July 6, 2026 | Tesla launches longer three-row Model Y; Sonatus’ John Heinlein

July 6, 2026 | Tesla launches longer three-row Model Y; Sonatus’ John Heinlein Automotive News Daily Drive · Jul 6, 2026

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

13:21

Term

auto loans

Auto loans are how people pay for a car over time with monthly payments. The mention of very long loans (84 months) suggests more buyers are stretching payments out.

Concept

trade-in cycle

The trade-in cycle is how often people swap their current car for a newer one. Changes in financing can make that timing shift, which can impact used-car prices.

Car

The Hyundai Sonata is a regular family car (a sedan) made by Hyundai. The podcast is talking about how newer cars rely more on software and data to spot problems and handle recalls. That means the car’s systems can be monitored and updated using information from the vehicle.

Term

vehicle data

Vehicle data is information the car collects while it’s being driven and used. The point here is that analyzing it could help companies spot problems earlier and reduce the need for big recalls.

Term

recalls

A recall is when a car company asks owners to bring cars in to fix a problem. The host is saying better data could help catch issues earlier.

Car

Model YL

This is Tesla’s bigger, family-focused version of the Model Y. It’s longer and adds a third row of seats so more people can ride together.

Term

long-wheelbase

“Long-wheelbase” means the car’s wheel spacing is longer than usual. More wheel spacing usually translates into more room for passengers in the back.

Term

three-row version

A three-row vehicle has seating across three rows (front, second, and a third row). It’s a key category distinction for family haulers because it changes how the cabin is packaged and how many passengers can ride at once.

Car

Tesla Model X

The Model X is Tesla’s bigger SUV. Here, the host says Tesla stopped selling it, which left fewer options for families needing extra seats.

Company

Continental

Continental is a big car-parts company, especially known for tires. Here, they’re selling part of their business to focus more on tires.

Term

private equity firm

A private equity firm is an investor that buys companies. They often try to make the business more profitable and then sell it later.

Company

LoneStar funds

LoneStar funds is the investment firm buying part of Continental. Deals like this often mean the buyer plans to run that business differently after the purchase.

Term

tires business

This just means the company wants to focus on making and selling tires. The host is saying Continental is concentrating on what it does best after selling another unit.

Company

Contitech

Contitech is mentioned because it cut jobs, including in Germany. It’s included as part of the broader auto-industry news backdrop.

Term

auto loan terms

“Auto loan terms” are the rules of your car loan. They include how long you have to pay it off, which affects your monthly payment and how much interest you pay overall.

Term

84 month loans

An “84 month loan” is a car loan you pay off over 7 years. It can lower your monthly payment, but you’re paying interest for longer.

Company

Edmonds

Edmonds is the organization mentioned as the source for the loan-trend numbers in this segment. They’re being used to back up the claim about longer loan choices.

Company

AutoPay Plus

AutoPay Plus is the company that surveyed dealers for this story. They’re used here as the source of the dealers’ opinions about how longer loans affect trade-ins.

Term

F&I teams

“F&I teams” are the dealership staff who help you finance the car and handle insurance-related paperwork. They can also influence how the deal is put together, including payment options.

Term

bi-weekly payment structure

A “bi-weekly payment structure” means you pay every two weeks rather than once a month. It can change how quickly you reduce the loan balance and may affect total interest.

Term

negative equity

Negative equity means you owe more money on your current car than it’s worth. When you trade it in, that extra amount usually rolls into the new car loan, so you’re stuck owing even more from the start.

Term

trade-ins

A trade-in is your current car being used as part of the payment for a new car. If your current car is worth less than what you still owe, that gap can get added to the new loan.

Term

underwater

“Underwater” is another way of saying you owe more than your car is worth. So when you try to trade it in, you still have a loan gap to deal with.

Company

Edmunds

Edmunds is a car research site that collects data about what people pay and what their trade-ins are worth. Here, they’re being cited for numbers about how underwater buyers are.

Term

software-defined vehicle

It means the car’s important features are controlled by software. Instead of being “locked in,” the car can often get new features or fixes through updates sent wirelessly.

Company

Sonatus

Sonatus is a tech company that works with carmakers. It helps them handle the car’s data as it happens, which supports modern connected and software-updated vehicles.

