I keep thinking about this presentation I went to a few years ago, which involved a well-respected expert from a big intelligence firm pointing out that by 2028 we should be seeing a huge explosion in the total number of available models because of the switch from ICE to EV powertrains. I remember thinking at the time how unlikely it all seemed. Instead, we’re entering a model glut as automakers dramatically pulled back on EV products.
This isn’t to say the expert was wrong. Automakers really did plan to continue to support existing ICE powertrains as it transitioned to new electric ones. It’s just those plans didn’t work out. Today’s Morning Dump is a good reminder of how this is going to play out going forward, with Volkswagen delaying its electrified Golf and GM potentially axing its Corvette sub-brand altogether.
New products will come, though, and the one that has the juice right now is a big ol’ SUV from Mitsubishi, which I sort of hope will be exported to the United States (or built here). I’m not holding out any hope for Chinese exports, though Chinese exports are the one bright spot for that country’s automakers this year.
Wither The Electrified Corvette Brand?
The images above are from a post I enjoyed from The Bishop, premised on the rumors that Corvette would spin off a sub-brand that featured a crossover and a sedan in a late attempt to mimic what Porsche had done so successfully. Instead of designing a modern one, Bishop created a C4-era crossover with just a little Geo Storm. I love it.
Way back in 2022, Motor Trend was using an AI image generator (before people got really mad about doing that) to guess what the “2025 Corvette ZUV” might look like. The assumption of an expanded Corvette lineup was built around the idea that GM would be spending all this money on electric platforms that everyone would buy, and that it would then be straightforward to produce an SUV, a sedan, and maybe even an electric Corvette (hilariously, MT still has a placeholder review of a Corvette EV that doesn’t exist on their website… I wish I’d have thought of that).
While there have been plenty of rumors, I haven’t seen any firm commitment from the brand, and the slowing of EV adoption probably means it’s no longer a popular idea within the company. According to a report from GM Authority, any dream of a larger Corvette Cinematic Universe is dead:
GM Authority has now learned from sources within General Motors that the automaker has shelved efforts to develop the expanded Corvette lineup, and with it, the individual model variants mentioned earlier. While we don’t know exactly why GM make the decision, we do imagine that the sub-par sales performance of The General’s EVs had a lot to do with it.
But all this does not necessarily mean that GM may not resurrect its Corvette expansion plans. In fact, from what we understand, the idea of an electric two-door Corvette is still very much alive inside GM, despite there not being an active vehicle program associated with it. For now, however, consider an expanded Corvette lineup shelved.
I am down with both a Corvette four-door and a Corvette SUV. It’s a strong brand, and Porsche didn’t suffer from an expansion. Given that I have a Cadillac CT5 Blackwing this week and it’s the best thing I’ve driven in a long time, I’m certain the company could pull off a gas-powered sedan. The idea of a Taycan competitor is a little harder to comprehend at the moment given that even Porsche isn’t that enthused about the Taycan’s sales
]\.
Just to be sure, I reached out to GM so I could get them to tell me that they don’t comment on future product (in this case, couldn’t comment on speculation about canceling a program no one even proved they were ever going to actually do).
‘We Simply Can’t Afford’ To Make An E-Golf Right Now
Since the turn of this decade, there’s been a long wait for an electric Golf. Other than the Beetle, no car better represents the brand’s history than the Golf. For a modern VW fan, it is the car. Volkswagen has also been happy to offer up concepts that look close to production.
The last couple of years, though, it’s felt like that’s been a sketchier proposition, as Volkswagen has run short of cash. It was rumored last year that VW didn’t have the money to make an electrified Golf. Now it’s not a rumor.
“I know what the Golf means for Volkswagen and for Wolfsburg. That’s why this decision was really not an easy one for us,” said Thomas Schaefer, CEO of the German group’s volume brands, in a memo seen by Reuters on Friday.
“We simply can’t afford this work right now,” he added.
I think this means that the current generation Golf will continue to be built into an unforeseeable future.
Can You Name The Mitsubishi With Four Wheel Drive That Smells Like A Steak And Seats 35?
Sometimes we nail it with a headline, at least partially, as we did with “The New Mitsubishi Pajero Could Be A Perfect Land Cruiser Rival For America, Except For One Big Problem.” The problem, of course, is that it’s currently only available with a turbodiesel engine. That’s a fixable issue, though. Just toss in a turbo V6 and call it the Montero.
So far the Pajero is snagging a ton of customers from Toyota’s Land Cruiser in Japan, thanks to its competitive pricing and new look, as Automotive News reports:
The reborn Mitsubishi Pajero is bringing new blood into the beleaguered brand, pulling 80 percent of its customers in Japan from competitors as it moves up market with a $39,000 base price to challenge the Toyota Land Cruiser.
Mitsubishi unveiled domestic pricing and specifications for the flagship body-on-frame truck on Oct. 29, saying it already had received 5,500 orders in Japan for the Thailand-built off-roader.
That exceeds President Keisuke Kishiura’s expectations for 4,000 sales at home and puts the seven-seat Pajero on its way to reaching the company’s global goal of 10,000 sales through March.
I hope there’s room in those frame rails.
BYD Sales Rise Again Thanks To Exports
The Chinese car market, while still the biggest in the world, is not growing at a rate to support even its own automakers, let alone all the other car companies trying to shill EVs there. What’s an automaker to do? Export! In places where Chinese carmakers are allowed to sell cars, export-focused Chinese automakers are doing alright as Bloomberg points out:
BYD’s October passenger vehicles sales climbed 11% as exports doubled and local deliveries fell, according to a statement on Sunday. Chery Automobile Co., the nation’s biggest exporter, reported sales increased 5%, with exports climbing by 60%.
