Where the math is defensible.
Long-form research on live enterprise decisions. Publication is selective. Every number traces to a named source. No takes without evidence.
BYD enters Europe 2026: the anti-subsidy stack, Hungary as bridgehead, and the EU OEM compression
BYD shipped 4.27 million vehicles in 2024 and overtook Tesla on quarterly battery electric volume. The EU answered with definitive countervailing duties on October 30, 2024 and a Szeged factory now anchors the China to EU automotive bridge. We map the trade arithmetic and the OEM consequences.
BYD reported 4.27 million NEV sales in 2024 (BYD HKEX 2024 annual report), of which roughly 1.76 million were battery electric, surpassing Tesla on Q4 2024 BEV volume. European registrations of Chinese branded BEVs reached about 290,000 units in 2024 (ACEA, T and E), with BYD at roughly 57,000 against Geely-Volvo at 87,000. The European C...
Czechia 2026: The Auto Cluster, Dukovany Reset, and the Last Cyclical Bottom
Czech industry sits between a cooling German order book, a CNB easing cycle, and a USD 18 billion nuclear program. The 2026 to 2028 window decides whether the cluster exits as an EV, battery, and reactor supplier or a discounted Tier 2 to Wolfsburg.
Czechia is the most exposed industrial economy in Central Europe to two simultaneous shocks, the Volkswagen Group earnings reset and the EU 2025 fleet CO2 standard. Skoda Auto delivered 926,600 vehicles in 2024 and Mlada Boleslav remains the regional flagship at roughly 800,000 units per year. With exports to Germany near 30 percent of GD...
The electric vehicle recalibration of 2024 to 2026: how the S curve flattened in the West, why China kept going, and where margins, batteries, and policy reset
Global plug in sales hit 17.1 million in 2024 and 22 percent share, but US growth stalled at 1.3 million, Europe contracted, and OEMs from Ford to Volvo wrote down EV programs even as China cleared 11 million units and BYD shipped 4.27 million vehicles.
Electric vehicle adoption did not collapse, it bifurcated. The IEA reports 17.1 million plug in sales in 2024, 22 percent of new car sales globally, with China alone at 11.3 million units and roughly 47 percent domestic share. Europe contracted to about 3.0 million plug ins as ACEA registrations fell, and the United States crawled to 1.3 ...
Germany's automotive crisis 2026: Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and the Mittelstand supplier squeeze
The German auto cluster is absorbing the worst earnings shock since 2009. We map the OEM income collapse, the China share decay, the IG Metall pact, the Section 232 tariff hit, and the Mittelstand reset through 2026.
Volkswagen Group net income fell to 12.4 billion euros in 2024 from 17.9 billion in 2023, BMW Group net income to 7.7 billion from 12.2 billion, Mercedes-Benz Group to 10.4 billion from 14.3 billion, and Porsche AG operating margin compressed sharply across 310,718 deliveries. China retail share for the Volkswagen brand has slid from roug...
Morocco's automotive cluster 2026: Tangier, Kenitra, and the EV transition test
Renault Tangier Med, Stellantis Kenitra, and a phosphate to LFP cathode play position Morocco as Europe's nearshore EV factory, but CBAM, US Foreign Entity of Concern rules, and rules of origin renegotiation will decide which of the projects actually clear.
Morocco's automotive sector overtook phosphates and agri food to become the country's largest goods export in 2023 and consolidated that lead through 2025, with shipments reported by the Office des Changes crossing 157 billion dirhams, equivalent to roughly 14.6 billion euros. The Renault Tangier Med complex passed one million cumulative ...
Slovakia 2026: Fico, EU Funds Conditionality, and the Transit Cliff
Fico's third government has triggered Brussels's rule of law machinery, frozen defense at 1.7 percent of GDP, and absorbed the January 2025 closure of Russian gas transit. With EUR 6.4 billion in RRF and EUR 12.6 billion in cohesion exposed, Slovakia's 2026 fiscal path is a Brussels variable.
Robert Fico returned to the premiership on October 25, 2023, after Smer-SD won the September 30, 2023 election with 22.94 percent. The Smer, Hlas, SNS coalition holds 79 of 150 seats. In February 2024 the cabinet pushed Amendment 40/2024 abolishing the Special Prosecutor's Office, drawing a Commission Article 7.1 TEU dialogue and triggeri...