car

the symbol of the Spanish electric car boom faces a difficult horizon

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In its day, Wallbox was one of the great hopes for him electric car in Spain. A symbol with unicorn aspirations with Spanish capital, listed in New York and a simple initial purpose: to sell electric chargers. A purpose that gradually escalated to end up focusing on the comprehensive management of domestic energy. The problem? Since last year the company has a value less than that of your debthas laid off a third of its staff and urgently needs a financial boost. One who doesn’t know where to find. The situation. At the beginning of this month, Wallbox activated the pre-bankruptcy process. The company owes nearly 170 million euros to entities such as Banco Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, or the Official Credit Institute. The pre-bankruptcy status prevents creditors from executing their debts, so this shield is a small temporary ball to negotiate debt and reach agreements. Dates? Evolution of the Wallbox share. Javier Lacort. The hope. Wallbox closed the 2025 fiscal year with losses worth 103.19 million euros, 32% less than in 2024. The company reduced its labor and operating costs by 25%, managing to stop the debacle in its adjusted EBITDA. What happened. In 2021, Wallbox was listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation of more than 1 billion. Four years later, the company was worth 37 million. The company has been adding year-on-year losses that have plummeted its stock. It has reached a price below the dollar The situation led to massive layoffs and cost reduction plans Since 2024, the company has focused the strategy on reduce operating losses and get creditors to sign a new financing plan. According to Wallbox, 85% of them support the plan but HSBC, one of the giants behind the financing, is reticent about the new roadmap. Buying time. Wallbox is buying time with its pre-bankruptcy request, trying to refinance the 170 million debt. Although the situation is critical, all is not lost. The company is managing to cut net losses and affirms that its strategy is aimed at “a more efficient, resilient and future-ready organization.” We have until summer to check it out. Image | Wallbox In Xataka | Install an electric car charger at home: how much does it cost and steps to follow

Sony and Honda have canceled Afeela, their first electric car. One more example of China’s triumph where others fail

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Honda has encountered a wall called the electric car. One that has carried out the development of three of its own electric cars, another that was underway with Sony and that will have an impact on its accounts of about 22.5 billion dollars. The situation, it seems, is not the best. Honda’s jump to the electric car It seemed like an immutable reality just seven years ago. Seven years may seem like a long time but in automotive industry terms it is just the usual jump between two generations of cars. Perhaps that is why the plans, in addition to being immovable, seemed risky. In October 2019, the company announced that From 2022 it would only sell electric cars in Europe. Our continent seemed to be moving towards the electric car under pressure from regulations. Tesla was booming and the companies thought that this was the best path for our market. Today, Honda’s catalog for our country does not have a single electric car. In these years, the Honda e has obtained a very discreet result, victim of a very high price. He e:Ny1, a sort of electric HR-V, is also no longer available after selling an almost negligible number of cars in our country. Along the way, they announced the development of three new electric cars for the US market, all with a groundbreaking and futuristic aesthetic. Also a car that would arrive together with a collaboration with Sony. All of this has been cancelled. The Chinese surprise Much has changed in recent years so that Honda has gone from targeting only the electric market in Europe, developing three new cars with this technology for the United States and another with Sony, to canceling everything. And the company confirmed a few days ago that he reversed his electrical project. First with the cancellation of cars designed only for the American public. The move almost seems logical. The country still does not clearly embrace the electric car and Donald Trump is giving wings to keep every combustion car alive and without any effort. With a country of enormous distances and a charging network that remains insufficientthe electric car continues to have significant pitfalls. This cancellation has had two clear consequences. The first is an impact on Honda’s accounts of more than 20,000 million dollars. How we have the case of Stellantisthis money is not a direct loss, it is the sum of the investments already made, the fines to be paid to suppliers for unfulfilled agreements and the money that is not received from the sales that had been estimated, among other items. The second impact is that Afeela 1 has also been cancelled. This car was born from a collaboration between Sony and Honda. At CES 2023 It was already announced that it would arrive in 2026. Last year, at the same fair, the car was priced for the US market: $89,900 for the “cheap” version and more than $100,000 for the “face.” This year, at CES, we had no news. Less than three months later we know that the project has been canceled because, among other things, it rode the same platform as Honda’s other three electric cars. Once this was cancelled, producing a single car with a single platform was economically unviable. Sony’s car was sold as a leap forward for Hondaa preview of where the market was going to go. The intention was that Honda would provide the hardware and its knowledge making cars, Sony would provide the software and its experience getting the most out of elements such as cameras or sensors. Qualcomm and Epic Games were also supporting the project, the latter company creating an on-demand mobility service for the vehicle. The evolution of the automobile industry has attracted various technology companies. First it was Dyson the company that surprised us by announcing its own electric car. We know that Apple has tried to bring its own car forward and along the way he has left 10,000 million dollars. Microsoft was an investor in Cruise before its closure. Google is making efforts with autonomous cars. This company also wants Android Automotive be an essential part of the future of the electric car. Of all these companies that have been involved in the development of electric cars, all of them have failed. Only Google with Android Automotive seems to be building a long-term ecosystem, which Apple doesn’t seem to be getting it with CarPlay either. We are not talking about companies that supply hardware to automotive companies like Qualcomm or Nvidia, we are talking about companies that also they get involved in the development of a car through their software services or their knowledge to take advantage of that hardware. And, here, China is leading the market. What Sony and Honda intended was to demonstrate that two leading Japanese companies still had enough muscle and knowledge to produce a ground-breaking and competitive electric car. At that time, Xiaomi has built it itself. And Huawei is giving a lesson in China on how to take advantage of these collaborations. Right now, this last company collaborates with Toyota on the latest electric vehicles they have launched for the Chinese market. Its cars have their own ecosystem developed by Huawei that relies on, among other things, the electric motors that Huawei also develops. That is, the Chinese company is in charge of providing its parts and its software knowledge for the ultimate control of them. Huawei and Xiaomi are taking over the operating systems of Chinese electric cars with HarmonyOS and HyperOS. Both companies have extensive experience designing interfaces and digital experiences for the user, an essential service in China to sell electric cars and where Europe, Japan and the United States are still in their infancy, if we compare ourselves to what we see there. Specifically, Huawei has spread its tentacles in the industry until getting its hands on Toyota developments and having cars on the street that will rival Porsche, like the Aistaland GT7sedans that … Read more

