Tesla’s long-hyped, Mad Max-meets-LEGO Cybertruck has been on the streets for a year now, and, predictably, the drama has already arrived with it. One owner is out here claiming their electric pickup fell victim to a mere pothole on the road, racking up an eye-watering repair bill of over $34,000. Yes, thirty-four grand. Yet he still thinks the EV is tough and capable.

In a Facebook post picked up by Reddit, the unnamed Cybertruck lover reveals images of the damage and a screenshot of the total repair bill, which came to $34,013 including tax.

Related: Cybertruck Wheels Snap Off Like Twigs In Bizarre TikTok Video

“I finally got my truck back after nearly four months,” he wrote. “It got worked over pretty hard, and many more things needed to be replaced than originally expected.”

Certainly more than would be expected from a typical hard pothole strike in a full-size truck, the kind of vehicle that’s usually one of the most resilient on the road. Just how big was this pothole? I’m imagining something the size of the sinkhole that opened up at the Corvette museum back in 2014 maybe?

“The rear suspension mounts broke and then punched through the frame, requiring the full rear frame replacement,” he explains. “Front and rear rack and pinion steering, suspension all the way around, front and rear bumpers, air suspension systems, and bed components, to name a few.”

Some Reddit commenters have openly questioned whether a pothole really would cause that much damage to a truck, regardless of whether its a traditional body-on-frame pickup or built around aluminum castings, like the Tesla.

One commenter claims (without offering proof) that the owner posted in August that the damage occurred when he jumped the truck 22 ft (6.7 m), and the owner’s slightly cryptic comments in this latest post only serve to fan the flames.

More: Eagle Cap Camper Snaps Ram 3500 Dually In Half, Mopar Refuses $17,000 Repair Bill

“Since the insurance paid for it I won’t comment on how it was driven, just that a very large pothole in our washed-out road caused all the dominoes to fall,” he says.

But despite suffering such a huge amount of damage and needing an equally huge amount of work and money to get it back in working order, the owner doesn’t think any less of his Tesla.

“This is not a commentary on the durability of the truck,” he says. “You would be astounded at how tough and capable this truck is. This is still the most amazing truck I’ve ever had!”

A pothole and $32,000 of repairs later he still loves the truck!
byu/IcerC inCyberStuck

GM head Mary Barra raised a few eyebrows this week when she claimed the automaker and President Donald Trump are “goal-aligned” despite Trump’s plans to introduce tariffs that Barra admits could have a “very substantial” impact on GM’s business.

“I think we’re very goal-aligned,” the CEO told guests at the Automotive Press Association event on Wednesday, before going on to explain just what the two usually opposing sides see eye-to-eye about.

Related: Trump’s Tariffs Could Cut 17% From Automaker Profits

“We want a strong economy. We want a strong manufacturing base in this country. We agree automotive jobs are important,” Detroit Free Press reports Barra saying. But she made no bones about the difficulty GM (and other automakers) face, both in terms of the uncertainty in the short term, and the potential fallout from Trump’s decisions later during his time in office.

“We’ll have to see what the policies will be,” Barra said. “It’s hard for me to predict what will happen. We’re doing a lot of scenario planning, and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Barra admitted that Trump’s proposal to place a 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported to the US from Mexico and Canada (where GM has production sites) “could have a very substantial impact” on its profitability, as could scrapping the $7,500 EV tax credit.

Although Trump and Barra have sometimes been at loggerheads, and she was the recipient of the president’s anger on social media over GM cost-cutting measures, Barra described her sometime foe as a good listener. GM will be hoping that he’s still willing to listen to what Barra has to say and not listen too intently to the opinions of Tesla boss Elon Musk – soon to be in charge of the much-hyped Department of Government Efficiency.

“Any time you have an administrative change, there’s policy changes that occur,” Barra said, per The Detroit News. “We’ve been working with any every administration for the last several decades, and General Motors will continue to do that. But I’m actually looking forward to working with the president and with the administration, because I think we can grow the importance of the auto industry and manufacturing.”

We’re constantly hearing about an EV downturn and how automakers are changing their electrification strategies because consumers aren’t consuming. And sure, sales of electric cars are down in countries like Germany, but in the US people are still buying EVs, and they’re buying more of them than they did 12 months ago.

EV registrations climbed 5 percent in October versus the same month in 2023, topping out at 101,403, according to data from S&P Global Mobility. And it wasn’t Tesla driving that growth, but legacy automakers.

Related: Global EV Sales Shatter Records In November Thanks To China’s Unstoppable Growth

Chevrolet’s EV sales jumped 38 percent to 6,741 helped by demand for the Blazer and Equinox, while Cadillac Lyriq registrations grew threefold to 2,489 and the Hummer shifted 1,015 electric trucks, four times as many as it did last October. 

Like the Equinox, Honda’s Prologue, which is built on the same GM platform and in the same Mexican GM plant, wasn’t available in 2023, but made its presence felt this year. It found 4,168 homes, only 12 fewer than Chevy did of its version. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 facelift also gave its sales numbers the desired nip and tuck, boosting registrations from 3,555 to 4,485.

Although the overall number of EV sales is up, the rate of growth has slowed and some models registered fewer deliveries than previously. The Ford Mustang Mach-E, for instance, was down from 3,949 to 3,479 according to S&P Global Mobility’s spreadsheet and Rivian R1S sales dropped by more than 500 to 2,456. There are also fears that the EV segment relies heavily on tax credit availability to boost demand, and public interest could wane if Trump pulls the plug on the incentives when he takes office.

BEST SELLING EVs USA

Tesla’s registration numbers actually fell by 1.8 percent, and if you remove Tesla from the equation, EV sales increased not by 5 percent, but by 11 percent. And this isn’t a blip for Tesla: the automaker’s numbers have fallen in seven of the first 10 months of 2024, Auto News reports, and that’s despite the facelifted Model 3 and Cybertruck being new for this year. While the Model 3 gained ground, the Model Y fell back, sales tumbling from more than 25,000 to under 22,000.

