Throttle Weekly Issue 39: A $42.9M Cobra Daytona, Norris's Dutch Win, and a China-Built Corsair (2026)

The week in one pass

Coverage: August 19–26, 2026.

Lincoln brought the Corsair back as a China-built hybrid, Toyota and BMW each opened safety recalls that owners can check by VIN, and Hyundai said extended-range electric powertrains are coming in 2027. On track, Lando Norris won the final Dutch Grand Prix after Max Verstappen crashed out on lap one, while Kyle Kirkwood dominated IndyCar's Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington, D.C. At Gooding Christie's Pebble Beach sale, a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe sold for $42.9 million.

Industry: The 2027 Lincoln Corsair Hybrid returns with a turbo 2.0-liter hybrid, standard all-wheel drive, and a $48,790 starting price, built in Chongqing rather than Kentucky. 1 Toyota is recalling 48,280 Tacoma TRD Off-Road trucks for Bilstein dampers whose external reservoirs can corrode and fall off; BMW is recalling 27,720 cars whose driveshaft-to-differential joint can wear until rear drive fails or the car can roll away. 2 3
Trackside and community: Norris converted pole into his second Zandvoort win and 13th career Grand Prix victory; Verstappen's last home race ended in the wall. 4 5 Kirkwood led 128 of 147 laps in D.C. and cut Alex Palou's IndyCar points lead to 91 with three races left. 6
Explainer: An extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV, uses a smaller battery plus an onboard gasoline engine that charges the pack as a generator. Hyundai and Genesis plan the first examples for the first half of 2027. 7
Collector corner: Chassis CSX2300, one of six Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes, brought $42,905,000 at Gooding Christie's — the auction house's most expensive car ever and, per Hagerty, the most expensive American car sold at auction. 8

Industry news

Lincoln revives the Corsair as a China-built hybrid

The 2027 Lincoln Corsair Hybrid is back after Ford cleared Louisville Assembly for the Fathom electric truck and ended U.S. Corsair production. Every example now uses a hybridized turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder with two electric motors, a continuously variable transmission, and all-wheel drive, for a combined 305 horsepower. That is more power than the outgoing plug-in Grand Touring's 266 hp, but the 2027 model drops the plug-in battery and its 27 miles of electric-only range. 1

The lineup is two trims. Premiere starts at $48,790 including destination — about $7,300 more than the nonhybrid 2026 Premiere — and Reserve starts at $55,790. BlueCruise hands-free highway assist is standard. Lincoln refreshed the grille, headlights, bumpers, and full-width taillight, and kept the U.S. cabin layout with separate instrument and center screens rather than the single wide display used on China-market Lincolns. 1

Production moved from Kentucky to Chongqing, China. The Corsair becomes Lincoln's second China-built U.S. model after the Nautilus. MotorTrend notes the price jump partly reflects tariffs on that import path, and that U.S. cars keep the older dual-screen interior to stay clear of Commerce Department rules on Chinese-developed vehicle software. Deliveries begin in early 2027. 9

2027 Lincoln Corsair Hybrid in blue against a desert sunset — *Lincoln's 2027 Corsair Hybrid pairs a 305-hp turbo hybrid and standard all-wheel drive with refreshed lighting; U.S. cars will be built in Chongqing. 1*

Toyota recalls 48,280 Tacomas for falling damper reservoirs

Toyota is recalling 48,280 2024–2025 Tacoma TRD Off-Road trucks because the welded flange that holds each Bilstein piggyback oil reservoir can corrode. An untreated metal patch between the reservoir, flange, and damper body is open to salt spray and rock chips. If the weld fails, the remote reservoir can break free and fall into the road. 2

The company traced the problem to field reports that began in September 2025, including a truck whose reservoir was already missing. By late July it counted 20 field technical reports and 62 warranty claims. Dealers will inspect the front and rear damper assemblies and replace them free with improved parts. Owner letters are scheduled by October 5, 2026. Not every truck in the population was sold in the United States. 2

Red 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road on a dirt trail — *TRD Off-Road Bilstein piggyback dampers are the focus of Toyota's 48,280-truck recall; dealers will inspect and replace affected assemblies at no charge. 2*

BMW recalls 27,720 cars over driveshaft wear

BMW is recalling 27,720 vehicles across certain 2022–2026 8 Series models, 2021–2023 5 Series models, and 2024–2026 750e xDrive sedans. NHTSA documents say the connection between the driveshaft and the rear differential can wear excessively. Over time that wear can cut power to the rear wheels and, if the parking brake is not applied, leave the car free to roll. 3

Dealers will inspect the joint and either add adhesive or replace the driveshaft and differential. BMW reported no accidents or injuries tied to the defect in the Car and Driver coverage. Owner notification letters are scheduled for October 2, 2026. Owners can confirm coverage with a VIN check on NHTSA's recall site. 3

Trackside and community

Norris wins the last Dutch Grand Prix; Verstappen does not finish

Lando Norris won the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort on August 23, converting pole into his second win at the track and the 13th of his career. The result was McLaren's second straight victory after Hungary. Kimi Antonelli finished second and George Russell third, so Mercedes still left with a double podium. 4

The race never settled into a clean afternoon. A pre-start downpour left the final sector wet. On lap one Max Verstappen, starting seventh in his final Dutch Grand Prix before the event leaves the calendar for 2027, put a wheel on a damp kerb at the banked last corner and hit the outside wall hard enough to red-flag the race. He climbed out unhurt. 5

