It’s hard to think of a brand that’s fallen harder than Audi. Nissan has had a similar trajectory, but expectations for Nissan were never quite as high as they were for Audi, which makes it feel somehow worse.
Who has replaced Audi? I don’t think it’s Lexus, as that brand has always had its own niche. Perhaps Genesis? Nah, I think Genesis is taking more from Mercedes, spiritually if not literally. Tesla? It’s probably Tesla. That brand became the default for a certain kind of person for a while.
Audi is pushing F1 big this year, and F1 does indeed have a huge halo. Will it be enough to shine a light on Audi? Volvo isn’t in F1, and it’s not in as bad a shape, but it needs to prove it can do an EV launch without crapping the bed.
European driving tests are, generally, harder than American ones. What are Brits doing about it? Cheating. That’ll work! Yesterday’s TMD was a lot, so I’m happy to end this one on a positive note.
‘A Lot Of Pieces Of The Puzzle Are Coming Together’
Today was the big reveal for the livery for Audi’s R26 car for this year’s F1 season. Normally, I wouldn’t care that much. If you love F1, that’s awesome, but there are places that are going to typically be more excited about every livery reveal than The Morning Dump.
Audi, though, needs the help. Sales are crashing (it’s a global problem) and the CEO is dealing with a bunch of internal heat. Formula One can provide a ton of attention, of course, and also create value if your team is successful. For a brand like Cadillac, which is on a bit of an upswing, I get the positioning. If you become a Cadillac fan via F1, then there’s probably something in the lineup you might like.
“Today, a lot of pieces of the puzzle are coming together,” said Gernot Döllner, CEO of AUDI AG and Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Motorsport AG, at the team presentation. “It’s impressive to see how the intensive preparation is paying off and the performance of those involved is becoming evident. For the first time, the full power of the project is on display. We are ready and excited to inspire people around the world by taking part in Formula 1.”
It’s hard to time out the multi-year process of getting into F1, and Audi faces some interesting challenges here. Right off the bat, Audi is built on the bones of Sauber, which is still a backmarker team that sometimes moves into the middle. Will there be more success this year? F1 is changing rules and powertrains, so there are some opportunities. Chaos is a ladder, and if anyone is used to chaos, it’s Audi.
Assuming that Audi is successful on track, are there going to be products in the showroom to get fans excited enough to buy something? If Bortoleto manages a podium, is that going to drive people to lease a Q5?
I’m not sure it’s worked out for Mercedes, and Mercedes has a more interesting lineup right now. Obviously, Ferrari has roughly 300,000 fans for every car it sells, but that took decades of careful work.
Like Döllner said, pieces of the puzzle are coming together, but right now it’s just a frame, and the frame is the easy part. When Audi can start getting pieces of the sky together, I’ll be more hopeful.
Volvo Can’t Screw Up The EX60
As mentioned, Volvo has a 400-mile car in its new EX60, which is a Polestar 3-sized vehicle to slot in between the EX30 and EX90. The embargo is up later today, so you’ll be able to read all the details here.
Will it be enough? I’m not sure. After all the hype for the EX90 and EX30, both were bad launches. The EX90, while good, feels like a work in progress. The EX30 was seriously delayed.
Automotive News says dealers are cautiously optimistic that this might go better:
Jason Church, chairman of the Volvo Retail Advisory Board, said the EX60 is the automaker’s “second chance” to get an EV launch right.
“EX60 must launch on time and be top notch when it rolls off the line in Sweden,” said Church, COO of Courtesy Automotive Group, which has a Volvo dealership in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Early customers cannot be beta testers.”
Oof.
People Caught Cheating On The British Driving Test Up 47%
I was able to drive in England, and it was mostly fine. If I can do it, presumably anyone can? Perhaps not, according to a recent story in The Guardian, which said cheating was up 47%.
Do they take cheating seriously? Yes!
Ninety-six people were prosecuted for attempting to cheat driving tests or impersonate candidates in 2024-25, the DVSA said. A prosecution case can include multiple incidents.
Impersonators and learners who use them could be sent to prison, banned from driving, ordered to carry out unpaid work and made to pay court costs.
Qounain Khan, 23, from Birmingham, was handed an eight-month prison sentence at Cardiff crown court in June 2025 after pleading guilty to impersonating learners at theory test centres 12 times. The court heard impersonators could be paid up to £2,000 for passing a test.
Sorina-Ana Turcitu, 42, from north London, admitted attempting to take a practical driving test on behalf of someone else, and was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months at Ipswich magistrates court in September 2025.
While I think that imprisoning people for this kind of stuff is severe, this is a real public danger. It seems like a lot of these are suspended sentences, which, if it works the way I think it does, those people stay out of jail if they don’t re-commit the crime.
The Autopians Hit The Detroit Auto Show
Ray Wert asked me for a press pass, definitely with an ulterior motive, and I approved it with the understanding that he’d write an article for us about it. He hasn’t written anything yet, which is entirely predictable, although he’s shown up in one of his wife’s Instagram reels, so I know he was there!
