Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Light, tight, and right, TDS gathers the latest automotive news from around the globe and places it in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single, sometimes long, sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
The end of the week is in sight and I’m just starting in on the second cup of coffee, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: The 2026 Nissan Leaf is in my garage still and I’ve started poking its powertrain settings and packaging to find it has desired features such as battery preconditioning and a dual-layer cargo area, but there’s no frunk.
📉 Mitsubishi got crushed in Q3 with operating profits falling 79%, which cutting operating profits by $117.7 million due to tariff costs and weak demand; the Japanese automaker plans to lean into fleet sales and expects full-year operating profits to drop 50%.
‼️ Toyota recalled more than 1.1 million vehicles in North America due to a rearview camera issue.
💸 Lucid reported a Q3 net loss of $978 million while revenue surged 68%; the startup automaker’s chief engineer, who has been with the company since 2015, announced he is leaving.
🤖 Rivian announced it has created another spinoff company called Mind Robotics, which will focus on industrial AI and … you guessed it, robotics.
🔋 Bentley reconfirmed its first EV will be revealed in 2026 with production to kickoff in 2027; the EV will be an SUV based on Volkswagen Group’s PPE platform, which is shared with the Audi Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Macan and Cayenne EVs.
💨 Bentley also announced a new Supersports model will debut on November 13, and the introduction will bring forth a “driver-focused and first rear-wheel drive Continental GT ever” as a limited production coupe.
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