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https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/Faction-Paradox-The-Confession-of-Brother-Signet-AUDIO-DOWNLOAD-p389922366 The first season of the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things premiered worldwide on the streaming service Netflix on July 15, 2016. The series was created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. This season stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine, with Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, and Shannon Purser in recurring roles. The first season of Stranger Things received critical acclaim, in particular for its originality, homages to the 1980s, characterization, tone, visuals, and performances (particularly those of Ryder, Harbour, Wolfhard, Brown, Heaton and Modine). Premise The first season begins on November 6, 1983, in a small town called Hawkins. Researchers at Hawkins National Laboratory open a rift to the "Upside Down," an alternate dimension that reflects the real world. A monstrous humanoid creature escapes and abducts a boy named Will Byers and a teenage girl. Will's mother, Joyce, and the town's police chief, Jim Hopper, search for Will. At the same time, a young psychokinetic girl who goes by the name "Eleven" escapes from the laboratory and assists Will's friends, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair, in their efforts to find Will.[1] Cast and characters See also: List of Stranger Things characters Main cast Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers[2] David Harbour as Jim Hopper[2] Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler[3] Millie Bobby Brown[3] as Eleven ("El") Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson[3] Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair[3] Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler[3] Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers[3][4][5] Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler[6] Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner[7] Recurring Noah Schnapp as Will Byers Joe Keery as Steve Harrington Shannon Purser as Barbara "Barb" Holland[8] Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler Ross Partridge as Lonnie Byers[9] Rob Morgan as Officer Powell John Paul Reynolds as Officer Callahan Randy Havens as Scott Clarke Catherine Dyer as Connie Frazier Aimee Mullins as Terry Ives[10] Amy Seimetz as Becky Ives Peyton Wich as Troy[11] Tony Vaughn as Principal Coleman Charles Lawlor as Mr. Melvald Tinsley and Anniston Price as Holly Wheeler Cade Jones as James Chester Rushing as Tommy H. Chelsea Talmadge as Carol Glennellen Anderson as Nicole Cynthia Barrett as Marsha Holland Jerri Tubbs as Diane Hopper Elle Graham as Sara Hopper Chris Sullivan as Benny Hammond Tobias Jelinek as lead agent Robert Walker-Branchaud as repairman agent Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Florence ("Flo") Episodes See also: List of Stranger Things episodes No. overall No. in season Title Directed by Written by Original release date 1 1 "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers" The Duffer Brothers The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 On November 6, 1983, in Hawkins, Indiana, a scientist is attacked by an unseen creature at a U.S. government laboratory. 12-year-old Will Byers encounters the creature and mysteriously vanishes while cycling home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair. The following day, Will's single mother Joyce Byers reports his disappearance to the police chief Jim Hopper, who starts a search but assures Joyce that almost all missing children are quickly found. The lab's director, Dr. Martin Brenner, investigates an organic substance oozing from the lab's basement, claiming that "the girl" cannot have gone far. A nervous young girl wearing a hospital gown wanders into a local diner. The owner, Benny, finds a tattoo of "011" on her arm and learns that her name is Eleven. Brenner, monitoring the phone lines, sends agents to the diner after Benny calls social services. The agents kill Benny, but Eleven manages to escape using telekinetic abilities. Joyce's phone short circuits after receiving a mysterious phone call that she believes is from Will. While searching for Will in the woods, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas come across Eleven. 2 2 "Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street" The Duffer Brothers The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 The boys bring Eleven to Mike's house, where they disagree on what to do. Mike formulates a plan for Eleven to pretend to be a runaway and seek help from his mother, Karen. Eleven refuses, however, revealing that "bad men" are after her. Will's brother Jonathan visits his estranged father Lonnie in Indianapolis to search for Will, but Lonnie rebuffs him. Hopper's search party discovers a scrap of hospital gown near the lab. After recognizing Will in a photograph and demonstrating her telekinesis, Eleven convinces the boys to trust her, as they believe she can find Will. Using the Dungeons & Dragons board, Eleven indicates that Will is on the "Upside Down" side of the board and is being hunted by the "Demogorgon" (the creature). Mike's sister Nancy and her friend Barbara 'Barb' Holland go to a party with Nancy's boyfriend Steve Harrington. Searching for Will near Steve's house, Jonathan secretly photographs the party. Joyce receives another call from Will, hears music playing from his stereo, and sees a creature coming through the wall. Left alone by the swimming pool, Barb is attacked by the Demogorgon and vanishes. 3 3 "Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly" Shawn Levy Jessica Mecklenburg July 15, 2016 Barb awakens in the Upside Down: a decaying, overgrown alternate dimension. She attempts to escape but is attacked by the Demogorgon. Joyce believes Will is communicating through pulses in light bulbs. Hopper visits Hawkins Lab, and the staff permits him to view doctored security footage from the night Will vanished, leading Hopper to investigate Brenner and discover his involvement with Project MKUltra and that a woman named Terry Ives alleged years earlier that Brenner took her daughter. Eleven recalls Brenner, whom she calls "Papa," punishing her for refusing to hurt a cat telekinetically. Steve destroys Jonathan's camera after discovering the photos from the party. Nancy later recovers a photo of Barb, simultaneously realizing that Barb is missing. Returning to Steve's house to investigate, Nancy finds Barb's untouched Volkswagen and encounters the Demogorgon but manages to escape. Joyce paints an alphabetic board on her wall with Christmas lights, allowing Will to sign to her that he is "RIGHT HERE" and that she needs to "RUN" as the Demogorgon comes through the wall. Believing Eleven knows where Will is, the boys ask her to lead them to him. Eleven leads them, to their frustration, to Will's house. From there they follow emergency vehicles to a nearby quarry just as Will's body is recovered from the water. 4 4 "Chapter Four: The Body" Shawn Levy Justin Doble July 15, 2016 Joyce refuses to believe that the body found at the quarry is Will's. Mike feels betrayed by Eleven until she proves that Will is still alive, channeling his voice through Mike's walkie-talkie. The boys theorize that Eleven could use a ham radio at their school to communicate with Will. Nancy notices a figure behind Barb in Jonathan's photo, which Jonathan realizes matches his mother's description of the Demogorgon. Nancy tells the police about Barb's disappearance. She later fights with Steve, who only cares about not getting in trouble with his father. Hopper has suspicions regarding the authenticity of the body found in the quarry when he learns that the usual coroner was sent home. Hopper confronts the state trooper who found it and beats him until he admits he was ordered to lie. The boys sneak Eleven into their school to use the radio, while Joyce hears Will's voice through her living room wall. Tearing away the wallpaper, she sees him. Eleven uses the radio to channel Will talking to his mother. Hopper goes to the morgue and finds that the body is a fake, and, suspecting that Brenner is responsible, breaks into the lab. 5 5 "Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat" The Duffer Brothers Alison Tatlock July 15, 2016 Hopper searches the lab before being knocked out by the lab's guards. The boys ask their science teacher, Mr. Clarke, if it would be possible to travel between alternate dimensions, to which he answers that there could be a theoretical "gate" between dimensions. Hopper awakens at his house and finds a hidden microphone, realizing that Joyce was right the whole time. The boys follow their compasses, searching for a gate that could disrupt the Earth's electromagnetic field. Eleven recalls memories of being placed in a sensory-deprivation tank to telepathically eavesdrop on a man speaking Russian; while listening, she came across the Demogorgon. Fearing another encounter with the Demogorgon, Eleven redirects the compasses. Lucas misinterprets this as an act of betrayal, leading Mike and Lucas to fight and Eleven to telekinetically fling Lucas away from Mike. While Dustin and Mike tend to the unconscious Lucas, Eleven runs off. Nancy and Jonathan formulate a plan to kill the Demogorgon. While searching in the woods, they come across a small gate to the Upside Down. Nancy crawls through it but inadvertently draws the Demogorgon's attention. Jonathan unsuccessfully tries to look for Nancy, as the gate to the Upside Down begins to close. 6 6 "Chapter Six: The Monster" The Duffer Brothers Jessie Nickson-Lopez July 15, 2016 Jonathan pulls Nancy back through the gate. That night, Nancy is afraid to be alone and asks Jonathan to stay in her bedroom. Steve, attempting to reconcile with Nancy, sees them together through her bedroom window and assumes they are dating. Joyce and Hopper track down Terry Ives, who is catatonic and tended by her sister Becky. Becky explains that Terry was a Project MKUltra participant while unknowingly pregnant and that Terry believes Brenner kidnapped her daughter Jane at birth due to her supposed telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Nancy and Jonathan stockpile weapons to kill the Demogorgon, theorizing that it is attracted by blood. Steve is brutally beaten up in a fistfight with Jonathan after he insults Will and calls Nancy a slut. Jonathan is arrested and held at the police station for beating up Steve and inadvertently punching one of the responding officers in the face. Eleven walks into a grocery store and shoplifts several boxes of Eggo waffles. Searching for Eleven, Mike and Dustin are ambushed by two bullies but are rescued by her, as she uses her powers to break one bully's arm after he attempts to kill Mike. Eleven collapses and recalls being asked by Brenner to contact the Demogorgon and, in her terror, inadvertently opening the gate. She tearfully admits to Mike that she is responsible for allowing the Demogorgon to enter this dimension. Lucas sees agents, who have tracked down Eleven, preparing to ambush Mike's house. 7 7 "Chapter Seven: The Bathtub" The Duffer Brothers Justin Doble July 15, 2016 Lucas warns Mike that agents are searching for Eleven. Mike, Dustin, and Eleven flee the house. Eleven telekinetically flips one of the vans that block their path as the kids escape. Lucas reconciles with Mike and Eleven, and the kids hide in the junkyard. Nancy and Jonathan reveal their knowledge of the Demogorgon to Joyce and Hopper. Hopper also learns that Eleven is with the kids. The group contacts the kids, and everyone meets at the Byers' house. Joyce and Hopper realize that Eleven is Jane Ives. The group asks Eleven to search for Will and Barb telepathically, but her earlier feats have weakened her. They break into the middle school and build a makeshift sensory deprivation tank to amplify Eleven's powers. After telepathically entering the Upside Down again, Eleven finds Barb dead and Will alive, hiding in the Upside Down version of his backyard fort. Realizing that the gate is in the basement of the lab, Hopper and Joyce break into the lab and are apprehended by security guards. Nancy and Jonathan sneak into the police station to retrieve the weapons they purchased previously, planning to lure and kill the Demogorgon. In the Upside Down, the Demogorgon breaks into Will's fort. 8 8 "Chapter Eight: The Upside Down" The Duffer Brothers Story by : Paul Dichter Teleplay by : The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 Hopper, haunted by the death of his daughter Sara from cancer years earlier, gives up Eleven's location to Brenner, who in exchange allows Hopper and Joyce to enter the Upside Down to rescue Will. Nancy and Jonathan cut their hands to attract the Demogorgon at the Byers' house. Steve, intending to apologize to Jonathan about their fight, arrives just as the Demogorgon appears. Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan fight the Demogorgon and light it on fire, forcing it to retreat to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, Eleven and the boys hide in the middle school when Brenner and his agents arrive to kidnap Eleven; she kills most of them before collapsing from exhaustion. As Brenner and his remaining agents pin Eleven and the boys down, the Demogorgon appears, attracted by the dead agents' blood, and attacks Brenner and the remaining agents as the boys escape with Eleven. Hopper and Joyce enter the Upside Down's version of the Hawkins library, where they encounter several corpses of the Demogorgon's victims, including Barb, and find Will unconscious with a tendril down his throat. Hopper revives him using CPR after removing the tendril. The Demogorgon corners the kids, but Eleven recovers from her exhaustion and disintegrates it, causing them both to disappear. Will recovers in the hospital, reuniting with his family and friends. One month later, it is Christmas and Nancy is back together with Steve, and both are friends with Jonathan. Will coughs up a slug-like creature and has a vision of the Upside Down, but hides this from his family. Production Development Ross (left) and Matt Duffer, the creators of the series Stranger Things was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the Duffer Brothers.