is ceasing to be the ‘Chinese Samsung’ to be something more similar to ‘the Chinese Apple with a car’

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Xiaomi’s 2025 has been a record in several aspects, but also the certification of something that we had been seeing coming for a long time: the end of the Xiaomi that we knew. And it gives way to a new, much more interesting Xiaomi. Why is it important. For years, Xiaomi was the company that made the margins of Apple and Samsung a war to fight. His promise was, above all, the price. Now, for the first time in its history, the smartphone segment has decreased by 2.8% in revenue while the electric car and AI segment has grown by 224%. The company that built its identity on bargain He has started talking about something else. The panoramic. Total revenue in 2025 exceeded 450 billion yuan (about 57.7 billion euros), 25% more than the previous year and the first time that the company has surpassed the 400 billion barrier. Adjusted net profit reached 39.2 billion yuan (about 4.95 billion euros), an all-time high. But the real headline is in the composition of that revenue: a year ago, the smartphone and IoT device business represented 91% of the total. It has now fallen to 76.8%. Fourteen percentage points in a single year is too abrupt a drop not to assume that we are facing a different scenario. Between the lines. The segment that Xiaomi calls “smart electric vehicle, AI and other new initiatives” has achieved its first year with positive operating profit: 900 million yuan (about 114 million euros). The figure seems modest, but in reality it hides an intentionally opaque financial architecture. That same segment has increased its operating expenses by 87.7% year-on-year, to 24.8 billion yuan. Included are the costs of the car, but also the billion-parameter MiMo language modela robotics program, the development of own chips and the AI ​​agent platform Xiaomi miclaw. That is to say: the profits from the car are financing the company’s AI bet. And in 2026 that balance could be broken: Xiaomi has committed 16,000 million yuan (about 2,020 million euros) only in AI and “embodied intelligence” this year, part of a three-year plan of 60,000 million. The contrast. While the car moves forward, the phone moves backwards. The gross margin of the smartphone segment has fallen from 12.6% in 2024 to 10.9% in 2025, and in the fourth quarter it plummeted to 8.3%. The reason is the memory crisis: the demand for AI data centers has generated a bullish supercycle in DRAM and NAND prices which is swallowing the profitability of any mobile manufacturer. In the end, the same AI boom that Xiaomi is trying to capitalize on is what is eroding its core business. The company that financed its expansion based on tight margins in mobile phones now discovers that those margins are unsustainable precisely because of the trend it wants to lead. For years, the label that best defined Xiaomi was “the Chinese Samsung”: a company with a very wide range of products, presence in all price segments and a business model built on volume. Now the accounts point in another direction. The growing weight of the ecosystem of services on a base of premium hardware, the car as an aspirational extension of the brand and the own AI models integrated into all devices draw something more similar to Apple: a closed ecosystem where the hardware is the gateway and the services are the margin. The CEO of Ford already drew this parallel. With the difference that Xiaomi also makes the car. Apple doesn’t do that. The context. This shift has not come overnight. We have been seeing for years how Xiaomi patiently built its premium jump, first with Leica cameras, then with a SU7 that aimed directly at Tesla and Porsche. What the 2025 results confirm is that this repositioning is no longer a declaration of future intentions: it is the present financial reality of the company. One detail: 60% of buyers of the SU7 They are iPhone users, a sign that Xiaomi is capturing the consumer who pays for ecosystems, not specifications. The big question. Can a single company simultaneously maintain an under-pressure smartphone business, scale an electric car operation with some fiscal uncertainty, and fund an AI program with indefinite to delayed returns? The 754 million monthly active users and the 1,080 million connected IoT devices that Xiaomi has are an argument for optimism, but maintaining three demanding fronts at the same time, with the business that finances them under siege, is the great challenge that Xiaomi has ahead of it for this new stage. In Xataka | Leica is teaching Xiaomi everything it knows: when the student no longer needs the teacher, the agreement will have fulfilled its function Featured image | Xiaomi

