In today's issue:

The proof Bernstein asked for is a sales trend, and the one commitment CEO Antonio Filosa has made on that is a sequential improvement in each quarter. Peugeot is also showing the 816-hp E-T16 hyperhatch, covered under Reveals below.

Volkswagen's Deliveries Fall 14.3%, the Steepest Drop Since 2022, as China Sales Slide 38.5%: Volkswagen Group delivered 1.89 million vehicles in the third quarter, its steepest quarterly decline since a 22.4% drop in the second quarter of 2022, per CBT News. China deliveries fell 38.5% in the quarter, to 405,800 from 660,300 a year earlier, and 30.2% over nine months, per ChinaEVHome; North America fell 5.8% and Western Europe 2.8%. CBT News says global battery-electric deliveries fell about 5% even as European EV deliveries rose nearly 20%, and Martin Sander, a member of Volkswagen's extended executive committee, said the decline in China's overall market "remains an industry-wide challenge." #market

The EU Hybrid Cap Is Pushing BYD and Leapmotor Toward Building in Europe: Following last week's EU-China hybrid understanding, Automotive News reports analysts expect the import cap to slow Chinese sales growth in the short term but speed local production. Chinese brands held about 26% of Western Europe's plug-in-hybrid market in the second quarter, up from 2.2% two years earlier, per Schmidt Automotive Research. Bernstein estimates Chinese hybrid sales in the EU will reach 435,000 this year, above a reported 350,000-unit cap, though it is unclear whether the two sides agreed a hard limit or a tariff trigger and no figures have been officially published. Leapmotor, the Stellantis partner from today's lead, is due to start shipping cars from a Stellantis plant in Spain this month and BYD plans mass production in Hungary in the fourth quarter. #analyst

NHTSA Weighs a Probe Into Claims Tesla's Robotaxis Speed Through School Zones: NHTSA opened file DP26010 on Oct. 9 on a defect petition, which reached the agency Sept. 23, covering what NHTSA estimates is about 1,000 Model Y and Cybercab robotaxis, per Electrek. The evidence is three social media videos and four incidents in NHTSA's own tally, with no crashes or injuries. The agency has 120 days from the Sept. 23 receipt to grant or deny, which runs to about Jan. 21, 2027, and a grant means a formal investigation that can end in a recall. Electrek counts it as the third federal action on Tesla's driverless fleet in about five weeks, after an audit query and a Special Order, the latter over how the Cybercab was certified. #news

Peugeot's E-T16 Concept Turns the 205 Turbo 16 Into an 816-HP Electric Hyperhatch: Three electric motors, one in front and two in back, take the E-T16 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and to 186 mph in 16 seconds, per The Autopian, which calls it Peugeot's most powerful car ever. Peugeot quotes nearly 250 miles of range (400 km, WLTP) from an 85-kWh battery and a 10-to-80% charge in under 15 minutes, and says it can run three Nürburgring laps in Performance mode without cutting power. Peugeot will put the square Hypersquare wheel into production together with steer-by-wire, and The Autopian says the future E-208 hatchback's version swaps the concept's display in the wheel's hub for an airbag.

Leapmotor's B03 Targets the ID. Polo and Renault 5 at About €25,000: The subcompact hatch has a 191-hp motor, a 0-62 mph time of 7.6 seconds and 242 miles of WLTP range, with European sales starting in 2027, per Carscoops.

NHTSA Opens a Recall Query Into 535,639 GMC Sierras as Grille Deflectors Still Fly Off: The query covers 2022 to 2024 Sierras and follows 118 complaints that the trim above the grille detached while driving, per autoevolution. Twenty-one came from owners who had already had the fix under the February 2025 recall 25V060, which covers a little over 70,000 2022 trucks with the chrome deflector. NHTSA knows of no crashes.

Yesterday's picks

Mercedes Widens S-Class Brake Hose Recall to 30,078 Cars: The expansion under NHTSA 26V638 covers S-Class models built from Feb. 2, 2021 to Nov. 28, 2024, where a leaking front brake hose can drain one of two brake circuits with no warning before a red fluid message, per autoevolution and Autoblog. Dealers will replace both front hoses at no charge, and Mercedes had blamed climate in the earlier 25V116 recall before reports from outside the U.S. undercut that.

China and the EU Reach a "Shared Understanding" on Hybrid Exports: China says it reached an understanding with the EU that "opens the prospect" of cutting Chinese hybrid and plug-in hybrid exports to Europe by more than half, measured against projected growth over four years, per Automotive News Europe and Politico. It reverses Thursday's report that China had rejected Brussels's request for voluntary curbs, and it follows the tariff-rate quota plan reported Oct. 7. What is agreed is the framework; no tariff or quota figures have been published, only a pledge to keep talking.

Worth a listen

One episode from Car Curious, our sister car-podcast platform, picked out of everything the shows published in the last day.

Sedans Are Still Great (Wheel Bearings, also at YouTube): A host calls the Toyota Tundra TRD Pro comfortable on a long haul but "not nimble at all," and the hosts size up the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker's 274-mile range.

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