Welcome in, today is Wednesday, July twenty-ninth, and we begin with Ford, where a billion-dollar quarterly loss and a raised outlook arrived in the same results, per Automotive News. Ford reported a second-quarter net loss of one point three billion dollars, Automotive News reports, tied to the cost of changing its electric vehicle plans. In the same results, the automaker raised its full-year financial outlook, citing strong pricing and a resilient United States market. That is the second guidance increase this year, per that reporting, again behind pricing and vehicle mix. The same account has Ford expecting a favorable product mix and continued market resilience to help offset tariff costs, and further charges from the EV strategy pivot. For suppliers and dealers sizing second-half plans, that pairing is the reference point: strategy charges landing on one line, demand and price holding on another, with the charges described as ongoing rather than closed out. Also today, a strong earthquake in southwestern Japan has production schedules in question. Automotive News reports the quake struck the Kumamoto region at around four thirty in the afternoon, crumpling buildings and buckling highways. Toyota has suspended Lexus output, and Nissan is evaluating its plants, according to that reporting, which adds that the industry is carefully monitoring the fallout. No assessment of duration has been reported yet, and that is the operative gap. Until those damage reviews close, Japanese build schedules and the downstream commitments hanging off them stay provisional, for the plants themselves and for everyone shipping into them. Separately, Nissan and Honda have revived their software partnership, following the collapse of their merger. Automotive News reports the two will jointly develop an operating system for software-defined vehicles, with the stated aim of helping Japan compete with Tesla and China. Just Auto reports the pair are also looking to cut the cost of developing next-generation vehicles. Industry reaction leans toward reading this less as a software bet than as a template for partnership as markets fragment along country-specific regulation, with a recurring wait-and-see note on whether shared scale offsets recent turbulence. Some in the trade frame the pressure as the Chinese digital lead specifically, rather than Tesla. The operating system is where platform decisions get locked for years, which is what gives a shared one its reach. In Washington, the United States is moving to set new safety rules for car doors. Automotive News reports the move follows deaths in Tesla electric vehicles, and adds to growing fallout over incidents tied to electric door handles. That reporting does not carry an implementing body or an effective date, so the compliance clock is not yet set. What is on the table is the door mechanism itself, and electronic handles are not a one-automaker design choice. A rule written around them would reach engineering and supplier programs across the segment, on whatever timeline the rulemaking eventually fixes. Design freezes already scheduled would be the first thing to feel it. Also today, Mercedes-Benz has cut its sales and revenue guidance on weak demand in China. Automotive News reports both are now expected to come in slightly below last year's level, and says the China downturn is adding to pressure on chief executive Ola Kallenius, who has pledged further cost savings and productivity gains. Automotive World reports the downturn weighed on the car division in the second quarter, while group performance still improved notably. That split is the part worth carrying: one region moved a full-year forecast down at the premium end, even as the wider group held. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. United States trade representative Jamieson Greer says he hopes to give President Trump options on USMCA for Canada by the end of the year, Automotive News reports. Volkswagen Group is reshaping its European factory network around its lowest-cost plants, per that reporting. Production chief Christian Vollmer's target is three thousand euros per vehicle, with the group still running one thousand euros above it. And finally, Honda is considering a new North American assembly plant, Automotive News reports, one industry experts expect would land in the United States, putting Canadian output in play.