The auto industry is marketed as global — same brands, same badges, same hype. It’s easy to assume we’re all shopping from the same menu.

We’re not.

BYD has now surpassed Tesla in global EV sales — even though BYD sells none of those vehicles in the United States.

On the latest episode of “The Drive,” iSeeCars.com executive analyst and Forbes Autos contributor Karl Brauer and I sit down with automotive creator Al Vazquez, whose Spanish-language platform gives him a vantage point most U.S. journalists don’t have.

He covers cars for the American press like we do — but he’s also regularly flown to Latin America and other markets to drive vehicles, many of them Chinese-branded, that Americans will never see on a dealer lot.

What he’s seeing raises a practical question for buyers here at home: What happens when other markets are flooded with cheaper, rapidly improving vehicles — while American consumers face higher prices and fewer straightforward options?

Bargains head east

Because Al’s channel is in Spanish, his reach extends across Latin America and into Europe. That audience brings invitations: Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Spain. And when he lands in those markets, he often finds himself driving cars unfamiliar to U.S. buyers.

A major reason: Chinese brands are no longer fringe players in many regions.

Al is blunt about the shift. Five to 10 years ago, he says, he would have dismissed many of these vehicles. Today he sees better interiors, stronger feature sets, and long warranties backing them up.

But the real story is price.

In several markets, buyers are offered vehicles that undercut U.S. pricing dramatically — sometimes at what he describes as “half the price” of comparable models here. Whether that pricing would survive U.S. regulatory and labor realities is another question. But for consumers abroad, the appeal is obvious: new-car affordability that hasn’t vanished.

That’s something American buyers increasingly struggle to find.

Redirecting competition

In the U.S., tariffs and dealer franchise laws make it difficult for Chinese automakers to sell directly here. But as Karl points out, barriers don’t eliminate competition — they redirect it.

If Chinese brands gain massive volume in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, they gain scale. Scale means supplier leverage, faster iteration, and more resources to improve product.

For American consumers, the implications are concrete:

If global competitors grow rapidly elsewhere, they get stronger — even without entering the U.S. If the U.S. market remains more closed and more expensive, buyers here risk paying more while seeing less variety.

“Global competition” may sound abstract. But it shows up as pricing, features, and whether a truly affordable new car is even an option.

RELATED: No new cars under $50K? Thank the government

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Tesla or BVD?

We turn to Tesla, where reports suggest the Model S and Model X may be phased out amid slowing sales.

Al offers an international perspective. In places like Bolivia, he says, Tesla still signals status. Owning one means you’ve arrived. He also claims that Teslas sourced through China appear better assembled than some U.S.-market examples.

Karl widens the lens: BYD has now surpassed Tesla in global EV sales — even though BYD sells none of those vehicles in the United States. Meanwhile U.S. EV growth has cooled compared to earlier momentum.

For buyers, this is a lesson in how automakers respond to pressure. When margins tighten and competition intensifies, companies cut slower-selling models and redirect investment. The future shifts toward autonomy, AI, robotics, and software ecosystems.

Show and sell

Our conversation shifts to auto shows — Detroit, L.A., Chicago, New York — and whether they’re fading into irrelevance.

At their best, auto shows solve a real consumer problem: They let buyers compare multiple brands in one place, sit in vehicles without pressure, and evaluate options without a salesperson hovering nearby.

Al argues it’s a mistake to let that disappear. He points to Detroit’s recent rebound — smaller than its glory days, but active — and contrasts it with international shows that are still thriving. In Qatar, he says, the show was sold out with lines out the door.

Consumers increasingly delay visiting dealerships until they’ve narrowed their choices online. Auto shows provide something dealerships often can’t: a neutral comparison environment.

In an era obsessed with “experiential marketing,” there’s nothing more experiential than physically sitting in a dozen competing vehicles in a single afternoon.

Influencers or experts?

Al describes watching an influencer perform handstands in front of a Mustang — without mentioning the car itself.

