Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Quick, tight, and focused, TDS gathers the latest automotive headlines from around the globe and places them in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
🚨 Episode 4 of The Drivecast, The Drive‘s podcast, was released yesterday. You can stream it on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and of course, you can always listen to episodes right here on The Drive via the podcast tab on the homepage menu bar.
It snowed, and winter returned to Minnesota. The first cup of coffee is underway, and the weekend is in sight. Let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: Spending time with the 2026 Mazda CX-90 Plug-In Hybrid and am happy to report that multiple recalibrations and TSBs for this electrified powertrain have indeed smoothed out the shifts and handoff between electric-only and hybrid power. But it’s still not fully polished, yet.
🆕 BMW M division CEO Frank Van Meel said the German automaker’s high-performance team is “working on 30 new models that will come out in the next two and a half years, so we’re quite busy right now.;” those models will include gas, plug-in hybrid, and electric only powertrains, but the manual transmission is on life support as Van Meel said, “from an engineering standpoint, the manual doesn’t really make sense because it limits you in torque and also in fuel consumption.”
📸 The electric Ferrari Luce has been spotted undergoing cold-weather testing on public roads.
🚨 Nissan recalled 642,698 Rogue SUVs as part of two separate recalls due to issues that could cause a loss of drive power.
🤺 California and President Trump are headed towards a showdown with a lawsuit that has the state alleging Trump illegally stripped the state’s power to restrict auto pollution; if California wins, automakers could deal with conflicting federal and state regulations.
📺 Apple CarPlay will support Apple TV and other video sources for playback on vehicles’ built-in screens in the future.
🧑🎨 Volkswagen Group has a new design boss with Andreas Mindt taking over on March 1, 2026, for Michael Mauer, who is stepping down from the role as part of a planned generational handover.
🏕️ BMW’s M division boss Frank Van Meel said the team “wouldn’t say no” to a high-performance off-roader; BMW’s planning a Mercedes-Benz G-Class competitor.
📱 Tesla’s reportedly held back its adoption of Apple CarPlay due to a need for changes in iOS 26’s Maps app.
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