The Car Curious Weekly for March 29, 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.

March 22 - March 28, 2026 · 197 episodes across 125 podcasts.

Volkswagen announced 50,000 German job cuts, the FTC sent warning letters to 97 dealer groups over deceptive advertising, and the Corvette Grand Sport debuted with an all-new V8. Fuel price spikes in Australia and Europe drove a surge in EV showroom traffic, and used car wholesale values climbed 5.6% year-to-date on tax refund demand.

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

Volkswagen Cuts Factory Capacity and German Jobs Despite Growing Order Backlog

VW is cutting 50,000 German jobs by 2030 while still sitting on a healthy order backlog, citing high labor costs, expensive energy, and over-regulation rather than lack of demand.

CEO Oliver Blume told German media that VW will continue scrutinizing factory capacity worldwide, in both Europe and China, to prevent overcapacity, despite orders continuing to come in.

From Autoline Daily:

"Volkswagen CEO Oliver Bluma says Germany's auto industry can learn a lot from China's industrial planning. Bluma told Germany's Bill newspaper, the five-year plans are, quote, optimally structured and that there is, quote, a high level of discipline and willingness to implement these initiatives."

Automotive News Daily Drive highlighted the disconnect between VW's job cuts and its order book, while Autoline Daily emphasized how U.S. tariffs alone cost VW, Audi, and Porsche $3.3 billion last year.

From Automotive News Daily Drive:

"CEO Oliver Bloom told German newspaper, Build Dom Zongtog, that VW will keep scrutinizing factory capacity worldwide, whether in Europe or China, to avoid overcapacity. The automaker is cutting about 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, citing high labor and energy costs, plus heavy regulation."

FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive Car Dealer Advertising Across 97 Dealer Groups

The FTC sent warning letters to 97 dealership groups over deceptive advertising practices, targeting bait-and-switch tactics and hidden fees in their marketing.

The crackdown focused on ads that lure customers with low prices but add mandatory fees or fail to disclose that advertised vehicles aren't actually available.

From My Car Guru Podcast:

"State franchise laws were designed to protect dealers, to protect their territories and their investments. And if you have a manufacturer, all of a sudden says, we're just going to do mail order, there's going to be some ugly business going on as far as the courts are concerned. The FTC is coming at this from a different angle, going after deceptive advertising, but those same state laws that protect dealers also make it harder for anyone to hold them accountable when they do pull this bait-and-switch stuff."

One host walked through how state franchise laws might complicate direct enforcement, while another explained the specific practices — hidden fees and advertised vehicles that aren't in stock — that triggered the letters.

Rising Fuel Prices Drive Surge in EV Demand, Particularly in Australia and Europe

Australian petrol prices hit AU$3.15/liter for diesel in late March 2026, prompting a surge in EV showroom traffic with Tesla stores packed on weekday afternoons and some dealers reporting 22 units sold in a single day.

BYD's Australian representative reported their best single sales day ever on Monday, March 23, 2026, while Geely dealerships saw weekend orders jump to over 500 units as buyers rushed to lock in inventory.

From Ludicrous Feed | EV Adoption in Australia:

"I was at a Tesla showroom today dropping one of their media loans back and for a Wednesday afternoon like we're talking 12:30 p.m. it was packed. I don't know what was happening. There was not enough sales staff there to accommodate for how busy it was. But people were checking cars out and walking in and yeah, it was just you know quite a lot of buzz and we didn't see that you know like three months ago four months ago late last year."

Australian EV podcasts covered the sales surge with firsthand dealer reports and viewer anecdotes from multiple brands.

Daily coverage: Monday · Thursday

2027 Corvette Grand Sport Debuts with New 6.7L LS6 V8 Engine and Grand Sport X AWD Hybrid

The 2027 Corvette Grand Sport introduced an all-new 6.7-liter LS6 V8 making 535 hp and 520 lb-ft of torque, the most powerful base Corvette engine ever, with 13:1 compression enabled by dual-injection (port and direct) fuel systems.

The Grand Sport X hybrid pairs the new LS6 with an upgraded 186-hp front axle motor (up from the E-Ray's 160 hp) and 26% more usable battery energy for a combined 721 hp, replacing the E-Ray in the lineup.

