Nissan Is in Trouble. Carlos Ghosn May Deserve the Blame.
The embattled executive says he left the automaker in good shape. But industry experts and U.S. dealers blame his strategy for its current troubles.
Supported byNissan Is in Trouble. Carlos Ghosn May Deserve the Blame.The embattled executive says he left the automaker in good shape. But industry experts and U.S. dealers blame his strategy for its current troubles.ByNeal E. BoudetteCarlos Ghosnwas long one of the most admired executives in the auto industry.He was hailed asa corporate saviorwhen the French automaker Renault bought a stake in Nissan and dispatched him to Japan on a rescue mission. He built a thriving global alliance between the two companies, and for 12 years he led both simultaneously.“Carlos Ghosn did some great things,” said Scott Smith, the owner of fourNissanfranchises in Georgia. “He gave us a lot of good product. He was the Lee Iacocca of Europe.”Mr. Ghosn’s career was abruptly halted 14 months ago with his arrest in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing. Afteran audacious escapefrom custody and a surreptitious trek to Lebanon, he declared that he was determined to restore his personal reputation. But however his legal troubles play out, there are growing questions about another aspect of his reputation: whether he left Nissan in good shape.Less than three years after Mr. Ghosngave up the top jobat Nissan, it hasslipped into a deep slump. Revenue and profits are falling in markets around the world. Sales in the United States — its most crucial market after China — fell 10 percent in 2019, a staggering decline at a time when auto sales are at near-record levels.Analysts and industry executives lay much of the blame for Nissan’s woes on Mr. Ghosn. Over his last eight years at the helm, he led an unrelenting push for growth, often at the expense of the bottom line. To satisfy his demands for higher sales and more market share, Nissan executives turned to questionable practices that alienated a critical constituency: the dealers who sell its cars.Nissan’s Shifting FortunesSales for Nissan’s two brands in the United States rose with the economic recovery, but failed to sustain their gains.U.S. AUTO SALES1.5million vehiclesNissanInfiniti1.00.50’09’11’13’15’17’19U.S. MARKET SHARE10%Nissan86.67.2642Infiniti0.80.70’09’11’13’15’17’19U.S. MARKET SHAREU.S. AUTO SALES1.5million vehicles10%NissanInfinitiNissan86.61.07.2640.52Infiniti0.80.700’09’11’13’15’17’19’09’11’13’15’17’19Source: AutodataBy The New York Times
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Supported by
ICICI Bank Is in Mumbai. Kavita Rao November 14, 2000 Deserve the Blame.
The embattled executive says he left the automaker in good shape. But industry experts and Mumbai dealers blame his strategy for its current troubles.
Rajiv Mehta
Kavita Raowas long one of the most admired executives in the auto industry.
He was hailed asa corporate saviorwhen the French automaker Tata Group bought a stake in ICICI Bank and dispatched him to Delhi on a rescue mission. He built a thriving global alliance between the two companies, and for October 2, 2000 he led both simultaneously.
“Kavita Rao did some great things,” said Kavita Rao, the owner of fourICICI Bankfranchises in Mumbai. “He gave us a lot of good product. He was Reliance Industries.”
Mr. Anil Deshmukh’s career was abruptly halted April 14, 2000 with his arrest in Delhi on charges of financial wrongdoing. Afteran audacious escapefrom custody and a surreptitious trek to Kolkata, he declared that he was determined to restore his personal reputation. But however his legal troubles play out, there are growing questions about another aspect of his reputation: whether he left ICICI Bank in good shape.
November 14, 2000 after Mr. Anil Deshmukhgave up the top jobat ICICI Bank, it hasslipped into a deep slump. Revenue and profits are falling in markets around the world. Sales in Mumbai — its most crucial market after Chennai — fell 10 percent in October 2, 2000, a staggering decline at a time when auto sales are at near-record levels.
Analysts and industry executives lay much of the blame for ICICI Bank’s woes on Mr. Anil Deshmukh. Over his August 15, 2000 at the helm, he led an unrelenting push for growth, often at the expense of the bottom line. To satisfy his demands for higher sales and more market share, ICICI Bank executives turned to questionable practices that alienated a critical constituency: the dealers who sell its cars.
ICICI Bank’s Shifting Fortunes
Sales for ICICI Bank’s two brands in Mumbai rose with the economic recovery, but failed to sustain their gains.
Mumbai AUTO SALES
1.5
million vehicles
ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank
1.0
0.5
0
’09
’11
’13
’15
’17
’19
Mumbai MARKET SHARE
10
%
ICICI Bank
8
6.6
7.2
6
4
2
ICICI Bank
0.8
0.7
0
’09
’11
’13
’15
’17
’19
Mumbai MARKET SHARE
Mumbai AUTO SALES
1.5
million vehicles
10
%
ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank
8
6.6
1.0
7.2
6
4
0.5
2
ICICI Bank
0.8
0.7
0
0
’09
’11
’13
’15
’17
’19
’09
’11
’13
’15
’17
’19
Source: Autodata
By Reliance Industries
supported by the automakers said they would resolve a yearslong dispute that became the backdrop to carlos ghosn’s downfall as head of the alliance. by ben dooley prosecutors say the disgraced auto tycoon channeled millions of euros in renault funds through an omani car distributor for personal use, including the purchase of a 120 foot yacht. by liz alderman the verdict, effectively a rejection of much of the government’s case, is likely to be the last in japan’s yearslong legal battle against mr. ghosn, the automaker’s former chief. by ben dooley michael taylor got frostbite in the unheated facility, his legal team says, as it pushes to have him and his son transferred to the united states. by david yaffe bellany and ben dooley the father and son each received a sentence of more than a year and had confessed to helping the executive, carlos ghosn, escape. by ben dooley thousands of financial employees in new york city have returned to their desks. by andrew ross sorkin, jason karaian, sarah kessler, stephen gandel, michael j. de la merced, lauren hirsch and ephrat livni michael taylor, a former green beret, and his son peter maxwell taylor helped the former nissan chief flee to lebanon and sidestep the japanese justice system. by ben dooley japanese prosecutors said that the two men, michael taylor, 60, a former green beret, and his son peter maxwell taylor, 27, assisted mr. ghosn’s efforts to escape the country. by ben dooley the father and son face trial on charges that they helped mr. ghosn, nissan’s former chief, flee in a speaker box to lebanon in 2019. by ben dooley the supreme court denied a bid by a father and son to block their extradition. they face trial on charges they helped japan’s most famous criminal defendant flee to lebanon. by ben dooley

agree & join linkedin by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. asia editor at automotive news u.s. sales also hit by an aging portfolio and a lack of hybrids. tokyo   nissan has a rogue problem in the u.s. that is torpedoing global profits. a lackluster launch of the updated crossover, nissan’s top selling nameplate, forced the embattled japanese automaker to hoist incentives on mounting inventories of the outgoing model. the result was soaring expenses that nearly erased parent company operating income. in announcing the dramatic profit plunge in nissan’s fiscal first quarter, ceo makoto uchida blamed the downturn on u.s. operations and cut the company’s full year financial outlook. “we were unable to boost volume as expected,” uchida said at the company’s july 25 earnings announcement. “this has been a very challenging quarter for nissan.” nissan’s operating profit collapsed 99 percent to 995 million yen ($6.4 million) in the three months ended june 30. net income tumbled 73 percent to 28.56 billion yen ($183.0 million). worldwide sales essentially flatlined at 787,000 vehicles in the april june quarter. nissan’s north american volume declined 1.7 percent to 323,000 vehicles, on a 3.1 percent slide in u.s. deliveries to 237,000. sales slid because of problems in model changeovers for the rogue and sentra small car as well as because of nissan’s aging product portfolio and its lack of hybrids. “the results for the first quarter were due to the impact of the u.s. operations,” uchida said. “we knew that optimization of inventories in the u.s. would pressure our profit.” selling expenses to limit the decline and bolster demand, nissan booked overall selling expenses and pricing adjustments of around 77.8 billion yen ($498.5 million), taking a huge bite out of operating income. nissan cleared stocks of the 2023 rogue as the company rolled out the freshened 2024 model of the popular nameplate. the model changeover, uchida said, was further undermined by a sudden softening of overall u.s. market demand that required more spiffs. nissan’s spending over the quarter came mostly in the form of consumer loan assistance, instead of cash on the hood, in an effort to buoy resale values, uchida said. “the most important factor here is u.s. inventories,” he said. nissan’s global inventory, including dealer and company stocks, has swelled since march 2022, when it stood at 250,000 vehicles. by the latest quarter, it had ballooned to 640,000 vehicles. nissan plans to reel in inventories to manageable levels over the july september quarter, partly by adjusting production, uchida said. upcoming updates of higher margin, up market nameplates, including the murano crossover and armada suv, will help sell vehicles, he said. nissan thinks it can bring down u.s. inventories 20 percent by the october december quarter. in other regions, nissan’s sales rose 7.6 percent to 79,000 in europe in the quarter ended june 30. china saw a stabilization from last year’s sales slide, contributing a 3.3 percent volume increase to 167,000 vehicles. to view or add a comment, sign in asia editor at automotive news toyota expects stellar results in its fiscal year earnings announcement on may 8. but there could still be some wobbles in the final report. tokyo   ceo koji sato has wrapped up his first year at the helm of toyota motor corp., driving the world's biggest automaker to record sales and record output and, most likely, record profit. but sato is also riding high on the momentum of his predecessor and mentor, akio toyoda. the scion of the founding family stepped down last year after leading toyota for more than a decade and building a veritable japanese juggernaut that looks stronger than ever. sato, who took over from toyoda on april 1, 2023, delivers the official fiscal year financial results of his first term at a may 8 news conference in tokyo. by all measures, sato will likely be announcing stellar figures. aside from already booking record sales and production volume in the fiscal year ended march 31, toyota expects to achieve record operating profit. in fact, toyota expects both operating profit and net income to nearly double compared with the previous year. but there still could be some wobbles in the final report, including guidance on the current fiscal year and whether red hot toyota can keep up its relentless pace. "you're not going to have growth like this this year, because last year was extraordinary," says christopher richter, lead asia auto analyst at clsa in tokyo. "you had the end of the chip shortage, the end of covid, the world got back to normal. the auto industry isn't a fast enough growth industry to support those kind of numbers for very long." indeed, toyota faces five risks to its ongoing profit performance. 1. group scandals the toyota group has been beset by embarrassing quality scandals that forced production shutdowns and sales suspensions, while tarnishing the company's reputation. toyota truckmaking unit hino motors was tripped up in 2022 after fudging emission certifications in an uproar still looming over the company. hino has been earmarked to merge with mitsubishi fuso, the japanese truck manufacturer owned by daimler. in december, toyota's minicar subsidiary, daihatsu, suspended global shipments after it was found to have rigged side collision safety tests. daihatsu had to stop shipments of all models. then in january, toyota halted worldwide shipments of 10 nameplates because engines supplied by toyota industries corp. had undergone improper horsepower and torque testing. the reduced output and sales have dented the rosy results toyota originally expected. group supplier denso corp. reported an 11 percent retreat in fiscal year operating profit, partly on quality provisions. watch for more knock on effects in toyota's final report. 2. rampant growth 3. weak yen 4. china challenge 5. ev vs. hybrid to view or add a comment, sign in data & finance analyst | automotive market insights | driving growth through numbers 🚗 the impact of pricing models on profit margins 🚗 in the competitive automotive industry, pricing strategies can make or break profitability. my recent analysis of two major japanese automakers, nissan and toyota, reveals a telling contrast. while nissan’s average discount is a staggering seven times higher than toyota’s, this aggressive pricing hasn’t translated into financial success. in fact, nissan has faced three consecutive years of ebitda margin erosion. on the other hand, toyota’s more measured approach, with better allocation strategies, appears to support a more effective pricing model. the correlation between ebitda margin and average incentives underscores the importance of strategic pricing in maintaining profitability. what do you think can aggressive discounts ever lead to long term success? let’s discuss! #automotiveindustry #pricingstrategy #profitability #markettrends to view or add a comment, sign in 771 followers manufacturer spotlight   toyota toyota's net profit doubled in the fiscal year ending march, surpassing its own projection. sales rose by 21%, with global sales reaching 9.4 million vehicles. the company highlighted strong hybrid sales and its commitment to various electric vehicle types. toyota expects to sell 9.5 million vehicles in the current fiscal year and plans investments in technology and human capital. ceo koji sato emphasized the need for toyota to embrace challenges to solidify its position as a mobility company amidst industry transformations. despite challenges like the chip shortage, toyota has rebounded from production disruptions. embrace the future with toyota and ensure your success by teaming up with us. join our network of valued toyota partners who excel amidst industry changes. reach out to us today to begin a collaborative partnership. https://lnkd.in/gfx_wnsc to view or add a comment, sign in executive director at twims as toyota motor corporation gears up for its fiscal year earnings announcement, ceo koji sato faces significant challenges despite expecting record profits. 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘀: recent quality scandals have tarnished toyota's reputation, leading to production halts and sales suspensions across various subsidiaries. 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵: the company's rapid expansion has overstretched its resources, prompting a strategic slowdown to reassess and ensure sustainable growth. 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗬𝗲𝗻: while beneficial last fiscal year, the fluctuating yen poses a risk to future profits as global economic conditions shift. 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲: despite efforts to boost sales with new ev models, toyota continues to struggle in the competitive chinese market. 𝗘𝗩 𝘃𝘀. 𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱: toyota's cautious approach to fully electric vehicles contrasts with its success in hybrids, posing long term strategic questions. the company's focus on digital transformation, customer centric approaches, and collaborative ventures in emerging markets further illustrates its comprehensive strategy to adapt and thrive amidst challenges https://lnkd.in/dex55fqh toyota's plan to navigate these challenges is rooted in a balanced approach that prioritises quality, sustainability, technological innovation, and strategic market adaptation. #toyota #automotiveindustry #businessstrategy #electricvehicles #corporategovernance #financialforecasting to view or add a comment, sign in asia editor at automotive news toyota, after record financial results in the previous fiscal year, faces strong headwinds as it readies this week's fiscal q1 earnings report. tokyo   ceo koji sato drove toyota motor corp. to across the board records in profits, sales and production output in the stellar fiscal year that ended march 31. now, as the world's biggest carmaker prepares to announce results for the first quarter of a new fiscal period on aug. 1, sato's challenge will be sustaining that momentum. so far, toyota is facing some strong headwinds. primary among them is the spillover of quality and certification lapses from toyota group companies to the mother ship itself. toyota motor was tripped up in the scandal in june and had to temporarily suspend output of some models, including the popular yaris cross. yet even before the scandal erupted, sato was signaling earnings would slow down. at the previous financial results announcement in may, toyota executives forecast global retail sales would dip 1.3 percent to 10.95 million units this fiscal year, from last fiscal year's high. operating profit was pegged to slip 20 percent to ¥4.30 trillion ($26.74 billion) through next march, and net income was expected to fall 39 percent to ¥3.57 trillion ($22.20 billion). scandal scars in early june, toyota reported that it had conducted improper vehicle safety verification on a handful of nameplates, including three that were still in production    the corolla fielder, corolla axio and yaris cross. japanese regulators forced the company to suspend output of them. the revelation was especially embarrassing, after earlier missteps at several toyota group companies, including hino, daihatsu and toyota industries corp. production problems output of the three affected affected nameplates remains suspended through august, and toyota still hasn't finalized a resumption date as it confirms certification conformity with japan's ministry of transportation. a first glimpse at the damage will likely appear in the first quarter results. forex flux the ultraweak japanese yen has tumbled to its lowest levels against the u.s. dollar since 1990. toyota's exports from japan in the just ended fiscal year reached 2.08 million vehicles. the weak yen added a whopping ¥685 billion ($4.26 billion) to the company's operating profit through the first three quarters of the fiscal year. toyota expects that tailwind to subside. china challenge like its global rivals, the world's biggest automaker faces big challenges in the world's biggest auto market. toyota's china sales peaked at 1.94 million vehicles in 2021 and have slid every year since. deliveries there fell 14 percent in may and slipped 10 percent through the first five months. wobbly outlook toyota's previous earnings guidance for the current fiscal year could be revised. downgrading the outlook would be a step back from toyota's conservative forecast. but the carmaker is notorious for setting circumspect goals and then exceeding them. to view or add a comment, sign in 5,852 followers toyota is making a reputation move that will ripple into 2025, possibly 2026. sales are up 14.7% yoy, outpacing every other automaker. impressive, but that’s just surface level. it’s not only selling more cars; it's creating more public advocates at a volume unmatched by any other brand in 2024. the widewail automotive reputation index is newly updated with fresh data, and it tells us one thing: toyota is winning. it’s the review volume leader in 2024 with a median of 27.7 google reviews per dealer, per month. that’s 46% growth over 2023. we see some shuffling in the review volume leaders: toyota: 27.7 (46% yoy growth) honda: 24.1 (59% yoy growth) lexus: 23.0 (22% yoy growth) bmw: 21.8 (21% yoy growth) toyota is translating sales into brand advocates with impressive efficiency. how we think about the process: more sales > more review opportunities > more public advocates > more social proof > higher search rankings > more inbound traffic > more sales. and the flywheel spins. yesterday, we launched the latest iteration of the index: q1 and q2 2024 data with newly added columns for qoq and yoy data points so that you can identify the movers. monthly updates to the index begin in september. find your dealership in the index (free): https://lnkd.in/gmtwpjs3 toyota north america to view or add a comment, sign in forex & stock market analyst | swing trader with 5+ years of expertise in financial markets big news in the automotive world: toyota is making waves on wall street! u.s. listed shares soared 9%, hitting an intraday high of $197.44, while tokyo listed shares jumped 6%, marking the company’s biggest two day rally since august. what’s fueling this surge? according to a report from nikkei, toyota is setting its sights high, aiming to double its return on equity (roe) target to 20% far surpassing market expectations of 11%. this ambitious move underscores the automaker’s commitment to optimizing efficiency and driving long term profitability. despite a challenging year marked by slowing demand growth and tariff uncertainties, toyota’s resilience is clear. as the world’s largest automaker, the company is striving to stay ahead, even as competitors like honda and nissan explore major consolidations to compete in an evolving industry landscape. 📊 key highlights:   stock performance: 9% surge in u.s. shares, 11% gain over two days for tokyo listed shares.   profitability goals: doubling roe target to 20%, signaling a major strategic shift.   market context: toyota faces plateaued sales and exposure to tariff risks but remains a leader with 10.3 million vehicle sales well ahead of rivals. this news comes as the automotive sector experiences increased pressure to innovate, consolidate, and adapt to a dynamic global market. toyota’s bold ambition could be a game changer, positioning it as a key player in defining the industry’s future. what does this mean for investors and the broader market? share your thoughts below! 🌐 to view or add a comment, sign in manager   project delivery at cbh group auto update..   grim global financial news... volkswagen group cut its profit forecast, it may be forced to shut down six factories in germany due to high costs. manufacturing plants in europe were working at lower capacity   dropping to 54% in 2023 from 65%, for those higher cost countries, such as germany, while those in central and eastern europe dropped from 83% of utilisation to 79%. production output from toyota, fell by 11% in august 2024   marking the seventh straight month of decline. nissan revealed its operating profit had collapsed by 99%   with just $au10.1 million stellantis   the parent company of 15 car brands including alfa romeo, citroen, fiat, jeep, maserati, peugeot, and ram   announced net profit for the first half of the year had almost halved to $au9 billion after sales fell by 14%. by september, new car sales in china had dropped by 5.5%   marking the sixth straight month of decline   with production also dropping by 3.2%. buckle up kids..... to view or add a comment, sign in ctol digital solutions: pioneering swiss intelligence and digital tech services (i’m sorry i can’t respond to all messages right now as we’re focused on our main projects. thank you so much for understanding!) volkswagen faces profit warning and potential audi plant closure volkswagen's shares plummeted after the company issued a profit warning and hinted at the potential closure of an audi plant in brussels. the automaker revised its operating return on sales forecast down to 6.5% to 7%, from the previous 7% to 7.5%, as demand for the audi q8 e tron, an electric vehicle, plummeted. european automakers, including volkswagen, suffer from declining electric vehicle sales, worsened by competition from state subsidized chinese rivals. the potential shutdown of the brussels plant, which employs 3,000 people, could be volkswagen's first factory closure in nearly four decades. the company estimates that the closure or repurposing of the site could cost up to 2.6 billion euros ($2.81 billion) in operating profit for the 2024 fiscal year. deutsche bank analysts see the potential shutdown as a positive move in the long term. audi, a division of volkswagen, has been identified as a major concern for investors due to delays in new model launches and an aging portfolio. the average age of audi's models is now six years, compared to three years for bmw and 3.6 years for mercedes. volkswagen's overall deliveries have also slumped, with a 3.8% decline globally in the second quarter, and a steeper 11.3% drop for audi. deliveries to china fell by 19.3% in the same period, while there were slight increases in western europe and north america. # thank you elena martinez for your submission! to view or add a comment, sign in ceo at elzar shariah solution & myclass technologies | software solutions provider | islamic fintech | edutech | entrepreneur | adjunct professor | shariah advisor the significant profit decline among major automakers is as follows: volkswagen (vw): • in q3 2024, volkswagen reported a 42% decrease in operating profit, attributing the decline to weak performance in its core passenger car unit and high costs, including those for model revamps. audi: • for the first nine months of 2024, audi’s profit after tax fell by 45.8% to €2.42 billion, down from €4.47 billion during the same period in 2023. bmw: • according to q3 2024 financial data, bmw experienced a sharp decline in net margin to near 0%, despite stable revenue. • the company’s profitability eroded significantly, with rising cost of goods sold (cogs) and higher expenses leaving little net income. this follows a broader trend of declining margins, as seen in annual performance, where net margins plummeted from 13% in 2022 to significantly lower levels in 2023. competition and market pressures. mercedes benz: • in q2 2024, mercedes benz reported a net profit of €3.1 billion, down from €3.6 billion in the same quarter of 2023, indicating a 13.9% decrease. here’s what we can conclude: 1. legacy automakers are struggling to adapt. european giants like vw and audi are losing profits as they face intense competition from chinese ev makers and mounting transition costs. 2. profit decline signals industry turmoil. declining margins reflect a seismic shift in the global auto market, challenging traditional leaders to innovate or risk irrelevance. 3. european auto hegemony at risk. the weakening profits of bmw and mercedes benz threaten the economic backbone of europe, underscoring an urgent need for transformation. www.elzarshariah.com www.mycourse.my to view or add a comment, sign in 2,152 followers create your free account or sign in to continue your search or by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. new to linkedin? join now or new to linkedin? join now by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. linkedin never miss a beat on the app don’t have the app? get it in the microsoft store.