I have calculated how much I will spend on gasoline this Easter. I’m already looking for an electric car

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Tomorrow, March 28, will mark one month since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in an offensive that appears to be stalling. Four weeks since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed, since the price of oil skyrocketed and gasoline prices skyrocketed. Four weeks paying more for our deposits. Four weeks looking at electric cars with different eyes. Tied to fuel. The price of gasoline and diesel has fallen significantly since the Government applied the discount on VAT on hydrocarbons. The market, which was beginning to reach two euros/liter, has relaxed in the case of gasoline (1,562 euros/liter on average), according to dieselgasolina.combut it is still very high in the case of diesel, which remains at 1,773 euros/liter. This gap between diesel and gasoline is making let’s live an unprecedented situation. Already with the war in Ukraine we saw the price of diesel skyrocket. Now, with Russia already out of the market (at least the legal one) and with a new tension in the supply chain, Europe is witnessing an increase in diesel prices for having gotten rid of its refineries over the years. A considerable saving. Taking prices in Spain as a reference, the savings in the cost of using an electric car were already high in recent years. But this has skyrocketed in the last month. Spain continues to be dependent on diesel for an aging fleet where diesel is used by 57.1% of the total volume of cars, according to Anfac. although new cars sold with this technology are very few. And in Europe the x-ray is very similar. This has made many look at the electric car with different eyes. How we tell you our calculator and the professionals themselves explainthe more kilometers traveled with an electric car, the cheaper its cost of use. Or, simply, the greater the gap that exists with gasoline. Let’s give an example, with diesel at 1.773 euros/liter, traveling 100 kilometers with a car that consumes five liters of fuel costs 8.86 euros. In the case of gasoline, if the car consumes seven liters on average, the cost to travel 100 kilometers is 10.93 euros refueling at 1.562 euros/liter. With an electric car that consumes 20 kWh/100 km on the road, the cost is the following: Domestic rate (10 cents/kWh): 2 euros/100 km Direct current recharging up to 50 kW (20 cents/kWh): 4 euros/100 km Direct current recharging up to 150 kW (30-45 cents/kWh): 6-9/100 km Direct current recharging above 150 kW (60 cents/kWh): 12 euros/100 km Winner? Yes, especially the slower we reload. And the comparisons between a combustion car and an electric one are somewhat complicated since the consumption of the car on the road (quite variable between electric cars) and the price of the chargers come into play. Below we will leave a practical example but first we will make some details clear: The consumption of an electric car on the road has important differences. A Tesla Model 3, perhaps the most efficient car at the moment, consumes about 16 kWh/100 km at sustained rates of 120 km/h. A “gastón” car can go at 24 kWh/100 km. That, with high rates, means recharges of up to four euros more per 100 kilometers The real savings of an electric car are in slow recharges, especially domestic ones. Here, rates vary greatly. There are flat rates of 15 cents/kWh but those who have license plates and a favorable environment can charge at 0 cents/kWh for a good part of the year. In our case, we are going to assume 10 cents/kWh. On a trip like Easter, it is very likely that we will stop to sightsee in a city or to eat. At these stops, slow or direct current charging can be done but at low power, below 50 kW. Just as service stations have loyalty cards and programs, electric car users can also take advantage of subscription rates to save money. We will leave them aside because the possibilities in both cases are very wide. Our example. To understand whether or not we save money, let’s assume that this Easter we add a trip of 2,000 kilometers. In it, we will leave with a full battery, as a typical electric car user would. Our electric car has a range of 400 kilometers. The round trip will take us 1,200 kilometers and we will do another 800 kilometers moving from one place to another, getting to know new places. Let’s assume that the car’s consumption is 20 kWh/100 kilometers and that the battery has a size of 80 kWh. Thus, we are going to assume the following recharges: We leave home with 100% (80 kWh and 400 km) and we stop when we have 10% battery left (8 kWh and 40 km) We fill the battery with a high-power charger up to 80% (we have recharged 56 kWh and have 320 km available) and we arrive at the destination with 80 km left in the battery (20%) At the destination we charge the battery to 100% to move with a 50 kWh charger. We have a second recharge at destination. We are going to do 800 kilometers of tourism, that is two full batteries which is equivalent to the first full recharge already mentioned and a second to have another 400 kilometers ready. On our return we will repeat the move: we will charge in our holiday area (third recharge at destination) with a 50 kW charger up to 100%, we will repeat the fast charging on the road at more than 150 kW and we will fill the battery at home to 100% to check the real cost. Here we will arrive with 20% battery. The expense. Taking all this data, we have the following results: First recharge on the way up to 80% (56 kWh at 0.60 euros/kWh): 33.60 euros First recharge at destination up to 100% (72 kWh at 0.20 euros/kWh): 14.40 euros Second recharge at destination up to 100% (80 kWh at 0.20 euros/kWh): … Read more

