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 summarized with a few sentences, including links to dig deeper if you wish. Happy Friday, let’s see what’s cooking on the last news day of the week.
🏁 That camouflaged rally car Toyota’s been testing not so inconspicuously as of late? Autocar has it on someone’s authority that it will be called the “Celica Sport,” it’ll be all-wheel-drive (shocker) and Toyota’s upcoming 2.0-liter four-cylinder will go into the production version, likely with an electrified boost to circumvent emissions restrictions. That last detail is actually official, with Gazoo Racing marketing manager Mikio Hayashi telling the publication, “Nothing has been decided yet about whether it will be a standard hybrid or plug-in hybrid.”
🏭 Ford CEO Jim Farley recently spoke to Top Gear about a range of topics, notably the automaker’s new Universal EV Production System that aims to massively reduce manufacturing cost, time, and overall complexity. “No one’s ever built a car in high volume like this,” Farley said. “A car every 50 seconds.”
🌎 On the heels of Hyundai’s announcement of a 36-model offensive in North America, the automaker detailed that it plans for 80% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. to be made in the country as well by 2030, per Automotive News. Currently, that percentage sits at around half.
🚢 Ferrari has resumed deliveries to the Middle East after pausing them for a week, Auto News reported via Reuters.
🛑 The same Solihull, U.K. plant that Jaguar Land Rover was forced to shut down back in September for six weeks due to a cyberattack has again paused production, this time due to a supplier issue, Reuters has reported.
🚐 Ford unveiled a new Transit City electric commercial van, built in China using an architecture the automaker co-developed with one of its regional partners. Don’t expect it to make the jump across the pond from Europe, though.
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