The 1959 Corvette Stingray prototype will be featured in a new exhibit at the Savoy Automobile Museum. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ A Cox Automotive study found that 38 percent of consumers say they would be extremely or very likely to consider buying a Chinese car brand, while 39 percent would not. More at CBT News.
+ In February, sales at BYD dropped 41.1 percent from a year earlier, the sixth consecutive month of decline and the steepest fall since the COVID pandemic in 2020. More at Economic Times.
+ The Brampton, Ontario City Council has rezoned the land where the Brampton Assembly Plant sits for vehicle manufacturing only, blocking any other development. More at Car and Driver.
+ The Cadillac Formula 1 team has named its first chassis the MAC-26 (Mario Andretti Cadillac-26) in a tribute to American racing legend and team consultant Mario Andretti. More at Autosport.
+ Kia America is recalling more than 85,000 Telluride SUVs from the 2025 model year to correct a defect in the front seat back frames that could lead to injuries in a crash. More at USA Today.
+ A new study from the Madrid-based IMDEA Networks Institute found that virtually all cars produced since 2008 can be tracked via signals from their tire pressure monitor systems. More at The Drive.
+ British luxury car maker Aston Martin will cut its workforce by up to 20 percent as it strives to recover from the impact of U.S. import tariffs and weak demand in China. More at World Auto Forum.
+ A report from Mercury Insurance found that auto theft in the United States declined by 23 percent in 2025, but that earlier Hyundais and Kias remain the most frequently stolen. More at Autoblog.
+ The Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia announced the opening of a new exhibit, Corvette: The Early Years, featuring a selection of important vintage Corvettes. More at Old Cars.
+ Driver Max Verstappen says the new technical regulations for 2026 with greater emphasis on energy management will make Formula 1 more difficult for fans to follow. More at Motorsport.com.
Photo courtesy of General Motors.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from February 27 here.
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I feel that 40% of Americans don’t realize the automotive industry’s strong ties to the economy, and by extension, how manufacturing capacity is tied to national defense. Japan, Korea and Germany are allies and China is not.
Mario Andretti is a legend and rightfully deserves the tribute. But this is an enormous disrespect to Michael Andretti who initiated the Formula1 effort and whose team Andretti Global was founded upon. I hope he was paid well. TWG Motorsports/Cadillac’s statement that “an American team belongs on this stage” also disrespected the TGR Haas F1 team who have been in the sport for a decade already. I cannot in good conscience support those people.
According to the internet, there are approximately 170 to 190 active and open safety-related recalls currently affecting Kia vehicles in the United States. Because safety recalls are cumulative and many models remain under recall for years, the exact count varies by source. RepairPal lists 188 recalls for Kia, while other NHTSA-based aggregators show around 174. Seatback collapse is lethal, a kindergarten level of engineering fail but has been going on for generations- no excuse for that crap.
So it seems most 2008 and newer vehicles, the Tire Pressure Monitor System (TPMS) receiver is integrated into the same Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that manages door locks and engine startup startup. Google explained it this way: Researchers recently demonstrated a zero-click Remote Code Execution (RCE) attack (CVE-2025-2082) where manipulating a TPMS response allowed them to take control of a vehicle’s security module and send arbitrary messages to the CAN bus. In-car systems fully trust received TPMS messages without checking for malicious code. Spoofed signals can be used to “damage” the system by overwhelming it with fake data, potentially leading to a hard reset of the vehicle’s computer while driving. Each TPMS sensor has a fixed ID, a bad guy’s network of hidden receivers can monitor any car’s daily routines, such as work arrival times and frequent travel habits. A hacked TPMS can serve as a gateway to more critical systems like engine timing or brakes, theoretically allowing the hacker to disable a running vehicle or worse…
The realistic worst‑case impact (not instructions)
A forged OTA update could, in theory, allow an attacker to:
Alter how ECUs behave, because firmware defines their logic.
Disable or weaken cybersecurity protections, such as authentication checks or secure boot.
Modify diagnostic or reporting functions, making malicious changes harder to detect.
Interfere with safety‑related systems, depending on the architecture and protections in place.
Spread malicious code across multiple ECUs, because OTA systems often update more than one module.
These are impact categories, not steps or methods. They reflect what NHTSA, ISO/SAE 21434, and automakers design defenses against.
Why this is considered the “worst case”
A spoofed OTA update is dangerous because it bypasses the two most important defenses:
Authenticity — the vehicle believes the update came from the manufacturer.
Privilege level — OTA updates run with the highest possible permissions.
This is why DOT HS 812 807 emphasizes cryptographic signing, secure boot, and strict version control. If any of those fail, the attacker is no longer just “sending a message”—they are effectively rewriting the rules the vehicle follows.
MCG,
My comment centers mostly around your posts rather than this particular article. Thanks to my dad. I’ve been a car guy for as long as I can remember and now being 70 that’s a long time! Things like going to the new car introductions in the fall and looking at the new cars at the mall, the memories are numerous and priceless, which brings me to your wonderful articles, most of which touch me from my own experience through the years and they are so concise and written with such flavor that it’s arguably some of the best reading that I’ve ever had. So keep up the great work! With much admiration and appreciation.
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for your interest. As I always say, this stuff is a lot more fun when there are others to share it with.