2021 has been an incongruently pleasant year to be a car fan. Yes, prices are high, supply is short and launches have been delayed or hampered by ongoing logistics issues, but who would have thought even just a few years ago that a promising new Z car, a revival of the Acura Integra, and the first deliveries of a new (and genuinely good) Ford Bronco would all happen within months of each other?

The Z is a particularly tricky lightning rod. The 370Z launched to reasonably solid critical reception, but its price-to-performance ratio came under fire in subsequent years as Detroit made significant leaps forward in the outright speed and handling capabilities of its pony cars. When 400 horsepower became the baseline for a V8-powered coupe in the low-mid $30,000 range, the Z lost much of its luster.

Vehicle electronics specialist Redarc is well-known in its native Australia. It builds power stations for everything from RVs to mining equipment, and has gained popularity among overlanders for its ability to supply electricity when venturing into the Outback. To demonstrate it they can do for adventurers based in the U.S., Redarc has tricked out a 2021 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road.

Redarc's shop demo vehicles Down Under have traditionally been heavily modified Toyota Hilux pickups, a truck not sold here. And while the Tacoma is a largely North American phenomenon, Redarc's build brings a taste of Aussie-style off-roading to the Toyota mid-sizer.

Good morning and welcome to our daily digest of automotive news from around the globe, starting with…

After a 12-year wait, the seventh-generation Nissan Z is finally here, and it looks like it'll be the Japanese sports car enthusiasts have been clamoring for. Unlike the Miata, it's got plenty of power. Unlike the GR 86, it's turbocharged. Unlike the Supra, it has a manual transmission. Could the Nissan Z be the best of all worlds?

And yes, the name is Z, Nissan Z. There's no more numeric designation in the name. That's because, as expected, the engine actually drops in size. But what it loses in displacement from the 370Z's naturally aspirated V6, its new 3.0-liter gains with twin turbos. The engine churns out 400 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 350 pound-feet in a broad torque curve spanning from 1,600 to 5,600 rpm. Those are the same power specifications as the engine that powers the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport – and we're certain that's no coincidence.

We've seen the 2022 Land Cruiser in its shiny debut best, we've seen its design evolution and its prodigious on-board tech, we've even seen it destroyed in an accident. The only aspect we haven't seen in detail yet is its raison d'être, its ability to traverse terrain that would tear most cars apart. Luckily, Toyota has a dedicated Land Cruiser YouTube channel that shows the 300-series getting both dirty and airborne as it goes off road.

The New York Auto Show isn't happening anymore, but the Nissan Z reveal is going onward anyway. Just as Nissan should for such a grand reveal, it's streaming the event live on YouTube. That means you and everybody else can see the car and hear directly from Nissan about it.

The live event is starting tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. West Coasters will be able to tune in right as the end of work bell rings at 5 p.m. Pacific. 

Nissan sent the Armada to the salon for a spruce-up for the 2021 model year. The current Armada greeted the world with tweaks including the brand new Nissan corporate logo suspended above a revised front bumper, new LED taillights and a second fresh bumper out back, interior upgrades in the center stack and a standard 12.3-inch infotainment screen, as well as a Midnight Edition for buyers who like to go dark. Nissan kept the 5.6-liter Endurance V8 up front, but wrung out a bit more gumption for 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque when fed with premium gasoline. Trims got reworked as well, Platinum Reserve saying goodbye at the top and a new S model entering at the bottom. Prices for 2022 aren't far away from current prices for the 2021 Armada, but that's due to price adjustments made since the 2021 was introduced, and another $100 added to the destination fee, the higher fee already in place. Here are the figures and their change from current pricing in parentheses:

For example, when we wrote about the 2021 Armada at its introduction, the SUV cost $49,895 after a $1,395 destination fee — $500 less than the 2022 price. However, the Nissan configurator shows the 2021 Armada already priced at $50,395, so there's no change between what you'll pay for this year's model or next year's. Therefore, to keep this simple, we based price differences off the current prices at the Nissan site.