[12] The two had completed writing and producing their 2015 film Hidden, which they had tried to emulate the style of M. Night Shyamalan, however, due to changes at Warner Bros., its distributor, the film did not see a wide release and the Duffers were unsure of their future.[13] To their surprise, television producer Donald De Line approached them, impressed with Hidden's script, and offered them the opportunity to work on episodes of Wayward Pines alongside Shyamalan. The brothers were mentored by Shyamalan during the episode's production so that when they finished, they felt they were ready to produce their own television series.[14] The Duffer Brothers prepared a script that would essentially be similar to the series' actual pilot episode, along with a 20-page pitch book to help shop the series around for a network.[15] They pitched the story to a number of cable networks, all of which rejected the script on the basis that they felt a plot centered around children as leading characters would not work, asking them to make it a children's show or to drop the children and focus on Hopper's investigation in the paranormal.[14] In early 2015, Dan Cohen, the VP of 21 Laps Entertainment, brought the script to his colleague Shawn Levy. They subsequently invited The Duffer Brothers to their office and purchased the rights for the series, giving full authorship of it to the brothers. After reading the pilot, the streaming service Netflix purchased the whole season for an undisclosed amount;[16] the show was subsequently announced for a planned 2016 release by Netflix in early April 2015.[17] The Duffer Brothers stated that at the time they had pitched to Netflix, the service had already been recognized for its original programming, such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, with well-recognized producers behind them, and were ready to start giving upcoming producers like them a chance.[15] The brothers started to write out the series and brought Levy and Cohen in as executive producers to start casting and filming.[18] The series was originally known as Montauk, as the setting of the script was in Montauk, New York and nearby Long Beach locations.[17][19] The brothers had chosen Montauk as it had further Spielberg ties with the film Jaws, where Montauk was used for the fictional setting of Amity Island.[20] After deciding to change the narrative of the series to take place in the fictional town of Hawkins instead, the brothers felt they could now do things to the town, such as placing it under quarantine, that they really could not envision with a real location.[20] With the change in location, they had to come up with a new title for the series under the direction from Netflix's Ted Sarandos so that they could start marketing it to the public. The brothers started by using a copy of Stephen King's Firestarter novel to consider the title's font and appearance and came up with a long list of potential alternatives. Stranger Things came about as it sounded similar to another King novel, Needful Things, though Matt noted they still had a "lot of heated arguments" over this final title.[21] Writing The idea of Stranger Things started with how the brothers felt they could take the concept of the 2013 film Prisoners, detailing the moral struggles a father goes through when his daughter is kidnapped, and expand it out over eight or so hours in a serialized television approach. As they focused on the missing child aspect of the story, they wanted to introduce the idea of "childlike sensibilities" they could offer and toyed around with the idea of a monster that could consume humans. The brothers thought the combination of these things "was the best thing ever". To introduce this monster into the narrative, they considered "bizarre experiments we had read about taking place in the Cold War" such as Project MKUltra, which gave a way to ground the monster's existence in science rather than something spiritual. This also helped them to decide on using 1983 as the time period, as it was a year before the film Red Dawn came out, which focused on Cold War paranoia.[14] Subsequently, they were able to use all their own personal inspirations from the 1980s, the decade they were born, as elements of the series,[14][22] crafting it in the realm of science fiction and horror.[23] The Duffer Brothers have cited as influence for the show (among others): Stephen King novels; films produced by Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Robert Zemeckis, George Lucas and Guillermo del Toro; films such as Alien and Stand by Me; Japanese anime such as Akira and Elfen Lied; and video games such as Silent Hill and The Last of Us.[21][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] With Netflix as the platform, The Duffer Brothers were not limited to a typical 22-episode format, opting for the eight-episode approach. They had been concerned that a 22-episode season on broadcast television would be difficult to "tell a cinematic story" with that many episodes. Eight episodes allowed them to give time to characterization in addition to narrative development; if they had less time available, they would have had to remain committed to telling a horror film as soon as the monster was introduced and abandon the characterization.[15] Within the eight episodes, the brothers aimed to make the first season "feel like a big movie" with all the major plot lines completed so that "the audience feels satisfied", but left enough unresolved to indicate "there's a bigger mythology, and there's a lot of dangling threads at the end", something that could be explored in further seasons if Netflix opted to create more.[32] While explaining their intentions for the show, the Duffers adamantly stated their intentions to not explain the mythology in the show so they could leave a mystery and lot for the audience to speculate over their lack of understanding by the season finale, which they accepted but asked to be explained about at the very least, which they found like a really good exercise as they spent quite a bit of time with their writers' room figuring out exactly what the Upside Down would actually consist for, writing a 20-page mythology document whose details wouldn't be clarified for the audience until the show's fifth and final season.[33] Regarding writing for the children characters of the series, The Duffer Brothers considered themselves as outcasts from other students while in high school and thus found it easy to write for Mike Wheeler and his friends, and particularly for Barbara "Barb" Holland.[21] Joyce Byers was fashioned after Richard Dreyfuss's character Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as she appears "absolutely bonkers" to everyone else as she tries to find her son Will Byers.[34] Other characters, such as Billy in the second season, have more villainous attributes that are not necessarily obvious from the onset; Matt explained that they took further inspiration from Stephen King for these characters, as King "always has really great human villains" that may be more malicious than the supernatural evil.[35] Casting The Duffers cast David Harbour as Sheriff Hopper believing this was his opportunity to play a lead character in a work. In June 2015, it was announced that Winona Ryder and David Harbour had joined the series as Joyce and as the unnamed chief of police, respectively.[2] The brothers' casting director Carmen Cuba had suggested Ryder for the role of Joyce, which the two were immediately drawn to because of her prominence in 1980s films.[14] Levy believed Ryder could "wretch up the emotional urgency and yet find layers and nuance and different sides of [Joyce]". Ryder praised that the show's multiple storylines required her to act for Joyce as "she's out of her mind, but she's actually kind of onto something", and that the producers had faith she could pull off the difficult role.[36] Upon being offered the role, Ryder felt intrigued at being given the pilot's script due to know knowing what streaming was and finding it "terrifying", with her sole condition to the Duffers for accepting the role being that, if a Beetlejuice sequel ever materialized as she and Tim Burton had been discussing since 2000, they had to let her take a break to shoot it, a condition the Duffers agreed and ultimately proved to work out when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was greenlighted years later.[37] The Duffer Brothers had been interested in Harbour before, who until Stranger Things primarily had smaller roles as villainous characters, and they felt that he had been "waiting too long for this opportunity" to play a lead, while Harbour himself was thrilled by the script and the chance to play "a broken, flawed, anti-hero character".[21][38] Additional casting followed two months later with Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Millie Bobby Brown in an undisclosed role, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers]].[3] In September 2015, Cara Buono joined the cast as Karen Wheeler,[6] followed by Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner a month later.[7] Additional cast who recur for the first season include Noah Schnapp as Will,[3][5] Shannon Purser as Barbara "Barb" Holland,[8] Joe Keery as Steve Harrington,[39][5] and Ross Partridge as Lonnie Byers,[9] among others. Actors auditioning for the children's roles read lines from Stand By Me.[14] The Duffer Brothers estimated they went through about a thousand different child actors for the roles. They noted that Wolfhard was already "a movie buff" of the films from the 1980s period and easily filled the role, while they found Matarazzo's audition to be much more authentic than most of the other audition tapes, and selected him after a single viewing of his audition tape.[15] As casting was started immediately after Netflix greenlit the show, and prior to the scripts being fully completed, this allowed some of the actors' takes on the roles to reflect into the script. The casting of the young actors for Will and his friends had been done just after the first script was completed, and subsequent scripts incorporated aspects from these actors.[32] The brothers said Modine provided significant input on the character of Dr. Brenner, whom they had not really fleshed out before as they considered him the hardest character to write for given his limited appearances within the narrative.[34] Filming The brothers had desired to film the series around the Long Island area to match the initial Montauk concept. However, with filming scheduled to take place in November 2015, it was difficult to shoot in Long Island in the cold weather, and the production started scouting locations in and around the Atlanta, Georgia area. The brothers, who grew up in North Carolina, found many places that reminded them of their own childhoods in that area, and felt the area would work well with the narrative shift to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.[20] The filming of the first season began on September 25, 2015, and was extensively done in Atlanta, Georgia, with The Duffer Brothers and Levy handling the direction of individual episodes.[40] Jackson served as the basis of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.[41][42] Other shooting locations included the Georgia Mental Health Institute as the Hawkins National Laboratory site, Bellwood Quarry, Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia, for the middle and high school scenes,[43] Emory University's Continuing Education Department, the former city hall in Douglasville, Georgia, Georgia International Horse Park, the probate court in Butts County, Georgia, Old East Point Library and East Point First Baptist Church in East Point, Georgia, Fayetteville, Georgia, Stone Mountain Park, Palmetto, Georgia, and Winston, Georgia.[44] Set work was done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta.[44] The series was filmed with a Red Dragon digital camera.[34] Filming for the first season concluded in early 2016.[41] While filming, the brothers tried to capture shots that could be seen as homages to many of the 1980s references they recalled. Their goal was not necessarily to fill the work with these references, but instead to make the series seem to the viewer like a 1980s film.[21] They spent little time reviewing those works and instead went by memory. Matt further recognized that some of their filming homages were not purposely done but were found to be very comparable, as highlighted by a fan-made video comparing the show to several 1980s works side by side.[14][45] Matt commented on the video that "Some were deliberate and some were subconscious."[14] The brothers recognized that many of the iconic scenes from these 1980s films, such as with Poltergeist, was about "taking a very ordinary object that people deal with every day, their television set, and imbuing it with something otherworldly", leading to the idea of using the Christmas light strings for Will to communicate with Joyce.[21] The brothers attributed much of the 1980s feel to set and costume designers and the soundtrack composers that helped to recreate the era for them.[14] Lynda Reiss, the head of props, had about a $220,000 budget, similar to most films, to acquire artifacts of the 1980s, using eBay and searching through flea markets and estate sales around the Atlanta area. The bulk of the props were original items from the 1980s with only a few pieces, such as the Dungeons & Dragons books made as replicas.[46] Visual effects To create the aged effect for the series, a film grain was added over the footage, which was captured by scanning in film stock from the 1980s.[34] The Duffers wanted to scare the audience, but not to necessarily make the show violent or gory, following in line with how the 1980s Amblin Entertainment films drove the creation of the PG-13 movie rating. It was "much more about mood and atmosphere and suspense and dread than they are about gore", though they were not afraid to push into more scary elements, particularly towards the end of the first season.[34] The brothers had wanted to avoid any computer-generated effects for the monster and other parts of the series and stay with practical effects. However, the six-month filming time left them little time to plan out and test practical effects rigs for some of the shots. They went with a middle ground of using constructed props including one for the monster whenever they could, but for other shots, such as when the monster bursts through a wall, they opted to use digital effects. Post-production on the first season was completed the week before it was released on Netflix.