# May 15th, 2026 | Toyota eyes $2B Texas plant; AutoPayPlus CEO on affordability Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649/may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649/may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability.md Podcast: [Automotive News Daily Drive](https://stenobird.com/podcast/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649) Published: 2026-05-15T19:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://autonews.com Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.buzzsprout.com/2447022/episodes/19183514-may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649/episodes/may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability Duration seconds: 921 ## Resource Toyota is considering a new $2 billion assembly plant in Texas. Subaru puts its electric vehicle plans on ice and shifts focus back to internal combustion and hybrid cars. Plus, AutoPayPlus CEO Robert Steenbergh explains why he says lowering interest rates won’t solve the auto industry’s affordability problem. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649/episodes/may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/automotive-news-daily-drive-58649/may-15th-2026-toyota-eyes-2b-texas-plant-autopayplus-ceo-on-affordability.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.