But before anyone gets the idea that Tesla is falling behind in the EV race, we should make clear that it still outperformed the second best-selling brand’s EV models six times over. Or every single brand in the 2nd to 12th spots combined.

EV REGISTRATIONS USA

Renault’s retro-influenced 4, 5 and Twingo have gone down a storm, but the French automaker has very different plans for its other models. The company’s design boss says an army of new EVs launching from 2028 will look forward, not back, and begin a design shift away from traditional SUV shapes.

Design boss Gilles Vidal suggests we look to this year’s Embleme concept, a sporty, low-slung crossover, for an idea of what to expect when the new-generation electric cars arrive on their also-new EV platform.

Related: Renault Embleme Concept Is A Sleek FCEV Crossover With Ultra-Low Emissions

“The cars before the Embleme were maybe a bit misleading, because you see a 5, a 4, a Twingo,” Vidal told Autocar.

“The Embleme is a better representation of what’s next for the brand globally in terms of design, and maybe new silhouettes, for the future: generous shapes, not too minimalistic, but simpler than what we did lately on Scenic.”

Vidal even suggested that wagons, whose market share has been eroded by SUVs and crossovers, could influence future sport-utilities. He described sport wagons as “kind of sexy” and said their low rooflines but large cargo areas made sense for EVs that need to balance the twin priorities of practicality and driving range.

Vidal acknowledged that anti-SUV sentiment, which is particularly strong in the automaker’s home city of Paris, was a consideration during the design process, but believes that maybe the hate was unwarranted.

“There’s still a huge fight against SUVs on principal, but would you say the same thing about MPVs?” he asked Autocar’s reporter. “They are the same weight, have the same engines, the same CO2 emissions. But no-one would ever criticize an MPV, a respectable family product. Who are we to criticize aggressive looking cars?”

But while Vidal’s team is striving to come up with something entirely new and forward-looking to replace Renault’s familiar SUV shapes, that doesn’t mean it is already making plans to cut short the lives of the 4, 5 and Twingo. He described the trio as “timeless” and claimed they’d evolve slowly, like Fiat’s retro 500.

Update: Becky Peterson, a journalist from the Wall Street Journal, says she’s acquired a copy of the Deutsche Bank report from the Autonomous Day conference that took place in NYC on December 5. The report confirms many of the points mentioned in the Chinese media, including that Travis Axelrod met with Deutsche Bank during the conference.

Peterson outlines five key points from the report, including that Deutsche Bank refers to the “new Tesla model” as the “Model Q.” The report also mentions that the EV is expected to launch in the first half of 2025, priced under $30,000 with federal tax credits or less than $38,000 without, and built on Tesla’s existing platforms. However, it’s unclear from her tweet whether these statements are Axelrod’s own words or Deutsche Bank’s assessment.

In another tweet, Peterson pointed out that the report makes no mention of “Redwood, the internal code name for a mass market vehicle, built on a new platform, which Musk paused earlier this year” adding that “It also doesn’t say anything about the size or cost, or how it might differ from a Model 3”.

We’ve reached out to Peterson and will update this story if we hear more.

I got a copy of the Deutsche Bank report.

Here's what it does say:

1. @travisraxelrod met with DB for its Autonomous Driving Day on December 5 in NYC.
2. DB describes "the new Tesla model" which it calls "Model Q".
3. DB says it will launch in the first half of 2025, and…

— Becky Peterson (@beckpeterson) December 9, 2024

Original story follows below.

If a report coming out of China, citing statements from a Deutsche Bank conference and Tesla’s VP of Investor Relations, is to be believed—and that’s a big if until there’s official confirmation or firsthand verification, Tesla is allegedly gearing up to launch a new EV called the Model Q next year, priced at just $30,000.

Or at least that’s the gist of a story currently doing the rounds in the Chinese media. The report claims that Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s head of investor relations, confirmed the existence and impending arrival of the new entry-level car during a Deutsche Bank Autonomous Driving Day conference.

Related: Will A $25K Model 2 Small Crossover Hit The Spot For EV Buyers?

The story appears to have originated with Wall Street CN, which claims Axelrod said the baby Tesla will debut in the first half of 2025 prices at $37,500. But if returning president, Donald Trump, opts not to trash the current EV tax credit system the transaction price could drop to just $30k.

And that’s not the only secret car Tesla has in store for us next year, according to the same report. It claims the automaker will also launch other new models to expand its market size in a bid to hit a 25-30 percent growth target. One of those additional EVs could be a long-wheelbase, three-row Model Y conceived primarily with China in mind, but which could also work well in other countries and help plug the huge gap between the Y and X SUVs. The Model Y is also scheduled for a facelift in 2025.

Tesla warned however, that rolling out new product would inevitably lead to a temporary drop in profitability, Chinese media says. Other news supposedly coming out of the conference includes Tesla’s affirmation that it would launch a self-driving taxi service in California and Texas in 2025 using Model 3 and Y vehicles ahead of the launch of the company’s real robotaxi, the Cybercab, in 2026. Tesla will eventually cut the cost of Cybercab production to $30k per unit, the report claims.

We reached out to Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s Investor Relations team, as well as Deutsche Bank’s North American and Chinese divisions for comment, but have yet to hear back from anyone, so for now you probably ought to take the news with a pinch of salt. But if it’s true, legacy carmakers are going to have a nightmare on their hands trying to compete.

Note: The images in this story are digital renders by Francois Hubert/SB-Medien of how a new small Tesla crossover could look, and are not endorsed by Tesla.

Illustrations Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien for Carscoops

China’s EV market is booming. Sales of fully electric and hybrid cars have trebled over the last three years and are almost eight times higher than they were in 2020. It’s a great time to be an automaker selling electrified vehicles, but not so great if you’re an exec in the oil industry.

Almost one-fifth of the world’s oil production currently goes to China. The country has provided most of the industry’s growth since the millennium, as it has for the auto industry and others. But now analysts think China’s love for EVs will result in a marked drop in demand for gasoline, which accounts for 25 percent of the nation’s oil consumption.

