Britain is such a weird car market, especially now that it’s not part of the European Union. Last year, just shy of 2 million cars were sold in the United Kingdom, which makes it a little bigger than the State of California in terms of sales. Buyers there like smaller cars, fleet sales make up a way higher percentage of total sales, and the steering wheels are on the wrong side. Also, the “fastest selling used car” is the rare vehicle that takes up almost no space in my brain. And I have a brain filled with lots of thoughts about the Daewoo Leganza.
It’s Friday, and The Morning Dump is going to take a much-needed break from any talk about the President, Tesla, or tariffs. All of that news is important, of course, but there doesn’t seem to be any resolution to any of it that anyone can offer at the moment, so let’s take a breather.
We’ll start in Britain, where a Vauxhall is looking to usurp some familiar players, then transition to Germany, where two major automakers are reportedly abandoning their collective mobility dreams. While we’re in Europe, why is it that some Chinese automakers are floundering there while most EV brands are doing quite well? Tari… oh. Ok, so we’ll talk about European tariffs, just not American ones.
And, finally, it wouldn’t be a Friday here without news regarding the world’s most important automaker: Škoda!
It’s A Good Year For The (Used) Vauxhalls
I was looking through the British press trades this morning and I saw that Auto Trader is tracking the Vauxhall Grandland as the “fastest selling” used car so far this year. This didn’t immediately land with me, and my eyes quickly darted over to the Škoda news like Garfield when he sees a lasagna.
Then I thought: Can I even picture a Vauxhall Grandland? I know roughly 9 million cars. I don’t know every car that’s ever existed, but I’ve gotta be in like the 99.8th percentile for car-knowing. I can’t even recall the fastest-selling used car in a place I’ve visited three times in the last couple of years?
Oh, right. Let’s start with what Vauxhall is. The laziest badge engineering in the world is Vauxhall, which is the British version of Opel, which was the German version of GM for a while, and has now been voted “Most Forgotten About Stellantis Brand And, Yes, We’re Including Leapmotor And Maserati.” The Grandland is in its second generation and is now on the same Stellantis STLA Medium platform that underpins a bunch of Peugeots and, in the United States, the next Jeep Compass.
With Vauxhalls, the company mostly just stamps a new badge on the car, in this case not even attempting to rename the car, although I guess Grandland sounds more English than German. Still, there’s no stiff-upper-lip spoiler or anything. The latest version of this car hasn’t even been for sale for that long, but it’s in that compact crossover segment that British people love. Last year, the best-selling cars, according to industry group SMMT, were the Ford Puma, Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai, and Nissan Juke. All are variants on the small or even-smaller SUV.
What does fastest-selling mean? From Auto Trader:
Of all the used cars on sale, the Vauxhall Grandland is currently leading the pack when it comes to speed of sale. Under one-year-old petrol-hybrid versions of the venerable SUV are currently selling in just seven and a half days on average in March. This is closely followed by another petrol-hybrid SUV with the one-year-old Mercedes-Benz GLC shifting off retailers’ forecourts just in eight and a half days. The top three is rounded off by the one-year-old petrol version of the Jeep Avenger which took on average eleven days to exchange hands between retailers and buyers.
People like hybrids. Not a big shock.
Wait! I think I drove a Grandland. Technically, the Opel Grandland X, because I was in France (on the left):
There’s the car I rented, I think, next to a Lynk & Co. It was fine? We did put a few gallons of race fuel in it, and it was way faster. Also, I was at Le Mans, so I got to drive it around parts of the track as fast as I could get away with before the Maréchaussée noticed and chased me out of the country.
I believe the car Auto Trader is referring to is the outgoing, facelifted hybrid and not the new one. This doesn’t make a big difference as I can remember none of them.
Whatever Happened To Peace, Love, And Mobility?
After the 1910s, basically the coolest person you could be if you weren’t attractive enough to be an actor or talented enough to be a rock star was the CEO of a big manufacturer, especially of cars. It was cutting-edge to be the leader of a car company, as bigger and fancier automobiles represented technological innovation, especially in bombed-out Europe or Japan or wherever.
