Why VW's flying dream stalled

Reuters Daily Briefing <dailybriefing@thomsonreuters.com>
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2026-07-30 12:58

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. France, Spain and Greece battle wildfires and Russian strikes on Ukraine kill eight as Poland scrambles fighter jets.

Elsewhere, the US strikes Iran again as the war widens and Washington clinches a $58.6 billion Patriot missile deal amid rising stockpile concerns.

Plus, how Volkswagen’s flying-car dream crashed in China.

Today's Top News

Residents and firefighters work to extinguish an advancing wildfire near Formariz in Zamora province, Spain. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Europe

France, Spain and Greece battled major wildfires as soaring temperatures, parched vegetation and powerful winds extended a summer of deadly fires, mass evacuations and mounting disruption across Europe.
Russian air strikes killed at least eight people in Ukraine, including one in Kyiv, in attacks extending as far as ‌the western city of Lviv, forcing neighboring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace.
Russia has killed 73 people in June and July in intensified attacks on Kyiv, the city's military administration said. As demand for safe spaces has spiked — with some sheltering for the first time — the lack of proper sites has come into focus.

In other news

The US military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran, including military command centers and drone facilities, in a two-hour operation launched after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East. Follow live.
The US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, the Pentagon said, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons stockpiles.
The Trump administration has brought criminal charges against at least 851 people accused of attacking or impeding federal officers, only to abandon them at an unusually high rate.
Anthony Fauci, the former top US infectious disease expert, declined to answer questions at a Senate hearing, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination and accusing Republican Senator Rand Paul of an "unhinged" campaign to see him imprisoned.
The 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Japan toppled houses and split open streets in the small city of Yatsushiro, but there ‌was mounting concern about invisible threats from the lack of water and power amid the punishing summer heat.

Business & Markets

US Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh in Washington, D.C. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

"Policymakers who feel that a rate hike needs to happen were not really willing to step aside and give way to the chairman," says correspondent Ann Saphir, discussing dissent at the Fed even while the central bank holds rates steady on today's episode of the Reuters World News podcast — listen now..
South Korea's efforts to rein in the leveraged products wreaking havoc in its financial markets may not go far enough to quell skyrocketing volatility, analysts say, as pain and public anger mount over a $2 trillion-and-counting stocks wipeout.
Samsung reported a more than 250-fold jump in chip profit and announced multi-year supply deals with major data centre operators, saying it expects global chip shortages to become more acute and extend into 2028.
Vehicle leasing has declined in the United States in recent years, curbing what has long been a preferred route to new wheels for many car shoppers. Here's why.
Shein, the Chinese-founded fast-fashion retailer, has released financial details ahead of its long-awaited Hong Kong float. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how a pushback against its business model in the West may have collapsed the valuation to just $10 billion.

How Volkswagen’s flying-car dream crashed in China

REUTERS/Illustration/Catherine Tai

After years as China's top-selling automaker, Volkswagen in 2019 was looking beyond the roads it dominated and set out to own a piece of the sky. But now, while local upstarts prepare for flying-car liftoff in China, Volkswagen remains grounded.

Volkswagen's flying-car effort simply couldn’t match the speed of China’s low-altitude economy. That's the global aviation industry’s term for an emerging market encompassing drones, air taxis and other aviation services aimed at the airspace below 1,000 meters.

In China, local rivals, governments and supply chains have moved faster than VW: that stumble serves as yet another example of older automakers rapidly losing business to Chinese competitors.

Read our special report

And Finally...

BTS performs during the FIFA World Cup 2026 halftime show. REUTERS/Mike Segar

K-pop group BTS said they will not submit any music for consideration at the 69th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2027, citing ‌dissatisfaction with the academy's new category for best Asian pop music performance.

The decision marks the first time the South Korean group, one of the biggest names in K-pop, have opted out of the awards ceremony. Each member of the group shared the news in a post on Instagram.

Read more

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