Car News Watch: U.S. Trade Push Against Chinese Cars, Ram REV Delays, RivianOS 2
A busy day for automotive trade policy, EV timelines, and software: Washington is hearing pitches to lock out Chinese cars, Stellantis is slipping two big electric trucks, and Rivian finally puts its whole lineup on one operating system. Here's what stood out in the last 24 hours.
Automakers ask Congress to ban Chinese cars before year's end
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation — the major automakers' trade group — is urging Congress to codify a ban on Chinese-made vehicles, framing connected Chinese EVs as a national security risk tied to data and software supply chains. It's a notable escalation: rather than defending existing tariffs, the industry is asking for a permanent legislative wall. Whether that survives the tariff-turmoil politics of late 2026 is another question, but the messaging tells you exactly where U.S. OEMs think the EV market fight is headed. (Road & Track)
Jeep and Ram EV timelines slip
Stellantis pushed back the Jeep Grand Wagoneer Hybrid to a November production start, with the Ram 1500 REV extended-range electric pickup delayed until next spring. Slips of this kind are increasingly the norm for legacy automators wrestling with extended-range battery packs and supplier ramp-ups — and they hand more runway to competitors like BYD, whose plug-in hybrids already dominate the space in Europe and Asia. (Car and Driver)
BYD fires up the UK with its "biggest-ever" sales event
Meanwhile, BYD is launching its largest UK sales campaign to date, with discounts of over $3,000 on select plug-in hybrids and pure EVs. Aggressive discounting in Europe plus a lobbying push in the U.S. is a two-front strategy — and it works even if the American front is walled off, because the UK and EU volumes are where BYD's global scale is built. (Electrek)
Rivian ships RivianOS 2 across R1 and R2
Rivian began rolling out RivianOS 2, its biggest in-car software overhaul since launch, unifying every vehicle the company sells on a single software stack. For a company that has always sold "the software is the moat," this is a quietly big deal: one codebase means faster feature rollout, better safety-patch cadence, and lower per-vehicle development cost as the R2 expands. It's also a signal that Rivian has stabilized its software platform enough to standardize it. (Electrek)
The airbag toll keeps climbing
On the safety side, NHTSA says an 11th U.S. driver has now been killed by faulty Chinese-made Takata airbag inflators, mostly found in older replacement parts. It's a grim reminder that recall fatigue is real — if you're driving a 2010s-era vehicle with a known airbag recall, check your VIN on NHTSA's site before the next road trip. (Road & Track)
Takeaway
The thread tying today's news together is decoupling: U.S. policy, brand strategy, and supply chains are all being re-drawn around Chinese EVs, with Stellantis delays and BYD discounts as the market-level symptoms. The automakers that keep shipping — and keep their software unified — will have the least to worry about while the trade war tightens.
Sources: Road & Track, Car and Driver, Electrek. All links above. Views are the author's.