The Car Curious Weekly for May 10, 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.

May 03 - May 09, 2026 · 234 episodes across 157 podcasts.

This week's podcasts covered the mounting cost pressures reshaping the EV market.

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

Ford's California Skunk Works Bets $30,000 on a Midsize EV Pickup to Fight Chinese Cost Pressure

Ford is running a clean-sheet EV development lab in California, housed across two buildings totaling 300,000 square feet, with its flagship target being a $30,000 midsize electric pickup.

Automotive News Daily Drive reported that Jim Farley deliberately kept himself locked out of the facility to enforce independence, and on a recent earnings call framed the lab's broader value as what its methods could eventually do for the rest of Ford's organization.

The Mobility Table:
Detroit’s Mobility Success Isn’t Happening in a Vacuum with John McElroy, President of Blue Sky Productions and Host of Autoline

"We need to study the Chinese and figure out what aspects of what's going on in China can we adopt."

The same show's analysts were candid that success is far from guaranteed, noting that secretive internal projects cut against a century-old automaker's culture, and that building things cheaply is the hardest unsolved problem in the industry right now. A separate voice on The Mobility Table put the competitive framing plainly, arguing that automakers need to study Chinese manufacturers and selectively adopt what is working there.

Automotive News Daily Drive:
May 5, 2026 | Inside Ford's California Skunk Works; Chinese automakers land in Canada

"Jim Farley said from the beginning he did not want his key card to work on the office building."

Lucid's $1B Loss and VW's 2030 Profit Delay Put Q1 EV Math on Trial

Lucid posted a $1 billion net loss in Q1, more than double its year-ago figure, and built 5,500 vehicles while delivering only around 3,100.

Automotive News Daily Drive reported the company pulled forward-looking guidance but said its $4.7 billion liquidity position should carry it through the launch of its next vehicle into mid-2027.

Autoline After Hours:
AAH #790 - The Never Ending Learning Process of How The Industry Works

"Last I looked at was lower than six percent. I think in its heyday it peaked at about nine percent market share."

Automotive News managing editor Jerry Hirsch argued on Daily Drive that a $5,000 federal EV tax credit, roughly ten percent of average transaction price, could serve as industrial policy to offset Chinese subsidies that flow through cheap credit and favorable trade terms.

Also covered by: Automotive News Daily Drive.

Hidden Gems

Episodes worth checking out that you might have missed:
- Episode 561: Meet the Model X Owner Driving From the Arctic Circle to the Southernmost Tip of South America (Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast), A deep dive into extreme EV overlanding with custom solar panels, Starlink connectivity, and real-world remote travel challenges, way beyond typical Tesla coverage.
- A Chat with Jill Ciminillo (Kilowatt: A Podcast about Electric Vehicles), Sharp critique of screen-heavy EV controls paired with hands-on takes on upcoming launches and a personal rally-racing project that casual EV listeners would miss.
- 032 | Nissan 350Z Build Story: Bagged Setup, VQ Engine Fix & a Meaningful Tribute (Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life), A practical performance-build story that weaves technical problem-solving (VQ oil-burning fix, air suspension tuning) with personal tribute details that go way deeper than typical build vlogs.
- Is The Longbow Speedster The Future Of British Roadsters?, Carmudgeon w/ Cammisa & DTS, Ep 236 (The Carmudgeon Show), Direct conversation with founders of a lightweight electric roadster pushing back hard against complexity and screens, rare access to a niche EV philosophy that challenges mainstream design.

Quotes of the Week

"it also has a couple of solid rocket boosters and they claim 0 to 100..."

Powdered Sugar Everywhere on Wheel Bearings

"If that CP4 pump goes when you're out of warranty, you're looking about $15,000 US."

May the 4th Be With Your Old Ride: Why Older Cars Are Winning in 2026 on Car Connection Workshop

"Mortality rate wasn't even a percentage. It was one a week."

Mike Rowe on Authenticity, Dirty Jobs, and the Dignity of Hands-On Work on DRIVE with Jim Farley

"This is where the engine is a generator. It has no direct connection to the..."

The truth about hybrids on My Car Guru Podcast

"it had like dot three brake fluid boiled after like two stops."

