Running a business in a trade war is like jumping on one of those terrible old spring beds piled high with all your most valuable possessions. Some of your things won’t move at all, others will hop safely toward the pillows, and some of your best stuff will get randomly rocketed straight into your bedside mirror. Oh no, there goes your vintage record player and three signed Dave Brubeck albums! Is there anything more prized by Americans than the Ford F-150? Historically, no, so that’s why it’s a big deal it might get pricier.
This trade war might also cause Audi’s prices to go higher, which is just one of about a million problems at Audi. The automaker was just outsold by Tesla for the first time ever as the company’s CEO tries to grapple with a crisis every minute. It’s not like Tesla is in great shape; retaliatory measures are hitting Elon Musk’s automaker in our great potential 51st state of Canada.
Mazda has a plan to get through all of this, and it’s called an “Asset Light Strategy,” which, coincidentally, was my own personal economic strategy for most of my 20s. That wasn’t a plan so much as something that just happened to me, but let’s see how it works out for Mazda.
Ford Says It’ll Be ‘Difficult’ To Offset Cost Of Metal Tariffs
Automotive tariffs against Mexico and Canada were temporarily halted because, well, I’m not really sure. The unpredictability of it all means that by the time I’m done writing this, there may be a 500% tariff against Martian sand. I won’t make this too long then, but I think it’s important to talk about why Ford is somewhat more screwed than others, why we don’t process a lot of automotive-grade aluminum in the United States, and why all this confusion is bad for business.
Let’s go back in time to the beginning of the Obama Era. The country was getting out of a recession, had just weathered a few major disruptions in oil prices, and was suddenly feeling more concerned about the environment (though to be clear CAFE requirements existed before then). Ford’s bread-and-butter F-150 was in the midst of being revolutionized for a new era, and so Ford engineers decided to switch to aluminum for a big portion of its world-beating half-ton pickup (including the hood, doors, and the bed). The idea here is that aluminum is lighter than steel, and a lighter truck is more efficient. Other truckmakers gave Ford some crap for this, but time has proven the haters mostly wrong. Ford kept selling the trucks and, since a large percentage of trucks are just glorified sedans at this point, it hasn’t been the issue some predicted.
Partially out of a desire to bring more blue-collar jobs to the United States, President Trump has instituted a blanket 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum. For steel, this doesn’t seem to be quite as big of a deal, as the country has a decent base of suppliers following tariffs put in place in 2018. Aluminum is way harder to produce in America, though. Why?
As The Wall Street Journal points out, aluminum is hard to smelt efficiently here in the United States:
Aluminum smelters use gobs of electricity, accounting for about 40% of their operating expenses, and rising power costs contributed to their dwindling presence in the U.S., where smelters in operation have shrunk to four from seven five years ago.
Smelters in Canada, meanwhile, have access to low-cost power from hydroelectric generators.Alcoa asked the Trump administration to exempt Canadian primary aluminum from the 25% tariff on grounds that the additional production can’t be started in the U.S. without a plan for lower-cost electricity.
“Our deeply integrated aluminum supply chain with Canada has supported many American industries, including automotive,” Alcoa said.
This is the whole point of trade. It’s possible to put American laborers in jobs where they make aluminum, but it would be more expensive for consumers across a wide range of products. It might be worth it if this creates more jobs, but as Alcoa points out, the benefit of the current arrangement is that aluminum is produced more efficiently (and in a more environmentally friendly way) in Canada. When it’s sent to the United States, instead of having certain laborers create a basic commodity, American workers could be using that aluminum to build cars, washing machines, or other more advanced products. The more advanced your product, typically, the more money you earn as a laborer. These are better jobs.
American aluminum, being de facto more expensive, might find a market with American companies, and jobs could be created, but the price of all of those increases will land on consumers. Ford has tried to get ahead of this by stockpiling automotive-grade aluminum, but it’s not a supply chain that can be turned on overnight:
A Ford spokesman said it would take many years to rewire its supply chains to get more automotive-grade aluminum from the U.S. He declined to comment on the potential effect on prices should the tariffs last.
“While we are working to find offsets to the added cost, this will be difficult,” he said.
Ford isn’t the only company being hit here, but the F-150 is kind of the perfect poster child for why this whiplash form of governance is difficult for automakers. Expecting emissions standards to go up and free trade to continue, Ford made a better product it could sell at a price that would make it competitive in the marketplace. Now it’s seeing a risk of higher aluminum costs and diminished trade. The company could make its trucks out of more steel, eventually, but at the cost of efficiency. What happens if the next administration reinstitutes higher EPA standards?
