Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Tight, dense, and lacking fluff, TDS gathers the latest automotive headlines from around the globe and places them in one sport. Stories are summarized in a single sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
I’m back home from Montana and haven’t had coffee yet, so let’s get into it.
? What I’m driving: Came back home to the 2026 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium and appreciate that this one doesn’t have the hybrid powertrain, which means the rear cargo area floor is lower thanks to the lack of a battery pack.
?? Audi’s Chief Creative Officer, Massimo Frascella, said the brand’s masterpieces were the B5 A4 and C5 A6 as “they looked like nothing else on the road,” and featured timeless designs; Frascella said the brand needs to get back to everything being instantly recognizable as Audis noting that the Concept C (the photo above) is the mission statement for achieving the tricky harmonious balance between past and present.
?️ The Toyota Supra from The Fast and the Furious is headed to the Petersen Museum in LA along with the franchise’s pink Honda S2000 from the sequel.
? Subaru recalled 71,207 hybrid vehicles including some Crosstrek and Forester models due to a fire hazard when left in the hot sun with a full fuel tank.
? A new M Performance Track Kit is blurring the line between street-legal M2 and its race car counterpart.
? Tesla’s least expensive Cybertruck is now $10,000 more expensive than it was less than two weeks ago.
?️ Land Rover’s upcoming Defender Sport will have “go-anywhere capability,” according to the brand’s director Mark Cameron.
? Weekend Race Results:
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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.
