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
I got into F1 during Covid and have been a diehard fan ever since. It’s a sport with it’s flaws, and some races are snooze fests, but the storylines, sport politics, and team dynamics are a total blast, and some of the races really are sensational.
If you are NOT a motorsports fan, F1 is both a great and terrible gateway. Drive to Survive on Netflix is a really great primer that explains so much of what is going on, but it’s a weird sport in many ways. IMO if you are motorsports-curious, WEC and IMSA are absolutely amazing placed to start. Multi-Class endurance racing is some of the purest and most entertaining racing on the planet, with incredible underdog stories and dramatic wins and losses all over the place. If you have any free time at all, I BEG you to watch at least part of the 24Hr of Daytona this weekend. It’s a truly wonderful event.
I’ve been an F1 fan for decades, but you’re right, WEC and IMSA are far more entertaining.
I watched F1 for 20+ years until Lewis lost his 8th championship in Abu Dhabi. Then I realized that they’re playing by rules that I didn’t understand so I stopped watching.
That is when I quit caring too. He should have won.
That race should have been red flagged and we would have gotten a 5-6 lap shootout with Max and Lewis both on new tires fighting for the championship. Thanks Michael Masi, glad you got fired.
I’m a casual F1 fan. Don’t have Cable, so I really just watch the over-the- air races, and follow the rest through YouTube. I follow Indycar more closely.
I do wish more people would Get Indycar.
I’ve been an F1 fan forr almost 30 years. The last two years has been some of the best racing I’ve ever seen in the series. I’m excited about the new formula and happy to see the demise of DRS, which I’ve always fealt gives an unfair advantage to the following car, even though it did create passes. I’m hoping that no single team “gets it right” and there will be good competition, but we’ll see. As long as I’ve been watching, F1 has always been a story of one or two teams dominating: Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, Red Bull with Vettell, Mercedes with Hamilton, Red bull with Verstappen, and a few one or 2 year champions in between domination cycles, Alonso, Button, etc.
I don’t expect Audi or Cadillac to do well in the beginning, though they are certainly coming in at the best possible moment. I question how long they will stay without seeing immediate results though.
I’m excited to see how the new regulations play out for everyone. I agree last 2 years there has been some great racing.
Audi doesn’t have a compelling raison d’etre right now.
If they continue to push VW as “premium” in Europe, why pay more for much of the same with Audi?
And why would someone buy a non-descript Audi SUV when they can get the Lexus LX/RX/?X for similar coin – but it’ll hold it’s value by being an actual reliable, livable, vehicle to own for more than just it’s lease period?
Or, better yet, why not just get the Toyota?
Yep. Khan (the person who got the eight-month custodial sentence) pleaded guilty to a dozen counts. That appears to be someone who was in it for the longer term and presumably for the money, rather than e.g. someone trying on a single occasion to help a friend (which is still wrong but rather less wrong). It seems that getting caught was the only thing that made him stop.
The single-instance person received the suspended sentence, which makes sense: apparently there was no evidence to suggest this was a habitual offender.
But, I would argue that someone trying to substitute for the practical test is worse than someone substituting for the theory test. So swings, and dare I say it, roundabouts.
My perception is that VW was pulled up in standing by Audi. And Audi was pulled down by VW. There are too many “different” vehicles on the same platform. Looking at you, PQ34 and PQ35.
PQ35 is old.
MQB is current for: Golf, Jetta, Atlas, Tiguan, etc…
But that’s hardly the problem – that the same car is found in nearly all of its brands.
Qounain Khan goes to jail for 8 months in the UK while the Q-Anon Con isn’t even prosecuted in the US!
I had no idea pretending to be a competent driver in England was such a big deal. Over here they just let anyone do it. And I have exported that driving skill to England at least 4 times.
I don’t think F1 is going to do much for Audi unless they’re somehow competitive in their first season, which is highly unlikely. Audi’s biggest problem is dead simple and it remains-their cars are really fucking boring. Audi basically sprinted into every single mistake possible and absolutely dominates late 2010s/early 2020s bad automotive trend bingo.
Skipping hybrids altogether to go all in on EVs too early? Check. Trying to be Tesla? Check. Removing buttons for haptic bullshit and screens? Check. Grayscale all the cars? Check. Melted soap bar anti-styling that’s main mission is to make the least offensive design possible? Check. Jacking prices into the stratosphere? Check.
