Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Light, tight, and right, TDS grabs the latest automotive news from around the globe and gathers it in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single, sometimes long, sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
? Just a reminder I’m in Los Angeles this week for 2026 World Car of the Year testing, the 2025 LA auto show, and some time with Volvo. This is why TDS is being published a smidge later than our normal schedule today and likely the rest of the week.
The first cup of coffee is gone and the second is underway, so let’s get into it.
? What I’m driving: Spending most the week with the 2025 Cadillac Vistiq, though yesterday I drove eight 2026 World Car of the Year nominees and will spend time hopping between another set of cars today; but seriously, the Vistiq is overall really impressive in almost all the meaningful ways.
? Tesla Robotaxis continue to crash with three more incidents reported by the automaker to the NHTSA, which brings the total crashes to seven since the “self-driving” cars were put into service in Austin in July; this is despite the fact there are human supervisors seated up front with kill switches.
?Toyota’s doubling down on hybrids with a $912 million investment across five U.S. plants to boost production.
?? Amazon is now selling pre-owned Fords alongside pre-owned Hyundais.
⛰️ Hyundai teased the Crater off-road concept, which is set to debut Thursday at the 2025 LA auto show.
? Toyota will reportedly stretch model lifecycles to nine years.
? The 2026 Kia EV9 GT has quietly been delayed indefinitely due to changing market conditions.
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.