Mexico is developing its first electric car and Puebla has the responsibility of delivering it: Olinia

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Mexico has a plan: the ‘Mexico Plan‘. It is the roadmap to attract investment and develop industries such as biotechnology, that of semiconductors either that of electric cars. With tariffs, Mexico has realized that it must depend more on itself, and Olinia will be a way to achieve this. It is the name of a family of ‘Made in Mexico’ electric cars that was put on the table last year as part of that ambitious plan. And it needs -a lot- of money to get started. The plan. In Mexico there is a beastly infrastructure to create cars. In fact, the United States bought thousands of units of those cars manufactured in Mexico each year. However, Trump’s latest policies They convinced some manufacturers to move to American soil. That made the Sheinbaum government realize that they need their own industry to achieve technological sovereignty, and Olinia was the answer. in language nahuatl“olinia” means “to move”, and is the name of a family made up of three types of 100% electric and cheap vehicles: A small one for the personal mobility of young people and taking their children to school, as an alternative to buying a motorcycle. One for mobility in the neighborhood. One for last mile merchandise delivery companies. Puebla. During these last few months the development of the car has been moving, but recently we have had two interesting developments. The first is the manufacturing area. Puebla aimed to be, due to some plants they had, a systems supplier for the Olinia. The Technological Institute of Puebla would be in charge of some tasks, such as design, but now everything will take shape there. It will be one of the 60 technological innovation projects that will be developed in Puebla over the coming months, but it is evident that Olinia is the most visible piece of the strategy. The Government stated that the project is very advanced, but that we will have to wait until June for the launch of two prototypes. The car platform show me the pasta. This is not only a boost for Puebla in the particular struggle with Jalisco and Sonora to become the spearhead of the Mexican technology sector, but a declaration of intentions. It seems that the car is closer than we think and that commercial goal set in 2027 will be met. But something fundamental will be financing. Olinia is a program backed by public money (scarce so far, according to Bloomberg), but it is already noted that a few more million from private capital will be needed for it to see the light. At least, another 200 million dollars What the Government is looking for to be able to produce these first models in something that they describe as “a common practice in the market when talking about relations between governments and automobile companies.” Lithium. Little by little, Olinia is taking shape and phases of development are being completed. The intention is for them to be short-range cars for short-distance urban trips, but beyond the issue of financing, there is something on the horizon that could put a brake on the Mexican electric car: lithium. Because Mexico has some of the most important lithium reservesbeing a crucial component for the batteries of any device, but it is not produced on an industrial scale. And if it wants to be technologically and economically sovereign, perhaps the focus should be on discovering how to achieve a stable production of lithium and other critical minerals. In Xataka | The United States knows it has a problem with rare earths from China. And he believes he has an alternative: Mexico