It’s a hard game to win, this back-and-forth thing.
Audi Is In Bad Shape, Part 9000
It seems like most of the news about Audi lately has been bad. The automaker has lost the plot. In one way, Audi is the automaker most associated with aluminum automotive construction and thus most at risk of being hurt here, but it doesn’t make any cars in the United States so it’s probably less impacted. On the other hand, Audi does make cars in Mexico.
If there’s any company that can’t afford a disruption right now it’s Audi, which is part of the VW portfolio.
The brand’s profits were down 33% year-over-year, as competition from China and restructuring hit the bottom line. It’s a great brand and turning it around has proven to be quite difficult for CEO Gernot Döllner according to this latest report in Germany’s Manager Magazin:
Audi sold just under 1.7 million vehicles in 2024, 224,000 fewer than a year earlier and, for the first time, fewer than electric rival Tesla. Profits are sinking in the direction of their Wolfsburg-based sister company VW, regularly ridiculed by the Ingolstadt-based company: 2.5 percent operating return on sales after nine months. Even the likely significantly better fourth quarter is unlikely to lift the annual result to premium levels.
Döllner is experiencing bad figures and trouble everywhere; even in the formerly reliable German market, the mood is at rock bottom. One supervisory board member speaks of “chaos days since he arrived. Nothing works.” There’s no improvement in sight.
A new Q5 might help, as that’s the brand’s F-150, but that vehicle is built in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico. Will the company have to increase costs to offset tariffs? From Reuters, it’s being discussed:
“This is what we are pursuing. And we are pursuing this regardless of the changes in the political landscape in the USA,” Doellner said, referring to import tariffs the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump has launched on products from Mexico and Canada.
Doellner said he expects a decision on localizing production in the North American market, which could include using existing Volkswagen factories as well as a new site, this year.
Could Audi produce the A5 in Chattanooga? It’s not an entirely crazy idea. This is one of the potential positives of a trade war, as automakers are looking to see where they can expand production in the United States.
Tesla Faces Trade War Reciprocation In Canada, Vibe Shift Everywhere
This might be hard to grasp, given Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own rhetoric about government waste, but Tesla is the poster child for government investment. Globally, Tesla directly or indirectly got money from local/state/federal governments because what Tesla was doing was helping save the world. It’s still getting a lot of that money today.
To many, Musk is now still saving the world in his role as an advisor to President Trump. Polling shows that, to others, Musk’s behavior shows he’s now hurting the world more than he’s helping.
Governments, especially in Canada, are fighting back according to a report from Reuters via MSN:
Toronto is no longer providing financial incentives for Tesla vehicles purchased as taxis or ride shares due to trade tensions with the United States, the city’s mayor, Olivia Chow, said on Monday.
The city is promoting the adoption of electric vehicles purchased as vehicles for hire by giving drivers and owners a reduction in licensing fees and renewal fees until the end of 2029, to help it lower emissions.
But as of March 1, Tesla vehicles are no longer eligible for the incentives, Chow said at a news conference.
This is the trick that I’m not sure Elon Musk has either grasped or, if he has, cares about. One random city cutting a program is going to have a minimal impact on Musk, but if Europe or California decides to exclude Tesla from carbon offset credits that would materially damage the company’s profitability.
And, as Bloomberg’s Amanda Mull points out, the vibes are really bad:
Cybertruck owners have found their vehicles defaced with everything from spray paint to dog feces, and embarrassed drivers of less controversial Tesla models have taken to adding bumper stickers or magnets to their cars to make clear they purchased them before they knew about Musk’s politics. Tesla showrooms and Superchargers have attracted “Tesla Takedown” protests across the US, and a handful of suspected arson incidents of the company’s cars and facilities have also been reported. Sales numbers and registration rates for new Teslas have fallen around the world in 2025: Sales are down 45% across Europe; in Australia, the Electric Vehicle Council estimates a sales drop of 70% over the previous year; in China, shipments of domestically manufactured Teslas have plunged 49%.
It’s nearly impossible to think of a comparable example of a company detonating its own brand. Musk long ago revealed himself to be, at best, a clumsy wielder of symbolism—remember when he hauled a bathroom sink into Twitter’s offices when his takeover became official?—and he appears to have completely misapprehended the symbolic value of Tesla’s brand. Or, at the very least, he seems to have misunderstood his own capacity to change the nature of that value without also diminishing it.
