As a person who is around cars a lot, I’m frequently exposed to opportunities that might seem dangerous to normies. Whether it’s leaning over a pit wall as a 900-horsepower race car comes barreling towards me, or it’s getting between other journalists and the shrimpbarrow, I really should be getting hazard pay.
It’s not that stuff that ever worries me. I’ve flown around in Marine helicopters loaded up with ammo, and that was probably less dangerous than just driving around in New York for a week. Modern cars bring modern problems, and the most unsettling is the idea that you could get trapped in your car and not be able to get out for a very dumb reason. The Morning Dump is nothing if not a trend-watcher, and the trend seems to be that people are starting to get that electromechanical doors are bad.
I feel like I’ve written about the EU rolling back its emissions ban a million times, and while it still hasn’t actually happened, there’s now a clearer idea of what the actual impact will be. What’s the outcome of GM’s C-Suite shuffling? Uncertain, but current CEO Mary Barra may have a favorite.
Ending on something fun, it looks like Foxconn finally bought a car company. Nope, it’s not the one you were thinking.
Bloomberg Puts Out A Big Piece On Tesla’s ‘Dangerous Doors’
I don’t seem to be able to embed the video from Bloomberg, so I’ll just link it here. It’s a sobering 20 minutes or so that explains why I check the doors in every new car I get in before I do anything else.
If you read the site regularly, this won’t surprise you. It’s just logical that replacing something as vital as opening a door with some complex system like Tesla has on its vehicles (as you can see in the graphic above, you have to remove a panel in the door pocket to get out if the vehicle loses power) is inviting danger. As Bloomberg editor Craig Trudell explains in a LinkedIn post about this:
Today, we’ve published a video that makes for difficult viewing. We spoke with a mother who, as she puts it, has a hole in her heart that will never heal.
We take you inside the garage of a repair shop owner who’s quipped to his substantial YouTube following that you’re not a “true” Tesla owner until one of your door handles prevents you from entering.
We show you, in this shop owner’s words, “the scary part” — that, if you’re in the back seat of a Tesla that’s lost battery power, your way out may be tucked under a rug, behind a speaker grille or under a plastic flap.
We take you to the scene of a fiery crash where a cluster of bodies were found in the front seat, suggesting to police there was a struggle to escape the burning vehicle.
The Feds are looking into this issue, and Chinese regulators are considering banning them outright. Tesla is apparently working on a way to fix this, and other automakers, like Toyota, already have more obvious release levers. You know works great? Just a mechanical door. While being able to make the door handles flush with the car does have aerodynamic benefits, I don’t think it’s worth it.
I agree with Sam Abuelsamid, who wrote yesterday that “consumers should refuse to buy any vehicle without clearly accessible mechanical door latches and regulators should ban them outright.”
Instead Of A Ban, 35% Of New Cars Sold In The EU Will Probably Have Some Sort Of Combustion Engine After 2035
We’re at over 300 comments on David’s EREV article, and I think it’s worth clarifying a little bit what my position on all of this is. While there’s no specific “Autopian” view on almost anything, in general, we drive electric cars all the time and understand the benefits. Electric cars, in an ideal world where they were cheaper and all apartment complexes had chargers, would make a ton of sense for most people, and the more commuter vehicles that can be transitioned into EVs, the better.
Personally, I’d have bought an electric car (well, cheaply leased a Lyriq or Mach-E) if I had the charging infrastructure around me to make that a possibility. But pretending like everyone would suddenly just buy EVs tomorrow seemed like it was overlooking the necessary transition technologies. If I could press a button and make it possible for people to switch to EVs in an affordable way with all the infrastructure in place, I’d press that button.
The EU tried pressing that button and then realized that, unless it wanted to flood the continent with cheap Chinese cars, an outright ban by 2035 wasn’t going to work. The proposed framework is now for mostly EVs by 2035, with credit given to various technologies, as Automotive News reports:
If the EU’s proposal wins approval from the European Parliament and Council of Europe next year, automakers will have to reduce tailpipe emissions 90 percent from a 2021 baseline, to about 11 grams of CO2 per km, rather than 100 percent.
