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Welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s morning automotive news roundup bringing you the biggest headlines from around the globe.
The Downshift summarizes stories with a sentence or two, along with links for those who wish to dive deeper. Here’s what’s cooking on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
🔊 The latest episode of The Drivecast, The Drive’s weekly podcast, went live yesterday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
📜 A bill banning automakers from selling cars in the U.S. if they’re more than 15% owned by a Chinese entity was approved by a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. The measure has placed Mercedes-Benz under the spotlight, as 20% of its investment comes from China, though one of the bill’s authors, Senator Bernie Moreno, said that Mercedes would have until 2030 to comply and could seek waivers. Senator Ted Cruz said that General Motors is supporting the proposal so that Cadillac could swoop up Mercedes’ forfeited share if it did have to exit the market, while GM said that its support of the bill doesn’t concern any specific automaker. [Reuters]
🔧 BMW is recalling 318,495 vehicles in the U.S. that have starter motors that may overheat and catch fire. Affected vehicles include the 3 Series, 4 Series, X3, X4, Z4, and—wait for it—the Toyota Supra. [Reuters]
📉 Hyundai’s global Q2 operating profit was 21% down from the same period last year, while sales in China specifically slumped 33%. [Automotive News]
🔽 Porsche will cut another 5,000 jobs in Germany, bringing its total reduction in headcount to 8,900, as it seeks ever more ways to cut costs. [Automotive News]
🏭 Ford has announced a partnership with Geely to allow the Chinese automaker to use some of its dormant capacity at its plant in Valencia, Spain. The two companies will jointly develop EVs as part of the arrangement. [Bloomberg]
💷 Aston Martin has secured £550 million (that’s $736 million) in debt financing from HPS Investment Partners. Shared jumped by over 9% in London following the news. [Bloomberg]
Got a tip or feedback for TDS? Reach out to tips@thedrive.com
Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
