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Carmakers Panic About Memory Chips, GRMN Corolla US Allocation Revealed, Tesla’s Unsupervised Robotaxis Hit Austin

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:18:42 +0000

Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s daily news roundup serving up the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.

The Downshift recaps news items in a sentence or two, fit with links to the deeper story. Here’s the bulletin for Thursday, June 4, 2026.

A number of trade groups and lobbies across industries, including the Alliance for Automotive Innovation which comprises many manufacturers, have signed and sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments sounding the alarm about the global drought of memory chips caused by the construction of AI data centers, and how that has and will continue to impact prices for consumers. There are some levers that policy makers can pull, but additional domestic manufacturing capacity will take years to materialize. [Bloomberg]

⛐ Toyota will ship “fewer than 500 units” of the new, more hardcore GRMN Corolla to the U.S., according to a marketing email sent out by the automaker.

Volkswagen of America CEO Kjell Gruner has reiterated that the ID4 and EVs in general will continue to be a staple in the automaker’s U.S. lineup, saying, “What’s important—because sometimes that was a bit misunderstood—is that the ID4 will remain in the market. It’s very important. We will have EVs in the market. Not just one, but at least two. For the time being, that’s going to be the ID4 and then the successor of the ID4.” [Automotive News]

Tesla has introduced unsupervised robotaxis in Austin, Texas. The company currently operates around 50 vehicles in the region, compared to Waymo’s 250. [Reuters]

Fuel economy numbers out of Canada for the upcoming C8 Corvette featuring the larger LS6 engine indicate that the new V8 shouldn’t consume much more gas than the current LT2. [GM Authority]

Rolls-Royce has given the electric Spectre a range and power bump for 2027, as well as the addition of a NACS charging port. [Automotive News]

Carvana was reportedly granted the option to purchase shares of new electric truck company Slate Auto last year, though it is unclear if the automotive retailer seized the opportunity. [TechCrunch]

Meanwhile, Uber is said to have invested nearly $500 million in self-driving tech startup Nuro up to this point, in addition to the same amount it’s poured into EV-maker Lucid. The rideshare company wants to unite the two firms to offer Lucid Gravity robotaxis in its fleet. [Reuters]

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2026 Toyota Corolla Cross Review — Updated and Improved

admin — Fri, 22 May 2026 01:49:56 +0000

Published: October 14th, 2025

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2025 Toyota GR Corolla at Lightning Lap 2026

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:50:40 +0000

From the March/April 2026 issue of Car and Driver.

Lap Time: 3:07.1

Class: LL2 | Base: $43,075 | As Tested: $50,504
Power and Weight: 300 hp • 3339 lb • 11.1 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4
235/40ZR-18 (95Y)

You might be wondering why this year’s GR Corolla lap time has flies circling it. Yep, it’s a stinker.

We didn’t expect the eight-speed-automatic GR, which comes with less aggressive tires, to be able to replicate the six-speed-manual Morizo Edition’s sub-3:00 lap, but we did expect it to be quicker.

The GR is happy exploring its limits. Switch to Track mode and shut off the stability control, and it’ll slide predictably and power out of corners without drama. It encourages you to raise entry speeds, and even if you overcook it, the GR remains stable when it’s sideways. Lap after lap, the brakes stood up to the abuse and felt good braking from 127.9 mph on the Front Straight and from 121.8 mph on the Back Straight. Unlike the VWs in attendance, brake fade is not an issue.

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Michael Simari and Marc Urbano|Car and Driver

However, the gearbox is slow to acknowledge a paddle flick, which led to lost tenths in Oak Tree and Hog Pen, and its optimal upshift window is comically narrow. Get too close to the redline, and the GR stumbles on the fuel cutoff. It’s a silly way to lose time, and we’d prefer a mode where it automatically upshifts at the redline instead of tasking us with that shift.

In hopes of solving the tire problem, Toyota’s flack brought a set of Morizo wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s to the track. However, the Lightning Lap rule book strictly forbids posting times with non-homologated hardware. Nevertheless, in the spirit of experimentation, we bolted on the unofficial “Car and Driver Morizo GR Performance package” and immediately ran a 3:02.5 [see “Grip and Grin,” below].

Back on the stock tires, the GR alerted us to an “AWD System Overheated” warning during a fast lap and then informed us that it would be “Switching to 2WD Mode.” After a fuel stop and lunch, it cooled off, and we were back to stomping on the gas on corner exit. It only reinforced our opinion that the best GR for setting lap times has three pedals and Cup 2s.

View Photos

Michael Simari and Marc Urbano|Car and Driver

Grip and Grin

We were about to prove that the automatic GR Corolla could run quicker than the 3:07.1 we’d managed thus far. Then incorrect replacement hardware showed up: lightweight Morizo Edition wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, a setup not offered on the automatic GR Corolla.

We gave it a try, and the car came alive. Turn 1 grip jumped from 0.93 to 1.00 g, exit speed out of the Climbing Esses increased by 4.3 mph, and the lap time dropped to 3:02.5 (not as fast as the 2:59.6 an actual Morizo got in 2023). The all-wheel-drive coupler even seemed happier, no longer triggering its overheat warning.

But our rules are clear: If you can’t order it that way, it doesn’t count.

Back to Lightning Lap 2026

Austin Irwin has worked for Car and Driver for over 10 years in various roles. He’s steadily worked his way from an entry-level data entry position into driving vehicles for photography and video, and is now reviewing and testing cars. What will he do next? Who knows, but he better be fast.

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