“Tailpipe” is a critical word: For the first time, automakers can count external, carbon neutral sources toward their fleet emissions — 7 percent can be European-made low-carbon “green” steel, while 3 percent can be from biofuels, e-fuels or hydrogen powering ICE cars.
They would still be subject to fines of €95 per gram of CO2 over the 11 g/km target.
By the European Commission’s own analysis, up to 35 percent of new cars sold after Jan. 1, 2035, could have combustion engines.
Reducing emissions by 100% would be awesome, but reducing them by 90% is also pretty awesome.
Is Sterling Anderson Going To Be The Next GM CEO?
Not since Yul Brynner helmed Matra has a proud man with a shorn head run a major car company. Could that streak finally end with Sterling Anderson, who is reportedly in line for the top job at General Motors?
Anderson joined the company as chief product officer in June after working for Tesla and co-founding the autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation Inc. The understanding when he was hired, according to people familiar with the matter, was that if Anderson can satisfy Barra’s demand for him to bring cutting-edge software and self-driving technology to GM cars, he has a good shot at succeeding her.
It’s a daunting challenge, but one that draws on the experience of the 42-year-old Anderson. Barra wants him to bring more computing power to every corner of GM’s vehicles, with software controlling more mechanical functions like steering and braking, and to create features that could generate long-term revenue from subscriptions. More broadly, he will also ride herd on a renewed push to make the company’s money-losing electric vehicles profitable.
Anderson’s ascension to the top job has been discussed but isn’t a done deal, and even it it happens, it may not be a quick journey. Barra, who turns 64 next week, isn’t obligated to retire at any age and may well decide to keep going, said the people familiar with her thinking, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. GM President Mark Reuss, 62, also has gas in the tank and could play a role in the succession plan.
I could see Reuss doing it for a short period of time while Anderson takes on the President role, and then transitioning into the job. Also, we’re the same age! A GM CEO my age would feel very strange.
Update: For… reasons, I was sent this comment from a GM spokesperson:
“Sterling came to General Motors in June 2025, and holds the position of Chief Product Officer. Any discussion of a future role is premature and speculative.”
Foxconn Buys Luxgen On The Cheap
Remember when the entire Japanese automotive industry had a minor meltdown over the idea that Taiwanese mega company Foxconn was going to buy Nissan? That didn’t happen. Or, well, it hasn’t happened yet.
In the meantime, Foxconn has looked a little closer to home, according to Nikkei Asia:
Foxtron Vehicle Technologies, a joint venture established by Foxconn and Yulon in 2020, currently focuses on research, development and design of electric vehicles. Following the deal, it will have full access to Luxgen’s assets, including staff, distribution channels, marketing resources and repair and maintenance capacity across the island.
The deal will need to be approved by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission and is likely to be reviewed in the first quarter of 2026, the two companies said.
Foxtron CEO Adam Chen said in a press conference on Friday evening that his company will buy a 100% stake in Luxgen and take charge of its operations, “creating a complete EV value chain from products, sales, to services.”
Trying to buy Nissan and ending up with Luxgen is a little like trying to buy the Giants and ending up with the Padres or, well, like trying to buy the Padres and ending up with the Hartford Yard Goats (Go Goats!).
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Yo La Tengo is in the middle of its Hanukkah residency, in which it performs every night and brings out special guests like Matt Beringer or, last night, Norah Jones. I remember being in Austin for that first SXSW where she materialized and, you know what? “Don’t Know Why” still slaps.
The Big Question
What’s an absolute deal-killer when it comes to buying a car?
Top graphic image: Tesla
Not enough bytes to list them all:
A car that brakes for me.
Giant-ass screen.
Lack of critical engine gauges.
No knobs for audio system.
No knobs for AC/Heat.
Electronic door handles, of course.
For ordinary ICE: auto transmission.
For hybrids and such: Buttons instead of a shifter, especially those that are placed where my hand might accidentally go.
Deal killers:
Any sort of high pressure sales tactic. If I have to decide right now to get the deal, I will shop elsewhere.
