I have a sense from reading the news and talking to friends in Britain that things are extremely not alright over there. Not since the heights of Thatcherism have different levels of society eyed each other with such contempt. They’ve been going through Ministers Prime like most of us go through 10 mm sockets. The royal family is on the rocks, and people keep invoking Charles I. Bad times.
The UK and the US enjoy a “special relationship,” and it’s in times of trouble that we do our best to help out the other. In this case, General Motors will be aiding the United Kingdom by offering various giant trucks. I love giant trucks. Giant trucks make some people happy, and who am I to deny our friends some happiness? If you’re a Ford truck owner, though, your happiness might be limited by the massive recall that’s impacting millions of trucks. It’s about lighting! No one tell Jason.
Yesterday, there were some questions about whether or not Stellantis execs were recouping big bucks while workers were left out in the cold. At least one guy did, and you’ll absolutely guess who it is if you read The Morning Dump often. It’s not fun to get passed over for a bonus, but it’s worse if you’re one of the 300 Lucid workers who are out of a job as the company tries to right-size before the launch of its new midsize offering.
May Joyous Escalades And Glorious Silverados Be His Companions
The photo above was sent in a press release from GM Europe and importer/distributor/homlogator Clive Sutton. I assume it’s the Cotswolds. The Western Cotswolds. The Far Western Cotswolds.
GM mostly retreated from Europe when it sold Opel and Vauxhall, but the company has made a fun little side business of exporting its largest vehicles to various corners of the world. If you want an Escalade or a Silverado, no one outside of North America makes a true equivalent. You may prefer an Alpina XB7 to an Escalade-V, but they are not the same thing.
Now, with the help of Clive Sutton, here’s what’s coming. Here’s what the founder had to say:
“This is an exciting moment for UK customers who have long admired GM’s premium and performance lineup. For the first time, buyers in the UK can view vehicles such as luxurious Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon Denali SUVs, or US favourite pickup trucks including the popular Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra – with, warranty, finance, UK homologation, and nationwide servicing. We are delighted to be the first GM Specialty Vehicles franchise in the UK and to lead development of the nationwide network.”
As of this spring, you can get the following:
- Cadillac: Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade-V
- GMC: Yukon Denali, Sierra 1500 Denali, Sierra 1500 AT4
- Chevrolet: Tahoe, Suburban, Silverado
Right on.
Now, I’m going to stop some of you right here. I can just hear the complaints. “Matt, these things are huge.” “Matt, the roads are not big enough.” “Matt, no one needs a Silverado in London.”
Sorry. Wrong. Wrong ideas. Yeah, they’re big, I mean, look at this via CarSized:
You can fit an entire Dacia just between the wheels of a Suburban. And, having driven a few different cars around England, I’m always surprised that so many of the roads can barely fit two small European hatchbacks at the same time. Any of these, in certain parts of the country, will sometimes be a challenge to drive. That being said, An Escalade is not much bigger than a full-sized Sprinter or Transit. It’s possible.
Also, if you’re American, I don’t understand the complaint. Britain has trains, walkable cities, congestion pricing, and high-density/transit-oriented development. If you do all of those things and build a society that doesn’t absolutely need cars, I think you’re allowed to have a few more fun cars. For every 100 miles of reliable regional rail, you get at least one Silverado. That seems fair to me.
The country also only got five medals at the Winter Olympics; they deserve a few Yukons as consolation.
Ford Recalls 4.4 Million Trucks Over Trailer Lights
If you bought a Ford truck or SUV capable of towing between 2021 and 2026, there’s a new recall you might need to worry about, via Bloomberg:
The callback involves a software glitch that could cause taillights, turn signals and brakes on trailers to lose communication with the towing vehicle and stop working, increasing the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a notice about the recall posted Thursday.
“These conditions result in a noncompliance with federal safety standards and can reduce a driver’s ability to control an attached trailer while making it less visible to other drivers,” Ford said in a statement. The automaker is not aware of any accidents, injuries or fires related to the issue.
Ford will issue an over-the-air software update for trailer control modules in the affected vehicles to fix the issue. Drivers may also bring their vehicles to dealerships for the repair at no cost.
It’s nice that more of these issues can be fixed by OTA updates, but this ain’t gonna help Ford shed its “most recalled brand” title for 2026.
