A 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello bought new by basketball legend Michael Jordan sold for $2.7 million at auction. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ The European Union reports it has reached a landmark deal with China to halve its sales of hybrid cars in the region amid fears for the future of the European industry. More at The Guardian.
+ Unifor, the Canadian auto worker’s union, is polling its members for possible strike action against Stellantis, hoping to compel the company not to sell its Brampton, Ontario plant. More at Wards Auto.
+ The average transaction price for the 10 best-selling passenger vehicles in the U.S. rose 2.7 percent in September compared to a year ago, doubling August’s 1.3 percent gain. More at CBT News.
+ Two-time Le Mans 24 Hours and four-time IndyCar race winner Mike Conway has announced his retirement from the cockpit at the conclusion of the 2026 FIA WEC season. More at Racer.
+ Hyundai is offering a 10 percent discount on its EV5 and EV9 electric crossovers for up to $7,000 in savings on the most affordable electric vehicles now sold in the United States. More at Electrek.
+ A record 20 Chinese car brands will display at the Paris Motor Show, underscoring how rapidly China’s automakers have established themselves as a threat in Europe More at World Auto Forum.
+ In Europe, Tesla has dropped the controversial name Full Self Driving in favor of Assisted Driving after fielding objections from the Federal Ministry of Transport in Germany. More at TechCrunch.
+ United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain claimed reelection with his United UAW slate of candidates poised to sweep the union’s International Executive Board positions. More at Yahoo! News.
+ Michael Jordan’s 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello, purchased new by the basketball Hall of Famer when he played for the Chicago Bulls, brought $2.7 million in an online auction. More at Road & Track.
+ Humpy Wheeler, longtime president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, posthumously received the 2026 Smokey Yunick Award for his contributions to racing. More at Jayski.
Photo courtesy of Joopiter.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from October 5 here.
Join Mac’s Motor City Garage on Facebook and X to receive notices when every new story is published.
Sad trombone noise for Tesla, Hyundai, Sillantis, UAW and EU: womp-womp
Telsa’s big capulation to get full EU approval of “Full Self Driving” is to rebrand it “Tesla Assisted Driving.” In America FSD has been at the center of federal investigations and civil lawsuits over countless crashes, and a judge ruled in December that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of Autopilot and FSD for years.
However Germany’s transport minister Steffen Bilger said earlier this month that calling the software “Full Self-Driving” was misleading because it doesn’t perform the entire task of driving. But a PR name change is all it takes, and Tesla suggested it too. Minster Bilger said he will now advocate for approval of Tesla Assisted Driving across Europe ahead of the EU-wide vote. Elon Musk thanked Bilger on X afterwards.
Looks like a simple Madison Avenue puff of smoke strips away all the years of Tesla’s big automous marketing illusions with an actual technical reality: FSD is just another Level 2 driver-assist system like Autopilot that requires constant human supervision with mandatory user takeover reaction times twice as fast as drag racing’s 10x NHRA World Champion Jeg Coughlin, a minimal kindergraten level of MUTCD Part 2, 5 and 6 compliance enforced by ethical government, and a dead-nuts accurate GPS for any factor of actual safety. Without any single piece of this critical five-part puzzle, the safety margin immediately drops to zero.
BTW, Tesla must have a massive hyper-precise data file of Ohio ODOT defective infrastructure/crash traps and noncompliant detours/entrapments, but will never use it to seek public justice for any ODOT ADAS hacker crashes or poisoned GPS, because that will admit Tesla’s vision-based ADAS has that baked-in critical “Ohio speed trap” visual hacker safety defect that all human drivers have on Ohio roads since the world’s first speed trap in Dayton back in 1904…