BMW’s electric adventure has officially passed a big milestone. Almost 13 years after the original i3 arrived, the company has handed over its two millionth fully electric vehicle. And one of the factors making that possible is that EV sales are currently going gangbusters in one specific region.

The landmark two-millionth car was an i5 M60 xDrive built in Dingolfing and delivered to a customer in Spain. Add plug-in hybrids and BMW Group says it’s shifted around 3.5 million electrified vehicles since 2013, while more than one in four of its global sales during the first half of 2026 had some form of electric propulsion.

Related: BMW Thinks Drivers Under 45 Are Done Poking Buttons. Other Brands Disagree

Things are moving particularly quickly in Europe. BMW’s European BEV sales jumped 38 percent during the second quarter to 81,445 cars. Fully electric models represented roughly 28 percent of BMW’s European sales during 2026’s first half.

That’s not happening in isolation. Almost 1.5 million BEVs were registered across Europe through July, up 30 percent year over year. July alone saw electric cars grab 35 percent of the French market and 29 percent in Germany. Denmark, meanwhile, hit 80 percent, Reuters reports.

BMW’s new iX3 appears well placed to seize the opportunity. The automaker says it’s approaching 100,000 orders, and since its unveiling, one in three electric BMWs ordered in Europe has been an iX3. And half of European X3-family orders are already for the electric version, which admittedly looks miles better than its ICE brother inside and out.

Growing Family

The Neue Klasse family is expanding, too. Series production of the new electric i3 3-series began in Munich this month, with BMW reporting strong early demand ahead of its market launch. And the new X5 has an electric variant for the first time that will be in showrooms in spring 2027.

But cross the Atlantic and the EV party suddenly gets quieter. US electric sales across the industry fell more than 20 percent year over year in the second quarter following the removal of federal tax incentives, leaving EVs with around a 6 percent share of the market.

No Love For iX

BMW’s own figures show that while North American sales of PHEV vehicles grew 22.9 percent in Q2, sales of electrified (EV and hybrid) vehicles tanked to the tune of -18.1 percent, revealing just how bad demand for EVs is now that US tax credits have gone. Sales of the iX electric SUV, for example, are down almost 50 percent year-to-date, official automaker figures say, though a recent facelift and price cut might help going forward. And Cox Automotive suggests BMW’s overall EV sales in the US are down 56 percent year-to-date. Ouch.

The arrival at BMW showrooms in September of the confident Neue Klasse iX3, whose fresh design will also help improve BMW EVs sales, no doubt. As will the iX5 we mentioned previously (pictured below). But the electric story is still going to be very different from one side of the Atlantic to the other.

BMW

Ford’s long-promised affordable EV program has finally taken physical form. The 3-million-square-foot Louisville Assembly Plant that once built gas-powered vehicles is no longer just a familiar factory with a few new robots. Ford stripped it to its shell, spent $2 billion rebuilding it, and is now preparing it for the $28,350 Fathom electric pickup. The result is a very expensive experiment.

According to Ford’s latest progress update, production-qualified Fathom prototypes should begin rolling off the line in the first quarter of 2027. Customer trucks will follow later that year. The Fathom is the first vehicle on Ford’s new Universal EV platform and carries a $28,350 starting MSRP before its $1,595 destination charge. Ford still hasn’t revealed the range, payload, towing capacity, or most of the other figures truck buyers will care about.

Read: Ford Promised A Sub-$30K Electric Truck, The Fathom Came In At $28,350

For now, the story is the factory and how production will work. Instead of sending a mostly complete body shell down one long line, Ford splits each Fathom into three sections: the front clip, rear clip, and a structural battery-and-interior assembly. Workers outfit those sections in parallel, then bolt and bond them into a finished truck.

The front and rear sections rely on large aluminum unicastings that replace dozens of stamped and welded components. Meanwhile, the battery serves as the truck’s structural floor. That means workers can install a seat before there’s even a cabin structure in the way, rather than squeezing through a doorway with tools in hand.

There’s real potential here beyond the usual manufacturing buzzwords. Ford says the system reduces the need to reach over a fender by 84 percent. It also says the Fathom’s wiring harness is more than 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the one in its first-generation electric SUV. Less twisting, less reaching, fewer parts, and fewer chances to mess something up all sound like wins. Especially for a brand so closely associated with recalls of late.

Ford says the plant will allow it to build cars 15 percent faster than its current Louisville products. A new software-flash station can even update modules while the truck moves through the plant rather than holding it up after assembly. Now, we just have to wait and see if this new production plan pays off. It’ll take a lot of $30k EV pickup truck sales to make a $2B investment look smart. But the real play here could be insight and experience that could spread to other Ford products.

Photos: Ford

Yale Zhang is the managing director at the consultancy Automotive Foresight in Shanghai. He’s well-versed in the Chinese auto industry, and he knows all about the tariffs that keep its cars out of the USA. Despite them, he believes that Americans will force politicians to let Chinese cars into the USA sooner rather than later. Mexicans and Canadians with access to more affordable Chinese EVs could help sway them, too.

“[US carmakers] would face complaints from consumers who are supposed to enjoy affordable smart EVs [made by Chinese companies],” Zhang told the South China Morning Post. Mexico already has access to Chinese cars and benefits from the lower prices they can come with. Canada is also now opening up the way to sell Chinese cars after the start of a trade war with the USA.

More: Chinese Cars Got Cheap, So Toyota’s Are Getting More Expensive

Washington has made it abundantly clear that it sees Chinese vehicles as both an economic and a national-security concern. Chinese-built EVs face a 100 percent tariff, and connected-car rules make direct entry still harder. A Chinese badge on an American dealer lot is not exactly around the corner.

