Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.

Every day, 3.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a brief 5-minute email. Enjoy an impartial news experience.

Join for free today!

Mercedes-Benz Slashes Annual Forecast: Worse Than Expected

• A cooling Chinese market has hit sales of high-margin vehicles such as the S-Class and Maybach sedans

• Mercedes-Benz Cars specific has lowered its annual financial forecast due to “a weakening market environment and increasing economic challenges”

• The announcement reflects broader trends in the global automotive industry: Are the Chinese destroying the german car industry?

Source

Update: This Will Change With BMW’s New Design Team!

• BMW recently emphasized its shift away from the "same sausage, different length" design approach, a critique often aimed at automakers that create visually similar vehicles across different model sizes (a comment towards Mercedes?)

• New Focus: Giving each vehicle its own distinct identity, especially in their styling: “We don’t want it to become a formula that just prints out BMWs of different sizes.”

• First projects from the new teams will materialize into production models from around the end of the decade.

• Freshly hired from Polestar, Maximilian Missoni has been tasked with drawing all the cars from the 5 Series and X5 up. Not just regular BMWs, but also future high-end models from the BMW Alpina brand. Ex-MINI design chief Oliver Heilmer will be responsible for the smaller vehicles, so starting with the 1 Series and X1 up to the 3 Series and X3. Heilmer and his team will also work on the M cars.

Source

Chinese Efficiency Gives German’s a Hard Time: VW plans to cut 30,000 jobs to “maintain business as usual”

• Volkswagen is reportedly considering cutting up to 30,000 jobs in Germany as part of a cost-cutting initiative aimed at saving €4 billion

• No wonder: This comes amid declining sales in Europe and increasing competition from Asian manufacturers

• While Volkswagen has not officially confirmed the job loss figure, company leadership, including CEO Oliver Blume, has stressed that the economic environment is too challenging to maintain business as usual

Source