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Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive‘s news roundup that gathers the biggest automotive headlines from around the globe.
The Downshift summarizes stories into a couple of sentences and provides a link for those seeking more information. We hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend. Here’s what’s cooking on Monday morning.
🆕 The long-wheelbase, three-row Tesla Model Y is now on sale in the U.S. as a makeshift replacement for the larger, discontinued Model X. This version of the electric crossover first went on sale last year in China and earlier this year in Australia. [Automotive News]
📈 In other Tesla news, the EV maker just had its best quarter in years, delivering 480,126 vehicles worldwide. That’s around 80,000 more than analysts expected, and a whole 25% better than Q2 2025. Analysts believe strong performance in China and Europe was responsible for the jump. [Bloomberg]
💥 Finally, the first known fatal crash involving a Tesla Semi occurred last week in Nevada, when the tractor-trailer struck a vintage Volkswagen Beetle and killed both its occupants. Full Self-Driving is not offered on the Semi, and, while investigators are still working to determine the cause of the crash, “Preliminary statements obtained at the scene suggest the driver of the truck might have fallen asleep,” according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. [Forbes]
🗺️ In a little over a year, Walmart has grown its EV charging network from nothing to over 70 stations and 600 connectors. [InsideEVs]
🔃 A new General Motors patent proposes a way for connected vehicles to exchange crash reports after a collision. [Autoblog]
✋ Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa said that the Japanese automaker and its alliance partner Renault are “collaborating better than ever” despite Renault abstaining from a vote to reappoint a longtime Nissan director. [Bloomberg]
🪫 The vice president of top EV battery supplier CATL said that “Processing is not the bottleneck, but mining [for key minerals] is,” reflecting on the challenges facing the industry. [Bloomberg]
🖌️ This concept for a Volkswagen sports car designed by an intern at the German automaker is the coolest you’ll see all day—possibly all month—and it has us reminiscing about the likes of the W12 Nardo. [CarBuzz]
🏁 Weekend race results:
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Chicagoland: Brandon Jones won for Joe Gibbs Racing
- Formula 1 British Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari
- IndyCar Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio: Pato O’Ward won for Arrow McLaren
- NASCAR Cup Series at Chicagoland: Chase Briscoe won for Joe Gibbs 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.