I was listening to Matt Levine on his “Money Stuff” podcast this weekend, and he joked that shorting Tesla wasn’t smart as Musk has always found a way to turn around a bad quarter, so we’ll see what he can do to shift the vibes back.
Mazda Is Going To Get By With A Little Help From Its Friends
Of all Japanese automakers, Mazda has been the slowest to embrace EVs. This has been a decent strategy lately, but even Mazda recognizes it’ll eventually need its own electric cars. After a few years of trying to go it alone, the company has decided to find some partners in what it calls an “asset-light strategy,” which just means it’s not going to build everything itself.
Under the strategy, Mazda’s battery development budget for the period from 2022 to 2030 will be reduced by half from the original estimate of 750 billion yen ($5 billion).
Originally, Mazda planned to procure batteries by itself, but the company has found a more efficient way — joint development with Chinese partner Changan Automobile.
Total investment for electrification is now projected to be 1.5 trillion yen through 2030, compared with 2 trillion yen as originally estimated.
Mazda also plans to build its EVs on its existing production lines, as opposed to building a bunch of new factories.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Does Michel Gondry’s “Army of Me” rolling artwork for Bjork count as one of the all-time great uses of automobiles in music video history? I think so. Peep the Austin Healey.
The Big Question
What would you do if you were in charge of Audi or Mazda?
Top photo: Ford/Depositphotos.com
The GOP has pretty much figured out how to rig the elections, so I don’t think we’re going to see a whole lot of change in future administrations. Especially once we get rid of that idiotic constitution and return to a monarchy. Maybe then we can colonize the UK and demand our monarch be also crowned King of England.
Madza3 meet Mazda9 (performance 3 lol).
If I were in charge of Audi, I’d retire the brand altogether.
If I were in charge of Mazda, I’d offer the Mazda3 with AWD, 2.5T, and manual transmission.
And naturally I’d give myself a loaner to drive as well.
The common “flathead” screw in the title image gives me the shivers! Those are just barely acceptable for machine screws, but when it’s on a wood screw, that’s a recipe for having your drill slip off a dozen times before you get it all the way in!
Though I guess that’s what you’ll get should Canada’s most important contribution to the world economy, the Robertson screw, succumb to tariffs as well!
What would I do? I’d ignore any articles labeled with might, maybe, possibly, could happen etc. Sad to see the site slipping to politics. It was what killed the previous site. I hoped that DT and JT didn’t start a new site to replicate the old site. If there is proof the tariffs do something fine but the maybe, might, could, possibly needs to be erased.
Uncertain times call for uncertain words. Especially when even hindsight is being rewritten…
Maybe we should stop voting for clowns who are screwing up the automobile industry and then our car websites won’t have to cover the way politics affects the car industry?
I don’t like being faced with my poor decisions, either, but reality is reality.
Cars are political.
it’s all about product planning and knowing your customers.
what do mazda’s customers want? i think it’s an engaging driving experience, happy styling, affordability and reliability. maybe extend the model range with a WRC-inspired sporty UV with loads of wheel travel and softly sprung – good for shitty roads…and a small pick-up truck.
what do audi customers want?
i have no idea honestly… complexity, unreliability, un-serviceability, and exclusive country-club pricing? i fear audi is in a bad spot – even f1 success (however unlikely) won’t help. the product range is ok (given their baggage). so ditch the complexity ( and most electronics) make reliable and serviceable- focus that experiment on one model niche and extend to other models later.
both manufacturers also need to dip their toes into ev drivetrains…presuming their customers want that.
“This is the whole point of trade. It’s possible to put American laborers in jobs where they make aluminum, but it would be more expensive for consumers across a wide range of products”
Yeah and nobody in the Trump administration understands the point of trade or even high-school level macroeconomics.
This is what happens when you have a crooked guy at the top appointing people based on loyalty rather than competence.
And to Ford and the rest of the auto industry… FUCK YOU for not speaking up against Trump’s Tariff talk about this BEFORE the election. And Trump absolutely did talk about doing this before the election and you fucking idiots stayed silent.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/trump-favors-huge-new-tariffs-how-do-they-work
FUCK YOU… by staying silent, you helped bring this on.
And a DOUBLE FUCK YOU to the CEO and directors who voted for Trump and the Republicans.
“What would you do if you were in charge of Audi or Mazda?”
I’m not sure about Audi. But in the case of Mazda, I would be looking to work with Toyota to get a Mazda version of Toyota BZ/Subaru Solterra as a short term move.
