Around 4.3 Million Vehicles, including Tesla EVs, have been Recalled in China over Door-Handle Safety Issues

A Door Handle Shouldn’t Be a Puzzle…

After reviewing several new cars with unique door handles, it can be fun to challenge passengers to see who can locate them first. But gimmicky designs are apparently no fun at all. Such handles have been implicated in fatal crashes in which occupants or rescuers were reportedly unable to open the doors. These incidents prompted China to impose stricter regulations, including a ban on fully concealed door handles and requirements for clearly identifiable mechanical releases.

Automakers are now responding to the increased scrutiny with what is considered the largest recall campaign in China’s automotive history. Nikkei Asia reported that the safety campaign covers around 4.3 million vehicles  from more than 10 automakers, including Tesla and Geely, and is intended to prevent further door-handle-related problems.

Making the Emergency Exit Obvious

One remedy involves installing warning labels to help passengers locate emergency mechanical door releases. During a crash, a failure of the low-voltage electrical system can disable the electronic releases. The additional markings should help address this issue without forcing automakers to redesign millions of existing vehicles, which could be costly.
Another remedy is a special over-the-air (OTA) update designed to lower the windows automatically after a collision. This could provide another escape route for occupants of, say, a burning vehicle or improve access for emergency responders. Tesla reportedly has the largest recall population, covering nearly 3 million imported and China-built Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X vehicles. Other automakers involved include BAIC, Chery, Dongfeng, FAW, Leapmotor, Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Zeekr.

A Local Recall With a Global Message

China’s stricter rules will take effect for newly approved models on January 1, 2027, while existing models have until 2029 to comply. Given that China is the world’s largest car market, the regulations could influence vehicles sold elsewhere. Automakers may be reluctant to develop one door-handle system for China and another for other markets because doing so would increase costs and supply-chain complexity.

In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently said that automakers have not notified the agency of plans to issue a similar recall stateside, according to Reuters. Still, the safety benefits of China’s changes could offer lessons for other countries seeking to prevent deaths associated with difficult-to-operate door handles.

Source: Autoblog

Volkswagen’s CEO warned Sunday the company was in a “more than critical” state ahead of meetings with the car giant’s staff where he will defend the company’s savings plans. In an interview posted on the company’s intranet and sent to AFP, Oliver Blume said Volkswagen and the rest of Germany’s car industry are facing “the biggest upheaval in their history” from global headwinds and Chinese competition. The carmaker is weighing up huge job cuts. In the coming days, Blume will meet with employees at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg and sites in Zwickau and Emden to give updates on the company’s plans.

In the interview, Blume said that no decision had been taken on plant closures but reiterated the company’s position that for plants in “Emden, Hannover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm we cannot currently see any way of them remaining profitable in the 2030s.”

He said that the company also had to deal with the over-production of 500,000 vehicles per year in Europe. Closing factories would always be “the last and most expensive solution”, Blume said. He added that at sites where car production may stop, Volkswagen was exploring other “industrial solutions”, pointing to advanced talks with companies from the defence industry over using its factory in Osnabrueck.

Blume described the situation facing the company as “more than critical” and said its current level of profits was not sufficient to “ensure we have the means over the long term for new technologies, new products and our locations”.

U.S. tariffs, Mideast War

Alongside competition in and from China, Blume named U.S. tariffs, the war in the Middle East and regulatory burdens as key challenges for the company. Asked whether he expected the situation to improve, Blume said “on the contrary, we have to assume that risks will get worse, worldwide”. In July, Blume presented saving plans to Volkswagen’s supervisory board but no decision was taken.

German media reported at the time that the Lower Saxony state government, a major shareholder in the Volkswagen Group which holds 20 percent of the voting rights, refused to sign off on the plans.

The group has already ordered 50,000 job cuts and Blume said that agreements have already been reached with 37,000 employees. Blume appealed to employees to pull together for the sake of the auto giant. “We will only be successful if everyone in the company supports this plan,” he said.