Related: China Becomes First Country To Hit 1 Million Monthly EV Sales

One brokerage firm told reporters it expects Chinese gasoline use to drop by between 4 and 5 percent every year between now and the end of the decade. A demand reduction was always forecast, but China’s electric boom means it’s happening much faster than many experts had anticipated.

One in 10 cars currently on the road in China is electrified, but at the current sales rate, the mix is expected to double by 2027 and could reach 100 percent by the 2040s, Anders Hove, a China researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told Bloomberg.

That kind of shift would have a devastating impact on the oil industry, Hove predicting that China’s oil demand for light vehicles would plummet from its current 3.5 million barrels per day to just 1 million by 2040.

Though that’s a major problem for Big Oil, it can at least take some comfort in knowing that other nations are in far less of a rush to abandon their combustion cars – EVs only account for 10 percent of US car sales. And even in China, a big chunk of the growth in electrified vehicles has come from sales of PHEVs, which still need some gasoline, though exactly how much they need in real ownership scenarios across China still needs more investigation.

Dodge dealers are set for some big paydays if they can persuade drivers to take a new Charger EV home. A new report claims retailers could bank thousands of dollars on every 2024 / 2025 Charger Daytona they sell, and that’s before the inevitable markups enter the conversation. For dealerships, it’s a windfall. For buyers? Well, that depends on how much they’re willing to shell out for Dodge’s electrified muscle revolution.

According to Cars Direct, which analyzed the difference between dealers’ internal Stellantis order guide invoice pricing (the price the dealer pays Dodge) and the MSRP for the same vehicles and found high-spec Daytonas could generate over $3,200 for the retailer.

Related: Dodge Charger Daytona EV Shows Its New Colors As It Gets 0% Financing Deal

The investigation revealed the base Charger Daytona has a before-options MSRP of $57,995, but an invoice price of $55,096, meaning the dealer will pocket $2,899 from a straight cash sale. That compares with an invoice-to-MSRP difference of just $607 on a 2023 Challenger SXT, which sounds very low, although dealers also get deals from automakers and may often pay below invoice for a car.

Things get even more lucrative if the buyer is looking at the sportier Scat Pack. The official invoice price for one of those is $61,746, so if the dealer sells at MSRP, he could bank $3,246. But we’re talking about one of the most hotly anticipated American performance cars of the year. The dealers likely aren’t going to be selling at MSRP. One dealer in Scottsdale, AZ, told Cars Direct Daytonas will be slapped with a markup of at least $10k.

Markups Meet EV Transparency

The report suggests Dodge might have purposely built dealer profit into the Charger to avoid markups being applied, and because EVs tend to have more transparent prices. But if other dealers have the same attitude as the Arizona one in the story, the strategy has not worked.

Whether the Daytona EV can handle those kind of markups once the initial rush of excitement is over remains to be seen. Dodge might bring forward the introduction of the combustion-powered, six-cylinder Charger because that’s where customers are indicating they want to spend their money.

But presuming it is the electric version of the Charger you want and you can find a dealer who isn’t going to fleece you with a crazy markup, there are some good deals around that make it a tempting package. Dodge is offering $549 per month lease deals and giving buyers 0 percent APR for up to 72 months.

First-generation Mazda MX-5 owners look for a power boost have always had plenty of options available to them, including throttle bodies, turbochargers, superchargers and engine swaps. But now a UK company has come up with a greener alternative in the form of a plug and play EV conversion.

You might have heard of UK-based Electrogenic’s previous projects. The Oxford company makes drop-in EV packages for the original Land Rover Series and Defender, classic Minis and Porsche 911s, the Jaguar E-type and DeLorean DMC-12. It also hit the headlines when movie star Jason Momoa contracted the firm to perform a bespoke electro-conversion on his 1929 Rolls Royce Phantom II.

Related: Electrogenic’s DeLorean DMC-12 EV Still Needs Roads, But Not Gas

Like the company’s other EV kits, the Miata package is designed to be relatively simple to install, CAD modelling being employed to slot all of the components into the existing engine bay and tunnel space so no cutting or drilling is required. Electrogenic says the swap can be done by a trained mechanic in only a few days, and the kit is also fully reversible should the owner have a change of heart.

But with the single motor cranking out 160 hp (120 kW / 163 PS) instead of the original 1.6-liter combustion engine’s 116 hp (87 kW / 118 hp) and the zero to 60 mph (97 kmh) tumbling by about 3 seconds to 6 seconds, those owners might be having too much fun to want to switch back.

Yes, the 115 mph (185 km/h) top speed sounds less impressive – and it’s very close to stock – but irrelevant in a car that has always been about cornering fun. And Electrogenic says there’s more of that to be had because the weight distribution is the same as on a donor MX-5, but a huge jump in torque from 100 lb-ft (136 Nm) to 229 lb-ft (310 Nm) gives you more opportunities to exploit the chassis.

Naturally there’s a weight penalty, even if the distribution is the same, but it’s not terrible. The EV swap adds 220 lbs (100 kg), though the resulting 2,425 lbs (1,100 kg) curb weight makes it 27 lbs (12kg) lighter than a 2025 Miata RF, and only 84 lbs (38 kg) porkier than the current rag-top.

You even get multiple driving modes with different torque and regeneration characteristics, and though the 150-mile (240 km) range is way off modern EV standards, it’s probably as far as anyone would want to go in an early MX-5 in one hit no matter what kind of powertrain is under the hood. The 42 kWh battery can also be charged in an hour.

As with all of these classic EV conversions, this is a niche proposition. Maybe more than the others because the cost of the kit (still TBC but sure to be north of $20k) is going to be harder to justify on a car that even in mint condition is only worth $15-20k than it is on a classic 911 worth $120k. Some potential buyers might also be put off by the loss of the MX-5’s manual shift action, always one of the joys of driving a Miata, although Electrogenic has done custom manual conversions for customers in the past, so we image the team would do it again if offered the right kind of financial encouragement.

With Porsche about to reveal its 718 EVs and Alpine’s boss this week claiming the upcoming electric A110 will weigh less than rival combustion sports cars, machines like Electrogenic’s MX-5 kit are highly topical, and we’re sure we’ll only be seeing more in the years to come. Would you EV swap your classic NA Miata?