Steve Jobs changed this, and suddenly it was old-fashioned to make cars. No one wants to be old-fashioned, so we’ve been on this seemingly never-ending treadmill of “new” buzzwords that will revolutionize cars. We’re in the days of AI, which has surpassed software-defined vehicles. Total electrification is also a thing of the past. Before all of this, though, was mobility.
Automakers loved talking about how they weren’t carmakers, they were mobility companies, and they were going to do a way better job of taxis than Uber, and a way better job of scooters than Lime. That mostly didn’t happen. While all of the above technology is important, none of it has replaced making cars as the main thing these companies do.
Here’s a great paragraph full of this nonsense from Manager Magazin that helps give my ranting some context:
More than “just” building cars. Dieter Zetsche (71) and Harald Krüger (59) wanted to prove they could do it. But both automakers had burned through a lot of money with car sharing and other ventures. Together, everything was supposed to be better: In 2019, the then heads of Mercedes-Benz and BMW combined their first experiments with mobility services.
Under the umbrella of the newly founded joint venture Your Now, the Bavarians and the Swabians brought together their subsidiaries for car sharing (Sharenow), for arranging taxis (Freenow) and other means of transport (Reachnow), for finding electric charging stations (Chargenow) or for finding open parking spaces (Parknow).
Today, very little of it remains. And soon, Your Now could be history: BMW and Mercedes are close to selling the last remaining company, Freenow. As manager magazin has learned from well-informed sources, there’s already a favorite for the takeover: the American taxi service Lyft wants to buy Freenow. Neither BMW nor Mercedes wanted to comment, and Lyft did not respond to a request for comment.
Your Now, Sharenow, Freenow, Chargenow, Reachnow, Parknow. LOL.
Chinese Automakers Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down In Europe
Sometimes tariffs do work, as Chinese automakers in Europe are finding out. EVs sold by Chinese-owned brands just had their worst month in Europe in a couple of years. In particular, MG, which has been hit with huge tariffs by the EU, saw a big drop on the continent. By comparison, Leapmotor, which builds its vehicles in the EU and thus avoids tariffs, saw sales go up.
The biggest winner was probably BYD, which is now the biggest Chinese brand in Europe and also didn’t have as huge a levy placed on its cars (and is also building out production capacity in Europe).
One key reason for BYD’s success has been its wide lineup covering the mainstream and premium segments, said Felipe Munoz, senior analyst at Jato.
“This explains why it has been able to increase its volumes in both the wealthier northern Europe and less-wealthy south,” Munoz said.
BYD is rolling out the affordable and popular Atto 2 compact sport utility vehicle across Europe, giving the region another fresh model.
In aggregate, Chinese brands outsold Tesla in European markets including Germany and Italy in February, Munoz said. That may be partly due to the US carmaker’s aging lineup.
And thus ends my talking about Tesla or tariffs for the morning,
The Angles Wanna Drive My Green Škoda Elroq vRS
I can’t remember the Vauxhall Grandland, a vehicle I’ve driven, but I will happily talk about the compact electric Škoda Elroq. It’s getting a vRS version, which is the sporty one, and it’ll get a sweet Hyper Green paint.
It’ll be unveiled next month at Milan Design Week, according to the automaker:
Following its digital unveiling, the sportiest version of the all-electric compact SUV will make its public exhibition debut in Italy at Milan Design Week 2025 in the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea gallery in the Porta Venezia Design District. The exhibition, open to visitors from 8 to 13 April, will feature the Elroq vRS as the centrepiece of an immersive pathway, aligning with Škoda’s Be More Elroq campaign. To mark the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Mladá Boleslav car manufacturer, the official unveiling of Botas sneakers based on Škoda Modern Solid design principles will also take place during the exhibition. These sneakers were created in collaboration with the Škoda Auto design team. One of the three planned models will be worn by members of the Škoda organizational team during the event.
Cool.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Laura Nyro week comes to an end with the voice of Nyro herself and not one of the many artists, like Elvis Costello, that she influenced. I’ve gone back and forth all week about which song I’d use, though I suspected it would be off of Eli And The Thirteenth Confession. If you’re digging the week, I think you should just go listen to the whole album, but “Sweet Blindness” is a good place to start. It has all the hallmarks, including that jaunty piano, wild swings of tempo, and her ability to jump octaves like it ain’t no thing.
