Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Light, tight, and right, TDS gathers all the latest automotive news from around the globe and puts it in one place. Stories are summarized in a single, sometimes long, sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
The first cup of coffee is gone and I’m definitely ready for a second, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: Still in the 2026 Ram 1500 Big Horn and have to say the standard “GT exhaust” paired with the return of the Hemi V8 is loud and bordering on obnoxious, especially with the automatic start-stop while in the school pick up line waiting for the kids.
🔋 The 2027 Chevrolet Bolt debuted with less fan fare than deserved, as the updated EV will arrive next year and instantly become the least expensive EV in the U.S. with a starting price of $28,995 paired with 255 miles of range.
🏭 Ineos is now looking for a site to move production of the Grenadier SUV to the U.S. as quickly as possible according to its CEO citing tariffs as a key issue for profitability.
🤑 Turns out Elon Musk’s record pay package will possibly pay him tens of billions of dollars without requiring the CEO to meet most of the original package targets, which the automaker’s board assured investors would not be the case.
💸 General Motors walked back its plans to extend last-minute EV tax credits and it all might be due to political blowback from a Republican Senator who is a former car dealer and is still active in auto policy.
🌾 Tesla will now sell Model 3 owners in the U.S. a steering wheel stalk for $595 as a retrofit for the item the automaker removed from the car.
🛜 Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the automaker hasn’t ruled out the use of lidar in future models as part of an advanced sensor array for vehicle safety and autonomy systems.
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