Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
TDS is your daily download of car-scene stories worth knowing about from around the internet. Let’s get into it.
📇 Jaguar finally has a name for the upcoming ultra-luxe EV it’s been teasing for about two years: “Type 01.” The brand explains, “‘Type’ references legendary predecessors, ‘0’ is for zero tailpipe emissions, ‘1’ for the first of a new generation.” [Jaguar]
☀️ Baja Designs has a cool new off-road aux light called Squadron 2.0 with a high-lumen output, a bunch of selectable colors, and a bunch of vehicle-specific plug-and-play mount kits. [Baja Designs]
🚦 Speaking of lights, a company called LED Truck Media wants to start deploying mobile illuminated billboard trucks with that crazy forced-perspective 3D effect you might have seen in major city displays. Yeah, that doesn’t seem distracting or dangerous at all… [Invidis]
🎮 There’s a uniquely modded Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT in the new Resident Evil Requiem video game—which has now been recreated in real life with 3D-printed exterior parts. Neat. [TCT Magazine]
🎓 Toyota has a new ultra-cheap, gas-engine, six-speed-manual Corolla model in Japan, specifically and exclusively made for driving schools. List price is ¥2,142,800; about $13,500. [Toyota]
🐉 Chinese automaker BYD is teeing up its next phase of expansion by, potentially, taking over “underused” European car factories operated by Stellantis and others. [Automotive News]
🏭 Meanwhile, in Germany, auto industry experts are bracing for big job losses—to the tune of “up to 225,000 jobs could be lost by 2035, around 35,000 more than earlier forecasts.” [Deutsche Welle]