Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
The Downshift is The Drive’s morning summary of all the auto industry headlines you need to know. News is condensed into a few sentences, including links to dig deeper if you wish. Let’s hit the road.
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7️⃣ BMW has unveiled a facelift for the seventh-gen 7 Series, and it’s as comprehensive as facelifts get. The 2027 model completely cleans up the exterior, aligning it more with the Neue Klasse design language, while also introducing Panoramic iDrive inside the cabin, a standard passenger touchscreen, and that controversial vertical two-spoke steering wheel.
🤑 Ferrari intends to price its Luce EV at about $650,000, according to a report from Bloomberg.
🔥 Ford is recalling about 140,000 Ranger pickup trucks for improperly positioned or secured wiring harnesses behind the sun visor and headliner, which could short and result in a fire around the A pillar, Reuters reports.
📉 EV registrations in California are down 40% compared to their status a year ago, and Tesla has been hit particularly hard, with its sales down 24% in the state over that time, per Reuters.
⚡ Remember the Smart Fortwo? It’s back—though not in the U.S.—as the Smart #2, evoking its predecessor’s design and promising about 186 miles of all-electric range, according to InsideEVs.
6️⃣ Porsche specialists Gunther Werks have introduced the last act in their Speedster series, appropriately called Project Endgame. A thoroughly rebuilt 993, Endgame features an 840-horsepower, 660 lb-ft 4.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six built by Rothsport Racing, according to Top Gear.
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