automotive industry
GM raises the white flag – it’s next 5 vehicles will be designed and engineered by Hyundai
Photo below - GM is partnering with Hyundai to counter Ford's brilliant "Open, Safe, and Sanitized down by the river" marketing campaign. Is this a “sell-sell sell” signal, Jim Cramer? GM is pivoting to Hyundai for at least 5 of its new vehicles.... $20 billion write-off. Did Ford destroy its future by “investing billions based on assumptions that vanished”?
Just before midnight, as 2025 ended, Ford wrote off $20 billion in losses for its cornucopia of failed EV programs. Cancelled plants, cancelled vehicles, cancelled battery production, termination of workers.... CarMax CEO fired; Repos hit 30 year high, and dealer lots are full of unsellable used cars.
Photo below - this is a YouTube screenshot from an influencer, but I can't tell you what he's saying. A lot of bleep-outs, maybe? The average new car payment is now $770. A loan can extend for 84 months (7 years). And repo’s are at their highest level since 1994.... Is it because of national security or something else?
A bit of rant... with a desire to understand what's actually happening... From the reviews I've seen on Chinese EVs, they're super cool and seemingly more affordable. But they're not sold here in the US. Google tells me that it's because of security concerns - i.e.... What will the future literally look like? This idea comes from watching Mad Men- seeing smoking and drinking freely at the office for example, and my brother once pointing out that if a show or movie ever wanted to make it really clear that it was set in the 1990’s, all they’d have to do is have multiple people driving Saturn cars.
So here are a few of what I think (hope) the future will literally look like:
Gas stations will be very rare, and parking spaces will almost always have charging stations.
Having a garage in homes will be rare because car ownership will be rare. Using self-driving Uber-esque systems will be way more affordable, and car ownership then will be similar to antique car ownership now.
Lawns will be very rare, and permaculture-style of local fauna that doesn’t need care, upkeep, or watering will be common.
What do you think the future will look like?
I imagine access to temporary car ownership becoming much easier and more affordable than it is now. And I imagine the percentage of cars that are owned primarily for fun (antiques, people who enjoy the feel of driving certain cars, etc) staying the same....