[14] The title sequence uses closeups of the letters in the Stranger Things title with a red tint against a black background as they slide into place within the title. The sequence was created by the studio Imaginary Forces, formerly part of R/GA, led by creative director Michelle Doughtey.[47] Levy introduced the studio to The Duffer Brothers, who explained their vision of the 1980s-inspired show, which helped the studio to fix the concept the producers wanted. Later, but prior to filming, the producers sent Imaginary Forces the pilot script, the synth-heavy background music for the titles, as well as the various book covers from King and other authors that they had used to establish the title and imagery, and were looking for a similar approach for the show's titles, primarily using a typographical sequence. They took inspiration from several title sequences of works from the 1980s that were previously designed by Richard Greenberg under R/GA, such as Altered States and The Dead Zone. They also got input from Dan Perri, who worked on the title credits of several 1980s films. Various iterations included having letters vanish, to reflect the "missing" theme of the show, and having letters cast shadows on others, alluding to the mysteries, before settling into the sliding letters. The studio began working on the title sequence before filming and took about a month off during the filming process to let the producers get immersed in the show and come back with more input. Initially, they had been working with various fonts for the title and used close-ups of the best features of these fonts, but near the end the producers wanted to work with ITC Benguiat, requiring them to rework those shots. The final sequence is fully computer-generated, but they took inspiration from testing some practical effects, such as using Kodalith masks as would have been done in the 1980s, to develop the appropriate filters for the rendering software. The individual episode title cards used a "fly-through" approach, similar to the film Bullitt, which the producers had suggested to the studio.[48] Music Main articles: Music of Stranger Things and Stranger Things (soundtrack) The Stranger Things original soundtrack was composed by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band Survive.[49] It makes extensive use of synthesizers in homage to 1980s artists and film composers including Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Goblin, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, and Fabio Frizzi.[50] According to Stein and Dixon, The Duffer Brothers had been fans of Survive's music, and used their song "Dirge" for the mock trailer that was used to sell the show to Netflix.[49][51] Once the show was green-lit, the Duffers contacted Survive around July 2015 to ask if they were still doing music; the two provided the production team with dozens of songs from their band's past to gain their interest, helping to land them the role.[49] Once aboard, the two worked with producers to select some of their older music to rework for the show, while developing new music, principally with character motifs.[51] The two had been hired before the casting process, so their motif demos were used and played over the actors' audition tapes, aiding in the casting selection.[51][52] The show's theme is based on an unused work Stein composed much earlier that ended up in the library of work they shared with the production staff, who thought that with some reworking would be good for the opening credits.[49] The first season's original soundtrack, consisting of 75 songs from Dixon and Stein split across two volumes, was released by Lakeshore Records. Digital release and streaming options were released on August 10 and 19, 2016 for the two volumes, respectively, while retail versions were available on September 16 and 23, 2016.[53][54] In addition to original music, Stranger Things features period music from artists including The Clash, Toto, New Order, The Bangles, Foreigner, Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel and Corey Hart, as well as excerpts from Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter and Vangelis.[54][55] In particular, The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was specifically picked to play at pivotal moments of the story, such as when Will is trying to communicate with Joyce from the Upside Down.[54] Music supervisor Nora Felder felt the song "furthered the story" and called it an additional, unseen, main character of the season.[56]
Jake Raby is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts on the Volkswagen Type 4 engine, with more than 30 years of hands-on experience building, developing, and refining air-cooled Type 4 VW engines. Since the late 1990s, Jake has been deeply involved in Type 4 engine rebuilding, performance development, and long-term reliability testing for platforms used in VW Bus, Porsche 914, and high-performance air-cooled Volkswagen applications. Over the decades, Jake has pushed the limits of the Type 4 air-cooled engine platform, pioneering advancements in cooling systems, cylinder head porting, plenum and intake temperature control, camshaft profiles, and custom internal components. Many of the bespoke Type 4 engine parts used in his builds were designed or commissioned specifically to solve known weaknesses and extract maximum horsepower while maintaining street-driven reliability. What sets Jake apart in the air-cooled Volkswagen Type 4 engine world is his uncompromising work ethic and attention to detail. Every engine is built as a custom, customer-specific Type 4 VW engine, focused on longevity, drivability, and real-world performance—not shortcuts. His mission has always been the advancement of the Type 4 VW hobby, ensuring these engines remain viable, powerful, and dependable decades after their original production. Beyond engine building, Jake has played a major role in Type 4 engine education, offering classes, technical training, and early-2000s instructional videos covering Type 4 engine teardown, inspection, and rebuild processes—resources that helped countless Volkswagen enthusiasts understand and preserve this unique engine platform. That innovation didn't stop with Volkswagen. Jake later applied his engineering mindset to the Porsche flat-six engine world, where he helped develop the widely known intermediate shaft (IMS) bearing solution, along with numerous other reliability upgrades for Porsche engines. This episode is packed with deep technical insight into Volkswagen Type 4 engines, air-cooled performance development, engine reliability, and decades of real-world testing. If you're passionate about VW Type 4 engines, air-cooled Volkswagens, Porsche engineering, or engine development at the highest level, this is an episode you won't want to miss. www.letstalkdubs..com www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com use code LTD10 for 10% off your order Info for Luft Zeigen here
We talk about this past year and look forward to 2026! Happy New Year everyone!
Vanuit het niets werd het Nijmeegse Nexperia deze oktober wereldnieuws. De maker van zeer simpele chips – niet meer waard dan een paar cent per stuk – bleek ineens een cruciale speler te zijn in de mondiale autosector. Autofabrikanten, van Volkswagen en Honda tot Ford, raakten anderhalve maand geleden in paniek toen Nexperia geen chips meer kon leveren. De reden: het bedrijf was van de ene op de andere dag onderwerp geworden van een knetterende ruzie tussen Den Haag en Peking. Hoe de auto-industrie met deze sluimerende crisis omgaat, hoor je van redacteur mobiliteit Hans de Jongh. Lees: Hoe een Nijmeegs chipbedrijf wereldnieuws werd Peking reageerde furieus. Meteen stelde de Chinese regering een verbod in op de export van chips die Nexperia in China laat maken. Dat was geen loos gebaar. In de plaats Dongguang staat met afstand de grootste fabriek van Nexperia. Daar worden ook de chips gemaakt waar de auto-industrie niet zonder kan. Bert van Dijk, die voor het FD de chipsector volgt, vertelt wat deze crisis ons zegt over de afhankelijk van China. Lees: Nexperia-debacle illustreert hoe groot afhankelijkheid van China (nog) is En de paniek beperkte zich niet tot autoproducenten. Toen hun plotseling opgestoken kopzorgen waren doorgedrongen tot de politiek was de opwinding compleet, in Den Haag, maar meer nog in Berlijn, Brussel en Washington. Binnen een week was Nexperia wereldnieuws. Parlementair verslaggever Cor de Horde vertelt over de onbekende wet die demissionair minister Karremans inzette om te voorkomen dat Nexperia ‘heimelijk werd leeggetrokken’. Lees: Karremans: vooraf overleg binnen EU over Nexperia was onmogelijkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Je gaat luisteren naar een speciale aflevering van De Nationale Autoshow in samenwerking met BNR Beurs. Net als vorig jaar zijn 'we' te gast! We bespreken de prestaties van de vijf belangrijkste beursgenoteerde automerken van het moment: Tesla, BYD, Volkswagen (én Porsche), Stellantis en Ferrari. Veel luisterplezier! Een nieuwe Breek de week verschijnt morgen (31 december) en een nieuwe aflevering van De Nationale Autoshow hoor je vrijdag (2 januari) om 15:00 uur op BNR of luister achteraf de podcast terug via je favoriete podcastapp.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Tu and Lei dive into a week dominated by autonomy, AI, and a widening gap between China's EV ecosystem and the rest of the world. The episode opens with a deep reaction to Rivian's Autonomy AI Day—why it felt like déjà vu for anyone following China's smart-EV space, and how Rivian's announcements mirror what Chinese players like XPeng, NIO, and Li Auto have already been deploying. The hosts debate whether Rivian's approach represents real leadership or simply entry into the top tier.From there, the conversation expands to L4 autonomy momentum: WeRide launching passenger rides with Uber in Dubai, Mercedes partnering with Momenta in Abu Dhabi, and Waymo accelerating multi-city deployments while publishing safety data others still keep opaque.Tu and Lei also tackle the LiDAR vs. vision debate, Volkswagen's unusual dual bet on Rivian (US) and XPeng (China), and why silicon strategy—not just batteries—will decide winners. The discussion closes with affordability: why 300-mile EVs under $40K are existential for Western OEMs, and why China's cost structure makes that challenge unavoidable heading into 2026.Candid, comparative, and forward-looking, this episode explains why autonomy and AI—not just electrification—will define the next phase of the global auto industry.___
De Nationale Autoshow en BNR Beurs slaan deze laatste dagen van het jaar de handen ineen! Met Noud Broekhof blikken we terug op een ‘beroerd’ jaar voor de autosector. Je hoort over de grote problemen voor Stellantis, waarom BYD een bedankje aan Tesla moet sturen en waarom 2026 misschien wel eens de comeback van Volkswagen gaat worden. Noud staat ook uitgebreid stil bij de beloftes die Elon Musk doet. Tesla gaat heel veel waarmaken, maar volgens Noud komt daar niet veel van terecht. Ook hoor je waarom BMW een ‘lelijke’ auto heeft gemaakt, maar het wél gaat maken in het komende jaar.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
De Nationale Autoshow en BNR Beurs slaan deze laatste dagen van het jaar de handen ineen! Met Noud Broekhof blikken we terug op een ‘beroerd’ jaar voor de autosector. Je hoort over de grote problemen voor Stellantis, waarom BYD een bedankje aan Tesla moet sturen en waarom 2026 misschien wel eens de comeback van Volkswagen gaat worden. Noud staat ook uitgebreid stil bij de beloftes die Elon Musk doet. Tesla gaat heel veel waarmaken, maar volgens Noud komt daar niet veel van terecht. Ook hoor je waarom BMW een ‘lelijke’ auto heeft gemaakt, maar het wél gaat maken in het komende jaar.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
San Leandro, California—an industrial Bay Area city shaped by its Portuguese community and a deep-rooted Volkswagen culture—holds a story few outside the neighborhood ever knew. Tucked away behind an unassuming fence was a Volkswagen collection unlike anything else in the region. For years, local kids would stop, peer through the slats, and take it all in: early Beetles, split windows, rare convertibles, stacks of glass, and parts that hinted at decades of careful accumulation. It was a forgotten archive of Volkswagen history—silent, untouched, and unexplained. Then came the revelation. The cars belonged to Stuart Alexander, the owner of the Sausage King facility and the man later convicted in one of San Leandro's most infamous criminal cases—the murder of health inspectors at his warehouse. A crime that shocked the community also cast a long shadow over what had once seemed like a harmless automotive mystery. In the years that followed, the Volkswagen hoard was quietly dismantled. With the help of a volunteer assisting the family, the cars were sold off—often at fair, reasonable prices—and released back into the Volkswagen world. One by one, these forgotten cars reentered the scene, restored, driven, shown, and enjoyed, largely disconnected from the dark chapter that once surrounded them. In this episode, we Me & John Limnios explore the intersection of true crime and Volkswagen history—how a legendary Bay Area VW stash came to be, how it disappeared, and where those cars may be today. Many of them are still out there, living new lives, their origins unknown to their current owners. If you own one of these cars, recognize the story, or have information about the San Leandro VW hoard, we invite you to reach out. This is more than a crime story—it's an unfinished chapter of Volkswagen history, and together, we may be able to trace it back to where it began. www.letstalkdubs.com www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com use code LTD10 for 10% off
