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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 30, 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.
🤝 Leases accounted for 23% of new vehicle purchases over the first half of 2026, according to new data from JD Power. This is higher than the low of 17% in 2022, but still well below the pre-pandemic trend of 30%. Experts chalk the change up to less enticing lease deals—because automakers learned that they can sell at higher prices by deliberately constraining supply—alongside higher interest rates. All this has also pushed up the price of used cars, since there are fewer vehicles returning to dealers post-lease. [Reuters]
⚖️ Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro recently spoke on the philosophy behind a next-generation MX-5 Miata, saying that the ND’s successor “must also be ready for a scenario without a combustion engine,” and that the challenge the company is facing is how to make the roadster lighter (to counter likely electrification) without “exotic” and expensive materials like carbon fiber. [Auto Motor und Sport]
🌋 The 2027 Genesis GV60 Magma, the luxury marque’s first Magma performance model, will start at $71,495 and should hit showrooms in California, New York, and New Jersey first over the coming weeks. The SUV is similar to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N under the sheet metal. [Genesis]
💡 Ferrari filled its quota to sell just under 500 examples of the Luce EV in about two months following the controversial model’s reveal, with particularly strong reception in China. [Financial Times]
🏭 Toyota’s global sales dropped by nearly 3% over the January-to-June period, with performance lagging in China by 17% against stronger demand in North America and Japan. Production also lagged by 1.2% over the same period. It’s the first slide in Toyota’s first-half sales and output in two years. [Reuters]
🔓 Mercedes-Benz is recalling more than 310,000 vehicles in the U.S. across various model lines for a failure to detect open doors due to a corroded switch in the driver’s door lock. If an open door isn’t detected, the automatic parking brake won’t activate, increasing the risk of vehicle rollaway. [Reuters]
📹 Volkswagen is recalling 58,000 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs, model years 2024 through 2026, for defective backup cameras that won’t present an image after shifting into reverse. [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.
