I am constantly concerned that the average person has no idea what or who a Stellantis is. Every previous iteration of the company had Chrysler in the name somewhere (FiatChrysler, Daimler Chrysler, Chrysler Corp.), so I’m left writing CDJR in many headlines for The Morning Dump because, for most Americans, that’s how the brand’s dealers represent themselves. All that being said, whether you’re talking about CDJR or Stellantis, the news today is awful.
Like, $2.7 billion awful. This is the inevitable result of poor decision-making from the previous leadership of Stellantis, combined with bad timing. Is it the bottom for Stellantis? Possibly. Turning around a company this big is a bit like one of SWG’s restorations, where the first few steps feel more like going backwards than forwards.
In life, the grass is always greener on the other side, but sometimes that’s because your neighbors just spray-painted that ish. For example, one Chinese brand that seemed to be rising while Stellantis was falling might have made up half of its sales using the “zero-mileage used car” trick.
Japanese automakers, too, seemed in an enviable position until recently. The tariff question has thrown Japanese politics into a bit of disarray, and the results were ultimately mixed. The EU has less of a political problem at this exact moment in time, and is either going to cut a deal with the Trump Administration or push for harsher retaliatory actions against the United States.
What’s Happened To Stellantis?
I don’t take much pleasure in being right, more than a year ago, about Stellantis being a company that essentially doomed itself with short-term decision-making, which resulted in immediate profits at the expense of long-term viability. Then-CEO Carlos Taveres, pictured above enjoying his millions of dollars, may be the only person who did well because of this approach (a result of a compensation package that made no sense).
When I wrote that piece, Stellantis was talking about huge profits. It was clear to car enthusiasts that this was a mirage. The company was squeezing the last money it could out of old platforms in North America, with no obvious direction and few incentives. The pandemic gave the company’s aging cars a new life as people were desperate to buy anything new and, by and large, anything was all Stellantis had to sell on this side of the Atlantic.
To its credit, Stellantis inevitably reorganized and ditched Tavares for a CEO who knows something about the North American market. Instead of building more EVs that no one seems to want, the company is shifting focus back to V8-powered Rams and hybrids. Some of the execs who fled the automaker during the Tavares regime are slowly coming back.
The question is: Has Stellantis reached the bottom? Is the first half of 2025 the harbinger of things to come or the nadir?
Even before the company’s full financials are published next week, a preliminary figure was released to basically warn everyone that it’s not going to be great. Specifically, the company said that it expects it has already lost $2.7 billion through the first half of the year.
A lot of this has to be blamed on the specific cars the company is (or isn’t) selling, with deliveries down 25% year-over-year in Q2 in North America. So what’s going on? Here’s how the company describes its current predicament:
- The early stage of actions being taken to improve performance and profitability, with new products expected to deliver larger benefits in the Second Half of 2025
- Approximately €3.3 billion of pre-tax net charges, primarily related to program cancellation costs and platform impairments, net impact of the recent legislation eliminating the CAFE penalty rate, and restructuring, which are excluded from Adjusted Operating Income(3) consistent with the Company’s definition of AOI
- Adverse impacts to AOI from higher industrial costs, geographic and other mix factors, and changes in foreign exchange rates
- The early effects of US tariffs – €0.3 billion of net tariffs incurred as well as loss of planned production related to implementation of the Company’s response plan
Just FYI, AOI is “Adjusted Operating Income,” and is how the company describes its income net of certain types of expenses like interest. A lot of this is focused on North America, because North America is historically where the company made its money (while hoping to not lose too much in Europe).
While tariffs were not necessarily in place for all of the quarter, there are “early effects” noted. The biggest issue here might not be the actual tariff costs but the fact that the company has to reorganize its production. That was going to happen anyway as mentioned in the first bullet point; it’s just happening faster now. There’s also the usual mix of input costs and currency fluctuation.
Did you notice something strange here? The “net impact of the recent legislation eliminating the CAFE penalty rate” bit?
Everyone knows that Congress getting rid of CAFE penalties was to the benefit of automakers, but this is the first time I’ve seen this come up in an investor press release. If I’m reading this correctly, it’s basically admitted that it’ll cost money upfront to retool to build more V8-powered trucks and other vehicles, but ultimately that’ll be worth it for the automaker as it saves money on penalties.
I have mixed feelings about this, even if the logic is sound. Perhaps this is really the bottom for Stellantis.
