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The Daily Brief wraps up the biggest stories and our exclusive reporting on the auto industry and car culture.
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 happening on Tuesday, September 22, 2026:
🔋 Toyota will reportedly get into the extended-range EV game, first in China. Of course, when Toyota gets involved in something, as one of the world’s biggest automakers by production volume, it never gets in halfway, which is why it will reportedly crank out 200,000 EREVs next year, and double that in 2028. So far there’s no word on when this technology might reach Toyota’s products in other markets, but you may be surprised to know that even in an EV-saturated region like China, there are still charging infrastructure concerns, and EVs with gas range extenders have emerged as a practical solution to that issue. [Nikkei Asia]
📹 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed an investigation into nearly 130,000 Honda Ridgeline pickups for rearview camera failures, with no further action. [Reuters]
🖋️ McLaren, like every automaker trying to reinvent itself, has introduced a new logo inspired by the company’s original wordmark. It’s nothing like the more modern logotype that McLaren’s employed since the start of the millennium, nor does it resemble the look of its iconic ’80s and ’90s branding. The swoop is apparently sticking around, but in a seemingly reduced capacity. We generally try to keep opinions out of The Downshift, but personally, I’m a bit exhausted from every logo being flattened and drained of life, and a friend said it best: this looks more fit for an aftershave brand. [McLaren]
🤖 Former Tesla self-driving engineer Minwoo Park has initiated sweeping changes throughout Hyundai’s autonomous systems development divisions since being hired earlier this year. The automaker is focused on making ground on leaders in the space like BYD, as well as Tesla. [Bloomberg]
🏭 Mercedes CEO Michael Scheibe said the company may have to close two of its German plants if it’s unable to reduce costs. [Reuters]
🧀 Saudi Arabia wants its own automaker, and a new company called Ceer—a collaboration between the country’s Public Investment Fund, which is also a major backer of Lucid and, formerly, McLaren, and Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn—will attempt to fill that role. The brand introduced a pair of wedge-shaped sedan and crossover concepts that don’t look miles away from what Honda was aiming for with its abandoned 0 Series EV campaign. [Reuters]
🏁 Every race on next year’s Formula 1 calendar will be a smidge shorter, by two or three laps on average, due to a change in power unit fuel-flow regulations for the 2027 season. [Racer]
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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.