You might have heard that Jaguar has a new concept. Actually, that’s underselling it. Jaguar has a new everything. The automaker wants to reposition itself as a more expensive, more exclusive brand and has scrapped its entire existing model line and come up with a suite of new badges and logos.

New logos won’t save the company from oblivion, but Jaguar is hoping a trio of new cars might, and today we were introduced to a concept designed to shows us how they could look. The Type 00 is a two-door coupe that previews a four-door electric coupe we’ll see in production form at the back end of 2025 and on the street a few months later.

Related: Radical Jaguar Type 00 Concept Previews Make-Or-Break MY26 Electric Sedan

Two more cars will follow before 2030, all riffing on the same new design language. None will look anything like today’s Jaguars when you see them heading towards you. Type 00’s square face shows no evidence of the classic E-type oval grille or the boxier, mesh-filled version seen on more recent cars that can be traced back to the 1968 XJ.

The clean surfaces and lack of curves are both modern and modernist, recalling the minimalism of cutting edge 1930s and ’40s product design and architecture. But Jag’s designers couldn’t help but make a few nods to the company’s past masters.

Though you could hardly call it a retro design, the long-hood, short-deck proportions are ripped straight from the original E-type coupe’s blueprints. And the vertical panel between the fender and the 23-inch front wheel also comes from the same Jaguar icon. Fortunately the track width to body ratio is not borrowed from the E-type – the concept’s huge rims are pushed right out to the edges of its swollen arches, and then some.

More: Everything We Know About The $130K Jaguar Type 01 Electric Sedan

It’s a brave, ambitious bit of design, no doubt, and not everyone will love it. So which camp are you in? Do you love or hate Jag’s new design direction? Take part in our poll and then drop a comment below to tell us what you like or loathe about the Type 00.

Finally we can stop talking about Jaguar’s new logos and get back to talking about its new cars. And there’s plenty to talk about because the automaker today revealed the Type 00 concept and it’s as polarizing as the new brand marks and fashion-show Instagram ads.

Previously referred to as the Design Vision concept, the Type 00 (say ‘zero zero’) is a confidently modern two-door coupe that previews a four-door production GT set to debut in late 2025. ‘Type’ is a reference to Jag’s iconic E-Type and the recently axed F-Type, and the two zeroes refer to the EV’s lack of tailpipe emissions and its status as car zero in the reinvented automaker’s lineup.

Related: In Wake Of Controversial Campaign, Jaguar Boss Said It Had To Shake Things Up

Available technical details are few, but Jag does confirm that the car rides on its new JEA electric platform and that it’s targeting 478 miles (770km) WLTP and 430 miles (692 km) of EPA range. And if that’s not enough to complete your journey, you can add 200 miles (321 km) of range in 15 minutes.

For info about charging speeds, motor specs and battery sizes we’ll have to wait. This month’s concept unveil at Miami Art Week was all about establishing the very different look of the next generation of Jaguars, and getting us comfortable with the idea of Jaguar as a true luxury brand, rather than a premium one.

Gone is the mesh-filled, squircle-shaped radiator grille, something even the i-Pace EV featured, and in its place comes a starkly modern face with a slatted rectangle containing the controversial jaGuar lettering and flanked by two ultra-slim LED lights.

The back end is equally industrial looking, the fat rear fenders separated by another rectangle filled with horizontal slats. This time the slats are slimmer and there are more of them, plus horizontal light bars top and bottom. And as predicted, the Type 00 has no rear window – the liftback hatch panel is the same Miami Pink color as the rest of the bodywork.

Jaguar also showed a second car painted in London Blue, a reference to the brand’s British roots and its 1960s heyday, and also a nod to the pair of E-types that appeared at the sports car’s 1961 launch. Jag’s purposely limits specific mention of its most famous car to that reference, but the Type 00’s proportions, particularly evident in the cab-backwards profile and rear three-quarter views are clearly intended to remind us of the iconic E-type coupe, without falling into a retro rabbit hole.

More: Jaguar EV Concept Says Bye-Bye Rear Window, Hello Air-Con Vents

But there are also obvious hints of Range Rover in the design and it’s easy to see why JLR creative boss Gerry McGovern and his team would want to do that. Jaguar is part of JLR and has struggled to find sales and its own identity, two things Land Rover has had no trouble achieving. The Type 00 feels like the Range Rover coupe that Land Rover could never build using that branding.

The brown-colored piece of trim ahead of the door contains pop-out cameras to help when parking, and is fashioned out of brass, a material that’s repeated on the interior on the steering wheel’s bottom spoke and a 3.2-meter (126 inches) spine running the length of the cabin. Other key materials are stone and textiles. Wood and leather? Sorry, that was old Jag.

Notably missing from the interior images despite being a mainstay of every new car is any kind of digital screen. Jag says they’re hidden them in the dashboard and, like the stowage areas, glide out on electric power when needed. Drivers can also change the cabin lighting and look of the digital displays by retrieving one of three totems hidden behind a door on the front fender (the Range Rover-esque filler panel located just behind the 23-inch front wheel) and placing them inside the center console.

That last bit is concept car nonsense, but much of what we can see on the Type 00 will transfer to the production sedan scheduled for reveal this time next year and on sale in the first half of 2026. And the same ideas and design language will show up on two more vehicles Jag will introduce before the end of the decade, at least one of which will be an SUV/crossover.

What do you think of the Type 00? Is Jaguar heading in the right direction? Was it right to be so radical? Or has it signed its own death warrant? We want to hear your thoughts so drop a comment below.

One of the benefits of owning an EV is that they consist of fewer moving parts so should be less expensive to service and maintain. But as one Tesla owner discovered, EV hardware isn’t invincible, and it’s still expensive when it breaks.

This reminder comes from Cybertruck owner Joey Arrowood, who is staring down the barrel of an $8k bill after finding an oil leak on his electric pickup. That’s right, an oil leak – EVs use oil, too. As he shared in a post on the Facebook Cybertruck group, as he returned to his truck one day, he noticed a pool of oil under the rear motor, closer inspection revealing that a small, sharp rock had ground a hole in the motor housing.