After a standing restart, Antonelli led much of the distance before Norris retook the lead on fresher tires in the second half. A late virtual safety car shuffled the Mercedes pair; Russell let Antonelli back through so the championship leader could finish second. Provisional results put Norris 11.536 seconds clear of Antonelli, with Russell third, the Ferraris fourth and fifth, and Oscar Piastri sixth. After the race Norris sat fourth in the drivers' standings on 159 points, 83 behind Antonelli's 242. 4

Lando Norris holds the Dutch Grand Prix trophy on the Zandvoort podium — *Norris's second straight win leaves him fourth in the 2026 standings; Zandvoort's final Grand Prix also ended Verstappen's home-race run in a lap-one crash. 4*

Kirkwood owns IndyCar's Washington debut

Kyle Kirkwood won the NTT IndyCar Series Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington, D.C., on August 23. The Andretti Global driver led 128 of 147 laps on the seven-turn, 1.7-mile temporary circuit and finished ahead of Christian Lundgaard and teammate Will Power. Marcus Ericsson, the Markham winner a week earlier, took fourth. 6

The win cut 42 points from Alex Palou's championship lead, leaving Palou 91 points clear with three races remaining. Palou started on pole but finished 20th after two pit problems and a late crash that broke a rear toe link. David Malukas crashed on lap 37 and collected Sting Ray Robb; Malukas finished 24th and apologized to Robb and the teams. IndyCar heads next to a Milwaukee Mile doubleheader on August 29–30, then Laguna Seca on September 6. 6

Kyle Kirkwood's Andretti Honda races past a columned building during the Freedom 250 — *Kirkwood's No. 27 Honda led all but 19 laps of IndyCar's first race through the capital; the podium also included Lundgaard and Power. 6*

Explainer: what an EREV actually does

An extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV, is a plug-in hybrid arranged so the wheels are driven by electric motors most or all of the time. A smaller battery pack stores energy for pure-electric driving. When the pack runs low, an onboard gasoline engine starts and works as a generator, recharging the battery instead of driving the wheels through a conventional multi-gear transmission the way many hybrids do. The driver still burns gasoline on long trips, but the power path stays electric. 7

Hyundai Motor Group told investors at its 2026 CEO Investor Day in Seoul that Hyundai and Genesis will both get EREV variants in the first half of 2027. The first Hyundai example is a three-row Santa Fe with two electric motors and expected all-wheel drive. Hyundai claims more than 600 miles of combined range and acceleration similar to a battery-electric SUV. Genesis is expected to start with the GV70, with a claimed combined range around 640 miles. The Santa Fe EREV is slated for U.S. production, likely alongside gas and conventional-hybrid Santa Fes in Alabama. 7

That layout sits between a pure EV and a conventional hybrid. Compared with a battery-only SUV, the pack can be smaller because the engine covers highway miles. Compared with a regular hybrid, the car can still take a wall-charger plug and run quietly on electricity around town. Car and Driver notes Stellantis, Ford, and Scout are also developing EREV trucks or SUVs, so the architecture is becoming a common answer to range anxiety rather than a one-brand experiment. 7

Hyundai Santa Fe driving on a dirt road — *Hyundai plans an EREV Santa Fe for the first half of 2027; the gas engine in that layout charges the battery rather than acting as the primary drive motor. 7*

Collector corner

A Shelby Daytona Coupe sets an American auction record

Gooding Christie's 22nd Pebble Beach auction offered 167 cars and produced the house's highest-grossing sale to date. The top lot was a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, chassis CSX2300, which sold for $42,905,000 including fees. Hagerty calls it the most expensive American car ever sold at public auction and the most expensive car Gooding has ever sold. 8

CSX2300 is the third of six Daytona Coupes built for Shelby's 1965 endurance campaign. Bob Bondurant and Jochen Neerpasch debuted it on the Tour de France Automobile. It finished sixth overall at Daytona, raced Sebring, the Nürburgring 1000 Km, and Reims, and later ran in Japan before Carroll Shelby owned it from 1975 to 1998. Two phone bidders pushed it well past Gooding's "in excess of $25,000,000" estimate. The previous public Daytona Coupe sale Hagerty cites was CSX2601 at Mecum Monterey in 2009 for $7,685,000. 8

Other lots showed how wide Monterey still runs. A 1963 Ferrari 250 P brought $18,705,000; a 1959 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage sold for $4,240,000; a one-off 1993 Vector Avtech WX-3R roadster prototype — the only open-top Vector built — sold for $346,000, below its recent auction appearances. The Daytona number is a specialist-market result, not a guide to every classic Ford V-8, but it is the clearest collector headline of the week. 8

1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe CSX2300 in Guardsman Blue with white stripes and number 12 — *Chassis CSX2300 sold for $42,905,000 at Gooding Christie's Pebble Beach sale — one of six Daytona Coupes and, per Hagerty, the dearest American car ever auctioned. 8*

This week mixed a China-sourced luxury crossover, two owner-action recalls, a generator-style EV architecture heading for showrooms, a red-flagged farewell at Zandvoort, an American win on D.C. streets, and a six-car bloodline that just rewrote the American auction ceiling. Each story leaves a concrete next step: a dealer appointment, a VIN check, a championship calendar, or a market number worth remembering.