The Car Curious Weekly for February 8, 2026

The Car Curious Weekly is a look at what the automotive podcast world is talking about, who's saying it, and what patterns emerge when you listen to all of them at once.

February 01 - February 07, 2026 · 193 episodes across 133 podcasts.

A week of labor wins and market shifts reshaped the industry landscape. The UAW secured a landmark 20% wage increase at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant after nearly two years of negotiations, while Hyundai and Kia dominated value awards with their hybrid and crossover lineups. Meanwhile, Scout Motors abandoned pure electric vehicles entirely after 85% of customers demanded extended-range options, signaling a potential sea change in EV strategy.

Here are the five biggest storylines and where they showed up across the feed.

UAW Reaches Tentative Labor Agreement with Volkswagen at Chattanooga Plant, Securing 20% Wage Increase

The UAW and VW finalized a tentative deal for Chattanooga nearly two years after workers voted to unionize in April 2024, with negotiations officially starting September 2024 and dragging through a strike authorization vote in October 2025.

The contract delivers a 20% wage increase over four years, a $6,550 ratification bonus, $2,550 annual bonuses, 20% healthcare cost reduction, and long-term job security provisions — pending worker approval.

From Autoline Daily:

"It took nearly two years, but the UAW and Volkswagen have finally come to an agreement on a labor contract. In April of twenty twenty four, nearly three quarters of the three thousand workers at VW's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to join the union, but talks dragged after that and the UAW even threatened to strike."

Hosts focused on what the deal means for the UAW's broader Southern strategy and questioned what finally broke the negotiation deadlock after months of silence.

From Automotive News Daily Drive:

"This is a historic moment, not only for these members, but for our union as a whole and the entire working class."

Hyundai and Kia Set January 2026 Sales Records Driven by Strong Hybrid and Crossover Demand

Kia swept seven 'Best Cars for the Money' awards from US News in January 2026, with Toyota taking 13 total — together dominating the value segment with gas, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and EV options.

Hyundai and Kia's 10-year/100,000-mile warranties remain a competitive weapon despite reliability concerns, with US News analysts noting the brands 'pile the car high with features, sell it for a rock bottom price' while others abandon budget buyers.

From The Truth About Cars:

"The big brand winner this year is Kia. They won seven awards. The thing about Kia is they have invested a ton in making their cars more stylish, more sophisticated, in electrification. You have gas-powered Kias, hybrid Kias, plug-in hybrid Kias and an electric Kia, but despite all that investment, they still haven't forgotten the core brand value of pile the car high with features, sell it for a rock bottom price, and they have delivered really consistently good products for buyers on a budget, and a lot of other automakers are kind of seemingly less interested in people on a budget."

Multiple shows highlighted Kia's dominance in value awards during January 2026, with The Truth About Cars diving deep into the brand's strategy of maintaining affordability while adding sophistication. British Touring Car Podcast and Cars The Podcast briefly mentioned Korean brand momentum in broader industry discussions.

From Cars The Podcast:

"I have a friend of mine, she has a Kia and she's had nothing but problems. She's talking about the second or third engine. My mechanic friend Bill has the Hyundai engine supplier on speed dial. They call them up and they go, oh, yeah, we got a bunch. You know, they have a bunch of crate engines standing there regularly dropping them off for him to do engine replacements on Kia Souls. I hope they got over that issue, but I don't know how the word isn't getting around that they have some issues."

Dealers Grapple with AI Adoption at NADA 2026 as Software Consolidation Reshapes Dealership Operations

PureCars CEO Lauren Donaldson spoke for the second consecutive year at NADA 2026, focusing on AI's role in fixed operations marketing and profit retention, while President Jason Wiley competed in the NADA exhibitor pitch competition for the second year running.

Dealers at NADA 2026 faced a showroom floor packed with AI demonstrations, including a robot that autonomously delivers parts from dealership parts departments to service technicians in their bays, eliminating shop floor trips.

From Car Guy Coffee:

"NADA is always it's like the big reunion for our industry right it's the one time a year everyone gets back together you see a lot of old friends former colleagues everyone stayed within the industry... we've got some guest appearances we've got partners from Google coming we've got partners from cognition we've got PCG coming in to do presentations we've got our little presentation theater slash media center"

Coverage ranged from high-level partnership announcements on Car Guy Coffee to ground-level concerns about AI's workforce impact on The Jaded Mechanic Podcast and enthusiastic adoption commentary on My Car Guru Podcast.

From My Car Guru Podcast:

"Max called me. He said, Lane, you won't believe this. I said, what? He said, I'm walking down the aisle on the convention floor and there is a robot walking towards me. And it has a basket with oil filter, five quarts of oil, an air filter. And it's demonstrating the fact that it can take parts from the parts department to the mechanics so that they don't have to leave their stall."