Person

John Heinlein

John Heinlein is a marketing executive at Sonatus. Here, he’s talking about how car companies are adopting software-defined vehicles and what still needs to happen.

Term

open source platforms

Open source platforms are software building blocks that many people can access and improve. In cars, that can help companies develop faster and avoid being stuck with only one supplier’s software.

Term

SDV adoption

SDV adoption refers to how widely automakers are moving toward software-defined vehicle architectures across their product lines. It covers both the technical shift (more software control) and the business shift (using software updates and data-driven features).

Term

Neu-class platform

BMW’s “Neu-class platform” is BMW’s new car electronics foundation. In this context, it’s designed to make it easier to add and update features using software, by organizing the car’s computers by different areas (“zones”).

Term

Zonal approach

A “zonal approach” means the car’s computer systems are organized by sections of the vehicle. Instead of everything being handled by separate boxes everywhere, the car groups computing by area, which can make software updates and feature changes easier.

Term

ECUs

ECUs are the car’s electronic control computers. They’re the boxes that run software to control different functions, and the discussion here is about moving away from older “fixed” setups toward more software-flexible designs.

Term

OTAs

OTAs are software updates sent to your car over the internet. The point here is that older cars only updated some parts, while SDV is about making more of the car’s software updateable.

Term

IVI

IVI means the car’s infotainment system—things like the touchscreen, navigation, and media. The speaker is saying that earlier software updates mostly targeted this area first.

Term

separation of hardware and software

This means the car’s software shouldn’t be permanently tied to the exact hardware it shipped with. If they’re separated, the software can be updated later to add features or fix issues.

Term

zonal controllers

Zonal controllers are computers in the car that manage specific areas (“zones”). Putting the computer closer to the sensors it uses can reduce wiring and make updates easier.

Term

Android Automotive OS

Android Automotive OS is Google’s software system for cars. It’s like the car’s main platform for apps and features, built on Android so it can be updated and expanded.

Term

automotive grade Linux

Automotive grade Linux is Linux that’s adapted for cars. It’s meant to be dependable and secure enough to run vehicle software, not just consumer apps.

Term

Eclipse Foundation's S core project

This is an open-source project from the Eclipse Foundation aimed at providing shared core software for cars. The idea is to make it easier for automakers and suppliers to build compatible vehicle software.

Term

open source model

An open source model means the software code is shared so others can work on it too. For cars, it can help development, but it still has to be safe and secure.

Term

safety critical subsystems

Safety critical subsystems are the car systems that can affect whether you stay safe. Because they’re so important, they usually can’t change as quickly as less-critical features.

LIVE

Welcome to Daily Drive for Monday, July 6th, 2026.

I'm Jake Nier in Detroit, in for Kellan Walker.

Today on the show, Tesla just filled a gap in its lineup with a longer, three-row Model

Y. Continental just sold off one of its biggest divisions in a multi-billion-dollar deal,

and 84-month auto loans just hit a record high, and the trade-in cycle may be paying

the price.

Plus, Sonata's CMO, John Heinlein, talks about where the software-defined vehicle transition

actually stands right now, and how vehicle data could help automakers get ahead of recalls

before they happen.

Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.

Tesla is filling a family hauler gap in its lineup.

The automaker just launched the Model YL in the US, a long-wheelbase, three-row version

of its best-selling crossover.

The Model YL is about 7 inches longer than the standard model.

It starts at just over $63,000 for the loaded launch series.

Tesla discontinued its larger Model X last quarter that left the brand without a spacious

option for families.

According to Mobility Global Data, the Model Y led all EVs in US registrations through

April.

Continental is shedding one of its biggest divisions.

The German supplier has agreed to sell its Contitech rubber and plastics unit to private

equity firm LoneStar funds for around $4.6 billion.

Continental says it expects to return roughly $2.5 billion to shareholders after the deal

closes, which it's targeting by year-end.

The move lets Continental sharpen its focus on its core tires business.

It comes months after Contitech cut 3,000 jobs, including 1,600 in Germany.

And auto loan terms just keep stretching.

A record 24% of borrowers chose 84 month loans or longer in the second quarter, according

to Edmonds.