Keywords: gym equipment, strongman training, personal stories, fitness innovation, unique workouts Summary: In this conversation, Tim Rexius discusses the innovative equipment available at his gym, including the unique opportunity to deadlift a Volkswagen. He shares personal anecdotes about the Volkswagen that was damaged by his daughters and how he incorporated strongman training into his gym by purchasing equipment from a world-class athlete. The discussion highlights the blend of personal stories and fitness innovation that characterizes Rexius's approach to gym culture. Takeaways Dumbbells in the gym can go up to 200 pounds. Unique gym features can include unconventional items like cars. Personal stories can enhance the gym experience. Strongman training equipment can attract diverse fitness enthusiasts. Innovative approaches to fitness can include creative uses of damaged items. Community engagement is important in gym culture. Personal anecdotes can make fitness discussions relatable. Investing in unique equipment can set a gym apart. Fitness innovation can come from personal experiences. Strongman training can be accessible to everyone. Titles Deadlifting a Volkswagen: The Ultimate Gym Challenge Innovative Fitness: Strongman Training and Unique Equipment Sound bites "Dumbbells go up to 200 pounds." "I bought all of his strongman equipment." "I'm still pretty upset about it." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Tim Rexius and His Journey 00:26 The Birth of Protein Popcorn
Mistress Vania Changes Jobs: Ep. 20 The Rewilding of Roger Sky. Despite being dark Riko placed the dense black cloth bag over Roger's head. It hung loose at his neck to allow him to breathe. Roger was led up the stairs of the cellar and out of the house. There he was loaded into the rear seat of the Volkswagen estate. Shaped like a station wagon it had had lots of room, but Roger did not need it. He had been transformed. "I am so ready for this," said Roger, through his bag. They were going on a journey. Riko drove while Mistress Vania was a passenger in the front seat. They drove at a sedate speed that was consistent with sedate personality of their car. The suburban streets changed to fields and country roads, which later became a road in small wood. The car pulled off the road and drove some way down a rough track until it was too narrow for the car to go any further. Roger head the driver's door open. Then he heard his own door open. The cold night air breezed blew in across his knees. "Get out," ordered Riko's distinctive voice. "Leave the bag on your head. I'll guide you." Paperback and Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Mistress-Vania-Changes-Scott-Baxter-ebook/dp/B00LPLIC6C Apple iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/wet-by-rain/id1517187872 Twitter: https://twitter.com/WetByRain1 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5FUG4EErDp4pUInZ1ANYsp?si=N4OvPMSkSoOGXmX7IHcIuw YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeqTJqdJ-ObgzeGQl-Ehb0A Those wanting to support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=36140272 Music by Kevin MacLeod, Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html - Danse Macabre - Sad Part. - Greta String - Lone Harvest
In Episode 114 of the CarQuicks Podcast, we discuss the recent cancellation of the Ford F150 Lightning and its pivot to a range-extending model. The 19.5 billion dollar cost to Ford. Volkswagen is cancelling the I.D. Buzz and what that means for the car. Arizona introduces an Autobahn idea to the state, Toyota returns to rallying racing with the GR Corolla, and much more!Sit back and enjoy... this is CarQuicks!-00:00 Introduction01:13 VW CANCELS the I.D. Buzz10:24 Toyota brings the GR Corolla Rallying!12:53 Average Car Payments SOAR to $750 a Month16:31 Arizona wants to build an American AUTOBAHN24:41 FORD loses 19.5 BILLION Dollars41:32 GR Corolla Updates | Channel Updates45:46 Joining the TAWA Board48:02 Upcoming Autoshows | Outro-#CarQuicks #CarQuicksPodcast #Episode114 #Ford #f150lightning #F150 #IDBuzz #volkswagenidbuzz #Volkswagen #GRCorolla #gazooracing #rallyrace #autobahn -IMPROVE your audio in your car with the Beat-Sonic Amp!https://www.beatsonicusa.com/?ref=CAMERONBIGGS-Get the best dash cam on the market! | The WolfBox G900 Pro https://wolfbox.com/?ref=rwnvizku&utm_source=goaff-Check out my installation/review video here! | https://youtu.be/RrwW2WTut_0-PLUS, get 10% OFF your purchase with code CAMERON__________Keep that P1 on you!The INNOVV P1 Portable Air Inflator is a MUST for any car enthusiast or owner. Grab yours with my discount below:- Exclusive link: https://innovv.com?sca_ref=9448526.IxBuWtWjXz Discount code: CARQUICKSAmazon: - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4XNPR3Y Discount code: QDH324GBVideo: https://youtube.com/shorts/jFdhq091ijE?si=t02l1s3er8EXQeWo__________Want better throttle response from your car? Better driveability? Better performance? Check out ShiftPower USA Throttle Controllers.-Check out my installation and review video: https://youtu.be/H9kruuEsL84?si=Ha8MBvKDQTckd1Py-If you liked it, thought about it, and now want it, give yourself a discount with this link: https://www.beatsonicusa.com/?ref=CAMERONBIGGS
Kilowatt 666 — Show NotesIn this episode of Kilowatt, Bodie wraps up the year with a wide-ranging look at the latest EV news just ahead of Christmas. He breaks down a notable 34% drop in Tesla registrations in the European Union, while pointing out that overall battery-electric vehicle registrations were still up 44%, signaling a shift in the market rather than a collapse. The show also explores BYD's new peer-to-peer home charging feature, which lets owners share and monetize their chargers through the BYD app. Bodie then covers the Cybertruck earning an IIHS Top Safety Plus rating, pushing back against early skepticism. He explains why Volkswagen's ID. Buzz isn't coming to the U.S. in 2026, and why that doesn't mean it's canceled. The episode rounds out with a Ford recall affecting over 270,000 vehicles, a look at Elon Musk's evolving pay package, and a holiday message inviting listeners to share their EV stories as the show heads into 2026.Support the Showhttps://www.supportkilowatt.com/Other PodcastsBeyond the Post YouTubeBeyond the Post PodcastShuffle Playlist918Digital WebsiteNews LinksTesla Registrations Dropped 34.2% in November in European Unionhttps://cleantechnica.com/2025/12/23/tesla-registrations-dropped-34-2-in-november-in-european-union/BYD Now Lets Owners Share Home Chargers Through Their Apphttps://electrek.co/2025/12/21/byd-now-lets-owners-share-home-chargers-through-their-app/Tesla Cybertruck Earns Top Safety Rating—After Everyone Said It Couldn'thttps://www.autoblog.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-earns-top-safety-rating-after-everyone-said-it-couldntTesla Cybertruck Is Top Rated Pickup Truck in Safety Crash Testshttps://www.notateslaapp.com/news/3434/tesla-cybertruck-is-top-rated-pickup-truck-in-safety-crash-tests-ratingsVolkswagen Shelves Its Electric Minibus for the U.S., but Not Foreverhttps://electrek.co/2025/12/19/volkswagen-shelves-electric-minibus-for-us-not-forever/Ford Recalls Over 270,000 Vehicles That Could Roll Away After Parkinghttps://www.autoblog.com/news/recall-ford-rollaway-f150-lightning-maverick-mustang-mach-eShow ArtShow art created by DALL·E*ART PROVIDED BY DALL-eSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/kilowatt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kelly might sound sick, but it's Lizz's house that has been going through it for the last week. The flu hit her house hard with three ER visits and one 9-1-1 call. Luckily, everyone is on the mend and Lizz is back to tell her tale and give you some good takeaways in case your house gets hit over the holidays. Everyone should be on the mend for the holidays and Kelly is getting really excited for the kids to open all their presents this year. She broke down the ones she is most excited about and let's just say it's going to be a good Christmas in the Stumpe household! A quick check in with Industry News has a big story coming from Volkswagen. Could this be the end of the ID. Buzz? Finally in Ditch the Drive-Thru a reminder that pigs in a blanket is a perfectly acceptable meal for the family. Today's episode is brought to you by Clean Simple Eats. Use code 'Carpool10' at checkout to get 10% off your order. CleanSimpleEats.com
Sean Jimenez is a former retailer turned wholesaler with over 25 years in the industry. He currently manages more than 40 sales reps for a multi-million-dollar novelty sock and design company based in Santa Cruz, California. Over the course of his career, Sean has built apparel programs for Fortune 500 companies, managed full design teams for large private-label programs, worked in off-price, and sold everything from Hawaiian shirts to $50,000 stereo systems. He's met more than a few characters along the way, made as many friends as possible, and lives by the rule: never say no — there's always a way; try to be kind to everyone you meet, because you never know when you might need them, and you can never have too many friends. When he's not working (which isn't often), Sean works on the house, spends time with his wife and kids, occasionally drinks and smokes too many cigars (apparently), and has been playing in a band for about 12 years. Rock and roll, baby.Rachel Blackwell has been with Socksmith for six years, leading the company's marketing efforts with a focus on building meaningful partnerships and standout brand experiences. Originally from the UK, she began her career with Volkswagen before trading British drizzle for California sunshine — thanks to a fateful trip to Las Vegas and one tall, dark, and handsome Californian. At Socksmith, Rachel oversees everything from social campaigns to retail support programs, including the brand-new Retailer of the Year (ROTY) initiative. Whether she's crafting engaging content or finding fresh ways to support stockists, Rachel brings a creative, strategic, and fun approach to everything she does.In this episode, Sean and Rachel pull back the curtain on what it really takes to build a values-driven brand in today's retail landscape. From decades of relationship-first selling to modern marketing strategies that actually support independent retailers, this conversation dives deep into leadership, loyalty, and long-game thinking in wholesale, marketing, and brand building.We are incredibly grateful for everyone who listens to and shares this podcast! If you've found value in our episodes and want to help us keep creating, we've made it easy through Buy Me a Coffee. Any contributions from $5 up to $200 help cover the real costs of podcasting—editing, hosting fees, and everything else that goes into bringing you quality content. It's a way for you to invest in the conversations and topics that matter to you. Head to buymeacoffee.com/retailwhorb, and as always, thank you for your continued support! What's InsideHow Socksmith supports independent retailers beyond discounts — from marketing assets to community-first initiativesWhy relationships, consistency, and showing up still matter more than ever in wholesale and sales leadershipA behind-the-scenes look at Socksmith's new Retailer of the Year (ROTY) program and how it celebrates creativity, merchandising, and community impactROTY Blog and Info PageBecome a Socksmith Retailer HereSocksmith WebsiteInstagramFacebookSupport the show
Jill and Tom open the show addressing two high-profile electric vehicle cancellations announced this past week. First the hosts discuss the end of production for the Ford F-150 Lighting, which came as something of a surprise to both Jill and Tom. Also covered is news that Volkswagen will not be importing a 2026 edition of the spunky ID. Buzz electric minivan. Will the ID. Buzz be back for 2027? Jill and Tom speculate. Still in the first segment, Jill reviews the Ford Maverick Lobo. Lobo is a new sporty Maverick variant, and it sounds like fun. Listen in for Jill's take on the potentially entertaining-to-drive small pickup truck. In the second segment, the Hosts welcome Rob Howard, CEO of Kindred Motorworks to the podcast. Kindred restores classic cars, some of which become battery powered in the process. Rob talks about the restoration process, and the level of engineering that is invested in each new model the company adds to its lineup. Listen in for details. In the last segment Jill is subjected to Tom's “Is it a Mercury?” quiz.
A look back at the biggest clean energy developments of 2025 — and we reveal why electric trucking in China may be the most important story of the year. We break down record global growth in solar, wind, and EV adoption, explain how renewables are now outpacing fossil fuels in new investment, and explore why China's rising clean power generation is finally pushing its CO₂ emissions lower even as electricity demand grows CES 293 - Google Docs. (Letters are being held over until our next bonus episode.) The show also checks in on Norway, the world's EV laboratory, where electric vehicles now dominate both new sales and the overall vehicle fleet. The hosts discuss what Norway's data tells us about the future of gas, diesel, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids — and what it means for automakers still betting on combustion engines. Other highlights include a major San Francisco power outage, Volkswagen shelving the ID. Buzz in the U.S., and encouraging new data suggesting the world may have passed peak air pollution. Links mentioned San Francisco power outage (CNN): https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/us/outage-sf-power-san-francisco Norway EV market update (CleanTechnica): https://cleantechnica.com/2025/12/22/evs-take-98-4-share-in-norway-bev-fleet-overtakes-diesel/ World may have passed peak air pollution (Our World in Data): https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/the-world-has-probably-passed-peak-air-pollution Volkswagen shelves ID. Buzz in the U.S. (Electrek): https://electrek.co/2025/12/19/volkswagen-shelves-electric-minibus-for-us-not-forever/ CES 293 - Google Docs The Lightning Round Global EV sales are projected to hit 20 million vehicles in 2026 Contact Us cleanenergyshow@gmail.com or leave us an online voicemail: http://speakpipe.com/clean Support The Clean Energy Show Join the Clean Club on our Patreon Page to receive perks for supporting the podcast and our planet! Our PayPal Donate Page offers one-time or regular donations. Store Visit The Clean Energy Show Store for T-shirts, hats, and more!. Copyright 2025 Sneeze Media.
