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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, August 6, 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.
🔋 Mercedes-AMG has introduced a less-powerful electric four-door GT, the GT53, making 536 horsepower from two electric motors instead of three, which is less than half of the GT63’s titanic output. On the flip side, though, it has better range—up to 503 miles under the WLTP testing criteria, against the pricier model’s 432 miles. [Mercedes]
🗓️ Honda doesn’t expect to restart production at its two plants in Japan until August 19 at the earliest, as one of its key suppliers works to restore activity following the July 28 earthquake that also disrupted Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. [Automotive News]
🏕️ The 2027 Toyota bZ Woodland is just $80 more than last year’s version, starting at $45,380. However, Subaru’s version, the Trailseeker, which also has standard dual-motor all-wheel drive but begins around $5,000 cheaper with less equipment, has demonstrated it’s the clear favorite for buyers. From the start of deliveries in the spring through June, Subaru moved 2,436 examples of the wagon, while Toyota sold 554 units. [Autoblog]
🔌 EVgo will soon deploy hundreds of Tesla V4 Superchargers with its own branding, as part of its own network. We don’t exactly know where they’ll pop up first, but the first sites will begin emerging through the back half of this year. [Electrek]
🤑 Bugatti’s got another one-off built on the bones of the Bolide. This one is called the Destrier, and it carves a unique silhouette, inspired by the Type 57SC Atlantic. [Autocar]
🤫 Earlier this year, the Netherlands approved Tesla’s Full Self-Driving semi-autonomous driving software for use after a safety review. However, the contents of that review are being kept private, reportedly due to pressure from Tesla, over concern about sharing commercial secrets. [Reuters]
🫣 Rockstar Games will offer “an extended look” at Grand Theft Auto VI at 3 p.m. Eastern on August 27…on Netflix. Six hours later, though, at 9 p.m., Rockstar will publish the same footage to its YouTube channel. [Rockstar Games]
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.