China and the electric car

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October 1973. The world is divided into two clearly differentiated poles. We are in the middle of the Cold War and the clash between the United States and the Soviet Union has spread across half the world. The Missile Crisis is beginning to be far away and the confrontations between both powers are moving to Asia and Latin America. The Operation Condor in Americathe battles in vietnam either Cambodiato give just a handful of examples. And the Yom Kippur Warof course. It was, as we said, October 1973. Egypt and Syria, taking advantage of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, attack Israel with the primary objective of recover the land lost in the Six Day War. But also with another very clear one: to demonstrate that Israel was not invincible. The attack catches Israel, which is supported by the United States, off guard. Little by little, they manage to stop the bleeding and the Arab countries stand up. They have a weapon that goes beyond bombers: oil. An embargo on all countries that support Israel causes energy chaos. The Oil Crisis has an enormous impact on society and, especially, on the American automobile market. The savages muscle car they are domesticated. In the second half of the 70s, the customer no longer appreciated those huge engines that were the watchword of the country. And one country had exactly the car that the American wanted: Japan. Toyota, Nissan and Honda They made their way at a frenetic pace through the streets. The country had achieved an evolution that was key. The efficiency (and later they would discover reliability) was its great value. And Ford and General Motor were quickly relegated to the background because nationalism usually falters when the customer’s pocket is touched. Now, a new war and a new crisis threatens to bring a paradigm shift to the automobile market. The electric car is at its best moment to convert the skeptic. And the country that is bidding hard to gain a foothold is China. A new paradigm Explains my colleague Alba Otero that with the Oil Crisis of 1973 four million barrels left the market. Today, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is five times more serious. The world is more interconnected, there is greater production but the market is also more sensitive, with a closed energy funnel and one of the largest fuel producers, such as Russia embargoed for its attacks on Ukraine. The rope is tight. So tense that the price of gasoline has skyrocketed. Diesel is much worse, with prices for “basic” fuel that are close to those offered by 98 gasoline. In two and a half weeks, the price of diesel has skyrocketed by almost 50 cents/liter on average in Spain. The prices are so high that right now it eats up any type of savings promoted by this fuel. A car that uses 5 liters/100 kilometers costs the driver 9.55 liters per hundred kilometers. An electric car with a consumption of 20 kWh/100 kilometers (which is not surprising) needs to pay 0.50 euros/kWh to match its price, a high figure that is associated with high-power recharging. If the car consumes 16 kWh/100 km, such as a Tesla Model 3 that circulates relatively unconcerned about consumption, it will improve spending on all recharges below 0.625 euros/kWh. A diesel car that consumes 5 l/100 km is paying almost 10 euros. An electric car with a domestic rate does more than 600 kilometers for that money The gap is even greater if recharging is done at home. Right now, those who pay 0.15 euros/kWh, which is not a particularly attractive rate, can go 100 kilometers for 1.50 euros. They are 8.05 euros less per 100 kilometers. The difference is so substantial that if this new crisis continues and prices remain high, we are facing the best breeding ground for the electric car. The interest of potential buyers is increasing significantly. In fact, Google searches related to the terms “cheap electric car” have soared just when more and more models begin to arrive on the market. In recent months, the avalanche of electric cars has been unleashed. We have all kinds of options. From premium cars with hundreds of kilometers of autonomy that are equal in price to gasoline cars, like the BMW iX3 or the next Mercedes GLC either electric CLAto attractive vehicles for families such as Kia EV5, Renault Scenic either Peugeot 3008as well as urban mobility vehicles with recognized success as the BYD Dolphin Surf (one of the best-selling electric cars in Spain) or the Renault 5with the first demand band covered. Without forgetting, of course, the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y whose low consumption and very low interest financing allow them to continue to be some of the most interesting models you can buy. The context is especially important in a Europe that is moving towards the electric car. 2025 emissions targets pushed back to 2027 but manufacturers will have to comply with an average to be calculated in that period of time. This leads us to most expensive combustion cars in the coming months (to be less attractive and, if sold, offset possible fines) and more affordable electric vehicles (to lower average emissions). General photography is also particularly interesting for Chinese manufacturers. Absolute technology dominators and of electric batteriesit is the country that can tighten the most on price even if tariffs on their electric cars remain. Spain is one of the countries where we are most sensitive to price and where we are most willing to buy vehicles with an attractive quality/price ratio. Of the 10 best-selling electric cars So far this year, two are Chinese and have prices significantly lower than the competition, such as the BYD Dolphin Surf and BYD Atto 2. The weight of this country is more forceful among plug-in hybrids: four of the 10 best-selling cars are Chinese cars. Spain is by no means a general photograph of Europe. But it does give clues … Read more

The electric rental car still cannot find its place. Hertz tried it and it cost him 4 billion to discover it