Plenty of new cars are wildly expensive, and affordable EVs remain even harder to find. Ford CEO Jim Farley recently told employees that Chinese automakers could enter the U.S. within five to 10 years. Ford is trying to get ahead of that with its own affordable EV program, but Farley has been more candid than most about the ground Detroit needs to make up.

Canada’s decision to permit up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs each year and Mexico’s growing appetite for Chinese brands will give American buyers plenty of nearby examples. That does not mean the U.S. will suddenly throw open the gates. It may never happen through simple imports, either. Local assembly, familiar brand names, partnerships, and Chinese-built technology could all be part of the route in.

For now, tariffs can buy domestic automakers time, but they can’t build a compelling $25,000 EV. If the Big Three can’t figure out how to do that fast enough, consumers might get impatient and unwilling to wait any longer.

Lead Photo: BYD

Tokyo’s metropolitan government wants more residents behind the wheel of electric cars, and it’s rolling out fresh purchase subsidies worth as much as 1.3 million yen ($8,160) per vehicle to make it happen. How much a buyer actually pockets depends on which manufacturer built the car. Both individuals and businesses are eligible for the program, with no limit on the number of vehicles that can qualify.

Under the new scheme, subsidies for EVs and hybrids each climb by 300,000 yen ($1,880), pushing them to 1.3 million yen ($8,160) and 1.15 million yen ($7,220) respectively. Tokyo is keeping several existing incentives on the table too, among them a 100,000 yen ($620) payout for cars that come with vehicle-to-load capability.

Read: BYD’s Kei EV Has The Lowest Sticker In Japan And The Highest Price On The Road

On top of that, a 100,000-yen ($620) subsidy covers the installation of charging and discharging equipment, and another 150,000 yen ($940) goes to anyone signed up with an electricity provider running on 100 percent renewable energy. EV and hybrid buyers can qualify for a further 300,000 yen ($1,884) if their home or workplace uses solar power.

Not All Brands Are Treated Equally

Those wanting to maximize their savings will need to carefully decide which brand they want to buy a new EV or hybrid from. According to a report from Nikkei Asia, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda models are all eligible to receive a 400,000-yen ($2,510) subsidy, while this incentive drops to 300,000 yen ($1,880) for models from Mitsubishi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Tesla. Vehicles from BYD can only receive a 100,000-yen ($620) subsidy. Daihatsu models currently receive no additional manufacturer-based subsidy.

Additional incentives are offered depending on vehicle sales. For example, manufacturers who have sold at least 60 new zero-emission vehicles in Tokyo prefecture in 2025 can get an additional subsidy. An incentive worth up to 200,000 yen ($1,250) is also available as part of a “green transformation category.”

These incentives can be stacked with those offered by Japan’s federal government, which also offers incentives valued at up to 1.3 million yen ($8,160). However, like the savings offered in Tokyo, those from the federal government vary, with vehicles using Japanese batteries eligible for the most significant savings. By comparison, those from BYD get a minimum subsidy of 150,000 yen ($940). That creates a 1.15 million yen ($7,220) gap between BYD and models qualifying for the maximum national subsidy.

Toyota’s bZ4X is among the models that qualify for the full 1.3 million yen ($8,160) national subsidy. Stack that on top of Tokyo’s maximum incentive and the total discount could hit 2.6 million yen ($16,320), trimming the car’s 4.8 million yen ($30,150) sticker to roughly 2.2 million yen ($13,820).

It is hoped these subsidies will help encourage EV sales across the country. Due in large part to the price differential between EVs and combustion-powered cars locally, EVs accounted for just 1.6 percent of Japan’s new car market in 2025.

Tesla Expects A Rush

Thanks in part to these subsidies, Tesla is preparing for a surge in demand for its vehicles. The automaker sold more than 10,000 vehicles in Japan in 2025, comfortably beating its previous record of roughly 5,900 in 2022, reports Nikkei Asia. Demand has accelerated further this year, with around 12,000 vehicles sold in the first six months of 2026 alone. Tesla has also stopped selling its traditional premium models, including the Model S, to focus on the mass-market Model 3 and Model Y.

Handling that kind of growth takes infrastructure, so Tesla is growing its delivery network from seven locations to 11 by the end of the year. The automaker has also doubled its potential import capacity to roughly 48,000 vehicles a year, which leaves plenty of headroom above even this year’s accelerated pace.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday the federal government will fund $180 million in grants for mining schools across the country as part of his administration’s goal of rebuilding the U.S. coal industry. 

The grants will include $100 million from the Department of Energy spread across the 14 accredited mining schools in the U.S., while the Department of Defense will dedicate just over $80 million for three major schools of mining and metallurgy: the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University. 

The Johns Hopkins University grant will help to create a new “multi-material recycling innovation hub,” while the South Dakota School of Mines’ funding will go toward establishing a consortium of workforce development programs alongside the University of Kentucky and Missouri S&T University.

Trump framed the announcement as part of his ongoing effort to rebuild the U.S. coal industry and reopen mines, a central pillar of his energy policy. He has previously sought to shorten the regulation process for new mines and limit the impact of environmental regulations. 

Trump stressed the national importance of funding mining programs, given that other countries, such as China, graduate students at a far higher rate. Accredited mining programs at U.S. educational institutions graduate less than 170 mining engineers each year, he said, while China graduates more than 3,000 annually. 

“We’re not doing you favors,” Trump told a crowd, including miners and many of the schools’ representatives, at a ceremony at the State Department building in Washington. “We’re doing ourselves favors. We need your industry.”

