Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
TDS is quick, short, and dense going long on news and short on fluff. Gathering the latest automotive headlines from around the globe, TDS summarizes stories in a single sentence and provides a link for those seeking more information.
Spring is definitely here in Minneapolis, it’s almost time for the kids to get going for school, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: Been spending the week with the Ford Maverick Lobo and have to admit I’m pretty smitten with this little truck. The payload rating gets obliterated with the Lobo trim, the price is insane at over $42,000 as equipped, and it’s barely a “street truck” in design, but the Maverick itself is still just a great package with pricing that has, like all things, become wildly inflated.
🛞 Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the the upcoming Roadster will be the automaker’s “only manually driven car” in the long term as “it’s going to make sense for our whole lineup to be different autonomous vehicles of different sizes,” the executive said during the automaker’s latest earnings call.
⏰ Of course, the still-not-here-yet Roadster, which made a surprise debut in 2017 for those keeping track, will not debut on April 1 as previously stated by Elon Musk; Tesla’s CEO said during the automaker’s latest earnings call the Roadster “may be able to debut that in a month or so.”
🔥 Hyundai teased an upcoming “next-generation high-performance powertrain” that will be tested during the 24-hour Nurburgring race; the engine sure sounds and looks like a turbocharged four-cylinder that could find its way into a next-gen Elantra N.
🎉 Rivian achieved a massive milestone with the R2 entering production and the first customer examples rolling off the assembly line; the feat took place just days after a tornado hit the factory.
🦸 The latest Gunther Werks one-off debuted as a superhero-inspired Speedster named “Project Endgame,” and it’s pretty obvious the inspiration came from Tony Stark.
🏭 The Volvo EX60 entered production and the automaker confirmed it’s targeting 40,000 units this year with interest in the vehicle proving to be above the automaker’s expectations, according to CEO Hakan Samuelsson.
😍 The Morgan Supersport 400 debuted as the automaker’s most powerful car with a BMW-sourced turbo-six sitting under its long hood.
👀 The Kimera EVO38 Collezione Martini debuted with more power and more Martini as a limited edition model.
🚨 Jaguar Land Rover recalled 170,169 vehicles in the U.S. due to a loss of drive power issue.
Got a news tip or feedback? Drop us a line at tips@thedrive.com