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Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive‘s morning news roundup that grabs the latest automotive headlines from around the globe and puts them in one spot.
The Downshift summarizes stories into a single sentence and provides a link for those seeking more information. Here’s what’s happening on Thursday, June 25, 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.
👑 GM might lose its U.S. sales crown, again, to Toyota as the Japanese automaker dominates the sales chart thanks to its bet on hybrid vehicles; GM’s market share is expected to fall 16.8% in the first half of 2026 while Toyota’s is expected to grow 15.8%.
🧐 JD Power released its 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Study and Ford was ranked the highest mass-market brand and third overall (Porsche came in first with Genesis in second) despite already recalling 11.2 million cars this year.
🚕 Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi has been redesigned with more padding on the seats and headrests before heading into large-scale production in Hayward, California.
💰 The Trump Administration asked Congress for $1 billion to boost the pensions of former General Motors employees who were part of the Delphi auto parts unit cut during the automaker’s 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.
🇨🇳 Chinese automakers now believe they’ll reach 16% market share in Europe in the next four years.
🔋 Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer Leonard Hoornik said “We are really trying to go against what is happening in the market trend,” as the automaker confirmed it will launch five EVs in the next 18 months and plans to price the electric vehicles higher than the equivalent gas-powered models.
🏎️ Porsche revealed the new $375,000 GT4 race car, which for the first time in history is based on the 911 instead of the Cayman.
💗 Chevrolet revived its iconic “Heartbeat of America” ad campaign, though its “Like a Rock” campaign is still MIA.
🙌 The overwhelming success of the BMW M wagons will lead the automaker’s performance division to give us a M3 Touring in the Neue Klasse era.
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