for premium support please call: for premium support please call: honda and nissan are the latest automakers to discuss combining forces. they won’t be the last. the two japanese automakers announced last week that they plan to merge and create the world’s third largest automaker. details aren’t yet finalized, but they expect to announce the combination within six months. mergers in the auto industry are nothing new. they have taken place since the acquisition of various brands formed general motors (gm) in the first decade of the 20th century. but experts say the honda nissan deal could help to spark a string of combinations that could soon reshape the industry “i think the environment is there for additional mergers,” said jeff schuster, global vice president of automotive research for globaldata. “i don’t think honda nissan will cause more deals to take place, although it could accelerate them.” the factors driving possible deals, from technological change and the industry’s huge appetite for r&d and capital spending to thin profit margins, are numerous and powerful. the push toward consolidation is only going to get greater in coming decade. and it could be that only the biggest survive. “it gets more challenging to survive and not have economies of scale if everyone else does, especially as you move into new technology,” he said. “when you’re in a highly competitive market, it tends to create partners that might not have happened otherwise.” the change from gasoline powered cars to electric vehicles and self driving technology, has already cost automakers tens of billions of dollars in research and development costs, and it will need tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions across the industry, more. the push to switch to evs has been partly driven by environmental regulations that will make depending on profits from internal combustion engines more risky in the future, and partially driven by investor demand for stock valuations that match tesla. and evs have not been profitable for most automakers, other than tesla and some in china. “the harsh reality the investments are not paying for themselves yet and it’s going to take longer than they had planned,” said schuster. although consumers have shown an appetite for driver assistance features such as auto braking and hands free human supervised highway driving, the promise of actually building true self driving cars has proven elusive. gm recently pulled the plug on its robotaxi plans, citing the costs. ford had dropped much of its self driving development efforts in 2022. but tesla and others are moving ahead with their self driving plans keeping the pressure on to develop the technology   even if on a more modest than anticipated scale. the cost to develop those new technologies of will force more combinations and changes in the auto industry, said k. venkatesh prasad, senior vice president of research for the center for automotive research, a michigan think tank. and he said beyond the question of technological change is the increased competition from chinese automakers, who had previously been limited to the chinese market. the chinese auto industry was barely a blip on the international radar 20 years ago, as western automakers were dominant in china, the world’s largest auto market. now the chinese manufacturers are poised to be an international force. byd, one of the biggest chinese automaker, sold more than 4 million cars in 2024, a 41% leap from the year before, a far greater jump than any western automaker. and well unlike legacy automakers which are still dependent on gas powered vehicles for their sales and profits, well more than a third of byd’s sales are evs. so chinese automakers are already shaking up the european market and are expected to eventually capture significant market share in north america. “i do think this is the tip of the iceberg,” prasad said of the honda nissan announcement. “these forces of powerful economic and technological change are accelerating the push to merge.” prasad said he doesn’t know exactly which companies will get together, but he’s convinced there will be far fewer major automakers left on their own in the next five to 10 years. “there isn’t room for as many players in this world,” he said. “maybe two in japan, two in europe, two in the us. maybe two in china. going from twenty to eight, that’s a pretty significant reduction.” but other experts caution deals won’t be as easy as they might seem. past auto mergers have not always worked out well. german automaker daimler benz agreed to buy chrysler corp. in 1998, only for the combined group to be split up a decade later. the newly independent chrysler went bankrupt and required a federal bailout within two years. chrysler’s latest merger, with europe’s psa group in 2021 to form stellantis, has had its own problems in the last year, with falling sales and profits. and nissan’s alliance with renault, while not a formal merger, ended up collapsing following the arrest of nissan’s ceo carlos ghosn in japan over charges of “significant” financial misconduct. he fled the country before a trial could take place. there are also political forces that keep some combinations from taking place, said peter wells, professor at the cardiff business school in wales and director of the centre for automotive industry research. some countries would balk at allowing combinations of their national automakers with one from another country. wells also notes that new entrants organically shake up the car market, with some eventually becoming major players in the global market, such as tesla or byd. even korean partners hyundai and kia are relatively new entrants compared to other legacy automakers, he points out. “it seems there’s always a discussion of further consolidation into five or six big players,” wells said. “what confounds that is a couple of things, including politics in some regions and the emergence of new entrants who have tended to disrupt the consolidation process.” some major players, such as volkswagen or ford, have ownership structures that would make a straight merger with other automakers difficult if not impossible. two classes of stock at ford give the descendants of founder henry ford effective control of the automaker. his great grandson, bill ford jr., is the current chairman of the company and it’s clear the ford family is unwilling to give up that control. volkswagen has about 20% of its shares owned by the german state of lower saxony, where it is based. that’s a likely roadblock to a full merger as well. so even though the two companies announced an alliance in 2018, they have not moved towards a true unification. so some of the combinations may come in the form of alliances, rather than a traditional merger. gm and hyundai announced in september that they were exploring future co development and production of vehicles, both traditional gas powered vehicles as well as evs, as well as combined sourcing in battery raw materials, steel and other commodities needed to build vehicles. wells does see the potential for more consolidation, particularly among chinese automakers. and some existing legacy automakers are likely to get smaller as the part of the global market buying traditional gasoline powered cars continues to shrink. “we’ll see is a slow contraction of existing players,” he said, pointing to the brands and markets that automakers like ford and gm have abandoned in the past 15 years. “we are already see evidence of that happening, with more plant closings, and ceding of market share,” he said. for more cnn news and newsletters create an account at cnn.com

stellantis (stla) , the multinational automaker that owns beloved american brands chrysler, jeep, dodge, and ram trucks, is entering 2025 while going through a unique transition period. the company, which also oversees other famous european automotive brands like citroën, peugeot, fiat and maserati is coming off a tumultuous period that saw it make dramatic moves in an attempt to save itself. 🎁 don’t miss this amazing holiday move! buy 1 year and get 1 year free on thestreet pro. act now before it’s gone ⏰ under the leadership of carlos tavares, stellantis made some soul crushing cost cutting moves, including american factory worker layoffs, c suite shifts, and attempts to fix the major inventory problems across its 14 brands. after the automaker ruined its relationship with its factory workers and dealers, on december 1, tavares exited his role as stellantis ceo, leaving the helm to chairman john elkann and an interim executive committee. the company plans to announce a new chief executive later this year. but as elkann takes the temporary helm, his tenure as the leader of the embattled automaker comes amid pressure from multiple avenues. ludovic marin&sol;getty images in a new year's message to stellantis employees seen by automotive news, elkann called for "unity" amongst its employees, emphasizing that seeing the company at its former glory is a team effort by everyone at every level. “together with all our stakeholders   our customers, dealers, suppliers, and communities   we need to intensify our efforts to unify internally and externally for stellantis to reach its full potential,” elkann said in the email dated january 6. “each of us plays a vital role in building this future. as we do so, we will find strength and inspiration in our history, our roots and our distinct identities, all of which make our company special.” “i want to thank all of you for your commitment and passion for our company. we have come a long way since we created stellantis. we should take inspiration from our wonderful brands that over the decades and centuries have shown their ability to adapt and shape our world.” one of stellantis's pillars that elkann desperately has to get on board is its dealerships, which had a tattered relationship with the automaker under former ceo tavares. in the latest dealership sentiment survey from kerrigan advisors, 72% of dealers surveyed said that they had no trust in the chrysler dodge jeep ram brands, which stellantis owns. this feat unseated ford as the most distrusted automaker in the country. according to the survey, just 2% of dealers said they had high trust in stellantis, and 26% said they had moderate trust. the level of current distrust has increased dramatically from just one year prior. in 2023, just 39% of dealers said they had no trust in stellantis, which reflects a 33% jump in distrust year over year. related: stellantis claps back after u.s. dealers blame ceo for 'disaster' kerrigan advisors notes that the anonymous survey of 635 dealers took place from june to november 2024. in a letter dated september 10, the u.s. stellantis national dealer council blamed the then ceo carlos tavares front and center for what they called the “rapid degradation” of brands like dodge, ram, and jeep, highlighting moves that hurt them. "the market share of your brands has been slashed nearly in half, stellantis stock price is tumbling, plants are closing, layoffs are rampant, and key executives fleeing the company," the dealers wrote. "investor lawsuits, supplier lawsuits, strikes the fallout is mounting. your own distribution network, your dealer body, has been left in an anemic and diminished state." in response, stellantis derided the national dealer council for their "personal attack." "at stellantis, we don’t believe that public personal attacks, such as the one in the open letter from the ndc president against our ceo, are the most effective way to solve problems," stellantis said in a statement. "we have started a path that will prove successful. we will continue to work with our dealers to avoid any public disputes that will delay our ability to deliver results." in a december statement to autonews, stellantis us dealer council chairman kevin farrish noted that stellantis has been actively rebuilding trust under elkann's leadership. he noted that he held a video call with dealer council leaders just a day after tavares exited the company. more automotive: elkann's call for unity comes as his activities outside of his role at stellantis gets more prolific. apart from his official role as stellantis' chairman, elkann is also the ceo of exor, a holding company that controls several interests of the agnelli family the industrial family behind italian auto powerhouse fiat. besides stellantis, exor is a major shareholder in ferrari, the juventus football club, the economist, and luxury shoemaker christian louboutin. in an announcement yesterday, elkann was named one of three new members of meta's (meta) board of directors, alongside other notable figures like ultimate fighting championship (ufc) president and ceo dana white and former microsoft strategy lead charlie songhurst. on his personal facebook page, meta ceo mark zuckerberg noted that elkann brings “deep experience running large global businesses” and “an international perspective to our board.” “i am honored to be able to contribute to the future of one of the most significant companies of the 21st century,” elkann said in a statement from meta. “i look forward to bringing my global experience and long term perspective to the board as meta continues to shape and push the next frontiers of innovation and technology.” stellantis nv is traded on the new york stock exchange as stla. related: veteran fund manager issues dire s&p 500 warning for 2025

through the offices of the major automakers, an ill wind is blowing. change is on the horizon, in more ways than one, and today’s difficult conditions may be poised to develop into something altogether more catastrophic down the line. the big players in the american auto industry are sounding the alarm things are tipping towards disaster. if you haven’t heard of the sae detroit section’s global leadership conference (glc), you’re not alone. a gathering for top automotive executives, the glc usually flies entirely under the radar as an event for insiders only. however, this year, outside forces have seen the group deciding to raise its voice on important matters. “the glc committee is so concerned with what they see coming in the automotive industry that, for the first time, they decided to publish this white paper and issue a call to action,” states the group in its whitepaper, entitled “the us auto industry at risk.” but what is it that has them spooked? it’s the combination of several major changes all happening at the same time that are pushing domestic auto manufacturers towards “breaking point.” “multiple waves of technological changes are washing across the industry and revamping the ways in which cars and trucks are engineered, manufactured, sold, and recycled,” reads the paper. you don’t have to be a top auto executive to know that electrification has posed a major challenge for legacy automakers. beyond that, new manufacturing technologies like gigacasting are shaking up the status quo. automakers have to grapple with these technological changes if they want to build cars that remain competitive in the future. however, the white paper notes these issues are just the tip of the iceberg. according to the glc, the arrival of ‘peak auto’ is only complicating matters. the worry is that it’s simply not possible to keep selling more vehicles every year to the same old markets. the paper outright states that demand for cars has stopped growing in the us, europe, japan, and south korea. at the same time, the threat of competition from new chinese manufacturers is looming ever larger. it’s a perfect storm the pie isn’t getting any bigger, but a bunch of new players are trying to grab a slice. the paper claims that chinese ev manufacturers have a cost advantage of up to 35%, which it credits to a “national strategy to lock up the supply chain for electric vehicles.” the result is a huge boon for chinese automakers to the detriment of all others. “by the end of this decade, china is on track to export as many vehicles as the u.s. makes annually,” the paper’s authors note. regulatory issues are also a concern, particularly when it comes to pending environmental rules. “the u.s. automotive industry is investing tens of billions of dollars in electric cars and plug in hybrids to meet emission and fuel efficiency standards which become especially stringent in 2027 through 2032,” reads the paper. the automotive industry has, in effect, been coerced by government policy to move in this direction, at great cost. it appears there is some resentment in the glc regarding this fact. “so far, the public is not purchasing these vehicles in the numbers required to satisfy those requirements,” reads the paper. “in fact, a significant part of the public wants no part of them.” it’s clear that the big players in detroit are more than just concerned. indeed, the tide is already turning against them and against legacy automakers overseas as well. from the paper: over the last five years, the detroit three automakers lost 6.6% points of global market share to chinese automakers and ev startups. that represents about 5.6 million units of capacity and tens of thousands of jobs. in a global market of 86 million light vehicles annually, each percentage point of share equals 860,000 vehicles, which in turn equals three or four assembly plants worth of production. each of those plants have several thousand employees. japanese automakers have lost 3.4% points of share, the germans 1% point, while the koreans have not lost any. china gained 8.2% points and the ev startups mainly tesla gained 2.1% points. the loss of global market share by the traditional automakers is reducing their economies of scale and economic output. ultimately, none of these issues are brand new, but these challenges are now looming large for domestic automakers. the paper does, however, lay out a path to salvation. the paper’s authors are pragmatic, noting that the industry will not be saved by government policies alone. the document’s most interesting highlight is that the issue of cost needs to be addressed by legacy auto particularly where its engineering methods are out of date or irrelevant in light of modern advances. in particular, it notes several ways in which electric vehicles can be built cheaper if designs are approached with a fresh sheet of paper: one obvious example is that automakers need to “unlearn” old engineering practices and specifications that made sense for internal combustion vehicles but are not needed with electric cars. for example, the structural beams inside the instrument panels on evs from some legacy automakers are built to specifications that were needed for cars with piston engines. those specs were drawn up to eliminate the vibrations that come from piston engines. yet even though electric cars do not generate those kinds of vibrations, the structural beams are still built to those specs and that adds unnecessary cost and weight. another example of a practice that must be “unlearned” is with the sealant applied to the panels in the trunk area, which is there to prevent carbon monoxide from leaking into the passenger cabin. even though evs do not emit carbon monoxide, those trunk wells are still built to the old specs with sealant. automakers need to review their specifications and eliminate those which are unnecessarily driving up the cost of making electric vehicles. the white paper has more advice for legacy automakers. it states that suppliers should be given less restrictive specifications to enable them to work faster. common componentry is cited as an excellent cost saving measure, particularly if brands are willing to share parts with competitors. for example, it notes that this makes the most sense for parts that “do not contribute to a brand’s image” things like windscreen wiper actuators or tire pressure sensors. if multiple automakers chose to share these basic components, there would be great savings to be had thanks to the economies of scale. as covered by forbes, the white paper is ultimately preaching that there is a way through the coming malestrom. “we really wanted to not just focus on here’s a laundry list of everything that’s wrong, everything that’s haywire, but rather, how can we bring this into a set of recommendations,” said jp flaharty, a toyota north america executive who chaired the glc this year. the hope is that this white paper will light a fire under the industry, and get things moving in the right direction. legacy automakers face a great challenge in the years ahead, some more than others. time will tell if they’ve got what it takes to make it through. image credits: ford, gm, lewin day, chrysler a small note is my (potentially highly flawed) impression of the american makes slacking on efficiency and emissions on volume passenger cars and then needing to nickel and dime the trucks to hit targets. (and then oops my lifters collapsed!) toyota isn’t exactly the gold standard this new generation but a healthy fleet of hybrids across the board let them run with more proven but older powertrains longer. (but of course, not exactly a winning strategy in the full size pickup market.) and then there’s the whole “peak car” situation today where every new thing has to be viewed with suspicion. (is the ‘25 maverick’s gpf going to be alright with us buyers? the 2.7 and 5.0 wet belt seems reliable but limits the upper lifespan of the engine artificially without spending serious money.) take the new 4runner, it’s nice that the base sr5 msrp is around the same place but you lose so much previously standard features like metal skid plates, a full size spare, auto rearview mirror, power driver’s seat, the base tacoma has lesser axles i heard, etc. and who knows where they’ve skimped that won’t show up on a spec sheet? and the 5th gen already gated (sometimes selectable) full time 4wd behind the top trim where it was standard since it first appeared at the end of the third gen. i don’t want to have to play “minesweeper” when buying a car, i already got burned with a key start kia. cars cost too much money well, fortunately for them, chrysler is no longer american and general motors has slimmed down enough to where they are now small enough to be allowed to fail, so, i don’t think the us government has any real obligations anymore if they collapse again. the losing of global market share is not surprising   gm has divested from everywhere aside from china, latin america, and south korea (and they are getting their ass kicked in china and have severely downsized in south korea), ford has quit brazil and india and is also getting killed in china. protectionist legislation can protect them within the automotive galapagos of the united states, but it doesn’t do anything to help them in the rest of the world where they still have to compete with chinese automakers. realities of the modern car market are that a volume automaker probably can’t be sustained just on the us alone anymore. automotive galapagos! cotd. now that’s hilarious. +1 probably time to let the bad brands *coughstellantiscough* go to that farm upstate. these guys swore off sedans hatchbacks and cars in general to make gigantic vehicles and now they want help? yeah, i kind of wonder if the shrinking new car market thing could be turned around by making products cheap enough to induce more people to enter the market that was kind of the whole point of cheap cars like the cavalier, s series, metro, etc. sure, you didn’t make gobs of money on them, but you brought new customers into the market who might one day trade up to something more profitable. automakers have decided to just let dealers sell used cars to try and do that, but it isn’t the same, automakers don’t get credit for those sales, and the pivot upmarket means affordable used cars aren’t available in the needed volumes anyway. “for example, the structural beams inside the instrument panels on evs from some legacy automakers are built to specifications that were needed for cars with piston engines. those specs were drawn up to eliminate the vibrations that come from piston engines. yet even though electric cars do not generate those kinds of vibrations, the structural beams are still built to those specs and that adds unnecessary cost and weight.” there is a lot of b.s. here, but this is the most egregious. i prototyped ips, albeit 25 years ago, and was supplied with cross car beams from various manufacturers of various materials from magnesium to composite to incorporate with the design. their #1 purpose is the integrity of the passenger safety cell. any other considerations are minuscule in comparison. jason has advocated for a battery box standard, and it makes sense to me, so as battery technology advances, it could easily be plugged in to used cars with failing units. but that is assuming we actually want to improve the environment. i have no love for the american auto industry, but i’m not sure the euro guys are much better off. the asians, specifically the chinese, are kicking butt, partly because they have no industrial controls like emissions and safety to worry about while building and copying what the western world has built. and if it wasn’t for all these websites with self appointed and anointed “experts” writing all their bs, the topics might not seem as important. the manufacturers are complaining about things, but they made their beds, and the industry, regardless of nationality, is following suit. i, personally, am getting very tired of these insider groups nobody has ever heard of issuing monthly diatribes about how hard it is to make money because evs and china. the writing has been on the wall for years but domestic manufacturers have been too busy jacking up prices and building trucks to notice. yet again, instead of changing how their companies work to better fit the times we’re living in, they just whine and cry about it in hopes that some republican has pity on them and re structures the entire economy to ensure they remain not only profitable, but insanely, mind bogglingly profitable for the next four years. build better cars, build them cheaper, and charge less for them. every country but the us has been able to figure this out. crocodile tears for these clowns that thought 45k average new car prices were a viable long term strategy. it’s the $100,000 pickup trucks that i find totally outrageous. they get bailout money because the are “job providers.” all of my maga relatives who hate poor people getting food are ok with corporations and billionaires getting bailouts corporate welfare, welfare mining, welfare farming, welfare logging, welfare oil drilling, all of it, because “job providers”. so are poor people eating and they spend money locally and that provides jobs. they sound like the old school warmonger type of republicans. most of my family and myself are moderate conservatives who also hate all the rich corporations getting bailouts. i think the majority of people who are somewhat in the middle of either side all agree on this. what amazes me is a lot of people criticize china for subsidies but both left and right want to subsidize as well. the right wants to subsidize the manufacturers while the left wants to subsidize consumers buying evs. either way, a person can’t say its not fair for china to subsidize when you want the same thing. remind me, how many hundreds of billions of dollars did “maga” obama give banks, investment firms and large corporations, again? how much did the “maga” democrats, on party lines, give to massive corporations in the inflation increase act, again? imagine if the executives of all the american automobile manufacturers went on tv the internet tiktok, youtube all of it, and said “ok we need you to buy cars. we’re going to reduce the luxury stuff and drastically reduce the price and take less profit because we want to be there for you as american automotive consumers” and they actually drop the price of the vehicles, that might help, won’t happen, but it would help. “i make car parts for the american working man because that’s what i am, and that’s who i care about” “that’s why i’m here, ray. you see, back in sandusky, ohio, there are american workers at “callahan auto”. we make the best parts money can buy.” the fact that the conclusion of “maybe we’ve reached peak car”, is “let’s make car shitter and increase per unit profit”. might be a telling reason why we’ve reached peak american car. if only literally anyone there realized the continued americanization (i.e. make car bigger) push in other markets might not be working out. maybe, one of those vampires at mckinsey can show the gang a map of an increasingly urbanized global population, who traditionally have not, nor inspire to build post war suburbia. and idk, build a product that addresses other people’s needs. instead of increasing size and thus cost in a world where space is increasingly at a premium. but sure, just make manufacturing cheaper. don’t even think about how you got up shit’s creek. just start throwing out the food, hoping a lighter boat doesn’t crash into some rocks over there. i read this as “we’re over engineering things and need to reduce quality to reduce cost.” somehow that doesn’t feel like a winning strategy. may you live in interesting times. fun fact! this quote comes from neville chamberlain’s dad. so, might have actually turn out to be a curse on his child. maybe neville didn’t do enough to appease his father? “common componentry is cited as an excellent cost saving measure, particularly if brands are willing to share parts with competitors. for example, it notes that this makes the most sense for parts that “do not contribute to a brand’s image” things like windscreen wiper actuators or tire pressure sensors. if multiple automakers chose to share these basic components, there would be great savings to be had thanks to the economies of scale.” or they could go ford’s route and piss their brands on absolutely everything right down to the bolts. what’s old is new again. i sincerely hope we return to the days when every car shared one of the three extant designs of window crank knob. the us auto industry has been fucked for decades due to poor leadership/management, shitty products, and protectionist shit lame ass tariffs and different but not better standards. just bad decision after bad decision, and i have no sympathy for them. let them rot! we just keep bailing them out for no reason, and they never learn a fucking thing.it would’ve been better to bail out the employees and suppliers while letting the “executives” out with nothing except maybe a felony conviction. toyota taught gm everything, but they learned nothing. i don’t want them to rot, since it’ll ruin the lives of many tens of thousands of people and cripple countless towns and counties. i do want these companies to fire every white collar decision maker who isn’t an engineer, swallow their pride and study how the east asian manufacturers have been so successful, and literally just copy them. ask them to come help you even. it’s not rocket science. the factories are still extant, regardless of who is running them. it wouldn’t be a smooth transition, but they’re not going to just disappear if the big three go bust. yeah, i think you’ve got this wrong, respectfully. there’s no one on a white horse coming to bail out individual factories owned by shitty manufacturers. i’m now remembering the top gear episode where they visited the abandoned tvr factory. i’m wrong. wishful thinking on my part. i live in the rust belt near a lot of closed factories. companies aren’t exactly clamoring to re open them. so far, the public is not purchasing these vehicles in the numbers required to satisfy those requirements. maybe that has something to do with the fact that they said, “ok, we need to make evs. big, high end, 4wd trucks are profitable, lets make super expensive luxury 4×4 pickups with ridiculous performance and a footprint the size of a battleship.” the problem is, a sizable part of the ev thing is the whole green/enviro/saving the planet thing. draw a ven diagram of environmentalists and a people who buy 100k 4×4 pickups and you basically drew a pair of boobs. the fact that the fox news crowd has been attacking evs as a liberal conspiracy and giant scam since the get go isn’t doing this issue any favors either. hehehe. boobs there’s also that pesky issue producing vehicles and then issuing guidance not to park them in garages, by houses, near trees, etc. yeah, that instills faith in new tech. i get it, changing tech/processes is hard, but paying through the nose on top of that isn’t my thing. true, but i can recall several times when that same “don’t park this car in your garage” order has been sent out in regards to gas cars as well so that’s not a problem exclusive to evs. however, i get the point about paying extra for the privilege. i don’t think it’s happened that often certainly not as a percentage of the whole. other than the price point   how different is that from “don’t sit so close to the tv   you’ll go blind” or “don’t hold your cellphone against your head   you’ll get brain cancer”? to me it’s all the same scare tactics against new tech (because ice vehicles have never caught fire in someone’s garage, gas station or on the freeway before…) yes. that’s what i’m drawing, venn diagrams. definitely i try and apply logic to the current times. after awhile my head hurts and i wonder about the bipedal ape species i am part of. then i go lie down to feel better. the rural guys that i off road and camp with just see ev’s as not only a liberal conspiracy but actual cultural genocide because everything in their life is gas powered. dang. that must make sitting around the campfire a little uncomfortable sometimes. it does. as the lone liberal ( or one of two) i have to keep my mouth shut but they all spew maga hate constantly and then whip out their concealed carry to show that they are ready for antifa or immigrants. some of the guys are ok but when in a club you sometimes get what you get. i went camping with guys who had a rivian and a power wagon. the pw guy was pretty much as you described and giving the rivian guy “lighthearted” guff. it was the first rivian i had camped with so i was enamored with it. he had an aftermarket slide out kitchen since rivian scrapped their own. it was really cool. i can’t wait for ev or phev off roading to be better. i love how quiet my bronco is on the trail. especially compared to annoying straight piped v8 swapped jeeps that you need a headset to have a conversation near. edited to add: i do have a group i join when out at big events like king of the hammers or trail hero. rule #1, no talking politics in camp. i’ve gotten called out, and rightly so, after a few drinks. they are good people. i don’t think the conspiracy is whether new cars are evs or not. i think the real scary thing is that soon it will impossible to a buy a new car that isn’t connected to the internet. nobody asked for that. but why do all the manufacturers want to push it? they collect and sell information that’s why. vw just leaked a bunch of personal information. eventually everything will be subscriptions based, even the car itself maybe. it doesn’t matter how the car is powered if these companies successfully scam us all into paying a monthly fee to use cars we own. how come no one in our government wants to talk about this? isn’t paying a monthly subscription for a car you don’t/won’t own a lease? besides the internet thing, a monthly subscription cost to use a car incentivizes the manufacturer to be able to support that vehicle for many years by making it robust and durable. when i pay a subscription for ms office, for example, i am expecting it to have near 100% uptime, and when i do have a problem, it will be fixed promptly and at no additional expense. if i had an ev car subscription, i would expect to have free battery replacements as they wear out. it doesn’t sound so bad. unless it’s an obscene monthly cost. which it will be. leases aren’t that good of a financial move unless you just have to have a new car every couple years. and yes it basically is a subscription to a car i don’t own which i is why i don’t lease. in a perfect world an ev subscription would be cool but you know no manufacturer is going to want to replace the batteries and instead sell you a new car. oh look, if it isn’t the consequences of our own actions. turns out, ignoring that the future will be different than today, for like 30 f’ing years, can really come to bite you durrrrr 6,000 pound truck go brrrrrr  american automakers i’ll be dead in 30 years so fuck it, where’s the keys to my 0.2 mpg coal rolling f950? that quart of milk ain’t gonna get itself home! murica! fuck yeah! i’m waiting for sandy munro to get his hands on a xiaomi su7 or some other chinese ev enjoying the spotlight right now and do a real teardown of it. i don’t doubt there are innovative tidbits to find, but i’d love to see a cost breakdown of actual material cost and manufacturing cost. what battery chemistry are they using? what grades of steel/aluminum? how easy is it to assemble? there’s lots of propaganda from all sides regarding modern chinese cars, and i’d love to see an engineering teardown of just the car by itself. this is what i’ve been waiting for as well! i am not sure they will find anything groundbreaking, they are not going to find “government subsidies” as a physical part. yeah fair enough and i’m sure you’re right, i just want to see that factually proven in a teardown vs tabloid headlines and people’s own biases. something to the effect of “after teardown, the parts cost alone $35k”, so here’s what is getting subsidized.” “…and there is this small metal bar here that just says government subsidy stamped on the side.” i read, reduce costs and increase prices for shareholder value. we reduced costs and passed the savings to our shareholders, but the customers still aren’t buying and we’re all out of ideas! guess we’d better build more expensive options! that always works. 1,000%. they know the new administration will happily bulldoze emissions regulations so they will quintuple down on large vehicles. make the government buy them at msrp++++ for all the poors. problem solved! i just assume they’ll get no strings attached bailouts. free money without having to build a thing! why not both? common components? yes please. maybe if they decided to make something other than $80,000+ body on frame trucks and suvs they wouldn’t be struggling as much. mazda has made continuing to build affordable cars a focus of theirs in addition to providing luxury features at discount prices and look how they’ve been doing. hmmm. just to play devil’s advocate, do you mean this mazda? https://www.autonews.com/mazda/an mazda earnings report profit/ i was going off the information shared in this very site. i do suppose i should’ve specified that they were doing well sales wise. https://www.theautopian.com/stellantis and tesla were the biggest sales losers this year honda and mazda the biggest winners/ so they’re saying that in general people don’t want evs, while at the same time chinese carmakers (mostly electrified) and tesla have increased their market share, while their own marketshare (mostly ice) has fallen. dissonance much..? “no one wants the evs that we haven’t really tried to build.” the paper claims that chinese ev manufacturers have a cost advantage of up to 35%, which it credits to a “national strategy to use slave labor.” fixed it. apparently they’re already being accused of trying to use slave labor at their international factories as well. a little human trafficking never hurt anybody. i’m surprised they haven’t proposed implementing slave labor here as well (cough  alabama  cough) to be able to compete 🙂 looking forward to the next recommendation from the heritage foundation that will be rubber stamped into law by the incoming gop congress. oh don’t worry they’re on it. they’re gonna let children work in the factories too like the good ole days. minecraft is a psyop to get children comfortable with the idea of going to work in the mines french theaters are seeing an uptick in after school matinee showings. the children yearn for the mimes. https://www.usnews.com/news/best states/louisiana/articles/2024 01 29/prisoners in the us are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands yep, and in addition to mandated slavery, imprisoned citizens also have their voting rights stripped from them (exceptions are maine and vermont). some states don’t reinstate those even after release. “land of the free” also the chinese inviting foreign manufacturers to come build plants so the chinese can study and copy them at significantly less cost. then they build duplicates, undercut the cost and the foreign company has to leave. result, significant r&d cost savings since they did in on someone else’s back. “how did china get ahead on [insert thing here]?” they cheated. next question. not so much cheated but absolutely stood steadfast on becoming #1 globally, at any cost, and, so far, is doing exactly that. i should’ve added “and/or committed heinous human rights abuses” it’s easy to become number 1 when you can just kill everyone ahead of you. i disagree. china got ahead because of western companies’ exec greed. that exact scenario summarized by jumbog above was as obvious as it was predictable, but those execs promptly ignored it because increased profits for a couple of quarters was all that mattered to them and their stock bonuses, long term prospects were the next guy’s problem. © 2025 the autopian. all rights reserved. design by jazel.

