dominated by military and mobility shakeups: the U.S. Navy selected Boeing for its next-generation F/A-XX carrier fighter and Raytheon locked in a five-year, up-to-$24.4 billion SM-6 missile contract amid munitions stockpile concerns; the Strait of Hormuz crisis deepened with six tankers struck in one week; Q3 auto results showed Ford and GM sales slipping while Stellantis, Ram pickups and Tesla India deliveries rose; Harley-Davidson exited King of the Baggers to double down on MotoGP; SpaceX prepared Crew-12’s return as Crew-13 settled aboard the ISS; and gas-only cars fell below 50% of global new-car sales for the first time.
- Boeing (fighter jet/missile): The U.S. Navy selected Boeing for the F/A-XX next-generation fighter program; separately, Boeing secured a $14.7B contract from Lockheed Martin to triple PAC-3 MSE missile-seeker production in Huntsville
- Raytheon (RTX) (missiles): Landed a U.S. Navy award of up to $24.4B over five years to accelerate Standard Missile-6 production — its third deal over $20B in two months
- SpaceX / NASA (space): NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 is set to undock from the ISS and splash down Oct. 7, streamed live Crew-13, launched Oct. 1, is now aboard the station, with Starship also reaching orbit in its latest milestone.
- Tankers/shipping: Two more tankers were struck, bringing the total to six ships hit in one week and 110+ incidents in the Strait of Hormuz crisis ; Rubico closed its third newbuilding MR tanker acquisition Oct. 6, adding ~$226M backlog; Turkey’s Advantage Tankers ordered two 114,000 DWT LR2 product tankers from China’s Dalian Shipbuilding
- Ford / GM / Stellantis (trucks): Q3 U.S. sales — Stellantis up 3%, GM down ~6%, Ford down 6.6% to 509,764 vehicles as F-Series and hybrids gained retail share; Ford’s F-Series still led full-size pickups while Ram posted a big jump Ford’s EV sales plunged 80% year over year.
- Tesla / BYD (EVs): Tesla posted a record 294 India registrations in September after price cuts and the Model Y L launch, while BYD’s Q3 volume of 375,373 far outpaced Tesla’s 141,996
- Rivian (EVs): Deliveries jumped 46% in Q3, though the stock fell as Tesla’s rose
- Lucid (EVs): Delivered 3,806 vehicles in Q3 (down 7% y/y) and deliberately cut production 38% to sell down unsold inventory under new CEO Silvio Napoli
- Toyota (EV manufacturing): Will invest ~$1.3B — the largest auto investment in Argentina’s history — to build a new EV in Buenos Aires
- VinFast (electric buses/trucks): Will bring homologated electric buses to the U.S. via NexMove, with deliveries from Q1 2028
- Mitsubishi (EVs): Priced the 2027 Eclipse Sportback EV from $37,745, going on U.S. sale this October
- Honda / Hyundai (EVs): Honda will discontinue the Prologue EV in the U.S. later in 2026, and Hyundai dropped the Ioniq 6 sedan from its U.S. lineup
- Harley-Davidson (motorcycles): Exited MotoAmerica’s King of the Baggers series to focus on the new Bagger World Cup and expand its MotoGP presence
- Industry milestone: Gasoline-only vehicles fell to 49% of global new-car sales in H1 2026 (from 73% in 2021) — a minority for the first time
- U.S. EV market: EV sales stabilized near 6% of the U.S. market, with dealer inventory down from ~180 days to 78 days, signaling a “looming EV comeback”