Half of the U.S. mining workforce is set to retire within the next three years, he added. 

“That’s why my administration is making an unprecedented financial commitment to our nation’s mining schools,” Trump said. “It’s going to keep us nice and young and vibrant.”

In addition to increasing support for mining education, Trump announced more than $2 billion worth of new mining contracts and projects. 

Those investments include $150 million for Minnesota-based Niron Magnetics to develop rare-earth-free magnets that are domestically produced to support the defense industrial base and $1.4 billion for Sila Nanotechnologies, a California-based firm, to “expand production of silicon-carbon battery anodes and build out a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facility to strengthen the supply chains of satellite operations, unmanned aerial systems, and munitions,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Several of the speakers during the ceremony Friday, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, highlighted the national security benefits of increasing U.S. mine production. 

“At the core of this is our industrial strength,” Rubio said. “But also our national sovereignty — that we never depend on other countries for things we need to prosper and to defend ourselves as a people.”

Americans are understandably tired of hearing why a new vehicle now costs the better part of $50,000. Automakers did not totally invent the country’s appetite for SUVs and pickups. But there’s no doubt that they have spent decades feeding it, moving buyers into bigger, plusher, and far more profitable machines. Their newest answer to affordability may be a $15,000 electric low-speed vehicle. In other words, when America asks for a cheaper car, the industry may offer a more convincing golf cart.

As CNBC reports, companies including Stellantis’ Fiat, Waev, and startup Chip Motors, see an opening for electric LSVs. Fiat is using Miami to test its tiny Topolino quadricycle, while Chip plans to begin production of a four- or six-seat vehicle next year. Both are expected to start at roughly $15,000, a figure that suddenly looks interesting in today’s market.

Read: Fiat’s Bringing An EV To America So Small It Makes Kei Cars Look Like Cadillacs

There is a real use case here. An LSV can be ideal in some spaces. Think of a retirement community, a beach town, a resort, or a dense development where the grocery store, restaurant, and mailbox are all a few miles away. They can generally charge from a normal household outlet, cost less than a conventional EV, and offer more weather protection than a typical golf cart. As a second vehicle, that sounds perfectly sensible and even a little fun.

Still, it takes a remarkable amount of optimism to frame one as an answer to America’s broader transportation problem. Federal rules generally limit LSVs to 25 mph, and states may allow them only on roads posted up to 35 mph. They need lights, mirrors, turn signals, and a compliant windshield, but airbags are not required. That is not a cheap replacement for a normal family car. It is a vehicle for people whose lives happen to fit inside a very narrow operating envelope.

That is where the affordability pitch begins to wobble. America does not need another clever way to sell a vehicle that cannot safely handle the daily realities of American driving. It needs genuinely affordable, highway-capable cars with enough room, safety equipment, and range of ability to serve as a household’s primary transportation.

LSVs may become a healthy niche, and good for them if they do. The roads will be more whimsical with them there. But they are cheaper precisely because they are less capable and subject to fewer requirements than a normal car. Sell them honestly as fun, useful local runabouts, and there is a case to make. Sell them as the industry’s answer to soaring vehicle prices, and it starts to look like the affordability crisis has been answered with a loophole.

Demand for and sales of the Tesla Cybertruck still sit far below what Elon Musk first promised, and now the automaker says its own production and deliveries are being choked off by a Texas supplier allegedly holding key manufacturing equipment for ransom. It’s not a good look for a truck already struggling to find buyers.

According to court documents seen by Bloomberg Law, the supplier in question, Angstrom Automotive Group LLC, told Tesla on July 13 that it planned to close its facility in Troy, Texas. The EV maker wanted to pull important tooling out of the site before the doors shut, but according to Tesla, Angstrom refused to release the equipment and instead demanded $250,000 per week, on top of whatever is still owed on existing purchase orders.

Read: The Cybertruck Is Flopping So Hard It Could Knock Ford’s Edsel Off Its Throne

In a complaint filed July 23 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, Tesla says its representatives showed up at Angstrom’s facility on July 21 to collect the equipment and were turned away. The filing claims the tooling house at the site exists solely to manufacture Cybertruck parts, and that each piece takes five to six months to build. Replacing them outright isn’t practical, especially with Tesla still taking orders for the truck.

Holding Tesla Hostage

“Without the tooling, Tesla will be unable to manufacture several thousand Cybertrucks that are currently in or planned for production, most, if not all, of which are already committed to customers,” Tesla said in the lawsuit. The company added that “a parts shortage of this nature would cause irreparable harm for Tesla and others…including the erosion of other supplier and customer goodwill.”

Tesla says that Angstrom has never owned the tooling at its facility, nor has it ever paid a single dollar towards the design, manufacture, or acquisition of the equipment. If it doesn’t allow Tesla to retrieve the equipment, the automaker says it’s entitled to “obtain temporary and/or permanent injunctive relief or other equitable relief to retrieve the tooling without the necessity of posting any bond or proof of action, injury, or damage.”

Australia’s car market is relatively small, with just 1.24 million vehicles sold across 2025, yet it remains extraordinarily competitive, home to almost 70 different brands all fighting for their slice of the sales. That kind of density puts a lot of hardware, and a lot of software, into Australian driveways every year.

But as the nation’s car market has diversified, it appears the government has forgotten to protect the sensitive data that so many new cars collect. Now, the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) is calling for action, noting the country does not have dedicated, vehicle-specific policies for cybersecurity and software-update management, as many other nations do.

