Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
TDS summarizes all the morning’s biggest auto industry headlines into one quick read, so you can get up to speed and on with your day. Each item contains a link you can follow for deeper info. They don’t contain coffee, though, so you’ll have to grab a cup of your own. Speaking of, I need a refill.
Happy Wednesday, let’s get on with it.
🇺🇸 Audi says the new Q9 large SUV will be its first vehicle to launch in the United States ahead of other markets, per Auto News. That is appropriate, considering it was designed specifically for the U.S. Expect to get a first look at it during the second half of this year.
🚗 BMW has confirmed that the 3 Series Touring wagon will live on for the new generation, Autocar reports. Whether it’ll come to the States is, of course, always another matter.
🔋 General Motors and LG will recall laid-off workers at its Tennessee battery plant to return to work to make batteries for energy storage systems instead of cars, according to Reuters.
🔌 Volkswagen has recalled nearly 50,000 2025-2026 Jetta sedans due to a fire risk linked to a transmission wiring issue, according to an NHTSA report.
💵 The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is leading another charge to collect separate fees from EV and hybrid vehicle owners, because they pay no (or less, in the case of hybrids) gas tax, according to Reuters.
🛢️ BloombergNEF estimates that electric vehicles last year spared the use of 2.3 million barrels of oil globally. That’s not merely thanks to electric cars, but particularly electric motorcycles and scooters, which are especially popular for personal transportation in Asia.
🏭 VinFast wants to resume construction of its North Carolina factory ASAP, according to Business North Carolina, and start operations there in 2028.
🏁 Porsche has introduced a special throwback livery for its 963 prototypes at the 12 Hours of Sebring this year, evoking the Mobil 1-branded 911 GT1s of the late ’90s, Racer reports.
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