As spring 2025 approaches, the automotive world faces significant shifts. From high-profile car auctions to market disruptions and regulatory hurdles, this month's round-up highlights the challenges and changes reshaping the industry.
Car gambled away by legendary French rock star sells at auction for €132,000
Johnny Hallyday, who died in December 2017 at the age of 74, was a huge star all over the French-speaking world. During his 57-year career, he released 79 albums and sold more than 110 million records worldwide. He achieved five diamond albums, 40 gold albums and 22 platinum albums.
In 1975, Hallyday's wife, singer Sylvie Vartan, gave him a custom 1975 The Panther De Ville. The V12 Panther De Ville was produced in a 1930s style in Britain from 1974 to 1985.
The example gifted to Hallyday by Vartan had mink seats, and a gold disc on the front grille. It also bore Hallyday's initials on the hub caps.
Hallyday famously lost the car to a friend during a poker game in 1977. Although he wanted to buy it back, his financial situation at the time made it impossible.
Hallyday's Panther went up for auction in France on 24th March 2025. It was bought by a Frenchman for the equivalent of £110,000.
Singapore money laundering case drives down the luxury car market
A $2 billion money laundering scandal in Singapore has been devastating for luxury car dealers there. A number of Chinese nationals were arrested and charged last year in connection with the laundering of proceeds from criminal activities overseas. Amongst the assets seized were many luxury cars.
In the wake of the scandal, ostentatious symbols of wealth have rather fallen out of fashion, as business people, legitimate and otherwise, seek to avoid scrutiny from authorities. The market for expensive cars has been one of the most obvious losers in the affair's aftermath.
Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce saw sales drop to a fraction of their 2023 level as people turned away from conspicuous luxury brands. A spokesman for luxury car dealership Euro Performance Asia said that most of the luxury cars sold in recent years had been purchased by Chinese customers, who now want to keep a low profile. Many of them are now choosing to buy electric cars.
The shift has been great news for Tesla and for Chinese EV manufacturer BYD, both of whom have enjoyed soaring sales. Tesla sales have doubled and BYD have seen an impressive fourfold jump. Meanwhile, new Rolls-Royce sales dropped from 95 to 23 last year, Ferrari sales fell from 97 to 29. Sales of new Jaguars halved and Bentley sales fell to 25 from 58.
EU takes it easy on ICE manufacturers as ban on petrol engines looms and EV sales lag
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said that, although the EU's target date of 2035 for the ban on new petrol cars will remain unchanged, the commission will allow internal combustion engine car manufacturers some leeway in how they meet targets for the reduction of exhaust emission in the meantime.
Rules formulated as part of the EU's transition to cleaner energy required new passenger cars and vans to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 15% compared to 2021 levels. The new proposals would allow manufacturers who fail to meet targets one year to make up their shortfall by overperforming in subsequent years.
The new flexibility recognises that the market for EVs has slowed. If changes weren't made to the emissions reduction schedule, manufacturers would incur fines running into billions of euros.
While many car makers welcome the temporary reprieve, manufacturers who are already experiencing good levels of EV sales have described the move as "kicking the can down the road" and have claimed that the change "rewards laggards and does little for Europe's car industry except to leave it further behind China on electric vehicles."
A bumpy ride for Tesla as Musk critics express their ire
It's been a trying time for Tesla. As well as a 44% drop in European sales, the company has seen hostility towards its CEO expressed through acts of vandalism to Tesla cars in several countries around the world.
Many of Tesla's competitors have seen increases in their European sales figures and, worldwide, Chinese manufacturer BYD has passed Tesla to become the world's leading EV revenue earner.
Meanwhile, Tesla dealerships have been disrupted and inconvenienced by protesters in the USA and the UK. Police investigated reports of shots fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon, USA, while Northern Ireland's police are looking for vandals who damaged 20 Tesla cars at a showroom in south Belfast. Other protests and instances of vandalism have also taken place at a number of other Tesla sites.