2025 was a huge year for documenting Volkswagen history—and in this episode, we take a full look back. We review the entire 2025 podcast episode list, breaking down highlights and key moments from nearly every show in case you missed an episode or two along the way. From early Volkswagen drag racing history and legendary builders, to modern VW product development, fresh builds, and stories shaping the hobby today, this year covered it all. With over 50 episodes released, there's a ton of ground to cover. This recap episode ties everything together, revisits standout conversations, and reflects on why preserving and sharing air-cooled Volkswagen history still matters. So sit back, relax, and get a full rundown of the stories, guests, and moments that made 2025 an unforgettable year for the VW community. www.letstalkdubs.com www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com use code LTD10 for 10% off www.ssaircooled.com ICON pistons
This week on America on the Road, Jack Nerad and co-host Chris Teague test two cars that are about as different as two cars can be — the 2026 Lexus LC 500 and the 2026 Toyota Prius. In the news and comment section, Jack and Chris break down major shifts in the global auto industry as electric vehicle sales slow and automakers adjust their plans. The show also features a deep dive into new pickup and EV technology, and an in-depth interview with Mazda launch strategy expert Jon Leverett.
Ujj Nath, Co-Founder & CEO of MyKaarma walks us through the messy, glorious work of building dealer software. The late nights, the dealer-floor immersion, the hard lessons learned from Toyota's Genchi Genbutsu, and the relentless grind that turns a consulting gig into a product powering billions in payments. We dig into real dealer stories (Norm Reeves, Volkswagen, Mercedes), early product wins (text + call on one local number, mobile checkout), brutal setbacks, and how staying "in the trenches" shaped a product that dealers actually use. If you build training from being on the store floor, this episode will hit home: product decisions come from watching customers, asking better questions, and surviving the chaos! Truly inspirational and exciting to hear how some of the dealerships greatest tools were born! Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki Podcast |
Ferdinand wanted to make cars for the people, but the Porsche brand we know is an empire of performance. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients, so here’s one of those. [ASAP Commercial Doors Ad] Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast. It’s the podcast where we talk about empires that were built, businesses, business empires. You know what we… If you’ve listened before, you know… Stephen Semple: Something like that. I get it. Businesses that have done pretty well over the years. Dave Young: They started small. Stephen Semple: They started small. Dave Young: They started small and then they got big. They got so big to the point that you could call them an empire. Stephen Semple: That’s it. That’s the idea. Dave Young: It’s a pretty simple premise. Stephen Semple: That’s it. Dave Young: So as we counted down, Steve told me the topic today and it’s Porsche. Stephen Semple: Yes, sir. Dave Young: Porsche. I’m assuming this is the car. Stephen Semple: The car, yes, the car. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: The car. Dave Young: And I’m trying to… I know some Porsche jokes, but I probably shouldn’t tell those on this show. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever actually been in a Porsche. Stephen Semple: Oh, well then you’ve got to come up and see me, Dave. Dave Young: You own one. I know you own one. Stephen Semple: Well, I have one. Bernier’s got two. I don’t know how many Steve has. Dave Young: I see how it is. I see how it is. Maybe I will tell my Porsche joke. So you guys that own them, do you call it Porscha? Because some of us just say Porsche. Stephen Semple: Well, if you actually take a look back, that’s the proper German pronunciation as Porsche. Dave Young: Porsche, okay. Stephen Semple: And it’s supposed to not be… It’s not Italian Porsche, right? So it’s Porsche. Dave Young: Porsche, Porsche. Okay, I’ll accept that. I’ll accept that. I’m guessing we’re- Stephen Semple: Well, look, you got to always call a dealership to double check. They’ll tell you. Dave Young: Now, if I had to guess where we’re headed to start this off sometime around the 40s, maybe earlier. Stephen Semple: A little earlier than that, actually. It was founded by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931 in Stuttgart, Germany. You’re not far off. But the interesting thing is where the growth really happened, even though that’s when it was founded, when things really started to happen, was actually post-World War II. Dave Young: That makes sense. Stephen Semple: You’re correct on that. Dave Young: So, it started in 31 and by the time you hit the late 30s and 40s, you’re part of the war machine. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: So it was founded in 1931, Stuttgart, Germany by Ferdinand. And when we take a look at the history of the business for a very long time, they were a part of the VW group, although they were recently spun off into their own separate business. And there’s a lot of shared history between VW and Porsche. A lot of people make fun of the fact that it’s basically a VW. There’s so much connection. Now here’s the other thing is, there’s a lot of connection in Nazi Germany here as well. And I mean- Dave Young: That’s what I was intimating but trying not to say, but yes, there was definitely. Stephen Semple: And not one of these ones of, “Oh, I’m a business and I got sucked up into the machine.” I mean, very early on. Very early on. Ferdinand was a member of the SS following the war, both he and his son were charged. Dave Young: No kidding. Stephen Semple: He served two years in jail. His son six months. So we’re not talking loose connections here. He was a buddy of Adolf. Let’s just put it out there. And if you remember, going back to episode 21, VW was founded by Nazi Germany. So episode 21 about The Beetle, and Ferdinand was the guy who designed the Beetle. Dave Young: Right, right. I remember you saying that, Ferdinand Porsche. Stephen Semple: And look, Porsche has not always had the success it has today. It’s become pretty big. They do 40 billion EU in sales. They have 40,000 employees. They make 300,000 cars. There was a time that they’re making cars in the hundreds and thousands. It wasn’t that long ago. But let’s go back to Germany to the early 1900s. And if we think about Germany at that time, pre-World War II, pre-World War I, there was lots of history of engineering and science in Germany. More Nobel Prizes in Science was awarded to Germany than anywhere else in the world at that time. Dave Young: Right. Stephen Semple: Germany was a real leader in science and engineering. And the first commercial automobile was made in Germany by Mercedes-Benz. So it’s 1906 and Daimler recruits Ferdinand because Ferdinand had been the winner of the Pottingham [inaudible 00:06:05] Prize, which is the automotive engineer of the year, which is given to new chief engineers and basically allows the person to have this designated doctor engineer honoris causa, Ferdinand Porsche. And he would go around calling himself all of that. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: And this is an honorary doctorate because he never actually finished college, but he had real engineering chops, Ferdinand. So he moves to Stuttgart, which at the time is a center of car making in Germany, including all the suppliers. And he works for Benz for 20 years. Okay. Now, it’s Germany in the 1930s and 2% of the population own a car in Germany as compared to the United States, which is 30%. Dave Young: In that time? Stephen Semple: In that time. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Ferdinand comes up with this idea of we should make an inexpensive car. We shouldn’t be making car for the wealthy. We should make an inexpensive car. The board rejects the idea. Ferdinand leaves in 1929. And in 1931… Kicks around for a few years, and then 1931 starts a consulting firm. Now, this dude knew how to name things. You’re ready for the name of the company? Dave Young: Of the consulting firm? Stephen Semple: Of the consulting firm. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: I have to read this to get it right. The Doctor Engineer Honoris Causa Ferdinand Porsche Construction and Consulting and Design Services for Motor Vehicles. Dave Young: Now, if I know anything about German, that was all one word that you just said, right? Stephen Semple: Well- Dave Young: No spaces in between any of those words. Stephen Semple: Translated, you’ll see it as Dr. in H period, C period, F period, Porsche, capital G, small M, small B, capital H. Dave Young: It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Stephen Semple: Now, here’s the crazy thing. Up until 2009, that remained the official name of the company. You actually can find, if you see Porsche’s older than that, that if you look for that, it’ll be stamped somewhere in the car that that’s the manufacturer. Dave Young: They changed it finally because it was just too expensive to- Stephen Semple: It cost too much- Dave Young: Put that many letters in a dye cast. Stephen Semple: Exactly, exactly. Dave Young: Holy cow. Stephen Semple: So it’s 1934 and they land a contract with Germany to design a small affordable car for the people called the Volkswagen. Dave Young: Volkswagen. Stephen Semple: Beetle. Right, there you go. Now, here’s the thing that’s weird. Post World War II, the allies are in trying to rebuild Germany and no one owns VW. VW was owned by the state. So now it’s in the hands of the British and the British and the allies want to create a strong economy in West Germany because it’s now the Cold War. So the big defense to defending against East Germany and the expansion of communism is to really get the economy going in Germany. And so the British government, as we know from episode 21 about the Beetle, approached Porsche who designed it and said, “Help us get this car built.” And this is where it gets just a little bit weird because the son goes in one direction. Ferdinand’s doing his own thing. They both got arrested for war crimes. Son gets out first because he did six months. And his son’s name’s Ferry and his dad is in jail for two years. So between this time where dad’s still in jail and son’s out, here’s one of the things they did towards the end of the war. We don’t know exactly how many, but it was probably about 20 of their best engineers and they moved them out into the farmland of Austria and basically had them working in a barn because they didn’t want to get them arrested or killed, quite frankly. So Ferry gets out and he goes to this barn in Austria and he’s looking around and he goes, “What the heck are we going to do to make some money? Let’s start fixing up cars.” Now, not a huge business fixing up cars. It’s post-war and there weren’t a lot of cars in Germany anyway, but they had to do something. Then the dad gets out of jail and he ends up doing this work with Volkswagen. Now, here’s what’s interesting. And this is where the really tight ties between Porsche and Volkswagen start. The deal that the German government gives Ferdinand, the deal that the allies give Ferdinand is this. Dave Young: Stay tuned. We’re going to wrap up this story and tell you how to apply this lesson to your business right after this. [Using Stories to Sell Ad] Dave Young: Let’s pick up our story where we left off and trust me you haven’t missed a thing. Stephen Semple: The deal that the allies give Ferdinand is this. We want your help designing and distributing this car. We will give you a royalty for every VW Beetle sold worldwide. Dave Young: Wow, that’s pretty generous. Stephen Semple: Well, no one knew it was going to be such a huge success and basically go for 50 years that car was being built. Dave Young: Right, right. Stephen Semple: So for a long time, the biggest source of revenue for Porsche was royalties on VW Beetle sales. Dave Young: Wow, okay. So it really- Stephen Semple: Isn’t that crazy? Dave Young: It really wouldn’t exist if that deal hadn’t been made. Stephen Semple: May not have, may not have. Now, meanwhile, Ferry, who has design chops of his own and loves cars, started tinkering around with vehicles. And what he started to do was put big engines in small cars. There was all these Beetle parts lying around. He would build a car, this little car, and he’d put a big engine in it. And if you go back in the time, if you go back and take a look in the late 30s, early 40s, and you take a look at Ferraris and things like that, you take a look at the race cars at the time, they were two-thirds engines. They’re these massive engines. So he went the opposite direction. He said, “Well, let’s take a little car and put a big engine in it.” And he’s driving around and he goes, “This is fun.” Because he’s basing it on parts lying around, which is the VW stuff. It’s an engine in the back. This becomes the Porsche 356, which is basically Porsche’s first car. So they start making this car and they wanted to make it somewhat affordable. So the price was $3,750, which would be $42,000 today. And they also wanted to have it as being a daily driver because again, everybody else making performance cars were not daily drivers, had a trunk, bunch of things, daily driver. And this is an important part of Porsche’s DNA. We’re going to come back to this a little bit later, this idea of it being a daily driver. So coming out of World War II, sports cars, industry’s happening and everybody’s got one. MG and Jag in the UK, there’s Ferrari in Italy, you get the idea. Now, one thing I forgot to mention that’s interesting and still today, the government state of Lower Saxony, which is basically would be the state, they still own 20% of Volkswagen. Dave Young: Really? Okay. Stephen Semple: I forgot to mention that. Dave Young: Who are they now? Stephen Semple: Well, Volkswagen’s still around. Volkswagen’s still- Dave Young: No, who is the Saxony? Stephen Semple: Well, it’d be like saying the state of Texas. It’s a state. Dave Young: Okay, it’s just a part of Germany. Stephen Semple: Part of Germany and that government still owns 20% of the company. Dave Young: What a world. Stephen Semple: Now there’s all this stimulus going on in Germany to try to get the economy going. One of the things that they did, there was a really interesting tax rate. There was an interesting tax structure. There was a very high marginal tax rate. Now, ordinary people were taxed at 15%, but the marginal tax rate could go as high as 95%. And the reason why they wanted to do this was create this incentive for reinvestment. So there’s all this… As they’re making money, there’s this heavy reinvestment. And in the early 50s, racing is really exploding. Automobile racing is really exploding, but the lines between professional and amateur is blurry. If you remember, James Dean and Steve McQueen and other actors, Paul Newman, were all racing. Dave Young: Right. Stephen Semple: They’re all racing vehicles. And Jaguar and Porsche were trying to do the same thing in terms of creating this daily driver that you could race. Now in the end, Porsche won, and I think part of it is because quite frankly, they just built a better vehicle. There was a time where the joke with Jaguars was you had to own two because one would always be in the shop and one… And going back to the early DNA, Ferry Porsche was quoted as saying, “We have the only car that can go from an East African safari to race in the Le Mans to take out to theater and then drive on the streets in New York.” Dave Young: Wow, okay. Stephen Semple: And look, today, Porsche still heavily advertises that. They will advertise a Porsche driving through the snow with ski racks on it. And not their SUVs, the 911. This is very much part of it. And if you think about it, this parallels what Rolex did in the early days. You remember from episode 184 with Rolex. Rolex, the Submariner, the Explorer. Dave Young: Target by niche. Stephen Semple: Target by niche and make it tough and something that you could use and wear day to day. So it’s 1954 and Porsche’s selling 588 cars and about 40% of them is in the US. So really what’s making things hum with them is all those Beetle sales. And it’s the ’60s, the Ford Mustang comes out, the Jag E type comes out, the Austin-Healey comes out, and Porsche decides they need a new vehicle. And they were going to do a sedan, a four door sedan. But what they realized was they didn’t really want to compete with Mercedes and BMW. So they looked around at the other German car manufacturers and they said, “You know what? That’s probably not the place to go.” They had designed it up and that project failed. They had also been working on a six cylinder Boxter engine. So Boxter engine, the cylinders are opposed, so they’re like boxing. And the whole idea is that lowers the center of gravity of the weight of the engine. And they had a project that they were working on that that didn’t go ahead. So they stepped back and they went, “Maybe what we should do is just reduce the size of the sedan and put that engine in it.” That’s what they did. And that became the Porsche 901. Except there’s a problem. Peugeot had the copyright for zero in the middle of a bunch of numbers in France. They couldn’t call it the 901 because of that copyright. Dave Young: So they called it- Stephen Semple: So they called it the 911. And that’s now the iconic Porsche car. 1966, they sell 13,000 of these cars. Now, here’s the thing that I think is very interesting. And Porsche, as far as I could figure out, is the only car manufacturer that does this. First of all, they’ve maintained the 911 forever, but even on top of that, Porsche really understands design language. We can all recognize a Porsche. Dave Young: Right. Stephen Semple: We can recognize one from 2020. We can recognize one from 1999. We can recognize one from 1970. Even though they’ve upgraded the technology, they’ve changed the design of the car. They’ve now come out with the Cayman and the Macan and the Cayenne. They’re all recognizable as that vehicle. They’ve done a great job of doing that. I think that was a lost opportunity, frankly, when Tesla came out because they had a clean design slate. Tesla could have done that. But I think that’s really interesting how they’ve managed to maintain, even though they’ll modernize it. In our minds, we still will see one and go, “That’s a Porsche.” Dave Young: Sure. And the great car brands are able to do that. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: Audi is always going to be an Audi. Volvo is always going to look like a Volvo. And in the Portals class at Wizard Academy, one of the videos that I use to demonstrate that, there’s a language. If you combine specific shapes and specific lines, that all adds up to that brand of car. And so I’ve got an old video that I got when I was in the Motor Press Guild from Audi. It was just a video that was made for journalists with an Audi designer explaining all the lines on the car when they came out with the Q7 and how it still maintained the Audi design language. It was fascinating. Stephen Semple: It is. Dave Young: So Porsche could tell you that and the cool thing is those designers can tell you that. It’s hard for you and I to go, “Well, I can look at it and say, “That’s a Porsche.” But to be able to put it into words that describe it to someone else, is a gift. Stephen Semple: What’s really interesting, my nephew, Jeffrey, he loves Audi’s. That’s what he has. And he’ll even make the comment, he doesn’t like the Porsche’s because you feel like you’re in a bubble. Audis are very square. If you look at the back of an Audi and you look at the rear end of a Porsche, it has hips. But again, he’s even, “They’re great cars, but I like the squareness of the Audi.” So that’s interesting. Dave Young: Audi Audi has a fairly, not perpendicular, but an upright grill more so than a … And that’s part of their design language. Stephen Semple: So the whole DNA of Porsche came from this whole idea of a small car. Dave Young: Big engine. Stephen Semple: Big engine, daily driver, that was the whole idea is, it’s supposed to be a car that you can drive every day. That’s the core, core, core, core principle. That’s why they always have decent sized trunks. I remember when Gary bought his Boxter, one of the things he loved about it is you can actually put two sets of golf clubs in that car. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Right? Now, here’s what’s fun. There was a time where when they were really wanting to get things going, they did some great print advertisements. So they had ads like bug killer. Another one was calling it transportation is like calling sex reproduction. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Now, two of my favorites, one was not perfect. It would list 20 or 30 races that Porsche won. And if you actually read it, there was two that it didn’t. Dave Young: That they didn’t, “We didn’t win all the races.” Stephen Semple: So not perfect. Dave Young: That could have been driver error. Stephen Semple: That could have been. But Dave, you were going to make some jokes. Porsche’s able to laugh at itself. It actually had an ad that said, “Small penis? Have I got a car for you? If you’re going to overcompensate, then by all means, overcompensate.” Dave Young: I love it, I love it. Well, and that’s always the thing, the jokes are not about the car. Stephen Semple: But they actually ran that ad and I believe it ran in Car and Driver Magazine. I cannot imagine getting that ad approved. Dave Young: That’s amazing. Stephen Semple: And look, their own drivers are like, “Yeah, whatever.” Dave Young: Sure, compensating all I want. Absolutely. I love that story. Well, thank you, Stephen. I love the story of Porsche. Stephen Semple: There you go. Dave Young: And get out there and enjoy it or just buy me one and send it here. Thank you. Stephen Semple: All right, thanks, David. Dave Young: Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please share us. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a big fat, juicy five-star rating and review at Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to schedule your own 90-minute Empire Building session, you can do it at empirebuildingprogram.com.
Why did Volkswagen employees keep mum about the Dieselgate emissions scandal? That's one of six crimes author Julia Shaw dives into in her latest book, Green Crime: Inside the minds of the people destroying the planet, and how to stop them. She asks, can environmental laws hold criminals accountable or do we need to get tougher?
Nel giorno della chiusura di uno stabilimento Volkswagen per la prima volta nella storia dell'azienda, la Commissione allunga i tempi, fissati per il 2035, per la scomparsa del motore termico dell'auto.Ne parliamo con Chicco Testa, presidente Assoambiente e Benedetta Scuderi, Eurodeputata di Avs.
Volkswagen announced that it plans to establish a research hub at its Transparent Factory in Dresden, Germany. The company noted that this realignment will phase out vehicle production at the site by the end of the year — marking the automaker's first plant closure in Germany, according to the New York Times.Transparent Factory Dresden, famous for its glass walls, opened in 2001 and began producing Volkswagen's ID.3 electric vehicles in 2021. The company plans to dismantle the ID.3 production line in January, with the first joint research projects with the Technical University of Dresden beginning in mid-2026 and regular operations scheduled for 2027.
No podcast ‘Notícia No Seu Tempo’, confira em áudio as principais notícias da edição impressa do jornal ‘O Estado de S.Paulo’ desta quarta-feira (17/12/2025): Seis dias após ventania que causou apagão e deixou cerca de 2,3 milhões de imóveis na Grande São Paulo sem energia, o governo federal, o governo de São Paulo e a prefeitura de São Paulo resolveram se unir em pedido à Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (Aneel) para iniciar o processo de rompimento do contrato com a Enel. “Não há alternativa a não ser a caducidade. O governo estadual, federal e municipal estão na mesma página”, afirmou o governador Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos) ao anunciar a iniciativa após reunião com o ministro de Minas e Energia, Alexandre Silveira, e o prefeito da capital, Ricardo Nunes (MDB). Embora o serviço da Enel seja prestado em São Paulo e em 23 municípios da região metropolitana, a concessão é firmada na esfera federal e a Aneel é a responsável pelos trâmites para anular o contrato. E mais: Política: STF condena mais cinco e encerra julgamentos da trama golpista Economia: Copom vê ‘ganho de confiança’ contra inflação, mas não indica corte de juros Internacional: Presidente eleito do Chile pede intervenção na Venezuela Cultura: Três brasileiros no caminho para o OscarSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From the BBC World Service: Volkswagen has been making cars in Germany for 88 years. In all that time, it's never closed a manufacturing plant in its home country until now. On Tuesday, the last vehicle will roll off the assembly line at the VW plant in Dresden. It comes as the company struggles with the transition to EVs. Plus, the head of Ukraine's largest energy provider says his company is living in permanent crisis mode as Russia steps up attacks on the country's energy grid.
From the BBC World Service: Volkswagen has been making cars in Germany for 88 years. In all that time, it's never closed a manufacturing plant in its home country until now. On Tuesday, the last vehicle will roll off the assembly line at the VW plant in Dresden. It comes as the company struggles with the transition to EVs. Plus, the head of Ukraine's largest energy provider says his company is living in permanent crisis mode as Russia steps up attacks on the country's energy grid.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its long-awaited data, showing mixed signals for the US jobs market. The unemployment rate is at a four-year high of 4.6%, up from 4.4%. The European Union is set to soften its planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars, giving carmakers more time to move away from combustion engines. We hear from Wolfgang Weber, CEO of German electro and digital industry association (ZVEI).And the last vehicle will roll off the assembly line at Volkswagen's plant in Dresden today. First time ever the German carmaker closed a manufacturing plant in its home country.You can contact us on WhatsApp or send us a voicenote: +44 330 678 3033.Presenter: Leanna Bryne Producer: Victoriya Holland Editor: Justin Bones
We got to sit down with John Vanek and talk a little cars, a little Christmas, and just chill. Come take a listen and have a Merry Christmas!!!
Der Tag in 2 Minuten – vom 16.12.