MONTICELLO, N.Y. — It's a story playing out all over the industry: When the time comes for a new generation, internal-combustion performance cars are being significantly overhauled rather than completely redesigned. The Nissan Z is going this route, and rumors have suggested a similar fate for the next-generation Ford Mustang. Even Cadillac's Blackwing variants were really more akin to remixed versions of their predecessors than entirely new vehicles. And so it goes with the 2022 Toyota GR 86 (and its Subaru sibling, the BRZ, but that will have to wait a bit).

Toyota's variant has now been blessed with the "GR" designation. That stands for Gazoo Racing, which started life as a Toyota skunkworks motorsports team. While it's still the name for Toyota's now-official factory racing efforts, the shorthand is also being used to denote models like the 86 and Supra that were built to be fun first and transportation second. So, not a Corolla.

Although all entrants in Le Mans’ hypercar class are aiming for the top at the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota are definitely the favorites. But the big factory team may face stiffer competition than it was expecting.

The second generation of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR 86 siblings are two lightweight naturally aspirated and rear-wheel-drive sportscars designed with the purists in mind. While we understand the reasons behind Subaru’s and Toyota’s decision not to add a turbocharger to the boxer engine (packaging, weight, low center of gravity, etc), we’d love to see a more powerful version. According to the latest reports from Japan, this could happen with the help of electrification.

Honda and Toyota have spoken out against the union-based provision in the new EV tax credit proposal recently approved by the Senate Finance Committee. That proposal makes a few substantive changes to the current EV tax credit that maxes out at $7,500. One change increases the credit maximum to $12,500 by adding $2,500 for electric vehicles made in the U.S. and another $2,500 for vehicles produced by union labor. The credit for vehicles built in the U.S. hasn't raised any public issue yet. The credit for unionized plant workers or facilities represented by a union is the problem. Volkswagen was the first to speak up, telling Automotive News last month that it favors credits that "do not favor one automaker over another."

Last week, Honda made its feeling known, writing in a statement, "Our production associates in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio deserve fair treatment from Congress and should not be penalized for their choice of a workplace." Toyota North America followed the next day with a statement to AN, saying, "This policy would unfairly discriminate against American autoworkers based on their choice of whether to unionize ... Toyota employees have already sent nearly 10,000 letters to members of Congress who represent them saying: 'As an American, a taxpayer and a constituent, I ask that you stand up for me and my family and oppose this discriminatory proposal.'"

Subaru's second-generation BRZ made its debut in late 2020 with a bigger engine than its predecessor. It offers more power, which enthusiasts spent years clamoring for, but its fuel economy figures aren't significantly worse.

In its most efficient configuration, so equipped with the optional six-speed automatic transmission, the 2022 BRZ returns 21 mpg in the city, 30 mpg on the highway and 25 mpg combined, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Sticking with the standard six-speed stick lowers those figures to 20, 27 and 23, respectively.

In the same week that the 2022 Acura NSX Type S was revealed, the very first build slot was sold by Mecum at the company's auction in Monterey, Calif. Rights to the first one off the line went for $1.1 million.

Compared to the base price of $171,495, that's a pretty huge markup. And adding the $13,000 lightweight package, should the owner choose to do so, doesn't close the gap much.

Mazda's pledge to release more electric vehicles might not signal the end of its celebrated rotary engine. The firm is reportedly developing a hydrogen-burning Wankel that could be used to power a successor to the RX-8.

Without citing sources, Japanese magazine Best Car wrote that Mazda has never fully stopped developing the rotary engine. It significantly scaled back the program after production of the RX-8 ended in 2012, but reports circulated and even patents for rotary tech appeared in the intervening years. It expanded it again in the late 2010s to design a range extender for the MX-30 electric crossover. The development team's focus has now shifted to making a Wankel that's capable of burning hydrogen, according to the same report.