Editor's Note: This week, Peter discusses the current situation in the auto industry – and it is beyond grim. In On The Table, we detail the "affordable" Toyota GR Corolla and the much less affordable new Audi A6. Our AE Song of the Week is "From The Beginning" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In Fumes, we have Part V of Peter's series on his all-time favorite racing cars, this week focusing on one "magnificent beast" in particular. And in The Line, we have MotoGP results from Motegi Japan, as well as another look at the 2026 INDYCAR schedule. Onward! -WG
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. The negative auto industry news is starting to pick up speed. For instance, the Robert Bosch company is cutting 13,000 jobs, or close to 3 percent of its global workforce, due to a difficult market, tariffs and high costs. VW is “pausing” EV production at its German facilities due to the tariffs and drastically slowing demand in the U.S. Valmet Automotive Oyj, the Finland-based contract supplier that produces various Mercedes-Benz models, is reducing its workforce by one third due to the darkening industry outlook in Europe. U.S. tariffs on Canadian parts and autos exploded to $380 million this past July. And Lucerne International Inc., an auto supplier, decided against a $50 million facility in Detroit directly due to the tariffs.
These developments represent just the tip of the iceberg, as suppliers are upending or scrapping future plans altogether due to the capriciously unpredictable nature of the tariffs. And that isn’t even getting to the automakers themselves. Product plans are being upended or cancelled altogether, as uncertainty reigns throughout the industry. All because the current occupant of the White House is stuck with an 80s mindset on everything, and is wreaking havoc on an industry that he and his minions haven’t even the first clue of understanding.
This is best exemplified given the attitude that the Dear Leader believes he can snap his fingers and that “fixes” will be immediate and dramatically positive, even though the required transformation to supply chains, factory builds and product planning will play out in years, not months.
The industry is trying to adapt to the current “finger-snap” mindset in Washington, and it isn’t going well. Short-term solutions such as Stellantis turning back the clock and going all-in on ICE muscle machines again are just that: short-term. How long Stellantis can live with that and how far it can carry that product strategy remains to be determined, although it’s clear that for a certain faction of the car-buying population, this direction is exactly what the doctor ordered.
But let’s not forget that two of the three “domestic” (I use that term purposely, as people forget that Stellantis is a foreign-owned company) automakers spent billions on top of billions on EV research and development, battery manufacturing facilities and a plethora of products. Was all of this work wasted? Not in the least, as the lessons learned in the process will prove to be invaluable going forward. But the current reality in Washington – which equates EV development as the Devil’s Work – means that those billions spent on bringing EVs to the masses will have to be tabled, except for selective instances of appropriate products for certain segments, of course. (And no, that does not mean EV pickups, which have turned out to be a fool’s errand as they don’t – or can’t – function as real working pickup trucks.)
So, Ford, GM and Stellantis are being forced to approach the next few years with a scattershot approach, cranking out ICE vehicles to stay alive and afloat, while plotting their next move to meet whatever is coming in the future, as advanced battery development – emphasizing light weight and density – continues at a torrid pace and an actual working national charging network slowly but surely solidifies.
Let me emphasize that none of these developments will be happening in a vacuum or with any degree of certainty. As long as the current administration is allowed to conduct “business” on the whims of Dear Leader, these auto manufacturers and their suppliers will be teetering on the brink of disaster for the foreseeable future.
Vehicle prices are soaring, and the typical auto buyer will be pressed to the limit in order to afford a new (or used) vehicle. This is the ugly reality facing this industry right now.
I’ve been accused of being overly negative on the future of this industry, but frankly, I haven’t been sounding the alarm loudly enough. Suppliers are going to fall by the wayside, costing countless jobs, and the manufacturers will be forced to jettison thousands of employees too.
This is not going to end well for this industry, and for those who are unwilling to believe it I’m afraid you’re in for a very rude awakening.
The clock is ticking on the U.S. automobile industry as we know it. And the most pathetic thing is that it didn’t have to unfold this way.
But here we are.
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
Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 07:47AM