GM Will Finally Make Hybrid Crossovers

Happy Wednesday! It's October 28, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition we're looking at GM's plans for hybrid crossovers, and the ever-less-affordable world of car loans. We'll also look at Mercedes' commitment to China, and Slate's new candy partnership.

If you'd like a recap of the latest auto news sent to your inbox each weekday, you can sign up for Jalopnik's free Morning Shift newsletter here.

General Motors, throwing in the towel on this whole "electrification" thing and its associated "futureproofing" and "development" and "breathable atmosphere," has decided to innovate in a new direction: Hybrid crossovers. Currently the only hybrid GM produces for the U.S. market is the Corvette, but that's soon to change. From Reuters:

DETROIT, Oct 27 (Reuters) – General ‌Motors plans to introduce hybrid versions of its popular three-row SUVs, people familiar with the matter said, in a strategic shift after heavily investing in electric vehicles.

The US automaker plans to build hybrid models of the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia at a factory in Lansing, Michigan, the ​people told Reuters. The mechanically similar models are among GM's strongest sellers in the US.

GM recently became the first legacy automaker to be listed on the NASDAQ, owing to its supposedly tech-forward approach to car-making. Now, it's "innovating" in the exact same direction that Lexus did 21 years ago with the RX hybrid. Investors must be the dumbest people on Earth, huh?

Cars cost too much. We all know this. But most Americans still need cars to get from point A to point B, so loans are stretching ever longer to cover those added costs. Now, as buyers have less and less money to spend, down payments are dropping too. From Automotive News: 

The average new-vehicle down payment in the third quarter fell 7.8 percent from a year earlier to $5,554, and the average used-vehicle down payment decreased 2.7 percent to $3,865, according to Edmunds.

Some customers at McCarthy Chevrolet Overland Park in Kansas are making smaller down payments, said Jesse Powers, general sales manager. But "the majority of people are still getting approved even though there's less money down," he said.

Nationally, in the third quarter, vehicle buyers borrowed more than their counterparts a year earlier, Edmunds said. New-vehicle loans during the quarter financed $44,664 on average, up 4.5 percent, and used-vehicle buyers borrowed $30,703 on average, up 3.5 percent.

I am personally terrified of what happens when the bottom drops out of all this. If you need me, I'll be living in an old Toyota camper somewhere, eating dog food from the can. 

Automakers around the world are rushing to reduce their reliance on China — not its component assemblies or its software, but its buyers. Chinese drivers are slowing their spending and eschewing imports in favor of domestics, and carmakers are scrambling to make up the profits. Mercedes, though, still sees the country as integral to its plans. From Reuters:

Oct 28 (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz is preparing a broader strategy update ‌for 2030 and beyond, with China to remain a central pillar of its long-term plans, CEO Ola Källenius said, even as the carmaker works to reduce its reliance on the market.

The German premium automaker will provide a more ​comprehensive strategic update next year, including a detailed review of its China business, after a ​much steeper-than-expected downturn in the world's biggest auto market weighed on earnings.

It's a bold strategy, Cotton, we'll see how it works out for them. 

Slate has yet to sell any actual trucks, but the company is making cross-promotion deals already. The latest is candy company Smarties, which is loaning its flavor names to some new pastel wrap colors available on the Slate — colors that will include a little Smarties logo for your dash and a candy-themed key accessory. From Automotive News:

The Smarties collaboration lets buyers outfit their truck in Blue Raspberry, Cherry, Grape, Pineapple, Orange or Strawberry. Each wrap comes with color-matched mirror decals, Smarties-branded rocker and logo decals, a Smarties key fob end cap, and a clip-on dashboard badge that the company calls a Slatelet.

Slate has a similar partnership with the crayon company Crayola, with each wrap and accessory kit priced at $1,550. It didn't reveal pricing for the Smarties options.

I see why Slate did this, it gets a little bit of publicity and clout as a Real Car Company by working with other established brands, but I can't imagine who would actually shell out for this. The pastel colors are nice, even if the green shade is called "Strawberry," but does anyone want a candy logo on their dash and car key forever? Have we fallen so far down the hole of consumerism?

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I like to hang out in Red Hook and look over the water to the Mother of Exiles. Every time I do, I think of Emma Lazarus. 

I was rereading Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism" in bed last night, as one does, and there's a line in it that reminded me of The Fuel Up. Eco says, "In May we heard that the war was over. Peace gave me a curious sensation. I had been told that permanent warfare was the normal condition for a young Italian." Is this now the normal condition for Americans? Are these gas prices, this war, a sensation we're meant to acclimate to? 

I've done the original album version of this track for On The Radio before, but this is different. It counts. I'm not reusing a song.