Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Tight, light, 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.
The first cup of coffee is gone and there’s a chill in the air here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: Still spending time with the 2026 Nissan Leaf and have noticed how there’s far less cheap, hard plastic on touchpoints such as the upper door panels than what you’ll find in the Chevrolet Equinox EV.
📈 Toyota’s CFO Kenta Kon said the automaker is facing “very strong” demand and sales, upgraded the company’s guidance, and noted “we can barely cover the demand” and “we expect a very healthy situation going forward.”
💸 Startup Rivian reported a Q3 net loss of $1.2 billion, though revenue surged, as the automaker prepares to launch its less expensive R2 model in 2026.
🔋 Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the R2 Launch Edition is “not intended to be our most expensive version,” and revealed the model will have a dual-motor powertrain instead of a single- or tri-motor setup.
🐎 Ringbrothers revealed an 800-horsepower 1969 Ford Mustang restomod dubbed Kingpin at the 2025 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
⛙ The Polestar 4 will become the first car to integrate Google Maps’ new Live Lane Guidance, which is an AI-driven real-time visualization of the road on the digital gauge cluster.
🔵 The iconic B5 Blue color has returned to the Dodge Durango for 2026, along with the model moving to an all-Hemi V8 engine lineup.
6️⃣ Dodge has begun taking orders for the inline-six-powered Charger Scat Pack.
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