Greetings from London!

It’s funny how quickly things change in the auto industry. Or maybe I’m just getting old. It seems like only yesterday that EV maker Polestar went public via a SPAC with a market cap of $27.42 billion, an exciting new member of the Geely group with bold expectations for growth.

Just three years later, Polestar is still struggling with losses as it tries to get to scale. U.S. tariffs have not helped.

Its valuation has slumped to $1.2 billion and it has struggled with its debt covenants. What’s more, in order to stay on Nasdaq, Polestar is having to resort to a reverse stock split to lift its share price above $1.

It’s clear that Polestar will need to burn more cash for some time to come if it is to survive, costs that will somehow have to be borne by majority owners Geely and its chairman, Li Shufu.   

Which brings us to today’s Auto File…

As its sales start to slow at home after a remarkable period of growth that has made it China’s top automaker, BYD is doubling down on pushing for dramatic growth overseas.

The automaker is targeting overseas sales of up to 1.6 million vehicles in 2026, according to a report from Citi, up from between 900,000 and 1 million vehicles this year. BYD sold around 400,000 vehicles outside China in 2024.

The company appears to be expanding its global network to match its ambitions.

In Europe, where BYD’s sales were up nearly 300% year-on-year in January through September, the automaker plans to double its dealer network by the end of 2026.

Speaking at an event in Frankfurt, Maria Grazia Davino, a European regional managing director at BYD, said the automaker will have 1,000 European retailers by the end of this year and should hit 2,000 next year.

"In line with successful competitors, we need to have proximity and win proximity to the European customers," Davino said. 

Expect fewer parts from China in these - Reuters/Rebecca Cook.

General Motors has directed suppliers to get Chinese parts and components out of its supply chain, as Reuters colleague Mike Colias reports. You can read more about it here.

Sources told Reuters that GM executives have told suppliers to find alternatives to China for raw materials and parts - and the end goal is to scrub Chinese parts from its supply chain altogether by 2027.

It is not so long ago that the opposite was the case. GM spent years pressuring suppliers to buy more from China so that it could get parts at Chinese prices.

The world has changed since then. U.S. President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and industry panic over potential rare-earth bottlenecks and computer-chip shortages have auto companies rethinking ties to China.

GM approached some suppliers with its directive in late 2024, but the effort took on fresh urgency this spring, during the early days of an escalating U.S.-China trade battle.

Chinese cars arriving in Peru - REUTERS/Gerardo Marin. 

Electric car sales in South America have begun to grow quickly from a low base, with much of that driven by Chinese EV makers.

This comes as Chinese automakers expand their footprint across the continent, Reuters colleagues Lucinda Elliott and Marco Aquino report. You can read more about it here.

China has been ramping up sales since the opening last year of the Port of Chancay, north of Lima. The Chinese-built megaport has halved trans-Pacific shipping times just as Chinese manufacturers face rising barriers to entry in the United States.

EV penetration in Latin America, including Mexico and Central America, doubled in 2024 to around 4%, boosted by government incentives and an influx of affordable Chinese models.

Nowhere is this shift more visible than in Uruguay, where BYD is the third-biggest seller across all vehicle types, behind Chevrolet and Hyundai. China's market share has more than doubled in the country since 2023 to 22%.

When Volkswagen agreed to invest $5.8 billion in U.S. EV maker Rivian last year, it was seen as an effort to strengthen its software capabilities for EVs after setbacks at in-house operation Cariad.

But the German automaker now says the technology it is developing with Rivian could eventually be used in its internal combustion engine models.

That could help Volkswagen in both U.S. and European markets, where it needs to sell a mix of EVs, fossil-fuel and hybrid models.

EV demand in the U.S. is expected to slow after the expiration of a $7,500 U.S. tax credit, while EV sales in Europe have not risen as quickly as expected.

Ford is now selling its used cars on Amazon in the U.S. market, joining Hyundai in adding online options for customers who want to avoid dealership lots.

Tata Motors cut its fiscal 2026 margin goal for Jaguar Land Rover after a cyberattack disrupted production at the luxury automaker, adding to pressure from soft demand in China and chip supply constraints.

Japan Automobile Workers' Unions, the country’s biggest auto union, has no plans to scale back wage demands at labour talks next year despite a heavy drag on the sector's earnings from U.S. tariffs, its president sa