Porsche Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short. Every morning, TDS brings you all the biggest automotive headlines to kick off your day. Each item contains a link to the story in question so you can dive deeper. Let’s see what’s cooking on this fine Thursday, shall we? ⏱️ There’s a new Nürburgring Nordschleife record for production EVs, and it belongs to Porsche, which just logged a 6:55.553 lap with a Taycan Turbo GT equipped with both the Weissach Pack and Manthey Kit. That’s almost four seconds faster than the 3,000-horsepower Yangwang U9 Xtreme. Porsche development driver Lars Kern was at the helm for the effort. [Porsche] 🚙 Lexus now has a big, three-row electric SUV of its own, built off the same platform that underpins the new, electric only Toyota Highlander. It’s called the TZ, and it promises 300 miles of range and standard, dual-motor all-wheel drive. On the Highlander, that translates to 338 horsepower. Expect pricing and other information later this year, before the TX hits dealers in late 2026. [Lexus] ⛳ Porsche’s wasn’t the only recent triumph at the Green Hell for the Volkswagen Group, as the Golf GTI Edition 50 just became the fastest front-wheel-drive production car at the Nürburgring, with a time of 7:44.523. [Volkswagen] 🆙 And while we’re on the subject of Volkswagen, guess who just outspent Amazon to become Rivian’s biggest investor? VW’s stake in the electric truck and SUV maker now sits at 15.9% after a recent increase. [TechCrunch] 🛻 In other recent Rivian news, the company is entertaining pickup and high-performance variants of its new R2 model. [Reuters] 📉 Polestar lost $383 million in the first quarter of the year, up from $166 million over the same period in 2025, despite better sales. [Reuters]