Review: China’s 2026 GAC Aion UT Is A Budget EV That Doesn’t Feel Cheap

New vehicles are more connected than ever, particularly EVs, routinely collecting not only location data but also uploading voice recordings and images from in-car cameras to manufacturer cloud storage systems, often overseas. Of the almost 70 car brands in Australia, they come from just 12 overseas countries, and these nations could be collecting driving data from locals and doing with it as they please.

Australia Needs To Follow Europe

The AEVA is calling on the Australian government to adopt a connected-vehicle cybersecurity framework similar to Europe. This would require manufacturers to maintain a certified cybersecurity management system, a software update management system, and “clear lifecycle processes for vulnerability management, incident response and secure software updates.

At present, the only legal framework helping protect local data is the 1988 Privacy Act’s Australian Privacy Principals, which requires open and transparent handling of personal information. This, alongside voluntary standards from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), is all that’s used.

What Should Be Done?

The AEVA wants in-car data to be processed in the vehicle by default and that data collected is stored in Australia by default. There should also be strict limits on overseas data feeds from Australian vehicles to overseas manufacturers, and locals should have the rights to access, delete, and manage vehicle data.

Even China is doing a better job than Australia. Its 2021 automobile data provisions prioritize in-vehicle processing of data and a default non-collection principle. Important data also needs to be stored domestically and is subject to security assessment before it can be transferred abroad.

“A well-designed Australian regime can support innovation, enable safe software-defined vehicles, and still require privacy-protective defaults, local processing, strong cybersecurity and meaningful user control,” the AEVA noted. “It should also ensure that consumers and consumer-authorised third parties are not locked out of legitimate access to vehicle data, functions and resources by manufacturer-controlled digital gatekeeping.”

China keeps tightening its grip as the world’s largest new car exporter, and a big part of meeting the extraordinary global appetite for its vehicles comes down to the enormous car-carrying ships now being built on home soil. One of the newest of them, the Glovis Nova, swallows enough cars to cover 9.5 football fields.

Read: China’s EV Giant BYD Now Exports Cars In Its Own Purpose-Built Mega-Ship

On Sunday, the Malta-flagged vessel was loaded with 7,738 electric vehicles at Shanghai’s South Port Terminal and set off for Zeebrugge in Belgium, where the cars will be distributed across Europe. The trip set a new Chinese record for the number of electric vehicles shipped from a domestic port on a single ship.

A Tesla-Only Cargo

Instead of hauling a mix of EVs and plug-in hybrids from several brands, the Glovis Nova carried nothing but Tesla Model 3s and Model Ys built in Shanghai. Sticking to passenger cars also squeezed the most out of its capacity, since bulkier loads like buses and engineering equipment eat up far more deck space.

A report from the South China Morning Post notes that the Glovis Nova can carry up to 10,800 vehicles at once and runs on a liquefied natural gas dual-fuel power system. It left port at the same time as the Panama-flagged Glovis Leader, another Chinese-built carrier with the same enormous capacity, which was bound for Busan, South Korea. Both came out of Guangzhou Shipyard International, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation and one of the largest shipbuilding groups on the planet.

The record haul owed a lot to the Glovis Nova’s optimized deck layout. Lined up bumper to bumper, those 7,738 cars would stretch about 36km (22 miles) and cover roughly 67,600 square meters.

Why Tesla?

Tesla’s factory in Shanghai is perfectly positioned to make use of these new ships. The South Port Terminal in Shanghai, located just 6 miles away, serves as a roll-on, roll-off vehicle export hub, and it’s possible for newly built vehicles to leave Tesla’s factories and arrive on ships in just a matter of hours.

Of course, it’s not just Tesla that is benefiting from China’s expertise in building massive cargo ships. BYD operates its own fleet of car carriers, introducing the first of them, known as the Explorer No. 1, in early 2024. It has since added seven other ships to its fleet, allowing it to send thousands of its electrified vehicles to markets around the world.

In early June, almost 5,000 plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles were exported from China to Australia on the BYD Zhengzhou ship thanks to a surge in demand for the brand’s models in part due to the war in Iran and surging oil prices.

Every year we’re told the next breakthrough in battery technology will finally make EVs more affordable. Quietly, that’s already started happening… at least on the manufacturing side. According to a new study out of Germany, global battery costs have fallen by roughly 35 percent in real terms since 2020. Yet if you’ve been shopping for an EV lately, you’ve probably noticed they haven’t become dramatically cheaper. In fact, the median advertised price actually went up. Here’s why.

Read: Used Hybrid And EV Prices Have Jumped $3,600 Even After The Tax Credit Died

Researchers from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) analyzed more than 100,000 passenger car configurations sold in Germany between 2020 and 2025. When comparing equivalent models and adjusting for inflation, vehicle weight, power output, battery capacity, and electric range, they found battery electric vehicle prices fell by about 18 percent in real terms over the five-year period. Yes, prices fell by almost one-fifth. At the same time, internal combustion vehicles became roughly 2 percent more expensive.

The study attributes much of that price drop to falling battery costs. What’s particularly interesting is the gap between the roughly 35 percent decline in battery prices and the 18 percent reduction in vehicle prices. Researchers say manufacturers appear to have used some of those savings to increase driving range, improve vehicle specifications, or offset research and development costs instead of cutting sticker prices even further.

Why The Median Price Climbed

On top of that, the overall market tells us an even more interesting story. The study confirms that individual EV models became cheaper while the median advertised price across the entire German market actually went up, growing from around €38,000 ($44,000) in 2020 to €54,000 ($62,000) in 2025.

