AutoGuide Hot Takes: Make Cadillac Great Again

Friendly reminder for motorcyclists, riding in the oncoming lane to avoid traffic is not lane splitting, it's careless driving (riding)—as always, AutoGuide is here for it. We don’t always cover every piece of news, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have thoughts and opinions—many of them.

Managing Editor Mike Schlee, Road Test Editor Kyle Patrick, Site Coordinator Michael Accardi, and Editorial Director Greg Migliore weigh in on the hot topics of the week. If you disagree, please get in the comments and tell us why we’re wrong.

1) Waymo announced it's partnering with Magna for a new production facility in Arizona. The company says it will build over 2,000 more fully autonomous Jaguar I-PACE vehicles at the plant starting this year—meaning Waymo will officially produce more Jaguars than Jaguar.

2) The British automaker paused production and sales of all vehicles until 2026, when it will relaunch itself with a new identity and a low-volume electric vehicle that’s received nothing but ridicule on the internet since it was released.

3) In the same vein: Cadillac has sold fewer than 25 of its bespoke Celestiq so far.

4) It was always supposed to be super low volume, but honestly, it’s the wrong product for this type of program. If Cadillac wants to print money, it should be offering bespoke Escalades and Escalade IQs.

5) Imagine a program where body-in-white Escalades are yanked off the production line before being finished in whatever custom paint and interior finishes the buyer wants? Imagine something like the Cadillac Sollei, but as an Escalade.

6) Mercedes will build you a G-Class under its Manufaktur program, but why does Cadillac insist the answer is a mildly ugly, bustle-back looking sedan that rides on aging EV tech? Lean into your core competencies, please.

7) Mitsubishi plans to launch an electric crossover based on the Nissan Leaf. It’s a good idea, but will anyone really care? Mitsubishi sells about 100,000 cars annually in the USA.

8) At the same time, Reuters reports Mitsubishi has signed an MOU with Foxconn to outsource EV development to the iPhone assembler. Does Mitsubishi really need a pair of electric vehicles?

9) Nissan’s 3.5L twin-turbo V6 is a sneaky good engine. Hope it shows up in more products because it’s so smooth and powerful in their big SUVs like the Armada.

10) In BMW’s 2025 outlook, the automaker said it expects "some of the tariff increases to be temporary, with reductions from July 2025". Does BMW know something the rest of us don’t?

11) China’s new rare-earth restrictions could put a severe drag on EV manufacturing. The restrictions target the elements samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium. These are vital inputs needed to manufacture the special permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors.

12) Some perspective on tariffs from Nikkei: Almost 50% of all new cars sold locally are produced internationally.

13) In F1 news, the Alpine team is in absolute shambles. The team just dropped rookie Jack Doohan in favor of Franco Colapinto, who had an extremely successful stint with Williams last year.

14) Team principal Ollie Oakes effectively resigned in protest, leaving the team in the hands of mass manipulator Flavio Briatore.

15) It honestly wouldn’t be surprising if the team packed up shortly—it already quit making engines and shuttered its Viry-Chatillon F1 engine factory after 50 years.

16) Alpine’s parent company, Renault, announced it had already sold 850 of its Renault 5 Turbo 3E electric vehicles.

17) Renault plans to sell just 1,980 of the cars—a call back to the 1980 R5 Turbo—and each one will have a $176,000 starting price.

18) It’s the 6 Hours of Spa this weekend. Does anyone have an answer for the Ferraris?

19) The 499P won the first two rounds of the season in Qatar and Imola, and is already setting the pace around the Belgian circuit in free practice.

20) It would be incredible to see the Ferrari hypercar competing in the IMSA championship, but so far, there are no plans to split time between both championships. Too bad.

(Bonus Take) Ferrari says it has a batch of reveals and launches planned for the next year, with an EV going on sale in 2026. With Ferrari, you don’t worry much about pricing or market trends; you just figure some part of their base will want a high-powered EV. It wouldn't be surprising if most of the allocation is spoken for before the car is even officially revealed.

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