Three-quarters of dealers surveyed by AutoPay Plus say those extended terms are pulling

customers out of the trade-in cycle.

Here to talk more about it is John Hutter, who covers retail F&I for us at Automotive

News.

John, welcome back to Daily Drive.

Hey, great to be here.

I have to wonder, are dealers looking at other ways to lower payments other than these

really extended term limits?

It was interesting.

AutoPay Plus did some research on that and it found for payment shopping, the F&I teams,

the primary tactic by far was just going to longer loan terms.

It was like 60% of dealers said that was their strategy.

But 25% said they did ask for a larger down payment.

That was kind of their go-to.

The other ones, there was some interest in trying to fight a new lender with a lower interest rate

or going to a bi-weekly payment structure.

But predominantly, the loan length was the one.

The other strategy where you could kind of do it would be leasing.

And that would be interesting.

I mean, I talked to one dealer where their business was primarily lease or cash.

And so longer loan terms are less of an issue for them.

So that could be another strategy.

It's really interesting.

John, you've been on the show in the past talking about how negative equity is already a problem.

So it seems like extending loan terms can leave customers even more underwater on their trade-ins

and for longer.

How does that issue play into this?

Well, and that's what's kind of interesting about these longer terms.

You are going to be underwater for longer.

And so the issue right now is that negative equity is already a problem.

I mean, the auto pay plus is polling found.

40% of dealers said negative equity was a problem to closing a deal in almost every transaction.

Another 51% said it happens frequently.

It's in the way of the deal frequently.

So right away, you've got dealers already seeing this.

You've also got experts finding this at the more macro level.

Edmunds had in the first quarter, the average buyer was trading in a 4.3-year-old vehicle.

And it was $7,813 underwater.

And that's up 42% from just a few years ago.

So right away, we've already got a negative equity issue.

And so if longer loan terms continue to persist,

then that problem doesn't seem like that's going to go away.

John Hutter, really interesting data here.

Really appreciate your reporting on it.

Thanks for joining us.

Hey, thanks, Jake.

The software-defined vehicle has been one of the defining themes of this industry for years now.

But where does the transition actually stand?

John Heinlein is chief marketing officer at Sonatus,

a company that helps automakers manage and act on vehicle data in real time.

He spoke with our own Molly Boygon about the state of SDV adoption across the industry,

the rise of open source platforms, and more.

They spoke on this week's Automotive News Shift podcast.

Here's a piece of that conversation.

Where would you say that we are in the software-defined vehicle transition?

For me, it feels like there's been so much else happening in the auto industry.

I want to just kind of provide our readers with a level set.

How far along has there been significant progress?

How far do we have to go, that kind of thing?

I would say, obviously, the journey towards software-defined vehicles has been that.

It's taken many years.

I think we're getting to the point now where there's a broad recognition

that SDV is clearly the way to go.

I think some years ago, it was like, oh, well, is SDV going to happen or not?

I think everyone recognizes that SDV is clearly the right solution.

Obviously, leading solutions from Tesla Rivian, those kind of early pioneers,

have shown that.

But now you're seeing BMW, you're seeing Toyota, you're seeing obviously VW,

and some of the work they're doing, all going this direction,

recognizing the huge benefits that SDV brings.

We also recognize that SDV is not the end game.

SDV is sort of like an enabling technology.

One of the things that we believe in is that once you have the framework of SDV,

now you have the opportunity to then use it in rich ways.

For example, through AI, it's one of the things we work on.

But you have to have the foundational capabilities first to be able to unlock the next level.

So you just mentioned several automakers that have made some platform moves in recent months.

BMW is transitioning entirely to its Neu-class platform,

which has a Zonal approach and is basically supposed to enable some of those new features.

Toyota is using Qualcomm, Snapdragon, Digital Chassis,

VW also has an agreement with Volkswagen.

What do these partnerships mean in terms of tangible differences for these automakers?

How sort of game changing in general are these sort of platform investments for the auto industry?

Well, you mentioned the platform shifts, and I think we should talk technically about what

some of the things are. Historically, as you all know, but just for your listeners,

historically, you would have seen distinctive ECUs with hardware and software often tightly

coupled together. I like to say that the software was inside and you seal the thing in epoxy and

you generally never update it afterwards, which is actually fairly close to how it worked.

