In today's issue:
China's EV share hit a record 66.7%, gasoline output cratered 39%, and BMW is now warning of 7,700 job cuts
Rivian owners are suing over hands-free driving features the company allegedly never delivered
Two-year-old Ford Edges with $12,000 markdowns are sitting on lots: buyers still aren't biting
CHINA'S RECKONING
New energy vehicles claimed a record 66.7% of China's passenger-vehicle retail market in the first week of June, per China Passenger Car Association data reported by CnEVPost and GoodCarBadCar; the record is driven by collapsing gasoline output, down 39% year-over-year, not by NEV growth, with foreign legacy brands losing ground at an accelerating pace.
BMW's official position has been that China remains a critical growth market; the profit warning and job-cut scale say otherwise.
For context: GM cut more than 1,000 workers at its Factory Zero EV plant and replaced them with approximately 50 collaborative robots, per Autoblog, a preview of what restructuring looks like when Western OEMs acknowledge they misjudged China's pace of transition.
The 39% collapse in gasoline-vehicle production in one year means suppliers, tooling, and dealership footprints built around ICE are not running on borrowed time; that time is already up.
BMW's China problem and GM's Factory Zero pivots are the same story from different angles: gasoline-vehicle demand in the world's largest auto market has exited the category of slow decline and entered freefall. Foreign brands that bet on ICE inertia are now staring at restructuring bills.
Also worth knowing
Catalytic Converter Theft Is Surging Again, and Hybrids Are the $1,400 Target: Thieves took roughly 137,000 catalytic converters last year and the pace is climbing again, per Carfax data reported by Carscoops; hybrid converters are the prize, fetching up to $1,400 apiece for their heavier precious-metal loading versus $25 to $300 for a standard unit, and the Ford F-150, Hyundai Tucson, and Ford Explorer top the target list because trucks and SUVs sit high enough to cut from fast. If you own one: park in a well-lit or locked space, ask a shop about a bolt-on converter shield, and have your VIN etched on the converter so a stolen unit can be traced. #news
A G7 Hot Mic Caught Canada Quietly Letting In 49,000 Chinese EVs a Year at 6.1%: Canada's prime minister was caught on a live mic describing a deal to admit 49,000 Chinese EVs annually at a 6.1% tariff, down from the 100% duty Canada imposed in 2024, per GoodCarBadCar; the US still bars those same vehicles at 100%, meaning two USMCA partners are now building structurally different policies toward Chinese EVs, with real cross-border arbitrage potential. #analyst
$12,000 Discounts Still Can't Move the Ford Edge, Two Years After Ford Killed It: Multiple Ford Edges remain on dealer lots below $30,000 after $12,000-plus markdowns, per Carscoops, even as Ford tries to redirect Edge and Escape customers toward the $39,260 Explorer; the inventory signals that discontinued models with no marketing support face a pricing floor that discounts alone cannot fix. #market
Dealers Are Pulling More From Financing Even as Buyers Get Priced Out: Five dealership groups crossed $100 million in F&I revenue in 2025, together generating $565.5 million, up 14% from $495.1 million a year earlier, per Automotive News; the story is the squeeze underneath it, F&I and back-end income climbing even as rising prices push buyers out of the market, so dealers earn more per remaining sale exactly as affordability craters. #analyst
Reveals & culture
Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut Just Ran an 8.54-Second Quarter-Mile at 190 MPH: No AWD, no electric assist, no prepped surface: the Jesko Absolut posted an 8.54-second quarter-mile at 190 mph, per Car and Driver, breaking two production-car speed records simultaneously. The Corvette ZR1X had just set the Car and Driver quarter-mile benchmark at 8.9 seconds; the Jesko cleared it by nearly four tenths.
The World's Only Rosso Dino Ferrari Enzo Just Set the Online Auction Record at $12.4 Million: Ferrari built exactly one Enzo in Rosso Dino. It sold this week with no reserve for $12,399,000 on an online platform, becoming the most expensive car ever sold digitally, per autoevolution and Autoblog. Not a single bidder was in the room.
A Wildfire Wiped Out One of America's Great Classic-Car Graveyards: Idaho's Median Fire tore through L&L Classic Auto near Wendell, a family-run yard operating since the 1960s, destroying an estimated 9,000 of its 10,000 cars along with the office and every paper record, per local KIVI-TV and The Drive. A manager said the business may never recover, and the real loss is a decades-deep stock of irreplaceable vintage parts that enthusiasts had relied on for years.
Recalls & legal action
Rivian R1T and R1S Class Action Targets Undelivered Hands-Free Driving: A class action filed against Rivian alleges the company promised hands-free driving capability for the R1T and R1S but failed to deliver it, per CarComplaints. The claim goes to the core of how Rivian marketed its ADAS stack to early buyers. If you own one: document any communications or marketing materials Rivian sent you about hands-free driving features before purchase, as those may be relevant to the class.
Quick links
People Are Putting Doll Heads on Tesla's Steering Wheel to Fool Driver Monitoring: Camera-based driver attention systems are being defeated with plastic doll heads placed on the steering column, per Autoblog.
Next BMW X5 Will Offer Petrol, Diesel, PHEV, EV, and Hydrogen: a Production First: The next-gen X5, expected to debut in the coming weeks, will be the world's first production vehicle offered in all five powertrain formats simultaneously, per Drive.com.au.
A $255K Corvette ZR1X Beat a $4.3M Bugatti to 60 MPH: The ZR1X hit 60 mph in 1.8 seconds and ran the quarter in 8.9 seconds in Car and Driver testing, per Carscoops: topping several hypercars costing multiples of its price before the Jesko showed up.
Yesterday's picks
Europe Is Coming for Chinese PHEVs After BYD and Jaecoo Gamed the System: EU targets PHEV tariff loophole exploited by Chinese brands, closing a regulatory gap.
Waymo Recalled 3,871 Robotaxis After They Drove Into Active Freeway Construction Zones: NHTSA action forces OTA fix after robotaxis entered active construction zones.
North America Lost More Than a Quarter of Its EV Buyers in a Year: New EV buyers fell about 25% year-over-year even as global EV and PHEV sales kept rising.
Cover photo: BMW Welt, Munich. Richard Bartz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5.
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