In today's issue:

By Stellantis's own account this is a rescue: Roshel is "a strong path to restoring sustainable operations at Brampton Assembly," preserving a plant that has built nothing since December 2023 rather than leaving it idle. Take that at face value and the site gets a buyer, a purpose and a payroll. The bill is the part worth reading. About 2,200 Unifor members have been on layoff since Brampton idled to retool for the Jeep Compass, a program Stellantis then moved to Illinois, per Automotive News and MoparInsiders. The Roshel deal surfaced eight days before their contract expires, which is what pushed the bargaining committee to walk. Ford and GM Canada each settled this summer at three percent annual wage increases over three years, with more than $1 billion in committed investment apiece. Two automakers answered the same bargaining table with product. Stellantis answered it with a buyer.

Toyota's Electric Highlander Slips to 2028: Toyota meant to start Highlander EV production in Georgetown, Kentucky this month and have it in showrooms by the fourth quarter, cleanly replacing the gas Highlander as that model sunsets in December. The EV was sent back for undisclosed improvements, and production now starts no earlier than the first quarter of 2027, arriving as a 2028 model, per Automotive News. When we covered this delay in July it was measured in weeks. Dealers were down to about a 20-day supply as of Sept. 10 and face a stretch with few or no Highlanders of either powertrain. The seven-seat EV is estimated at 320 miles of range when it lands, per the same report. #analyst

Used Cars Set Another Record, and the Line Is Barely Moving: Average used-vehicle listing prices rose to $27,239 in August, the highest since 2022, while retail inventory edged lower, per Cox Automotive. Retail used sales rose month over month in line with normal seasonal gains, so the record is being set on tightening supply rather than a demand surge. The context worth having: back in June we reported the same series at a three-year high of $26,918, then sourced to Kelley Blue Book, which Cox owns. Three months and $321 later, "record" is doing less work than the word suggests. #market

Half of US Car Buyers Would Consider a Chinese Car. Sixty Percent of Dealers Don't Want the Chance.: About half of consumers surveyed said they would consider buying a Chinese vehicle, while 60% of dealership executives and owners said they were concerned about Chinese automakers selling here, per a Dave Cantin Group and Martec Group survey of 421 consumers and 76 new-car dealers reported by Automotive News. The split runs hard by age: 77% of respondents under 35 would consider one, against 36% of those 55 and older, though on a sample this small (about 500 people total) treat the gap as a direction, not a measurement. The pull behind it is arithmetic. August's average US transaction price was $50,089, per Kelley Blue Book, against roughly $16,107 for BYD's average vehicle in China ten months earlier. #market

Ford Says It Has 100,000 Lightning Owners Covered for a Decade: With the F-150 Lightning discontinued and dealer stock down to roughly 400 to 500 trucks nationwide, Ford says it is entering "maintenance mode" for the 100,000-plus already on the road, committing to OEM replacement parts and component supply for at least 10 years from the final model year plus continued over-the-air updates, per autoevolution. → If you own one: Your high-voltage battery is covered eight years or 100,000 miles against dropping below 70% of original capacity, so check your in-service date now rather than after the warranty lapses. #news

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. #analyst

McLaren's New Era Includes an 810-HP Hybrid and Its First SUV: McLaren unveiled a new brand identity alongside a roadmap that includes an 810-hp hybrid 2+2 coupe codenamed P34 and a five-seat SUV codenamed P47 targeting 2028, per Autoblog and Robb Report. #enthusiast

BMW Paints Six M Cars Green for the Nürburgring's 100th: BMW's "100 Jahre Nürburgring" edition spans the M2, M3 sedan and Touring, M4, and M5 sedan and Touring, each finished in Nürburgring Green or Black Sapphire ahead of the track's June 2027 centenary, per Road & Track. #enthusiast

300 Classic Cars Go to Auction, Starting at 50 Cents: The Born family's three-generation collection, roughly 300 classics, trucks, projects and signs, hits the block Sept. 19 in Eaton, Colorado, with some lots opening at 50 cents, per Carscoops. #culture

Auto Credit Access Hits a 10-Year High: Credit availability climbed 7.7% to its highest level since November 2015, per CBT News, as captives, banks and finance companies all loosened standards.

Genesis Puts a Pop-Up 24.6-Inch Screen in Its Flagship EV: The production GV90, the showroom version of the Neolun concept, turns its second row into a private theater with a 24.6-inch display that rises out of the cabin, per Electrek. It is on public display at Genesis Suji ahead of launch, per The Korean Car Blog.

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 at 10 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.

Porsche Cashes Out of Bugatti for $1.16 Billion: Porsche completed the sale of its 45% Bugatti Rimac stake and 20.6% Rimac Group holding to a HOF Capital-led consortium on Sept. 9, netting about €1 billion ($1.16 billion), per Automotive News and Porsche. Porsche will put €250 million of it into its pension obligations, and Bugatti president Christophe Piochon is stepping down, with Mate Rimac taking the title himself, per Electrive.

China's Car Exports Have Already Beaten All of 2025, With Four Months to Go: Passenger-car exports in August jumped 67.1% from a year earlier to about 890,000 units, and the January-August total passed 6.2 million against roughly 6 million for all of last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said, per AP. Plug-in hybrids and EVs drove the growth while domestic sales kept falling, per the same report. The cars a US-China deal would admit are the ones China increasingly cannot sell at home.

Worth a listen

One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.

S3, E107 - Have You Heard? Truck News! (The Truck Show Podcast): The hosts break down GM's L8S engine evolution, Ford's latest safety and pricing moves, and what's coming for adventure platforms.

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