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Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Short, tight, and dense, TDS gathers all the headlines you need to know about from around the globe and places them in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
The first cup of coffee is gone, a second is needed, and it’s -2 degrees outside with the windchill. Let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: I’m spending the week with the Lexus LS as a final goodbye before the large luxury flagship sedan exits production and the nameplate that disrupted an entire industry is retired later this year.
🇨🇳 While in Detroit, Michigan speaking to the Detroit Economic Club President Trump said, “If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that,” followed by “let China come in, let Japan come in;” Japanese automakers have auto factories in the U.S. today.
🇨🇦 While in Detroit Trump also said USMCA is “irrelevant” to him and that American’s “don’t need” Canadian products; Ford’s about to start building Super Duty trucks in Canada and GM already builds Silverados across the border.
🔌 GM CEO Mary Barra admitted the truth about plug-in hybrids: people “don’t plug them in.”
💰 The 2026 Mazda CX-5 will cost $31,485, which is $940 more than the current model and $90 more than the CX-50.
🤑 Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the automaker will stop selling the automaker’s Full Self-Driving driver assist system for a one-time fee on February 14 and transition to a subscription model; no rationale was provided for the change.
⛑️ Ford plans to donate five Broncos prepped for search and rescue duty.
👖 Ford is teaming up with Carhartt to foster our “essential economy,” according to the automaker’s CEO Jim Farley.
🚙 Kia surprised enthusiasts with a new K4 wagon with an available manual gearbox, but don’t hold your breath for this unicorn to come to America.
📈 The Mercedes-Benz G-Class just had its best sales year ever.
🧱 The Mattel Brick Shop and Hot Wheels added a Custom ’90 Honda Civic EF and an ’07 Honda S2000 to the lineup.
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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.
