Here is everything The Auto Wire published on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 — Stellantis selling its Brampton plant to an armoured-vehicle maker it already partners with, a federal judge refusing to let Porsche arbitrate away its Taycan battery-fire lawsuit, Beijing’s license-plate math against California’s new classic-car smog exemption, the 1908 bet that built General Motors, and Tesla’s Grok AI graduating from the owner’s manual to sending texts for you.
Stellantis Pulled the Jeep Out of Brampton. Five Days Later It Unveiled an Armoured Ram With the Company Now Buying the Plant.
Ottawa said walking away from Brampton would trigger a default under the terms that saved the plant, and it opened a recovery process ten months ago that never actually closed. Stellantis has now signed an MOU to sell the plant to Roshel, the armoured-vehicle maker it already partners with — timing that raises the obvious question of whether Canada’s leverage ever really existed.
LAPD Seized 200 Cars in One Night. The Real Story Is What Changed in Sacramento.
A single Labor Day sweep let LAPD impound 200 vehicles in one night, but the headline number isn’t the real story. A 2025 California law quietly rewrote the rules around street takeovers and reckless driving, making a bust that size legally possible — and leaving owners facing tow bills that can outprice the car.
Ford’s $4,195 Carhartt F-150, Germany’s First Driverless Truck, and What Else Moved
Not every headline earns its own story, but the last 24 hours still moved the industry. Ford dressed up its best-selling truck in $4,195 of Carhartt workwear branding, an autonomous trucking startup put a driverless rig on German public roads for the first time, and Waymo detailed plans for its first robotaxi market in Asia.
Ford’s F-150 Fuel Tank Recall Already Happened Once. It Just Involved One Truck.
Ford’s newest F-150 recall covers 223,472 trucks over a fuel tank that isn’t properly secured to the frame. NHTSA’s own records show this isn’t a new defect — the same issue quietly hit a single 2021 F-150 back in 2022 and went unnoticed until now.
Stellantis Is Reportedly Spending €1 Billion in France to Do Work Its Suppliers Already Do
The headline is a new van built at Hordain, but the detail worth reading is what’s funding it. Part of the reported €1 billion reportedly brings manufacturing steps back in-house, reversing three decades of Stellantis handing that work to outside suppliers.
A Judge Just Rejected Porsche’s Bid to Dodge Its Taycan Battery Fire Lawsuit
Porsche wanted the Taycan battery-fire class action to disappear quietly into arbitration. A federal judge in Atlanta refused, letting most of the claims proceed despite three separate fixes the automaker has already issued for the 800-volt pack.
Today in Automotive History: GM Was Founded on September 16, 1908 — On a Bet Henry Ford Refused to Copy
On September 16, 1908, a Flint carriage salesman who once dismissed automobiles as “noisy, smelly, and dangerous” filed the paperwork that created General Motors. William Durant’s bet on selling buyers a choice of brands, instead of one car for everyone, still shapes GM’s showrooms today.
Beijing Never Banned the Gas Car. It Just Stopped Issuing the License Plates.
Foreign automakers are cutting prices on combustion cars in China as retail sales for those models fall 42%. Beijing isn’t banning them outright — it’s issuing just 20,000 combustion license plates this year against 160,000 for EVs, and no discount can buy a permit that doesn’t exist.
McLaren’s Family-Sized Gamble: What Woking Has Confirmed, and What’s Still Just Rumor
Reports of a McLaren SUV have picked up very specific details lately: a 2028 arrival, seating for five, and 24-inch wheels. None of it has come from Woking itself — no official statement names an SUV, a seat count, or a wheel size, which makes this more rumor than roadmap for now.
Watch: Murder Suspect Steals Cop Car And Slams It Into House
A Dayton police SUV sat idling and unattended near a crash scene after 11:45 p.m. on September 3, and a homicide suspect who had already wrecked one stolen vehicle climbed in and used it to slam into a house. The footage is the headline, but the real issue is how easily an occupied patrol fleet can be turned against itself.
California Just Gave Classic Cars a Smog Exemption That Expires in 2033 — By Design
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Jay Leno’s Law at Leno’s own Burbank garage, and it plays like the biggest favor Sacramento has done for classic car owners in years. It isn’t quite that generous — Senate Bill 1392’s smog exemption is built to expire in 2033, not roll on indefinitely.
Hand a Dealer Your Supercar and the Law Lets Him Sell It, Even If That’s a Crime
A New York Lamborghini owner nearly lost his car and $200,000 in a dealer upgrade scheme gone wrong. The law that almost cost him the car, UCC 2-403, gives a dealer power to sell a consigned vehicle even when the sale itself is larcenous — and supercar owners are far more exposed to it than most realize.
Tesla’s Grok AI Is About to Start Texting for You — Here’s What the Manual Already Confirms
Buried in the Tesla Model Y owner’s manual is a new line under Grok’s “Assistant” mode: soon, owners will be able to ask the AI to send a text message on their behalf. Here’s what’s already live, what’s still coming, and what owners should know before handing texting duty to the car.
That is every news and feature story The Auto Wire published on September 16, 2026. Follow any headline above for the full reporting, the source documents, and the numbers behind it.
Two stories today pull vehicle-emissions policy in opposite directions: Beijing is choking off new gas-car sales by rationing license plates, while California just carved classic cars a smog exemption of their own. If you were writing the rules, where would you draw the line between phasing out new combustion cars and letting the old ones keep running?