Related: Sixth Time The Charm? Tesla Cybertruck Recalled Over Loss Of Drive Power

“At some point a small rock bounced over the belly pans and covers and wedged itself between the rear subframe and gearbox wearing a small hole into the aluminum case,” Arrowood wrote on Facebook. “I find it absurd to comprehend that such a small rock can cause this kind of damage.”

The Tesla is coming up to 9,000 miles (14,500 km) and the owner says the little action its seen away from paved surfaces was restricted to some driving on local dirt roads. But Arrowood’s local service center in Clarkston, MI, claims the proper fix is a new drive unit at a cost of $7,660.55, and says it won’t cover the cost, and will only repair it if Arrowood pays up himself or files an insurance claim.

“I love the truck and driving it, but come on Tesla… a little help here is needed please,” the owner wrote.

Commenters on the thread don’t all agree on the correct course of action: some suggest fixing the hole with JB Weld; others claim a genuine aluminum welding job would be better. But none of them thinks Arrowood should shell out for a brand new motor and most believe this isn’t a warranty situation, just an unfortunate freak accident, possibly made worse by poor design and thin castings on Tesla’s part.

Who do you think should pay, and what kind of fix would you recommend? Leave a comment and let us know.

These days almost every major automaker has a tie-up with a partner firm in China, but it was Volkswagen that blazed the trail, joining forces with domestic company SAIC four decades ago. And this week, on the 40th anniversary of that original deal, the pair have signed up to extend their joint venture to 2040.

Controversial Xinjiang Plant Sale

At the same time, VW announced the sale of its Urumqi car plant in Xinjiang province, a region that has been under intense scrutiny due to alleged human rights violations. Owned by the VW-SAIC joint venture, the duo finally agreed to sell their controversial Xinjiang plant to Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Certification (SMVIC), Reuters says.

The manufacturing plant gained notoriety because the region has been the location of human rights abuses of the Uyghur people, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang, though VW’s own audit claimed to have found no evidence of forced labor at the plant. It’s worth noting that the factory, which opened in 2013, has lost its relevance in recent years, now employing just 200 people for final checks and deliveries. Once capable of producing 50,000 cars annually, it hasn’t turned out a single vehicle since 2019.

Extended Agreement and Future Plans

The current agreement between VW and SAIC doesn’t expire until 2030,but the automakers opted to extend it now due to the “multi-year planning cycles of new products,” and boy do they have a ton of those new products in the pipes.

Related: VW Goes All-In On China With ID.UX Sub-Brand And 30 New Cars By 2030

SAIC Volkswagen is on target to introduce 18 new models, 15 of them specifically for the Chinese market. Six of the 18 are EVs, with two of those due to arrive in 2026 using the newly locally developed “Compact Main Platform” (CMP) and zonal electric architecture.

Chinese customers have switched on to EVs at a much faster rate than their counterparts in Europe and North America, but that doesn’t mean SAIC Volkswagen is going to ignore combustion tech. Arriving in 2026, the same year as the two EVs, are three plug-in hybrid models and two range-extender EVs.

“China is a driver of innovation for autonomous driving and electric mobility,” said Ralf Brandstätter, VW’s top man in the country. “With the new agreement, we are intensifying our integration into the Chinese ecosystem and consistently leveraging local innovation strength. This also creates a strategic competitive advantage for the Volkswagen Group worldwide.”

Sales Struggles in China

VW, like many western Automakers, has been struggling recently with falling sales in China. Having previously lapped up offerings from brands like VW, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes, Chinese buyers are increasingly choosing cars from rapidly improving domestic brands selling cars at prices European companies struggle to match. Before the pandemic German brands accounted for 25 percent of cars sold in China, but now they make up only 15 percent, Bloomberg reported last month.

Automakers have already responded to the underperforming EV market by modifying their electrification plans, and finally the UK government appears to be ready to make some changes of its own. Britain’s business secretary told auto industry execs last night that he would consult them on changes to an EV mandate that automakers claim is totally unworkable.

As part of the country’s stepped push to phase out combustion engines by 2030, UK lawmakers introduced tough EV sales quotas, demanding that 22 percent of cars and 10 percent of all vans sold this year be fully electric. Automakers have achieved that feat in only one month during 2024 because not enough buyers want electric cars, a situation not helped by the UK’s decision to phase out EV grants in 2022.

Related: California To Reinstate EV Rebates If Trump Scraps Tax Credit, Just Not For Tesla

Failure to meet the targets will land companies with huge fines of £15,000 ($19,000) for every car sold beyond the allowed ratio, so some have opted to artificially restrict the availability of combustion vehicles and spend money subsidizing electric cars by offering discounts. And things are only going to get tougher according to the current plan, with the EV quota rising to 28 percent for cars in 2025 and 80 percent in 2030.

“The transport secretary and I have heard you loud and clear on the need for support to make this transition a success,” Bloomberg reports Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds telling guests at a Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) dinner on Tuesday.

“We’ll be consulting with you on changes to the ZEV mandate and inviting your views on options for a better way forward,” he added, but claimed the new British government was determined to stick to the 2030 combustion ban plan in which hybrids would live on for five additional years.

Stellantis this week announced it is shutting down its 119-year-old Vauxhall plant at Luton, north of London, having previously warned that the EV mandate and post-Brexit tariffs on UK-EU trade could lead to plant closures. And last week Ford said it was axing 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 800 in the UK.

“This industry is facing a greater set of challenges today than at any point in the last 50 years,” Reynolds conceded at the SMMT bash.

Lamborghini isn’t getting cold feet about its electrification plans even as other luxury brands backtrack on their own promises in response to a global slowdown in the EV market, the CEO says.

Stephan Winkelmann told reporters the firm’s fourth model line, an electric crossover previewed by the 2023 Lanzador concept was still on track to debut before the end of the decade. Though he did add that the end of the decade was far enough in the future that the company still has some flexibility.

