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A daily hot lap of headlines from the auto industry and car culture, curated by The Drive’s editors.
Hello and welcome to The Downshift, a daily sweep of the morning’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 Tuesday, October 27, 2026:
🚙 Mazda’s big SUVs, made specifically for North America, have struggled as of late. Part of the company’s attempt to turn that around is consolidating the two-row CX-70 and three-row CX-90—which are really the same vehicle anyway, seating aside—into one model line. For 2027, the CX-90 will be offered with both configurations, though the least expensive remains the three-row version at $41,345 including shipping. The CX-70, despite its smaller capacity, was actually a few grand more expensive than the CX-90, and that’s not changing in essence. [Automotive News]
📈 Although Porsche’s global deliveries fell 16% over the first nine months of the year, its operating margin improved by 7%, indicating that it’s pulling more money from every sale. In response, shares of the sportscar maker improved 4% in Germany on Tuesday. [Bloomberg]
🧑⚖️ A California judge has again denied Volkswagen of America and Scout Motors’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought to them by state dealers over the new electric SUV brand’s direct-sales model. [Automotive News]
🐘 A person supposedly familiar with Audi’s decision to announce a new U.S. plant at a political rally alongside President Donald Trump last weekend said that the automaker’s “management board had cleared an exception to the company’s code of conduct before [CEO Gernot] Döllner’s appearance.” It’s understood that Volkswagen mandates political neutrality immediately before elections. [Reuters]
📱 In other Volkswagen universe news, the company is reportedly considering replacing its own software architecture in European products with one it developed for China, in partnership with Xpeng. It’s estimated that such consolidation could save the company between $4.5 billion and $5.5 billion, which kind of makes you wonder why it didn’t just do that in the first place. [Manager Magazin via Motor1]
🍁 Chinese automaker Chery is seriously weighing its options for a Canadian plant, with VP Guibing Zhang saying in an interview, “Even without the American market, Canada is a market that is worth having a factory for manufacturing. We are looking for the suitable opportunity and communicating on the possible formats.” [Bloomberg]
🔧 You know recalls are becoming too common when even Koenigsegg announces that all seven CC850s registered in the U.S. need attention because their electronic parking brakes might not stay stuck. [Autoblog]
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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.
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