China’s ‘Zero Mileage Used Car’ Scandal Gets Even Worse
Back in 2022, Neta seemed like one of the biggest and most promising electric car companies in the budding Chinese EV industry. This summer, the company filed for bankruptcy. What happened?
In addition to being caught in a brutal price war, Neta was reportedly one of the worst abusers of the “zero mileage used car” practice that’s been upending an already unstable car market in China. The short of it is that automakers, in varying ways, will register a car as being sold by passing it through a dealer or another company. That way, the company can get incentives and mark the car “sold” even if there’s no buyer for it, with the vehicle then later being sold as a used car.
Many of China’s biggest brands have been popped for allegedly doing this, but Neta might be the most egregious. There’s a big exclusive report from Reuters that singles out Neta and Geely-owned Zeekr, but I’m focusing on Neta because it’s wild stuff:
Neta booked sales early by arranging insurance policies for cars before sending them to dealers, according to records shared with Reuters and a dealer for the brand.The records contain details for each car and the insurance policies purchased on them, with the names of the insurance agents. Dealers were able to refer to these when they found a buyer to transfer the policy to, according to copies seen by Reuters. The company booked early sales of 64,719 cars this way.“In Neta’s case, the company made it clear to dealers that the cars were insured ahead of time and therefore counted as sold,” said the dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from the company.“We had to explain to buyers that the traffic insurance was complementary and remind them it would expire earlier and should be renewed on time,” he said.But three Neta buyers, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the dealerships had not told them the policies had begun well before the purchase date, only finding out when the policies expired.
What Happened In Japan Last Night?
I spent yesterday trying to take a break from work and recharge, but I did spend a bunch of time following the Japanese elections on my phone. The result? Like a lot of elections recently, incumbents lost ground, but not enough ground for anyone to claim a mandate to do anything.
Japan’s ruling coalition lost its upper house majority in an election on Sunday — after having suffered a similar lower house defeat in October — but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has made clear his intention to go on leading the government.
[…]
Of the 125 upper house seats up for election, the ruling coalition won 47, versus the opposition’s 78. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party lost 13 seats while its coalition partner, Komeito, gave up six.
The chamber has a total of 248 seats.
Including the coalition’s 75 seats that were not up for reelection, the bloc’s upper house presence is down to 122 from 141, three seats short of a majority.
For now, it’ll be Ishiba who is going to lead the tariff negotiations with the Trump Administration, but it’s likely only a matter of time before the LDP dumps him for someone who knows how to win elections.
The EU Is Coming For Our Bourbon
With 50 states, there are a lot of ways for foreign governments to target American senators for reciprocal tariffs if they don’t get what they want out of negotiations. The President decided to blow up the global trade order by threatening increased trade duties on virtually every country, inhabited or not. So far the United States has little to show for it, as these are complicated negotiations that usually take months or years.
The EU seems ready to accept a 10% tariff on most goods, but that might not be enough. If the EU doesn’t get what it wants, it’s going to retaliate, as Bloomberg reports:
The bloc has already approved potential tariffs on €21 billion of US goods that could be quickly implemented in response to Trump’s metals levies. They target politically-sensitive American states and include products such as soybeans from Louisiana, home to House Speaker Mike Johnson, other agricultural products, poultry, and motorcycles.
The EU has also prepared a list of tariffs on an additional €72 billion of American products in response to Trump’s so-called reciprocal levies and automotive duties. They would target industrial goods, including Boeing Co. aircraft, US-made cars, and bourbon whiskey.
It’s also working on potential measures that go beyond tariffs, such as export controls and restrictions on public procurement contracts.
You know when they come for the bourbon, they’re not playing.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
The Last Dinner Party has a new album coming, and the video for “This is the Killer Speaking” is predictably strange. I dig it.
The Big Question
Is this the bottom for Stellantis, or is there another sub-basement?
Top photo: Jeep/Depositphotos.com
“Is this the bottom for Stellantis, or is there another sub-basement?”
Hard to say. But if they keep pouring good money after bad trying to keep Fiat alive in North America while continuing to starve Chrysler and Dodge of product and other stupid decisions, I don’t see it getting better.
Hellcat Fiat 500 widebody incoming in 3-2-1.
The single, lone, Fiat model in America?
The one that’s already a global product and so would be minimal cost to add into the American lineup?
