Friend, 20 readers, and the Sultan of Kensington’s second cousin’s bean counter – strap in.
The David vs. Goliath (spoiler: David brought a charging network and 20% cheaper batteries) battle for world domination of the auto industry is over. The EV Hunger Games has been won. And the winner is … not as your local dealer promised.
Even the Trumpster’s tariffs can’t stop the US slide into auto has-beens. That’s why your next car won’t come from a “car company”.
Today we exclusively reveal the person/other responsible for the metal mayhem.
Drum roll …
It’s Wang Chuanfu!
No, despite the Irish-sounding name, Chewy is Chinese. Lives in Shenzen, the Fortitude Valley of southeast China, in a modest house so the former dirt-poor orphan can continue living with his brother and sister-in-law who paid his way through uni. Or he could just be saving on rent given he’s worth only $30bn. Oh and he’s the founder and boss of BYD.
Let’s start with the numbers: BYD – Build Your Dreams, Bend Your Detractors or Bob’s Your Duncle – just posted $170 bill in sales. Chewy’s Pingshang-based outfit (easy to find, it’s on BYD Road) sold 4.27 million EVs last year, a 41 per cent jump, including enough plug-in hybrids to turn every tradie’s ute into a silent assassin.
The secret sauce
BYD didn’t just out-sell Tesla, it out-smarted everyone. While Musk recalls Cybertrucks faster than you can say “flying trim panel”, BYD dropped a five-minute supercharger that juices 373km of range – enough to lap Albert Park 27 times. They’ve turned EVs into iPhones on wheels: sleek, cheap, and upgradeable. The Shark 6 plug-in ute? It’s coming for Aussie worksites faster than a Coopers-laden Hilux on a Friday arvo.
And here’s the kicker: China’s 60 per cent stranglehold on EV batteries gives them a 20 per cent cost edge over the septics and the continentals. It’s like racing a V8 Supercar against a golf cart. Stellantis is euthanising Chrysler and Dodge. Porsche is purging 4000 jobs. Even VW’s too busy selling 8.5 million sausages (seriously) to notice their EV plans are toast.
Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Continental lost nearly $10 bill in combined market value on Thursday off the back of Trumpy’s tariffs. Ford and GM shares went the same way as their profits.
The tariffs are putting US car makers up shivers creek because of their cross-border supply chains and assembly operations in Mexico and Canada.
Let’s not mince (we’ll be talking VW sausages soon) words: the old auto world is on life support. But here’s the twist; this isn’t just about cars, it’s about control. China owns the supply chain, the tech and, soon, the roads. The West’s response? Tariffs, layoffs, and sausages.
Global domination
Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Mexican imports? Cute. BYD’s already building factories in Europe and Southeast Asia, dodging duties like the Mad Musk dodges real work at Tesla. Chewy has grabbed 22 per cent of Europe’s EV market, turned Australia into a BYD playground (40,000 sales and counting), and now they’re coming for your driveway, your worksite, and your local Bunnings carpark where the sausos are cheaper than at VW.
Volkswagen’s bestselling product isn’t one you whip down the Autobahn in at 160km/h. As the Morning Brew’s Sam Klebanov tell us, the Austrian automaker sold a record number of its in-house-produced sausages last year. Sausage sales were up 2 per cent over the year, outnumbering shipments of VW-branded vehicles, which dropped from 2023. Only a fraction of the record number of sausages Volkswagen sold last year were hoovered up by its employees. It also sold 654,000 bottles of its signature tomato sauce last year. The VW sausage’s success is striking a chord this year as the car business takes a turn for the wurst.
Meanwhile, the Mad Musk is recalling nearly all its Cybertrucks after it found that an exterior trim panel was falling off. Musk: “Blame the adhesive!” Other issues include losing drive power, front windshield wiper stuffing up and accelerator pedals getting stuck.
Petrolheads everywhere love the sound and smell of a roaring, racing Ford Mustang, but are fuel fumes headed in the same direction as the dinosaurs?
Petrolheads everywhere love the sound and smell of a roaring, racing Ford Mustang, but are fuel fumes headed in the same direction as the dinosaurs?
So next time you see a BYD Shark 6 towing a Cybertruck’s carcass, raise a sausage to the new kings. The future’s electric, baby. And it’s speaking Mandarin.
Talking of the Albert Park of China, the Shanghai International Circuit in the Jiading District, Hamilton, Leclerc, Gasly were disqualified. Ferrari’s 18 points vanished faster than a Tesla’s brake pedal. Lewis Hamilton’s skid plank was 0.5mm too thin. Leclerc’s car? Underweight. Gasly’s Alpine? Also underweight. Cue Ferrari’s PR team: “We misjudged … but no advantage was intended!” Sure, guys. Hamo went on to throw Ferrari under the bus for the setup changes made for Grand Prix qualifying, claiming it was something he had never tried before. Ferrari have a history of ride height infringements. Leclerc was disqualified for the same offence at the 2023 US Grand Prix.
And just before the Japan GP, Red Bull have given Liam Lawson, 23, of our most eastern state, the flick. Liam will go back to the B team, Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda, 24, of Japan, will move up to replace him. And the FIA is considering ditching hybrids for screaming V10s: Fans rejoice, greens weep. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said earlier this week that as far as next year’s engines are concerned, “it’s ten-past-midnight and Cinderella’s left the building”.
And in major milestones: it’s Ford Australia’s 100th birthday on Monday. Of course, the Cats’ company is still supporting Geelong and selling some great cars including the Wildtrak in Australia and in the US, the Mustang GT3 limited edition race car for $1.5ml.
And talking of Ford, one of the great Australian Ford race drivers, John French died at 94 last week. The 1981 Bathurst 1000 winner, best known for partnering Dick Johnson, said, at a recent birthday: “As they say, the older we get the faster we were.”
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