Spring, Summer, Fall - and whoosh!
Is it just me, or are the days flying by? Zooming through the year with 366 horsepower, racing from one quarterly update to the next...

Some of you have been asking if I'm still writing this little newsletter - and yes, here I am! Though maybe I should think about dropping the 'Week' from Car Week, right?

So, where should we start catching up?

China is slowly slipping away as a market for the German luxury carmakers. It's a perfect storm really - China's real estate crisis, import prices, politics, and let's not forget the growing national pride among Chinese high-income buyers.
The result? Mercedes-Benz and BMW are having to lower their forecasts for this year, and even Volkswagen is starting to wobble on its home market Germany because of all this.
For Audi, things are so bad in China that they're launching a new brand called "AUDI" (yes, really) under Chinese company SAIC's leadership, with a completely new car. Though honestly, from where I'm sitting in Germany, I can't figure out why Chinese buyers would suddenly want an Audi that's just... Audi without the logo.

The VW Group is in such dire straits that it might actually play a role in Germany's heated election campaign after the government's collapse. Partly because Lower Saxony owns a big chunk of VW, and partly because VW basically represents Germany's entire auto industry - you know, just one of the country's strongest economic sectors, no big deal.

It's not exactly great timing when VW wants to close plants and cut thousands of jobs, Ford and suppliers like Bosch are planning similar moves, and even the proud Mercedes and BMW are starting to stumble.

Meanwhile, the EU is pushing ahead with tariffs against China, even though basically the entire business community is against it, fearing China's retaliation. Chinese manufacturers? They couldn't care less - they'll sell at a loss if they have to. Oh, and thanks to Ford and VW wanting to ditch plants and workers, there are some incredibly cheap opportunities to set up production in Europe right now.

And let's not forget about oil enthusiast Donald Trump's election victory. Conservative governments in the US, Europe, and Germany are more likely to fuel customer skepticism about electric cars rather than reduce it - when Trump promises cheap oil and likely future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz keeps ranting against electric cars, it's not exactly going to help manufacturers sell more EVs.

2025 is shaping up to be one wild ride for the auto industry. We're talking about the kind of dynamics that could claim some victims in an industry known for long development cycles and years of built-up overcapacity.

And right in the middle of all this market chaos, guess who's planning a comeback to sell cars again in 2026? Jaguar. The brand reboot of this traditional marque (now owned by India's Tata) breaks pretty much every rule in the car brand playbook. Social media fan culture is having a field day with it - "woke" is actually one of the nicer words being thrown around in the comments. Even Forbes put out an article: “What Executives Can Learn From Jaguar’s New Rebranding Campaign”.

Did I miss anything?

In this whirlpool of doom and gloom, here's a silver lining: the absolutely stunning Renault R5 is finally available for purchase - and it's getting great reviews!

How HotWeels Are Made

Hot Wheels is probably the world's biggest car manufacturer - and now they're spilling all their secrets in a new documentary series! You'll get to see how they transform a real-life car into a tiny 1:64 scale model and all the cool stuff that goes into 'building' these miniatures: Part I, Part II, Part III.

LEGO × Formula 1

Max Verstappen is Formula 1 Champ & next year’s season will be closer than ever in the past 20 years! Next year also will be more expansive and hit your wallet hard – if you're into both LEGO and Formula 1. For the first time ever, they're releasing LEGO models of all F1 teams (minus the drivers). If you're planning to collect the entire grid, you'll need to shell out at least 500 euros... Ouch!

A potential car for my dream garage

A 1970 Plymouth Barracuda has a permanent spot in my dream garage of cars I'd buy if money wasn't an issue. Actually, one just came up for sale in the US for charity, painted in McLaren's signature Papaya Orange. Sadly, the final bid was way more than what my piggy bank could handle, even though 70k was a fair bid... ( Motor1 )

That’s it for the revival.
See you next (?) week!