Peter DeLorenzo is back from a break in writing his column . . . and is in a foul mood. He is particularly critical of dealers being “insanely” optimistic in the wake of the Trump administration’s regulatory “rollback” of electric vehicles:
“Leave it to the dealers to ignore even a shred of reality while pretending that car prices aren’t ridiculously high, that the cost of financing and insurance still isn’t crushing, and that the entire industry hasn’t priced half of eligible buyers completely out of the new car market. Not to mention the still too-common standard operating procedure of extracting as much cash out of their customers as they possibly can, whether they can realistically afford it, or not.”
— Peter DeLorenzo (2025)
RE:SOURCES
- DeLorenzo, Peter; 2025. “Same as it ever was.” Auto Extremist. Posted Feb. 2.
I wondered what Ed Anger was doing since Weekly World News folded.
How about engaging the substance of what he said rather than trafficking in empty snark?
I just read the linked article. He’s mad as hell. He’s not wrong. Depressing really.
I used to read Peter’s column weekly, but I only have so much personal screen time I want to spend in a week, so it fell off from my list. I don’t disagree with anything we wrote, though.
I’ve heard so much crap in the last 18 months about the bottom of the market falling out and car prices getting cheaper, but not really seeing any demonstrable evidence of this. I think Stellantis’ changes are a real show of desperation. It seems they will continue to add to Elon Musk’s fortunes if they continue to peddle Hemis unless there’s a rapid, massive change in energy policy. I don’t want to be the one to tell Stellantis that the party is over. But I think they’ve alienated as much of their customer base as possible. Can Tim Kuniskis fix this? In my estimation, no.
Like the other two (mostly) domestic sellers of vehicles, they’ve hollowed out their offerings to only sell SUV/CUVs. Very little for the folks who need a relatively inexpensive car and there are only so many people who will throw down for a $50 or more SUV and replace it every 2-3 years.
I also applaud GM’s sticking with the EVs, but with the changing winds, I don’t know if its a good strategy. The upside is, if I wait a couple of years, I should be able to pick up a BEV Equinox pretty inexpensively. FWIW, Farley’s Ford just confuses me and I no longer care to try to pay attention to it. Again, the upside is, if I wait a couple of years, I should be able to pick up a BEV Mach-E pretty inexpensively
I still believe the Chinese are on their way and our domestic producers will REALLY be in jeopardy. I’m thinking the EU’s reaction to the Chinese EVs will give us an idea of how to or not to react to the situation. All of the domestic manufacturers’ and especially the dealers’ cavalier attitudes toward regular consumers will be negatively rewarded. Or maybe the 200% tariffs will be enough of a bulwark to stem the Red tide. But where there’s money to be made, there’s a way…
As the Chinese curse goes: May you live in interesting times.
I think we’ve arrived in them.
That’s a reasonable analysis. This strikes me as a particularly difficult time to make firm predictions given the uncertainties around tariffs, the scale of deportations and their impacts on auto prices and interest rates. I would imagine that EVs won’t do very well because Trump unplugs subsidies, but hybrids might continue to grow unless Trump manages to bring down gas prices. That could plausibly happen . . . except for his talk about the US taking over Gaza, which could elicit a backlash from some major oil producers. Interesting times.