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)
Short answer, not the same. Won’t watch.
“Francis” comes off as weird, and not particularly funny. And that whole train-chasing YouTube was so obviously contrived. (Which became a problem with TG with Clarkson and The Grand Tour.) I mean, they had a camera vehicle with a camera on a gib. That’s not an amateur production.
I like the Throttle House guys. I wasn’t familiar with them until this article. I’ve only watched the embedded clip so I may change my mind after I’ve watched more but they seem funny without going into slapstick and affectation. I just don’t see how the other guy is going to fit in, but time will tell. And I’ll give it a few episodes to see how it goes.
With TG, I enjoyed the first few seasons. Partly because I enjoyed Clarkson’s words and how he delivered them and partly because I got to see exotic cars that don’t always make it here across the pond. But then it descended into characters and scripted chaos and drama. The American version was even worse.
This is probably the 149th comment on this thread about The Grand Tour not working without Clarkson, Hammond, and May. I’m willing to give it a shot, just like how I gave Hammond and May a chance after Tiff Needell left Top Gear. I’m giving the new crew a 1 episode chance to catch my interest.
TBH, The Grand Tour did not work with Clarkson, Hammond, and May. It reminds of the old Simpson bit about the pie in the face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQDB7c9lLM
The earlier seasons of the Clarkson/Hammond/May Top Gear had a lot of self-depreciating, tongue-in-cheek, British humor. The later seasons was a lot of contrived scenes with them trying way too hard to be funny for sake of being funny.
Good point. I admit that nostalgia kept me watching GT, and I don’t know if I would have cared if it weren’t for spending over half my life watching those three.
Honestly, Top Gear worked reasonably well for a couple years with the post-Clarkson hosts once they narrowed it down to mostly Harris/LeBlanc/Reid.
My car show trio would be Alanis King, Sarah Greenwood, and Christopher Titus. This is good news about the Throttle House guys.
Sarah is and has been my favorite thing in automotive content for a long time. Deeply underrated. Quirky and accidentally funny/intentionally cringe, knowledgeable as hell, and juuuust slightly pretentious. She has so much potential to be the next James May, but one that people actually like, vs whoever execs try to shoehorn in front of us in each reboot of these shows. But also, agreed. If it’s gonna be any of the reviewtubers, I’m glad it’s them.
Eh
I’m afraid my dream car show host lineup involves resurrecting Sabine Schmitz
Yes. Most of the segments with her felt more genuine than the rest without her.
Please come up with another format than 3 guys doing something! It’s been done more than enough by those englishmen on tv, and by countless wannabees on YouTube.
Quentin Wilson (also of british tv) did something a while ago, where thy were just two, I loved it, but it didn’t catch on. Find it somewhere on YouTube.
Robert Dunn does it all, all by himself, in Aging Wheels. That also works perfect.
100% on Robert Dunn. He’s probably my favorite right now.
I agree with this take. They keep trying to do the classic TG format without the classic TG guys. It’s possible to make a different type of car show that’s good without trying to recreate lost magic.
The Grand Tour will flounder without Clarkson, May, and Hammond just as Top Gear did because those guys are the Three Stooges of the automotive world minus the eye gouging and face slapping… Oh nevermind that last part I forgot about Clarkson.
Agree with all those saying that the format is dead. Anything that comes now will inevitably be compared to old Top Gear/Grand Tour and nothing can live up to that.
I’ve found that YouTube is the place to go for good car content these days. Personally, I love Mighty Car Mods and Vice Grip Garage there are plenty of others I’m sure that are just as good.
Marty and Moog of Mighty Car Mods have a great chemistry and is probably my favorite automotive youtube channel. Interestingly, Moog was hired to be a host of Top Gear Australia so I am curious to see if there are any differences in persona.
James May is my favorite of the three… but Clarkson is the core of the show. Which I love.
Can’t imagine anyone else as hosts. Call it something else.
And for those who haven’t seen it… May’s travel series “Our Man In…” is really good.
Shout out for James May’s Man Lab… the series about toys with the Lego house and the long Scaletrix track… James and Oz Clark in Wine Country…watching him make sandwiches…
Ok here are my wildcard picks for The Grand Tour: Derek from Vice Grip Garage, Justin from Donut, and Doug DeMuro. Derek knows a lot about cars and is funny, Justin is a good dude, knows about cars, and knows offroading. Doug would be the straightman, the James May of the group.
I was thinking Mortske, Derek and Dalton from PBG. but they are probably too much alike? Still it would be interesting to see them do their thing on the cars before trying to tour them around the continental US.
Grand tour red green edition would be great
Izzy Hammond (She is paying her dues by learning and doing), Adventure Time Loui (The traveler with experience), and Knucklebuster Nikita (the Mechanic)
Throttle House guys did a decent Grand Tour type show with an old Toyota and an ancient GTI, same with the German V12’s. they could pull off the Mays and Hammond side. I would probably consider Dax Sheppard for the third since he is already sort of connected via the US version of Top Gear. He is sufficiently alcoholic and seemingly enough of a shared mix of asshole and Buffoon. With just enough actual car knowledge to be dangerous.
I don’t know that you can really replace Clarkson, Hammond, and May. The throttle house guys are an awful choice. American top gear was awful and the later top gear really didn’t have it either. People were try too hard and just weren’t funny or even likeable. The guys that put on car trek should have been top choice. It funny and they did better then anyone I’ve seen. You had tavarish, hoovie, and ed from vinwiki. They have the chemistry and have strong enough crazy personalities that work together. Plus they are all surrounded by very interesting people that could work well if they needed to.
Ed is probably too much of an unknown to many, and Tardvarnish is hard to watch. But together, they did an admirable job recreating some of the old Top Gear Type antics.
