With Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and 11 other car brands, I’m not sure whether Stellantis is an American, Italian or French outfit these days. But I do know that this particular automotive empire has just suffered an electric vehicle-related writedown of $26.5 billion (£19.5bn). Time for one or two of its 14 marques to be killed off or sold?
And sticking with the ‘unbelievable but true’ theme, is it really the case that – in January 2026 vs. January 2025 – Jaecoo sales in the UK were almost 570 per cent up (to 4,850), while Jaguar found six cars to register as its factories remain shut until the all-electric GT starts production later this year, prior to first deliveries in 2027? Let’s hope there are enough buyers around with the will and wallet to buy them for a minimum of £120,000 a pop.
Talking of factory output, there’s no need to worry yet, but in the longer term there are plans in some influential quarters to replace production-line workers with AI-driven humanoid robots. Hyundai – which has plants in Korea and across other countries and continents – plans to start rolling them out from 2028. The first fully dark or blacked-out factories ‘staffed’ by such robots, supposedly responsible for building entire cars 24/7, could be up and running five years from now in, you’ve guessed it, China.
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