Super journalism in the FT W/E: "Yet many drivers remain deeply wary of the autonomous car transition. It takes a human about 45 hours to learn to drive a car. Why, I ask, has the tech industry spent more than $100bn trying — and repeatedly failing — to replicate something we can master so easily?

BYD, without question, is producing impressive underlying growth this year, but is seeing a large chunk of that growth coming from unsustainable sources👇 Four-in-ten of its German new car registrations were recorded by their own/franchised dealerships, with just 12% ending up with private consumers

The fact that VW has delayed its usual strategic planning round likely has as much to do with the internal issues the company is facing alongside the European Commission's Automotive Package announcement, pencilled in for next week. Strategic planners might as well be sitting around a pool for now 🌴

🌬️ 🚛 🧱 Are the appearances of trucks on European roads about to change to a more sleek and lean aerodynamic design? 🚅 The design of Tesla's Semi could give us a glimpse into the future The EC have just set its position on maximum weights/dimensions for road vehicles which now goes forward to the EP

In terms of plug-in new car registration volumes across W-Europe this year #VWGroup is leaving the others trailing, on course to see close to one million of their just over 3 million full year 2025 regional passenger car registrations as xEV BEVs/PHEVs. Source: www.schmidtautomotiveresearch.com

🇨🇳 🚗 ⛴️ 🇪🇺 What proportion of Chinese models registered in Europe are electric? 👇 Chinese OEMs see an increasing share of their models registered across Western Europe as PHEVs, accounting for every fifth new model, while ICE dominates. #tariffs Source: www.schmidtautomotivereseach.com

🚨 Polestar to manufacture in Europe, navigating geopolitical trade headwinds www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/polesta...

Nice to get a few words in edgeways, in this interesting story.

BYD's outrageous model roll-out pace – throw it at the wall and see what sticks strategy – sees an eighth model arrive across Europe. Almost a blink and you miss a new product arrival

Mark Zuckerberg's derogatory comment on "legacy media" while Meta shamelessly gets into bed with the Trump administration is astonishing. Quality "legacy media" publishers remain critical of international politics and don't necessarily alter course depending on the government like "neo-media"!

Tesla to attract a raft of OEMs into its 2025 EU CO2 regulatory credit pool. More here: www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/tesla-t... Meanwhile, Mercedes pool with Volvo Cars www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/mercede...

Exclusive: The UK surpasses Germany in becoming Europe's largest pure-electric (BEV) car market for the first time. More here: schmidtmatthias.de/so/cbPGxWPEd...

The biggest threat to EU stability? a) Xi b) Putin c) Musk C. As a free market capitalist whose biggest hate, regulation, is putting the brakes on his companies, Musk is partly dictating the political discourse via X, and is now backing anti-EU parties, similar to his Trump move.

Elon: "How do I deflect a 0.7 million unit recall?" Advisor (Musk): "Get into bed with the AFD" www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/...

So it looks like if you're a Tesla driver in Germany, you can now add a vote AFD bumper sticker to the back of your car for the upcoming German elections

Can anyone offer an explanation as to why there are a large amount of Tesla models registered with Berlin registration plates at Tesla dealerships on the other side of the country? OEMs registering models themselves isn't uncommon, but I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. Can anyone offer info?

Having been upstaged by Tavares in a decade-long spat since former Stellantis CEO jumped ship from Renault, having been refused the brand's top job by then Alliance chief Ghosn, it must have been a party feeling at Renault this w/e as Stellantis reapplied to join ACEA under the stewardship of de Meo

The EU's desperation to #derisk from China has caused VDL to double down on the Mercosur/EU free-trade agreement and jump on a plane to Montevideo, perhaps leveraging France's current weakness?! South America could become a rumble in the jungle between European car manufacturers and Chinese OEMs.

Quick piece from me in this week's @economist.com on Britain's electric-car rollout. Despite (partly-justified) grumbling from the industry about too-harsh government's targets, Britain only is in the middle of the pack in Europe on EV adoption, at best. www.economist.com/britain/2024...

It appears former Opel, Continental and Volkswagen China CEO Carl-Thomas Neumann has been dragged into the dieselgate scandal during his tenure at Continental. He currently sits on the board at Polestar and followed his role at Opel in a perhaps calculated move to green mobility start-ups

Not to knock Volkswagen Group's regulatory roadmap off track but... anyone in the market for a VW Group MEB model and isn't in a rush would surely wait until 2027 once the new @rivianofficial.bsky.social JV digital architecture is rolled out across MEB models.

This is an interesting appointment from VDL, especially given the upcoming 2026 report from the Commission regarding the progress of the EU passenger car and van CO2 fleet emission targets going forward. ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

China's SAIC MG brand witnessed its third quarter West European volumes come within 0.2ppts of equalling Fiat. More details will be provided in the Q3 edition of our European China OEM Study, which will be published next Monday. Source: www.schmidtautomotiveresearch.com

Don't mention Jaguar Don't mention Jaguar Don't mention Jaguar Bloomberg: 👇

Another tough day for the German auto industry: Ford cut 2,900 of 4,000 European jobs in... Germany! www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/another...

From our Q3 European Chinese OEM Study Are Chinese OEMs about to flick the switch on tariff headwinds focusing on BEVs and slide into Europe through the backdoor with PHEVs and HEVs for now? 10% of BYD's W-European volumes were PHEV in September Source: www.schmidtautomotiveresearch.com

It is always a pleasure to contribute to our friends at @zeit.de online. Headline: "Toyota, the brand for sensible consumers, and who are largely avoiding pure electric cars – and the growing success they are having in doing so" A very rough translation there! www.zeit.de/mobilitaet/2...

The nearest gas station is 3km from me; the nearest high speed DC charger is 300m