And being an EV wouldn’t even need to go through reams of emissions testing?
That one?
I would actually look favourably towards Fiat if they offered the Panda in America.
Though, perhaps, the Fiat Ducato is Fiat’s best selling American vehicle as the Ram van.
Based on the things I’ve heard through friends and families of Stellantis engineers, there is at least 2-3 sub-basements left should their dubious decisions result in recalls and NHTSA investigations. I won’t share anything too incriminating since it’s hearsay anyways, but from what I understand, the 4xe hybrid systems are designed with some glaring EV fault handling safety oversights.
The name “Chrysler” doesn’t appear in the corporate name for good reasons. The Chrysler brand is all but dead, and I suspect it doesn’t carry much cachet with anyone these days.
When I think of Chrysler nowadays, mostly what I picture is a clapped-out 300 with comically oversized wheels, parked on the lot of a BHPH dealer.
Counterpoint:
JLR was, for many years, the only luxury SUV company that seemed to be capable of losing money. They made at least 5 different SUVs all riding on their own bespoke chassis (some aluminum, some steel, some mixed).
There’s hope for Stellantis. But it’s way deeper than just it “could have had a V8”
$2.7 Billion? Pfff, That’s just a meme coin launch, that automatically instantly restores respectability.
Dodge-coin: coming soon to crypto trading platforms everywhere
Congrats! That big ol’ softball is OUTAHERE!
By now, I’m pretty sure that if you asked most people what Stellantis is, they’d probably answer that it’s simply a hole into which you throw money.
Isn’t it an impotence drug?
Only if it causes impotence.
Financial impotence, for certain.
With 96++ month financing, what could possibly go wrong?
Stellantis has basements on multiple continents. I think the North American basement is pretty close to being breached, but the the big question is what will they do with the Charger platform? Will it have to become the new K-Car for this generation? How well will it work with a Gas 6 cylinder and multiple forms of minivan and cross over bodies plopped on top of it? Will they finally make a Maverick fighter before the Maverick fuss is gone.
Is this the bottom for Stellantis, or is there another sub-basement?
Considering none of their brands have actually gone away, I’d say they have plenty of sub-levels to drop.
Speaking of Bourbon. Did you know in Ukraine a double shot of JD is only 1.75$
When I was in Norway several years back a 750ml bottle of Takara Plum Premium was 800 Kroner, which was ~$80 USD at the time. I was happy to learn the same bottle is $11.50 in the US.
Highly recommend it btw, it is sweet but the plum flavor cuts on the sweetness a good bit, would make for great mixed drinks or in a short glass with lots of ice.
Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world. I remember back in 2011, a Big Mac combo meal at an Oslo McD’s cost the equivalent of then-$20 dollars.
It certainly isn’t cheap, every meal cost me about 2x what I thought it would.
But why would you get JD? That stuff should be a war crime.
Can we ship them some Buffalo Trace or Makers… Or anything else?
That’s too much for JD.
JD is whiskey, though.
I know it tastes like bourbon, but it says Tennessee Whiskey right on the bottle.
It will get worse and like so many other times someone else will come in and buy Jeep. It has happened about 1/2 dozen times in the past.
Buying Jeep is the first step to bankruptcy….
Jeep will ALWAYS survive, it is an enticing parasite.
this is for consumers as well at corporations.
2 time Jeep owner here.
Did you buy them new? These things are 50 grand and i see them optioned up to way more than that around here. could easily be an 800 dollar a month payment for someone who didnt have much to put down.
And Ram. that is literally why they took the dodge name off the trucks.
Maybe it’s time to pull all of the old signs out of the basement, break the US brands off from Stellantis, and resurrect American Motors as the New American Motors.
“NAM”? Stelantis is certainly in a bit of a quagmire but I am unsure this would be a success for the US brand.
However, seeing the apocalypse now facing these brands I would say nothing should be off limits and executives should be working to move heaven & earth or risk becoming expendables. I could see platoons of deer hunters who would be interested in a brand with a new emphasis on US products. Unless NAM is able to successfully bring back the Hemi those customers may be willing to put a bullet in the head of the whole group and let Dodge and Ram be casualties of war.
It won’t be “NAM”. They’ll need another government bail out, so they’ll split off the this-side-of-the-Atlantic pieces and sell it to the administration as “Make American (motors) Great Again”. Red logo with gold lettering.
It would require some uncommon valor to take this fight on.