The head of the IG Metall union on Friday sharply criticized management and promised to resist the factory closures. Volkswagen’s “workers have already to accept hefty and painful cuts and now are getting another slap in the face,” Christiane Benner told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly.

Source: CTV News

Buyers Shift to Used Cars, Hybrids Amid Trade Uncertainty

TrueCar CEO Scott Painter said mounting affordability pressures and trade uncertainty are changing how consumers shop for vehicles, with manufacturer incentives creating a major opportunity for dealers and new-car buyers. The details: Painter said TrueCar's real-time shopping activity is already showing significant shifts in consumer behavior as buyers continue seeking vehicles even as prices rise, in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

Source: Car Dealership Guy

They may have faced similarly challenging environments in the second quarter, but the six publicly traded dealership groups had earnings results that “varied wildly,” according to the Q2 2026 Public Auto Retailer Results analysis from The Presidio Group. And while the report delves into the wide spectrum of operational results, “one of the clearest examples of divergence” was in the used-car department, Presidio said. Overall, the group of six public auto retailers reported an average of $1,846 in U.S-adjusted same-store gross profit per used vehicle, down 0.1% year-over-year, Presidio said. However, used-car profitability was up sequentially for the group for the second straight quarter.

Source: Auto Remarketing

For years, the American new-car market seemed to have one direction - bigger, more expensive and more heavily equipped. Pickup trucks climbed into luxury-car territory, SUVs displaced sedans, and truly inexpensive new cars all but disappeared. Now, buyers appear to be pushing back. According to Cox Automotive, sales gains in July were concentrated in several lower-priced segments, including subcompact SUVs, compact cars and midsize cars. Sales of full-size pickups, full-size SUVs and many luxury vehicles were comparatively softer.

Source: Forbes

Honda Motor Co. is looking to build its next manufacturing plant in the United States as demand for its hybrid lineup outpaces current capacity, a senior executive told reporters at a briefing in Washington, according to Bloomberg. Noriya Kaihara, Honda’s executive vice president, said the automaker needs more North American production to keep up with customer demand. He said Honda plans to decide on a location within the next year or two, with a goal of having the plant running by around 2030.

Source: CBT News

Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac said the supercar market is entering its “Swiss watch phase,” with the wealthiest buyers rejecting high-tech electronics and electric vehicles in favor of precision mechanics and hand-crafted details. Rimac, the 38-year-old EV entrepreneur who took over Bugatti in 2021, said the car market is splitting in two: The mainstream global car market is becoming dominated by lower-priced EVs, many from China, while the very top of the car market will be driven by wealthy buyers who want more old-school cars with loud internal combustion engines and emotional appeal.

Source: CNBC

When everything goes fast, the challenge is slowing down. We take 13 vehicles up to 150 mph and back to zero, and it happens quickly.

How do you separate today’s fastest cars when ordinary 0–60 times have become almost routine? Car and Driver brought back one of its wildest tests: accelerate from a dead stop to 150 mph, then brake all the way back to zero.

Thirteen performance machines took on the challenge, including the McLaren 750S, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Lucid Air Sapphire, Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, and Chevrolet’s new 1,250-horsepower Corvette ZR1X.

The result? Corvette came out on top.

The ZR1X completed the entire 0–150–0 run in an astonishing 14.0 seconds, covering just 1,729 feet from launch to complete stop. Interestingly, it wasn’t the quickest car to 150—that honor went to the Lucid—and it tied the McLaren for the quickest braking. But its incredible combination of acceleration and stopping power gave the Corvette the quickest overall time.

With a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 and front electric motor producing a combined 1,250 horsepower, the ZR1X is taking Corvette performance into territory that would have seemed impossible not long ago.

As Car and Driver’s test proved, getting to 150 mph is only half the fun. Stopping might be just as impressive.

Sources: Car and Driver, Corvette Mike