There isn’t a blander brand on the road today. They’re like unflavored room temperature oatmeal. Like said oatmeal, they’ll do the job they were intended to do, but it’ll be completely flavor, color, and joy-less. How very German of them! I don’t necessarily think getting into F1 is a bad idea for them…it’s better than nothing and shows there’s still SOMEONE at that damn company that cares about motorsports, but will it move the needle?
I doubt it, because their cars are an absolute snoozefest. People see a Cadillac race car and wind up lusting after Blackwings. People see Mercedes in F1 and think AMG. People see the BMW Le Mans prototype things and think M. What are they going to think of when they see Audi? One of the approximately 72 different leased beige crossovers they see? Lol.
I’ve said this a few times, but I can’t even imagine what a pain owning an white or grayscale Audi Q whatever while being in a high end DC suburb would be like, because they’re so fucking anonymous and parking lots are just littered with them in those parts of town. I’d imagine the owners have to use the panic buttons a lot. GOOD HEAVENS! There are 12 different white over beige Q5s, how am I supposed to find mine and get Braxxxxton to lacrosse practice on time?!?!
Spot on. Plus all the VW family derivatives. Tiguan/Q3/Macan etc. etc. Never mind the brands that don’t make it to Trumptopia like Skoda. There’s really nothing compelling left other than maybe the RS6 Avant.
For what it’s worth the RS6 Avant somehow weighs 5,000 pounds. I genuinely have no idea how they pulled that feat off considering it isn’t even electrified. I actually think the new Tiguan seems pretty decent and most of the initial reviews agree. The lack of a hybrid is a glaring omission but the general consensus is it’s a return to what made those 2010s/early 2020s VWs appealing.
That being said I see absolutely no reason to splurge on the Q5 anymore as a result. A fully loaded Tiguan is $10,000 less, exponentially more attractive, similarly unreliable, and I believe in the “turbo” trim it makes the same power as well.
Agreed. That’s exactly the point. Why pay increased cost/insurance et. al when you can just pop for the VW flavor of vanilla.
Realistically, this luxury badge “problem” is the result of Hyundai and Kia relentlessly pushing the level of standard equipment on entry/ mid-level vehicles. LED headlights & DRLs, heated mirrors, heated & ventilated faux-leather seats, touch screen infotainment with navigation, the whole shebang. All that stuff used to be paywalled behind the Acura, Lexus, Infinity, Audi badges, but now it’s expected on a Honda, Toyota, Nissan or VW. Sure there are a thousand subtle differences between a mainstream and luxury brand, but at some point consumers have to look at a spec sheet and wonder what the point is.
Their cars are bland, yet the most recent models are horrifically over-styled. The gapping plastic maw, adorned with a nearly invisible piano black 4-Ring emblem are more befitting of a SxS, or something like a base model RAM 2500.They haven’t innovated their styling, other than to take the ‘tall grill’ trend they started in the 2000s and continue to iterate it in more extreme and visually challenged ways.
The other issue is that Audi is the absolute poster child of undermining their performance trims. Back in the 2000s, a red badge on an Audi meant you were looking at something truly special. Who can tell anymore? Every car besides the base model is some kind of R line, S sport etc.
I don’t think F1 does much for Audi. Win on Sunday / Sell on Monday really only applies when you’re racing something that relates even tangentially to your production vehicles. F1 is just so fake and irrelevant to the mainstream car market, I don’t see how it can actually help sell vehicles beyond simple brand awareness. Audi was always the scrappiest of the up-market euro brands, leveraging their drivetrain tech and turbocharging to dominate, while looking cool AF in the process. They need to get back into rally, or even electric rally cross or gymkhana. Batteries are the turbo chargers of today- Run with that, but make it cool! That’s how you get people hyped on your brand. Find a niche or create a series if you have to.
“Audi is pushing F1 big this year, and F1 does indeed have a huge halo.”
I see what you did there…
Yeah, big F1 fan, have been watching since 2009, but was first interested in it before then, just wasn’t able to watch it. Still haven’t been able to attend a race though, and I’m afraid it’s gotten prohibitively expensive
Being honest, if you have ability for a passport, look international if you want to get to an affordable F1 race.
All in a couple years ago it was cheaper to fly to japan, bullet train to nagoya, pay too much for a business hotel, and take the train with 200000 randos and get weekend seats at 130R than it would be to do a weekend at Miami, COTA, or god forbid vegas.
It will still be a 4 digit number all in no matter where you go. But its an experience worth making happen
Yeah, I’d probably go to Montreal to see the race there, but yeah, still can’t afford to drop 4 digits on it
Vegas has realized the errors of their ways and it was dramatically cheaper to attend in ’25 than in years past. I still was getting offers in my email almost up to practice time. Room rates are still high for the weekend but nowhere near the absurdities of ’23.
