Since internal combustion engines were adopted as the de facto mode of propulsion for automobiles, they became one of their most defining characteristics. Sonorous Italians, ultra-high revving Japanese, or “no replacement for displacement” Americans: those stereotypes exist simply because said engines became synonymous not just with certain models, but brands (and even countries) as a whole.

Today, we live in a world that has experienced a rapid technological advancement in a relatively short time, and cars are no exception. In fact, they have become just another commodity to the new generation of buyers who, if at least one exec is to be believed, simply don’t care what’s under the hood of their ride.

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That executive is none other than Ford Vice Chair John Lawler, so his opinion has a certain gravity. “I don’t think that consumers really think about powertrains the way they did 30 years ago”, he said on May 28 during Bernstein’s strategic decisions conference, according to Autonews.

He is probably right. The shift to electrification has transformed the way new car buyers view their purchases, and it’s not just electric vehicles, but hybrids that have contributed to that. Blame the effort to reduce CO2 emissions if you have to, but there’s no hiding from the truth; nowadays, cars fall under the “white goods” category, and romantics be damned.

“Where [combustion engines] defined what a vehicle was – the horsepower, the displacement, the torque and everything about the vehicle – I think a lot of that is gone,” Lawler explained.

Music To Automakers’ Ears

Sure, in certain niches combustion is still king, but the vast majority of customers don’t give a damn whether their car comes with an ICE, hybrid or all-electric powertrain as long as it’s priced withing their reach and has the features and range they desire. And while petrolheads may bemoan that reality, automakers welcome it with open arms.

That’s because it opens up hitherto unavailable possibilities. Since engines are no longer a defining trait, each brand is free to choose from a much wider array of units. What’s more, it doesn’t even have to make them itself which, much to shareholders’ joy, will lower costs and increase profit – plus it can benefit the end user, who won’t have to pay the premium needed to cover the R&D each maker’s department spent in creating each engine.

Parts sharing is nothing new, and neither is engine sharing, even if carmakers don’t exactly advertise the fact that an Audi’s V10, for instance, is basically the same as a Lamborghini‘s despite the latter having a significantly higher price tag.

Some have already formed partnerships to develop and built new powertrains that will be used in a multitude of models with different badges and even sold to third parties who want to cut down on costs (ed’s note: who doesn’t?). Horse, Renault’s and Geely’s joint venture, is a good example.

“It’s a win-win business model for everybody,” Horse Powertrain CEO Matias Giannini said during the Shanghai auto show two months ago. Of course it is: everyone gets what they want, so everyone’s happy. And there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

The China Syndrome

Another factor that plays a huge role is China. Its automakers are making inroads left, right, and center and buyers are lapping up what they have to offer. According to Lawler, the costs they incur are 30 percent lower than anyone else in the world. How can you compete with that?

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The answer is simple: you don’t. And since you can’t beat them, your best course of action is to join them. The Blue Oval’s Vice Chair claims that the Chinese have 10-11 million units of excess capacity and they’d love for foreigners to come in and fill that void.

And come they will, because they won’t say no to a 30 percent cost reduction. Especially since the well that used to be the Chinese market has now dried up and locals increasingly flock to domestic brands, much to legacy automakers’ dismay and loss of serious income.

No need to fret, fellow petrolheads. We can always hold on to our rides for as long as it’s legal to drive them on public roads; then, there’s always the track. The one thing we can’t do is hold back progress. Besides, even Henry Ford famously said “If I asked people what they wanted, they’d tell me ‘a faster horse'”, and that shows, yet again, that customers don’t create the future; visionaries do.

Whether it’ll be a better future or a dystopia is up for debate. Sadly, we probably won’t be around to find out, so it’s a moot point anyway as far as we’re concerned. Let’s burn some rubber while we still can, shall we?

Being one of the world’s richest and most influential figures definitely has its perks. Those private jets and space-bound adventures aren’t going to pay for themselves, after all. But it also puts a target on your back. Elon Musk is, undoubtedly, one such person, no matter what you might think of him, and he is no exception to the rule.

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One actor who is alleged to have tried to gain access to Musk is one of America’s oldest enemies: Russia. Or at least that’s what ex-FBI agent-turned-whistleblower Jonathan Buma alleges. Although the 48-year-old didn’t divulge details on why Musk was targeted by Russian operatives, he firmly believes that it was a real threat.

A Clear And Present Danger

He did say that the way in which Russians tried to get access to Musk was by placing certain individuals, who at the time got influence with him, within his inner circle. “Those efforts were intense and they were ongoing”, he told German broadcaster ZDF and UK news outlet The Guardian. “I can’t go into too much more detail,” he conceded, but did note that Musk himself wasn’t under investigation by the FBI.

