Porsche 911

Most Americans Know the 911 as a Sports Car, Not as a Dakar Winner

The Porsche 911 is widely regarded as the most successful race car in automotive history.…

tire at repairing service garage background. Technician man replacing tyre in auto repair shop. Transportation and automotive maintenance concept

The Tire Brands Americans Trust Least After Buying Them

Buying new tires for a car, pickup truck, or sport utility vehicle is rarely an…

Uber Rolls Out Women-Only Ride Preference Nationwide Despite California Lawsuit

Uber Rolls Out Women-Only Ride Preference Nationwide Despite California Lawsuit

Uber is expanding a feature nationwide that allows women riders and drivers to match only…

Citoren ELO Concept Car

America Spent Years Replacing Family Cars With SUVs — Now the Industry May Be Rethinking That

Citroen is considering a return to the people mover segment with a new Picasso, a…

Bertone Runabout.

This Coachbuilt Italian Sports Car Feels Like the Kind of Machine America Barely Gets Anymore

Italian design house Bertone has officially brought one of its most intriguing historic concepts back…

He Allegedly Used His Car as a Weapon to Ram His Wife. Then He Hid in a Backyard.

A Husband Chasing His Wife Caused a Five-Car Pileup in So-Cal, and a Manhunt Through a Quiet Neighborhood

A Southern California intersection became the scene of a destructive multi-vehicle wreck early Wednesday morning…

WHAT TO BUY

2025 Tesla Model Y.

EVs Just Got Cheaper (Again): The Price Gap with Gas Cars Is Now the Smallest in Years

Toyota bZ3X.

Toyota’s $15K Electric SUV Hits 80,000 Sales in China in Just One Year

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV dark orange and gray metallic.

Chevy Just Pulled This Color From the 2026 Equinox EV

Parasailing from a yacht.

The $15,000 Yacht: China’s Plan to Make Boating Mainstream

SPOTLIGHT

This $5K ‘Lamborghini’ Started Life as a Maruti 800 — And the Internet Has Thoughts

This $5K ‘Lamborghini’ Started Life as a Maruti 800 — And the Internet Has Thoughts

A small hatchback from India is making a lot of noise online right now, and not because of what is under the hood. A mechanic from Jharkhand, Mohammad Arif, has taken a humble Maruti 800 … Read more

He Risked It All and Ended Up With a Lamborghini Temerario.

Broke, Homeless, and Determined. Now He’s Picking Up a Lamborghini Temerario

A decade ago, the idea of owning a brand-new Lamborghini Temerario would have sounded impossible…

Whitehall Road, Leeds.

War in the Gulf Is Quietly Becoming a Big Problem for Automakers

A little more than a week into the U.S. war against Iran, the shockwaves are…

Arizona Lawmakers Approved a Charlie Kirk License Plate. The Governor Just Slammed the Brakes.

Arizona’s Charlie Kirk License Plate Plan Hits a Wall After Governor’s Veto

The fight over what belongs on a car’s license plate just took a hard political…

Pope Leo XIV Custom Explorer.

Ford CEO Gifts Pope Leo XIV a Custom Chicago-Built Explorer SUV

A quiet project inside the assembly lines of Ford Motor Company has blossomed into one…