I’ve actually got a room for LVGP 2026 but I’m scared to see what ticket prices will be. Between tickets, airfare and everything else it could easily be a $10k trip even with a free room.
Takes notes since Suzuka is a dream track to visit
I’ll mainly be watching the Cadillac vs. Audi battles in (presumably) the back of the field in 2026. Time will tell if Audi being a works manufacturer will work out in their favor, or if Cadillac using Ferrari engines will benefit them. Both teams have a solid driver lineup, and Audi has Binotto from Ferrari and Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull as the Team Principal. They could do a lot worse. They’ve also had the benefit of focusing solely on the new ’26 regs without the distraction of competing in the ’25 season. I think Audi has their puzzle laid out a bit better than Cadillac (although I think Cadi has the edge on drivers), and who knows, maybe they’ll be a solid midfield team. Will that matter and get people into showrooms? I don’t know or care. I’m just excited for the racing.
As far as the livery, I think it fits the brand well. Opinions seem to be roughly divided on whether it’s good or boring. I like it.
Even Cadillac is tempering expectations as much as possible. As much as I want Cadillac to be a great team, there is no reality they’ll be scoring points on merit more than once this season. That said, I hope it’s going to be a quick step up as they go, they seem to have the right people, technology, and investment to get every asset they need to be a quality team long term. But with all new rules cycles, there’s always a chance someone screws up big time. I think the Audi and Red Bull/Ford engines are enough of a question mark that they could be problematic, but time will tell. No matter what, Cadillac is a much better foot for the US to put forward into F1 than Haas.
I think we’ll be seeing big upgrades throughout the year from pretty much every team. New wings, floors etc. AFAIK Audi is the only team to hit their weight target so far. I’m cautiously optimistic about them.
I’m an Audi guy, and I liked F1. Both around the same time, but the current crop form either just isn’t interesting to me. Audi doesn’t seem to make cars that are interesting anymore. Sure they sell more cars, or used to, but a Q3 or Q5 is just a CRV with name brand jeans.
F1 has a lot of the same problem. It has become so corporatized and fake that its not about the race, its about being a the race. They took the worst parts of Monaco and made it the whole brand.
I miss the days of weird Audi, and F1 teams like my favorite, Super Aguri Honda. If Audi wants me to care about their F1 team, they need to make it weird and try to do something different. Weird that fails is more interesting then normality that succeeds.
I was a huge Schumacher fan growing up in the early 2000s and watching him win absolutely everything. I followed F1 for a while after he retired and came back to Mercedes but gradually lost interest as Red Bull became the dominant force (the first time). I don’t think I’ve watched a lap of F1 in the past decade.
I also have zero interest in Audi, so it seems like a good fit for them.
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.
Jeebus, I love it when people just want to enjoy a thing and aren’t shy about saying so. 🙂
Last year, I hadn’t heard of Lily Allen (yes I live under a rock). This year I’ve already listened to the whole West End Girl album, start to finish, roughly 20 times. It’s that good. The writing is raw, the composition is tight, the production is sublime. It’s the good stuff.
I’d heard her name and nothing more before she was on Saturday Night Live this year (Josh O’Conner hosted). She absolutely killed. Dennis Perkins of Latenighter made a great point: “Don’t screw over a singer-songwriter. It will not go well for you.“
It does help seeing a lot of Audi names and logos every race weekend of course. Ferrari hasn’t been champion for quite some years but that hasn’t decreased their sales. Same for Aston Martin and while Alonso is working hard, they didn’t achieve that much. If Red Bull would start to build cars, even if it was just some white label car (some chinese car with a Red Bull logo on it), it probably would do well. F1 is becoming more mainstream as well, do not underestimate it. More coverage on Youtube (streamers and influencers) and the pit walks are becoming more and more notorious especially in the US. Las Vegas. Miami. COTA. There were times when F1 fans would see the F1 race in the US as a ‘necessary evil’ to keep the people in the US a little involved. The races were never really interesting. That has changed a lot now. Audi sitting next to Mercedes and Ferrari and Aston Martin and now Cadillac… That can uplift your brand. Even if you aren’t scoring points ; the people outside the fans hardly know who is driving and who is winning anyway.
Hell yeah, suck it El Werto!
Also, “I’m just here to have fun and see the cars,” is very accidentally a great mission statement. And yes, we did indeed have fun and see the cars.
