Good morning and welcome to our daily digest of automotive news from around the globe, starting with…

Tesla’s Factories In Berlin And Austin Are Losing Billions Of Dollars

A multitude of issues affecting the supply chain is making Tesla’s Texas and Berlin factories “money pits” according to none other than Elon Musk himself. “Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. Okay? It’s really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire,” he said.

We Test The 2022 BMW i4 eDrive40 And Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD, Which Is Better?

We live in a world where, thanks to the shift to electric, some brands have been able to fast-track their way to the top. One such manufacturer is Kia, whose EV6 has already impressed. So much so that we suspect there will be a number of buyers considering it as a rival to the BMW i4. So, while we had the keys to both, we decided to pit them against each other.

The Pint-Sized McMurty Spéirling Breaks VW ID.R Record At Goodwood Hillclimb

The McMurty Spéirling has set a new outright Hillclimb record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed beating the Volkwagen ID.R’s record of 39.9 seconds. The pint-sized EV clocked a time of 30.08 seconds with ex-F1 driver Max Chilton behind the wheel.

California Man Arrested After Crashing One Of Two BMWs He Allegedly Stole Using Fake ID

24-year-old Philip Cedric Espina was arrested and accused of stealing two BMWs using fake IDs. The man used the false information to fraudulently apply for loans to purchase the vehicles. Amazingly, it’s reported that the banks approved the loans, but Espina’s real downfall was when he managed to crash one of the cars just two days after stealing it.

2024 Audi A4 Avant Accurately Rendered Based On Spy Shots

Based on the spy shots we’ve seen of the upcoming 2024 Audi A4 Avant, our associates at Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien have come up with a new speculative rendering that shows what the new executive car will look like. The new car will have a shorter and wider grille, more aggressive headlights, and a cleaner profile. The bonnet line will be higher, no longer touching the headlights, and the rear shoulders will be more pronounced. The new Audi A4 is expected to debut before the end of the year, with a market launch in 2023.

O/Dear: The Fox Mustang’s Overdrive Shift Pattern Was Weirdly Overcomplicated

There was a time, not too long ago, when five speeds were considered the height of sophistication, plus they and overdrive gear were a great thing to have for gas mileage. But for the 1981 Ford Mustang, the placement of the O/D gear was just plain weird. Instead of the conventional up from fourth, and next to third, it was placed next to fourth — an odd and unnatural arrangement that has long since been forgotten.

What Else Is Making The News

Google Engineer Says Chatbot Hired Own Lawyer 

Blake Lemoine, the former Google engineer who was suspended for publishing transcripts of conversations between himself and Google’s LaMDA chatbot, now not only claims that the AI was sentient, but that it asked him to hire a lawyer for itself.

Twitter Gives Elon Musk More Data Over Deal Dispute

Having agreed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk has been at loggerheads with Twitter over the platform’s number of fake and spam accounts. Twitter estimates such profiles to account for 5 percent of users, whereas Musk has suspected that number is higher. Twitter has, in turn, handed over yet more data to Musk, to support its claim.