Any sort of shady behavior. If I think you’re hiding something about the vehicle, I’ll bail.
Controls I will use while driving relegated to the screen.
Electronic door actuation–Lexus springs to mind. I like the size of the RX, the comfort, the features, but the doors killed it for me. And those at least had a mechanical failsafe if you pulled on the inside door handle (though not the exterior–that was, as far as I can tell, only a button under the traditional-looking door handle).
Tesla. Even if they fixed everything I dislike in the designs, buying a Tesla is expressing support for Musk at this point.
Almost dealbreaker: no Android Auto/Apple CarPlay support. I don’t want to pay for data for my car or rely on a car manufacturer to keep their software up to date. If you aren’t letting my phone take on entertainment and nav, I’m going to need things to be lower-tech, not more software-driven.
Deal breaker would be if you didn’t have access to the wire running the subscription.
Then I can’t install my inline switch.
Also , just carry and deploy a low tech device called a hammer.
TBQ – I won’t consider a vehicle that doesn’t have an Android Auto connection to my phone, and can’t hold my stuff easily when I’m vending at a craft show or market.
“Barra wants him to bring more computing power to every corner of GM’s vehicles, with software controlling more mechanical functions like steering and braking, and to create features that could generate long-term revenue from subscriptions”
Fuck off.
Short and sweet. COTD.
Absolutely this. Any car that requires a subscription is a deal breaker. GM is really going after the alternate revenue streams and I think it’s going to backfire spectacularly.
For a used car it is even the barest hint of strangeness around the the transfer. a branded title is fine, but selling it for a friend who’s out of the country? I’ll show myself out. Clean out of state title? Nope. Haven’t paid reg in x years but it’s out of the system now? Get that shit outta here. Haven’t gotten it smogged but it will pass no problem I promise? Then get your shit sorted out and we can talk.
I bought a vehicle with an out of state title once. Thankfully the DMV in that state picked up the phone and confirmed no weirdness. Also bought a boat the guy was selling for his cousin. I took a picture of his DL and the cousin (I think) answered the guy. Plus the state police confirmed it wasn’t stolen when I asked the non emergency dispatcher to run the HIN. Nobody’s come looking for it yet….
My deal killer for clicking on an article is the use of the phrase “this x” in place of the actual nouns in the article title.
Yeah, if this hadn’t been the Morning Dump, I would have skipped it for that reason.
*this reason 😉
Sorry, I’ll try again:
You’ll never believe the one weird reason I almost skipped reading this publication’s daily digest
100%. This one weird trick will alienate readers while generating fleeting traffic with a headline that hides information!
I don’t think this is mutually exclusive to electronic handles, personally. I think it’d be possible to still link things mechanically.
I was coming here to say the same. It’s not a difficult problem. There are plenty of ways to do it, depending on how you want it to work and what the goals are. You can have a recessed handle that a person accesses by pushing their fingers through a little trapdoor (or just an opening). You can have the lock actuator pop the handle out when unlocked. You can even just have the outer door handle position electronically actuated while still having mechanical linkage for the actual door function (though that’s my least favorite option).
Aircraft have been using various flush-mounted mechanical door handles for ages. It’s a solved problem.
Deal killer? Electric doors is my new #1
One of the first things I put into my Tesla once it got home were yellow Velcro straps for the rear door mechanical releases. They stick to the carpet in the rear door pockets. Very visible looking down. Otherwise the rear door release was impossible to find. $3 on AliExpress. And they work. The front door releases are easy to find.
Deal breakers for me are price, financing, insurance, ergonomics or energy efficiency. Doesn’t matter how good it is if I can’t afford it. Or if it’ll cause pain every time it gets used.
The Tesla door handle issue is horrible enough, but beyond that, what the hell is going on with the emergency teams that show up and can’t get into the wrecked car? Where is the simple spring loaded punch that shatters the glass, which is normally demonstrated during the hands on training you get in Firefighter 1 and First Responder training class? All they want to do is drag out The Jaws of Life metal shears and rip up a car. A $5 tool from Harbor Freight that lives in the pocket of your turnout gear will make you a hero long before the Jaws can be set up and operational.