Absolutely, but if they get started now they have about a year to prepare for a “Re-born on the Fourth of July” roll-out event!
Gotta wonder who’s going to draw first blood.
I have buddy who works for a distillery. After the salad days of heavy pandemic booze consumption, the sledding has been rough. This might just kill them.
Only if they are one of the smaller craft brands that doesn’t actually produce a product will it kill them. I used to be in that industry and there is so much profit in the product. Especially if you can branch out to make things other than bourbon. The problem for most smaller craft brands is they contract out the manufacturing of the product and just put their own label on it. Upside is when the economy is bad, Booze is a great place to be.
My buddy’s company is a craft distillery and they make their own booze. What has killed them is the distributer system and the Kafkaeque laws that differ from state to state, county to county.
The hodgepodge of laws between the states is obscene and designed just to get extra taxes, distributors also suck to work with. They’re the car dealership experience of buying/selling booze.
I’m a Kentucky native and live right across the Ohio River in Indiana. Distilleries in KY are very much noticing both the post-pandemic effects, and I don’t think anyone knows exactly what the tariffs are going to do to that industry. Much of KY voted for Trump too…
The big ones aren’t going anywhere but there’s been so many smaller distilleries that have opened in the last decade or so.
The Great Craft Distillery Culling is here.
Depends on how much exporting a craft distillery does.
I think the major distilleries are more worried.
At least they can drink the pain away.
Good luck to your friend.
Kia did the same thing in Germany with the zero mileage used EV loophole, in order to meet EU zero emissions goals. The EV Kia Souls were “sold” new in Germany then almost immediately exported to Norway, which isn’t part of the EU. The EU courts ruled the scheme to be legal.
If they made a 7-passenger 3-row Wrangler Safari wagon, that shit would print money. Fuck the lame-ass Wagoneer.
I see Stellantis as a future breakup party. The big loser is/will be Chrysler.
Nobody puts Chrysler in the corner, well except for maybe Daimler, Cerberus, Fiat, and Stellantis. OK, I guess they’re getting passed around like a cheap party favor.
My guess is there’s more downside for Stellantis. I can see bankruptcy ahead, with the viable brands like Jeep and maybe a combined Dodge/RAM (the US examples) being spun off to venture capital outfits. The long neglected Chrysler cat finally may be out of its nine lives.
As for the other side of the pond, I don’t know enough about the European brands to have any idea about which of those will make it out the other side.
A year ago I’d have said some or all of them would be snapped up by Chinese conglomerates, but now they’ve got their own big problems to deal with.
I’m guessing a number of the Stellantis brands are about to disappear. Say maybe in the next 2-3 years.
You must mean private equity, not venture capital. VCs wouldn’t touch dead legacy brands with a barge pole. PE may do what these brands really need, I.e. squeeze money out of them and kill them off.
Perhaps. I don’t play in the finance realm enough to know the ins and outs of each. In broad strokes, my understanding is one likes stripping whatever meat is left on the carcass, and the other tries to grow their investment and sell it for a profit or make a killing on an IPO. But there can also be some overlap.
I’m not sure there’s enough juice in the squeeze to entice PE to strip the carcass of some of the Stellantis brands, but they do get creative with structuring debt, so maybe there is enough meat left on the bone to interest them.
I do think there is room for some of the brands to be bought out of bankruptcy and regrown. But, I’m no expert. This is all just my take from the peanut gallery.
The issue with Stellantis, like with Nissan, is that they can’t develop a product. They gave up on investing in new products and are now seeing the consequences. There is no easy fix in a market where developing anything new will take years.
This is what happens when the economic structure rewards executives and large investors on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
Yes, it worked for a while when there was supply issues, when even getting a car from GM was difficult, with options missing, etc. The difference is that GM or Ford never stopped development, when they release a new car, they start to work on the next generation almost immediately.
unless it is a Camaro, Volt, or really anything from Oldsmobile, Pontiac or Saturn?
When this strategy of “return to the V8 truck and muscle car glory days of 20 years ago” fails, Stellantis might as well wind the clock back even further and re-release the K-car platform as their last hurrah before bankruptcy.
If it leads to the resurgence of the minivan, I’m all for it.
