Be surprised! Don is a petrol head. Well, that makes up for everything else, doesn't it?

Yes, 20 readers, one son, Dan Kawai and his team at Autoleague, the ACCC and defo lawyers, under the carports at the Spanish Revival Mar-a-Lago Club, a members-only club where Don is an employee, has sat a red 2007 Ferrari F430 Coupe, a bright electric blue 1997 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster with a 5.7-litre V12, a 2003 Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren with a 5.5-litre V8, an armoured 2015 Mercedes-Maybach S600, an armoured Cadillac Escalade and his current, most loved drives, a 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud with a 6.2-litre V8 and a 2015 Phantom with a 6.6-litre V12 engine.

But in an irony that won't be lost of devotees of the myth of Narcissus, Don can't drive any of them on a public street. Since the 1963 assassination of John Kennedy, presidents and vice-presidents (past and present) are not allowed to operate motor vehicles on the open road. LBJ was the last president to drive himself.

Joe Biden told a United Auto Workers conference: "There are a lot of reasons to run for president, but there's one overwhelming reason not to run for president. I like to get that my Chevy Z06 from zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds."

Despite Don's bromance with Elon, his election adds another heavy knife wound to the stumbling electric car industry. Remember it was Don that explained why he will "terminate crooked Joe's EV mandate": "They don't go far, they cost a fortune, they don't work in the cold and they are all made in China."

Well, we might have a bit of a problem here without the Trumpster. One of Australia's largest car insurance companies is right now considering not insuring used EVs. Older used EVs have small resale but high replacement battery costs. Around $20k to replace a battery on a car that maybe isn't worth that not only doesn't make financial sense but does present a few moral hazards.

But look, the whole car industry is going through what spinmeisters would call a difficult period. Some of my dealer friends (three) tell me Honda is tossing up whether it will stay in the local market, that some VW dealers have so much stock they're hiring vacant lots nearby and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says new car sales were 8 per cent off in October.

In the bigger world, Nissan will cut 9000 jobs, sell part of its stake in Mitsubishi Motors and reduce global capacity by 20 per cent to carve out $5bn in additional savings.

Race officials had made the start 90 minutes early to try to avoid the really heavy rain that had flooded Brazil's Interlagos track on Saturday. Max Verstappen had been relegated to 17th on the grid. He humiliated the rest of the field. Max worked his way through the field despite a slippery track and lots of rain, never going back a place. By the end of lap one he was eleventh. Max's only comment as he walked away from the wrecks was: "That's what you get if you don't leave any space, fudging hell."

jc@jcp.com.au