Showing him up were our own readers, who actually got into print first! Our awesome colleagues at the Detroit Free Press caught up with our own Vibe-owning Vibe-creator:
Nick Hernandez, 31, of Sterling Heights, came with his friends who are part of the Autopians, readers of the car culture website the autopian.com.
“I’m just here to have fun and see the cars,” he said.
He has been regularly attending since 2015. He said the show is not as big as it used to be and said Saturday that he hopes to see more brands and “signs that the show is not declining.”
If they can do it, you can do it, too, Ray. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to leave the car, and so he was just stuck there the entire show?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I’ve been a Lily Allen fan going way back to the mixtapes. When she married that guy who plays the sheriff in Stranger Things, I thought, “Hey, neat, I hope they’re happy.” Apparently, it was extremely unhappy, and she’s put out an entire album talking about how terrible it was being married to that dude. This track is less a replay of the awful things he allegedly did, and more a reflection on her unsuccessful attempts to deal with it. I think “Dallas Major” is my favorite track on the album, which, while difficult, does provide a kind of “Blood on the Tracks” catharsis.
The Big Question
Are you an F1 fan? Were you?
Top photo: Audi
Huh. I wondered what ol’ Roy Wart was up to.
I really enjoy watching WRC stages more than F1 yawners.
Audi made its reputation in rallying. The TDI LeMans machines were impressive, but I just think F1 is not a place they should be.
It’s sad to see Audi struggling, they’ve made some really great cars over the years. (R8 is underrated). My wife’s best friend drive’s an A4. She says it’s her absolute favorite car, ever.
I enjoy some F1, so it’s good to see more investment and more teams. Hopefully Audi can make more of it that Sauber did by themselves, and it’s certainly better to have them there titling the team than Kick. Does kinda seem that Caddy might have more of a go at it, despite starting more from scratch. It’ll be interesting to see how they go against each other anyway.
VW (die Gruppe) is seeing the same OEM brand compression that bedeviled GM decades ago. Not much air these days between VW, Skoda, Audi SEAT. Cupra, and whatever other semi-boring brand with excess complexity and laughable durability they’re pumping out these days. GM had to euthanize Oldsmobile and Pontiac, because there wasn’t enough distinction to keep them relevant from their in-house competitors. Mainstream brands will almost ALWAYS struggle in F1, the notable exception being MB. Once the “advertising / marketing / awareness goals,” have been met, Audi will most likely hang it up.
Ray Wert married up. WAY up.
#TeamMallory for the win.
Audi’s issue is there is no notable difference in their cars, with no ‘real’ notable engines outside the 5cyl and the V10. I honestly can not tell the difference between a 2010 A4 and a 2026 A6. I can do this with literally every other brand and vehicle no matter how boring the car might be. I assume the design team put the feet up back in 2005…
It does seem sometimes that when Peter Schreyer left they forgot to replace him.
Presently driving around in a rented Q3 for a week and this very same thought came into my mind. What a sad, unimaginative, overwrought and overpriced little car. I’d buy two Kias, three Dacias and a Niva before coming within 10ft of an Audi dealership. And I still adore the 2008-ish S5.
What I’m listening to.
I saw a reaction to Blue’s Traveler’s Hook yesterday. I remember that song as being a bouncy pop song that was fun to listen to, but had never listened to the lyrics, which seemed just standard pop nonsense.
Then with a reactor listening to the lyrics, I finally, something like 30 years after I last listened to the song, noticed the lyrics. Changed what I thought about the song and Blues Traveler.
https://youtu.be/_2Lvl6jAt3U?list=RD_2Lvl6jAt3U
It’s still a fun pop song, but once I realized what it says, I realized the point they are trying to make and realize I had been absolutely “hooked” by them.
No lie, early in my career I was a technical sales manager for a software company and the sales vp brought in someone to give some training to our reps. We sold software to engineers and our reps were mainly 25 year olds who came from scuzzy jobs selling insurance or kitchen knife sets over the phone, were mercenary cold call contractor demand gen guys, etc.
Anyway the person giving the training played this song to them, accurately explained the lyrics and told them with 100% seriousness that this is how they needed to think about selling a product they didn’t understand completely to people who were much smarter than them in the subject area. Lmao
I wasn’t into Blues Traveler, I saw them on TV and heard their songs and they were catchy and the like, but didn’t pay attention to what they were singing about.
I saw the video of Hook and it’s scary in a way once you know what it’s about. My wife and daughter have told me how they have said just anything to men/boys that were hitting on them and as long as they say it with a smile and a bit of a flirty voice, the men won’t process what they are saying. Or how the politician in the video is admitting lies and it seems like he’s being sincere just because of the inflection of the singer’s tone and the expressions and movement of the actor playing the politician.
It’s scary how easily we can be manipulated.