In the cases discussed in the video, first responders weren’t on scene fast enough to make a difference. I don’t think it had anything to do with first responder preparedness and everything to do with how quickly a burning EV can take a life if you’re trapped. In the main case there was a bystander trying to open the car doors or break the windows with a tree branch, but most people aren’t going to be carrying even simple rescue tools like that.
GM wants more modules. That’s a deal killer.
Used cars specifically, the biggest dealbreaker for me is (sub) frame rot. Make sure you look under the car with a good flashlight.
Every time I reach for the door handle of my neighbor’s Tesla Model 3, I am annoyed. It’s uncomfortable/unergonomic as well as possibly unsafe. Like WTF Elon?
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=three+girls+burned+to+death+because+they+couldn%27t+get+out+of+their+tesla&t=opera&ia=web
“Like WTF Elon?” is a pretty good subtitle for the first half of 2025
Or all of 2024. And 2023.
I’d posit from June 28 1971 to his death.
Deal killers?
For a used car that would be a daily, it’s gotta pass a mechanical inspection.
Rust. I had two 1980s Japanese cars rot out on me. Never again.
Bad gas mileage if the car is to be a daily.
Lack of room for me.
It can’t be a Tesla.
For new? The price. A Honda Civic Si is over $44,000 in Canada. No. Just no.
“What’s an absolute deal-killer when it comes to buying a car?”
Rust holes. Can’t get the safety with rust holes.
Also if there is evidence that it was a flood car (regardless of whether the Carfax says it’s “clean”).
Don’t you know floods just clean out the car? You just can’t get it that clean without filling it with water. Also, rust holes reduce the weight and allow proper drainage in a flood.
Next you’re gonna try to sell me on incel-penis-leather seat covers…
I didn’t know incels had penises. I guess that means they’re rare. The price just increased.
Capacitive touch buttons anywhere but really on the steering wheel(looking at you Mercedes for the rental with those ). What’s wrong with a simple left/right, up/down button or click wheel for volume/mute?
I agree, but also think it is mostly just poor implementation.
For example. Apple trackpads on their laptops have not been mechanical for many years. Yet they feel like they are because of how they implemented the haptic feedback. It feels like you are clicking! Only when the laptop is shutdown and you start to press on the trackpad do you realize it does not actually move.
If car companies spent the time to implement something like that where it still provided good tactile feedback, but was mechanically more simple, I’d be fine with it. Instead they went for more simple and a worse experience. Lame.
That apple implementation is such grotesque over engineering, though.
Deal killer for me is monochromatic color options. Give me actual color, or give me death.
Put in a more Torch-like way: If my 1993-era Apple Personal Laserwriter NTR (yeah baby, upgraded with a RISC processor) can faithfully produce prints of all the color options of a vehicle, that vehicle is dead to me.
I’m looking at a car that looks best in silver. I will be buying it in blue, because I want color in my life! (Their red is okay, but not anything outwardly special.)
You complete me.
Also, nothing looks better in silver…
Silver can really enhance the curves of a car. The brighter and deeper it is, the better. Unfortunately, a lot of silver cars are just lighter color of gray.
Edit: Silver also works well to contrast a dark grille or trim pieces.
Silver cars and gray cars can be difficult to see, and this has caused accidents. Frankly I think they should be outlawed. The aesthetic benefit of it would be a nice bonus.
I remember complaining about this when silver became such an “in” color on cars… back in the 1980s. (Yes, it’s been going on that long, ever since the first wave of yuppies who wanted a “distinctive” color for their cars.)
Silver/gray car on gray pavement on a damp rainy or snowy day, especially with its headlights off (this was before daytime running lights) just fades into the background grayness. As silver cars became more popular, you really had to stay extra alert for them because they inadvertently camouflaged themselves so well. Especially in northern latitudes where there’s less daylight during parts of the year.
At least we have DRLs and automatic headlights now, which help with visibility. I still prefer colorful cars. They look nicer and generally stand out from the background better. Being visible is good for safety.
