Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Tight, light, and right, TDS gathers all the latest automotive news from around the globe and places it in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
The first cup of coffee is gone here and I’m definitely ready for a second, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: A 2026 Ram 1500 Big Horn and it costs $63,835 with cloth seats, but it has a Hemi V8 under its hood and loud exhaust.
💸 Trump’s Department of Energy is considering revoking nearly $1.1 billion in funding awarded by the Biden administration last year to Stellantis and General Motors as part of a larger $12 billion cut attributed to the government shutdown, but that money was earmarked for upgrades to U.S. factories.
🔋 Tesla debuted new, less expensive base Model 3 and Model Y trims dubbed Standard, but both strip a long list of features from the vehicles while only chopping about $5,000 from the price making them still more expensive than the Chevy Equinox EV.
🤝 Nissan reportedly is holding discussions with multiple automakers, including possibly Ford and Stellantis, about reskinning its Rogue with the e-Power hybrid system, which would maybe even then serve as a Ford Escape replacement.
🧑🤝🧑 Hyundai is feeling the Trump administration’s cold shoulder despite multiple efforts to appease with moves to deepen the automaker’s ties to the U.S. market.
🏎️ The 2026 Aston Martin DB12 S debuted with more power, a tweaked chassis, and standard carbon-ceramic brakes.
‼️ Hyundai recalled 135,386 Santa Fe crossover SUVs due to a fire risk associated with an improperly installed starter motor.
🪦 The BMW 8-Series and Z4 are quietly being killed off with no signs of direct successors in sight.
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