Here’s some fun, non-tariff news to end the week. The two hosts of YouTube car sensation Throttle House and that one charming guy on Twitter who loves trains will reportedly be the new trio to helm Amazon car show The Grand Tour. That’s nice.
What else is good news for this month-ending Morning Dump? Inventory levels are down across the industry as strong sales continue in the car space. Is this tariff related? Yeah, it’s a little tariff-related. I guess since we’re talking about tariffs, we should talk about Volkswagen, which says it’s having “fair” talks about the new trade paradigm.
It’s not like the rest of the world has its ish figured out, though. Chinese automakers are embroiled in a hilarious scandal that involves selling cars with zero mileage as “used,” while various company execs all accuse one another of being dramatic. It’s kinda hilarious.
What If The Grand Tour Was Entirely Nice Guys?
The reporting on this story starts with the British tabloid The Sun, which says it has an exclusive. Given the source, it’s possible that the story is wrong somehow. While the publication traffics in the kind of why-are-these-people-famous celeb dross, it’s usually right about this kind of stuff, so I’m going to treat the news as real for now, but just know that there is no official announcement yet. It’s worth noting that a number of other publications have written about The Sun’s article, and forums are talking about it, so this is definitely newsworthy regardless.
If you were knocked unconscious by a loose Sidekick while doing the Cha Cha Slide then you might remember Top Gear becoming the most watched TV show in the universe. Somehow, everyone wanted to watch a trio of British dudes get themselves into repeated vehicular trouble. That show was incredibly popular, highly pirated, and broadcast on the BBC. The whole thing ended in distress when host Jeremy Clarkson, whose whole schtick is being borderline brilliant/obnoxious at all times, allegedly punched a producer because he was annoyed he couldn’t get hot food.
This led to the trio, including the delightful Richard Hammond and the intriguingly nerdy James May, to Amazon for The Grand Tour. Full disclosure, I briefly helped the producers of the show source parts for various cars and did research for another episode. One car I tried to get supplies for was the Crosley that James May drove in one of the final episodes. I did a bad job, and because of my poor work, you got to enjoy May being miserable for much of that drive, so you’re welcome, I guess.
Clarkson went on to make a show about farming that was even more popular than The Grand Tour, and everyone else drifted away to go work on other projects. Was this the end of The Grand Tour? Apparently not, as the show has now shifted to a new trio… from the capital I Internet.
Hey, I work on the Internet!
If you believe The Sun, then the new hosts will be Thomas Holland and James Engelsman of Throttle House, which makes sense since they’re some of the most popular reviewers on the planet. Joining them will be the viral trainspotting kid who goes by Francis Bourgeois. That’s unexpected. Or maybe it isn’t.
Here’s Chris Harris and Francis making a video:
If you have never heard of Francis before, he got famous for making Instagram videos about trains. There’s sort of an unstudied innocence to him that’s impossible to turn away from. This kid loves trains more than you love anything, and in my experience, enthusiasm is the one thing you can’t fake for very long.
YouTubers can make great TV hosts. I did a show for NBC Sports with a pre-Top Gear Chris Harris, Matt Farah, Mike Spinelli, and Alex Roy. All of them were basically YouTubers/Internet car celebs. They were great. It’s generally a transferrable skill, assuming hosts are interested and capable of being on what passes for television these days. I know at least one famous YouTuber in the car space who claims to never want to do TV, or at least never wants to do it when I’ve asked him.
It can be a hard transition. I also helped make a show with Rob Dahm, another Internet car person. It was awkward at first, as we tried to figure out how to do what he did, and do what we thought the BBC wanted. We got on the same page, though, melding his style with our style, and the show turned out great (I have nothing to do with it anymore, but go watch it, it’s only getting better).
I have high hopes for the show, but here’s one real, unintentionally (I think) mean quote from The Sun article
A source said: “Thomas and James are as knowledgeable about motors as Jeremy, Richard and James — the only difference is they’re younger, cooler and a lot more social media savvy.
“Francis became famous for his love of trainspotting and will be bringing his humour to the show.”
True, but ouch.
I think the key difference is there’s no Clarkson. I’m fine with that. For all his presenting genius, I think he’s given the world enough of his good side and his bad side to last us all three lifetimes. His watch is done. [Ed Note: I still find him extremely entertaining, though I understand why many consider him “canceled.” -DT].
The bigger difference, for me, will be that the show will lack the angry Boomer friction that Clarkson brought to all his projects. Can the show sustain interest if everyone is friendly? Can nice guys finish first? I hope so.
People Bought A Lot Of Cars In April
According to S&P Global, inventories shrank considerably in the United States, dropping by 7% compared to March. Most of the brands saw decreases in inventory, with BMW experiencing the biggest drop at -18.5% month-over-month, followed by Subaru (-15.6%), and Volkswagen (-11.1%). A few automakers did see small increases, but those can be explained by new production introductions.
For instance, Acura saw a 5.3% increase as the company rolled out its ADX.
Why is this happening? S&P Global explains:
Some vehicles built in Mexico or Canada with a higher risk of tariff exposure saw larger declines in inventory volume. For example, the Mexican-built Ford Maverick saw a 22% decrease. The Nissan Sentra experienced a similar decline, also down 22%.
This is a high level of logic that buyers are utilizing in a way that I didn’t necessarily expect. While people are buying everything, the purchase of cars that are specifically at risk of tariff-related price increases is sort of impressive.