That’s largely because the number of available EV models exploded from 38 to 159 during the study period, with much of that growth coming from larger, more expensive vehicles in the lower-medium, medium and upper-medium segments. Buyers shopping for smaller, more affordable EVs still have relatively few choices, with mini and small cars accounting for just 14 percent of all BEV models on sale.

It’s worth noting that the findings reflect the German market rather than the United States, where incentives, taxes and consumer preferences differ considerably. Even so, the report highlights an important reality for anyone expecting dramatically cheaper EVs. Falling battery costs don’t automatically translate into lower sticker prices. Sometimes they become longer range, more equipment, or simply more expensive vehicles.

Europe’s tariffs on Chinese EVs were supposed to slow the advance across the region. Chinese brands responded by pivoting to plug-in hybrids instead, and the results speak for themselves. PHEVs from China now make up more than a third of the region’s plug-in hybrid sales. The tariff wall stands where it was, but the traffic routed around it, because the barrier went up around one powertrain and not the other.

Local sales data shows Chinese firms taking a 34 percent share of PHEV deliveries last month, with BYD, Chery, and Geely leading the charge, alongside brands with European ownership ties such as Polestar and Leapmotor.

More: China’s Best-Seller Could Soon Be Built At A Ford Factory After Deal With Geely

Dataforce puts Chinese manufacturers at 11 percent of all new car sales in June and 15 percent of the EV market. That second figure sounds healthy, but EV sales haven’t kept pace with plug-in hybrids, hovering between 10 and 15 percent for the past 18 months.

Looking at the hybrid market as a whole, which includes hybrids and plug-ins, Chinese automakers had a market share close to 25 percent.

What Will Europe Do?

Europe’s answer likely won’t be economic measures aimed specifically to assist local car manufacturers, but rather to punish Chinese firms. The European Commission is moving closer to imposing tariffs against plug-in hybrids imported from China into the region. Handelsblatt reported that as soon as a majority of EU members give their approval to these new tariffs, they can be implemented.

Read: China Just Killed The PHEV As We Know It And Western Luxury Brands Are Paying The Price

It’s understood that tariffs against PHEVs could follow a similar formula to those implemented against EVs in 2024. As such, they could vary between car manufacturers, depending on how they cooperate with European authorities. In the case of the EV tariffs, they vary between 7.8 and 35.3 percent.

The Chinese Are Now Building Locally

Importantly, Chinese brands may already have the answer to these new tariffs. Many have already committed to building vehicles in Europe, including BYD, which now operates a plant in Hungary, as well as SAIC, which will build a site in northern Spain. In addition, Auto News notes that Dongfeng, Chery, Geely, and Leapmotor will or could use existing plants in Europe to build their own vehicles, skirting around any potential new tariffs.

After a sustained period of extraordinary growth, the Chinese car market is suffering from some serious growing pains. New car sales have collapsed this year, so much so that it may end up being the worst year for the Chinese auto industry since 2021.

Figures from the China Passenger Car Association show passenger vehicle deliveries down 20.2 percent through the first half of the year, with 8.7 million units. The industry body expects a total of 20.4 million new cars to move this year, which would represent a fall of 14 percent from 2025, when dealers sold 23.7 million units.

Read: China’s Electrified Car Sales Sank 13%, And The World Is About To Feel It

That outlook may be optimistic. The head of Hong Kong/China Industrials Research at Citic CLSA Xiao Feng told CNBC that he expects total year sales to be down 20 percent from last year. He predicts that sales of new energy vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles, will drop roughly 5-6 percent this year.

ICEs Are Mostly To Blame

Perhaps unsurprising, it’s combustion-powered vehicles that are having the biggest impact on the total sales decline. In fact, ICE sales were down 39 percent year-on-year in June, accounting for 78 percent of the market’s total decline. This has largely been due to rising oil prices, triggered by the conflict in Iran.

The Chinese government has also pulled back some of its support for EVs. The cost of lithium has increased, as have the prices of the chips that new and advanced EVs rely so heavily on.

A Rebound On The Horizon

Things could improve next year. Feng anticipates a strong rebound in consumer demand, boosted by a surge in exports from Chinese car manufacturers.

As the Chinese car market ebbs and flows, a period of significant consolidation is expected. Feng believes that by 2030, there will be just seven or eight major EV companies in the country, and foreign brands are expected to have real difficulty competing, likely prompting many to exit the nation entirely.

Polestar will soon bid farewell to the United States and instead focus on markets where its models are more popular. That’s bad news for customers across the country, and worse news for the 32 Polestar dealerships operating here.

The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said last month that it would not allow Polestar to sell new cars in the country beyond the 2027 model year, citing the company’s Chinese ownership and technology.

Read: Polestar Owners Fear A Fisker-Style Resale Collapse After US Ban

Polestar could have contested the decision and pushed government officials for an exemption like the one granted to Volvo. If that failed, it could have gone to court. Despite having those options, Polestar says it won’t appeal the ban.

“We will instead focus our investments on markets where we have a strong brand position and ability to achieve profitable growth, with a strong weighting towards Europe,” Polestar spokesman Michael Ofiara told the Wall Street Journal.

Last year, Polestar sold a measly 5,747 vehicles in the United States, even though the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 are both excellent cars. With numbers that thin, the US accounted for just 6 percent of the company’s global sales, and it’s entirely possible the brand would have walked away before long even with permission to keep selling.

The Dealer Fallout

Dealerships are now left holding the bag. Many Polestar dealers, who frequently sell Volvo models too, have spent millions building out facilities for the EV-focused brand, presumably hoping it might one day grow into a serious volume seller to rival European rivals and maybe even Tesla.

