Kittyfly/ShutterstockGood morning! It's Friday, July 31, 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, Ford CEO Jim Farley is bullish on Chinese car companies making landfall in the U.S. in the next decade, the Rivian R2 is proving to be the saving grace the EV maker needed, Amazon's Zoox wins first U.S. approval for paid robotaxis without human controls and federal regulators are opened a preliminary investigation into nearly 1.2 million Teslas over reports of suspension failure.Oh, and if you want a recap of the latest auto news delivered to your inbox each weekday morning because life is busy and you can't always head to our website, you can sign up for Jalopnik's free The Morning Shift newsletter right here.AdvertisementAdvertisementRead more: These Car Brands Aren't Making It Through The Next Recession1st Gear: Farley tells employees Chinese EVs are coming quickAnna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesDuring a town hall with employees earlier this week, Ford CEO Jim Farley once again made it clear that he thought Chinese automakers were an inevitability in the U.S. market, and they'd be here within the next five to 10 years. He feels that way even though lawmakers have pushed through a number of trade barriers as well as actual legislation meant to keep Chinese cars from reaching our shores. The information comes from three sources who personally viewed the meeting.This is hardly the first time Farley has talked about Chinese automakers and their competitiveness. The Blue Oval is now preparing to roll out a family of cheap-ish electric vehicles that are — theoretically — engineered from the ground up to match the cost and efficiency of similar Chinese cars. From Reuters:The Ford chief, along with other senior leaders, said in a question-and-answer portion of the town hall that it is more likely Chinese companies would enter the market at the latter end of that range. The comments come as the U.S. Senate is pushing to expand a ban on Chinese car sales in the world's second-largest and most lucrative auto market.[...]Leaders at the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker have previously warned that China was on America's doorstep, but have not been as specific with the time frame as executives were in the Thursday meeting.Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford spoke on the topic earlier this month."We have to go toe-to-toe with China," Ford said at an Axios event. "We can't expect to keep them out forever, and we have to be able to beat them at their own game."Chinese automakers have gained significant market share in neighboring Mexico, and under a trade deal with Canada are allowed to sell a limited number of EVs there. Auto industry experts see Canada, which is very similar to its U.S. neighbor, as a test market for Chinese automakers that are eager to sell to American consumers.American consumers have signaled increasing interest in these models, surveys show, especially as affordable electric options are scant.Of course, if Chinese cars were to make landfall in the U.S., a lot would have to change pretty quickly. The U.S. currently blocks Chinese EVs from being sold here through a 100% tariff on top of a U.S. Commerce Department rule banning Chinese software by model year 2027 and hardware by model year 2030.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis is, unfortunately, one of the new bipartisan issues left, as the connected-vehicle rules were adopted in January of 2025 under President Biden, and they've since been kept in place by Trump. Automakers, such as Ford, have worked to obtain authorizations under the rule to continue selling some China-produced vehicles in the U.S.2nd Gear: Rivian sales rise on back on new R2Josh Lefkowitz/Getty ImagesRivian is having a real moment in the sun thanks to its newly introduced R2 compact crossover. The electric vehicle startup narrowed its losses and reported an uptick in second-quarter sales and revenue, adding that it now hopes to sell more EVs this year than it previously expected. The company delivered 12,194 vehicles in Q2 — up from 10,365 in the first quarter.While Rivian doesn't break out sales numbers by model, it's very likely that the R2 represented a good deal of that number following its June debut. Folks have been waiting for a smaller, cheaper Rivian pretty much from the second the R1T and R1S came out, so it makes sense that there was a hell of a lot of hype around it. From The Wall Street Journal:The R2 is currently priced around $58,000, undercutting previous Rivian models that could easily cross the six-figure mark. Lower-price R2 variants are also coming later this year and next year. Rivian executives have expressed hope that the more affordable electric SUV can make the brand a mainstream success.The company still expects the R2 to be gross-profit positive this year, Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough told investors on a call. Most automakers have struggled to produce profitable EVs in meaningful volumes.