The Big Question
Name some cars you always forget exist.
Top photo: Vauxhall
Vauxhall is as British as can be – if you bear in mind that the royal family is a lazily rebadged version of the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
When they (Vauxhall, not the Royals) started putting Union Jacks and ‘British brand since’ in their adverts my eyes rolled back in my head so hard I found myself looking at last week.
The BRAND goes back to 1903 for cars, even if the current ones are rebadged Germans like the royals.
But realistically, there really is only ONE royal family for the entire continent, they have all intermarried a zillion times anyway. And most of them today are ancestors of Queen Victoria.
It’s Habsburg all the way down.
The Windsors have inverted steering arrangements.
Why are year-old cars up for resale? Did they all come off leases? Buyer’s remorse? Extreme trend chasing?
UK registration tags (which are linked to the vehicle and not the owner) include a numerical indicator of the year (actually two as it changes every six months). There is a small subset of buyers who insist on having a car the latest numerical number.
It could also be rental fleet replenishment as Vauxhalls are typically a popular choice with rental companies.
I’d agree with your rental fleet theory – I’ve only ever seen a Grandland or an Avenger when hiring a car. Or maybe they’re so forgettable I haven’t been noticing them elsewhere.
I doubt anyone that vain is buying a generic crossover new every year. Far more likely company cars on short term leases.That is MUCH more of a thing in the UK than in the US. I bet Vauxhall was selling them CHEAP in bulk, so they are cheap when moved on.
Rental fleets generally keep cars a LOT longer than a year today. Three seeming to be the sweet spot with the big dogs. With the usual progression being the main brand keeps them for a year, then they get passed to cheaper brands under the same holding company. Hertz-Dollar-Thrifty. National-Enterprise-Alamo, Avis-Budget, etc. Sell them with a year or two of factory warranty left to maximize retail value.
Very upbeat.
I recently saw a Mitsubishi Raider in the wild and completely forgot that was a thing. In fact, I’m not sure I remember anything Mitsubishi has sold in America (other than the Evo) from like 2005-2020.
So you’re saying Everyone wants to acquire Grandland.
Contains metal & oil.
Statement checks out.
For most of my life it was Buicks. I’m a millennial so I have absolutely no attachment to the brand whatsoever. I’d see wonky looking, often maroon blobs, go “huh?”, realize they’re Buicks, and proceed to not care at all. One of our friends has a 2010s Buick CUV thing that her grandmother gave her (I’m not even joking). I’ve ridden in it and out of all the cars in the world it might not even be one of them.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in something that’s THAT devoid of character. Like it made my wife’s 2015 CRV feel like a Bentley. GM CUVs are hateful little things. To be fair they are putting a lot of work into improving them, and apparently the new Trax/Envista are pleasant for what they are, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do.
Anyway now that they’ve introduced their new design language I see the current Buicks and am like “hey that’s mostly pleasant on the eyes”. I then promptly forget about them…but hey, it’s an improvement.
I test drove an Envista when I was shopping for a new transportation egg for my wife a few months back, dealer even let me keep it overnight. It wasn’t quite right for us, but they did a great job with that car, lots of bang for the buck and it’s pretty nice looking inside and out. I’d had a previous gen Trax as a rental before, and this is a huge step forward from that punishment box.
Oh I recommend the Envista and Trax whenever someone asks me for an affordable but solid transportation pod. They’re apparently very nice for what they are and GM did the smart thing and outsourced their development to South Korea. I make many a joke at their expense since I’m a Hyundai owner and have earned that right goddammit…but they’re so far ahead on CUVs compared to the American companies it’s not even funny.
If you sat in a last gen Trax, Ecosport, etc. then went down the street to the Kia or Hyundai dealer to sit in one of their transportation eggs there was no comparison whatsoever. Fortunately GM realized this and took action. Hell even the Japanese brands have been forced to up their cheap car game as well.
GM and Ford were really sinking back into the mindset of genuinely punishing any customer that would dare to buy their cheapest model with the EcoSport and original Trax. The Trax/Envista seem like a great effort.
Ford has completely punted on offering an entry-level vehicle. That may not end up being such a smart plan based on how things have been of late.
