Cybertruck On Sale, Chinese Car Ban And Possibly No Renault In Honda-Nissan Deal In This Week's News Roundup

Tesla’s sales may have been down last year, but there’s no denying the Model Y is still an incredibly popular vehicle. In fact, it was one of the best-selling cars in the country. On the other hand, it’s old, and at least in China, Tesla decided it needed a refresh, so it threw the Cybertruck headlights and a new rear light bar on the front of the Model Y and called it a day. In the first official photos that Tesla released, it looks fine, but based on some of the photos coming out since the refreshed Model Y was revealed, it actually looks pretty bad. - Collin Woodard Read More

A former Lexus dealership employee is celebrating a legal win after he was fired over his wife’s online porn videos. A federal judge ruled that he can take legal action against the dealership for firing him. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

Alongside threatening to annex the Panama Canal and buy Greenland, Donald Trump is defending his proposed 25-percent tariff against Canada. The soon-to-be-again president stated last week that we didn’t need cars produced north of the border. However, effectively cutting off Canada’s automotive industry would hurt American manufacturers, workers and drivers. - Ryan Erik King Read More

During the design phase for the Cybertruck, Elon Musk put together his perfect car: A massive truck to assuage his crippled ego, bulletproof doors to keep out his imagined attackers, a huge battery for self-sufficiency in an unrealistic apocalypse, and an impractical and inherently compromised design because he can’t think about anything beyond what looks cool to what’s left of his out-of-touch, cyberpunk-obsessed, ketamine-riddled brain. - Amber DaSilva Read More

It’s been a week since the implementation of congestion pricing in New York City. The entire state of New Jersey fought tooth and nail against the daily $9 fee to drive into Manhattan’s tolled area, and now Jersey City’s mayor, Steven Fulop, is proposing “reverse congestion pricing,” charging New York drivers for entering the Garden State. The idea is just kicking and screaming that Jersey isn’t getting a fair share of the pie. - Ryan Erik King Read More

American automakers have long feared Chinese competition, worrying that cheaper cars built just as well would knock the floor out of a profitable industry. Now, regulators have found a way to protect American brands by outright banning Chinese cars — or automotive hardware or software — used for communications or autonomous driving. - Amber DaSilva Read More

The Chrysler brand is in dire straits right now as its product lineup has dwindled to a single product, the venerable, but long-in-the-tooth, Pacifica van. The legendary Mopar brand was optimistic about its future in recent years, announcing a move to all-electric luxury vehicles by 2028. Now, with that deadline just three years away, the company is reportedly shelving its development of production-intent vehicles. According to Mopar Insiders a Chrysler employee sent an email to suppliers of the Airflow battery-electric vehicle (code named C6X) announcing it had “been put on hold until further notice.” So what the heck are they going to sell? - Bradley Brownell Read More

The all-new Dodge Charger Daytona EV is finally arriving at dealerships across the country, and some Dodge dealers are already hitting it with some pretty hefty discounts. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

Honda proposed a merger with Nissan at the end of last year that was accepted soon after, and as with any proposed merger of two industry giants, there is bound to be some collateral damage. Honda has expressed interest in merging with Nissan and Mitsubishi, but Honda reportedly has no interest Renault, the French automaker that currently owns 35.7 percent of Nissan. According to Bloomberg, Honda doesn’t want to risk letting an unknown third party upend the merger by purchasing Renault’s stake in Nissan while the merger is in process. Honda reportedly asked if Nissan can buy its shares back from the French automaker, but at current exchange rates that ask could cost the already financially unstable Nissan upwards of $3.5 billion. - Logan Carter Read More

During last weekend’s Formula E action at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, I was given an opportunity to ride along in the passenger’s seat of a brand-new BYD Seal 3.8S performance model. The whole experience lasted maybe ten minutes from getting in the car to stepping out, and the speed of the lap was definitely geared more toward impressing well-to-do normies in the luxury suites, but it was certainly eye-opening for me. It wasn’t all that long ago that BYD was a joke in the industry, but it’s become a powerhouse that shouldn’t be looked down upon. Watch your ass, Tesla, this thing is coming to eat your lunch. - Bradley Brownell Read More