Mark Simmons

What is a Cruise?

What is Sominecks?

Who is Kernel Angus?

And perhaps offer the PPF as a factory option, too.

What is a roundhouse prick?

I don’t watch a lot of baseball, but this game kept my attention. Congratulations Seattle. #RepDetroit

Inside The Waymo Factory Building A Robotaxi Future An exclusive look inside the facility turning Jaguar EVs into robotaxis with the AI-driven fleet’s custom computing system, cameras, lidar and radar.

NEW: Inside the factory building Waymo’s robotaxi future

An exclusive look inside the facility turning Jaguar EVs into robotaxis with Waymo’s custom computing system, cameras, lidar and radar. Soon, tens of thousands of robotaxis will roll off the line annually. www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...

Trump’s Tariffs Are Already Straining This Oklahoma Used Car Business Antonio Austin is trying to hold his car business together as President Trump’s tariffs drive up costs — and drive his customers deeper into crisis.

Profound impacts of Trump’s tariffs are causing significant harm, even in places he may not have anticipated.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/u...

Tesla Q1 net income of $409M < $595M in sales of emissions credits. So they’re back to losing money on vehicle sales excluding these credits.

And as sales drop, the credits they will be earning to sell will also be reduced.

DOGE employee cuts fall heavily on agency that regulates Musk’s Tesla The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will lose between 70 and 80 people, split roughly evenly between firings of probationary employees and buyouts, according to people briefed on the st...

Also from the story: NHTSA has lost the ability to even try to regulate AV tech.

"A small government team regulating the sort of autonomous cars that Elon Musk says represent the future of Tesla, his car company, is getting cut nearly in half."

A win for Musk. A grave danger for the rest of us.

DOGE employee cuts fall heavily on agency that regulates Musk’s Tesla The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will lose between 70 and 80 people, split roughly evenly between firings of probationary employees and buyouts, according to people briefed on the st...

DOGE has eliminated 10% of NHTSA staff.

“If the question is, will this affect the federal government’s ability to understand the safety case behind Tesla’s vehicles, then yes, it will. [The # of fed workers] who are able to understand this adequately is very small. Now it’s almost nonexistent.”

While we await an official merger agreement of Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, I propose referring to the alliance as “H ‘n M”

Finally found the one current Jaguar owner who likes the new brand campaign.

Here’s a pic of the Formentor cross/hatch in our hotel garage. Could easily have sufficed with a similar VW, Audi, Skoda, etc.

I rented a Cupra in Italy earlier this year. Not bad, but not that different. It seems like VW Group has a lot of issues these days, and perhaps having too many brands and models is one of them. Perhaps Stellantis won’t be the only upcoming reckoning.

Hollywood Sign (final post)

14/14 LA is quite nice right now, with the Hollywood sign clearly visible from an off-ramp near the Convention Center.

Ford store

13/ It’s a selling show for Ford, if you want some merch.

NILU

NILU

12/ The NILU hypercar is displayed in the South Hall lobby.

Toyota TRD Surf

Toyota TRD Surf

11/ Toyota brought the new 4Runner-based TRD Surf concept, reminiscent of the first generation 4Runner.

10/ Hyundai launched its 3-row Ioniq 9 EV.

9/ Kia showed a new EV9 GT grade, a facelifted EV6, and a revised Sportage.

Kia WKNDR

Kia WKNDR

8/ The Kia WKNDR concept is on display… with a pop-up roof reminiscent of old VW Westfalia campers.

Acura ADX

7/ Acura is showing its new ADX small crossover.

Tesla Cybercab exterior

Tesla Cybercab interior

6/ Tesla has a few vehicles in a minimalist space in the center of the West Hall, including the Cybercab robotaxi concept.

Chrysler Halcyon concept

5/ Stellantis also brought the Chrysler Halcyon. Currently the only Chrysler vehicle for sale in the US is the Pacifica minivan, so a vehicle like this would make the brand more viable in the medium term.

Fiat 500e Armani

Giorgio Armani signature below the c-pillar

Fiat Jolly concept?

4/ Fiat will be offering an Armani collector’s edition of the 500e. They also had a jolly little (concept?) car off to the side.

Wagoneer with Jeep license plate

3/ The original Wagoneer on the floor didn’t include a Jeep badge (at least yet), just a Jeep license plate filler.

Wagoneer S with Jeep badge

Wagoneer S

Wagoneer S

2/ Stellantis will be adding overt JEEP branding to their Wagoneer models, after just having a few Easter Eggs with the name on the original Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Here’s the new Wagoneer S, with a Jeep badge on the rear.

ID.Buzz

Tiguan

Taos

Interesting stuff I saw and learned today @laautoshow.bsky.social:

1/ The head of VW product marketing said that the Microbus relaunch study that led to the ID.BUZZ was done 23 years ago, in 2001. A crazy gestation period.

They also showed the just-previewed Tiguan, and recently redone Taos.