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A daily hot lap of headlines from the auto industry and car culture, curated by The Drive’s editors.
Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, a daily sweep of today’s top headlines from the auto industry and car culture, curated by The Drive’s editorial team. Each story gets a short summary and a link to the original source if you want to dive deeper.
Here’s what’s cooking on Thursday, October 22, 2026:
🔊 A new episode of The Drivecast, The Drive’s weekly podcast, will go live later today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
🛻 Honda has confirmed it’ll source its first body-on-frame pickup truck from Mitsubishi, with a product based on the Triton that will primarily be sold in Southeast Asia starting in 2028. It’s possible that the truck could expand to more markets, but it’s likelier that any similar type of product that Honda offers in North America would more closely align with something already offered here. Considering Mitsubishi is partnering with Nissan to slap its badge on the Frontier for U.S. sale, maybe Honda could take a similar route. [Automotive News]
Ⓜ️ A new flavor of that mid-engine Toyota sports car concept seen lapping Fuji Speedway months ago has been shared on social media by Toyota partner Ogura Racing Clutch. Badged simply “Concept M,” it appears to be a further development of the earlier Yaris prototype of the same name, fielded by Rookie Racing in the Super Taikyu series. [Ogura Racing Clutch via X]
💪 Stellantis dealers are apparently split on whether a new Charger Hellcat, as has been rumored, will really make a difference for Charger sales. They all seem to be able to agree that V8s in the muscle car is a good thing, but the expected price of a high-end Hellcat version without more accessible V8s might limit the impact of Dodge finally bringing the Hemi back to its coupe and sedan. [Automotive News]
🏁 Porsche will reportedly leave IMSA’s top GTP Hypercar class after the end of the 2027 season, per a new report. The brand discontinued the 963’s participation in the WEC after 2025, leaving it noticeably missing from the 24 Hours of Le Mans grid this year, so this news is hardly surprising, but still disappointing. The company’s official line is that it’s not a matter of “if” it will return to Le Mans but rather “when”; it also clearly values racing in North America, arguably its most important market going today. But Porsche is no doubt focused on shoring up its finances, and racing is always the first to go in such situations. [Motorsport]
🎶 It’s news to me that no carmaker has apparently ever offered a built-in Spotify app, until Audi just now. The app rollout will begin with the Audi A6 E-Tron, Q6 E-Tron, A5, Q5, and A6. [Motor1]
👔 Chery’s international CEO Jeff Zhang will take over Audi’s struggling Chinese subsidiary, as the luxury marque looks to turn the corner in the region. [Reuters]
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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.