Related: Lamborghini Is In No Rush To Build An Electric Supercar

“We have enough time to decide if we need to accelerate or delay the introduction of the electric cars,” he told Autocar magazine. “So far, we are not thinking about delaying anything: we said we want to have our first electric car by the end of this decade, and this is something which we will continue to foster, because we said it has to be an additional car – a fourth model.”

Lamborghini’s entire three-model lineup – the Urus SUV and the Temerario and Revuelto supercars – are now all equipped with hybrid engines, a move customers appear to have accepted. But the company never made a promise to junk all of its combustion drivetrains by any set date, a decision that has proved wise.

Rival brand Lotus, on the other hand, had vowed to go all-electric in 2028 and Bentley said it would do the same by 2030. Both have this year announced radical changes to their plans, Lotus revealing that it’s now working on range-extender hybrids and Bentley pushing back its all-EV switchover to 2035.

Lamborghini’s sister brand, Porsche, has also ripped up its electrification strategy and admitted that it will now re-engineer some EVs currently in development to also offer hybrid drivetrains. Lambo could well benefit from that U-turn – its next Urus due in 2029 was supposed to be EV-only, but we’d be surprised if it turns up without a combustion (hybrid) option.

Jaguar is going to extreme lengths to deal with a fire risk problem on its recently-axed I-Pace EV. The British automaker has agreed to buy back 2,760 2019MY examples sold in the US to get the situation resolved, at least in its customers’ eyes.

The problem relates to concerns about batteries overheating and potentially catching fire, something that has been an issue with the I-Pace for several years now. Previous recalls have applied software-based fixes but data revealed that some 2019 cars that have received the remedy are still suffering thermal overloads. To date, three of the 2019MY EVs have caught fire despite receiving a software update.

Related: Jaguar I-Pace Owners Told To Park Outside After 3 Fires Involving Previously Recalled EVs

In August Jag told owners to park outside and away from buildings and announced that another code update would limit the car’s to an 80 percent charge as a temporary fix. A “permanent remedy is under development,” the company said at the time, and this month we learned that the permanent remedy means Jaguar dipping into its pockets to buy back almost 3,000 cars.

The good news for Jag is that the I-Pace has suffered from horrific depreciation, so the bill, while still huge, isn’t going to be as big as it could have been. And we imagine a large proportion of the affected owners will be glad to see the back of their trouble-prone cars, even if they are great to drive and they end up with less to spend on a new car than they were hoping.

Ordinarily, a story about a carmaker having to buy back thousands of six-year-old EVs due to a safety issue would be a PR disaster for the automaker involved. But after having been subjected to a week of ridicule over its attempts to rebrand, Jag execs are probably delighted that an I-Pace recall has nobly offered to deflect some of the attention.

Jaguar is relaunching itself as an electric-only Porsche and Bentley rival and will show a concept version of the first of three new models on December 2. To underline the shift, Jag has killed off its entire current model line and come up with new logos and branding that were met with derision and confusion online.

BYD makes more EVs than anyone, and it makes them for less money than most Western automakers can comprehend. But there is a cost, and it’s being paid by the workers in its supply chains, according to a new report investigating human rights risks in the EV industry.

Amnesty International’s Recharge for Rights study ranked 13 automakers according to how they address human rights risks in their mineral supply chains. BYD came bottom with a score of just 11 out of a potential 90 points, with Mitsubishi not far behind on 13 points.

Related: Microsoft’s AI Helps Find Promising New Battery Material With 70% Less Lithium

Hyundai (21), Geely and Nissan (22 apiece) came out looking like bad guys but Tesla (49) and top-rated Mercedes (51) performed far better. Not that even Benz’s score was enough to please the Amnesty investigators, who suggest that only a total of 68 points or more shows an adequate commitment to human rights issues.

Although EVs don’t produce tailpipe emissions, their batteries need huge quantities of minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt. And while many of us are aware of the environmental damage caused by mining lithium, Amnesty International says the cobalt mining industry is ripe for the abuse of workers, some of whom in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which generates 25 percent of the world’s supply, are children.

BYD was marked down for refusing to reveal the name of the smelter, refiner, and mine that supply its minerals, but Geely, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and GM were all guilty of a lack of transparency. In contrast, the best-rated brands were able to provide supply-chain mapping.

Human rights score

“As the global transition to electric vehicles gains momentum, drives global competition and allows for huge profit, Amnesty International is calling on all car makers to improve their human rights due diligence efforts and bring them in line with international human rights standards,” said the organization’s Agnès Callamard.

The need for automakers to prove the origins of their batteries’ minerals to be eligible for EV credits has improved transparency, Wired notes. And there are steep fines (and market access restrictions) awaiting companies who flout rules governing supply chain welfare contained in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive that came into force in Europe this summer.

But Callamard believes there’s more to be done.

“Those lagging behind need to work harder and faster to show that human rights isn’t just a fluff phrase, but an issue they take seriously,” she says. “It’s time to shift gears and ensure electric vehicles don’t leave behind a legacy of human rights abuses – instead, the industry must drive a just energy future that leaves no one behind.”

We’re now four years past the original scheduled launch date for the Tesla Roadster and there’s no sign of it making a debut until 2025 at the earliest. But rather than wait patiently, one YouTuber built his own, and from what we can see he’s done an awesome job.

David Andreyev calls his home-built creation the CyberRoadster, though it’s neither a truck nor a convertible. But now dressed in 12 coats of candy red paint, it looks incredible all the same. His starting point was a crash-damaged black Model 3 Performance, though there’s very little left of the external bodywork.

Related: Musk Suggests Tesla Roadster Isn’t A Priority, But Thanks “Long-Suffering Deposit Holders”

The roof has been chopped in traditional hot rod style, and every body panel bar the two front doors appears to have been built from scratch or heavily modified. Compared with the concept version of Tesla’s real Roadster, Andreyev’s creation is far more muscular, with a blockier front end and a Dodge Charger Daytona-style hood complemented by wide sill extensions.

