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Table of Contents
⚡ This Week’s Big Charge
💡 Detroit, China, And The Risks Of Backing Off
The Detroit Auto Show press days were this week, and thanks to some crud I picked up at CES, I could only be there in spirit. But two things have been on my mind as I covered it from afar.
The first is how important this show was, once. When I started covering the auto industry nearly 15 years ago, Detroit was our Super Bowl—the year’s biggest news event, with days of press conferences as automakers battled for headlines and buyer attention.
We used to wear suits and ties. We wanted to look nice for the cars.
The second thing is that Detroit was where I saw my first Chinese car: a GAC, then primarily a maker of licensed Hondas and cars with American-developed hybrid tech. Back then, we thought it was kind of a joke.
It’s safe to say no one is laughing at China’s auto industry anymore.
But the Detroit show raises a key question: is the American auto industry positioned to thrive, struggle, or fall behind China in 2026—and what would falling behind actually look like?
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🇺🇸 The State Of Things In Detroit, And Beyond:
“The show will always reflect what’s happening in the industry at the consumer level,” Todd Szott, car dealer and 2026 Detroit show chairman, told the AP. “Obviously, things have changed in the EV landscape.”
That’s a bit reductive: General Motors actually had a great year selling EVs in 2025, up 40% year-over-year and the top EV seller behind Tesla.
But GM’s EV sales slowed sharply in Q4, echoing a broader industry slowdown. Ford and Stellantis fared worse, posting weaker year-over-year results while canceling models and facing a more uncertain path ahead.
The culprits: no more EV tax credit, and weakened fuel economy rules are no longer driving a more electric market by the 2030s.
Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, President Donald Trump said he “loves” electric cars (and Elon Musk), but also boasted of ending “the crusade to kill American energy” and “the radical left war on oil and gas.”
Thus, the Detroit show meant a pivot back to gas, which is more profitable anyway. Take Ford: its big story was the debut of various Ford Racing initiatives, and new high-performance Mustang and Bronco models.
Yet the latest data shows those moves seem to put the U.S. out of step with global trends.
🌎 The Global Perspective
Worldwide, plug-in car sales—EVs, plug-in hybrids and EREVs—jumped 20% in 2025, according to a report from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
South America, Southeast Asia and Central Asia saw the biggest increases in sales, up nearly 50% since 2024. Europe had the second-highest growth at 33%.
Plug-in car sales went up everywhere, except North America, and specifically the United States and Canada. Total plug-in sales dropped 4% annually, though EVs were up a whole 1%.
North America’s losses were offset by Mexico—plug-in sales rose 29% in 2025. Mostly, I should note, with models from China.
You can probably see where this is going. “China wants to dominate every part of auto manufacturing. They’re making major headway," Michigan’s Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said at the show.
🇨🇳 The China Factor
Detroit’s newfound pessimism on plug-in cars—or at least, relief from regulations many automakers found impossible to meet—comes at an interesting time.
Just last week at CES, Chinese auto conglomerate Geely (already the owner of Volvo and Polestar) indicated that some announcement about a U.S. entry might come in the next 24 to 36 months.
At InsideEVs, my colleague Kevin Williams wrote about the barriers to that—and they aren’t as onerous as you might think.
Meanwhile, Trump also expressed openness to Chinese automakers coming to the U.S., so long as they build here: “If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that,” he said. “Let China come in.”
📊 So What’s Really At Stake Here?
Also notable about the Detroit show this year: any relief about not having to meet any “EV mandates” was balanced with trepidation about falling behind.
A new study from advocacy group MichAuto showed the other side of the coin: “Michigan cannot expect to win the future of the industry through legacy alone… unite and innovate, or be left behind in the industry we created.”
That study warned of the growth of automation and the rise of China, and that EVs will “help define future leadership in vehicle production and design.”
More than 1.2 million jobs, 20% of the state’s overall employment, and $83 billion in annual earnings are tied to the auto industry in Michigan alone.
It is also the leading U.S. state for mobility investments, unsurprisingly, and the top state for auto production. The state accounts for $227 billion in electrification investments between 2020 and 2025, about 12% of the U.S. total.
🧠 My Take:
Detroit is taking something of break from EVs, at least in the next year or so. But it’s largely seen as temporary. So if a car company is no longer under the regulatory gun to do so, does it still innovate?
I caught up with Ford CEO Jim Farley, who seems optimistic about his company’s $30,000 electric truck and EV platform due out in 2027.
Same with GM CEO Mary Barra, who maintains that an all-electric future is the “end game,” even if adoption is slowing for now.
But China could disrupt those timelines. What happens when a Geely or a BYD can sell plug-in cars at great prices in America, even if they’re made here?
I don’t think all of those jobs, all of that GDP, in Michigan would evaporate overnight if a new Chinese competitor emerged with strong sales.
