Steve had a mid-year check-in with Paul and Kyle from More Than Cars to discuss the industry outlook for the 2nd half of the year. | LINK

🚗 Automotive

With all the attention around gas prices these days and their connection to an ongoing war with Iran that shows no signs of abating—not to mention midterm elections in the fall—it’s not terribly surprising that the federal government might want to ease public concerns about affordability. What is surprising is the way in which it’s chosen to do that: by promoting a fuel chain nobody’s heard of before, that’s popped up with a supposed 25 locations around South Jersey and the greater Philadelphia area. Oh, and it’s called the “Freedom Fuel Network.” The White House account on X introduced the nation to the Freedom Fuel Network on Tuesday, advertising $3.47 per gallon for regular. The company’s connection to the federal government is unclear. A White House spokesperson reportedly told CBS News that Freedom Fuel is privately owned, that “the Trump administration is not involved with the company and is not subsidizing the gas stations,” and that, “the stations can offer lower prices by reducing their profit margins.” | The Drive

The once-purring engine of the German auto industry is sputtering. Volkswagen, the world’s second-biggest carmaker, is planning to end production at four plants and cut up to 100,000 jobs. What will be one of the largest downsizing programmes in corporate history is also a test of German industry’s ability to reform itself for the electric vehicle era and to confront “China shock 2.0”. The pressure has been clear since 2024, when VW warned it needed to axe thousands of jobs and shut three German plants. Tough negotiations with unions agreed in December that year to cut 35,000 jobs, but without outright German factory closures. U.S. tariffs, rising energy costs and a worsening situation in China have made that insufficient. In March VW raised its job reduction target by 2030 to 50,000, but double that may now be needed. Unless certain cost targets are met, management is threatening to close four plants, two of which have already been expensively converted to producing EVs. China was for years a lucrative market for VW and its German counterparts. Chinese rivals, though, have leapfrogged ahead in EV technology. They did benefit from huge state subsidies and lower labour costs. But they also understood more quickly than old-line carmakers that EV buyers are more excited by whizzy software and computer systems than by mechanics. | Financial Times ($)

The boss of Sweden’s Polestar has declared the end of globalisation for auto groups following a U.S. government decision to bar future sales of its electric vehicles. "I think it just accelerates the regionalisation everywhere, not only for us but for the entire industry,” Michael Lohscheller, chief executive, said in an interview on Thursday. “The days are over when everything was global.” The comments came after Polestar, which is majority owned by China’s Geely, was barred from selling new EVs in the U.S. from next year as it was denied authorisation required under US connected vehicle rules designed to restrict Chinese technology. The US commerce department’s decision in late June had sent shockwaves across American dealerships and the broader automotive industry as uncertainty spread to other brands that have Chinese shareholders such as Mercedes-Benz and Lotus. Dealers said such a U.S. sales ban for a European carmaker was unprecedented. The decision also caught the industry off guard since Volvo Cars, another Geely-owned brand, recently received regulatory approval to continue importing and selling its connected vehicles in the US. | Financial Times ($)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday proposed to loosen limits on smog-causing pollution from a variety of heavy-duty vehicles, including tractor-trailers, fire engines and delivery trucks. It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to encourage the use of vehicles that burn fossil fuels rather than running on electricity. The Biden administration, in contrast, had made a rapid transition to electric vehicles a centerpiece of its plans for tackling both climate change and hazardous air pollution. President Trump has derided Biden-era electric vehicle initiatives as an “E.V. mandate” and a “green new scam.” Last week, the president pardoned nine men who had been convicted of selling or installing devices that illegally disabled the emissions controls of diesel trucks, making them far more polluting. The E.P.A. said on Thursday that it would repeal some, but not all, provisions in a clean-air rule that the Biden administration finalized in 2023. That rule was designed to significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from truck tailpipes. | The New York Times ($)

President Trump pardoned a diesel mechanic convicted of violating the Clean Air Act back in November, and now, he’s done it again. On the eve of Independence Day, the commander-in-chief granted clemency to more than half a dozen individuals who had previously been dealt prison sentences, hefty civil penalties, and serious criminal fines. It’s the latest development in what can only be described as an about-face regarding the federal government’s stance on environmental enforcement. The president said during an Oval Office news conference that these cases came to his attention “because [he] noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car.” He later added, “We rule by common sense.” He’s referring to the use of defeat devices, which enable vehicles to operate without federally mandated emissions equipment like diesel particulate filters and exhaust gas recirculation systems. DPF and EGR are frequently blamed for expensive repairs, as well as extensive downtime for commercial vehicles. The broad term “defeat devices” can refer to hardware or software, which are frequently sold together as delete kits. In short, the hardware replaces the troublesome components, while the software rewrites code on the vehicle’s electronic control unit so it will still run. | The Drive