It’s easy to roll your eyes, but it also illustrates the reality: Automakers now market vehicles through personality-driven content as much as traditional reporting.

Journalists report on the car. Influencers incorporate the car into their personal brand. Both models coexist.

For consumers, this shift changes the information landscape: more personality and less structured analysis.

This makes discernment more important. Buyers who want real trade-offs, cost analysis, and ownership implications still need to seek out sources focused on the vehicle — not just the vibe.

Fragmented markets

Al’s story is partly about media evolution — how a creator adapts from print to YouTube to TikTok and beyond. But the larger story is about fragmentation.

Some markets are getting cheaper new-car options faster than we are. Some brands are gaining global dominance without ever touching the U.S. Meanwhile American buyers face rising transaction prices, heavier regulation, and fewer places to comparison-shop freely.

The auto industry may be global, but your buying experience is still local — and increasingly shaped by forces that don’t always align with consumer affordability.

Listen to the full episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl” (featuring Al Vazquez) below:

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On February 20, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather sent shock waves through the sports world when he announced that after eight years, he’s coming out of retirement.

Set to resume professional fights after his upcoming spring 2026 exhibition bout with Mike Tyson, Mayweather declared in a written statement to ESPN, “I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing.”

But some are arguing that there’s an underlying reason for the 48-year-old’s sudden exodus from retirement — and it has nothing to do with setting records.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock plays a recent clip from Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson’s podcast “Nightcap,” during which the ex-NFL duo speculated that the real reason Mayweather is re-entering the ring is for financial reasons.

“Only three fights that Floyd can have that can command and get the kind of money he’s looking to recoup for money that may have been lost or money that may have been stolen or money he may have spent, you know, to date,” said Ochocinco, naming rematches with Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao, plus a showdown against current champion Terence “Bud” Crawford, as the only matchups capable of delivering that kind of payday.

Whitlock agrees: “Guy’s got a gambling problem. Of course his situation’s unstable. I mean, this is about as predictable as anything I could imagine,” he laughs.

“Yeah, it’s for the money. If you just google Floyd’s name and the IRS — all the news is out there. He owes jewelers money. There’s back paid rent for real estate in New York. It’s clear that he is now part of the no money team, which is very ironic,” adds “Fearless” contributor Steve Kim.

“The challenge for Floyd, and it’s a challenge with a lot of young black men who become famous, is that he made a brand out of, ‘Let me show you what I have,”’ says fellow contributor Dre Baldwin.

If it’s true that Mayweather’s motivation is primarily financial, the “sad” part, Baldwin says, is that we will likely have to watch him “get destroyed and destroy the image that we have of [him].”

But Whitlock doesn’t understand why coming out of retirement is Mayweather’s choice of path when he could surely earn income in other ways. “Why not just start a podcast? Isn’t this what all the former NFL and basketball players do?” he asks.

Baldwin lays it bare: “Can’t make $200 million in one night with a podcast.”

“I took the liberty of doing a cursory Google search while you guys were talking. Estimates are 1.1 to 1.52 … billion with a B that Floyd Mayweather has made throughout his career … and he’s completely broke,” says contributor Jay Skapinac.

“Of all the idiots that we’ve seen out there — celebrities, actors, entertainers that have lost a lot of money — this guy would take the cake. To blow a bill before he even hits 50 is unimaginable,” he scoffs.

To hear more of the panel’s conversation, watch the video above.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A former participant in a short-lived reality television show about swingers in southwest Ohio pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to heinous sex allegations that left law enforcement officers “speechless.”

Tony McCollister, 43, was initially accused of uploading child sexual abuse imagery to his Google account on Nov. 23 as well as having sex with two different dogs he owned, according to prosecutors.

‘It’s just hard to process when you see what these people are capable of.’

McCollister was arrested on Dec. 23 in Union Township, Ohio. At that time, he was charged with felony pandering of obscene material involving children and misdemeanor sexual conduct with animals.