And as a long term move, start with making a scalable BEV platform with the plan to use it first on the largest vehicles Mazda sells… plus make an electric van and an electric pickup truck on that platform.
And if they haven’t done so, cancel any further diesel or hydrogen powertrain work and reallocate those resources to the BEV platform and the vehicles that will use it.
And I would seriously evaluate how their rotary hybrid powertrain stacks up against the hybrid powertrains Toyota and others have. If it isn’t as good or better from a performance and efficiency perspective, I’d scrap that program as well. And from what I’ve read in some places like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mazda/comments/1b2au2t/driving_the_mx30_with_rotary_engine/
The rotary hybrid system is very inefficient compared to hybrid powertrains of similar power. And thus, I would end up shitcanning that program as well.
I would also ensure that the Miata Miata program stays alive.
Ford directors, enjoy what you voted for. Trump, in no uncertain terms, said what he was going to do and they chose to ignore that. And now we all get to pay the price. Idiots.
As for “Partially out of a desire to bring more blue-collar jobs to the United States, President Trump has instituted a blanket 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum.”
Uh, no. That clown has exactly ZERO plans or thoughts other than revenge for some personal vendetta. He does not have a clue about anything related to tariffs. He still thinks the other countries pay the increased cost.
By the way, I just did a little surfing and it seems that Steel Dynamics was going to startup a new Secondary Aluminum processing plant in Indiana this year – I wonder if this tariff changes the economics of that plant. And with respect to primary aluminum production the U.S. has virtually none of the easiest to process bauxite that is used to make aluminum, and instead the handful of domestic primary aluminum plants import the bauxite from places like Australia, Jamaica, and Guniea. Yeah a tariff will encourage U.S. Investment – not!
I fucking LOVED the Army of Me video as a kid. Along with Busta Rhymes “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check”.
Oh MTV, you were so fun.
Back to Bjork, I still listen to Post pretty frequently.
Oh cars. Mazda, you keep doing you. Just don’t kill the 3, please. For Audi, they should put a woman named Karen who yells out the driver’s window of her white Q5 at pedestrians, so that the company is lead by their enthusiast demographic.
If I was in charge of Audi or Mazda, I would do exactly what I am doing at home; sitting on my money and waiting for some indication of where the economy / economic policy is going. I certainly would not invest in R&D only to find everything upended because the king decided to add a 150% tariff on your product overnight.
I feel like this doesn’t quite emphasize how much aluminum is in the F series trucks. Almost the entirety of the body structure is aluminum. only a few brackets are actually steel. Same goes for the Expedition and Navigator SUVs. Switching them to Steel would require a complete factory retool at Dearborn Truck, KC Assembly (F150 Plants) Kentucky Truck (Super Duty, Expedition/Navigator) and Ohio Assembly (Super Duty) Since the current trucks are mechanically fastened with rivets, screws and adhesives and not welded.
It drives me nuts every time I see the numbers published for investment in electricity generation capacity for AI data centers. Hell, Google and Facebook are looking into their own nuclear reactors. Priorities I guess. The lesson here is that just like China, US could have industrialized (or stay that way, more accurately) but the short-sighted money said otherwise. Now we are going to pay the price literally as well, because figuratively we’re neck deep in them payments already!
AI needs electricity.
Electric vehicle needs electricity.
This website really needs a block function.
Blocking someone is a bit extreme. Just because I don’t agree (whatsoever; I can’t stress that enough) with somebody’s politics (again, just…nope) doesn’t mean I should completely isolate myself from their views. It’s too easy to forget that not everybody thinks the way I do and there’s value in being reminded of that. Now a downvote button, on the other hand…
That’s fine, you do what works for you.
To be fair, I don’t see the value in being exposed to their views anymore. I am well aware that these people exist. I am well aware what they stand for. I already get more than my fair share of exposure to their garbage elsewhere – I’d like to be able to avoid it in places I frequent for education/entertainment, of which they can provide neither.
I can see the argument for echo chambers being counter-productive to resistance, making folks complacent, or driving them towards unrealistic, out-of-touch viewpoints. That said, again – I come here looking for automotive content when I’m taking a break from near-perpetual, unavoidable political engagement.
Now, at the risk of sounding too German-lighting-site-adjacent and derailing this particular discussion:
– Better moderation would go a long way. It’s not censorship to clean up the comments when people are arguing in bad faith or in favor of actively and deliberately harmful policy. “If a bar lets Nazis in, it’s a Nazi bar.”
