It’s been an exceedingly strange past two years for cars. Huge global growth of Chinese models, American tariffs impacting pricing and margins, and shifting environmental regulations have all done their part to tilt the table in all manner of ways. Hyundai seems to be feeling that right now. Operating profit and overall deliveries are down, but one of the few bright spots is the good ol’ U.S.-of-A. Meanwhile, another Chinese car brand wants to come stateside, Toyota unleashes a pleasantly sensible off-road Sequoia, and we now know just how far the Volvo EX60 should go on a charge. Welcome back to The Morning Dump, where we puree this morning’s automotive headlines into a sort-of butternut squash soup of car news. In The Margins It’s about that time of year again when automakers release their second-quarter financial reports. This usually consists of rather dry Powerpoint presentations and video calls with investors, but in the strange year of 2026, there’s always news in the numbers. General Motors is on fire right now, having beaten earnings expectations for the 16th straight time in a row. Hyundai, on the other hand, isn’t seeing quite the same growth. Operating profit missed expectations, but it seems that the American market is doing a lot to cushion the blow. As Bloomberg reports: Operating profit was 2.85 trillion won ($1.9 billion) for the three months ended June 30, down nearly 21% from a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said Thursday. That fell short of analyst estimates for 3.1 trillion won. Revenue rose about 2% to 49.2 trillion won, a record for the second quarter. While a drop in operating profit was forecasted, missing the forecast by nearly $169 million isn’t great. So what happened? Well, a whole bunch of things coming together. Kicking things off, major factors include