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Hello and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive‘s morning news roundup that gathers the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.
The Downshift summarizes stories into a few sentences and adds a link for those seeking more detail. We hope you had a great weekend, and here’s your bulletin for Monday, August 3, 2026.
🚁 Florida has decided that the $200 million it had earmarked to build out electric vehicle charging across the state would be better served funding an “aerial highway network” of eVTOL flying taxis, according to documents seen by the Miami Herald. “The Florida Department of Transportation will not waste taxpayer dollars and spend it on everyday passenger vehicles,” the document reads, instead proposing “an innovative and strategic approach” that supports a “new emerging mode of transportation.” The state claims the second-highest number of EVs in the country, but still doesn’t meet the nationwide average of chargers per vehicle. [Miami Herald]
💺 Stellantis is recalling a massive number of Ram 1500 pickups—1.27 million vehicles in the U.S. alone, as well as 156,000 in Canada—for second-row seat belt anchors that may never have been properly attached to the body structure. Every model year dating back to 2019 is impacted by this recall. [Reuters]
Ⓜ️ The potential for a new BMW M3 Touring—and especially for it to be sold in the U.S.—is looking very strong, per a new report citing the success of the M5 Touring stateside, and how that’s given the smaller high-performance wagon a serious business case outside Europe. [BMW Blog]
🪫 Alfa Romeo has needed some new product for some time now, but a next-gen Stelvio SUV has reportedly been delayed until 2028, due to a change in strategy from a pure-electric powertrain to multiple propulsion options. [Motor1]
📹 Ford is again recalling vehicles for backup camera problems. This campaign covers the 2021-2023 F-150 and 2023-2026 F-250 Super Duty. In total it’s under 48,000 units, and the culprit is glitchy infotainment software that prevents the camera feed from being displayed when it should. [Autoblog]
💨 Toyota also has a pickup recall of its own—just over 4,100 2016-2023 Tacoma and 2014-2021 Tundra trucks, with airbags that could deploy in a less-than-optimal fashion in the event of a crash. [Autoblog]
📱 General Motors has began rolling out a comprehensive update for Cadillac’s infotainment system in the Optiq, Lyriq, Vistiq, and CT5 intended to make the software both more responsive and easier to navigate. [Motor1]
⚡ Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa has called the upcoming Rogue e-Power the most important launch of the year for the automaker because it will offer Nissan “access to a market that [it] didn’t have access to before”—that market being the arena of competitive hybrid compact SUVs. [Automotive News]
🏁 Weekend race results:
- WRC Rally Finland: Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen won for Toyota Gazoo Racing
- Supercars Championship at Perth: Matthew Payne (Penrite Racing) and Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) took victories
- Formula Drift Pro Class Top 16 at Indianapolis: Canceled due to weather
- IMSA SportsCar 6 Hours of Road America: Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor won for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing
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.