He was ordered to stay away from children as well as pets and given a $250,000 bond.

WLWT-TV reported that McCollister’s home address was listed as a residence owned by 43-year-old Erica Grove, who is also facing a misdemeanor charge of sexual conduct with an animal. Grove was served a court summons the same day that McCollister was arrested.

Investigators then discovered evidence that the couple had drugged a girl under 6 years old in order to rape her.

“They drugged the girl specifically to rape her. … Who would have thought that the sex with the dogs was not going to be the most horrific aspect of this case?” Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said. “I mean, when you get to that, you think, what can be worse, and then they continue to investigate and find out that they’re drugging and raping this little girl. … It’s just hard to process when you see what these people are capable of.”

McCollister was charged with 30 counts related to the accusations, and Grove was charged with 24.

On Thursday, McCollister pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, according to TMZ. He also filed a motion for the court to order a mental state evaluation at the time of the alleged crimes.

RELATED: Ohio woman pleads guilty to horrific child sex abuse charges and bestiality — and will testify against her husband

McCollister starred in A&E’s “Neighbors with Benefits” show in 2015 as one of the swingers who lived in an Ohio suburb. Viewers expressed shock and outrage after A&E aired commercials about the show even before it aired.

The activist groups One Million Moms and Citizens for Community Values voiced opposition to the show, and it only lasted two episodes before being canceled.

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The United States and Israel launched a “massive ongoing operation” against Iran, striking the Islamic Republic for the second time in eight months.

President Donald Trump confirmed the coordinated attack with Israel early Saturday morning after strikes were reportedly heard in several parts of Tehran. Dubbed Operation Epic Fury, this is the second military intervention the United States has taken against Iran following Operation Midnight Hammer in June of 2025, where Americans “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.

‘It will be totally, again, obliterated.’

Trump similarly justified the latest series of strikes to ensure Iran will “never have a nuclear weapon” but noted that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.”

“That often happens in war,” Trump said. “But we’re doing this. Not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission. We pray for every service as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran.”

RELATED: For the first time in decades, more Americans sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis: Poll

Trump said Iran “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions,” prompting the massive military offensive from Israel and the United States. While vowing to end the regime, Trump also urged Iranians to rise up and reclaim their government when the operation is finished.

“For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” Trump said. “We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated.”

“Stay sheltered,” Trump told Iranians. “Don’t leave your home. It’s yours outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.”

RELATED: No ‘right to hijack’: Christian ousted from Trump faith panel over anti-Zionist remarks

Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images

The Israeli Defense Forces later announced that they are working to intercept missiles “launched from Iran towards Israel.”

“To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police,” Trump said. “I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or in the alternative, face certain death.

This is a developing story.

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A Kansas law that invalidated about 1,700 driver’s licenses over the mismatch between birth gender and gender identity is being challenged in court by two transgender-identifying males.

The law invalidates birth certificates and driver’s licenses where the sex does not match the one assigned to the individual at birth. Invalidation notices were sent to trans-identifying persons this week.

‘This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans.’

Republicans argued that the law was necessary to protect women and girls, but the lawsuit claims that it is unconstitutional and “dehumanizing.”

Other states have similar laws, but Kansas is the only state that invalidates documents that were previously changed.

“The Kansas Constitution prohibits the Kansas Legislature’s targeting of transgender individuals for this discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment,” the lawsuit reads.

The two males are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and are only identified under the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe. They want to remain anonymous out of fear of discrimination, harassment, and violence.

A statement from the ACLU says the law “violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.”

RELATED: Rep. Jayapal pushes ‘Transgender Bill of Rights’ to oppose ‘cruelty’ of Trump policies

About 1,800 birth certificates were also invalidated. The law was passed after the legislature overturned a veto from Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat.

“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” reads a statement from ACLU Kansas legal director Monica Bennett. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”

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