Special Episode | Year in Review - The EV Reset: Tesla’s Gamble, 🇨🇳's Grip & Detroit at a Crossroads

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In this special year-end edition of At The Wheel, Joe White (Reuters / High-Speed Rodeo) and Tu Le (Sino Auto Insights) are joined by Steve LeVine (The Electric) and Paul Lienert (Leinert & Co.) for an unfiltered look at the forces reshaping the global auto industry — and the uncomfortable questions automakers now face heading into 2026.

This is not a highlight reel. It’s a post-mortem and a forecast.

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🚨 The EV Reckoning

Ford’s massive EV write-downs, GM’s retrenchment, and Europe’s retreat from aggressive emissions targets aren’t isolated events — they’re signals that the first phase of the EV transition is over.
We break down:
• Why Ford effectively “rang-fenced” its EV ambitions
• What GM, Stellantis, and VW are quietly admitting through their actions
• Whether hybrids, plug-ins, and EREVs are a bridge — or a stall tactic
• Why affordability, not ideology, is now driving EV adoption 

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🇨🇳 China Isn’t Collapsing — It’s Exporting

China’s auto market is brutal, oversupplied, and locked in a multi-year price war — but that pressure is pushing Chinese OEMs outward, not under.
We explore:
• How BYD, Geely, Chery, and others are reshaping global competition
• Why exports to Europe, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and LATAM are accelerating
• The difference between “too much capacity” and “global scale”
• Why Western automakers underestimate China at their own risk 

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🚗 Tesla: Car Company or Belief System?

Tesla’s valuation continues to rise even as vehicle sales weaken globally.
The panel debates:
• Whether Wall Street has fully abandoned the “Tesla as automaker” thesis
• If robotaxis and humanoids are real businesses — or narrative placeholders
• How Waymo, Rivian, and Chinese AV players complicate Tesla’s autonomy story
• Why China may already be lost territory for Tesla’s long-term growth 

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🤖 Autonomy Is Real — But Not the Way You Think

Waymo’s expansion, Chinese L3 approvals, and the rise of fleet-based mobility signal a shift away from private ownership — but cultural, regulatory, and economic friction remain.
We discuss:
• Why Waymo’s transparency matters more than hype
• Whether OEMs risk becoming contract manufacturers
• Why autonomy may succeed first as a service, not a product
• What happens to dealers, margins, and ownership models 

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🔋 Supply Chains, Silicon & Strategic Blind Spots

Rare earths, battery chemistry, and AI silicon quietly became the most important auto stories of the year.
The group examines:
• Why China still controls the critical layers of the supply chain
• The limits of reshoring and decoupling
• LFP, LMR, and why battery “breakthroughs” take longer than politicians think
• How short political cycles undermine long-term industrial strategy 

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🎯 The Big Question Heading Into 2026

Are legacy automakers victims of circumstance — or architects of their own vulnerability?
Can companies built around combustion vehicles reinvent themselves fast enough, or will software-led, China-hardened competitors define the next era?

This episode doesn’t offer easy answers — but it does offer clarity.

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