Photo: 9yz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
In today's issue:
Uber learned about Waymo's Austin school bus incidents from the news, not from Waymo.
Audi's finance chief wants the group restructuring VW's guidance excludes.
Ford will sell you a pink Bronco for $13,695 over sticker, and it's an aftermarket land grab.
THE AGGREGATOR PROBLEM
Uber confirmed on Friday that Waymo has formally notified it that it will launch through its own app in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028, "alongside their existing deployment with Uber," per Automotive News Europe and The Next Web. Those are the only two US cities where Uber holds exclusive rights to Waymo rides, after the narrower Phoenix deal expired in May.
The notice "would end Waymo's exclusivity in Austin and Atlanta and allow us to launch with other AV providers in those cities, which we will be prepared to do," an Uber spokesperson said. The current fleet stays on Uber's platform through at least May 2028, when the contract expires, per Automotive News Europe.
In private talks Uber cited "unsustainable economics and persistent safety and reliability issues," and regarded Waymo as repeatedly failing to be forthcoming about them, per a person familiar with the matter. Uber only learned about Waymo cars illegally passing school buses in Austin through media reports rather than the companies' own reporting channels. Waymo informed NHTSA of a software recall covering 3,067 vehicles on December 10, 2025, then Austin ISD reported buses passed again on January 12 and January 14, and the NTSB opened its own investigation into the January 12 pass, which is still open, per Automotive News Europe and the NTSB.
Waymo declined to comment on Uber's criticisms, but said on the record: "We believe in a vibrant and collaborative AV ecosystem that champions innovation and provides riders with a choice in how they experience this technology," calling that "essential to the industry's future," per Automotive News Europe.
The deeper split is regulatory. The two have backed competing approaches to state robotaxi law, and Uber, which says it is not "anti-AV or seeking to slow AV deployment," argues hybrid networks "get the technology to consumers sooner while giving policymakers a practical framework to manage the transition," per Just Auto. Uber stock is down almost 20% this year.
Uber's robotaxi thesis needs a world where every AV developer still needs its distribution, and it is lobbying for the rules that would keep that true. Waymo has now set a date for testing it in two cities.
Also worth knowing
Audi's CFO wants the group restructuring VW's guidance leaves out: Audi cut its 2026 operating-margin guidance by a point to as low as 5% and pared its revenue outlook to as little as €58 billion from at least €63 billion, citing China's downturn and US tariffs, per Automotive News Europe. On the Q2 call, finance chief Juergen Rittersberger said Audi "must work together with the Volkswagen Group to realign our business model and implement large-scale structural improvements," and put Neckarsulm's capacity at 225,000 a year, roughly 75,000 below previous years, per Automotive News Europe. Separately, Neckarsulm moves about 1,200 workers off nights to days from November, a consolidation the works council backed and one the end of A8 production made room for. #analyst
Batteries got 35% cheaper. The median EV got more expensive.: The ICCT analyzed more than 100,000 passenger-car configurations sold in Germany between 2020 and 2025. Adjusting for inflation, weight, power, battery capacity and range, equivalent electric models fell about 18% in real terms while combustion cars rose about 2%, per Carscoops. Battery costs fell about 35% in real terms over roughly the same period. The median advertised EV still climbed from about €38,000 to €54,000, because the number of models on sale went from 38 to 159 and most of the additions were larger and pricier. Mini and small cars are 14% of electric models on sale. German market, not the US. #market
BMW starts US iX5 battery production in December: BMW Group will begin series production of high-voltage batteries for the iX5 at its new Plant Woodruff, South Carolina in December, per Automotive News Europe. The timeline holds even as other automakers step back from EV builds, per InsideEVs. #analyst
Kia's profit rises despite record tariffs: Kia posted a 2.3% rise in Q2 net profit to $1.59 billion, even as operating profit fell 4.9%, as record global deliveries offset tariff costs and higher incentives, per Just Auto. #market
Reveals & culture
Ford's pink Bronco costs $13,695 more than stock: The Desert Rising package adds a pink grille and desert-tuned suspension, part of Ford's push to turn Custom Garage into a bigger slice of the $53 billion aftermarket with financeable, warrantied add-ons, per CBT News and Autoblog.
Mao's limousine brand now builds a $1.6 million flagship: FAW's Hongqi, which built state limousines from Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping, found 1,400 buyers for its ultra-luxury Golden Sunflower line in the year after its 2024 launch, per Carscoops. For scale, MarkLines estimates roughly 700 of Rolls-Royce's 5,664 global registrations in 2025 were Chinese, though Rolls does not break out the market itself. The flagship Golden Sunflower Guoli runs about $1.6 million, and one artisan spends more than 1,200 hours embroidering a special edition with 100 silk threads finer than a human hair. Hongqi is preparing to enter Malaysia and expanding in Russia, where sanctions blocked official BMW and Mercedes sales.
A 2026 Corvette ZR1 sold at auction for $561,000: The 1,064-hp, 233-mph ZR1 carries a $200,195 base price, but scarcity and dealer markups pushed one auction result to nearly triple sticker, per americancarsandracing.com.
Recalls & legal action
NHTSA denied the Tesla door petition because there is no rule to break: A Model 3 owner asked NHTSA to open a defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door release, arguing it was not readily accessible or clearly identifiable. The agency denied it, and the reason is the story: FMVSS 206 "does not currently address labeling or placement" of manual door releases, so there was no standard for any automaker's design to violate, per the Federal Register and Electrek. NHTSA instead granted a separate petition and opened a rulemaking on emergency door releases in all vehicles, while cautioning that "the initiation of a rulemaking proceeding does not guarantee that a final rule will be issued." Any standard that does arrive would apply to future vehicles, not the ones already on the road.
Quick links
July new-vehicle sales seen rising 1.4%: JD Power projects 1.42 million July sales at a 16.9 million SAAR, per CBT News. One seasonally adjusted month is a snapshot, not a trajectory.
The next Toyota Corolla leaked in a company documentary: Slim, tapered side windows in a Toyota-produced film mirror the concept car's design, ahead of an official reveal, per Carscoops.
Inside the factory where Lamborghini hand-builds the 1,001-hp Revuelto: The Revuelto is Lamborghini's first series-production plug-in hybrid and first road car past 1,000 horsepower, per Autoblog.
Yesterday's picks
Chery Just Passed 20 Million Cars. Seven of Every Ten It Sold This Year Left China.: Exports surged 71.5% while domestic sales fell roughly 40%, revealing a Chinese giant now dependent on overseas markets.
The same global tariff just got its third legal basis in six months: Section 301 becomes the third legal authority for the same global tariff, with vehicles carved out but a lawsuit already filed.
BMW tops JD Power's owner satisfaction study: BMW won six segment awards in JD Power's 2026 APEAL study, topping Hyundai Motor Group's five and GM's three.
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