SAME AS IT EVER WAS.
Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 07:39AM Editor's Note: This week, Peter continues his dissection of the auto industry's woes, with a special shout-out to the those who are unwilling (or unable) to confront the reality of the situation. In On The Table, We have uninspired news from Porsche and Genesis, including the first candidate for the "The Answer to the Question that Nobody's Asking" Sweepstakes for 2026. And we have a sobering note on the cost of the average car payment these days. Our AE Song of the Week is "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads. In Fumes, we have Part VI of Peter's series on his all-time favorite racing cars. And in The Line, we have F1 results from Singapore and MotoGP results from Indonesia. Enjoy! -WG
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. Last week’s column generated a huge response across the various social media channels, especially LinkedIn. It seems that people understand – or at least are beginning to – that the situation the U.S-based automobile industry finds itself in is borderline dire. (The haters, per usual, were well represented too. - WG). The painfully arbitrary tariffs imposed by Dear Leader are wreaking havoc all across America, not just in the auto industry, and the full negative effects are just beginning to factor in to our everyday lives.
That hasn’t stopped GM from insisting that they have it all figured out to keep things going (they don’t), while Ford is mired in the tedious celebration of Jim “I’m a genius, just ask me" Farley's “momentous” (cough, hack) reign at Ford, touting his “achievements” after five years. Yes, of course, this praise is happening while conveniently glossing over Farley's piss-poor record on recalls, the one thing he was tasked to "fix" from the beginning and the one thing he has failed miserably at attempting to rectify. It's getting to be a recurring joke, in fact, as all Ford can say is that we're "working on it" or "we're making progress." That's unmitigated bullshit, folks. That nary a discouraging word has emerged from the minions within Ford – even anonymously – is telling, because judging by the emails I receive, there's a huge faction inside Ford that has had it up to "here" with the Farley "Show," but they're being quashed by the relentless PR machine that canonizes Farley at every opportunity, ably aided and abetted by the Detroit Free Press. I will remind everyone – yet again – that the hangover post-Farley is going to be brutal, and as I've mentioned many times before, Bill Ford doesn't have a backup plan ready. This is a giant bowl of Not Good for the minions in Dearborn, but hey they don’t want to be reminded of any negativity right now, they’re just content to bask in the glow of Jimmy’s brilliance.
As for Stellantis, they’re too busy stuffing HEMI V8s in everything that moves, figuring they can stave off what’s coming for a long time to come. But we all realize that’s a fool’s errand, and “what’s coming” is liable to rapidly bring these companies to their knees.
This business is caught in this seemingly perpetual automotive Twilight Zone between the end of the ICE era and the dawn of the mainstream BEV era, and throw in the insane complications due to Generalissimo’s tariffs, and things are bound to be more than a little unsettled. Or boring. Or both. It seems like the entire industry is pretending that reality is somehow not real, while losing themselves in that time-honored mindset of "It won't be long now!" Translation? Give us another year and we'll be smokin'. It’s a kind of “What, us worry?” whistling past the graveyard, Alfred E. Neuman-esque mentality, and it’s bound to have a sad and pathetic end as long as the current blockheads are in power in Washington. Good luck with that scenario, folks.
In the meantime, have another SUV and you'll be fine. Or something like that, because this industry is officially out of ideas. (See the Genesis and Porsche product news in “On The Table” It’s special. Not. -WG) With that in mind then, I have a few questions for you in the biz, especially the True Believers (as inspired by one of my heroes, David Byrne)...
Go ahead and ask yourself
What am I doing?
Go ahead and ask yourself
And what is it for?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Am I going where I want to go?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I just running in place?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Is this as good as it gets?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I missing something?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Is this the life I signed up for?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I going through the motions?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Am I spending my time asking why?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I living for why not?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Do I have it finally figured out?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I closer to where I started?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Have I stopped learning?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or am I better than yesterday?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Are my regrets stifling my soul?
Go ahead and ask yourself
Or is my past fueling me forward?
You may ask yourself
Am I still writing chapters?
You may ask yourself
Or is it time for my next act?
You may ask yourself
Is this all there is?
You may ask yourself
Or am I good right here?
You may ask yourself
Is it time to run?
You may ask yourself
Or can I run but not hide?
You may ask yourself
Is this the best me?
You may ask yourself
Or a pathetic facsimile?
You may ask yourself
Am I ready for The Future?
You may ask yourself
Or am I mired in the way it used to be?
You may ask yourself
Will it really be all that new?
Or will it be the same as it ever was?
I’ll leave it to The Man himself, Mr. Byrne, to close things out:
You may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
You may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? Am I wrong?
And you may say yourself
"My God! What have I done?"
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG