The Ram 1500 REV: shown at auto shows, never sold. Photo: Kevauto / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
In today's issue:
Ford ended the F-150 Lightning, GM can't sell the Silverado EV at scale, and Ram never got its electric truck to production at all. Here's what's replacing them.
McLaren wraps 9 years of the 720S bloodline with 200 limited-run 788HS supercars at over $1 million each.
Honda's 2020 camera recall fix didn't work. Now 325,588 Odysseys are recalled again for the same fault.
TRUCKS, TAKE TWO
Ford ended F-150 Lightning production by the close of 2025, part of a broader industry pullback after the federal $7,500 EV tax credit expired that September; Q1 2026 EV deliveries fell 27% industry-wide, per Cox Automotive data cited by Business Insider.
GM sold roughly 14,000 Chevrolet Silverado EVs in the US and Canada last year, per GM Authority sales data cited by The Next Web. The gas Silverado moves more than ten times that volume in a single quarter, despite reviewers ranking the electric version among the best trucks on the market.
Ram never got the all-electric Ram 1500 REV into production; the Ramcharger name now belongs to a range-extended model instead, per The Drive's Drivecast.
What's replacing them is smaller and cheaper, not bigger and faster: Slate's stripped-down truck starts at $24,950 and drives well according to early reviews, per The Autopian, though it won't be sold in Canada, per Motor1. Startup Telo is targeting a 4-second 0-60, 350 miles of range, and roughly $40,000, while Ford's next EV truck is reportedly RAV4-sized inside with a small bed and a $30,000 target price, per The Drive's Drivecast.
The first generation of electric trucks tried to out-spec each other on range, horsepower, and battery size, and lost money doing it. The second generation is betting the opposite: smaller, cheaper, and built for buyers who never needed 470 miles of range in the first place.
Also worth knowing
Xiaomi's Sky Nomad Is a Second Car Brand, Not Just a New Model: Xiaomi officially confirmed Sky Nomad as a standalone EREV product line separate from its SU7/YU7 sedan series; the first model is a full-size SUV targeting 932-plus miles of combined range (China cycle) to go head-to-head with Li Auto's L9, per Electrek and Just Auto. Spy shots of the seven-seat version show a roof-mounted LiDAR, electrically deployed door steps, and a built-in rooftop tent aimed at China's camping boom. #enthusiast
New-Vehicle Inventory Hits 2.95M Units but Hybrids Are the Hard Part to Find: US new-vehicle stock ticked up to 2.95 million units to open July, per Automotive News, but non-hybrid gas vehicles account for over 70% of what's on lots, per data firm Catalyst IQ. Meanwhile wholesale used-vehicle prices rose 2.1% year over year in June while used EV wholesale prices surged 12% year over year, per Cox Automotive. #market
NHTSA Tells Robotaxi Companies to Stop Blocking Emergency Vehicles: The agency sent a formal letter warning autonomous vehicle developers that driverless cars interfering with first responders constitute a public danger, and plans to convene meetings with developers before the end of the month, per CBT News and The Drive. NHTSA compared the behavior to human drivers who would face fines for the same violations. #news
VW's Supervisory Board Votes Today on Cutting Up to 100,000 Jobs: CEO Oliver Blume's restructuring plan targets roughly 1 million units of excess production capacity, with Hanover, Emden, Neckarsulm, and Zwickau the most exposed plants, per Automotive News Europe. Workers staged protests across multiple plants ahead of the vote, and Western European sales actually held up through H1 2026, per Just Auto, which reads as a cost-structure problem against Chinese pricing, not a demand problem. #analyst
Reveals & culture
McLaren 788HS: 777 HP, 200 Cars, End of the V8 Line: Revealed at Goodwood, the 788HS closes out the 720S/765LT/750S family with a boosted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 777 hp, split evenly between 100 coupes and 100 Spiders, and a price tag north of $1 million, per carexpert.com.au and Autoblog. It's also potentially the last McLaren Super Series car without any hybrid assistance.