– Automotive news is often inherently political. In fact, an issue I have with Morning Dumps is that Matt often tries to artificially keep them as apolitical as possible, which makes him sound like one of those Enlightened Centrism (TM) weirdos. At some point, one’s gotta recognize that inaction != impartiality, and that inaction is itself a form of action – one that favors the oppressor.
This delusion that one side or another are Nazis is what is wrong with the country.
This is pedantically true; there is only one side talking about keeping America white, one side importing white South African Afrikaners, one side doing Nazi salutes at wink-wink Nazi rallies, one side ignoring rulings from judges, one side imposing cultish loyalty tests on what are supposed to be impartial civil servants, one side trying to “purify” civilization by getting rid of homosexuals, transsexuals and other “deviants”, and one side detonating all of the old anti-Nazi, anti-Soviet military alliances that have lasted a century.
So yes, the delusion that “either one side or another” are Nazis is clearly what’s wrong with this country, because there’s too many indecisive idiots that are refusing to open their eyes that there is indeed a side that is walking down the path of fascism, but being obstinate and contradictory is more important to them than agreeing with the obvious.
We are all entitled to our delusional beliefs. That’s how I’ve managed to be a Vikings fan for decades.
Enjoy telling yourself that your team has turned on the First Amendment to save us from Nazis. I’m sure the Right has a similar coping mechanism to tell themselves that they are correct for voting a human gaslight into office. Just don’t expect everyone to share your delusion.
turned on the First Amendment
Obligatory xkcd: xkcd: Free Speech
Not to mention that it’s not “my team” that’s doing its best to get rid of independent media, detaining lawful permanent residents for exercising their right to peaceful protest… I could go on, but you get the point.
Additionally, while I maintain that the current administration’s policy is, in ways that matter, indistinguishable from Nazism, let’s assume for a second that the label is excessive/copium/fearmongering/whatever, dude. My point stands: people whose only contribution to a discussion is hateful, bad-faith rhetoric rooted in no, fundamentally flawed, or outright falsified evidence, do not deserve to be platformed.
Lastly, the “but the left sucks too!” whataboutism is what got the human gaslight elected in the first place. (“The right can be lawless, but the left has to be flawless.”) I don’t have to love [insert leftist politician you want to make fun of for being delusional the most here] to recognize they, unlike “the other team”, don’t deny my loved ones’ right to exist. I’m not going to hold them to a higher standard to my own detriment.
You are missing the point. It’s not just that the left sucks too. It’s that during the last couple decades, and especially the last 13 years, the left has turned so hard on classical liberal values that they are now the greater threat to our democracy.
I could never bring myself to vote for Trump, but I can certainly understand how people would take him over another 4 years of the authoritarian slide we just witnessed. No one wants to hear the authoritarian left calling everyone Nazis. This is why your team is losing to the other (not my) team.
Enjoy the cognitive dissonance.
the authoritarian slide we just witnessed
calling everyone Nazis
Lol. Lmao, even.
This is bait.
Just keep telling yourself whatever you need to in order to justify the abandonment of every classically liberal value.
Yup, the red states passing laws saying you can disrupt protests and other lawful assembly and use lethal force to do so are definitely following the example of the Founding Fathers and Enlightenment era thought (ie: “Classical Liberal”).
Ol’ Ben Franklin, who published an at home abortion procedure as part of a manual for practical living, would really agree with the squirrely backdoor efforts to enforce-not-enforce the Comstock Act.
Here’s an idea. Defend the Left without bringing up the failures of the Right. I am neither, so you’re not going to win an argument with me by pointing out flaws with Republicans.
The five day work week. Paid sick days. Maternity leave. Women voting. Gay marriage. Single payer healthcare. Public libraries. Public schools. Public universities.
yawn
Most of the things you listed are not (classically) liberal, they are progressive. There is a difference. I guess we can congratulate the Left for not turning their backs on women’s suffrage and gay marriage.
You can get out of here with that bullshit. If anything the left has lost their spine and competitive will. The right has just slid deeper and deeper into christo-fascism. They are not the republicans of the 80s. What we are seeing is a repeat of what happened to Germany in WW2. Let’s just hope our system can hold that shit at bay before they start rounding people up to go to the gas chambers. Sorry but when you act like a fucking nazi you get called one.
That doesn’t sound the least bit unhinged. You really won me over.
Such tripe here. Authoritarian slide? Omg, gtfo of here with that trolling.
Yes. Obvious trolling. Please explain again how attacking freedom of speech is actually super liberal before I get banned for trolling.
