year was an EV. We wonder what would be turning people off of Teslas right about now…

10) Volvo is expanding its Cross Country trim to its smallest offering. The EX30 Cross Country will be the first all-electric CC from the Swedish brand. This comes as reports circulate that the gorgeous V90 wagon will go out of production in September. 

11) The 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R were officially launched in North America with more power, a higher price, and no manual transmission option. VW officials tell us there are only a handful of remaining 2024 models still available with a manual transmission—which likely accounts for the GTI’s 50% year-over-year sales performance last year.  

12) After Nissan’s merger with Honda collapsed, Foxconn is reportedly ramping up its efforts to acquire a stake in the struggling Japanese automaker. The Taiwanese company is reportedly in advanced talks with Renault about acquiring its Nissan shares. Is Nissan in some form about to resurrect the long-rumored, now canceled, Apple Car?  

13) Nissan was extremely reluctant to close any plants under the proposed Honda merger—it’s part of the reason the deal fell apart. Now that Honda has walked away Nissan announced plans to shutter three factories over the next two years, cut shifts at U.S. plants, and slash executive ranks by 20 percent. 

14) Ford CEO Jim Farley recently  grumbled about tariffs and their potential effect on company business. Ford led all automakers in 2024 US production volume and is seemingly less exposed to damaging cross-border tariffs than rivals. Coincidentally, Ford also led 2024 in the total number of vehicles recalled—surely that's an unfortunate coincidence.

15) Rumors are swirling that Netflix is in the mix to score the rights to Formula 1 in the United States in 2026. ESPN’s deal ends after this season, leaving the potentially lucrative series in flux. The F1-ESPN partnership has been beneficial to both sides in the U.S. market – giving racing enthusiasts an easily accessible channel and F1 access to the huge American market with a proven broadcast platform. Netflix would be a natural home for F1, as its Drive to Survive series is largely credited with the growth of the sport in the United States. Still, Netflix is largely untested as a live broadcaster, though it showed a well-produced live NFL game on Christmas. The streamer would need to allocate similar resources – on a weekly basis from March through November – to produce a broadcast at the level expected by racing fans. Other streamers, like Peacock and Amazon, have experienced hiccups with slow buffering issues in their own attempts at live sports. 

16) The Hyundai Santa Fe added to its impressive awards haul this week when the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada awarded it the 2025 Canadian Utility Vehicle of The Year at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto. 

17) Not to be overlooked, the Canadian Car of the Year was won by the Honda Civic which recently retook the crown as the best-selling car in the country. The award joins the 2025 North American Car of The Year trophy it took home in January at the Detroit Auto Show. Our staff unanimously loves the Civic Hybrid.

18) Other AJAC winners included the BMW i4 as Canadian Electric Car of the Year, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5N which took home Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year 

19) Formula 1 will host its first-ever season kickoff event next week in London. All 10 teams will come together with fans to unveil their 2025 liveries and mark the start of the sport’s 75th anniversary year. It’s a fun idea that should anchor the anniversary celebrations, if the event is successful it's possible F1 will incorporate a launch event in future seasons. The event will be live-streamed for free on F1’s social media channels, including YouTube.

20) We can close with the curious case of the disappearing Cybertrucks. After reports surfaced the U.S. State Department planned to buy $400 million worth of armored Teslas, they mysteriously were removed from State’s procurement list with no reason given. The move raised eyebrows and appeared to be a conflict of interest given Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly large role in the Trump Administration, which has been vocally against electric vehicle adoption. 

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