OTAs were generally isolated to some subsystems, particularly around

IVI and so on like that. But what you're seeing now is a more fundamental shift where you're

recognizing a software has to be decoupled. If you think about it, if you really boil it down to

what is an SDV at the end of the day, it's the separation of hardware and software. Because

as soon as hardware and software tied together, fundamentally, you don't have SDV. So all of

this work, whether it's to centralize ECUs and bring some stronger compute towards the center,

and it's usually an and, not an or, and zonal approaches that decouple computing around the

vehicle, while at the same time consolidating it so that it's still not 50 ECUs, 100 ECUs,

but rather a smaller number of higher capability ECUs around the vehicle. Now you're putting in

place the opportunity for the decoupling of hardware and software that is that is SDV. Now

if you look at what BMW and Toyota and VW and Rivian and Tesla are all doing is, they're also

trying to sensibly divide the architecture around, you know, each one of those is basically

delivering some generally some stronger compute in the middle. I mean, all of those have a kind

of higher performance compute in the center. But the idea of just a single central compute

centralized architecture, which a lot of times people have talked about, is an overcorrection.

So that's why each of them are also delivering zonal controllers that are handling typically

physical regions of the vehicle so that the sensors and the compute next to those sensors are

relative to close to each other. That simplifies wiring. It simplifies and provides you the ability

to do better power distribution in a soft way. And it allows you to do better smart upgrade

ability. And that's allowed these kind of OEMs to deliver systems that have, you know, a handful,

you know, that's 10 or 15, depending on the OEM of ECUs instead of, you know, the hundreds or

dozens they would have had before. We've also had over the last few months some big announcements

in the open source space. So Google announced its new open platform Android Automotive OS for

software defined vehicles, automotive grade Linux released in open source dev platform.

The Eclipse Foundation's S core project is releasing an open source core software stack.

I feel like open source has really been in the ether for the past few years. And I wonder if

these announcements signify some kind of sea change to you or, you know, if it's still basically

going to take a long time for the industry to sort of move toward this open source model.

I think it's a combination. Open source, there no doubt has continued to increase

as a more and more viable approach in automotive. Automotive has a lot of safety aspects. And so

automotive is not a monolithic thing that, okay, it's not open source. And now it's open source.

The reality is there are going to be different subsystems. Some of the more safety critical

subsystems will be slower to shift. Some of the less safety criticals will be faster to shift.

We do, as you know, Molly, we do a survey every year with the Informer Group on

STVs. And one of the questions we always ask is the prevalence and the interest in open source

for both safety and non safety critical. In non safety critical, it's unambiguous.

All of the top choices are open source, whether it's Android or other Linux variants of various

different kinds. In the case of safety critical, last year, the survey showed a very strong interest

in looking forward to 2030. We asked them in 2030, what would be the most dominant operating system

for safety critical systems? There was actually a very strong interest in looking towards open

source in that survey. This year, that's still there. It has softened a little bit, I think,

largely because we asked the question in a slightly different way. But there's no doubt

a lot of the incredible work with a number of leading providers like Red Hat, Electrobed,

and others on getting safety certification for Linux is now unlocking the ability to use it in

more of the subsystems. And I think that will continue over time. Sonata CMO, John Heinlein,

spoke with our own Molly Boygon. You can hear the full conversation on the latest episode of

the automotive news shift podcast that's available right now wherever you get your podcasts.

That's daily drive for today. I'm Jake Nier in for Kellen Walker. Thanks to our own John Hutter

and Lauren Siliff for their reporting for today's show. You can get the latest news on software

to find vehicles, auto loan trends, and everything happening in the auto industry at AutoNews.com.

Come back tomorrow for a conversation with Matthew Carey, CEO of Terradar, a startup developing

a new kind of sensor that works like radar, but with lidar level resolution that's even in rain,

fog, and snow. So think of being able to pick up a child who wandered into the street 200 meters away

at night in the rain and being able to provide that level of safety.

We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the show and the topics we covered today.

Send us an email at dailydrive at autonews.com or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774.

And if you enjoy the podcast, remember to like, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

0:00

13:21

tires business

About this episode

Original notes