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In October 2021, Hertz announced with great fanfare that bought 100,000 Teslas worth 4.2 billion dollars. It was the biggest bet by a vehicle rental company on electric vehicles. He didn’t know what he had gotten himself into. And four years later, that bet has ended up becoming one of the most expensive lessons in history, because between 2023 and 2025, the company has accumulated losses of more than 4.5 billion dollars, a good part of them directly linked to that decision. What went wrong from the beginning. The business of a car rental company is not just renting, as they also need to sell the vehicles when they are paid for at the best possible price. And that is where the electric became a basic problem. electric cars They depreciate faster than combustion ones in the first three to five years, something that Hertz saw firsthand. When the fleet of Teslas began to lose value, the company was unable to place them on the second-hand market at a profitable price. The final blow came when Elon Musk decided reduce the price of new Teslaswhich automatically dragged down the value of the used cars that Hertz had in its fleet. In detail. Added to that were other problems that were not in the script. Electrical repairs they were more expensive Compared to combustion vehicles, tires wore out faster and many drivers simply did not want to rent an electric car. In addition, it should be noted that the charging network in the United States was (and partly still is) insufficient for travelers who do not fully know the specifics of charging an electric car. According to MarketWatch, electric cars in the United States they are not popular among rental customers precisely due to the scarce network of charging points in the country. And a car stopped in the parking lot does not generate income, but it does generate costs. The numbers of the disaster. In 2024 alone, Hertz registered a net loss of $2.9 billionafter having closed the first nine months of the year with 1,332 million in the red. The company rapidly sold the 30,000 electric vehicles that it planned to liquidate, and in 2025 it closed the year with a net loss of 747 million, although with an improvement of more than 2,000 million compared to the previous year. The results of 2025 We met them precisely a few weeks ago, in their financial report. The numbers are improving, but right now Hertz’s stock is trading near historic lows and the market does not quite believe the recovery. It’s not just Hertz. The company has not been the only one that has gone through this bad experience, in fact it has been a warning sign for the rest of the competitors. Avis Budget Group, the second largest global vehicle rental group, closed 2025 with losses of nearly 1 billion dollarsthe main reason being its electric fleet in the United States. The company had to register more than 500 million in asset impairment by reducing the estimated useful life of its electric cars, which caused them to plummet in the stock market by more than 20% in a single day after presenting results. Avis CEO Brian Choi even publicly acknowledged to investors that the quarter’s results were “unacceptable,” according to picked up SherwoodNews. Between the lines. A McKinsey report from April 2025 pointed out that only one in ten American consumers is considering going electric with their next purchase. If the customer who rents a car does not want an electric one, because he does not know where to charge it, because it generates range anxiety or simply because it is not comfortable, the rental company has an expensive vehicle that depreciates quickly and that spends too much time without generating income. Therefore, the equation does not work. And now what. Hertz has promised that 2026 will be the year of the turning point. The company anticipates revenue growth of between 4% and 6% in the first quarter of this year and has once again placed the depreciation target below $300 per month per vehicle, which was the figure it always indicated as the profitability threshold. Avis is also looking ahead cautiously. Both companies hope to improve results in 2026, relying on younger fleets and managing its electric cars more conservatively, adapting its presence in markets where there is a more mature charging infrastructure, as is the case in California. What is clear is that the great bet of massive electric rental in the United States has failed, at least in its first version. The electric car may have a future in rental fleets, but not at any price, not in any market and, of course, not without the customer being willing to get into it. Cover image | Ernie Journeys In Xataka | No matter what you do: the wheels of your car are revealing your position to anyone who wants to monitor you

that buying a yacht is as cheap as a car

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The man who turned JD.com into the Amazon’s biggest Chinese rivalhas just announced his next project. This time it’s not about packages or deliveries in 24 hours: this time it’s about yachts. Yes, those luxury boats that until now only the richest could afford among the rich. However, his plan is not make yachts for millionaires. That can do any. The challenge is to manufacture yachts that any minimally wealthy family can afford. Their goal is to manufacture yachts at the same price as a car. The “Chinese Jeff Bezos.” Richard Liu is popularly known as the “Chinese Jeff Bezos” for having converted your company JD.com into an online commerce giant with its own logistics capable of overshadowing the almighty Amazon. According to ForbesLiu has an estimated net worth of around $5.5 billion, placing her as one of the China’s biggest fortunes. Liu wants to replicate that philosophy of scale and efficiency that he has honed at JD.com in a completely different sector: boat manufacturing. For this purpose, Sea Expandary has been created. a new company which will not be managed directly by him since he will have his own independent CEO. The planned initial investment is around 5 billion yuan (about $723 million), and the goal is so ambitious that it is hard to believe: that any salaried worker can have his own yacht, just as happened with the car decades ago. Price is what changes the rules of the game. The most striking fact of the proposal is the target price for the boats they manufacture. As I collected Asian outlet SCMP, Liu has stated that: “I hope that one day we can build yachts priced at 100,000 yuan (US$14,502), so that they can enter homes like cars do. Yachts must be difficult for ordinary wage workers and ordinary consumers.” To put that figure in context, according to boat insurance portal Admiral Marine, a small entry-level yacht can easily cost between $50,000 and $200,000. The ambition is that this boat will have enough space on board for a family and that its price will not be an obstacle for Chinese households to buy one. Making boats is complex. Building ships is not an easy task. The nautical sector continues to be one of the most artisanal and labor-intensive, with long production cycles and greater flexibility must be applied in the customization of finishes and uses. To reach that price, Sea Expandary would have to radically industrialize the process, limit the variants it offers to its customers and optimize the supply chain. Furthermore, the new company not only aims to be cheap, but also sustainable. Liu has announced that all Sea Expandary yachts will operate with what he has called new energy technologies that focus on the electrification of engines and renewable energy generation systems. This is a positioning that fits well with the industrial policies that China has been promoting in the renewable energy sector that is already is applying in cars. It’s a good business. The yacht market in China is in full boiling. According to the market outlook By the end of 2025 there were 9,850 vessels registered in the country, and more than half of the total fleet had been registered in the last three years. The Chinese Ministry of Transport said that growth is expected to continue over the next five years. The global yacht market, for its part, exceeded $9.83 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $14.98 billion in 2035, with compound annual growth of more than 4.3%. China is late to this sector compared to Europe or the US. However, China arrives with a more than proven competitive advantage: its industrial-scale production capacity, lower manufacturing costs and the support of public policies. Liu knows this, and he said it bluntly: “Only by doing this can we truly compete with the world’s leading yacht manufacturers in Europe and the United States.” In Xataka | The ultra-rich trade land for a superyacht during the summer: These are some of these floating mansions Image | Flickr (Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2018), Pershing

