Each year, the members of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press group get together to sample a smorgasbord of new vehicles at our annual driving event, and this year brought a significant cross-section of brands and styles – many of which we’ll be doing longer trips in over the coming months.

It’s been a wild ride for Stellantis, parent company of Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler, and last week’s news of dozens of new models for the U.S. market, so it was fitting that we had a significant and widely varied range of their updated domestic offerings.

You’ve already heard about the hybrid 2026 Jeep Cherokee, but look for a full story next week on the eye-catching Jeep Gladiator Sport Willys ’41 edition, Jeep’s offroad-ready pickup truck with a distinctive World War II-styled paint job. Also updated with a futuristic-looking face, the 2027 Chrysler Pacifica minivan packed a military-green paint job, with new hope on the horizon for a few new Chrysler products in the coming years.

We were impressed by the classy interior and the flat-out power (amazingly from just a 2.0-liter turbo) of the three-row 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit L, and hope to get a full week driving the non-electrified rendition of the updated 2026 Dodge Charger, an all-wheel drive R/T model with the standard 420-hp twin-turbo six-cylinder engine – the EV and higher-output gas versions are still available.

Also making a big splash at this year’s Rocky Mountain Driving Experience event, Subaru came with three vehicles, including the new 2026 Outback and Outback Wilderness we experienced at launch events, plus the all-new electric Trailseeker. Many people have said it occupies a more familiar spot that the divisively-revised Outback no longer does; a short drive in the somewhat less-aggressively-styled 375-hp/approaching 300-mile-range EV suggests that they may be right. Look for more about it here, soon. 

The Korean brands also had a good show of vehicles, with both the new Hyundai Palisade hybrid and Kia Telluride X-Pro SX Prestige AWD we recently wrote about, plus a slate of updated models from Genesis – both the standard SUV-shaped and coupe-styled models of the full-sized GV80. The higher-end Prestige Black trim moves the up-powered 409-hp coupe into Mercedes and Audi territory, as we found in a quick drive with a similar model early last year.

With no precious British supercars on hand this year (though I did spot someone’s 2027 Audi RS5 hybrid in the parking lot, which we were not driving), the highlight of the event was the equally divisive 2026 Honda Prelude, the all-new 200-hp hybrid coupe variation of the classic Honda enthusiast nameplate. It’s got some sleek, futuristic lines and the power and refinement made it pretty slick for a small vehicle. 

We hope to profile it more fully, soon, as well as some additional time in the updated 2026 Honda Pilot Elite, a splashy upgrade to the capable and good-looking three-row SUV, with more rugged looks and a larger touchscreen in the cabin. Sister brand Acura was also on hand with the both the 2026 A-Spec versions of the compact ADX luxury crossover – we enjoyed our last drive in it last year – plus the sporty Integra that we also drove a while back.

Finally, look for more details in the future on one of Lexus’s new, all-electric ES 500e luxury sedan. It’s a huge update to the old ES, which had been one of the more low-key members of the Lexus family; for its hyper-angular 2026 reappearance, ES is now available in hybrid and EV versions, with the more powerful 500e EV offering 338 horsepower, about 276 miles of range and standard AWD.