RUF Built a Flat-Eight Engine Because Porsche Never Would: The B8, a 4.8-liter twin-turbocharged horizontally-opposed eight-cylinder producing over 1,000 hp without any hybrid assistance, debuted in a CTR3 prototype at Goodwood driven by Tanner Foust, backed by a six-speed manual gearbox also built entirely in-house, per Car and Driver and Carscoops. A production car carrying the B8 is described as coming soon.
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 Is Back as a 671-HP EV With Fake Gear Shifts: Three axial-flux motors deliver a peak 500 kW (680 PS, 671 hp) and a 0-100 km/h time of 2.7 seconds, per the Mercedes-Benz pressroom; the car also generates synthetic engine sounds, simulated gear shifts, and seat vibration, per Motor1.
Pagani Huayra 70 Derecho Brings Back the Gated Shifter, Loses the Roof: The one-off open-top Huayra 70 Derecho debuted at Goodwood packing 834 hp from a V12 mated to a seven-speed manual with a gated shifter, per Autoblog and Motor1. It's a one-off commission built for a single customer.
Recalls & legal action
Honda Odyssey Recalled Again for the Camera It Already Recalled in 2020: 325,588 units of the 2018-2020 Honda Odyssey are recalled because water can enter the rearview camera housing, corrode the printed circuit board, and blank the display when the vehicle is shifted into reverse, per Car and Driver and CarComplaints. This recall explicitly supersedes a 2020 recall that failed to resolve the same fault, per KBB. → If you own one: Check NHTSA.gov for your VIN; dealers will replace the camera unit, not simply re-seal the previous repair.
Stellantis Recalls 11,980 Jeep Grand Wagoneers Over Software Fault: 2026 Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer L SUVs are recalled over faulty software in the brake system control module, per CBT News. → If you own one: Contact your Jeep dealer to schedule an OTA or in-dealer software update.
Quick links
O'Reilly Bids $10B for NAPA Auto Parts: If the deal closes, the combined O'Reilly-NAPA business would control a dominant share of the US aftermarket, and Autoblog notes independent shops could face higher parts prices as competition shrinks.
Senate Panel Moves to Block Chinese Automakers from US Retail Sales: A Senate committee is advancing legislation that would codify and extend the national-security barriers already preventing Chinese-brand vehicles from entering the US market, per CBT News.
Dacia Striker Debuts Under €25,000 as Europe's Budget AWD Crossover: Renault's value brand revealed the Striker compact crossover wagon at under €25,000 ($28,300), with hybrid AWD available, targeting the Skoda Octavia at a significant price undercut, per Automotive News Europe and Autocar UK. On sale October 2026.
2026 Mazda CX-5 Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+, Leading All US Brands: The redesigned CX-5 joins eight other Mazdas with Top Safety Pick+ honors for 2026, giving Mazda more IIHS top awards than any other brand sold in the US, per MotorTrend and Automotive News.
Flock's License-Plate Cameras Wrongly Flagged a Driver as Stolen, Then Sent Four Squad Cars: A Drive reporter documents Flock Safety's automated license-plate-reader network misreading his plate as a stolen vehicle and routing that error to police for days, culminating in an armed stop by four patrol cars, per The Drive. Flock's cameras now cover thousands of US communities with little independent audit of false-positive rates.
Yesterday's picks
Toyota's $3.6B Texas Bet Moves the Baja Tacoma Line, Not the Guanajuato One: A massive US production shift timed to USMCA limbo, with one Mexican line staying put. Tariff exposure for the best-selling midsize truck remains unresolved.
Mercedes Q2: China Down 30%, BEV Up 50%, Net Deliveries Down 6%: China collapse and BEV surge define a sharply mixed quarter, with GM's deeper China decline adding context for anyone tracking global OEM exposure.
Nearly 1 in 4 New-Car Buyers Is Signing an 84-Month Loan: Record MSRP levels and easing transaction prices mask a financing-term crisis: 24% of buyers now stretch to seven years to afford monthly payments.
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