La Commission européenne présente, ce mardi 16 décembre, un plan aussi attendu que redouté sur l'avenir de la voiture thermique en Europe. Officiellement, l'objectif reste l'interdiction de la vente de véhicules thermiques neufs à partir de 2035. Mais le report de cette annonce, initialement prévue la semaine dernière, en dit long sur les tensions politiques, industrielles et économiques qui entourent ce dossier explosif. Tout commence il y a un peu plus de deux ans. En 2023, la Commission européenne décide d'interdire la vente de voitures neuves thermiques à partir de 2035. L'objectif est alors clair : aligner le secteur automobile sur la neutralité carbone visée pour 2050. Bruxelles assume une ligne sans ambiguïté, celle du tout électrique. Mais deux ans plus tard, cette clarté s'est largement dissipée. Le consensus européen, déjà fragile à l'époque, s'est fissuré pour de bon. Pour filer la métaphore, le projet avance désormais dans un épais brouillard. Et si la Commission a choisi de repousser la présentation de son plan, c'est parce que les tensions autour de cette trajectoire sont devenues difficiles à contenir. À lire aussiPourquoi les constructeurs automobiles retombent amoureux de l'essence? Une industrie automobile européenne en pleine tempête L'une des principales raisons de ce flou tient à l'état de l'industrie automobile européenne. Contrairement aux prévisions, la transition vers l'électrique ne s'est pas faite au rythme espéré. Certes, les ventes progressent, mais trop lentement. Les prix des voitures électriques restent élevés, l'autonomie des véhicules demeure un frein pour de nombreux consommateurs et les infrastructures de recharge ne sont pas encore suffisamment déployées sur l'ensemble des territoires. Résultat : le consommateur européen hésite, et ce sont les constructeurs européens qui en paient le prix fort. Pris en étau, ils doivent à la fois respecter des objectifs climatiques contraignants et affronter une concurrence chinoise féroce, avec des véhicules souvent moins chers et parfois plus performants. Pour beaucoup d'industriels, le calendrier de 2035 apparaît désormais comme difficilement tenable, voire comme une menace directe pour le secteur. L'Allemagne au cœur des divisions européennes Le nœud du problème est aussi politique, et il se situe clairement en Allemagne. Cœur automobile de l'Europe, le pays abrite des géants comme Volkswagen, BMW ou Mercedes. De l'ingénierie à la production, l'automobile y représente des centaines de milliers d'emplois et constitue un pilier économique majeur. On comprend dès lors les fortes réticences de Berlin face à la fin programmée du thermique. D'autant que l'Allemagne n'échappe pas, bien au contraire, aux difficultés actuelles du secteur. Dans le même temps, plusieurs pays d'Europe centrale, producteurs de véhicules thermiques, redoutent, eux aussi, une désindustrialisation accélérée. À l'inverse, certains États membres, comme la France ou l'Espagne, souhaitent maintenir le cap de 2035. La raison est simple : ces pays ont massivement investi dans l'électrique, dans les batteries et dans les chaînes de valeur associées. Revenir en arrière marquerait un échec stratégique et, d'un point de vue plus géopolitique, sanctionnerait ceux qui ont joué le jeu européen depuis plusieurs années. À lire aussiStellantis, symbole d'une Europe automobile fragilisée par la Chine et la transition énergétique Un exercice d'équilibriste pour Bruxelles C'est pour toutes ces raisons que la Commission européenne avance avec une extrême prudence. À cela s'ajoute un lobbying intense, aussi bien de la part des constructeurs historiquement tournés vers le thermique que de ceux qui ont misé sur l'électrique. Le cocktail rend la situation particulièrement explosive. Selon plusieurs sources, le plan présenté ce mardi ne sera ni une capitulation totale, ni un maintien pur et simple de l'interdiction du thermique en 2035. Bruxelles devra arbitrer entre coût politique, coût économique et coût environnemental. Avec un risque majeur : à force de retarder, d'assouplir, de négocier et de renégocier, celui de brouiller le message envoyé aux industriels comme aux consommateurs européens.
Wie lobby't, die krijgt wat. Zeker autofabrikanten in Europa. Het werd al gelekt, maar nu is het officieel: de verbrandingsmotor hoeft toch niet in de ban in 2035. Verder worden uitstootreducties voor 2030 en 2035 verzwakt. En misschien is dit nog maar het begin van groene ambities die omlaag worden geschroefd. Maar waar ze bij Stellantis staan te juichen, schreeuwt de elektrische autofabrikant moord en brand. We bespreken wie er profiteert en wie niet. Verder is het tijd om extra koffie in te slaan. Wie graag handelt in Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Tesla en de rest van de Amerikaanse techreuzen, mag binnenkort 23 uur per dag doorrazen op de Nasdaq. Eén uurtje pauze, voor wat onderhoud en verwerking van handel. En weer door, door, door, want dat willen buitenlandse handelaren én Amerikaanse gokkers die gewend zijn geraakt aan Robinhood. De aanvraag ligt al bij de beurswaakhond SEC. Verder bespreken we de eerste Vegascasino's binnen de 'five burroughs' van de stad New York en hebben we niet minder dan twee smakelijke boardroombattles voor je in de aanbieding: Shell en Magnum. Smullen. Te gast is Jean-Paul van Oudheusden van eToro en Markets Are Everywhere.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Josep Prats, gestor de fondos en Abante Asesores, repasa lo más destacado en Europa: Renk, Rheinmetall, Leonardo, BAE, Kering, Volkswagen, Airbus, UBS, BP, Shell y Eni.
Show Notes: Bruno Strunz, lawyer, keynote speaker, and author of How to Sell Value in the Legal Market, shares his background, including his career path as a lawyer, including making partner and working for Volkswagen, and his extensive experience working with various companies and firms in both the legal departments and sales departments. Business Development for Professional Services Firms Bruno discusses his focus on business development for professional services firms, by selling in a structured and data-driven manner. Since 2018, he has been helping firms with what they have called the commoditization of quality and how to stand out in this competitive landscape. Bruno explains that his company initially focused on working with law firms for the last two years; they also started working with different types of professional services firms, including law firms, service orientated businesses, and consultancy companies. A Bespoke Approach to Business Development Bruno explains his approach to business development, starting with a diagnostic to understand the client base, churn, revenue generation, and distribution channels over the previous three years. He highlights the importance of expanding within existing client bases rather than focusing solely on new client acquisition. Bruno discusses the common challenges law firms face, such as low CRM adoption and the need for better data-driven decision-making. He emphasizes the importance of using CRM platforms effectively to improve sales processes and decision-making. Best Practice Approach for Growth Bruno outlines a best practice approach for growing within existing clients, starting with an 80/20 analysis to identify strategic clients. He looks at each business unit and asks if they have an account management plan for each unit, which means power mapping, stakeholder mapping, who's part of the decision-making process, assessing relationships, and understanding client goals for 2026. Bruno discusses the need for a SWOT analysis within specific accounts and the importance of looking for expansion opportunities. He highlights the challenges of client feedback in Latin America and the importance of guiding clients through their decision-making process. Differentiation in a Commoditized Market Bruno addresses the issue of differentiating in a commoditized market, where technical quality is no longer a competitive advantage. He emphasizes the importance of early engagement in the B2B buying cycle to avoid commoditization. Bruno discusses the role of relationship management, networking initiatives, and top-of-mind awareness in becoming the vendor of choice. He highlights the importance of bringing new insights and improving client experience to stand out in a competitive market. Client Success Stories Bruno shares a success story of working with a client in crisis management, focusing on educating the market and reframing their storytelling. He explains how the client successfully converted a multi-million dollar project during a major crisis. Bruno discusses another success story involving a proprietary framework to deep dive into client offerings and identify specific pain points. He highlights the importance of segmenting target lists, prioritizing outreach efforts, and bringing new ideas to clients. Bruno emphasizes the importance of consistency and discipline in business development strategies. Timestamps: 04:11: Business Development Strategies for Law Firms 10:43: Building a Programmatic Approach to Client Growth 14:49: Differentiating in a Commoditized Market 20:01: Success Stories and Client Impact 29:34: Final Thoughts and Contact Information Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunostrunz/ Website: https://strunz.com.br/ This episode on Umbrex: https://umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-628-bruno-strunz-how-to-sell-value-in-professional-services/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com. *AI generated timestamps and show notes.
- JP Morgan Lets Rich Clients Borrow Against Classic Cars - Brazil #1 In Armored Car Sales - Volkswagen Shares Small, Affordable EV Details - Workaround for GM Apple CarPlay - BYD Improves EV Motor Efficiency at High Speeds - EV Sales Slow in China - Chinese EV Makers Bring Price War to Thailand - China Issues New Rules to End EV Price War
- JP Morgan Lets Rich Clients Borrow Against Classic Cars - Brazil #1 In Armored Car Sales - Volkswagen Shares Small, Affordable EV Details - Workaround for GM Apple CarPlay - BYD Improves EV Motor Efficiency at High Speeds - EV Sales Slow in China - Chinese EV Makers Bring Price War to Thailand - China Issues New Rules to End EV Price War
A Volkswagen, a BMW és a Mercedes-Benz értékesítése és árbevétele összességében nagyrészt stabil maradt, ugyanakkor az üzemi eredményük (EBIT) közel 76 százalékkal zuhant. 2009 óta nem termelt ilyen kevés pénzt ez a három autógyár, ami számos kérdést vet fel az egész szektor számára. Kilián Csabával, a Magyar Gépjárműipari Egyesület ügyvezető főtitkárával az autógyártás szempontjából Magyarország előtt álló lehetőségeket tekintettük át. A második részben Biró Attilával, a Pénzcentrum rovatvezetőjével a hazai könyvpiac idei évét értékeltük, és megnéztük, mit olvasunk mi, magyarok. Főbb részek: Intro – (00:00) Autóipar – (01:44) Könyvpiac – (14:37) Makronaptár – (27:34) kép forrása: Getty ImagesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What if the Volkswagen you built as a teenager never really left you? In this episode, we get into the incredible full-circle story of David Lawler and his 1971 Volkswagen Beetle from Southeast England. David bought his very first VW at just 14 years old, poured years into building it, and saw that dream rewarded when the car landed in a Volkswagen magazine in 1995. But life changes. Priorities shift. The unthinkable happens—and the car is sold. Watching your first show-winning Volkswagen drive away is a regret that never fully fades. For decades, the Beetle would resurface in David's life, always just out of reach. Nearly 30 years later, he finally gets the chance to buy it back—only to discover it's far worse than he imagined. Rather than restore what was lost, David makes a bold decision: start over and build something entirely new. The result is a radically re-imagined 1971 VW Beetle—a modern, hot-rod-inspired machine that stands completely apart from anything else in the Volkswagen world. From extensive paint and bodywork, to chop-top modifications, a full roof conversion, and a cartoon-style window treatment, this build rewrites the rulebook. The hot-rod-meets-custom interior seals the deal as a true one-off. That risk paid off in a big way. The car was selected Top Five at the VolksWorld Show and went on to land the cover of the November 2025 Volkswagen magazine. This episode covers the emotional journey, the design decisions, the fabrication challenges, and what it means to let go of the past—only to build something even better. If you love custom Volkswagen Beetles, VW show cars, chop-top VWs, and real stories from the global air-cooled scene, this one is a must-listen. www.letstalkdubs.com www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com use code LTD10 for 10% off of your order www.ssaircooled.com ICON pistons here
Audi, Trabi, VW: Schon seit mehr als 120 Jahren ist die Autobranche der wichtigste Wirtschaftsfaktor in Sachsen. Dementsprechend hart trifft die Krise der deutschen Autobauer auch den Freistaat. Tausende Beschäftigte bangen um ihre Jobs – bei Volkswagen und Zulieferern. Dabei hatte VW die Region vor wenigen Jahren noch zum europäischen Zentrum für E-Mobilität ausgerufen. Birgit Hettwer beobachtet als Wirtschaftsredakteurin beim MDR die Autoindustrie in Sachsen schon seit Jahren. Sie erzählt uns in dieser 11KM-Folge, was aus der Vision des Konzerns für Sachsen geworden ist und was die Gläserne Manufaktur in Dresden damit zu tun hat. Hier geht's zum Politik-Podcast des MDR Sachsen: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/sachsen-politik-podcast/urn:ard:show:82e44354dca7f04e/ Hier geht's zu "Zehn Minuten Wirtschaft”, unserem Podcast-Tipp: https://1.ard.de/10_Minuten_Wirtschaft?=cp Diese und viele weitere Folgen von 11KM findet ihr überall da, wo es Podcasts gibt, auch hier in der ARD Audiothek: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/11km-der-tagesschau-podcast/12200383/ An dieser Folge waren beteiligt: Folgenautorin: Charlotte Horn Mitarbeit: Caspar von Au, Marc Hoffmann Host: David Krause Produktion: Jan Stahlmann, Timo Lindemann und Fabian Zweck Planung: Caspar von Au und Hardy Funk Distribution: Kerstin Ammermann Redaktionsleitung: Fumiko Lipp und Nicole Dienemann 11KM: der tagesschau-Podcast wird produziert von BR24 und NDR Info. Die redaktionelle Verantwortung für diese Episode liegt beim BR.