Stellantis CEO Got $6.37 Million, Old One Got $14.1 Million
Yesterday, many of you were concerned that Stellantis execs were walking home with big bonuses while UAW workers got nothing. I don’t have a full answer to who did and didn’t but, right on cue, Reuters provided an update on executive compensation for 2025:
Antonio Filosa, who took over as head of Stellantis in June 2025, received €5.4 million ($6.37 million) in total compensation last year, the company said.
The compensation topped the company’s earlier projection that Filosa would earn at least $4 million annually in his first two years as CEO. His pay could rise to as much as $23 million a year from 2028, including bonuses.
Former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who resigned from the automaker in December 2024, had a pay package of €11.4 million ($14 million) in 2025, according to the company’s annual filing.
Mwhahahahahahahahahaha. So Filosa, who is trying to save the company, will get less than half of what Tavares (pictured above) will get for trashing the company. Amazing.
Lucid To Cut Ahead Of 2026
Can I get away with this joke twice? Let’s see! Lucid sold more cars last year and earned more revenue in 2025, but the cost of doing so led to bigger losses. Is that good? Is that bad? We’ll see, I guess. I’ll be going to the big Lucid Investor’s Day in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be able to answer that question better.
In the interim, Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff (pictured above) told CNBC that the company is going to adjust its staffing accordingly:
Lucid’s results come days after the company laid off 12% of its U.S. salaried workforce in an effort to streamline operations and “operate with greater efficiency and deliver on our commitments to gross margin improvement and long term growth,” according to a statement from the company.
Interim Lucid CEO Marc Winterhoff described the cuts Tuesday to CNBC as a needed realignment of the company’s workforce amid broader market and economic concerns as well as needed gains in efficiency.
“We are adjusting and going to a level where we think we want to be and need to be,” he said. “But it’s nothing that will continue in the future.”
Lucid is in an interesting position as it makes probably the best electric sedan available in the United States and, also, the best electric SUV. Is that enough? This year will be a big test of the company as it can now build things pretty well, which means it has to prove it can sell them. The company hopes to have a midsize vehicle of some sort to show soon, but that’s not going to be sold in any serious numbers this year.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I was reminded recently that Neko Case was briefly the drummer for Canadian Cuddlecore band cub. Here’s her drumming on “Nicolas Bragg.” It’s almost unfathomable now to have Neko Case in your band and not have her sing everything, though, incomprehensibly, she’s playing the bass here?
The Big Question
What American vehicle would you give the world today?
Top photo: GM
Dear England, beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
If we call a maverick American then sure. The full size gm SUVs are already just about everywhere with lhd. Expedition are in many markets too. F150 sure. The world loves the mustang also seems fine. Anything from factory 5. Lucid sure, Tesla they already have minus the ct but if a market allows the thing why not. Everything rivian. They said they never planned the r1 to go outside of the us because of the frontal pedestrian safety they brought that to the r2 forward. That brings into questions what is gm doing about that or they just don’t care. R1 would could be interesting in aus and the middle east. Telo could possibly do well just about anywhere they could afford them.
I have actually seen at least one Maverick in the UK! It was parked in the lot for a hiking trail just north of Glasgow.
That’s fascinating, it couldn’t have been cheap. They have been holding their value fairly well too so not the whole 1 or 2 year old cheap import.
And the goal is for it to stay that way and not turn into a McMansion hellscape clogged to the gills with Yukons and Escalades.
I recall a couple decades back when Sopranos cosplay was a thing in parts of former soviet eastern Europe. Seeing guys, mostly Russian, in track suits driving black Escalades on the narrow roads was quite the incongruous sight. If any had female companionship it got funnier with the mountain of makeup, big hair and long nails. A total cartoon shit show. Mar a Lago chic.
“That being said, An Escalade is not much bigger than a full-sized Sprinter or Transit. It’s possible.”
Yes, but are these massive GM vehicles LHD or RHD? The article doesn’t say.
And it makes a BIG difference.
It isn’t mentioned in the press release so they’re almost certainly LHD. Which will limit their appeal considerably.
“What American vehicle would you give the world today?”
Considering the world includes Russia and considering that I’m pissed at Trump and the Americans who voted for him, I would give the world the Chevrolet Vega… the early one with the problematic 2.3L 4 cyl with the porous aluminum engine block.
