Automotive Business Cockpit

Good morning and welcome to the Automotive Business Cockpit.

This Tuesday, we're exploring major strategic reversals and the growing challenges of next-generation technologies. Kia has surprised the industry by reportedly discontinuing the all-electric version of its bestselling Niro for the 2027 model year, shifting its focus decisively toward hybrid powertrains instead.

At the same time, a bizarre incident involving a Waymo robotaxi during the U.S. Independence Day celebrations has exposed potentially dangerous blind spots in autonomous vehicle perception systems.

We'll also take a closer look at a landmark multi-billion-dollar lawsuit accusing leading AI companies of unlawfully using automotive designs to train their models—and examine why AI-driven quality assurance is rapidly transforming manufacturing across the global automotive industry.

Good morning and welcome to the Automotive Business Cockpit.

To kick off the week, we're diving into a highly emotional strategic shift: Ferrari is making headlines by bringing back the manual transmission—defying the industry's relentless push toward full digitalization and automation.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Bosch's works council is sounding the alarm over the deepening crisis across the automotive sector, calling for an urgent government-led task force to safeguard the industry's competitiveness.

We'll also examine why Tesla's AI narrative is no longer enough to overshadow the reality of slowing vehicle sales—and how an embarrassing software failure in Formula 1 is raising broader questions about the industry's growing dependence on technology.