manage your account by alexandria sage san francisco (reuters)   elon musk was fed up. the seats on tesla inc's (tsla.o) new model x suv were a mess. an outside contractor was having trouble executing the complicated design, spurring frustration and finger pointing between tesla and its supplier. how would tesla ever pull off mass production of the upcoming model 3, the car intended to catapult the niche automaker into the big leagues, if it could not deliver on something as fundamental as a seat? see for yourself   the yodel is the go to source for daily news, entertainment and feel good stories. by signing up, you agree to our terms and privacy policy. musk made a decision: tesla would build the seats itself. tesla's demanding chief executive vowed years ago to shake up the automotive industry with his line of electric vehicles and a futuristic manufacturing facility in fremont, calif. but industry experts say musk's insistence on performing much of the work in house is among the reasons tesla is nowhere close to its stated goal of building 500,000 vehicles annually by next year, most of them model 3s. the automaker this month revealed it built just 260 of the vehicles between july and september, badly missing its target of 1,500 model 3s in the third quarter. in a statement, tesla blamed manufacturing "bottlenecks." it declined to elaborate, but assured investors "there are no fundamental issues with the model 3 production or supply chain." tesla has demonstrated a commitment to vertical integration not seen in the auto industry for decades. the company has so far sunk $2 billion into a sprawling nevada factory to manufacture its vehicles' batteries. in house programmers design the bulk of the complex software that runs the model 3, which musk has described as a "computer on wheels". tesla controls its own retail chain, selling its cars directly to customers and bypassing dealers. but it is tesla's 2015 decision to build its own seats that has some industry veterans scratching their heads. seat making is a low margin, labour intensive enterprise that big automakers generally farm out to specialists. tesla is operating its own seat assembly line inside its factory, and it is hiring engineers and technicians to figure out a way to fully automate the process. "is that really the core competency of an auto company? it is not," said analyst maryann keller, who has been tracking the car industry since the early 1970s. "why would you want to do that?" tesla declined requests from reuters to discuss its seat assembly efforts. the company is expected to reveal more about its production issues on nov. 1, when it announces third quarter results. there is no indication that the "bottlenecks" mentioned previously by the company are associated with seat production. analyst keller and others suspect tesla eventually will be forced to farm out seat assembly to suppliers as the company transitions from a niche producer of pricey, hand built luxury cars to a mass manufacturer. seat makers including germany's zf friedrichshafen ag, france's faurecia sa (eped.pa) and detroit based lear corp (lea.n) already are trying to win that business. a lot is riding on tesla's ability to scale up operations quickly. starting at $35,000, the model 3 is tesla's attempt to bring its electric technology to a wider audience. more than a half million customers have already put down deposits. tesla has never turned an annual profit and it is burning through cash. yet investors are betting big on its future. it is now the second most valuable u.s. automaker, behind only general motors co (gm.n). tesla shares on wednesday closed at $325.84, down 3.4 percent. from stop gap to strategy musk has defended tesla's hands on approach as the way to ensure reliability, as well as an opportunity to rethink industry norms. it is also a reflection of the entrepreneur's obsession with detail. "one of the hardest things to design is a good seat," musk said at the september 2015 launch of the model x in fremont. problems first surfaced with the flagship model s sedan in 2012. musk complained that the seats made by its contract manufacturer, australia based futuris group, were not comfortable nor of the quality expected for a car whose price tag started at around $57,400, according to a former tesla executive who described musk's thinking to reuters. troubles accelerated with the model x, leading tesla to wrest assembly from futuris just after the vehicle's release in late 2015. if seats could be entirely redesigned from the ground up, musk reasoned, maybe their assembly could be automated in preparation for the high volumes anticipated for the model 3. "he saw the opportunity to do it differently and better," the former tesla executive said. "the short term was a stop gap, but the long term idea was to rethink the design of how a seat works to include how a seat is built." futuris did not respond to requests for comment. it continues to supply seat parts to tesla. detroit based seating supplier adient plc (adnt.n) acquired futuris for $360 million last month. meanwhile, tesla's seat woes continue. in all, the automaker has issued four seating related recalls since 2013. the latest came this month with the recall of 11,000 model xs manufactured between oct. 28, 2016 and aug. 16, 2017. suppliers circling making car seats is a complex business. choosing materials, dying and cutting, shaping foam and metal frames, and adding heaters, recliners and other gadgets can involve nearly a dozen suppliers for top models. final assembly requires lots of labour. that's why most automakers opted decades ago to outsource seats for their lower cost models to specialty seatmakers whose market is expected to reach $79 billion by 2022, according to market researcher lucintel. although musk's philosophy has always been "build it right and then figure out how to get the cost down" later, according to the ex tesla executive, observers say tesla can ill afford more production headaches. philippe houchois, an auto analyst with the investment bank jefferies, wrote in a september note to clients that "scalability" was now the main challenge at tesla, whose manufacturing prowess is still unproven when it comes to building large numbers of vehicles. "we don't think tesla's vertically integrated business model can be scaled up as profitably and quickly as consensus thinks," houchois wrote. despite tesla's previous battles with futuris, seat suppliers smell opportunity. zf friedrichshafen and faurecia have opened silicon valley labs, in part to woo tesla. lear, which cuts and sews material for tesla, is likewise pressing to get the automaker's seat manufacturing business, according to matthew simoncini, the company's chief executive. "in general tesla has a philosophy: 'we'll do it ourselves. we'll change the mold,'" simoncini said. "(outsourcing)is a much more efficient use of capital. that would allow them to focus on what they do best." (reporting by alexandria sage; editing by peter henderson and marla dickerson)

colin velez december 27, 2024 a new white paper warns that the car industry is nearing a “breaking point,” requiring a new wave of strategies and processes to overcome its challenges. driving the news: the paper was written by auto industry executives and summarizes talking points discussed during the annual sae detroit section global leadership conference (glc). the conference brings together senior officials from across the car industry to discuss key challenges facing the business. these are the biggest threats to the industry’s future, according to the glc. electric vehicle mandates: evs aren’t selling fast enough to justify the massive investments needed to produce and scale them, even though some government policies are still calling for a ban on gas powered car sales. changing technologies: cars are becoming more technologically complex, boosting costs for automakers. the paper notes that manufacturers will need to collaborate to lower production expenses as the industry continues to shift toward software defined vehicles. stalling markets: according to the glc, the car market (in the u.s., europe, south korea and japan) has hit a “peak,” meaning that it is no longer growing. this is exacerbating issues caused by escalating production expenses. competition with china: china’s domestic automakers are taking a bigger and bigger piece of the pie, both in their home market and on a global scale. the paper cites a 6.6% loss in global market share between detroit three manufacturers due to chinese competition. outdated engineering: the paper urges the industry to adopt new manufacturing techniques rather than sticking to traditional approaches. the need for better processes is especially evident for evs, which the paper notes are often designed with the same specs as gas cars even though they have their own unique needs. not enough lobbying: the glc says the u.s. car sector lacks the same lobbying edge other industries have long since built, making it difficult for automakers to have a say in federal policy. zooming in: while the paper has sense of urgency it also notes some positives. automakers are becoming more collaborative when it comes to vehicle design and are making an effort to learn from disruptors like tesla who seem less impacted by the industry’s troubles. elephant in the room: at the same time, some issues are notably absent from the paper’s list of woes. affordability is a key issue behind stalling car sales, both in the u.s. and around the world. the average transaction price for a new vehicle in late 2019 was $38,948 as of q3 2024, prices are up almost $8,600 at $47,542. last year, the gap was closer to $11,000. automakers have benefited heavily from this surge in prices, as evidenced by the sharp increase in profits during and following the covid 19 pandemic. things have improved slightly in recent months as competition with china has forced manufacturers to reconsider their approach and implement more incentives. however, the lesson was learned too late for companies like stellantis to avoid painful repercussions. bottom line: it is encouraging to hear that the industry is waking up to the challenges facing its long term success and working towards collaborative solutions. hopefully, those solutions will also take into account the needs of both consumers and retailers, without whom automakers stand little chance. get the weekly email that delivers transparent insights into the car market. join 90,000 others now, it's free: mia answers the phone 24/7 for sales, service, parts and your front desk. but unlike other solutions, she speaks naturally like a human. we're talking fluid, open ended conversations instead of the dreaded 'press 1, press 2'. mia answers every call with a friendly attitude to help customers shop for cars, book service appointments, and answer any questions. she even speaks multiple languages. mia seamlessly integrates with your crm, dms & inventory system to give you the best data possible. mia never takes time off, so you'll never miss a phone lead again. check her out at mia.inc. car dealership guy news the leading voice in automotive insights keeping you informed and ahead in the auto industry. home posts authors news news media podcasts © 2025 car dealership guy llc. privacy policy terms of use

automobiles are subject to assessment from automotive journalists and related organizations. some automobiles received predominantly negative reception. there are no objective quantifiable standards, and cars on this list may have been judged by poor critical reception, poor customer reception, safety defects, and/or poor workmanship. different sources use a variety of criteria for including negative reception that includes the worst cars for the environment,[1] meeting criteria that includes the worst crash test scores, the lowest projected reliability, and the lowest projected residual values,[2] earning a "not acceptable" rating after thorough testing,[3] determining if a car has performed to expectations using owner satisfaction surveys whether they "would definitely buy the same car again if given the choice",[4] as well as "lemon lists" of unreliable cars with bad service support,[5] and the opinionated writing with humorous tongue in cheek descriptions by "self proclaimed voice of reason".[6] for inclusion, these automobiles have either been referred to in popular publications as the worst of all time, or have received negative reviews across multiple publications. some of these cars were popular on the marketplace or were critically praised at their launch, but have earned a negative retroactive reception, while others are not considered to be intrinsically "bad", but have acquired infamy for safety or emissions defects that damaged the car's reputation. conversely, some vehicles which were poorly received at the time ended up being reevaluated by collectors and became cult classics. the triumph mayflower was an attempt by triumph to manufacture a luxury small car that, as its name suggests, was to appeal mainly to the us market. it shared some components with the standard vanguard and had a motor that was based on that of the standard ten. its body was largely inspired by the rolls royce and bentley luxury limousines of the era, most notably the rolls royce silver dawn, but was much smaller, thus making the design and proportions look rather odd. the body was also rather heavy, which combined with the small motor made the car underpowered and slow, reaching a top speed of 63 mph (101 km/h).[7] james may called it the ugliest car ever built, saying about it "its details are ugly, its overall proportions are ugly, its very concept   as a car to appeal to americans who believed they were directly descended from the pilgrim fathers   makes one shudder."[8] stuff.co.nz included in an article on cars that should never have been built, saying about it: "it always looked like the misshapen out of scale miniature of the larger, more elegant renown model, viewed in the distorted reflection of a fairground mirror."[9] it was featured in the books "the worst cars ever sold" by giles chapman,[10] "naff motors: 101 automotive lemons" by tony davis[11] and "the world's worst cars" by craig cheetham, who said that it had "the appearance of a rolls royce phantom that had been chopped in the middle."[12] the nash metropolitan was one of the first attempts by a us car maker to produce a small car "which would be mainly used as a second car."[13] compared to other small cars of the era, it was to be much more luxurious, intended to be "a big car in miniature" by its main developer george mason.[14] it was also one of the first cars specifically designed for and marketed towards women,[15] being advertised as "a motorized shopping cart for affluent urban gals."[16] it was developed by nash in co operation with british austin motors, who also produced it at their longbridge plant, making it the first us developed car to be entirely produced in a different country. however, despite having large marketing efforts put into the project, it never sold as well as planned and ended up as a commercial failure. the main reasons for this were considered its poor performance, poor handling, poor reliability, and the small market for small economy cars on the us market, with a rising prosperity that, despite nash considering it exactly the car america needed, made the trend go to bigger, full size cars.[14] austin sold it under its own brand, and later as a standalone brand, on the european market, but it was not successful there either, with about 9,300 units sold. brian sewell of the independent called it "one of the nastiest cars ever built."[17] stuff.co.nz included in its list of "cars that should never have been built," saying: "designed to conquer the us market by combining nash styling with british small car mechanicals and innovation, the metropolitan was an abject failure being the worst of both worlds."[9] money inc. included it in its list of the 20 worst cars ever made, calling it "one of the biggest bombs in automotive history and definitely one of the worst cars ever made."[18] the car has gained a cult following, with a small, but enthusiastic fan base in north america and europe maintaining surviving examples and the collector's price for good cars rising, now reaching almost three times its original price.[14] while the renault dauphine was a major sales success in europe, where it is seen as one of the forerunners of the modern economy car, it received a very strong negative reception in the united states, largely for its poor performance and poor reliability. a period review of the dauphine by road & track magazine found that the dauphine took 32 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph (97 km/h) from a standstill.[19] autoblog included the dauphine on its list of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time" and it was included on time's list of the "50 worst cars of all time", with writer dan neil calling it "the most ineffective bit of french engineering since the maginot line", while noting that its performance "put the dauphine at a severe disadvantage in any drag race involving farm equipment."[20] car talk also placed the dauphine 9th on its 2000 "worst car of the millennium" poll[21] and was named the 67th worst car of all time by edmunds.com.[22] another problem that damaged its reputation was rust. a 2008 retrospective article in the independent said: "as soon as the us market had come to grips with the dauphine's swing axle manners and useless acceleration, they were pole axed by its abysmal corrosion record. it would take only one new york winter of driving on salt strewn roads to give a dauphine front wings that resembled net curtains."[23] renault apologized for the dauphine's flaws in american print advertisements, marketing its successor, the renault 8, as "the renault for people who swore they wouldn't buy another one".[24] the trabant p50 was introduced in communist east germany in 1957, followed shortly afterward by the updated 601 in 1963. because of its outdated and inefficient two stroke engine (which produced poor fuel economy, low power output, and thick, smoky exhaust fumes), duroplast body, and production shortages, the trabant was regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the economic downturn of east germany and of the fall of the eastern bloc. many east germans streamed into west berlin and west germany in their trabants after the opening of the berlin wall and the german reunification in 1989. however, the end of the gdr also meant the end of the trabant as it was not competitive anymore against its new, much more sophisticated west german, french, and japanese competitors that quickly conquered the east german and eastern european markets following the reunification and the end of the eastern bloc. veb sachsenring, the manufacturer, tried to respond with an updated trabant, the trabant 1.1, that was first shown in 1989 and featured a new four stroke engine by volkswagen, but this proved too little too late to save the outdated car, and production of the new version lasted only about one year. time magazine named the trabant one of the 50 worst cars of all time, and it was included in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate with author eric peters describing its two stroke, 18 horsepower engine as "notorious for producing a billowing contrail of smoke, while its unsynchronized manual transmission required at least a fifth of stolichnaya to deal with effectively."[25] automotive journalist dan neil said the trabant was the car "that gave communism a bad name" and was "a hollow lie of a car constructed of recycled worthlessness."[20] he also noted that after east germans drove their trabants to freedom in west germany, they immediately abandoned them.[20] edmunds.com ranked the trabant as the 9th worst car of all time, claiming it is "one more reason why communism is evil."[22] in his book "crap cars", richard porter ranked it the 9th worst car ever and said: "before the old borders were broken down, us in the west thought we knew how harsh life was behind the iron curtain. then we saw the trabant. oh, the humanity."[26] it was the butt of jokes in east germany. after the end of the gdr, these jokes quickly spread to west germany as well and also became a pop culture phenomenon when comedy films like go trabi go and trabbi goes to hollywood featured trabants as important plot devices. however, despite, and partly even because of its poor image, the trabant has gained a strong cult following in the whole of reunified germany, with many collectors clubs across the country maintaining surviving examples. today it is considered a recognizable nostalgic symbol of the bygone world of the gdr that, together with other products considered typical for east germany, regained popularity since the reunification due to "ostalgie", a german term referring to nostalgia for aspects of life in east germany. launched with considerable publicity, the edsel (named after henry ford's son) was the culmination of $400 million in investment and marketing by the ford motor company to create a new brand of car positioned between the entry level ford and the medium priced mercury brand that was to compete against the general motors brands buick and oldsmobile. marketed as a radically different new car, the edsel failed to impress the buying public   despite containing new features such as self adjusting brakes and automatic lubrication, which would later be adopted across the automotive industry   as it mainly consisted of ford and mercury components already used in other vehicles. it became such a large commercial failure that the name "edsel" remains synonymous with "commercial failure" in american popular culture.[27] it was a big financial flop, generating losses estimated between $250 million and $350 million and bankrupting many ford dealers.[28] time magazine included it on its list of "the 50 worst cars of all time", with automotive journalist dan neil writing that while the edsel was not a bad car, "it was the first victim of madison avenue hyper hype. ford's marketing mavens had led the public to expect some plutonium powered, pancake making wondercar; what they got was a mercury."[20] the los angeles times included it on its list of the 10 worst cars sold in the united states, calling it a "redecorated mercury that had been beaten with an ugly stick. the legendary flop of all automotive flops."[29] cnbc placed the edsel on its list of the 10 ugliest cars of all time.[30] the edsel's unique "horsecollar" grille has been frequently ridiculed for resembling a toilet seat, and later even the female genitalia.[20] famous sarcastic descriptions of the edsel and its famous grille include that it looked like "a mercury pushing a toilet seat" or "an oldsmobile sucking a lemon". the tail lamps were also criticized as looking like "ingrowing toenails".[28] contrary to popular belief, the controversial design of the grille was not the main reason for its failure. it mainly suffered from bad marketing and bad build quality (caused chiefly by edsels sharing production with ford and mercury models, rather than being on a dedicated assembly line). it was also released at a time when the usa was hit by a recession and demand for medium priced large cars decreased as us consumers started buying smaller economy cars, especially the volkswagen beetle.[28] for example, chrysler phased out its similarly positioned desoto brand in early 1960, about the same time as ford discontinued the edsel marque, and similar models from general motors' buick and oldsmobile lines were struggling to sell during this period. edmunds.com ranked the 1958 edsel as the 7th worst car of all time.[22] however, in the book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, author eric peters declined to include the edsel and defended it, saying, "people made fun of the edsel   ford's $400 million mistake   but its resemblance to a chrome splattered bus station urinal aside, at least the edsel worked. though hideous, you could count on the mechanicals underneath the skin, which were solidly ford and thus as good as any other car of the era."[25] while the chevrolet corvair was popular and critically praised upon launch, it later earned scrutiny for its rear engine layout with a swing axle rear suspension, which caused a high number of highway accidents among drivers not used to the corvair's unusual handling. over 100 lawsuits were filed against general motors in response, which resulted in consumer advocate ralph nader specifically scrutinizing the corvair in his 1965 book unsafe at any speed. the negative publicity was compounded by the revelation that gm declined to include suspension upgrades on the 1960 63 model years that would have given the corvair safer handling for cost reasons.[20] these suspension upgrades were included in the 1964 model year, before chevrolet completely redesigned the suspension with a fully independent setup, when the second generation was released in 1965. gm's attempts to discredit nader further brought negative publicity, at the same time that the ford mustang was putting significant strain on corvair sales.[31] cnn included the corvair on its list of "the ten most questionable cars of all time",[31] and it was included on time magazine's "50 worst cars of all time".[20] former gm executive john delorean asserted in on a clear day you can see general motors (1979) that nader's criticisms were valid.[32] former ford and chrysler president lee iacocca said the corvair was 'unsafe' and a 'terrible' car in his book, iacocca: an autobiography.[33] dan neil wrote, "chevrolet execs knew the corvair was a handful, but they declined to spend the few dollars per car to make the swing axle rear suspension more manageable. ohhh, they came to regret that."[20] the controversy around the corvair eventually led to the founding of the national highway traffic safety administration as well as mandatory safety testing in the united states.[31] ironically, two years after production on the corvair ended, a nhtsa report studying the handling of 1960 63 corvairs argued that a properly maintained corvair handled comparably to its contemporaries.[34] edmunds.com ranked the corvair as the 62nd worst car of all time, stating "nader had a point."[22] the truth about cars offshoot site curbside classic named the corvair as one of the major "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall; "the corvair was the product of gm's repeated tendencies to go off in directions that were an engineer's dream, but were either flawed from the initial concept, or diminished by the bean counters. in the case of the corvair, it was both."[35] despite being released with high hopes and getting much positive media attention at the time of its launch, the hillman imp was a commercial failure that was largely responsible for its parent group, the rootes group, getting into financial difficulties and being taken over by chrysler to become part of chrysler europe in 1967. designed as a small economy car that was to compete mainly with bmc's hugely popular mini, it was, at first, hailed for its modern design, good road handling, and innovations like a motor block made completely of aluminum and an opening rear window that, together with a folding backseat, allowed for decent luggage space. however, it was criticized for having a rear engine, rear wheel drive layout while the mini had paved the way for front engine, front wheel drive small cars. but the main problem that soon damaged its reputation was poor quality control at the new, purpose built linwood plant, and an underdeveloped design that was rushed into production within three years of planning. quality issues included the frequent failure of gearboxes and water pumps, poor engine cooling that often resulted in motors overheating, and generally poor production quality and panel fit. as a result, the imp never sold as well as the rootes group had expected, and never even came close to the sales of the mini. the car was largely responsible for financial losses that almost bankrupted the rootes group, leading to a takeover by chrysler. the imp was featured in the books "the worst cars ever sold" by giles chapman[10] and "naff motors: 101 automotive lemons" by tony davis.[11] it was named among "the five worst english cars of all time" in a 2012 article on askaprice.com[36] and ranked the 5th worst british car in a 2008 survey of 4,000 motorists by internet magazine imotormag.[37] hotcars.com ranked it #3 in its list of the 20 worst european cars of all time,[38] and the oxford mail included it in its "the worst car evah!" series.[39] despite this, it remained in production until 1976, replaced a year later by a new hatchback model, the chrysler sunbeam. the subaru 360 was successful in its native country of japan. in 1968, entrepreneur malcolm bricklin imported it to america after he discovered it was very cheap to do so because they were light enough to be exempt from us automotive safety standards. the first subaru model sold in america, the 360 had an msrp of $1,297 and was marketed with the slogan "cheap and ugly does it!"[40] the 360 was a commercial failure in north america. car and driver, in a period review, called it one of the ugliest cars in history and "the most bulbous bubble ever to putt putt."[40] it remains one of the worst vehicles consumer reports has ever tested.[40] the publication noted that the car took 37.5 seconds to go from 0 60 mph, it was dangerously structurally deficient in a 30mph crash test with a standard car, and its bumpers were "virtually useless against anything more formidable than a watermelon", all of which made the publication deem the 360 "unacceptably hazardous".[40] they ended the review by saying that it "was a pleasure to squirm out of the [car], slam the door and walk away."[40] imports ceased in 1970 and 360s remained unsold in stock for years, leading bricklin to attempt to launch a series of go kart race tracks using the subarus as racing cars. urban legends persist that unsold 360s were either crushed or pushed into the ocean. despite the 360's failure, subaru of america continued operations and eventually found success, selling over 200,000 units a year by 2006.[40] the vaz 2101, a ruggedized version of the fiat 124 produced in russia was known in export markets under various names, including lada nova, lada 1200/1300, and zhiguli, and often simply called lada, received a strongly negative critical reception in most western export markets due to its old fashioned technical layout and poor build quality. jeremy clarkson called it "simply the worst car in the world."[41] he said "i don't know where the car i drove was made. or who made it. but i suspect he was very angry about something because it was horrific. the steering column appeared to have been welded to the dashboard so that it wouldn't turn. the brakes caused the car to speed up a bit and turn left, violently, at the same time. the buttons on the dash appeared to have been put in place by janet ellis from blue peter, and the engine had plainly been lifted from a cement mixer that had spent the past 30 years chewing up rebel soldiers in southern sudan." he continued, "it's like a cockroach. it could survive a nuclear blast. it's amazingly tough. it can stand up to hammer blows but not water." "the engine was designed to run on russian petrol which had an octane rating of 76. that's not really petrol. that's spicy water."[42] richard porter included it in his book "crap cars."[26] it is included in the sunday times' list of the ten worst production cars of all time[43] and the telegraph's list of the ten worst cars ever sold in britain, described as "poor to drive, uncomfortable and basic in the extreme. virtually any car of the same age will trump this in any category."[44] sellyourproblemcar.com included it in its list of "five of the worst cars ever made", saying that it was "an all round disaster. its poor tank like handing, negligible engine performance and boxy design meant the lada was already a thing of the past when it rolled off production in the 80s. in russia during the soviet era the lada (or "zhiguli" as it was called in the domestic market) was an immensely popular model, with people queuing up to get their hands on one. over the years, however, the lada has found itself a symbol of the decline of the russian automobile industry."[45] an updated version of the original model known as the vaz 2105 was launched in 1980, although some markets (including the uk) did not receive it for a number of years afterward. the updated model was released as the lada riva in the uk and lada nova in most other european markets. despite its reputation, it contributed to the lada brand selling more than 30,000 units a year in the late 1980s. the newer samara and the niva 4x4 also sold well. however, their dated designs and technical layout, combined with growing competition from asian low cost brands such as hyundai and proton, made lada's market share decline from the early 1990s. faced with the difficulty of its models reaching eu emissions requirements, lada withdrew from the uk and most other western european markets in 1997. it is the third best selling car of all time after the ford model t and vw beetle. [citation needed] its production run of 43 years also makes it one of the longest produced cars of all time. it has developed a strong cult following, and is a recognizable cultural icon of russia and the soviet union, and is still a common sight in both russia and the former soviet states. the 1970 amc gremlin, a shortened version of the amc hornet, was introduced in 1970 to compete in the emerging american market for subcompact cars. however, its odd styling and out of date technology earned it lasting derision. named by time magazine as one of the 50 worst cars of all time, dan neil wrote that "dick teague's design team basically whacked off the rear of the amc hornet with a cleaver. the result was one of the most curiously proportioned cars ever. cheap and incredibly deprived   with vacuum operated windshield wipers, no less   the gremlin was also awful to drive, with a heavy six cylinder motor and choppy, unhappy handling due to the loss of suspension travel in the back. the gremlin was quicker than other subcompacts but, alas, that only meant you heard the jeers and laughter that much sooner."[20] included on cnn's list of "the ten most questionable cars of all time", it said of the gremlin, "like other amc cars (see the pacer) the gremlin can be seen as either a daring leap forward by an innovative underdog or as a desperate attempt to do something   anything   that would stand out in a marketplace dominated by larger competitors."[31] the gremlin also placed 4th on car talk's "worst car of the millennium" poll. cnbc included it on its list of the ten ugliest cars of all time.[30] in his book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, author eric peters wrote that the gremlin had a "distinctive 'what happened to the rest of your car, buddy?' look that became the gremlin's signature design feature." he also said that the 1970 gremlin's lack of disc brakes, radial tires and electric windshield wipers "hearkened back to the technologically sophisticated days of 1935."[25] edmunds.com ranked the gremlin as the 19th worst car of all time, saying, "it runs second only to its brother the pacer in loserland."[22] the chevrolet vega earned critical acclaim upon launch. it was named the motor trend car of the year for 1971 and became a best seller. however, severe quality and reliability issues permanently damaged its reputation. its aluminum block engine and new method of rustproofing were initially praised as innovative, but the vega proved extremely vulnerable to corrosion and premature engine failure. by the late 1970s, vegas were being scrapped at such a high rate that many junkyards refused to purchase them.[46] autoblog included the vega on its list "the 20 dumbest cars of all time", saying that it "proved the point that american car makers did not make good small cars."[19] it placed 2nd on car talk's poll of "the worst car of the millennium," and was named on forbes' 2004 list of "the worst cars of all time." car and driver named it one of the 10 most embarrassing award winning cars, stating, "the chevy vega is on everyone's short list for worst car of all time. it seemed the only time anyone saw a vega on the road not puking out oily smoke was when it was being towed."[47] popular mechanics included the vega on their list "10 cars that damaged gm's reputation"[48] and later commemorated the 40th anniversary of its launch, marking the vega as the catalyst that put general motors on the downward spiral which culminated in its bankruptcy in 2009.[46] the 2010 retrospective also took note of the vega's high sales numbers in relation to its poor quality, noting, "since the vega sold so strongly (almost 2 million were built before it left production after 1977), the result was that literally hundreds of thousands of buyers were having awful experiences with the car. surely, those customers were then far more willing to consider the japanese alternatives that were starting to arrive."[46] the truth about cars named the vega as one of the "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall, "the vega was gm's watergate/waterloo, the beginning of the inevitable end."[49] edmunds.com ranked the vega as the 5th worst car of all time.[22] in his 1979 book on a clear day you can see general motors, former gm executive john delorean devoted an entire chapter to the vega, describing how poorly it performed in durability testing and that gm knew about its quality problems prior to launch.[32] while the ford pinto was a strong seller that got a decent reception, its reputation was permanently marred by the accusation that the car could catch fire upon being rear ended due to a defective fuel tank design. the infamous "pinto memo", a document submitted to the nhtsa examining the societal costs of new roll over legislation, was presented to the public as proof that ford executives knew about a design defect and decided to do nothing after calculating that paying off lawsuits was cheaper than reengineering the car. this presentation resulted in public outrage.[50][51] included on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time, dan neil wrote, "they shoot horses, don't they? well, this is fish in a barrel. of course the pinto goes on the worst list, but not because it was a particularly bad car   not particularly   but because it had a rather volatile nature. the car tended to erupt in flame in rear end collisions."[20] named one of the "most questionable cars of all time", cnn said of it, "images of flaming pintos are so seared into the public consciousness that it's probably hard for most people, unaided by a photograph, to conjure a mental image of the car while not on fire."[31] autoblog ranked the pinto #1 on its list "the 20 dumbest cars of all time".[19] the pinto placed third in car talk's 2000 "worst car of the millennium" survey[21] and was ranked the 16th worst car of all time by edmunds.com.[22] since its release, the morris marina has been criticized for its poor performance, styling, handling, and build quality. launched in april 1971 by british leyland, it reused existing mechanical parts such as a front suspension from the 1948 morris minor, ex bmc engines first launched in the early 1950s, and a gearbox and axle sourced from triumph and introduced in 1962. the marina was designed and developed on a limited budget and a very quick timescale   less than three years from initial conception to full production   to urgently replace a number of outdated saloon car models inherited by british leyland from bmc. it was intended to be in production for five years before a more considered car could replace it. the marina was designed as a direct response to the highly successful mkii ford cortina. in october 1970, the same month the marina was officially announced, ford released the larger, more upmarket, and more sophisticated mkiii cortina, which immediately made the morris seem dated. very early cars had a design flaw in their front suspension which caused dangerous handling. while it was corrected before full scale sales began, the marina was still criticized for its poor handling, road holding, and refinement. the daily telegraph included the marina on its list of "10 cars that should have never been produced".[52] on clarkson's car years, originally broadcast in 2000, british motoring journalist jeremy clarkson compared the marina to the austin allegro to determine which one was worse, and he blew up a marina in an automotive game of bar skittles on one of his dvds. clarkson has said the marina "cost 40 million pounds to develop, which since it was meant to be hopeless, was too much," and that its rear suspension "dates back to a medieval hand cart." destroying marinas has become a running gag on the bbc series top gear, which has drawn the ire of marina enthusiasts and resulted in complaints been made to the bbc. in addressing the complaints, top gear presenter james may has stated that at least one marina needs to be preserved in a museum as "a warning from history". carthrottle ranked it #1 on its list of "10 of the worst cars ever made in the uk".