Machine Learning Research Intern - Prediction and Planning, Silicon Valley CA Summer 2026

2027 Nissan Z Shooting Brake render adds widebody, copper. Digital artist kelsonik has released an unofficial 2027 Nissan Z Shooting Brake render that adds a JDM-style widebody, gloss black roof and copper-coloured big-lipped wheels. The artist posted the CGI to Instagram. Reading time: 2 Minutes Nissan has been busy with a raft of regional updates this month, yet the 2027 Nissan Z has remained largely a quiet note in the company's official news. That silence prompted a virtual artist to imagine a different direction for the marque's last remaining U.S. sports car. Digital designer Nikita Chuicko, better known online as kelsonik, published an unofficial CGI of a 2027 Nissan Z reworked as a Shooting Brake. The render is explicitly hypothetical, but it reframes the Z as a more practical two-plus-two with extra space behind the seats. Stylistically it leans Japanese, combining bright yellow paint with a gloss black roof, JDM-style widebody fender flares, and large, big-lipped alloy wheels finished in a copper hue. Those creative liberties land against a busy backdrop for Nissan. Recent announcements include Mitsubishi pricing its Eclipse Sportback roughly 8,000 dollars more than the Leaf despite shared hardware; Nismo opening its first performance centre outside Japan in Australia; and Mexico receiving the Frontier Pro with both internal combustion and plug-in hybrid powertrains. Nissan said U.S. deliveries have risen for almost 20 consecutive months, driven by the Rogue, Frontier, and the new Armada. The Altima will continue into the 2027 model year with a higher price, and the 2027 Pathfinder has gained special editions that reference the 1987 original while adding extra comfort features. The production 2027 Z is available in the U.S. and Canada, where it is priced lower than in the U.S. and has seen incremental upgrades. Nissan added a six-speed manual to the Nismo line, and the model picked up features carried over from the now-defunct R25 Nissan GT-R to improve capability on road and track. Other subtle changes for 2027 include a Shinkai Green Pearl Metallic exterior colour option that can be paired with the Z Performance's new tan interior. Chuicko's Shooting Brake is purely a digital exercise, but it underscores how affordable styling changes can alter a car's personality. The render was posted to Instagram by Nikita Chuicko, who posts under the name kelsonik.

Automakers are investing in new US factories, but not Mazda. Published Oct 29, 2026, 2:20 PM EDT Tom started his career as a daily newspaper reporter in metro Detroit and after a decade changed course to cover cars, spending the next 25 years at Wards Automotive doing test drives, technology and supplier coverage, editing WardsAuto World magazine and managing the Wards 10 Best competitions for powertrains, then interiors, then the user experience. He became executive editor at Autoweek in 2022 and joined Valnet in 2025. At CarBuzz, he's returned to his roots: a reporter seeking out news and trends and telling stories, but with more experience. Tom's wife has been putting up with him since 1990, and they have two adult children. He runs half-marathons and plays guitar in a rock band with other Detroit auto writers, called the Exhaust Tones. It's been five years since the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing joint venture plant in Huntsville, Alabama, started production. This week, as both automakers celebrate production of the 1 millionth vehicle at the $2.3-billion facility, Carbuzz explore where the relationship between Toyota and Mazda is heading. The Huntsville event amounts to a victory lap for two vastly different Japanese automakers that fused two corporate cultures within Alabama's largest city to create jobs and expand local opportunities. But in an exclusive interview, CarBuzz learned Mazda isn't keen to grow its US operations despite the current climate that makes importing products a costly endeavor. Mazda wants to sell more cars in the US. The Huntsville plant can produce 300,000 vehicles annually on two shifts, or 150,000 for each automaker. Last year, MTM built nearly 136,000 Corolla Crosses and about 120,000 CX-50s. But Mazda overall has been growing, and the automaker's two best sales years in the US were 2024 (424,382 vehicles) and 2025 (410,346). After two solid years, Mazda North America CEO Tom Donnelly told CarBuzz this week that Mazda is on pace for "our best year ever" in 2026. "September was our best ever. October should be our best ever," he said. Donnelly has set his sights on achieving 500,000 annual US sales by 2030, but how Mazda grows beyond that raises questions about the need for new manufacturing capacity. US sales through September were 310,268, down 2.9% from 2025. Is Mazda willing to build US plants for more production? While some automakers are increasing investments in US manufacturing as a way to avoid tariffs on imported vehicles, Mazda is thinking differently, even without its own wholly-owned assembly plant in the US. Mazda's plant in Mexico produces the CX-30 for the US, but Mazda's other vehicles come from Japan, subjecting them to 15% US tariffs. That puts Mazda at a disadvantage in the US compared to rivals Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Subaru, which all have US factories. It appears Mazda is being cautious, as Donnelly said the 500,000-unit threshold can be reached in "an industry that's fairly stable," and that any growth must be "driving profitable volume." The partnership with Toyota in Alabama cuts Mazda's investment in half and diminishes risk while Mazda gains valuable manufacturing experience alongside Toyota. "Going in alone anymore is more and more challenging just because these are massive billion dollar investments... You're seeing more and more of that in terms of leaning into partnerships, not just us and Toyota, but across the industry." -Tom Donnelly, Mazda North America CEO, speaking to CarBuzz The Toyota partnership has been good for Mazda. In addition to the CX-50, Huntsville also launched a CX-50 Hybrid in December 2024, using Toyota's 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, three electric motors, and a CVT. That new hybrid drivetrain makes up about 35% of CX-50 sales. The plant builds 1,200 vehicles per day, about 600 each on Toyota's "Apollo" assembly line and on Mazda's "Discovery" line. With 4,500 workers coming from a 75-mile radius, the plant has provided an economic stimulus for the region. CarBuzz insight - why this matters. Donnelly told CarBuzz the next-generation CX-50 will also come from Huntsville, but apparently it's too early to talk about other North American capacity. Tariffs forced Mazda last year to move Mazda3 production for the US from Mexico to Japan, while the CX-50 produced in Alabama is no longer available in Canada. That sort of explains why the two-row CX-70, assembled in Japan, will still go to Canada, even though it's being dropped for the US. While Mazda continues pushing US sales growth, having to eventually find a way to build more cars is "a good problem to have," an executive told Carbuzz. But even good problems are still problems that need solutions. And if the tariff situation doesn't improve, Mazda will need those solutions to realize its sales ambitions in the US.