Apparently, it was reported that Buma wasn’t the only one concerned about Musk falling under Russian influence. In July 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that his wealth manager, Jared Birchall, had “cornered” his employer about a new adviser named Igor Kurganov. He was a Russian-born ex-professional gambler who, according to Birchall, “suddenly had immense influence on what to do with Musk’s money” after having spent some time with him during the pandemic.

The FBI reportedly took interest into Elon’s new friend, with an agent making inquiries as part of his duty to “watch out for foreign interference in US companies”. Nevertheless, he had no known connections to Russia, apart from being born there, and was never named a foreign agent. Still, according to the report from the Wall Street Journal, Birchall asked Musk to remove Kurganov from his post at the latter’s private foundation in May 2022, which he did.

Musk’s Contacts

How Elon chose to spend his money was of no real interest to the US intelligence gathering community. On the other hand, whom the head honcho of not just Tesla but, more importantly, SpaceX did talk to about personal issues, business and geopolitical topics, likely was.

According to the same WSJ report from 2024, Musk had allegedly been “in regular contact” with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, since late 2022. Musk, however, denied this, stating as recently as last week during an interview with Bloomberg that, aside from a video call five years ago, he hasn’t spoken to the Russian president.

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Now, China may be the new superpower that replaced the USSR as the true US antagonist in the world scene, but underestimating Putin’s Russia would be a grave mistake. The ongoing war in Ukraine is as stark as reminder as anyone would need, if there was ever any doubt about that. While not as technologically advanced as America or the People’s Republic, it still has a huge amount of geopolitical clout so it can sit on the table with the other two and demand to have a say in how the world is run.

Tesla Needs To Solve Its Issues, Not Worry About Its CEO

All this could place Musk and Tesla between a rock and a hard place, especially if he’s being targeted by enemy #1 while his company builds cars in enemy #2’s soil. Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t prove Elon is compromised in any way – he could just be another businessman trying to maximize his companies’ profits.

Nevertheless, with Musk getting very political and becoming a close ally to US President Donald Trump, things have become much more complicated. True, they always are when money, politics and, ultimately, power come together. Tesla has, so far, faced more than its fair share of backlash against Musk’s politics. Ultimately, though, falling stock prices and plunging sales may just be the tip of the iceberg – and, ironically, Elon himself could be held accountable for many of his company’s problems.

The drama at Xiaomi’s automotive division doesn’t seem to be winding down anytime soon. Just days after the company was forced to apologize to owners of the SU7 who spent $6,000 on an aero hood only to find out the vents were little more than cosmetic, and not long after a software update nearly reduced the Ultra’s 1,526hp to a mere 888hp, Xiaomi now claims it’s uncovered what it calls a smear campaign against the brand.

The news comes just days before Xiaomi is set to reveal the YU7 electric SUV and the Xring 01, its first in-house developed smartphone chipset. In a posting on their social media page, Xiaomi’s legal team posted an update saying they had uncovered a coordinated effort to defame the company across nearly 10,000 social media accounts. Several suspects are now under investigation by Chinese authorities.

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As reported by several local media including Car News China, the criminal gang was allegedly active since December 2024. The company claims that the bad actors used automatic copywriting software to fabricate false information about Xiaomi, and manipulated nearly 10,000 social media accounts to maliciously spread rumors and false statements. The group reportedly engaged in tactics such as stirring up online opposition and pitting rival brands against each other, all in an effort to damage Xiaomi’s reputation.

In a statement, Xiaomi described the situation as a new form of online “water army” crime, where a criminal gang uses automated software to generate fake content on a massive scale. “The distribution chain is complex, and the scale of the operation is enormous,” the company said. “This has had a severely negative impact on both the online environment and our corporate reputation.”

Who’s Behind It?

Even though no names were named, any number of rivals could be at play here. Cars are nowadays more tech-defined than ever and are bound to become even more so in the near future, as the chipset and automotive industries become more intertwined. Thus, when a disruptor comes along and threatens to change the status quo, apparently all gloves are off since there are billions of dollars at stake.

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In the epic Iliad, Helen of Troy’s beauty sparked a war that would go down in history. Now, nearly three millennia later, Xiaomi has found itself in the strange position of being the brand that launched 10,000 social media accounts, each working to smear it in the months leading up to its first electric crossover. If anything, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if rival companies are going to such lengths to bring down Xiaomi, it’s clear they fear what’s coming next.