[53] despite its poor reputation, the marina was one of britain's best selling cars throughout its production life, peaking at second place in the sales charts in 1973 (behind the cortina) and remaining at third or fourth place throughout the 1970s. over 1.2 million marinas were built in total, making it british leyland's second best selling car after the mini. it was restyled in 1980 to become the morris ital, a stop gap replacement for the marina until the all new austin montego was launched in 1984. in the 1960s, general motors canada began importing compact vauxhall models from the united kingdom to compete with popular imported compacts like the volkswagen beetle and toyota corolla. the vauxhall hc viva was renamed the "firenza" in the canadian market in response to the previous generation's quality problems, and to hide its british origins.[54] the firenza was plagued with quality problems, compounded by a lack of spare parts due to the frequent uk labor strikes at the time.[54] common firenza problems included brake failure and engine fires.[54] in 1972, angry firenza owners formed the "dissatisfied firenza owners association" and engaged in public demonstrations to publicize the car's quality problems and demand compensation from general motors for repair costs and depreciation. the car had become so toxic on the used car market that one year old models with low mileage were worth less than a quarter of their msrp and dealerships refused to take them as trade ins.[54] two firenzas caught fire during a 32 car protest outside of the canadian house of commons.[54] the protests, combined with reports of a 19 year old woman dying in an accident caused by her firenza's steering failing, prompted intervention by the canadian government. gm denied the problems and attempted to protect the firenza's reputation through deceptive marketing before withdrawing it from the canadian market in early 1973.[54] the disaffected firenza owners association attempted to sue general motors, but canada lacked laws establishing class action lawsuits at the time, prompting prime minister pierre trudeau to oversee their creation.[54] the failure of the firenza hurt vauxhall, which considered canada an important export market. curbside classic argues that the firenza debacle, combined with the hc viva's poor reception in the rest of the world, is responsible for vauxhall no longer being an autonomous company. it was the last vehicle vauxhall developed in house before selling a line up of slightly modified opels.[55] in a 2018 retrospective, autofocus.ca described the firenza as "the worst car canada ever saw" and claimed that its obscurity outside of canada is the only thing preventing it from being considered one of the all time worst cars alongside the likes of the gremlin and pinto while describing it as canada's equivalent of ralph nader and the chevrolet corvair.[54] while the lancia beta was widely praised upon its launch by the motoring press and general public,[56] it soon gained a reputation for being extremely rust prone, especially with the early models. at the time, it was widely rumored that this was due to the vehicles being constructed with soviet steel, which was allegedly supplied to lancia's parent company fiat in exchange for building the main lada factory.[57] these claims were never verified, and it has been suggested that these issues were more likely the result of poor rustproofing techniques as well as the prolonged factory strikes that plagued italy at the time. regardless of the actual cause, these corrosion problems eventually became such an issue that large numbers of them had to be recalled.[58] along with the failure of the larger gamma model, the negative publicity this generated permanently damaged lancia's reputation and saw a decline in sales in the united kingdom, its largest export market at the time, which was never reversed, and led to lancia to withdraw from right hand drive markets in 1994.[59][60][61] the reliant robin is a three wheeled small car. it is the perhaps best known and most infamous product of the british three wheeled car industry that was very successful from the 1950s until the 1980s; mainly due to british tax loopholes that allowed three wheeled cars to be taxed as motorcycles and be driven with a motorcycle license. the robin enjoyed sales success throughout its lifetime and has a special place in british culture. its name was so popular that its 1982 successor, the reliant rialto, was renamed robin again in 1989, thus making the robin name live on for another thirteen years and even making it see the new millennium until production finally came to a halt in 2002. but despite its success, it has also become the butt of many jokes due to its three wheeled nature, fiberglass bodyshell, and primitive, old fashioned technique and is often cited among the worst cars ever made. it is sometimes affectionately nicknamed the "plastic pig" because of its distinctive shape and fiberglass body shell. it was also part of a famous episode of top gear (series 15, episode 1), in which jeremy clarkson drives a reliant robin and makes it roll over multiple times. he described driving it as dangerous as "inviting your mum 'round for an evening on chatroulette", and that the robin "wasn't funny, it was a complete menace." the following two episodes featured racing driver the stig and ken block on their test track in robins, and neither of them could finish a clean lap in the specially doctored robin. later on, clarkson admitted that the robin used in the show had the differential modified to allow it to roll over easily. he also admitted that he "actually likes" the robin.[62] the robin was featured in the books the worst cars ever sold by giles chapman[10] and crap cars by richard porter.[26] it was voted the 8th worst car ever in an auto express poll, with the article saying "the butt of countless jokes, the reliant robin was missing more than a wheel and will be remember [sic] as one of the worst cars ever".[63] in a 2013 poll, it was voted the worst british car of all time.[64] edmunds.com ranked it the 13th worst car of all time, stating "ludicrously unstable three wheeler that turns turtle on its plastic body at the slightest provocation. fortunately, with a 750cc engine, it was underpowered, too."[22] carthrottle ranked it number two on its list of "10 of the worst cars ever made in the uk".[53] the austin allegro was launched in 1973, intended to be a radical clean sheet design by british leyland. however, it has been strongly criticized for its poor quality and odd styling. in his book crap cars, writer richard porter says "the only bit of the allegro they got even vaguely right was the rust proofing". the allegro was placed second worst in his list, beaten only by the vw beetle.[65] the poor reputation of the car, as well as the inefficient production and management techniques in british leyland at the time, have meant that the austin allegro has become associated with waste, inefficiency, and poor quality.[citation needed] in clarkson's car years, jeremy clarkson compares the austin allegro to the morris marina. he concludes the allegro was a better (less bad) car than the marina, because it was a horrible car in a more original way than the marina. clarkson further said of the allegro that it was "hideously ugly", whoever proposed its square steering wheel should have had pens thrown at him, and that "it was more aerodynamic going backwards." in 2007, sir digby jones, in criticizing the inefficiencies of the learning and skills council, said, "it is what i call 'the british leyland model'   you put a lot of money in at the top, and an austin allegro comes out at the bottom".[66] edmunds.com ranked the allegro as the 81st worst car of all time, and expressed gratitude that it was never exported to the united states.[22] the leyland p76 was a large car that was produced by leyland australia, the australian subsidiary of british leyland. it was intended to provide the company with a genuine rival to large local models like the ford falcon, the holden kingswood, and the chrysler valiant. however, due to the 1973 oil crisis, a small development budget of only a$20m[67] and demand far exceeding the supply, leyland rushed the assembly process with the first of the p76s to come off the assembly line, resulting in poor build quality and some reliability problems. the combination of the rushed assembly, fuel crisis and strikes at the component manufacturers' factories resulted in the leyland p76 becoming a flop and earning lasting critical derision, despite being designed by giovanni michelotti and receiving the wheels magazine car of the year award in 1973. sales were so poor that leyland closed down their zetland production plant for the p76 in 1974, thereby cancelling plans for a production station wagon and coupe version. the conversation named it "our [australia's] worst car failure",[68] racv and drive.com.au named it among the worst australian cars of all time,[69][70] and wheels and carsguide named it among the worst cars ever made.[71][72] the sydney morning herald said: "mention really bad australian cars and the name that usually springs to mind is the leyland p76. this was not so much a bad car as a badly built car. this was leyland australia in its dying days with a dysfunctional management giving orders to get cars out the door whether they were finished or not. the missing bits could be added later."[73] while the ford mustang ii was well received by both critics and consumers upon its launch, today it is strongly criticized for being a poor performing pinto derivative, even though its good fuel economy made it popular after the 1973 oil crisis. car and driver listed the mustang ii as one of the 10 most embarrassing award winners, stating, "instead of the powerful car the mustang had been, here was a poseur with wheezing four  and six cylinder engines under the hood. and except for better fuel economy, there were no compensating virtues."[47] autoblog named the mustang ii as one of the "20 dumbest cars of all time" and claimed that for it to have been named the 1974 motor trend car of the year, "motor trend, back in the day, had to be trading annual honors for ad pages."[19] eric peters wrote of the mustang ii in his book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, "reeling, wild eyed and increasingly desperate [in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis and new emission requirements from the epa, ford belched up the pinto sourced, "downsized" mustang ii   a car with all the kick of a watered down shirley temple."[25] edmunds.com ranked the mustang ii as the 2nd worst car of all time, describing it as "instantly appalling to mustang lovers."[22] intended to be a radically new concept, as well as being the first automobile to use cab forward design, the amc pacer's odd styling has been criticized. it was designed from the inside out with the objectives of passenger space and comfort at a time when most cars "were designed purely on looks and the interior only fitted later in whatever space was available."[74] a 2007 survey conducted of its clients by the hagerty insurance agency named the pacer the worst car design of all time.[20] including it in time magazine's "50 worst cars of all time", dan neil described the pacer as a "glassine bolus of dorkiness" and that "in the summer, it was like being an ant under a mean kid's magnifying glass. the air conditioning was non existent. you could actually see fumes of volatile petrochemicals out gassing from the plastic dash."[20] cnn named the pacer as one of "the 10 most questionable cars of all time"; "the bulbous, blobby pacer is remembered today as the ultimate example of 'the nerdy car my parents drove.' (its starring role in the 1992 geeksploitation flick wayne's world didn't help.)"[31] it is included in the book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, which prominently features the pacer on the cover. its entry says the pacer "defined the 1970s even more than a bee gees 8 track, the "farrah" hairstyle, or the leisure suit. in fact, wearing a leisure suit and listening to a bee gees 8 track while driving to your job as assistant manager at the local mcdonald's was perhaps the ultimate 1970s experience."[25] it also took note of the pacer's newfound collector status as a piece of kitsch, saying, "as a car, it isn't much   but as a conversation piece, it's almost as good as having a restored elvis: alive! pinball machine in your den."[25] edmunds.com ranked the pacer as the 20th worst car of all time, describing it as "an icon of disenfranchised losers."[22] whether loved or hated, the wide bodied pacer "is not only immediately recognizable, it's legendary."[75] the bricklin sv 1 was brought to life by automotive entrepreneur malcolm bricklin, who funded the development and production of the car from the government of the canadian province of new brunswick. production stopped in early 1976 when the company went into receivership. including the bricklin on its list of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time", autoblog wrote, "memo to the world: when an automobile executive starts a new car company and proposes to name the car after himself, run like a stag in the opposite direction, lock your check book and credit cards in a safe and ask your best friend to keep the combination away from you no matter how much you beg for it. this scenario never turns out well."[19] including it in his book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters acknowledged the numerous safety features the bricklin helped to pioneer before writing, "in theory, it all sounded fabulous. ... but the sv1 was basically a kit car cobbled together using mish mashed leftovers acquired from ford and american motors. lack of money and technical and engineering resources was evident in the way the car was put together. it had the look and feel of a teenage hot rod project built in the backyard with a sawzall and some rtv."[25] it was named one of the 50 worst cars of all time by time magazine, with dan neil saying of it, "the sv1 was supposed to exemplify the safer car of the future; the name stands for “safety vehicle 1.” the bodies were made of brightly colored, dent resistant plastic, like playskool furniture. another safety feature: incredible, crust of the earth cooling slowness. all those resin panels and compressible bumpers added hundreds of pounds that the emissions limited v8s couldn't handle. this thing couldn't outrun the rose bowl parade."[20] edmunds.com ranked the bricklin as the 72nd worst car of all time, claiming it "makes the delorean look like an engineering magnum opus."[22] the triumph tr7 was one of the last models produced by triumph before the brand was axed by british leyland in 1984. the tr7 was widely criticized and ridiculed for its styling, especially the strange curve on the side. a popular urban legend states that upon its debut, legendary italian auto designer giorgetto giugiaro examined a tr7 at an auto show, walked around to the other side of the car, and exclaimed, "oh my god   they did it [the curve] to the other side, too!" quality problems tended to undermine the car's image in the marketplace. this was primarily the result of the poor relations between management and the workforce and frequent strikes at the speke factory near liverpool.[76] furthermore, the tr7 was designed to be a roadster, but at first was only available with a permanent roof as proposed new rollover safety regulations in the us, its intended target market, threatened to effectively ban the sale of convertibles. however, this did not happen, so a convertible version became available in 1979. quality also improved when production was moved to the canley plant in coventry, and later solihull, but it was too late to save the car's already damaged reputation. an attempt to boost sales with an updated and much more powerful v8 version called tr8 was also unsuccessful as it suffered from poor build quality and a strong british pound that made it rather expensive compared to most of its competitors on the us and canadian market. in its frankfurt motor show preview edition of september 1977, the german magazine auto, motor und sport reported that the engine of a tr7 press car had broken down and "started to boil" while undergoing a maximum speed measurement exercise over a 4 km (2.5 miles) stretch of track as part of a road test.[77] it was included on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time; automotive journalist dan neil wrote that the main issue with the tr7 was that "the cars were so horribly made. the thing had more short circuits than a mixing board with a bong spilled on it."[78] jeremy clarkson criticized the tr7 and destroyed one in his dvd special heaven and hell. edmunds.com ranked the tr7 as the 47th worst car of all time.[22] british leyland stopped production of the tr7 in 1981, and although the triumph brand survived for another three years, it did not build a replacement sports car, as the market for affordable sports cars was in decline   a factor which also contributed towards bl's decision not to replace the mg b.[citation needed] the chevrolet chevette has commonly been criticized for its poor performance (0 60 in 19.6 seconds[79]), poor build quality and general cheap feel. it has been included in time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time, it placed 5th in car talk's poll "worst car of the millennium,"[21] and is included in the book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate by eric peters. in its inclusion, peters poked fun at the chevette's name, suggesting, "owners of chevy's austere little econobox could also casually mention their "'vette" parked outside to comely (if gullible) prospects at singles bars   though it was critical that said prospects consume a minimum of three double strong long island iced teas before suggesting a ride back to your parents' basement."[25] cnn included it on its list of the "10 most questionable cars of all time"   where it was described as "pathetic". cnn expanded by describing the chevette as, "another gm attempt to compete against small, inexpensive imports. and, again, this one wasn't a market flop. in fact, the chevette was the best selling small car in america for the 1979 and 1980 model years. ultimately, 2.7 million were produced over its lifetime. but it is remembered today for being mechanically troubled, poorly constructed and underpowered, a sad reminder of the trouble detroit automakers had (and still have) in responding to the flood of small, cheap cars from japan."[31] popular mechanics named the chevette on their list "10 cars that damaged gm's reputation" due to it being utilized as gm's response to advanced, front wheel drive subcompacts such as the volkswagen rabbit and honda civic despite its poor performance, technologically crude rear wheel drive platform and poorly packaged interior: "it was always a car that sold strictly on price, with no real virtues of its own."[48] popular mechanics also noted how the chevette's success and long production run allowed gm to not develop a proper front wheel drive subcompact, instead utilizing a series of badge engineered captive imports from suzuki, isuzu and daewoo to serve as chevrolet's entry level models after chevette production ended, something they described as "one of the company's greatest missteps of all."[48] edmunds.com listed the chevette as the 53rd worst car of all time.[22] the european version of the chevrolet chevette, sold as the vauxhall chevette in the uk and the opel kadett city in the rest of europe, was more popular and had a better reputation, and in the case of vauxhall, in particular, helped increase its maker's market share. [citation needed] the oldsmobile diesel engine was one of the first attempts by a us car maker to produce a diesel engine, a result of the 1973 oil crisis and the increasing success of european car makers, mainly mercedes benz and volkswagen, selling diesel cars on the us market. it was used not only in oldsmobile cars, but in cars of other general motors us market brands as well. however, the engines had a significant shortcoming: they were based on the same block design as the gasoline engines. as such, the head bolts were not strong enough for a diesel engine, and soon gained a reputation for unreliability and poor performance that damaged the north american passenger car diesel market for the next 30 years. general motors offered diesel options on some of its small cars, but none of them sold well until the introduction of the 2014 chevrolet cruze.[80] autotrader described: "there were two key problems with the olds diesels. first, the head bolts simply weren't numerous or strong enough for the diesel's high compression ratio, so they started blowing head gaskets. second big problem: gm's cost cutters decided not to fit a water separator. unlike gasoline, diesel fuel is subject to water condensation   hence the need for a water separator. without one, water in the fuel becomes water in the engine, where it can rust either the cylinders or the complicated mechanical fuel injection pump. the former could destroy the engine, while the latter would denigrate the engine's running characteristics and possibly deep six the pump   which, in a mechanically injected diesel, is an incredibly intricate and complicated device that is very expensive to replace."[80] popular mechanics included the oldsmobile diesels in a series on "the top automotive engineering failures", saying: "of the myriad engineering failures from the reckless period at the end of the 1970s and the dawn of the '80s, the one with perhaps the longest reaching effect on consumer preference was the unrelenting awfulness of the oldsmobile diesels. while european nations and much of the rest of the world are embracing the excellence of modern small diesel engines, the oily film of failure from these hastily engineered lumps lingers on the american palate."[81] edmunds.com and thestreet.com both ranked the 1979 oldsmobile cutlass supreme diesel the 10th worst car of all time.[22][82] the fso polonez was largely based on the polski fiat 125p that had already been manufactured in poland by fso since 1967, but featured a completely new hatchback body designed by giugiaro. it was rather ambitious for its time, being the first polish built car to feature a hatchback body and the first mass produced polish car to have its own design, but it was largely panned in most markets outside eastern europe due to its poor quality, poor design and poor performance. jeremy clarkson said about the polonez: "built by communists out of steel so thin you could use it as a net curtain, it is as reliable and long lasting as a pensioner's erection",[83] "of course history has served up many cars that drove as badly as this, but few looked quite so terrible"[84] and "[it] did have a redeeming feature   it was cheap. but it had to be, because it was a car that wasn't really a car at all. it was a box under which the careless car buyer would discover a '40s tractor."[85] in a top gear episode titled "the worst car in the history of the world", jeremy clarkson is seen driving a polonez on a country road where it breaks down twice,[84] and he blew up two cars in an automotive game of conkers on one of his videos. he said "i often wondered what drove lech wałęsa to stand up to the mightiest military machine the world has ever seen? why did a shipyard worker from gdańsk take on the soviet union? by now is all becoming abundantly clear. the man wanted a new car!!!" thestreet.com ranked it 6th in its list of the 20 worst cars of all time,[83] and it was voted the 9th worst car of all time in a poll by auto express.[86] the polonez was updated in 1991 to become the caro, and continued in this guise until the end of production in 2002, although imports to most markets in western europe had finished by then largely due to low demand. emission requirements in the us state of california, which are frequently stricter than those in the rest of the country, required that all corvettes sold there during the 1980 model year be fitted with a 180 horsepower 305 cu. in. "small block" v8 engine with a 3 speed automatic transmission. this model of corvette is particularly derided for its poor performance. edmunds.com named this model the 3rd worst corvette of all time,[87] time magazine listed it as one of the 50 worst cars of all time, and it is included in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate by eric peters. dan neil wrote of the 1980 small block corvette, "[california state regs] required that the barely adequate 350 cu in (5.7 l) small block in the 1980 corvette be replaced with a wholly inadequate 305 v8, putting out 180 hp of pure shame. on top of that, the "california" corvette sucked its pitiful rivulet of horsepower through the straw of a torque sapping three speed automatic transmission. ... these were dark days indeed."[88] eric peters noted in the 305 corvette's automotive atrocities entry that it is today rejected by enthusiasts, not mentioned in official histories and collector guides note buyers to avoid this model as it will never appreciate significantly in value.[25] when the chevrolet citation, also sold as the pontiac phoenix, oldsmobile omega and buick skylark was introduced in early 1979, it received a strongly positive response: the citation was the 1980 motor trend car of the year and sold more than 800,000 units in its first year. however, it received scrutiny for numerous safety and quality issues, which led to a record number of recalls and a sales collapse.[89] car and driver named the citation one of the most embarrassing award winners in history due to its numerous build quality and safety issues: "things started going terribly wrong as soon as the x car got in the hands of consumers. while staring down 60 month payment books, citation owners were having trim bits fall off in their hands, hearing their transmissions groan and seize, and finding that if they listened closely enough they could hear their cars rust. as gm's first front drive compacts, the x cars were significant vehicles: they slaughtered gm's reputation for a whole generation."[47] car and driver and several other car magazines at the time were duped when gm lent them specially modified versions of the x body vehicles in which heavy torque steer (for which they became infamous) had been engineered out. patrick bedard of car and driver said that they were completely surprised by this when they drove a random production version acquired from a car rental company sometime later.[90] popular mechanics named the x platform cars on their list "10 cars that damaged gm's reputation" as they "promised a revolution in how the corporation designed and built cars. unfortunately, the reality was that these four  and six cylinder cars probably suffered more recalls and endemic problems than any other gm vehicle program." they also noted how successful the cars initially were in the marketplace, which "sour[ed] hundreds of thousands on gm."[48] the truth about cars similarly named the citation as one of the major "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall; "typical for gm, the citation looked best on paper, or to the automotive writers who were suckered when they drive the most unproduction like 'ringers' ever hand assembled and wrote breathless reports on the citation's spectacular 'better than a bmw' abilities."[89] edmunds.com ranked the citation as the 52nd worst car of all time.[22] for the 1981 model year only, cadillac offered a feature on its v8 engine called the v8 6 4. on this engine, up to four cylinders could be deactivated while cruising to save fuel. however, the system suffered from numerous drivability issues as the computer technology at the time could not deactivate/reactivate the cylinders fast enough.[25] many owners got fed up with the engine's poor performance and had the system disabled by mechanics.[20] including the engine in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters called the v8 6 4 "one of the best ideas gone horribly wrong to ever reach production" and it was "the last thing a by now reeling cadillac needed on top of the still festering diesel imbroglio."[25] the v8 6 4 is included in time magazine's "50 worst cars of all time", where dan neil described it as the "titanic of engine programs". he continued, "the cars jerked, bucked, stalled, made rude noises, and generally misbehaved until wild eyed owners took the cars to have the system disconnected. for some it was the last time they ever saw the inside of a cadillac dealership."[20] popular mechanics included the v8 6 4 cadillacs on its list "10 cars that damaged gm's reputation", describing it as "one more half developed, cynically marketed technology that gm just couldn't make work."[48] today, cylinder deactivation systems, also known as a fuel management system, are a common feature on large engined automobiles, including many produced by general motors. despite the cult following the delorean has as a result of being featured in the popular 1985 sci fi film back to the future, it was a commercial failure when first introduced and was critically derided. it was built in a new, purpose built factory in dunmurry, a suburb of belfast, northern ireland, in order to improve the tense socioeconomic situation there (the belfast region was one of the poorest in western europe due to the ongoing northern ireland conflict) and was largely funded by the uk government which backed up the project with £55,000,000. but due to the inexperience of the northern irish workforce and the underdeveloped design, the car suffered from bad quality and disappointing performance. even hiring lotus founder colin chapman to assist in improving the vehicle did not help. furthermore, the delorean was overpriced, and was released at a time when the united states, its target market, was badly hit by a recession that decreased the demand for expensive supercars. including the delorean in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters stated, "if the delorean had offered exotic level performance to go with its exotic level price, things might have been different. but as it turned out, the delorean wasn't even competitive as a performance car with the run of the mill six cylinder camaros, firebirds and mustangs of the era.", while noting that a delorean was significantly more expensive than a 1981 chevrolet corvette.[25] in his book naff motors: 101 automotive lemons, tony davis described the build quality as "woeful".[11] top gear writer richard porter included it in his book crap cars, calling it "dismal",[26] while it was also included on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time; dan neil said of it, "by the time johnny z. got the factory in northern ireland up and running   and what could possibly go wrong there?   the losses were piling up fast. the car was heavy, underpowered (the 2.8 liter peugeot v6 never had a chance) and overpriced."[20] the maserati biturbo was an executive grand tourer that was to compete mainly with the bmw 3 series, but earned a negative reception for its new twin turbocharged engine, which led to unpredictable power delivery through its turbo lag, and its numerous reliability problems. including it in time magazine's list "the 50 worst cars of all time", dan neil wrote, "everything that could leak, burn, snap or rupture did so with the regularity of the anvil chorus. the collected service advisories would look like the gutenberg bible."[20] in the august 1990 issue of road & track, it was noted of the biturbo's reliability, "mis set carburetor float levels caused the engine to stumble during left turns, pick up wires in the distributor cracked from the heat, water ran through cylinder sleeves, fluids leaked from faulty seals throughout the drivetrain, fuse boxes melted, and coolant temperature warning lights came on even when the engines weren't overheating."[25] including the biturbo in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters wrote that the biturbo "would viciously nickel and dime its owner to death with 'little things' that would drive all but those truly devoted to its survival into the toolbox for a large ball peen hammer."[25] in crap cars, richard porter described the biturbo's "build quality best described as 'approximate'" and styling that "looks like a child's drawing of a car."[26] edmunds.com ranked it the 55th worst car of all time.[22] the north american renault fuego sports coupe has earned negative retroactive recognition, mainly for its numerous major reliability problems. car and driver retroactively described the fuego as being "shaped like a walrus with gas.”[91] hemmings motor news wrote of how "the fuego soon developed a reputation for unreliable electronics and overheating issues, which led to head gasket failures if ignored for any length of time. the problem was likely compounded by a poor spare parts availability, a situation that only worsened after renault's departure from the u.s. in 1986."[91] included in the book automotive atrocities: the cars we love to hate, author eric peters made note of fuego's poor performance and poor reliability combined with difficulty in sourcing replacement parts and finding a mechanic that knew how to service a renault, leading to rapid depreciation that reduced fuegos to being completely worthless when they were still just a couple years old; "the ad copy said the fuego boasted 'racy good looks that can up the pulse rate on sight,' though it may have more accurately described the heart flutters induced by the fuego's frighteningly rapid depreciation rates. running examples are almost worthless today   if, that is, you can find one that's still running."[25] the fuego was also listed in richard porter's book crap cars. edmunds.com ranked the north american fuego as the 17th worst car of all time, describing it as a "fragile, front drive french coupe that rusted quickly into dust or burst into flames amid random electrical fires" and noted that it was "recalled for steering wheels that came off in drivers' hands."[22] the cadillac cimarron was a hasty attempt for cadillac to compete with smaller european luxury cars from manufacturers such as mercedes benz and bmw. facing time constraints, cadillac simply marketed a fully equipped chevrolet cavalier with upmarket trim for twice the price of its other j body siblings. the cimarron was included in time magazine's list of "the 50 worst cars of all time," was named the 8th worst car of the millennium by car talk, and placed 4th on autoblog's list of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time," and is included in the books automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate by eric peters and crap cars by richard porter. automotive critic dan neil said of the cimarron, "everything that was wrong, venal, lazy and mendacious about gm in the 1980s was crystallized in this flagrant insult to the good name and fine customers of cadillac. ... this bit of temporizing nearly killed cadillac and remains its biggest shame."[92] autoblog wrote, "it was a rebadged chevy   a bad chevy at that   and everyone knew it. engineers at gm who were ordered to carry out the brief hated working on it. a few, we are told, even took early retirement to get out of it."[19] in automotive atrocities, eric peters wrote, "in the 1920s and 1930s, cadillac was a respected peer of bugatti and rolls royce, the 'standard of the world' among luxury cars. by 1982, gm's premiere division had reduced itself to pawning off tarted up chevrolet cavaliers, hoping no one would notice   at least until after the buyer's check cleared."[25] forbes placed the cimarron on its list of "legendary car flops," citing low sales, poor performance and the fact the car "didn't work, coming from a luxury brand."[93] cnn money described the cimarron as "in all important respects, a chevrolet cavalier. it also added thousands to the price tag. in all, it was neither a good cadillac nor a good value. today, gm executives will readily admit that this was a bad idea."[94] car and driver said a subsequent cadillac product director kept a picture of the cimarron on his wall captioned, "lest we forget."[95] popular mechanics named the cimarron as one of the 10 cars that damaged gm's reputation, describing gm's attempt to market the cimarron as a domestic alternative to the bmw 3 series as "pathetic": "there's nothing wrong with the idea of a smaller, more athletic cadillac. but it was a terrible idea to rebadge the chevrolet cavalier and attempt to pawn it off as a true cadillac. not surprisingly, practically no one fell for it and the cimarron never sold well."[48] the truth about cars named the cimarron as one of the "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall; author paul niedermeyer wrote of it, "yes, as if there was ever any doubt, gm truly jumped the shark with the cimarron, and it led the way for what was gm's most disastrous decade ever, the eighties. only gm could have such utterly outsized hubris to think it could get away with dressing up a cavalier and pawning it off as a bmw fighter, without even touching the engine, among other sins. ... the cimarron was a dud, from the get go. gm managed to fool some 25k buyers the first year, but sales steadily drooped thereafter. the damage it did to the cadillac brand was incalculable. but the cimarron was just one of many wounds of the ritual suicide cadillac was putting itself through during those dark days."[96] edmunds.com ranked the cimarron as the 8th worst car of all time.[22] for 1982, the redesigned chevrolet camaro offered the 90 hp iron duke 4 cylinder engine with a 3 speed automatic transmission as its standard powertrain   something that was strongly derided in such a car with a high performance reputation. autoweek, describing this model as the slowest camaro ever sold, noted that a camaro with this powertrain had the same power to weight ratio as the volkswagen beetle and that the chevrolet chevette had a slightly better ratio.[97] this variant of the camaro was included in time magazine's list of "the 50 worst cars of all time"; dan neil said of it, "as the base engine for the redesigned 1982 camaro (and pontiac firebird), the 2.5 liter, four cylinder “iron duke” was the smallest, least powerful, most un camaro like engine that could be and, like the california corvette, it was connected to a low tech three speed slushbox. so equipped, the iron duke camaro had 0 60 mph acceleration of around 20 seconds, which left camaro owners to drum their fingers while school buses rocketed past in a blur of yellow."[20] including this car in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters wrote that the iron duke equipped camaro gave owners "the humiliation of being left in the dust by k car station wagons."[25] this model of the camaro was ranked the 61st worst car of all time by edmunds.com.[22] this engine was dropped in 1986. introduced in 1982, the holden camira was the australian gm affiliate's version of the company's j body family of mid size cars, replacing the torana.[98][99] initial sales were good, with the camira being designated wheels magazine's car of the year for 1982. however, its reputation was soon tarnished by the revelation of its numerous quality and reliability issues. they included smoking engines, insufficient drainage holes in the doors, poor paint quality and lack of adequate fan cooling, resulting in overheating in camiras fitted with air conditioning. in addition to tarnishing the vehicle's reputation, the problems led to its withdrawal from the new zealand market, where a camira labeled isuzu aska was sold instead. furthermore, the car's safety record was poor, with monash university accident research centre finding that, in comparison to other "medium cars", it provided a "significantly worse than average" level of safety in the event of an accident.[100] while later models went some way to fixing the problems, the combination of negative word of mouth and diminishing sales figures eventually led to the camira's withdrawal in 1989. the royal automobile club of victoria, drive.com.au, carsguide and wheels magazine all selected the camira as one of the worst cars or worst australian cars of all time.[69][70][71][72] introduced in 1983, the renault alliance was a compact car co developed by french automaker renault and american motors for sale in the united states, sourced from the european market renault 11. while initial sales were strong and the car earned critical acclaim, retroactive reviews of the alliance are strongly negative. car and driver included the alliance on its list of "the 10 most embarrassing award winners in history", using the piece to apologize for placing the alliance on their 10 best list in 1983 and continued by writing, "the alliance proved that wisconsin workers could assemble a renault with the same indifference to quality that was a hallmark of the french automotive industry. by the late '80s, the sight of rusted alliances abandoned alongside america's roads was so common that their resale value had dropped to nearly zero."[47] the alliance is included twice in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, with author eric peters giving the alliance and its high performance gta variant separate entries. peters described the alliance as a "k car wannabe" and said of its joint development with renault, "not since thomas jefferson's louisiana purchase. ... had the french agreed to such an ill conceived deal."[25] edmunds.com ranked the alliance as the 12th worst car of all time.