I guess I can see how silver could enhance the curves more than a dark color would.
I’m struggling to reconcile both brighter and deeper in my brain though…
“Also, nothing looks better in silver…”
True, when clean and shiny. But silver also changes least when covered in salt spray or summertime dust. Clearcoat scratches don’t show much either. My cars have always been parked outside; the silver one appeared clean the longest.
That is the logic my Mom uses when buying a car: What color looks best dirty… She currently has a silver/grey CX-30, previously had an ugly Eternal (medium) Blue Mazda3.
While I understand the sentiment for a 70+ year old woman who maybe washes her car once a year, I don’t understand it for enthusiasts 🙂
Ha. Well, I wash my cars frequently but a paint that hides a bit of dust and grime can still be appreciated because as an enthusiast (I guess; is there a membership card or Hoonigan sticker I’m supposed to have?) I also really dislike walking up to a car that looks dirty and I don’t always have time to grab the carwash kit and hose.
Barcelona Red and Orange Spice Metallic are in the driveway currently, fwiw.
Nissan solved the door handle thing with the 1991 Sentra.
“Even the door handles would be cool.”
Ah Nissan. How far they have fallen.
Really enjoyed my 1991 Nissan door handles (and the SE-R attached to them) way back when.
I got my driver’s license in 1994 and I lusted after the Sentra SE-R… Of course I had no job or money with which to buy a car, but it didn’t stop the lust.
I’m thinking that a decent test for a dealbreaker of buying a new car might be if I can disconnect the 12V battery, and have the same basic static functionality as my 30 year old Jeep with the battery disconnected, using doors and such, then it passes, otherwise I’m walking away.
I think the Bolt would almost pass, except for the electric parking brake. And the door locks, and the windows, and the rear hatch, shit, maybe not. Can’t put it in neutral and roll it around by hand or tow strap. I guess future choices will be extremely limited, maybe non-existent.
If you want functional, mechanical door handles without a significant aero penalty, the ones on the Ford Probe and 1st gen Honda Insight are great.
I hate flush electronic door handles. The aero gains are so small as to be inconsequential. Why bother?
It is the SHAPE of the car that needs to be addressed, primarily. Modern designs are given SUV/CUV proportions that are bad for drag, even if it’s a hatchback, a sedan, or a sports car that shouldn’t have those proportions in the first place. And everything on the market is oversized(that means more frontal area). This is easily 100+ times as impactful as these silly impractical door handles.
On modern cars, address that shape, then go after the details: these silly oversized grills, oversized wheels, fake vents, and stupid creases and decorative trim pieces that disrupt the airflow. Just ONE of these items is easily 20x more impactful(or more) than trying to shave a small amount of Cd off the door handles.
Yeah, I don’t understand why raising the hoods for pedestrian crash standards are better than offering better visibility.
Outward visibility doesnt matter when most drivers have their eyes on their phones.
Even then, people don’t trust the technology. When I am using my camera and backup sensors to slowly back out of a parking space and someone is behind me, I can safely get to 12″ or less from their vehicle. They start freaking out and honking at 36″, probably because their own sensors start to panic. So annoying!
One of the things that has bugged me with the ways they look at aero is the EVs that try to mimic the large grill (that’s also usually unnecessary on the gasser, really), but then throw on these stupid door handles and/or try to minimize the mirrors. You don’t have an engine to worry about. Make your aero gains in the shape of the vehicle. But, no, everything has to look “aggressive,” which seems to mean big and blocky.
Subaru XT door handles, mechanical and flush.
That is a great design.
I hate flush electronic door handles. The aero gains are so small as to be inconsequential. Why bother?
Coming from you this is particularly damning.
The whole point of my rantings on aero drag reduction is that it is a great way to save the operator of the vehicle MONEY. These electronic door handles do the opposite.
That’s why it’s particularly damning.
