Good morning! It's Wednesday, October 15, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.
In this morning's edition, Stellantis is betting big on the U.S. and itself, global EV and PHEV sales hit a new record in September, Rimac wants to buy out Porsche's share of Bugatti, and Waymo's driverless taxi service could launch in London next year.
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Stellantis is on the verge of a massive investment in the U.S.: $13 billion over the next four years. That money is set to go toward increasing stateside manufacturing output by 50%, supporting five new vehicles, and a new engine. It's also supposed to add about 5,000 new manufacturing jobs in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.
The Transatlantic automaker is billing this as the largest investment in the company's 100-year history. Stellantis says it plans to reopen an Illinois assembly plant in 2027, where it will build the new Jeep Compass and Cherokee. It has been offline since 2023. Both vehicles were previously slated to be built outside the U.S. It's also going to start building Ram pickups in Toledo, Ohio, starting in 2028. Here's what else the plan holds, from Automotive News:
The plan also calls for factory upgrades to prepare for a new large SUV in Warren, Mich., the next-generation Dodge Durango in Detroit and a new four-cylinder engine in Kokomo, Ind. The UAW previously had expressed concern that Durango production would leave the U.S.
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Stellantis' $13 billion total includes R&D spending and supplier costs. After Filosa became CEO in June, he set a "clear priority" for his team to grow the company in the U.S., where sales and profits had been declining.
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The product launches announced Oct. 14 "will be in addition to a regular cadence of 19 refreshed products across all U.S. assembly plants and updated powertrains planned through 2029," Stellantis said.
The company plans to invest $600 million to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois to produce the Cherokee and Compass for the U.S., with one nameplate starting in 2027 and the other in 2028. This will create about 3,300 new jobs.
Both nameplates were previously made in Belvidere, with the Compass moving to Mexico in 2016 and the Cherokee being discontinued when the plant was idled in 2023.
When Belvidere reopens, Filosa said it will be the primary source of Cherokees and Compasses for the U.S. Stellantis no longer plans to make the redesigned Compass in Brampton, Ontario, after halting work to retool the Canadian plant in February.
This has some folks up north — especially the Canadian Unifor auto union — worried that jobs are going to be lost at the Brampton plant, former home of the 300C, but Filosa says that there are plans for the factory, and they will be shared "upon further discussions with the Canadian government."
Oh, if you thought I was done laying out all of the planned expenditures, you've got another thing coming, buddy.
Nearly $400 million is going toward assembly of the new midsize pickup in Ohio, joining the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. Stellantis said it would add 900 jobs in Toledo to make the truck there, and it plans to continue with investments in Toledo that it announced previously.
In Michigan, the Warren Truck Assembly Plant will make a new SUV, available as either a range-extended electric vehicle or a gasoline-powered model, starting in 2028, Stellantis said. The project will cost nearly $100 million and add more than 900 jobs at the plant in suburban Detroit.
The company said it will invest $130 million to prepare the Detroit Assembly Complex – Jefferson plant for the next-generation Durango, reaffirming a commitment from January. Production is expected to launch in 2029.
Stellantis also confirmed a January announcement to make upgrades at several Kokomo, Ind., plants for a new four-cylinder engine to be made starting in 2026. The automaker said it will add more than 100 jobs and invest more than $100 million "to ensure that the U.S. will be the manufacturing home of this strategic powertrain."
Listen, this all sounds very promising. It's not like Stellantis was ever going to turn itself around if it didn't spend big to get itself out of the hole it dug. However, it really needs to focus on the products it puts out now. It needs to build vehicles that people actually want to buy. If it can do that, $15 billion will be more than worth it. If it can't, well, things could get very rocky.
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In September, people across the globe loudly declared, "I want an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid, and I want it now!" Combined sales of the two types of vehicles rose 26% from the same month last year to a record 2.1 million vehicles — driven mostly by strong demand in China and a late push in the U.S. as folks looked to take advantage of the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit, according to market research firm Rho Motion.