I’m conflicted about Stellantis too. Clearly their bets on an EV or at least Hybrid future have not paid off, however I feel that just saying “F-it, put a Hemi in everything” is another example of “Stellantis being a company that essentially doomed itself with short-term decision-making, which resulted in immediate profits at the expense of long-term viability.” Eventually that gravy train will run out.
I feel like I keep reading over and over different variations of “cutting corners for short term profits does not work well long term, or even medium term”. I’m sure it’ll continue.
Hopefully the staff knows that Jack Daniels is not bourbon, right? Right?
I mean – it even says on the bottle what it is.
+1. I always found it humorous that the most well-known “bourbon” from the USA (Jack Daniels) wasn’t really even a bourbon. (Says it right on the bottle–“Tennessee Whisky”)
I had to quit over 5 years ago but I was a real whiskey aficionado when I was still drinking…and I always resented the fact that Jack Daniels was:
1). Held up as an example of bourbon
2). Considered any good at all
It’s just a product I never understood. When I was a teenager I’d seek it out because I didn’t know any better, but once I’d tasted a bunch of bourbons I never touched it again. It just has this weird acrid taste that I could never get past.
Some of my favorite bourbons were Bookers, Angel’s Envy, and Four Roses Single Barrel…but Wild Turkey 101, Makers, Buffalo Trace, or even plain ole Jim Beam are totally fine, taste way better than Jack, and are usually cheaper.
I worked in that industry before starting my actual career so I got to taste a lot of neat stuff, including Pappy. I even had the Single Barrel Jack and was not impressed at all. I think it’s a case of there not being any competition for so long that people just never tried anything else.
If you do enjoy bourbon I encourage you to do so. And do the bourbon trail if you can, it’s a lovely experience.
JD is a “brand.” Just like when I was in high school Beck’s and Lowenbrau were fancy German beers that the Germans wouldn’t even use to wash their feet.
. . . I gave up drinking a couple of years ago too. Do I miss the taste? Very much. Do I miss the empty calories and sluggish feeling the next day? Nope.
I got to a point where I basically had to choose between living a happy, productive, potentially successful life or the bottle. I came up to this crossroads multiple times in my life and finally made the right decision. I’m one of the lucky ones, I didn’t completely ruin my life and/or do something I could never come back from while I was an alcoholic.
I really don’t miss the sickness, hangovers, drain on my wallet, strained relationships, worsening mental health issues, or perpetual average performance at work. But the taste? I definitely miss that, especially when it comes to whiskey. And I miss a time when I could get myself a little buzzed and enjoy it without going too far.
But that became impossible for me. Drinking was an on/off switch because of how insane my tolerance became. It was either get incredibly drunk or don’t feel anything at all. I could easily throw back 10 drinks and still be completely coherent, which was part of the problem.
But I won’t bore you all with more details. Congrats on your sobriety, amigo. For many of us life is just better without booze…and for the fortunate among us who can enjoy it in moderation I certainly understand the appeal.
Take up running. Start slowly. Runners’ high – or for me, clarity of mind while running – is real.
Jack Daniels used to taste better when it was bottled at higher proof.
My grandpa had a cache of old bottles he saved and the difference was notable.
I agree in general that there are much better choices out there for your whiskey dollar.
They sell a single barrel, barrel proof these days which is quite good.
JD has its place. If I want a quick shot or something to pour into ginger ale I will use JD. I am sipping my Buffalo Trace or Basile Hayden slowly.
Yeah, it’s a decent mixer when it doesn’t really matter, like most vodka.
similar to Jose Cuervo, vs Don Julio. One is for sipping, and one is for mixing with soda’s and juices to mask the flavor. lol
It’s just marketing. Apple, Jeep, Hershey’s, etc- crap product, lots of ad money to convince people that their brand is the ‘best’ brand, and the suckers line up around the block.
Four Roses Single Barrel… that’s what I like.
LOL, Ok, swapping it.
Something I’m always amazed by is how popular Jack is in Europe and the UK.
Another interesting thing will be around the barrel trade for scotch. Since bourbon (and yes, Tennessee Whiskey) is only aged in new oak scotch producers buy massive quantities of barrels, and the Jack barrels are well regarded (and furthering the name issue… the resulting scotch will say ex-bourbon barrel when its ex-JD…). I wonder if there’s further unexpected layers to the tariff madness… like a return to the trends of the 70s when there was substantially more ex-port and ex-sherry barrels in use.
Maybe if fewer barrels go overseas for scotch there will be more stuff like barrel-aged beers here.