One dealer owner, Matthew Haiken, told the WSJ he had sunk “millions” into a new Polestar dealership in East Hanover, New Jersey, only to pause construction last month when the ban was first announced. Learning that Polestar won’t appeal the decision, he said, is “really upsetting to hear.”

How the company plans to make things right with dealers is still unclear. According to New York attorney Russell McRory, state laws often require manufacturers to compensate dealers when they exit a market, and the usual way to sidestep that obligation is bankruptcy. Polestar says it will work with dealers to “manage this transition,” but hasn’t offered specifics.

Deals On The Way Out

Now that it’s heading for the exit, Polestar wants the stock gone, and earlier this month it put real money on the hood of the Polestar 3 and 4. The discounts run as deep as $25,000, though buying from a brand on its way out of the country carries obvious risk. The saving grace is that Polestar isn’t going under. It stays in business everywhere else, and its US service centers will remain open to look after the cars already sold.

“We will continue to sell our existing stock of vehicles in the U.S., and our retailers will continue to support customers through sales, service and aftersales activities,” a press spokesman told the publication.

Fiat has stopped importing the only two new models it sells in Australia, the Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e, as it struggles to fend off a sea of more affordable Chinese arrivals. The move leaves the company in a precarious spot and has fueled speculation that it’s inching toward exiting the market entirely as sales crumble.

Demand for the two 500e models has never been strong, largely because they have been so expensive. When first launched, the regular 500e started at AU$52,500 ($36,800), while the Abarth model was initially priced from AU$58,990 ($41,300), price tags generally only reserved for mid-size SUVs, including electric SUVs.

Read: Dealers Can’t Move The 500e At $15,000 Off. Fiat’s Response Is A $5,200 Price Hike

Fiat eventually made steep price cuts to both cars, more than AU$20,000 (US$14,000) in some cases, but that did little to stir demand. Sources familiar with the matter told Drive that Fiat’s five remaining passenger car dealers have gone without new factory 500e allocations for some time. The company also runs 14 Fiat Professional van showrooms.

Earlier this week, Stellantis confirmed it will stop importing the 500e models, the only two passenger cars it still brought into the country. The petrol-powered Fiat 500 and Abarth 695 are already gone, with only leftover stock remaining, though the Scudo and Ducato vans are staying, at least for now.

Sales Collapse

Brad Anderson/Carscoops

Car Sales reports that Fiat volume has dropped 30 percent year-to-date, with just 144 vehicles moved locally this year. Only 13 of those came in June. Ferrari managed 16 and Lamborghini 18, which means two brands that trade in six-figure exotics each outsold Fiat, by 23 and 38 percent respectively over the same month. Stellantis says it remains committed to Australia, but with so little volume, it may become hard to justify the investment needed to keep the brand around.

“As part of Stellantis Australia’s ongoing portfolio and product planning process, the availability of specific models can vary over time as we assess market demand and future product opportunities,” Stellantis said. “We remain focused on ensuring the vehicles we bring to Australia meet customers’ expectations.“

“Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e stock in Australia has now largely been sold through and, at this stage, we are not planning additional orders while we evaluate future product opportunities for the local market. We continue to support our Fiat and Abarth customers and dealer network and look forward to sharing more information about Fiat’s and Abarth’s future plans in Australia at the appropriate time,” the company added.

A Sign Of Things To Come?

Earlier this month, fellow Stellantis brand Peugeot revealed it was parting ways with Australian distributor Inchcape, meaning Stellantis itself will control the firm’s local operations. Last week, local media was informed that Peugeot was completely retiring its fleet of press vehicles, noting it would no longer be offering loans to the media. Its sales have also fallen drastically as the French brand has failed to compete with new arrivals, mostly from China. Its sales are down more than 32 percent year-to-date.

Brad Anderson/Carscoops

Electric vehicles are flooding onto Chinese roads at a staggering pace, replacing millions of gas guzzlers and cutting down on toxic tailpipe emissions. It’s not all good news, though. As big, heavy EVs grow more common across the country, the roads beneath them are taking some serious punishment, leaving authorities scratching their heads over how to pay for the repairs.

Read: America Plans 159 New Cars By 2030, China Just Launched 650 In Six Months

Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that 60 percent of new cars launched in the country in the first half of this year stretched beyond 16 feet (5 meters), as a growing number of local manufacturers develop ever-larger and ever-more-luxurious SUVs and minivans to meet rising demand.

Some of these supersized models now weigh as much as three tons, which is where the road damage comes from. By comparison, just 2 percent of new models came in under 14.8 feet (4.5 meters), down from 13 percent a year earlier, a sign of how quickly buyers have abandoned smaller vehicles.

Ordinarily, the government funds highway and road repairs through a fuel tax. Revenue from that tax has begun to decline, and according to a Bloomberg report, the nation now faces an annual shortfall of roughly 50 percent for road upkeep and management. A study by a research unit within China’s Transport Ministry found that around 40 percent of local roads have been approved for repair but remain unfunded because of tight budgets. The gap has been estimated at up to 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) a year.

How To Fund Roads In The EV Age

New ways to fund roads are being considered. A mileage-based road user charge is one option. The government has also started trimming EV tax concessions, halving the sales tax discount for new energy vehicles (NEVs) to 5 percent, with the maximum discount now capped at 15,000 yuan (around $2,250). Annual vehicle and vessel tax exemptions will be axed for PHEVs and extended-range EVs.

There are other measures in play. Hainan province is running a pilot program that uses sat-nav to track certain vehicles, which could form the basis of a dynamic mileage tax that varies by vehicle class.

