Photo: Buick / GM
In today's issue:
GM's China deliveries drop 11% while joint-venture profits nearly triple
Diesel pushes past $6 a gallon for the first time on record
Ram Hurricane owners file a class action over stalling engines
VOLUME VS MARGIN
Wholesale shipments from General Motors' two Chinese joint ventures, SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling, fell 11 percent in the first half of 2026, dropping from 975,000 units to 865,000, per GM's Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Domestic retail deliveries across China slipped to 0.7 million units (against the 865,000 factory wholesales shipped across dealer and export channels), trimming GM's overall market share from 7.2 percent to 6.8 percent.
Net income at those same joint ventures surged from $197 million to $591 million over the same six-month period, nearly tripling year over year.
Equity income attributable directly to GM more than doubled, climbing to $248 million from $116 million.
The arithmetic reveals a sharp divergence between delivery volume and cash return, though base-period comparisons tell part of the story: GM's joint ventures booked substantial restructuring charges and inventory markdowns in early 2025, which depressed the baseline.
The volume drop is real, but the margin recovery indicates GM has backed away from subsidizing entry-level price battles, letting unprofitable volume go while harvesting earnings on higher-trim models.
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Also worth knowing
U.S. Diesel Tops $6 a Gallon as Fuel Smashes Another Record: Five days after diesel reached a then-record $5.85 a gallon on September 8, the national average crossed the $6 threshold for the first time in history, hitting $6.055 per AAA and GasBuddy. The 63 percent jump from $3.70 a year ago compounds freight and transport costs for auto haulers moving inventory from assembly plants to dealerships. #market
Costco Begins Rationing Motor Oil as Prices Spike to $58: Costco is imposing a two-case per-week limit per customer on Kirkland Signature full-synthetic motor oil after prices jumped from the mid-$30s to $58 for a 10-quart pack in recent weeks, per The Drive. An analysis by theautowire links the squeeze to fuel refiners maximizing high-margin diesel and gasoline output over base lubricant stock, alongside tighter licensing standards and additive costs. #market
EPA Reportedly Edits Scope 3 Emissions Guidance: The EPA quietly edited Scope 3 supply-chain disclosures out of its corporate climate toolkit without a press release or Federal Register notice, according to an analysis by theautowire, removing guidance that tracked downstream vehicle lifecycle emissions. #news
Reveals & culture
Ferrari's Most Extreme 296 Is a Track Car With 730 HP: The 296 GT Modificata, derived from the 296 GT3 Evo racer, produces 730 cv, 130 more than the race car it is based on, and is built in strictly limited numbers exclusively for Ferrari's Club Competizioni GT program, per Ferrari and RACER.
Photo: Ferrari
Tesla Finally Sets a Date for the Roadster: Nine years after first showing the concept, Tesla says the next-generation Roadster will be revealed October 1, per TechCrunch and Electrek. No customer anywhere has taken delivery of the car first promised for 2020.
BYD Plans Solid-State Demonstrator EV for 2027: Executive Vice President Stella Li confirmed BYD will introduce a solid-state test vehicle next year, per CarNewsChina, though commercial mass-market production aligns with the broader industry timeline pushing high-density solid-state packs toward the end of the decade.
Toyota's Patent Turns Your Car Into an Eye-Tracking Camera: A newly published patent describes interior eye-tracking cameras that command exterior sensors to photograph whatever scenery the driver glances at, per Car and Driver.
Recalls & legal action
Ram 1500 Hurricane Owners File a Class Action Over Engine Failures: The lawsuit covers 2025 Ram 1500 trucks equipped with 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six engines, alleging defective engine control modules and powertrain control modules cause engine stalling with only a few hundred miles on the odometer, per CarComplaints. Stellantis has not issued a formal recall or confirmed a remedy, leaving affected owners to pay out of pocket or wait on backordered replacement modules.
NHTSA Details Toyota's C-HR Battery Shutdown Recall: Following up on the C-HR battery recall we reported September 6 based on initial estimates of 11,300 units across North America, formal NHTSA filings now specify the U.S. population at 8,521 vehicles and detail the failure mode, per Carscoops. Faulty battery protection logic allows overcharging during extended regenerative braking in low temperatures, which can trigger an unexpected motive power shutdown. Toyota uncovered the defect in April during internal testing of an unreleased future BEV prototype. → If you own one: Dealers will update the ECU software free of charge starting in October; avoid descending steep grades on a 100 percent charge in the cold until the patch is applied.
Quick links
Lynk & Co Fire Prompts a Pedestrian-Power-Bank Defense: A Lynk & Co 900 SUV caught fire in Hangzhou, and the dealer blames a kicked power bank rather than the vehicle, while the official cause is still pending, per CarNewsChina.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross You Can't Have Just Got Way Cheaper: Mitsubishi cut pricing on the European-market Eclipse Cross PHEV by up to 15 percent to defend volume against low-cost Chinese entrants, per Carscoops.
Photo: Mitsubishi Motors
This Week in Car Podcasts: A Lost Civil-Rights-Era Race Car, and the Next Restomod Wave: Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, recaps 252 episodes across 168 shows, including Ed Welburn's search for Charlie Wiggins's long-lost championship race car and two podcasts independently arguing Fox Bodies and third-gen Camaros are the next restomods.
Yesterday's picks
NHTSA Turns the Counterfeit Inflator Problem Over to Dealers: After the 11th death we covered Saturday, NHTSA is now asking dealers to check accident history on every used vehicle they take in and inspect any that received a replacement driver-side inflator after a crash, per CBT News. The banned DTN60DB inflator, which we first reported in July after 10 counterfeit airbag deaths, is now tied to 14 crashes, 11 deaths and three severe injuries, per Motor1. → If you own one: NHTSA's guidance is two-tiered, per CBT News. If your car had an airbag deployment since 2020, get it inspected promptly. If it is confirmed to carry a DTN60DB inflator, keep it parked until a dealer replaces the part with a genuine one.
Stellantis Lines Up a Buyer for the Charger Plant. Unifor Walks Out.: Brampton Assembly built the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and Chrysler 300 until production wrapped in December 2023, per MoparInsiders. Stellantis has now signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel, a Toronto-based armored-vehicle maker, that could lead to the muscle-car plant's sale, per Automotive News and Transport Topics.
Mexico and Washington Race to Beat the Midterms: Mexico and the US are racing toward an interim bilateral trade deal before the Nov. 3 midterms, six sources told Reuters, with automotive content and Chinese investment the US asks. Several automakers believe Washington could offer Mexico the framework it discussed with Canada: 15% on vehicle imports plus a US-content reduction that lands the effective rate near 7%, against the 25% Mexican-built vehicles pay today. Canada's own talks collapsed last month, which is the cautionary tale driving Mexico's pace.
Worth a listen
One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.
64: An incredible Scottish adventure, and Mitsubishi & Audi bring back their icons (The Hook Turn Podcast): The hosts weigh Audi's reborn A2 electric car against the promise of a compact, efficient EV, while a Scottish road trip puts the practical limits of charging infrastructure and claimed range into focus.
The Hook Turn Podcast, on Car Curious
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