Daily Recap: Tuesday, April 21, 2026
30 episodes · If you only listen to one: Mustang Unbridled, with Robert Kennedy, The Thing About Cars
Honda and Sony's Afeela EV program is reducing its scope. The FTC is pursuing dealers over advertising law violations, with per-occurrence fines of $51,000 that can multiply across a dealer's full online inventory.
Honda-Sony EV Joint Venture Scales Back Ambitions
Sony Honda Mobility is pulling back on its Afeela EV program, returning roughly 400 employees to its parent companies, per EV News Daily. The joint venture had been developing the Afeela under the Afeela brand before reducing its production targets and market scope.
DAILY: IONIQ 3 Revealed, Euro EV Sales Surge Again and U.S. Used EVs Smash New Record | 21 Apr 2026
"Nikkei is reporting that they're gonna work on an AI assistant and an audio system. So there you go. They went from probably spending billions of dollars on R&D for an EV only to turn that into an AI assistant and an audio system."
FTC Pursues Dealers Over Advertising Violations
The Federal Trade Commission is enforcing advertising law against dealers whose websites list vehicles at prices that violate FTC rules. The fine structure is per occurrence: a dealer with 300 illegally priced listings could face $51,000 per listing, per My Car Guru Podcast.
"The fine per occurrence, get this, $51,000 per occurrence. So if you go into their website and they've got 300 cars on their website and all of them are priced in an illegal way, it's 300 times 51,000."
Episode Spotlights
On the magazines that dominated Japan's car press before the outlaw zines upended them:
"Motor Magazine, monthly private cars, and Motor Fan dominated the market and made a name for themselves as the big three magazines of Japan's automotive world."
Driving School; Dodge Charger Review; 1981 Classifieds; Q&A
On the new Dodge Charger 6-Pack after an extended road trip:
"I drive 1600 miles in the new Dodge Charger 6-Pack and give my review."
If You Only Listen To One
Mustang Unbridled, with Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy discusses his book on Mustang design across all seven generations, including how a single interview with the S650's chief engineer became the book's final chapter.
"I got to speak directly with the chief engineer in charge of developing the S650 Mustang. We chatted for an hour and a half straight, and essentially that interview became, almost as a transcript, the final chapter of the book."
By the Numbers
Most-Mentioned Cars
Mention counts across today's episodes; not every car here appears in a dedicated story section.
| Car | Mentions |
|---|---|
| Porsche 911 | 5 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 4 |
| Porsche Cayman | 4 |
| BMW X5 | 3 |
| Ford Explorer | 3 |
| Porsche Cayenne | 3 |
| Ford Maverick | 3 |
Trending Terminology
Mention counts across today's episodes; not every term here appears in a dedicated story section.
| Term | Mentions |
|---|---|
| deferred maintenance | 4 |
| powertrain warranty | 4 |
| injectors | 4 |
| transmission | 4 |
| trade-ins | 3 |
| fuel pump | 3 |
30 episodes. 305 car mentions. 2172 terms explained. Browse every episode with searchable annotations and plain-language term definitions in the Car Curious app.