Weekly Update: CarPlay Comes Home, Interest Rates Go Up, and a Supercharged Ram Tries to Convince Me Trucks Are Sports Cars
Welcome back to Automotive Updates with Zac Johnson, your weekly download of everything happening in the car world. If you're new here, welcome.
Let's dive in.
This week, General Motors finally admitted people like using their phones in their cars, and Volkswagen built a car so efficient it makes a bicycle look wasteful. Washington keeps redecorating the EV landscape on two different fronts: interest rates just got less friendly to car buyers, and California gave classics a break. Somewhere in Vancouver, Washington, a supercharged Ram also tried to convince me that trucks can be sports cars. They mostly succeeded.
Here is what we are covering today:
- GM brings CarPlay and Android Auto back from the dead, opens a Seattle AI outpost
- Volkswagen built the most efficient EV on the planet
- Trump's EV policies are gutting America's battery-factory boom
- Trump says Chinese automakers can build here, just not ship here
- Interest rates just got less friendly to car buyers
- California signs Leno's Law, finally
And now for the news!
GM Brings Back CarPlay and Android Auto, Opens a Seattle Tech Hub
Caleb Miller
After years of forcing its own infotainment system on customers, GM is letting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto back into the tent, starting with the 2027 Silverado and Sierra. The new setup gives phone mirroring its own slice of the screen instead of taking over the whole display, so drivers can run CarPlay and still see GM's native system.
GM's software boss Mike Wahlstrom admitted the obvious out loud, saying people like CarPlay and Android Auto because they're user-centric, and GM heard that loud and clear from customers. The company says this new interface will expand across the rest of its lineup over time, so consider the pickups a trial balloon. Separately, GM is opening a 43,000-square-foot office in my hometown of Seattle, aiming to recruit AI and machine learning engineers to work on autonomous driving and software.
Why it matters: GM spent years insisting people didn't want CarPlay, then an American Trucks survey found 55% of Apple users call its absence a dealbreaker. Turns out customers know what they want. The Seattle office is betting the next war in cars will be fought in code, not steel.
Volkswagen Built the Most Efficient EV Ever
Brendan McAleer
VW unveiled the Mission Efficiency, a two-door concept that drove nearly 800 miles on a single charge from Wolfsburg to Vienna, sipping just 6.89 kWh per 100 km. It uses ID.Polo running gear, a drag coefficient of 0.158, and tires developed with Continental to shave every last watt of resistance.
Why it matters: This isn't some fantasy concept with a battery the size of a shipping container. It's built on affordable, production-ready parts, which means the tech underneath could trickle into everyday VWs. Efficiency doesn't usually make headlines, but this car earned it.
Trump's War on EVs Is Emptying Factory Floors
A Reuters investigation dropped this week showing just how badly the EV manufacturing boom has stalled since Trump killed the $7,500 tax credit and rolled back a stack of clean-energy policies. Nearly $20 billion in EV projects were canceled in 2025 alone, and new investment has cratered from a $55 billion peak in 2023 to about $6.5 billion. Lordstown, Ohio, is ground zero, where a GM-LG battery plant idled and laid off hundreds of workers.
Why it matters: Most of that canceled investment landed in states that voted for Trump, an awkward footnote for a president who campaigned on bringing manufacturing jobs back. Meanwhile China keeps sprinting ahead on batteries and EV supply chains while America slams the brakes.
Trump Opens the Door to Chinese Automakers, With Conditions
Reuters
Trump said he'd be fine with Chinese car companies building plants in the U.S., as long as they hire American workers, comparing it to how Japanese automakers operate here. "If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be okay with that," he said on Fox News. "Japan does it, but they hire our people."
He was clear that finished Chinese vehicles built overseas still aren't welcome, calling reports otherwise a "phony rumor," and he specifically doesn't want China building in Mexico and shipping across the border either. The comments land two weeks before Trump hosts Xi Jinping in Washington, which is not a coincidence anyone should ignore.
Why it matters: The Big Three and the UAW are furious regardless. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents GM, Ford, Toyota, VW, Hyundai, Honda, and Stellantis, is pushing Congress to permanently ban Chinese vehicles by December, and Trump's comments make that fight messier just as trade talks with China heat up. Michigan lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are already sounding the alarm about what this means for the 1.2 million jobs tied to the auto industry there.
