Senate Bill 1392, nicknamed "Leno's Law 2.0," is a bipartisan effort from Senators Dave Cortese and Shannon Grove that would gradually exempt qualifying collector vehicles manufactured before 1986 from California's biennial smog-check requirement, extending the current 1976 cutoff (sacbee.com). The bill is a direct successor to SB 712, which died in the Assembly last year; the 2026 version adds explicit mileage caps and specialty insurance mandates to address the concerns that killed its predecessor (hoodline.com). Supporters, including Jay Leno, argue that classic car owners struggle to find stations equipped for smog inspections and that sourcing original parts from defunct manufacturers is increasingly impossible (thecentersquare.com).

Environmental groups including the Bay Area Air District oppose the measure, warning it would exempt older vehicles that aren't traditionally considered collectible (thecentersquare.com). If SB 1392 clears the Assembly Appropriations Committee — the same body that killed SB 712 — it will return to both chambers for further votes and could reach Governor Newsom's desk (hoodline.com).

Director Camille Delamarre, known for action films like Brick Mansions and The Transporter Refueled, has been attached to direct "Bugatti: The Final Race," an English-language feature produced by Andrea Iervolino's company, with Iervolino co-writing alongside Alberto Ferrari (deadline.com). Set in Paris in 1947 during Ettore Bugatti's final months, the film is framed as a story about "the life of race car driver Ettore Bugatti" — a characterization that is historically misleading, since Bugatti was an automobile designer and engineer, not a racing driver (deadline.com).

Iervolino, who has previously produced biopics on Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Maserati, described Bugatti as "art applied to an engine, a man who designed cars the way others carve sculpture, and who paid for that dream with the loss of his son" — a reference to Jean Bugatti's 1939 death during a test drive (deadline.com). Delamarre, who grew up near the Bugatti factory in Molsheim, said he was drawn to a script "in which the cars are not set dressing but characters" (deadline.com).

Ford announced it will expand U.S. production of Lincoln vehicles beginning in 2030 and phase out importing Lincoln models from China for the American market (cnbc.com). The Lincoln Nautilus — currently the only China-built Lincoln sold stateside and subject to a 52.5% tariff — is the obvious vehicle affected, though Ford's statement conspicuously avoided naming it or identifying a specific U.S. plant (motor1.com). CEO Jim Farley tied the move directly to Trump administration tariff policy, saying "we made this decision as soon as the policy of the administration was set" (qz.com).

The federal Connected Vehicle Rule, which restricts certain Chinese technology in U.S.-sold vehicles, also played a role; Ford determined after Commerce Department discussions that the Nautilus no longer required a government authorization to continue sales (qz.com). A next-generation Nautilus is expected around the 2028 model year, roughly overlapping with the 2030 import cutoff, but Ford has not clarified whether the redesigned model would be imported from China in the interim or shifted to domestic production earlier (motor1.com).

Bentley will unveil the Torcal — its first fully electric vehicle — in London on September 23, 2026. The mid-size SUV sits below the Bentayga and rides on the Volkswagen Group's PPE platform shared with the Porsche Cayenne Electric, with dual motors, over 300 miles of range, and up to 390 kW charging from a 113 kWh battery expected (autocar.co.uk). Instead of piping in a fake engine note, Bentley has developed a "Dynamic Symphony" — a drum-and-viola soundtrack that responds to throttle input without pretending to be a combustion engine (carscoops.com).

Originally slated for 2025, the Torcal was delayed amid soft demand for luxury EVs, and Bentley has since walked back its all-electric-by-2030 target in favor of launching one electrified model per year through 2035 (autocar.co.uk). The brand is leaning into craft and mechanical detailing over screens, with design leadership emphasizing that "what makes us premium is to keep a good level of mechanical detailing that the others can't do" (autocar.co.uk).