If the question is how Seat has lost 100% of its profit in its best year, the answer is simple: Chinese electric car

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The electric car continues to be Seat SA’s great debt. The company that houses Seat and Cupra could be popping the champagne with record numbers, but a decision has destroyed its profit margin despite billing more than ever and selling more cars than ever. The numbers. Seat SA has presented results. The company that houses Seat and Cupra has made public its 2025 numbers with record figures that invite optimism: 15.3 billion euros in turnover (5.1% more than the previous year) 586,300 cars delivered (5.1% more than the previous year) More plug-in hybrids sold than ever, with a growth of 62.9% More electric vehicles sold than ever, with a growth of 65.9% But the figures are obscured when we talk about benefits. And the company barely retained 40.9 million euros of net profit, 92% less than the previous year. And the data on its operating profits is even more dramatic. Seat indicates a million euros with a drop of 99.8% but that figure is subject to IFRS (international financial standards). Seat reports in its results note of -93.1 million euros as a result of exploitation with Spanish financial standards, along with a cash flow of -431 million euros after investing 1,300 million euros in CAPEX and R&D, which add up to a total of 6,200 million euros invested in this item since 2020. A strategy that works. In 2022, with Wayne Griffiths at the helm of the company, Seat SA took a turn in its strategy. The then CEO said that “Cupra is not the end of Seat. Cupra gives Seat a future and the future is electric. The future is Cupra.” Three years later, Cupra has sold 328,800 units, 56.1% of Seat SA cars, with a growth of 32.5% compared to 2024. So, Seat SA had just lost more than 450 million euros in two years. The company has managed to refresh its image and move customers towards more expensive models that leave a greater profit margin. It is never good news to sell fewer cars (Seat sold 257,400 units in 2025, 17% less than the previous year) but the company has managed to compensate for this decline by selling more expensive cars. And not only that, increasing sales. The electric car. In addition, the company has achieved a substantial increase in sales in its most electrified models. However, if Seat has lost relevance in the market it is because its offer, right now, is anti-competitive where electrification is demanded. In fact, the ECO label (and in mild hybridization versions) will have to keep waiting in models like the Ibiza or the Arona. Markus Haupt, new CEO of Seat since Griffiths leftalready made it clear a few months ago that It was impossible to launch an electric car with the Seat logo right now. The problem, he pointed out, is that it was too expensive and that prevented a positioning aligned with the role that Seat is currently playing within the Volkswagen Group. From Germany they understood that that affordable electric role had to be covered by Skoda and Seat will be relegated to an access brand to the motor market, with cars that are already veterans in the market and very little electrified engines. Cars in which no money has been invested but they continue to report profits despite the fact that their sales have been declining. Looking at the volume of electric sales in Europe, it seems that it makes sense not to continue loading up on models that can be cannibalized within the Volkswagen Group. And the Tavascan. Seat SA’s commitment to electric cars was to come with the Cupra Tavascan. The car was sold as a turning point for the brand with the aim of making it clear that we were facing a new image and that Cupra was not only seen as the sports version of Seat. Cupra aimed to make itself in a journey that had already begun with the Born. The Volkswagen Group decided early that for him Cupra Tavascan was competitive it had to be taken to China. But with production already committed, The European Union imposed harsh tariffs on carssince it has the participation of SAIC. The base 10% soared by another 37.6%. That has eaten into any kind of profit generated with a car that had this as its primary objective. These tariffs have not had to be paid by the Skoda Enyaq, Audi Q4 or Volkswagen ID.5, all produced in Europe. Last February, the European Commission confirmed that had reached an agreement to withdraw tariffs on this car as an exceptional case. Cupra has promised not to lower the price and to comply with an export quota. Both figures are, however, confidential. at losses. Although Cupra has promised not to lower the price, it is highly unlikely that the company would have opted for this once the tariffs had been lifted. And it is that the Cupra Tavascan was being sold at a loss despite exceeding 40,000 euros per unit. Aware that it was impossible to sell the car at a price that would allow them to make money with such high tariffs, Cupra preferred to eat that cost and lose money with each car sold. The strategy may make sense because the production commitments in China are maintained and it has helped the company to put the car on the street, make it visible and invest in brand image. Already in 2024 the brand expected to lose 500 million euros with the sale of the Tavascan. An optimistic view. The good news for Seat is that, at last, they have managed to get their Tavascan to start generating profits for the company instead of eating them. But also that Cupra remains strong with its electrified bet. The Cupra Born has been recently renovated and the Raval will arrive in 2026, made in Martorell. The company’s goal is to achieve, by 2030, a profit margin of 6%. To do this, they say, they will focus on cost … Read more