If I had the money, I’d start a car company that built an inexpensive front-engine RWD, lightweight(< 2,800 lbs), aerodynamic(< 0.4 m^2 CdA) and practical sedan. It would have EV, gasoline ICE, and diesel ICE options, be as analogue as I can get away with, McPherson strut suspension as a base option, body/chassis made of conventional materials, and the base model would be priced like a Mitsubishi Mirage. For the ICEs, two transmission options: 4-speed automatic, or 6-speed manual, and the EV is direct drive. For the EV, there would be an AWD variant.
There would then be a two-seater sports car of the same, as well as a mini-SUV, wagon, mini-pickup(resembling a Lotus Europa except with a truck bed), hatchback, and micro-van with cargo, passenger, and camping variants. The truck and cargo van would be designed as no-nonsense WORK VEHICLES designed to be CHEAP TO OPERATE and EASILY REPAIRED.
All of the base models would be right around $20-25k, including the sports car(which would weigh well under 2,500 lbs). All of the ICE gasoline options would start out as 2ZZ 1.8L 4-cylinders from a Toyota Corolla, with the next step up being the GM 3.8L V6, then the LT V8, all available as stripped-down models for those on a budget. The diesel gets a 1.9L TDI, with Cummins optional. The EV gets the carbon-banded 300 horsepower electric motor from the Tesla Model S PLAID, standard, the AWD option being the complete PLAID drive system with a lighter, more power-dense battery pack.
The only screen that comes standard would be a backup camera, which could be replaced for $20 from any Autozone. All headlights and taillights would be using LEDs that are standardized, inexpensive, and easily replaced, none of these $X,XXX integrated lighting units. The car gets AC, heater, and radio standard, but that’s about it, other than anything mandated.
Base models have manual locks and roll-up windows, cloth interiors. Power-anything is all extra. All software in the car is fully open-source, and kept to a minimum. Targeting a 1990s level of complexity, at worst, preferably simpler. These would be designed to be easily repaired, lal sharing standardized parts, and built to the durability standards of W123/W126 diesel Mercedes of yesteryear.
The EV variants would have their battery pack easily accessed and stored where the transmission tunnel for the ICE variants is, with a full guide on servicing anything that can go wrong in the pack, modules able to be rolled out ala McKee Sundancer. And the pack would have its electronics minimized, and composed of readily available off-the-shelf components, the base model being a 30 kWh pack made of a bunch of high-voltage modules paralleled together, with a no-nonsense single-string LiFePO4 option that lacks BMS that has increased reliability/serviceability at the expense of range also optional. The charger would be user-programmable and future-proofed, much like the Cycle Satiator e-bike chargers from Grin out in Canada, so that as battery technology advances and the time to change out batteries approaches, everything in the car can be made compatible with the new battery tech. The base-model would have its electric motor mounted in the mid-rear area, directly coupled to the differential, and it would be dual-shafted to allow easy upgrade to AWD with a bolt-on transfer case and drive shaft.
The idea? Minimal shit to break, fail, and cost money, maximum vehicle longevity, and everything modular to facilitate easy and inexpensive upgrades. It’s a car. It gets you from point A to point B as reliably and inexpensively as possible, with upgrade options available for those who like to hoon.
And my philosophy is that hooning should be CHEAP. If this thing’s performance variants can perform like cars that cost 5-10x as much, that will be a victory. Screw all of the Karens that complain, these vehicles aren’t for them, they can go buy a $80,000+ luxobarge SUV at 11% APR and make their husbands work themselves to death paying for it over 96 months as it depreciates. I want to build something that young people might be able to afford, and give them excellent value for the money.
And if someone buys the base model and isn’t satisfied with it, the chassis will be designed so that upgrades are all a bolt-on fit. Want to go from a 4-cylinder to a V8? It will be DIY friendly. Cloth to leather interior? Same. With full step-by-step guides and VIDEOS showing all of the processes in detail. This way, a college kid buying one of these on a loan, once the car is paid off in their 20s, could choose to buy and install themselves all of the upgrades that they want, instead of having to go out and buy another car. They could even convert from ICE to EV(although it won’t be all that cheap, and they will provide their own labor, and be able to offset the cost by selling their ICE components back).
