The auto industry woke up swinging this week, and if you thought sedans were dead, General Motors has some strong opinions about that. Between surprise revivals, a heartbreaking recall story with a meaningful resolution, and a BMW battery deal that sounds like a European buddy comedy, there is plenty to unpack over your morning coffee. Pull up a chair, because the car world did not take the day off.
Somewhere between the rise of the crossover and the death of the manual transmission, automakers convinced themselves that nobody wanted cars anymore. Trucks and SUVs ate the market, sedans got discontinued left and right, and enthusiasts were left mourning the slow disappearance of anything that sat low to the ground. General Motors led that charge in many ways, killing off beloved nameplates without much ceremony. So it is a little ironic, and honestly kind of refreshing, that GM appears to be the one riding back in to save the sedan.
This week’s news cycle covers a wide range of stories, from a safety update that genuinely matters for families, to a designer shuffle that has the BMW faithful raising eyebrows, to Toyota proving that even a small price bump deserves a press release. Whether you are a horsepower loyalist, an EV curious observer, or just someone who appreciates knowing what is happening in the industry before your coworkers bring it up, this one is for you.
The Camaro Lives, and It Brought Friends
According to a report from Automotive News, General Motors is planning a next-generation Chevrolet Camaro, a Cadillac CT5, and a new Buick sedan, all sharing a common platform. Read that sentence again. A Buick sedan. In 2025. We are not saying this is a comeback story for the ages, but we are not not saying that either.
The Camaro’s potential return is the headline grabber here, and rightfully so. The car was axed in a move that felt deeply personal to anyone who has ever rev-matched a downshift just for the sound of it. If GM is genuinely building the next chapter of that car alongside a refreshed Cadillac CT5 and a brand-new Buick sedan, it suggests the company has done some real soul-searching, or at least found a supplier willing to make the case on their behalf. Either way, the enthusiast community’s ears are perked.
Hyundai’s Palisade Is Back on Sale, and the Story Behind That Matters
This one is not a feel-good headline so much as a necessary update. Hyundai had pulled the Palisade from sale after a power seat malfunction contributed to the death of a two-year-old child in Ohio. That is not a story that gets glossed over, and Hyundai did not treat it lightly. The automaker has now resumed sales following a software update that changes how the power seats behave, sets specific conditions required before the seats can stow, and improves the system’s ability to detect objects and occupants before moving.
It is the kind of update that should have existed from the start, and a sobering reminder that the “convenience” features packed into modern SUVs carry real responsibility. Parents shopping for three-row SUVs deserve to know this story, and Hyundai’s response, while too late for one family, represents a meaningful correction.
BMW Is Getting Its Battery From the People Who Build Electric Hypercars
In what is either a brilliant engineering partnership or the premise of a very niche Netflix series, BMW has announced that the i7 sedan will use a battery system co-developed with Rimac. The battery will be manufactured at Rimac’s facility in Zagreb, Croatia, and the i7 is set to debut later this month at the Beijing Auto Show.
For those less familiar, Rimac is the Croatian company that builds some of the fastest and most technologically advanced electric hypercars on the planet. So yes, the same people responsible for a car that does zero to sixty in under two seconds are now helping BMW keep wealthy executives comfortable on the Autobahn. That is a collaboration nobody predicted, and it is genuinely interesting.
The Rest of the Morning Rundown
A few other notes worth flagging before you get on with your day:
The designer behind the last-generation BMW M2, Hussein Al Attar, has left BMW to lead GM’s Advanced Design Studio in Pasadena, California. If the new Camaro ends up looking incredible, you now know who to thank.
Ford is recalling 3,170 Maverick trucks and Bronco Sport SUVs over faulty occupant detection sensors tied to front-passenger airbags. The sensors may fail to deploy the airbag when needed, and Ford will replace them in affected vehicles.
Toyota has announced that the 2027 Land Cruiser will start at $59,375 including destination, which is $280 more than the outgoing model. For context, that is roughly the cost of one tank of gas in a Land Cruiser, so the sticker shock should be proportional.
McLaren’s new CEO Nick Collins told Autocar that the brand’s business strategy and upcoming model plans will start coming into focus this summer, potentially including a concept that previews the brand’s future design direction. Considering McLaren’s recent financial turbulence, a little clarity from the top is probably overdue.
And finally, Mercedes-Benz’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant just rolled its five millionth SUV off the line, 31 years after opening. That is a lot of SUVs, a lot of Alabama summers, and presumably a lot of very satisfied warranty departments.