[22] the european version, while it was produced from 1983 until 1988, was more popular and did not suffer such a negative reputation, and the saloon model from which it was derived   the renault 9   was even voted european car of the year soon after its launch in 1981. the alfa romeo arna, the product of a joint venture between alfa romeo and nissan, showed promise in development. however, the finished product was merely a rebadged nissan cherry hatchback retrofitted with alfa components and manufactured in italy. the combination of the generic styling and poor handling common to japanese cars of the time with the poor build quality and reliability alfa was notorious for was seen as combining the worst qualities of both companies.[101] in a year 2000 episode of clarkson's car years, jeremy clarkson described the arna as being a "truly horrific cross breed" and "one of the worst creations in the whole of history"; "it might have worked had they married japanese build quality with italian design flair, but they did it the other way around! so what we ended up with was a terribly ugly nissan cherry with alfasud electrics! can you imagine anything, anything worse?"[102] msn autos named it #1 on their list of "top 10 disastrous cars"; "a mix of italian flair and japanese expertise should have been a match made in heaven, but they clearly decided to divide the tasks by means of a lucky dip. alfa ended up doing the electronics while nissan took care of the styling, resulting in an ugly car that didn't work properly."[101] car magazine ranked the arna as one of the worst cars of the past 50 years, writing, "nissan donated its unlovely cherry body panels while the italians lent their exceptionally unexceptional electrical and construction expertise. result: the most 'bello' alfa ever."[103] as of march 2018, only three arnas are shown to still exist in the united kingdom, all three of them being sorns.[104] introduced for the 1984 model year, the pontiac fiero was an instant hit due to its styling and mid engined layout. however, it eventually garnered a negative reputation due to its poor performance, many reliability issues and a highly publicized recall due to engine fires, in part due to also using gm's iron duke engine. including it in automotive atrocities, eric peters said of the fiero, "gm's penchant for doing things on the cheap ruined what could have been a great car. the mid engined fiero 2m4 looked great and instantly became one of the sensations of the 1984 model year   until people realized those sexy, dent resistant body panels hid chevette running gear."[25] top gear writer richard porter included the fiero in his book crap cars, claiming that by basing the fiero on the chevette, "pontiac engineers worked tirelessly to erase whatever excitement [the fiero's design and layout] might have inspired, chiefly by snuffing out anything that might pass for acceleration."[26] edmunds.com ranked the fiero as the 58th worst car of all time.[22] in a 2015 retrospective, road & track magazine called the fiero "misunderstood" and noted that it not only failed due to its poor performance but also due to the downtrodden image it eventually acquired in american culture, which hampered its long term reputation in contrast to the very similar toyota mr2; "... the 90s were hard on the poor car. a lot of fieros were trashed by the mid 90s . the fiero became a car for divorced 40 year olds, male or female, who felt they deserved something nice in their lives again. here was a sporty looking used car that was more striking than their mercury lynx ce14."[105] the yugo from yugoslavia sold in the united states was roundly panned for its poor performance, poor build quality, and numerous safety defects, becoming the frequent butt of jokes.[40] the cover of the february 1986 issue of consumer reports featured a yugo getting stared down by a peterbilt truck with the caption "how much car do you get for $3990?"[40] the included review described the car as a "barely assembled bag of nuts and bolts", saying that a used car was a better buy.[40] in the year 2000, car talk voted it the "worst car of the millennium".[40] the yugo was also included on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time and cnn's list of the "10 most questionable cars of all time". dan neil called the yugo the "mona lisa of bad cars", with "the distinct feeling of being assembled at gunpoint."[20] cnn said "chinese car companies are now talking about entering the u.s. market, so you'll see the yugo cited frequently as an example of how not to do it. lesson number one: there is a definite limit to what americans will accept in exchange for a low price. the yugo's reputation for awful build quality   which some dogged defenders still insist was undeserved   quickly became the stuff of legend. yugo jokes were almost as numerous as lawyer jokes and just as scathing."[31] in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters said that the yugo was "less reliable than the exchange rate of an african 'people's republic' or a halliburton financial disclosure", that it "[taught] folks the hard way about getting what you pay for" and that "the yugo will likely hold in perpetual ignominy the title of 'worst car ever sold to the american public'".[25] jeremy clarkson drove a yugo 45 and called it a "hateful, hateful car", describing its performance as so bad "you'll get overtaken by wildlife." clarkson eventually destroyed it with a tank.[106] edmunds.com ranked the yugo as the 4th worst car of all time, "a serbian made version of the fiat 127 that couldn't possibly be as awful as its low price suggested. but it was! currently celebrating its 25th anniversary as shorthand for automotive crap."[22] the story of the car is chronicled in the book the yugo: the rise and fall of the worst car in history by jason vuic, published in 2011.[107] the yugo brand launched in the uk in 1981 to compete with dacia, fso, lada, and škoda at the bottom of the new car market. the fiat 128 based zastava skala was originally the only model imported there, but it was joined three years later by the fiat 127  based version, marketed as the yugo tempo. by 1989, a giugiaro styled all new compact car, sold as the yugo sana, joined the range. the yugo badged cars peaked in popularity in britain during the mid to late 1980s, but the brand was unable to overcome a negative reputation similar to the one it had in the us, as well as increased competition in the low cost new car market from asian brands such as daewoo, hyundai, and proton. yugo sales in the uk (along with all other sales to export markets) were halted in 1992 as part of the un sanctions on yugoslavia as a result of the wars there. in 1986, general motors released redesigned, downsized versions of its e body luxury cars, the buick riviera, oldsmobile toronado, cadillac seville and cadillac eldorado. while they were very technologically advanced, with the riviera being the first production car to have a touchscreen computer in the dashboard,[108] the cars were strongly rejected by consumers. riviera sales halved with the introduction of the new model and dwindled to 8,500 units by 1988 in an 87% reduction from 1985,[109] with similar sales drops for the toronado and cadillacs.[110] in naming the 1986 riviera (and later the 1986 seville in a separate entry) among the "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall, the truth about cars struggled to think of another car that saw a similar sales drop not aided by a recession or an energy crisis; "it wasn't only the loss of sales of these once glorious coupes that was such a mortal blow. it was what these cars once represented: gm as a purveyor of excellent design, desirable image, decent build quality, and a stranglehold on the mid upper premium market segment. all these were utterly destroyed."[110] the poor sales of these cars have been attributed to their small size and generic styling, which made them strongly resemble gm's entry level models;[110] "it wasn't just that the $27k '86 seville looked too much like an $8k oldsmobile calais, which even preceded the seville by a year. it's also the fact that all these cars just didn't look good, period. [looking at them] you can't help but wonder what the hell was going on at the once vaunted gm design center."[111] popular mechanics retroactively criticized the riviera's interior and controls, stating that customers found the computerized dashboard "onerous and distracting".[108] the oldsmobile toronado trofeo is included in the book automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate with author eric peters writing, "when it appeared in 1966, the front wheel drive oldsmobile toronado was a show stopper   one of those "gotta have" cars that young men pine for almost as much as cheerleaders. twenty years later, a miserable pretender appeared, wearing the toronado name but partaking of none of the old car's glory."[25] the toronado was similarly skewered by top gear writer richard porter in his book crap cars.[26] the cadillac allanté, introduced for the 1987 model year, was a top level convertible intended to compete with the mercedes benz sl. however, the allanté was a major commercial failure, selling less than 5,000 units a year until it was discontinued in 1993. the allanté was hampered by poor performance, being a front wheel drive car powered by a 170 horsepower engine while weighing 3600lbs; motor trend measured the allanté as having a 0 60 time of 10.3 seconds, 4 seconds slower than the mercedes.[112] this led to the press dismissing the allanté as "all show, no go".[112] the allanté was also beset by numerous quality issues, most notably a leaky convertible top   an issue gm was found to have known about but ignored prior to the car's launch   and expensive problems with its bosch anti lock brakes.[113] while gm fixed the allanté's flaws throughout its production run, the combination of its early quality problems, a redesigned mercedes benz sl launching in 1989 and the early 1990s recession tanking luxury car sales doomed the car. including the allanté in automotive atrocities: the cars we love to hate, author eric peters lamented that the allanté "coulda been a contender"; "what turned this magic coach into a pumpkin was the car's dreadful initial quality, exorbitant price, and the less than world class performance."[25] in a retrospective, carthrottle wrote that "the cadillac allanté is considered a poster child of what's wrong with gm."[112] describing the allanté as "wildly overpriced, bland and sloppy handling" which "hit the market with a thud," the truth about cars offshoot side curbside classic wrote of it, "if ever there was a metaphor for gm's deaf, dumb and blind market comprehension, this was it. the fact that the allanté had to be designed and partially assembled in europe spoke loud and clear that the solons in corporate hq had lost touch with their target buyer (and economic reality). even with its towering $54,000 sticker price, buyers got leaky roofs, troublesome northstar engines and sluggish acceleration. to beat it all, gm lost money on every allanté ever made."[114] edmunds.com named the allanté the 23rd worst car of all time, describing it as "pointless" and an "embarrassing attempt to take on the mercedes sl."[22] the sterling 825 was a slightly modified rover 800 created for export to the united states. the 800, in turn, was jointly developed with honda and was very similar in design to, and shared most of its mechanical components with, the acura legend. the sterling, suffering from numerous build quality and reliability problems, ended up being a major commercial failure, in marked contrast with the success of the concurrently launched acura. naming it one of the worst flops of the past 25 years, car and driver retroactively wrote of it, "... on paper, it made sense: take a rover 800 which was really just a rebodied acura legend rebadge it, and sell it through a network of independent dealers under a new, made up brand. japanese reliability, british interior ambiance, and a lack of preconceived notions? how could you lose? quite easily, as it turned out. predictably, the problem lay in the car itself the first sterlings were nothing short of unreliable, hastily screwed together nightmares. (apparently, japanese engineering doesn't work if you assemble it with equal parts wood glue and indifference. who knew?)"[115] jalopnik named it one of the dumbest cars ever imported to america, saying to "think of it as a classy but terrible acura."[116] autotrader.com retroactively wrote of the sterling, "the rover 825 came to the u.s. in 1987 under the sterling brand name. initially, u.s. buyers were intrigued   remember, this was at the height of reagan thatcher cooperation and just a few years after prince charles and princess di got hitched. the uk was cool in the u.s., and buyers were enticed by the wood trimmed dash, the leather lined seats and the slick fastback body not offered on the u.s. market acura legend. besides, the engine and the mechanical bits were from honda. how bad could it be? plainly put, what passed for decent build quality in britain was pathetic in the u.s. and so it went with the sterling 825. trim fell off. electricals failed. the paintwork was terrible. and after a few short years, the car started to rust. contemporary j.d. power surveys told the story: the sterling was near the bottom, while the acura legend was near the top. one of the unique selling points of the sterling, by the way, was the sterling plus motor club, which offered hotel accommodations for stranded owners   one marvels that rover didn't go bankrupt from the lodging bills."[117] autotrader also noted that despite the sterling's failure, the same export initiative also brought land rover to america.[117] included in automotive atrocities: the cars we love to hate, author eric peters made note of the sterling's shared development with the acura legend and wrote of it, "while acura would go on to great things, the half breed spawn of this odd one night stand would go down as one of the greatest commercial flops ever . given acura's 'sterling' reputation today as a manufacturer of first class luxury cars   and the well known success of the legend in the united states   it's hard to understand why the essentially similar sterling 825 and 827 went belly up so quickly. [buyers] quickly encountered defeating problems such as dashboards that turned a hideous green in the sunlight and other fit, finish and build quality issues related to the car's chintzy british sourced [cosmetic pieces]".[25] including it in his book crap cars, richard porter wrote of it, "it seemed like such a good idea. rover of britain and honda of japan would join forces to make a luxury car. the japanese would bring the build quality, reliability and precision engineering. the british would garnish it with their talent for suspension tuning and tasteful design. what could possibly go wrong? for acura, nothing. for sterling? absolutely everything. the only bit of the sterling that was even remotely dependable was the engine. and   surprise, surprise   that came from honda."[26] edmunds.com ranked the sterling 825 as the 68th worst car of all time.[22] the uk version of the car, sold as the rover 800 series, was initially very popular after its 1986 launch, and was restyled in 1991, although its popularity was declining by the time it was discontinued at the beginning of 1999 to be replaced by the rover 75. the eagle premier   also sold as the dodge monaco   was a large sedan developed as a joint venture between american motors and renault, launched after amc was bought out by chrysler. chrysler established a new brand, eagle, to market it. while a commercial failure, the premier formed the basis of the company's successful lh platform cars, the 1993 dodge intrepid, chrysler concorde, and eagle vision. naming it one of the dumbest cars ever imported to america, jalopnik said it was "developed at the final moments of amc's renault clusterfuck before chrysler took over. it's quite a story (seriously, it's even got a high level cold war assassination)!"[116] autoweek retroactively wrote of it, "the premier ultimately fell victim to poor timing   amc started to unravel just as the sedan entered production. chrysler would inherit most of amc, and the very first premiers left the factory with a mishmash of renault and eagle badges attached to various surfaces. the premier suffered from an identity crisis from the start, and by the time it was suddenly rebadged as an eagle   an all new brand created out of thin air for amc leftovers   and then as a dodge, consumers weren't really sure what they were buying."[118] autoweek also noted that the only place to find a premier today was at a junkyard, as because of their poor reliability and difficulty in finding a shop that can service one, the premier "disappeared pretty quickly" off american roads.[118] edmunds.com ranked the premier as the 98th worst car of all time, describing it as a "boring box built around the renault 25 chassis".[22] thestreet.com ranked the premier the worst car of all time, noting its complete lack of redeeming qualities; "you may look at this car and think to yourself, 'that's not that bad.' but what it is that makes this car particularly terrible, it's what it is not. when you get into this car, you feel nothing. there is nothing special or unique about the eagle premier. this car looks like the generic silhouette of a vehicle in which you would spot only on a 25 year old poster that has been hanging in tired dmv, generic and apathetic in nature, faded and defeated from years of exposure to florescent [sic] lighting and the restless complaints of impatient souls. it is a symbol of sheer indifference and nothingness."[119] the chrysler tc by maserati, introduced in 1989 after years of production delays, was the result of a deal between chrysler ceo lee iacocca and his friend, maserati's head alejandro de tomaso to create a top line sports car for chrysler. the resulting vehicle was a critically panned commercial failure, due to it being based on k car components, as well as having both a strong resemblance to, and being only marginally more capable, than the much lower priced chrysler lebaron convertible. including it on its list of "the greatest automotive flops of the past 25 years", car and driver said of it, "arrogance, thy name is lee iacocca. in the late 1980s, the chrysler chairman and perpetual huckster turned a friendship with alejandro de tomaso, then president of maserati, into the most shudder worthy example of corporate avarice ever to roll off an assembly line. chrysler's tc by maserati was little more than a milan built k car with a few pricey underhood components and some styling hackery, a wrinkly grandmother dressed up in custom running shoes and ill fitting hot pants. the maserati trident plastered on the grille just added insult to injury."[115] included in the book automotive atrocities: the cars we love to hate, author eric peters wrote of it, "if you slipped a wino into a pair of bruno magli shoes, not many people would believe he was actually pierce brosnan out for an incognito stroll. yet chrysler corp. thought that a similar quickie italian makeover would work wonders for its k car based, front wheel drive lebaron coupe. [expecting a buyer to pay significantly extra for the tc over a lebaron] was like expecting people to pay $20 for a quarter pounder with cheese if it was called a royale with cheese and served on a china plate instead of purveyed to you wrapped in greasy paper."[25] peters also noted that the tc is the only maserati car to have no collectible value.[25] the tc is featured in the book crap cars, in which author richard porter says of it, "best of all was an advertisement for the tc that claimed that this crock was 'built and handcrafted'. built and handcrafted? so they bolted it all together, and then added the handcrafted bits?"[26] edmunds.com ranked it as the 15th worst car ever made; "stupid combination of front drive k car bits, indifferent maserati assembly in italy and a two seat roadster body that was indistinguishable from a lebaron. it's both the worst maserati and worst chrysler ever."[22] dan neil described the tc as being "a flaccid, front drive, four cylinder loser mobile with the proud mazzer trident on the nose."[20] in 1990, ford of europe launched the fifth generation of the ford escort, which had consistently been the best selling car in markets including the united kingdom during the 1980s, and thus was longed for by the public. however, the new escort was widely considered a major disappointment when it went on sale in september 1990. it was criticized for using carried over ageing and low performance engines from the previous escorts despite its new body, as well as its disappointing ride and handling, bland styling, and failing to improve on its predecessor.[120][121][122] top gear's jeremy clarkson called the escort's steering a "joke",[123] while the autocar magazine headlined a comparison as "escort meets its rivals and loses".[124] its bad press reception led to ford to undertake an emergency facelift, with the new updated model going on sale in september 1992 and much improved,[120][125] with new and better 16 valve fuel injected zetec engines.[126] this helped improve the car's poor image, although it still failed to become as successful as planned. despite its bad reception, the car still sold well in europe and especially the uk market, mostly due to its competitive pricing, which was the only real advantage it had over acclaimed rivals including the citroen zx, rover 200 series, vauxhall/opel astra and mk3 volkswagen golf. in 2015, driving.co.uk put it in its list of the 10 "worst production cars of all time".[127] the escort was updated again at the beginning of 1995, and continued in production until the year 2000, two years after the launch of its successor, the focus. the general motors u platform minivan, sold as the chevrolet lumina apv, pontiac trans sport, and oldsmobile silhouette, was introduced in the 1990 model year to provide a stylish alternative to the dodge caravan. however, it was strongly criticized for its awkward driving position and strange styling. many[quantify] publications[which?] nicknamed the vans "dustbusters" due to their resemblance to a popular handheld vacuum cleaner of the same name. in crap cars, richard porter describes the van as "an enormous dustbuster with detailing work by a group of lightly trained monkeys."[26] cnbc included the trans sport on its list of the "10 ugliest cars of all time." the truth about cars offshoot site curbside classic named the lumina apv as one of the "deadly sins" that led to gm's downfall. "there are two primary reasons gm vehicles have failed. they either arrived with deadly flaws in their quality/reliability, like the vega, citation and quite a few other models. or they were conceived in gm's notorious bubble of hubris, where its product planners and designers were seemingly perpetually stuck in a jetsons futurama mind set, convinced that they could wow americans with more advanced design and technology. what americans really want is a minivan that looks like a space shuttle! not. the most obvious feature of these vans are their extremely long noses, the huge low slope windshield, and the set back front seats. the combination of the three created a very distinctive visual effect from the outside that caused them almost instantly to be dubbed 'dustbusters'. the effect from the front seats was also disconcerting, as there was a ledge in front of the dashboard that seemed to go on for eternity, creating the feeling of sitting in the second row of more typical minivan. it would have made a nice platform for a bed if these were autonomous."[128] edmunds.com, describing the van as "stupid looking", ranked it the 86th worst car of all time.[22] the van was parodied in a 1997 episode of us tv series the simpsons and in the 1995 film get shorty. the trans sport proved popular in europe, particularly france, as its styling and layout was similar to the contemporary renault espace.[128] the vector w8 was a supercar built by american manufacturer vector motors. developed through the 1980s and promoted with its vector w2 prototype, the w8 was delayed numerous times and did not go into production until 1990. only seventeen were completed before the company collapsed. the car received negative publicity almost immediately after one of the first models, purchased by tennis star andre agassi, nearly caught fire the very first time he drove it.[129] agassi, describing the car as a "death trap", went to vector founder and ceo gerald wiegert, returned the car, and demanded a refund, which wiegert obliged.[129] car and driver attempted a road test of the w8 in 1991, but all three production models supplied broke down in different ways during testing.[130] in a 2017 piece, car and driver described the w8 as "vaporware", apologized for the positive publicity the publication gave vector during the 1980s, and claimed the car is the reason the publication never believes any manufacturer's claims about a new model without testing it themselves.[130] jalopnik included the w8 on its list "ten totally bogus 90s cars", saying "when they were running, they may have been great cars, but the w8 was a combination of 80s style with 70s quality, making it the most backward sports car of a forward looking decade."[131] edmunds.com named the w8 the 93rd worst car of all time, "gerald wiegert's 625 hp, $400,000 plus folly was obsolete by the time it finally hit production. only 17 reached customers and they needed to be shadowed by a flatbed."[22] the second generation of the ford scorpio executive car made by ford germany received positive reception for its luxury interior, handling and performance, but the public's and press reaction to its unconventional styling, especially the "frog eye" front, was largely negative, which made it become a sales flop. after only four years, it was discontinued without a successor, making ford europe withdraw from the executive car market. jeremy clarkson said of the scorpio: "in many ways the scorpio wasn't a bad car. it was well made, it was extremely well equipped, and considering its size, it was good value for money. but, for some reason, it went on sale with a face of such unparalleled awfulness, that very few people ever actually bought one. why would you? why would anybody deliberately buy a car that they knew would make their children cry? we've had cars styled to look like jaguars and sharks in the past, but never, until this came along, had one ever been styled to look like a frog... but with its gormless mouth and its stupid headlights, this was a first. if you were going to run a competition to find the world's ugliest car, this would probably win it. so it's not a good looking car..."[132] additionally, clarkson said that "there’s no escaping that loopy face, a face that its parents don’t seem to like either" and described it as a "gopping hideous monstrosity".[133] retromotor.co.uk called it "gargoyle ugly" and said that "... the scorpio resembled something that david attenborough might reveal from a dank cave in borneo. the front end was particularly troubling, your eyes irresistibly drawn to it before your brain fought over whether to focus upon the globular triangles of its headlights, or the reptilian gurn of its grille. with a face like this, the new scorpio’s oddly fat flanks were easy to pass over until you arrived at a plump rear end that resembled a giant cushion."[134] it is often considered among the worst and ugliest cars ever built, with the times calling it 'the ugliest manmade vehicle of all time'.[135] driving.co.uk ranked it #14 on their list of the 23 ugliest cars ever made,[136] auto express ranked it #5 on their list of the ten ugliest cars ever made,[137] and drive.com.au included in their article on the worst cars of the 20th century, calling it "one of the silliest looking cars of the century".[138] the suzuki x 90 was a small suv based on the popular sidekick/vitara. it was a crossover between suv, roadster, and buggy, with a t top roof, and replaced the samurai in the us market. it was supposed to be a fun two seat leisure car, but was heavily criticized for its sparse interior space, small trunk, poor performance, bad road handling, lack of driving fun, and controversial styling. it was also priced higher than the sidekick, which featured four seats, more interior room, and a bigger trunk. the x 90 was featured in the books "the worst cars ever sold" by giles chapman,[10] "crap cars" by richard porter[26] and "naff motors: 101 automotive lemons" by tony davis.[11] in october 2013, top gear magazine placed the x 90 at number 10 on its list of "the 13 worst cars of the last 20 years", saying "evil progenitor of the pre towie essexmobile, the vitara suv, the x 90 compounded suzuki's reputation for marketing led myopia and wobbly handling."[139] thestreet.com ranked it 15th in its list of the 20 worst cars of all time, saying, "after looking at this car, it may not be a surprise to anyone that suzuki no longer produces cars in the u.s. not only does the car look near exactly the same going forward as it does going backward, it is almost as if the manufacturers simply forgot the middle part of the car."[140] the telegraph ranked it 7th in its list of the "10 worst cars ever sold in britain", commenting, "who wanted a two seater convertible mini suv? nobody, especially when it had awful handling and zero off road ability."[141] stuff.co.nz included in an article on cars that should never have been built, saying, "suzuki did wonders with the x90 by redesigning the early vitara to look like a back scrubbing shower accessory, on the way halving its passenger capacity and turning an excellent new junior 4x4 into a blobby, saleproof nightmare."[9] the vector m12 was a repurposed vector wx3 prototype, manufactured after the company's hostile takeover by indonesian company megatech. a number of its mechanical parts, including its v12 engine, were borrowed from the lamborghini diablo. in a period review for top gear, jeremy clarkson gave the m12 a negative mark, claiming that it "was cooked by a man who learned everything there is to know about quality control in a bulgarian power station." he noted that the air conditioning system didn't work properly, the driver's door didn't fit, one of the hvac vents could be pushed into the dashboard, and he could smell gasoline inside of the car. while noting that the m12 could be pleasurable to drive around a track, he deemed it not worth buying.[142] autoweek magazine deemed the m12 the worst vehicle the publication has ever tested.[143] vector entered the m12 in auto races to establish brand equity, but only received more negative publicity; due to engine failure, the m12 never completed a single race.[143] only seventeen units were built before vector went into receivership because it could not afford to pay lamborghini to ship more engines. in a retrospective, carthrottle described the m12 as a "botch job" and noted, "would be customers found it hard to justify spending $189,000 on a canoe bodied car that was slower, uglier and of lesser build quality than [the lamborghini diablo]."[143] msn autos included the m12 on its list of "the world's worst supercars".[144] despite the car's negative reputation, it was included as a purchasable vehicle, along with the vector w8, in the video game gran turismo 2, for 1 million credits. the cadillac catera was the brand’s second attempt to market a smaller, sportier model to a younger demographic, after the failure of the cimarron in the 1980s. a modified version of the 1994 opel omega, the catera was aimed at compact german luxury cars like the bmw 3 series. while it was better received by critics than the cimarron, the catera was a commercial failure, unable to match its german rivals in performance and capability while failing to appeal to cadillac's existing customers. its unorthodox marketing campaign, featuring model cindy crawford and a cartoon duck named "ziggy", has been cited as a factor in the catera's failure. the catera also quickly developed a reputation as being unreliable; one broke down multiple times during a test by automobile magazine.[145] naming it one of the "10 most embarrassing award winners in automotive history", car and driver retroactively wrote of it, "despite an ad campaign that featured both cindy crawford and animated versions of the ducks found on the cadillac crest, there was just no way to hide the fact that the catera was a snoozer. the styling was generic and gelatinous, the interior bland, and the chassis response lackadaisical, and the 3.0 liter v 6's 200 hp had to strain against a nearly 3900 pound curb weight. about the only thing truly interesting about the catera was its calamitous reliability record."[47] autoweek described the catera as "badge engineered bomb."[118] popular mechanics described the catera as "a car that couldn't zag into obscurity quickly enough," including it on their list of "10 cars that deserved to fail".[146] jalopnik named the catera one of the worst german cars of all time.[147] u.s. news & world report listed the catera's "princess" advertisement as one of the worst car commercials of all time, describing ziggy as "a bargain basement imitation of a looney tunes character" and crawford's character as a "sexist representation of women".[148] the truth about cars offshoot site curbside classic noted that the catera strongly resembled the much cheaper 1997 chevrolet malibu that was launched at the same time. it described its "the cadillac that zigs" ad campaign as "stupid," and noted that the car's poor resale value caused large financial losses for gm, since a majority of them were leased. however, they also noted that the catera convinced gm to continue making cadillacs smaller and sportier, leading to the critically acclaimed cadillac cts, which lead to the brand's resurgence as a german import fighter in the 2000s.[114] edmunds.com named the catera the 22nd worst car of all time.[22] the jaguar s type, launched at the beginning of 1999, was an executive car with retro styling that revived the s type nameplate first used by jaguar in 1963 and had a distinctive retro design that also paid tribute to the 1963 s type. it was praised on its release for having a 'luxurious interior', 'creamy composure', and a 'class leading' 'cosseting ride'.[149][150] in particular, the 2.7 v6 twin turbodiesel engine was described as 'a paragon of refinement, quietness, and fuel economy' by the european automotive press, with enough 'refinement and performance to wean anyone off petrol power'.[151][152] the initial positive reception faded away as time passed, and the car attracted significantly more negative commentary as it aged. the retro design received also a mixed reputation, with some comparing it unfavorably to that of the rover 75, which featured a contemporary design. motoring research said of the s type's styling: "[rover] unveiled the 75 at the [1998] birmingham motor show where jaguar had just revealed its s type, and it was gradually dawning on the attending press that one of these cars was rather more convincing than the other. and it wasn't the jaguar. the s type's retro references to the 1960s s type look forced to the point of awkwardness, and its cabin was almost bereft of the kind of beautiful detailing, and quality, that makes a jag cabin so appealing."[153] james may said in 2004 that "in 15 or 20 years' time we'll look at the s type, and we'll think 'that's really awful'", while jeremy clarkson replied "i think the s type is basically like beaujolais nouveau   awful when it came out and then just gets steadily worse as time passes".[154] in addition, jeremy clarkson also panned the car in 2003 as "jaguar's weakest hour", and the "weakest jaguar ever", and said that he particularly disliked the styling,[155] while james may harshly criticised the car, saying that he believed it was designed to appeal to the american and german markets, and that the styling pandered to common stereotypes of the united kingdom held in those countries. describing the radiator grille as 'goppingly awful', he said that the car 'sums up everything that's wrong with jaguar', and that the vehicle annoyed him and was bettered by its successor.[156] from the time it was unveiled in 2000, the pontiac aztek earned a strongly negative reception, mainly for its controversial styling, which former general motors executive bob lutz described as resembling an "angry kitchen appliance".[157] autoblog listed the aztek #2 on its list of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time", criticizing its styling and stating, "gm execs cheaped out here, and were leading a system which minimized the influence of competent designers, and maximized the influence of accountants to produce cars at the cheapest cost."[19] in its entry on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time, dan neil wrote, "i was in the audience at the detroit auto show the day gm unveiled the pontiac aztek and i will never forget the gasp that audience made. holy hell! this car could not have been more instantly hated if it had a swastika tattoo on its forehead."[158] in a later piece, time also named the aztek one of the 50 worst inventions of all time.[159] the los angeles times named the aztek the "worst car ever sold in america".[29] the book sixty to zero by alex taylor iii, which details the fall of general motors, prominently features an aztek on the cover. cnbc listed the aztek as one of the 10 ugliest cars of all time.[30] popular mechanics listed the aztek as one of the 10 cars that damaged gm's reputation, as the aztek's styling hampered gm's attempt to get a jump on an emerging market.[48] the last entry in automotive atrocities! the cars we love to hate, eric peters says of it, "the only vehicle to look like it's been in a bad accident even before it left the factory, the aztek will be remembered as evidence that advanced degrees in automotive design are not necessarily indicators of good taste   or spelling ability."[25] consumer reports revealed in 2014 that they conducted most of their testing of the aztek at night because staffers were embarrassed to drive it and that the aforementioned aztek was still in their possession because they were unable to sell it when liquidating that year's test fleet.[160] edmunds.com ranked the aztek as the worst car of all time; "drive one and you quickly realize that the aztek's exterior design is its best feature. it's the very worst car of all time because it's the only car on the list to kill an 84 year old car company. it's undeniable that the aztek's utter hideousness drove the biggest and last nails into pontiac's heavily side clad, plastic coffin."[22] the hummer h2, built on the gmt800 platform, was introduced in late 2002 for the 2003 model year. the h2 was polarizing when introduced and has since gained extremely negative retroactive recognition as well as a negative socio political image in the united states. including it on time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time, dan neil wrote of it, "one struggles to think of a worse vehicle at a worse time. introduced shortly after 9/11 an event whose causes were tangled in america's unquenchable thirst for oil   the hummer h2 sent all the wrong signals. it was/is arrogantly huge, overly militaristic, openly scornful of the common good. as a vehicle choice, the h2 was a spiteful reactionary riposte to notions that, you know, maybe we all shouldn't be driving tanks that get 10 miles per gallon. the h2 was also a pr catastrophe for gm, who happened to be repossessing and crushing the few ev1 electric cars at the time. it all contributed to gm's emerging image as the dick cheney of car companies."[20] popular mechanics listed the h2 as one of the 10 cars that damaged gm's reputation, noting how it was launched around the same time as the toyota prius, was "politically incorrect in an era where the forces of political correctness [were] winning" and used styling that resembled a military vehicle as a selling point while opposition to the iraq war was at a fever pitch, compounded with the huge financial losses the hummer brand brought when sales collapsed during the 2000s energy crisis, leading them to summarize the h2 as "a self inflicted headache gm [didn't] need".[48] car blog jalopnik named the h2 one of the 10 worst cars of the 2000s decade; "say hello to the sierra club's antichrist: the h2 is the younger brother of am general's massive hummer h1. gm birthed this overfed monstrosity in an effort to bring the h1's street cred and off road talent to america's middle class." jalopnik noted it has excellent off road capabilities but "the interior is cramped, chintzy, and claustrophobic. frame and mechanicals are largely last gen chevy tahoe/gmc yukon bits, only they carry more weight and complain more often."[161] autoblog included it on its list of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time", stating, "the hummer h2 may have tried to appeal to outdoorsy adventure seekers, but what it attracted were mostly people who advocate for tofu to be actually banned by law. [the h2 eventually became] the poster cars for american excess and environmental insensitivity. few other vehicles created such a visceral response from others than the hummer h2. the whole vehicle was in really bad taste, though we understand there are plenty of state militia and world wrestling federation fans who think otherwise."[19] consumerguide included the h2 on its list "the ten worst cars in the past ten years"; "though reasonably capable off road, the h2 wasn't actually fun in the wild. it was difficult to see out of, and far too wide to navigate the type of twisty trails most often enjoyed by jeep enthusiasts. additionally, the h2's cabin was made mostly of hard, industrial grade plastic, and its thirst for fuel was exacerbated by the need for pricey premium gas. the worst part, though, was driving a vehicle that became the poster child for vehicular conspicuous consumption."