Episode 14: Don't Look Too Close At P.J. O'Rourke's Other Bylines [With Guest Matt Farah] on Tran Girlismo

Recommendations

If You Only Listen To One

Powdered Sugar Everywhere, Wheel Bearings

The New Orleans opener is genuinely charming, road trip journalism with personality rather than a press-event checklist. The hosts' back-and-forth across a wide range of cars (muscle cars, Chinese EVs, minivans, Cadillac specials) keeps the pace lively without losing focus, and Nicole's Trombone Shorty tangent is the kind of moment that makes a podcast feel like a conversation rather than a broadcast.

More Episodes Worth Hearing

• Ghost Car Fraud: A £10m Finance Scam (Car Dealer Podcast), A genuinely alarming story told with clarity: a broker walks through how £10 million may have left the market via fake vehicles. Real customers, forged communications. It reads like a financial crime documentary and works even if you have no stake in UK car finance, the mechanics of the fraud are fascinating.
• Episode #223 - Automotive Grudge Match: Isuzu vs. Suzuki (Another Pointless Automotive Podcast), A cheerful deep dive into two brands most people have forgotten, covering turbocharged AWD oddities, badge-engineering webs, and the lightweight Suzuki Swift GTI. The hosts clearly enjoy themselves, and the Nissan Xterra ad quiz that follows is a nice change of pace.
• Stellantis "Core" Brands, Forester Wilderness, Used EV Prices (Car Stuff Podcast), A well-paced episode covering three genuinely different topics: Stellantis pruning down to four brands. The subaru forester wilderness in real-world towing conditions, iSeeCars data showing how Tesla's used-EV residuals diverge sharply from everyone else's. Good variety and no padding.
• 295 The Cheap Charging Update Episode (The EV Musings Podcast), Gary does something useful here, he actually compares the numbers across home off-peak tariffs. Subscription deals, public charging to show that cheap charging exists but requires effort. It's a calm, evidence-based counterweight to the usual charging-is-broken narrative.
• The Leatherman (Smith and Sniff), Wide-ranging and entertaining: modified pickups, the Aston Martin Cygnet's bizarre price appreciation, Ferrari EV camouflage, and a deep rabbit hole on a TWR Jaguar XJS. The episode ends in chocolate chemistry, which tells you something about how freely it moves. Strong host banter throughout.
• 176. The Pile Up EP44: TV Cars II (Car Krush), A nostalgic but specific look at how TV shows actually used and destroyed cars, the General Lee's stunt-footage recycling, the Pink Panther car's clamshell door, the production realities behind classic car-heavy shows. Good for anyone who grew up watching cars on television and wondered how it all worked.
• Starion Makes The Drive Awesom (Auto Off Topic), A Mitsubishi Starion getting sorted, turbo plumbing, oil feed, tire fitment, electrical quirks, then taken on a rally-style road trip through California backroads. Hands-on and specific in the way that DIY car content rarely is, and the hosts' relief when the boost finally comes in is genuinely satisfying.
• Why Chinese Cars Are So Cheap, Rivian R2 v BMW iX3 v Volvo EX60, GMC Sierra EV (Auto Buyers Guide Podcast), The Chinese pricing explainer is the standout segment, vertical integration. Short development cycles, thin margins rather than just subsidies. The Rivian R2 vs BMW iX3 vs Volvo EX60 comparison that follows is one of the more honest three-way EV assessments of the week.
• 118 - PHEV - Plug In Hybrids - are they worth it? (Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars - The EV Podcast), A week in a Mercedes GLC 350 PHEV anchors a practical conversation about whether hybrids make sense for real buyers. The long-term EV ownership data point, an MG ZS EV still showing strong range after 140,000 km, gives the episode more grounding than most PHEV debates manage.

Next Week

With courts blocking Trump's 10% global tariffs and automakers scrambling to recalculate their pricing and sourcing strategies, expect more coverage of how OEMs are adjusting production plans. Incentive structures, USMCA lobbying as the legal and trade picture shifts week by week.

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Publishing Pattern

234 episodes. 2961 car mentions. 12903 terms explained. Browse every episode with searchable annotations and plain-language term definitions in the Car Curious app.