Porsche Gives Up On Future EV Plans To Focus On Hybrids

Good morning! It's Monday, September 22, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, Porsche is changing its attention from EVs to hybrids in a big planning switchup, Stellantis unveils an all-new battery that is supposed to be lighter and faster to charge, Nissan revamps its ProPilot ADAS system with the help of AI (whatever that means), and Stellantis just suffered a data breach. 

There's no better way to start off your week than with a piping hot cup of Morning Shift.

Big changes are happening at Porsche. The German automaker now expects to launch a crossover — code-named the K1 — slotted above the midsize Cayenne with both gas-powered and plug-in hybrid powertrains. Initially, the plan was to make that vehicle fully electric. The move is part of what Porsche is calling a realignment of its product strategy.

Similarly to other automakers across the industry, Porsche's bosses attributed the decision to rapidly changing market conditions. Right now, it's not exactly clear when the K1 will launch or if the change in power plant will have any impact on that release date.

This overall will not be cheap. VW Group is apparently going to take a massive $6 billion hit because of this far-reaching product overall. Ouch. From Automotive News:

While the automaker had previously said the Cayenne crossover and Panamera sedan would be available well into the 2030s with combustion and plug-in hybrid powertrains, Porsche also said new generations of successor models have been added to the cycle plan for the two nameplates.

Porsche also will include a combustion engine option for high-end versions of the next-generation 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars.

In addition, Porsche said the development of a new platform for EVs in the 2030s is being rescheduled. The platform will be technologically redesigned in coordination with other Volkswagen Group brands, Porsche said.

It also said the launch of certain EVs now will take place at a later date, without specifying.

These plans don't mean Porsche is giving up on its current fleet of EVs, though. The company says its existing range of EVs is being updated, a Cayenne EV is set to debut this year, and a two-door electric sports car — something we reported on last week — still remains in the plans.

Stellantis unveiled an electric vehicle prototype featuring a new type of battery that is capable of faster charging, weighs less and is more affordable than what it is currently putting in its cars. It also apparently eliminates the need for a separate inverter and charger. 

It's called the IBIS — Intelligent Battery Integrated System — and it was developed by Stellantis in partnership with TotalEnergies' subsidiary Saft. It's said to be one of the first of its kind and provides weight and space savings that make it easier to service. It's currently undergoing testing in the Peugeot e-3008. From Reuters:

The new system is 10% more efficient than an EV with the same-sized battery and reduces charging time by an hour.

A lack of affordable models and slow charging times have been a barrier to broader public acceptance of EVs.

According to the Franco-Italian-American automaker, this technology could be integrated into its production vehicles by the end of the decade.

Contemporary EVs use an inverter to convert the battery's direct current into alternating current to power the electric motor. In charging mode, alternating current from the grid is converted into direct current for the battery.

Stellantis said in the IBIS these functions are integrated directly into the battery using electronic control via 200 transistors, reducing vehicle weight by 40 kg (88 lb), freeing up space and reducing charging time by 15%.

Listen, I know Stellantis is Stellantis, so you've got to take everything with a grain of salt, but this little unit sounds seriously impressive. Better batteries are the key to EV adoption in my opinion. Well, that and comparable pricing, but you get my point.

Nissan has a lot of work to do if it wants to rebuild itself from the mess it's currently in, and a big part of that will be winning back customers with state-of-the-art technology (and new cars to put it in), according to newly minted CEO Ivan Espinosa. The Japanese automaker is using its partnership with Wayve Technologies, a UK-based AI startup, to launch a new generation of its ProPilot driver-assistance system during the fiscal year ending in March of 2028. It's a big task, that's for sure. From Bloomberg: 

The Japanese automaker says the most advanced iteration of its driver-assist technology will be on par with Tesla Inc.'s Full Self-Driving, which despite its name requires human supervision and intervention. While the systems still amount to Level 2 autonomy — meaning a person must always be ready to take over — ProPilot amounts to Nissan's best foot forward in contending with the US EV giant and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo in the race to build self-driving cars.

While previous iterations of Nissan's ProPilot system were capable of navigating large freeways, the next version will be able to take on complex city streets using fewer cameras and monitors thanks to AI software developed by Wayve.

[...]

Wayve announced in April that it was joining forces with Nissan, marking the first time a major automaker will integrate its AI technology into production cars. The startup also tapped Japan as the next location in its global expansion, planning to open a test center in Yokohama in what will be its fourth location after the UK, US and Germany.

[...]

While regulatory hurdles are a challenge for assisted or autonomous driving technology in most parts of the world, they're especially tough in Japan, where stringent laws mean all vehicles for the time being will require the continuous supervision of a human being.

Of course, we're still a long way away (and billions upon billions of dollars) from even sniffing Level 5 autonomy, but Nissan remains optimistic — foolish as that may be. The company's general manager of assisted-driving technology said the tech's situational awareness is "close to human," and he believes it will "change lives." I suppose time will tell.

What better way to start off the week than with a data breach, am I right? Stellantis just detected unauthorized access to a third-party service provider's platform that supports its North American customer service operations. From Reuters:

"Upon discovery, we immediately activated our incident response protocols ... and are directly informing affected customers," the Chrysler parent said in the statement.

It said it had notified authorities and urged customers to be alert to possible phishing attempts.

Automakers worldwide have reported a spate of cyber and data breaches in recent months, as increasingly sophisticated threat actors disrupt operations and compromise sensitive data.

Luckily, I guess, the company says only basic contact information was exposed, and no financial details or sensitive personal data were leaked. It's not known how many customers were impacted, and the incident is currently under investigation.

This, of course, is nothing compared to the data breach Jaguar-Land Rover is currently dealing with, but it's still less than ideal.

Hsitory.com

Can you even imagine being an executive at NBC and your Thursday night slate was Friends, Seinfeld and ER. That's the sort of greed they talk about in the bible. It'd make Jack Donaghy proud. If you want to learn more, head over to History.com.

It's sort of hard to believe it, but this song is already 10 years old. Why don't we all take a trip down memory lane to a better time... to 2015... this morning?