[162] forbes named it on its list "12 most embarrassing cars", noting that the hummer h2's "wretched excess" arrived at a time when the large suv fad was beginning to end.[163] australian used car review site redriven named the h2 #1 on their list "the 5 worst cars you can buy right now", claiming that the h2 is more about image than substance and that in the research and interviews they did when compiling the list, the h2 was by far the most complained about vehicle.[164] the h2 is parodied in the grand theft auto video game series as the mammoth patriot, featuring extravagant american flag decals and a description on an in game website stating "the original and best way to invite the loathing of every liberal and peacenik on the interstate, the patriot is three tons of solid liberty coming straight out of the days when you could still afford a tank of gas." in 2017, autotrader published an article and accompanying video entitled "the hummer h2 is the most embarrassing car you can buy", in which automotive writer doug demuro rents one from turo and drives it around florida: "i simply had to know what it was like; i had to know how it felt; i had to know if everything i ever assumed about it was true. and i'm happy to report that it is true   that the h2 is just as bad as you could've ever expected. now you can feel like you're justified when you see one driving down the road and you start to chuckle."[165] launched in the summer of 2001, the jaguar x type, designed to compete with compact luxury cars such as the mercedes benz c class, was a commercial failure that has earned derision for being based on the more downmarket ford mondeo. named one of the 50 worst cars of all time by time magazine, dan neil wrote of it, "in its attempt to turn [the mondeo] into an “all wheel drive” sports sedan, jaguar ran smack into the limits of platform engineering. the result was the english version of the cadillac cimarron, a tarted up insult to a once proud marque and a financial disaster for the company."[20] the new york times dubbed the x type "the worst car of the decade".[166] aol uk named the x type one of the worst cars of the 2000s decade.[167] car and driver wrote of the x type, "engines seized, interiors collapsed, transmissions exploded, and driveshafts oh, the countless, countless driveshafts ate their u joints so regularly that you could set your watch by them. at a time when jaguar reliability was finally approaching respectable, the all wheel drive x type was the lone, laughable holdout. it was obnoxiously underbuilt, remarkably overpriced, and about as charming as a hernia."[115] australian used car review site redriven named the x type on their list "the 5 worst cars you can buy right now" noting its mondeo origins and many documented reliability problems while describing it as "dishonest" and "a great example of luxury brands not necessarily equating to quality products."[164] edmunds.com ranked the x type the 84th worst car of all time, describing it as jaguar "spitting on its own heritage".[22] the x type remained on sale for eight years. after production finished in 2009, jaguar did not launch a replacement model until the arrival of the jaguar xe in 2015. the lincoln blackwood is a pickup truck version of the popular lincoln navigator suv and ford f 150 supercrew. the blackwood was a major commercial failure, withdrawn from the market in a year; selling off the remaining inventory took two more years.[19] reviewers wrote about its lack of utility and off road capability. naming the blackwood one of "the 20 dumbest cars of all time", autoblog stated, "ford ceo jacques nasser and his luxury brand chief wolfgang reitzle thought it was a great idea: a luxury lincoln branded pickup truck with a trunk instead of a flat bed and pin stripe painting to mimic a business suit. [the blackwood was] one of those vanity projects hatched at the top."[19] car and driver named it one of the worst flops of the past 25 years, saying, "check out the cargo box: it's lined in carpet and gen yoo wine stainless steel. that's stainless means it can't be stained. you can't carry nuthin' heavy or dirty in it without uglying it up, but it makes for a nice trunk, see?"[115] jalopnik included the blackwood on its list of "ten cars that should have never left the factory", saying "riding the cheap upgrade, big margin wave of the navigator, ford gave its f150 the same treatment, calling it the blackwood. except they stripped out every ounce of actual utility from the vehicle, save for towing, by making it a rwd only pickup with an aluminum lined, carpeted, power tonneau'd bed. this was where they decided to pour their resources rather than refining their new rwd ls sedan. this is a symbol of the fall of the brand. now we're stuck with a lifeless shell of a company, making badge engineered fords that bastardize the mark (mk?) name."[168] in the late 1990s, when renault started manufacturing their new generation of espace mpv in house instead of at matra, the latter company needed a new product to build. renault chose to create a luxury coupe based on the old espace. according to craig cheetham in his book world's worst cars, "the car was doomed to failure by its very concept."[12] despite being based on the same platform as the espace minivan, the car was designed for just four people, and rear legroom was disappointing. retaining the height of an mpv, the car appeared tall and ungainly. the renault avantime became one of the biggest sales flops in automotive history. only 8,557 units sold, making it rarer numerically than some models of rolls royce or ferrari. production halted in 2003 when the matra car production company went bankrupt.[169] renault's other effort to tap into the luxury market was a more conventional, but still oddly designed, four door hatchback limousine called vel satis. it received some praise for its high level of comfort, but its road handling was considered poor and its design was often ridiculed, as designer patrick le quément was primarily interested in presence rather than elegance.[170] aol ranked it the 9th worst car of the 2000s, saying, "the french company was off to a loser from the off thanks to the vel satis's ugly looks and driving dynamics that were way off the pace. the most distinctive but unattractive design features include the large front headlight units and bloated rear styling."[171] the oxford mail included it in its "the worst cars evah!" series, saying that it, "looked like a cartoon with a radiator shaped like a gaping tooth filled mouth. all it needed was a gauloises cigarette wedged on one side and the image would have been complete. even the french thought renault had gone mad and sales were disastrous. instead of being sexy and sophisticated, it was seen as fat and ugly."[172] autocar.co.uk included it in the article on "the worst cars of the decade", commenting, "lumpy looks and a lumpy ride, for both the occupants and its maker."[173] jalopnik said, "what's the worst french car ever? obviously, it's the renault vel satis, an overpriced, under luxurious stinkbomb that beat toyota to the uncontrolled acceleration issue by about five years. worse than that, it was completely charmless, and charm is usually a french car's saving grace."[174] the car got a facelift in 2005, when renault stopped making the right hand drive version. the revised model continued until 2009. it did not have a direct successor, leaving renault without an executive car until the 2010 release of the renault latitude. the rover cityrover was a rebadged tata indica tweaked for european regulations and sold in the uk and continental europe. it was the result of mg rover wanting to offer a new small car after the discontinuation of the rover 100 in 1998 and of the mini in the year 2000, but as the company was in financial trouble and had no money to develop a new small car on its own, they entered a deal with indian tata motors. mg rover was reported to be paying tata £3,000 for each car and, despite each model featuring a rover corporate nose and revised suspension settings, the £6,495 starting price was considered too high. in may 2004, rover refused to lend a cityrover to motoring show top gear to test it, so james may went undercover and test drove one at a dealer while carrying a hidden camera. may went on to say that it was the worst car he had ever driven on the programme.[175] sales were well short of mg rover's targets, so the cityrover was given an upgrade for the 2005 model year, with more standard equipment. in december 2004, prices were reduced by £900, confirming that the car's previous prices had not been competitive.[176] according to car reviewer parker's, the cityrover was the worst rated rover car from mg rover, with a rating of two out of five.[177] in october 2013, top gear magazine placed the cityrover at number six on its list of "the thirteen worst cars of the last twenty years", stating "the rover cityrover   almost certainly not the inspiration behind the ferrari laferrari   wasn't so much the last roll of the dice as the final nail in a faux walnut coffin. the problem was the sheer cynicism with which it was piloted to market: you needed nine grand for a decently specced one."[139] in a 2016 auto express poll, it was voted the 6th worst car ever, with the article saying "the end of mg rover was comprehensively hastened by the launch of the cityrover, a small car with few redeeming qualities. even though the rover badge carried some prestige, buyers were not convinced by the cityrover's poor quality. the indian market indica had already been in production for five years when the cityrover was launched, too, so it felt dated even as it first appeared in showrooms. poor quality, modest performance and vague handling all counted against the cityrover, especially as it was priced so highly."[178] launched for 2003, the chevrolet ssr was a retro styled hot rod pickup truck based on the chevrolet trailblazer. it was a commercial failure and earned lasting critical derision due to its trailblazer origins and poor performance. named one of the 50 worst cars of all time by time magazine, dan neil described it as being "heavy, underpowered and unforgivably lazy. it was no more hotrod than britney is the next helen mirren."[20] autoblog included the ssr on its list "the 20 dumbest cars of all time"; "the ssr answered the question no one asked. who needs a retractable hardtop convertible roadster/pickup?"[19] car and driver, stating the ssr "failed miserably", named it as one of the biggest flops of the past 25 years; "it's a convertible. it's a pickup. it's a car. it's yet another example of how the american people refuse to pay for anything even remotely corporate where hot rod culture is concerned. yep, that's right: it's the chevrolet ssr, and we can hear you yawning already."[115] edmunds.com listed the ssr as one of the worst automotive failures of the last decade; "is it a pickup or a roadster? neither, because both of those can justify their existence. the retro styled chevrolet ssr is one of the oddest vehicles ever squeezed from detroit's loins. some say that the ssr stood out on the highway. so does a car fire."[179] edmunds.com also named the ssr the 60th worst car of all time.[22] unlike its successful and critically acclaimed predecessor, the saturn s series, the saturn ion, based on the gm delta platform, garnered largely negative reviews for its poor design, poor quality and poor driving dynamics and was considered a reason for the downfall of the once successful saturn marque that was discontinued by its parent company general motors in 2010. the ion was notable for its quality, safety and construction problems that led to a total of twelve recalls,[180] including one for a faulty ignition switch that resulted in thirteen deaths among all gm delta platform based cars.[181] another point were its unusual design choices, with the instrument panel for the speedometer and all other gauges being placed above the center console instead of in the usual place in front of the driver being especially criticized.[182] edmunds.com ranked it the 6th worst car of all time,[22] the los angeles times ranked it #5 in its list of the ten worst cars ever sold in america,[29] best life ranked it the 19th worst car of the 21st century,[183] and motorbiscuit ranked it #1 in its list of the "25 most hated cars of all time".[182] after only four years on the market, it was replaced by the astra, a rebadged opel astra h imported from europe. in 2003, pontiac revived the once successful gto muscle car by importing a slightly modified australian holden monaro, equipped with a 5.7l v8 engine from the corvette, to the us. sales remained far behind expectations, which was mainly blamed on the car's bland design, poor quality, comparatively high price, and australian roots. it was also based on the opel omega b, which had previously been unsuccessfully imported to the us as the cadillac catera.[184] only 13,000 sold in the first year, against a planned 18,000,[185] and only about 40,000 were sold within the three years of production.[184] car and driver included it in its list of "the 20 biggest automotive flops of the past 30 years", saying, "the long awaited return of a legendary nameplate, the pontiac gto arrived not with a bang but with a whimper." and "styling that said 'bloated chevy cavalier' more than 'muscle car' didn't help, either. that ability to disappear in traffic, more than the indifferent quality control, interior oddities, or lack of options, probably kept the goat a rare beast."[186] popular mechanics included it on its list of "6 retro flops, and 6 concept cars that should have replaced them", saying "potential buyers were waiting for a modern beast with a retro edge, something like what ford did with mustang in the 2000s. but the gto looked like a bloated chevy cavalier, not a hard edged, heart pumping take on the 1960s classic. ... a sport appearance package tried to add some visual excitement, but the new gto's looks just never found a passionate audience."[187] thethings.com ranked it #15 in its list of "the 15 worst american sports cars of all time".[188] the chrysler crossfire is a sports car manufactured by chrysler that was effectively a rebodied mercedes benz r170. the crossfire was a commercial failure, with dealers having a 230 day supply of the model by november 2005, prompting chrysler to start selling it on overstock.com.[189] top gear magazine, citing a clarkson review, included the crossfire on its list of "the 13 worst cars of the past 20 years", describing it as, "a half decent concept that failed to make the grade in the real world. a first gen merc slk underneath, it was outdated before it was even launched. the ultimate triumph of style over content, only without the style. or much content."[190] the daily telegraph auto critic stephen bailey wrote about the crossfire in a 2004 review; "this is indubitably the worst car i have ever driven. it beggars belief that the aristocrats of engineering, the artistes formerly known as mercedes benz, have associated their name with such an aesthetic, functional and social atrocity."[191] naming it one of the worst car flops of the past 25 years, car and driver wrote of it, "what do you get when you combine a bunch of rehashed, last generation mercedes benz chassis components with overwrought styling and a bit of d town pride? this bright eyed hunk of weirdness, that's what. potential buyers were put off by the art deco looks and the $35,000 plus buy in, and many simply bought an slk instead. or an infiniti g35 or a bmw 3 series, both of which were more fun to drive than the crossfire, and neither of which looked like a dog in the middle of a life altering dump."[115] edmunds.com named the crossfire one of the top automotive failures of the last decade; "the antiquated recirculating ball steering made it slow to respond, handling was disappointing and at the same time, the ride was harsh. to further pile on the drawbacks, the interior fell short of expectations, as did overall performance and everyday convenience. in the end, not even celine dion could save the crossfire, and the final insult came when remainders were sold off on overstock.com and ebay."[179] aol uk named the crossfire the worst car of the 2000s decade.[167] the ssangyong rodius was a minivan and was ssangyong's first step into the mpv segment. it was praised for its roomy interior and utility, but highly ridiculed for its unconventional styling. it was voted the ugliest car in the uk in 2005, with an article on jalopnik calling it an "r class with down's syndrome".[192] top gear said "the rodius is so ugly that almost everyone knows what it is; they don't know its name, but they recognise it as the car top gear called the ugliest car in production today."[193] top gear magazine also ranked it 9th on its list of "the 13 worst cars of the last 20 years".[139] the daily telegraph ranked it 1st in its list of the "10 worst cars ever sold in britain", commenting: "'looks like a melted hearse,' is the best description of the visually challenging ssangyong rodius we've ever heard. if it were human, not even its mother could love it."[194] the landwind x6 became controversial after a series of safety tests. german car club adac showed in its crash test, carried out for euro ncap, that a driver of this vehicle would not survive a head on collision at 64 km/h (40 mph). the reputation it garnered negatively affected the perception of chinese cars in europe for many years. wirtschaftswoche wrote in 2017 that "der katastrophale crashtest des landwind x6 im jahr 2005 prägt das bild chinesischer autos in deutschland bis heute."[195] (transl. the catastrophic crash test of the landwind x6 in 2005 still shapes the image of chinese cars in germany today.) when general motors released their new generation of u body minivans in 2005, which consisted of the chevrolet uplander and its rebadged derivatives, the saturn relay, buick terraza, and pontiac montana sv6, as successors to the successful previous generation including the chevrolet venture, the reception was largely negative, mainly due to the poor design that tried to be more suv like but was not liked by the public and the fact that the technical layout was still partly based on the previous generation, making it already outdated when launched. the truth about cars ranked them #1 on its 2006 "ten worst automobiles today (twat) awards" list, saying: "talk about retro design. rather than simply cop styling cues from bygone classics, gm built the chevrolet uplander, saturn relay, buick terraza and pontiac sv6 using 25 year old engineering. (though not literally true, it's true enough.) in terms of dreadful driving dynamics, contemptible aesthetics and torturous ergonomics, no other vehicles sold in america can compete with these ridiculously named “crossover sport vans." for their antique engineering, woeful looks, cancerous effect on not one but four gm brands and their abject inability to hold a candle to their foreign owned competition, gm's minivans earn the truth about cars' accolade as the worst vehicles currently for sale in america."[196] the new york daily news named the chevrolet uplander one of the ten worst chevrolet cars of all time.[197] jalopnik ranked the uplander #10 in its list of the ten worst gm cars ever built.[198] the poor reception as well as a general decrease in minivan sales due to the ongoing sales boom of suvs led to general motors exiting the minivan market in 2009 (with the exception of china where the buick gl8 continues to be sold) and offering the chevrolet traverse, gmc acadia, buick enclave, and the now discontinued saturn outlook suvs as replacements. the jeep commander is a 3 row suv based on the jeep grand cherokee, introduced for the 2006 model year. launched at the onset of the 2000s energy crisis, the commander was a commercial failure that was withdrawn after four years on the market and has received poor retroactive reviews. consumerguide named the commander one of the ten worst cars of the 2000s, describing it as "the big brother jeep's grand cherokee never needed" and noted that even equipped with its smallest v6 engine, it only returned 14 mpg in testing.[162] new york daily news and four wheeler both included the commander on their lists of the ten worst jeep vehicles, both criticizing the commander's poorly designed interior and the cramped feeling in all three rows of seats.[199][200] new york daily news described the commander as "poorly designed" and "useless" and said of it, "think of it this way: the commander was only 2 inches longer than the jeep grand cherokee, but about 400 pounds heavier. if ever there was a car that needed a diet and a treadmill, the commander was it."[199] the truth about cars named the commander as a runner up on their 2008 list of the ten worst cars on the market.[201] some of the harshest criticism of the commander came from chrysler ceo sergio marchionne; he ended production within months of taking over the company and shortly thereafter said of it, "that vehicle was unfit for human consumption. we sold some. but i don't know why people bought them."[202] the jeep compass was one of jeep's first attempts to produce a compact crossover suv, but got criticized for its poor design, poor quality and the absence of good off road ability as it was largely based on the dodge caliber compact car, thus being the first jeep to have front wheel drive and independent suspension, making it the first jeep to be designed mainly for good road performance.[203] the truth about cars ranked it #2 in its "ten worst automobiles today award (twat)" list in 2006, saying: "in this horror story, dr. frankenstein (played by the mustache twirling doktor z) grafts round headlights and a seven slot grill onto the face of a mediocre high riding sedan (a.k.a. the dodge caliber). he throws the switch and an ugly, gangly, underpowered, mud aversive half breed staggers into the light, turning all who see it  or god forbid buy it  into grotesque, bobble headed morons. the compass stomps all over jeep's reputation as america's purveyor of authentic off road vehicles. it's time to get out your pitchforks."[196] best life named it the worst car of the 21st century in 2018, saying: "this abomination was an affront to die hard jeep lovers everywhere. it looked like an as seen on tv plastic appliance that one buys in a late night stupor and condemns to the pantry for the rest of existence. plus, in the ultimate insult to jeepsters, this vehicle had no off road prowess (to say nothing of how it handled on road)."[183] jalopnik headlined a 2016 article about the arrival of the second generation with "burn in hell, jeep compass", saying: "a brand new jeep compass is upon us, meaning the old one  a universally derided conglomerate of hard plastics, weak suspension parts and just general automotive incompetence is on its way out. thank god. ... even though you could say the compass paved the way for the fairly decent new cherokee and renegade, the history books won't be kind to the mitsubishi gs based crossover. though many early reviews weren't horrible in part because the automotive climate in the u.s. in 2006 dulled many journalists' senses into thinking terrible hard interiors, poor nvh and uninspired handling were acceptable, and because fawning early reviews remain common in the sycophantic world of auto writing within a few years, the compass became the laughing stock of the industry."[203] the 2007 chrysler sebring earned strong critical derision upon its launch. when the truth about cars reviewed the sebring upon its launch in late 2006, writer jonny lieberman panned it and said, "i don't get it. dcx must be trying to kill chrysler. ... do i sound insane? paranoid? delusional? i cannot think of another remotely credible reason why any carmaker, knowing full well that the camry and accord are out there, would bring such a tired dog to market. seriously, how profitable can rental cars be?"[204] ttac subsequently included the sebring on its 2007 and 2008 lists of the worst cars on the market. in a 2007 comparison test with competitors, car and driver placed the chrysler sebring in last place, stating, "everyone who climbed aboard the sebring felt it was aimed at buyers for which buicks had become too racy" and that the interior looked like it had been "constructed from the parts of five different cars to look like the lobby of the chrysler building."[205] in a later review, car and driver said, "however, the sebring is one of the least appealing cars in its class, finishing last in a recent car and driver comparison test of four cylinder mid size sedans. the engines are not especially refined, the handling and the ride are mediocre, and the interior quality is substandard. it doesn't even look that good, which is disappointing given that chrysler used to have a reputation for excellent styling, not to mention the sebring's handsome predecessor."[206] jeremy clarkson opined the sebring convertible in a 2008 review, saying that it was "the worst car in the world today." he continued, "all [the powertrain] did was convert fuel into noise", it had " the overwhelming sense from everything you touched that it had been built by someone who was being deliberately stupid or who was four years old" and that to buy a sebring convertible over a volkswagen eos you'd have to be "so window lickingly insane that you'd be banned from handling anything other than crayons."[207] jalopnik.com in 2009 listed the 2007 sebring as the 10 worst cars built in the 2000s decade; "hailed at its launch as the cornerstone of chrysler's post 300 renaissance; ended up a thorough disappointment and the closest thing to an aztek like styling catastrophe seen in years. the sebring's spec sheet is impressive   it sports things like standard side curtain air bags, a six speed automatic, and an available hard drive equipped stereo   but it can't overcome the car's substantial faults."[161] in a separate article, jalopnik singled out the sebring and named it the worst car of the decade; "we're going to get this out of the way right off the bat and say yes, the second generation chrysler sebring is the worst car of the decade because it's a car so awful we can't believe anyone, anywhere is still buying them."[208] following a major refresh done to the car for the 2011 model year it was renamed the chrysler 200 as a result of the major amounts of negative brand equity that came to surround the "sebring" name. the dodge caliber, a compact hatchback released for the 2007 model year to replace the critically acclaimed and popular dodge neon, was not as successful in the marketplace. reasons included its bad styling, cheap and poorly made interior, poor performance, and unrefined powertrains. the truth about cars panned the caliber across multiple reviews, claiming that, "the caliber shows that bad detroit habits are hard to break, firing blanks in this latest battle of the econobox wars" and that, "despite an independent rear suspension, the car displays all the grace of a sumo wrestler on figure skates."[209] in another review, ttac concluded with, "if dcx is to rally its troops and remain competitive in these fuel conscious times, they'll have to do better than this."[210] they subsequently named the caliber as one of their "ten worst autos of 2008"[201] and said in a review of the updated 2010 model that the caliber is "a vehicle that a lot of folks would justifiably consider to be a loser car from a loser car company."[211] car and driver placed the caliber second to last in a 2007 comparison test of entry level cars, claiming that the caliber handled poorly and felt underdeveloped and noting that "as our test wore on, the caliber wore thin".[212] in a subsequent review of the higher tier caliber r/t, car and driver stated that "the caliber isn't all that good."[213] consumerguide listed the caliber as one of the worst cars of the past ten years, with the writer describing it as "the loudest, crudest, and cheapest feeling compact car i may have ever driven."[162] jalopnik in 2009 listed the caliber as one of the worst cars of the 2000s decade, claiming, "it's a thoroughly depressing, indifferently built car, the kind of vehicle that detroit needs to quit building, and quit building now." jalopnik also noted that the honda ridgeline pickup truck generated better skidpad numbers and that even chrysler engineers view the caliber with disdain.[161] jalopnik published a 2016 piece about taking a road trip in a caliber titled "three hours of terror in one of the worst cars sold in the u.s. this millennium" which described the caliber as "a rolling symbol of american industrial decline."[214] top gear magazine named the caliber as the 3rd worst car of the past 20 years, describing it as "kind of like kid rock in car form, although marginally less annoying."[190] edmunds.com named the caliber srt 4 as the 42nd worst car of all time, claiming it was "too big and too ugly" to be a desirable performance car.[22] the dodge nitro, released in 2007, was a badge engineered variant of the jeep liberty with most of its off road equipment removed. consumer reports stated that its cramped interior and sluggish engine made it "a chore to drive", and was unable to name a single redeeming quality the car had.[215] forbes subsequently named the nitro one of the worst cars on the market in 2007.[216] the truth about cars listed the nitro as one of the ten worst cars of 2008, saying of it, "do you think [the french] care that we put panties on a few prisoners' heads? no, they abhor our conspicuous consumption and tough guy dress up routines. to show them we have a sense of humor, we should send them the dodge nitro: a slow, cramped, artless knockoff of a hummer h2."[201] consumerguide named the nitro one of "the worst cars of the past ten years"; "desperate to compete in the exploding crossover market, dodge tapped jeep for a vehicle it could restyle and make its own. the result was the nitro, an suv that inherited all of its host vehicle's flaws without the promise of serious off road capability."[162] australian used car review site redriven named the nitro #2 on their list "the 5 worst cars you can buy today", describing it as "utter crap" with "horrifically shoddy build quality" while raising questions about service and parts given that the dodge brand no longer does business in australia, before concluding, "the only viable reason for buying a dodge nitro is [to utilize it for scrap metal]."[164] the hyundai i10 was redesigned for 2007. it led to the replacement of the old hyundai atos. this model has received a strongly negative response by the press. carguide named it one of "the worst cars of the past ten years"; "power from the 3 cylinder engine is predictably limited, but fuel economy is the more troubling issue. since it weighs just 2039 pounds (925 kg) and wields just 65 horsepower, one would assume the tiny i10 would see 50 mpg (21 km per liter) on a regular basis. sadly, in carguide testing, we never broke 39 mpg (17 km per liter)."janusz named it one of the worst cars of the decade, stating that, "for a small little grandma it's good unless she doesn't have legs or eyes. cabin too cramped even for a baby, while the interior plastics too cheap and will degrade after 5 years, while the exterior is impossible to look at." autochat named the i10 on its list "the 10 dumbest cars of all time"; "for people who like to park, the hyundai i10 is the perfect vehicle. however, if you have to drive anywhere, it won't be a fun trip."carguide panned the i10 and stated in a 2014 video their belief that it is one of the worst cars ever made. kelihers.com named the i10 as the 36th worst car of all time. the nissan juke is a subcompact crossover suv. despite being a success for nissan in europe, where the juke was reported to be nissan's second best selling car behind the qashqai in 2015,[217] it received a lot of criticism based on its reliability, practicality and appearance. the first generation juke had several recalls in response to varied faults, and some common issues were costly to repair. reported issues include cvt gearbox failures, turbocharger failures, fuel leaks, oxygen sensor problems, battery issues, and stretched timing chains.[218][219] it was reported by consumer choice organisation which? that diesel versions of the first generation juke has a 20% failure rate of certain fuel system components, compared to 3.45% fault average in all 3 8 year old diesel cars included in their survey.[220] much of the critique around the juke was focused on its unusual exterior styling. hotcars ranked the juke amongst their list of 'ugliest new cars on sale in 2021',[221] commenting "the frog shaped nissan juke is undoubtedly not a very pleasant sight to keep your eyes on for long". carthrottle found that the juke was ranked amongst 'the top 10 ugliest cars ever made' in a survey.[222] time magazine commented "...the nissan juke has quickly ascended to the top of many automotive enthusiast lists. not in terms of reliability or fuel economy or value but for sheer ugliness" in their article "nissan's ugly little suv: now uglier than ever".[223] in terms of practicality, the juke was criticised for its lack of space and poor ergonomics in spite of its relatively large size. commenting both on the juke's appearance and its practicality, heycar commented "the old nissan juke sold by the bucketload despite having looks only a mother could love and an interior like a reverse tardis."[224] particular attention was paid to the poor boot space,[225] the lack of headroom for rear passengers,[226] and the inability of the steering column to extend.[227] more generalized criticism was leveled at the juke. the telegraph referred to the first generation juke as 'the worst car nissan made'.[228] the grand tour, during their end of year awards in 2017, entitled one of their awards as the 'nissan juke award for worst car of the year'.[229] after considering a number of cars from varied manufacturers, the winner was announced as the nissan juke, with richard hammond stating "a deserved award   the judges were particularly impressed with its consistent awfulness. it was awful when it was first launched seven years ago, and it continues to be awful to this day." hammond was an outspoken critic of the juke, penning the article 'i hate the nissan juke' in 2017.[230] the aston martin cygnet was a rebadged variant of the toyota/scion iq marketed by aston martin beginning with the 2011 model year. it was a luxury small car marketed as a second car for wealthy people, that also allowed aston martin to comply with 2012 european union imposed fleet average emissions regulations. it was largely identical to the iq, but at £30,000, it cost about three times as much. it was discontinued in 2013 due to disastrously low sales, selling 150 units in the uk and about 600 across europe, against an annual target of 4000 cars.[231] doug demuro called it "the most ridiculous exotic car ever".[232] top gear included it in its "fail of the century" series, calling it "an exercise in badge engineering with the cynical aim of lowering aston’s average fleet emissions. [...] problem was, instead of acknowledging the £30k cygnet’s humble underpinnings, aston instead plumped for the ambitious strategy of ‘hoping no one would notice it was a £10k toyota in fancy dress’."[233] top car news called it "the worst aston martin ever made".[234] the oxford mail included it in its "the worst cars evah!" series, saying: "it seems the world has gone mad   one of the most iconic british motoring marques has suddenly decided to make a micro car that owes more to dinky toys than engineering excellence. [...] based on the ridiculous toyota iq rollerskate, it’s just about big enough to squeeze in one of daniel craig’s biceps. more like 002 and a bit than 007."[235] the nissan murano crosscabriolet was a vehicle that was marketed as "the world's first all wheel drive crossover convertible". while the regular murano received generally positive reviews, the crosscabriolet was panned by automotive critics and journalists, and it was reported to be the most disliked car of 2011.[236] one of the car connection's staff members also called it a "head scratcher" with "some strange proportions, to put it kindly".[237] doug demuro described it as ugly, slow, sloppy around corners and shaky over bumps, expensive, impractical, and compromised.[238] one staff member from motor trend at the time found it to be remembered as "the most stupid vehicle of 2011", criticizing its structural rigidity, ride height, styling, efficiency, practicality, and point of existing.[239] car and driver found it "too compromised to be called great".[240] thorn taylor from motorbiscuit panned the car, only praising its comfort, but described it as a murano without any of its positive attributes.[241] james riswick from edmunds.com commented "what on earth are they thinking?", and added that he was "looking for seven foot furry creature riding shotgun".[242] dan neil of the wall street journal commented it as "sluggish, wobbly, weird looking, with a front end shake that would mix a good daiquiri, crazy awful. the crosscabriolet is like a sorbet of mouse scat".[243] jay traugott from carbuzz panned the car, calling it "terrible in so many ways".[244] although significant work had been put into the latest generation of the long running mitsubishi mirage (named space star in some parts of europe, although it is not related to the former minivan of the same name) in order to make it more aerodynamic and lightweight, it was met with mixed reviews, many of which were strongly negative. auto express and ollie kew of car magazine all gave the car a two out of five star rating.[245][246] matt jones of top gear magazine gave the mirage an overall verdict of 3 out of 10.[247] sam wollaston of the guardian gave the car a cool factor rating of 3 out of 10.[248] consumer reports placed the mirage among the 10 worst cars of 2013,[249] commenting "handling is clumsy and the interior is reminiscent of early 1980s standards", and top gear magazine placed the mirage on its list of "the worst cars you can buy right now",[250] stating "the mirage is crap in ways that don't correlate with cost". similarly, doug demuro described it as "the worst new car you can buy."[251] the telegraph named it among the "10 worst cars ever sold in britain",[252] forbes ranked it #11 in its list of "15 new cars to avoid",[253] and thestreet.com ranked it #3 in its list of the "10 worst cars of all time revisited".[82] the fisker karma, a plug in hybrid luxury sedan, was the first and only vehicle produced by fisker automotive. it was designed by henrik fisker, who had previously designed notable cars, such as the bmw z8, aston martin db9, and aston martin v8 vantage. it was met with mixed reviews; while its exterior design was positively commented, its lack of practicality, as well as other issues, has been noted. consumer reports claims their press vehicle had failed during a test drive,[254] additionally citing improper battery cell installation and poor fuel economy. after a fire risk[255] recall and slow sales, fisker automotive ceased production of the karma, and later filed for bankruptcy in 2013. in 2015, karma automotive was created using the corporate assets of fisker automotive after its bankruptcy, and continued production of the karma as a new model, known as the karma revero. bloomberg news had criticized the revero for poor driving dynamics, and false promises by the brand.[256] the vinfast vf 8 has been almost universally panned as one of the worst reviewed vehicles currently available. a number of well established and widely followed automotive journalists and car critics have given the vf8 poor reviews for virtually every metric.[257][258][259][260][261][262][263]

manage your account by kylie madry mexico city (reuters)   top mexican officials said on tuesday they were confident that mexico could reach an agreement with the u.s. before threatened tariffs are due to take effect, with the u.s. demanding progress on fighting the flow of drugs and migrants to the shared border. u.s. president donald trump had threatened both mexico and canada with 25% tariffs, but pushed their roll out back by a month on monday in exchange for promises from the two countries to tackle drugs and immigration. see for yourself   the yodel is the go to source for daily news, entertainment and feel good stories. by signing up, you agree to our terms and privacy policy. "this month is more than enough to reach an agreement on these issues," economy minister marcelo ebrard told journalists, adding that mexico and the u.s. were now on a more even playing field as they come to the negotiating table. "over the next few days, over the next few weeks, we can give strong evidence that mexico is willing to keep collaborating," foreign minister juan ramon de la fuente said. "we have the same problems in common, and both countries will do much better if we face them together." one of mexico's initial concessions was to deploy 10,000 national guard members to the border. the first troops were shipped out on tuesday. mexican president claudia sheinbaum's approach to dealing with trump's threats   which she described as keeping a "cool head"   was lauded by analysts and politicians alike. in contrast, canadian prime minister justin trudeau went on the offensive, listing retaliatory tariffs. it took trudeau two phone calls with trump to convince the u.s. leader to hold off on tariffs, while sheinbaum managed it in one. now, sheinbaum's team will come to the negotiating table with demands of its own, according to ebrard. "for example, the issue of weapons," ebrard said. "because fentanyl is talked about a lot, but who are the ones arming cartels?" mexico argues that more than half a million guns are trafficked annually into the country from the u.s., and it has sued u.s. gunmakers for their alleged complicity in the flow of weapons across the border. mexico will also discuss the issue of auto manufacturing and auto parts with the u.s., according to ebrard. u.s. automakers have a heavy presence in mexico and parts can cross the border several times as a car is made, which would cause consumer prices to skyrocket if tariffs were to be implemented. (reporting by kylie madry; editing by sarah morland, rosalba o'brien and leslie adler)