It also has a transverse light bar in a nod to the Cybertruck, something not seen on Tesla’s other vehicles. And there’s a definite Italian supercar feel to the back end thanks to the combination of a wide black panel splitting the bumper from the rear bodywork and a fake “engine” visible through a glass panel in the rear deck.

Andreyev says he still needs to finish the interior, but claims it shouldn’t take long. It certainly won’t be as complicated as building the CyberRoadster’s exterior – the rear quarter panels alone took several months to complete and went through more than 30 iterations.

Sure, there are some elements you might change – sticking with the sedan’s front doors means they look too narrow, for instance, and the visibility must be terrible – but considering this was all achieved by one man in his garage without a million-dollar budget, it’s amazing what he’s accomplished. And it gives us hope that creative people will always want to modify cars, no matter what’s under the hood in the years to come.

Images: David Andreyev/@cyber_hooligan

VW’s ID electric portfolio started with just one car, the ID.3 launched back in 2020. Four years later, there’s an entire family of ID models ranging from crossovers and retro minivans to this, the ID.7, all based on the same MEB platform.

The ID.7 is on sale in Europe now, but it’s still missing from showrooms in Australia, and earlier this year VW North America postponed the model’s US launch with no new date given for its arrival. The sedan was scheduled to go on sale before the end of 2024 for the 2025 model year, but worries about the cooling EV market forced a rethink. 

We grabbed the keys to the new wagon variant to see whether those who can buy the ID.7 should, and those that can’t ought to be pestering VW to make it available.

QUICK FACTS

Overview and what’s new

The ID.7 is VW’s answer to the Kia EV6 and Tesla Model 3, but unlike those EVs, it offers the choice of both sedan (technically a hatch) and wagon-bodied Tourer shapes. The two variants ride on the same 116.8-inch (2,966 mm) wheelbase which is huge for the class – 2.6 inches (66 mm) longer than the Kia’s and 3.6 inches (91 mm) bigger than the Tesla’s.

But the Tourer’s longer roofline and more upright rear window gives it more cargo space than the sedan and arguably a touch more style. Neither version is going to make you swoon, mind. They’re like ID.4 and ID.5 SUV and crossover given a 1950s custom roof chop and sectioned body job to bring them lower to the ground. Not ugly, just lacking in the pizazz of cars like the EV6, as if VW wimped out halfway through the design process.

In the UK, the ID.7 comes in three trims: £52,240 Match, £56,140 Match Pro S Match and £62,670 GTX. The first two are the almost identical except for their battery sizes, but the GTX sets itself apart with an extra motor and all-wheel drive.

Review: VW ID.Buzz Is The Coolest Minivan On The Block, But There’s A Catch

What’s under the hood?

We drove the mid-spec ID.7 Match Pro S that gets the same 282 hp (286 PS), 402 lb-ft (545 Nm) motor on the rear axle as the entry-level car, but swaps out the 77 kWh battery for an 86 kWh unit. Many buyers might not see the need for the upgrade because the base car is fractionally quicker (6.6 seconds to 62 mph / 100 km/h versus 6.7 seconds) and is rated at 373 miles ( 600 km) of electric range.

But if you are planning on regularly taking some long trips, the bigger battery in the Pro S bumps the range to 424 miles (682 km). VW’s early ID models made do with a fairly slow 125 kW max charge rate, and even the base ID.7 is limited to 175 kW, but the ID.7 Pro S can handle 200 kW fills, which means a 10-80 percent top-up takes 26 minutes. A Kia EV6 will do the same almost 10 minutes quicker, but then the ID.7 can go much further between charges, meaning you don’t need to add as much energy to cover the same distance.

Whichever ID.7 you go for you have to pay extra (£1,050 in the UK) for a heat pump, though the range is so good you might decide its not worth the expense, especially if you live in an area with mild weather. If you live in a cold region, we wouldn’t be surprised if you got an extra 30 miles (50 km) of range with the pump fitted.

How does it drive?

We often think of EVs as cars for short trips, but the ID.7 would make a fantastic road-trip EV. Yes, it’s got a long range, but just as importantly it’s got the refinement and comfort to make you want to put that 424-mile range claim to the test.

For a start, it’s incredibly quiet. Wind noise is lower than in BMW’s much more expensive i5, tire road is subdued and the rear-mounted motor keeps schtum even when pressed. And then there’s the way it rides. The ID.7 smooths away all but the worst lumps and bumps, preventing imperfections in the road surface from getting through to your butt, your ears or your hands.

Admittedly, our press car came with DCC adaptive dampers and acoustic glass (bundled into a £2,100 Exterior Pack along with variable ratio steering and illuminated VW roundel), so we can’t say how good a base car feels, but certainly with the trick shocks and glass the ID.7’s a great cruiser.

And that’s arguably what matters for a car like this. But if what matters to you is having fun when the traffic ahead disappears, other EVs do it better. The ID.7 is competent, but never entertaining, its steering too remote and its weirdly long brake pedal action lacking the initial bite you want when hustling a car. You also only get two different levels of regenerative braking to choose from and no one-pedal function, though there are four driving modes.

Related: New VW ID.7 GTX Tourer Adds Zing To Electric Wagon With 335 HP

The single 282 hp motor can get you to 62 mph (100 km/h) in under 7 seconds, which isn’t exactly slow, but the 320 hp (324 PS) Kia EV6 you can buy for the same money only needs 5.3 seconds. If you want that kind of go out of the ID.7 you’ll have to upgrade to the 335 hp (340 PS) bi-motor GTX that gets you to 62 mph in 5.5 seconds.

How’s the interior?

VW took some heat for the original ID.3’s cheap-feeling interior. Was this really the same company that gave us the game-changing MKIV Golf with its damped grab handles? But there are no quality disappointments with the materials in the ID.7’s cabin. Or comfort complaints. The front seats aren’t much to look at but they feel great and that’s before you’ve switched on the standard massage function.