Shares of BYD and Chery rose in Hong Kong trading on Monday as the continued strength of overseas demand for Chinese cars helped ease concerns about the prolonged downturn in their home market. Still, export growth hasn’t necessarily impressed investors as BYD last week reported earnings and revenue that missed analyst estimates.
Ok, it’s still tough out there, even if it’s tougher in there.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I happened to hear a bunch of songs with the word “karma” either in the title or in the lyrics in a very short period of time last week, and figured a theme week of songs with the word karma in it could be fun. I’m starting off with the most automotive of them all: “Karma Police” from Radiohead, which features a 1976 Chrysler New Yorker.
The Big Question
What should Corvette’s second car be?
Top photo: The Bishop
There should not be a second corvette at all. It’s not going to sell any more than the same car without “corvette” slapped on the side. Some times it seems like all these companies are just devoid of leadership and can be swayed by the dumbest ideas in marketing. If you want a sporty crossover, just make one and call it a cyclone or typhon or what ever. Following Ford down the branding rabbit hole isn’t going to shift the needle. No one goes to buy a Mach-e and talks about how they got such a cool mustang. They know they bought a EV crossover and if it was called the fusion or the taurus-E it would have been the same car with roughly the same sales.
Why couldn’t Mitsu make the Pajero’s turbo diesel emissions-compliant for the USA?
However… a range of powertrain options might be best here. Straight ICE (gas or $7/gal diesel), mild hybrid, and a plug-in hybrid. I don’t see it going all-electric, even as an EREV.
Chevy should pull a Ford and make every car they sell a Corvette. (joke)
I really think that a stretched C8 4 seater sold as a Cadillac would be great. No one else is selling that configuration, and it would tie with the F1 effort. The American Mondial
Corvette CUV. But front engine this time. They have to have some C7 glass hood windows laying around, right? Make it a “heritage” model inspired by the C7. Except this time with adequate cooling capacity for the ZR-1. Which should be easy given a CUV form factor but I’m not a powertrain cooling systems engineer. Yo, David, you listening?
Corvette Roadster: a Miata fighter
TBQ: You can file this idea directly into the ‘things that will definitely never happen’ bin, but with the extinction of the Camaro there is a space in the lineup for a more affordable v8 sports car. I would propose bringing back the front engine C7 platform and use it to lean into the ‘analog sports car’ market segment – put a 5.3 in it (badge it 327) and sell it with a manual option. Lightweight, simplify, and de-cost everything; offer cloth seats. The competitive set for such a car would be the 400z, Supra (which is going away)… what else? Mustang GT kinda, but 2 vs 4 seats would be a big differentiator. One step above the GT86 and Miata, but would appeal to a similar ‘track rat’ set.
I kind of feel like a cheaper Vette will just steal customers from the current one.
My initial reaction to a Corvette EV-SUV was that it would be a Bad Idea, but the Porsche Cayenne makes a decent case for the viability of one. In that vein, I’d think that it would be have to be more of a hoonable SUV, more like electrifying a Raptor, or something rally-inspired like a Bowler takeoff.
Of course, GM corporate wisdom did give us the Hummer EV. Which is not something I’d want to hang a Corvette badge on. But GM probably would have, because GM.
I think it might be pretty difficult to design an SUV on a mid-engine Corvette platform. So it would have to be on the all EV Corvette platform, which if it ever exists is likely decades away.
It cannot be this difficult to make an electric Golf. They need to steal some talent from Hyundai/Kia because they seem to have some success going the IC/PHEV/EV-in-one-platform route which is absolutely what VW should be doing with the golf.
Yeah the Kia Niro has been EV/PHEV/HV/ICE since 2018
You saw how it took them 15 years to make a VW bus nobody liked, right?
VW already has a solution, that has previously worked out great for them with ICE powered Golfs in at least 3 different countries!
Just dust off that old MK7 e-Golf tooling, throw on a mild squinty eye MK8 facelift (or don’t, the older one looked better anyway) and hey presto! Your new 2027 City e-Golf is here!
Yes I’m being half sarcastic but if they could make it cheap enough I would seriously consider one.
I think for the Vette and other sports cars, they need to add more and more electrification, but not to go fully electric just yet. For instance, the current C8 can go 3 or 4 miles on pure electricity in one trim. In a future C9, try to go for 20 or 30 miles maybe in all but the base model. In the C10, all trims have at least 50 miles of EV-only model. Then maybe by the C11, a full-EV model can be released.
Racing hybrids are certainly the new hotness. I can see Chevy throwing their hat in that ring.
TBQ: Vettamino.
The Pajero does look rather nice. It leans heavily on the current design trends, which I’m not a huge fan of, but side by side I’d get one over a Telluride. I’m not sure there’s a better vehicle to get people inside of US Mitsubishi stores and actually spending money. Sure, a new Evo would steal all the press everywhere for weeks, but they would realistically move very few of them.
I was thinking about the Canyonero on my commute this morning, because of course I was. It occurred to me that once again The Simpson’s nailed the future perfectly when you consider the original episode aired nearly 30 years ago before everything got embiggened.
TBQ: C8 Safari? Like the Porsche 911 Dakar.
VW is run by bunch of absolute morons.
Always has been, even from the very beginning.