There’s been no attack on freedom of speech, but conservatives would have you believe that out of convenience. They are only “free speech” because they tend to have lots of hate speech that people frown upon. Try saying anything about God or their religion and let’s see how free speech they really are.
Yeah, no attacks on free speech. Except Hunter Biden laptop, Covid lab leak, Covid lockdown efficacy, Joe Biden’s mental acuity, etc, etc, etc.
Why? Who are we gossiping about now?
Seconded.
This is a very enthusiast centric take but I think Audi needs to get back into racing. One of the things that’s always sold Audis and separated them from some of the competition is that they’ve been very successful in motorsports. The original Quattro system that debuted on their legendary rally cars trickled down to their regular products and I do think it sold people on it.
They were the most dominant manufacturer at Le Mans in the 2000s and correctly milked it for all it was worth. They literally created a halo car to celebrate it and named it after the race car. That shit is COOL! If you walked into an Audi dealership at the time you’d see the R8 LMP car and they sold all sorts of Audi motorsports swag. They were a brand that excited people and did ridiculous things like cramming a V10 into the S6.
They don’t have that anymore. The average person in 2025 hears Audi and probably thinks about seas of white crossovers. The excitement and the racing credentials are gone…and in their place we’ve got massive screens and lease special luxury blobs that you’d struggle to find in a parking lot in any nice part of town.
That’s not the whole issue, but I do think it’s a bigger part of the issue than it’s acknowledged to be.
I’d also like them to stop making their vehicles look like VWs with different lighting.
“But if ve make zem mit ze same lighting, how vill you know ze’re Audis?”
-Audi engineer, probably
Next year they are turning the Sauber F1 team into the Audi works team so that’s already in the cards. F1 is at its peak popularity in the US right now so the timing seems right. Unfortunately the car is a bit shit, but with the large rule change for next year they definitely have a shot at improvement.
The current Audi lineup feels like the BestBuy version of cars to me. My mom has a Q5, and while it is a nice vehicle it has far too much tech. Much of which just seems of questionable usefulness. It’s been in for repairs a few times now, always for an electrical or computer issue. I have very little faith in the longevity of it.
But, my parents seem to really like it, and my dad is on/off shopping Q8’s. So, I guess they have a market, just not a huge one right now.
That’s funny, my parents love their Audis too. Boomers and their brand loyalty, name a more iconic duo. My mom literally won’t drive anything but an Audi. She got an A4 convertible in 2008 or 9, replaced it with an A4 Allroad in 2015, and replaced that with an SQ5 two years ago.
Her biggest complaint with them is all the reliability issues. Her convertible was totaled out when it only had 40,000 miles on it because the top leaked and completely ruined the interior when my parents were on vacation. Her Allroad grenaded itself as soon as it crossed the 60,000 mile threshold. The SQ5 has mostly been okay but like seemingly every Audi it chugs oil.
But she won’t drive anything else. I tried to get her in several Japanese luxury crossovers so there wouldn’t be the longevity issues and she wouldn’t have it. The only other thing she vaguely considered was a Macan but she decided it was too showy and the Audi was just the right amount of flex for her.
My dad has had multiple A6s. He now has an X5 50e that’s fuckin rad and he agrees with the takes that Audis have fallen off. The SQ5 (the last gen that went out of production last year) is honestly quite good for what it is. It rides great, handles pretty well for a crossover, and that turbo V6 is an underrated engine. Overall it’s just very comfy and quick…and the last gen interior stuff is way better because they hadn’t hit it with a tech sledgehammer yet.
But is it going to last? Of course not! The first big repair that comes up after the warranty runs out (German cars always seem to conveniently need some $5,000 service within hours of the warranty ending) and she’ll be getting another one…complaining about German car foibles but refusing to drive anything else.
I don’t know, man. I don’t have the time, wallet, or patience to deal with fast German luxury cars. I guess if you only lease and/or can afford to get rid of your car and upgrade every 3-4 years I see the appeal. But I’m not like that. I’m a cheap bastard who doesn’t have very much time. I can’t be wasting Saturdays and thousands of dollars every couple of months with my Audi or Bimmer needing some highly specific service that somehow involves removing the entire engine.
I’m with you. I don’t have the patience to deal with the German cars long term, or the wallet to pay someone else to deal with it.
The most baffling thing to me is that my parents ALWAYS keep a car for at least 10 years. I told them from the beginning (2018) the Q5 was going to be a pain to keep that long. Now they are talking about driving it less, so that it will make it that far. I can’t tell if I’m the insane one here.