VW Having ‘Fair’ Conversations With White House
To pick up on yesterday’s theme of “no one knows anything,” a federal appeals court briefly stayed the outright rejection of tariffs long enough for the administration to organize a motion to appeal. This is only a short-term delay, and eventually the Supreme Court will probably have to decide (or at least decide to accept a lower court ruling).
No matter what happens, this is causing European automakers to think more about how many cars they build in the United States, as Oliver Blume told a local German paper (via Automotive News/Reuters):
“So far, we have had absolutely fair, constructive discussions,” Blume told the newspaper in an interview published. “I was in Washington myself and we have been in regular dialogue ever since.”
Blume, who also leads VW Group’s Porsche brand as CEO, said VW’s main contact in Washington was U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Blume said he had agreed to keep any details of the discussions confidential
[…]
Asked what Blume was offering in the talks, which aim to reduce a 25 percent import levy implemented earlier this year, he said: “The Volkswagen Group wants to invest further in the USA. We have a growth strategy.”
VW already planned an expansion in the United States with Scout, so we’ll see what else this could mean. My guess is Audi production because Audi is in quite a pickle in terms of building cars for this market.
Chinese Automakers In Trouble For ‘Zero Mileage’ Used Cars, All Being Super Cranky Right Now
The theme of the Chinese car market is the contradiction between how far ahead individual automakers seem in terms of car production and how fragile the whole enterprise feels. That’s because various levels of China’s governing party invested a huge amount into making a few successful car companies, but did so in a sort of brute force way that resulted in a bunch of unsuccessful ones.
Now China has an overcapacity problem while, at the same time, automakers want to show growth. The answer? Allegedly, it’s selling new cars to supply chain financing companies or used car dealers who then market them as “zero-mileage used cars.” Lol.
Bloomberg explains the response from the Chinese government:
China’s Ministry of Commerce is meeting with some of the country’s biggest automakers to discuss whether the industry is using a loophole to mask weakening sales.
The meeting, which was set to take place Tuesday afternoon, also included industry bodies such as the China Automobile Dealers Association and online car distribution channels, according to a memo shared by Li Yanwei, an official at the dealers’ association, on Weibo.
A representative for Dongfeng Motor Group Co. said officials from the company attended the gathering. Invitations were extended to carmakers on Sunday and the event wasn’t an inquiry.
I mentioned this earlier this week, but Chinese automakers are all being catty with one another on Chinese social media, with one automaker hinting that a company (probably BYD) was like massive failed real estate company Evergrande. This is the equivalent of calling a company Enron. BYD’s response, according to Reuters, is hilarious:
In a lengthy post on Weibo, Li defended BYD’s 70% debt-to-asset ratio and over 580 billion yuan debt by making comparisons against the likes of Ford, Boeing and Toyota. He said this was the result of BYD growing rapidly even as some rivals had stagnated. He did not specify names.
Li added that BYD plans to hold online users who had spread such speculation legally responsible and had handed “evidence” to Chinese authorities.
No one likes a narc.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
When I’m not sure what to listen to, I certainly enjoy Mitski’s “Washing Machine Heart.”
The Big Question
Who are your dream car TV show hosts?
Photo Credit: Throttle House (YouTube)/Francis Bourgeois(TikTok)
The BBC learned you can’t franchise Top Gear because they had the perfect mix of hosts. They started TG shows all over the world none succeeded. Then they fired Clarkson and brought in a Hollywood celebrity and 2 English blokes who no one but true English people could understand. Then lost Matt Leblanc and decided to hire a new host who also was the Stig. It failed and the show is still on hiatus. Now GT succeeded with 3 Autoteers, but unfortunately Clarkson has medical issues so he couldn’t continue. This may have been the time to replace him since he went out in his own but Harris was a joke on TG and won’t succeed on GT. Who wants a giggling school girl as car host. If they can’t get a replacement host that May Hamster can work with shut it down.
> Who are your dream car TV show hosts
Torch, David, and Alanis.
I hadn’t considered Scout before this, but how pissed must VW be after buying the rights to the Scout brand and committing to building those cars here only to have the lifeline to fund those plans get upended? ID4 and Atlas are the only cars they build here, and they’re already getting squeezed by much cheaper competition on the lower end (like GTI/Jetta), so I wonder if the future of VWoA would be at risk if tariffs continued.
Only tangentially related, but I do have to admit that I really kinda like how the Maverick Lobo looks, especially with those wheels, which rival the simple stamped steelies of the base model for visual charisma (IMO). I’d never buy one (it’s too expensive, and anyway, I’m still angry at Jim Farley and Ford for the actual selling price of the Maverick over the first couple years of production) but it’s nice to look at. I wonder what else those wheels might fit on? 😉
I don’t have strong feelings about the new proposed cast for The Grand Tour. I didn’t watch much of the earlier/original one, having tired of Jeremy Clarkson to the point where I just had no more interest in watching anything with him in it. I’ve never seen his farm show… maybe it’s good and maybe I’d enjoy it… I dunno. I do like James May’s solo stuff and enjoy him on Youtube from time to time. I know that Richard Hammond still makes content too, but I couldn’t tell you what it’s like.
Though I watch a fair bit of Youtube auto content/channels, including Throttle House sometimes, but not so often that I really could name the hosts, let alone pick them out of a police line-up. I also never heard about this Instagram train fan guy, but I’m always attracted to/interested in people who are genuinely enthusiastic about their thing. So I bet he’ll be good.
“Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.”
― Sarah Vowell, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
What I’m listening to while writing my comment to Matt’s TMD 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TplWUkNt0Dw