Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
The Downshift gathers all the automotive headlines you need to know as you start your day. News is summarized in a sentence or two, and you can follow links for a closer look. The week’s nearly over, we’re almost there! Let’s dive in.
🔘 Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer has reconfirmed a commitment to get buttons back in the German automakers’ models, telling Top Gear at a recent brand event, “There’s two things that are absolutely non-negotiable for me: door handles and buttons. I don’t understand why anybody would have [touch-sensitive] sliders.”
📈 Hyundai plans to launch 36 models in North America by 2030, the company announced at its annual shareholder meeting, per Reuters, calling the region its most profitable.
🔌 Sales of used EVs have increased in Europe due to the war in Iran driving up oil prices, Reuters reported citing online car retail data. As we said earlier in the week, it’s a great time to consider a secondhand EV on this side of the pond for the same reasons.
🎞️ Lewis Hamilton says his new production company, Dawn Apollo Films, has drafted scripts for a sequel to last year’s F1 movie. It’s also working on TV series and documentary projects, the driver said, according to Motorsport.com.
🐎 Ford has announced another new special edition Mustang, this one a partnership with Troy Lee Designs. It’s based on the EcoBoost package and offers distinctive side decals, bronze wheels, a red interior, and some GT body panels for an extra $3,000, per Ford Authority.
⚫ Lotus has introduced a limited-edition Emira for North America, believe it or not, called the Scura. Only 60 will be made, and it pretty much looks to be a normal Emira, but blacked-out, from paint, to window tints, to interior trim, to lighting, according to Motor1.
📉 Volkswagen is calling it quits for Skoda in China this year, pulling the Czech brand from the region after annual sales tanked from around 300,000 units less than a decade ago to just 15,000 in 2025, Reuters reports.
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