This week in cars: Toyota's GR GT stunned the crowd at a Los Angeles cruise-in, Volkswagen and Ford both dropped major new SUV reveals, a UAW strike threatens Silverado production, and a deceased collector's "field of dreams" just turned into a 180-car no-reserve auction. Plus: Kimi Antonelli cements his 2026 championship lead, and we explain F1's new active aerodynamics before Monaco weekend kicks off.

Volkswagen revealed the second-generation Atlas on June 4, and for once "refreshed" doesn't quite cover it. The three-row mid-size SUV sits on an updated MQB Evo platform and grows roughly an inch in length, but the bigger change is inside: a new 15-inch touchscreen replaces the old unit on all but the base trim, and Volkswagen has gone decidedly theatrical with ambient lighting — backlit spiral perforations on all four doors glow across 30 color choices on upper trims, and the lights pulse orange when the hazard button is pressed. 1

Under the hood the latest EA888 2.0-liter turbo four gains 13 horsepower to reach 282 hp, though torque dips from 273 to 258 lb-ft. EPA estimates released the same day put front-wheel-drive variants at 22/29/25 mpg city/highway/combined. A hybrid is planned for the mid-cycle refresh, which Volkswagen says won't arrive until roughly 2030.

The Atlas will continue to be built in Chattanooga, Tennessee; full pricing will be announced before a fall arrival. Volkswagen says the starting price will rise slightly from the current $40,785 base.

Ford and Filson — the 130-year-old Seattle outfitter — teamed up for the most upscale Bronco yet. Revealed alongside the Atlas on June 4, the Bronco Filson starts from the Sasquatch package, meaning factory 35-inch tires, Fox bypass shocks, and front and rear locking differentials. The Filson connection adds Filson-pattern quilted seating (the stitching matches the interior of a Filson jacket), a full suite of removable, waterproof canvas storage bags throughout the cabin, and a new electronic streaming rear-view mirror that solves the age-old "gear blocking the rearview" problem. Powertrain is the 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 from the Bronco Raptor, retuned for smoother power delivery. 2

A limited First Edition launches alongside the standard model — exclusive Iron Sands Copper Metallic paint, a serialized dashboard plaque, and extra Filson bags. Pricing is unconfirmed but expected to start around $75,000. Orders open this fall; production begins at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in early 2027.

After a rough 2025 in which the brand lost close to half its European market share, May 2026 registrations told a very different story. New Tesla registrations jumped 655% year-over-year in France to 5,446 vehicles, 349% in Portugal, 136% in Denmark, and 113% in Spain. Norway rose 29% and Sweden 71%. Italy was the outlier, down 23.5%. 3

Analysts at ING Research and TP ICAP attributed the rebound to Tesla's pricing strategy, broader EV market growth driven by subsidies and rising fuel costs, and Elon Musk's quieter political profile since his departure from the Trump administration earlier this year. The overall European BEV market rose around 21% in April year-over-year, providing a rising tide Tesla is sailing on — but the percentage numbers still reflect how low 2025 numbers had fallen.

UAW workers at American Axle's Three Rivers, Michigan plant walked off the job on June 1 after their contract expired without a deal. American Axle supplies axles for Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra production across plants in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico — trucks that account for roughly one-third of GM's U.S. vehicle sales. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that GM has about two weeks of axle inventory on hand before production could stall. 3

The UAW says top wages at the plant have fallen from $29/hour in 2008 to $22/hour today, despite workers voting 98% in favor of a strike authorization in early May. American Axle parent Dauch Corp. called the walkout "disappointing" and said it remains committed to negotiating in good faith.

Formula 1's 2026 season arrived in Monaco this week with Kimi Antonelli in commanding form. The 19-year-old Italian claimed his fourth consecutive win at the Canadian Grand Prix on May 24, taking the race from pole-sitter George Russell after a power unit issue sidelined his Mercedes teammate on lap 52. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) finished second, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) third. 4

Antonelli arrives in Monaco 43 points clear of Russell in the Drivers' Championship. The Monaco street circuit presents a very different challenge from Montreal — narrow barriers, no room for error, and mechanical grip mattering more than outright horsepower — which is exactly why Ferrari's Leclerc and Hamilton are being talked up as genuine threats to stop the Mercedes winning streak.

One technical wrinkle worth knowing: Monaco will run without any active-aero Straight Mode zones in 2026, the first race in the new era to go fully zone-free. The FIA determined that Monaco's layout offers no straights long enough to safely meet the minimum 3-second activation criteria. See the explainer section below for why that matters.

Fourteen years of DRS ended after the 2025 season. The replacement, active aerodynamics, is more ambitious: instead of just flattening one flap on the rear wing, the 2026 regulations move both the front and rear wings simultaneously between two preset positions. 5

Here's how the two modes work:

Corner Mode is the default. Both wings sit at their highest-downforce angle, maximizing grip and stability through braking zones and corners. The car switches back to Corner Mode automatically whenever the driver brakes or lifts off the throttle.

Straight Mode flattens both wings, reducing drag and increasing top speed. Unlike DRS — which could only be activated by a driver within one second of the car ahead — any driver can trigger Straight Mode in designated activation zones, regardless of track position. There will be more activation zones per lap than the old DRS zones.

The primary motivation is energy, not overtaking. The 2026 power units rely heavily on electrical energy recovery, and a car running at lower drag on the straights uses less energy getting there, leaving more in the battery for deployment. Without active aero, the new engines' electrical load would make straight-line speeds uncompetitively slow.

As for racing: the FIA designed active aero for efficiency rather than explicitly to help overtaking, since everyone can use it. Whether it actually improves wheel-to-wheel racing is still being debated after five rounds, with Monaco likely to tell us very little — the track is too narrow for the system to matter at all.

The Petersen Automotive Museum's annual Japanese Car Cruise-In brought out an R34 parade, imported kei trucks, and the inevitable JDM deep cuts on June 1. But Toyota stole the show by rolling out a GR GT in an as-yet-unnamed metallic red, which also marked the supercar's first public appearance in North America and the first time the car has been seen in any color other than its original reveal grey. 6

The showing was tied to a promotion for Forza Horizon 6, which may explain why Toyota timed a California debut here. Jalopnik's Daniel Golson, who was in the crowd, described the crowd reaction as "overwhelming" — audible exclamations, a constant crush of people, and notably very little of the "it looks like a Viper" skepticism that greeted the car's grey reveal. The long hood, massive dash-to-axle ratio, and sharp character lines hit differently in person under California sun.

John Clay Wolfe of GIVE ME THE VIN (GMTV) spent months traveling between Alabama and Texas cataloging what he found — a privately assembled collection left by a deceased enthusiast who clearly had a particular weakness for Dodge. The haul: more than 180 classic American muscle cars and vintage vehicles, including over 70 vintage Dodge Charger project cars and bodies, plus mountains of rare Mopar parts. The collection also includes Corvettes, Oldsmobile 442s, classic Buick Rivieras, early Jaguars, Mazda RX-7s, and a 1971 Dodge Demon that appeared on the cover of Mopar Magazine in its day. 7

The GMTV auction on June 6 runs as a 100% absolute no-reserve event — everything sells regardless of final bid, with no floors. Bidding is available online at gmtvauctions.com or in person at Wolfe's Walnut Springs Roadhouse. If you've always wanted a Charger project car without knowing where to find one, this is probably the most of them in one place at one time you're ever likely to encounter.