The biggest car news and reviews, no BS
Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday.
Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Light, tight, and right, TDS gathers the latest automotive news from around the globe and puts it in one place. Stories are summarized in a single sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
🚨 I’m having surgery today and tomorrow Senior Editor Adam Ismail will be taking over TDS duty, which will time shift the publishing a bit from the normal schedule. Also as a heads up, we’ll be slowing things down through the holidays and tomorrow will be the last 2025 edition of TDS until we ramp back to full speed in the new year.
Can’t have coffee, or really any food or liquid, so let’s just get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid left my driveway and I’m going to need to be cleared to drive before we talk about another car, so we’ll just see you in the new year.
💰 Polestar entered a credit agreement with its Chinese parent, Geely, via the Chinese company’s Swedish-based investment arm known as Geely Sweden Holdings AB; the agreement is a $600 million lifeline for Polestar in which the last $300 million will require a lender consent based on the automaker’s future liquidity needs.
⛽️ Nissan dealers want fresh product, margins, and hybrids all while protecting profits.
🚕 Waymo’s driverless taxis were stuck frozen in traffic due to a power outage in San Francisco.
📉 New-vehicle sales are predicted to trend down in 2026 from current 2025 levels.
🤑 Tesla finally won the final court battle over CEO Elon Musk’s pay package via the Delaware Supreme Court.
🐎 The New York State Police are adding Ford Mustang GTs to their fleet.
Have feedback on the formatting of TDS? Send us a note: tips@thedrive.com
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.
