Mazda Follows The Crowd, Gives Up On EVs In Favor Of Hybrids

Good morning! It's Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 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, Mazda joins the cool kids by giving up on its electrification ambitions for the time being, Waymo is recalling thousands of vehicles for the pesky issue of driving into flooded roads, General Motors is cutting hundreds of IT jobs and Stellantis is being sued for 4xe battery fire issues.

You can now add Mazda to a growing list of automakers that have all but given up on their hopes and dreams of electrification. The Japanese automaker has announced it will delay its first dedicated electric vehicle by two years to 2029, slash EV investments by nearly 50%, and — you guessed it — pivot to hybrids and Chinese-sourced electrified products as regulation changes in the U.S. and Europe have automakers around the globe rethinking their EV strategies.

In a big win for Mazda, it will forego the billions in financial writedowns just about every other automaker suffered in similar moves, according to CEO Masahiro Moro. It managed to do this by being so late to EVs in the first place, meaning it could change course, as funding was fully locked down. It's a real "task failed successfully moment." From Automotive News:

Mazda Motor Corp., a self-described "intentional follower" on EVs, trailed global rivals in developing the technology, partly because of its limited R&D budget and partly out of prudence. But being late allows Mazda to sidestep the billions of dollars in wasted investment claimed by such rivals as Honda Motor Co., General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis.

Mazda now plans to launch three new hybrids in the 2028-30 time frame, in addition to the hybrid version of the redesigned CX-5 expected next year. Those hybrids will have the Mazda-developed setup using a super-lean Skyactiv-Z four-cylinder engine, not the Toyota-borrowed gasoline-electric technology used in the U.S.-assembled CX-50 crossover.

"Regarding internal man-hours, we are shifting resources back from electric vehicle-related work to internal combustion engines and hybrid vehicles," Moro said.

[...]

In the meantime, to satisfy EV demand in select markets, Mazda will lean on product developed in China with its local partner Changan Automobile Co. Mazda will export those China-built EVs to markets such as Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia, as part of its "lean-asset" strategy.

Mazda has already positioned its China operations as a global EV exporting hub, shipping out such nameplates as the EZ-60 crossover and EZ-6 sedan to Europe.

Mazda had planned to introduce its first dedicated EV in 2027. Now, the Hiroshima-based automaker will start production of its first dedicated EV in 2029 at the earliest. Moro cited looser fuel economy standards, U.S. tariffs, cutbacks in global EV incentives and waffling demand.

Because of all this, Mazda will cut its EV investment plan to $7.52 billion through 2030. That's down from an earlier budget of roughly $12.53 billion, according to Moro. The plurality of that scale back will come from the amount of batteries the automaker will need to match demand.

Mazda plans to have the capacity to produce 200,000 to 250,000 EVs by that year, accounting for about 15% of the company's global volume. Initially, Mazda expected 25% to 40% of its global sales to be EVs in 2030.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 of its robotaxis in the U.S. because they've got a bit of an issue: they seem to like entering flooded roads with higher speed limits. As you may have imagined, that's a bit of an issue.

The Alphabet-owned company said the recall came after an incident in April where one of its vehicles drove into a flooded lane in San Antonio during extreme weather. Thankfully, the car was unoccupied, and there were no injuries. However, it did prompt the company to review other similar scenarios involving high speeds and impassible flooded roads. From Reuters:

"We are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations ​in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during ​periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding ‌might ⁠occur," Waymo said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Waymo has temporarily narrowed its operating scope to increase weather-related restrictions and updated its maps while it works on a ​permanent remedy.

This isn't Waymo's only run-in with NHTSA of late. It's also facing an investigation after one of its vehicles struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, back in January. The crash caused minor injuries. Then, in March, the NTSB said it was investigating a January incident in which a Waymo passed a stopped school bus with its lights flashing — violating Texas state law.

General Motors is slashing between 500 and 600 salaried information technology jobs in an effort to cut costs — reallocating that money to other tech areas instead, according to anonymous sources who are familiar with the matter. It's neither here nor there, but I just remind you that CEO Mary Barra made $29,895,868 in 2025 alone. From Bloomberg:

The cuts will affect GM's offices globally as the automaker works to boost earnings even as US sales stagnated to start the year. GM in October trimmed hundreds of salaried workers, in addition to thousands of blue collar staff who were laid off as GM's investments in electric vehicles went sour.