You can get a fairly extensive extended warranty from BMW that will get that X5 to 100K miles and 7 years old. These warranties are not cheap, but if you go to the forums there are a few individuals at dealers that will sell them for $1K+ less than your local dealer can offer. One of these individuals is at the MD Passport BMW store.
I mean I’ve driven multiple X5s and think they’re great for what they are but if I have to pay four figures to avoid inevitable four figure repairs I’m not particularly interested in long term ownership. If you want a German luxury car that isn’t a Porsche the wisest financial move is probably to lease.
But the days are more or less gone where you can shove a v8 in an s4 or a v10 in an s6 because they’d have to sell a million of them to offset how reamed they’d be on emissions. Feels like every small car centric company that didn’t have a decent hybrid (hindsight 20/20 and all) has just gotten absolutely bent over trying to get a good ev out in favor of developing anything else. The etrons are perfectly fine but what else has been newly from audi since then? And hell, they didn’t even capitalize on the Sainz Dakar victory in an etron either.
Mazda is making good products that it sells for a pretty reasonable price, they should just keep doing that. Audi…no clue.
If I had to buy a commuter and/or family hauler in 2025 the Mazda dealership is the first place I’d go
My family hated the CX-90. Huge outside, tiny inside.
My MIL also doesn’t like hers. Although her complaint is that it doesn’t get good enough gas mileage at an average of 36 for her…..
I’m not sure complaining about 36 mpg in a 3 row suv, is a valid complaint.
36 MPG is better than my uncle’s Sienna Hybrid at ~29 MPG average
I’ve tried making that argument but she doesn’t like the reality of the laws of physics.
How big is your family? My family of 4 really enjoys our CX-90.
Five. And I’m the tallest at 5’6″. But compared to our minivan the CX-90 was incredibly cramped.
That makes sense. From my experience, a family of 5+ won’t have enough room in any 3 row suv until you move up to a Suburban. A minivan definitely has more useable room than any vehicle in the CX-90’s class. I say useable because any vehicle in that class needs a rooftop carrier to travel with 5 or more people.
Source: I grew up in a family of 5 and we went through minivans, a Pilot, and a 3 Suburbans. We couldn’t travel anywhere without a fully loaded rooftop carrier with the pilot, and the minivans just didn’t hold up long on the gravel road my parents live on. My in-laws currently have a traverse which is one of the largest in class and it really doesn’t have more practical packing space than the CX-90. They can’t travel with 5 people unless they have the luggage carrier.
Really? I quite enjoyed the rental we had for a week. It held 5 adults and all our luggage and ski equipment with no issues. My wife even commented that she was really comfy in the 3rd row
Loved my CX-5 and now love my CX-50. I guess the next one needs to be a CX-500?
I almost bought a CX-50 this past week. Life got weird, but I still plan to buy one in the future. Excellent vehicle.
Audi needs to get back to what made them appealing in the first place – great, functional, easy to use interiors, understated styling, and good positioning relative to the other lux brands. When they started going to touchscreen everything and adding a zillion fake vents and creases they lost the plot, and sales seems to have followed.
A new halo car would also help – maybe finally time to dust off the Ur-Quattro they keep teasing? Though these days it’d likely have to come back as a crossover of some kind.
Taking the whole “51st state” thing lightly is a joke that made me reconsider visiting here. It’s not funny to the people who are being threatened.
Agreed. If it was to get a laugh, it’s in poor taste, at best.
I agree, it’s disgusting.
Agreed. I liked making Canada jokes when we were best friends with Canada. Since we’re now just being total assholes to our friends, I won’t be doing that anymore.
It’s not funny, and it slots straight into Trump’s usual playbook. Say something so outrageous that people start repeating it for LOLs and then all of a sudden it’s become something else.
I think it’s definitely a self deprecating joke. That’s how it was clearly intended.
Then maybe it’s good they’re getting feedback that it’s not being taken that way by the target?
Intent isn’t everything, when you’re being threatened daily it’s in poor taste for someone else to make fun of it.
To be clear: I read it as Matt was making fun of the notion itself.
But it is funny. You just don’t get it. Trump counted all the way to 51 without having to take his shoes off*. Think about it.
*What advisers are for. You need at least two to take their shoes off and help you and you still only get to 50.
I think it’s a joke because as delusional as Trump is and powerful he wishes he was, he has no way to make it happen.
