#BrownCarGuy – News, Views & Reviews!
Last weekend, while surrounded by a jaw-dropping display of supercars at Brands Hatch with the Drivers Union crew – Lambos, Ferraris, McLarens, Astons, all gleaming in the sun – someone asked me a question that got me thinking: “What do you think is going to happen to these brands in the future?”
Have you ever watched a slow-motion crash? That agonising moment where you can see exactly what’s about to happen, but there’s no stopping it? That’s Stellantis right now—an automotive behemoth with a brand portfolio so vast it should be unstoppable. Instead, it’s lurching towards disaster, dragging some of the most beloved car marques with it. Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Dodge, Chrysler, Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel, and Vauxhall—this should be an empire, but instead, it feels like a sinking ship, a giant cargo vessel colliding head-on with an iceberg. And the worst part? They seem utterly clueless about how to stop it.
The global automotive industry is in turmoil once again, and this time, it’s thanks to a political grenade lobbed straight from the White House. Donald Trump has just announced a fresh wave of 25% tariffs on imported automobiles, along with semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, sending shockwaves through the already uncertain EV market. If you thought the shift to electrification was on shaky ground before, buckle up—because it just got a whole lot worse.
I know what you’re thinking… lately, I’ve been thinking it too – cars and the car industry… things are… well, I don’t know, they’re not quite as they should be, as they used to be, right? And that’s putting it lightly. Somewhere, there’s a serious misfire happening, and gears are grinding to a halt. So what’s gone wrong? Where, when, how? Well, let’s get into that, right after this.
In 35 years of covering the car industry, I’ve never seen such confusion and uncertainty as we’re experiencing now. Traditionally, when sitting down with car company executives, they’d be confident, thinking years ahead with clear plans. That’s no longer the case. Ask them about the future these days and you can see them struggling to resist an urge to shrug and fling their hands in the air in confusion. So what gives?