Hadn’t thought of that, but it’s weird that Ford doesn’t really compete in that segment. I guess the EcoSport was their effort at that, but when I see an EcoSport I am offended by its overall crappiness.
The Ecosport is a hateful little shit box. I have a weird disdain for it and really any car that’s shamelessly phoned in. I think the American manufacturers are often very guilty of this because there’s a significant chunk of Americans that insist they’ll only buy American no matter what…so Ford was just like “here’s a cheap car we put 0 effort into for you, you fucking idiot”.
Eventually that kind of open disdain for your customers catches up to you. GM figured it out and course corrected. As Taargus Taargus suggested, I agree that not having any decent cheap cars will come back to bite Ford at some point.
If I recall correctly, the EcoSport was introduced right after Ford announced they aren’t making cars anymore except for the Mustang. The fact that they would discontinue the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, etc. and then hand us that steaming pile felt insulting at the time and remains so.
IIRC the Ecosport was intended for other markets and was only brought to the US as a stopgap measure. Presumably the Escape and/or Bronco Sport replaced it.
The Ecosport is a captive import from India and Brazil. In Europe they had to facelift it at least twice in quick succession before it came even remotely up to class standard.
Thanks for the specifics – I recalled that it wasn’t intended originally for the US, and it sounds like it hadn’t really been intended for Europe either.
The EcoSport would have been fine if it had actually been cheap. But it wasn’t. It was barely cheaper than the Escape, when it should have been priced like a Mitsubishi Mirage. At well under $20K it would have been somewhat justifiable, if still a complete crapcan.
Thankfully, I only ever had to ride in one once, and never got stuck with one as a rental.
I don’t generally care what I get as a rental, but I remember coming out of the anirport once and finding one of these in my spot. One of those rare times I turned heel and marched right back in the rental office to complain.
I still would like to hear from any non-LA-based Autopian staffers just how on the outs with Beau would they have to be to show up at the Galpin rental counter and be handed the keys to an Ecosport.
The only car dealer in close range to my house sells Buick and GMC, which means there is a bizarre, otherworldly profusion of Buicks in my town. I see pretty much every recent Buick model when I walk to the train station.
Sometimes I feel as if I’m Truman and this season was sponsored by Buick.
“Your Now, Sharenow, Freenow, Chargenow, Reachnow, Parknow”
GoneNow. And good riddance.
NotNow, said the populace.
We need better scooter integration into cars. They should be the last mile for commuters. Build covered lanes within that last mile bubble. Regulate the space.
It would be a blast if my ghetto blaster was fully integrated into my car. That would be a fun design challenge.
This article led me down a small rabbit hole regarding “what is a Swabian” and then I found out the German word is Schwaben, which is a far superior word. Apparently, they are also Germans, in a different area but near Bavaria.
Yep, west of Bavaria and east of Baden.
A dour bunch, as a rule. And where Daimler-Benz is headquartered, Stuttgart being the center of the area. As opposed to the rather more fun-loving (for Germans anyway) Bavarians, which is reflected in how much more fun BMWs generally are than Mercedes.:-)
The actual Germans with a sense of humor are Austrians though.
What do they call these different areas in Germany? Are they states? Provinces? Or are they just recognized cultural or geographic areas, like we would call the South or the PNW here in the US?
Germany is made up of states, which in the not THAT distant past were largely independent kingdoms and duchies and whatnot. “Germany” in the modern sense being a newer country than the United States – 1871. Bavaria IS a state, but Swabia is a region, with the state of Baden-Württemberg being much but not all of it.
Cool. Thanks for adding to my knowledge pool!
I wish I knew more areas of Germany, but since all the time I have spent there has been for car stuff, I have only really been to Munich and Stuttgart. With a couple trips from those cities to Berlin – to do more car stuff, LOL.
More like the opposite of the question but right now I am in Mexico in a business trip, the amount of BYD around me, I will never forget about these. One of my coworkers has the equivalent of a Chevy Volt but from BYD, 25K USD. I wish this administration will let them come to the US opening a plant and opening supply chains in the region but that will never happen.
Depends on how much they can bribe Trump.
BYD = Bribe Your Dictator?