Yet think of the damage even a single disruptive new player could inflict—especially one that isn’t guaranteed to employ the same number of people or have the same local economic impact.
“Michigan needs to work together to create a long-term cohesive strategy that transcends elections,” the MichAuto study said. That may be the industry’s best long-term hope.
📰 More Stories That Matter
It begins: breaking with the U.S., Canada will cut its 100% tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, opening the door to their further expansion into North America. [Associated Press]
Wired hit the same conclusion I did at CES 2026 last week: Where are all the actual cars? The ones at the show were primarily Chinese—a “glaring symptom of the lagging state of the U.S. car industry right now.” [Wired]
Even Ram’s V8-loving CEO says he sees electrification as the next step in cars. [The Drive]
📡 On My Radar
The affordability crisis is adding up. The average amount owed on underwater trade-ins has hit an all-time high of $7,214. Is auto debt hitting a breaking point? [Edmunds]
Outside of the U.S. and China, Volkswagen actually had a good year selling EVs. Can it keep that momentum going with the new compact, affordable ID. Polo? [Bloomberg]
Rivian says its R2 manufacturing validation builds are rolling off the production line—that will be a big deal when it goes on sale, and perhaps a bellwether for the entire EV market. [RJ Scaringe via X]
I still have questions about Sony-Honda Mobility’s Afeela, a pricey, software-defined EV set to launch this year with middling specs. What’s Sony and Honda’s endgame here? A colleague ponders this too. [Tim Stevens Substack]
🔌 Charging News
Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging has an answer to America’s awkward transition from CCS to NACS: new 400-kilowatt chargers with two of each. [InsideEVs]
Grocery store chain Kroger will get thousands of EV fast chargers in the coming years, courtesy of EVGo. [Electrive]
XCharge North America and Energy Plus plan a huge “charging depot” backed by battery power in Brooklyn, which could be a godsend to rideshare drivers. [Electrive]
Walmart, already clutch for your fast-charging needs, is rolling out even more 400 kW chargers in 19 states. [CleanTechnica]
Voltpost is turning more and more of Detroit’s streetlights into Level 2 EV chargers. [FastCompany]
ElectricFish Energy at CES unveiled new battery-powered EV fast-charging stations designed for easy installations at gas stations—an idea I love. [EV Charging Stations]
A federal court has ruled that the Trump administration violated the law when it cut green energy subsidies, including EV charger funding. [Utility Dive]
🔋 Battery Industry News
A new report reiterates something that’s pretty widely known: Using fast chargers more frequently is the leading cause of battery wear. [InsideEVs]
Ford is reportedly in talks to get a supply of hybrid batteries from Chinese giant BYD. [Wall Street Journal]
Volvo seems to be the latest automaker to give up on making its own in-house battery cells. [EV Infrastructure News]
Dongfeng Motor, one of China’s “Big Four, is the latest to start testing long-range solid-state batteries. [Electrek]
🤖 Autonomy News
Nvidia’s similar path to AI-powered self-driving has drawn the ire of Tesla, which is also an Nvidia client. Which approach will prevail? [Bloomberg]
Tesla will stop selling Full Self-Driving as a one-time purchase to offer it as a subscription feature only. We may see more moves like this soon. [Bloomberg]
Even as Mercedes-Benz ramps up hands-on urban autonomy, it’s pausing its eyes-off Level 3 highway system, Drive Pilot, citing low demand and high development costs. [The Verge]
While other automakers probably couldn’t stomach an in-house robotaxi service in 2026, Hyundai is ramping up Motional, in part to boost its autonomy tech game. [InsideEVs]
Luminar, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, lines up a $22 million bidder for its lidar business. [TechCrunch]
China’s Pony AI and automaker BAIC announce a major partnership to scale up autonomous taxi production. [Just Auto]
The autonomous vehicle industry, explained in 15 charts: [The Driverless Digest]
🧠 AI News
2026 will mark the rise of the AI-packed car. But is that what buyers want? [Motor1]
The first “dark factories” run entirely by robots could open by 2030 in China—or the U.S, potentially. [Automotive News]
Perhaps they haven’t tried it yet. The BMW iX3 comes with a new conversational AI assistant integrated with Amazon’s Alexa+, and it seems impressive. [BMW Blog]
Bosch will team with Microsoft and autonomous truck technology developer Kodiak AI to speed up the deployment of self-driving vehicles. [Automotive News]
📤 Spread the Charge
If this newsletter helped you make sense of what matters in e-mobility, forward it to a friend or coworker. And tell them to subscribe here.
💡 Did You Know?
The first Detroit Auto Show was organized by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association in 1907. Its precursor event dates back to 1899, and it was only the second motor show of its kind in the world; the first began in Paris in 1898.
Until next time,
—Patrick George