Can someone who is more “with it” than me please explain the Jon Lovitz as Carlos Tovares joke?
Pathological liar:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vLRKhdQnd-k
Since when is a Silverado fun?
I lived in the U.K. for a couple years. TBH, I cannot imagine full-size American behemoths being practical over there, unless you live someplace way rural, and even then, narrow single-lane roads are often unavoidable.
TBQ: F150 Raptor, in both 3.5EB V6 and 5.2V8 Variants. If we’re going to showcase American Excess and engineering prowess, give them the best we have to offer. Ford has the RHD set up figured out for the Aussie market already too.
COTD – I’d much rather think about what cars I would rather see the US get than what me might be able to sell overseas. Where’s my Dacia?!
I see what’s happening here. The Brits have taken a liking to American cheeseburgers for their gustatory desires. Subsequently, their average BMI must have increased to “rotund.” GM is simply looking to “right-size” the market to leverage the average Brit vehicle buyer into a plus-sized if not palatial mobility experience.
How’s that for some corporate-speak for the shareholders?
You might be right! We opened the first McDonald’s over there about 50 years ago. We are playing the long game.
I would never curse another country with any of the excessmobiles Americans seem to not be able to get enough of.
Having given the Vauxhall and Holden cars that might actually sell in the ROW to Stelantis, the miopic management at GM thinks the ROW will buy oversized pickups and SUVs when they’ve got perfectly serviceable cars and vans.
That song might have been more interesting had Neko Case sung it. I expose my considerable admiration for Neko Case, who I say is a national treasure.
Cub! My crinkly, blackened heart just stirred.
Vauxhall Tahoe VXR LOL
https://gemini.google.com/share/4c4aee216c83
Oh my God. Oh my God, why does it look good? Great, even…
Question for our UK members- exactly how large is the pro footballer and music producer demographic there? Enough to sustain this business?
I mean, I had an idea to open an American themed family dining restaurant in Norwich, which would require at least the rear end of one Cadillac, but the conceptual design calls for a 1959 model, no requirement for a new Escalade there
What better road to success than exporting a small number of huge vehicles that only Americans buy to the few non-North-Americans who want them instead of exporting a large number of cars that a large number of people in non-North-America want to buy?
This confused me initially. I think you meant lighting.
At the very least, they can sink these monsters into the ocean to create barriers and reefs
If I’m in a Yukon XL driving down a small British road and some tiny hatchback is heading my way, I don’t think that’s my problem to worry about.
How very American of you.
I mean, where do you think the colonial mindset came from?
Peasants are a problem everywhere. How dare they be on our land when we get there.
I have a feeling exportin Escalades there is more about the uber-rich than anything, and they dont care about the cost, or how much road they take away from everyone else anyways.
Isn’t this making an official dealer? Pretty sure you could get all your various American land-yachts to cruise to the various big Tescos in Yorkshire. It just wasn’t as easy as acquiring as walking down to High Street and acquiring an Austin Metro from the chippy or whatever. When I was over there, I saw a few big old American SUVs in and around the countryside, where keeping up with the posh Jones-Mountbatten’s and Footballers matters. It’s just that most people go to average size Tescos and don’t need the extra crumpet space. And that this will likely end up going nowhere, because increasing convivence won’t change the logistical nightmare these would be for most persons.
Now the Mustangs. More than you would expect over there.
GM already sells Cadillacs and the Corvette in Europe so they already have a limited dealer network.
Meanwhile, Chinese cars are increasing their market share practically exponentially. Selling expensive, oversized luxobarges where fuel costs twice what it does here (or more) will not be an endeavor that results in large sales numbers.
This is a political move by GM not a business one.
Other parts of the world get PHEV Rangers, they probably don’t need Mavericks so much. The Bronco Sport would give Ford a more unique offering in that segment rather than the Escape/Kuga especially as that winds down in some other markets too. It’s sized well to go against the Qashqai and the shorter Tucson/Sportage & Tiguan that sell well in several global markets. It still could use the hybrid/PHEV options if they did send it elsewhere, but the Kuga offered the 1.5T EcoBoost too so it’s not far off as is.
Maverick is delicate for ROW. It’s fine for urban and suburban Europe, but anywhere rural is going to be better served by the ground clearance, full frame capability, and true 4WD of the Ranger. Including the available PHEV and diesel powertrains
It’s also capacity constrained.