THE GARAGE

2024 Volkswagen just endured one of its sharpest financial setbacks in the past decade, and it came in a year that was supposed to show the business was stabilizing. Instead, the group reported 2025 operating profit of about $10.4 billion, down more than 53% from the year before. Revenue stayed essentially flat at about $377 billion, while the reported operating margin fell to 2.8%, a level not seen since the fallout from the diesel emissions scandal. The reasons run deep and reflect the pressures reshaping the entire auto industry. Volkswagen was hit by billions in U.S. tariff costs, continued market share erosion in China, and heavy restructuring expenses, including costs tied to Porsche’s retreat from its earlier all electric strategy. Oliver Blume said the business model that carried Volkswagen for decades no longer works in its old form. Cost Cutting Has Become The Center Of The Plan The financial damage is only part of the story. Volkswagen has now confirmed plans to eliminate around 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, a much broader reduction than the group had previously outlined. The earlier agreement at the core Volkswagen brand called for more than 35,000 job cuts by 2030 and was expected to generate about $15.6 billion in annual savings over the medium term. That total has now grown because the broader group is also cutting deeper at other brands. Audi agreed last year to cut up to 7,500 jobs in Germany by 2029, while Porsche had already negotiated almost 4,000 reductions before announcing that even more efficiency measures may still be needed. In other words, this is no longer just a Volkswagen brand problem. It is a group wide restructuring effort. Chief financial officer Arno Antlitz has made clear that the company is nowhere near satisfied with where profitability stands. He said Volkswagen’s adjusted operating margin of 4.6% in 2025 was still not good enough for the long run, even after stripping out restructuring effects. The company expects only a modest recovery in 2026, with an operating margin forecast of 4% to 5.5%. The U.S. Ambition Has Been Pushed Back These pressures are also affecting Volkswagen’s global ambitions. For years, the group talked about reaching 10% market share in the United States by the end of the decade. That goal has now been pushed further out. Blume said the U.S. remains important, but acknowledged that the 10% target has faded into the longer term. Volkswagen’s current U.S. share is about 4%, which shows how much ground it still has to make up. That delay says a lot about how difficult the environment has become. Volkswagen is trying to rebuild its position in China, defend margins in Europe, manage higher costs, and navigate a far more uncertain U.S. trade climate all at once. Even for Europe’s biggest automaker, that is a difficult balancing act. This Is Bigger Than One Bad Year What is happening at Volkswagen reflects a much broader transformation across the global car business. Electrification is getting more expensive, software remains a huge cost center, Chinese competition is becoming more intense, and traditional cost structures in Germany are under far more strain than before. Volkswagen is still investing heavily in future products, but it is also admitting that survival now depends just as much on cutting complexity and protecting margins as it does on launching new vehicles. For Volkswagen, the next few years will not simply be about getting back to growth. They will be about proving that the group can stay competitive in a much harsher era than the one that built its strength in the first place. Right now, that means fewer jobs, lower expectations in the U.S., and a much more urgent search for efficiency across the entire company. This article originally appeared on Autorepublika.com and has been republished with permission by Guessing Headlights. AI-assisted translation was used, followed by human editing and review. Atlas

Volkswagen’s U.S. Ambition Just Got Harder to Take Seriously

Volkswagen just endured one of its sharpest financial setbacks in the past decade, and it came in a year that was supposed to show the business was stabilizing. Instead, the group reported 2025 operating profit … Read more

Chevrolet Silverado 1500

GM Is Proving a Full-Size Truck Doesn’t Need a V8 to Feel Legit

When General Motors decided a few years ago to put a four-cylinder engine into some of its most important full-size…

BYD Seagull

China’s Battery Lead Could Make It Even Harder for America to Build Cheap EVs

The global race for dominance in electric vehicle battery production reached a very clear outcome in 2025, and it came…

2024 Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati May Become Stellantis’ Boldest Design Experiment

Maserati has spent years at a crossroads. The legendary Italian maker of luxury performance cars, long known for dramatic styling…

2026 BMW iX3

The Glowing Grille Trend Started Long Before BMW and Mercedes Made It Fashionable

Illuminated grilles now feel like a symbol of modern automotive design, but their roots go back much further than they…

TIPS & HACKS

Why Your Gas Pump Might Still Be Charging After You Drive Off.

Police Investigate Gas Station Scam Targeting Unaware Drivers

It sounds like a simple act of courtesy. You pull into a gas station, step…

Machinist’s Mate Fireman Michael Barton from Ashdown, Ark., examines a sample of Diesel Fuel Marine (DFM) and reports his findings to the carrier’s Oil Lab during a replenishment at sea (RAS) evolution.

Scientists Say Adding Water to Diesel Could Cut Engine Pollution by Over 60%

Diesel engines have powered trucks, buses and heavy equipment for more than a century. They…

Duncan Branch Library Alexandria 2019.

Police Tried to Trick Waze Drivers with Fake Speed Trap Reports

Drivers who rely on Waze often treat the app like a digital sixth sense. Open…

The Hidden ID Inside Your Tires That Could Track Your Every Move

The Hidden ID Inside Your Tires That Could Track Your Every Move

In the modern car security landscape, most people never think beyond key fob hacks, unsecured…

TRAVEL

Zoom photo of passenger airplane taking off reaching altitude above clouds in deep blue sky

Helpful Techniques To Overcome Flight Anxiety, According to an Expert

Flight anxiety has a nasty habit of making logic feel temporarily unemployed. You can know…

Cocoa Beach Pier at Sunrise along Florida's Space Coast

Why the Space Coast Is One of Florida’s Best Budget-Friendly Beach Getaways

Florida’s Space Coast has a built-in advantage that pricier beach towns would love to steal.…

Santa Barbara Sunset

Best Weekend Getaways Near Los Angeles for a Quick Escape

Los Angeles is very good at overstimulation. That is part of its charm, right up…

Back Lit Business People Traveling Airplane Airport Concept

Why “Travel Shaming” Is Making a Return, and What It Says About Us

“Travel shaming” is not back as one neat movement with a logo and a handbook,…

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