Interest Rates Are Making Cars Pricier Again (Gifted Article)
After a couple of years of rates easing off, they're heading back up, and that's bad news for anyone financing a car. The relief we'd been getting since 2024's peak of 7.89% has been quietly propping up an otherwise brutal car market stretched by tariffs, trimflation, and supply issues. That relief is now reversing. A rate hike is about the last thing anyone wants right now, even if the Fed thinks it's the responsible move given where inflation sits.
Why it matters: Car prices weren't cheap to begin with. Add a rate hike to an already stretched market, and monthly payments start looking uglier fast.
Leno's Law Signs, Slowly
Logan K. Carter
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Leno's Law at Jay Leno's own garage in Burbank, complete with a few lowriders and muscle cars that had spent years stuck in regulatory limbo. The bill phases in smog-check exemptions for collector cars, starting with pre-1981 models in 2028 and expanding by one model year annually until 1986 vehicles are covered in 2033. To qualify, a car needs collector insurance or documented proof of fewer than 1,000 miles driven in a year, so this isn't a loophole for daily-driving your 1983 Cutlass smog-free.
Why it matters: It's a win for classic car owners, but a slow one. Nothing changes for over a year, and the exemption only applies to cars with collector insurance or under 1,000 miles a year. Still, it beats nothing.
Notable New Cars
2027 Ford F-150
Ford Motor Company ditched the old 2.7-liter EcoBoost for a new 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 as the base engine, likely landing somewhere north of 400 horsepower. The 5.0-liter Coyote V8 also returns to the King Ranch and Platinum trims. It's not a dramatic overhaul, but it's a meaningfully stronger starting point for America's best-selling truck.
Tesla Roadster
Tesla teased an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas, nine years after Elon Musk first promised this car. The teaser image shows what looks like rear-mounted thrusters, feeding years of speculation about SpaceX cold-gas thrusters bolted to a production car. Whether that's real engineering or just theater, we'll find out soon.
2027 Porsche Boxster EV
Jack Fitzgerald
After years of will-it-won't-it rumors, the electric Boxster from Porsche AG was spotted testing nearly camouflage-free, with styling cues borrowed from the Macan and Taycan. It looks production-ready, which is more than anyone could say about this car a year ago.
Car of the Week: 2027 Ram TRX SRT
I was just at #NWAPADriveRevolution and got to drive what feels like a million cars. I'll break them all down later, but I want to highlight a personal favorite: the 2027 Ram TRX SRT. If you felt the planet spin a little faster this week, it's because a group of journalists in Vancouver, WA, were taking this silly truck for a spin.
With a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi making 777 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque, this thing hits 60 in 3.5 seconds, which would beat the Roadrunner by a country mile. As tested, the price was north of $108k, which could get you a three-bedroom house outside Atlanta. No need, though, because the cabin inside this truck feels roughly the size of an apartment in the hottest neighborhoods in New York.
And what a color! I am in love with green cars, and this Serrano-Green Metallic paint was a spectacular option.
It was ridiculously fun, and as someone generally opposed to giant trucks, I found myself won over every single time I heard that supercharger whine. My pinky toe twitched and the truck went 30 mph faster.
One Story I'm Watching
Congress just passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act through the House, which would force automakers to include AM radio as standard equipment within a year of it becoming law. It's framed as a safety issue since 86% of the country's primary emergency alert stations broadcast on AM. Still, EV makers have pushed back for years, arguing electric motors interfere with the signal.
I talked to some colleagues at Rohde & Schwarz about the RF side of this, and they said the interference problem is real but solvable with better shielding; it's mostly a cost and design-priority question for automakers, not a physics problem. The bill still needs Senate approval and a presidential signature before it's law.
One Stat You Should Know
The average new car loan rate sat at 6.97% as of July 2026, a big improvement from the 7.89% peak back in 2024, but that relief looks like it's about to reverse. Read more from Statista here: https://www.statista.com/statistics/290673/auto-loan-rates-usa/
Three Stories I Didn't Have Room For:
- Volvo Group plans 13 new models by 2030 as it chases market share growth.
- Mitsubishi wants to build a truck using Nissan's new Frontier platform.
- Max Verstappen beat 100 amateur go cart racers, if you have time the video is worth the watch!
That's the week.
GM finally listening to its customers on CarPlay, does that change how you'd shop for your next truck? Would Leno's Law actually get you to bring a classic back into daily rotation in California? And that AM radio bill, is it smart safety policy or is Congress solving a problem nobody under 60 has noticed? Drop your take in the comments.
See you again next week!