Oh, and my cheapest offering would be an electric one-seater 3-wheeled microcar sized/shaped like a velomobile for well under $10k, and it would also likely be the fastest of the offerings. No price discrimination or other manipulative fuckery. Perhaps the CHEAPEST offering is my halo car. Maybe even sell a pure “bicycle” variant of the same for even cheaper, for those really hard up and able to pay, say $3k for a 750W/28 mph e-bike variant, which they can later upgrade as budget permits.
Best of all: NO STEALERSHIPS. Literally, fuck all of them.
Sounds wonderful; however I’ve heard it said “Building cars is hard”. You’d have to meet modern safety and emissions regs too. It’ll also have to be built to modern quality levels, nobody is going to enjoy a rattletrap even if it is cheap, it’s got to be put together very well and be easy to put back together very well by a drunk shade tree mechanic. And of course DIY friendly also means lots of cheap, readily available parts.
“For the ICEs, two transmission options: 4-speed automatic, or 6-speed manual’
I seem to recall reading a Mazda engineer explaining a decade ago that the reason the new (at the time) Skyactiv auto was *only* a 6 speed was because that was the sweet spot of complexity, reliability and performance. So why go with a 4AT? That’s 1980s tech. Are 6ATs that much worse?
EU CO2 Limits:
As always it is better to read the actual regulation than listen to talking heads. The EU never had an ICE ban in 2035. Yes, they set fleet CO2 averages to 0 g/km but the penalty for missing that average was 95 euro per g/km CO2. Automakers could still sell gas cars if they paid the fine just as some automakers in the USA have decided to ignore CAFE regulations and pay the fine. The EU was treating gas cars like cigarettes and applying a sin tax on carbon pollution
I have not read the details of the new regulation yet but the bullet points show a new requirement on company car sales (50-60% of new car sales in Europe). It requires an increasing percentage of car sales to be EV with that percentage varying by country. Hungary would only have to have 35% EV sales in 2035 while wealthier countries like Germany and France it is 100%.
Automakers may be trading fines for actual mandates. Of course the devil is always in the details. I haven’t seen the enforcement mechanism for the corporate car requirements.
At this point I think I won’t buy any car that calls home with all my data until that is settled a bit more on the ownership of the data. I just don’t trust that after the GM suit.
Then there’s the whole thing about putting ads in my car. Immediate deal-killer. There are so many adjacent issues to the connectivity in vehicles and how the manufacturers want to control our usage of the vehicle, data, content etc that it starts to make me think I won’t be shopping for anything newer than a 2019 model anytime soon.
Also, (speaking of GM) I likely would not buy a car without Apple CarPlay if it is a normal commuter. If it’s my fun car then it is still a desired feature but other criteria become more important.
I’m going to find out if removing the car’s SIM card will disable it. If so, then I’ll have a problem with that.
I’m hoping for some wrenching hacker to come up with some way to jailbreak and install a custom OS in these cars at some point where we can take control of it away from them.
It’s going to be weird when all of these cars get old enough for the tech to be obsolete and see what people come up with.
I got an email on Monday from vendor engineer about a piece of electronic equipment at work. “We got a message from “X” that the system is overheating. Can you check that the chiller is still on?”
We had no idea that this thing was talking to the mothership.
The electric doors on this loaner lexus we have is why my wife (and I quote) “HATES this F’ing car”.
Electric door handles are still killing people over the last decade + and should probably be banned at this point.
My parents have some kind of parasitic update or lingering accessory that kills their Lexus once every winter. They have enough power to get in and hit the start button, and then it goes dead. One time they had four very intelligent and techy people in the car, and it took them over 20 minutes to manually release the door. It seems that playing twister to get up into the armrest isn’t enough, but you need to pull the manual handle TWICE in succession to open it. Sheesh!
“Trying to buy Nissan and ending up with Luxgen is a little like trying to buy the Giants and ending up with the Padres.”
Or like wanting the Dallas Cowboys and getting the Denver Broncos!
The reverse is likely true this season.
Depends on if you are buying it to win championships or so your son can spy on the cheerleaders in their dressing room. Allegedly.
For most of footy history, you can also use “Manchester United” and “Manchester City”, in that order.