you are welcome downshiftor TDS for short, of drive Morning News Roundup brings you the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.
downshift Summarizes news with links to full stories for those seeking more information. A programming note that there will be no edition tomorrow, so have a safe and happy holiday weekend. Here is your bulletin for Thursday, July 2, 2026.
Latest episode of 🔊 drivecast, of drive The weekly podcast, which went live yesterday on Apple Podcasts, spotifyAnd wherever you get your podcasts.
📈 Honda is the number one selling vehicle in the US in the first half of 2026, and the top spot belongs to none other than the CR-V. A credit supply crunch to slow down the pace of the Ford F-150, and a generational redesign to do the same with the Toyota RAV-4. CR-V sales improved a massive 19% year-over-year in May and 30% in June. As of the end of last month, Honda had shipped 226,114 examples of the SUV in the last six months. (automotive news)
🎤 Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa recently explained how the automaker has lost its way over the past decade reuters“At first, it was like, OK, we want volume, volume, volume. This is not a good way to operate a car company.” Espinosa said he would also prefer to keep the brand away from the rental car market. (reuters)
🔋 Rivian beat its own forecast for production and sales in the second half of Q2, allowing it to raise its guidance for the end of 2026. Certainly good news for the EV maker so soon after the launch of the R2. (Electrek)
🚢BYD’s overall sales have grown again for the second consecutive month, but the real story is how the export market is largely contributing to that growth. Overseas sales increased by 95%, helping to offset a 22% decline in the automaker’s domestic market. (reuters)
📦 General Motors has struck a deal with memory-chip maker Micron to supply the manufacturer’s vehicles, which is ideal these days given the rising costs and low stocks of memory and storage. As someone who builds PCs, I’d like Micron to continue selling to me in addition to automakers and AI data centers, but that’s just it. That’s not the way the world works now and. (micron)
🫖 Bugatti has produced a unique Mistral with ceramic trim pieces that also have black outlines that make it look like it’s jumped from a manga to real life, oddly enough. (autoblog)
🏁 Weekend races to watch (all times Eastern):
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Chicagoland: Saturday at 5:30pm on The CW
- Formula 1 British Grand Prix: Sundays at 10am on Apple TV
- IndyCar Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio: Sunday at 12:30 pm on Fox
- NASCAR Cup Series at Chicagoland: Sunday at 6pm on TNT
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