That’s pretty much how the original top gear went. Throw the guy that had been there in with two relatively unknown but present in the media personalities. But yes, I agree the only one I can really watch on their own is hoovie. I think they know that. You can see that on the other shows too normally may and Hammond are interacting with someone while Clarkson will just be in a field yelling and people will watch it.
Agreed Hammond, May, and Clarkson really managed to capture lightning in a bottle. However, some of the early seasons of Top Gear were ROUGH. The issue is that any new car show is immediately compared to these guys who ended up with what, 30 years, working together? You can’t create that kind of synergy/relationship without time and no production companies are willing to give a replacement group time to mature/gel. It’s also made worse by the fact that anyone brought in on one of these deals tries way way too hard to recreate Top Gear.
I’m sure there are some YouTube groups that have been doing it long enough to be a good fit (Mighty Car Mods immediately comes to mind) but I’m not sure any of them are interested in giving up the freedom that being a content producer on YouTube has.
Yeah I think that’s the big problem. You have groups that go well together but are happy enough to stay where they are I doubt Amazon will be throwing the kind of money they were especially for talent. They also seem to try to pick people that are quick witted but end up just picking people that are unlikeable. Auto Alex is ok but can get in the weeds quite easy and the one guy with the glasses is ok but that Taylor is quite annoying. I doubt they would go for splitting them up. Maybe you could take that fernie guy from drive tribe with the glasses guy from auto Alex and izzie Hammond and have something interesting and still British and of top gear pedigree.
“…Jeremy Clarkson, whose whole schtick is being borderline brilliant/obnoxious at all times…”
I must have missed the “brilliant” part.
Evidently so! I didn’t.
But yes… he’s an ass.
Jason, DT, and Fancy Kristen. Jason is weird, quirky and overexcited. DT is technical, nerdy, and absolutely necessary for field repairs to happen somewhat authentically. I also want to see DT react to all of Jason’s weird thoughts verbalized on my television. Fancy Kristen will be disgusted/unimpressed by everything they do, and would hopefully throw barbs at both of them the whole time.
With Adrian mocking them via voiceover on occasion, like what Iain Stirling does for Love Island, except sort of the polar opposite.
DT is too socially cautious for The Grande Tour. I don’t want off the rails Clarkson again, but there is a happy medium between the two.
I think I’d watch that!
I want to say Larry, Curly and Moe, but I’m guessing Hitler, Stalin and Mao actually had more interesting rides.
Of course someone always gets fired and replaced after bad behaviour so I guess we have to give consideration to Shemp and Horihito.
How about not 3 “guys” this time
RIP Sabine!
Make Stig Danika Patrick?
Why not?
I am perfectly fine with it.
Me too.
The Stig knows how to drive and doesn’t talk, so that rules out Danica.
Maybe Katherine Legg or another current women driver
My choice has three women if you’re curious.
The Grand Tour had Abbie Eaton in several episodes. She was great!
Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck.
Let’s be honest. Give that some top shelf writing talent and that could work.
And all of the are more understandable than the top gear hosts of late.
Nah man. I think that formula is done.
Chris Harris is pretty stiff, but a genuine car guy.
I’d pair him with Rory Reid. Rory always comes across as a really decent guy.
And can we bring back Matt LeBlanc?
I don’t need the fights of old Top Gear, but I want to see them try to cross Germany on the Autobahn in a £100 Italian car, and then pull into TÜV for testing their car after-the-fact.
Matt was great, but didn’t he leave TG because he didn’t want to be away from home anymore?
Chris Harris and Matt LeBlanc were a great pairing.
I think I’ve seen an episode of two of Top Gear with Clarkson, May and Hammond, and it made me want to bitch-slap Jeremy Clarkson long before I heard about the punching. He really needs somebody to do this to him, both for his own sake and for the sake of anyone else who has to be around him. Had he been in the US. he would have got his ass shot long ago.
I don’t watch any of this YouTube content either, which gives me the advantage of being able to throw out names without making any sense at all. So, Neal Cassidy, Alistair Cooke, Jayne Mansfield (or, if you want someone familiar with prewar iron, Isadora Duncan), and, as a diversity hire because he’s alive, Rowan Atkinson.
Keep Isadora AWAY from convertibles
New Grand Tour hosts?
Easy.
Costanza, Kramer, and Jerry.
“You want friction?
I’ll give you friction.”
Go with what you know.
They still show Grand Tour reruns on local TV here on Sunday night about 1am.
Watch it every week.
Fight me.
Actually I could get behind Seinfeld as a host/presenter. I’m not at all sure who I would put with him. Leno maybe?
If you want people to fall asleep? Yes, that’s a good approach.
“Who are your dream car TV show hosts?”
Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. I know they are too old at this point, but I don’t think any other trio could be better. I have enjoyed Top Gear with different hosts as well as some shameless Top Gear ripoffs (Car Trek), but none have been anywhere near as good as shows with James, Richard, and Jeremy. Their personalities and interactions where a big part of what made their shows entertaining. I don’t think that can be replicated.
I think it is great that Amazon is going to try The Ground Tour with new hosts, though. The show started weak but improved greatly over the years. The line “the only difference is they’re younger, cooler and a lot more social media savvy” makes me skeptical. From what I have seen, the hosts of shows aimed at younger/social medial audiences tend to be loud and kind of annoying. It is presumably an age thing, but I find most youtube automotive content unwatchable, with a few exceptions. If/when new Grand Tour episodes are created with new hosts, I will at least give it a chance, though.
“.. younger, cooler and a lot more social media savvy”Sound like how we got Poochie the dog on the Simpsons.