The government also wants carmakers to rein in their obsession with size. Mandatory energy-consumption figures penalize excessively heavy passenger cars, nudging automakers toward lighter materials and better aerodynamics rather than ever-larger battery packs to stretch range.

The ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, The People’s Daily, has urged companies to “return to rationality,” noting that such large vehicles clash with existing urban infrastructure and drive up energy consumption. State broadcaster CCTV has also criticized the industry’s growing focus on oversized EVs, calling it a response to short-term market demand rather than genuine innovation.

Lucid has forcefully denied speculation that it could file for bankruptcy, going so far as to send a cease-and-desist letter to the publication that claimed the automaker was weighing Chapter 11 protection or a take-private deal. The company’s response has been unusually aggressive for a matter it insists carries no substance, escalating from a public rebuttal to legal action and a regulatory filing in a matter of days.

Read: Lucid To Lay Off 18% Of Its US Workforce, Just Four Months After Cutting 12%

It all started earlier this week, when media outlet @EV_carba (Electric-Vehicles.com) reported that it had heard from unnamed sources that Lucid had been in talks with advisor AlixPartners, which reportedly urged it to restructure in the US and Europe and to prioritize the Gravity SUV. That could mean filing for bankruptcy protection or going private, prompted by the company’s struggling share price and pressure from Saudi Arabian investors.

The CEO Responds

Lucid quickly responded to the report. Writing on LinkedIn, chief executive Silvio Napoli labeled the reports “false,” although he did not deny that the EV maker is working with outside advisors to improve.

“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private,” he said. “Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period. As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.”

$LCID has delivered a cease-and-desist letter to @EV_carba regarding reporting that falsely claimed the company was considering bankruptcy or a take-private transaction. Those claims have been publicly and unequivocally denied, including in an SEC filing. pic.twitter.com/9P0PocFdCl

— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 15, 2026

“We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.”

Screenshots have since emerged online showing the cease-and-desist letter that Lucid sent to electric-vehicles, the website that published the report. It said that “publication of inaccurate factual statements concerning a publicly traded company is extraordinarily serious,” noting it “undermines investor confidence, creates unnecessary uncertainty, and can materially distort the market’s assessment of the company.”

Shares Plummet, Then Rebound

Lucid also directly blamed the report for prompting a sell-off of its shares, noting prices fell from $5.51 to as low as $2.37, causing “serious injury to a number of investors.” The stock shed more than half its value at Tuesday’s intraday lows and was halted several times for volatility before the denial pared the damage, leaving it down about 16 percent at the close.

However, the recovery came fast. As The Motley Fool reported, shares rocketed 28.8 percent on Wednesday to close at $5.95, slightly above where they traded before the report broke, on volume of 55.6 million shares, roughly 169 percent above the three-month average. The rebound stretched into a second day, with the stock climbing another 12 percent on Thursday to trade around $6.69, back above its 50-day moving average for the first time since the rumors surfaced.

Regardless of where the truth lies, it’s obvious that things are not going that well for Lucid. In June, it said it was laying off 18 percent of its US employees, just four months after a separate round of layoffs cut its local workforce by 12 percent.

Volvo spent the last few years methodically trimming its U.S. lineup until only crossovers remained. Sedans disappeared, wagons followed, and the company’s strategy seemed crystal clear: Americans wanted SUVs, so that’s what Volvo would sell. Now, however, the company appears to be reconsidering that approach, and the timing couldn’t be more interesting.

More: There’s Still Hope For Volvo Wagons After All

According to Automotive News, Volvo is evaluating a pair of electric midsize cars for the U.S. market that could arrive in 2028, potentially bringing both a sedan and a wagon back to American showrooms.

The vehicles would reportedly be based on Volvo’s new SPA3 platform, the same next-generation architecture underpinning the upcoming EX60. And since the cars are already being engineered for Europe, reworking them for American roads shouldn’t take much effort, according to a person briefed on the talks.

The EX60 features an 800-volt electrical system, allowing for faster charging while supporting a wide range of battery capacities, motor configurations, and performance levels. If approved, the two models would evidently revive familiar 60- or 70-series nameplates, with a rugged Cross Country wagon variant also said to be under consideration.

Read: Polestar Owners Fear A Fisker-Style Resale Collapse After US Ban

While it’s relatively rare to see an automaker adapt a European-spec vehicle for the U.S. market, Volvo believes the feat isn’t too tough to pull off in this case. That said, expectations appear conservative. Combined annual sales are said to be projected at roughly 10,000 units, with pricing expected to begin somewhere in the low-$50,000 range.

Betting On Wagon Nostalgia

If it moves forward with this change, it’s easy to see how the brand could market these cars. Sedans and, most notably, wagons are a deeply ingrained part of how Volvo got to where it is today. As we’ve seen across the industry, brands are eager to monetize nostalgia at every turn. At least this time it sounds like the enthusiasts might benefit most.

Edmunds analyst Ivan Drury told Autonews that he believes Volvo could carve out a niche as a “counter-culture cool” electric wagon, giving buyers an alternative in a segment that has largely disappeared beneath the SUV boom.

There’s another factor working in Volvo’s favor. With Polestar effectively retreating from the U.S. after tariffs derailed its product plans, Geely’s American portfolio suddenly has a sedan-shaped hole in it. A stylish Volvo EV could help fill that gap while keeping customers within the broader corporate family. The move would also hand Volvo retailers some badly needed fresh metal after the brand’s U.S. market share slid to 5.8 percent last year, the lowest it has been since 2019.