And Bring Your Data, because everything Chinese collects data and funnels it back to the Chinese government.
If you ask me to picture an Infinity, I won’t be able to. The entire lineup is a forgettable alphanumeric blob in my brain.
I believe they call it a “Mayonnegg.”
I believe Jason established back in the Meh Car Monday days that it’s possible to forget the Hyundai Veracruz ever existed while actually driving one at that moment.
Meh Car Monday is what cemented my love for Jason. I binge-read them all the day I found the series.
What is it with German companies that operate primarily within Germany giving themselves English names? Germanwings was enough
Why did the Japanese use mostly English names for cars sold only in Japan? And wacky ones at that? Mazda Bongo Pop?
I’m a fan of Suzuki Every Joy Pop, myself
Also, Honda That’s
Honestly, I just love all the goofy names and wish they’d used them here. Much better than Corolla and Camry and Mazda3.
Well, they do use Camry and Corolla there, just pronounced a little different
Toyota is boring the world over.
Suzuki Kizashi. I just spotted a nice minty one the other day
Oooh, and the SX4!
I see an SX4 every week or so. Different colours so I’m not just seeing the same one every time.
A guy at the old condo complex I used to live in had a Suzuki SX4 wagon. He told me that he had to live in it for a few weeks when he lost his lease.
As I’ve been walking around the neighborhood (adjacent to mine) I’ve seen an extremely well dressed woman pull into her seven figure property in an SX4.
Hopefully one day I can be as cool as her. I’ve already got the shitbox half of the equation covered, so fingers crossed on the nice clothes and property.
Same, just two or three days ago! I immediately flashed back to that 200mph run they did with one, but completely forgot about it for however many years it was in between.
A really very decent car that should have been more successful.
The Alpha Wolf popped up and I hoped to dream … Until it evaporated into the ether.
Remember when German car naming conventions made sense? You had three tiers named by size, for example either 3, 5, and 7 or C, E and S; and the rest of the model name was more or less the engine size in liters. Nowadays I can’t make heads or tails of most of it, and thus nearly the entire BMW and Mercedes lineups are essentially indecipherable to the point I have no idea what anything is, rendering all of it forgettable.
As a youth I also paid a lot more attention to what Ferrari was doing but now that I’m older and realize Ferrari ownership was a pipe dream that died in my mid-40’s, I no longer pay as much attention as I used to, and can’t reliably tell you how many models Ferrari currently sells, much less what they’re called and where they fall in their hierarchy.
Right there with ya. I’m more ignorant of the exotic manufacturers’ lineups now than I’ve ever been. I don’t know if the cars themselves are less interesting or I’m just less interested in them.
Same for me. I no longer have any interest in supercars and couldn’t tell you the names (numbers?) of any of them. Maybe there are just so many these days that none of them stand out or seem very interesting?
I mostly just don’t care anymore. I don’t want to buy any of them, so I don’t pay much attention.
I have never cared about millionaire and then billionaire codpieces anyway, at least post about the Ferrari 365GTB “Daytona”. Not my jam.
Same here. These days if I’m reading a review of something, it’s likely just a regular car. People occasionally ask me for advice on new and used cars, so I try to keep current with things that normal people can afford.
I can’t afford the new or old ones, but I still like the old ones (and by that I mean ones that predate me or at least my awareness, so it’s not some nostalgia thing). New ones do nothing for me.
BMW really hasn’t changed THAT much. 1-7 for cars of increasing size, evens are coupes, odds are sedans (and yes, four door coupes are a thing whether you like it or not, just like 2dr sedans are a thing). No different than the 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 of old. Add an X for the equivalent jacked up stupid versions. Then a few oddballs and electrics like the XM and the i-whatevers. Bigger number on the badge, more power, same as always. BMW badging only occasionally matching engine displacement since the 1.8L 320i debuted in 1981 or so.
Mercedes is much more of a hot mess, but they always have been with their “classes” where the number is largely meaningless because it could be overridden with a displacement badge. 280SEL, 300SEL, 300SEL 6.3. 190E, 300E – completely different cars, but how would you know that from the badge? And then you could have a 190E 2.6 which had the same engine as a 260E. It made more sense for a while when they started putting the class as part of the badge. C250, E250, S320, etc. Then they debuted a million jacked up ruined things and it all went to Hell in a handbasket.