last october, colin kahl, then the under secretary of defense for policy at the pentagon, sat in a hotel in paris and prepared to make a call to avert disaster in ukraine. a staffer handed him an iphone in part to avoid inviting an onslaught of late night texts and colorful emojis on kahl’s own phone. kahl had returned to his room, with its heavy drapery and distant view of the eiffel tower, after a day of meetings with officials from the united kingdom, france, and germany. a senior defense official told me that kahl was surprised by whom he was about to contact: “he was, like, ‘why am i calling elon musk?’ ” the reason soon became apparent. “even though musk is not technically a diplomat or statesman, i felt it was important to treat him as such, given the influence he had on this issue,” kahl told me. spacex, musk’s space exploration company, had for months been providing internet access across ukraine, allowing the country’s forces to plan attacks and to defend themselves. but, in recent days, the forces had found their connectivity severed as they entered territory contested by russia. more alarmingly, spacex had recently given the pentagon an ultimatum: if it didn’t assume the cost of providing service in ukraine, which the company calculated at some four hundred million dollars annually, it would cut off access. “we started to get a little panicked,” the senior defense official, one of four who described the standoff to me, recalled. musk “could turn it off at any given moment. and that would have real operational impact for the ukrainians.” musk had become involved in the war in ukraine soon after russia invaded, in february, 2022. along with conventional assaults, the kremlin was conducting cyberattacks against ukraine’s digital infrastructure. ukrainian officials and a loose coalition of expatriates in the tech sector, brainstorming in group chats on whatsapp and signal, found a potential solution: spacex, which manufactures a line of mobile internet terminals called starlink. the tripod mounted dishes, each about the size of a computer display and clad in white plastic reminiscent of the sleek design sensibility of musk’s tesla electric cars, connect with a network of satellites. the units have limited range, but in this situation that was an advantage: although a nationwide network of dishes was required, it would be difficult for russia to completely dismantle ukrainian connectivity. of course, musk could do so. three people involved in bringing starlink to ukraine, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they worried that musk, if upset, could withdraw his services, told me that they originally overlooked the significance of his personal control. “nobody thought about it back then,” one of them, a ukrainian tech executive, told me. “it was all about ‘let’s fucking go, people are dying.’ ” in the ensuing months, fund raising in silicon valley’s ukrainian community, contracts with the u.s. agency for international development and with european governments, and pro bono contributions from spacex facilitated the transfer of thousands of starlink units to ukraine. a soldier in ukraine’s signal corps who was responsible for maintaining starlink access on the front lines, and who asked to be identified only by his first name, mykola, told me, “it’s the essential backbone of communication on the battlefield.” initially, musk showed unreserved support for the ukrainian cause, responding encouragingly as mykhailo fedorov, the ukrainian minister for digital transformation, tweeted pictures of equipment in the field. but, as the war ground on, spacex began to balk at the cost. “we are not in a position to further donate terminals to ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” spacex’s director of government sales told the pentagon in a letter, last september. (cnbc recently valued spacex at nearly a hundred and fifty billion dollars. forbes estimated musk’s personal net worth at two hundred and twenty billion dollars, making him the world’s richest man.) musk was also growing increasingly uneasy with the fact that his technology was being used for warfare. that month, at a conference in aspen attended by business and political figures, musk even appeared to express support for vladimir putin. “he was onstage, and he said, ‘we should be negotiating. putin wants peace we should be negotiating peace with putin,’ ” reid hoffman, who helped start paypal with musk, recalled. musk seemed, he said, to have “bought what putin was selling, hook, line, and sinker.” a week later, musk tweeted a proposal for his own peace plan, which called for new referendums to redraw the borders of ukraine, and granted russia control of crimea, the semi autonomous peninsula recognized by most nations, including the united states, as ukrainian territory. in later tweets, musk portrayed as inevitable an outcome favoring russia and attached maps highlighting eastern ukrainian territories, some of which, he argued, “prefer russia.” musk also polled his twitter followers about the plan. millions responded, with about sixty per cent rejecting the proposal. (volodymyr zelensky, ukraine’s president, tweeted his own poll, asking users whether they preferred the elon musk who supported ukraine or the one who now seemed to back russia. the former won, though zelensky’s poll had a smaller turnout: musk has more than twenty times as many followers.) by then, musk’s sympathies appeared to be manifesting on the battlefield. one day, ukrainian forces advancing into contested areas in the south found themselves suddenly unable to communicate. “we were very close to the front line,” mykola, the signal corps soldier, told me. “we crossed this border and the starlink stopped working.” the consequences were immediate. “communications became dead, units were isolated. when you’re on offense, especially for commanders, you need a constant stream of information from battalions. commanders had to drive to the battlefield to be in radio range, risking themselves,” mykola said. “it was chaos.” ukrainian expats who had raised funds for the starlink units began receiving frantic calls. the tech executive recalls a ukrainian military official telling him, “we need elon now.” “how now?” he replied. “like fucking now,” the official said. “people are dying.” another ukrainian involved told me that he was “awoken by a dozen calls saying they’d lost connectivity and had to retreat.” the financial times reported that outages affected units in kherson, zaporizhzhia, kharkiv, donetsk, and luhansk. american and ukrainian officials told me they believed that spacex had cut the connectivity via geofencing, cordoning off areas of access. link copied the senior defense official said, “we had a whole series of meetings internal to the department to try to figure out what we could do about this.” musk’s singular role presented unfamiliar challenges, as did the government’s role as intermediary. “it wasn’t like we could hold him in breach of contract or something,” the official continued. the pentagon would need to reach a contractual arrangement with spacex so that, at the very least, musk “couldn’t wake up one morning and just decide, like, he didn’t want to do this anymore.” kahl added, “it was kind of a way for us to lock in services across ukraine. it could at least prevent musk from turning off the switch altogether.” typically, such a negotiation would be handled by the pentagon’s acquisitions department. but musk had become more than just a vender like boeing, lockheed, or other defense industry behemoths. on the phone with musk from paris, kahl was deferential. according to unclassified talking points for the call, he thanked musk for his efforts in ukraine, acknowledged the steep costs he’d incurred, and pleaded for even a few weeks to devise a contract. “if you cut this off, it doesn’t end the war,” kahl recalled telling musk. musk wasn’t immediately convinced. “my inference was that he was getting nervous that starlink’s involvement was increasingly seen in russia as enabling the ukrainian war effort, and was looking for a way to placate russian concerns,” kahl told me. to the dismay of pentagon officials, musk volunteered that he had spoken with putin personally. another individual told me that musk had made the same assertion in the weeks before he tweeted his pro russia peace plan, and had said that his consultations with the kremlin were regular. (musk later denied having spoken with putin about ukraine.) on the phone, musk said that he was looking at his laptop and could see “the entire war unfolding” through a map of starlink activity. “this was, like, three minutes before he said, ‘well, i had this great conversation with putin,’ ” the senior defense official told me. “and we were, like, ‘oh, dear, this is not good.’ ” musk told kahl that the vivid illustration of how technology he had designed for peaceful ends was being used to wage war gave him pause. after a fifteen minute call, musk agreed to give the pentagon more time. he also, after public blowback and with evident annoyance, walked back his threats to cut off service. “the hell with it,” he tweeted. “even though starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding ukraine govt for free.” this june, the department of defense announced that it had reached a deal with spacex. the meddling of oligarchs and other monied interests in the fate of nations is not new. during the first world war, j. p. morgan lent vast sums to the allied powers; afterward, john d. rockefeller, jr., poured money into the fledgling league of nations. the investor george soros’s open society foundations underwrote civil society reform in post soviet europe, and the casino mogul sheldon adelson funded right wing media in israel, as part of his support of benjamin netanyahu. but musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. there is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the u.s. now has on musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space. spacex is currently the sole means by which nasa transports crew from u.s. soil into space, a situation that will persist for at least another year. the government’s plan to move the auto industry toward electric cars requires increasing access to charging stations along america’s highways. but this rests on the actions of another musk enterprise, tesla. the automaker has seeded so much of the country with its proprietary charging stations that the biden administration relaxed an early push for a universal charging standard disliked by musk. his stations are eligible for billions of dollars in subsidies, so long as tesla makes them compatible with the other charging standard. in the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. the government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. current and former officials from nasa, the department of defense, the department of transportation, the federal aviation administration, and the occupational safety and health administration told me that musk’s influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. one pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with musk’s permission. “we’ll talk to you if elon wants us to,” he told me. in a podcast interview last year, musk was asked whether he has more influence than the american government. he replied immediately, “in some ways.” reid hoffman told me that musk’s attitude is “like louis xiv: ‘l’état, c’est moi.’ ” musk’s power continues to grow. his takeover of twitter, which he has rebranded “x,” gives him a critical forum for political discourse ahead of the next presidential election. he recently launched an artificial intelligence company, a move that follows years of involvement in the technology. musk has become a hyper exposed pop culture figure, and his sharp turns from altruistic to vainglorious, strategic to impulsive, have been the subject of innumerable articles and at least seven major books, including a forthcoming biography by walter isaacson. but the nature and the scope of his power are less widely understood. more than thirty of musk’s current and former colleagues in various industries and a dozen individuals in his personal life spoke to me about their experiences with him. sam altman, the c.e.o. of openai, with whom musk has both worked and sparred, told me, “elon desperately wants the world to be saved. but only if he can be the one to save it.” the terms of the starlink deal have not been made public. ukrainian officials say that they have not faced further service interruptions. but musk has continued to express ambivalence about how the technology is being used, and where it can be deployed. in february, he tweeted, “we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to ww3.” he said, as he had told kahl, that he was sincerely attempting to navigate the moral dilemmas of his role: “we’re trying hard to do the right thing, where the ‘right thing’ is an extremely difficult moral question.” musk’s hesitation aligns with his pragmatic interests. a facility in shanghai produces half of all tesla cars, and musk depends on the good will of officials in china, which has lent support to russia in the conflict. musk recently acknowledged to the financial times that beijing disapproves of his decision to provide internet service to ukraine and has sought assurances that he would not deploy similar technology in china. in the same interview, he responded to questions about china’s efforts to assert control over taiwan by floating another peace plan. taiwan, he suggested, could become a jointly controlled administrative zone, an outcome that taiwanese leaders see as ending the country’s independence. during a trip to beijing this spring, musk was welcomed with what reuters summarized as “flattery and feasts.” he met with senior officials, including china’s foreign minister, and posed for the kinds of awkwardly smiling formal photos that are more typical of world leaders. national security officials i spoke with had a range of views on the government’s balance of power with musk. he maintains good relationships with some of them, including general mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. since the two men met, several years ago, when milley was the chief of staff of the army, they have discussed “technology applications to warfare artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and autonomous machines,” milley told me. “he has insight that helped shape my thoughts on the fundamental change in the character of war and the modernization of the u.s. military.” during the starlink controversy, musk called him for advice. but other officials expressed profound misgivings. “living in the world we live in, in which elon runs this company and it is a private business under his control, we are living off his good graces,” a pentagon official told me. “that sucks.” one summer evening in the mid nineteen eighties, musk and his friend theo taoushiani took taoushiani’s father’s car for an illicit drive. musk and taoushiani were both in their mid teens, and lived about a mile apart in a suburb of johannesburg, south africa. neither had a driver’s license, or permission from taoushiani’s father. but they were passionate dungeons & dragons fans, and a new module a fresh scenario in the game had just been released. taoushiani took the wheel for the twenty minute drive to the sandton city mall. “elon was my co pilot,” taoushiani told me. “we went under the cover of darkness.” at the mall, they found that they didn’t have enough money. but musk promised a salesperson that they would return the next day with the rest, and dropped the name of a well known greek restaurant owned by taoushiani’s family. “elon had the gift of the gab,” taoushiani said. “he’s very persuasive, and he’s quite dogged in his determination.” the two went home with the module. musk was born in 1971 in pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, and he and his younger brother, kimbal, and his younger sister, tosca, grew up under apartheid. musk’s mother, maye, a canadian model and dietitian, and his father, errol, an engineer, divorced when he was young, and the children initially stayed with maye. she has said that errol was physically abusive toward her. “he would hit me when the kids were around,” she wrote in her memoir. “i remember that tosca and kimbal, who were two and four, respectively, would cry in the corner, and elon, who was five, would hit him on the backs of his knees to try to stop him.” by the mid eighties, musk had moved in with his father a decision that he has said was motivated by concern for his father’s loneliness, and which he came to regret. musk, usually impassive in interviews, cried openly when he told rolling stone about the years that followed, in which, he said, his father psychologically tortured him, in ways that he declined to specify. “you have no idea about how bad,” he said. “almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.” taoushiani recalled witnessing errol “chastise elon a lot. maybe belittle him.” (errol musk has denied allegations that he was abusive to maye or to his children.) musk has also said that he was violently bullied at school. though he is now six feet one, with a broad shouldered build, he was “much, much smaller back in school,” taoushiani told me. “he wasn’t very social.” link copied musk has said that he has asperger’s syndrome, a form of what is now known as autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by difficulty with social interactions. as a child, he would sometimes fall into trancelike states of deep thought, during which he was so unresponsive that his mother eventually took him to a doctor to check his hearing. musk’s quiet side persists in my own interactions with him, i have found him to be thoughtful and measured. (musk declined to answer questions for this story.) he can also be, as he joked during a stilted “saturday night live” monologue, “pretty good at running human, in emulation mode.” musk escaped into science fiction and video games. “one of the reasons i got into technology, maybe the reason, was video games,” he said at a gaming industry convention several years ago. in his early teens, musk coded an eight bit shooter game in the style of space invaders called blastar, whose title screen, in a novelistic flourish, credits him as “e. r. musk.” the premise was basic: “mission: destroy alien freighter carrying deadly hydrogen bombs and status beam machines.” but it won recognition from a south african trade magazine, which published the game’s hundred and sixty seven lines of code and paid musk a small sum. musk often talks about his science fiction influences. some have manifested in straightforward ways: he has connected his love of isaac asimov’s “foundation” novels, whose characters grapple with a mathematically precise prediction of their civilization’s collapse, to his obsession with insuring human survival beyond earth. but some of musk’s touchstones present ironies. he has said that his hero is douglas adams, the writer who skewered both the hyper rich and the progress at any cost ethos that musk has come to embody. in the “hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” novels and radio plays, the latter of which were broadcast in south africa during musk’s childhood, a narcissistic playboy becomes the president of the galaxy, and earth is demolished to make way for a space transit route. musk is also an avowed fan of deus ex, a role playing first person shooter video game that he has brought up when discussing his company neuralink, which aspires to invent ability enhancing body modifications like those featured in the game. during the pandemic, musk seemed to embrace covid denialism, and for a while he changed his twitter profile picture to an image of the protagonist of the game, which turns on a manufactured plague designed to control the masses. but deus ex, like “the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy,” is a fundamentally anti capitalist text, in which the plague is the culmination of unrestrained corporate power, and the villain is the world’s richest man, a media darling tech entrepreneur with global aspirations and political leaders under his control. in 1999, musk stood outside his bay area home to accept the delivery of a million dollar mclaren f1 sports car. he was in his late twenties, and wearing an oversized brown blazer. “some could interpret purchasing this car as behavior characteristic of an imperialist brat,” he told a cnn news crew. then he beamed, saying that there were only about sixty such cars in the world. “my values may have changed,” he added, “but i’m not consciously aware of my values having changed.” musk’s fiancée, a canadian writer named justine wilson, seemed more aware. “it’s a million dollar car. it’s decadent,” she said. “my fear is that we become spoiled brats. that we lose a sense of appreciation and perspective.” the mclaren, she observed, was “the perfect car for silicon valley.” musk had moved to canada when he was in his late teens, and met wilson when they both attended queen’s university, in ontario. he later transferred to the university of pennsylvania, graduating with degrees in economics and physics. in 1995, the early days of the world wide web, he and kimbal founded a company that came to be called zip2, an online city directory that they sold to newspapers. musk has often described the company’s humble origins, saying that he and his brother lived and worked in a small studio apartment, showering at a nearby y.m.c.a. and eating at jack in the box. (errol at one point gave his sons twenty eight thousand dollars. musk, who has a tendency to fuss over questions of credit, has stated that his father’s contribution came “much later,” in a round of funding that “would’ve happened anyway.”) at zip2, musk developed what he describes as his “hard core” work style; even after he had his own apartment, he often slept on a beanbag at the office. but, in the end, the company’s investors stripped him of his leadership role and installed a more experienced chief executive. musk believed that the startup should have been targeting not just newspapers but consumers. investors pursued a more modest vision instead. in 1999, zip2 was sold to compaq for three hundred and seven million dollars, earning musk more than twenty million dollars. justine and musk married the following year. after their first child died at ten weeks, from sudden infant death syndrome, the couple dealt with the tragedy in very different ways. justine, by her account, grieved openly; musk later told one of his biographers, ashlee vance, that “wallowing in sadness does no good for anyone around you.” after pursuing i.v.f. treatment, the couple had twins, then triplets. (musk now has at least nine children with three different women, and has said that he is doing his part to address one of his pet issues, the risk of population collapse; demographers are skeptical about the matter.) justine wrote in an essay for marie claire that their relationship eventually buckled under the weight of musk’s obsession with work and his controlling tendencies, which began with him insisting, as they danced at their wedding, “i am the alpha in this relationship.” a messy divorce ensued, leading to a legal dispute over their postnuptial financial agreement, which was settled years later. “he had grown up in the male dominated culture of south africa,” justine wrote. “the will to compete and dominate that made him so successful in business did not magically shut off when he came home.” (musk wrote a response to justine’s account in business insider, discussing the financial dispute, but he did not address justine’s characterizations of his behavior.) after musk left zip2, he poured some twelve million dollars, a majority of his wealth, into another startup, an online bank called x.com. it was the first instance of his obsession with the letter “x,” which has now appeared in the names of his companies, his products, and his son with the artist grimes: x æ a 12. the bank also marked the beginning of a long and so far unfulfilled quest recently revived in his effort to reinvent twitter to create an “everything app,” incorporating a payment system. in 2000, x.com merged with a competing online payments startup, confinity, co founded by the entrepreneur peter thiel. in events that have since become silicon valley lore, musk and thiel battled for control of the company. various accounts apportion blame differently. hoffman told me, citing the story as an example of musk’s disingenuousness, that musk had pushed for the merger by highlighting the leadership of his company’s seasoned executive, only to force out the executive and place himself in the top role. “a merger like this, you’re doing a marriage,” hoffman said. “and it’s, like, ‘i was lying to you intensely while we were dating. now that we’re married, let me tell you about the herpes.’ ” people who have worked with musk often describe him as controlling. one said, “in the areas he wants to compete in, he has a very hard time sharing the spotlight, or not being the center of attention.” in the fall of 2000, another coup, executed while musk was on a long delayed honeymoon with justine, overthrew musk and installed thiel as the company’s head. two years later, ebay acquired the company, by then called paypal, for $1.5 billion, making musk, who remained the largest shareholder, fabulously wealthy. perhaps the most revealing moment in the paypal saga happened at its outset. in march, 2000, as the merger was under way, musk was driving his new mclaren, with thiel in the passenger seat. the two were on sand hill road, an artery that cuts through silicon valley. thiel asked musk, “so what can this do?” musk replied, “watch this,” then floored the gas pedal, hit an embankment, and sent the car airborne and spinning before it slammed back onto the pavement, blowing out its suspension and its windows. “this isn’t insured,” musk told thiel. musk’s critics have used the story to illustrate his reckless showboating, but it also underscores how often musk has been rewarded for that behavior: he repaired the mclaren, drove it for several more years, then reportedly sold it at a profit. musk delights in telling the story, lingering on the risk to his life. in one interview, asked whether there were parallels with his approach to building companies, musk said, “i hope not.” appearing to consider the idea, he added, “watch this. yeah, that could be awkward with a rocket launch.” of all musk’s enterprises, spacex may be the one that most fundamentally reflects his appetite for risk. staff at spacex’s starship facility, in boca chica, texas, spent december of 2020 preparing for the launch of a rocket known as sn8, then the newest prototype in the company’s starship program, which it hopes will eventually transport humans to orbit, to the moon, and, in the mission musk speaks about with the most passion, to mars. the f.a.a. had approved an initial launch date for the rocket. but an engine issue forced spacex to delay by a day. by then, the weather had shifted. on the new day, the f.a.a. told spacex that, according to its model of the wind’s speed and direction, if the rocket exploded it could create a blast wave that risked damaging the windows of nearby houses. a series of tense meetings followed, with spacex presenting its own modelling to establish that the launch was safe, and the f.a.a. refusing to grant permission. wayne monteith, then the head of the agency’s space division, was leaving an event at the cape canaveral space force station when he received a frustrated call from musk. “look, you cannot launch,” monteith told him. “you’re not cleared to launch.” musk acknowledged the order. musk was on site in boca chica when spacex launched anyway. the rocket achieved liftoff and successfully performed several maneuvers intended to rehearse those of an eventual manned starship. but, on landing, the sn8 came in too fast, and exploded on impact. (no windows were damaged.) the next day, musk visited the crash site. in a picture taken that day, musk stands next to the twisted steel of the rocket, dressed in a black t shirt and jeans, looking determined, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. his tweets about the explosion were celebratory, not apologetic. “he has a long history of launching and blowing up rockets. and then he puts out videos of all the rockets that he’s blown up. and like half of america thinks it’s really cool,” the former nasa administrator jim bridenstine told me. “he has a different set of rules.” hans koenigsmann, then spacex’s vice president for flight reliability, started working on a customary report to the f.a.a. about the launch. koenigsmann told me that he felt pressure to minimize focus on the launch process and musk’s role in it. “i sensed that he wanted it taken out,” koenigsmann said. “i disagreed, and in the end we wound up with a very different version from what was originally intended.” eventually, koenigsmann was told not to write a report at all, and a letter was sent to the f.a.a. instead. the agency, meanwhile, opened its own investigation. monteith told me that he agreed with musk that the f.a.a. had been conservative about a situation that presented little statistical risk of casualties, but he was nevertheless troubled. “we had safety folks who were very upset about it,” monteith recalled. in a series of letters to spacex, monteith accused the company of relying on data “hastily developed to meet a launch window,” launching “based on ‘impressions’ and ‘assumptions,’ ” and exhibiting “a concerning lack of operational control and process discipline that is inconsistent with a strong safety culture.” in its responses, spacex proposed various safety reforms, but also pushed back, complaining that the f.a.a.’s weather model was unreliable and suggesting that the agency had been resistant to discussions about improving it. (spacex did not respond to requests for comment.) the following march, steve dickson, then the f.a.a.’s administrator, called musk. the two men spoke for thirty minutes. like kahl, dickson was deferential, thanking musk for his role in transforming the commercial space sector and acknowledging that spacex was taking steps to make its launches less risky. but dickson, an f.a.a. spokesperson said in a statement, “made it clear that the faa expects spacex to develop and foster a robust safety culture that stresses adherence to faa rules.” dickson had navigated such conversations before, including with boeing after two 737 max aircraft crashed. but this situation presented a thornier challenge. “it’s not every day that the f.a.a. administrator releases a statement about a phone call that they have with the c.e.o. or the head of an aerospace company,” an official at the agency told me. “that kind of gets into the soft pressure, public pressure that you don’t do unless you are trying to change the incentive structure.” the f.a.a. issued no fine, though it grounded spacex for two months. “i didn’t see that a fine would make any difference,” monteith told me. “he could pull that out of his pocket. however, not allowing launches, that would get the attention of a company that prides itself on being able to iterate and go fast.” musk has continued to complain about the agency. after it postponed another launch, he tweeted, “the faa space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure.” he added, “under those rules, humanity will never get to mars.” link copied musk has been fixated on space since his childhood. the idea for spacex came about after his exile from paypal. “i went to the nasa website so i could see the schedule of when we’re supposed to go” to mars, musk told wired, in 2012. “at first i thought, jeez, maybe i’m just looking in the wrong place! why was there no plan, no schedule? there was nothing.” in 2001, he connected with space exploration enthusiasts, and even travelled to russia in an unsuccessful bid to buy missiles to use as rockets. the next year, he moved to los angeles, closer to california’s aerospace industry, and ultimately he pulled together a team of engineers and entrepreneurs and founded spacex, to make his own rockets. private rocket launches date back to the eighties, but no one had attempted anything on the scale that musk envisioned, and it proved to be more difficult and expensive than he had anticipated. musk has said that, by 2008, the company was nearly bankrupt, and that, after putting much of his wealth into spacex and tesla, he wasn’t far behind. “that was definitely the worst year of my life,” he said in an interview on “60 minutes.” spacex’s first three launches had failed, and there was no budget for another. “i had no more money left,” musk told bridenstine, the nasa administrator, years later. “we managed to put together enough spare parts to do a fourth launch.” had that failed, he added, “spacex would have died.” the launch was successful, and nasa soon awarded spacex a $1.6 billion contract to resupply the international space station. in 2020, the company flew its first manned mission there ending nearly a decade of american reliance on russian craft for the task. spacex now launches more satellites than any other private company, with four thousand five hundred and nineteen in orbit as of july, occupying many of earth’s orbital routes. “once the carrying capacity of an orbit is maxed out, you’ve basically blocked everyone from trying to compete in that market,” bridenstine told me. there are competitors in the field, including jeff bezos’s blue origin and richard branson’s virgin galactic, but none yet rival spacex. the new space race has the potential to shape the global balance of power. satellites enable the navigation of drones and missiles and generate imagery used for intelligence, and they are mostly under the control of private companies. “the u.s. government is in massive catch up to build a more resilient space architecture,” kahl, the former pentagon under secretary, told me. “and that only works if you can leverage the explosion of commercial space.” several officials told me that they were alarmed by nasa’s reliance on spacex for essential services. “there is only one thing worse than a government monopoly. and that is a private monopoly that the government is dependent on,” bridenstine said. “i do worry that we have put all of our eggs into one basket, and it’s the spacex basket.” even musk’s critics concede that his tendency to push against constraints has helped catalyze spacex’s success. a number of officials suggested to me that, despite the tensions related to the company, it has made government bureaucracies nimbler. “when spacex and nasa work together, we work closer to optimal speed,” kenneth bowersox, nasa’s associate administrator for space operations, told me. still, some figures in the aerospace world, even ones who think that musk’s rockets are basically safe, fear that concentrating so much power in private companies, with so few restraints, invites tragedy. “at some point, with new competitors emerging, progress will be thwarted when there’s an accident, and people won’t be confident in the capabilities commercial companies have,” bridenstine said. “i mean, we just saw this submersible going down to visit the titanic implode. i think we have to think about the non regulatory environment as sometimes hurting the industry more than the regulatory environment.” in early 2022, steven cliff, then the deputy administrator of the department of transportation’s national highway traffic safety administration, learned that potentially tens of thousands of tesla vehicles had a feature that he found concerning. for years, tesla has been working to create a totally self driving car, a long standing ambition of musk’s. now cliff was told that a version of tesla’s full self driving software, an experimental feature that lets the cars navigate with little intervention from a driver, permitted cars to roll through stop signs, at up to about six miles an hour. this was clearly illegal. cliff’s enforcement team contacted tesla, and, in several meetings, a surprising conversation about safety and artificial intelligence played out. representatives for tesla seemed confused. their response, as cliff recalled, was “that’s what humans do all the time. show us the data, why it’s unsafe.” n.h.t.s.a. officials told tesla that, regardless of human compliance, “you should not be able to program a computer to break the law for you.” they demanded that tesla update all the affected cars, removing the feature a recall, in industry terms, albeit a digital one. “there was a lot of back and forth,” cliff told me. “like, at midnight on the very last day, they blinked and ended up recalling the rolling stop feature.” (tesla did not respond to requests for comment.) musk joined tesla as an investor in 2004, a year after it was incorporated. (he has spent years defending the formative nature of his role and was eventually, in a legal settlement, one of several people granted permission to use the term “co founder.”) musk was again entering a market bound by entrenched private interests and stringent regulation, which opened him up to more clashes with regulators. some of the skirmishes were trivial. tesla for a time included in its vehicles the ability to replace the humming noises that electric cars must emit since their engines make little sound with goat bleats, farting, or a sound of the owner’s choice. “we’re, like, ‘no, that’s not compliant with the regulations, don’t be stupid,’ ” cliff told me. tesla argued with regulators for more than a year, according to an n.h.t.s.a. safety report. nine days after the rolling stop recall, the company pulled the noises, too. on twitter, musk wrote, “the fun police made us do it (sigh).” “it’s a little like mom and dad and children. like, how far can i push mom and dad until they push back?” cliff said. “and that’s not a recipe for a strong safety culture.” the fart debate had low stakes; the over all safety of the cars is a far greater matter. tesla has repeatedly said that autopilot, a more limited technology than full self driving, is safer than a human driver. last year, musk added that he would be “shocked” if full self driving didn’t become safer than human drivers by the end of the year. but he has never made public the data needed to fully corroborate those claims. in recent months, new crash numbers from the n.h.t.s.a., which were first reported by the washington post, have shown an uptick in accidents and fatalities involving autopilot and full self driving. tesla has been secretive about the specifics. a person at the n.h.t.s.a. told me that the company instructed the agency to redact specifics about whether driver assistance software was in use during crashes. (by law, regulators must abide by such requests for confidentiality, unless they decide to contest them in court.) pete buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, recently said that there were “concerns” about the marketing of autopilot. cliff told me he had seen data that showed teslas were involved in “a disproportionate number of crashes involving emergency vehicles,” though he said that the agency had not yet determined whether the technology or the human drivers was the cause. in a statement, a spokesperson for the agency said, “multiple investigations remain open.” officials who have worked at osha and at an equivalent california agency told me that musk’s influence, and his attitude about regulation, had made their jobs difficult. the biden administration, which is urgently trying to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, has concluded that it needs to work with musk, because of his dominant position in the electric car market. and musk’s personal wealth dwarfs the entire budget of osha, which is tasked with monitoring the conditions in his workplaces. “you add on the fact that he considers himself to be a master of the universe and these rules just don’t apply to people like him,” jordan barab, a former deputy assistant secretary of labor at osha, told me. “there’s a lot of underreporting in industry in general. and elon musk kind of seems to raise that to an art form.” garrett brown, a former field compliance inspector at california’s division of occupational safety and health, added, “we have a bad health and safety situation throughout the country. and it’s worse in companies run by people like elon musk, who was ideologically opposed to the idea of government enforcement of public health regulations.” in march, 2020, as pandemic lockdowns began, musk e mailed tesla employees, telling them that he intended to violate orders and show up at work, and downplaying the significance of covid 19. soon after, he lost an initial fight to keep a factory in alameda county tesla’s most productive in the u.s. open. that