I’ve been using my trusty Samsung smartphone for three years and have never owned a car that wasn’t at least seven years old when I purchased it. Things are different in China, where it’s been revealed that the average age of EVs on local roads is less than the length of time most people keep a smartphone.

A recent report from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Hejun Consulting, cited by Bloomberg, puts the average age of EVs on Chinese roads at just 1.8 years. The average combustion car in the country is about 8.2 years old by comparison. Across every powertrain, the typical vehicle is under 7 years old, versus 12.8 years in America. None of this means buyers are grabbing an EV, running it for two years, and flipping it for something new.

Read: The Average Chinese Car Is Under 7 Years Old, America’s Is Nearly 13, And That Helps Its 2030 EV Push

Electric vehicles only really surged in popularity across the country after 2021, ultimately reaching a 60 percent penetration rate of the new car market in 2026. As such, it makes sense that the typical EV on the road in China is less than two years old.

How Long Are People Owning Them For?

A white paper last year found that 70 percent of fuel-powered vehicles in China stay with their owners for more than five years before replacement. Flip to the other side, and Sohu reports that 90 percent of new energy vehicles, EVs included, get swapped out in under five years.

There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the most important is that EVs now behave more like tech products. Many ICE cars built in 2000 had engines and transmissions very similar to those produced in 2010, so there was often no need for car owners to upgrade their vehicles quickly. In the EV world, things are different.

Batteries, electric motors, electronic controls, self-driving systems, and on-board technologies have developed rapidly in recent years, meaning an EV launched in China just three years ago may feel dated compared to a brand-new alternative. Additionally, the development cycle of EVs is much faster, especially in China, than that of ICEs, allowing car manufacturers to introduce all-new models much more quickly than previously possible.

The European Union first imposed sweeping tariffs on EVs from China to shield its local car industry. Soon, plug-in hybrids could be hit too. And it turns out Chinese automakers aren’t the only target, because tire companies are now facing steep duties of their own.

Chinese tires have surged in popularity, much like their cars. Between 2021 and 2024, the European market share held by Chinese tires climbed from 18 percent to 28 percent, with roughly 93 million of them imported into the bloc in 2024. According to the European Commission, around 336 million passenger car and light commercial vehicle tires were used across the EU that year. Tariffs are Brussels’ answer as it moves to protect homegrown firms such as Michelin, Pirelli, and Continental.

Read: China’s Answer To Europe’s EV Tariffs Came With A Gas Tank

Under so-called anti-dumping duties, producers such as Shandong Yongsheng and other Chinese manufacturers that didn’t receive an individual rate will be subject to a 45.3 percent levy. As with the bloc’s levies on Chinese EVs, companies deemed to have cooperated with the EU investigation will be subject to a reduced 24.4 percent tariff.

According to a report from Automobilwoche, the duties apply to the import value of each tire rather than its retail price. In 2024, the average import value of a Chinese tire was €30.30 ($34.60). A 45.3 percent tariff therefore adds about €13.70 ($15.60) to that figure, while the 24.4 percent rate tacks on roughly €7.40 ($8.40). With VAT (sales tax) included, the extra cost lands somewhere between €9 ($10) and €16 ($18) per tire before retailers apply their own margins, and the budget segment stands to feel it most.

How Did We Get Here?

Brussels opened its investigation into Chinese tire companies in May 2025 after a complaint from the Coalition Against Unfair Tyre Imports, an association of European manufacturers. The group alleged dumping margins of between 41 and 104 percent and said Chinese producers were undercutting prices by 30 to 65 percent.

Korean brand Hankook, which runs plants in China, drew a reduced rate of 4.3 percent. Investigators found that while its Chinese factories were dumping, the practice did little harm to European industry. The Commission also noted that Hankook’s tires generally sat in the upper-middle segment and sold at far higher average prices than those of most rival Chinese suppliers.

The report adds that China and European importers rejected the allegations, warning the duties could push prices up and trigger shortages in the lower-priced tire segment. The Commission dismissed those arguments, saying European manufacturers had lost production volume, sales, and market share despite a growing market.

While China is still the world’s largest market for new EVs, sales remain stuck below the previous high. That slump is pushing local car manufacturers to double down on exporting their newly built models overseas.

Early data from the China Passenger Car Association show that 1.04 million battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars sold nationwide in June. That figure looks healthy until you line it up against last year, when June sales came in 7 percent higher. First-half numbers are even worse, sliding 13 percent to 4.73 million units through 2026.

Read: China’s EV Sales Collapsed By Nearly 20%, And Germany’s Big Five Are Down To 1.6%

Several forces are dragging on demand. The Chinese economy remains shaky, plenty of shoppers are waiting on the sidelines for price cuts, and government support for NEVs keeps shrinking. As reported by the South China Morning Post, Beijing adjusted its subsidy policy earlier this year and started phasing out a sales tax break for EV makers.

Earlier this month, it was also confirmed that annual vehicle tax breaks available for battery-electric, plug-in and range-extender hybrids, as well as fuel-cell commercial vehicles, will be cut from January 1, 2027. Admittedly, these tax breaks are only small, typically saving buyers between 360 yuan ($53) and 660 yuan ($97) per year.

Chasing Profits Overseas

As it stands, BYD, Xiaomi, and Leapmotor are the only three Chinese EV manufacturers that are currently profitable. According to AlixPartners, as few as four others may reach a break-even point by 2030, with many weaker firms tipped to collapse or be acquired by bigger brands.

With profitability increasingly difficult to achieve, car companies are focusing more on overseas markets. Analysts believe Chinese brands could end 2026 having exported roughly 10 million vehicles, a significant 41 percent jump from the previous year.