THE NEXT BILLION CARS – DRIVING ME BACKWARDS Part Two: CHINA & EVERYONE ELSE

While the US put its car in reverse (at speed!) and European automakers chased their own tails about whether or not to abandon ICEs, the Chinese put the pedal to the metal in their high-tourque EVs, leaving everyone one else in the dust. A once-in-a-lifetime platform transition – without any international competitors! Co-host Sally Dominguez, Special Correspondent Drew Smith and host Mark Pesce discuss a world that already looks radically different from the beginning of the year, then make some predictions for 2026.

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The Next Billion Cars – “Gradually. Then Suddenly”

“How did you go bankrupt?” begins the oft-quoted line from Hemingway. “Two ways. Gradually – then suddenly.” That’s how the automotive sector feels at the end of 2024, with Nissan maybe preparing for bankruptcy and Stellantis firing its CEO and VW struggling with strikes and low sales and GM shuttering Cruise and on and on and on. Sally Dominguez and Drew Smith join Mark Pesce in studio to explore what’s really happening – and what it all means for THE NEXT BILLION CARS.

We mentioned a few things during our conversation – here are the links:

1) Want to design the car of the Future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started. (MIT Technology Review)

2) Chinese Carmakers Are Taking Mexico by Storm While Eyeing U.S. (New York Times)

3) And you really should watch Margin Call, a spellbinding drama about the 2008 financial crisis (Wikipedia).