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is racing to stop more drivers from being killed or injured by air-bag parts it says appeared to originate from the Chinese manufacturer called Jilin Province Detiannuo Safety Technology, also known as DTN Airbag. In a response to NHTSA in April, that company said it doesn’t do business in the U.S. Air bags have saved tens of thousands of lives, but they can pose dangers to drivers when improperly assembled replacements are installed in used cars whose original bags have deployed in a previous accident. Such replacements, sometimes labeled with counterfeit logos of American carmakers, are widely available online. That counterfeit supply chain has long been a concern for automakers, who employ teams to scour for fake parts out of reputational fear and to protect customers. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

The Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) system is mandatory on all cars sold in the European Union. It displays the speed limit, emits a sound if you go over, and adjusts your speed on cruise control. But the EU wants to go further by mandating that all cars sold after 2030 have a satellite-enforced speed limit, The Daily Mail reported last week. The proposal reportedly under consideration aims to go beyond simply having the car tell you the speed limit. Instead of simply warning drivers, the system could use satellite positioning and onboard sensors to determine the car's location, compare it with the local speed limit, and reduce power if the driver is speeding. Supporters believe this kind of technology could significantly reduce road casualties. But drivers likely wouldn't welcome it. Today’s ISA systems typically use a combination of cameras, GPS data, and maps to determine the speed limit. Since July 2024, all new cars sold in the EU have had to be fitted with ISA. In its current form, drivers can override or disable it, although it typically turns itself back on whenever the car restarts. | Inside EVs

Getting into a fender bender on an American highway is stressful enough without the ensuing roadside shuffle for insurance cards. General Motors is looking to eliminate that awkward, potentially dangerous curbside exchange entirely, offloading the paperwork to the vehicles themselves. According to a recently published patent application filed by GM Global Technology Operations LLC and published in June 2026, the Detroit automaker is actively developing a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication network designed to automatically swap encrypted collision reports between involved cars. | AutoBlog

A slate of laws impacting new cars has just gone into effect in the European Union as of Wednesday, and it's likely to have some opponents. The bloc is now mandating that every vehicle come equipped with an interior-facing camera as part of an "advanced driver distraction warning (ADDW) system" that can monitor when drivers are distracted, drowsy, or otherwise inattentive, and alert them to stay focused. | Yahoo!Autos

Yah

Over the past 250 years, America has produced the world’s most valuable inventions. The lightbulb. The internet. The telephone and the iPhone. Since the founding of the United States, we have built airplanes, refrigerators and Costco. We dreamed up the microchip and we gave the world chocolate-chip cookies. But the greatest American innovation that you won’t ever find on a list of America’s innovations might just be one that you see every day. It’s an unsung idea that changed a nation and spread all over the world—and it was driven by one guy. In the 1950s, around the time Jonas Salk cracked the polio vaccine, a metallurgist named John V. N. Dorr became the champion of a different lifesaver: a white line on the right side of the road. For years, Dorr told anyone who would listen—and everyone who wouldn’t—about his simple way of making highways safer. A line on the side of the road, he argued, would give drivers somewhere to aim their eyes at night other than oncoming headlights. It was both cheap and incredibly effective, which made it a brilliant investment. Over time, his revolutionary stripe of paint would reach billions of people and guide drivers across the planet. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

🇨🇳 China

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will vote on July 15 on bipartisan legislation to toughen a U.S. government ban on Chinese automakers entering the American market. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno ‌of Ohio and Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan proposed legislation in April to codify a regulation imposed by the Biden administration that effectively bans all Chinese automakers from selling passenger vehicles in the U.S. and takes other steps to prevent China from entering the U.S. light-duty market. Last month, Polestar said it was forced by ⁠the Trump administration to stop selling vehicles in the United States beginning in the 2027 model year as Washington ramps up its crackdown on Chinese vehicles. House lawmakers have introduced a similar version of the Senate bill. The legislation would ban vehicles designed in China if they had advanced connectivity as well as vehicle software. | Reuters ($)

China’s BYD sought to buy a stake in Renault Group twice in recent years but was rebuffed both times, according to a report in the French business daily Les Echos. In the past year, Chinese automakers have aggressively pursued agreements with European automakers in an effort to gain a production foothold in the European Union. The moves precede the expected introduction of “Made-in-Europe” rules that would tie electric vehicle incentives and foreign investment approval to targets for local content. | Automotive News ($)

