In today's issue:

Slate's pitch was always predicated on a tax credit that no longer exists, and the truck's spec sheet is aggressively austere even by bare-bones standards. At $24,950, it is technically America's cheapest EV and cheapest pickup, but the real test is whether 180,000 reservation holders convert without the subsidy cushion that made the math work in the first place.

California's Vehicle-Tracking Privacy Law Could Halt Car Sales July 1: The Alliance for Automotive Innovation warned June 23 that automakers may be forced to stop selling new and used vehicles in California on July 1 unless the state delays tech rules designed to prevent domestic-violence perpetrators from tracking survivors, per Automotive News and CBT News. Carscoops notes the industry already complies with core protections; the dispute is specifically over disabling tracking in vehicles already sold. #news

Used Hybrid Sales Up 34% YTD as Buyers Flee New-Car Prices: Buyers priced out of new vehicles are choosing older, higher-mileage used inventory instead, with used hybrid sales up 34% year to date, per CBT News. Tariff-driven sticker increases are pushing marginal buyers down-market, and the gap between new and used is widening. #market

Hyundai Workers in South Korea Vote to Strike Over Robot Deployment: The union at South Korea's largest automaker voted to authorize a strike, demanding a 149,600-won (roughly $97) monthly base-pay raise plus a bonus equal to 30% of last year's net profit, per the Financial Times; the core grievance is workers wanting a formal say over how automation and humanoid robots are introduced on assembly lines. A separate CBT News note confirms the union has not yet decided whether to walk out. #analyst

DRAM Chip Prices Surged ~450% in Four Months, and Automakers Are Losing the Supply Fight: Spot DRAM prices rose roughly 450% from September 2025 to January 2026 as tech giants competing for memory chips for data centers crowded out automakers, per Automotive News. Software-defined vehicle programs are taking the worst of it, since OTA update systems and ADAS stacks are memory-intensive, per the Autoline Daily podcast. #analyst

Strip the federal subsidy and the affordable-EV case starts cracking at every scale at once. Slate revealed its $24,950 truck today, the math after a $7,500 federal credit was eliminated, and the truck is America's cheapest new pickup only because it ships with no power windows, no radio, and 205 miles of range. Buyers are already adapting: used hybrid sales are up 34% year to date as shoppers priced out of new EVs move to gasoline alternatives instead. Nissan made the same calculation from the supply side, shelving its electric Qashqai rather than commit to building an EV that doesn't pencil in Europe without subsidies, per six sources at Automotive News Europe; the Qashqai is built at Nissan's Sunderland plant, so that decision carries employment consequences that extend past the product line. And on the Cars.com American-Made Index, several EVs that previously ranked high, the Tesla Model S, Model X, and VW ID.4, are off the list this year because they stopped selling, even as Tesla's Model 3 still holds the top spot. The retreats are happening at different scales, the reservation holder, the OEM, and the product catalog, but the same pressure runs through all of them.

Alpine's All-Electric A110 Successor Debuts July 9 at Goodwood: Alpine confirmed its next-generation A110, a fully electric sports car targeting the Porsche Cayman segment, will break cover at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 9, per Motor1 and The Supercar Blog. Whether it reaches the US market remains an open question, per Motor1. #enthusiast

Xiaomi YU7 GT Completes First Autonomous Nürburgring Lap in 10:29.483: The YU7 GT lapped the 20.8km Nordschleife without a human driver, setting what Xiaomi calls the world's first autonomous production-car lap record at 10 minutes, 29.483 seconds, per Drive.com.au and Autocar India. The same car set the SUV lap record in May 2026. #enthusiast

JLR Stop-Sale: Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover Grounded Over Driver's Airbag Defect: JLR issued a voluntary stop-sale on Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover models built between April 2019 and June 2026 after discovering a driver's-side airbag defect in internal testing; vehicles in production have been corrected, but dealer lots cannot sell affected units, per Kelley Blue Book and Driving.ca. → If you own one: Check NHTSA.gov for recall ID status and contact your JLR dealer to confirm whether your VIN is included before driving.

2027 Ram TRX SRT Returns at $102,790: Ram revived the supercharged V8 TRX for 2027 with a $102,790 starting price including destination, per Kelley Blue Book. The Drive confirms it.

Skoda Peaq Revealed as £51K Seven-Seat Electric Flagship: Skoda's new Peaq offers up to 390 miles of range, a 294 hp AWD option, and three-row seating from £51,980, per Autocar UK and Automotive News Europe.

Tesla Model 3 Tops American-Made Index for Sixth Straight Year, but EV Representation Is Shrinking: Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y held the top two spots on the 2026 Cars.com American-Made Index, per Automotive News, even as the broader EV presence on the list contracted and foreign-badge brands took 65% of the 86 slots, per Carscoops.

Yesterday's picks

Porsche's Growth Story Is Becoming a Scarcity Strategy: Porsche abandons IPO growth promise for a Ferrari-like scarcity model after missing targets.

Ford recalls 548,000 Expeditions over chrome console trim that can peel and injure occupants: 548K SUVs recalled over trim injuries; 65 reports and 4,634 warranty claims.

Tesla's Texas house crash is now a federal probe: NHTSA investigates fatal Autopilot crash; Tesla claims driver overrode system.

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