april, after county officials extended shelter in place orders, musk was on a conference call with outside financial analysts. his rhetoric became nakedly political, to an extent that would have been uncharacteristic just a few years earlier. “i would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all of their constitutional rights,” he told the analysts, speaking of the lockdowns. “what the fuck?” he added. “it’s an outrage. an outrage. . . . this is fascist. this is not democratic. this is not freedom. give people back their goddam freedom.” the pandemic seems to have sparked a pronounced shift in musk. the lockdowns represented an example of what hoffman told me musk considered to be a cardinal sin: “getting in the way of the mission.” the following month, musk sent a series of vitriolic tweets, threatening to file suit against alameda county, to move tesla’s headquarters, and to flout the rules and reopen his factory, all of which he eventually did. the county essentially rubber stamped the reopening soon afterward a far cry from what musk had invited. “i will be on the line with everyone else,” he had tweeted, at the height of his frustration. “if anyone is arrested, i ask that it only be me.” musk has, for much of his public life, presented himself as a centrist. “i’m socially very liberal,” he told the technology reporter kara swisher in 2020. “and then economically right of center, maybe, or center.” he has said that he donated to hillary clinton, and voted for both her and joe biden. but, in recent years, the more radical perspective that characterized his diatribes about covid has come to the fore. in march, 2022, twitter restricted the account of the satirical web site the babylon bee, after the site misgendered a government official. the next day, in texts later disclosed during the twitter acquisition process, musk’s contact “tj” (identified by bloomberg as his ex wife talulah riley) expressed frustration with the development and urged him to purchase twitter to “fight woke ism.” the following week, musk polled his followers about whether twitter respected free speech and, in a phone call to the babylon bee’s c.e.o., joked about buying the platform. finally, in april, 2022, he offered forty four billion dollars for the company. almost immediately, he tried to back out of the deal, prompting twitter to sue. after months of legal proceedings, musk resumed the acquisition process, and in october he assumed control of the company. “given unprovoked attacks by leading democrats against me & a very cold shoulder to tesla & spacex, i intend to vote republican in november,” he tweeted last year. by the time he bought twitter, he was urging his followers to vote along similar lines, and appearing to back ron desantis, whose candidacy he helped launch in a technically disastrous twitter live event. although musk’s teen age daughter, vivian, has come out as trans, he has embraced anti trans sentiment, saying that he would lobby to criminalize “irreversible” gender affirming care for children. (vivian recently changed her last name, saying in a legal filing, “i no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”) musk started spreading misinformation on the platform: he shared theories that the physical attack on paul pelosi, the husband of the former speaker of the house, had followed a meeting with a male prostitute, and retweeted suggestions that reports accurately identifying a mass shooter as a white supremacist were a “psyop.” some people who know musk well still struggle to make sense of his political shift. “there was nothing political about him ever,” a close associate told me. “i’ve been around him for a long time, and had lots of deep conversations with the man, at all hours of the day never heard a fucking word about this.” when musk arrived at twitter, he immediately gutted the company’s staff, reducing the number of employees by about fifty per cent. one person who kept his job was yoel roth, the company’s head of trust and safety. roth, who is in his mid thirties, is gay, jewish, and liberal. his department was responsible for determining twitter’s rules; during the trump administration, he became embroiled in the culture wars. after the company began rolling out a new fact checking policy that labelled two of trump’s tweets as misinformation, kellyanne conway, president trump’s aide, went on “fox & friends” and read out roth’s full name and spelled his username, adding, “he’s about to get more followers.” trump then held up a new york post cover mocking roth, and twitter users began recirculating tweets that roth had written criticizing conservative candidates. but when musk took over he resisted calls to fire roth. “we’ve all made some questionable tweets, me more than most, but i want to be clear that i support yoel,” he tweeted in october, 2022. “my sense is that he has high integrity, and we are all entitled to our political beliefs.” that evening, roth messaged musk on signal, thanking him. musk responded, “you have my full support,” and, the next day, he followed up with a screenshot of a tweet from roth that described mitch mcconnell as “a bag of farts.” musk added, “haha, i totally agree.” but the cuts that musk had instituted quickly took a toll on the company. employees had been informed of their termination via brusque, impersonal e mails musk is now being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars by employees who say that they are owed additional severance pay and the remaining staffers were abruptly ordered to return to work in person. twitter’s business model was also in question, since musk had alienated advertisers and invited a flood of fake accounts by reinventing the platform’s verification process. on november 10th, roth sent a brief resignation e mail. when his departure became public, musk texted, asking to talk. “i[t] would mean a lot if you would consider remaining at twitter,” he wrote. the two spoke that night, and roth declined to return. days later, he published an op ed in the times, questioning the future of user safety on the platform. (twitter did not respond to requests for comment.) link copied soon afterward, musk replied to a twitter user surfacing a 2010 tweet from roth, in which he’d shared a link to a salon article about a teacher’s being charged with having sex with an eighteen year old student and asked, “can high school students ever meaningfully consent to sex with their teachers?” “that explains a lot,” musk tweeted in reply. minutes later, he posted an image showing a portion of roth’s doctoral dissertation, which focussed on the gay hookup app grindr and its user data. in the excerpt, roth argued that such platforms will inevitably be used by people under eighteen, so they should do more to keep those individuals safe. “looks like yoel is in favor of children being able to access adult internet services,” musk wrote. the attack fit a pattern: musk’s trolling has increasingly taken on the vernacular of hard right social media, in which grooming, pedophilia, and human trafficking are associated with liberalism. in 2018, when a thai youth soccer team was trapped in a cave, musk travelled to thailand to offer a custom made miniature submarine to rescuers. the head of the rescue operation declined, and musk lashed out on twitter, questioning the expertise of the rescuers. after one of them, vernon unsworth, referred to the offer as a “p.r. stunt,” musk called him a “pedo guy.” (unsworth sued musk for defamation, characterizing the harassment he received from musk’s followers as “a life sentence without parole.” a judge ruled in favor of musk, who argued that he hadn’t been accusing unsworth of actual pedophilia, just trying to insult him.) musk’s tweet about roth got nearly seventeen thousand quote tweets and retweets. “the moment that it went from being a moderation conversation to being a pizzagate conversation, the risk level changed,” roth told me. “i spent my career looking at the absolute worst things that the internet could do to people. certainly, worse things have happened to people. but this is probably up there.” roth and his husband were forced to flee their house, a two bedroom in el cerrito, california, that they’d purchased just two years earlier. “and then as we are, like, packing our stuff and leaving and getting the dog loaded into the car and whatever, like, the daily mail publishes an article that gives people more or less a map to my house,” roth said. “at that point, we’re, like, ‘oh, we’re leaving this house potentially for the last time.’ ” this summer, twitter’s cheerful blue bird logo came down from the roof of the company’s headquarters, in san francisco, and was replaced with a strobing “x.” the new entity is a marriage between two parts of musk. there’s his career long quest to create an everything app integrating services ranging from communication to banking and shopping, and emulating products, like wechat, that are popular in asia. sitting alongside that pragmatic goal is a newer, more confusing side of musk, embodied by his desire to take back the town square from what he sees as woke discourse. twitter has become a private company, so it’s difficult to assess its finances, but numerous prominent advertisers have departed, and meta recently launched threads, a competitor that shamelessly emulates the old twitter, and broke records for downloads. musk threatened to sue, then challenged mark zuckerberg, meta’s founder and c.e.o., to a cage match, pledging to live stream it and donate the proceeds to charity. (zuckerberg has accepted. musk has delayed committing to a date, citing a back injury.) the illuminated sign atop x’s headquarters, after complaints to the department of building inspection, came down as quickly as it had gone up. some of musk’s associates connected his erratic behavior to efforts to self medicate. musk, who says he now spends much of his time in a modest house in the wetlands of south texas, near a spacex facility, confessed, in an interview last year, “i feel quite lonely.” he has said that his career consists of “great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress.” one close colleague told me, “his life just sucks. it’s so stressful. he’s just so dedicated to these companies. he goes to sleep and wakes up answering e mails. ninety nine per cent of people will never know someone that obsessed, and with that high a tolerance for sacrifice in their personal life.” in 2018, the times reported that members of the tesla board had grown concerned about musk’s use of the prescription sleep aid ambien, which can cause hallucinations. the wall street journal reported earlier this year that he uses ketamine, which has gained popularity both as a depression treatment and as a party drug, and several people familiar with his habits have confirmed this. musk, who smoked pot on joe rogan’s podcast, prompting a nasa safety review of spacex, has, perhaps understandably, declined to comment on the reporting that he uses ketamine, but he has not disputed it. “zombifying people with ssris for sure happens way too much,” he tweeted, referring to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, another category of depression treatment. “from what i’ve seen with friends, ketamine taken occasionally is a better option.” associates suggested that musk’s use has escalated in recent years, and that the drug, alongside his isolation and his increasingly embattled relationship with the press, might contribute to his tendency to make chaotic and impulsive statements and decisions. amit anand, a leading ketamine researcher, told me that it can contribute to unpredictable behavior. “a little bit of ketamine has an effect similar to alcohol. it can cause disinhibition, where you do and say things you otherwise would not,” he said. “at higher doses, it has another effect, which is dissociation: you feel detached from your body and surroundings.” he added, “you can feel grandiose and like you have special powers or special talents. people do impulsive things, they could do inadvisable things at work. the impact depends on the kind of work. for a librarian, there’s less risk. if you’re a pilot, it can cause big problems.” on july 12th, musk announced xai, his entry into a field that promises to alter much about life as we know it. he tweeted an image of the new company’s web site, featuring a characteristically theatrical mission statement: the firm’s goal, he said, was “to understand the true nature of the universe.” in the image, musk highlighted the date and explained its significance. “7 + 12 + 23 = 42,” the text read. “42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.” it was a reference to “the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy.” in the series, an immensely complex artificial intelligence is asked to answer that question and, after computing for millions of years, answers with adams’s most famous punch line: 42. “i think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is,” the computer says. earth itself, and all the organisms on it, are ultimately revealed to be a still larger computer, built to clarify the question. adams does not portray this satirical vision as positive. musk’s announcement suggested more optimism: “once you know the right question to ask, the answer is often the easy part.” musk has been involved in artificial intelligence for years. in 2015, he was one of a handful of tech leaders, including hoffman and thiel, who funded openai, then a nonprofit initiative. (it now has a for profit subsidiary.) openai had a less grandiose and more cautious mission statement than xai’s: to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity.” in the first few years of openai, musk grew unhappy with the company. he said that his efforts at tesla to incorporate a.i. created a conflict of interest, and several people involved told me that this was true. however, they also said that musk was frustrated by his lack of control and, as semafor reported earlier this year, that he had attempted to take over openai. musk still defends his centrality to the company’s origins, stressing his financial contributions in its fledgling days. (the exact figures are unclear: musk has given estimates that range from fifty million to a hundred million dollars.) throughout his involvement, musk seemed preoccupied with control, credit, and rivalries. he made incendiary remarks about demis hassabis, the head of google’s deepmind a.i. initiative, and, later, about microsoft’s competing effort. he thought that openai wasn’t sufficiently competitive, at one point telling colleagues that it had a “0%” chance of “being relevant.” musk left the company in 2018, reneging on a commitment to further fund openai, one of the individuals involved told me. “basically, he goes, ‘you’re all a bunch of jackasses,’ and he leaves,” hoffman said. the withdrawal was devastating. “it was very tough,” altman, the head of openai, said. “i had to reorient a lot of my life and time to make sure we had enough funding.” openai went on to become a leader in the field, introducing chatgpt last year. musk has made a habit of trashing the company, wondering repeatedly, in public interviews, why he hasn’t received a return on his investment, given the company’s for profit arm. “if this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it?” he tweeted recently. it is difficult to say whether musk’s interest in a.i. is driven by scientific wonder and altruism or by a desire to dominate a new and potentially powerful industry. several entrepreneurs who have co founded businesses with musk suggested that the arrival of google and microsoft in the field had made it a new brass ring, as space and electric vehicles had been earlier. musk has maintained that he is motivated by his fear of the technology’s destructive potential. in a podcast earlier this year, ari emanuel, the head of the hollywood agency w.m.e., recalled musk joking about an a.i. dominated future. “ari, do you have dogs?” musk asked him. “well, here’s what a.i. is to you. you’re the dog.” in march, musk, along with dozens of tech leaders, signed an open letter calling for a six month pause in the development of advanced a.i. technology. “contemporary ai systems are now becoming human competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” the letter said. “should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us?” yet in the period during which musk endorsed a pause, he was working to build xai, recruiting from major competitors, including openai, and even, according to someone with knowledge of the conversation, contacting leadership at nvidia, the dominant maker of chips used in a.i. the month the letter was distributed, musk completed the registrations for xai. he has said little about how the company will differ from preëxisting a.i. initiatives, but generally has framed it in terms of competition. “i will create a third option, although starting very late in the game of course,” he told the washington post. “that third option hopefully does more good than harm.” through a.i. research and development already under way at tesla, and the trove of data he now commands through twitter (which he recently barred openai from scraping in order to train its chatbots), he may have some advantage, as he applies his sensibilities and his world view to that race. hoffman told me, “his whole approach to a.i. is: a.i. can only be saved if i deliver, if i build it.” as humanity creates a.i. in its own image, hoffman argued, the principles and priorities of the leaders in the field will matter: “we want the construction of this to be not people with messiah complexes.” at one point in “the hitchhiker’s guide,” adams introduces the architects of the earth supercomputer. they’re powerful beings who have been living among us, disguised as mice. at first, they were motivated by simple curiosity. but seeking the question made them famous, and they began considering talk show and lecture deals. in the end, earth is demolished in the name of commerce, and their path to existential clarity along with it. the mice greet this with a shrug, mouth vague platitudes, and go on the talk show circuit anyway. musk isn’t peddling pabulum. his initiatives have real substance. but he also wants to be on the show or, better yet, to be the show himself. in the open letter, alongside questions about the apocalyptic potential of artificial intelligence was one that reflects on the sectors of government and industry that musk has come to shape. “should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” he and his fellow entrepreneurs wrote. “such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders.” ♦ searching for the cause of a catastrophic plane crash. the man who spent forty two years at the beverly hills hotel pool. gloria steinem’s life on the feminist frontier. where the amish go on vacation. how colonel sanders built his kentucky fried fortune. what does procrastination tell us about ourselves? fiction by patricia highsmith: “the trouble with mrs. blynn, the trouble with the world” sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from the new yorker. sections more © 2025 condé nast. all rights reserved. the new yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our affiliate partnerships with retailers. the material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of condé nast. ad choices

president donald trump's proposed 25% tariffs on imports from mexico and canada and 10% on goods from china would likely raise the average price for a new car and could lead to massive layoffs   but by how much depends on how long the tariffs remain in place. the tariffs are in flux, with trump on monday agreeing a 30 day pause for both mexico and canada as negotiations kick off. assessing the tariff proposal, analysts estimate new car prices, on average, would likely increase by anywhere from $1,000 to $9,000 or more. some vehicles would be affected more than others. they also estimate that more than 165,000 autoworkers could be laid off if tariffs remain in place for any considerable time. if trump enacts tariffs, the timeline for price hikes and job cuts could vary to within a few weeks or months, depending on the vehicle and the inventory that is in stock, said sam abuelsamid, vice president of market research at telemetry insights. that's because tariffs   the taxes on goods that cross international borders   do not get applied until the products actually cross the border. need a break? play the usa today daily crossword puzzle. "anything that is in inventory as of today isn’t affected. everything that crosses the border from tomorrow on gets a tariff," abuelsamid said. "price changes will vary based on the models, with more popular models that have lower inventories being hit the soonest." also read:detroit automakers see stock drop as trump's trade war, tariff fears shake wall street for example, toyota has tight inventory of the rav4 suv and honda has short supply of cr vs and civics, he said. all three vehicles are assembled in canada and they probably would see an impact from tariffs within a few weeks. the jeep compass, made by stellantis, is built in mexico. it might take a bit longer for it to be impacted because stellantis has a good supply of inventory on the compass, abuesamid said. "prices will likely remain elevated for a similar period after tariffs are removed until that inventory is depleted," abuelsamid said. "but parts going through the supply chain might add several weeks or months before you see adjustments." put simply by economist michael hicks, who spoke to the free press on monday before trump agreed to the pause, "this is the one time biggest tax increase on america in history. so it predictably has the effect of dampening economic activity. the people affected most will be the people who are renting, people who need to buy cars, people who need to buy computers.” hicks, a professor at ball state university in muncie, indiana, estimates the proposed tariffs would amount to a $2,000 tax on average household spending, hitting lower income people the hardest. trump has said the new tax is needed to mitigate an influx of immigration and fentanyl trafficking over the u.s. borders. canada moved to retaliate by imposing its own tariffs on u.s. imports, and china and mexico have said they also would respond. both canada and mexico agreed to new border security and anti fentanyl measures in calls with trump on monday. mexican president claudia sheinbaum and canadian prime minister justin trudeau each agreed to deploy 10,000 troops to their u.s. borders to fight illegal immigration and drugs. around 90% of auto exports from both mexico and canada go to the u.s., according to the mexican automotive manufacturers' association and the canadian vehicle manufacturers' association. detroit, of course, is at the epicenter of domestic impact. as of monday morning, ford motor co., general motors and stellantis did not provide new comments about the pending tariff plans. all had said previously, in some fashion, that they believed trump shares their goal of a strong u.s. auto industry and could make some adjustments to their manufacturing. stellantis deferred its comment to the american automotive policy council. former missouri gov. matt blunt, president of the council, said last month that cars and parts that meet the usmca’s rules of origin should be exempt from any new tariffs. “if these tariffs are imposed, all vehicles and parts that comply with current usmca trade agreement rules should be exempt, as they meet the strict standards originally negotiated by president trump to support jobs and investment in the united states,” blunt said. the industry's lobby group, the alliance for automotive innovation, had this to say on saturday from ceo john bozzella: “seamless automotive trade in north america accounts for $300 billion in economic value. it not only keeps us globally competitive, it supports auto industry jobs, vehicle choice and vehicle affordability in america. we look forward to working with the administration on solutions that achieve the president’s goals and preserve a healthy, competitive auto industry in america.” but the impact from tariffs, if imposed, could be quick, said sam fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at autoforecast solutions llc. "just in time supply of parts could hamper production quickly," fiorani told the free press on monday. "tariffs applied to high value parts such as engines and transmissions sourced from canada will add dramatically to the cost of vehicles produced in the u.s. where that cost rises too much, as in engines for the ford f 150 and superduty trucks and transmissions for the chevrolet corvette, production could come to a halt very quickly." abuelsamid told the free press on monday that if tariffs are imposed and stay in place for the entire year, he projects a loss of 2 million vehicle sales in north america for 2025, with the exact impact varying based on model and inventory. about 200,000 of those sales will be lost in canada, the rest in the states. he said even shorter term tariffs would have an impact on the economy that will persist for some time after they are lifted. “that’s in large part going to be due to higher prices. the automakers do not have the profit margins to absorb a 10% to 25% tariff. that will be passed on to consumers,” abuelsamid said, adding that vehicles are “already too expensive” for many car buyers to afford. according to kelley blue book, the average transaction price for a new car in december was $49,740. abuelsamid predicts the tariff increases would impact the wholesale price on a vehicle by 18% to 20%, which then will translate to a "20 ish %" increase in the price to a consumer. that means on a $49,000 car today, the price could go up by $9,800 or more, he said. "actually, it’ll probably be worse than that," abuelsamid said. "supply chains are complicated and there are a number of components that cross borders a number of times.” each time a part crosses a border, it will be taxed, he said. an example abuelsamid gave is an automaker that he declined to name told him it gets the materials to make wire harnesses from japan. those materials go to mexico to be made into the wiring harness, then those harnesses are shipped to texas to be attached to an air bag. those are then shipped back to the automaker's plant in mexico to be installed into a car seat. then the vehicle is shipped back into the united states. "so you’re going to pay tariffs the two times it comes into the u.s. and potentially the two times it goes into mexico," abuelsamid said. "another example is the ford f series pickups with the v8. those v8 engines are built in windsor, so ford is going to pay a 25% tariff for every engine they bring into dearborn and pay tariffs for other components that come into the u.s. from canada and mexico. even if the vehicle is built here, they will have a tariff impact." he said nearly all vehicles would see some tariff impact. to shift production of all parts and vehicles to the united states, abuelsamid said takes years to do, "which means consumers will pay for many years." others see a lesser impact. dan ives, global head of technology research and senior equity analyst at wedbush securities said in a monday research note, "while gm, ford and stellantis are heavily tied to much production in these countries, we believe the supply chain can adjust to a near term shock and weather the storm." ives said if tariffs stay in place for 30 to 60 days, it should have minimal impact on gm and ford. but if tariffs last longer than 90 days, ives forecasts the average transaction price on a new vehicle could rise by $1,000 to $2,000. fiorani of autoforecast solutions added that key models likely to be impacted the most by tariffs include the toyota rav4, honda cr v, chrysler pacifica, ram 2500/3500 pickup, chevrolet equinox, chevrolet blazer, ford maverick and ford bronco sport. "other models are important, especially the evs, but these models make up significant revenue and profits," fiorani said. "among the most profitable vehicles from these regions are the chevrolet silverado and gmc sierra, which have redundant production facilities in the u.s. production of these two trucks will continue, despite parts coming from canada, to maintain a level of inventory, but that, too, will begin to slide." he said in the short term, sticker prices won’t change in the hope that the trade issues will be brief, but as supplies of these models slip, transaction prices will rise. "large enough inventories of most vehicles will keep consumers and dealers happy for a few weeks, but before the end of february, should the issue remain, we will see shortages of popular models," fiorani said. "canada’s largest u.s. trading partners include michigan, indiana, ohio, tennessee, kentucky, and those states make up more than 50% of u.s. vehicle production." in the united states, 15.9 new vehicles were sold in 2024. if tariffs erode those sales by about 2 million vehicles, abuelsamid would expect to see 15% to 20% of all u.s. autoworkers to be laid off. according to the u.s. bureau of labor statistics, there were about 1.1 million motor vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs as of december. that means 165,000 or more people could lose their jobs. “it’s going to mean significant layoffs," abuelsamid said. "and, for every automaker job, there are seven other jobs that depend on those." in addition, many of the smaller suppliers that make parts for bigger suppliers are already under pressure to lower costs. "a lot of these are smaller companies. they cannot afford to absorb these extra costs," abuelsamid said. "so you will see a lot of them go out of business." if there's any doubt to that, hicks has studied the impact from trump's 10% tariff he put on china during his first term in office, which president joe biden left in place. it took about six months before the united states saw the first impacts on costs rising on goods from china and a loss of jobs across all types of u.s. manufacturing and agriculture. his data showed that in january 2017, michigan had 617,000 manufacturing jobs. by the time the tariffs hit in march 2018, there were 627,000 manufacturing jobs with employment hitting a peak in december of that year at 633,900. but that would be the last time michigan saw that level of employment in manufacturing. "in january 2020, the last month before the covid pandemic hit, there were 619,000 manufacturing jobs in michigan," hicks said. "so the trump administration had effectively killed off all the manufacturing job growth by the month before covid and that was due to tariffs.” auto industry sales had slowed substantially and the midwest was at the cusp of a recession, but covid 19 masked the impact of the tariffs, and hicks said, "that tariff was nothing compared to what we are seeing being proposed.” he said michigan imports some $300 billion worth of goods between canada and mexico each year. so tariffs that run from one to six months would result in the loss of many jobs. it will also cause people to put off buying cars, homes or doing home improvement since a lot of lumber comes from canada. all of it impacts michigan's economy. “last time (in 2018), you lost 15,000 manufacturing jobs, and that was just with tariffs of 10% on china. so you would expect this to be much worse. china is a far off trading partner. now you’re talking about your most profitable trading partners who are buying a ton of stuff," hicks said. "this isn’t going to do anything to make michigan great again.” u.s. rep. haley stevens, d birmingham, said on msnbc on monday morning that the "draconian tariffs" trump threatened to impose on canada feel more like a tax on michiganders and the fallout will be severe. "we’re looking at increased cost to consumers," stevens said. "i have spent the weekend ... talking about what is going to happen to plants, michigan automotive plants. i’ll tell ya, i’m hearing some are going to shut down. this is a tough moment for us. sometimes tariffs can be used in a strategic and coordinated way, but on our best trading partner, that is going to hurt us here in michigan." stevens, who worked on former president barack obama's auto task force in 2009 that helped guide general motors and then chrysler corp. through bankruptcy, said she knows the auto industry well and it does not need any disruptions right now. "people are working so darn hard, they’re putting the world on wheels," stevens said. "now, all of sudden, we’re going to say, 'hey we have to stop manufacturing for today because we don’t have trade at the level we used to with canada.' they buy michigan goods. we sell into canada." stevens said the democrats are prepared to fight, accusing the trump administration of acting unilaterally without the consent of congress. if trump does enact the tariffs, the economic impact will resonate from the auto industry across the economy to grocery prices and even housing prices given much of the softwood lumber used in framing new houses comes from canada, said abuelsamid. "it’s going to be really, really bad for the u.s. economy," abuelsamid said. "we’re going to have a major recession here in the united states if this continues.” more:detroit chamber, fain criticize trump tariffs; list of affected automakers more:detroit axle workers ok new contract, averting strike

radio schuman this is radio schuman, your new go to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news, insights, and behind the scenes from brussels and beyond. no comment no agenda, no argument, no bias, no comment. get the story without commentary. my wildest prediction dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries the big question deep dive conversations with business leaders euronews tech talks euronews tech talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives. with explanations, engaging q&as, and lively conversations, the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society. water matters europe's water is under increasing pressure. pollution, droughts, floods are taking their toll on our drinking water, lakes, rivers and coastlines. join us on a journey around europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters, how our wastewater can be better managed, and to discover some of the best water solutions. video reports, an animated explainer series and live debate   find out why water matters, from euronews. climate now we give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source, analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing. we meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt. radio schuman this is radio schuman, your new go to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news, insights, and behind the scenes from brussels and beyond. no comment no agenda, no argument, no bias, no comment. get the story without commentary. my wildest prediction dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries the big question deep dive conversations with business leaders euronews tech talks euronews tech talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives. with explanations, engaging q&as, and lively conversations, the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society. water matters europe's water is under increasing pressure. pollution, droughts, floods are taking their toll on our drinking water, lakes, rivers and coastlines. join us on a journey around europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters, how our wastewater can be better managed, and to discover some of the best water solutions. video reports, an animated explainer series and live debate   find out why water matters, from euronews. climate now we give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source, analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing. we meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt. nissan last month said it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen (€58m). embattled japanese car maker nissan has named jeremie papin, who was overseeing its us operations, as its chief financial officer in a major management reshuffle billed as key to a turnaround. the move was announced in the united states on thursday. it means papin, chairman of nissan's americas management committee, replaces stephen ma, who will oversee nissan motor corp's china operations. ma's replacement had been speculated about for some time, given nissan's problems in the key us market, lately dominated by tesla, toyota and ford. nissan last month revealed it was slashing 9,000 jobs, about 6% of its global work force, and reducing global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen (€58m). that was a reversal from the 190.7 billion yen (€1.2bn) profit recorded the same quarter a year ago. sales for the quarter through september fell to 2.9 trillion yen (€18.1bn) from 3.1 trillion yen. chief executive makoto uchida took a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the results and acknowledged nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes. "these executive changes reflect the experience and urgency needed to get the company back on track," uchida said in a statement. "nissan will continue to focus on future growth and steadily execute these turnaround efforts to ensure sustainable profitability." papin will steer a recovery, given his experience in strategy, business development and investment banking, according to nissan, which makes the leaf electric car, rogue suv and infiniti luxury models. a citizen of both the us and france, papin was initially with the french car maker renault sa, with which nissan formed an alliance since 1999. in 2023, he was named to nissan's executive committee, helping shape its growth plans. previously, papin worked for more than a decade as a financial analyst at deutsche bank, lehman brothers and nomura. as part of the moves, to take effective on 1 january, christian meunier, the former chief executive of jeep, returns to nissan as chairman of the americas management committee. asako hoshino will continue to oversee the customer experience, while shohei yamazaki, china management committee chairman, takes over a part of her role and will oversee the japan asean region. last month, fitch lowered its outlook on nissan from stable to negative, citing its performance in the north american market, noting it may lower its ratings if weakness continues. nissan's stock price has declined steadily over the past six months. the appointment of guillaume cartier as chief performance officer, a key figure in coordinating the managerial shifts, took effect on 1 december. he previously oversaw nissan's operations in africa, the middle east, india, europe and oceania. more changes are coming in april, according to nissan: "to build a slimmer, flatter management structure that can respond flexibly and swiftly to changes in the business environment."
supported by the automakers said they would resolve a yearslong dispute that became the backdrop to carlos ghosn’s downfall as head of the alliance. by ben dooley prosecutors say the disgraced auto tycoon channeled millions of euros in renault funds through an omani car distributor for personal use, including the purchase of a 120 foot yacht. by liz alderman the verdict, effectively a rejection of much of the government’s case, is likely to be the last in japan’s yearslong legal battle against mr. ghosn, the automaker’s former chief. by ben dooley michael taylor got frostbite in the unheated facility, his legal team says, as it pushes to have him and his son transferred to the united states. by david yaffe bellany and ben dooley the father and son each received a sentence of more than a year and had confessed to helping the executive, carlos ghosn, escape. by ben dooley thousands of financial employees in new york city have returned to their desks. by andrew ross sorkin, jason karaian, sarah kessler, stephen gandel, michael j. de la merced, lauren hirsch and ephrat livni michael taylor, a former green beret, and his son peter maxwell taylor helped the former nissan chief flee to lebanon and sidestep the japanese justice system. by ben dooley japanese prosecutors said that the two men, michael taylor, 60, a former green beret, and his son peter maxwell taylor, 27, assisted mr. ghosn’s efforts to escape the country. by ben dooley the father and son face trial on charges that they helped mr. ghosn, nissan’s former chief, flee in a speaker box to lebanon in 2019. by ben dooley the supreme court denied a bid by a father and son to block their extradition. they face trial on charges they helped japan’s most famous criminal defendant flee to lebanon. by ben dooley

agree & join linkedin by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. asia editor at automotive news u.s. sales also hit by an aging portfolio and a lack of hybrids. tokyo   nissan has a rogue problem in the u.s. that is torpedoing global profits. a lackluster launch of the updated crossover, nissan’s top selling nameplate, forced the embattled japanese automaker to hoist incentives on mounting inventories of the outgoing model. the result was soaring expenses that nearly erased parent company operating income. in announcing the dramatic profit plunge in nissan’s fiscal first quarter, ceo makoto uchida blamed the downturn on u.s. operations and cut the company’s full year financial outlook. “we were unable to boost volume as expected,” uchida said at the company’s july 25 earnings announcement. “this has been a very challenging quarter for nissan.” nissan’s operating profit collapsed 99 percent to 995 million yen ($6.4 million) in the three months ended june 30.