the wheels of your car are revealing your position to anyone who wants to monitor you

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I can think of few uglier scenarios behind the wheel than a puncture going 120 kilometers per hour. Fortunately, tire pressure sensors minimize this risk because they act as whistleblowers in case of mishaps, ranging from a blowout to a simple loss of pressure. They were designed with security in mind and not privacy and that has opened a door: monitor where your car passes. And obviously, where are you. Context. Tire pressure monitoring systems or TPMS are required by law: in the EU since 2014, also in the pioneering United States and other countries such as South Korea or Japan. This system uses small sensors integrated into each wheel to monitor the pressure and send wireless signals to the car’s computer to alert the driver if a tire drops below the set pressure. Due to regulations and validity, there are millions of vehicles in circulation with TPMS and no one perceives them as a risk: they are safety sensors, not connectivity. The discovery. A research team from IMDEA Networks has shown that TPMS sensors continuously emit a unique identification number via radio frequency that has neither encryption nor authentication. The ID does not change, so it works as if it were a license plate. Like that radar that catches you on a specific day and time at a certain point. Thus, anyone with a radio receiver can pick it up and if they do it once, from then on they will be able to recognize that car at any other time. This operation occurs without the driver knowing and, furthermore, he cannot do anything to avoid it. Why is it important. To begin with, because the research team has already confirmed that by crossing the four data from the four wheels, the reliability of the identification is high. Alessio Scalingi, professor at UC3M and one of the authors of the study, summarizes it like this: “data that seems passive and harmless can become a powerful identifier when collected at scale.” But it is also much more discreet than a conventional radar or camera: the TPMS emits radio signals continuously and these are invisible and can pass through obstacles or walls. Hiding is not an option. On the other hand, there is no need to hack anything: the signal is public and by default it arrives unencrypted. In short: TPMS tracking is cheap, difficult to detect, and difficult to avoid. How they did it. To reach this conclusion, the IMDEA Networks Institute research team together with European partners conducted a 10-week study in which they collected signals from more than 20,000 vehicles. The equipment used was a network of low-cost SDR radio receivers ($100 each), which were distributed near parking lots and roads. In that time they were able to collect more than six million messages, which helped them to reconstruct routes and routines, for example what time someone arrives at work or how often they go shopping, the type of vehicle or even whether it transports heavy cargo. The receivers are capable of capturing signals from moving cars at more than 50 meters, even if the sensors are hidden or inside buildings. How it affects you as a driver. You are potentially exposed to monitoring of your car journeys no matter what you do. This sensor goes inside the wheel and has no switch, so as a driver you cannot do anything to avoid this tracking beyond obviously not using your private vehicle. Of course, it requires someone to deploy this network of receivers deliberately. The ball is in the regulators’ court. As the research team explains, the real problem is structural: the TPMS regulations do not require encryption for these sensors, so the solution is not in the hands of users, but in those who regulate and the manufacturers. As concludes Dr. Yago Lizarribarone of the authors of the study: “Our findings demonstrate the need for manufacturers and regulatory bodies to improve the protection of future vehicle sensor systems.” In Xataka | The industry has been filling cars with complex safety systems for years. The only problem is that we don’t use them In Xataka | The Government of Spain has insisted that we do not exceed the speed limits. And it has a threat: jail Cover | Waldemar Brandt

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