It’s not a joke. Trump is committing to economic warfare to try to tank Canada’s economy to the point where Canada meekly considers becoming part of the US. Do you think he really cares about the 19 pounds of fentanyl that came across the US-Canada border? No! He wants Canada jobless, broke and spineless to stand up to what Republicans want. Have you noticed that Canada, of all places is being more heavily targeted than China, Mexico, or Europe?
I generally don’t have issues with this kind of thing but with this one I agree. Most cases, I’ll either chuckle or roll my eyes depending on my stance but this is a bit different. We have a mad king threatening the sovereignty of a different country for no real reason other than conquest.
I don’t think it’s funny either. Elbows up.
It’s not a joke. If he could get away with it he would.
As a Canadian it turned me off any any American made or owned product and service.
The boycott will continue even when Trump is long gone
Those of us in some Blue states might welcome becoming the 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17th Canadian Provinces…. I suppose I should have moved to Canada before the immigration requirements became much higher for me – not that long ago my Canadian Grandparents would have made the move much easier.
The Massachusetts governor proclaimed recently that other countries are trying to steal our scientists – I think Canada should get in on this game – pump piles of money into academics and science and jumpstart an supercharged innovation economy. The Canadian NRC has a decent history on helping industry and doing some applied science – they should go all in and really screw over the U.S. in the long term. Unfortunately where many of the current institutions are have become overcrowded and expensive (Halifax, GTA, Ottawa…) Not sure if Montreal is still affordable, but that could be a good place to double-down – the food is awesome and I love the sophisticated, cosmopolitan inhabitants (who speak more of a Parisian french that I can sorta understand, unlike most other French Canadian dialects).
If I was Audi and Mazda, I’d propose a three-way joint venture with Jaguar. They would produce a fleet of heavily aluminized lightweight products (large provenance of aluminum use for both Audi and Jaguar) with streamlined platforms, localized supply chains. 4 size platform, large, med, small, micro.
Have Jaguar develop/refine the chassis and Audi provide the battery tech and AWD and engines from Mazda.
A Jaguar platform shared Rx7 replacement would be so hot.
A Mazda I6 powered XK would be hot.
An Audi with soul would be hot.
A Miata continuing to exist would be great.
A hybrid with a micro rotary could be an interesting exercise (see audi a1 hybrid 2011)
Give the people the cars we want.
Audio, being from the VW stable would rely on VW engineering before they would dare do a trilingual alliance. Audi’s engineering docs are much more strict and have more qualifiers than VW but for the most part they are the same. They’re better off just hiring a new designer and retaining VW tech.
Jaguar is moving to an even lower volume bespoke EV only market to make itself a peer to Rolls Royce. Their EV tech is behind Audi but they’re not that far off.
Mazda has no EV tech of value and they’re small enough that using Chinese EV tech would already make them a new competitor in their respective markets since no one else has that (in the US or Japan).
This 3 way would just not make any sense. Yes they don’t compete against each other but there’s also very little to gain from each other.
Jaguar lol. Thats a dead man walking right there. Right now they aren’t selling ANYTHING. That company will be completely out of business by the end of the decade.
This all EV relaunch is an answer to a question nobody asked, the upper end of the market is already over-saturated as is be it regular gas or EVs. They will sell maybe a couple thousand of their new evs. After losing a few billion dollars Indian management will pull the plug.
Jaguar’s traditional old money customers and dowagers are all dead or soon will be. The more corporate Howard Hamlin types who bought Jags 25 years ago have moved on to the latest fashion. And wont ever be back at Jaguar cause they got burned so bad from their junky ass Jags.
Mazda’s current image is far from what it was when the B-series was sold here, but I wouldn’t say no to a Maverick competitor. Yeah, they sell the mid-size BT-50 in other countries, but the compact pickup is the market to fill right now.
Great idea! Maybe even a smaller Maverick with a bigger/longer bed.
Mazda just needs to put the concept cars iconic and the rx-vision coupes into production. Charge a premium for true GTs. All electric rwd and awd drive (glorious torque) smallish batteries and a flying Dorito range extender…. Just shut up and take my money!!!!
Ask auto nerds what Mazda should do to help itself and the most common, and not surprising, response is “how about an expense to produce, low volume car?”
RX-8 (9?) with some wacky drivetrain. Rotary hydrogen hybrid? Yeah, that’ll do some numbers.
“why won’t they build this 3.0 L diesel rotary wagon I’ve been sending them sketches of for yeeaaars it’s such a good idea”
With an engine design they still haven’t properly figured out in 60 years!