The Mercedes C class remains the one you don’t want.
The rest is a complete mess.
Don’t forget the sports equipment company PlayNow. I think a certain short, stocky, bald man who once dated Marissa Tomei worked there.
Sedans? Were those a thing once?
I just bought a sedan after 12 years of having a CUV for my daily driver. That first few weeks were just… weird somehow.
I was thinking about this the other day, and in my circle of friends and acquaintances, I do not know a single person that drives a sedan, outside of Tesla model 3’s and Y’s.
You know I would, but I forgot.
This is the most Steven Wright comment ever.
It is.
Can we pause briefly to acknowledge that Stellantis, oft-left-for-dead, holds two of these top spots?
Most of Infiniti’s lineup if we are being honest. I couldn’t tell you which Qs and QXs are currently being made vs relics of history.
Infiniti, despite making surprisingly nice cars to drive, has probably the worst model branding of any carmaker. Like you say, they are just Q+X+number with zero comprehension of what is what. I’ve had quite a few as rentals and could still not tell you the model of any of them, contra the endless stream of Impalas, 4Runners, and Fortes I also end up with.
The dynamics of Europe’s car markets are pretty different than North America.
Here Stellantis = Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram. Not exactly brands that have thrived since 2020.
The dynamics of various European auto markets means that their various brands cater to various national markets, because nationalism. Similarly, each European country has a national airline despite most of those airlines being owned by huge multinational behemoths.
Infiniti, Acura (sans Integra), Volvo, Buick, and Genesis kind of occupy a no-man’s land in my mind. Kind of vaguely upscale but not outstandingly so. Not popular enough to really be a common sight, not sporty enough to be interesting, not luxury enough to impress peons like myself.
The only quibble I have with this is that Genesis cars are really very very luxurious places to spend time. Perhaps my peon status is different than yours though. The rest, you’re spot on.
I’d say those brands (aside from Genesis) might also be struggling since Mazda has moved into this near-luxury space while mostly keeping pricing in line with more mainstream brands. I worry what will happen with tariffs, though I suspect their final form won’t be what’s been said so far.
In the DC area Infinitis usually suffer the same fate as other Nissan models-namely the Talltima and Altima. The financing is fast and loose, they lose value fast, and eventually they become ballistic missiles doing 30 over on the shoulder in rush hour.
If you see a speeding Infiniti it’s best to just stay away, especially if temporary tags that look like they were printed at someone’s home computer. That being said whenever I see brand new ones I have a similar reaction to you. The process is usually:
1). Oh that looks nice I wonder what it is
2). Oh it’s an Infiniti QX something
3). lol CVT in a luxury car
None come to mind.
“What cars do you forget exist?” By its nature, I would have search obscure cars and say, “oh, yeah; that one”
Right…
Because I forgot about them…..
So, Borrego? Cadenza? Caterra? Stelvio?
Yeah, those.
The Caddy that Zigs? Say it ain’t so!
If you’re mentioning old and forgotten Kias, how about the Rondo?
Or the days when the Sportage was available as a 3 door soft top.
We always called those fancy ones the “Spore-Taj”
The Sephia is particularly unmemorable.
Thank goodness.
Not for me. It was far and away the worst car I’ve ever rented, and I rented many, many cars.
The Seltos is one that constantly slips by me.
“and the steering wheels are on the wrong side.”
Technically, it’s right side
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!
And it’s all because of the uptight British worrying about their sword tips clanking as the horses passed by. Now half the world thinks the other half drives on the wrong side of the road, and some unknown number of people get killed every year by people forgetting where they are and causing head-ons with a local that was driving where they were supposed to be.
Crap like that is why we as a world can’t have nice things.
Along similar lines, I’d like to smack whoever it was that set up the HTML spec to NOT send a checkbox field if it isn’t checked. Life would be so much easier if it was sent but with an empty value…
Sorry, getting back to work now.
I forget the 2 door JL Wrangler exists. I just hardly see them anymore. I saw a highlighter colored one the other day and legit thought someone had imported a Jimny, because I’m just so used to Wranglers being the Unlimited model.