Volkswagen’s troubles are an ominous sign for established Western and Japanese carmakers. To varying degrees, all of them are grappling with changing technology and competition from Chinese manufacturers like BYD and Geely that are selling cars packed with luxury features for relatively low prices. In the European Union and Britain, Chinese automakers collectively sold more vehicles in May than Japanese carmakers, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Encouraged by government subsidies, Chinese carmakers began focusing on electric vehicles years ago, investments that have given them a strong advantage as more Europeans buy such models. About one in five new vehicles sold in Europe is electric and sales have surged this year because of the increase in fuel prices caused by the war with Iran. Volkswagen is particularly vulnerable because for many years a lot of its profit came from selling cars in China, where it was once the top automaker. The company’s sales in China plunged 20 percent in the first quarter after falling significantly for several years. | The New York Times ($)

Chinese electric vehicle startup Leapmotor has entered the Mexico market through the sales network of partner Stellantis as the automaker eyes growth in North America, the company said July 6. Leapmotor began with the B10 electric crossover, which the company called “the start of its expansion into the North American market.” Leapmotor is using Stellantis’ local dealership network to distribute and service its products in Mexico. Stellantis has a 21 percent stake in the Chinese automaker. The Mexico entry reflects how China’s automakers are increasingly using partnerships with established global carmakers to expand overseas. Chinese automakers view Mexico and Canada as potential steppingstones to entering the U.S. market. | Automotive News ($)

🤖 Autonomy & Robotics

Scaling up Robotaxi is central to Elon Musk’s ambitions to transform Tesla from a traditional automaker into an AI company focused on autonomous driving and humanoid robotics. So far, though, the autonomous fleet’s rollout has missed the expansion goal he mapped out when launching Robotaxi last year, when he said the service would be deployed in eight metropolitan areas by the end of 2025. That’s left Tesla well behind more established competitor Waymo’s driverless taxi service in terms of expansion. | The Information ($)

✈️ Aviation & Space

The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to lift a ban on supersonic flights over land, which has been in place for more than five decades. The proposed rule change is based on data from NASA's X-59 aircraft, which can fly as fast as Mach 1.4 and reduces the sonic boom to a muted thud. If the ban is lifted, the return of civilian supersonic travel is likely to come as a private jet, with companies such as Gulfstream Aerospace, Dassault Aviation, and Bombardier potentially being the first to develop such an aircraft. | Bloomberg ($)

Officially, takeoff for eVTOLs is still years away — the most optimistic projections see certification from the Federal Aviation Administration coming in 2027 or 2028. But the Jetsons fantasy of the flying car, long an object of fascination for city residents who dream of vaulting over traffic-clogged highways, is creeping closer to reality. Companies like Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation and Beta Technologies are racing to develop small multi-rotor electric vehicles, raising and spending billions of dollars in the pursuit of a Blade Runner-esque future — skylines ribboned with small, hovering aircraft. Prototype models are now undergoing real-world trials and testing. In April, for example, Joby performed a series of demonstration flights between Manhattan and JFK Airport in Queens — a highly desirable route for affluent New Yorkers. | Bloomberg ($)

A decade ago, Elon Musk saw little reason for SpaceX and Tesla to merge, saying that the ties between the two companies were “really quite tenuous.” Fast forward to 2026 and the question seems to be when, rather than if, a combination will happen. Longtime SpaceX and Tesla investors believe a merger is a foregone conclusion. Musk hasn’t publicly confirmed that this is now his endgame, but he has increasingly talked about a “convergence” of the different parts of his business empire. SpaceX has warned investors that it may issue “a significant amount of equity in connection with future transactions,” adding to the speculation that there could be an impending deal. | Bloomberg ($)

🚘 Car of the Week

Our Automotive Ventures “Car of the Week”: a 1990 Porsche 911 Coupe Reimagined by Singer "Los Angeles Commission". | Broad Arrow

📰 In The News

Steve caught up with Matt Haiken from Prestige Collection Auto Group about the recent news from the Trump Administration that they were barring U.S. sales of Polestar vehicles after the current model year. We discuss how dealers are reacting to the news and the implications for the automotive industry overall. | CBT News ($)

Winnie Lai wants to eliminate rockets from at least part of the equation. She’s the founder of Auriga Space, which is developing a linear electromagnetic accelerator to catapult rockets to high altitudes, where their engines kick in to bring them to orbit. It essentially replaces the typical first stage of a rocket. Automotive Ventures is proud to be an investor in Auriga Space. | Forbes