The nearly 1.3 million sales in China accounted for about two-thirds of global EV sales, but North America also hit a record as U.S. buyers flocked to dealers to take advantage of that sweet, sweet deal before President Trump and his Republican buddies ripped it away from them. From Reuters:
September, typically China's busiest month for car buying, saw sales rise as shoppers looked to make the most of trade-in subsidies before some regions started phasing them out.
U.S. demand reflected a surge as buyers rushed to claim the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit, although demand is expected to decline sharply in the fourth quarter "as both consumers and businesses lose access to the federal incentives that have underpinned EV purchases", Rho Motion said.
Europe also hit a new high, helped by incentives in Germany and strong demand in Britain, while Tesla's rollout of a lower-cost Model Y in Europe is expected to further intensify competition in coming months.
All in all, European sales jumped 36% to 427,541 vehicles, and North American sales were up a nearly astonishing 66% to about 215,000 vehicles. Of course, China blew everyone else out of the water with its 1.3 million sales, but the rest of the world did pretty well too: a 48% increase to 153,594 vehicles.
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Mate Rimac, the founder of the Croatian hypercar maker that bears his name, says he's in talks to buy out Porsche's stake in their joint venture Bugatti Rimac by next year. Currently, the 37-year-old is the single biggest shareholder of his Rimac Group. His company and Porsche set up Bugatti Rimac in 2021 to make hypercars under the Bugatti brand. He says Porsche had earlier tried to take majority control. From Bloomberg:
"I just want to be able to make long-term decisions, to make long-term investments and to do things in a different way, without having to explain to 50 people," he said in an interview in Singapore.
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Rimac made a preliminary offer for Porsche's 45% stake that valued the joint venture at slightly over €1 billion ($1.1 billion), people familiar with the matter said in April.
Now, Rimac said he wants to take over the joint venture and has investors behind him to close the transaction. He cited an unnamed international investor group and private equity funds.
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"When you negotiate with a corporate, there's so many factors," Rimac said. "It's families, it's multiple families. It's an emotional topic."
Private equity is always a little bit scary (as I'm sure you know, given Jalopnik's history), but if there's one guy I trust to keep a brand moving in the right direction, it's Rimac. If the Tourbillon is any indication of where things are headed, the automaker is in very good hands.
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Alphabet's robotaxi company, Waymo, is planning to launch its fully driverless ride-hailing service in London sometime in 2026, according to the firm. It has grown slowly but steadily in the U.S., but as it picks up pace over here, it seems poised to make the jump internationally to one of the most congested cities in the world. From Reuters:
Earlier this year, Waymo started collecting data in Tokyo, Japan and testing its vehicles operated by human drivers in cooperation with Japanese taxi firm Nihon Kotsu and with Go, which operates a mobile app for hailing taxi rides.
In London, Waymo said it will collaborate with vehicle financing firm Moove as it prepares for the rollout, and is actively engaging with local and national regulators to secure necessary approvals.
Waymo vehicles are now on the way to London, where safety drivers will start testing the vehicles before fully autonomous operations begin next year, a Waymo spokesperson said.
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Waymo has partnered with Moove to handle its fleet operations, facilities and charging infrastructure in Phoenix and next year in Miami, Florida.
Ride-hailing firm Uber, which offers Waymo vehicles on its app in Atlanta and Austin, announced in June plans to trial fully driverless rides in the UK from spring 2026 through its partnership with AI startup Wayve.
Waymo currently takes riders on over a quarter million paid trips every single week with about 1,500 vehicles in U.S. cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Arizona, Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin.
As we all know, Dolly Parton is both gorgeous and incredibly talented, so what the hell did Jolene have on her? I guess it could have been a classic "men are dumb" situation. We'll probably never know, but if you want to learn more about the song and Parton, head over to History.com.
This is today's vibe. It's not your business to question it, so don't even bother