Just get that press pass to this guy next year instead. Worst case, you won’t get an article, just like this year. I mean, at least he got you a mention and weblink in a news page behind a paywall that has far less readership than the Autopian!
I’ll catch up on F1 when the next season of Drive to Survive comes out on Netflix.
(A local SCCA friend went overseas for a race recently, have to admit that would be a fun bucketlist thing.)
I passed the UK test first time. I then, much later, passed the theory test so I could ride motorcycles.
It’s not that hard, and if you find it hard then maybe you shouldn’t drive. The consequences of being bad at this are pretty huge.
It is expensive, and a logistical nightmare to book, apparently. So I get there’s a lot of pressure on passing, but if you can’t drive well for an hour in the test how the hell are you going to drive well afterwards?
That said: I drove 34 miles in the UK yesterday, and I saw at least 50 drivers that need their licence taken away.
Keep left, not just after overtaking on multi lane roads, but also all the time on single lane roads, why are you driving down the middle of the road and having to swerve for every on-coming car? Jesus.
I was speaking to someone about the booking issue – it’s got so bad there were driving test touts who book all the slots in advance and resell them for a fat profit.
It got really bad around the pandemic. I think it’s slightly better now but if you learn through a reputiable driving school they should have test slots allocated (at least they used to).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0k2858jj1o
This article gives a bit of an idea about the scam. Apparently they’re changing it so only the students can book (and then they will be limited to how many they’re allowed to book).
Quite how getting to spend 45 minutes sat next to a man with a clipboard who smells slightly of mothballs ended up being equivalent to the Eras Tour is beyond me though.
I got to play with a Richard Mille/Brough Superior thing this morning. Yes it is a track only toy and this was on rather not race track roads,it was foggy and icy in the dips and I was both mildly hungover and maybe still a bit drunk, also I cannot accuratley remember when I last drove a bike. I was the safest and slowest driver in England! Also no insurance and tax, the idiots who went zooming past all need to be locked up!
The thing is in the kitchen now, way way away from any paygrade of mine, dear pixies it is pretty!
How expensive is it? How long out is a slot?
I was looking at the price these cheats were paying £2000 and wondering why in the dickens would someone pay that much? Knowledge tests are free where I’m at and you can walk in same day with a wait or book an appointment in a few weeks.
Been an F1 Fan for quite a few years now. Dating back to 2017 or so. Like most i got much more into it during the pandemic, with not much else to do and all of the drivers streaming to kill time themselves.
Excited for Cadillac more than audi becasue it is a whole new team, even if the drivers are a bit of retreads. I know Haas has been an American team for a while, but i never found them very likeable outside of Steiner.
The amusing part is the Cadillac team is half based in the UK and half in the US. Which worked out so well for Alpine….
I feel that’s just the nature of the beast though. Most of the experienced F1 engineers, designers, aerodynamicists etc are all based in europe. Tough to attract people to move continents. Especially given the cost cap brings more parity to what they can earn.
Also… a lot of people have no amount they’d be willing to take to move to the US right now. Understandably.
not just “…based in europe…” but specifically in one region of england.
shoot, ferrari can’t consistently attract the best F1 engineering talent to live in italy…
True, but didnt want to discount Ferrari and VCarb in italy, plus Audi i think took over Sauber’s spot in Switzerland
Italy would be an easier sell that the US, especially regarding the visa situation. I suspect Italian pride is the issue.
Yes the logistic of it would have been a nightmare. They would have had to back up the money truck and organised visas. For whole families.
Called this like two years ago.
Nothing promotes your brand like finishing 9th in a 10-team league, then removing the only interesting feature of your team (the bright green color).
At least they’re not Alpine.
Always had a tertiary interest in F1, but really got into it during the pandemic – it was one of the only sporting events on TV and the races being on Sunday mornings fit into my schedule.
Cadillac entering F1 this year is definitely making more of a splash than Audi, and Cadillac will likely garner more interest throughout the season.
I think Cadillac stole a bunch of customers from Audi, their latest lineup is great specially in the EV market. Add the F1 and Cadillac is pushing to be the next Audi soon.
Cadillac (and everyone else) needs to get rid of that shiny black plastic (piano) finish in the dash and console. It looks bad from day one and only gets worse as it scratches and collects dust because its a dust magnet.
Sounds like Audi hasn’t accepted that The Old World Order isn’t coming back.
Nostalgia is not a strategy.
This is a comment about cars and nothing else.
Thank you Mr. Carney
Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is coincidental.