Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short—the latest car news headlines from around the globe organized for your quick-glance convenience.
Here are the automotive industry and culture stories worth having on your radar as we spin up this Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
♦️ Mitsubishi’s whole dealership network is going through an aggressive reshuffling—corporate is culling low-performing stores while some frustrated franchise owners are just bailing. At the same time, the Japanese brand “added 12 dealerships in the past year and has roughly 30 more in the approval pipeline.” Mitsubishi has 297 dealerships in the US as of today. [Automotive News]
🐦 A Ford dealer in Kansas sold a new F-250 pickup, but the customer can’t take delivery—a robin (federally protected) made a nest on the tire, her eggs hatched, and now the truck can’t legally be moved until the birds depart on their own. Robins typically take about two weeks to fly. [KMBC News]
🛻 Renault has a new small pickup truck called Niagara for the Latin American market. [Renault]
🚛 Volvo has to pay a $197 million settlement over California emissions violations with its big rig trucks. [LA Times]
⚡ Nissan is considering following Tesla and exporting EVs from China to North America (Canada, for now). [Investors Business Daily]