[...]While the automaker projected lower capital costs for the year than it announced in the first quarter, Rivian has a long way to go to reach long-term profitability and stability.The California-based company posted a net loss of $837 million, narrowing from a year-earlier loss of $1.15 billion. Revenue for the quarter was up 27% at $1.66 billion, including a 37% increase in software revenue to $515 million.To make matters more exciting for Rivian, the company says it's raising its guidance for the year. It's still projecting adjusted losses as high as $2 billion, but that's actually an improvement! Before, estimated losses were expected to tally up to $2.1 billion. It also now expects to sell between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles this year.3rd Gear: Control-less Zoox will have paying customers soonGummybone/Getty ImagesAmazon's Zoox just won U.S. approval for limited commercial deployment of its steering-wheel-free robotaxis — a first for the autonomous ride industry. Zoox said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's decision gives the company federal approval to start charging passengers for rides, and it'll waste no time in doing so. The paid service will first start rolling out in Las Vegas, and additional markets will follow as it completes various state requirements. From Reuters:The exemption granted by the agency from federal rules requiring human controls, first reported by Reuters, marks a milestone for companies developing robotaxis from the ground up, rather than modifying conventional cars under safety regulations written long before self-driving technology emerged.Along with Zoox, whose electric carriage-style vehicle has two rows of inward-facing seats and a top speed of 75 miles (120 km) per hour, others such as Tesla and Alphabet's Waymo are racing to expand autonomous ride-hailing services in the United States.NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison told Reuters that Zoox had received clearance to commercially deploy up to 2,500 vehicles in each of the next two years.[...]The agency said it determined the vehicle is as safe as an equivalent vehicle meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards that are being waived. Zoox cannot sell any of the vehicles to the public.[...]As part of the exemption, NHTSA is placing additional reporting requirements on Zoox for issues such as crashes or stopping inappropriately on roads, and the regulatory agency will adjust the conditions based on how the vehicles behave.[...]All remote operators must be located in the United States, NHTSA said, and Zoox must publish maps of areas indicating where the vehicles are operating.AdvertisementAdvertisementCurrently, Zoox carries passengers in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco as part of testing, but those folks don't pay. This new approval would allow Zoox to charge them fees, subject to state and local approvals.4th Gear: NHTSA probes 1.2 million Teslas for suspension failure riskJetcityimage/Getty ImagesThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is opening a preliminary investigation into just about 1.2 million Teslas over reports of suspension failures that could cause the minor issue of, ya know, a loss of steering control. No biggie.The federal regulator says its Office of Defect Investigation received 156 complaints that allege the lower lateral link detached in certain 2018-2020 Model 3 sedans and 2021-2023 Model Y crossovers. From Reuters:NHTSA said the suspension failure could leave the vehicle undriveable and require it to be towed.Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.NHTSA said most complaints indicated there was no advance warning before the failure, though some owners reported noises beforehand.The agency said it was not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the reported defect.NHTSA is currently conducting a preliminary evaluation, the first stage of its defect investigation process, which could lead to a recall if the agency finds a safety-related defect.[...]Reuters reported in 2023 that Tesla had internally tracked chronic failures of suspension and steering components for years, even as it frequently blamed the damage on driver abuse in communications with customers and U.S. regulators.Tesla had previously recalled vehicles over lower lateral link detachments. Back in 2021, about 2,800 Model 3s were recalled due to a production issue, and in 2023, a recall involving 422 Model 3s involved the same issue. However, NHTSA said the reported failures of this new investigation extend beyond the scope of those recalls and don't appear to be related to the production issue that prompted themReverse: I heard you paint housesHistory.comListen, I know the events of "The Irishman" are probably inaccurate, but I think it would be pretty slick if Robert De Niro killed Hoffa with the help of Jesse Plemons. Also, as a side note, growing up in northern New Jersey meant that I was always told that Hoffa was built under Giants Stadium, so you can imagine my disappointment when they tore it down, and he wasn't there. Anyway, if you want to learn more about Hoffa's disappearance, head over to History.com.The Fuel UpJoe Lamberti/Getty ImagesAdvertisementAdvertisementUgh! Gas prices are continuing their slow march upward. While we aren't seeing the same massive jumps we were seeing earlier in the year, the "death by a thousand cuts" increases aren't exactly great either. Not helping matters are the continually elevated WTI Crude Oil futures and Brent Crude prices, which were sitting at $86 and $89, respectively, at the time of publication.Here's where national average prices stand right now, according to AAA:AAAAll of this is to say that the average price of a gallon of regular gas was up another cent overnight to $4.11, according to AAA. We're still a good bit off from the 2026 high of $4.56 that we saw back in May, but I wouldn't count out breaking that record as a distinct possibility before the year is up.On the radio: Rebecca Black - FridayI don't know if there's something in the air, or if it's the fact that all of my siblings are in town for the first time since the holidays, but I'm incredibly excited for it to be Friday. Enjoy your day, my friends. Once you're done reading every last thing on this here blogsite, disconnect and go outside. It's going to be a lovely day.AdvertisementAdvertisementWant more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.
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