Crazy 3rd and 4th order effects, wheeeee
Except that it is. The rules for bourbon:
Jack is a Bourbon. It is also Tennessee Whiskey
To the bourbon rules TN Whiskey add:
JD tastes like bourbon, for all the reasons you list, but it sells itself as whiskey.
The federal govt and Jack Daniels seem to disagree on whether the charcoal filtration makes the whiskey no longer bourbon. As JD is selling the product and doesn’t want it called bourbon, I think it’s fair to not refer to it as such.
Stellantis is in big trouble in France — messed up the air bag recall for millions of cars until people started dying, and above all made not one crap motor, the “pure tech” petrol 1.2 litre but also the diesel “Blue Hdi) 1.5 litre diesel.
Both put in millions of cars, and meant to be the bees knees.
Instead cheap plastic timing chain pulleys mean the pure tech is anything but, spewing out oil after 50,000 km, and the Blue Hdi, with a timing chain, was designed with a timing chain which is. about as strong as a cheap necklace from a supermarket.
And the thing is, so many people are affected it has become common conversation.
Just about impossible sell the cars with these motors second hand now.
And people are realising that beloved Peugeot and Citroën were actually sold by the last lot to the Italians and Americans, who do not give a shit about France.
As a company it is playing with fire — unless they get a grip they will have riots outside their company branded garages.
Even garages with their brands on the door are revolting, mine buys parts from a local network rather than through Stellantis — flywheel from Stellantis now €1.100, vs €800 from locals…
Good perspective. I’ve always felt that France appreciates good engineering more than a lot of cultures, and it must be a real blow to have classically French badges stuck onto “eh, good enough” crapcans.
I don’t know about that. Reliability and French cars have been distant cousins.
The European perspective is interesting and not one that I have the pulse on from a North American perspective.
I am actually unsure how much of the revenue Stellantis derives from its operations outside North America and how critical that is to profitability.
To wit: DaimlerChrysler similarly raided the strong North American performance of Chrysler to shore up the balance sheet when Mercedes was having their early-to-mid 2000s quality issues. Chrysler always got lambasted in the media as being the weaker partner as the Germans gave it sloppy seconds in product development and treatment. Once the scale of the rot became apparent, it flicked the husk away.
The much improved performance under Fiat management showed that Mercedes management was the bad guy the whole time.
If we could similarly split the company into its European (or hell, French and rest of Europe) and American operations, maybe at least one of them might be viable.
American and European automakers just can’t seem to be good dance partners.
I don’t know…every time we’ve thought Stellantis is good and fucked they’ve somehow shambled on, and they’ve just gone back to the V8 ALL THE THINGS well for the 9,000th time which should be good for luring their core audience in to finance stuff on 120 month loans at 11% APR. They’re like the cockroach of the automotive industry. You just can’t seem to kill them.
Anyway I can’t really get into The Last Dinner Party. Their whole schtick just kind of feels forced to me and their lyrics are pretty cringy, particularly Nothing Matters. When it comes to lyrics sex is just so goddamn played out at this point that unless you’re going to find an outside the box way of broaching the topic I’m just not all that interested in hearing about it. If the lyrics make me horny they’re probably creative. If the lyrics are overtly horny it just comes across as tryhard-ey in a rock context.
That being said I do like their lead guitarist. She writes some creative solos. They’re not really technically dazzling or anything but anyone can learn to shred. Writing stuff that’s interesting and memorable is way harder to do. So I award brownie points there for sure.
But when it comes to new-ish rock acts from the British isles give me Wet Leg and their many layers of weirdness and irony every single time.
I fear that both marques Chrysler and Dodge will go the way of DeSoto, Imperial, Eagle, and Plymouth.
Oh well.
Stories like the “0 mile used” scandal are why I really wish the site would apply a bit more of a critical eye to some of the other “ZOMG you can get a 500 mile range EV for $10,000” or “We lapped the Ring in 6:XX in our new EV” type press releases from Chinese companies.
Sure, maybe those blurbs are true, but I’ll keep some skepticism regarding state media releases (from any country), thanks.
The Chinese regard positive reviews as part of the transaction, expected when accepting the invite to review. I look askew at every positive review with suspiciously missing or merely minimal critique of minor things.
Stellantis, then Sottolantis, then Atlantis.
A bunch of Wranglers playing Hole.io sounds like fun!