>“Production volume is decreasing, so dispatch contracts are terminated in line with that,” the spokesperson said of the employees, hired through dispatch agencies, at Honda’s venture with China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group.

Least convoluted employment relationship, maybe ever

For Toyota at least it sounds like they’re cutting older models. Really hope the Yaris keeps on trucking!

Anyway, I’ve always been a bit surprised at how well Japanese products sell in China; the Japanese did not treat them particularly well for nearly half a century of colonialism to put it mildly

Then again, French, British, and American products are all popular there too, so maybe they hold grudges less than I would

Toyota, pointing at North America, in the borat voice: You will never get thisssss

It looks very nice though. Like a better Corolla Cross

Although funny enough Geely also owns a stake in Volvo group; a bit under 10% or so

Lot of fingers in a lot of pots

Personally, I think that Volvo should have tried to be Porsche; the ones I see most around here at the XC60s and 90s, which seem more naturally higher market than creating a completely new brand

Let Polestar be a BMW fighter and let Volvo move upmarket. Makes more sense than creating a brand new one

idk

Imagine how much better everything would be if governments weren’t cowards and mandated hybrid systems in everything back in the early 2000s after they were proven to be viable.

More peppy economy cars, maybe 1/3rd less fuel consumption globally, less smog and shit in our cities. And unlike with EVs, where I can see how there’s large groups of people with concerns or issues, realistically how many people would stake out there and say “yes, I would like a less fuel efficient car”

Sure, cars would be a bit larger and more expensive; but realistically they’ve gotten larger and more expensive anyway

If a nearly 6% growth rate is a shambles then I’d love to see my country in shambles

A very compelling package if it released 3-5 years ago, but now I see two major issues:

1: The Luxury SUV market will be saturated by then, with the drop of from my count the Model X, BMW iX, Porsche Macan, and a plethora of Chinese OEMs that I can’t name

2: It’s an $80,000 SUV that looks like a Buick. It just looks incredibly tame and reserved which I really don’t think is a huge segment of the target audience

I feel like I’m the only one that loves that colour; I wish they offered it on more cars lmao

1: it really does seem that competition is heating up across the world in the battery space. I’m especially interested in what happens with battery miniaturization. I want my 2 week phone charge!

2: goddamn are 1st and 2nd gen EVs gonna depreciate hard. Can’t wait to buy a taycan for $5 in 2028