From The GAS: An American Cars And Racing Podcast:

"It really is a new engine, much closer to 100% new. We do share that the bore center spacing originally developed in 1955. I should hope so. I know the LS fans need that. Yeah, 4.4-inch bore spacing, but everything about this engine is new. New block, new heads, revised cooling system, new combustion chamber for efficiency."

The GAS podcast featured an extensive interview with Corvette chief engineer Josh Holder, who detailed the new LS6's tech and confirmed the Grand Sport closes out the C8 generation.

Daily coverage: Friday

Used Car Market Strengthens as Tax Refunds Boost Demand, Wholesale Values Rise 5.6% YTD

Wholesale used car values climbed 5.6% year-to-date in 2026, driven by an influx of tax refund dollars hitting the market in late March.

One Cincinnati dealer reported seeing customers attempt to resurrect vehicles that had been sitting for years rather than buy newer used inventory.

From The Car Show with Dale and Dane Donovan:

"I've been doing this for 26 years... everybody's getting the pinch right now as well. And typically, we'll see, obviously, people aren't going to go out and buy new cars at this current moment because there's a lot of uncertainty. [...] I started this week and I'm like, I'm not looking forward to this. I had several vehicles towed to us that people were trying to resurrect."

Recommendations

If You Only Listen To One

20 Years, One Carrera GT: the truth of CGT ownership!, 9WERKS Radio : The Porsche and Car Podcast

Mark Sumter has owned a Carrera GT for 20 years and explains what that actually means: why the clutch is genuinely difficult, how the minimal flywheel mass gives it a race-car character on the road, and what the VIP factory delivery involved. He also covers the production-legality backstory and why pedestrian crash-testing cut the run short — context most owners don't know.

More Episodes Worth Hearing

• "Pour Gas On It!" How Joey Logano is Scaling Huntersville Ford (+ his NASCAR playbook for dealers) | Joey Logano, NASCAR Driver and Co-Owner of Huntersville Ford (Car Dealership Guy Podcast), Logano talks through what actually surprised him about running a dealership after winning a championship — the parallels he draws with pit crew operations, the mentorship from Roger Penske, and the specific challenges in the service department. He's candid about dealership complexity and how he handles conflict in both racing and business.
• Gabriel Iglesias on Comedy, Vulnerability, and His VW Bus Museum (DRIVE with Jim Farley), Fluffy's VW Type 1 bus obsession takes center stage, complete with sketchy reliability moments and plans to turn his growing collection into a public museum. The conversation weaves between comedy craft, therapy-driven vulnerability, and the honest fear of breaking down in a vintage bus, plus leadership advice for Ford's CEO focused on listening from the bottom up.
• Blazing Heat and Bottom Dragster (Bracket Breakdown), The sportsman racing community comes alive through LeGrand elimination recaps, Phoenix track-temperature battles, and the Southwest Showdown East vs West preview. Shoutouts to young guns like Cooper Chun's breakout Top Dragster win and Val Torres Jr's Super Gas victory give this the texture of being trackside, plus the coast-to-coast debate over local familiarity versus big-money experience adds genuine stakes.
• Is F1 2026's Mario Kart style racing any good? - Damon and Johnny's verdict (Stay On Track with Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert), Two F1 legends dissect whether the 2026 'Mario Kart' format is working after the opening rounds. Their debate over cars slowing before high-speed corners to harvest energy, and whether overtakes are happening for the right reasons versus late-braking drama, captures the tension between entertainment and authenticity, while Kimi Antonelli and Arvid Lindblad's impressive debuts add fresh energy to the season.

Next Week

Watch for New York Auto Show debuts, especially Hyundai surprises, Subaru's three-row EV, and the refreshed VW Atlas, plus further fallout from the Afeela cancellation and Q1 sales data revealing affordability pressure.

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By the Numbers

Most-Discussed Cars

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Publishing Pattern

197 episodes. 2233 car mentions. 4477 terms explained. Browse every episode with searchable annotations and plain-language term definitions in the Car Curious app.