- Audi Sells Italdesign - EU Could Delay ICE Ban To 2040 - VW To Add EREVs To U.S. and EU Lineups - Dongfeng Hits +48% Efficiency with Turbo-Four - Ford Suppliers Get China Rare Earths - China Takes Lead in Hot-Stamped Steel - Nissan Undercuts Tesla FSD By $4,000 - JLR IP Crossbar Cuts CO2
- Audi Sells Italdesign - EU Could Delay ICE Ban To 2040 - VW To Add EREVs To U.S. and EU Lineups - Dongfeng Hits +48% Efficiency with Turbo-Four - Ford Suppliers Get China Rare Earths - China Takes Lead in Hot-Stamped Steel - Nissan Undercuts Tesla FSD By $4,000 - JLR IP Crossbar Cuts CO2
Hoy arrancamos con un update del caso Valerie: ¿cuándo lo sabían? ¿Quién sabía qué? ¿Y cómo encaja el nuevo secretario Hiram Torres en este capítulo inesperado de ValerieGate? Analizamos reacciones, timelines, y lo que este giro significa de aquí para adelante. Luego brincamos a un regreso que nadie vio venir pero todos están comentando: el ELA is back, baby! La movida de Darren Soto reabre el debate, y hablamos de por qué este anuncio tiene repercusiones mucho más grandes de lo que parece. Y cerramos con la compra de Warner Bros. por Netflix. Exploramos los jugadores grandes, y qué puede significar para la industria. En el chit-chat, recordamos a Rafa Infante Torres, figura querida de nuestra comunidad. DEP. Si fueras integrante de nuestro Patreon, hubieras escuchado este episodio ayer. Únete ahora en patreon.com/puestospalproblema! PRESENTADO POR
Malibu Express (1985) was chosen by Patreon supporter Herb, who has mastered the art of selecting premium-grade, sun-bleached 80s glamour for the show. Written and directed by Andy Sidaris, the film was part of his long-running “Bullets, Bombs and Babes” cycle — a collection of action-comedies known for fast cars, glamorous models, and plots that take a distant back seat to the spectacle. Produced on a modest budget, the movie was shot largely around Malibu and Los Angeles, using Sidaris's signature mix of real locations, Playboy Playmates, and outrageous action beats. Sidaris, a former sports TV director, carried over his love of dynamic camera movement, helicopter shots, and glossy production values, giving the film a surprisingly polished look despite its low-budget roots.Behind the scenes, Malibu Express was a family operation. Andy Sidaris worked closely with his wife, Arlene Sidaris, who produced many of his films and helped build the distinctive “L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies” brand that would later define his work. The cast was a mix of rising models, stunt performers, and cult character actors — all encouraged to keep the tone light, playful, and unapologetically over-the-top. The movie embraced the early-80s explosion of VHS demand, engineered specifically to appeal to video-store thrillseekers looking for bikinis, guns, fast boats, and pure escapist nonsense. While critics dismissed it, Malibu Express became a staple of late-night cable and home video, paving the way for Sidaris's even more outrageous follow-ups like Hard Ticket to Hawaii.If you enjoy the show, we have a Patreon, so become a supporter here.Referral links also help out the show if you were going to sign up:NordVPNNordPassTrailer Guy Plot SummaryBuckle up… because the sun's out, the boats are fast, and the shirts are nowhere to be found.Meet Cody Abilene — part detective, part playboy, and full-time trouble magnet. When a simple job turns into a whirlwind of bullets, bikinis, and beachside chaos, Cody cruises into danger with nothing but his wits, his charm, and a cowboy hat that refuses to quit.Malibu Express — where the action is hot, the engines are loud, and the mystery is mostly an excuse for more explosions.Fun FactsMalibu Express was the first film in Andy Sidaris's “Triple B” series, which later included cult favorites like Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Picasso Trigger, and Savage Beach.Lead actor Darby Hinton was best known at the time for playing Israel Boone on the classic TV series Daniel Boone before reinventing himself as an 80s action-comedy star.The iconic red DeLorean-style sports car Cody drives in the film is a Sterling Kit Car, built on a Volkswagen chassis to give the illusion of a futuristic supercar on a budget.Although set in Malibu, many interior scenes were filmed in Sidaris's own home, a common cost-saving tactic he used throughout his career.The movie features early appearances by Sybil Danning and Kymberly Paige, who later became regulars in Sidaris's L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies universe.Malibu Express was a major VHS hit, with video rental stores frequently placing it in their “top 10 rentals” thanks to its eye-catching artwork and 80s sex-comedy-energy.Sidaris employed a small but consistent stunt team, meaning some action performers appeared in nearly every film he made throughout the decade.The mansion used for exterior shots belonged to a real Malibu millionaire, who allowed filming in exchange for a small role and a producer credit.thevhsstrikesback@gmail.comhttps://linktr.ee/vhsstrikesback
- Ford and Renault Join Forces for EVs - BMW Picks New CEO From Manufacturing - Is BMW The First OEM To Use Blockchain For Transactions? - Piech Family Member Needs VW Dividends - Nio: Big EREV Batteries Are A Waste - Fiat to Bring Dinky Topolino To U.S. - Morgan Stanley Says No Growth in Tesla Stock - All in The Family, Automotive Style
- Ford and Renault Join Forces for EVs - BMW Picks New CEO From Manufacturing - Is BMW The First OEM To Use Blockchain For Transactions? - Piech Family Member Needs VW Dividends - Nio: Big EREV Batteries Are A Waste - Fiat to Bring Dinky Topolino To U.S. - Morgan Stanley Says No Growth in Tesla Stock - All in The Family, Automotive Style
Welcome back to another episode of Upside at the EUVC Podcast, where Dan Bowyer, Mads Jensen of SuperSeed, Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures, and Andrew Scott of 7percent Ventures to break down the real stories behind the headlines shaping European tech and venture.From Bending Spoons' audacious European rollup strategy, to Brexit's economic hangover, to the existential challenges facing Volkswagen, to Google vs. OpenAI's new “Code Red”, and finally whether Europe has had its long-overdue shock moment — this episode goes wide, fast, and deep.This is Upside, where the takes are sharp, the macro is messy, and the optimism is… conditional.What's covered:02:00 The valuation reset, debt-fuelled M&A, and the Italian PE–VC hybrid model04:00 Arbitrage: firing US teams, rehiring elite Italian engineers06:00 Do rollups really work? Tech debt, distribution, and execution risk07:00 Brexit revisited: GDP losses, trade collapse, and political reality08:00 The myth of “you can't know the counterfactual” — and why you actually can10:00 Will the UK rejoin the customs union? And would Europe even take us back?12:00 Europe's manufacturing crisis: Porsche, Volkswagen, BYD and the end of German exceptionalism15:00 China's shift: stop importing, start replicating17:00 Welfare-state complacency and the European stagnation problem20:00 The bitter truth about Europe's carbon “success story”22:00 How to actually fix European tech: R&D, immigration, procurement, capital markets24:00 Why 0.02% pension allocation to VC is Europe's biggest structural handicap26:00 Should we “Farage-pill” Europe into a tech-first agenda?33:00 Distribution vs. loyalty: why consumers don't care about brand36:00 Who wins the cost base war: Google, Amazon, Meta, or OpenAI?38:00 Anthropic's IPO plans and what they signal about the private capital cycle42:00 Deals of the Week: Black Forest Labs, ICEYE, Expedition Growth Capital44:00 Robotics is the next AI wave — and the picks-and-shovels startups emerging now
The East Coast of Canada is cold, and the car season is short — usually May through October. New Brunswick isn't known as a hotbed for the air-cooled Volkswagen scene, but when the VW bug bites you out there, you're all in. Terry grew up in a drag-racing family, and everything changed the day his father gifted him a convertible Karmann Ghia. That single car sparked a lifelong obsession with all things air-cooled VW. From flat-towing a '67 Beetle over 2,000 miles from Alabama, to drag-racing a Herbie-themed bug, to eventually owning the legendary Save-A-Bugcampaigned by Jack Shacettie — Terry's passion has taken him across the continent. His vacations? They weren't for relaxing — they were spent in Southern California, wrenching in work clothes at Jack's shop just to be part of the action. Now retired from a career in insurance, Terry finally opened a small but official shop in New Brunswick. Not for business — but to help keep his cars and his friends' cars on the road. Terry's collection tells the story of a life dedicated to Volkswagens: "Cinco," his all-original 1955 Beetle, bought with just 25,000 miles. A 1955 Kombi running an SO-42 interior setup. And his driver — a 1950 split window, restored by Dr. Dick Christiansen, which he puts real miles on. So many cars, so many stories, and a lifetime of air-cooled passion from one of Canada's most dedicated VW enthusiasts. This is a great listen — tune in. www.letstalkdubs.com/store www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com BUY ICON Pistons https://www.ssaircooled.com
- Lucid Avoids U.S. Tariffs in Saudi Arabia - Canada Sends Stellantis Default Notice - Stellantis Puts More Focus on Hybrids for U.S. - VW Converting Car Plant Into Tech Center - Nissan Wants More Partnerships - Changan Plans European Expansion - Toyota Reveals 3 New Sports Cars - Kia Concept Pays Homage to 1960's Motoring
- Lucid Avoids U.S. Tariffs in Saudi Arabia - Canada Sends Stellantis Default Notice - Stellantis Puts More Focus on Hybrids for U.S. - VW Converting Car Plant Into Tech Center - Nissan Wants More Partnerships - Changan Plans European Expansion - Toyota Reveals 3 New Sports Cars - Kia Concept Pays Homage to 1960's Motoring
In this episode of the Let's Talk Dubs podcast, we dive into a big development in the VW drag racing world — the ROC Cory Mack Race cancellation and what it means for racers, fans, and the upcoming season. We also celebrate a major milestone as Zorba the Ghia finally appears in VW Trends Magazine after a year of waiting. Bill shares his unfiltered thoughts on seeing a go-kart featured on the cover of a major Volkswagen magazine and what that means for the direction of the hobby. From there we shift gears to the SEMA Show, breaking down the MST booth, the best Volkswagens at SEMA, standout builds, and trends shaping the air-cooled VW community for 2025. Plus, we get into updates on Bill's projects including new upgrades for #WhiteFlash, installing an Alpine audio system, tackling a new wiring harness, chasing down oil leaks, and dealing with powder-coating issues that every builder can relate to. If you're passionate about classic air-cooled Volkswagens, VW magazines, SEMA show coverage, Las Vegas VW culture, and real-world project car updates, this episode packs in a ton of great conversation. www.vwtrendsmagazine.com www.rosswulf.com use code LTD10 for 10% off ICON pistons here VWs of SEMA 1 John Ludwicks SP1000 Randy W/ Phat fabs car at SEMA