At the same time, GM has had to push for internal discipline as the company tries to grow profits with the Iran war stoking inflation. The company has also made broad cutbacks in its electric vehicle operations in response to a slowdown in demand. GM has taken a total of $8.7 billion in writedowns tied to its EV business.

In a statement to Bloomberg, GM said the job cuts stem from an effort to transform the IT department to better position the company for the future. I'm not sure how having 600 fewer employees puts it in a "better position," but that's just me. Again, Mary Barra made $30 mil last year.

Oh look! It's another lawsuit Stellantis must face over defective (and sometimes dangerous) batteries in 4xe plug-in hybrid Jeeps. The latest is similar to the many civil suits the automaker is already facing, and it alleges that Stellantis knew of defects with the system and dragged its feet in remedying the issue.

The Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe have been recalled a handful of times each for issues like the risk of explosions, fires, sandy engines, and sudden loss of power. At the end of 2025, Stellantis threw in the towel on its PHEV lineup of vehicles. From the Detroit Free Press:

The lawsuit, filed April 24 in U.S. District Court in Detroit, names 16 plaintiffs (on behalf of others in a similar situation) and alleges that Stellantis understated the nature of the defects and was too slow in issuing proper recalls and remedies. The plaintiffs are seeking financial damages and attorneys' fees.

The suit alleges Stellantis was "unable or unwilling to remedy the fire risk defect," and instead chose to abruptly discontinue the models.

The 96-cell lithium-ion batteries made by Samsung were defective, the suit claims, and needed more attention than they received as the automaker recalled, remedied and recalled the vehicles again. The automaker had recalled the products in 2024, though the remedy it issued at the time was later reported to be ineffective.

Previous recalls for the vehicles issued by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the battery packs were the root of the issue. Some of those batteries, NHTSA said in a November recall of more than 320,000 vehicles, may have cells with separator damage. The separator is a thin, membranous material through which ions are transmitted in the battery. With a damaged separator comes a higher risk of combustion.

That November recall was the second recall for such an issue. The remedy issued in the first instance, according to a statement from Stellantis spokesperson Frank Matyok given at the time, was "based on the best available data at the time, using diagnostic algorithms to identify batteries showing early signs of potential failure."

Matyok said in November that the automaker's understanding of the issue had "evolved" after further research.

It's been an impressive fall from grace. Just last year, the Wrangler and GC 4xe were some of the best-selling hybrids in the U.S. But, after their reputations were tarnished by never-ending recalls and a shift in regulations by the Trump administration, the entire program was killed by Stellantis. The company decided instead to focus on internal combustion-powered vehicles and regular, non-plug-in hybrids. It's a damn shame.

History.com

I saw Michael Mann's "Ferrari" at the New York Film Festival a few years ago, and I left trying to convince myself that it was way better than it actually was. Sure, there were some parts that were really good (Penélope Cruz's entire role, for example), but so much of it didn't work — especially how schlocky this crash was, and that's a shame, because it really was a tragedy. It was played so over the top it came off as almost comical. If you want to learn about what actually happened, head over to History.com.

Well, I've got some good-ish news on the gas price front. As tensions continue to ease ever so slightly in the Middle East, the price of a gallon of gas has come down an equally slight amount. Of course, WTI Crude Oil futures and Brent Crude are still well over $100 — trading around $101.50 and $107.90, respectively, at the time of publication, so we're nowhere near being out of the woods just yet. But some progress is being made.

All of this is to say that the average price of a gallon of gas dropped 2 cents overnight to $4.50, according to AAA. It's now down about 5 cents from the peak we saw on May 7. Fingers crossed this trend continues.

Here's where national average prices stand right now, according to AAA:

AAA

"A Day In The Life" is the last song on Sgt. Pepper, and every time I hear it, I get the feeling that Lennon and McCartney wrote it as if it was supposed to be the last song we were ever supposed to hear... like in our lives. There's something about this song that always makes me feel so uneasy. It's the perfect way to start your Tuesday.