You also get a much better touchscreen than was fitted to earlier ID cars. At 15 inches its bigger so is easier to see and use, and the heater sliders are now illuminated, but we’d prefer if both they and the volume control were old-fashioned rotary dials. Even the direction of the airflow has to be controlled electronically. The ID.7 is also stuck with nasty capacitive steering wheel buttons, whereas the Mk8.5 Golf (but not the R, strangely) have reverted to traditional buttons.

Photos Chris Chilton/Carscoops

What about space?

We’ve already mentioned the ID.7’s unusually long wheelbase, so it won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that this VW feels enormous inside with ample space for four adults. Sure, an SUV will provide more headroom, but the ID.7 never feels lacking in that respect and it has the kind of rear legroom that only an NBA star could find fault with.

And that rear legroom doesn’t come at the expense of cargo space. The ID.7 sedan offers 532 liters (18.8 cu-ft) of space that’s accessible via a sloping hatchback tail and is more than you get in rivals like the Tesla Model 3 (a true sedan). The Tourer’s wagon body boosts that to 605 liters (21.4 cu-ft), or a gigantic 1,948 liters (68.8 cu-ft) when the non-sliding rear seats are folded down.

That compares favorably with the 543-1,575 liters (19-56 cu-ft) offered by VW’s own ID.4 SUV and the 570-1,700 (20-60) void in the back of BMW’s pricier i5 Touring. See what we mean? The ID.7 Tourer really is road-trip-ready. The only negative is that there’s no frunk for storing charging cables – even on this model, which has no electric motor up front.

Verdict

The ID.7 isn’t knockout exciting to look at or to drive. But it is a great EV, and driving it six months after getting behind the wheel of the sedan makes me think the ID.7 deserves a bit more attention than it’s been getting. It’s comfortable, refined, roomy, and in Tourer guise has a spacious cargo area. If you’re not bothered about record-breaking 0-60 times and hot hatch-style handling, and can live with the still slightly annoying touchscreen interface, the ID.7 has a ton going for it.

We happen to think the Tourer wagon looks better than the sedan, too. So it’s a shame that if the ID.7 does finally make it to the US it’ll probably only be in fastback guise. But if you’re in the UK or Europe, do yourself a favor and take a look at what the ID.7 had to offer before you spend £15k more on a BMW i5 Touring.

Earlier this week, a Consumer Reports study showed that Tesla EVs were the least expensive cars to run over a 10-year period. But that doesn’t mean anyone buying one is in a for a decade of stress-free driving. Another study, this time published in Germany, has ranked the automaker’s Model 3 last for reliability for the second year running.

The TÜV test is a compulsory roadworthiness assessment – officially called the Hauptuntersuchung – that all cars being used on German roads must undergo every 24 months once they reach three years old. Inspectors check the condition and operation of everything from the chassis structure to the brakes, steering, suspension, lights and a huge list of other items.

Related: Ram Tops J.D. Power Quality Survey, But Dodge Drops From First To Last

It’s a tough test and one out of every five cars fails. Tesla’s Model 3 racked up more failures than any other car in the 2–3 and 4–5-year segments, primarily due to problems with its lights, brakes and suspension.

The TÜV notes that the last two are often a problem with EVs due to their weight compared with equivalent combustion-powered cars and the fact that much of the braking force is generated through energy recuperation, meaning the brakes don’t get enough of a workout to keep them in good order.

“The high mileage cannot disguise the poor performance of the Model 3,” said  Joachim Bühler, Managing Director of the TÜV Association. “In addition to defects in the brakes and axles, the Tesla also has a particularly high number of lighting defects. This indicates deficiencies in service and maintenance.”

LOSERS: LEAST RELIABLE CARS

The study also showed that the highest-quality EVs are those made by adapting existing combustion cars. VW’s e-Golf and the Mini Cooper SE, for instance, recorded far fewer faults than bespoke EVs like the Renault Zoe and Tesla Model 3.

The Model 3 was ranked worst in the 2-3 and 4-5-year-old category, with Dacia’s Dokker taking the 6-7 and 8-9 age group raspberries, the same company’s Logan coming bottom in the the 10-11 section, and sister company Renault’s Twingo getting the wooden spoon for 12-13-year-old cars.

At the other end of the scale, there was good news for anyone looking to buy a used Porsche, or a new one that they plan to keep for a long time. The 911 Carrera was rated top in all of the five age categories between 4-13 years. But proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune to buy a quality, reliable car, the Honda Jazz took gold in the 2-3-year category.

WINNERS: MOST RELIABLE CARS

Automakers in the US have joined forces to ask Donald Trump not to scrap EV tax credits when he takes office next January. Volkswagen, GM, Toyota and other companies have invested tens of billions in developing electric vehicles and adapting plants to build them, and are worried they’ll be rendered uncompetitive if the incoming Republican government axes the sweetener.

Writing to Trump in a November 12 letter that has only recently come to light, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation argued that the incentives made available via President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act helped ensure America’s auto industry was “globally competitive” at a time when automakers are increasingly worried about the threat posed by their Chinese rivals.

Related: Is Time Running Out For $7,500 EV Tax Credits? Experts Advise Buyers To Hurry

But in the same letter the automakers also expressed their concern about “federal and state emissions regulations (particularly in California and affiliated states) that are out-of-step with current auto market realities and increase costs for consumers,” Reuters reports.

Biden’s team introduced tough tailpipe rules that get increasingly tighter the closer we get to 2035, the date California wants to ban the sale of combustion cars, a move that will be echoed in other states as well. But the automakers say this can only be achieved by selling more EVs, despite dealers finding that most customers would still rather have a combustion car or a hybrid.

Given Trump’s known stance on green matters – he previously rolled back President Obama’s emissions regulations, and his team has vowed to attack Biden’s rules – it seems entirely possible that automakers will be given more time to clean up their cars’ CO2 outputs. However, Politico reports that Trump probably won’t be able to claw back the $7.5 billion already earmarked for charging infrastructure projects because the funds have been committed.

The automakers also urged Trump to make legislative changes that would help speed up the development and rollout of self-driving cars. But when it came to automatic emergency braking, which the Democrats have insisted must be mandatory (and meet a tough universal standard) from 2029, the car companies asked for more time.