Scout Motors Pivots to Extended-Range Electric Vehicles as 85% of Customers Reject Pure Battery Models

Scout Motors discovered 85% of reservation holders rejected pure BEV models, forcing a pivot to extended-range electric vehicles with onboard generators.

The shift mirrors broader market rejection of battery-only vehicles, with Scout joining manufacturers like Rivian and Ram in offering range-extended options.

From The Car Doctor Podcast:

"I think I'm a person who believes that the most sustainable way to sell something is to sell it in a way that the market supports. And I don't think that the market supported the level of EV sales that a lot of the regulators wanted. But if you buy a hybrid or even better, a plug-in hybrid, now you're using it like an electric vehicle for, depending on what you're doing and how far you drive, some percentage, maybe even a very high percentage time. But there's no range anxiety and you can still go where you need to go without having to worry about the charging infrastructure not being up to par."

Podcasts focused on Scout's dramatic pivot away from pure EVs after reservation data showed overwhelming customer preference for range-extended models, with several hosts connecting this to broader market trends favoring plug-in hybrids over battery-only vehicles.

Stellantis Takes $26 Billion Write-Off on Electric Vehicle Investments, Abandoning Tavares EV Goals

Stellantis took a $26 billion write-down in 2024, marking one of the largest impairment charges in automotive history and effectively abandoning former CEO Carlos Tavares' aggressive EV transition goals.

The massive write-off reflects Stellantis admitting their EV investments and production capacity won't generate the returns previously projected under Tavares' leadership.

From TFL Car Chat:

"Twenty-six billion dollars. That's not a rounding error. That's Stellantis saying 'we built all this EV capacity, we invested all this money, and the market isn't there.' Tavares bet the farm on EVs and now the new leadership is writing it all off. That's a stunning admission."

Podcasts covered Stellantis' historic $26 billion write-off as a stark admission that Carlos Tavares' aggressive EV push failed. Shows focused on how the charge reflects overinvestment in electric vehicle capacity that won't deliver projected returns.

Recommendations

If You Only Listen To One

I Nearly Dropped a DeLorean Into a Trench, a Pothole Broke My Aston… & Why New Cars Will Turn on Us — Brown Car Guy

This is pure automotive chaos at its finest. The hosts recount nearly dropping a borrowed DeLorean into a trench at a diplomatic event (complete with stormtroopers!), then pivot to discussing whether modern cars will eventually 'turn on us' with a mix of sci-fi paranoia and real concerns. The storytelling is hilarious and surprisingly thoughtful — it's the kind of episode where you start for the DeLorean disaster story and stay for the surprisingly deep conversation about car ownership anxiety in the software-defined era.

More Episodes Worth Hearing

• Episode #210 - Doug DeMuro & The Death of Fun Cars (Another Pointless Automotive Podcast) — Doug DeMuro joins for a nostalgic dive into whether fun, affordable cars are truly dead or just hiding. The debate over what even counts as a 'fun car' anymore — with callbacks to Chevy Sprint Turbos and '90s Cavaliers — hits different when you realize how much the market has changed. Great chemistry and genuine disagreement make this more than just another 'cars were better back then' rant.

• Building Better Collision Technicians in the Classroom (Beyond the Wrench) — Jessica Weaver's journey teaching collision repair offers a refreshing perspective on the future of the trades. Her emphasis on 'learning from failure' and connecting students to real-world shop experiences makes this more than a dry education discussion — it's about mentorship, overcoming challenges in a male-dominated field, and why kindness matters when training the next generation of techs.

• 282 The Cold Weather Episode (The EV Musings Podcast) — Finally, someone tackles EV winter performance without hysteria or cheerleading. The practical tips — precondition while plugged in, use heated seats instead of cabin heat — come from real experience driving multiple EVs through brutal cold. It's the episode to send anyone genuinely curious about whether EVs work in winter, backed by actual battery chemistry explanations that make sense.

• From SEMA "Noob" to 383 Stroker: Christina Lardie's '69 Camaro Journey (To All The Cars I've Loved Before) — Christina's father bought a '69 Camaro SS for them to restore together. After he passed, she decided to finish it herself — no formal training, just a garage full of mystery parts and a 383 Stroker build taking shape with help from TEM Performance. She went to SEMA just to ask manufacturers what the parts were and how to install them. A story about grief, grit, and learning to wrench by asking for help.

Next Week

Watch for fallout from the UAW-Volkswagen deal vote and whether other transplant factories follow suit, plus early reactions to Toyota's new CEO and what it means for their electrification timeline.

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By the Numbers

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Publishing Pattern

193 episodes. 2491 car mentions. 2462 terms explained. Browse every episode with searchable annotations and plain-language term definitions in the Car Curious app.